US09332909B2

Provided is a fluoroscopy apparatus including a fluorescence-image generating portion that generates a fluorescence image; an identifying portion that identifies a position of a high-luminance region in the fluorescence image; a storage portion that stores the position of the high-luminance region; a detecting portion that detects an amount of change in a physical quantity, which can possibly act as a cause of changes in a property of the high-luminance region, starting from a time at which the position of the high-luminance region is identified by the identifying portion; a confidence-level calculating portion that calculates a confidence level of the property of the high-luminance region based on the detected amount of change; and a display-image generating portion that generates a display image in which the display mode at the position of the high-luminance region is set in accordance with the confidence level.
US09332908B1

A hybrid operating room with support structure. The hybrid operating room includes an interior for use in the imaging of and performance of surgery on a patient, the interior including a ceiling. The hybrid operating room also includes a support assembly positioned above the unit for supporting equipment used in conjunction with such imaging and surgery so that the equipment extends downwardly from the ceiling into the interior. The support assembly is designed to support a load of at least 3,500 pounds, and more in certain implementations.
US09332905B1

A retinoscopic device, technique and scale for estimating the reflectance of the macula pigment optical density (MPOD) in normal and abnormal eyes in order to detect early pathology of the retinal pigment epithelium and photoreceptors thus screening for macular pathology the most prevalent of which is Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and retinal edema and cystoid macular edema post cataract surgery.
US09332902B2

A novel imaging method, line-field holoscopy is presented. A line of light is projected across an object to be investigated through an imaging system. The light scattered from the investigated object is combined with reference radiation. The combined light is projected onto a detector providing a confocal restriction in one dimension. Astigmatic optics in the return path transform the light asymmetrically such that at the detector, the line focus is imaged to the confocal restriction, while the orthogonal direction is defocused. Embodiments including a swept source with linear detection array, and spectrometer based systems utilizing a 2D detector array are described. The data may be reconstructed to a B-scan by two-dimensional Fourier transform or other reconstruction method with or without combination of more complex algorithms.
US09332899B2

One embodiment is a method for finding, calculating and electronically marking a reference axis for astigmatism correction/neutralization of a patient eye during a refractive surgery.The reference axis for astigmatism correction/neutralization can be determined intra-operatively based on one or more eye property measurements together with simultaneous recording a live eye image. The determined reference axis of astigmatism correction/neutralization can be updated and registered with one or more land mark(s) of the recorded eye image(s); and overlaid onto a live image of the eye. Another embodiment is a method of calculating and displaying in real time compensated refractive errors of the eye under operation with refractive components due to temporary surgically induced factors removed and refractive components due to surgeon-induced factors added.
US09332884B2

A child's potty (10) has a bowl (12) within a substantially continuous surrounding skirt (40), seat portions (16) being formed on the rim of the bowl between the bowl and the skirt, and a raised backrest (30) with side portions (32) at the rear of the potty. A discharge spout (20) extends upwardly and rearwardly from the bowl through the backrest to an outlet with a lower lip (24) at the rear of the potty behind the backrest, to allow the potty to be emptied hygienically without contamination of the sides and seat portions.
US09332882B2

Shape memory insulators comprising a first layer of core material, such as polymeric insulative material, and a second, shape memory layer of elastomeric material, for attachment to objects. The shape memory layer may comprise silicone rubber, silicone gum, silicon crepe, and/or silicone gel, for example. The shape memory insulator may be part of a handle for an object, such as a pot or pan, for example, or other objects and devices requiring continuous and/or repetitive manual operation. The shape memory polymeric material may conform to the shape of the user's hand when the handle is gripped by a user's hand. When the grip is released, the shape memory material returns to its original shape. The shape memory insulators provide insulation as well as improving comfort and/or control over the engagement and use of objects, while decreasing arm and hand wear and/or strain of those using the objects.
US09332868B2

A storage attachment device for headbands, belts, ear rings etc., comprising a first rigid flat piece having a front surface and a back surface and a bottom base, a second rigid piece having a front surface and a back surface and a bottom base and a top edge; and the bottom base of the first piece attached to the bottom base of the second piece wherein the first front surface forms a V shaped acute angle to the second back surface. A method of storing headbands, belts, ear rings, etc. by wedging an end of a headband into the V shaped acute angle and extending the second end of the headband over the top edge of the second surface. The device may also utilize one or more friction components.
US09332859B2

A bassinet apparatus includes a generally pedestal-shaped main body having a weighted bottom section, and a cradle that is positioned along the top end thereof. The cradle includes a bucket seat configuration having no corners or edges, and a centrally located motion unit imparts a front to back motion, and a side to side motion across in both a linear and angular manner.
US09332856B2

A pocketed spring assembly comprises a plurality of parallel strings of individually pocketed springs of different heights. Each string is joined to an adjacent string. Each string has first and second opposed plies of fabric and a plurality of pockets formed along a length of the string by transverse seams joining the plies. An upper end of each transverse seam is below the upper surface of the string so as to partially separate adjacent pockets within a string of springs when the spring is relaxed. The strings of springs have ventilation openings to increase airflow.
US09332855B2

A personal cellular tissue repair, recovery, and regeneration enhancement sleep system for the augmentation of various health promoting metabolic processes associated with sleep via multifunctional stimulus-responsive polymers, performance, and responsive textiles. These textiles possessing both clinically proven and theoretical benefits to the human body including: balancing body temperature and increasing oxygen levels to skin and tissues by utilizing a blend of minerals and ingredients embedded into subject textiles; an antimicrobial, multi-layered textile incorporating specialized silver substrate yarn possessing antimicrobial, anti-odor, and conductive properties; attenuation of oxidative stress and damage to body's cells from positively charged reactive oxygen species (free radicals) via silver substrate yarn and a plurality of adjacent conductive fibers for transport of free electrons to the body from a relatively greater electrically negative potential, an electrical Ground, via the Ground potential in a standard wall outlet. All superimposed upon a mattress technology with or without air chambers.
US09332853B2

A bed top covering, includes a top portion; a second portion; and a bottom portion. The second portion includes a back-folded, electrically heated, foot canopy therein configured to allow the feet of a user to be extended in an upward direction therewithin and providing room and maneuverability and warmth for the feet of the user. The third portion is tucked under the mattress for snugness.
US09332851B2

A chair back that includes a back support, an upright frame, and at least one flex wing. The back support is substantially flexible and has a first side portion and a second side portion. The upright frame is substantially rigid and has a first frame side and a second frame side. The flex wing is located between the first frame side and the first side portion, where the flex wing includes a front portion coupled to the first side portion, a back portion coupled to the first frame side, and a web portion interconnecting the front portion and the back portion. The flex wing flexes during engagement by a user.
US09332849B2

A collapsible chair has a frame selectively moveable between a collapsed configuration of the chair and an extended configuration of the chair, and a seat that is coupled to the frame. The seat has a first material layer and a second material layer wherein the first layer and the second layer cooperatively define a seat pocket. A seat pad is selectively moveable between a stored configuration wherein the seat pad is located in the seat pocket and a portable configuration inside the seat membrane pocket and a portable configuration, wherein the seat pad is removed from the seat pocket and usable as a portable seat pad.
US09332836B1

A height adjustable table, which has a counterbalance mechanism integrated into a top assembly of the table is disclosed. The height adjustable table can include a top assembly supported by a base assembly, which can include right and left telescoping leg assemblies. The top assembly can include a work surface supported by a housing. A counterbalance mechanism, which can include a spring coupled to a snail cam pulley, can be mounted within the housing. A synchronized lift mechanism, which can include at least two bands operatively engaged with a pulley system disposed within the right and left telescoping leg assemblies, can be operatively coupled to the snail cam pulley such that the counterbalance force provided by the counterbalance mechanism is transmitted to the synchronized lift mechanism.
US09332832B2

A dish cloth holder, which includes decorative covers to use as a display for the room while the dish cloth and other sink items are able to dry more effectively within.
US09332828B2

A brush head for an electric toothbrush having a support structure rotatably oscillated by a motor in the handle of the toothbrush. A plurality of bristle tufts are mounted on the support structure in three ring-like series concentrically about a center point of the support structure. The bristle tufts are arranged in a unique arrangement whereby no more than two of the bristle tufts in the intermediate series and innermost series lie on a diameter line passing through the center point. The outermost and intermediate series of bristle tufts may be arranged in oval-shaped rings and the bristle tufts of the inner series may have a circular arrangement. All of the tufts preferably have the same height and diameter.
US09332815B2

A locking device includes a flap configured to swing on a hinge towards a base, the flap having a tongue at a distal end thereof and the base having a housing at a distal end thereof, wherein the tongue is forced into the housing and is locked in place using a mechanical catch; the flap and the housing each being provided with a pair of magnets, those magnets on the housing being attached to a slider that is able to slidingly reciprocate between an open position and a closed position.
US09332810B2

A buckle (1) for fixing at least one band (2), the buckle (1) having at least one buckle main part (3) and at least one clamping web (5) which is mounted on the buckle main part (3) in a movable manner in at least one movement direction (4) in order to clamp the band (2) that is guided around the clamping web (5). The clamping web (5) has at least one clamping web main part (6) that is mounted on the buckle main part (3) in a movable manner and a clamping leg (7) that projects beyond the clamping web main part (6) in order to contact the band (2) that is guided around the clamping web (5).
US09332807B2

A boot has an upper, at least one slot extending through the upper, and means for closing the at least one slot to prevent the ingress of unwanted materials. The closing means may comprise a piece of material that overlaps and covers the at least one slot.
US09332804B2

A massaging shoe pad comprising a base layer, first plates and second plates, is disclosed. The base layer has accommodation spaces having first and second openings. First plates are disposed in each accommodation space. One end of each first plate is connected to the side wall of each accommodation space respectively. The other end of each first plate protrudes from the first opening forming the first protrusion. Between the two ends, each first plate protrudes from the accommodation chamber, which has through holes, toward the second opening. Second plates are disposed in each accommodation space and one end of each second plate is moveably inserted through the through hole. The other end of each second plate protrudes out of the first opening forming the second protrusion. When the second plate moves from a first to a second location, the second protrusion props against the other end of the first plate.
US09332803B2

An outer sole for a golf shoe includes a plurality of cleats distributed along a forefoot area and a heel area. The cleats are integrated with the outer sole and extend from a surface of the outer sole that faces away from the shoe. The plurality of cleats includes at least a larger sized set of cleats and a smaller sized set of cleats. Such outer sole for a golf shoe gives good traction on the golf course but is also useable as a casual shoe off the golf course.
US09332786B2

There are provided with a plurality of filter materials (2) spaced out in a line and whose filter fiber is exposed on the surface thereof; a capsule (3) arranged between the filter materials (2) and in which content liquid to be used as a flavoring agent or adsorbent is enclosed; shaping paper (4) that covers the filter materials (2) and the capsule (3), connects the filter materials (2) to each other, and includes permeation-preventing material for preventing the permeation of the content liquid; and an adhesion device (5) for adhering the filter materials (2) and the shaping paper (4) to each other in between the filter materials (2) and the shaping paper (4) over the entire circumference of the filter materials (2) and the shaping paper (4).
US09332783B2

The present invention relates to the use of one or more compounds of the formulae and/or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof for inhibiting the oxidation of fatty acids and/or triacylglycerols; and/or the rancidification of products that includes one or more of fatty acids and/or one or a plurality of triacylglycerols; and/or chemical and/or sensory changes of products that includes one or more of fatty acids and/or one or a plurality of triacylglycerols, caused by the action of the oxygen of the air. Corresponding mixtures and orally consumable preparations and methods are also described.
US09332774B2

A microencapsulated product comprises a core, a first shell comprising a protein and being substantially carbohydrate-free, and a second shell comprising a carbohydrate and being substantially protein-free. The double shell structure provides a strong shell that makes the microcapsule suitable for use in food products. The core can be a lipid, and in particular a structured lipid with nutritional benefits, such that the nutritional benefits can be passed on to the consumer. The microcapsules of the present invention can be used in making foods products, beverage products, and mixes for making such food and beverage products.
US09332773B2

Anti-boil-over compositions and methods are provided that significantly reduce boil-over during microwave oven cooking of pasta relative similar pasta and water mixtures such that oversized containers are not required. Thus, when prepared using limited volume container, the container of cooked pasta appears full.
US09332766B2

A baking tray that includes a frame having a plurality of apertures formed therein; and a plurality of baking subunits, wherein each baking subunit further includes a concave baking surface of a predetermined size, wherein the end portions of each concave baking surface are solid and closed and wherein the middle portion of each concave baking surface further includes a plurality of perforations formed therein, and wherein each baking subunit is adapted to be disposed within one of the apertures formed in the frame.
US09332764B2

The invention relates to an aqueous composition for inactivating sporulated and/or non-sporulated Coccidia parasites comprising 15 to 115 ppm chlorine dioxide and 0.01 to 1 wt-% of an anionic surfactant having one or more C6 to C18 alkyl groups and one or more aryl groups. The invention further relates to a method for preparing the composition and to a method for inactivating sporulated and/or non-sporulated Coccidia by applying the composition.
US09332762B2

The present invention relates to a method for preparing amicarbazone by using amino-triazolinone, which is an intermediate compound, and relates to a method for preparing amicarbazone, comprising the steps of: obtaining hydrazine carboxylic acid represented by 5 chemical formula (V) by reacting acylhydrazide represented by chemical formula (II) and a carbamating agent represented by chemical formula (III) or (IV); reacting the obtained hydrazine carboxylic acid represented by chemical formula (V) and hydrazine hydrate in the presence of a base catalyst; and reacting the obtained compound represented by chemical formula (I) 10 and an alkyl isocyanate represented by chemical formula (IV) in the presence of a base catalyst. Amino-triazolinone and amicarbazone would be stably produced by the present invention without safety gear and safety facilities for the leakage of phosgene, which has been conventionally used as a reactant.
US09332760B2

A substrate contains a composition including VOSO4, K11H[(VO)3(SbW9O33)2], Na9[SbW9O33], oxacillin and 5-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol.
US09332758B2

In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a composition comprising 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one dispersed in an aqueous medium and further comprising one or more polysaccharide; wherein either (a) said composition comprises no surface-active compound, or (b) said composition comprises one or more surface-active compounds, and the amount of said surface-active compounds in said composition is less than 0.4% by weight based on the weight of said composition.
US09332757B2

The present invention provide chemical modulators of insect olfactory receptors. In particular, compounds and compositions are provided that can inhibit host targeting functions in insects such as mosquitoes. Method of employing such agents, and articles incorporating the same, are also provided.
US09332752B2

A powder plant treatment formulation for application to plants by insect vectoring includes: a plant treatment agent; a stabilizing agent bonded to the plant treatment agent for stabilizing the plant treatment agent; a moisture absorption agent for absorbing moisture from the formulation; an attracting agent for attracting the formulation to plants; and a diluent.
US09332751B2

The present invention provides novel use of the polymeric films comprising halloysite nanotubes as a packaging material for food products. Said halloysite nanotubes are incorporated with active agents such as antibacterial agents preferably of natural type for providing antibacterial, barrier and ethylene scavenging properties.
US09332748B2

An apparatus to assist with placing a climbing device and safety tether into a tree or other tall upwardly extending object and then securing the climbing device and safety tether to that object, by use of a gripping ring dimensioned to substantially encircle the object and having gripping members disposed along its inner surface to engage with the object, where the gripping ring has a climbing device attachment component to attach the climbing device, such as a ladder or a rope, to the gripping ring, a safety tether attachment component to attach the safety tether to the gripping ring, and a positioning device attachment component to allow a positioning device, such as a pole, to be used to properly position the gripping ring.
US09332741B2

This invention relates transgenic animals that overexpress TL1A in a tissue specific manner to model inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as colitis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, fibrosis, and related inflammatory diseases and conditions. TL1A transgenic animals constitutively express both TL1A and GFP in lymphoid and myeloid cell lineages, allowing convenient identification and sorting of immune cells involved in IBD disease progression, such as T-cells, antigen presenting cells (APC), and dendritic cells (DC). TL1A transgenic animals may be induced to exhibit gross fibrosis, or isolated cells may be implanted into immunodeficient mice to establish colitis.
US09332739B2

The invention relates to a bee hive system which includes a housing, at least one ambient condition sensor being adapted to sense an ambient condition in the housing, a first fan being adapted to generate an air flow in at least a portion of the housing, a container for a liquid having an opening, in which the container is arranged such that the air flow generated by the first fan at least partially passes the opening of the container, electronics connected to the ambient condition sensor and to the first fan, in which the electronics controls the first fan according to the sensed ambient condition.
US09332735B2

A bed for at least one animal is provided. The bed includes a strip of belting having a front end, a back end, and opposing sides, an animal bed having a first fluid chamber and a second fluid chamber. The first fluid chamber is provided within the strip of belting and includes a first width extending between a first side and a second side of the first fluid chamber. The second fluid chamber is provided within the strip of belting and includes a second width extending between a first side and a second side of the second fluid chamber. A first fluid supply tube is in fluid connection with the first chamber, and a second fluid supply tube is in fluid connection with the second chamber, wherein the first and second chambers are fluidly isolated from one another. A method of preparing for use a bed for at least one animal is also provided. In addition, a system for using a bed for at least one animal is also provided.
US09332728B1

An animal chair perch including a perch having a top side, a bottom side, a right side and a left side. A first receiving bracket is disposed on the bottom side of the perch proximal the right side. An identical second receiving bracket is disposed on the bottom side of the perch proximal the left side. The second receiving bracket is in a position parallel to the first receiving bracket. A first support clamp and an identical second support clamp having a closed top end, an open bottom end, a first leg and a second leg. Each leg is disposed between the top and bottom ends. Each of the first and second support clamp top ends sldingly engage the respective first and second receiving bracket. Each leg securingly removably engages a chair back.
US09332725B2

A new lettuce variety designated ‘Red Mist’ is described. ‘Red Mist’ is a cutting lettuce variety exhibiting stability and uniformity.
US09332724B2

Spinach, parts thereof, and the making and use thereof, including with respect to the inbred spinach line called SP6111 are disclosed.
US09332722B1

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV023001. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV023001, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV023001 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV023001 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV023001.
US09332720B1

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV040275. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV040275, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV040275 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV040275 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV040275.
US09332719B1

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV044291. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV044291, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV044291 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV044291 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV044291.
US09332718B1

The present invention is in the field of soybean variety OW1212626 breeding and development. The present invention particularly relates to the soybean variety OW1212626 and its progeny, and methods of making OW1212626.
US09332711B2

The invention relates to the soybean variety designated XB23AB13. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety XB23AB13. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety XB23AB13 and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety XB23AB13 with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
US09332704B2

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH002065. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH002065, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH002065 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH002065.
US09338932B2

An object of the present invention is to provide, in order to deal with a high frequency band in which radio waves are expected to be increasingly used hereafter, a magnetoplumbite-type hexagonal ferrite material having significantly improved high-frequency property of magnetic permeability. Specifically, a magnetoplumbite-type hexagonal ferrite is represented by a composition formula: A(1-X)BxCx(D1yD2y)Fe(12-x-2y)O19 (where x: 0.1 to 0.3, y:0.1 to 0.5), wherein A is any one of Ba2+, Sr2+ and Ca2+, B is any one of La3+ and Nd3+, C and D1 are any one or more of Co2+, Mn2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Cu2+ and Ni2+, and D2 is any one of Ti4+ and Zr4+.
US09338931B2

An electronics card comprising a stack of printed circuit layers, each comprising an electrically insulating support having at least one conductive track extending thereon, and two electromagnetic shields extending respectively over a top face and over a bottom face of the stack, each shield comprising a grid and a plate that are superposed and electrically conductive, each extending over an electrically insulating support, and the conductive tracks being obtained by solid copper type etching. The invention also provides a device including such a card, and a method of protecting such a card of such a device against a lightning strike and against electromagnetic radiation.
US09338917B2

An arrangement having a first peripheral device and a second peripheral device that each include basic modules that are provided with process connections and that accommodate electronic modules, where a redundancy adapter unit is provided for redundantly connecting a field device to one of the basic modules of each of the two peripheral devices such that the redundancy connection of assemblies, which are arranged in spatially separate peripheral devices, is suitable simplified.
US09338897B2

A ceramic substrate is provided that includes a ceramic substrate main body including a principal surface, a connecting terminal portion disposed on the principal surface of the ceramic substrate main body that is capable of being connected to another component via solder, the connecting terminal portion including a copper layer and a coating metal layer covering a surface of the copper layer; a contact layer of titanium or chromium disposed between the ceramic substrate main body and the connecting terminal portion; and an intermediate layer disposed between the copper layer of the connecting terminal portion and the contact layer, the intermediate layer including one of a titanium-tungsten alloy, a nickel-chromium alloy, tungsten, palladium, and molybdenum. The contact layer and the intermediate layer are set back from a side surface of the copper layer in a substrate plane direction.
US09338896B2

Compositions and methods for enhancing adhesion between a copper conducting layer and a dielectric material during manufacture of a printed circuit board. Conditioning compositions contain a functional organic compound and preferably a transition metal ion. The functional organic compound, e.g., a purine derivative, is capable of forming a self-assembled monolayer. Adhesion promoting compositions contain an acid, preferably an inorganic acid, and an oxidant. The latter compositions may also contain a corrosion inhibitor and/or a transition metal ion selected from among Zn, Ni, Co, Cu, Ag, Au, Pd or another Pt group metal. The corrosion inhibitor may comprise a nitrogen-containing aromatic heterocyclic compound.
US09338891B2

A printed wiring board includes a core substrate having a cavity, multiple electronic components accommodated in the cavity, and a build-up layer formed on the substrate and including an insulating interlayer such that the interlayer is covering the cavity. The components include a first component, second component and third component, the core substrate has a first projection structure partitioning the first and second components in the cavity and a second projection structure partitioning the second and third components in the cavity, and the cavity and the first and second structures are formed in the substrate such that T1
US09338889B2

A method of manufacturing a mounting substrate in which a pair of monolithic ceramic capacitors each of which includes a multilayer body in which a plurality of dielectric ceramic sheets and a plurality of substantially planar inner electrodes are stacked on top of one another and at least a pair of outer electrodes electrically connected to the inner electrodes and provided on a surface of the multilayer body are mounted on a circuit board includes a process of joining the outer electrodes to lands formed on the front rear surfaces of the circuit board, the lands formed on the front surface being formed at positions that are plane-symmetrical to positions of the corresponding lands formed on the rear surface while being electrically connected to the corresponding lands formed on the rear surface, such that surface directions of planes of the inner electrodes match each other.
US09338887B2

The present invention relates to a core substrate, a manufacturing method thereof, and a structure for a metal via. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a core substrate including: an insulation layer; a plurality of metal vias passing through the insulation layer and formed to become wider from upper and lower surfaces to a middle part of the insulation layer; and a conductive layer formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the insulation layer and connected to the plurality of metal vias. Further, a manufacturing method thereof and a structure for a metal via are provided.
US09338885B2

Embodiments of the invention relates to a method and apparatus for rework of a BGA package. Memory shape material is placed adjacent to a plurality of solder joints of the package. Stimulation is applied to the material, with the stimulation causing the material to change from a non-stimulated shape to a stimulated shape. This stimulation causes an expansion of the material. As the material expands, it exerts a tensile force on the BGA package and an adjacently positioned carrier, causing a separation of the two components, while mitigating collateral heat of adjacently positioned components.
US09338876B2

An automation device configured for an automation environment and for automating an industrial process includes a first printed circuit board, a second printed circuit board, a first electronic component arranged on the first printed circuit board and a second electronic component arranged on the second printed circuit board, a heatsink arranged on the first printed circuit board, wherein the first electronic component is arranged between the first printed circuit board and the heatsink, the heatsink has a cuboid shape and rests on the first electronic component with a first cooling contact surface incorporated in a first lateral surface of the cuboid and a second cooling contact surface incorporated in a second lateral surface of the heatsink rests on the second electronic component, and the second printed circuit board is arranged essentially vertically with respect to the first printed circuit board.
US09338861B2

Methods and apparatus related to operation of a plurality of lighting units of a lighting network according to energy demand and/or energy supply.
US09338853B2

An LED lamp tube and driver circuit that is direct replacement for fluorescent tubes with or without ballasts, that works with standard AC high voltage current input, with high frequency pulse current input, or with lower voltage input. The tube is wired to receive the current that is input from any two electrode pins from among the pairs of pins at the ends of the tube, which house the driver circuitry. The input current is converted to DC through a rectifier circuit, is filtered of unwanted frequencies and voltage through a filter circuit, and is controlled with a step-down constant current circuit to drive an LED array within the tube.
US09338851B2

A method for operating a LED lighting system at a target output color is provided. The LED system includes a color sensor and three or more LED emitters each operable at a controllable emitter drive setting. The method provides at least one calibration matrix defining a relationship between measurements obtained from the color sensor, represented by sensor color point coordinates, and absolute color point coordinates in an absolute color space. In some embodiments, a calibration matrix defining a non-linear relationship between the two color spaces is provided. In other embodiments, individual calibration matrices are provided for each LED emitter.
US09338837B2

According to one embodiment, there is provided a lighting device which includes a substrate; a light emitting element which is provided on the substrate; and a resistive element which is provided on the substrate, and is connected to the light emitting element in series. A voltage rate of the resistive element when a value of a first voltage which is reduced to half is applied to a first circuit to which the light emitting element and the resistive element are connected in series becomes equal to or smaller than 25% of a voltage rate of the resistive element when the first voltage is applied to the first circuit.
US09338836B2

The Multiple Display-units LED light device has special light effects which means the more than one of display-unit can be assembly into one viewing product install within the base by certain strength or assembly means which has the prong means or other unlimited power source mans to supply the electric signal to the said LEDs to make the eye-catching light effects. The display unit may have the build-in input-end or separated input-end to allow to match the said receptacle means of the base. The base with LED related circuit, prong means and other control means, IC means may disposed into the base or incorporated with sealed-unit to make the light beam to be seen by viewer though the viewing area for dedicated art, word, signal, data, design, motion liquid, 3 dimensional, geometric design, art, digital data, liquid crystal screen, LCD and colored image with color change LEDs for illumination.
US09338833B2

A permanent magnet air heater has a housing with an internal chamber accommodating an electric motor rotating a fan to move air through the housing. A non-ferrous member having bores for cylindrical magnets and a steel member with a copper plate secured to the steel member are rotated relative to each other by the motor whereby the magnetic field between the magnets and copper plate generates heat which is transferred to air in the housing moving through the housing by the fan.
US09338827B2

The invention relates to a heating device for installation in a switchgear cabinet, having a support and a heating body, wherein the support replaceably accommodates the heating body in a holder. Simple and secure mounting of the heating body on the support is achieved in that the holder has a contact surface to which limiting elements are attached, in that the limiting elements immobilize the heating body in a form-fitting manner transversely to the contact surface plane, and in that one or a plurality of locking elements are provided in the region of the holder, which immobilize the heating body in a form-fitting manner perpendicularly to the contact surface.
US09338823B2

Radio-frequency (RF) integrated circuit (RFIC) chip(s) allow for the integration of multiple electronic circuits on a chip to provide distributed antenna system functionalities. RFIC chips are employed in central unit and remote unit components, reducing component cost and size, increasing performance and reliability, while reducing power consumption. The components are also easier to manufacture. The RFIC chip(s) can be employed in distributed antenna systems and components that support RF communications services and/or digital data services.
US09338822B2

A communication method includes performing, by a processor, digital processing for radio communication by multiple communication schemes; combining based on an actual communication state and within a processing capability of the processor, one or more among the communication schemes; and performing concurrent communication.
US09338817B2

There is provided a system for reducing the risk of data corruption occurring in wireless systems, by reducing the risk of an un-expected disconnection occurring between a client device (20; 52, 54, 56) and a host device (20; 50). The client device monitors its own power supply, and when the client device determines that its power supply capacity is almost exhausted, the client device sends a low power notification (5; 55) to the host device. The host device receives the low power notification, and in response closes the wireless connection to the client device, thereby preventing an unexpected disconnection from occurring when the clients power supply is finally exhausted.
US09338815B2

A method is described for a device to re-establish a connection with a Donor evolved Node B (DeNB). The device communicates with the DeNB via a Un interface using a subframe for the device only. The device detects a problem associated with the Un interface, and performs a radio resource control (RRC) re-establishment procedure to re-establish a RRC connection between the device and the DeNB after detecting the problem associated with the Un interface. The device starts a timer upon detecting the problem associated with the Un interface, and releases a restriction of using the subframe for the device only, if the timer expires. An occurrence of the problem associated with the Un interface is determined in response to receiving consecutive out-of-sync indications.
US09338804B2

A method for notifying a network domain and an Access Point (AP) are disclosed to overcome the problem that User Equipment (UE) entering the AP cell is notified but a UE leaving the AP cell is not notified. The method includes: the AP receiving a service request message sent by UE; and inserting a preset voice data packet into a user plane before a conversation to indicate the user of the UE a network domain that covers the UE currently, if it is determined that a current signaling connection is a Circuit Switched (CS) connection according to the service request message.
US09338789B2

A method and apparatus may provide multi-user parallel channel access (MU-PCA) and/or single-user parallel channel access (SU-PCA) using transmit and/or receive with symmetrical bandwidth, in the downlink (DL), uplink (UL), or combined DL and UL. SU-PCA and MU-PCA may support unequal modulation and coding schemes (MCS) and unequal transmit power. Medium access control (MAC) layer, Physical layer (PHY), and mixed and PHY layer methods and procedures may support UL, DL and combined UL and DL SU-PCA and MU-PCA using transmit and/or receive with symmetrical bandwidth. MU-PCA and/or SU-PCA may also be supported by MAC and PHY layer designs and procedures for downlink, uplink and combined uplink and downlink using transmit/receive with asymmetrical bandwidth.
US09338788B2

A method and apparatus for establishing a terahertz link using a multi-element lens array that comprises a plurality of active beam steering device are disclosed. For example, the method receives detected terahertz signals from one or more detectors, where an active beam steering device is deployed with each of the one or more detectors, and determines, for each of the detected signals, if the detected signal is out of focus from a focus point. The method applies a corrective signal to each active beam steering device that corresponds to a detected terahertz signal that is out of focus from the focus point, wherein the corrective signal causes the detected signal to be redirected, and measures a signal-to-noise ratio of the detected signals. The method then establishes the terahertz link via at least one of the detected terahertz signals with a highest signal-to-noise ratio.
US09338786B2

It is an object of the present invention to provide a reference signal transmitting method, a mobile terminal apparatus and a base station apparatus capable of reducing influences on a PDCCH even when performing transmission control over an aperiodic reference signal for measuring channel quality. Downlink control information corresponding to each component carrier in which transmission control information of a reference signal for measuring channel quality is set is aggregated and assigned to a downlink control channel of a specific component carrier for a mobile terminal apparatus that performs radio communication in a system band containing a plurality of component carriers and transmitted, and when the mobile terminal apparatus controls transmission of the reference signal for measuring channel quality based on the transmission control information of the reference signal for measuring channel quality included in the received downlink control information, the downlink control information corresponding to each component carrier includes a bit field in which identifier information of the component carrier is set and the transmission control information of the reference signal for measuring channel quality is set in the bit field.
US09338781B2

A method for transmitting and receiving a carrier segment in a wireless communications system, including a base station and a user equipment, is disclosed. The carrier segment includes a first band having a first bandwidth and a second band having a second bandwidth, wherein a first segment gap is disposed in a frequency domain between the first band and the second band.
US09338777B2

The present invention concerns a method and a device for adjusting the transmission of the signals transferred by a home base station through a wireless interface, the home base station is located in a cell of a base station, the home base station belongs to a first tracking area, the base station belongs to a second tracking area in which a mobile is supposed to be. The home base station: transfers through the wireless interface signals identifying a third tracking area which is different from the first and second tracking areas and which the base station and the home base station do not belong to, checks if a signal is received from the mobile terminal in response to the transferred signals identifying the third tracking area, enters an inter cell interference coordination procedure if the signal is received from the mobile terminal in response.
US09338772B2

A system and method for configuring component carriers in carrier aggregation is disclosed. The method comprises communicating a carrier aggregation capability for a selected UE to an enhanced Node B (eNode B) configured to provide service for a plurality of UEs. A plurality of component carriers at the eNode B can be configured for the selected UE based on the carrier aggregation capability of the selected UE. A component carrier configuration message is broadcast from the eNode B containing component carrier configuration information that is common to the plurality of UEs. Specific configuration information that is specific to the selected UE is communicated using dedicated communication signaling. Selected configured component carriers are then activated by the eNode B for the selected UE. Activation can be based on the UE's quality of service needs, bandwidth needs, and strength of signal for the component carriers.
US09338766B2

A base station, a wireless terminal and a communication method of a wireless communication system are provided. The base station includes a receiver for receiving a signal from a wireless terminal or another base station, a transmitter for transmitting a signal to the wireless terminal or the another base station, and a controller for generating resource scheduling or control information for communication of the wireless terminal in a cell including at least two base stations included in a moving path of the wireless terminal and for transmitting the generated resource scheduling or control information to the wireless terminal and at least one of the base stations included in the cell.
US09338760B2

The various embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for notifying, a system information modification in at least one of a MIB/SIB1. The method comprises of transmitting a system information in a first modification period by an eNodeB, verifying the system information at eNodeB to check if the system information is to be modified in a modification period succeeding the first modification period, checking at eNodeB if only the system information corresponding to the at least one of the MIB or the SIB1 is modified, fetching the modified system information without initiating a paging procedure if only the MIB/SIB1 is modified and transmitting the modified system information in a succeeding modification period to the system information transmission module. The UE acquires the MIB/SIB1 at a start of each modification period.
US09338759B2

A method, system, and/or apparatus for automatically tracking a mobile user using the user's mobile device. This invention is particularly useful in the field of social media, such as for detecting and tracking the location and activity of a user and her community. The method or implementing software application uses or relies upon location information available on the mobile device from any source, such as cell phone usage and/or other device applications. The method provides a tracking functionality that uses less battery power than a GPS system. The method includes a location module configured to receive location transmissions, places the location module into a sleep mode when possible, awakens the location module upon receipt of a location transmission, and determines a location with the location module and the location transmission. These steps are desirably repeated to continually and automatically track the mobile user. The location transmission can be provided by WiFi triangulation and/or a cellular phone system upon crossing a boundary between antennae cells and/or a boundary between a plurality of established and contiguous geofences.
US09338757B2

Embodiments of the invention provide a method to accommodate clock drift and guard time in a centralized fashion. In one embodiment, a first device is adapted to communicate with a second device. A clock in the first device is synchronized to a clock in the second device using beacon or/and acknowledgement frames received from the second device. A centralized guard time is calculated by the second device between two neighboring allocation intervals. The centralized guard time accounts for clock drift in the first and second devices during a nominal synchronization interval. An interval at least as long as the centralized guard time is provisioned by the second device between two neighboring allocation intervals. One or more frames are transmitted between the devices within the allocation intervals.
US09338751B2

A device includes a first adjustment unit which is configured to adjust a power of a first carrier signal, and a second adjustment unit configured to adjust a power of a second carrier signal. The first adjustment unit is configured to adjust the first carrier signal power based on a maximum allowable imbalance between the first carrier signal power and the second carrier signal power. A method for controlling a transmit power in a user equipment of a radio communications system includes calculating in the user equipment first carrier signal power and a second carrier signal power. The method further includes adjusting in the user equipment the calculated transmit power for at least one out of the first carrier signal and the second carrier signal based on the maximum allowable power imbalance between the first carrier signal power and the second carrier signal power.
US09338748B2

An apparatus may comprise a radio-frequency (RF) transceiver and a message aggregation module arranged to intercept multiple messages from one or more mobile data applications during an idle mode of a device, one or more of the multiple messages operable to trigger a transition of the device from the idle mode to a connected mode by causing a radio resource control message to be sent from the device to a radio access network, the message aggregation module to store the multiple messages in a buffer associated with the one or more mobile data applications in order to maintain the device in the idle mode, and schedule for transmission by the RF transceiver the stored messages at a defined time instance based on a delay tolerance for the one or more mobile data applications when the device is in the connected mode. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
US09338745B2

The disclosure provides a method and a system for network handover. The method includes: during a process that equipment hands over from a current network to another network, a driver receiving a network-disconnected message, and judging whether the network-disconnected message is sent from a Connection Manager (CM); if the network-disconnected message is sent from the CM, the driver reporting, to an operating system, a first signalling which identifies that the current network is disconnected; and if the network-disconnected message is not sent from the CM, the driver reporting, to the operating system, a second signalling which identifies that the current network is connected. By the adoption of the method and the system, power consumption of the equipment can be reduced.
US09338740B2

Various embodiments provide a method and apparatus of providing wireless access point selection based on performance metric(s) and signal strength. In particular, a client selecting between one of a number of wireless access points bases the selection decision on performance metrics as well as signal strength.
US09338738B2

Disclosed are a heterogeneous network based-simultaneous data transmission service system and method which include a transmission device for dividing data into two or more partial data, selecting first partial data corresponding to a part of the two or more partial data, and selecting second partial data corresponding to another part of the two or more partial data; a first network device for receiving the first partial data from the transmission device; a second network device for receiving the second partial data from the transmission device; and a reception device for receiving the first partial data from the first network device, receiving the second partial data from the second network device, and reconstituting the data by combining the first partial data and the second partial data.
US09338734B2

The present invention relates to a method for discovering neighbor cells (NC) in a radio cellular network (NTW) comprising cells, each served by a controller (eNB), the method comprising, with respect to a controller (eNB) serving a cell (C): (a): selecting a frequency (f) in a frequency list, each frequency being associated with a priority (Prio), a target value (TV) and a counter (Count), and wherein said frequency (f) is selected in the frequency list according to its priority (Prio); (b): selecting a terminal (UE) located in the cell (C) and connected with the controller (eNB); (c): sending a control message to the selected terminal (UE), said control message comprising a request to perform radio measurements relating to neighbor cells (NC) of the cell (C), for the selected frequency (f); (d): incrementing the counter (Count) associated with the frequency (f); (e): if the counter (Count) is equal to the target value (TV) for the selected frequency (f), then deleting the selected frequency (f) from the frequency list; repeating steps (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) during a predetermined time (Tc) or until the frequency list if empty.
US09338728B2

UE receives a mobile operator policy including flow identification information, access system identification information, and a degree of compulsion from an ANDSF, and in a case where the degree of compulsion included in the mobile operator policy is a degree of compulsion that compels the UE to perform switching, transmits a request to forcibly switch a communication path used flow communication corresponding to the flow identification information to an access system corresponding to the access system identification information included in the mobile operator policy. As a result, by transmitting an MO policy from the ANDSF to the UE while the UE connected to a first access system is performing data communication, the UE changes a UE policy to the MO policy, thereby providing a mobile communication system or the like that is capable of avoiding concentration of traffic in the first access system.
US09338720B2

There is provided a control apparatus for controlling a first cell of a cellular communication network, the control apparatus including a control unit configured for receiving handover related data related to a handover from the first cell to a second cell and a third cell, wherein the control unit is further configured for determining a ranking data for the second cell and the third cell, the ranking data being dependent on the handover related data, and wherein the control unit is further configured for setting at least one operating parameter of the control apparatus depending on the handover related data and the ranking data. Further, the control unit may be configured for determining ranking data for the first cell and a fourth cell, and for determining a value for at least one operating parameter of a control apparatus which controls the second cell.
US09338717B2

Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for increasing the emergency call success rate by reducing the number of retries in a same domain. According to one aspect, a multi-mode user equipment may measure a first time period upon a first attempt of establishing an emergency call in a first RAT network. The UE may use a configurable parameter to determine a number of times that the UE may retry the emergency call in the first RAT network after expiration of the first time period without establishing the emergency call or after a failed attempt of the emergency call during the first time period. The UE may switch to a second RAT network if the UE fails in establishing the emergency call in the first RAT network after retrying the determined number of times.
US09338709B2

A method for handover from a wireless local area network to a wireless wide area network and an apparatus supporting the method are provided. When channel interference becomes severe during communication with a wireless local area network, the method enables the apparatus to automatically perform handover to a wireless wide area network. The method includes checking integrity of data received from a wireless local area network, determining, if the received data lacks integrity, whether the received data was received within a threshold time, retrieving, if the received data was received within the preset threshold time, an integrity failure count and a retransmission count for the data from a storage unit, and performing, if the integrity failure count exceeds a maximum allowed number of failures and if the retransmission count exceeds a maximum allowed number of retransmissions, handover from the wireless local area network to a wireless wide area network.
US09338706B2

Automated initialization of a neighbor list for a target cell may include determining one or more donor cell from among a plurality of candidate cells, and creating a neighbor list for the target cell based on one or more neighbor list of the one or more donor cell. A donor cell may be a co-site cell, or otherwise identified based on location, technology, coverage, and other characteristics. The neighbor list of the donor cell is used to initialize the neighbor list of the target cell, which may be refined through subsequent processing.
US09338701B2

Method and apparatus efficiently signal and use resources for wireless communications supporting circuit switched (CS) and packet switched sessions (PS). Signaling and interaction between the wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), and various network entities, such as the Mobility Management Entity (MME), the Visitor Location Register (VLR), and Base Stations (BS), are used to implement circuit switched fall back (CSFB) in a PS system.
US09338690B2

Systems, devices, methods and software according to these exemplary embodiments provide for reducing the number of different sequence numbers used to transmit radio link control, RLC, data blocks to avoid, for example, sequence number stalling. This can be accomplished by, for example, transmitting or receiving RLC protocol data unit, PDU, segments as the initial or original instance of data communication.
US09338687B2

Systems and methods for providing trigger based dynamic changes to a packet flow in a communication network are described. The trigger based dynamic changes can include upgrading and downgrading quality of service (QoS), processing the packet flow, and providing services to the packet flow. These changes can be provided by inspecting packets at a gateway for trigger conditions and setting up a proxy instance for the packet flows. The proxy can coordinate QoS changes and management of packet flows. The triggers can be based on the destination of the packet, for example, the uniform resource locator (URL) and/or by the services (e.g., email, video, messaging) that the subscriber is accessing. The triggers can also be based on the identity of the user or agreements a provider might have with an operator of network equipment for users accessing the provider's website.
US09338684B2

According to the embodiments of the present invention, a report measurement can be implemented between a radio network controller and a user equipment in a CELL_FACH state by using a current MC message and a current MR message; and in a process of implementing the report measurement, coordination between the report measurement and a cell reselection measurement executed by the user equipment can be implemented to minimize an impact of the report measurement on the cell reselection measurement.
US09338681B2

A method for performing minimization of drive tests measurement data is disclosed. The network assigns a preamble dedicated to the reporting of the logged MDT measurement data, and configures multiple UE to report the logged MDT measurement data by using the paging message. The UEs perform the first random access procedure with the network to obtain the uplink resource and a dedicate indicator for performing the second random access procedure. The UEs perform the second random access procedure for transmitting the request message. The network transmits the response message with a scheduling plan according to the request message(s). The UE transmits the logged MDT measurement data according to the scheduling plan.
US09338675B1

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, computer program products, and systems for priority message management. In one embodiment, users are associated with one or more identified networks, wherein the users connect to the one or more identified networks using one or more mobile devices. Embodiments of the present invention can detect the presence or absence of an associated user, and responsive to detecting a user's absence, can increase an amount of priority of a user's communications to a mobile device of a different user having an enabled screening feature. Increasing the amount of priority of users that have been identified as absent from the identified network can ensure important messages are delivered.
US09338669B2

A UE configured to adjust a L3 filter coefficient, comprises initializing a first filter coefficient of a first filter and a second filter coefficient of a second filter based on a primary filter coefficient of a primary filter received from an associated wireless network entity; adjusting the primary filter coefficient by one of: setting the primary filter coefficient to the first filter coefficient if a first difference between a measurement result of the primary filter and a first measurement result of the first filter is less than a first coefficient threshold and setting the primary filter coefficient to the second filter coefficient if a second difference between the measurement result of the primary filter and a second measurement result of the second filter is less than a second coefficient threshold; and applying the adjusted primary filter coefficient to measurements of one or more cells in an active cell set.
US09338666B2

Binding techniques are described that are configured to bind an apparatus for operation with a computing device. A computing device may include one or more object detection sensors that are configured to detect proximity of an object, a wireless communication module configured to support wireless communication, and one or more modules implemented at least partially in hardware. The one or more modules are configured to perform operations that include recognizing a first event as involving detection of proximity of an apparatus by the one or more object detection sensors, recognizing a second event as involving receipt of a wireless communication by the wireless communication module from the apparatus, and responsive to the recognizing of the first and second events, causing the apparatus to be bound for operation with the computing device such that the apparatus is configured to initiate one or more host side commands of the computing device.
US09338661B2

A first microwave backhaul transceiver may comprise a plurality of antenna elements. The transceiver may determine atmospheric conditions between it and one or more potential link partners, and adjust a radiation pattern of the plurality of antenna elements based on the determined atmospheric conditions. A first radiation pattern of the plurality of antenna elements may correspond to a first microwave backhaul link between the first microwave transceiver and a second microwave backhaul transceiver. A second radiation pattern of the plurality of antenna elements may correspond to a second microwave backhaul link between the first microwave transceiver and a third microwave backhaul transceiver. The transceiver may adjust the radiation pattern based on characteristics of data to be transmitted, and based on a routing table it maintains.
US09338660B2

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for coverage expansion in a wireless communication system. This disclosure discloses a wireless device operating in a wireless communication system, the wireless device comprising a transceiver transmitting and receiving a wireless signal and a processor operating in operative connection with the transceiver, wherein the processor sets power boosting adjustable in an RF capability range within an SIG field.
US09338658B1

An evaluation server is disclosed. The server comprises a processor, a memory, and an application stored in the memory. The application receives a request from an enterprise new accounts sever to predict the trustworthiness of an account applicant. The application then accesses a plurality of mobile communication service provider data stores that comprise information on mobile communication service provisioning events, wherein these events comprise at least one of voice mail redirect events of the mobile communication device, changing out of the mobile communication device for other mobile communication devices events, payment history, and adding international calling service events. The application then generates a confidence report about the trustworthiness of the account applicant based on the information found in the plurality of data stores. The application then transmits the confidence report to the enterprise server.
US09338656B2

Embodiments of apparatus, computer-implemented methods, systems, devices, and computer-readable media are described herein for accepting capability attestation of a device for determination of whether to grant access to a service during a state of operation. In various embodiments, access to the service sought may be conditionally granted responsive to verification of the capability attested. In various embodiments, during the state of operation, access to the service may be granted on a limited basis.
US09338653B2

In a first configuration, a UE receives, from a service provider, a certificate authority list. The certificate authority list is at least one of integrity protected or encrypted based on a credential known by the UE and the service provider and stored on a smartcard in the UE. The UE authenticates a server using the received certificate authority list. In a second configuration, the UE receives a user service discovery/announcement including a reception report configuration and an address of a server. The UE sends a protected reception report to the server based on the reception report configuration. In a third configuration, the UE receives a protected broadcast announcement and communicates based on the broadcast announcement. The broadcast announcement is at least one of integrity protected or encrypted based on a credential known by the UE and stored on a smartcard in the UE.
US09338648B2

A terminal is authenticated in view of inclusion in a communication network by an authentication process conditioned upon location information transmitted from the terminal to at least one server in the network. At least one access point for the terminal to the network is configured for allowing a non-authenticated terminal to transmit to an authentication server in the network authentication messages based on a given authentication protocol, such as, e.g., EAP. The terminal is configured for transmitting the location information to the authentication server by conveying it over the authentication protocol. A location system can be integrated in the terminal to generate location information identifying the location of the terminal, and in that case the terminal is configured for transmitting the location information identifying the location of the terminal to authentication server. As an alternative, a location server is associated with the network and the location information is transmitted from the terminal to the location server. On the basis of the location information transmitted from the terminal, the location server generates location information identifying the location of the terminal and sends the information to the authentication server.
US09338641B2

In a mobile network with a plurality of access networks, a control node, which is controlling access of a user equipment to that one of the access networks which is currently used by the user equipment, performs a determination of an access capability of the user equipment in this access network. The control node provides an indication of the determined access capability to a subscriber database associated with the user equipment. When transmitting the indication, a guard timer is started. After determining the access capability, the control node receives an update indication for the user equipment. In response to receiving the update indication, the control node performs a redetermination of the access capability. Further, the control node checks if the guard timer has expired and, only if the guard timer has not expired, provides a further indication of the redetermined access capability to the subscriber database.
US09338629B2

The provision of emergency response services to a user can be based on transitioning a communications device associated with a user to a listening mode, setting a first timer, recording user actions with the communications device, ascertaining, based on a status of the first timer and the user actions, whether a criteria with respect to at least user interaction is met, and, if the criteria is met, transitioning the communications device to an emergency communications mode, else resetting the timer and repeating the recording and the ascertaining until the criteria is met. The emergency communication mode consists of forwarding user and live location information to a remote server and receiving emergency contact information, selected based on the user and live location information, for establishing a communication with emergency response personnel.
US09338627B1

A portable device including a gesture recognizer module for automatically detecting a specific sequence of gestures is described. The portable device may be used to detect a health, safety, or security related event. The portable device may further include an emergency event module for automatically determining whether the sequence of gestures corresponds to an emergency event. The portable device may further include a proximity detection module for automatically determining whether a mobile device corresponding to a user listed as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity to the portable device. The portable device may further include a notification module for automatically transmitting a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
US09338616B1

Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for routing messages having destination identifiers associated with multiple entities. In a particular embodiment, a method provides receiving a message from a communication device directed to the message routing system, wherein a destination identifier associated with a plurality of entities indicates the message routing system. The method further provides identifying an entity of the plurality of entities associated with a key indicator within content of the message and routing the message based on the entity.
US09338612B2

A mobile station 100 monitors, in Slotted mode, a Paging Channel Slot in a monitor cycle. The mobile station 100 includes: a user interface 53 which receives a PTT setting operation from a user for setting a PTT (Push to Talk) mode; a PTT communication control unit 51 which transmits an allocation request to the radio base station when the PTT setting operation is received; a slot cycle switching unit 52 which switches, when the PTT setting operation is received, the monitor cycle to a predetermined short cycle which is shorter than a cycle at the time of receiving the PTT setting operation; and a voice signal processing unit 40 which receives a voice packet after a PTT CALL is detected in a message transmitted from the radio base station to the mobile station, and reproduces a voice based on the voice packet.
US09338604B2

A method and system for verifying a location value reported by an electronic device. The reported location value and spectrum sensing data containing signal strength measurements for each channel of plural channels are received from the electronic device. A predicted RF footprint for the reported location is generated. The predicted RF footprint includes signal strength values for each of the plural channels. Each signal strength value is representative of RF energy that the electronic device ought to detect if the electronic device is actually present in the reported location and each signal strength value is determined as a function of known characteristics of radio devices with known locations. A determination is made as to whether the received signal strength measurements and the predicted RF footprint sufficiently correlate to validate that the electronic device made the signal strength measurements at the reported location.
US09338603B2

Techniques for determining brand information and refining a position of a mobile device are described herein. An example of a method for displaying branding information on a mobile device includes receiving a reference image feature data table based on a rough location of the mobile device, such that the reference image feature data table includes a collection of entity records and wherein each entity record includes a plurality of logo image feature fields, obtaining an image including a displayed logo, utilizing an image recognition process and the reference image feature data table on the image to determine a recognized logo, and displaying brand information based on the recognized logo.
US09338602B2

According to a method for providing a location-based service for finding a person using a smart device suggested in the present invention, the method can find a second user corresponding to matching information among other users at adjacent places in real time and can enable a first user to be connected with a person who he or she looks for by chance by enabling a service provision server to receive the location information from a first user terminal, to match the second user using the matching information received and registered from the first user terminal among other users located within the predetermined distance from the location of the first user, and to transmit the matched data to the first user terminal.
US09338598B2

A computer-implemented method performed by a UE is provided. The computer-implemented method includes generating, with a first chipset, a first set of geo-fence rules; generating, with the first chipset, a second set of geo-fence rules, which are a simplified subset of the first set of geo-fence rules; transmitting the second set of geo-fence rules to a second chipset; powering down the first chipset; detecting if at least one of the second set of geo-fence rules has been broken; and if at least one of the second set of geo-fence rules is broken, powering up the first chipset to determine if the at least one broken second rule is indicative of breaking at least one rule of the first set of geo-fence rules.
US09338593B2

A mobile device and a method performed by the mobile device for receiving a service from a service providing apparatus are provided. The method includes receiving a signal which is emitted from the beacon apparatus, wherein the mobile device is located within vicinity of the beacon apparatus; determining an intensity of the received signal; requesting the service providing apparatus for a service based on the determined intensity; and receiving the service from the service providing apparatus.
US09338592B1

A system for reducing crowdsourcing network traffic has a server that aggregates data from a plurality of devices within a particular area. The devices determine their locations using, for example, a location engine (e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS)) to learn its geographic coordinates. As part of the crowdsourcing exercise, the device opportunistically scans for nearby communication nodes, such as Wi-Fi access points and the like. When a communication node is found, the electronic device associates the device's location coordinates with the detected communication nodes to create data that is tagged with the identity of the communication nodes. The tagged data may be stored locally on the electronic device and periodically uploaded to the server. When the server has sufficient information on the communication nodes in the area, the server sends a notification to the devices to refrain from additionally scanning for and/or sending additional tagged data, thereby curbing the amount of network traffic.
US09338587B2

A system and method for radio frequency tagging a transmitter of a useful first signal Su, by a tagging second signal Ctag, the signals are transmitted simultaneously, comprises at least the following elements: signal generation means adapted: to produce a useful signal Su in a given frequency band B, at a frequency fSu and an amplitude ASu, and to determine, from the values of the band parameter BSu of the useful signal Su and from the amplitude ASu of the useful signal Su, the parameters of the tagging signal Ctag, a transmission antenna adapted to simultaneously transmit said signal Su and said tagging signal, the level of which is X dB lower than the useful signal Su, means for receiving and processing the useful signal and the tagging signal adapted to discriminate the tagging signal from the useful signal.
US09338571B2

A direction of at least one sound source from an array of microphones is determined by obtaining a plurality of solutions sets from audio signals acquired from the microphones array, each solutions set being obtained by applying a sound source localization method to the audio signals, each solution defining a sound direction candidate. Then, solutions are grouped into groups of solutions and at least one of the groups is removed, based on a criterion of disparity between the solutions sets. The direction of the at least one sound source from directions associated with the remaining groups is obtained.
US09338563B2

A hearing assistance system includes a pair of hearing aids performing dynamic range compression while preserving spatial cue to provide a hearing aid wearer with satisfactory listening experience in complex listening environments. In various embodiments, the dynamic range compression is binaurally coordinated based on number and distribution of sound source(s). In various embodiments, in addition to preserving spatial cue, the dynamic range compression is controlled to optimize audibility and comfortable loudness of target signals.
US09338561B2

A method of determining parameters of a BTE hearing aid having at least one ITE microphone and at least one BTE microphone, the method includes: determining Head-Related Transfer functions HRTFl(ƒ); determining a hearing aid related transfer function Hl,iITEC(ƒ) of a ith microphone of the at least one ITE microphone for direction l; determining a hearing aid related transfer functions Hl,jBTEC(ƒ) of a jth microphone of the at least one BTE microphone; determining transfer functions GiIEC(ƒ) of a ith cue filter of at least one cue filter filtering audio sound signals of the at least one ITE microphone; and determining transfer functions GjBTEC(ƒ) of a jth cue filter of the at least one cue filter filtering audio sound signals of the at least one BTE microphone; wherein the transfer functions GiIEC(ƒ) and the transfer functions GjBTEC(ƒ) are determined using a processing unit based on equation: minGiIEC(ƒ),GiBTEC(ƒ)Σl=0L-1W(l)∥W(ƒ)HRTFl(ƒ)−ΣiGiIEC(ƒ)Hl,iIEC(ƒ)−ΣjGjBTEC(ƒ)Hl,jBTEC(ƒ))∥p.
US09338558B2

An acoustic generator according to an embodiment at least includes an exciter, a vibrating plate, a frame body, and a resin material. The exciter is mounted on the vibrating plate, and the vibrating plate is caused to vibrate together with the exciter by the vibration of the exciter. The frame body is provided on an outer peripheral portion of the vibrating body. The resin material is disposed in a space formed with the surface of the vibrating plate on which the exciter is disposed and an inner peripheral surface of the frame body to integrate the vibrating body and the exciter. The resin material is provided also on at least part of a surface other than the inner peripheral surface of the frame body.
US09338554B2

In the described technique, electrical audio signals are processed by inverse filtering according to three filter matrices, each handling a frequency range or sample rate or both. Loudspeakers, arranged at separate positions separate within or near the sound zones, convert the electrical audio signals into corresponding acoustic audio signals. Then each of the acoustic audio signals is transferred according to a transfer matrix from each of the loudspeakers to each of the sound zones, where the transferred acoustic signals contribute to the corresponding reception sound signals. The three filter matrices are configured to compensate for the transfer matrix so that each one of the reception sound signals corresponds to one of the electrical audio signals.
US09338551B2

Methods, systems, and apparatuses are described for improved multi-microphone source tracking and noise suppression. In multi-microphone devices and systems, frequency domain acoustic echo cancellation is performed on each microphone input, and microphone levels and sensitivity are normalized. Methods, systems, and apparatuses are also described for improved acoustic scene analysis and source tracking using steered null error transforms, on-line adaptive acoustic scene modeling, and speaker-dependent information. Switched super-directive beamforming reinforces desired audio sources and closed-form blocking matrices suppress desired audio sources based on spatial information derived from microphone pairings. Underlying statistics are tracked and used to updated filters and models. Automatic detection of single-user and multi-user scenarios, and single-channel suppression using spatial information, non-spatial information, and residual echo are also described.
US09338548B2

A mobile device includes a processing module, an external connection interface and a current monitoring unit. The external connection interface is electrically connected to the processing module and includes a first pin, a second pin and a third pin. The first pin is configured to transmit a first speaker signal and the second pin is configured to transmit a second speaker signal. The current monitoring unit is electrically connected to the processing module and the third pin of the external connection interface and configured to monitor a current state of the third pin and feedback the monitored current state to the processing module. The processing module is configured to provide one of a plurality of different voltage levels to the third pin according to the monitored current state. A noise-canceling earphone is also disclosed.
US09338527B2

One or more aspects of the disclosure relate to various functions and processes related to routing of calls originating from other service providers. For example, a method includes receiving a request to route a call or a call session, such as a session initiation request, from a second service provider and proceeding to route the requested call or session through a call routing facility of the first service provider to a requested destination of the call. Routing the call through the call routing facility may include determining a service provider type and/or an origination number type for the call, determining routing information for the call using the type information, and causing routing of the call to a destination of the call based on the routing information. Further aspects of the disclosure relate to various functions and processes related to accessing routing data and/or information from a routing database.
US09338524B2

A cable rack for a cable backplane system includes a tray having a plurality of plates defining a frame and surrounding a raceway. Cable connector assemblies are held by the tray with each having a plurality of cables extending between at least two cable connectors and routed in the raceway. Each cable connector is positioned between and is supported by corresponding plates. At least one cable strain relief component is held by the tray. Each cable strain relief component is positioned between and is supported by corresponding plates of the tray independent of the cable connectors. Each cable strain relief component provides strain relief for the associated cables. Optionally, the cable connectors are loosely held by the tray and float relative to the tray with a predefined limited amount of movement relative to the tray and relative to the at least one cable strain relief component.
US09338523B2

A method and apparatus for splitting the audio of media content into separate content files without introducing boundary artifacts is described.
US09338522B2

A set top box or like device incorporating an untrusted software framework as a client of a secure operating system kernel. The software framework may comprise, for example, an Android framework supported by an underlying Linux operating system environment having a secure kernel. The software framework can be executed using a variety of process isolation techniques depending on performance and isolation requirements. A secure access client/server interface may also be provided to support interactions between the untrusted software framework (and applications utilizing the untrusted software framework) and secure or trusted portions of the device. The secure access interface can be configured to perform operations such as handle validation, heap pointer validation, non-pointer parameter validation, heap isolation, and resource release relating to terminated processes. In further embodiments, a software framework aggregator is used to support a plurality of additional software frameworks for use in the set top box.
US09338519B2

A method for video multicast delivery for 4g wireless networks includes collecting client feedback and obtaining supportable modulation and coding scheme MCS for each client over a base station of wireless network, prioritizing video packets for said clients and setting a utility for each of the video packets; performing a radio resource allocation for determining a utility optimization for transmitted frames of the video packets; and assigning an MCS to each transmitted frame of the video packets, responsive to step performing a radio resource allocation.
US09338509B2

A method for displaying an interactive program guide, a user device for an interactive program guide, a method and device for providing a consolidated data guide information listing. A receiver is configured to receive individual data guide information from at least two information sources. A controller is configured to combine the received individual data guide information to form a consolidated data guide information listing and to output the consolidated data guide information listing. A displayer is configured to generate a display of at least a portion of the consolidated data guide information listing output to the controller.
US09338501B2

A web server presents a web page to a user. The web page dynamically presents information corresponding to a digital video recorder (DVR) associated with the user. The web server accepts input information to control the DVR. A delayed-job server accepts input from the web server and stores a job entry corresponding to the input in a message queue. The delayed-job server processes the job entry from the message queue and creates a function request representative of the web server input. An access server accepts the function request from the delayed-job server and bi-directionally communicates messages with the DVR. The access server communicates a response to the function request back to the delayed-job server. The delayed-job server communicates data from the response to the web server, wherein the web server is not blocked while waiting for the response from the delayed-job server.
US09338499B2

A method for presenting advertisements for commercial products in video productions, whereby the commercial product is placed in the video production as an element of the video production. A viewer is enabled to interact with the video production to select the product. Information is then displayed about the selected product; and the viewer is enabled to purchase the selected product.
US09338495B2

A system and method for optimizing pairing between a remote device and a plurality of devices including establishing a list of pairing-capable devices, the list comprising a portion of the plurality of devices, measuring a plurality of link qualities between the remote device and the pairing-capable devices, comparing, with a processor, the plurality of link qualities with one another and determining a highest link quality, selecting, by a computing device, an available pairing-capable device having the highest link quality, pairing with the selected device, and controlling a presentation device, the controlling including checking if the selected device is the associated device and where the selected device is not the associated device, relaying commands via the network to the associated device.
US09338491B2

Predicting user-interest in particular media content. Data associated with scheduled program recording timers may be accumulated across accessible subscribing customers of a particular television provider. A ranking parameter may be assigned to particular programs associated with particular ones of the scheduled program recording timers. A list may be presented itemizing particular programs based on assigned ranking values.
US09338486B2

A scheme for optimizing segment sizes for an adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming client engaged in a current ABR streaming session. In one implementation, a determination is made whether a wireless UE device executing the ABR streaming client is approaching a radio white spot area. If so, a video buffer of the ABR client is configured to preload a fixed number of segments having an adjusted size depending on the duration of the radio white spot area. The preloaded segments may comprise lower quality video segments, and as the wireless UE device exits the radio white spot area, the segment size and/or bitrates may be restored depending on the signal quality.
US09338485B2

A method for distributing a multimedia content to at least two rendering devices, wherein said multimedia content comprises at least two elementary contents, the method comprises the steps of receiving first information including information indicating for each of said at least two elementary contents a destination rendering device and a starting time; for each rendering device associated with said multimedia content, sending corresponding information indicating starting time for at least one elementary content destined to the rendering device; receiving said multimedia content; and sending said at least two elementary contents of said multimedia content to their corresponding destination rendering devices based on information indicating destination rendering device for each of said at least two elementary contents.
US09338481B2

A communication apparatus capable of switching between videos to be each displayed on a reproduction apparatus based on video data subjected to streaming distribution, on a distributor side. A camera registers management information of a plurality of cameras capable of distributing images to a PC by streaming distribution in a camera management table. Selection of a camera that is to distribute images to the PC is received from a user on a camera selection screen of the camera. The camera management table is updated so as to distribute images from the selected camera to the PC. Upon receipt of a playlist acquisition request from the PC, the camera generates a playlist based on the updated camera management table, and sends the generated playlist to the PC as a response.
US09338480B2

According to some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus and means are provided to determine an amount of a delay when transmitting a signal from a remote broadcast location to a studio location over a transmission link, operate a delay engine to insert the amount of the delay in a studio audio/video feed, and operate a switch to switch from the studio audio/video feed to a remote audio/video feed, the delay in the studio audio/video feed inserted prior to the switch.
US09338474B2

Techniques are described related to modifying an initial reference picture list. The example techniques may identify a reference picture in at least one of the reference picture subsets used to construct the initial reference picture. The example techniques may list the identified reference picture in a current entry of the initial reference picture list to construct a modified reference picture list.
US09338463B2

A measure of visual quality of processed images relative to unprocessed images is generated in real-time. The measure of visual quality closely correlates with a human's actual perception of the processed image relative to the original image. The measure of visual quality is computed based on a measure of discrepancy (e.g., mean square errors) between the processed and unprocessed images and the variance of each image in the pixel domain or the transform domain may be determined. If the processed image is unavailable, a prediction of the processed image may be used in place of the processed image. The prediction of a processed image may involve predicting the variance values for processed image blocks. The visual quality measure may be used in a feedback loop to improve processing or encoding.
US09338461B2

An input segment of an input video is encoded by first extracting and storing, for each segment of previously encoded videos, a set of reference features. The set of input features are matched with each set of the reference features to produce a set of scores. The reference segments having largest scores are selected to produce a first reduced set of reference segments. A rate-distortion cost for each reference segment in the first reduced set of reference segments is estimated. The reference segments in the first reduced set of reference segments is selected to produce a second reduced set of reference segments. Then, the input segment are encoded based on second reduced set of reference segments.
US09338453B2

The present invention relates to encoding and decoding a video signal by motion compensated temporal filtering. In one embodiment, a first sequence of frames are decoded by inverse motion compensated temporal filtering by selectively adding to a first image block in the first sequence image information, the image information being based on at least one of (1) a second image block from the first sequence and (2) a third image block from an auxiliary sequence of frames.
US09338441B2

A display device configured to display a selected image type, the image type including a first image and a second image, according to an image source signal, the display device including: a display unit, the display unit including a first group pixel and a second group pixel; and an image processor, the image processor: arranging image signals for each frame of the display device according to a display sequence of the first image and the second image in the first group pixel and the second group pixel, changing the image type displayed during a remaining period for each frame unit of the image source signal.
US09338439B2

Methods, systems, and computer program products for determining, without interrupting a video processing pipeline, whether currently used warping parameters are appropriate for a multi-camera system. New warping parameters may be determined, where these parameters cause the images rectified with these new parameters to have the desired geometric properties. This determination may be made without interrupting the video processing pipeline. Warping parameters may be determined, for example, such that the epipolar lines of the two cameras are horizontal and properly aligned, as defined below, and the metric 3D position of a point observed by both cameras can be determined and is accurate.
US09338435B2

A camera includes a single lens configured to receive an optical image as two images from two viewing angles. The two images from respective viewing angles are converted into two orthogonally modulated images, each of the orthogonally modulated images corresponding to a different one of the two viewing angles. An image detector is configured to distinguishably detect the two orthogonally modulated images in a single frame. An image processor is configured to decode the two orthogonally modulated images in the single frame into two video signals corresponding to the two viewing angles. A method of imaging includes receiving an optical image from two viewing angles; converting the optical image into two orthogonally modulated images, each of the orthogonally modulated images corresponding to a different one of the viewing angles; distinguishably detecting in an image detector the two orthogonally modulated images in a single frame; and decoding in an image processor the two orthogonally modulated images in the single frame into two video output signals corresponding to the two viewing angles.
US09338432B1

A portable electronic device provides signals corresponding to information to a display that allows a viewer to perceive 3-dimensional (3-D) depth, where the information includes multiple icons in a user interface that are arranged in 2-dimensional (2-D) fields that are spatially offset along a direction orthogonal to the 2-D fields. Then, the portable electronic device captures spatial-position information (such as a distance with respect to a surface of the display) associated with at least a digit of the viewer. The portable electronic device analyzes the spatial-position information to determine a change in a 3-D spatial position of at least the digit, and associates the change in the 3-D spatial position with at least one of the icons. Next, the portable electronic device performs the operation based on the change in the 3-D spatial position and at least the one of the icons.
US09338430B2

The present technology relates to an encoding device, an encoding method, a decoding device, and a decoding method capable of suppressing the amount of information without degrading the image quality of an image of a viewpoint that is used when the compatibility is secured in a case where a multi-viewpoint image is encoded. A compatible encoder generates a compatible stream by encoding an image A1 that is a compatible image. An image converting unit lowers the resolution of images B1 and C1 that are auxiliary images. An auxiliary encoder generates an encoded stream of the auxiliary image by encoding the auxiliary image of which the resolution is lowered. A multiplexing unit transmits the compatible stream and the encoded stream of the auxiliary image. The present technology can be applied to, for example, an encoding device that encodes a 3D image of the multi-viewpoint mode.
US09338427B2

Pixel depth values of a user-controlled virtual object in a three-dimensional scene may be re-scaled to avoid artifacts when the scene is displayed. Minimum and maximum threshold values can be determined for the three-dimensional scene from a target derived from pixel depth data for the three-dimensional scene. Each pixel depth value of the user-controlled virtual object can be compared to the minimum threshold value and the maximum threshold value. A depth value of each pixel of the user-controlled virtual object that falls below the minimum threshold value can be set to a corresponding low value. Each pixel depth value of the user-controlled virtual object that exceeds the maximum threshold value can be set to a corresponding high value.
US09338421B2

An imaging apparatus includes a shooting rate setting unit configured to set a shooting rate, a shooting unit configured to shoot a moving image at the shooting rate set by the shooting rate setting unit, an acquisition unit configured to acquire a shooting duration time from a start of shooting, a calculation unit configured to calculate a playback time based on a playback rate in a case of playing back the moving image shot by the shooting unit, and a display control unit configured to display the shooting duration time acquired by the acquisition unit and the playback time calculated by the calculation unit together on a display unit while the shooting is conducted by the shooting unit.
US09338418B2

A projection system includes a projector, an uncalibrated DDL output unit, a light detection device, a characteristic curve computation unit, a calibration unit and a calibrated DDL output unit. The uncalibrated DDL output unit is used for driving the projector to project a frame to an area of a projected object. The light detection device is used for detecting brightness values of the area. The characteristic curve computation unit is used for obtaining a characteristic curve based on the uncalibrated DDLs and the detected brightness values. The calibration unit is used for executing a calibration process according to the characteristic curve and GSDF, so as to map each of the uncalibrated DDLs to a calibrated DDL. The calibrated DDL output unit is used for driving the projector to project another frame to the area of the projected object.
US09338414B2

An imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit that has image sensors for each image of red, green, and blue which have a two-line addition function respectively. The imaging unit outputs image signals of red and blue and an image signal of green of which sample phases in a space are shifted by one pixel interval in a vertical direction using the two-line addition function. A resolution conversion unit obtains image signals of red, green, and blue of which the number of lines is doubled by performing interpolation processing on the image signals of red and blue and an image signal of green output from the imaging unit.
US09338407B2

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set-top box having a controller to establish a user profile, retrieve from a media communication system media content schedules according to the user profile, determine a consumption status for each of the retrieved media content schedules, generate an Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) comprising the retrieved media content schedules, each media content schedule depicting its corresponding consumption status, and present the EPG at a media presentation device upon request. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09338404B1

A device may provide information for a virtual reality environment to a virtual reality device. The virtual reality device may be operated by a first party. The device may determine that the first party of the virtual reality device is placing a call to a second party from within the virtual reality environment. The device may determine connection information associated with the first party and the second party. The device may cause the call to be established between the virtual reality device and a second party device associated with the second party via a telephone network using the connection information and without the second party device connecting to the virtual reality environment. The telephone network may be located external to the virtual reality environment. The second party device may connect to the telephone network without connecting to the virtual reality environment.
US09338399B1

A process includes receiving, from a user identity, instructions for output characteristics including one or more of audio characteristics for rendering or capturing audio data or visual characteristics for rendering or capturing visual data. The process also includes determining, in response to the received instructions, output controls which effect the one or more of audio characteristics or visual characteristics, and associating the output controls with an online identity or resource. The process further includes storing the associated output controls and detecting an interaction with the online identity or resource. Moreover, the process includes accessing, in response to the detection of the interaction, the stored output controls, and enabling an effect, based on the output controls, of one or more of the audio characteristics or the visual characteristics with respect to interaction with the online identity or resource.
US09338398B2

A transmission management system that manages image communications among a plurality of transmission terminals capable of performing at least voice communications. The transmission system includes a terminal management section that manages image communications state information indicating an image communications state of each of the transmission terminals for each terminal identification information for identifying each transmission terminal, a creation section that creates a specified communications control message causing the specified transmission terminal to control the image communications in accordance with the image communications state information, and a transmitting section that transmits the created communications control message to the transmission terminal caused to control the image communications.
US09338397B2

An information processing device includes an imaging unit configured to take an image; a first image processing unit configured to perform a first image process on the taken image; a sending unit configured to send the image, which has undergone the first image process, to a device that is a communication destination; and a changing unit configured to change a process content of the first image process, according to usage scene information received from the device that is the communication destination, the usage scene information specifying at least one usage scene among a plurality of usage scenes defined in advance.
US09338392B1

Integrated circuits with interpolating circuitry for deinterlacing video data are provided. Each frame of video data may include a field of pixels from every-other row of the frame. Edge detection circuitry may generate an edge map for the field. The edge map may be filtered to remove weak edges from the map. Cartesian Hough transformation circuitry may perform Cartesian Hough transforms on the filtered edge map to generate a Cartesian Hough space histogram. The Cartesian Hough space histogram may be filtered to remove bins having insufficient counts. Offset mask generation circuitry may generate an offset mask based on the Cartesian Hough space histogram. Interpolation circuitry may generate interpolated pixel values for missing rows of the field using pixels from the field and the offset mask. The interpolating circuitry may generate deinterlaced video data that is free from image artifacts along low-angle edges using the interpolated pixel values.
US09338382B2

Described is an electro-optical apparatus and method for correcting myopia that includes at least one adaptive lens, a power source, and an eye tracker. The eye tracker includes an image sensor and a processor operatively connected to the adaptive lens and the image sensor. The processor is configured to receive electrical signals from the image sensor and to control the correction power of the adaptive lens to correct myopia, with the correction power dependent on a user's gaze distance and myopia prescription strength. A lower-power-consumption method of eye glint tracking is further described.
US09338380B2

An image sensor may include a pixel array having image pixels for capturing image data and phase detection pixels for gathering phase information during automatic focusing operations. Phase detection pixels may form phase detection pixel pairs having first and second pixels with different angular responses. The first and second pixels may have color filters of the same color or may have color filters of different colors. The phase detection pixel pairs may be isolated from other phase detection pixel pairs in the array or may be arranged consecutively in a line. The phase detection pixels may, for example, be provided with color filters to match the color filter pattern of the pixel array. Processing circuitry may adjust red and green pixel signals from a phase detection pixel pair having a red and green color filter and may subsequently determine a phase difference using the adjusted pixel signals.
US09338378B2

To remove reset noise in pixels while the circuit configuration is kept in low power consumption, a device includes pixels arranged in row and column directions, in which each of the pixels includes a charge-voltage conversion terminal for voltage-converting signal charges transferred from a photoelectric conversion element, and a first reset means for resetting a voltage at the charge-voltage conversion terminal; first signal lines, each of which is connected to the pixels in each column; a scanning means for selecting one row among others; and a second reset means for resetting voltages at the signal lines. In the device, on each selected row, by voltage signals at the charge-voltage conversion terminals and the converted voltage signals from the transferred signal charges are read out to and stored in the signal lines in a floating potential state, and then are output.
US09338371B2

An imaging unit photographs an object, and obtains a visible light signal and an invisible light signal. A visible light luminance extraction unit extracts a visible light luminance signal. An invisible light luminance extraction unit extracts an invisible light luminance signal. A color signal extraction unit extracts color signals from the visible light signal and corrects the color signals. An image synthesis unit uses the visible light luminance signal and the invisible light luminance signal to synthesize a luminance signal and generates a color image using the synthesized luminance signal and the corrected color signals. In accordance with the value of the visible light luminance signal, the control unit controls a synthesis ratio between the visible and invisible light luminance signals, a gain for the color signals to be corrected in the color signal extraction unit, and color noise removal to be performed in the color signal extraction unit.
US09338368B2

An imaging apparatus includes: an imaging device configured to convert light into an electric signal and to output the electric signal; an exposure control section configured to variably control an exposure period of the imaging device with use of an electronic shutter; and a flicker detection section configured to detect a flicker based on variation in an output signal from the imaging device when speed of the electronic shutter is varied from relatively-high speed to relatively-low speed.
US09338360B2

An imaging apparatus whose posture is easily adjustable is provided. The imaging apparatus is configured to include an inclination detector detecting a degree of inclination of one of the imaging apparatus and an image captured by the imaging apparatus relative to a horizontal direction orthogonal to a direction of gravity; a display unit; a first inclination indicator unit allowing the display unit to display an indicator to indicate the degree of inclination according to a detection result from the inclination detector; a second inclination indicator unit notifying via sound according to a detection result from the inclination detector that the degree of inclination is over a predetermined value; and a selector unit allowing at least one of the first and second inclination indicator units to operate.
US09338350B2

An imaging system may include one or more optical filters that include metallic nanoparticles in a matrix. The metallic nanoparticle optical filters may form a color filter array for an imager in the imaging system. Different metallic nanoparticle optical filters may be formed for each desired color. Properties of the metallic nanoparticles and matrices may be varied to achieve the desired optical filtering properties and pass the desired wavelength bands to the imager. As examples, the type of metal, the size of the nanoparticles, the shape of the nanoparticles, and the type of matrix in which the nanoparticles are formed may all influence the optical properties of the resulting metallic nanoparticle optical film.
US09338348B2

A computerized method for computing the photo quality of a captured image in a device image acquisition system, comprising on-board combining of a plurality of quality indicators computed from said captured image and its previous image frames quality indicators and a confidence level for at least one of said quality indicators, and using a processor to determine, based on said combining, whether photo quality is acceptable and taking differential action depending on whether quality is or is not acceptable.
US09338346B2

A plurality of image signals for focus detection are generated from combined signals obtained by combining output signals of a pixel in which a plurality of photoelectric conversion areas obtained by dividing are arranged in a predetermined direction, in units of the photoelectric conversion areas, and the defocus amount is detected based on a correlation amount between the plurality of image signals. The combined signals are generated for each pixel block, for a plurality of pixel block lines in which pixel blocks each having a predetermined size are arranged in the predetermined direction. The pixel data amount for focus detection can be effectively reduced by, in the combining, making combining central points of signals, in the plurality of pixel block lines, shifted relative to each other or phases of positions of the pixel blocks different from each other.
US09338345B2

Techniques related to autofocus for imaging devices and, in particular, to generating reliability values associated with phase autofocus shifts are discussed. Such techniques may include performing a curve fitting based on accumulated phase difference values and phase shifts for phase autofocus images and generating a reliability value for a focus phase shift based on the curve fitting.
US09338331B2

Some embodiments are directed to a method, corresponding system, and corresponding apparatus for rendering a video and/or image display to amplify small motions through video magnification. Some embodiments include a new compact image pyramid representation, the Riesz pyramid, that may be used for real-time, high-quality phase-based video magnification. Some embodiments are less overcomplete than even the smallest two orientation, octave-bandwidth complex steerable pyramid. Some embodiments are implemented using compact, efficient linear filters in the spatial domain. Some embodiments produce motion magnified videos that are of comparable quality to those using the complex steerable pyramid. In some embodiments, the Riesz pyramid is used with phase-based video magnification. The Riesz pyramid may phase-shift image features along their dominant orientation, rather than along every orientation like the complex steerable pyramid.
US09338327B2

A reproduction color storing section stores pieces of color information in association with a color range that is stored in a color range storing section and includes a fluorescent color targeted for detention. Each piece of color information specifies a reproduction color candidate usable for reproducing the fluorescent color. The pixel extracting section extracts, from image data, a pixel having the fluorescent color based on the color range. A display control section reads, from the reproduction color storing section, the pieces of color information corresponding to the fluorescent color of the extracted pixel and displays the reproduction color candidates specified by the pieces of color information on a display section. The reproduction color receiving section receives a reproduction color selected by a user from the displayed reproduction color candidates. The fluorescent color reproducing section replaces color information of the extracted pixel with color information specifying the received reproduction color.
US09338321B2

An image reading apparatus includes a conveyor configured to convey a sheet in a conveying direction along a conveyance path; a first reading unit configured to read an image of a first surface of the sheet conveyed by the conveyor through a first reading surface; a second reading unit configured to read an image of a second surface opposite to the first surface of the sheet conveyed by the conveyor through a second reading surface; a first pressing member, which is made of a resin, is configured to face the first reading surface and is configured to urge the sheet passing through the conveyance path towards the first reading surface; and a second pressing member, which is made of metal, is configured to face the second reading surface and configured to urge the sheet passing through the conveyance path towards the second reading surface.
US09338318B2

This image reading apparatus includes an image reading unit, an average-density calculation unit, a statistical processing unit, and a blank-page determination unit. The image reading unit reads an original image and outputs image data of the original image. The average-density calculation unit calculates an average density value of block image data for a plurality of block images, which are obtained by dividing the original image, based on the image data output from the image reading unit. The statistical processing unit determines a characteristic value of the average density value distribution associated with the block images. The blank-page determination unit determines whether or not the original image is a blank image based on the characteristic value determined by the statistical processing unit.
US09338312B2

A portable handheld device includes an image sensor for capturing an image; an image sensor interface for receiving data from the image sensor; a DRAM for storing the data received by the image sensor interface; an image processor for storing the image the DRAM, the image processor including a plurality of micro-coded processing units; a central processor for instructing the image processor; and an orientation sensor for sensing a rotation of the protable handheld device at a time of sensing the image. The central processor is configured to load the plurality of micro-coded processing units of the image processor with micro-code for performing an affine transform of the data in the DRAM to rotate the data in the DRAM by a rotation corresponding to the rotation sensed by the orientation sensor.
US09338302B2

Notifying a participant in a teleconference while the teleconference is in progress. The telecommunication device receives audio data representing natural language spoken during a teleconference in progress. The telecommunication device determines if information associated with a participant in the teleconference in progress is in the natural language audio data. Responsive to determining that information associated with the participant in the teleconference in progress is in the natural language audio data, notifying, by the telecommunication device, the participant.
US09338301B2

Systems and methods for digitally linking multiple microphones and managing microphone signals are provided. Embodiments provide for digitally linking of multiple auto-mixer systems where a large number of microphones are required. In large auto-mixer systems, microphone input channels may be distributed among many devices. Rather than transmitting these signals individually to a central processing device for the auto-mixer, it is most efficient to distribute the audio signal processing functions of the automatic microphone mixer among multiple devices in an audio conferencing system. Subsequently, a smaller number of gated mixes of microphone signals may be transmitted between devices. Thus, embodiments of the present invention act to digitally link multiple microphone signals, arbitrating these signals, in order to enable distributed automatic microphone mixers to behave as a single mixer.
US09338297B2

Contact centers often employ a number of in-memory processes as one means of providing fast and efficient data processing. In-memory processes produce messages for reports or as inputs to other processes. While every available message producing option may be turned on, the processing overhead may be burdensome on even the most powerful computing platforms. As a result, contact centers selectively activate the production of messages. Furthermore, errors and/or inefficiencies may exist when a message produced is either not used or not producing the message content expected. Similarly, messages may be expected but the production of such a message has not been enabled and/or has been disabled, possibly inadvertently. By being able to apply a semantic level change, which in turn is mapped to individual reporting elements of reporting objects, the reporting objects may be modified and/or optimized to produce the desired data without requiring a programming to manually implement such changes.
US09338291B2

Inserting time zone information within an Integrated Services for Digital Network (ISDN) message header is provided. A time zone indicator corresponding to an origin of a communication is inserted into a time zone indicator field within a header of an ISDN message. The ISDN message with the inserted time zone indicator corresponding to the origin of the communication within the header is sent to another data processing system via a network.
US09338284B1

A system, method and non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that when read by a processor perform receiving a telephony connection request at a location in a telephony network, the location separated from an intended recipient of the telephony connection request by a target telephony network, determining addressing information regarding the intended recipient, the addressing information including at least routing information or a phone number, determining a status characteristic of the intended recipient based on the addressing information, based on the status characteristic, and determining whether the intended recipient would successfully receive the telephony connection request if the telephony connection request was forwarded to the intended recipient.
US09338278B2

To determine the distance and/or acoustic quality between a mobile device and a base unit, an acoustic signal is received by a microphone in one of said mobile device and base unit. A correlation of a second signal with the received acoustic signal is determined. An acoustic quality and/or a distance between the mobile device and the base unit is determined based on one or more peaks in the result of the step of determining the correlation.
US09338276B2

Embodiments of the invention can manage the activity of accessories connected to a mobile computing device. A mobile computing device can be connected to any number of accessories through wireless or physical connections. Processing and resource limitations at the mobile computing device limit the number of accessories that can feasibly interoperate with the mobile computing device at any one time. In some embodiments, a threshold value is placed on the number of accessories with which a mobile computing device can interoperate at any one time. This threshold value can depend on the types of accessories, the application(s) executing on the mobile computing device, the processing power, whether media output resource are being used, etc. In response to a threshold number of accessories being connected, the mobile computing device can deactivate accessories.
US09338274B2

A method of interacting with electronic devices in a locked state, and a handheld electronic device configured to permit interaction when in a locked state are provided. In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a handheld electronic device, comprising: a controller; a display screen connected to the controller; an input device connected to the controller; a communication subsystem connected to the controller for communication over a wireless network; a notification element connected to the controller; wherein the controller is configured for: initiating a locked state on the device in response to detection of a trigger condition; monitoring for one or more predetermined inputs via the input device when the device is in the locked state; and generating a notification via the notification element in response to detection of a predetermined input when the device is in the locked state.
US09338273B2

A method is provided for the use of a signaling protocol stack by telephony applications which run on different system software images. When a telecommunications session is conducted by a first telephony application, the first telephony application typically controls the state of the telecommunications session through a signaling protocol stack executing on the same system software image as the first telephony application. When control over the telecommunications session is passed from the first telephony application to a second telephony application, the second telephony applications begins controlling the state of the telecommunications session through the same signaling protocol stack by using remote procedure calls.
US09338272B2

A communication apparatus which is capable of preventing occurrence of events arising from improper connection. A voltage being applied to an interface for connecting a phone is detected, and it is determined whether or not a value of the detected voltage is equal to or greater than a value determined in advance. When it is determined that the value of the detected voltage is equal to or greater than the value determined in advance, a user is notified that there is a possibility of improper connection. When it is determined that the value of the detected voltage is not equal to or greater than the value determined in advance, a power feeding unit starts feeding power to the interface.
US09338269B1

Systems and methods for controlling the lighted display of a mobile device are disclosed. The backlight of or active power supplied to a display is reduced or deactivated after a certain period based on the application running on the mobile device, rather than being a uniform deactivation time. The system and method can be used on a variety of mobile devices having a display screen.
US09338267B2

A photographic assist apparatus of a mobile communications unit includes a tank, a shaft and a rod. A groove is formed at the bottom of the inner side of the tank. The shape of the groove is designed corresponding to the shape of the rod, for accommodating the rod. A first and a second button portions are disposed at two ends of the rod respectively. And a central portion is located between the first and the second button portions. The shaft is disposed in the groove. The rod has a hole located at the central portion thereof for the shaft setting through. When a user presses the first button portion, the rod is rotated to turn a small rotation angle by taking the shaft as an axis, to drive the second button portion moving, and the rotation angle is limited by the gap between the groove and the rod.
US09338263B2

Processing a received multiplexed data packet on a downlink channel, in a high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) communication, utilizing protocol layers is disclosed. The multiplexed data packet may have multiple data packets for two medium access control (MAC) entities. A header of the multiplexed data packet may indicate a number of data packets in the multiplexed data packet and a size of each of the multiple data packets.
US09338260B2

A protocol conversion apparatus and a protocol conversion method. The protocol conversion apparatus includes a first control to analyze first protocol data received through a first channel, a protocol mapper to determine whether protocol conversion is required for the first protocol data, and a second control to create second protocol data associated with the first protocol data based on a result of the determination, and to transfer the second protocol to a second channel.
US09338239B2

A method and apparatus for configuring electronic devices is provided. The method includes collecting, at a device management apparatus, user information regarding a user within a predetermined area; and controlling access to an electronic device based on the user information.
US09338236B2

In order to determine for a programmable logic controller whether or not a communication input is blocked, a nominal/actual comparison between the communication input and predefined rules of a nominal communication is performed, a reaction matrix being used for case differentiation.
US09338235B2

A method for providing an in-vehicle notification service on a head unit device is provided. The method includes receiving a notification message including event information regarding an event from a mobile device, upon an occurrence of the event; generating an action request message requesting execution of an application related to the event based on the event information and transmitting the action request message to the mobile device; and displaying a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to a user according to the execution of the application.
US09338229B2

Methods are provided for transferring an application to a virtual electronic device. One method may include receiving an application to be relocated from a first local electronic device to a virtual electronic device. The method may further include, establishing a first anchor between the first local electronic device and the relocated application. The first anchor may be adapted to act as a conduit between the first local electronic device and the application. The method may further include, requesting local application data from the first local electronic device via the first anchor in response to an interrupt from the application on the virtual electronic device.
US09338222B2

A method and system for aggregating user data and providing recommendations for digital content or in conjunction with a social network is disclosed.
US09338204B2

Techniques and mechanisms described herein facilitate the delivery of prioritized side channel data to a client machine. According to various embodiments, base layer data may be transmitted to the client machine. The base layer data may include a plurality of base layer data segments. The base layer data segments may be capable of being used to present a media content item at a first quality level. Side channel data may be transmitted to the client machine. The side channel data may include a plurality of side channel data segments. Each side channel data segment may correspond with a base layer data segment. The side channel data segments may be capable of being combined with the corresponding base layer data segments to present the media content item at second quality level. The second quality level may be being greater than the first quality level.
US09338195B2

Systems and methods of preventing an Internet service provider from identifying a stream of data packets as carrying a voice over Internet protocol telephony communication can make use of encryption techniques to prevent the Internet service provider from examining the content of the data packets. Also, multiple communications channels may be established between a telephony device and elements of an IP telephony system. A stream of data packets bearing the media of an IP telephony communication is then separated into sub-streams, and each sub-stream is sent through a different one of the communications channels. This prevents an Internet service provider from identifying a stream of data packets as bearing the media of an IP telephony communication based on a pattern in the data traffic.
US09338175B1

Methods of providing cyber-security services to a plurality of customers include providing a platform that includes a software program that is configured to run on a processor to implement a user interface that is accessible by customers. The software program includes an application programming interface that is configured to allow a platform operator and third party providers to offer computer implemented cyber-security services to the customers through the user interface. Integration standards for the application programming interface are provided to the third party providers, the integration standards specifying how the computer implemented cyber-security services can be integrated into the platform. First and second computer implemented cyber-security service that are provided by respective first and second of the third party providers are accepted into the platform, each of which is self-certified by the third party provider as being operable through the platform. The first and second computer implemented cyber-security services are then delivered to respective first and second of the customers through the platform.
US09338169B2

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium operating in a mobile device server having computer instructions to execute a web server application in the mobile device server. The web server application can be operable to detect a resource control manager while roaming in a communication zone of the resource control manager, and to transmit a pairing key to the resource control manager. The web server application can also be operable to receive from the resource control manager authorization to pair with one or more resources selected by the resource control manager according to the pairing key, and to establish communications with the one or more resources selected by the resource control manager. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09338165B2

Techniques are described for a proxy system to provide a client device with transparent access to multiple network file servers. The proxy system may appear to the client device as a single network file server. The proxy may be configured to forward requests received from the client device to multiple servers as well as provide responses from the server back to the client. Further, the proxy system may authenticate itself, as the client, to each of the multiple network servers using authentication credentials supplied by the client. After prompting a user to submit credentials to establish a session with a first network server, the proxy system may send a session timeout error code, prompting the client to submit a fresh authentication request used by the proxy system to establish a session with a second network server.
US09338157B1

In one implementation, a server system receives, from a device of a user, a request to add a credential issued by an organization and authentication information that has been authorized, independently of the server system, by the organization that issued the credential. The server system identifies the organization related to the request to add the credential and identifies communication information established for the organization. The server system provides, using the communication information and to a system operated by the organization, the authentication information and receives, using the communication information and from the system operated by the organization, credential information for the user. The server system adds one or more credentials to an account of the user based on the received credential information.
US09338156B2

A system and method for providing secondary-factor authentication with a third party application that can include enrolling a device application instance of an account into a secondary-factor authentication service on behalf of a service provider that includes at the secondary-factor authentication service, receiving a secondary factor of authentication enrollment request of an account, the request received from the service provider, transmitting an activation code, and pairing the device application instance with the account through the activation code; receiving an authentication request identifying the account; transmitting an authentication request to the device application instance paired with the account; validating a response to the application request; and transmitting an assessment to the service provider.
US09338152B2

A personal information server provides personal information about an individual to a third-party only when authorized by the individual through use of a previously authenticated computing device. The personal information server authenticates both the computing device used by the third-party to access the personal data and the device used by the individual to grant or deny such access using highly secure digital fingerprints of each. The individual can allow the third-party multiple instances of access to the personal information within restrictions specified by the individual. Other advantages also arise from large-scale tracking of which devices access and control personal information of many people—particularly with respect to identifying and preventing fraud and identity theft.
US09338143B2

A computer-implemented method for coordinating content transformation includes receiving, at a computer server subsystem and from a web server system, computer code to be served in response to a request from a computing client over the internet; modifying the computer code to obscure operation of the web server system that could be determined from the computer code; generating transformation information that is needed in order to reverse the modifications of the computer code to obscure the operation of the web server system; and serving to the computing client the modified code and the reverse transformation information.
US09338142B2

A method for verifying the security of a device for generating private and public cryptographic keys. Such a method includes generating at least one pair of private and public cryptographic keys by the device from at least one random variable coming from a random-variable generator; transmitting at least one constituent element of a generated private or public key to at least one device for verifying; and determining a level of security of the device from the at least one transmitted element, as a function of pieces of information stored by the device for verifying.
US09338140B2

A secure data parser is provided that may be integrated into any suitable system for securely storing and communicating data. The secure data parser parses data and then splits the data into multiple portions that are stored or communicated distinctly. Encryption of the original data, the portions of data, or both may be employed for additional security. The secure data parser may be used to protect data in motion by splitting original data into portions of data that may be communicated using multiple communications paths.
US09338133B1

A method, system, and medium are provided for locating an optimal security gateway. A default gateway receives a request to access a macrocell. The default security gateway obtains a current location for each macrocell in response to a security gateway discovery function. Based on the response, routes to a best security gateway for each macrocell are determined. A best security gateway is identified based on factors that include the distance from a picocell connected to the default security gateway having backhaul traffic to offload to the appropriate macrocells connected to the best security gateway.
US09338118B2

Provided is an apparatus and method for transmitting a push notification message. To this end, connection is performed with a mobile terminal, and if a push notification message is received from a push notification service providing server, the received push notification message is transmitted to the mobile terminal, and when disconnected from the mobile terminal, a push notification message received after the disconnection is stored, such that transmission of the push notification message can be guaranteed.
US09338093B2

A device includes a memory that stores multiple different types of applications and a data table, and a processing unit. The processing unit is configured to receive configuration data that sets up multiple network interfaces on the device, and assigns one of multiple different network addresses to each of the multiple network interfaces, store the configuration data in the data table, execute a first type of application of the multiple different types of applications, receive one or more first packets from executing the first type of application of the multiple different types of applications, retrieve a first Virtual Private Network (VPN) identifier associated with a first VPN from the data table based on the first type of application of the multiple different types of applications, and send the one or more first packets via the first VPN identified by the first VPN identifier.
US09338088B2

Aspects of the subject technology relate to a method for identifying a data stream. In some implementations, the method can include steps for generating a first globally-unique identifier (GUID), associating the first GUID with a first data stream comprising a first plurality of data packets and sending each of the first plurality of data packets to a remote device. In certain aspects, the method can also include steps for receiving a second plurality of data packets from the remote device, wherein each of the second plurality of data packets comprises a second GUID and comparing the second GUID with the first GUID to determine if the second plurality of data packets is associated with the first data stream. Systems and machine-readable media are also provided.
US09338086B2

In one embodiment, a method comprises creating, in a computing network, a loop-free routing topology comprising a plurality of routing arcs for reaching a destination network node, each routing arc comprising a first network node as a first end of the routing arc, a second network node as a second end of the routing arc, and at least a third network node configured for routing any network traffic along the routing arc toward the destination node via any one of the first or second ends of the routing arc, at least one of the first, second, or third network nodes are implemented as a ring-based network having a prescribed ring topology; and establishing loop-free label switched paths for reaching the destination network node via the routing arcs of the loop-free routing topology, the label switched paths independent and distinct from any attribute of the prescribed ring topology.
US09338083B2

The preferred embodiments of the present invention are directed to a network tracing engine for tracing and depicting a topology (i.e. a network configuration) of a network using, for example, a network diagram. The network tracing engine preferably queries/telnets to interfaces of routers associated with one or more source-to-destination paths in a network concurrently and independently to ensure proper configuration of the routers and/or to generate a true depiction of a routing configuration without redundantly querying routers.
US09338077B1

Address resolution in an unnumbered, pseudo-point-to-point network utilizes address transmissions, such as an address advertisement or an address response, in order to obtain address information for use in frame addressing. In one embodiment, routers communicate using a multi-access data link layer protocol, such as Ethernet, but in a physical configuration which restricts data link layer communications to going between only two nodes, thereby negating the multi-access application of the protocol. With only one possible terminal node, address space is conserved by use of unnumbered network interfaces.
US09338074B2

A method, computer readable medium for diagnosing wireless network performance via a customer endpoint device are disclosed. For example, the method receives a request to perform a wireless network performance diagnostic test that is initiated by a customer endpoint device, establishes a session with the customer endpoint device, performs the wireless network performance diagnostic test in response to the request via the session using a packet generated by the customer endpoint device and provides diagnostic test data gathered from the wireless network performance diagnostic test to the customer endpoint device.
US09338057B2

Examples are disclosed for searching data associated with devices in a heterogeneous data center. In some examples, data may be gathered for a database. The data may be associated with a heterogeneous data center having devices from multiple vendors. The database may be indexed to link data for a given device to an attribute, association or usage context for the given device. Responsive to a search request, data for a given device from among the devices in the heterogeneous data center may be provided based on a comparison of the search request to the indexed database. Other examples are described and claimed.
US09338046B2

In one embodiment, methods and systems for port pooling are described. An interface may communicate with at least one physical server. The at least one physical server may host a plurality of virtual servers and be connectable via a plurality of gateway ports to a storage area network (SAN). A virtual server manager configured to arrange the plurality of gateway ports in a plurality of port pools, define a virtual server group including a plurality of virtual servers, associate each virtual server with one or more port pools, the one or more port pools defining available gateway ports for access by the particular virtual server; and provide configuration instructions to allow the particular virtual server to communicate with the SAN through the available gateway ports.
US09338025B2

As described above, when a communication control device receives a message transmitted from a user terminal, the communication control device specifies a destination of the message from contents of the message, specifies a type of communication service available by a user of the specified destination, and creates a message suitable for the specified type of service. Then, the communication control device transmits the created message to the specified destination.
US09338000B2

There is proposed a method of generating secret and public keys vDGHV with enhanced security, implemented in a device including at least one microprocessor and a memory. The method includes generating a secret key SK corresponding the generation of a prime random number p or product of prime numbers.
US09337999B2

A system for application usage continuum across client devices and platforms includes a first client device configured to execute a first instance of an application and a second client device configured to execute a second instance of the application. The first client device is configured to receive an indication to transfer operation of the first instance of the application running on the first client device to the second instance of the application on the second client device. The first client device is further configured to generate state information and data associated with execution of the first instance of the application on the first client device and cause the state information to be sent to the second client device to enable the second instance of the application on the second client device to continue operation of the application on the second client device using the state information from the first client device.
US09337996B2

In a data recovery circuit, the position of an edge is detected from parallel data acquired by oversampling data received through serial communication, the position of a next edge is estimated, the estimated position of the edge is compared with the detected position of the actual edge, and the sampling position of the parallel data is adjusted based on a result of the comparison. As a result, an oversampling clock can be set to a maximum frequency, and accordingly, the precision of the data recovery circuit can be improved.
US09337988B2

A method for supporting a mobility of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: performing the mobility with a target cell; receiving mobility state estimation (MSE) basis information; updating a mobility counter of the UE based on the MSE basis information; performing the MSE by estimating a mobility state of the UE based on the updated mobility counter of the UE; and scaling a mobility parameter based on the estimated mobility state.
US09337981B2

In a terminal that communicates with a base station, in the case where a physical downlink control channel or an enhanced physical downlink control channel, which is associated with a physical downlink shared channel on a first cell, and an enhanced physical downlink control channel associated with a physical downlink shared channel on a second cell are detected, one physical uplink control channel resource is selected from a physical uplink control channel resource configured for the physical downlink shared channel on the first cell and a physical uplink control channel resource configured for the physical downlink shared channel on the second cell.
US09337976B2

Aspects describe utilizing a dedicated reference signal for supporting Network MIMO, distributed MIMO, Coordinated MultiPoint, and the like. A data modulation symbol is transmitting in the same direction as a pilot modulation symbol is transmitted. Two or more wireless devices can coordinate communications such that transmission of the same pilot modulation symbol and the same data modulation symbol are transmitted to a device in different directions, each direction associated with a wireless device and intended for a particular mobile device. Cluster-specific scrambling and/or user-group specific scrambling can be employed and a scrambling code can be communicated prior to transmission of the pilot modulation symbols and data modulation symbols.
US09337967B2

The present invention proposes a method for activating secondary carriers in addition to the primary carrier in a wireless communication system supporting carrier aggregation technology. Through the present invention, the UE sorts the operations for activating an SCell into two groups that are executed at different timings, thereby facilitating communication without malfunctioning.
US09337965B2

Various embodiments provide for systems and methods for signal conversion of one modulated signal to another modulated signal using demodulation and then re-modulation. According to some embodiments, a signal receiving system may comprise an I/Q demodulator that demodulates a first modulated signal to an in-phase (“I”) signal and a quadrature (“Q”) signal, an I/Q signal adjustor that adaptively adjusts the Q signal to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a transitory signal that is based on a second modulated signal, and an I/Q modulator that modulates the I signal and the adjusted Q signal to the second modulated signal. To increase the SNR, the Q signal may be adjusted based on a calculated error determined for the transitory signal during demodulation by a demodulator downstream from the I/Q modulator.
US09337962B2

Certain aspects of the present disclosure propose techniques for a continuous communications mode in a wireless communications system. The technique may involve processing bundles of transmission time interval (TTI) transmissions having transmission times that are mapped to voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) arrival times, wherein the bundled TTI transmissions are processed without acknowledgements to indicate the bundled TTI transmissions have been successfully received.
US09337959B2

Systems and methods for detecting defect propagation in a networked environment comprising a defect detection component to detect defects in an aggregate signal and/or in individual signals; and a replacement signal component to generate a maintenance signal to replace defective signals detected by the defect detection component. The maintenance signal can be a uniform signal type regardless of a type associated with a defective signal. The maintenance signal can replace a defective signal during aggregation, by an aggregation component. In another aspect, the maintenance signal can replace the defective signal during de-aggregation
US09337958B2

A modem for communicating application data over a voice channel comprises an adaptive modulator, a mixer, and a vocoder. The adaptive modulator modulates application data as a function of a source application of the application data and feedback information of the voice channel. The modulated data is inputted to the mixer. The vocoder processes the mixed data for transmission through the voice channel.
US09337955B2

A method includes accepting an input code word, which was produced by encoding data with an Error Correction Code (ECC), for decoding by a hardware-implemented ECC decoder. The input code word is pre-processed to produce a pre-processed code word, such that a first number of bit transitions that occur in the hardware-implemented ECC decoder while decoding the pre-processed code word is smaller than a second number of the bit transitions that would occur in the ECC decoder in decoding the input code word. The pre-processed code word is decoded using the ECC decoder, and the data is recovered from the decoded pre-processed code word.
US09337937B2

An optical signal is received at a coherent optical receiver. The received optical signal is converted to a first electrical signal and a second electrical signal through a first photodetector and a second photodetector, respectively. The first electrical signal is input into a first single input variable gain amplifier, and the second electrical signal is input into a second single input variable gain amplifier. A gain of at least one of the first single input variable gain amplifier or the second single input variable gain amplifier is controlled to balance the output of the first single input variable gain amplifier and the output of the second single input variable gain amplifier. The output of the first single input variable gain amplifier and the output of the second single input variable gain amplifier are input into a differential amplifier. A receiver output is obtained at an output of the differential amplifier.
US09337934B1

A coherent receiver comprises an ingress signal path having an ingress line-side interface, and an ingress host-side interface. The ingress signal path is configured to receive an analog signal vector at the ingress line-side interface, to demodulate the analog signal vector, and to output a digital data signal at the ingress host-side interface. The coherent receiver also comprises clock and timing circuitry configured to receive a single reference clock signal and to provide a plurality of modified ingress path clock signals to different components of the ingress signal path, the plurality of modified ingress path clock signals derived from the single reference clock signal and the plurality of modified ingress path clock signals having different clock rates. The receiver, transmitter, or transceiver can operate in a plurality of programmable operating modes to accommodate different modulation/de-modulation schemes, error correction code schemes, framing/mapping protocols, or other programmable features.
US09337913B2

System and method for enhancing performance of a wireless communication system, including communicating between an access point and at least one close client over a first RF channel, and communicating between an access point and at least one remote client via a repeater. The communication between the access point and the at least one remote client via the repeater includes communicating between an access point and the repeater over the first RF channel and communicating between the repeater and the at least one remote client over a second RF channel. The communication between the access point and the at least one close client over the first RF channel is substantially contemporaneous with the communication between the repeater and the at least one remote client over the second RF channel.
US09337911B2

An approach for Soft-output K-Best MIMO detection comprises computing an estimated symbol vector and Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR) values for transmitted bits. The approach includes a relevant discarded paths selection process, a last-stage on-demand expansion process, and a relaxed LLR computation process. The relevant discarded paths selection process includes analyzing the K-Best paths and discarded paths at each intermediate tree level and selecting only those discarded paths for further processing that will help in LLR computation for at least one of the transmitted bits. The last-stage on-demand expansion process includes expanding K paths at the tree level 2NT−1 (NT=number of transmit antennas) on-demand to only 2K−1 lowest Partial Euclidean Distance (PED) paths at last tree level 2NT. The relaxed LLR computation scheme includes approximating LLR computations by assuming that discarded path PED is greater than or equal K-Best path PED.
US09337905B2

An inductive structure includes a power coil and a data coil. The data coil is substantially centered within the power coil. A first portion of the data coil conducts current in a first direction. A second portion of the data coil conducts current in a second direction opposite the first direction. The first portion of the data coil is connected at a node to the second portion of the data coil. The node is coupled to a ground.
US09337900B2

To improve the usability of an electronic device, the electronic device includes: a first communication unit located near a user; a receive unit configured to receive data through communication via a body of the user or near field communication between a second communication unit located in a member used by the user and the first communication unit; and a recording unit configured to record data pertaining to the member when communication is established between the first communication unit and the second communication unit.
US09337890B2

A transceiver has a first antenna and a second antenna for transmitting alternatively a frequency-hopped sounding reference signal (SRS) over a sub-band of a bandwidth at a time. The transceiver includes a determination unit for determining whether a number of sub-bands in the bandwidth is odd or even, a transmitter for transmitting the SRS continuously from the first antenna, if the number of sub-bands is even, and a receiver for receiving a response to the transmitting.
US09337888B2

Message symbols are sent radio transmission using an ultra wideband transmitter emitting a pulse-phase-modulated transmission signal that has isolated pulses, each of which has a time offset in relation to a time pattern, which time offset is dependent on a message symbol that the pulse represents. The transmission signal has a line spectrum having a multiplicity of modulated frequency lines. The transmission signal is received at a receiver, which obtains a narrowband signal from a single one of the modulated frequency lines. The modulated frequency line includes a bandwidth that corresponds to less than twice a pattern frequency of the time pattern. A phase of the narrowband signal is ascertained at predetermined instants and the respectively ascertained phase is associated with one of a plurality of predetermined message symbols.
US09337887B2

There is proposed a method and system for determining a phase-alignment between first and second clock signals of differing frequency. The method comprise: sampling a value of the first clock signal at instants defined by an edge of the second clock signal; defining a sequence of the sampled values of the first clock signal, wherein consecutive sample values in the sequence are separated by N cycles of the second clock signal, and wherein N is an integer greater than 1; and detecting the occurrence of a predetermined pattern of values in the defined sequence.
US09337880B2

A method and apparatus for operating a bypass switch (124, 202) for bypassing a PTT switch (120) when a two-way radio device system (100) is to be operated in a hands-free mode responsive to a voltage applied to a microphone input line (114) in a pre-selected range.
US09337876B2

A digital wireless transmitter is provided. The digital wireless transmitter includes a serial-to-parallel converter, a delta-sigma modulator (DSM), and a radio frequency (RF) converter. The serial-to-parallel converter is configured to interpolate a serial digital input signal and to output N parallel signals, where N is a positive integer greater than one. The DSM is configured to perform delta-sigma modulation on the N parallel signals in parallel. The RF converter is configured to arrange N delta-sigma modulated signals into K parallel signals, to delay the K parallel signals by different delay times, and to convert delayed signals into an RF signal, where K is a positive integer greater than N.
US09337873B2

Miscorrection detection for error correction codes using bit reliabilities includes receiving a plurality of reliabilities corresponding to respective ones of a plurality of read values, receiving one or more proposed corrections corresponding to one or more of the plurality of read values, and determining a miscorrection metric based at least in part on one or more of the plurality of reliabilities corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of read values.
US09337871B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for processing data. The method includes: performing code block segmentation on a data block to obtain multiple first blocks, wherein a difference between numbers of bits of any two first blocks in the multiple first blocks is not more than 1 bit; determining multiple second blocks according to a padding bit and the multiple first blocks, wherein a value of the padding bit is a preset value; adding consecutive N−K fixed bits to each of the multiple second blocks to obtain multiple third blocks, wherein a value of the fixed bit is a preset value, and N−K≧0; and performing polar encoding according to the multiple third blocks.
US09337868B2

At a receiver side, to enhance the performance of concatenated LDPC and TCM coding, an iterative decoding between TCM decoder and LDPC decoder enables improvement in the reliability of received LLRs of each symbol after each iteration. A SOVA output of the TCM is used for LDPC decoding, and then the updated LLRs from LDPC decoder are further looped back to the TCM decoder for the next iteration. In such a manner, the decoding performance could be significantly improved after just several iterations.
US09337856B1

Methods and Systems for calibrating a Single Ramp Multiple Slope Analog to Digital Converter (SRMS ADC), the ADC including a counter and a plurality N of charge and discharge elements of different time constant i.e. slope, wherein the relationships between slopes is defined as a function of the shallowest slope SN such that S1=K1·SN, S2=K2·SN, . . . SN-1=KN-1·SN-1 where the K values are integers, and the code count for conversion is C=K1·C1+K2·C2+ . . . KN-1·CN-1+CN where each Ci represents an observed counts per each slope for a conversion, including; sampling for a first calibration pass a voltage with the ADC, discharging the voltage on the steepest slope for a number of counter counts C11, charging and discharging on the remaining slopes up to K2 to KN-1 for a number of counts per slope, Ci1 e.g. C21 to CN-1,1, discharging the remaining voltage residue on the shallowest slope and note the count, CN,1, sampling the same voltage on the ADC for a second calibration pass, discharging the voltage on the steepest slope for a modified number of counter counts C12=C11+/−X, modifying the number of charge/discharge counts time Ci2 for the slopes K2 to KN-1 to adjust for the change expected from the modified steep slope discharge to reach the shallowest slope with the same expected residue as for the first calibration pass, discharging the remaining voltage residue on the shallowest slope and note the actual count, CN,2, adjusting K1 to K1a based on the difference between CN,1 and CN,2, and; using C=K1a·C1+K2·C2+ . . . KN-1·CN-1+CN as the count code for conversion.
US09337851B2

An electronic circuit is described in which a charge pump-based digital phase locked loop circuit is augmented with additional circuitry to monitor and control noise and power consumption. The additional circuitry includes a comparator and a measurement stage configured to measure and adjust a unity gain bandwidth of the phase locked loop. In one embodiment, the measurement stage includes two frequency-to-current converters and associated current mirrors.
US09337850B2

Settling time may be reduced or eliminated for a phase-locked loop (ADPLL). An oscillator model provides proper settings that are applied to compensate both the frequency response and the phase response. A hardware device may include a Digital Controlled Oscillator (DCO); and a DCO model device with a processor, wherein the processor is configured to calculate a frequency for the DCO by searching for the frequency based upon operational parameters of the DCO, compare the calculated frequency to a measured frequency, and compensate, based upon the comparison, an ADPLL to decrease a settling time.
US09337847B2

An oscillator used in RF system. The oscillator includes a pair of transistors to which source terminals are interconnected and to which drain and gate terminals are coupled by a positive feedback loop comprising an oscillator tank, wherein the source terminals of the transistors are connected to a current source configured to control physical parameters of the oscillator.
US09337839B2

Disclosed are a pre-driver having a modified circuit for gate pulse modulation and a power circuit including the same. The pre-driver includes a level shifter that outputs pulses having a phase difference and a gate pulse modulator that performs gate pulse modulation. The gate pulse modulator outputs a modulated gate pulse obtained by modulating a pulse by a reference voltage, and has a structure in which the number of switches provided therein is reduced.
US09337834B2

A high-linearity CMOS input buffer circuit is provided for neutralizing non-linearity of follower circuits' transconductance and output impedance resulting from input signals' variation. In doing so, the linearity of CMOS input buffer is improved. The buffer circuit includes a CMOS input follower circuit, a linearity improvement circuit of follower transistor, a current source load, and a linearity improvement circuit of load impedance. The buffer circuit is fabricated in standard CMOS process, featuring low cost, simplicity and strong linearity at high frequency. It has wide applications in analog and hybrid analog-digital CMOS ICs requiring high linearity input buffer.
US09337833B2

In one embodiment, a method comprises generating, by a control unit, a first drive signal and a second drive signal. The method further includes emitting, by a touch sensor, a first electric field that extends in a plurality of directions in response to reception of the first drive signal. The method also includes attenuating, by a conductive shield, a portion of the first electric field that extends from the touch sensor towards the conductive shield by generating a second electric field in response to reception of the second drive signal.
US09337830B2

A virtual world processing apparatus and method. Information on sensor capability is converted to binary data and then transmitted, or converted to eXtensible Markup Language (XML) data, or the XML data is further converted to binary data and then transmitted. Accordingly, data transmission rate may be increased and a low bandwidth may be used. In a data-receiving adaptation real world to virtual world (RV) engine, complexity of the adaptation RV engine may be reduced by omitting an XML parser.
US09337820B1

A duty cycle adjustment apparatus includes a duty cycle adjustment determination module configured to determine an adjustment to a duty cycle of a clock signal, and includes a clock delay module configured to receive the clock signal, to delay the clock signal through first and second delay stage modules (with a first and a second plurality of delay paths, respectively) based on the duty cycle adjustment determined by the duty cycle adjustment determination module, and to output the delayed clock signal. The second plurality of delay paths have a greater delay difference between each of the corresponding delay paths than the first plurality of delay paths. The apparatus further includes a duty cycle adjustment module configured to receive the clock signal and the delayed clock signal, to adjust the duty cycle of the clock signal based on the delayed clock signal, and to output a duty cycle adjusted clock signal.
US09337809B2

A semiconductor integrated circuit includes an identification information storage, an intermediate clock generator and an operating clock generator. The identification information storage stores identification information of the semiconductor integrated circuit. The intermediate clock generator generates an intermediate clock having a frequency higher than that of a reference clock using the reference clock input to the semiconductor integrated circuit from the outside of the semiconductor integrated circuit. The operating clock generator generates the operating clock having a frequency higher than that of the reference clock and lower than that of the intermediate clock in synchronization with a timing allotted according to the identification information stored in the identification information storage, using the intermediate clock.
US09337797B2

A high frequency module includes a multilayer substrate, a power amplifier, thermal vias, and a bandpass filter. The power amplifier is mounted on the multilayer substrate. The thermal vias are provided in the multilayer substrate directly below the power amplifier and configured to dissipate heat of the power amplifier. The bandpass filter is provided in the multilayer substrate and connected to the power amplifier. The thermal via defines an inductor included in the bandpass filter. The bandpass filter overlaps the power amplifier when viewed in a lamination direction of the multilayer substrate.
US09337791B1

A method and system is presented for coordinating the transmission of supplemental digital data to accompany broadcast data, and in particular, analog radio broadcasts, among a plurality of broadcasters. The supplemental digital data may provide information about the particular broadcast data being transmitted (i.e. cut data) or may be supplemental to such data (i.e. news, weather and traffic data). The supplemental digital data to be presented is sorted based on particular algorithms which may take into account broadcaster-specified criteria such as target audience, time of day, type of broadcast data presented, and the like. The supplemental digital data may be audio data, visual data, or audio-visual data for presentation with the broadcast data. The supplemental digital data may further be advertisement data. The advertisement data may be sold by the broadcasters or the party coordinating the IBOC transmission of the supplemental digital data. The supplemental digital data may play simultaneously with muted broadcast data or at a user-specified time.
US09337788B2

There is disclosed a power supply stage, and a corresponding method, comprising: a plurality of amplifiers for amplifying an input signal, each amplifier receiving a power supply voltage; a common selection means for selecting one of a plurality of power supply voltages in dependence on a reference signal representing a desired power supply voltage; and a plurality of adjusting means, corresponding to the plurality of amplifiers, adapted to generate an adjusted selected power supply voltage for a respective amplifier tracking the reference signal in dependence on the one selected power supply voltage and the reference signal.
US09337780B2

An amplifier (50) for voice or audio signals, and particularly for headset applications, uses a low gm amplifier (54) for initially charging an output node (OUT) at the beginning of a power-on phase. After charging the output node, a main amplifier (56) is enabled to amplify the voice or audio signal. At power-down, a sample-and-hold circuit (58) drives an output transistor to discharge an AC coupling capacitor (20). Thus, spikes at the output node are eliminated and an external filtering capacitor is not needed.
US09337775B1

In accordance with an embodiment, a circuit includes a low noise amplifier transistor disposed on a first integrated circuit, a single pole multi throw (SPMT) switch disposed on a second integrated circuit, and a bypass switch coupled between a control node of the low noise amplifier transistor and an output node of the low noise amplifier transistor. The SPMT switch couples a plurality of module input terminals to a control node of the low noise amplifier transistor, and the bypass switch including a first switch coupled between the control node of the low noise amplifier transistor and an intermediate node, a second switch coupled between the intermediate node and the output node of the low noise amplifier transistor, and a third switch coupled between the intermediate node and a first reference node. The first integrated circuit and the second integrated circuit are disposed on a substrate.
US09337771B2

The present invention provides a mounting bracket for a junction box utilized for solar cell, a junction box with the mounting bracket, and the solar cell module. The mounting bracket for the junction box comprises a joint arm, an insert strip, and a hook. The insert strip comprises a first elastic strip connecting with the joint arm, a joint strip connecting with the first elastic strip and bending towards the joint arm, and a second elastic strip connecting with the joint arm. The insert strip is used for inserting into the frame. At least one of the first and the second elastic strips of the insert strip comprise a first elastic block.
US09337770B2

A long-side frame piece has a cylindrical portion. The cylindrical portion is formed from one side end along the direction in which the long-side frame piece extends to the other side end. The cylindrical portion has threaded holes. The threaded holes are provided inside a through hole. Screws are inserted in the threaded holes. A short-side frame piece has a plate-shaped portion. The plate-shaped portion covers the end of the cylindrical portion in the direction in which the long-side frame piece extends. Openings are formed in the plate-shaped portion, through which pass the screws inserted in the threaded holes. The plate-shaped portion has a cutout exposing a portion of the module body from a first surface toward a second surface, formed closer to a first direction side than the threaded holes of the through hole.
US09337756B2

The present disclosure provides an apparatus and a method for controlling a vibration of a driving motor in a vehicle by generating a vibration reduction torque using gains that correspond to a torque variation and an RPM of a driving motor. The method includes storing a gain table in which gain values that correspond to a torque variation and a revolution per minute (RPM) of a driving motor in a vehicle are recorded. The torque variation of the driving motor and the RPM of the driving motor are detected. The gain values are determined using the detected torque variation and RPM of the driving motor based on the gain table and reducing. In addition, a vibration of the driving motor is reduced based on the determined gain values.
US09337755B2

A motor control apparatus has an inverter circuit having a plurality of pairs of upper and lower arms provided so as to correspond to the number of phases, and switching elements provided on each of the upper arms and the lower arms of each phase that drive a motor on the basis of ON or OFF operations of the respective switching elements, a single current detector that detects a current of the motor flowing through the inverter circuit, and a duty calculator that calculates duties of a PWM signals for turning the switching elements ON or OFF on the basis of a deviation between a current value of the current detected by the current detector and a target current value.
US09337744B1

An AC-to-DC converter involves a rectifier, an inductor, a storage capacitor, a switch, and a microcontroller. In a capacitor pre-charge operation, the periodicity and voltage amplitude of an AC supply voltage are determined. Based on this, the microcontroller identifies one of a plurality of stored sequences. Each sequence is a list of values. The microcontroller turns off the switch on AC supply voltage zero crossings and turns on the switch in accordance with the values. As a result, a sequence of identical pulses of charging current flows into the storage capacitor. Each pulse passes in a current path from the rectifier, through the inductor, through the capacitor, through the switch, and back to the rectifier. During the pre-charge operation, the microcontroller does not measure the capacitor voltage and use that to calculate when to the turn the switch on next, but rather the sequence of precalculated stored values is used.
US09337735B2

A DC/DC converter is disclosed. The DC/DC converter includes a first heavy-load electronic switch and a second heavy-load electronic switch connected in series between an input terminal and ground at a first output portion, a third light-load electronic switch and a fourth light-load electronic switch connected in series between the input terminal and ground at a second output portion, an output circuit, an output current measurement circuit, and a control circuit. The output circuit includes an inductor connected to the first and second output portions. The output current measurement circuit measures an output current. The control circuit, in response to an output of the output current measurement circuit, selects a combination of the first and second heavy-load electronic switches during a heavy load state, and selects a combination of the third and fourth light-load electronic switch during a light load state.
US09337728B2

Devices and methods provide a protection device for maintaining a steady output on a gate driver terminal despite fluctuations in a power supply, the protection device including low voltage detection circuitry configured to monitor the power supply and detect fluctuations in the power supply; and gate isolation circuitry configured to isolate the gate driver terminal from the power supply if the low voltage detection circuitry detects a fluctuation in the power supply, wherein a voltage of the gate driver terminal is maintained within a preselected range when the gate is isolated.
US09337718B2

Disclosed are a direct current converter and an organic light emitting display including the converter. The converter includes a power supply generating an input power, a first power generator receiving the input power and a selected voltage from a selector and generating a first voltage, a first output terminal connected to the first power generator and outputting the first voltage; a second power generator receiving the input power and generating a second voltage, a second output terminal connected to the second power generator and outputting the second voltage, an external feedback wiring providing a feedback voltage, a feedback terminal connected to the external feedback wiring and inputting the feedback voltage to the selector, and the selector connected to and transferring the selected voltage to the first power generator, where the selected voltage is one of the feedback voltage and the voltage output from the first output terminal.
US09337717B2

An apparatus for voltage ripple reduction on a power supply line of an integrated circuit device is provided to be operable in at least two modes. The apparatus includes: one or more clamping devices connectable to the power supply line; a clamp control unit; and a mode change detection unit arranged to monitor an interface of the integrated circuit device for one or more information indicating an upcoming mode change of the integrated circuit device and to provide a mode change signal to the clamp control unit when the one or more information is detected. The clamp control unit is arranged to connect at least one of the one or more clamping devices to the power supply line when receiving the mode change signal.
US09337713B2

A sampling circuit of the power converter according to the present invention comprises an amplifier circuit receiving a reflected voltage for generating a first signal. A first switch and a first capacitor are utilized to generate a second signal in response to the reflected voltage. A sample-signal circuit generates a sample signal in response to a falling edge of a switching signal. The switching signal is generated in accordance with a feedback signal for regulating an output of the power converter. The feedback signal is generated in accordance with the second signal. The sample signal is utilized to control the first switch for sampling the reflected voltage. The sample signal is disabled once the first signal is lower than the second signal. The sampling circuit precisely samples the reflected voltage of the transformer of the power converter for regulating the output of the power converter.
US09337711B2

An actuator including a movable portion that swings about a swing axis, a connecting portion that extends from the movable portion and torsionally deforms in response to the swinging of the movable portion, and a support portion that supports the connecting portion, wherein the movable portion is so shaped that the length thereof parallel to the swing axis decreases stepwise with distance from the swing axis in a plan view, and the movable portion, the support portion, and the connecting portion are formed by anisotropically etching a silicon substrate.
US09337710B2

A homopolar motor phase (d4) which consists of a wafer (a0), the leg (a3) of each tooth meeting the leg of the next tooth before touching the cylinder head (a4), the leg (a3) at least partially filling the space (a6) between the teeth. The inner diameter (a11) is reduced by the presence of a discontinuity in the area (a7) at the tip of the tooth (a5).
US09337707B2

Mechanisms are provided to control the operation of a motor. In particular, a variable frequency drive motor controller is described which resides within a motor housing. Additionally, the speed at which the motor operates is based on a signal received from a Hall Effect switch or from a communication device in communication with a remote interface. The Hall Effect switch is also described; in particular, the Hall Effect switch features a magnet rotatably connected with one side of a motor housing. A Hall Effect sensor, located on the opposite side of the motor housing, detects the position of the magnet and outputs a signal to the motor controller, located within the motor housing, indicating the detected magnet position. Additional operating features are described relating to the safe operation and control of the motor in potentially hazardous environments.
US09337695B2

The present invention provides an improved single-layer coil for a rotating or linear electrical machine. The coil has a first endwinding that is substantially straight to a longitudinal axis of the coil and a second endwinding that is bent relative to the longitudinal axis of the coil. The coil therefore has differently shaped endwindings with one end 12 being ‘straight’ and the other end being ‘bent.’
US09337693B2

In a rotary electric machine provided with a rotor and a stator, a wedge is inserted between in-slot portions stacked in each of slots of the stator and a wall of each of the slots. The wedge has two edges and a length ranging from one of the edges to the other. The length of the wedge is smaller than an axial length of the stator core. The wall is located oppositely to an opening of each slot. By inserting the wedge, both end portions of the conductors are tilted so as to be oriented oppositely to the rotor in the radial direction. The tilted end portions starts from each of the two edges of the wedge in the axial direction.
US09337686B2

A synchronous rectification alternator for a motor vehicle is disclosed. The alternator includes a stator, a rotor, and a synchronous rectification system for rectifying into a DC voltage the alternating voltages supplied by the stator, and a voltage regulator for regulating the DC voltage. The alternator also includes fault detection for detecting faults in the synchronous rectification and supplying fault detection information to the voltage regulator. In one version, the fault information is supplied to the voltage regulator at fault inputs also receiving phase signals representing the alternating voltages supplied by the stator. At least one of the items of fault information is used to cause, in the voltage regulator, opening of an excitation circuit supplying current to an excitation coil of the rotor so as to produce, in the voltage regulator, a fault indication. The opening of the excitation circuit is preferably caused through a suitable command of a fast demagnetization transistor included in the excitation circuit.
US09337684B2

An improved battery charging method is usable by a battery charger to charge a battery. The charging method may include an optional desulfation process, a first constant current process, a constant voltage process, a second constant current process and a float charge process. The charging method preferably improves various charge and usage characteristics of the battery through a single or continued use of the battery charger utilizing the charging method.
US09337676B2

An enclosure includes a housing adapted to cover at least the body of a power adaptor of a device charger. The housing has an opening to allow access to the charging wire port of the power adaptor. The opening is smaller than the power adaptor, so the power adaptor cannot be removed from the housing through the window. Further, the window can permit the charging wire plug to be plugged into and removed from the charging wire port while the power adaptor remains in the housing. The housing further includes charging wire trap which captures the charging wire. The charging wire trap holds the wire between the charging wire plug and the device interface. The charging wire trap is sized to not allow either the charging wire plug or the device interface to pass through it. The enclosure can also include an anchor point attached to the housing.
US09337667B2

Embodiments include a rechargeable battery pack, system, and power adapter that allow the rechargeable battery pack to both power a host device though a set of host contacts and provide power, through the power adapter, via a set of charging contacts that interface with the power adapter. The power adapter contains a voltage source which activates a control circuit to disable a discharge protection circuit in the battery pack to allow current to discharge through the charging contacts.
US09337662B2

Techniques are disclosed for performing the estimation and/or prediction of the dynamic system state of large power system networks, using a multi-processor approach. More particularly, a large power system network is divided into smaller sub-systems, each sub-system having associated dynamic state variables. Each sub-system is assigned to one or more of a plurality of processing elements, and dynamic state variables for each sub-system are estimated or predicted independently, using the processing elements and sensor measurements. In several embodiments, the dynamic state of each sub-system is computed through the construction of a set of dedicated observers, such as linear parameter-varying (LPV) observers, which are designed to reduce the effects of other sub-systems on the state estimation problem.
US09337661B2

An apparatus including a storage area to store instructions and a controller to control power in a first device based on the instructions. In operation, the controller generates one or more signals to combine power from a first power source and a second power source for a hybrid power operation. The controller is to generate the one or more signals based on a connection state of the first device, multiple connection states of the first device, a charge level of a battery of the first device, or a combination thereof.
US09337659B2

In an embodiment, a system includes an internal optical power transmitter configured to be disposed within a living subject. The internal optical power transmitter includes a power source configured to provide electrical energy and an electrical-optical converter operably coupled to the power source. The electrical-optical converter may be configured to convert at least a portion of the electrical energy into one or more optical power signals transdermally transmittable out of the living subject. The system further includes an external optical-electrical converter configured to convert the one or more optical power signals into one or more electrical power signals and at least one external device configured to be operably coupled to the external optical-electrical converter and powered by the one or more electrical power signals. Embodiments of methods, biocompatible electrical-optical converters, and internal optical power transmitters are also disclosed.
US09337653B2

An integrated circuit with either a normally open MEMS ESD protection switch coupled between a bond pad and an internal circuit or a normally closed MEMS ESD protection switch coupled between the bond pad and a common reference of the integrated circuit. At least one of a control bond pad and an enable logic circuit is coupled to a control terminal of the MEMS ESD protection switch.
US09337641B2

An embodiment high efficiency power regulator comprises a three-terminal converter and a protection device. The three-terminal converter comprises a first terminal coupled to a positive terminal of an input voltage bus, a second terminal coupled to a positive terminal of an output voltage bus and a third terminal coupled to the protection device. The protection device comprises an inrush current limiting element connected in series with a reverse polarity protection device.
US09337635B2

A box hanger clip is provided for coupling to an electrical box for supporting the electrical box during use. The box hanger clip has at least one and typically two L-shaped coupling tabs that are received in apertures in a wall of the electrical box and hook to the inner surface of the electrical box. The box hanger clip has a body extending substantially perpendicular from the coupling tabs away from the electrical box where the body is configured for coupling to a support such as a cable. At least one bendable stabilizing tab is provided on the body of the box hanger clip which can be bent out of the plane of the body. The stabilizing tab contacts the outer surface of the electrical box to maintain the box hanger clip in the upright position.
US09337627B2

A method of applying a coating to a spark plug insulator comprises the steps of forming a slurry solution and applying the slurry solution as a first coating to an insulative sleeve configured for use in a spark plug. The method further includes the step of heat treating the insulative sleeve to a temperature of between about 500 degrees Celsius and about 1000 degrees Celsius for between about 10 minutes and about 2 hour(s). Still further, the method includes the step of applying a second coating overlying at least a portion of the first coating, wherein the second coating comprises an organic binder.
US09337623B2

Apparatuses and methods for high density laser optics are provided. An example, of a laser optics apparatus includes a plurality of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) in a monolithically integrated array, a high contrast grating (HCG) integrated with an aperture of a vertical cavity of each of the plurality of the VCSELs to enable emission of a single lasing wavelength of a plurality of lasing wavelengths, and a plurality of single mode waveguides, each integrated with a grating coupler, that are connected to each of the plurality of the integrated VCSELs and the HCGs, where each of the grating couplers is aligned to an integrated VCSEL and HCG.
US09337621B2

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes: a substrate; a first mirror layer; an active layer; a second mirror layer; a current constriction layer; a first area connected to the first mirror layer and including a plurality of oxide layers; and a second area connected to the second mirror layer and including a plurality of oxide layers. The first mirror layer, the active layer, the second mirror layer, the current constriction layer, the first area, and the second area configure a laminated body. The laminated body includes a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion between the first portion and the second portion. When a width of the oxide area is W1 and a width of an upper surface of the first portion is W2, W2/W1≦3.3.
US09337619B2

A frequency swept laser source that generates an optical signal that is tuned over a spectral scan band at single discrete wavelengths associated with longitudinal modes of the swept laser source. Laser hopping over discrete single cavity modes allows long laser coherence length even under dynamic very high speed tuning conditions. A ramp drive to the laser is used to linearize laser frequency tuning. A beam splitter is used to divide the optical signal between a reference arm leading to a reference reflector and a sample arm leading to a sample. A detector system detects the optical signal from the reference arm and the sample arm for generating depth profiles and images of the sample.
US09337618B2

Wavelength sweepable laser source is disclosed, wherein the laser source is a semiconductor laser source adapted for generating laser light at a lasing wavelength. The laser source comprises a substrate, a first reflector, and a second reflector. The first and second reflector together defines an optical cavity, and are arranged to support light oscillation in the optical cavity along an optical path in a direction normal to the substrate. The optical cavity comprises a void in the optical path. The second reflector is resiliently suspended by a suspension in a distance from the first reflector and having a rest position, the second reflector and suspension together defining a microelectromechanical MEMS oscillator. The MEMS oscillator has a resonance frequency and is adapted for oscillating the second reflector on either side of the rest position. The laser source further comprises electrical connections adapted for applying an electric field to the MEMS oscillator. Furthermore, a laser source system and a method of use of the laser source are disclosed.
US09337616B2

Embodiments for driving a laser diode includes generating a bias current having a duty cycle that is less than 100%. The current level of the bias current is insufficient to turn on the laser diode. A drive current is generated and combined with the bias current to turn on the laser diode almost instantly.
US09337595B1

A busbar connection system includes a busbar and a busbar connector having a base and first and second flexible mounting arms extending from the base. The base is secured to the busbar. The first and second flexible mounting arms each have termination portions extending therefrom. The termination portions are configured for mechanical and electrical termination to an electrical component. The flexible mounting arms allow relative movement between the busbar and the electrical component.
US09337591B2

Apparatus (10) for transmission testing of a telecommunications jack (100) having a plurality of insulation displacement contacts (IDCs) (103), the apparatus (10) including: a base (30); a plurality of transmission test probes (31) associated with the base (30); and a jack holder (20) for removably coupling the jack (100) to the base (30) such that IDCs (103) of the jack (100) are in electrical communication with corresponding test probes (31); wherein the jack holder (20) is fixed relative to the base (30) during testing, such that the jack (100) remains stationary with respect to the probes (31).
US09337589B2

An electrical connector comprises an insulative housing having a base portion with a rear room depressed thereof, a top and a lower tongue portions extending forwardly, a plurality of contacts retained to the insulative housing, a spacer received in the rear room, and a metal shell having two side walls covering two sides of the insulative housing. The spacer has a base, a front portion and a rear portion extending upwardly from the base, and a groove depressed between the front and the rear portion. A metal plate received in the groove. The metal plate has a pair of cantilever arms extending downwardly from two side edges of the main portion. The pair cantilever arms are mirror and coplanar to each other, each of the cantilever arm having a protruding portion protruding beyond a side of the insulative housing to abut against the side wall of the metal shell.
US09337583B2

Communications jacks include a housing having a plug aperture that is configured to receive a mating RJ-45 plug along a longitudinal axis and eight jackwire contacts that are arranged as four differential pairs of jackwire contacts, each of the jackwire contacts including a plug contact region that extends into the plug aperture. A first of the jackwire contacts is configured to engage a longitudinally extending surface of a first blade of a mating RJ-45 plug when the mating RJ-45 plug is fully received within the plug aperture.
US09337581B1

A HDMI connector with anti-misinsertion structure includes a metallic case, a U-shaped plate, and a terminal base. The U-shaped plate is disposed on the upper surface of the metallic case, its front ends at which two push resilient plates and a block are disposed, respectively, its rear ends which extend to form two front arm potions connected to the push resilient plates and the block, and extends backward to form two rear arm portions and two base portions. The terminal base is installed thereon a terminal set. The anti-misinsertion structure is integrally formed with the metallic case to reduce manufacturing costs and boost linking-up and stopping strength of the anti-misinsertion structure, thereby preventing the non-HDMI plug from being inserted into the HDMI connector.
US09337575B1

An electronic device includes a housing and a connector mounted in the housing. An open portion is defined in the housing. The connector includes a mounting portion coupled to the housing, a rotating member rotatably mounted to the mounting portion and a tray mounted in the open portion. The rotating member includes a magnet arranged to one end of the rotating arm and a resisting portion extending from the other end of the rotating arm. The magnet is adjacent to an inside surface of the housing, and the resisting portion resists against the tray. The magnet rotates the rotating member to partly push the tray out from the open portion. The electronic device has a good sealing ability.
US09337573B2

An electrical connector assembly includes an insulating housing, a jumper element assembled in the insulating housing and a bracket located at the outside of the insulating housing. The insulating housing includes a pocket defining an opening. The bracket includes a retention portion extending into the pocket for retaining the jumper element into the pocket and a latch beside the opening of the pocket. The jumper element includes a protrusion engaging with the latch. The jumper element is assembled into the pocket in a vertical direction and can be pulled out through the opening in the horizontal direction with the latch sliding along the protrusion and finally disengaging the protrusion.
US09337568B2

A waterproof connector includes a first housing formed with a recess, and a sealing unit to be sandwiched between the first housing and a second housing fit into the recess, to thereby keep waterproofness between the first and second housings, the sealing unit including a locking ring for engaging the sealing unit to the recess at a predetermined position, a holder for preventing a terminal having been inserted into the first housing from being released out of the first housing, and a waterproof seal sandwiched between an outer surface of the locking ring and an inner surface of the recess.
US09337559B2

A read wiring trace and a write wiring trace are formed on an insulating layer. Connection terminals made of conductor are connected to the read wiring trace and the write wiring trace, respectively. Each connection terminal has at least one corner with a radius of curvature of not larger than 35 μm.
US09337556B2

A pump assembly is provided with an associated electrical connection plug, which is releasably connectable to an electrical plug coupling (10) of the pump assembly and includes a plug body (12) in which at least one electrical contact element (20), including a connection terminal (28) for receiving a connection wire (36), is arranged. The plug body (12) includes a receiver (40) for an opening element (42). The opening element (42) is insertable into the receiver in a removable manner, and the receiver (40) is arranged relative to the connection terminal (28) in a manner such that when the opening element (42) is inserted into the receiver (42), the opening element (42) acts on the connection terminal (28) and keeps this in an opened condition.
US09337552B2

A device for the reversible mechanical fixing and electrical contacting of one or more electrical conductors (11) of a cable (10) it is proposed to fix the cable (10) mechanically by means of a cable receptacle (2) and to position exposed conductor ends (12) of the electrical conductor (11) on a contact plate (3). A fixing element (4) is provided for pressing the exposed conductor ends (12) onto the contact plate (3). Such a device and such a method are needed for the temporary electronic contacting of one or more electrical conductors carried in a cable. Such contacting is above all necessary for carrying out electrical measurements on such cables.
US09337546B2

A part of bent end sections of a slot is configured to overlap with a waveguide inner wall when seen from the normal direction of a narrow wall surface of a waveguide at which the slot is provided. Thus, the conductance of a single slot can be reduced by adjusting the joined amount of a tip section of the slot and the inner wall of the waveguide. As a result, even in the case where the number of slots provided per waveguide is increased while a waveguide width is restricted to be short with respect to a slot length, impedance matching with a waveguide bonding section can be taken.
US09337541B2

In the field of telecommunications antennas suitable for portable communication casings, a monopole radio antenna is provided, including an etched conducting surface, including a ground plane, a structure of conducting lines, and a signal injection point in the structure of conducting lines. The structure of conducting lines comprises a first meander conducting line having multiple strands elongated in a first direction, a second meander conducting line symmetrical to the first conducting line in relation to a median line passing in the plane via the injection point and perpendicular to a general direction of elongation of the strands, the two lines starting from the injection point, and a common surface connected to the ends of the conducting lines distant from the injection point. The antenna is less sensitive to radiation efficiency reductions due to the presence of a plastic hood enclosing the antenna.
US09337539B1

Antenna structures and methods of operating the same of an electronic device are described. One apparatus includes an antenna element and three matching circuits coupled to the antenna element. The first RF module is operable to cause the antenna element to radiate or receive electromagnetic energy in a first frequency range. The second RF module is operable to cause the antenna element to radiate or receive electromagnetic energy in a second frequency range and a third frequency range. The impedance matching circuits are operable to match an impedance of the antenna element to an impedance of the first RF module to radiate or receive in the first frequency ranges and to match impedances of the antenna element to impedances of the second RF module to radiate or receive the electromagnetic energy in the second and third frequency ranges.
US09337538B2

The disclosure provides an antenna, which comprises: a radiating unit, an antenna ground and a slot, wherein the radiating element is configured to be a curved metal wire to receive or radiate electromagnetic wave signals; the projection area of the radiating element serves as the antenna ground; and the antenna ground is provided with the slot which is configured to couple and resonate with the radiating element. The disclosure solves the problem that the antenna in relevant art can not meet the requirements of dual frequencies simultaneously, and thus achieves the effect of meeting the requirements of dual frequencies simultaneously.
US09337535B2

An apparatus for satellite communication may include a reflector configured to redirect electromagnetic energy. Each of multiple feeds may be positioned at a predetermined location with respect to the reflector. A feed-switching mechanism may be configured to selectively activate for use at least one of the multiple feeds. A steering mechanism may be configured to steer the reflector such that a focal point of the reflector approximately coincides with a position of an activated feed of the multiple feeds. The reflector may be mechanically independent of the plurality of feeds and the feed-switching mechanism.
US09337524B2

A fixing mechanism includes a shaft, a constraining member, a sleeve member, a resilient bushing, a pivot member and a handle. The constraining member is connected to an end portion of the shaft. The sleeve member sheathes the shaft. The resilient bushing sheathes the shaft and is disposed between the constraining member and the sleeve member. The pivot member is connected to the other end portion of the shaft. The handle is pivoted to the pivot member and abuts against the sleeve member. The handle pushes the sleeve member and drives the pivot member to activate the shaft to pull the constraining member when the handle pivots relative to the pivot member, so that the constraining member and the sleeve member cooperatively compress the resilient bushing, so as to make the resilient bushing generate a radial deformation.
US09337522B2

According to an embodiment, a circuit board includes a signal line including at least portion of a first conductive layer that has a first portion extending over a cavity in the circuit board from a first side of the cavity. The circuit board also includes a first plurality of conductive vias surrounding the cavity and the first plurality of vias include at least one blind via disposed adjacent to the first side of the cavity.
US09337521B2

A circuit component is described herein. The circuit component includes a first signal line to propagate in a first direction and a second signal line to propagate a second direction. The circuit component includes a region to introduce crosstalk within the region that reduces another crosstalk generated at a location remote from the region based on a change in propagation direction of the first signal line and second signal line.
US09337514B2

Methods for reductively polymerizing vinylic based monomers from a solution thereof onto the surface of an electrode material, resulting in thin, electrically insulating solid-polymer electrolyte coatings strongly bound to the surface of the electrode material, are described. The strong bond permits a second electrode to be coated directly onto the solid-polymer electrolyte, thereby incorporating the required components for a Li-ion battery cell. At least one initiator species, which is readily reduced by accepting an electron from the electrode material, is included in electropolymerization deposition solution for permitting the polymerization of vinylic species that would otherwise not electrochemically polymerize without damage to either the electrode material or to the solvents employed.
US09337507B2

The power generation efficiency of a microbial power generator is increased by using an easy and inexpensive unit. Two plate-like cation-exchange membranes are disposed in parallel in a tank. This arrangement allows an anode chamber to be formed between the cation-exchange membranes. Two cathode chambers are separated from the anode chamber by using the respective ion-permeable nonconductive membranes. An oxygen-containing gas is made to pass through the cathode chamber. An anode solution is supplied to the anode chamber, and, preferably, the anode solution is made to circulate. A biologically treated exhaust gas is used as the oxygen-containing gas to be supplied to the cathode chamber. Carbon dioxide in the biologically treated exhaust gas can promote transport of Na+ and K+ ions, and water vapor can increase the ion permeability, thereby increasing the power generation efficiency.
US09337503B2

A system and method for managing power flow in a fuel cell vehicle. The method provides a difference between a power limit signal and an actual power signal to a PI controller to generate a power offset signal. The method determines whether a fuel cell stack is able to provide enough power to satisfy a power request, and if so, adds the power request and the power offset signal to generate a stack power request signal to cause the upper power limit signal to move towards and be matched to the actual power signal. If the stack is not able to provide enough power to satisfy the load power request signal, the method subtracts the power offset signal from the power limit signal to provide a load limit signal to cause the actual stack power signal to move towards and be matched to the upper power limit signal.
US09337484B2

One embodiment includes a battery cell electrode having a first material constructed and arranged to be charged and discharged and having a first potential versus state of charge relationship; a second material having a second potential versus state of charge relationship; wherein said second material is constructed and arranged to become active to transfer ions at a selected state of charge level to produce an observable change in measured potential from said first to said second potential versus relationship, and wherein the amount of the second material ranges from about 2 to about 30 weight percent of the battery cell electrode.
US09337483B2

A pasted positive nickel hydroxide electrode for use in battery cells (e.g., in nickel zinc cells, and nickel metal hydride cells) includes nickel hydroxide particles, a cobalt metal and/or cobalt compound and a sulfur-containing complexing agent capable of forming a complex with cobalt. The presence of the sulfur-containing complexing agent, such as dialkyldithiocarbamate (e.g., sodium diethyldithiocarbamate) improves lifetime and capacity utilization of the nickel electrode. The resulting pasted nickel hydroxide electrode includes a CoOOH conductive matrix after formation. The surface of the nickel hydroxide particles in the electrode is modified in some embodiments by providing a cobalt-containing coating onto the surface of the nickel hydroxide particles, followed by oxidation with a strong oxidizing agent. The complexing agent can be added before, after, or during the oxidation.
US09337478B2

The specification relates to a composite particle for storing lithium. The composite particle is used in an electrochemical cell. The composite particle includes a metal oxide on the surface of the composite particle, a major dimension that is approximately less than or equal to 40 microns and a formula of MM′Z, wherein M is from the group of Si and Sn, M′ is from a group of Mn, Mg, Al, Mo, Bronze, Be, Ti, Cu, Ce, Li, Fe, Ni, Zn, Co, Zr, K, and Na, and Z is from the group of O, Cl, P, C, S, H, and F.
US09337476B2

The present invention provides a process for producing a lithium sulfide-carbon composite, the process comprising placing a mixture of lithium sulfide and a carbon material having a specific surface area of 60 m2/g or more in an electrically-conductive mold in a non-oxidizing atmosphere, and applying a pulsed direct current to the mold while pressurizing the mixture in a non-oxidizing atmosphere, thereby subjecting the lithium sulfide and the carbon material to heating reaction; and a lithium sulfide-carbon composite obtained by this process, the composite having a carbon content of 15 to 70 weight %, and a tap density of 0.4 g/cm3 or more when the carbon content is 30 weight % or more, or a tap density of 0.5 g/cm3 or more when the carbon content is less than 30 weight %. The present invention can improve the electronic conductivity of lithium sulfide, which is expected to be put into practical use as a high-capacity positive electrode active material, so as to further enhance the performance of lithium sulfide as a positive electrode active material for lithium ion secondary batteries.
US09337471B2

A co-extrusion print head capable of extruding at least two layers vertically in a single pass having a first inlet port connected to a first manifold, a first series of channels connected to the first inlet port arranged to receive a first fluid from the first inlet port, a second inlet port connected to one of either a second manifold or the first manifold, a second series of channels connected to the second inlet port arranged to receive a second fluid from the second inlet port, a merge portion of the print head connected to the first and second series of channels, the merge portion arranged to receive the first and second fluids, and an outlet port connected to the merge portion, the outlet port arranged to deposit the first and second fluids from the merge portion as a vertical stack on a substrate.
US09337469B2

Provided are a liquid activated air battery and an assembled liquid activated air battery, which can be reduced in size, as well as a method of using the liquid activated air battery and the assembled liquid activated air battery. The liquid activated air battery includes: an electrode assembly comprising a cathode and an anode; and a space that serves as a liquid container to store a liquid component of an electrolyte of the air battery before injection and also serves as a gas flowing member through which oxygen-containing gas of an active material of the air battery flows after injection. The assembled liquid activated air battery includes a plurality of the liquid activated air battery.
US09337468B2

Provided is a secondary battery including an electrode assembly, a case accommodating the electrode assembly, and a cap assembly, including a cap plate having a short-circuit hole, configured to seal the case. The secondary battery includes a first connection plate at an exterior surface of the case and coupled to the electrode assembly, a capacitive member between the first connection plate and the cap plate, and a short-circuit unit including an inversion plate positioned in the short-circuit hole, and a second connection plate at an exterior side surface of the case spaced apart from the cap plate and extending over at least a portion of the short-circuit hole, the second connection plate being coupled to the electrode assembly.
US09337465B2

Provided is a battery pack including: a plurality of unit cells; a battery holder in which the plurality of unit cells are mounted; an electrode tab arranged on the battery holder; and a bus bar of which portion is arranged on the electrode tab, wherein the battery holder includes a welding part that contacts the electrode tab.
US09337462B2

The invention relates to an electrolyte battery electrode component having a layer having a surface adjoined by electrolyte in the battery and provided with a fluid-conducting channel structure. In this context, it is envisaged that through the fluid-conducting structure has channels having channel depths in the range from 10 to 200 μm and/or at least 50% of the thickness of the active layer.
US09337461B2

A composite porous membrane is a composite porous membrane, wherein a porous membrane B including a heat-resistant resin is laminated on the surface of a polypropylene resin of an outermost layer of a porous membrane A composed of at least one layer, wherein at least one of the outermost layers comprises the polypropylene resin. The composite porous membrane satisfies a particular range of peeling strength at the interface between the porous membrane A and the porous membrane B and a particular range of difference between air resistance of the whole composite porous membrane and air resistance of the porous membrane A, provided that the porous membrane A satisfies a particular range of average pore size and porosity.
US09337455B2

A middle- or large-sized battery module includes two or more unit modules each having one or more plate-shaped battery cells, as unit cells, surrounded by a high-strength sheathing member made of synthetic resin or metal, and separable upper and lower frame members coupled with each other in an assembly-type coupling structure such that the unit modules are vertically mounted in the upper and lower frame members. A sensing unit capable of minimizing the weight and size of battery cells is easily mounted while effectively reinforcing the low mechanical strength of the battery cells and sensing the operation state of the battery cells to a middle- or large-sized battery module. The battery module is manufactured by a simple assembly process without using a plurality of members for mechanical coupling and electrical connection.
US09337450B2

A rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly and a cap plate. The electrode assembly is located in a case of the battery, and the cap plate a cap plate is over an opening of the case. The battery also includes a terminal and a gasket. The terminal includes a plurality of sealing protrusions. The gasket is located between the terminal and cap plate and contacts the plurality of sealing protrusions. Together, the sealing protrusions and gasket establish a barrier which prevents electrolyte solution in the case from reaching and eroding the terminal.
US09337448B2

An organic light emitting display includes an array substrate, a plurality of light emitting devices disposed over the array substrate, and a plurality of color filters having different colors. The plurality of light emitting devices include a first light emitting device configured to emit light having a first color and a second light emitting device configured to emit light having a second color different from the first color, and the plurality of color filters include first and second color filters disposed over the first light emitting device and the second light emitting device, respectively.
US09337447B2

A radiation-emitting device having an organic radiation-emitting functional layer and a radiation decoupling layer. The organic radiation-emitting functional layer emits a primary radiation; the radiation decoupling layer is disposed in the beam path of the primary radiation. On the side remote from the radiation-emitting functional layer the radiation decoupling layer comprises a microstructure having regularly disposed geometric structural elements; at least partial regions of the radiation decoupling layer contain regions which effect scattering of the primary radiation.
US09337443B1

A packaging method for an OLED device, including: opening at least one through hole in a cover plate in a region between the region for forming glass cement and the region for applying UV glue; regulating the pressure in a cell-assembling chamber to a first pressure, and cell-assembling a back plate with the cover plate placed on a base board in the cell-assembling chamber with the first pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure; regulating the pressure in the cell-assembling chamber to the atmospheric pressure; curing the UV glue; regulating the pressure in the cell-assembling chamber to a second pressure that is lower than the atmospheric pressure and higher than the first pressure and detaching the cover plate from the base board; and sealing the through hole in the cover plate; and sintering the glass cement.
US09337440B2

An organic luminescent display device according to the invention includes: an element substrate; an organic film; and an organic electro luminescent element formed on the organic film. The organic electro luminescent element includes: an anode formed on the organic film; a light emitting layer formed on the anode; and a cathode formed on the light emitting layer. The anode includes: an adhesion layer formed in contact with an upper surface of the organic film; a reflection layer and formed in contact with an upper surface of the adhesion layer; and a light transmitting contact layer formed on the reflection layer. An edge portion of an outer periphery of the adhesion layer is positioned outside an edge portion of an outer periphery of the reflection layer as viewed in a plan view.
US09337412B2

A magnetic tunnel junction stack is provided that includes nonmagnetic spacer layers between the free layer and the polarizer layer formed from magnesium oxide and tantalum nitride materials that balance the spin torques acting on the free layer. The design provided enables a deterministic final state for the storage layer and significantly improves the tunneling magnetoresistance value and switching characteristics of the magnetic tunnel junction for MRAM applications.
US09337409B2

A thermal stress of electrode members (121 to 123) due to an operation temperature may be relaxed by thermal stress relaxation layers (141 to 144), and thus peeling of the electrode members (121 to 123) due to thermal stress at the operation temperature may be prevented in a satisfactory manner. Furthermore, diffusion of a constituent component of the thermoelectric conversion members (111 and 112) due to the operation temperature and the like may be prevented by diffusion prevention layers (151 to 154), and thus durability and stability of the thermoelectric conversion module (100) may be improved.
US09337408B2

A light-emitting diode device has a first carrier and at least one light-emitting diode chip, which is arranged on the first carrier. The first carrier has at least one first and one second carrier part, wherein the light-emitting diode chip rests only on the first carrier part. Furthermore, the first and second carrier parts each have a thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity of the first carrier part is at least 1.5 times the thermal conductivity of the second carrier part. The first carrier part is surrounded laterally by the second carrier part.
US09337406B2

A GaN-based LED with a current spreading structure, the LED including a substrate, a light-emitting epitaxial layer over the substrate, and a current spreading structure over the light-emitting epitaxial layer. The current spreading structure includes a transparent electrode spreading bar, and a metal electrode spreading bar attached to the side wall of the transparent electrode spreading bar. The current spreading structure can improve the current spreading effect, reducing or eliminating of electrode shading, improving luminous efficiency of the LED, and avoid or reduce high voltage (Vf).
US09337395B2

The present invention relates to production method and device applications of a new silicon (Si) semiconductor light source that emits at a single wavelength at 1320 nm with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of less than 200 nm and a photoluminescence quantum efficiency of greater than 50% at room temperature. The semiconductor that is the base for the new light source includes a surface which is treated by an acid vapor involving heavy water or Deuterium Oxide (D2O) and a surface layer producing the light source at 1320 nm.
US09337394B2

A semiconductor light-emitting device comprises a semiconductor stack comprising a side, a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, wherein the semiconductor stack further comprises a conductive via extending from the first surface to the second surface; a transparent conductive layer formed on the second surface; a first pad portion and a second pad portion formed on the first surface and electrically connected to the semiconductor stack; and an insulating layer formed between the first pad portion and the semiconductor stack and between the second pad portion and the semiconductor stack.
US09337392B1

A nanoscale solid state terahertz emitter employs a layered half-cylinder associated with a substrate. The half-cylinder is configured with a channel having a pre-determined channel length. The emitter is defined in a three-dimensional frame of reference. The layered half-cylinder includes a conductor layer bonded to the substrate. An insulator layer is bonded to the conductor layer. An arcuate-shaped graphene layer is bonded to the insulator layer along a pre-determined contact length.
US09337389B2

Group-III nitride structure comprising at least one structure pyramid having a base having at least four sides. The structure pyramid comprises an inner pyramid having a base having at least four sides, which inner pyramid is made of a first group-III nitride. The inner pyramid is coated with an inner first layer made of a second group-III nitride and an outer second layer made of a third group-III nitride, wherein the second group-III nitride has a lower band gap than the first group-III nitride and a lower band gap than the third group-III nitride. The base of the structure pyramid is elongated resulting in an upper ridge creating at least one anisotropic quantum dot.Method for producing a group-III nitride structure comprising providing a substrate; providing a masking film on the substrate, which film comprises at least one elongated aperture; growth of a first group-III nitride on the substrate; deposition of an inner first layer of a second group-III nitride on the first group-III nitride; deposition of an outer second layer of a third group-III nitride on the second group-III nitride, wherein the second group-III nitride has a lower band gap than the first group-III nitride and a lower band gap than the third group-III nitride.
US09337386B2

A light emitting device package is provided. The light emitting device includes: a substrate; a light emitting device disposed at one side of the substrate; and a formation layer formed on the substrate and having a slope at an edge portion of the formation layer.
US09337375B2

The invention discloses a seed used for crystalline silicon ingot casting. A seed according to a preferred embodiment of the invention includes a crystal and an impurity diffusion-resistant layer. The crystal is constituted by at least one grain. The impurity diffusion-resistant layer is formed to overlay an outer surface of the crystal. A crystalline silicon ingot fabricated by use of the seed of the invention has significantly reduced red zone and yellow zone.
US09337369B2

A solar cell can have a first dielectric formed over a first doped region of a silicon substrate. The solar cell can have a second dielectric formed over a second doped region of the silicon substrate, where the first dielectric is a different type of dielectric than the second dielectric. A doped semiconductor can be formed over the first and second dielectric. A positive-type metal and a negative-type metal can be formed over the doped semiconductor.
US09337367B2

A multiple-junction photoelectric device includes sequentially, a substrate, a first conducting layer, at least two elementary photoelectric devices, at least one of the elementary photoelectric devices being made of microcrystalline silicon, and a second conducting layer. The first conducting layer has a surface facing the microcrystalline silicon elementary photoelectric device such that the surface: has a lateral feature size bigger than 100 nm, and a root-element-square roughness bigger than 40 nm, includes inclined elementary surfaces such that α50 is greater than 20°, where α50 is the angle for which 50% of the elementary surfaces of the surface of the first conducting layer have an inclination equal to or less than this angle, and includes valleys formed between two elementary surfaces and having a radius of curvature smaller than 100 nm.
US09337362B2

A method for forming a conductive feature. The method includes providing a substrate and providing a conductive composition. The conductive composition includes metal particles, a non-acid protic solvent, and a high polarity solvent. The non-acid protic solvent and high polarity solvent are present in concentrations sufficient to ionize the non-acid protic solvent and remove oxides when heated. The method further includes heating the composition to a temperature less than about 250° C. to form a conductive feature having less than about ten times the resistivity of bulk copper.
US09337353B2

A semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same. The semiconductor device includes a channel, a gate, and a memory layer is interposed between the channel and the gate. The memory layer includes a tunnel insulating layer adjacent to the channel, a charge blocking layer adjacent to the gate, and a charge storing layer interposed between the tunnel insulating layer and the charge blocking layer. The tunnel insulating layer includes a first insulating layer adjacent to the channel and an air layer interposed between the first insulating layer and the charge storing layer.
US09337341B2

The object of the invention is to provide a method for fabricating a semiconductor device having a peeled layer bonded to a base material with curvature. Particularly, the object is to provide a method for fabricating a display with curvature, more specifically, a light emitting device having an OLED bonded to a base material with curvature. An external force is applied to a support originally having curvature and elasticity, and the support is bonded to a peeled layer formed over a substrate. Then, when the substrate is peeled, the support returns into the original shape by the restoring force, and the peeled layer as well is curved along the shape of the support. Finally, a transfer object originally having curvature is bonded to the peeled layer, and then a device with a desired curvature is completed.
US09337340B2

A semiconductor structure in fabrication includes a n-FinFET and p-FinFET. Stress inducing materials such as silicon and silicon germanium are epitaxially grown into naturally diamond-shaped structures atop the silicon fins of the n-FinFET and p-FinFET areas. The diamond structures act as the source, drain and channel between the source and drain. The diamond structures of the channel are selectively separated from the fin while retaining the fin connections of the diamond-shaped growth of the source and the drain. Further fabrication to complete the structure may then proceed.
US09337330B2

An integrated circuit and method having an extended drain MOS transistor, wherein a diffused drain is deeper under a field oxide element in the drain than in a drift region under the gate. A field oxide hard mask layer is etched to define a drain field oxide trench area. Drain dopants are implanted through the drain field oxide trench area and a thermal drain drive is performed. Subsequently, the drain field oxide element is formed.
US09337320B2

A method of manufacturing a zinc oxide thin film includes: immersing a base having a conductive portion in at least part of the base, in a solution containing zinc ions, hydroxide ions, and zinc complex ions; and by applying an alternating current to the conductive portion, forming a zinc oxide thin film on a region of the base, the region including the conductive portion.
US09337317B2

A semiconductor device comprises a first substrate portion and a second substrate portion disposed a distance away from the first substrate portion. The first substrate portion includes a first active semiconductor layer defining at least one semiconductor fin and a first polycrystalline layer formed directly on the fin. The first polycrystalline layer is patterned to define at least one semiconductor gate. The second substrate portion includes a doped region interposed between a second active semiconductor region and an oxide layer. The oxide layer protects the second active semiconductor region and the doped region. The doped region includes a first doped area and a second doped area separated by the first doped region to define a depletion region.
US09337308B2

A semiconductor device and a method for forming the same are disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a first junction region formed at the bottom of a vertical pillar, a bit line formed below the first junction region, and an insulation film formed below the bit line. As a result, the 4F2-sized semiconductor device is provided and the bit line is configured in the form of a laminated structure of a conductive layer and a polysilicon layer, so that bit line resistance is reduced. In addition, the semiconductor device reduces ohmic contact resistance by forming silicide between the conductive layer and the polysilicon layer, and includes an insulation film at a position between the semiconductor substrate and the bit line, resulting in reduction of bit line capacitance. Therefore, the sensing margin of the semiconductor device is increased and the data retention time is also increased.
US09337303B2

A metal gate stack having a titanium aluminum carbon nitride (TiAlCN) as a work function layer and/or a multi-function blocking/wetting layer, and methods of manufacturing the same, are disclosed. In an example, an integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor substrate and a gate stack disposed over the semiconductor substrate. The gate stack includes a gate dielectric layer disposed over the semiconductor substrate, a multi-function blocking/wetting layer disposed over the gate dielectric layer, wherein the multi-function blocking/wetting layer includes TiAlCN, a work function layer disposed over the multi-function blocking/wetting layer, and a conductive layer disposed over the work function layer.
US09337288B2

A method of manufacturing a MOS-type semiconductor device capable of increasing the thickness of a gate oxide film and obtaining high gate withstanding power and reduced switching loss without increasing a gate threshold voltage Vth is provided. A p-type well region is selectively formed on one principle surface of a semiconductor substrate having an n-type low impurity concentration layer by using an oxide film as a mask. Subsequently, a resist mask is formed on the surface of the p-type well region so as to be separated from the oxide film mask, and an n+-type source region is selectively formed from the separation portion. Subsequently, the oxide film mask is removed. Then, an oxide film is formed on the surface of the p-type well region, and the oxide film is removed. Subsequently, a gate electrode coated with a gate oxide film is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate.
US09337285B2

The disclosure relates to a semiconductor device. An exemplary structure for a contact structure for a semiconductor device comprises a substrate comprising a major surface and a cavity below the major surface; a strained material in the cavity, wherein a lattice constant of the strained material is different from a lattice constant of the substrate; a Ge-containing dielectric layer over the strained material; and a metal layer over the Ge-containing dielectric layer.
US09337282B2

A simplified manufacturing process stably produces a semiconductor device with high electrical characteristics, wherein platinum acts as an acceptor. Plasma treatment damages the surface of an oxide film formed on a n− type drift layer deposited on an n+ type semiconductor substrate. The oxide film is patterned to have tapered ends. Two proton irradiations are carried out on the n− type drift layer with the oxide film as a mask to form a point defect region in the vicinity of the surface of the n− type drift layer. Silica paste containing 1% by weight platinum is applied to an exposed region of the n− type drift layer surface not covered with the oxide film. Heat treatment inverts the vicinity of the surface of the n− type drift layer to p-type by platinum atoms which are acceptors. A p-type inversion enhancement region forms a p-type anode region.
US09337277B2

4H SIC epiwafers with thickness of 50-100 μm are grown on 4° off-axis substrates. Surface morphological defect density in the range of 2-6 cm−2 is obtained from inspection of the epiwafers. Consistent carrier lifetime in the range of 2-3 μs has been obtained on these epiwafers. Very low BPD density has been confirmed in the epiwafers with BPD density down to below 10 cm−2. Epitaxial wafers with thickness of 50-100 μm have been used to fabricate diodes. High voltage testing has demonstrated blocking voltages near the theoretical values for 4H-SiC. Blocking voltage as high as 8 kV has been achieved in devices fabricated on 50 μm thick epitaxial films, and blocking voltage as high as 10 kV has been obtained in devices fabricated on 80 μm thick films. Failure analysis confirmed triangle defects, which form from surface damage or particles present during epitaxy, are killer defects and cause the device to fail in reverse bias operation. In addition, the leakage current at the high blocking voltages of the JBS diodes showed no correlation with the screw dislocation density. It is also observed that the main source of basal plane dislocations in the epilayer originates in the crystal growth process.
US09337268B2

A negative bevel edge termination for a Silicon Carbide (SiC) semiconductor device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the negative bevel edge termination includes multiple steps that approximate a smooth negative bevel edge termination at a desired slope. More specifically, in one embodiment, the negative bevel edge termination includes at least five steps, at least ten steps, or at least 15 steps. The desired slope is, in one embodiment, less than or equal to fifteen degrees. In one embodiment, the negative bevel edge termination results in a blocking voltage for the semiconductor device of at least 10 kilovolts (kV) or at least 12 kV. The semiconductor device is preferably, but not necessarily, a thyristor such as a power thyristor, a Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT), an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), a U-channel Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (UMOSFET), or a PIN diode.
US09337266B2

Apparatuses and methods are disclosed. One such apparatus includes a well having a first type of conductivity formed within a semiconductor structure having a second type of conductivity. A boundary of the well intersects an active area of a tap to the well.
US09337264B2

Techniques for defining a damascene gate in nanowire FET devices are provided. In one aspect, a method of fabricating a FET device is provided including the following steps. A SOI wafer is provided having a SOI layer over a BOX. Nanowires and pads are patterned in the SOI layer in a ladder-like configuration. The BOX is recessed under the nanowires. A patternable dielectric dummy gate(s) is formed over the recessed BOX and surrounding a portion of each of the nanowires. A CMP stop layer is deposited over the dummy gate(s) and the source and drain regions. A dielectric film is deposited over the CMP stop layer. The dielectric film is planarized using CMP to expose the dummy gate(s). The dummy gate(s) is at least partially removed so as to release the nanowires in a channel region. The dummy gate(s) is replaced with a gate conductor material.
US09337262B2

The present application provides (in addition to more broadly applicable inventions) improvements which are particularly applicable to two-sided power semiconductor devices which use bipolar conduction. In this class of devices, the inventor has realized that two or three of the four (or more) semiconductor doping components which form the carrier-emission structures and control structures in the active device (array) portion of a two-sided power device can also be used, with surprising advantages, to form field-limiting rings around the active arrays on both surfaces. Most preferably, in some but not necessarily all embodiments, a shallow implant of one conductivity type is used to counterdope the surface of a well having the other conductivity type. This shallow implant, singly or in combination with another shallow implant of the same conductivity type, works to shield the well from the effects of excess charge at or above the surface of the semiconductor material.
US09337239B2

An electronic device includes a memory. The memory includes a first cell array including a plurality of flash memory cells, a first peripheral circuit suitable for controlling the first cell array, a second cell array including a plurality of variable resistance memory cells, and a second peripheral circuit suitable for controlling the second cell array. The first cell array, the first peripheral circuit, and the second peripheral circuit are formed at a first level over a surface of a semiconductor substrate, and the second cell array is disposed at a second level over the surface of a semiconductor substrate, the second level being higher than the first level. A portion of the second cell array overlaps in a plan view the second peripheral circuit and/or the first cell array.
US09337237B2

Non-volatile memory devices comprising a memory string including a plurality of vertically superimposed diodes. Each of the diodes may be arranged at different locations along a length of the electrode and may be spaced apart from adjacent diodes by a dielectric material. The electrode may electrically couple the diodes of the memory strings to one another and to another memory device, such as, a MOSFET device. Methods of forming the non-volatile memory devices as well as intermediate structures are also disclosed.
US09337226B2

An image pickup element includes: a semiconductor substrate including a photoelectric conversion section for each pixel; a pixel separation groove provided in the semiconductor substrate; and a fixed charge film provided on a light-receiving surface side of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the fixed charge film includes a first insulating film and a second insulating film, the first insulating film being provided contiguously from the light-receiving surface to a wall surface and a bottom surface of the pixel separation groove, and the second insulating film being provided on a part of the first insulating film, the part corresponding to at least the light-receiving surface.
US09337219B1

Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a flexible display device. The method includes: providing a substrate, the substrate having a first surface and the second surface opposite to each other; forming a first flexible substrate on the first surface of the substrate and forming the second flexible substrate on the second surface of the substrate in such a way that a force acting from the first flexible substrate to the substrate is equal to, but in opposite direction, a force acting from the second substrate to the substrate; forming a displaying component on a surface of the first flexible substrate that is distant from the substrate; and peeling the first flexible substrate on which the displaying component is formed off the substrate so as to form a flexible display device. The flexible display device manufactured with the method has an enhanced quality.
US09337213B2

This semiconductor device (100) includes: a gate electrode (3); a gate insulating layer (4); an oxide layer (50) which is formed on the gate insulating layer (4) and which includes a first conductor region (55) and a first semiconductor region (51) that overlaps at least partially with the gate electrode (3) with the gate insulating layer (4) interposed between them; a source electrode (6s) formed to contact with the upper surface of the first semiconductor region (51) of the oxide layer (50); a drain electrode (6d) which is formed to contact with the upper surface of the first semiconductor region (51) of the oxide layer (50) and which is electrically connected to the first conductor region (55); and a conductive layer (60) which is formed in contact with the upper surface of the oxide layer (50) and which a plurality of holes (66) or notches. The oxide layer (50) has a plurality of second conductor regions (57, 58), and each of which has a surface exposed inside respective one of the holes or notches of the conductive layer.
US09337210B2

A vertical ferroelectric field effect transistor construction comprises an isolating core. A transition metal dichalcogenide material encircles the isolating core and has a lateral wall thickness of 1 monolayer to 7 monolayers. A ferroelectric gate dielectric material encircles the transition metal dichalcogenide material. Conductive gate material encircles the ferroelectric gate dielectric material. The transition metal dichalcogenide material extends elevationally inward and elevationally outward of the conductive gate material. A conductive contact is directly against a lateral outer sidewall of the transition metal dichalcogenide material that is a) elevationally inward of the conductive gate material, or b) elevationally outward of the conductive gate material. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
US09337196B2

Closely spaced III-V compound semiconductor fins and germanium-containing semiconductor fins are provided by utilizing mandrel structures for III-V compound semiconductor material epitaxial growth and subsequent fin formation. Mandrel structures are formed on a semiconductor material stack that includes an uppermost layer of a relaxed germanium-containing material layer. A hard mask portion is formed on a pFET device region of the semiconductor material stack, and then recessed regions are provided in the relaxed germanium-containing material layer of the material stack semiconductor and in an nFET device region. An III-V compound semiconductor material plug is then formed in each recessed region. First sacrificial spacers are formed adjacent the sidewalls of each mandrel structures, and then each mandrel structure is removed. III-V compound semiconductor fins and germanium-containing semiconductor fins are then formed in the different device regions utilizing each first sacrificial spacer as an etch mask.
US09337184B2

It is an object to decrease the number of transistors connected to a capacitor. In a structure, a capacitor and one transistor are included, one electrode of the capacitor is connected to a wiring, and the other electrode of the capacitor is connected to a gate of the transistor. Since a clock signal is input to the wiring, the clock signal is input to the gate of the transistor through the capacitor. Then, on/off of the transistor is controlled by a signal which synchronizes with the clock signal, so that a period when the transistor is on and a period when the transistor is off are repeated. In this manner, deterioration of the transistor can be suppressed.
US09337170B1

An apparatus relates generally to a microelectronic assembly. In such an apparatus, a contact arrangements are disposed on a first surface of a first substrate, including first contacts disposed as a first ring array; second contacts disposed interior to the first contacts as a second ring array; third contacts disposed interior to the second contacts as a third ring array; and fourth contacts disposed interior to the third contacts on the first surface as an innermost array. The first ring array, the second ring array, and the third ring array are concentric rings with the innermost array in a central region of the concentric rings. The first contacts and the fourth contacts are for interconnection with first microelectronic dies. The second contacts and the third contacts are for interconnection with second microelectronic dies.
US09337156B2

A method for manufacturing a digital circuit is described comprising forming two field effect transistors, connecting the field effect transistors such that an output signal of the digital circuit in response to a predetermined input signal has an undefined logic state when the threshold voltages of the field effect transistors are equal and setting the threshold voltages of at least one of the field effect transistors such that the output signal of the digital circuit in response to the predetermined input signal has a predetermined defined logic state.
US09337152B2

Disclosed and claimed herein is a formulation for packaging an electronic device and assemblies made therefrom.
US09337151B2

Provided is a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a contact region. An interlayer insulating layer is disposed on the semiconductor substrate. A lower contact plug passing through the interlayer insulating layer and electrically connected to the contact region is disposed. An interconnection structure is disposed on the interlayer insulating layer. An adjacent interconnection spaced apart from the interconnection structure is disposed on the interlayer insulating layer. A bottom surface of the interconnection structure includes a first part overlapping a part of an upper surface of the lower contact plug, and a second part overlapping the interlayer insulating layer.
US09337132B2

A power device package for containing, protecting and providing electrical contacts for a power transistor includes a top and bottom lead frames for directly no-bump attaching to the power transistor. The power transistor is attached to the bottom lead frame as a flip-chip with a source contact and a gate contact directly no-bumping attaching to the bottom lead frame. The power transistor has a bottom drain contact attaching to the top lead frame. The top lead frame further includes an extension for providing a bottom drain electrode substantially on a same side with the bottom lead frame. In a preferred embodiment, the power device package further includes a joint layer between device metal of source, gate or drain and top or bottom lead frame, through applying ultrasonic energy.
US09337129B2

A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor element having an electrode facing a first direction; a first lead having a conductive distal end surface facing the electrode, and a rising portion which is connected to the distal end surface to extend away from the electrode; a conductive bonding material bonding the electrode of the semiconductor element to the distal end surface of the first lead; and a sealing resin covering the semiconductor element, at least a portion of the first lead, and the conductive bonding material.
US09337123B2

One or more heat pipes are utilized along with a substrate in order to provide heat dissipation through the substrate for heat that can build up at an interface between the substrate and one or more semiconductor chips in a package. In an embodiment the heat pipe may be positioned on a side of the substrate opposite the semiconductor chip and through-substrate vias may be utilized to dissipate heat through the substrate. In an alternative embodiment, the heat pipe may be positioned on a same side of the substrate as the semiconductor chip and may be thermally connected to the one or more semiconductor chips.
US09337121B2

Provided are a semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same. The semiconductor device includes: an active region provided on a substrate; an inlet channel formed as a single cavity buried in one side of the substrate; an outlet channel formed as a single cavity buried in the other side of the substrate; a micro channel array comprising a plurality of micro channels, wherein the plurality of micro channels are formed as a plurality of cavities buried in the substrate, and one end of the micro channel array is connected to a side of the inlet channel and the other end of the micro channel array is connected to a side of the outlet channel; and a micro heat sink array separating the micro channels from one another.
US09337120B2

A Multi-Chip Module is presented herein that comprises a package substrate, at least two integrated circuit devices, each of which is electrically coupled to the package substrate, and an interposer. Formed in the interposer are electrical connections which are predominantly horizontal interconnects. The first interposer is arranged to electrically couple the two integrated circuit devices to each other. Methods for manufacturing a Multi-Chip Module are also presented herein.
US09337117B2

A package comprises a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device comprises an active surface and side surfaces. The active surface has a contact pad. The package also comprises a mold covering the side surfaces of the semiconductor device. The package further comprises an interconnection line coupled with the contact pad and extending over the active surface of the semiconductor device. The package additionally comprises an under-bump metallurgy (UBM) layer over the interconnection line. The package also comprises a seal ring structure extending around and outside an upper periphery of the semiconductor device on the mold, the seal ring structure comprising a seal layer extending on a same level as at least one of the interconnection line or the UBM layer.
US09337114B2

Disclosed herein is a ceramic board and the manufacturing method and an image sensor package and a manufacturing method thereof, the ceramic board including a ceramic body in which an upper surface is formed with a first groove, a second groove is formed in the first groove, and the second groove is formed with a through hole; a first electrode pad formed in the first groove; and a second electrode pad formed at any one of the upper surface, a lower surface and the both surfaces of the ceramic body, electrically connected to the first electrode pad.
US09337113B2

A semiconductor device includes a transistor, lead frames, a metal spacer, one surface of which is bonded to the transistor by a first bonding material and the other surface of which is bonded to the lead frame by a second bonding material, and a plastic mold. The plastic mold packages the transistor and the metal spacer. One surface of each of the lead frames is attached to the plastic mold. Strength of the second bonding material is lower than strength of the first bonding material. According to the above configuration, when stress is repeatedly applied to the semiconductor device, a crack occurs earlier in the second bonding material than in the first bonding material. The stress is buffered at the first bonding material.
US09337110B2

The present disclosure provides a method including providing a substrate having a first opening and a second opening on the substrate. A blocking layer is formed in the first opening. A second metal gate electrode is formed the second opening while the blocking layer is in the first opening. The blocking layer is then removed from the first opening, and a first metal gate electrode formed. In embodiments, this provides for a device having a second gate electrode that includes a second work function layer and not a first work function layer, and the first gate electrode includes the first work function layer and not the second work function layer.
US09337105B1

A method for fabricating a semiconductor device is provided. The method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming transistors on a semiconductor substrate, each of the transistors having a gate structure and source/drain regions, forming an oxide film on the transistors, forming a mask film pattern on the oxide film, the mask film pattern comprising a first pattern having a first width and a second pattern having a second width different from the first width, removing a part of the oxide film using the mask film pattern to form first and second trenches, filling the first and second trenches with a nitride film, removing the rest part of the oxide film to form third and fourth trenches, and forming conductive contacts by filling the third and fourth trenches. A top width of each of the third trenches is equal to the first width, and a top width of each of the fourth trenches is equal to the second width.
US09337097B2

A chip package includes: a substrate; a signal pad and a ground pad disposed on the substrate; a first and a second conducting layers disposed on the substrate and electrically connected to the signal pad and the ground pad, respectively, wherein the first and the second conducting layers extend from an upper surface of the substrate towards a lower surface of the substrate along a first and a second side surfaces of the substrate, respectively, and the first and the second conducting layers protrude from the lower surface; and a protection layer disposed on the substrate, wherein the protection layer completely covers the entire portion of the first conducting layer located on the first side surface of the substrate, and the entire portion of the second conducting layer located on the second side surface of the substrate is not covered by the protection layer.
US09337086B2

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor chip comprising placing a plurality of die units each having an active front surface and a back surface facing front surface up on an encapsulant layer, encapsulating the plurality of die units on the active surface of the encapsulant layer with an encapsulant covering a front surface and four side surfaces of each of the plurality of die units, and exposing, through the encapsulation on the front surface, conductive interconnects electrically connecting a die bond pad to a redistribution layer.
US09337084B1

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing contact holes of a semiconductor device, including a first dielectric layer is provided, a first region and a second region are defined on the first dielectric layer respectively, at least two cutting hard masks are formed and disposed within the first region and the second region respectively, at least two step-height portions disposed right under the cutting hard masks respectively. Afterwards, at least one first slot opening within the first region is formed, where the first slot opening partially overlaps the cutting hard mask and directly contacts the cutting hard mask, and at least one second contact opening is formed within the second region, where the second contact opening does not contact the cutting hard mask directly, and at least two contact holes are formed, where each contact hole penetrates through each step height portion.
US09337080B2

The present invention is a method for manufacturing an SOI wafer, including: implanting one or more gas ion selected from a hydrogen ion and a rare gas ion into a bond wafer composed of a semiconductor single crystal substrate from a surface of the bond wafer to form an ion-implanted layer; bonding the surface from which the ion is implanted into the bond wafer and a surface of a base wafer through an oxide film; and then delaminating the bond wafer at the ion-implanted layer by performing a delamination heat treatment with a heat treatment furnace to form the SOI wafer, wherein after the delamination heat treatment, a temperature of the heat treatment furnace is decreased to 250° C. or less at temperature-decreasing rate of less than 3.0° C/min, and then the SOI wafer and the bond wafer after delamination are taken out from the heat treatment furnace.
US09337078B2

According to a structure herein, a silicon substrate has an active device in the silicon substrate. A dielectric film is on the active device. An isolation trench is in the dielectric film surrounding the active device. The trench extends through the dielectric film and at least partially into the silicon substrate. A core is in the isolation trench. The core comprises material having thermal conductivity greater than silicon dioxide and electrical conductivity approximately equal to silicon dioxide.
US09337068B2

A method of forming an oxygen-containing ceramic hard mask film on a semiconductor substrate involves receiving a semiconductor substrate in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process chamber and depositing forming by PEVCD on the substrate an oxygen-containing ceramic hard mask film, the film being etch selective to low-k dielectric and copper, resistant to plasma dry-etch and removable by wet-etch. The method may further involve removing the oxygen-containing ceramic hard mask film from the substrate with a wet etch. Corresponding films and apparatus are also provided.
US09337058B2

There is provided a method for reducing the nonuniformity of forward voltage Vf of an N-type semiconductor wafer in which density of impurities included in an N-layer is nonuniformly distributed in a plane view of the semiconductor wafer. The method reduces the nonuniformity of forward voltage, by irradiating charged particles to the N-type semiconductor wafer, and generating defects in the N-layer to reduce the nonuniformity of forward voltage. In one aspect of the method, charged particles are irradiated so that a reaching positon in a depth direction or an irradiation density may differ according to the density of impurities in the N-layer in the plane view of the semiconductor wafer.
US09337057B2

Provided are methods for fabricating semiconductor devices. The methods for fabricating the semiconductor devices may include forming a first interlayer insulation film including a trench on a substrate, forming a high-k layer along an inner sidewall and a bottom surface of the trench, forming a first work function control film including impurities along the high-k layer, removing the impurities from the first work function control film to reduce surface resistance of the first work function control film by about 30% to about 60% and forming a gate metal in the trench.
US09337051B2

Embodiments of the disclosure generally provide a method of forming a reduced dimension pattern in a hardmask that is optically matched to an overlying photoresist layer. The method generally comprises of application of a dimension shrinking conformal carbon layer over the field region, sidewalls, and bottom portion of the patterned photoresist and the underlying hardmask at temperatures below the decomposition temperature of the photoresist. The methods and embodiments herein further involve removal of the conformal carbon layer from the bottom portion of the patterned photoresist and the hardmask by an etch process to expose the hardmask, etching the exposed hardmask substrate at the bottom portion, followed by the simultaneous removal of the conformal carbon layer, the photoresist, and other carbonaceous components. A hardmask with reduced dimension features for further pattern transfer is thus yielded.
US09337047B2

One or more embodiments are related to a semiconductor device, comprising: a high-K dielectric material; and a nitrogen-doped silicon material disposed over said high-k dielectric material.
US09337045B2

The present disclosure provides a method of forming a semiconductor circuit element and a semiconductor circuit element, wherein the semiconductor circuit element is formed on the basis of a replacement gate process replacing a dummy gate structure of a semiconductor device of the semiconductor circuit element by a gate oxide structure and a gate electrode material, wherein the gate oxide structure comprises a high-k material that is in the ferroelectric phase. In some illustrative embodiments herein, a semiconductor device is provided, the semiconductor device having a gate structure disposed over an active region of a semiconductor substrate. Herein, the gate structure comprises a spacer structure and a dummy gate structure which is replaced by a gate oxide structure and a gate electrode material, wherein the gate oxide structure comprises a ferroelectric high-k material.
US09337043B2

Various embodiments provide metal gate transistors and methods for forming the same. In an exemplary method, a substrate having a top surface and a back surface can be provided. A dummy gate can be formed on the top surface. A first interlayer dielectric layer can be formed on the top surface and planarized to expose the dummy gate. The dummy gate can be removed to form a trench. A metal gate stack can be formed to cover the first interlayer dielectric layer and to fill the trench. The metal gate stack can be planarized to remove a portion of the metal gate stack from the first interlayer dielectric layer to form a metal gate electrode in the trench. A remaining edge portion of the metal gate stack can exist over an annular region of the substrate and can be removed from the annular region by an edge cleaning process.
US09337042B2

A method for fabricated a buried recessed access device comprising etching a plurality of gate trenches in a substrate, implanting and activating a source/drain region in the substrate, depositing a dummy gate in each of the plurality of gate trenches, filling the plurality of gate trenches with an oxide layer, removing each dummy gate and depositing a high-K dielectric in the plurality of gate trenches, depositing a metal gate on the high-K dielectric in each of the plurality of gate trenches, depositing a second oxide layer on the metal gate and forming a contact on the source/drain.
US09337041B2

Capacitive coupling between a gate electrode and underlying portions of the source and drain regions can be enhanced while suppressing capacitive coupling between the gate electrode and laterally spaced elements such as contact via structures for the source and drain regions. A transistor including a gate electrode and source and drain regions is formed employing a disposable gate spacer. The disposable gate spacer is removed to form a spacer cavity, which is filled with an anisotropic dielectric material to form an anisotropic gate spacer. The anisotropic dielectric material is aligned with an electrical field such that lengthwise directions of the molecules of the anisotropic dielectric material are aligned vertically within the spacer cavity. The anisotropic gate spacer provides a higher dielectric constant along the vertical direction and a lower dielectric constant along the horizontal direction.
US09337039B2

The method includes the steps of a) Providing a stack having a support substrate and a film of GaN having dopant species, b) Directly bonding a shielding layer having a thickness higher than 2 micrometers to the surface of the film of GaN, so as to form an activation structure, and c) Applying a thermal budget to the activation structure according to conditions allowing to electrically activate at least one portion of the dopant species.
US09337036B2

Effects of copper oxide formation in semiconductor manufacture are mitigated by etching with sulfide plasmas. The plasmas form protective copper sulfide films on copper surfaces and prevent copper oxide formation. When copper oxide formation does occur, the sulfide plasmas are able to transform the copper oxide into acceptable or more conductive copper compounds. Non-oxide copper compounds are removed using clear wet strips.
US09337034B2

The invention relates to a method for producing a component comprising a conductive grid insulated from a semiconductor monocrystalline diamond substrate by an insulating region, comprising the following steps: a) oxygenating the surface of the substrate so as to replace the hydrogen surface terminations of the substrate with oxygen surface terminations; and b) forming the insulating region on the surface of the substrate by repeated monatomic layer deposition.
US09337024B2

This document describes the fabrication and use of ceramic stabilizing layer fabricated right on the product silicon wafer to facilitate its use as a substrate for fabrication of gallium nitride films. A ceramic layer is formed and then attached to a single crystal silicon substrate to form a composite silicon substrate that has coefficient of thermal expansion comparable with GaN. The composite silicon substrates prepared by this invention are uniquely suited for use as growth substrates for crack-free gallium nitride films, benefiting from compressive stresses produced by choosing a ceramic having a desired higher coefficient thermal expansion than those of silicon and gallium nitride.
US09337017B2

A method for repairing damages to sidewalls of an ultra-low dielectric constant film is disclosed by the present invention comprises the following steps: depositing an ultra-low dielectric constant film on an semiconductor substrate; dry-etching the ultra-low dielectric constant film to form a sidewall structure thereof; performing wet cleaning by using a chemical agent containing an unsaturated hydrocarbon having —O—C(Re)x; and performing ultraviolet curing. The present invention can restore pores size and porosity of the ultra-low dielectric constant film, and to keep effective dielectric constant to a minimum.
US09337015B2

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. The method includes forming a film containing carbon on a substrate by repeating a cycle plural times. The cycle includes: in a state in which a substrate housed in a processing chamber is heated, supplying an organic-based gas into the processing chamber and confining the organic-based gas inside the processing chamber; maintaining a state in which the organic-based gas is confined inside the processing chamber; and exhausting an inside of the processing chamber.
US09337011B2

Disclosed herein is a device for reducing noise generated by an electrical component, the device including a stiffening component secured to an electrical component, wherein the stiffening component provides rigidity to the electrical component, thereby reducing the mechanical resonance of the electrical component during operation. The electrical component has at least one end face and a flange portion that includes a flange face that extends about a perimeter of the end face. The flange face is substantially parallel to the end face, wherein the stiffening component is secured to the flange face of the electrical component such that it does not extend into a plane of the end face. Further, the stiffening component can include a stiffening portion and a securing portion, wherein the stiffening portion is secured to the flange face of the electrical component by the securing portion. Further, the electrical component can be a power semiconductor device.
US09337007B2

The present invention is directed to a method and device to generate a chemical signature for a mixture of analytes. The present invention involves using a SPME surface to one or both absorb and adsorb the mixture of analytes. In an embodiment of the invention, the surface is then exposed to different temperature ionizing species chosen with appropriate spatial resolution to desorb a chemical signature for the mixture of analytes.
US09337002B2

Components of semiconductor material processing chambers are disclosed, which may include a substrate and at least one corrosion-resistant coating formed on a surface thereof. The at least one corrosion-resistant coating is a high purity metal coating formed by a cold-spray technique. An anodized layer can be formed on the high purity metal coating. The anodized layer comprises a process-exposed surface of the component. Semiconductor material processing apparatuses including one or more of the components are also disclosed, the components being selected from the group consisting of a chamber liner, an electrostatic chuck, a focus ring, a chamber wall, an edge ring, a plasma confinement ring, a substrate support, a baffle, a gas distribution plate, a gas distribution ring, a gas nozzle, a heating element, a plasma screen, a transport mechanism, a gas supply system, a lift mechanism, a load lock, a door mechanism, a robotic arm and a fastener. Methods of making the components and methods of plasma processing using the components are also disclosed.
US09337000B2

A system for controlling an impedance of a radio frequency (RF) return path includes a matchbox further including a match circuitry. The system further includes an RF generator coupled to the matchbox to supply an RF supply signal to the matchbox via a first portion of an RF supply path. The RF generator is coupled to the matchbox to receive an RF return signal via a first portion of an RF return path. The system also includes a switch circuit and a plasma reactor coupled to the switch circuit via a second portion of the RF return path. The plasma reactor is coupled to the match circuitry via a second portion of the RF supply path. The system includes a controller coupled to the switch circuit, the controller configured to control the switch circuit based on a tune recipe to change an impedance of the RF return path.
US09336991B2

The disclosed ion implantation apparatus has a vacuum chamber 11, a roller electrode 13 having a portion of an outer circumferential part on which a film 3 is wound, voltage application unit 23 for applying a voltage to the roller electrode, and a gas introduction unit having a gas supply outlet for supplying an ion implantation gas into the vacuum chamber, wherein the gas introduction unit and a gas discharge outlet are disposed so as to be opposite each other along the axial direction of the roller electrode, the roller electrode intervening therebetween.
US09336983B2

The invention refers to a scanning particle microscope comprising: (a) at least one reference object which is fixedly arranged at an output of the scanning particle microscope for a particle beam so that the reference object can at least partially be imaged by use of the electron beam; (b) at least one scanning unit operable to scan a particle beam of the scanning particle microscope across at least one portion of the reference object; and (c) at least one setting unit operable to change at least one setting of the scanning particle microscope.
US09336981B2

A charged particle detection system comprises plural detection elements and a multi-aperture plate in proximity of the detection elements. Charged particle beamlets can traverse the apertures of the multi-aperture plate to be incident on the detection elements. More than one multi-aperture plate can be provided to form a stack of multi-aperture plates in proximity of the detector. A suitable electric potential supplied to the multi-aperture plate can have an energy filtering property for the plural charged particle beamlets traversing the apertures of the plate.
US09336978B2

A protective device including a substrate, a conductive section and a bridge element is provided. The conductive section is supported by the substrate, wherein the conductive section comprises a metal element electrically connected between first and second electrodes. The metal element serves as a sacrificial structure having a melting point lower than that of the first and second electrodes. The bridge element spans across the metal element in a direction across direction of current flow in the metal element, wherein the bridge element facilitates breaking of the metal element upon melting.
US09336973B2

A switch mechanism includes a button, a pressing component, a linking component and an activating component. The button is for moving in a first direction or a second direction. The pressing component is connected to a bottom side of the button and is for pressing a first switch component when the button moves in a first direction. An end of the linking component is connected to the button, and the linking component is driven by the button in a second direction as the button moves in the second direction. The activating component is detachably contacted with the linking component, and the activating component is driven by the linking component when the linking component moves to an activating position in the second direction, so as to activate a second switch component in a third direction.
US09336969B2

A press detection sensor contains a base member having predetermined length and width and also having a predetermined shape, a first conductor having predetermined length and being arranged on the base member, and a second conductor that is arranged on the base member with the second conductor being faced to the first conductor. The press detection sensor also contains a conductive contact body that is arranged between the first conductor and the second conductor. The conductive contact body connects the first and second conductors electrically in response to an external force. The press detection sensor further contains a covering member that includes the contact body on the inside thereof. The covering member covers a top of the base member which includes the first and second conductors. The covering member contains at least one of flexibility and elasticity.
US09336968B2

A keyboard applicable to a portable electronic device includes a flexible circuit board, a plurality of keys, a flexible frame, a first support plate, and a second support plate. The flexible circuit board has a first and a second surface. The plurality of keys is disposed on the first surface. The flexible frame is disposed on the first surface and has a plurality of through holes for keys to pass through. The first support plate is disposed on the second surface, and a part of the periphery of the first support plate is connected to the flexible frame. The second support plate is disposed on the second surface and adjacent to the first support plate, and a part of the periphery of the second support plate is connected to the flexible frame. Additionally, also provided is a method for assembling a keyboard and a portable electronic device.
US09336966B2

An indicator lamp is disclosed, in particular for an electromechanical command device. The indicator lamp includes a housing and a light source, which is arranged in the housing and emits light when supplied with energy. Furthermore, a lens arrangement is provided, including a first lens unit, which is arranged in the propagation direction of the light emitted by the light source and is built such that light beams emitted by the light source exit substantially parallel from a side of the first lens unit that faces away from the light source. The lens arrangement includes a second lens, which is arranged on the side of the first lens unit that faces away from the light source and is built such that some of the light beams exiting from the first lens unit are directed with respect to the propagation direction towards a transparent side surface of the housing.
US09336965B2

The invention provides a sealed contact device capable of extinguishing an arc which extends in an arbitrary direction. The sealed contact device includes a housing; a fixed contact and a movable contact disposed in the housing in such a manner as to face each other; and permanent magnets which are disposed with the fixed contact and the movable contact interposed therebetween and which attracts an arc between the fixed contact and the movable contact using a magnetic force. An arc shielding member is disposed at a position to which the arc is attracted by current flowing between the fixed contact and the movable contact and by the magnetic force between the permanent magnets, in the housing.
US09336961B2

In a blade-type fuse (10) according to the present invention one of an upper casing (20) and a lower casing (30) includes a fixing post (30K), the other casing includes a through-hole (20K) through which the fixing post (30K) is passed, and also the flat terminal portion (41) includes a through-hole (40K) through which the fixing post (30K) is passed. The flat terminal portion (41) is formed bilaterally symmetrically about a vertical line passing through a center of the blade-type fuse (10), and vertically symmetrically about a horizontal line passing through the center of the blade-type fuse (10).
US09336956B2

A tantalum capacitor includes a capacitor body containing tantalum powder and having a tantalum wire extending downwardly; a molded part enclosing the capacitor body and exposing an end portion of the tantalum wire; a positive electrode lead frame disposed on a lower surface of the molded part and connected to the end portion of the tantalum wire; a negative electrode lead frame disposed on the lower surface of the molded part; and a conductive adhesive layer disposed between the capacitor body and the negative electrode lead frame.
US09336946B2

The present application describes a multilayer ceramic electronic component including a ceramic body having a thickness greater than a width and includes a dielectric layers, and has upper and lower surfaces opposing each other in a thickness direction. First and second side surfaces oppose each other in a width direction, and first and second end surfaces oppose each other in a length direction. First and second internal electrodes are stacked with at least one of the dielectric layers interposed therebetween within the ceramic body in the width direction. A volume increasing part is disposed in a lower portion of the ceramic body in the thickness direction to allow a volume of a lower margin portion of the ceramic body to be greater than that of an upper margin portion thereof.
US09336942B2

A reactor that includes a coil with a pair of coil elements connected to each other, a magnetic core with a pair of interior core portions disposed inside the coil elements and an exterior core portion which connects the interior core portions to form a closed magnetic path, and an insulator interposed between the coil and the magnetic core.
US09336940B2

There is provided a laminated inductor including: a body having a plurality of sheets laminated in a width direction, and having first and second main surfaces in a thickness direction, third and fourth end surfaces in a length direction, and fifth and sixth side surfaces in the width direction; a first connection electrode formed on the first main surface of the body; first and second terminal electrodes formed on the second main surface of the body to be spaced apart from one another; a plurality of first internal conductive patterns connecting the first connection electrode and the first terminal electrode; and at least one or more second internal conductive patterns connecting the first connection electrode and the second terminal electrode.
US09336935B2

A levitation device including an object levitatable at a predetermined position, wherein the object comprises a spinning magnet, the spinning magnet having a substantially horizontal spin axis defining an axial direction and the spinning magnet having a magnetization direction parallel to the spin axis, the device further comprising: a pusher magnet arrangement configured to produce a magnetic field at the predetermined position that is in the opposite direction to the magnetization direction of said spinning magnet; a lifter magnet arrangement lower than and to either side of the predetermined position, having a magnetization direction parallel to the magnetization direction of the spinning magnet, and having a recess under the predetermined position; and a puller magnet arrangement above said predetermined position and having a magnetization direction antiparallel to the magnetization direction of the spinning magnet.
US09336931B2

The disclosure provides a chip resistor including: a substrate, two first electrodes, two second electrodes, a resistive layer, at least one protection layer and at least one coating layer. The protection layer covers part of the two first electrodes, and includes at least two overlay sides and at least one overlay plane. The coating layer covers the at least two overlay sides, the at least one overlay plane, and part of the two first electrodes and the two second electrodes. The chip resistor uses the two overlay sides and the overplay plane to extend a distance between the two first electrodes and the outside. Therefore, it is difficult for the airborne sulfur, sulfides and sulfur-containing compounds to enter and react with the two first electrodes. Thus, the chip resistor can resist corrosion of harmful substances such as sulfur, sulfides and sulfur-containing compounds or halogens on the electrodes.
US09336914B2

A radioactive waste (zeolite to which Cs-137 was adsorbed) in a waste tank and a glass raw material (soda lime glass) in a glass raw material tank are supplied into a solidifying vessel. Graphite in a graphite tank is also supplied into the solidifying vessel. The solidifying vessel is filled with a mixture of the radioactive waste, glass raw material, and graphite and is then disposed in an adiabatic vessel. The radioactive waste and glass raw material in the adiabatic vessel are heated by thermal energy generated due to radiation emitted from Cs-137. The heat is transferred to the peripheral portion of the solidifying vessel through the graphite, raising the temperature of the peripheral portion. The glass raw material is melted and enters clearances among the radioactive waste, producing a vitrified radioactive waste. This radioactive waste solidification method can shorten a time taken to produce a vitrified radioactive waste.
US09336910B2

A nuclear reactor includes a pressure vessel, and a control rod assembly including at least one movable control rod comprising a neutron absorbing material, a control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) for controlling movement of the at least one control rod, and a coupling operatively connecting the at least one control rod and the CRDM. The coupling includes a first portion comprising a first material having a first density at room temperature, and a second portion comprising a second material having a second density at room temperature that is greater than the first density. In some embodiments the coupling includes a connecting rod including a hollow or partially hollow connecting rod tube comprising a first material having a first density and a filler disposed in the hollow or partially hollow connecting rod tube, the filler comprising a second material having a second density greater than the first density.
US09336903B2

A semiconductor apparatus includes an input buffer configured to buffer data inputted through a data input/output pad; a data input control unit configured to transfer an output of the input buffer to a data input/output line in response to a write clock; a test loop control unit configured to output one of a signal of the data input/output line and test latch data in response to a test mode signal; a data output control unit configured to output an output of the test loop control unit in response to a read clock; an output inversion select unit configured to output an output signal of the data output control unit by inverting or non-inverting it; and an output buffer configured to buffer an output signal of the output inversion select unit and output a resultant signal to a node which is coupled with the data input/output pad and input buffer.
US09336900B2

A shift register circuit is disclosed. In some embodiments, the shift register circuit includes six transistors and no capacitors. A group of such shift register circuits is also disclosed. In some embodiments, the shift registers of the group are connected so as to be configured to provide driving signals for a display. A method of using the shift registers is also disclosed.
US09336894B2

A memory device may include nonvolatile memory cells. A first memory cell of the nonvolatile memory cells may have a first resistance value in a first state and a second memory cell of the nonvolatile memory cells may have a second resistance value less than the first resistance value in a second state. A third memory cell of the nonvolatile memory cells may have a third resistance value less than the first resistance value and greater than the second resistance value in a third state, and a fourth memory cell of the nonvolatile memory cells may have a fourth resistance value less than the third resistance value and greater than the second resistance value in a fourth state.
US09336893B2

A non-volatile memory device includes a sector pass/fail indicator circuit configured to store a pass/fail indicator for each sector in a first block of memory cells. The pass/fail indicator has a first value indicating the respective sector has failed erase verification and has a second value indicating the respective sector has passed erase verification. The sector pass/fail indicator circuit set the respective pass/fail indicators to the second value for one or more sectors in the first block after the respective sectors pass erase verification following a previous block erase operation of the first block. The first block is subjected to subsequent block erase operation where only word lines associated with the sectors having a pass/fail indicator having the first value are biased to the first bias voltage level.
US09336876B1

Providing for improved programming techniques for endurance and memory retention in two-terminal memory is described herein. In some embodiments, a programming pulse can be configured to provide a minimum pulse time over which a program signal is applied to a two-terminal memory cell, following programming of the two-terminal memory cell. This minimum pulse time can help to stabilize the program state of the two-terminal memory cell, improving stability of the program state (e.g., related to memory retention) and overall increased endurance (e.g., in program cycles) of the two-terminal memory cell. The minimum pulse time can be initiated separately to a programming pulse, or can be integrated as part of the program pulse, in various embodiments. In some embodiments, current compliance or voltage control can be implemented in conjunction with providing programming and minimum pulse time functionality.
US09336871B2

According to one embodiment, a resistance change memory includes the following configuration. A first inverter includes first input and first output terminals and first and second voltage terminals. A second inverter includes second input and second output terminals and third and fourth voltage terminals. The second input terminal is connected to the first output terminal. The second output terminal is connected to the first input terminal. First and second transistors are connected to the first and second output terminals, respectively. Third and fourth transistors are connected to the first and third voltage terminals, respectively. A fifth transistor is connected between the first voltage terminal and the first memory cell. A sixth transistor is connected to the third voltage terminal. A controller turns on the first and second transistors, after turning off the fifth and sixth transistors.
US09336867B2

An integrated circuit phase change memory can be pre-coded by inducing a first resistance state in some cells and the memory, and a second resistance state and some other cells in the memory to represent a data set. The integrated circuit phase change memory is mounted on a substrate after coding the data set. After mounting the integrated circuit phase change memory, the data set is read by sensing the first and second resistance states, and changing cells in the first resistance state to a third resistance state and changing cells in the second resistance state to a fourth resistance state. The first and second resistance states maintain a sensing margin after solder bonding or other thermal cycling process. The third and fourth resistance states are characterized by the ability to cause a transition using higher speed and lower power, suitable for a mission function of a circuit.
US09336861B1

A bit cell and memory architecture wherein a write bitline is not required is presented. The bitcell and the memory architecture bring a huge improvement in the performance, dynamic power, leakage power, area, and the yield of the memory.
US09336859B2

A memory array includes a first memory cell and a second memory cell aligned along a column direction. Each of the first memory cell and the second memory cell includes a pair of cross-coupled inverters, a first switch on a first side, along the column direction, of the pair of cross-coupled inverters, a second switch aligned with the first switch along the column direction, on a second side of the pair of cross-coupled inverters opposing to the first side, a third switch on the first side of the pair of cross-coupled inverters, and a fourth switch aligned with the third switch along the column direction, on the second side of the pair of cross-coupled inverters. The memory array also includes a first data line, a first complementary data line, a second data line and a second complementary data line.
US09336853B2

Provided is a memory device having a plurality of memory cells and a refresh circuit. Each of the memory cells is configured to retain multiple data as a potential of a node connected to a gate of a first transistor, one of a source and a drain of a second transistor, and one of electrodes of a capacitor. The refresh circuit is configured to refresh the memory cells. That is, the refresh circuit is configured to determine an interval between refresh operations, estimate a change of the potential of the node due to the leakage of the charge, and provide a refresh potential to the memory cells, where the refresh potential is a sum of the potential read from the node and the potential lost due to the charge leakage.
US09336851B2

In a method of refreshing in a memory device having a plurality of pages, a candidate refresh address corresponding to a page scheduled to be refreshed after a monitoring period is generated. Whether an active command is processed for the candidate refresh address is monitored during the monitoring period. If an active command is processed for the candidate refresh address during the monitoring period, the scheduled refresh for that page is skipped. If no active command is processed for the candidate refresh address during the monitoring period, the scheduled refresh operation is performed.
US09336837B2

A low voltage sensing scheme reduces active power down standby leakage current in a memory device. A clamping device or diode is used between a Psense amplifier control line (e.g. ACT) and Vcc and/or between an Nsense amplifier control line (e.g. RNL*) and Vss (ground potential). The clamping diode is not enabled during normal memory operations, but is turned on during active power down mode to reduce leakage current through ACT and/or RNL* nodes. The clamping device connected to the ACT node may reduce the voltage on the ACT line during power down mode, whereas the clamping device connected to the RNL* node may increase the voltage on the RNL* line during power down mode to reduce sense amplifier leakage current through these nodes. Because of the rules governing abstracts, this abstract should not be used to construe the claims.
US09336835B2

In one implementation, flash memory chips are provided with an operating power supply voltage to substantially match a power supply voltage expected at an edge connector of a dual inline memory module. The one or more of the flash memory chips and a memory support application integrated circuit (ASIC) may be mounted together into a multi-chip package for integrated circuits. The one or more flash memory chips and the memory support ASIC may be electrically coupled together by routing one or more conductors between each in the multi-chip package. The multi-chip package may be mounted onto a printed circuit board (PCB) of a flash memory DIMM to reduce the number of packages mounted thereto and reduce the height of the flash memory DIMM. The number of printed circuit board layers may also be reduced, such as by integrating address functions into the memory support ASIC.
US09336828B2

The present invention relates to a recording medium containing moving picture data and additional information thereof and to reproducing method and apparatus of the recording medium. The present recording medium has script files including additional information about moving picture data, e.g., scene descriptive text and introduction of characters, etc. In addition, information linking each script file with a section of moving picture data to be presented with contents of the script file is included in a link data file or is contained in a filename of the script file. In reproduction of the recording medium, a script file linked with presently reproduced moving picture data section is determined and searched for based on the link data file or every filename of the script files, and contents of the found script file are presented together with the presently reproduced moving picture data. Furthermore, previously presented additional information is removed depending on data or filename of the found script file.
US09336826B2

Online interactions using optical disc players are facilitated by extracting information from a user request that was initiated from an optical disc player, and then using the extracted information to identify pre-existing user-specific data. A short code, which is specific to the desired online interaction and associated with the extracted information and pre-existing information, is generated and transmitted back to the optical disc player. This short code is then provided back to the back-end server by the user from a secondary consumer electronic device, and used to retrieve associated information, such as the target website for consummating the desired interaction and the previously-identified pre-existing information. Retrieved information is used to populate data fields on the target website prior the user being re-directed to the target website.
US09336821B2

Provided is a recording apparatus including a light radiating unit that radiates light to an optical recording medium, a recording unit that performs light emission control of the light radiating unit, and performs recording on the optical recording medium, and a control unit that controls the recording unit in a manner that recording of remaining data starts from a position over a defect occurrence area, according to occurrence of a defect, in a state in which a logical address space and a physical address space are defined with respect to a recording area of the optical recording medium, and controls the recording unit in a manner that, when the buffer area is consumed and data is not completely recorded, a recording area of the remaining data that is not completely recorded is replaced with the spare area and the remaining data is recorded on the spare area.
US09336820B2

A data storage device may be configured with at least one data sector sync mark. Various embodiments are generally directed to a data sector having a sync mark and stored on a data storage medium with the sync mark having either a first or second patterns and a sync circuit configured to distinguish between the two different patterns to identify a status of at least some other portion of the data sector.
US09336819B2

Disclosed are an apparatus and method for writing data based on a drive state. In one embodiment, a method may comprise receiving a command to store data to a first area of a data storage device, detecting whether the data storage device is in a first state indicating a lowered write reliability, and writing the data to a second area when the first state is detected, the second area having a higher write reliability than the first area. In another embodiment, an apparatus may comprise a processor configured to receive a command to write data to a first area of a data storage device, detect whether the data storage device is in a first mode indicating a reduced writing reliability relative to a second mode, and write the data to a second area of the data storage device when the first mode is detected.
US09336818B1

A system and method is disclosed for improved operation of a data storage device such as a hard disk drive. The overhead for data rewriting may be reduced by the periodic remapping of logical block addresses to avoid excessive adjacent track interference effects on data blocks having lower data writing rates. It may employ the indirection system to remap data “hot spots” to new locations neighboring on spare data blocks. In circumstances where it is not possible to write data next to spare data blocks, the active LBA may be periodically moved after a predefined number of write operations.
US09336816B1

In one embodiment, a method includes acquiring, by the computer, position information from encoding on a magnetic medium, causing, by the computer, a reel around which the magnetic medium is wrapped to rotate a number of rotations, calculating, by the computer, an estimated thickness of the magnetic medium based on the position information, the number of rotations, and a pack radius of the magnetic medium on the reel, and causing to be stored, by the computer, the estimated thickness. In another embodiment, an apparatus includes a controller and logic integrated with and/or executable by the controller, the logic being configured to cause the controller to perform the foregoing method.
US09336808B2

A system including a magnetic tape processing system that includes a read/write head to write to a top surface of a magnetic tape. The read/write head provides a write head field gradient of at least 40 Oersteds per nanometer at the top surface of the magnetic tape. The magnetic tape processing system and the read/write head provide a track density of greater than 8000 tracks per inch, a bit density of greater than 440 kilo-bits per inch, and an aspect ratio of less than 70.
US09336795B1

A speech therapy system includes a portable voice-monitoring assembly with a voice-sensing first subassembly and a loudness-alert-producing second subassembly. The second subassembly (e.g., a microcontroller-outfitted electronic circuit) produces loudness alerts using a selected one of multiple loudness alert types to better aid the user keep speech characteristics (e.g., speech volume) within a specified range of acceptable voicing. Preferably, the second subassembly records a USAGE TIME parameter, and changes the loudness alert type if the USAGE TIME parameter exceeds a specified value. Preferably, the second subassembly records an EFFECTIVENESS parameter, based upon the duration of use required before the user adjusts their speech to acceptable voicing, and changes the loudness alert type if the EFFECTIVENESS parameter falls below a specified value. Preferably, alerts are included to indicated when voicing levels exceed user-inputted maximum and minimum levels. The methodology of the present invention proceeds accordingly.
US09336777B2

A speech processing device includes a speech recognition unit configured to sequentially recognize recognition segments from an input speech, a reverberation influence storage unit configured to store a degree of reverberation influence indicating an influence of a reverberation based on a preceding speech to a subsequent speech subsequent to the preceding speech and a recognition segment group including a plurality of recognition segments in correlation with each other, a reverberation influence selection unit configured to select the degree of reverberation influence corresponding to the recognition segment group which includes the plurality of recognition segments recognized by the speech recognition unit from the reverberation influence storage unit, and a reverberation reduction unit configured to remove a reverberation component weighted with the degree of reverberation influence from the speech from which at least a part of recognition segments of the recognition segment group is recognized.
US09336776B2

Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for providing action items from audio within an enterprise context. In some implementations, actions include determining a context of audio that is to be processed, providing training data to a speech recognition component, the training data being provided based on the context, receiving text from the speech recognition component, processing the text to identify one or more action items by identifying one or more concepts within the text and matching the one or more concepts to respective transitions in an automaton, and providing the one or more action items for display to one or more users.
US09336767B1

An audio device may be configured to produce output audio and to capture input audio for speech recognition. In some cases, a second device may also be used to capture input audio to improve isolation of input audio with respect to the output audio. In addition, acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) may be used to remove components of output audio from input signals of the first and second devices. AEC may be implemented by an adaptive filter based on dynamically optimized filter coefficients. The filter coefficients may be analyzed to detect situations in which the first and second devices are too close to each other, and the user may then be prompted to increase the distance between the two devices.
US09336764B2

A recording and playback device according to the present invention stores in a memory section sound data for an amount of time corresponding to a beat which is acquired from an external source, and creates loop sound data in bar units by connecting a plurality of stored sound data. Then, the recording and playback device performs an operation to overlap newly acquired sound data onto the loop sound data while the loop sound data is being repeatedly replayed, and store the overlapping sound data in the memory section.
US09336745B2

A display apparatus and a control method thereof are provided. The display apparatus is coupled to a video signal supply source through at least one connector. The display apparatus includes: a main storage unit which stores extended display identification data (EDID) therein corresponding to the at least one connector; a temporary storage unit which loads the EDID thereto from the main storage unit; and a controller which loads the EDID stored in the main storage unit to the temporary storage unit if power is supplied, and controls to transmit the EDID corresponding to an EDID requesting signal, among the EDID loaded to the temporary storage unit, through the at least one connector if the EDID requesting signal is received through the at least one connector.
US09336739B2

An object is to provide a liquid crystal display device capable of image display according to an environment around the liquid crystal display device, e.g., in a bright environment or a dim environment. Another object is to provide a liquid crystal display device capable of displaying an image in both modes of a reflective mode in which external light is used as a light source and a transmissive mode in which a backlight is used. In order to achieve at least one of the above objects, a liquid crystal display device is provided with a region (a reflective region) where display is performed with reflection of incident light through a liquid crystal layer and a region (a transmissive region) where display is performed with transmission of light from a backlight and can switch the transmissive mode and the reflective mode. In the case where a full-color image is displayed, a pixel portion includes at least a first region and a second region, a plurality of lights of different hues are sequentially supplied to the first region according to a first order, and a plurality of lights of different hues are also sequentially supplied to the second region according to a second order which is different from the first order.
US09336738B2

In one or more example embodiments, a display controller includes a stable pixel writing period in one horizontal period in a display device, the stable pixel writing period being a period during which a voltage outputted from a gate driver is at a high level. The display controller also includes a first stable pixel writing period determination circuit which determines, by using a reference signal independent from the frame rate in the display device, the stable pixel writing period during which the voltage is at the high level. Thus, the display controller can be provided in which, regardless of whether and how the frame rate is changed, the stable pixel writing period can be of a target length.
US09336735B2

The plurality of stages of circuit blocks of a driver circuit in a display device include a first transistor and a second transistor. The first transistor is connected at its gate with a first node and controls conductivity between a scanning signal line and a first clock signal line applied with a first clock signal. The first node is at an active potential when at least any one signal of signals output from one stage in each of a forward direction and a reverse direction is at the active potential. The second transistor is connected at its gate with the first node and controls conductivity between the first clock signal line and an input signal line of another stage of circuit block.
US09336732B2

The invention relates to methods and apparatus for forming images on a display utilizing a control matrix to control the movement of MEMs-based light modulators.
US09336729B2

A display apparatus including a screen layer for displaying a unified image to a viewer and an illumination layer having an array of light sources. Each light source emits a light beam. An array of optical elements, each coupled to a corresponding light source in the array of light sources, is disposed between the screen layer and the illumination layer. The display layer includes a matrix of pixlets and a spacing region disposed between the pixlets in the matrix, wherein the array of light sources emit their light beams through the array of optical elements, wherein each optical element is configured to shape the received light beam into a divergent projection beam having a limited angular spread to project sub-images displayed by the pixlets as magnified sub-images on the backside of the screen layer, the magnified sub-images to combine to form the unified image that is substantially seamless.
US09336725B2

There are provided an electronic device and a display controlling apparatus and method. The display controlling apparatus that is driven in a paper mode and includes a backlight includes an image processing device that first converts a gradation value of an input image so as to have image characteristics of the paper mode, and second converts the first converted gradation value of the input image so as to have a upper limit gradation value is scaled up to the maximum gradation value, and a backlight brightness determining unit that determines brightness of light irradiated by the backlight to be lowered in response to the second conversion of the gradation value.
US09336721B2

Disclosed herein is a driving method and display apparatus, the display apparatus including light emitting units, scan lines, data lines, a driving circuit provided for each of the light emitting units to serve as a circuit having a signal writing transistor, a device driving transistor, a capacitor and a first switch circuit, and a light emitting device.
US09336719B2

The display device including a pixel circuit has a first line, a transistor, a light emitting element, and a second line. The transistor is located between the second line and an electrode of the light emitting element. Either the first line or the second line is wired in a region that overlaps a light emitting region of the light emitting element in a lamination direction of layers. The second line intersects the first line outside of the light emitting region and overlaps a non-light emitting region of the light emitting element.
US09336718B2

In a pixel circuit, during a period during which an organic EL element is not emitting light, a transistor is in an “on” state and a reverse-direction voltage determined by a reverse-direction current that depends on the degree to which degradation of the organic EL element has progressed is written to a capacitor. The transistor then turns off, another transistor turns on, and a compensating current that depends on the reverse-direction voltage flows from another capacitor towards a reverse-biasing power-supply line, causing a drive voltage maintained by the capacitor to change by a compensating voltage change. This makes it possible to minimize decreases in the emission luminance of an electro-optical element such as an organic EL element due to degradation thereof over time.
US09336692B1

An apparatus for teaching and practicing an ophthalmologic surgical technique of creating the continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis comprises a housing with a first base end and a second suction cup end for holding a malleable body; a flexible film or cellophane-type membrane covers the operating area of the malleable body; this flexible film can be held into place on the first base end with a first cap with an aperture or opening; in between the first base end and the second suction cup end, there can be a flexible stock with a threaded or friction connection. There can also be a second cap addition, which simulates a cornea and anterior chamber, which can be filled with viscoelastic material, which can increase the pressure in the eye and flattens the anterior capsule.
US09336688B2

A tactile display includes a base; movable pins having free ends for tactile sensing by a user, the pins arranged in rows and columns and movable between an extended position and retracted position with respect to the base so as to selectively display tactilely sensible data; a resilient element for supporting each pin in the extended position when at rest, and further operative to urge the pin from the retracted position to the extended position in the presence of an opposing force; one or more reset elements for lowering the pins from the extended position to the retracted position; row stoppers for lockably engaging rows of pins when in the second position.
US09336684B2

A ground controller in a travelling vehicle system stores travel permissions for a curved section that are provided to travelling vehicles, and deletes the travel permissions when the travelling vehicles leave the curved section. When a request for a permission to travel in the curved section is received from a travelling vehicle, the ground controller references the memory, provides a first travel permission if a permission to travel has not been provided to another travelling vehicle, and provides a low-order travel permission that permits travel with a lower speed than the first travel permission if a permission to travel has been provided to another travelling vehicle.
US09336679B1

Systems and methods for measuring traffic condition based on mobile device connection information are provided. An example method includes, at a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors: identifying, in a plurality of geographical areas, a first geographical area; selecting, in a plurality of cellular towers, a first cellular tower providing cellular coverage to the first geographical area; determining a first total number of cellular signal pings received by the first cellular tower over a first predefined time period; estimating a traffic volume factor for the first geographical area in accordance with the first total number of cellular signal pings; and providing traffic condition associated with the first geographical area to a user, in accordance with the traffic volume factor.
US09336678B2

Systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. An example playback device includes a signal detector adjacent to a first side of the playback device; a signal emitter adjacent to a second side of the playback device; a processor; and memory having stored thereon instructions executable by the processor to cause the playback device to perform functions. The example functions include detecting, by the signal detector, an analog signal; amplifying the analog signal in analog form; applying an offset to analog signal in analog form; filtering the offset signal in analog form; and emitting, by the signal emitter, the filtered signal.
US09336677B2

A system and method to enable vibration mediated communication between electrical devices such as photovoltaic solar panel controllers. The electrical devices may be connected to a mesh network with individual router devices. The individual router devices will send and receive data packets by creating or detecting vibrations in a solid vibration conducting media (such as the solar power wiring) that connects the individual electrical devices. Often at least one centralized control device is used to periodically request sensor data packets from the individual router devices and electrical devices. When the electrical devices are photovoltaic solar arrays, the centralized control device may, for example, be used to compute the proper adjustments for the solar arrays that will optimize the overall power output from the photovoltaic solar array. The control device will then send adjustment data packets back to the individual router devices through the mesh network, thus optimizing overall power output.
US09336676B2

An electronic transceiver module and method for controlling the electronic transceiver module for network wireless communication in electric and/or electronic devices or systems in high frequency bands up to 10 GHz, including a device for wireless communication connected to an antenna entry, a control device, and a memory device. The control device is connected to the memory device, to the device for wireless communication and to a comparator block, which is further connected to the memory device. The memory device includes at least two separate memories for storing information identifying various wireless networks.
US09336669B2

The system in at least one embodiment includes a tamper evident specimen sample locking device that in a further embodiment includes an embedded data storage mechanism. A method for using the system in at least one embodiment allows for efficiently and securely creating, maintaining, identifying, tracking, and controlling inventories (either prospective or retrospective) of biological and chemical sample containers and their contents, while eliminating potential loss and degradation associated with handling the samples. The system in at least one embodiment includes a sample container tray or cryogenic box having one or more integrated RFID readers within an associated smart lid that sense RFIDs associated with the individual samples thereby eliminating the need to remove, visually inspect, and/or handle the samples.
US09336666B2

A corner sensor assembly includes a housing having at least one magnet attached thereto, wherein the magnets allow the corner sensor assembly to be readily attached and relocated to corner structures within a building. The assembly includes at least one motion sensor for detecting motion within two opposing fields of monitoring. At least one visual indicator is activated when the motion sensors detect motion within both fields of monitoring and are deactivated when no motion is sensed in at least one of the fields of monitoring. The assembly includes an integrated power supply located within the housing.
US09336665B2

An EAS tag has an arming switch protruding from its body to detect when the EAS tag is being forcibly removed from an object to which it is attached. A plate covers the arming switch to provide a broader surface for interacting with the attached object. The plate is capable of floating and moving when it is impinged upon by an attached object. When moved by an object when the EAS tag is attached to an object, the plate actuates the arming switch and changes its state. This can arm the EAS tag or can be a step in the arming process of the EAS tag. When the EAS tag is forcibly removed from an object, the plate and arming switch are released, and electronics onboard the EAS tag determine an alarm condition.
US09336662B1

Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for visually and audibly indicating the setup and maintenance of a system.
US09336661B2

Disclosed are a safety communication system and a method thereof that provide a risk occurrence position and a notification function, and more particularly, disclosed is communication technology including a sensor based lighting for rapidly responding to a risk situation. The safety communication system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a device sensing a risk situation; a lighting crime prevention system analyzing risk situation data received from the device and including a position ID to generate situation data; and a lighting control system controlling an operation of a lighting depending on the situation data.
US09336659B2

A gaming machine for providing a slot game to a player is described herein. The gaming machine includes a display device and a controller for displaying a game to a player. The controller is configured to randomly determine an outcome of the game and display the outcome on the display device, determine a first award as a function of the outcome, and determine a second award as a function of the first award. The first award includes a first number of free games and a first award multiplier. The second award includes a second number of free games and a second award multiplier. The controller allows the player to select one of the first award and the second award and responsively provides the selected one of the first award and the second award to the player.
US09336656B2

Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention operate a multilayer hybrid game including: a gambling game; a multilayer entertainment game that triggers at least one wager in the gambling game to the gambling game and provides outcomes at a plurality of gameplay layers, where: players at a same gameplay layer are engaged in gameplay subject to the same standards for gameplay progression and utilization of gameplay resources; where the game world engine utilizes a multilayer module constructed to: detect at least one player action responsive to gameplay within a first gameplay layer of the plurality of gameplay layers; determine a gameplay impact for at least one player at a second gameplay layer in response to the detection of the at least one player action; and apply the gameplay impact to the gameplay of at least one player at the second gameplay layer.
US09336647B2

A gaming system compatible with patron-controlled portable electronic devices, such as smart phones or tablet computers, is described. The gaming system is configured to detect the presence of portable electronic devices and determine their locations in a casino environment and determine whether to initiate an attract feature. Based on the determined location of the portable electronic device, nearby gaming devices, such as electronic gaming machines can be selected for use in generating an attract feature for a patron. The generated attract feature can include outputting content to one or more EGMs and/or a patron's portable electronic device. The gaming devices selected for use in an attract feature and/or the content associated with the attract feature can be affected by patron specified preferences. In one embodiment, the patron specified preferences can be entered and stored using an application executed on their portable electronic device.
US09336642B2

This disclosure is directed to bicycle storage systems and, in particular, to shared-use bicycle systems. Several embodiments herein are directed to a shared-use bicycle system, comprising a bicycle having a locking device and an accessory-receiving area. The locking device can extend horizontally from the bicycle, and the accessory-receiving area being positioned below the locking device. The shared-use bicycle system also comprises a bicycle rack having a horizontally-extending rigid member with at least one opening thereon to receive the locking device of the bicycle in a secured manner. When the bicycle is received in the at least one opening of the bicycle rack in the secured manner, access to the accessory-receiving area of the bicycle is restricted by the horizontally-extending rigid member.
US09336640B2

The invention relates to a security element for securing documents of value. Along the security element a portion of a magnetic coding with first and second coding elements is arranged. The coding elements are arranged along a predetermined direction, wherein the first coding element continuously has along the predetermined direction a first magnetic region with a first coercive field strength and the second coding element has at least one first gap region and one second magnetic region with a second coercive field strength. At least one of the first magnetic regions is directly adjacent to at least one of the second magnetic regions. The sum of the lengths of the directly adjacent first and second magnetic regions amounts to a maximum of 8 mm.
US09336638B2

A method of validating a media item, comprising: for each of a plurality of sensors that sense a media item, determining a respective validation score indicating a likelihood that the sensed media item is valid; and determining if the media item is valid responsive to the plurality of validation scores. Apparatus for validating a media item and a document processing module are also provided.
US09336626B2

An imaging apparatus generates a 3D model using a photographed image of a subject and generates a 3D image based on the 3D model. When a corresponding point corresponding to a point forming the 3D model does not form a 3D model generated using a photographed image photographed at a different photographing position, the imaging apparatus determines that the point is noise, and removes the point determined as noise from the 3D model. The imaging apparatus generates a 3D image based on the 3D model from which the point determined as noise is removed.
US09336624B2

A method and system renders a 3D model of a 3D object as an image including image samples. The 3D model is a distance field, and the distance field includes surface cells representing portions of a surface of the 3D object. A set of image samples in the image is determined in an object-order phase for each surface cell. Each surface cell is then processed independent of other surface cells. The processing casts a ray, in an image order phase from each image sample in the set of image samples, through the surface cell to determine a contribution of the surface cell to the image sample, and then the image is rendered.
US09336617B1

A two-dimensional data input plane represents a set of objects along an x-axis and a set of values that can be assigned to the objects along a y-axis. Plotting a point on the graph causes a value corresponding to the horizontal component of the point to be assigned to an object corresponding to the vertical component of the point. In one example, a device includes a user interface to display a graph, identifiers for a set of objects along an x-axis of the graph, and a set of values along a y-axis of the graph, and a processor to receive a selection of an intersection of one of the identifiers of the objects along the x-axis and one of the values along the y-axis from the user interface, and to assign the one of the values to the one of the objects corresponding to the one of the identifiers.
US09336606B2

An image capturing apparatus includes: an image input unit that inputs an image; a designating unit that receives designation of an initial tracking-target region that is a first region in a first image frame of time-series image frames input from the image input unit; a feature value extracting unit that extracts a predetermined feature value from a target region in the first image frame; a first search unit that searches for a second region obtained by changing a size of the first region and by determining whether the feature value extracted from the second region satisfies a predetermined condition for enabling successful tracking and sets the second region as a new initial tracking-target region; and a second search unit that searches for a region similar to the newly set initial tracking-target region as a tracking-result region in a second image frame subsequent to the first image frame.
US09336605B2

A medical imaging system (900, 1000, 1100, 1200) for acquiring medical image data (930), the medical imaging system comprising: a tissue treating system (910, 1080, 1180, 1190, 1280, 1290) for treating a target volume (908); a computer system (918) comprising a processor (922), wherein the computer system is adapted for controlling the medical imaging system; and a memory (928) containing machine readable instructions (954, 956, 958, 962, 964, 966, 968, 970, 972, 974). Execution of the instructions cause the processor to: acquire (100, 200, 308) medical image data; reconstruct (102, 202, 310) a medical image (932) using the medical image data; receive (104, 204, 312) an image segmentation seed (600, 934) derived from a treatment plan (936), and identify (106, 210, 314) a treated volume (400, 700, 800) in the medical image by segmenting the medical image in accordance with the image segmentation seed.
US09336604B2

A computer-implemented method for generating a depth map including, generating an initial depth map for a first image, the first image being one of a pair of stereo images received from an imaging device, the pair of stereo images including the first image and a second image and generating an estimated depth map based on the initial depth map by hypothesizing depth values for missing regions in the initial depth map. The method including warping the second image based on the estimated depth map, generating a warped depth map based on the first image and the warped second image, and generating a new depth map for the first image relative to the second image based on the warped depth map and the estimated depth map.
US09336602B1

A number of images of an environment may be obtained over time. In some images, a portion of an object included in the environment may be occluded by another object in the environment. In these images, features of the occluded portion of the object may be absent. The absent features may be estimated based on features generated from previous images including the object where the occluded portion of the object was not occluded in the previous images. In some cases, the absent features may be estimated based on data associated with a reference object that corresponds to the occluded object with the reference object being included in a catalog of reference objects.
US09336600B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for determining three dimensional (3D) shape by capturing with a camera a plurality of images of an object in differential motion; derive a general relation that relates spatial and temporal image derivatives to BRDF derivatives; exploiting rank deficiency to eliminate BRDF terms and recover depth or normal for directional lighting; and using depth-normal-BRDF relation to recover depth or normal for unknown arbitrary lightings.
US09336595B2

A calibration device capable of calculating an installation parameter of a camera without storing graphical features of road marking in advance or without requiring another technique. An acquiring unit acquires images captured by the camera before and after a vehicle moves, and an extracting unit extracts two feature points from each of the images captured before and after the vehicle moves. A calculating unit calculates a camera installation parameter on the basis of a positional relationship of coordinates of the two feature points in the image before the vehicle moves and coordinates of the two feature points after the vehicle moves that correspond to the feature points before the vehicle moves.
US09336594B2

What is disclosed is a system and method for estimating cardiac pulse rate from a video of a subject being monitored for cardiac function. In one embodiment, batches of overlapping image frames are continuously received and processed by isolating regions of exposed skin. Pixels of the isolated regions are processed to obtain a time-series signal per region and a physiological signal is extracted from each region's time-series signals. The physiological signal is processed to obtain a cardiac pulse rate for each region. The cardiac pulse rate for each region is compared to a last good cardiac pulse rate from a previous batch to obtain a difference. If the difference exceeds a threshold, the cardiac pulse rate is discarded. Otherwise, it is retained. Once all the regions have been processed, the retained cardiac pulse rate with a minimum difference becomes the good cardiac pulse rate for comparison on a next iteration.
US09336592B2

A system and method for determining intraoperative locations of a lesion in tissue from lesion locations determined in preoperative imaging includes determining three dimensional locations of surface features of the organ in the preoperative images. A preoperative surface map is extracted from stereo images annotated with surface features from preoperative images. An intraoperative surface map of the organ is extracted from stereo images, and surface features are identified in the stereo images corresponding to surface features annotated into the preoperative surface map. Three dimensional displacements of the surface features are determined and used to constrain a computer model of deformation of the organ. In embodiments, the model of deformation is adapted or constrained to model locations and dimensions of surgical cavities using an optical flow method and/or locations of surgical instruments in the organ. The model of deformation is used to determine intraoperative locations for the lesion.
US09336588B2

A joint assembly is provided. The joint assembly includes a first component including a first bond surface and a second component including a second bond surface coupled to the first bond surface such that a bond line is defined therebetween. At least one of the first and second components includes a plurality of contrast particles that diffuse across the bond line when a predetermined amount of heat and pressure are applied to the first and second components.
US09336586B2

Provided is an image processing apparatus capable of viewing even a characteristic portion of an inspection object even if partial image data of the inspection object is used for inspection. The image processing apparatus includes: an imaging portion for imaging an inspection object; a compression processing portion for executing compression processing on image data captured by the imaging portion, to generate compressed image data; and an image processing portion for executing image processing for an inspection. The image processing portion generates partial image data as part of the captured image data, and accepts a selection of any of the compressed image data and the partial image data as the image data for use in the image processing. The image processing portion executes the image processing for the inspection by use of the compressed image data or the partial image data, the selection of which has been accepted.
US09336584B2

Active imaging systems for plant growth monitoring acquire images in which each pixel represents an absolute NDVI value obtained with active illumination.
US09336583B2

Various embodiments are disclosed for image editing. A frame is obtained from a frame sequence depicting at least one individual, and facial characteristics in the frame are analyzed. A utilization score is assigned to the frame based on the detected facial characteristics, and a determination of whether to utilize the frame is made based on the utilization score. A completeness value is assigned, and a determination is made based on the completeness value of whether to repeat the steps above for an additional frame in the frame sequence based on the completeness value. Regions from the frames are combined to generate a composite image.
US09336579B2

A particular method includes generating a first result of a first integration operation performed on a first subset of elements of the plurality of elements. The first integration operation is associated with a first level of integration. The method includes generating a second result of a second integration operation performed on the first subset of elements. The second integration operation is associated with a second level of integration. The method further includes performing a third integration operation on a second subset of elements of the plurality of elements. The third integration operation is associated with the second level of integration. The third integration operation is performed based on the first result and the second result.
US09336577B2

An image processing apparatus for removing haze from an image includes a haze brightness measurer, a transmission estimator and an image reconstructor. The haze brightness measurer is configured to measure haze brightness in the image. The transmission estimator is configured to estimate a blockwise transmission based on a final cost function value calculated by a contrast and an image loss of the image, and to estimate a pixelwise transmission by using the blockwise transmission. The image reconstructor is configured to generate a reconstructed image by using the haze brightness and the pixelwise transmission.
US09336574B2

Method for applying super-resolution to images captured by a camera device of a vehicle includes receiving a plurality of image frames captured by the camera device. For each image frame, a region of interest is identified within the image frame requiring resolution related to detail per pixel to be increased. Spatially-implemented super-resolution is applied to the region of interest within each image to enhance image sharpness within the region of interest.
US09336570B2

A computer-implemented demosaicking system and method that can receive an image (or many images that represent individual frames of a video) at a demosaicking processor from a multi-spectral band camera. The image can include four or more band images that each correspond to an unique spectral band obtained by the multi-spectral band camera. A clustering module can perform spectral clustering of the four or more band images to identify multiple clusters. For each of the plurality of clusters, a weights module can determine a cluster weight by computing correlations between each of the unique spectral bands in each cluster. A super-resolution module can perform super-resolution for each of the unique spectral bands by utilizing the cluster weights from the weights module. The super-resolution module can iteratively apply the super-resolution for each of the unique spectral bands and a value for each unique spectral band can be updated after each iteration.
US09336568B2

An unmanned aerial vehicle image processing system includes a digital camera mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle, an autopilot controller installed in the unmanned aerial vehicle and pre-loaded with a base image, and a computer device. The autopilot controller programs a flight path as a series of mission lags to cover a target polygon on the base image in a lawnmower pattern for controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to perform a flight mission in which the autopilot controller records plural GPS/INS data and triggers the digital camera to take plural photos which are further calibrated to generate plural calibrated photos corresponding to the plural GPS/INS data, respectively. The computer device processes the plural calibrated photos to generate plural projected photos by using the corresponding plural GPS/INS data, respectively, and stitches the plural projected photos to a mosaic image by a photo-stitching process.
US09336563B2

A graphics system may include a display pipe with a buffer configured to store pixels to be processed by a display controller for displaying on a display device, with a buffer control circuit coupled to the buffer to supply pixels to the display controller. When the buffer control circuit detects an underrun of the buffer responsive to the display controller attempting to read pixels from the buffer that have not yet been written to the buffer, the buffer control circuit may supply an underrun pixel to the display. The underrun pixel may be selected from a set of previously stored set of underrun pixels, which may include a most recent valid pixel read by the display controller. A read pointer representative of the location in the buffer from where the display controller is currently attempting to read may be advanced even when an underrun condition occurs. The underrun pixel may be supplied to the display controller until the underrun has been resolved, at which point the most recent valid pixel read from the buffer may be supplied to the display controller.
US09336554B2

A social network system includes one or more participant terminals operable to act as a client on a social network and a computer operable to act as a server on the social network and to communicate with each of the participant terminals over the social network. The computer includes: a memory configured to store a set of instructions; and a processor configured to execute the set of instructions. The set of instructions cause the processor to display categories into which content may be categorized, and to accept categorization of a user's own postings and of postings of other participants of the system. Displayed categories and icons for implementing categorization may appear on the initial page of the user. The number of items categorized in each category may be displayed to generate a profile summarizing the interests of the user having the user page.
US09336543B2

A merchant/vendor portal enables potential business partners to establish business relationships and settle accounts in an on-line environment. The portal includes an open network interface, a registrant database in which data associated with a portal registrant are stored, a distribution contract manager for presenting to a registered merchant a distribution contract associated with a registered vendor and for verifying acceptance of the distribution contract by the registered merchant, and a transaction manager for managing transactions in accordance with the accepted distribution contracts.
US09336539B2

Methods and systems are described for providing advertising services in a predictive manner to a device with an advertising exchange. In one embodiment, a system receives a configuration call from a device upon initiation of a software application and associated advertising services software on the device. The system generates, prior to a predicted ad play event on the device, a predictive ad request for obtaining at least one advertisement (ad) from at least one of an ad store and an advertising exchange prior to the predicted ad play event.
US09336538B2

Methods and systems are described for providing advertising services to a device with an advertising exchange. In one embodiment, a system receives a configuration call from a device upon initiation of a software application and associated advertising services software on the device. The system sends a configuration file to the device in response to the configuration call. The configuration file includes different options for obtaining an advertisement (ad) to play on the device during an ad play event. The options include playing an ad cached on the device, obtaining at least one ad from an ad store of the system, and obtaining at least one ad from an advertising exchange that includes third party participants.
US09336536B1

Techniques are described for providing an instance of a software application to a potential customer. The application instance can be configured specifically for the potential customer. When a customer request is received from the potential customer, the backend server can determine whether a blank application instance is available in an application instance repository. If available, the blank application instance can be configured using customer data of the potential customer and then provided to the potential customer. By retrieving a blank application instance from the repository rather than generating one on the fly, the backend server can process the customer request in a shorter period of time. In some examples, a clone job can be scheduled to create additional blank application instances to repopulate the application instance repository. The clone job can be created after a configured application instance is provided to the potential customer.
US09336523B2

A method, system or computer usable program product for secure short range protocol based transaction processing including using a mobile device capable of short range protocol communication to receive a user password; exchanging transaction data between the mobile device and a point of transaction device through a short range protocol communication, the transaction data including a timestamp; using the mobile device, generating a hash including the user password and the timestamp as inputs; providing the hash and the timestamp to an authorization agent; and receiving an authorization from the authorization agent for an account transaction with the point of transaction device based on the password in the hash.
US09336519B2

A method for determining an appropriate redemption presentation for a virtual token associated with a stored value account is disclosed. The method may include receiving a request for presenting a redemption presentation of a virtual token and obtaining a merchant identifier associated with the request. The method may further include determining if the request is for one of an on-line transaction and a transaction with a point-of-sale terminal, and if the request is for a transaction with a point-of-sale terminal, then searching a database using the merchant identifier to find one or more redemption presentations of virtual token preferred by a merchant. Subsequently, the one or more redemption presentations of the virtual token may be transmitted over a computer network to a client device.
US09336503B2

A method for risk mitigation comprises calculating on at least one processor, a likelihood of occurrence for a risk event, a degree of disruption for the risk event and a disruption time for the risk event. Each risk event is in a list of risk events. The likelihood of occurrence is based on a frequency of risk of the risk event. The degree of disruption is based on a severity of risk of the risk event. The disruption time is based on a duration of restoring an asset to a condition prior to the risk event. A value at risk based on the likelihood of occurrence, the degree of disruption and the disruption time is determined for the risk event. A mitigation action is determined to reduce the value at risk. An indication of the mitigating action is presented on a user interface.
US09336502B2

A system for showing a dependency relationship between a first task and a second task in a Gantt chart. The system displays the first task. The system also displays at least one selector. The at least one selector is associated with the first task. Tasks dependent upon the first task are accessible via the at least one selector. The second task is dependent upon the first task. The system also receives a selection of the second task via the at least one selector. The system also displays the second task.
US09336499B2

Previewing content included in an enterprise database associated with an enterprise system is disclosed. A first indication is received for an overlay object associated with an object from the enterprise database that is being displayed. an action list is dynamically determined associated with the object being displayed using a first method to retrieve actions from the enterprise system that are associated with the object being displayed. The action list is provided to the overlay object. Content associated with the object is dynamically determined using a second method to retrieve content from the enterprise system. The content is provided to the overlay object. The overlay object is displayed to preview the content included in the enterprise database and to provide the action list.
Patent Agency Ranking