US09621747B2

An apparatus and method provide logic for processing information. In one implementation, an apparatus may include a receiving unit configured to receive information associated with a first imaging region and information associated with a second imaging region. The apparatus may also include a determination unit configured to determine, based on at least the first and second imaging region information, whether a portion of the first imaging region is coincident within at least a portion of the second imaging region. A classification unit configured may assign a classification to at least one of the first or second imaging regions, based on the determination.
US09621745B2

The present invention discloses a processing system and method for the scanning content. The processing system for the scanning content includes a scanning device and a cloud processing device. The scanning device scans the image of the non-electronic paper to generate a paper image and retrieves a selected content image corresponding to the selected content from the paper image. The cloud processing device analyzes the selected content image to correspondingly generate a content type, obtains a processing mode table which stores a plurality of content types and processing means corresponding to each content type, determines which content type in the processing mode table the generated content type belongs to and executes the processing means corresponding to the content type.
US09621739B2

Methods are disclosed for providing replicas of a sporting trophy and for scoring the sporting trophy. The first method includes providing a sporting trophy to be scanned, scanning the sporting trophy to provide three-dimensional image data of the sporting trophy, and providing the three-dimensional image data of the sporting trophy to a replica generating system to provide a replica of the sporting trophy. The second method includes providing three-dimensional digital data of a sporting trophy having a volume and a surface area, providing at least one sporting-relevant measurement based on the three-dimensional data of the sporting trophy, and providing a score of the sporting trophy based on the at least one sporting-relevant measurement.
US09621734B2

A system for yielding control of a network to a device configured to operate on a PSTN. The system includes a network configured to couple one or more devices to a PSTN, and a PSTN telephone, a PSTN security system, and an ATA and modem coupled to the network. The ATA and modem are configured to provide a VoIP interface between the network and the Internet and to provide a dial tone to the network. An access detector is coupled to the network to detect when the security system attempts to use the network.
US09621733B2

A method and system for operating a multitenancy telephony system including a call queue that stores call requests received from a plurality of users; an expandable and contractible telephony resource cluster that establishes call sessions for call requests; a analysis system that calculates capacity requirements of the system; a resource allocator that manages the scaling and operation of the telephony resource cluster; and a plurality of telephony network channels that are used as telephony communication channels for call sessions.
US09621732B2

A system for detecting three-way calls in a monitored telephone conversation includes a speech recognition processor that transcribes the monitored telephone conversation and associates characteristics of the monitored telephone conversation with a transcript thereof, a database to store the transcript and the characteristics associated therewith, and a three-way Call detection processor to analyze the characteristics of the conversation and to detect therefrom the addition of one or more parties to the conversation. The system preferably includes at least one domain-specific language model that the speech recognition processor utilizes to transcribe the conversation. The system may operate in real-time or on previously recorded conversations. A query and retrieval system may be used to retrieve and review call records from the database.
US09621731B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for determining participants for a conference call where the participants may be selected based on similar attributes as well as the descriptions of the conference call. Additionally, the conference call may be split into smaller breakout sessions, further separating the participants based on various attributes. Further, the conference call participants may be shuffled thereby creating different breakout sessions with different participants with like attributes. The conference call including the selected participants is initiated.
US09621720B1

A message receiving, intercepting and processing method and corresponding application and device may provide receiving a message at a message processing server, the message being intended for a phone number associated with a customer service provider. The method may also include identifying a telephone number of the sender of the message, parsing at least one word from the message, retrieving user account information of the sender, and generating an automated response to the message that includes contextual information that is based on at least one of the user account information and the parsed at least one word from the message.
US09621710B2

A method for displaying menu items and a terminal for implementing the same are disclosed to improve user convenience. The terminal includes: a display unit; a controller for displaying arbitrary menu items on the display unit such that menu items at a particular position are differentiated from menu items at a different position, and a user input unit for selectively rearranging the position of the menu items by a user.
US09621707B2

A system and method for discouraging the in appropriate use of a mobile device including registering a mobile device with a monitoring application running on a system coupled with a network. A mobile device is linked with the monitoring application through the network. The operational status of the mobile device is monitored to detect if a change occurs in the operational status. A change in the operational status of the mobile device is reported to the monitoring program with time information and the status change is displayed in a graphical interface, and a notification message is sent to a system user. Beacons might also be implemented to advise a device user to disable a mobile device to be monitored.
US09621706B2

A method of haptic communication at a wireless device is disclosed. The method may include receiving an input gesture and generating an input gesture message from the input gesture. The input gesture message may be operable for transmission to a receiving wireless device.
US09621704B2

A method and system for file synchronization may include sending, by a first device, a file synchronization request to a server; receiving, by the server, the file synchronization request from the first device; determining, according to first file synchronization information and at least one piece of second fine synchronization information, the latest state information of the file to be synchronized among the first state information and the at least one piece of second state information; sending the latest state information of the file to be synchronized to the first device; receiving, by the first device, the latest state information of the file to be synchronized sent by the server; and performing synchronization operations on the file according to the latest state information of the file to be synchronized. In such a way, the present invention can allow a file to be synchronously used between different devices.
US09621702B2

A control system includes a control device, a controller, a plurality of user mobile devices, and a manager mobile device. Initial first identification information picked up by each user mobile device is sent to the manager mobile device, is authenticated, and is encoded. Every time a user mobile device is connected to the controller for opening the control device, a holder of the user mobile device is requested to input an instant first identification information. After decoding by a decoding key, the controller identifies whether the instant first identification information is identical to the authenticated initial first identification information. The identification result is used to decide whether the control device should be set to be an open state.
US09621696B2

The present invention relates to a casing and protective shell for a mobile electronic device. The casing includes an outer layer having a first side exposed to the outside, and a second side opposite to the first side; a flexible buffer layer having a first side connected to the second side of the outer layer, and a second side opposite to the first side of the buffer layer; and a layer for holding, which has a side connected to the second side of the buffer layer.
US09621690B2

Disclosed is a housing for a portable handheld electronic device such as a cellphone. The device has a housing, having a left side and right side. At least one of the left side and right side is provided with integral surface features or surface structures to enhance gripping the cellphone, preferably along the entire length of the phone or within about the top half or one third of the phone.
US09621687B2

The formation of a wireless device group for use in a computing environment involves establishing a wireless communication connection between a host wireless interface device and each of one or more dependent wireless interface devices, in which each dependent wireless interface device is configured to not directly communicate with a computing device. Another wireless communication connection is established between the host wireless interface device and the computing device when the host wireless interface device is within a host connection distance of the computing device. A further wireless communication connection can be established between the host wireless interface device and a second, different computing device.
US09621686B2

A method for identifying reset source and reason in a TCP session is provided in the illustrative embodiments. A reset packet is prepared for the TCP session. An identifier associated with the target data processing system is added using a first header in the reset packet. The identifier associated with the target data processing system is unknown to a sender a data packet in the TCP session. The sender sends the data packet to another data processing system during the TCP session. A reason for resetting the TCP session is added using a second header in the reset packet. The TCP session is reset by sending the reset packet.
US09621682B2

A system for distributing audio or video data across a network, wherein an input data rate controller at a server controls the transmission rate to a client such that it matches the intended rendering rate of the data, and time stamps the data using a clock that is synchronized with the clock of the client. The client monitors the rate at which data is received, compares the rate against the rate at which the data is actually rendered, and adjusts the rate at which the data is actually rendered depending on the comparison.
US09621679B2

A server including an input device receiving information, an output device generating output information, a memory, and a processor utilizing the memory.The processor executes a process including receiving the information of an operations task including tasks having device and human tasks, and an order of the tasks; determining an operating time of each of the tasks based on a time determination rule; generating process definitions having the determined operating time associated with a corresponding one of the tasks; extracting, based on the process definitions and an analysis rule, one of a dependence relationship between the tasks, a risk in the dependence relationship between the tasks, and a risk in each of the tasks; and generating the output information for visually outputting one of the dependence relationship between the tasks, the risk in the dependence relationship between the tasks, and the risk in the each of the tasks.
US09621674B2

A method for associating online accounts includes: sending a device identification of a public device corresponding to a public online account that includes at least a first online account and second online account information corresponding to a second online account to a server, so that the server associates the second online account with the first online account in the public online account corresponding to the device identification, to obtain a public online account including the first online account and the second online account.
US09621671B2

A method of transmitting a content reply packet from a content owner in content-centric networking (CCN) includes determining a caching capability value threshold (CCVth) for determining a candidate node for caching a content based on a policy of the content owner, and transmitting a content reply packet including the content and the CCVth in response to a content request packet from a content requester.
US09621667B2

A server machine may create a network connection to a device and receive a request to stream media that is managed by a different server machine. The server machine that created the network connection may be unaware of the location of the media at the time the network connection is created, and the location of the media may remain unknown to this server machine until the location is identified by the request, which may be received at runtime. In response to this request, the server machine that created the network connection may communicate with the different server machine and function as an intermediary in routing a stream of data between the device and the different server machine. In example embodiments where certain media is managed by the other server machine, the server machine may retrieve the media and stream it to the device using the created network connection.
US09621663B2

Described herein are systems and methods for assessing an asset's contributions to the social media performance of a peer group and comparing those contributions against those of other peer group members. In particular, the performance of one or more social media profiles associated with a peer group comprising the asset may be assessed. Share assessments may be made as to a share or a portion of the social media performance of the peer group that may be attributable to the asset. Similar assessments may be made with respect to other entities belonging to the peer group. The peer group members, including the asset, may then be ranked in accordance with their contributions to the peer group's social media performance. Peer groups may be customized or dynamically defined by a user such that the share assessments may be used to accurately benchmark assets against their peers and/or develop best practices.
US09621657B2

A network device issues a globally unique identifier (GUID) to an application for use in a database read/write session. The network device determines a session key based on the GUID. The network device determines a total number of database nodes available to handle a read/write session with the application, and determines one of the database nodes to route a session to based on applying a modulo function to the session key and to the determined total number of database nodes. The network device, when determining the one of the database nodes to route the session to, applies the function (X mod Y)+1, where X is the session key and Y is the total number of database nodes available to handle the read/write session with the application.
US09621655B2

A method and device of sharing an event or experience by capturing a geographic location of the and at least one detail of the experience or event in the form of data such as video, text, sound, or pictures, with an electronic device, storing the geographic location plus the data on a database accessible to a plurality of users. The application further alerts a user or a plurality of users of the details of the experience when the user is near the geographic location where the at least one detail of the experience was captured and guiding the user to the geographic location where the experience was captured.
US09621653B2

A Data Storage Device (DSD) includes a Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) for storing data, a network interface for communicating on a network, and a processor. According to one aspect, a command is received via the network interface for storing data in the NVM or retrieving data from the NVM. Based on a transport attribute of the command, it is determined whether to execute a file interface for accessing files stored in the NVM or an object interface for accessing data objects stored in the NVM. According to another aspect, computer-executable instructions are received from a device via the network interface and the computer-executable instructions are executed using an off-load interface. The computer-executable instructions cause the processor to transform data stored in the NVM or data received from the network and send the transformed data to another device on the network or store the transformed data in the NVM.
US09621652B2

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to time stamp based data synchronization and provide a method, system and computer program product for scalable, ranging time stamp based data synchronization. In an embodiment of the invention, a ranging time stamp synchronization method can include computing a time range for a specified time, and producing time stamp synchronization anchors using the time range for each of the anchors. Optionally, a drift value can be computed for the time range and the computing and producing steps can be repeated when the drift value exceeds a threshold. Finally, the anchors can be used to determine whether to update data items in a remote data source in the remote host computing platform with data items from a primary data source in the primary host computing platform.
US09621646B2

Candidate nodes for live streaming services are provided and selected. A candidate nodes list for live streaming services is provided. The method includes collecting information of each node involved in the live streaming services; based on the collected information, calculating progress factors of each node; comparing the collected information of each node with load thresholds; sorting the nodes, the collected information of which are below the load thresholds, on the basis of the calculated progress factors; and forming the candidate nodes list by a number N of first N nodes of the sorted nodes. The candidate node for live streaming services may also be selected by: based on information involved in the live streaming services, calculating progress factors; reporting the calculated progress factors and requesting for candidate nodes list; selecting a candidate node from the candidate nodes list according to delay requirements and overlay policies of the live streaming services.
US09621641B2

Features are disclosed for determining which content item or items are likely to be requested by a particular user or device, or by a group of users or devices. The determined content items may be obtained independently of a request from the users or devices, and substantially current versions of the content items may be maintained at a server system, such as an intermediary system. Visual representations of the content items may be generated to reduce processing requirements at a user device. When the content items are determined to be likely to be requested by a particular user, a predicted time may also be determined, and the visual representations may be generated such that they are available at the predicted time.
US09621636B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus are described for throttling a distributed processing system. In one aspect, a method includes identifying records being processed by a distributed processing system that performs agent processes, each of the records including a corresponding timestamp; determining, based on timestamps of the records that have been processed by a first agent process, a first agent progress; identifying a dependent agent process performed by the distributed processing system, wherein the dependent agent process processes only records that have been processed by the first agent process; determining, based on timestamps of records that have been processed by the dependent agent process, a dependent agent progress; and throttling performance of the first process based on the first agent progress and the dependent agent progress.
US09621635B1

Systems and methods for exchanging information in a distributed computing system implementing an interactive application, such as a location-based parallel reality game, are provided. In particular, the subject matter of the present disclosure provides an alternative approach for providing and processing return results from a remote procedure call (RPC) by which remote computing systems (e.g. a game server and a remote client) send requests and responses to one another. Rather than providing a single return result in response to a single request as in typical remote procedure calls, information about updates to the state of the interactive application, such as updates to game status, can be returned via side channels which are handled generically while passing the main return result of the invoked service directly back to the caller.
US09621632B2

In one embodiment, a method of scaling stateful enterprise services is provided. In this method, a request for data from an enterprise application is received. A user identifier is identified from the request, and an instance of the enterprise application that is associated with the user identifier is identified. The request is then routed to the identified instance of the enterprise application.
US09621629B2

A cache server, connected to a packet forwarding apparatus that forwards a packet to be sent and received between a user terminal and a distribution server that distributes content over the Internet, temporarily stores at least some of the content in a content temporary storage unit of the cache server, calculates a bit rate when sending content based on a TCP response signal or an ECN (Explicit Congestion Notification) signal received from the terminal, and reads a file or stream of content requested in a content request message received from the terminal, whose bit rate is not greater than the bit rate, from the content temporary storage unit or the distribution server, stores the read file or stream in a packet of a prescribed protocol, and sends the packet.
US09621625B2

System and methods for determining a relationship between an application-level identifier and a network-level identifier are provided. In one implementation, a discovery server receives a data request that includes an application-level identifier and a transitory network-level identifier. Based on the transitory network-level identifier, the discovery server determines a stable network-level identifier, and further maps the application-level identifier to the stable network-level identifier.
US09621624B2

Content is inserted into conversations hosted on a takeoff site using creatives that provide lures and links to other material that users engaged in the conversation might find helpful and relevant. Such insertions are made in a contextually meaningful fashion through the use of a matching and decision process that determines best candidate creatives and an appropriate time and place for their insertion into the conversation.
US09621623B2

A client includes a registration unit that registers operation control information received from a server and corresponding to a service provided by the server, a calling unit that calls the service in order to cause the server to execute the service when a user selects the service corresponding to the operation control information registered by the user, and an execution unit that, when the user selects the service corresponding to the operation control information registered by the user, executes processing to be executed by the client indicated by the operation control information corresponding to the service, in calling of the service.
US09621620B2

The present invention provides content providing apparatus and method and a content providing system which maintains a compatibility with an IP network and deliver a content with a complete distributed architecture excluding the content synchronizing process and the request routing process which delivers the content.
US09621618B2

A packet analyzer device and method are described herein that measure a video quality of IP multicast media. In one embodiment, the packet analyzer device and method measure a video quality of transmitted IP multicast media when the transmission of the IP multicast media involves the use of Forward Error Correction (FEC) in accordance with the FLUTE protocol.
US09621614B2

Apparatuses and methods control communication of content streams through a content distribution network. A data repository is accessed to retrieve information which identifies a group of user equipment nodes that are registered with one of a plurality of subscriber accounts and which further identifies weight values that are associated with the group of the user equipment nodes. Communication bit rates that are provided by a weighted fair queuing scheduler node to individual ones of a group of the content streams within bandwidth allocated to a virtual pipe for carrying the group of the content streams through the content distribution network to the group of the user equipment nodes, are regulated responsive to the weight values associated with the group of the user equipment nodes. Weighted fair queuing scheduling can thereby be provided at a virtual pipe level and, furthermore, at a user equipment node level.
US09621611B2

Systems and methods for transforming and sending generic content into a platform-specific format or receiving pre-transformed platform-specific content. The generic content and platform-specific format includes one or more tiles that are modified as part of the transformation. An electronic device requests content, and a smart tile processor converts the generic content to platform-specific content before sending the platform-specific content to the requesting electronic device.
US09621606B2

A request to retrieve data from a client device is intercepted by a video detector. The video detector determines if the request is for retrieving a video file. If the request is for a video file, and the video file is deemed to be transcoded to be displayed on the client device, the video detector forwards the request to a video optimizer along with encoding parameters. Encoding parameters are selected by the video detector based on properties of the client device, networks accessible by the client device, conditions of those networks, properties of the requested video and the type of video requested. The encoding parameters also include a file format type to which the requested video is to be transcoded.
US09621605B2

A network bridge connects a host device, such as digital media player, cell phone or camera, to content sources over a network to permit the host device to transmit or receive digital media. The network bridge includes a network interface module that identifies at least one media source as well as digital media available on the network. A host device interface module receives, from the host device, file system requests in accordance with a protocol, such as a mass storage protocol. In response to the request, a host device protocol interface module on the network bridge translates the file system request to a request for digital media. The network interface module acquires digital media from the media source, and the host device interface module transfers the digital media to the host device in accordance with the interface protocol.
US09621599B2

A first call control server transmits line information of a line to be used by a terminal device calls of which are controlled by the first call control server to a second call control server when congestion is detected. The first call control server receives the line information to be used in call control from the second call control server, and establishes a connection with the terminal device using the received line information. The second call control server receives the line information from the first call control server, and receives a call control request for the terminal device, the call control request being addressed to the first call control server. The second call control server responds to the first call control server with the received line information, when the call control request is received.
US09621591B2

A service provision apparatus and related method which provides a service for a user via a network includes a setting unit, a determination unit, and a decision unit. The setting unit sets an evaluation policy for evaluating reliability of at least one authentication apparatus performing authentication on the user. The determination unit determines whether the authentication made by the at least one authentication apparatus is to be relied on, on the basis of at least one evaluation result obtained by evaluating whether the at least one authentication apparatus is to be relied on, on the basis of the evaluation policy. The decision unit determines that the service is to be provided for the user in response to a determination that the authentication made by the at least one authentication apparatus is to be relied on and information that the user has been authenticated by the at least one authentication apparatus.
US09621586B2

A method for enhancing resiliency of a service includes: decomposing at least one component associated with the service into a plurality of corresponding smaller elements; encrypting the elements to generate a corresponding plurality of encrypted elements; decomposing each of the encrypted elements into a corresponding plurality of smaller fragments; replicating each of the fragments; encapsulating the fragments into respective intelligent components, each of the intelligent components corresponding to a given one of the encapsulated fragments, each of the intelligent components being configured to independently determine a location of a first storage element in which to store itself; storing each of the intelligent components; and moving the intelligent components from the first storage element location to a second storage element location.
US09621581B2

In one embodiment, a switch in a computer network intercepts a packet to a destination target, the packet having a solicited node multicast address of the target as a destination media access control (MAC) address of the packet. As such, the switch may determine whether the solicited node multicast address is a hit or miss within a switch hardware table of the switch, and in response to a hit, re-writes the destination MAC address with a known value of the destination target from the table, and unicasts the packet to the destination target. In one or more additional embodiments, in response to a miss, and in response to a single-switch architecture, the switch drops the packet, while in response to a miss, and in response to a multi-switch architecture, the switch may compute a repository switch for the solicited multicast destination, and unicasts the packet to the computed repository switch.
US09621572B2

Systems are described for capturing network traffic data and efficiently storing the data on solid state storage devices. The systems can include a capture process module, a storage management module, and a query module. The storage management module can include circuitry configured to hold an arbitrarily large number of solid state storage devices configured to appear to a host system as a single large solid state drive.
US09621561B2

Architecture for providing a superuser privilege in a conferencing environment. A pre-configured entity such as a bot program receives special conferencing privileges. A request can be identified as originating from a trusted service and an associated predetermined set of privileges passed to the service. The trusted service can impersonate a user, and join a conference using its own identity or using the identity of a user. Conference control rules can be enforced on the trusted user (e.g., no other users can eject or mute this entity). Moreover, the trusted service can (optionally) hide itself from the conference roster to remain invisible to all participants.
US09621552B2

Computer and communications systems and methods are provided in which a first computing system sends a second computing system a message and an associated deep-string and the second computing system applies a key of a cryptographic system or a one-way function to the deep-string to determine the deep-string's deep-string-depth. The second computing device then uses the determined deep-string-depth in determining subsequent behavior regarding the message. In some environments, a third computing device may generate and provide deep-strings of various deep-string-depths to the first computing device to ensure more favorable behavior of the second computing device.
US09621549B2

An integrated circuit may comprise a secure volatile memory configured to store first data-validity information associated with first data stored in an external nonvolatile memory; and a secure processor configured to: retrieve the first data-validity information from a secure remote server over a secure communication channel, wherein the secure processor uses mutual authentication with the secure remote server to secure the secure communication channel; store the first data-validity information in the secure volatile memory; retrieve the first data from the external nonvolatile memory; obtain second data-validity information associated with the first data; compare the first data-validity information stored in the secure volatile memory with the second data-validity information to generate a comparison value; and determine, based on the comparison value, whether the first data is valid.
US09621547B2

Technologies are provided in embodiments to establish trust between a trusted execution environment (TEE) and a peripheral device. Embodiments are configured to communicate with an attestation server to generate an encryption key, and to establish, using the encryption key, a secure connection with an authentication server to enable communication between the authentication server and the peripheral device. Embodiments are also configured to receive a pairwise master key if the peripheral device is authenticated and to receive a trusted communication from the peripheral device based, at least in part, on the pairwise master key. Embodiments may also be configured to identify a connection to the peripheral device before the peripheral device is authenticated to the authentication server, receive an identifier from the peripheral device, and establish a connection to an attestation server based on at least a portion of the identifier.
US09621541B1

Systems and methods for incrementally communicating a document to a client computer are disclosed herein. Time consistent views of the document are maintained throughout the incremental downloading through use of a cryptographically secured permissions token identifying a version of the document the user is permitted to access.
US09621538B2

A method and system for providing a first network resource with secure but limited access to a second network resource. A method embodying the invention includes receiving a request to access the second resource. It is verified that the source of the request is the first resource. It is then verified that the request was originated by a user through, for example, a web browser, and then a user's credentials are authenticated. Only when the request can be properly verified and the user credentials authenticated, is access to the second resource granted. Beneficially, the first resource cannot access the second without the user's knowledge or, at least, implicit consent.
US09621525B2

Various features pertain to digital signatures for use in signing messages. In one aspect, a digital signature is generated based on a nonce derived using a per-message salt value, particularly a salt selected to provide a semi-deterministic nonce (i.e. a nonce that is neither fully deterministic nor completely random.) In one example, the nonce is generated by concatenating the salt value with a long-term private key and then applying the result to a key derivation function along with a hash of the message to be signed. The salt value may be, e.g., a counter, a context-specific message or may be randomly generated within a restricted range of values (relative to a full range of values associated with the particular digital signature generation protocol used to generate a digital signature from the nonce.)
US09621518B2

Various disclosed embodiments include methods and systems for provisioning traversal using relays around network address translation (TURN) credentials and servers for network address translation/firewall (NAT/FW) traversal via a Voice-over-Internet-protocol/Web Real-Time Communication (VoIP/WebRTC) signaling channel. The method comprises receiving, at a signaling gateway, a signaling message from a first electronic device (ED) when the first electronic device registers with the signaling gateway or sends other signaling messages for requesting a TURN credential. The signaling message comprises one or more signaling message parameters. The signaling message further comprises a request that the signaling gateway generate a TURN credential for the first electronic device, the TURN credential associated with the one or more signaling message parameters. The method comprises sending, from the signaling gateway, the TURN credential to the first electronic device.
US09621507B2

A control method and apparatus for data display are described. The method includes: receiving, by a first client at current time, first target data pushed by a second client; determining, by the first client, whether the first target data pushed by the second client has been received within a first predetermined time period before the current time; and determining, by the first client at least according to the number of times that the first target data is received within the first predetermined time period and whether the first target data received within the first predetermined time period has been displayed on the first client, whether to display, on the first client, the first target data received at the current time if the first client determines that the first client has received, within the first predetermined time period, the first target data pushed by the second client.
US09621504B2

A method for handing messages on a secure social network (SSN) includes receiving a message comprising a recipient name from a SSN member sender, retrieving a list of SSN member names approved to communicate with the SSN member sender, and determining that recipient name matches a first SSN member name and a second member name stored in the list of SSN member names, where the first SSN member name identifies an inmate of a controlled facility. The method further includes retrieving a first period of time since a previous communication between the SSN member sender and the first SSN member name, retrieving a second period of time since a previous communication between the SSN member sender and the second SSN member name, and sending the message to the inmate based on a comparison of the first period of time to the second period of time.
US09621501B2

A message screening system includes routing to a supervisory recipient an electronic message directed to an intended recipient. The supervisory recipient then is allowed to screen the electronic message by approving or rejecting the electronic message. The electronic message then is forwarded to the intended recipient if the electronic message is approved by the supervisory recipient.
US09621495B1

An example embodiment includes a method of employing an anonymous message (AM) proxy to facilitate anonymous communication between parties. The method includes creating a channel associated with a first actual address of a first party. The method also includes assigning a channel address to the channel. The method further includes receiving a channel access request at the channel address from a second actual address of a second party. The method also includes assigning a first proxy address to the first actual address and a second proxy address to the second actual address. The method further includes mapping a first address pair to a second address pair for the channel. The first address pair includes the first proxy address and the first actual address. The second address pair includes the second proxy address and the second actual address. The method also includes sending the second proxy address to the second actual address.
US09621483B2

An EtherCAT packet forwarding system with distributed clocking is provided. The system comprises a master device and a plurality of slaves. The master comprises a processing port and a forward port for being respectively coupled to the at least two Ethernet ports of the master device in a redundant ring topology. The slaves comprise an internal clock indicating a current time, and a slave memory comprising a processing timestamp variable, a forwarding timestamp variable, a temporary timestamp variable and a copy-direct bit.
US09621481B2

An island-based network flow processor (IB-NFP) integrated circuit includes islands organized in rows. A configurable mesh control bus extends through the islands. The configurable mesh control bus is configurable to have a unidirectional tree structure such that configuration information passes into the integrated circuit, through a root island, through the branches of the tree structure, and to each of the other islands. The functional circuits of the islands, as well as a configurable mesh data bus of the integrated circuit, are all configured with configuration information supplied via the tree structure. In one example, the configurable control mesh bus portion of each island includes a statically configured switch and multiple half links that radiate from the switch. The static configuration is determined by hardwired tie off connections associated with the island.
US09621479B2

IEEE 802.1Q and Enhanced Transmission Selection provide only eight different traffic classes that may be used to control bandwidth in a particular physical connection (or link). Instead of relying only on these eight traffic classes to manage bandwidth, the embodiments discussed herein disclose using an Enhanced Transmission Selection scheduler that permits a network device to set the bandwidth for an individual virtual LAN. Allocating bandwidth in a port based on a virtual LAN ID permits a network device to allocate bandwidth to, e.g., millions of unique virtual LANs. Thus, this technique may increase the granular control of the network fabric and its performance.
US09621474B2

A relay wireless communication device is implemented to perform buffer management and coordination with a source wireless communication device. A relay wireless communication device (generally, a relay) informs a source wireless communication device (source) of the status of memory therein to store messages intended for a destination wireless communication device (destination). For example, the source transmits information to the relay, which buffers information before forwarding it on to the destination. This buffering may be a function of the source having additional information intended for the relay and/or destination. The relay performs appropriate signaling, such as suspend transmission requests and resume transmission requests, to inform other devices in the system of its memory storage status (e.g., such as when having an actual or anticipated overflow). In one implementation, a suspend transmission request may be implemented by setting a particular bit within a communication from the relay to the source.
US09621471B2

The congestion notification system of some embodiments sends congestion notification messages from lower layer (e.g., closer to a network) components to higher layer (e.g., closer to a packet sender) components. When the higher layer components receive the congestion notification messages, the higher layer components reduce the sending rate of packets (in some cases the rate is reduced to zero) to allow the lower layer components to lower congestion (i.e., create more space in their queues by sending more data packets along the series of components). In some embodiments, the higher layer components resume full speed sending of packets after a threshold time elapses without further notification of congestion. In other embodiments, the higher layer components resume full speed sending of packets after receiving a message indicating reduced congestion in the lower layers.
US09621460B2

A method and apparatus for connecting multiple customer sites over a wide area network (WAN) using an overlay network is described. In one embodiment of the invention, each one of multiple customer edge (CE) routers establishes a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) session with one or more BGP route reflectors and announces their private IP network prefixes and one or more transport IP addresses to reach that CE router. The BGP route reflector(s) reflect those IP network prefixes and the one or more transport IP addresses to reach that specific CE router to the other CE routers. The CE routers receive those reflected IP network prefixes and the corresponding transport IP address(es) to reach that CE router in which those IP network prefixes belong and register them in their corresponding routing/forwarding data structures. In this way, the CE routers learn how to reach each other.
US09621456B2

A rule indicates that data having particular characteristics be automatically routed to a particular destination. When software on a switching device detects a new data stream, it is analyzed to determine whether it has characteristics specified by the rule. If it does, the packet is encapsulated with a special tag, indicating that the packet should be routed to the new destination. Also, an entry is added to a quick-lookup table in the switching device. The entry indicates that future packets in the data stream that have the same source and destination port and address should also be routed to the new destination.
US09621439B2

Embodiments relate to dynamically allocating access to a shared resource based on quota shares. An aspect includes computing, by a client node, an expected size of quota shares needed by the client node based on a historical rate of resource consumption by the client node. The client node transmits a request for a count of quota shares based on the expected size. The client node receives an indication that the request for the count of quota shares is one of: granted, denied, and granted-in-part. The client node self-rules the shared resource based on the indication.
US09621435B2

A method for offering a set of services is disclosed. The method may comprise storing, by a cloud infrastructure system, subscription order information identifying a service from a set of services provided by the cloud infrastructure system, the cloud infrastructure system comprising one or more computing devices. A computing device from the one or more computing devices may determine a service declaration for the service, the service declaration comprising information indicative of procedures for provisioning resources for enabling the service. A computing device from the one or more computing devices may cause the service to be provisioned based on the service declaration.
US09621425B2

A method implemented by a network service provider to provide a virtual network to tenants requiring bandwidth in a cloud computing environment, where the virtual network includes a first set of one or more virtual switches that manage a second set of one or more physical servers that host virtual machines (VMs). The method starts with receiving by one virtual switch a request for a first plurality of VMs, where at least one VM of the first plurality of VMs contains a bandwidth different from bandwidths of the rest of one or more VMs. The it is determined whether to accept the request for the first plurality of VMs by calculating a set of allocation ranges (ARs) associated to the virtual switch, wherein each AR of the set of ARs denotes at least one discontinuous VM allocation space within a virtual switch. Then VMs are allocated for the request.
US09621412B2

A method providing service continuity of a telecommunication network, wherein a first node of the network receives a service request sent by a client computer to a first service server providing the service, the first service server accessing the network by the first node, the method including: storing a local copy of data packets related to the received service request; starting a server state verification procedure to check an operative state of the first service server; and transmitting the data packets to a second service server if the server state verification procedure detects a failure in the operative state of the first service server, the second service server being configured to act as a backup server for the service to be provided.
US09621410B2

A method of localizing failures occurring along a transmission path is provided. A data signal is transmitted along the transmission path, which comprises a path segment. A first network node performs a tandem connection monitoring source function of a tandem connection. A second network node monitors the transmission along the path segment, by performing a tandem connection monitoring sink function. When the first network node detects a failure of the data signal, the first network node enters information indicating a data signal failure into the data signal's overhead field. When the second network node detects a failure by the tandem connection monitory sink function, the second network node enters information into the overhead field. When a third network node detects a failure of the data signal, the third network node uses the information in the overhead field to determine whether the failure occurred within or outside of the path segment.
US09621405B2

An Constant Access Gateway provides secure access for remote mobile computing users to centrally stored data without requiring a VPN connection or a direct connection to the LAN in which the data resides. A Cache Server works alone or in conjunction with the Constant Access Gateway to provide distributed access to the centrally stored data. The Cache Server performs local storage of de-duplicated versions of the centrally stored data, and may interact with the Constant Access Gateway to maintain cache coherency with the central data store.
US09621404B2

Disclosed herein are example embodiments for behavioral fingerprinting with social networking. For certain example embodiments, one or more devices may: (i) communicate for at least one interaction related to a user of a user device in a behavioral fingerprint habitat; or (ii) administer at least an aspect of at least one interaction related to a user of a user device in a behavioral fingerprint habitat. However, claimed subject matter is not limited to any particular described embodiments, implementations, examples, or so forth.
US09621399B1

Embodiments of a distributed caching system are disclosed that cache data across multiple computing devices on a network. In one embodiment, a first cache system serves as a caching front-end to a distributed cluster of additional cache systems. The first cache system can distribute cache requests to the additional cache systems. The first distributed caching system can also serve as a cache server itself, by storing data on its own internal cache. For example, the first cache system can first attempt to find a requested data item on the internal cache, but, if the lookup results in a cache miss, the first cache system can search the additional cache systems for the data. In some embodiments, the first cache system is configured to identify additional requests for the first data item and duplicate the requested data item in order to respond to the additional requests, which allows for greater responsiveness to requests.
US09621394B2

A method is provided for determining at least one filter of a filter bank in a transmission or coding system, on the basis of a prototype filter p. The method includes determining coefficients p[k] of the prototype filter p, of length L equal to N, from Δ angle parameters θi, for 0≦i≦Δ−1, expressed on the basis of a polynomial function ƒ(x), also referred to as a compact representation, such that: f ⁡ ( x ) = π 4 + t ⁢ ∑ k = 0 d - 1 ⁢ ⁢ β k ⁢ T 2 ⁢ k ⁡ ( t ) ; t = 2 ⁢ x - 1.
US09621391B2

System and method embodiments are provided for improving reception of direct detection optical signals. In an embodiment, a method for optical transmission includes bit loading and power loading, with a digital signal processor (DSP), transmission bits of an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal; calculating, with the DSP, a signal-signal beat interference (SSBI) component of the bit and power loaded OFDM signal by modulating each subcarrier with a symbol; and subtracting, with the DSP, the calculated SSBI component from the bit and power loaded OFDM signal.
US09621389B2

The present disclosure relates to a method to introduce complementing training symbols into a 802.11p OFDM frame in vehicular communications, wherein a transmitter sends encrypted information from a first unit to a receiver of a specific second unit or a respective receiver of a number of second units and wherein fixed training symbols, which are implemented in a transmitter chip, are multiplexed with the information and transmitted to the receiver for channel estimation at the receiver side. In order to improve channel estimation complementing training symbols are inserted at the transmitter side immediately after an LLC sub-layer, where the LLC sub-layer is software defined and can be modified. It also relates to a receiver for exploiting the inserted complementing training symbols in order to improve channel estimation in 802.11 p OFDM vehicular communications, which is arranged to reproduce the complementing training symbols inserted in accordance with the method.
US09621377B2

Instant messaging (IM) entities may be invited to an electronic calendar event using an instant message. Selecting the IM entities as invitees to the event may include dragging and dropping names of the IM entities from a buddy list of an IM application to an event from an electronic calendar application, or vice versa. A method of inviting an entity to a calendar event includes providing a calendar event from a calendar application and recognizing, by the calendar application, an IM entity as an invitee to the event.
US09621369B2

A user interface (UI)-providing system and method for device control are provided. The User Interface (UI) providing method, the method includes: identifying at least one controlled devices relating to an activity mode selected by a user; collecting control information relating to functions provided by the identified at least one controlled devices; and generating a UI used to control the at least one controlled devices relating to the activity mode based on the collected control information.
US09621356B2

Disclosed herein is a technique for revoking a root certificate from at least one client device. In particular, the technique involves causing a secure element—which is included in the at least one client device and is configured to store the root certificate as well as at least one backup root certificate—to permanently disregard the root certificate and prevent the at least one client device from utilizing the specific root certificate. According to one embodiment, this revocation occurs in response to a receiving a revocation message that directly targets the root certificate, where the message includes at least two levels of authentication that are verified by the secure element prior to carrying out the revocation. Once the root certificate is revoked, the secure element can continue to utilize the at least one backup root certificate, while permanently disregarding the revoked root certificate.
US09621352B2

A system and method for verifying a digital signature on a certificate, which may be used in the processing of encoded messages. In one embodiment, when a digital signature is successfully verified in a signature verification operation, the public key used to verify that digital signature is cached. When a subsequent attempt to verify the digital signature is made, the public key to be used to verify the digital signature is compared to the cached key. If the keys match, the digital signature can be successfully verified without requiring that a signature verification operation in which some data is decoded using the public key be performed.
US09621349B2

An apparatus includes a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to: authenticate an identification for accessing a first service by comparing a password associating with the identification with an first encrypted password that is generated by encrypting the password on the basis of a first encryption policy to authenticate an access to the first service; and provide a second service with the identification and the password to cause to generate information when an authentication of the identification is successful, the information being accessed to authenticate the identification when the second service is accessed based on the identification and the password.
US09621342B2

A cryptographic key is generated using biometric data and a hierarchy of biometric descriptors. The hierarchy of biometric descriptors includes multiple levels, wherein a biometric descriptor at a first level is associated with a subset of the biometric descriptors at the next lower level. To generate a cryptographic key, biometric data is collected and compared to the biometric descriptors at the first level of the hierarchy. One of the biometric descriptors is selected at the first level, and a first key component is generated based on the first selected biometric descriptor. The biometric data is then compared to the subset of biometric descriptors at the second level of the hierarchy associated with the first selected biometric descriptor. This process of selecting a biometric descriptor and generating a key component continues for each level of the hierarchy. The key components are then used to generate a cryptographic key.
US09621340B1

The input samples transmitted by the base station are decimated and the decimated samples are correlated with the three reference PSS sequences to obtain the correlation results. The correlation results are differentially combined to obtain the hypotheses. The hypotheses are grouped into windows. The peaks across windows of multiple half frames are selected and obtained peaks are averaged over the multiple half frames to detect the half frame boundary window. Reference PSS versions are generated for ICFO estimation. The hypotheses are generated in the HFBW. The highest averaged hypothesis is selected to estimate ICFO. The ICFO error is corrected by adjusting a reference clock signal. The decimated samples are correlated and differentially combined around the HFB to determine a HFB and a FCFO from the peak value of the hypotheses. The received samples are correlated and differentially combined around the half frame boundary to further refine HFB and FCFO estimations.
US09621339B1

A host device, coupled to a slave device through a bus interface, includes a frequency detector, a jitter detector, and a signal processing circuit. The frequency detector receives a first work frequency, and determines whether the first work frequency is the same as a second work frequency of the slave device. The jitter detector receives a first clock signal, and determines whether a jitter difference corresponding to the first clock signal exceeds a predetermined range. The signal processing unit includes a clock signal input pin, a data input pin, and an output pin. When the first work frequency is the same as the second work frequency, and the jitter difference is within the predetermined range, the signal processing circuit outputs a data signal to the slave device according to the first clock signal, data and Seems System Management Bus protocol.
US09621336B1

A system and a technique for recovering data from an input data stream without synchronization of an input sampling circuit to the input data stream determines a count of incoming samples (or frames) without generating a signal that is frequency-locked to the input data stream. A first clock is generated comprising a frequency that is greater than or equal to an expected frequency of the input data stream. A sample count is incremented in response to a sample received in the input data stream, and is decremented in response to a second clock signal. The second clock is generated from the first clock signal by passing the first clock signal if the sample count of the sample counter does not equal a predetermined sample count value and by blocking the first clock signal if the sample count equals the predetermined sample count value.
US09621334B2

A data transmission method for a data transmission system including a first device and a second device is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of transmitting a clock signal to synchronize the first device and the second device; transmitting a mode signal from the first device to the second device, wherein the mode signal indicates a transmission mode between the first device and the second device; and transmitting a serial data between the first device and the second device based on the clock signal, wherein the length of the serial data is determined based on the transmission mode.
US09621322B2

In a method for generating a null data packet (NDP) sounding packet for transmission via a communication channel, a signal field and one or more long training fields are generated. The signal field and the long training fields are modulated using a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. Symbol duration of each OFDM symbol of the plurality of OFDM symbols is at least 8 μs. The NDP sounding packet is generated to include the plurality of OFDM symbols. The NDP sounding packet omits a data payload portion.
US09621312B2

One embodiment of the present invention provides a wireless transceiver. The transceiver includes a plurality of receiving paths, a plurality of transmitting paths, a number of RF components, and a configurable multiplexer for coupling one or more RF components to the transmitting paths and the receiving paths. The multiplexer is configured in such a way as to allow a particular RF component to couple to a subset of the receiving paths and/or a subset of the transmitting paths, thereby enabling flexible provisioning of the RF components.
US09621309B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide a joint scheduling method and apparatus. The method of the present invention is as follows: judging whether a CoMP user equipment exists in user equipments that wait to be scheduled in a sector that participates in joint scheduling; scheduling, if a CoMP user equipment exists in user equipments that wait to be scheduled, the CoMP user equipment that waits to be scheduled and assigning CoMP frequency band resources to the scheduled CoMP user equipment according to a size of frequency band resources required by the scheduled CoMP user equipment, where the CoMP frequency band resources are partial frequency band resources allocated from frequency band resources of the sector that participates in joint scheduling and are preferentially used by the CoMP user equipment. Embodiments of the present invention mainly apply to a joint scheduling process in a wireless communications system.
US09621296B2

A remote node device for mutual communication between optical network units in a passive optical network includes an N×N-arrayed waveguide grating configured to receive upstream optical signal of one of the optical network units and to output this signal as a first optical signal; a 1×2 wavelength division multiplexer configured to separate per band the first optical signal to obtain a second optical signal; and a 1×(N−1) power distributor configured to transmit the second optical signal to the corresponding optical network unit through the N×N-arrayed waveguide grating.
US09621289B2

A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided in connection with enabling distributed frequency synchronization based on a fastest node clock rate. In one example, a first UE is equipped to determine that a fastest clock rate is faster than an internal clock rate of the first UE by more than a first positive offset, and adjust the internal clock rate based on the determined fastest clock rate. In an aspect, the fastest clock rate is associated with a second UE of one or more other UEs from which synchronization signals may be received. In another example, a UE is equipped to obtain GPS based timing information, adjust an internal clock rate based on the GPS based timing information, and transmit a synchronization signal at an artificially earlier time in comparison to a scheduled time of transmission associated with the adjusted internal clock rate.
US09621284B2

A mobile communication system comprises: a user terminal that receives a desired wave signal from a serving cell while receiving an interference wave signal from a neighboring cell adjacent to the serving cell; and a base station that manages the serving cell. The base station comprises: a controller that generates an interference replica signal corresponding to the interference wave signal and superposes the interference replica signal on the desired wave signal; and a transmitter that transmits the desired wave signal superposed with the interference replica signal to the user terminal. The controller generates the interference replica signal such that the interference replica signal cancels the interference wave signal in a location of the user terminal. The interference replica signal acts as a disturbing signal, which disturbs demodulation of the desired wave signal, in a location other than the location of the user terminal.
US09621270B2

Embodiments of the present invention pertain to optical wireless architecture and, in particular, to novel optical architecture to provide fiber-optic and wireless communication systems, links, and access networks. Certain embodiments of the invention pertain to a novel method and apparatus to provide 109.6 Gb/s capacity over spans of 80-km SMF and 2×2 MIMO. Conversion of PM-QAM modulated wireless mm-wave signal to an optical signal as well as 80-km fiber transmission of the converted optical signal is also realized.
US09621267B2

A visible light communication system, and a method of modulating data and a method of feeding back performance information in the system, are provided.In the system, a transmitting unit modulates a plurality of data on a plurality of LED channels basis that are formed by a plurality of LEDs, respectively, and transmits the modulated data into a corresponding light signal. A receiving unit receives a light signal that is transmitted from the transmitting unit to demodulate the received light signal to a signal on a plurality of LED channels basis. By determining performance information on a plurality of LED channels basis by estimating a state on the plurality of LED channels basis, the receiving unit feeds back the performance information to the transmitting unit, and the transmitting unit determines a modulation degree on the channel basis according to performance information on a channel basis of the plurality of LEDs that are fed back from the receiving unit and performs modulation on the plurality of LED channels basis of the plurality of data.
US09621261B2

The invention refers a method and an arrangement for channel set up in an optical network. An optical signal path is configured for a certain optical channel signal (OC1) of a WDM-signal. This channel signal (OC1) is on-off-modulated by a modulation test signal (MT1) having a predetermined lower frequency and is generating a channel test signal (OT1). This channel test signal (OT1) is combined with other optical channels (OC2-OCn) to the WDM-signal (WS) and transmitted via said path. At a start node (1) or a downstream node (3, 5) a measurement signal (EMI, EM3) is derived from the complete WDM-signal (WS) without wavelength de-multiplexing. The measurement signal (EMI, EM3) is compared with a correlation signal (MC1) and an obtained power level (PC1) is used to adjust the channel power (PC1, PC2, PC3) to achieve predetermined target power values (PC1-PC4) at different power monitoring points (19, 40, 41, 58). The adjustment step is repeated for all downstream nodes (3, 5) and all further channel signals (OC2-OCn).
US09621246B2

One embodiment is directed towards a distributed antenna system (DAS). The DAS includes a host unit a plurality of remote units communicatively coupled to the host unit. The plurality of remote units are configured to implement a common arrangement of resource blocks for uplink transport signals. The host unit is configured to instruct a subset of the plurality of remote units to send a digital sample stream over a monitor path of their respective uplink transport signals. One or more simulcast modules are configured to sum the monitor paths from the respective uplink transport signals to generate a summed digital sample stream, the one or more simulcast modules configured to send the summed digital sample stream to the host unit. The host unit is configured to provide a signal based on the summed digital sample stream to one or more signal analysis modules.
US09621243B2

A method of operating a communication system is disclosed. The method includes transmitting a plurality of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) sub-resources and a plurality of mode configuration signals to a remote transceiver. The method further includes receiving channel state information (CSI) signals according to the mode configuration signals for the respective sub-resources.
US09621241B2

A method for reporting, by a UE, a downlink channel state in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: receiving a vertical precoding matrix indicator (PMI) to be used to calculate the downlink channel state; calculating a value of the downlink channel state using the received vertical PMI; and reporting the calculated downlink channel state value to an eNB, wherein the received vertical PMI is used from a later subframe between a subframe in which the vertical PMI is received and a subframe preceding a subframe in which the calculated downlink channel state value is reported by the number of subframes necessary to calculate the downlink channel state value using the received vertical PMI.
US09621240B1

In one or more aspects data packets are iteratively transmitted to a receiver using predefined spatial mapping matrices, channel estimates are received from the receiver responsive to iteratively transmitted data packets, and one of the predefined spatial mapping matrices is selected for transmitting additional data packets to the receiver based on the received channel estimates.
US09621236B2

The present invention relates to a method for multiple-input multiple-output impairment pre-compensation comprising: receiving a multiple-input signal; generating a pre-distorted multiple-input signal from the received multiple-input signal; generating a multiple-output signal by feeding the pre-distorted multiple-input signal into a multiple-input and multiple-output transmitter; estimating impairments generated by the multiple-input and multiple-output transmitter; and adjusting the pre-distorted multiple-input signal to compensate for the estimated impairments. The present invention also relates to a pre-compensator for use with a multiple-input and multiple-output transmitter, comprising: a multiple-input for receiving a multiple-input signal; a matrix of pre-processing cells for generating a pre-distorted multiple-input signal from the received multiple-input signal; and a multiple-output for feeding the pre-distorted multiple-input signal to the multiple-input and multiple-output transmitter. The pre-processing cells are configured so as to estimate impairments generated by the multiple-input and multiple-output transmitter and adjust the pre-distorted multiple-input signal to compensate for the estimated impairments.
US09621233B2

Provided are a method and apparatus for user equipment (UE) selection in a mobile communication system. The method may include: selecting the n−1th UE in multiple cells (n: constant ≧2); and selecting a UE with the maximum weighted sum rate (WSR) as the nth UE from among UEs belonging to the remaining cells excluding those cells containing the 1st to n−1th UEs. Hence, the scheduling function enabling suitable user equipment selection may further increase overall system throughput by providing additional gains in addition to beamforming, i.e. further reducing inter-cell interference and increasing signal strength toward a desired user equipment.
US09621227B2

Technology is described for proximity based communications. A proximity boundary can be defined with dimensions defined by a communication range of one of a first Short Range Communication (SRC) device and a second SRC device. The first SRC device and the second SRC device can be configured to communicate using near field magnetic induction (NFMI). A proximity signal can be communicated in the proximity boundary between the first SRC device and the second SRC device. A security permission can be provided to enable selected data to be communicated from one or more of the first SRC device or the second SRC device in the proximity boundary when the proximity signal is detected between the first SRC device and the second SRC device. The selected data can be communicated from one or more of the first SRC device or the second SRC device using a radio frequency (RF) communication standard.
US09621225B2

A method of two-way communications over a power distribution network in which outbound communication signals (O) and an inbound communication signals (I) modulate a time-varying waveform propagated through the network, on the low voltage side of the network. An outbound signal waveform is detected at a customer location (C) with remote communication equipment (RCE) at the customer location then producing a return or inbound communication signal. A corresponding inbound signal is produced in an associated voltage waveform and this signal is detected and processed by a distribution concentrator unit (DCU) at the sending end of the network. The transmission and detection of signals on the low voltage side of the network requires less energy than the generation, propagation, detection, and processing of signals on the high voltage side thereof.
US09621221B2

A full duplex radio includes self-interference cancellation circuitry for reducing self-interference. The self-interference cancellation circuitry may receive analog radio frequency signals that are to be transmitted by an antenna, and downconvert and digitize the signals to provide a digital baseband signal for processing, for example by an adaptive filter. The filtered signal may be converted to an analog signal and applied in an analog portion of a receive chain of a receiver of the full duplex radio. Preferably the analog signal is applied in the receive chain after low noise amplification of received signals of interest.
US09621204B2

An apparatus and method for detecting a burst signal. The apparatus includes circuitry that concatenates a predetermined number of samples and transmits the samples to a first programmable memory tap of a predetermined number of programmable memory taps. For each memory tap, a corresponding partial correlation is computed. A normalized sum of all the partial correlations is multiplexed and transmitted to a predetermined number of multipliers. A peak of the burst signal is determined by computing a summation of the complex multiplications of each multiplier, wherein the determined peak corresponds to a start of the burst signal.
US09621192B2

A bit interleaving method involves applying a bit permutation process to bits of a QC-LDPC codeword made up of N cyclic blocks each including Q bits, and dividing the codeword after the permutation process into a plurality of constellation words each including M bits, the codeword being divided into F×N′/M folding sections (N′ being a subset of N selected cyclic blocks and being a multiple of M/F), each of the constellation words being associated with one of the F×N′/M folding sections, and the bit permutation process being applied such that each of the constellation words includes F bits from each of M/F different cyclic blocks in a given folding section associated with a given constellation word.
US09621179B1

Various aspects facilitate error reduction for an analog to digital converter (e.g., due to metastability). A digital to analog converter generates a scaled reference voltage based on a reference voltage. A comparator component performs a comparison between an input voltage and the scaled reference voltage based on a defined period of time to perform the comparison.
US09621177B1

Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to calibrate interpolating string digital-to-analog converters are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein to calibrate a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) include determining a first calibration codeword based on a first nonlinearity error value measured at an output of the DAC when a most-significant-bit (MSB) portion of an input codeword is applied to an input of the DAC. Such disclosed example methods also include determining a second calibration codeword based on a second measured nonlinearity error value measured at the output of the DAC when a least-significant-bit (LSB) portion of the input codeword is applied to the input of the DAC. Such disclosed example methods further include combining the first calibration codeword and the second calibration codeword to determine a third calibration codeword to be accessed by the DAC to calibrate the output of the DAC when the input codeword is applied to the DAC.
US09621155B2

A switching circuit includes a normally-on switch, a normally-off switch, a current compensating unit and a current sharing unit. Each of the normally-on switch and the normally-off switch include a first terminal, a second terminal and a control terminal respectively. The first terminal of the normally-off switch is connected to the second terminal of the normally-on switch. The second terminal of the normally-off switch is connected to the control terminal of the normally-on switch. The current compensating unit is connected to the normally-on switch and configured to generate a compensating current when a leakage current of the normally-on switch is smaller than the leakage current of the normally-off switch. The current sharing unit is connected to the normally-off switch and configured to share the leakage current of the normally-on switch when the leakage current of the normally-on switch is larger than the leakage current of the normally-off switch.
US09621153B2

A semiconductor device according to an embodiments controls a gate voltage to be applied to a gate electrode of a junction field effect transistor including a source electrode, a drain electrode, and the gate electrode, the transistor having a first threshold voltage at which the transistor is turned on, and a second threshold at which conductivity modulation occurs in the transistor so as to make the gate voltage equal to or higher than the second threshold voltage when a forward current in a direction from the drain electrode toward the source electrode flows, and so as to make the time variation in gate voltage have a point from which the rate of the time variation starts decreasing at a voltage between the second threshold voltage and the first threshold voltage when the forward current to be shut down.
US09621147B2

A gate pulse modulation waveform-shaping circuit includes an input terminal, an output pair, and a gate pulse modulation waveform-shaping control circuit. The input terminal receives a control signal. The output pair is connected to a scan line for outputting a gate output voltage. The gate pulse modulation waveform-shaping control circuit is connected to the output pair for adjusting a voltage waveform on the scan line. The gate pulse modulation waveform-shaping control circuit is based on the control signal to use a time interval or fixed discharge voltage to generate a desired delay for adjusting a discharge slope thereby generating different discharge time on the scan line, so that the gate output voltage has a voltage waveform including at least two waveform segments each with a non-zero sliding slope and at least two waveform segments each with a zero slope.
US09621144B2

Aspects of the disclosure provide a data storage circuit. The data storage circuit includes a first latch, a second latch, and a clock gating and buffer circuit. The first latch is configured to provide an intermediate output to the second latch in response to a data input when a clock signal is in a first state and to hold the intermediate output when the clock signal is in a second state, and the second latch is configured to provide a data output in response to the intermediate output and the clock signal. The clock gating and buffer circuit is configured to provide the clock signal, and to suppress providing the clock signal to one or both of the first latch and the second latch when the intermediate output stays unchanged.
US09621133B2

A semiconductor device is operated by applying a gate voltage with a first value to a gate electrode terminal such that current flows through the IGBT between first and second electrode terminals and current flow through a desaturation channel is substantially blocked. A gate voltage with a second value is applied to the gate electrode terminal the absolute value of which is lower than that of the first value, such that current flows through the IGBT between the first and second electrode terminals and charge carriers flow as a desaturating current through the desaturation channel to the first electrode terminal. A gate voltage with a third value is applied to the gate electrode terminal, the absolute value of which is lower than that of the first and second values, such that current flow through the IGBT between the first and second electrode terminals is substantially blocked.
US09621127B2

In an elastic wave device, a first electrode structure and a second electrode structure are provided on a piezoelectric substrate, first and second elastic wave element portions are configured by the first electrode structure and the second electrode structure, respectively, and a first bump that is configured of a conductive material to provide shielding is provided on an electrode formation surface of the piezoelectric substrate between the first elastic wave element portion and the second elastic wave element portion.
US09621118B2

Compression control through power amplifier voltage adjustment. A power amplifier module can include a power amplifier including a cascode transistor pair. The cascode transistor pair can include a first transistor and a second transistor. The power amplifier module can include a power amplifier bias controller. The power amplifier bias controller can include a current comparator configured to compare a first base current of the first transistor and a second base current of the second transistor to obtain a comparison value. The power amplifier module can include a saturation controller configured to supply a reference signal to a voltage converter based on the comparison value. The voltage converter can be configured to modify a supply voltage provided to the power amplifier based at least in part on the reference signal.
US09621114B2

An amplifier according to the principle of load modulation comprises a first push-pull transistor, a second push-pull transistor and a balanced hybrid coupler. The first push-pull transistor is configured as a main amplifier and generates a balanced main-amplifier signal. The second push-pull transistor is configured as an auxiliary amplifier and generates a balanced auxiliary-amplifier signal. Outputs of the first push-pull transistor and of the second push-pull transistor are connected to the balanced hybrid coupler in such a manner that the balanced hybrid coupler combines the main-amplifier signal and the auxiliary amplifier signal according to the principle of load modulation to form a balanced output signal.
US09621113B2

Embodiments disclosed in the detailed description relate to a pseudo-envelope follower power management system used to manage the power delivered to a linear RF power amplifier.
US09621108B2

In at least one embodiment, the invention provides a bidirectional amplifier and method of control that enables immediate feedback directly from the output for fast response and low distortion. Mechanisms responsive to instantaneous feedback eliminate undershoot, overshoot, and sub-harmonic behavior. One embodiment comprises two switches and a single two-terminal inductor. Another embodiment produces a bipolar output from a single unregulated supply rail. The use of Predictive Energy Balancing controls yield high efficiency and low total harmonic distortion. These amplifiers are suited for audio application, and can drive piezo or dynamic speakers.
US09621096B1

A method for driving first and second voice coil motors (VCMs) by generating a first coil current through the first VCM and routing a portion (not all) of the first coil current through the second VCM when a first VCM movement command is commanding greater movement than a second VCM movement command. A second coil current is generated through the second VCM and a portion (not all) of the second coil current is routed through the first VCM, when the first VCM movement command is commanding smaller movement than the second VCM movement command. This may reduce power consumption. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US09621095B2

An amplitude control unit (40) detects the amplitude of a movable element (12) that reciprocates relative to a stator (11), detects fluctuations in a load over time according to detected fluctuations over time in the amplitude, and detects an abnormality on the basis of the detected fluctuations over time in the load. The amplitude control unit (40) outputs the detected amplitudes to a control output unit (50). The control output unit (50) controls a drive current (Id) for reciprocating the movable element (12) on the basis of the amplitude information supplied from the amplitude control unit (40).
US09621082B2

An embodiment of this invention is directed to implementing motor control of suppressing the influence of the cogging of a motor while minimizing preliminary detection processing. According to this embodiment, a printing apparatus includes an acceleration sensor for detecting the acceleration of a moving carriage, and a control unit configured to control drive of the motor to suppress the influence of the cogging of the motor based on the detection by the acceleration sensor. In accordance with the relationship between the band of the cogging frequency of the motor and the band of the resonance frequency of the carriage, the control unit determines whether to use a cancel signal for feedback control of an encoder sensor. When the cancel signal is not used, the control unit changes the gain of feedback control of the acceleration sensor.
US09621076B2

A vibration type driving device includes an electro-mechanical energy conversion element; a vibrator fixed to the electro-mechanical energy conversion element and configured to be vibrated by application of voltage to the electro-mechanical energy conversion element; a first driven member and a second driven member frictionally driven by press-contact with the vibrator and configured to transmit rotational forces by frictional driving to an output shaft; and at least one pressing portion configured to bring the first driven member and the second driven member into press contact with the vibrator, wherein the pressing portion, the first driven member, the second driven member, and the vibrator are arranged to allow an air flow generated by an airflow generation unit to flow through an air-ventilation path of the pressing portion, between the first driven member and the second driven member, and an air-ventilation path of the vibrator.
US09621071B2

A high powered current generator for electromagnetic inspection of hydrocarbon pipelines from an AC stabilized with rectangular waveform and whose measurements and interpretation are used for evaluating the condition of the lining of the pipelines of five main modules: self-programmable regulated voltage power source module; power source reference decoupling module; H Bridge inverter module; feedback module, and control and processing module. The generator was specifically designed as part of the instrumentation of (TIEMS); which supplies an electric current in the pipeline to produce electromagnetic radiation along the hydrocarbon pipeline. This energy is detected by antennas for obtaining the location of the pipeline and the electric current flowing therein. The generator produces an alternating current at a frequency that can be set within the range of 0.1 Hz to 1 KHz. However, to simplify the job of the operating personnel, default values of 0.1, 0.2, 0.05, 1, 2, 4, 8, 98, 512 and 625 Hertz were established. The current value can also be programmed within the range of 0.1 A to 4.5 A. In order to facilitate the work of the operators, a set of fixed current values 0.100, 0.250, 0.500, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 Amperes was established.
US09621069B2

The rectifier includes two input paths configured to receive an alternating input voltage and two output paths configured to provide a direct output voltage. A switched-mode rectifying path is connected between one of the input paths and one of the output paths and comprises at least two semiconductor elements with controllable paths; the controllable paths are series-connected with each other. An auxiliary output node is disposed between the controllable paths of the two semiconductor elements in the rectifying path and provides an auxiliary node voltage. A controllable output path is connected downstream of one of the two output paths and comprises a semiconductor element with a controllable path, wherein the controllable path of the semiconductor element of the controllable output path is controlled by a signal representing the auxiliary node voltage.
US09621066B2

A master/slave control system of an AC/DC power supply includes a master device. The master device is able to supply AC and DC power. The master device is connected with a plurality of slave devices through a plurality of local area network transmission interfaces. The slave devices are able to supply AC and DC power. Through the local area network transmission interfaces, a control signal can be transmitted fast for the mater device and slave devices to carry out a master/slave control. The signal transmission efficiency of the master/slave control can be enhanced greatly, so that the master/slave control is more fast and prompt. The present invention avoids the arrangement of the traditional series data communication interface and the controller area network, and simplifies the configuration and wiring of the master device and the slave devices.
US09621064B2

In a voltage-type DC power supply provided with an inverter, current supply from the inverter to the load side is suppressed when arc is generated. DC output from the voltage-type DC power supply is suspended and resumed: upon suspending the DC output, the chopper is separated from the inverter, thereby suppressing excessive current to the load when arc is generated, allowing the arc to be extinguished at high speed, and holding the current passing through the chopper in the form of circulating current. Upon restarting the inverter, the circulating current being held is supplied to the load, thereby reducing a delay of supply of DC power to the load at the time of resuming the DC output from the voltage-type DC power supply.
US09621058B2

A synchronous rectifier is described that includes a transistor device that has a gate terminal, a source terminal, a drain terminal, and a field-plate electrode. The field-plate electrode of the transistor device includes an integrated diode. The integrated diode is configured to discharge a parasitic capacitance of the transistor device during each switching operation of the synchronous rectifier. In some examples, the integrated diode is also configured to charge the parasitic capacitance of the transistor device during each switching operation of the synchronous rectifier.
US09621057B2

A switched mode power converter includes a switch, an energy transfer element coupled to the switch, and a controller that includes a delayed ramp generator coupled to generate a delayed ramp signal, an input charge control signal generator coupled to generate an input charge control signal representative of an integral of an input current sense signal and a ratio of an input voltage sense signal to an output voltage sense signal, and a drive signal generator coupled to receive the delayed ramp signal and the input charge control signal, to regulate an output of the switch mode power converter. The drive signal generator produces a drive signal responsive to the input charge control signal and the delayed ramp signal. The drive signal is coupled to control the switch of the switch mode power converter.
US09621051B2

An electrical power converter comprises an inverter with semiconductor switches, a resonant circuit coupled with the inverter, and a controller for switching the semiconductor switches of the inverter to switching states. The controller is adapted for periodically switching the inverter between switching states, such that a periodic resonant current is generated in the resonant circuit, for synchronizing switching events of the switching states with the periodic resonant current, such that a switching state is applied to the inverter at a time point associated with a specific periodic point of the periodic resonant current, and for applying the switching states such that an overall power feed backward from the resonant circuit to an input of the inverter is balanced with an overall power feed forward from the input of the inverter to the resonant circuit.
US09621049B2

The present invention relates to a feedback device for a power supply, including a main feedback module, an auxiliary feedback module and a feedback control module. The main feedback module is adapted to sample a voltage on a main output branch of the power supply, and output a main feedback voltage to the feedback control module. The auxiliary feedback module is adapted to reduce the main feedback voltage when a voltage on an auxiliary output branch of the power supply drops. The feedback control module is adapted to control the power supply to increase its power output when the main feedback voltage decreases, so that the voltage on the auxiliary output branch is restored to normal. By using the power supply feedback device of the present invention, the circuit is simple, not only solving voltage sag problems, but also ensuring the power density and cost.
US09621048B2

A switching power-supply circuit includes a second rectifying/smoothing circuit arranged to generate a second output voltage by rectifying and smoothing the output of a second secondary winding, and the second rectifying/smoothing circuit includes a second rectifier circuit and a capacitor, connected to the second secondary winding. A second switching control circuit operates in response to an alternating-current winding voltage occurring in the second secondary winding, and includes a time constant circuit causing a switch mechanism connected to the control terminal of a rectifier switch element to operate, and a second feedback circuit arranged to detect and feed back the second output voltage to the time constant circuit.
US09621038B2

A switch control circuit for controlling an average current flowing into a load through a current control switch that is series-coupled to an input power and the load includes a sensing unit configured to measure a current flowing into the load, a folder unit configured to fold a sensing signal related to the measured current based on a first reference voltage to generate first and second folder output signals based on an initialization voltage, the first and second folder output signals being symmetric to each other, a comparison unit configured to compare the generated first and second folder output signals and a control unit configured to control an operation of the current control switch according to a comparison result in the comparison unit. Such a switch control circuit integrates and compares a sensing signal and a reference signal to effectively perform an average current control.
US09621022B1

Aspects of the disclosure provide a circuit. The circuit includes a voltage step up circuit, a voltage control unit, and a complementary voltage generator. The voltage step up circuit is configured to receive a primary supply voltage of a first voltage level and output a secondary supply voltage of a second voltage level that is higher than the first voltage level. The voltage control unit is configured to receive the secondary supply voltage and to output a control voltage having a voltage level in a range from a ground level to the second voltage level. The complementary voltage generator is configured to operate based on the primary supply voltage and to generate a pair of complementary signals in response to the control voltage. The voltage sum of the pair of complementary signals is equivalent to the first voltage level.
US09621016B2

A Lorentz actuator mechanism, which controls the motion of a mobile component relative to a static component, includes a flat coil assembly which is physically coupled to the mobile component in a magnetic field of one or more magnets and is configured to adjust a position of the mobile component, relative to the static component, based at least in part upon Lorentz forces. The flat coil assembly includes at least one conductor element, at least partially bounded by a set of insulator elements within an interior of the flat coil assembly, which forms a coil structure, within the interior of the flat coil assembly, which is configured to generate the Lorentz forces based at least in part upon an electrical current through the at least one conductor element.
US09621014B2

A double-rotor switched reluctance machine includes a stator, a first rotor, and a second rotor. The stator and the first rotor operate as a first electric machine and the stator and the second rotor operate as a second electric machine. Each electric machine has an output torque profile that fluctuates periodically between a maximum and a minimum instantaneous torque. The double-rotor switched reluctance machine is configured so that when the first and second electric machines are operated at a common electrical frequency, the first and second maximum instantaneous torques are temporally offset, thereby reducing the overall torque ripple of the switched reluctance machine. Additionally, or alternatively, a double-rotor switched reluctance machine is configured so that the first and second rotors are radially offset from each other to reduce a net radial force imposed on the stator by the operation of the first and second electric machines.
US09621012B2

A lamination pack for a motor and method of forming the lamination pack is provided. The method includes inserting a plurality of conductor bars into a plurality of rotor slots defined by a lamination stack such that opposing bar ends of the conductor bars extend from opposing end faces of the lamination stack, skewing the lamination stack and the conductor bars to a skew angle relative to a rotation axis of the lamination stack, and subsequently bending the bar ends of the conductor bars in opposing radial directions to a locking angle greater than the skew angle, to lock each of the conductor bars in its respective rotor slot. The bent bar ends exert a compressive axial locking force on the lamination stack to prevent axial and radial movement of the laminations in the lamination stack and to prevent axial movement of the conductor bars relative to the lamination stack.
US09621007B2

An electric machine with a closed circuit air cooling provides using only passive elements to realize an efficient and compact heat transfer from inside the electric machine to an ambient heat sink.
US09621004B2

An armature includes a core having a plurality of teeth, which are radially formed with a rotation axis as the center, a plurality of coils where each coil is wound around each set of teeth containing at least two teeth. The plurality of coils have a plurality of inside coils placed on a rotation axis side of the teeth and a plurality of outside coils placed outside the inside coils. The plurality of inside coils are circularly arranged so that inside coils adjacent to each other are not wound around the same tooth. The plurality of outside coils are circularly arranged so that outside coils adjacent to each other are not wound around the same tooth. The outside coils are wound around a second set of combinations of teeth, which are different from a first set of combinations of teeth around which the inside coils are wound.
US09620998B2

A motor cooling and eddy current suppression structure (100), which is attached to the surface of the motor winding (201), includes a first cooling plate (101), a second cooling plate (103,104), and a cooling water circuit located between the first cooling plate and the second cooling plate. The cooling water circuit is configured to allow the cooling fluid to pass through. The first and the second cooling plates are both non-magnetic metallic materials. The first cooling plate is divided into a plurality of individual first regions (301,303) which are corresponding to each pole of the motor by one or more first slits (305) provided on the first cooling plate in the position where the motor poles are combined. Each of the first regions is further divided into an even number of first sub-areas by at least one fist sub-slit (306) where induced electromotive force is generated. Two adjacent first sub-areas in respective first regions are grouped together, and the ends of each first sub-area that has the same polarity are connected in series. The second cooling plate is divided into a plurality of individual second regions which are corresponding to each pole of the motor by one or more second slits provided on the second cooling plate in the position where the motor poles are combined. Each of the second regions is further divided into an even number of second sub-areas by at least one second sub-slit where induced electromotive force is generated. Two adjacent second sub-areas in respective second regions are grouped together, and the ends of each second sub-area that has the same polarity are connected in series. This structure can efficiently reduce the temperature of the motor winding and reduce the induced eddy current.
US09620988B2

An object is to provide a power storage device provided with a battery that is a power storage means, for safe and accurate supply of electric power in a short period of time for drive power supply voltage without checking remaining capacity of the battery or changing batteries with deterioration over time of the battery for drive power supply voltage. The power storage device is provided with a battery that is a power storage means as a power supply for supplying electric power and a counter circuit for counting charging time of the power storage means. An electromagnetic wave with electric field intensity, magnetic field intensity, and power flux density per unit time which are transmitted from a power feeder are controlled, and the power storage means is efficiently charged using the electromagnetic wave in a short period of time.
US09620984B2

An electric power charge and discharge system for an electronic device having a battery, by which the electronic device can be used for a long period of time. In a wireless communication device including a wireless driving portion including a first battery and a wireless charging portion including a second battery, the first battery is charged by electric power from a fixed power supply and the second battery is charged by using electromagnetic waves existing in an external space. Further, the first battery and the second battery are discharged alternately, and during a period in which the first battery is discharged, the second battery is charged.
US09620983B2

Methods and systems may provide for detecting a location of an adjacent ultrasonic receiver of a battery powered device relative to a charging surface of a contactless charger. The charging surface may include an ultrasonic array of transmitter sub arrays, wherein one or more of the transmitter sub arrays may be selectively activated based on the location to focus an ultrasonic beam on the adjacent ultrasonic receiver. In one example, a movement of the adjacent ultrasonic receiver may be detected and the focus of the ultrasonic beam is adjusted in response to the movement.
US09620982B2

A comparator circuit includes: a switching element that is disposed between a positive electrode of a battery cell and a fixed potential supply source, that has a control terminal connected to a negative electrode of the battery cell, and that operates in response to a voltage applied from the battery cell to the control terminal; a voltage regulating unit that is disposed between the battery cell and the switching element and that regulates the voltage applied from the battery cell to the switching element; and an output signal line that outputs a potential between the switching element and the fixed potential supply source.
US09620978B2

Disclosed is a method and device 700 for determining an expected usage of the device, determining a charge level of a battery 750 associated with the device, and tuning the charge level of the battery by at least one of charging the battery based on the determined expected usage of the device and the determined charge level of the battery, and discharging the battery by changing an operation of the device based on the determined charge level of the battery and the determined expected usage of the device.
US09620977B2

A battery device includes a plurality of power converters, and a power storage unit connected between the power converters. The power converters and the power storage unit are configured to convert power from a first power standard to a second power standard by transferring the power through the power storage unit.
US09620972B2

A wireless charging device disclosed herein includes a housing having a wireless charging module mounted therein, an upper cover covering an upper surface of the housing, the upper cover having screw holes formed on one surface thereof, screws inserted into the screw holes to couple the housing and the upper cover to each other, magnets inserted into the screw holes to overlap the screws, and a pad disposed to cover the upper cover, the pad having a terminal mounting surface.
US09620961B2

A method for supplying internal consumers in a domestic appliance from a low voltage supply network, for example a photovoltaic power station or wind power station, includes classifying the internal consumers commensurate with a stored energy requirement of each internal consumer and supplying the internal consumers with energy commensurate with the classification. This protects against low voltage and excessive electric loads and against partial interruption of a treatment program for items when the low voltage supply is interrupted due to a temporary overload. The energy supply of the internal consumers is switched off in stages depending on their energy requirement and on their classification, when the energy available from the low voltage supply network is insufficient for supplying all internal consumers, and is switched back on again in stages, when the energy available from the low voltage supply network is once again sufficient for supplying all internal consumers.
US09620958B2

An electronic cigarette battery reverse connection protection device and method for using the same, comprising: a battery, a switch circuit, an alarm circuit, a discharge control circuit and a load circuit. The battery is connected with the switch circuit, the switch circuit is connected with the discharge control circuit and the alarm circuit respectively, the discharge control circuit is connected with the load circuit. The switch circuit is configured to determine whether the battery is reversely connected according to a power signal provided by the battery; when the battery is reversely connected, the discharge control circuit is turned off, and the alarm circuit is turned on and generates an alarm signal; and when the battery is correctly connected, the discharge control circuit controls the load circuit working.
US09620955B2

Systems and methods are presented for managing communication between devices in an electric power generation and delivery system. In certain embodiments, a method for managing communication messages performed by a network device included in an electric power generation and delivery system may include receiving a message including an identifier and data state information via a communications interface. A determination may be made that that the message represents a data state change associated with the identifier. The message may be stored in a message buffer associated with the identifier. Finally, the stored message may be transmitted from the message buffer to an intelligent electronic device.
US09620953B2

Methods may be provided to control an electro-permanent magnetic device powered from an AC mains power source provided through first and second power lines of a controller, wherein a first switch is provided on the first power line between the AC mains power source and the electro-permanent magnetic device and a second switch is provided on the second power line between the AC main power source and the electro-permanent magnetic device. In particular, a sequence of switching pulses may be transmitted through the first and second switches to change a magnetic state of the electro-permanent magnetic device. Related controllers are also discussed.
US09620941B2

A telecommunications patching system having point-to-point tracing capabilities includes: a plurality of end devices; at least one rack structure; a plurality of patch panels mounted to each rack structure; a plurality of connector ports disposed on each of the patch panels; a plurality of patch cords for selectively interconnecting different pairs of connector ports; a plurality of cables for selectively interconnecting the connector ports on the patch panels with respective end devices; tracing modules associated with said connector ports and end devices that monitor connectivity of the connector ports and end devices; and a display associated with the tracing modules configured to display the connectivity of a circuit comprising one or more of the connector ports and one or more of the end devices.
US09620938B2

A switchboard applied with a bushing-type current transformer includes a terminal bushing inserted from a front direction, a switchboard terminal coupled to the terminal bushing, a metering current transformer bushing inserted from a front direction and inserted into the terminal bushing while wrapping the switchboard terminal, and a metering current transformer disposed outside the metering current transformer bushing and assembled or disassembled at a front surface through a circuit breaker chamber. Thus, the switchboard applied with a bushing-type current transformer has an advantage of having a high degree of internal space utilization or capable of being made to be compact.
US09620936B2

An ion/ozone wind generation device includes a plurality of electrode pairs having a needle-shaped electrode and an opposite electrode, ions, ozone, and ion wind being generated using corona discharge by generating a potential difference between the respective electrode pairs. In this device, the opposite electrode in each of the electrode pairs is formed into a planar and annular or spiral shape, a main electrode pair as a pair of electrodes and a plurality of sub-electrode pairs as electrode pairs in which the opposite electrodes are regularly located adjacent or proximate to each other so as to surround the opposite electrode in the main electrode pair along an outer circumference of the opposite electrode in the main electrode pair are provided, and planar normal vectors in all the opposite electrodes are directed in substantially the same directions.
US09620935B2

A packing between an insulator and a metal shell of a spark plug. A length between a first position of a contact portion of the packing and the insulator and a second position of a contact portion of the packing and the insulator parallel to an axial line direction is set as a first length. In the case where a load perpendicular to the axial line direction is applied to the second position, a ratio of stress at a surface position that is a position on a surface of the insulator to stress at the first position is set as a stress ratio. In a range of the surface position where the stress ratio is 0.8 or more to 1.15 or less, a length in a continuous range from the first position toward a front end side parallel to the axial line direction is set as a second length. A ratio of the second length to the first length is 0.7 or more.
US09620920B2

A pulsed gas discharge laser operating at an output laser pulse repetition rate of greater than 4 kHz and a method of operating same is disclosed which may comprise a high voltage electrode having a longitudinal extent; a main insulator electrically insulating the high voltage electrode from a grounded gas discharge chamber; a preionizer longitudinally extending along at least a portion of the longitudinal extent of the high voltage electrode; a preionization shim integral with the electrode extending toward the preionizer. The preionizer may be formed integrally with the main insulator. The preionization shim may substantially cover the gap between the electrode and the preionizer. The apparatus and method may comprise an aerodynamic fairing attached to the high voltage electrode to present an aerodynamically smooth surface to the gas flow.
US09620907B1

A receptacle assembly includes a receptacle housing including panels defining a pluggable module cavity and providing EMI shielding for the module cavity. A gasket assembly is provided at the bottom of the receptacle housing. The gasket assembly has a bottom plate, a hinge plate rearward of the bottom plate and a rear plate extending from a rear of the hinge plate providing EMI shielding for the module cavity. The bottom plate provides EMI shielding at the bottom of the receptacle housing and the rear plate provides EMI shielding at a back end of the receptacle housing. The hinge plate is hingedly coupled between the bottom plate and the rear plate to change relative positions of the bottom plate and the rear plate during assembly to the circuit board.
US09620902B2

A connector fixing piece comprises an engagement body, two cantilevers, a first buckle block, and a second buckle block. The engagement body is provided with a bottom surface. Two cantilevers project from the bottom surface of the engagement body to form a sleeve joint portion together. The first buckle block is located on the engagement body, and projects from the bottom surface of the engagement body. The second buckle block is located between the first buckle block and the two cantilevers, and projects from the bottom surface of the engagement body. By using the connector fixing piece of the present invention, the reliability of connector insertion connection can be improved.
US09620901B2

A breakaway coaxial cable connector includes a first conductive body configured to engage a first cable, and a second conductive body configured to engage a second cable. The first conductive body and the second conductive body are configured to be selectively coupled to each other so as to maintain electrical connectivity between the first cable and the second cable during operation of the connector when a first tension force below a predetermined threshold level is applied between the first cable and the second cable. The first conductive body and the second conductive body are configured to be selectively de-coupled from each other so as to interrupt electrical connectivity between the first cable and the second cable during operation of the connector when a second tension force above the predetermined threshold level is applied between the first cable and the second cable.
US09620896B1

A two sided electrical connection system that automatically connects two connector sides together is provided. A male side and female side of the connector have bodies shaped such that the male side may be received by the female side automatically by a force of gravity. Guiding structure around the female side of the two sided connector allows the male side to be guided into place without requiring perfect alignment of the two sides of the connector.
US09620895B2

A socket is to receive a memory module usable in a computing system. A latch is to retain the memory module seated in the socket. The latch is to generate a positive locking latch retention force to prevent removal of the memory module while the latch is in a latched position.
US09620881B1

The present invention provides an electrical connector comprising a socket and a plug. A jack is set on the socket, and a socket pin is set in the jack. The plug is set with a plug pin that has a one-to-one correspondence with the socket pin. The plug has an insertion part that is in insertion fit with the jack, and the end part of the insertion part is set with a first groove that extends along its insertion direction. The plug pin has a one-to-one correspondence with the first groove, and has an exposed part that is exposed in the first groove. The electrical connector further comprises a first compression spring, which has a one-to-one correspondence with the first groove. The two ends of the first compression spring respectively abut against the inner wall of the two ends of the first groove. The first compression spring is detachably mounted on and contact the exposed part in the corresponding first groove. The socket pin contacts the corresponding first compression spring as the jack becomes in insertion fit with the insertion part of the plug. The invention further provides a drilling system. The solution of the present invention can solve the problem of the prior art that the operation is complex and the cost is high when the connection stability of the electrical connector is ensured by way of replacing pins.
US09620870B2

An adjustable mounting system for mounting solar panels on roofs is disclosed. The system allows a user to mount the solar panels either with or without rails. The mounting assemblies are adjustable to allow the user to mount a base plate in a chosen location (either on a roof joist or other structural member or not) and to adjust the mounting location for the panel in as many as three axis of adjustment from the location of the base plate. A system for mounting and grounding the panels at the same time is also disclosed.
US09620864B2

A method of designing a reflectarray including a substrate having a surface perpendicular to a predetermined axis, wherein elements are disposed on the substrate. The method obtains a reflection phase of the elements as a function of a design parameter such as element spacing, when a radio wave enters the arranged elements, and stores a relationship between the reflection phase and the design parameter in a memory. Here, the design parameter is equally set for the elements. The method repeatedly determines, for each of the elements, the design parameter of a specific element in accordance with the relationship. The function of the design parameter has a range of almost 360 degrees with respect to a range of the design parameter. The reflection phase is the continuous function of the element spacing such that two resonant points occur at which the reflection phase becomes zero.
US09620863B2

A first radiating element and a second radiating element each have a first extending portion protruding from a region where a ground conductor is formed to a non-ground-conductor region, and a second extending portion extending parallel with a boundary of the ground-conductor region and the non-ground-conductor region. The first radiating element and the second radiating element are arranged such that an open end of the second extending portion of the first radiating element and an open end of a second extending portion of the second radiating element face each other. A parasitic element is formed on a side of the second radiating element distant from the region (where the ground conductor is formed. A parasitic element is formed along the first radiating element. With this configuration, an antenna device is realized which has gain in two frequency bands and has forward directivity.
US09620859B2

A polymorphic antenna, including a metallic template configurable in at least first and second possible different three-dimensional shapes, the antenna, when configured in the at least first and second different three-dimensional shapes, having a common antenna feed point, a common balun coupled to the common antenna feed point; and a common dipole coupled to the common antenna feed point and to the common balun. The antenna operates in a common frequency band when configured in either of the at least first and second different three-dimensional shapes when fed via the common antenna feed point.
US09620854B2

An electronic device includes a wiring board having one or more layers, an integrated circuit arranged on the wiring board, an antenna, and a signal path. The integrated circuit generates a high frequency signal and feeds it to the signal path. The signal path conveys the high frequency signal to the antenna. The antenna emits the high frequency signal into an environment of the electronic device. Alternatively or in addition, the antenna receives the high frequency signal from the environment and feeds it to the signal path. The signal path conveys the high frequency signal to the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit processes the high frequency signal. The signal path includes a wave guide that traverses one or more of the layers of the wiring board.
US09620848B2

There is provided an apparatus comprising: a first radiation element having a horizontal pattern extending in parallel with a ground element and having a first open end; a second radiation element having a horizontal pattern extending in parallel with the ground element and having a second open end; wherein each of said first radiation element and second radiation element connects to the ground element; wherein said second open end of the second radiation element occupies an area surrounded by a horizontal pattern of the first radiation element and the ground element; and a driven element including a first excitation pattern extending along the horizontal pattern of the first radiation element and a second excitation pattern extending along the horizontal pattern of the second radiation element. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09620841B2

A radio frequency coupling structure is arranged to couple a radio frequency signal between a first side of the radio frequency coupling structure to a second side of the radio frequency coupling structure opposite to the first side. The radio frequency coupling structure comprises a dielectric layer, a first electrically conductive layer comprising a first transition structure, a second electrically conductive layer comprising a second transition structure, and an integrated waveguide structure formed by an array of electrically conductive vias extending through the dielectric layer from the first to the second electrically conductive layer to enclose a portion of the dielectric layer. The portion is arranged to guide the radio frequency signal between the first transition structure and the second transition structure.
US09620835B2

An arrangement includes a plurality of split ring resonators on a planar substrate. Each split ring resonator of the plurality of split ring resonators includes two mutually parallel ring structures of a metal conductor element spaced apart by the substrate. The two mutually parallel rings structures are respectively separated by at least one gap. At least two split ring resonators of the plurality of split ring resonators are positionable relative to one another such that the separated ring structures may be reciprocally guided through a gap of the respective other ring structures and interlock. Overlap regions may be produced by common ring structure inner surfaces.
US09620821B2

A rechargeable lithium battery includes an electrode assembly including a positive electrode, a first separator, a negative electrode, and a second separator that are sequentially stacked. The first separator includes a first substrate including a first side facing the positive electrode and a second side facing the negative electrode. The second separator includes a second substrate including a third side facing the negative electrode and a fourth side facing the positive electrode. At least one of the first side to the fourth side includes an organic layer including an organic material, and at least one of the second side or the third side includes an inorganic layer including an inorganic material.
US09620817B2

The present invention is to provide: a liquid electrolyte for batteries, which has excellent stability to lithium metals; a method for producing the liquid electrolyte; and a lithium battery comprising the liquid electrolyte. Presented is a liquid electrolyte for lithium batteries, wherein the liquid electrolyte comprises a mesoionic compound represented by the following general formula (1): wherein R1 is an aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and R2 is a group represented by any one of the following general formulae (2), (3) and (4): General Formula (2): —ClH2l—(OCH2)m—CnH2n+1; General Formula (3): —CxH2x—(CH2OCH2)y—CzH2z+1; and General Formula (4): —CpH2p—(C2H4OCH2)q—CrH2r+1.
US09620804B2

A fuel cell is provided having a structure in which a cathode and an anode face each other with an electrolyte layer therebetween. The cathode includes an electrode on which an oxygen reductase and the like are immobilized, and the electrode has pores therein, water repellency is imparted to at least part of the surface of the electrode. Water repellency is imparted by forming a water-repellent agent on the surface of the electrode. The water-repellent agent includes a water-repellent material such as carbon powder and an organic solvent such as methyl isobutyl ketone that causes phase separation with water. When the electrode has pores therein, there are provided a fuel cell that stably provides a high current value and a method for manufacturing the fuel cell.
US09620792B2

An example fuel cell arrangement includes a fuel cell stack configured to receive a supply fluid and to provide an exhaust fluid that has more thermal energy than the supply fluid. The arrangement also includes an ejector and a heat exchanger. The ejector is configured to direct at least some of the exhaust fluid into the supply fluid. The heat exchanger is configured to increase thermal energy in the supply fluid using at least some of the exhaust fluid that was not directed into the supply fluid.
US09620788B2

An electrode catalyst for a fuel cell, an electrode, a fuel cell, and a membrane electrode assembly (MEA), the electrode catalyst including a carbonaceous support, and a catalyst metal loaded on the carbonaceous support, wherein the carbonaceous support includes a functional group bound on a surface thereof, the functional group being represented by one of Formula 1 or Formula 2, below,
US09620778B2

A method for manufacturing a molten material (the crystallized portion of which consists of a single crystalline phase), includes a) mixing raw materials so as to form a feedstock; b) melting the feedstock until a liquid mass reaches a temperature higher than the melting temperature Tf of the molten material obtained at the end of step e); c) cooling until the liquid mass is completely solidified to obtain a molten material, the amorphous phase of which is constitutes less than 80 wt % thereof; d) optionally crushing/grinding and/or performing selection by particle size on the molten material; e) optionally, heat-treating the molten material at a temperature which is an increment lower than the melting temperature of the molten material and is between Tf−800° C. (or 500° C.) and Tf−50° C., for a period of time in a reducing environment; and f) optionally, crushing/grinding and/or performing selection by particle size on said molten material.
US09620768B2

A negative electrode 1 for lithium secondary batteries, which can increase the charge/discharge capacity of a lithium secondary battery, includes a negative electrode current collector, a negative electrode active material layer, and a lithium layer. The negative electrode active material layer is disposed on regions and of the respective surfaces and of the negative electrode current collector. The lithium layer is disposed on uncovered regions and, which are regions of the respective surfaces and of the negative electrode current collector on which the negative electrode active material layer is not disposed. The lithium layer includes lithium.
US09620767B2

An electrode active material layer containing an electrode active material and a binder. The binder is distributed in the electrode active material layer such that the amount of the binder increases continuously from an outer surface of the electrode active material layer toward the core. The amount of the binder present in the electrode active material layer per unit thickness is less than 10 in a region extending from a position 90% of the thickness of the electrode active material layer to a position 100% of the thickness of the electrode active material layer from a surface of the electrode active material layer facing the core, with 10 being assigned to the amount of the binder present in the electrode active material layer per unit thickness if the binder is uniformly distributed in the electrode active material layer.
US09620766B2

Considering that battery separators will require further thinner materials and lower costs in the future, a battery separator of the present invention, in which multi-layer polyolefin porous membrane with exceptionally high peel strength against a modified porous layer, suitable for high-speed processing during slit process and battery assembly process, and suitable for laminating on a multi-layer modified porous layer, and a multi-layer modified porous layer are laminated, is provided. A multi-layer polyolefin porous membrane comprising at least two or more layers, the multi-layer polyolefin porous membrane having a shut-down temperature in a range of 128 to 135° C., a rate of increase in air permeation resistance from 30° C. to 105° C. scaled to 20 μm thickness less than 1.5 sec/100 cc Air/° C., and a thickness not more than 20 μm.
US09620763B1

A connector assembly (100,500) includes a plate (101,501) having a body (107,507) and one or more legs (108,109,110,508,509,510) extending distally from the body. The body can define an aperture (112,512). A flexible substrate (102,502) can electrically couple to the legs such that a portion (202,602) of the body extends distally from an edge (203,603) of the flexible substrate. A connector (103,503) is electrically coupled to the flexible substrate, with one or more circuit components (104,105,504,505) electrically coupled between the legs and the connector. The flexible substrate can define a perimeter (201,601) that is complementary in shape to an upper surface (122,522) of a busbar connector (106,506).
US09620756B2

Provided are a separator-integrated electrode and a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery with a reduced risk of a short circuit between electrodes due to precipitation of metallic lithium on a surface of an electrode mixture layer. A positive electrode (12) configured as a separator-integrated electrode includes a positive current collector (22), a positive active material layer (24) formed on a surface thereof, a first porous layer (26) formed on a surface of the positive active material layer (24) and containing inorganic particles, and a second porous layer (28) formed on a surface of the first porous layer (26) and made of resin fibers.
US09620737B2

An organic light emitting display apparatus includes a substrate including a pixel region, a first electrode on the substrate, a second electrode on the first electrode, an organic light emission layer between the first and second electrodes to emit light, a plurality of layers on the second electrode, and a light compensation pattern on the second electrode and overlapping the pixel region, the light compensation pattern including a plurality of protrusion patterns having progressively decreasing widths as a distance from a center of the pixel region increases, and a plurality of grooves separating the protrusions in a direction parallel to the substrate from the center of the pixel region.
US09620730B2

Organic electronic devices and methods for making organic electronic devices are provided. The organic electronic devices may include a gate electrode, a gate insulator, an organic semiconducting layer, a contact improving layer, a source electrode, and a drain electrode. The source electrode and the drain electrode may be arranged on the contact improving layer, and the contact improving layer may include an organic dopant material which is soluble in Hydrofluorether.
US09620729B2

An organic thin film transistor and a method of manufacturing the same, an array substrate and a display device are disclosed. The thin film transistor including: a source electrode (4), a drain electrode (5), an organic semiconductor layer (6) disposed on the source electrode (4) and drain electrode (5), and a modified layer (7); the modified layer (7) is disposed at a position below an organic semiconductor layer (6) and corresponding to the source electrode (4) and the drain electrode (5), covers the source electrode (4) and the drain electrode (5), and is configured to change a contact angle on both the source electrode (4) and the drain electrode (5). The thin film transistor avoids the problems of poor formation effects and easy disconnection of the organic semiconductor layer (6) because of the large contact angle on electrode layers, and therefore reduces production costs.
US09620728B2

A thin film transistor (TFT) has a gate electrode; a gate insulation layer, a semiconducting channel separated from the gate electrode by the gate insulation layer; a source electrode and a drain electrode. The gate insulation layer is a cross-linked cyanoethylated polyhydroxy polymer, e.g. a cross-linked cyanoethylated pullulan, having a high dielectric constant and the semiconducting channel has a network of semiconducting carbon nanotubes. The semiconducting channel is adhered to the gate insulation layer through a polymeric material. The carbon nanotubes adhere to the polymeric material and the polymeric material reacts or interacts with the gate insulation layer. TFTs have high mobilities while maintaining good on/off ratios.
US09620722B2

The present invention relates to compounds of the formula (1) and formula (2), which are suitable for use in electronic devices, in particular in organic electroluminescent devices.
US09620720B2

An organic electroluminescent element including a substrate, a pair of electrodes including an anode and a cathode, disposed on the substrate, and at least one organic layer including a light emitting layer, disposed between the electrodes, in which at least one kind of compound represented by the following general formula (I) is contained in any layer of the at least one organic layer. The organic electroluminescent element has good luminous efficiency, driving voltage, and driving durability, and has low dependence of such performance on a deposition rate: wherein X, Q, R1 to R8 are as defined in the application.
US09620716B2

The invention relates to novel organic semiconducting polymers containing one or more monomers derived from s-indacene fused symmetrically on each terminus with dithieno[3,2-b;2′,3′-d]thiophene (IDDTT), cyclopenta[2,1-b;3,4-b′]dithiophene (IDCDT), or derivatives thereof, to methods for their preparation and educts or intermediates used therein, to polymer blends, mixtures and formulations containing them, to the use of the polymers, polymer blends, mixtures and formulations as semiconductors in organic electronic (OE) devices, especially in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices and organic photodetectors (OPD), and to OE, OPV and OPD devices comprising these polymers, polymer blends, mixtures or formulations.
US09620714B2

Oxidation treatment is performed to the surface of a substrate provided with a photocatalytic conductive film and an insulating film; treatment with a silane coupling agent is performed, so that a silane coupling agent film is formed and the surface of the substrate is modified to be liquid-repellent; and the surface of the substrate is irradiated with light of a wavelength (less than to equal to 390 nm) which has energy of greater than or equal to a band gap of a material for forming the photocatalytic conductive film, so that only the silane coupling agent film over the surface of the photocatalytic conductive film is decomposed and the surface of the photocatalytic conductive film can be modified to be lyophilic.
US09620711B2

An electronic device includes a semiconductor unit. The semiconductor unit includes a first electrode and a second electrode spaced apart from each other in a first direction; and a first material layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode and having a variable resistance characteristic or a threshold switching characteristic, wherein the first electrode, or the second electrode, or both includes a plurality of sub-electrodes and a plurality of second material layers that are alternately arranged in the first direction, and wherein each of the second material layers has a thickness that is sufficiently small to enable the second material layers to exhibit an ohmic-like behavior for a current flowing therein at an operating current of the semiconductor unit.
US09620708B2

A magnetic material includes a cobalt layer between opposing iron layers. The iron layers include iron and are body-centered cubic (BCC), the cobalt layer comprises cobalt and is BCC or amorphous, and the magnetic material has a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA).
US09620703B2

A piezoelectric thin-film element includes a substrate, a lower electrode layer formed on the substrate, a piezoelectric thin-film layer that is formed on the lower electrode layer and includes potassium sodium niobate having a perovskite structure represented by the composition formula of (K1-xNax)NbO3 (0.4≦x≦0.7), and an upper electrode layer formed on the piezoelectric thin-film layer. The piezoelectric thin-film layer is formed such that a value of (Ec−+Ec+)/2 is not less than 10.8 kV/cm and a value of (Pr−+Pr+)/2 is not more than −2.4 μC/cm2 where Ec− and Ec+ are intersection points of a polarization-electric field hysteresis loop and the x-axis indicating an electric field and Pr− and Pr+ are intersection points of the polarization-electric field hysteresis loop and the y-axis indicating polarization.
US09620700B2

An integrated circuit may include a substrate and a dielectric layer formed over the substrate. A plurality of p-type thermoelectric elements and a plurality of n-type thermoelectric elements may be disposed within the dielectric layer. The p-type thermoelectric elements and the n-type thermoelectric elements may be connected in series while alternating between the p-type and the n-type thermoelectric elements.
US09620698B2

An integrated circuit may include a substrate and a dielectric layer formed over the substrate. A plurality of p-type thermoelectric elements and a plurality of n-type thermoelectric elements may be disposed within the dielectric layer. The p-type thermoelectric elements and the n-type thermoelectric elements may be connected in series while alternating between the p-type and the n-type thermoelectric elements.
US09620694B2

An optoelectronic component includes a leadframe, a molded body connected to the leadframe, and an optoelectronic semiconductor chip arranged on the leadframe, wherein the leadframe includes an alignment opening, and wherein the molded body includes a recess via which the leadframe is exposed in the area of the alignment opening.
US09620692B2

An exemplary lead frame includes a substrate and a bonding electrode, a first connecting electrode, and a second connecting electrode embedded in the substrate. A top surface of the bonding electrode includes a first bonding surface and a second bonding surface spaced from the first bonding surface. A top surface of the first connecting electrode includes a first connecting surface and a second connecting surface spaced from the first connecting surface. Top surfaces of the bonding electrode, the first connecting electrode and the second connecting electrode are exposed out of the substrate to support and electrically connect with light emitting chips. Light emitting chips can be mounted on the lead frame and electrically connect with each other in parallel or in series; thus, the light emitting chips can be connected with each in a versatile way.
US09620689B2

A semiconductor light emitting device that achieves miniaturization and high brightness is provided. The semiconductor light emitting device has a light extraction surface (6) parallel to a lamination direction of a semiconductor layer (2). The semiconductor light emitting device includes a light guide member (3) placed on the semiconductor layer (2) and having a sloped surface (7) with a side surface opposite to the light extraction surface (6) sloped to the light extraction surface and a light-reflecting member (4) placed on a surface of the light guide member including at least the sloped surface of the light guide member.
US09620683B2

A light emitting device is provided that may include a light emitting structure including a first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, an active layer provided on the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, and a second conductivity-type semiconductor layer provided on the active layer, a first electrode that conductively contacts the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, an insulating layer provided on a portion of the light emitting structure and the first electrode, and a second electrode that conductively contacts the second conductivity-type semiconductor layer, the first electrode including a first portion protruding from a side surface of the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer.
US09620682B2

A light emitting device includes a light emitting structure having a plurality of light emitting regions including a first semiconductor layer, an active layer, a second semiconductor layer, a first electrode in one of the light emitting regions, a second electrode in another of the light emitting regions, and at least one connection electrode to sequentially connect the light emitting regions in series. The light emitting regions connected in series are divided into 1st to ith light emitting region groups. Areas of light emitting regions that belong to different groups are different. An area of a light emitting region which is more frequently used among the plurality of light emitting regions is larger than an area of a light emitting region which is less frequently used among the plurality of light emitting regions.
US09620681B2

A semiconductor device including a first conductivity type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductivity type semiconductor layer which are sequentially stacked; a first conductivity type upper electrode portion and a first conductivity type lower electrode portion disposed to correspond to each other with the first conductivity type semiconductor layer interposed therebetween; a second conductivity type upper electrode portion and a second conductivity type lower electrode portion disposed to correspond to each other with the first and second conductivity type semiconductor layers interposed therebetween; and a second conductivity type electrode connection portion electrically connecting the second conductivity type upper electrode portion and the second conductivity type lower electrode portion.
US09620679B2

A light-emitting device comprises a light-emitting semiconductor stack comprising a plurality of recesses and a mesa, each of the plurality of recesses comprising a bottom surface, and the mesa comprising an upper surface; a first electrode formed on the upper surface of the mesa; a plurality of second electrodes respectively formed on the bottom surface of the plurality of recesses; a first electrode pad formed on the light-emitting semiconductor stack and contacting with the first electrode; a second electrode pad formed on the light-emitting semiconductor stack and contacting with the plurality of second electrode; a first insulating layer comprising a plurality of passages to expose the plurality of second electrodes; and a second insulating layer comprising a plurality of spaces and formed on the first insulating layer, wherein the plurality of spaces is covered by the first electrode pad.
US09620673B2

An optoelectronic device includes a carrier on which a semiconductor layer sequence is applied, said semiconductor layer sequence including an n-doped semiconductor layer and a p-doped semiconductor layer such that a p-n junction is formed which includes an active zone that generates electromagnetic radiation, wherein at least one of the n-doped semiconductor layer and the p-doped semiconductor layer includes a doped region having a first doping concentration greater than a second doping concentration in a surrounding area of the region in the semiconductor layer including the region.
US09620669B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device includes a light emitting chip and a fluorescent material layer. The light emitting chip includes a semiconductor layer, a first electrode, a second electrode, an insulating layer, a first interconnect layer, a second interconnect layer, a first metal pillar, a second metal pillar, and a resin layer. The semiconductor layer includes a light emitting layer, a first major surface, and a second major surface formed on a side opposite to the first major surface. The fluorescent material layer is provided on the first major surface and has a larger planer size than the light emitting chip.
US09620668B2

A composition for manufacturing an electrode of a solar cell, comprising metal nanoparticles dispersed in a dispersive medium, wherein the metal nanoparticles contain silver nanoparticles of 75 weight % or more, the metal nanoparticles are chemically modified by a protective agent having a main chain of organic molecule comprising a carbon backbone of carbon number of 1 to 3, and the metal nanoparticles contains 70% or more in number-average of metal nanoparticles having a primary grain size within a range of 10 to 50 nm.
US09620667B1

A method is disclosed for doping a semiconductor material comprising the steps of providing a semiconductor material having a first and a second surface. A dopant precursor is applied on the first surface of the semiconductor material. A thermal energy beam is directed onto the second surface of the semiconductor material to pass through the semiconductor material and impinge upon the dopant precursor to dope the semiconductor material thereby.
US09620659B2

A preparation method of a glass film, a photoelectric device and a packaging method thereof, and a display device are provided, and the preparation method of a glass film includes: forming a sacrificial layer on a base substrate; forming a glass frit film on the sacrificial layer; solidifying the glass frit film; and removing the sacrificial layer, so as to obtain a glass film. The method can bring an individual glass film, which is helpful to a narrow-bezel design of a photoelectric device.
US09620658B1

A modular, lightweight, high-survivable, photovoltaic flexible blanket assembly for a space solar array is disclosed. The modular blanket is an accordion foldable or rollable flexible photovoltaic solar panel blanket assembly comprising a plurality of common photovoltaic modules spaced in an orthogonal pattern. Each module is mechanically attached with multiple low profile fasteners on their backside to an open weave mesh tensioned backplane structure. The backplane forms a tensioned dimensionally stable planar surface in the deployed configuration onto which the modules are suspended. Each module is common and comprised of a rectangular substrate that includes solar cell assemblies, circuitry, exposed electrical contacts for integration of blanket-level harnessing, and frontside and rearside shielding and coatings as required for the mission application. The blanket assembly may be dispersed with an open pattern of compliant and formable material on the backside to provide insulation against the vigorous vibration of the launch environment.
US09620654B2

A voltage switchable coherent spin field effect transistor is provided by depositing a ferromagnetic base like cobalt on a substrate. A chrome oxide layer is formed on the cobalt by MBE at room at UHV at room temperature. There was thin cobalt oxide interface between the chrome oxide and the cobalt. Other magnetic materials may be employed. A few ML field of graphene is deposited on the chrome oxide by molecular beam epitaxy, and a source and drain are deposited of base material. The resulting device is scalable, provides high on/off rates, is stable and operable at room temperature and easily fabricated with existing technology.
US09620652B2

The present invention provides a TFT and a manufacturing method thereof, an array substrate and a display device. The TFT comprises a gate, an active layer located on the gate, an ohmic contact layer located on the active layer, and a first electrode and a second electrode located on the ohmic contact layer, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are partially overlapped with the active layer, the ohmic contact layer is located within a region where the first electrode and the second electrode are overlapped with the active layer; the active layer is partially overlapped with the gate, the active layer comprises at least one opening region partially overlapped with the gate; and the first electrode and/or the second electrode extends beyond the active layer through the at least one opening region.
US09620651B2

A thin film transistor, a manufacturing method thereof and an array substrate are provided. The thin film transistor includes a gate electrode, a gate insulation layer, an active layer, a source electrode and a drain electrode provided on a base substrate, and along a direction perpendicular to the base substrate, the source electrode and the drain electrode are respectively provided at opposite both sides of the active layer, and the source electrode and the drain electrode contacts the active layer.
US09620644B2

A semiconductor device that includes at least one fin structure and a gate structure present on a channel portion of the fin structure. An epitaxial semiconductor material is present on at least one of a source region portion and a drain region portion on the fin structure. The epitaxial semiconductor material includes a first portion having a substantially conformal thickness on a lower portion of the fin structure sidewall and a second portion having a substantially diamond shape that is present on an upper surface of the source portion and drain portion of the fin structure. A spacer present on first portion of the epitaxial semiconductor material.
US09620640B2

The invention provides a body-contact metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) device. The body-contact MOSFET device includes a substrate. An active region is disposed on the substrate. A gate strip is extended along a first direction disposed on a first portion of the active region. A source doped region and a drain doped region are disposed on a second portion and a third portion of the active region, adjacent to opposite sides of the gate strip. The opposite sides of the gate strip are extended along the first direction. A body-contact doped region is disposed on a fourth portion of the active region. The body-contact doped region is separated from the gate strip by a fifth portion of the active region. The fifth portion is not covered by any silicide features.
US09620639B2

An electronic device can include a transistor structure, including a patterned semiconductor layer overlying a substrate and having a primary surface. The electronic device can further include first conductive structures within each of a first trench and a second trench, a gate electrode within the first trench and electrically insulated from the first conductive structure, a first insulating member disposed between the gate electrode and the first conductive structure within the first trench, and a second conductive structure within the second trench. The second conductive structure can be electrically connected to the first conductive structures and is electrically insulated from the gate electrode. The electronic device can further include a second insulating member disposed between the second conductive structure and the first conductive structure within the second trench. Processing sequences can be used that simplify formation of the features within the electronic device.
US09620634B2

The invention is a field-effect transistor with a channel consisting of a thin sheet of one or more atomic layers of lateral heterostructures based on hybridized graphene. The role of lateral heterostructures is to modify the energy gap in the channel so as to enable the effective operation of the transistor in all bias regions. This solution solves the problem of the missing bandgap in single-layer and multi-layer graphene, which does not allow the fabrication of transistors that can be efficiently switched off. The possibility of fabricating lateral heterostructures, with patterns of domains with different energy dispersion relations, enables the realization of field-effect transistors with additional functionalities with respect to common transistors.
US09620621B2

In some embodiments, an field effect transistor structure includes a first semiconductor structure and a gate structure. The first semiconductor structure includes a channel region, and a source region and a drain region. The source region and the drain region are formed on opposite ends of the channel region, respectively. The gate structure includes a central region and footing regions. The central region is formed over the first semiconductor structure. The footing regions are formed on opposite sides of the central region and along where the central region is adjacent to the first semiconductor structure.
US09620620B2

A method of preventing contact metal from protruding into neighboring gate devices to affect work functions of the neighboring gate devices is provided includes forming a gate structure. Forming the gate structure includes forming a work function layer, and forming a gate metal layer having a void, wherein the work function layer surrounds the gate metal layer. The method further includes forming a contact plug having a contact metal directly on the gate metal layer of the first gate stack, wherein the contact metal protrudes into the void, and the work function layer prevents the contact metal from protruding into a second gate stack.
US09620618B2

A method for forming a transistor is provided. The method includes: forming a channel layer over a substrate; forming a barrier layer between the channel layer and the substrate; forming a recess that extends into the barrier layer through the channel layer; and forming a source layer in the recess.
US09620605B2

A multi-layered semiconductor device and method of manufacture are provided. In an embodiment a first semiconductor layer, a first insulator layer, a second semiconductor layer, a second insulator layer, and a third semiconductor layer are formed over a substrate. A first transistor comprises the first semiconductor layer, the first insulator layer, and the second semiconductor layer, and a second transistor comprises the second semiconductor layer, the second insulator layer, and the third semiconductor layer.
US09620602B2

The semiconductor device including: two fins having rectangular parallelepiped shapes arranged in parallel in X-direction; and a gate electrode arranged thereon via a gate insulating film and extending in Y-direction is configured as follows. First, a drain plug is provided over a drain region located on one side of the gate electrode and extending in Y-direction. Then, two source plugs are provided over a source region located on the other side of the gate electrode and extending in Y-direction. Also, the drain plug is arranged in a displaced manner so that its position in Y-direction may not overlap with the two source plugs. According to such a configuration, the gate-drain capacitance can be made smaller than the gate-source capacitance and a Miller effect-based circuit delay can be suppressed. Further, as compared with capacitance on the drain side, capacitance on the source side increases, thereby improving stability of circuit operation.
US09620596B2

A method including forming a diamond material on the surface of a substrate; forming a first contact and a separate second contact; and patterning the diamond material to form a nanowire between the first contact and the second contact. An apparatus including a first contact and a separate second contact on a substrate; and a nanowire including a single crystalline or polycrystalline diamond material on the substrate and connected to each of the first contact and the second contact.
US09620590B1

A method and structures are used to fabricate a nanosheet semiconductor device. Nanosheet fins including nanosheet stacks including alternating silicon (Si) layers and silicon germanium (SiGe) layers are formed on a substrate and etched to define a first end and a second end along a first axis between which each nanosheet fin extends parallel to every other nanosheet fin. The SiGe layers are undercut in the nanosheet stacks at the first end and the second end to form divots, and a dielectric is deposited in the divots. The SiGe layers between the Si layers are removed before forming source and drain regions of the nanosheet semiconductor device such that there are gaps between the Si layers of each nanosheet stack, and the dielectric anchors the Si layers. The gaps are filled with an oxide that is removed after removing the dummy gate and prior to forming the replacement gate.
US09620584B2

This invention discloses a method for manufacturing a semiconductor power device in a semiconductor substrate comprises an active cell area and a termination area. The method comprises the steps of a) growing and patterning a field oxide layer in the termination area and also in the active cell area on a top surface of the semiconductor substrate b) depositing and patterning a polysilicon layer on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate at a gap distance away from the field oxide layer; c) performing a blank body dopant implant to form body dopant regions in the semiconductor substrate substantially aligned with the gap area followed by diffusing the body dopant regions into body regions in the semiconductor substrate; d) implanting high concentration body-dopant regions encompassed in and having a higher dopant concentration than the body regions and e) applying a source mask to implant source regions having a conductivity opposite to the body region with the source regions encompassed in the body regions and surrounded by the high concentration body-dopant regions.
US09620581B2

A method and an electrical device with superimposed layers in an alternation of conductive layers and insulating layers. A mesa-type structure is formed, leaving for at least one conductive layer, an uncovered peripheral portion accessible for connection. In this portion, an electrically insulating pattern is configured in order to mark out an electrically insulated area located in the peripheral portion of said at least one of the electrically conductive layers. Application to electrical capacitances and redistribution layers for microelectronic devices.
US09620572B2

Disclosed are OLED display panel and method for manufacturing the same, as well as display device including the OLED display panel. The present disclosure belongs to the field of an organic light emitting diode. The OLED display panel includes a light emitting structure, a TFT backplane, and an insulating layer. The insulating layer locates between the light emitting structure and the TFT backplane. A refractive index of the insulating layer gradually decreases in a direction of an emergent ray of the light emitting structure. The technical solution of the present disclosure may decrease influences of the emergent ray of the light emitting structure on TFT performance.
US09620570B2

Provided are an organic light emitting display device and a method for manufacturing the same. A color filter is disposed on a substrate. An overcoating layer is disposed on the color filter and includes a plurality of protrusions or a plurality of recesses. The plurality of protrusions and the plurality of recesses are disposed on the color filter to be overlapped with the color filter. A buffer layer for reducing step difference is disposed on the overcoating layer. The buffer layer has a higher refractive index than the overcoating layer and reduces a step difference caused by the plurality of protrusions and the plurality of recesses. An organic light emitting element including an anode, an organic light emitting layer, and a cathode is disposed on the buffer layer. Since the buffer layer has a higher refractive index than the overcoating layer, light extraction efficiency can be increased.
US09620564B2

A semiconductor device includes four or more first memory cells arranged on a row, the first memory cells each including a first pillar-shaped semiconductor layer, a first gate insulating film formed around the first pillar-shaped semiconductor layer, a first gate line formed around the first gate insulating film, and a first magnetic tunnel junction storage element formed on the first pillar-shaped semiconductor layer. The semiconductor device further includes a first source line that connects lower portions of the first pillar-shaped semiconductor layers to each other, a first bit line that extends in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the first gate line extends and that is connected to an upper portion of the first magnetic tunnel junction storage element, and a second source line that extends in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the first source line extends.
US09620562B2

Aspects of the present disclose related to a voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) switching device using an external ferromagnetic biasing film. Aspects of the present disclose provide for a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) device. The MRAM device generally includes a substrate, at least one magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack disposed on the substrate, wherein the MTJ stack comprises a tunnel barrier layer between a first ferromagnetic layer having a fixed magnetization and a second ferromagnetic layer having unfixed magnetization, and a magnet disposed adjacent to the second ferromagnetic layer.
US09620561B2

According to one embodiment, a magnetoresistive element is disclosed. The magnetoresistive element includes an underlayer containing aluminum (Al), nitrogen (N) and X. The X is an element other than Al and N. A first magnetic layer is provided on the underlayer. A nonmagnetic layer is provided on the first magnetic layer. A second magnetic layer is provided on the nonmagnetic layer.
US09620557B2

A semiconductor device has a substrate containing a transparent or translucent material. A spacer is mounted to the substrate. A first semiconductor die has an active region and first conductive vias electrically connected to the active region. The active region can include a sensor responsive to light received through the substrate. The first die is mounted to the spacer with the active region positioned over an opening in the spacer and oriented toward the substrate. An encapsulant is deposited over the first die and substrate. An interconnect structure is formed over the encapsulant and first die. The interconnect structure is electrically connected through the first conductive vias to the active region. A second semiconductor die having second conductive vias can be mounted to the first die with the first conductive vias electrically connected to the second conductive vias.
US09620543B2

A solid-state imaging apparatus includes: a solid-state imaging device photoelectrically converting light taken by a lens; and a light shielding member shielding part of light incident on the solid-state imaging device from the lens, wherein an angle made between an edge surface of the light shielding member and an optical axis direction of the lens is larger than an incident angle of light to be incident on an edge portion of the light shielding member.
US09620535B2

A TN-type array substrate and a fabrication method thereof, and a display device, the fabrication method of the TN-type array substrate includes: a step of forming a first metal layer, a gate insulating layer, an active layer, a second metal layer and a transparent conductive layer on a substrate, wherein the first metal layer includes a gate electrode, the second metal layer includes a data line, the transparent conductive layer includes a pixel electrode; and wherein the forming the second metal layer and the transparent conductive layer includes: sequentially forming a transparent conductive thin film and a metal thin film on the substrate; performing one-off patterning process on the transparent conductive thin film and the metal thin film to form a thin film transistor (TFT) channel region, the transparent conductive layer and the second metal layer.
US09620534B2

A thin-film transistor (TFT) array substrate includes a driving TFT, a storage capacitor, a first wire, a first interlayer insulating film, a second interlayer insulating film, and a second wire. The storage capacitor has a first electrode connected to a driving gate electrode of the driving TFT and a second electrode on and insulated from the first electrode. The first wire is on a same layer as the driving gate electrode. The first interlayer insulating film covers the first electrode and the first wire. The second interlayer insulating film is on the first interlayer insulating film and includes an opening that exposes part of the first interlayer insulating film. The second wire is on the second interlayer insulating film and at least partially overlaps the first wire. The second electrode is in the opening of the second interlayer insulating film.
US09620519B2

According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises a memory cell array including a first selection gate, word lines and a second selection gate stacked above a semiconductor substrate, and a memory pillar disposed through the first selection gate, word lines and second selection gate, a hookup region disposed adjacent to the memory cell array region in a first direction, and a dummy region disposed outside the memory cell array region and the hookup region, the dummy region including dummy word lines, each provided at the same layer as the associated word line.
US09620506B2

An improved transistor with channel epitaxial silicon. In one aspect, a method of fabrication includes: forming a gate stack structure on an epitaxial silicon region disposed on a substrate, a width dimension of the epitaxial silicon region approximating a width dimension of the gate stack structure; and growing a raised epitaxial source and drain from the substrate, the raised epitaxial source and drain in contact with the epitaxial silicon region and the gate stack structure. For a SRAM device, further: removing an epitaxial layer in contact with the silicon substrate and the raised source and drain and to which the epitaxial silicon region is coupled leaving a space above the silicon substrate and under the raised epitaxial source and drain; and filling the space with an insulating layer and isolating the raised epitaxial source and drain and a channel of the transistor from the silicon substrate.
US09620505B2

A semiconductor device which includes: a substrate; a first set of fins above the substrate of a first semiconductor material; a second set of fins above the substrate and of a second semiconductor material different than the first semiconductor material; and an isolation region positioned between the first and second sets of fins, the isolation region having a nitride layer. The isolation region may be an isolation pillar or an isolation trench.
US09620492B2

A bottom package having a first semiconductor chip and first connection members; and a top package disposed over the bottom package, and having a second semiconductor chip and second connection members electrically coupled with the first connection members. The bottom package includes an interposer having electrodes arranged along edges; first bond fingers arranged by being separated from the edges of the interposer; a first semiconductor chip disposed over the interposer to expose the electrodes, and having first bonding pads; first bonding wires electrically coupling the first bonding pads and the electrodes; second bonding wires electrically coupling the electrodes and the first bond fingers; and a first encapsulation member formed to cover the first bond fingers, the upper and side surfaces of the interposer and the first semiconductor chip, and the first and second bonding wires, and having via holes which expose portions of the second bonding wires.
US09620484B2

A semiconductor package device includes a lower package, an interposer disposed on the lower package and including a ground layer and at least one opening, and an upper package on the interposer. The lower package includes a first package substrate, a first semiconductor chip on the first package substrate, and a first molding compound layer on the first package substrate. The upper package includes a second package substrate and at least one upper semiconductor chip on the second package substrate. A heat transfer member includes a first portion disposed between the interposer and the upper package, a second portion disposed in the at least one opening of the interposer, and a third portion disposed between the interposer and the lower package.
US09620476B2

A bonding head and a die bonding apparatus having the same are disclosed. The bonding head includes a body connected to a driving section for transferring the die, a plate heater mounted to a lower surface of the body and a collet mounted to a lower surface of the plate heater and configured to hold the die using a vacuum pressure. A cooling channel is formed at the lower surface of the body, and cooling passages are formed through the body and connected with the cooling channel to supply a cooling fluid into the cooling channel and to recover the cooling fluid from the cooling channel thereby cooling the plate heater.
US09620473B1

First and second integrated devices each have an optical component and a plurality of interconnect structures disposed one edge thereon. The first edge surface of the second integrated device is positioned contiguous to the first edge surface of the first integrated device. The interconnect structures disposed on the first integrated device are in physical contact with the interconnect structures disposed on the edge surface of the second integrated device so as to provide alignment for conveying at least one signal between the optical components on the first and second integrated devices.
US09620469B2

Embodiments of mechanisms for forming a semiconductor device are provided. The semiconductor device includes a contact pad over a substrate. The semiconductor device also includes a passivation layer over the substrate and a first portion of the contact pad, and a second portion of the contact pad is exposed through an opening. The semiconductor device further includes a post-passivation interconnect layer over the passivation layer and coupled to the second portion of the contact pad. In addition, the semiconductor device includes a bump over the post-passivation interconnect layer and outside of the opening. The semiconductor device also includes a diffusion barrier layer physically insulating the bump from the post-passivation interconnect layer while electrically connecting the bump to the post-passivation interconnect layer.
US09620458B2

A method is provided for fabricating a photolithography alignment mark structure. The method includes providing a substrate; thrilling a first grating, a second grating, a third grating and a fourth grating in the substrate; forming a photoresist layer on a surface of the substrate; obtaining a first alignment center along a first direction and a second alignment center along a second direction based on the first grating and the fourth grating, respectively; providing a mask plate having a fifth grating pattern and a sixth grating pattern; aligning the mask plate with the substrate by using the first alignment center as an alignment center along the first direction and the second alignment center as an alignment center along the second direction; reproducing the fifth grating pattern and the sixth grating pattern in the photoresist layer; and forming a fifth grating and a sixth grating on the substrate by removing a portion of photoresist layer.
US09620452B2

An apparatus including a conductive stack structure includes an Mx layer interconnect on an Mx layer and extending in a first direction on a first track, an My layer interconnect on an My layer in which the My layer is a lower layer than the Mx layer, a first via stack coupled between the Mx layer interconnect and the My layer interconnect, a second via stack coupled between the Mx layer interconnect and the My layer interconnect, a second Mx layer interconnect extending in the first direction on a track immediately adjacent to the first track, and a third Mx layer interconnect extending in the first direction on a track immediately adjacent to the first track. The Mx layer interconnect is between the second Mx layer interconnect and the third Mx layer interconnect. The second Mx layer interconnect and the third Mx layer interconnect are uncoupled to each other.
US09620446B2

A wiring board includes plural terminals, an insulating layer, and recess portions. Each terminal includes a roughened upper surface and a roughened side surface. The insulating layer is formed between the terminals. The upper surfaces of the terminals are exposed. An upper surface of the insulating layer is a concave curved surface. The recess portions are formed in the insulating layer around the terminals so as to partially expose the side surfaces of the terminals.
US09620445B1

A chip package structure including a chip, a circuit layer, a passive element material and a substrate is provided. The circuit layer is disposed on a surface of the chip, wherein the circuit layer includes a plurality of bumps and a plurality of passive element electrodes. The bumps and the passive element electrodes have the same material, and the passive element electrodes are electrically connected with part of the bumps. The passive element material is disposed between the passive element electrodes, so that the passive element electrodes and the passive element material form a passive element located on the surface of the chip. The chip is disposed on the substrate and faces the substrate by the surface, so that the chip and the passive element are electrically connected to the substrate through the bumps. A method of manufacturing the chip package structure aforementioned is also provided.
US09620442B2

A semiconductor device includes a package part having a semiconductor element sealed in resin, a plurality of first leads each having an outer portion extending from a first side of the package part, and a plurality of second leads each having an outer portion extending from a second side of the package part. A combined bottom surface area of the outer portions of the plurality of first leads is greater than a combined bottom surface area of the outer portions of the plurality of second leads. The semiconductor device also includes a heat dissipation plate provided on the bottom surface of the package part and connected to at least one of the plurality of second leads.
US09620431B2

A chip package including a semiconductor substrate is provided. A recess is in the semiconductor substrate, wherein the semiconductor substrate has at least one spacer protruding from the bottom of the recess. A conducting layer is disposed on the semiconductor substrate and extends into the recess. A method for forming the chip package is also provided.
US09620428B2

Semiconductor devices comprising a getter material are described. The getter material can be located in or over the active region of the device and/or in or over a termination region of the device. The getter material can be a conductive or an insulating material. The getter material can be present as a continuous or discontinuous film. The device can be a SiC semiconductor device such as a SiC vertical MOSFET. Methods of making the devices are also described. Semiconductor devices and methods of making the same comprising source ohmic contacts formed using a self-aligned process are also described. The source ohmic contacts can comprise titanium silicide and/or titanium silicide carbide and can act as a getter material.
US09620427B2

A semiconductor device may include an enclosure structure. The semiconductor device may further include a getter for absorb gas molecules. The getter may be positioned (and enclosed) inside the enclosure structure and may overlap a first portion of a surface of the enclosure structure. The semiconductor device may further include an inductor. The inductor may be positioned (and enclosed) inside the enclosure structure and may overlap a second portion of the surface of the enclosure structure without overlapping the getter in a direction perpendicular to the first surface of the enclosure structure.
US09620422B2

A semiconductor arrangement includes a first semiconductor device including a first type region having a first conductivity type and a second type region having a second conductivity type. The semiconductor arrangement includes a second semiconductor device adjacent the first semiconductor device. The second semiconductor device includes a third type region having a third conductivity type and a fourth type region having a fourth conductivity type. The semiconductor arrangement includes a first insulator layer including a first insulator portion around at least some of the first semiconductor device and a second insulator portion around at least some of the second semiconductor device. The first insulator portion has a first insulator height, and the second insulator portion has a second insulator height. The first insulator height is different than the second insulator height. A method of forming a semiconductor arrangement is provided.
US09620420B2

A semiconductor arrangement and method of formation are provided. The semiconductor arrangement includes a metal connect over and connected to a first active region, over and connected to a second active region and over a shallow trench isolation (STI) region thereby connecting the first active region to the second active region. A metal contact is over and connected to a gate in the STI region. The metal connect is formed in a first opening and the metal contact is formed in a second opening, where the first opening and the second opening are formed concurrently using a single mask. The semiconductor arrangement formed using a single mask is less expensive to fabricate and requires fewer etching operations than a semiconductor arrangement formed using multiple masks.
US09620416B1

A method of forming a semiconductor device that includes providing a plurality of fin structures, wherein a surface of the fin structures has a first orientation for a diamond shaped epitaxial growth deposition surface. A first epitaxial semiconductor material having a diamond geometry is grown on the diamond shaped epitaxial growth surface. A blocking material is formed protecting a lower portion of the first epitaxial semiconductor material. An upper portion of the first epitaxial semiconductor material is removed to expose a second orientation surface of the first epitaxial semiconductor material for merged epitaxial semiconductor growth. A second epitaxial semiconductor material is epitaxially formed on the first epitaxial semiconductor material. The second epitaxial semiconductor material has a substantially planar upper surface and extends into direct contact with at least two adjacent fin structures.
US09620414B2

A die has a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface, and sidewalls includes a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion is closer to the first surface than the second portion. A fillet contacts the first portion of sidewalls of the die and encircles the die. A work piece is bonded to the die through solder bumps, with the second surface facing the work piece. A first underfill is filled a gap between the die and the work piece, wherein the first underfill contacts the fillet, and wherein the first underfill and the fillet are formed of different materials.
US09620411B2

In one embodiment, there is provided a non-volatile magnetic memory cell. The non-volatile magnetic memory cell comprises a switchable magnetic element; and a word line and a bit line to energize the switchable magnetic element; wherein at least one of the word line and the bit line comprises a magnetic sidewall that is discontinuous.
US09620405B2

A substrate transfer robot is disposed in a robot installment area defined between a first apparatus and a second apparatus including an opening. The first apparatus includes a first wall, the second apparatus including a second wall. The first apparatus accommodates the substrate at each of a lowest height position and a highest height position. The substrate transfer robot includes a base stationary, a hand configured, and an arm. The arm is rotatably mounted to the base to move the hand. The hand and the arm move in a height direction between a movable range defined between a lowest position and a highest position. The arm rotates with partially entering the opening when the substrate transfer robot takes out the substrate from the first apparatus. The substrate is accommodated at each of the lowest height position and the highest height position.
US09620404B1

A stiffener tape for a wafer. The stiffener tape includes a mounting tape; a heat spreading stiffener removably attached to the mounting tape; and an attachment film secured to the heat spreading stiffener, wherein the attachment film includes thermal conductive fillers having at least one of silver, alumina, crystalline silica, boron nitride or aluminum nitride. An electronic assembly includes a wafer; a plurality of integrated circuits on the wafer; and an attachment film covering the plurality of integrated circuits and the substrate, wherein the attachment film includes thermal conductive fillers having at least one of silver, alumina, crystalline silica, boron nitride or aluminum nitride; and a heat spreading stiffener secured to the attachment film.
US09620392B2

An apparatus for drying a substrate may include a spin chuck, a drying chamber and a drying fluid line. The spin chuck may be configured to support the substrate. The spin chuck may rotate the substrate. The drying chamber may be configured to receive the spin chuck. The drying chamber may have an inlet, an outlet and a vortex exhaust. A drying fluid may be supplied through the inlet into the drying chamber. The drying fluid may be drained through the outlet. A vortex of the drying fluid may be drained through the vortex exhaust. The drying fluid line may be connected to the inlet.
US09620384B2

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor structure, by depositing a dielectric layer is a dummy gate, or an existing gate structure, prior to the formation of gate spacers. Following the formation of spacers, and in some embodiments replacing a dummy gate with a final gate structure, oxygen is introduced to a gate dielectric through a diffusion process, using the deposited dielectric layer as a diffusion pathway.
US09620359B2

The Siemens process for deposition of polycrystalline silicon in the form of rods in a sealed reactor is improved by, after introduction of deposition gas has ceased, introducing a ventilating gas into the partially sealed reactor, withdrawing a gas stream from the reactor, and monitoring the components in the gas stream withdrawn until a desired concentration of one or more components is reached, and opening the reactor to remove the rods.
US09620358B2

A method for manufacturing a silicon carbide semiconductor device includes the following steps. There is prepared a first silicon carbide layer having a first main surface and a second main surface. A first recess including a side portion and a bottom portion is formed in the first main surface of the first silicon carbide layer. A second silicon carbide layer is formed in contact with the first main surface, the side portion, and the bottom portion. An image of a second recess formed at a position facing the first recess of the fourth main surface is obtained. Alignment is performed based on the image of the second recess. The first main surface corresponds to a plane angled off relative to a {0001} plane. A ratio obtained by dividing a depth of the first recess by a thickness of the second silicon carbide layer is more than 0.2.
US09620356B1

Methods and apparatuses for filling an epitaxial layer into a trench/via/structure formed in a substrate with good deposition profile control and film uniformity across the substrate are provided. In one embodiment, a method of depositing a epitaxial layer on the substrate includes supplying a gas mixture having a first ratio of a dichlorosilane gas to a chlorine containing gas into the processing chamber, altering the gas mixture to have a second ratio of the dichlorosilane gas to the chlorine containing gas into the processing chamber, maintaining a substrate temperature of between about 600 degrees Celsius and about 1000 degrees Celsius, and filling an opening formed in a substrate.
US09620339B2

Embodiments of a sputter source for semiconductor process chambers are provided herein. In some embodiments, a sputter source for a semiconductor process chamber may include: a target comprising a magnetic material to be deposited on a substrate, the magnetic material including a front surface where material is to be sputtered and an opposing back surface; and an outer magnet disposed proximate a back surface of the target and arranged symmetrically with respect to a central axis of the target, wherein the target has an annular groove formed in the back surface of the target disposed proximate the outer magnet to reduce a magnetic permeability of a region of the target proximate the outer magnet, wherein the groove is an unfilled v-shaped groove having an inner angle greater than 90 degrees.
US09620335B2

A processing apparatus may include a plasma source coupled to a plasma chamber to generate a plasma in the plasma chamber, an extraction plate having an aperture disposed along a side of the plasma chamber; a deflection electrode disposed proximate the aperture and configured to define a pair of plasma menisci when the plasma is present in the plasma chamber; and a deflection electrode power supply to apply a bias voltage to the deflection electrode with respect to the plasma, wherein a first bias voltage applied to the deflection electrode is configured to generate a first angle of incidence for ions extracted through the aperture from the plasma, and a second bias voltage applied to the deflection electrode is configured to generate a second angle of incidence of ions extracted through the aperture from the plasma, the second angle of incidence being different from the first angle of incidence.
US09620327B2

A combined scanning and focusing magnet for an ion implantation system is provided. The combined scanning and focusing magnet has a yoke having a high magnetic permeability. The yoke defines a hole configured to pass an ion beam therethrough. One or more scanner coils operably are coupled to the yoke and configured to generate a time-varying predominantly dipole magnetic field when electrically coupled to a power supply. One or more focusing coils are operably coupled to the yoke and configured to generate a predominantly multipole magnetic field, wherein the predominantly multipole magnetic field is one of static or time-varying.
US09620321B2

Described is a fuse for an electrical circuit, comprising two contact arms, each having at least one connecting pin for inserting into a hole of a printed circuit board, and a spring which connects the two contact arms in an electrically conductive manner. According to this disclosure, it is provided that the spring is fastened to at least one of the two contact arms by means of a fastening means that loses its strength at a trigger temperature of the fuse, wherein the fuse is formed in such a manner that by inserting the connecting pins into holes of a printed circuit board, the spring is loaded such that the spring lifts from the at least one contact arm by spring force as soon as the fastening means loses its strength due to overheating. Moreover, a printed circuit board comprising such a fuse is described.
US09620318B2

A circuit protection device includes a substrate with first and second electrodes connected to the circuit to be protected. The circuit protection device also includes a heater element. A sensing element facilitates an electrical connection between the first and second electrodes. A flux material is provided around the sensing element. In a preferred embodiment, the flux contains a first component that is a polar material and a second component that is a non-polar material. A spring element exerts a force on the sensing element. The sensing element resists the force applied by the spring element. Upon detection of an activation, or fault, condition, the sensing element loses resilience and no longer resists the force exerted by the spring element, resulting in the spring element severing the electrical connection between the first and second electrodes. The flux allows the spring element to sever the electrical connection without dragging the sensing element.
US09620315B2

Provided is a gas circuit breaker that can reduce control energy smaller than that in previous double motion systems and an excessive force applied to a moveable pin to achieve a highly reliable double motion system. A gas circuit breaker has a double motion mechanism unit including a driving-side connecting rod, a driven-side connecting rod, a lever to connect the rods, and a guide to define the motion of the driving-side and driven-side connecting rods. A moveable pin extends through a first grooved cam of the driving-side conencting rod, a second grooved cam of the guide, and a third grooved cam of the lever. The driving-side connecting rod operates to move the moveable pin inside the grooved cams. Thus, the lever is rotated, the driven-side connecting rod is driven opposite to the driving-side connecting rod, and the driven-side arcing contact is driven opposite to the driving-side arcing contact.
US09620313B2

An object of the present invention is to provide an engine starting device which can prevent rattling of an ignition switch in a coupled state. Provided is an engine starting device including: a housing 2 accommodating a rotational operation shaft 1; and an ignition switch 3 coupled to the housing 2 and configured to be actuated upon application of rotational operation force to the rotational operation shaft 1. The ignition switch 3 is fitted and held in an attachment recess 4 formed in the housing 2, in such a way as to be prevented from falling from the attachment recess 4 by appropriate snap-locking portion 5. The peripheral wall surfaces of the ignition switch 3 and the attachment recess 4 on the fitting start end side and the peripheral wall surfaces thereof on the fitting finish end side come into pressure contact with each other substantially simultaneously with each other when the depth of the fitting of the ignition switch 3 to the attachment recess 4 reaches a predetermined depth, to thereby reduce rattling in the radial direction.
US09620311B2

A locking assembly for locking a switch is provided. According to a preferred embodiment, a locking member is connected to a support member having a plurality of first grooves, a lower receiving element, a retaining tab, a resilient member and a fastening element. Preferably, the lower receiving element includes a securing socket element having at least a second groove and a third groove. According to a preferred embodiment, the fastening element preferably secures the locking member, the lower receiving element, and the resilient member with a panel to form a locking assembly that automatically locks the switch when the switch is in a selected position.
US09620309B2

A rotary selector switch prevents accidental rotation to an undesired position. For example, an automobile moving forward at 55 kph may have a rotary selector switch in electrical communication with its transmission. The disclosed switch prevents accidental rotation that would indicate that a REVERSE gear is desired when it is not. Optionally, on override feature may permit users to overpower an otherwise prevented rotation.
US09620305B2

A transfer switch and load controller that can be plugged into an existing utility meter socket and electrically positioned between the meter socket and a distribution panel to allow switching between utility power and standby power. The plug-in transfer switch functions to transfer the power supplied to a home between the utility power source and the generator power source upon loss of power from the utility power source. The transfer switch components are contained in an enclosed housing of a meter socket adapter that is mounted directly to the meter socket of a meter housing. The meter socket adapter is prewired to a standby generator such that the standby generator can be connected to a home power system by plugging the meter socket adapter into the meter socket.
US09620291B2

A thin film capacitor including a lower electrode layer, a dielectric layer provided on the lower electrode layer, and an upper electrode layer formed on the dielectric layer, wherein the dielectric layer includes a recessed portion in a portion on the upper face thereof, a cross-sectional structure perpendicular to the dielectric layer of the recessed portion has a cross-sectional taper angle of 1 degree or more and 25 degrees or less, and the distance between the bottom portion center and an outermost portion of the recessed portion is 20 times or more and 150 times or less a thickness of the dielectric layer.
US09620280B2

A split-flux transformer has a primary or input coil, at least two secondary or output coils, spaced apart and arranged in 3D, a magnetic core running through the primary and secondary coils, a source of electricity connected to the primary coil which when turned on creates a magnetic field in the core, and electrical wires connected to the secondary coils, each of which provides additive electricity into an output circuit.
US09620276B1

An air cooling system, method, apparatus and kit applied to lower transformer operating temperatures, such as governed by a tank or container of oil, allowing transformer components to run more efficiently at a lower temperature level, e.g., down from the hot level operating temperatures typical in stressed conventional devices. By lowering the operational levels to within or below the nominal operational temperature ranges for the equipment, and recovering heat generated during operation, several advantages are obtained.
US09620274B2

An apparatus may include a ferromagnetic housing defining a housing cavity, an electrically-conductive coil disposed in the housing cavity and defining a coil cavity, a ferromagnetic core piece disposed in the coil cavity, a ferromagnetic pole piece comprising a first face in contact with the core piece and a projection extending from a second face of the pole piece opposite the first face, a flexible element defining an opening, where the projection is disposed within the opening and the flexible element is disposed between a portion of the projection and the first face of the pole piece, and a ferromagnetic armature coupled to the flexible element, where the flexible element is disposed between at least a portion of the armature and the first face of the pole piece.
US09620270B2

The present invention provides a composite magnetic core, containing magnetic powders poor in its moldability, which can be configured arbitrarily and has a magnetic characteristic excellent in direct current superimposition characteristics and a magnetic element composed of the composite magnetic core and a coil wound around the circumference thereof. A compressed magnetic body (2) obtained by compression-molding magnetic powders is combined with an injection-molded magnetic body (3) obtained by mixing a binding resin with magnetic powders having surfaces thereof electrically insulated and by injection-molding a mixture of the magnetic powders and the binding resin. The compressed magnetic body (2) is press-fitted into the injection-molded magnetic body (3) or bonded thereto at a combining portion thereof to obtain the combined body. The combined body is composed of the injection-molded magnetic body (3) constituting a housing in which the compressed magnetic body (2) is disposed.
US09620266B2

An electrical device having at least one functional element that includes a ceramic body, on which a first electrical contact layer and a second electrical contact layer are applied to two opposite-lying side faces, respectively, and the functional element is arranged between a first contact strip and a second contact strip, wherein the first contact strip and the second contact strip comprise several contact pins, respectively, and wherein the first contact layer electrically contacts at least one contact pin of the first contact strip and the second contact layer electrically contacts at least one contact pin of the second contact strip.
US09620264B2

A method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film, including: 1) providing a conductive scraper including a slurry feeding mouth and a slurry discharging gap; 2) placing a transparent film including a prefabricated groove on a conductive moving table, moving the conductive moving table horizontally in relation to the conductive scraper, controlling the moving speed of the conductive moving table at between 0.1 and 1 m/min, and allowing the conductive slurry to flow out of the conductive scrapper via the slurry discharging gap; 3) applying a voltage between the conductive moving table and the conductive scraper, and driving the conductive slurry flowing out of the conductive scraper to fill the groove of the transparent film by an electrodynamic force produced by the voltage; and 4) curing the conductive slurry filled in the groove of the transparent film.
US09620261B2

A resin composition for producing an insulating material includes (A) 40 to 50% by weight of a base resin formed with a polyolefin-based resin or a derivative thereof, (B) 40 to 50% by weight of a magnesium hydroxide flame retardant of which surface is treated with vinyl silane, (C) 1 to 2% by weight of an antioxidant in which a first antioxidant and a second antioxidant are mixed in a weight ratio of 1:1 to 3, (D) 0.5 to 2% by weight of a lubricant, (E) 2 to 3% by weight of organosilane, (F) 0.05 to 0.2% by weight of an initiator, and (G) 1 to 4% by weight of a catalyst.
US09620259B2

Methods of forming composites that incorporate networks of conductive polymer nanofibers are provided. Networks of less-than conductive polymers are first formed and then doped with a chemical dopant to provide networks of conductive polymers. The networks of conductive polymers are then incorporated into a matrix in order to improve the conductivity of the matrix. The formed composites are useful as conductive coatings for applications including electromagnetic energy management on exterior surfaces of vehicles.
US09620252B2

A nuclear power plant comprises a pressurized water reactor (PWR) and a steam generator driving a turbine driving an electric generator. A condenser condenses steam after flowing through the turbine. Responsive to a station blackout, the nuclear power plant is electrically isolated and a bypass valve is opened to convey bypass steam flow from the steam generator to the condenser without flowing through the turbine. The thermal power output of the PWR is gradually reduced over the transition time interval. After opening, the bypass valve is gradually closed over the transition time interval. A supplemental bypass valve may also be opened responsive to the station blackout to convey supplemental bypass steam flow from the steam generator to a feedwater system supplying secondary coolant feedwater to the steam generator. The supplemental bypass steam flow does not flow through the turbine and does not flow through the condenser.
US09620249B2

A nuclear reactor fuel bundle assembly including: a fuel bundle including an array of fuel rods and water rods mounted in an upper tie plate and housed in walls of a channel, and a pore type debris shield mounted at least partially in the channel, above or below the upper tie plate, the shield extending to or over the walls of the channel, whereby deflecting and/or capturing falling debris from entering the fuel assembly, wherein the shield is design to be durable, yet flexible, and porous.
US09620223B2

Disclosed herein is a regulator for a non-volatile memory is provided. The regulator comprises an operational amplifier for receiving a reference voltage and a feedback voltage to output a voltage amplifying the difference of the reference voltage and the feedback voltage, the feedback voltage being obtained by dividing an output voltage of the regulator; a first switching unit turning on in response to the amplified voltage; a second switching unit electrically connected between a first node and the first switching unit for protecting the first switching unit from the voltage of the first node; and a third switching unit providing the output voltage of the regulator to a second node in response to a voltage of the first node.
US09620218B2

According to one embodiment, each memory chip included in a memory package includes a first storage unit that stores therein first information that is n-bit information and is a comparison target of a chip address, and is used for identifying its own memory chip, a second storage unit that stores therein second information for determining an effective bit of the n-bit first information, and a control unit that determines an effective bit of the n-bit first information and an effective bit of the chip address based on the second information.
US09620211B1

A maintaining device and a maintenance method for maintaining the normal operation of a resistive random access memory are disclosed. The maintenance method can be executed by the maintaining device. Said memory includes first and second electrodes. The first electrode is not grounded. The maintaining device is connected to the first electrode so that the first electrode receives an operational signal and a restoring signal generated by the maintaining device. The operational signal transits from a zero voltage to a non-zero voltage and then to the zero voltage. If the operational signal has already transited from the non-zero voltage to the zero voltage, the maintenance method controls the restoring signal to transit from the zero voltage to a negative voltage, controls the restoring signal to remain the negative voltage for a period of restoring time, and controls the restoring signal to transit from the negative voltage to the zero voltage.
US09620209B2

Circuits and methods for limiting cell current or throttling write operation, or both, in resistive random access memory (RRAM or ReRAM) cells are provided. An RRAM cell can include a select transistor and a programmable resistor that can change between a relatively high resistance and a relatively low resistance. The present circuits and methods can reduce or inhibit excess current from being applied to the programmable resistor, which potentially can regulate the resistance of the programmable resistor so as to reduce or inhibit decreases in the resistance of that resistor below the relatively low resistance. Such regulation potentially can improve reliability of the RRAM cell. Additionally, or alternatively, the present circuits and methods can throttle a write operation in an RRAM cell, e.g., can disable current flow through the RRAM cell based on the programmable resistor reaching a pre-defined target resistance, such as the relatively low resistance.
US09620207B2

Described examples include sensing circuits and reference voltage generators for providing a reference voltage to a sensing circuit. The sensing circuits may sense a state of a memory cell, which may be a PCM memory cell. The sensing circuits may include a cascode transistor. Examples of reference voltage generators may include a global reference voltage generator coupled to multiple bank reference voltage generators which may reduce an output resistance of the voltage generator routing.
US09620206B2

A non-volatile memory device includes a word line extending along a first direction; a bit line extending along a second direction; a memory unit having a read transistor coupled to the bit line, at least one two-terminal memory cell, and a select transistor, the two-terminal memory cell having a first end coupled to the word line and a second end coupled to a gate of the read transistor. The second end of the two-terminal memory cell is coupled to a common node shared by a drain of the select transistor and the gate of the read transistor.
US09620205B2

A resistive switching memory device can include three or more electrodes interfacing a switching layer, including a top electrode, a bottom electrode, and a side electrode. The top and bottom electrodes can be used for forming conductive filaments and for reading the memory device. The side electrode can be used to control the resistance state of the switching layer.
US09620203B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor integrated circuit includes a memory cell including first and second electrodes and a resistance change film therebetween, and a control circuit controlling a potential difference between the first and second electrodes. The control circuit reversibly changes the memory cell to a first resistive state by applying a first potential to the first electrode and by applying a second potential smaller than the first potential to the second electrode. The control circuit reversibly changes the memory cell to a second resistive state by applying a third potential to the first electrode and by applying a fourth potential smaller than the third potential to the second electrode.
US09620197B1

A circuit for driving a sense amplifier of a semiconductor memory device is provided. The circuit includes a first driving circuit configured to supply a current from a power node to a first driving node of the sense amplifier based on a first driving control signal, a source control circuit configured to generate a control signal based on a second driving control signal and a voltage of the drain node, and a second driving circuit configured to draw current from a second driving node of the sense amplifier to a ground node based on the control signal.
US09620192B2

A semiconductor apparatus with a plurality of slices electrically coupled through through electrodes. Any one slice of the plurality of slices may be configured to generate a refresh cycle signal in response to a refresh command, and transmit the refresh cycle signal to the other slices through the through electrodes. The other slices may be configured to perform refresh operations in synchronization with the refresh cycle signal.
US09620165B2

A system, method, and computer program product for the banded allocation of storage device address ranges in distributed parity schemes is disclosed. A storage system with storage devices logically divides up the storage devices into bands of contiguous logical block address ranges. A storage controller provisions logical volumes in the bands. Upon unavailability of a storage device, the data pieces are reconstructed at the next available data extent within the same band on the other storage devices. The storage controller detects a replacement drive and logically divides the replacement storage device into the same number of bands as on the other storage devices. The storage controller transfers the reconstructed data pieces to the replacement drive and places the data pieces within the same bands on the replacement drive.
US09620159B2

Rotational latency is reduced in a standard conventional form factor HDD system by replacing, for example, the prior art rotary arm actuator of a conventional HDD, with one or more belts and pulleys and one or more read/write heads mounted on, or otherwise associated with the belts. Multiple scaled iterations facilitate energy savings and power optimized systems, without compromise to data access performance.
US09620155B2

Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed toward a disc drive actuator assembly including an e-block, a bearing, and a sleeve. The bearing includes an inner race, an outer race and a plurality of balls between the inner and outer races. The inner race being coupled to a pivot shaft of a disc drive, and the bearing being configured and arranged to facilitate rotation of the e-block around the pivot shaft. The sleeve coupling the outer race of the bearing to the e-block, and includes a groove along an inner diameter of the sleeve adjacent the outer race. The groove and outer race mitigate rotational torque changes due to thermal effects upon the disc drive actuator assembly by allowing the outer race of the bearing to deform into or away from the groove and therein mitigate or prevent the generation of certain forces in bearings.
US09620152B2

Methods of forming a NFT the methods including forming a hard mask positioned over at least a portion of the rod, the hard mask including at least one layer; patterning a resist mask over the hard mask, the resist mask having an edge positioned over at least a portion of the rod; etching a portion of the hard mask to expose a back edge of the rod and to form a back edge of the hard mask, wherein the back edge of the rod is equivalent to the back edge of the peg; and wherein a forward portion of the rod which is the portion of the rod forward of the back edge is covered by the hard mask; forming a disc mask including a void configured to form a disc of a NFT, the disc mask being formed over at least a portion of the hard mask so that the exposed back edge of the rod is within the void configured to form the disc; etching an area exposed in the void of the disc mask to remove both a rear portion of the rod and the surrounding dielectric up to the back edge of the hard mask edge; depositing a disc material in the etched void, wherein the back edge of the hard mask defines the front edge of the disc and the back edge of the rod is in contact with the front edge of the disc; and polishing the deposited disc material to form a top surface substantially planar with the top of the forward rod portion.
US09620140B1

A system for providing voice audio to an operator. The system includes: one or more audio inputs for receiving at least two received voice audio signals; a processing unit, a digital to analog converter, and a loudspeaker. The processing unit is connected to the one or more audio inputs, and configured to: adjust the pitch of a first voice audio signal of the at least two received voice audio signals to form a first adjusted voice audio signal; and combine the first adjusted voice audio signal with at least one other received voice audio signal or adjusted voice audio signal to form a composite audio signal. The pitch in the audio allows the listener to disambiguate one or more speakers or conveys to the listener attributes such as urgency or location information.
US09620138B2

The invention relates to a codec and a discriminator and methods therein for audio signal discrimination and coding. Embodiments of a method performed by an encoder comprises, for a segment of the audio signal: identifying a set of spectral peaks; determining a mean distance S between peaks in the set; and determining a ratio, PNR, between a peak envelope and a noise floor envelope. The method further comprises selecting a coding mode, out of a plurality of coding modes, based at least on the mean distance S and the ratio PNR; and applying the selected coding mode for coding of the segment of the audio signal.
US09620122B2

Described is a technology by which speech is locally and remotely recognized in a hybrid way. Speech is input and recognized locally, with remote recognition invoked if locally recognized speech data was not confidently recognized. The part of the speech that was not confidently recognized is sent to the remote recognizer, along with any confidently recognized text, which the remote recognizer may use as context data in interpreting the part of the speech data that was sent. Alternative text candidates may be sent instead of corresponding speech to the remote recognizer.
US09620116B2

Systems and methods may provide for determining a sound vibration condition of an ambient environment of a wearable device and determining a motion condition of the wearable device. In addition, one or more automated voice operations may be performed based at least in part on the sound vibration condition and the motion condition. In one example, two or more signals corresponding to the sound vibration condition and the motion condition may be combined.
US09620111B1

Described herein are systems and methods for the generation and maintenance of language models. Language models are developed based at least in part on transaction data from one or more users. These transactions may include purchases and other interactions between one or more users and one or more online merchants. The language models may be associated with a particular user or group of users. Ongoing transactions may modify the language models. The language models may be used to recognize spoken input from the one or more users.
US09620098B2

A magnet or array of magnets is attached to the inner surface of a stringed musical instrument such an acoustic guitar, allowing an external electronic device equipped with one or more magnet or ferromagnetic elements to be softly and removably mounted to the outer surface of the instrument without adhering to or disturbing the outer surface of the instrument. The inner-mounted magnet or magnet array may be attached permanently or removably to the inner surface of the instrument, and may have its position adjusted for optimizing the position of the externally mounted device.
US09620090B2

A system, for determining the velocity of a hammer of a keyboard instrument, with a light transceiver and processing circuitry. The light transceiver being configured to transmit a light signal to a hammer to measure a hammer velocity, receive a reflected light signal from the hammer indicative of the velocity of the hammer and send an electrical signal to the processing circuitry, where the electrical signal is based on the reflected light signal from the hammer. The processing circuitry being configured to receive and process the electrical signal so that a time interval between the electrical signal passing through a first trigger point and a second trigger point and the velocity of the hammer can be determined.
US09620075B2

A display driver includes an adjustment unit 20 that outputs an electronic volume value based on a detected temperature derived using a temperature sensor 90, a power supply circuit 60 that supplies a drive power supply voltage based on the electronic volume value, and a drive circuit that drives a display panel based on the drive power supply voltage. The adjustment unit 20 outputs a first electronic volume value that sets the drive power supply voltage to a first voltage, in the case where the detected temperature belongs to a first temperature range, outputs a second electronic volume value that sets the drive power supply voltage to a second voltage, in the case where the detected temperature belongs to a second temperature range, and an interpolated electronic volume value that sets the drive power supply voltage to an interpolated voltage that is between the first voltage and the second voltage, in the case where the temperature range to which the detected temperature belongs switches from the first temperature range to the second temperature range.
US09620070B2

An image display controlling method and a control device thereof, and an image display device are provided. The method includes: receiving at least one frame of a first image to be displayed by the display; controlling the display to interpolatively display a frame of a second image when a frame number of the received first image displayed continuously by the display is greater than or equal to a preset frame number; wherein the first image is different from the second image. This method can prevent the display to display a still picture for a long time and thereby eliminating after-image.
US09620065B2

The invention relates to a display device including a plurality of pixels forming an image, and an optical plate arranged opposite the image and having transparency areas configured to allow the light from the pixels to at least partially pass therethrough. The optical plate further includes at least one array of functional elements corresponding to an electronic and/or mechanical function. The functional elements are inserted between the transparency areas and arranged such that the light emitted by the pixels is directed so as to pass through the transparency areas without intercepting the arrays of functional elements, so as to render the arrays of functional elements invisible or quasi-invisible to an observer of the display device. The invention can be used in any type of display device in which functions other than display itself must be integrated in a visually discreet manner.
US09620052B2

A method of controlling a dimming operation is disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes determining the brightness of an input image frame based on input image data, determining an input dimming value based on the brightness of the input image frame, selectively performing the dimming operation is based on a comparison of an absolute value of a difference between the input dimming value and a current output dimming value against a predetermined threshold value, where a value generated by adjusting the current output dimming value by a predetermined adjustment value is output as a next output dimming value when performing the dimming operation, and the input dimming value is output as the next output dimming value when not performing the dimming operation.
US09620048B2

An electro-optic display has a plurality of pixels, each of which is capable of displaying two extreme optical states and at least one intermediate gray level. Each pixel is driven from an initial intermediate gray level to one extreme optical state and then to a first desired intermediate gray level, so producing a first image on the display. The pixel then remains at this first desired intermediate gray level for a finite length of time. The pixel is then driven from this first desired intermediate gray level to the opposed extreme optical state and then to a second desired intermediate gray level, so producing a second image on the display.
US09620045B2

An array substrate and a detecting circuit thereof are disclosed. The detecting circuit comprises a detecting unit, which comprises a first to a sixth detecting lines; a switching signal access unit, used for receiving a switching control signal; a detecting signal access unit, used for receiving a first detecting signal or a second detecting signal; and a switching unit, comprising a first switching line and a second switching line, which are connected among the detecting unit, the switching signal access unit and the detecting signal access unit. The array substrate comprises an active area and a detecting circuit.
US09620042B2

The invention provides a multiple-view display system and a method for operating the same, wherein a seat sensor is incorporated into the system so that it is possible to get the information whether a user is present or not. Therefore, only one sensor installed on one side of the multiple-view touchscreen for detecting a proximity of the user to the multiple-view touchscreen is enough to identify the touchevent is given by which user, and no extra device is required.
US09620033B2

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory that are configured to cause the apparatus at least to perform: causing display, in a first display area of a display, of a first map that represents a first geographic area, at a first scale, including a first location and that highlights the first location, wherein the first scale is controlled so that the first geographic area includes the first location but does not include a second location; causing simultaneous display, in a second different display area of the display, of a second map that represents a second geographic area, at a second scale, including the second location and that highlights the second location, wherein the second scale is controlled so that the second geographic area includes the second location but does not include the first location.
US09620031B2

Proposed is a training and simulation device for electric functional processes in electric, electromechanical and electrofluidic systems, with a controller (14) for the simulation and visual reproduction of system components (25-31) on a display (11), and with electric terminals (13) located adjacent to the display (11) for cable connection to hardware components of the system, wherein optical inputs and/or outputs of the simulated system components on the display (11) are assigned to at least a part of the terminals (13) and wherein the controller (14) comprises means for generating electric voltages at the terminals (13) of assigned outputs of the simulated system components (31) and/or for generating reactions of the simulated system components (25-30) in dependence on voltages externally applied to terminals (13) assigned to inputs of said simulated system components.
US09620030B2

Apparatus and methods for enhancing a working memory of a human is provided. A computing system having a processor executing instructions out of a memory device presents a plurality of selectable working memory domains corresponding to cognitive functions of a human brain, where each working memory domain is associated with a corresponding training game that is configured to enhance a selected working memory domain.
US09620026B2

A method for contextual graphical user interface (GUI) training includes, with a training module, switching from a normal mode of the GUI to a lesson mode to provide a lesson to a user, the lesson being one of a number of lessons that were preselected by the user. The method further includes, while in the lesson mode, overlaying instructions of a task onto the GUI, with the training module, providing example user input to demonstrate the task, with the training module, undoing the task, prompting the user to perform the task, notifying the user that an input received by the computing system does not correspond to the demonstrated task, and recording completion of the task in response to input from the user, the input corresponding to successful completion of the demonstrated task.
US09620024B1

A system and method are provided for integrating live flight following information provided as Trusted Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data with stored planned flight and other information, and for, in part, comparatively analyzing the data/information to generate automated alerts to one or more end-users when an aircraft is determined to deviate from a planned flight route by a predetermined degree, as specified by adjustable set parameters. Broadcast ADS-B data transmitted by participating aircraft is collected and communicated via a secure, trusted and dependable worldwide network for analysis in a centralized location. The analysis involves, in part, comparing the ADS-B data to other information provided to, or collected by, the centralized location from multiple sources regarding planned routes of flight for participating aircraft and other available information relevant to aircraft operations in particular geographic locations. Alerts regarding identified discrepancies or deviations are generated and communicated to stakeholders.
US09620022B2

A method of route planning for a vehicle proceeding from a current location to a destination in a planning space is provided. The method includes generating a destination-rooted tree from global information that provides cost-to-go routing to the destination from multiple locations in the planning space, generating a vehicle-rooted tree using local information from the current location out to a sensing horizon and determining a local destination at the sensing horizon. The local destination corresponds to minimal cost-to-go routing obtained from the destination-rooted tree.
US09620017B2

A merge assistance system for a vehicle. The system includes a camera configured to monitor an area, at least one sensor configured to detect information about at least one moving target object, an electronic control unit having a processor in electronic communication with the camera and the sensor to receive information about the monitored area and the at least one moving target object. The system also includes a computer readable medium storing instructions that cause the processor to receive information about a velocity and an acceleration of the vehicle, determine a merging location based on the information received from the camera, determine a velocity and an acceleration of the at the least one moving target object based on the information from the at least one sensor, identify a merge assist situation, and initiate a merge driving maneuver to control the vehicle during the merge assist situation.
US09620010B2

A method of controlling a traffic light having at least two distinguishable light signals is provided herein. The method may include the following steps: obtaining a lighting pattern that determines an order of turning “on” and turning “off” said light signals over time; and illuminating the light signals based on the lighting pattern, such that over at least one period of time, a first light of the at least two distinguishable light signals is visible from a first distance range from the traffic light and a second light of the at least two distinguishable light signals is visible from a second distance range from the traffic light, wherein the first and the second distance ranges are non-overlapping.
US09620005B2

A trainable transceiver for installation in a vehicle and for controlling a remote device includes a transceiver circuit configured, based on training information, to control the remote device, a communications device configured to communicate with a mobile communications device, an output device, and a control circuit coupled to the transceiver circuit, coupled to the communications device, and coupled to the output device. The control circuit is configured to receive notification information from the mobile communications device via the communications device, and wherein the control circuit is configured to generate an output using the output device based on the notification information.
US09620004B2

In one embodiment, a first controlling device includes a processor to send a first pairing request to a remote device, receive a grant of access from the remote device, receive user input commands, receive a second pairing request from a second controlling device, grant access to the second controlling device, receive control commands from the second controlling device, and send control commands to the remote device based on the control commands received from the second controlling device and the user input commands, after the first controlling device loses a connection with the remote device, the processor being operative to send a third pairing request to the remote device and receive a denial of the third pairing request and an identification of the second controlling device from the remote device, send a fourth pairing request to the second controlling device, receive a grant of access from the second controlling device.
US09619996B1

A system and method for detecting and managing wildfires is described. The system and method deploy a plurality of fixed sensors in an area to be monitored. Each fixed sensor is operable to detect ambient conditions in the vicinity of the fixed sensor and to relay that information to a central control center. A plurality of mobile sensors are deployed with responders, where each mobile sensor is capable of detecting ambient conditions near the respective responder and conditions of the responder. The plurality of mobile sensors are in communication with the central control center. The system then determines attributes of the wildfire from the collective data from the plurality of fixed sensors and the plurality of mobile sensors and coordinates the activity of responders in response to the wildfire using the collective data.
US09619995B2

A multi-device alert notification system that includes a trigger device that has a low energy wireless transmitter for broadcasting an alert message in unlicensed spectrum for mobile user devices when activated, and a remote server system storing information that identifies the trigger device, the remote server being configured to receive, through a network, an alert notification message from each of a plurality of mobile user devices, each alert notification message indicating that the mobile user device has received the alert message from the trigger device and including a unique trigger device identifier and a unique user identifier associated with the mobile user device. The remote server system receives, through the network, an alert acceptance request message from one of the mobile user devices that includes the unique trigger device identifier and the unique user identifier associated with the mobile user device and sends notification messages to at least the mobile user devices that did not send the alert acceptance request message indicating that the alert message from the trigger device has been accepted by one of the plurality of mobile user devices.
US09619984B2

Monitoring systems and methods for use in security, safety, and business process applications utilizing a correlation engine are disclosed. Sensory data from one or more sensors are captured and analyzed to detect one or more events in the sensory data. The events are correlated by a correlation engine, optionally by weighing the events based on attributes of the sensors that were used to detect the primitive events. The events are then monitored for an occurrence of one or more correlations of interest, or one or more critical events of interest. Finally, one or more actions are triggered based on a detection of one or more correlations of interest, one or more anomalous events, or one or more critical events of interest. Events may come from sensory devices, legacy systems, third-party systems, anonymous tips, and other data sources. The present invention may be used to increase business productivity by improving security, safety, and increasing profitability of business processes.
US09619972B2

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a gaming system and method providing a card game wherein two or more cards of a hand of cards are combinable to form at least one resultant card with a higher combined value. In various embodiments, for a play of the card game, the gaming system randomly selects and displays a hand of cards and each card is associated with one of a plurality of different values. The gaming system enables the player to select at least two of the displayed cards to combine to form at least one resultant card. Each resultant card is associated with a resultant value. The resultant value includes the sum of the values associated with each selected card that is combined to form the resultant card. Each resultant card provides an opportunity to convert a non-winning hand into a winning hand.
US09619969B2

Systems and methods for using player information in wagering game environments are described herein. In one embodiment a method includes receiving a first set of player information, where the first set of player information indicates casino activities of a player. The method can also include analyzing the first set of player information and a second set of player information to determine preferences and tendencies associated with the player. The method can also include providing an indication of the preferences and tendencies to wagering game network devices.
US09619962B2

A system for use in providing gaming property services to a player via a gaming device is provided. The system includes a gaming property server, a gaming machine, and gaming tracking device. The gaming property server provides gaming property services to the player. The gaming machine includes a gaming display, a display device that is coupled to the gaming display, and a gaming controller that is coupled to the display device. The gaming controller is configured to randomly generate an outcome of a game and transmit game data indicative of the outcome to the display device. The gaming tracking device also includes a web browser program for displaying gaming property services via a website provided by the gaming property server. The display device configured to display a player interaction screen including the outcome of the game and the gaming property services.
US09619953B2

A method of operating a keyless padlock is provided, comprising: establishing communication with the padlock; requesting the padlock serial number from the padlock; receiving the padlock serial number form the padlock; establishing communication with a server having the padlock serial number and the initial password stored in a database; transmitting the padlock serial number to the server with a request to own the padlock; receiving the initial password and a new password from the server after the server has validated the request; transmitting the initial password to the padlock; transmitting the new password to the padlock after the padlock has validated the initial password; receiving confirmation from the padlock that the padlock has stored the new password in the memory of the padlock; and transmitting the confirmation to the server, whereupon the server updates the database to recognize the user as the owner of the padlock.
US09619949B2

The example embodiments may relate to a vehicle operator incentive system. In an example, the system may include a vehicle control system having a plurality of controllers, wherein the controllers are configured to communicate diagnostic messages via an internal communication network and wherein each of the diagnostic messages provides information about operation of a vehicle by an operator. The vehicle operator incentive system may include a vehicle diagnostic system communicatively coupled to the internal communication network and configured to: process the diagnostic messages to determine a plurality of measured parameters, award points based on the measured parameters, calculate a score for the operator based on the awarded points, and cause a user interface of the vehicle to display the operator score.
US09619942B2

Embodiments of the invention include a method, a system, and a mobile device that incorporate augmented reality technology into land surveying, 3D laser scanning, and digital modeling processes. By incorporating the augmented reality technology, the mobile device can display an augmented reality image comprising a real view of a physical structure in the real environment and a 3D digital model of an unbuilt design element overlaid on top of the physical structure at its intended tie-in location. In an embodiment, a marker can be placed at predetermined set of coordinates at or around the tie-in location, determined by surveying equipment, so that the 3D digital model of the unbuilt design element can be visualized in a geometrically correct orientation with respect to the physical structure. Embodiments of the present invention can also be applied to a scaled down 3D printed object representing the physical structure if visiting the project site is not possible.
US09619939B2

Embodiments that relate to presenting a plurality of visual information density levels for a plurality of geo-located data items in a mixed reality environment are disclosed. For example, in one disclosed embodiment a graduated information delivery program receives information for a selected geo-located data item and provides a minimum visual information density level for the item to a head-mounted display device. The program receives via the head-mounted display device a user input corresponding to the selected geo-located data item. Based on the input, the program provides an increasing visual information density level for the selected item to the head-mounted display device for display within the mixed reality environment.
US09619933B2

A method for providing a model file to a user. The user acquires a plurality of images using a device, such as a smart phone, with at least a monocular image capture device. The plurality of images are then processed to provide the user with a model file. The model file is created by a minimization of an energy which is done using a primal-dual hybrid gradient. The model file may be used in a printer capable of printing in three dimensions. The user is either charged a fee for uploading the plurality of images, downloading the model file, or both.
US09619932B2

Embodiments include a system for integrating capture software functionality into other software applications including computer aided design (CAD) application, search application, database management application, email applications, network publishing applications, collaboration applications, copying and facsimile applications, manufacturing applications and similar programs. A user may utilize any of these applications to initiate a capture of an image or model. The applications may include an integrated capture functionality or message system to communicate with a capture application to initiate a capture. A separate or integrated conversion application may automatically be invoked to convert and return the image or model to the requesting application.
US09619930B2

A light transport simulator and a method of constructing and classifying light transport paths. One embodiment of the light transport simulator includes a light transport simulator operable to construct and classify a light transport path between two points in a scene, including: (1) a memory configured to store dual deterministic finite automata (DFA) based on an LPE that defines criteria for accepting the light transport path, and (2) a processor configured to employ the dual DFA to construct opposing light subpaths originating from the two points, and employ a correspondence among states of the dual DFA to unite the opposing light subpaths to form the light transport path.
US09619925B2

A method for generating a volume-viewing image on the basis of three-dimensional image data of the interior of a body generated by way of a medical imaging system is described. In at least one embodiment, a plurality of different functional structures of the body are first of all segmented in the three-dimensional image data. Moreover, structure selection data for fixing functional structures to be visualized is determined. Then, at least one volume-viewing image is generated from the three-dimensional image data on the basis of the segmented functional structures and the structure selection data and the image is output. Moreover, in at least one embodiment, an image-processing system to carry out at least one embodiment of the method is described.
US09619924B2

There is provided an illumination rendering system and method for use by such a system. The system includes a system processor, a system memory, and an illumination rendering engine including a ray tracing unit stored in the system memory. The system processor is configured to execute the ray tracing unit to recognize a present classification of a light path traveling between a ray source and a ray receiver, and to identify a scattering type of a next scattering event corresponding to a ray on the light path. The system processor is also configured to execute the ray tracing unit to determine a next classification of the light path based on the present classification of the light path and the scattering type.
US09619916B2

A method for transmitting digital scene description data from a transmitter scene processing device to at least one receiver scene processing device is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of encoding of scene description data and rendering commands in the transmitter scene processing device by setting of priorities for the scene description data and related rendering commands and dynamically reordering the scene description data and related rendering commands depending on the respective priorities in order to reduce the bandwidth required for transmission and/or to adapt to unreliable bandwidth; and transmitting the encoded scene description data and related rendering commands to the at least one receiver scene processing device for decoding and executing the rendering commands in relation to the transmitted scene description data by the at least one receiver scene processing device to achieve animated digital graphic.
US09619907B2

Disclosed herein is a microparticle analyzing apparatus including a detecting portion configured to simultaneously detect a fluorescence generated from a microparticle in plural wavelength regions and a displaying portion configured to display thereon detection results in the plural wavelength regions in a form of a spectrum.
US09619906B2

Disclosed herein are an X-ray imaging apparatus and a method for the same. The X-ray imaging apparatus includes a kernel function setter configured to set a scatter kernel function in response to a scatter component included in first X-ray image data detected by an X-ray detector, and an image data corrector configured to generate second X-ray image data obtained by performing scatter correction on the first X-ray image data using the scatter kernel function and data consistency. According to the X-ray imaging apparatus and the control method for the same, scatter correction is performed by using data consistency so that accuracy of the scatter correction may be increased and an X-ray image may be generated based on the accuracy, thereby improving quality of the X-ray image.
US09619894B2

A system and method for estimating dynamics of a mobile platform by matching feature points in overlapping images from cameras on the platform, such as cameras in a surround-view camera system on a vehicle. The method includes identifying overlap image areas for any two cameras in the surround-view camera system, identifying common feature points in the overlap image areas, and determining that the common feature points in the overlap image areas are not at the same location. The method also includes estimating three-degree of freedom vehicle dynamic parameters from the matching between the common feature points, and estimating vehicle dynamics of one or more of pitch, roll and height variation using the vehicle dynamic parameters.
US09619885B2

The present invention relates to a digital device capable of obtaining both a color image and a depth image and a method of processing a three dimensional image using the same. The method can include the steps of switching a resolution of a light-receiving unit from a first resolution to a second resolution which is lower than the first resolution, sensing a visible light and an infrared light from a prescribed subject, extracting color image information from the visible light sensed by a first sensing unit of the light-receiving unit during a first time, extracting depth image information from the infrared light sensed by a second sensing unit of the light-receiving unit during a second time, determining whether extraction of both the color image information and the depth image information for the subject is completed and if the extraction of the color image information and the extraction of the depth image information for the subject are completed, implementing a 3D image of the subject based on the extracted color image information and the depth image information.
US09619882B2

There is disclosed a novel form of imaging referred to in this disclosure as “correlated diffusion imaging” or CDI in which the tissue being imaged is characterized by a joint correlation of diffusion signal attenuation across multiple gradient pulse strengths and timings. Advantageously, by taking into account signal attenuation at different water diffusion motion sensitivities, correlated diffusion imaging can provide significantly improved delineation between cancerous tissue and healthy tissue when compared to existing diffusion imaging modalities. In an embodiment, the method comprises performing quantitative evaluation using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, tissue class separability analysis, and visual assessment to study correlated diffusion imaging for the task of identification of biological tissue of interest. In another embodiment, the method comprises comparing T2-weighted imaging results with that obtained using standard diffusion imaging (via the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)) and with that obtained using CDI for tissue characterization and analysis. In still another embodiment, the method comprises of a dual-stage signal mixing configuration of CDI that provides better visualization of anatomical information while preserving strong delineation between cancerous tissue and healthy tissue.
US09619874B2

An image processing apparatus includes an alignment unit configured to align a first fundus oculi image that is an aberration-corrected image of an eye being examined and a second fundus oculi image having a larger view angle and a lower resolution than the first fundus oculi image, by using a third fundus oculi image having a smaller view angle and a higher resolution than the second fundus oculi image; a distance acquisition unit configured to acquire a distance from a macula lutea of the eye being examined to a certain position in the first fundus oculi image aligned by the alignment unit; and an evaluation unit configured to evaluate the state of the eye being examined from the distance and information concerning photoreceptor cells included in the first fundus oculi image.
US09619870B2

Techniques are disclosed for removing blur from a single image by accumulating a blur kernel estimation across several scale levels of the image and balancing the contributions of the different scales to the estimation depending on the noise level in each observation. In particular, a set of observations can be obtained by applying a set of variable scale filters to a single blurry image at different scale levels. A single blur kernel can be estimated across all scales from the set of observations and used to obtain a single latent sharp image. The estimation at a large scale level is refined using the observations at successively smaller scale levels. The filtered observations may be weighted during the estimation to balance the contributions of each scale to the estimation of the blur kernel. A deblurred digital image is recovered by deconvolving the blurry digital image using the estimated blur kernel.
US09619869B2

A method, a computer program, a computer program product and a computed tomography system are disclosed. The image data is a spatially three-dimensional reconstruction. At least one value for an image metric of the image data is determined. A motion field for motion compensation of the image data is then determined on the basis of image data as a function of the image metric. Essentially, partial image data is determined, wherein the partial image data corresponds in each case to the spatially three-dimensional reconstruction from scan data of an angular sub-range. The motion field of the image data is determined at the control points via an optimization method as a function of the image metric, so that, thereafter, the partial image data is transformed in accordance with the motion of the motion field. New image data is then produced by merging the partial image data.
US09619862B2

This disclosure pertains to novel devices, methods, and computer readable media for performing raw camera noise reduction using a novel, so-called “alignment mapping” technique to more effectively separate structure from noise in an image, in order to aid in the denoising process. Alignment mapping allows for the extraction of more structure from the image and also the ability to understand the image structure, yielding information for edge direction, edge length, and corner locations within the image. This information can be used to smooth long edges properly and to prevent tight image details, e.g., text, from being overly smoothed. In alignment maps, the amount of noise may be used to compute thresholds and scaling parameters used in the preparation of the alignment map. According to some embodiments, a feature map may also be created for the image. Finally, the image may be smoothed using the created feature map as a mask.
US09619861B2

A method and apparatus for improving quality of an enlarged image are provided. The apparatus includes first and second image input units for outputting first and second images which are obtained by capturing the same subject at different positions spaced apart by a predetermined gap, a first image processor for converting a resolution of the first image to a preview resolution, a display for displaying the first image from the first image processor, a second image processor for, when an area to be enlarged in the displayed first image is selected, cropping an area corresponding to the selected area from the second image, and a controller for controlling the display to display the cropped area on the first image in an overlaying manner. Consequently, a user may view a high-magnification image cropped from a high-definition image and an original image together.
US09619858B1

One embodiment provides a system that facilitates the execution of a web application. During operation, the system loads a native code module that includes a scenegraph renderer into a secure runtime environment. Next, the system uses the scenegraph renderer to create a scenegraph from a graphics model associated with the web application and generate a set of rendering commands from the scenegraph. The system then writes the rendering commands to a command buffer and reads the rendering commands from the command buffer. Finally, the system uses the rendering commands to render, for the web application, an image corresponding to the graphics model by executing the rendering commands using a graphics-processing unit (GPU).
US09619843B2

Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and computer program products for providing e-receipts to customers. Embodiments receive authorization from a customer for the customer to be enrolled in a point of transaction e-receipt communication program; receive transaction data corresponding to at least one transaction performed by the customer at a point of transaction of a merchant; and initiate communication, to the customer, of an e-receipt based at least in part on the received transaction data. Some embodiments receive authorization from a plurality of enrolling merchants for enrollment in the point of transaction e-receipt communication program; and build a cooperating merchant list comprising information corresponding to a plurality of cooperating merchants cooperating with a financial institution implementing the point of transaction e-receipt communication program.
US09619827B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for providing access to the use of computing resources. In one aspect, a method includes receiving, from a resource user, request data that specifies: a resource commitment rate for a particular computing resource and a burst tier related to the resource commitment rate. The resource commitment rate can specify a first number of units of the particular computing resource that the resource user has committed to leasing for a particular time period. The burst tier can specify an additional number of units of the particular computing resource that the resource user can use simultaneously with the first number of units of the particular computing resource at a discounted rate during the particular time period. The discounted rate for using the additional units is determined based on the first number of units and the additional number of units.
US09619818B2

A client device detects a QR code (or NFC tag). The client device decodes the QR code. The client device determines that the data encoded within the QR code includes a URL. Based on the URL, the client device sends a first request to a first server identified by the URL. In response to the first request, the client device receives from the first server data configured to cause the client device to display, to a user of the client device, at least one of: a video or an interactive web page. Responsive to the data encoded in the QR code, the client device sends to a coupon server: identification data associated with a user of the client device, and a request for the coupon server to distribute a digital coupon for an offer associated with an identifier encoded within the QR code to an account associated with the user.
US09619815B2

A method determines a user demographic profile of a user that visits one or more websites of a predetermined group of websites. The method includes generating a first record of visits by the user to the websites of the predetermined group of websites. The method further includes providing one or more website profiles comprising demographic characteristics of each website visited by the user of the predetermined group of websites. The method further includes calculating an estimated user demographic profile of the user by using the first record of visits by the user and the one or more website profiles.
US09619804B1

Various methods and devices that involve biometrically secured networked devices with enhanced privacy protection are disclosed. For example, a computer-implemented method for onboarding a first biometrically secured device to a network is disclosed. The method comprises generating an asymmetric key pair, transmitting the public key to a second device, and receiving an encrypted master encryption key from the second device. The master key is encrypted with the public key. The method also comprises decrypting the encrypted master encryption key using the private key and receiving an encrypted set of biometric data. The encrypted set of biometric data is a set of biometric data that is encrypted with the master encryption key. The method also comprises storing the set of biometric data on a memory of the first device. The set of biometric data uniquely identifies at least two users that are registered to use both the first and second devices.
US09619792B1

A method and apparatus for associating an account with a proxy card based on a photo are disclosed. The proxy card can be associated with account data from multiple other cards, such as account data from a driver's license and from various payment cards, such as a credit card, a debit card, and a pre-paid gift card. In some embodiments, a card-holder can associate an additional card with the proxy card by taking a photo of the face of the additional card using a mobile device. The mobile device analyzes the photo to obtain text representing account information that appears in the photo of the additional card. The mobile device associates the additional card with the proxy card by causing updating of stored association information, that represents an association between the card and the account data of the multiple cards, with the account information.
US09619789B1

Methods and systems for virtual checking are described. In some embodiments, information for a virtual check created in a mobile device associated with a payor can be received from the mobile device. The information may include an amount of the virtual check. A computer system may determine whether there are sufficient funds to cover the amount of the virtual check and may place the funds in the amount of the virtual check in reserve when the funds are sufficient to cover the amount of the virtual check.
US09619788B2

A computer-assisted method for automatically assigning work tasks in a workflow management system includes providing at least one first directed graph and at least one second directed graph assigning, with respect to a user, an authorization category to at least one object in the first graph and to at least one object in the second graph in order to respectively obtain at least one assigned object forming the Cartesian product of the first and the second graph to obtain a product graph, identifying the product object of the product graph resulting from the assigned object of the first graph and the assigned object of the second graph and identifying sub-objects of the product object, to which the second authorization category also applies, if applicable, assigning the user to the identified product object and the identified sub-objects of the product graph, obtaining a responsibility request with respect to a requested object of the product graph, determining the user assigned to the requested object, and assigning the request to the user.
US09619782B2

In an embodiment, a system server receives, from a plurality of advertiser devices, a plurality of advertisements, at least one corresponding personal information value, and a corresponding price. The system server calculates, for each of a plurality of personal information types, a corresponding price. The system server instructs the email device to display the plurality of personal information types and the corresponding prices.The system server sends, to a first email account, a plurality of email messages, in which each email message includes a respective advertisement of the subset of advertisements. Then the system server determines an amount to pay the user based on the prices corresponding to the subset of advertisements, and increases an account balance by the amount to pay the user.
US09619779B2

Methods and systems are disclosed that allow automated pre-qualification and qualification of an application. An application description can be generated for an application submitted by a developer, the application description can be automatically examined to determine whether the application complies with rules or guidelines (e.g., policies) of a platform. If the application complies with the rules or guidelines, the application can be pre-qualified and submitted for approval and distribution. If the application does not comply with the rules or guidelines, the application developer can be notified of the errors in the application and the developer can be prevented from uploading the application for approval and distribution.
US09619778B2

A computer-implemented method for scanning computer infrastructure within a computer network includes a first host device and a second host device having distinct operating systems. The host devices are coupled to a controller server. The method includes deploying a first scan program to the host devices. The method includes installing a first tool set on the first host device, installing a second tool set on the second host device, executing the first scan program on the first host device for gathering and storing a first set of inventory data on the first host device, executing the first scan program on the second host device for gathering and storing a second set of inventory data on the second host device, collecting the first set of inventory data from the first host device and the second set of inventory data from the second host device.
US09619776B1

In one embodiment, a method includes determining real-time location information for a transportation item. The method further includes determining real-time route information for a plurality of vehicles, the plurality of vehicles comprising a vehicle-in-transit actively transporting the transportation item. In addition, the method includes analyzing, via the real-time location information and the real-time route information, a route efficiency of the plurality of vehicles relative to an intended destination of the transportation item. Further, the method includes selecting a replacement vehicle from among the plurality of vehicles based, at least in part, on a result of the analyzing. Additionally, the method includes initiating physical transfer of the transportation item from the vehicle-in-transit to the replacement vehicle.
US09619775B1

Systems, methods, and devices for determining shipping rules and shipping methods for an order are disclosed herein. A computer implemented method includes receiving an electronic record of an order placed with a merchant. The method further includes determining a smallest available package size in which the order content can be shipped and one or more additional available package sizes having dimensions larger than the smallest available package size in which the order content can be shipped. The method also includes determining a shipping price to ship the order content and presenting a plurality of shipping methods to a user with the shipping price.
US09619770B2

Systems and methods for authoring and performing procedural workflows, and engaging in multimedia communication, remote assistance, training, data entry, inventory management, authentication, and secure networking using a hands-free or substantially hands-free wearable digital device are described. In one implementation, a user logs into a secure network using existing credentials, and a Quick Response Code is generated to temporarily authorize the user's wearable device within the secure network. In another implementation, information is encrypted and transferred between a computing device and a remote system, and the computing device is verified as being connected to a particular network and located within a particular geofence. In a further implementation, an interface for authoring a procedural workflow includes defining workflow steps based on selected primitives, and displaying rendered previews of the workflow as it would appear on different user devices.
US09619755B2

A method processes a signal represented as a graph by first determining a graph spectral transform based on the graph. In a spectral domain, parameters of a graph filter are estimated using a training data set of unenhanced and corresponding enhanced signals. The graph filter is derived based on the graph spectral transform and the estimated graph filter parameters. Then, the signal is processed using the graph filter to produce an output signal. The processing can enhance signals such as images by denoising or interpolating missing samples.
US09619753B2

A data analysis system includes a modeling unit, a feature-extraction unit, a processing unit and an output unit. The modeling unit creates a prediction model by a machine learning algorithm according to training data. The feature-extraction unit extracts a plurality of fragment of feature data of input data, and classifies the feature data into a plurality of groups. The processing unit obtains a probability of the input data corresponding to the prediction model by the machine learning algorithm according to the feature of one of the groups, and determines the probability. When the probability is less than a predetermined value, the processing unit uses another feature data corresponding to another group which is not used to renew the probability of the input data corresponding to the prediction model through the machine learning algorithm. When the probability is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, the processing unit classifies the input data. The output unit outputs a classification result.
US09619744B2

A colored smart card module having a light-transmissible substrate with first and second sides; a card-reader contact element formed on the first side of the substrate; and a colored ink layer printed on the second side of the substrate. The printed colored ink layer is then at least in part visible from the first side of the substrate around the card-reader contact element. A smart card including such a colored smart card module is also provided.
US09619742B2

A data tag containing self-descriptive data, a method for reading such a data tag and a system for interpreting such a data tag are disclosed. Characterizing information about a first data element stored in a memory of the data tag is stored in a first header preceding a first data element. In addition, characterizing information about a second data element stored in the memory of the data tag is stored in a second header preceding a second data element. The application of a multitude of descriptive headers, each characterizing a data element stored in the data tag memory, facilitates flexible data storage on such devices. Furthermore, it also facilitates data compression due to the fact that field lengths can be characterized as well, thus excluding the presence of redundant bits in the data stored in the memory.
US09619735B1

An approach is provided in which a knowledge manager processes an image using a convolutional neural network. The knowledge manager generates a pixel-level heat map of the image that includes multiple decision points corresponding to multiple pixels of the image. The knowledge manager analyzes the pixel-level heat map and detects sets of decision points that correspond to target objects. In turn, the knowledge manager marks regions of the heat map corresponding to the detected sets of per-pixel decision points, each of the regions indicating a location of the target objects.
US09619733B2

Disclosed are a method of generating a hierarchical structured pattern based descriptor and a method and a device for recognizing an object in an image using the same. The method of generating a hierarchical structured pattern based descriptor may include generating a hierarchical structured pattern by defining a parent node based on a patch region for a feature point of an input image to be analyzed and defining a child node obtained by dividing the parent node to a predetermined depth, calculating a master direction vector of the patch region based on position coordinates and representative pixel values of the parent node and the child node, and calculating a rotation angle of the patch region based on the master direction vector and rotating the hierarchical structured pattern by the rotation angle.
US09619732B2

Implementations generally relate to generating compositional media content. In some implementations, a method includes receiving a plurality of photos from a user, and determining one or more composition types from the photos. The method also includes generating compositions from the selected photos based on the one or more determined composition types. The method also includes providing the one or more generated compositions to the user.
US09619728B2

Multiple reference fiducials are formed on a sample on a sample for charged particle beam facilities processing of the sample. As one fiducial is degraded by the charged particle beam, a second fiducial is used to create one or more additional fiducials.
US09619726B2

An information input device includes a first detection device, a second detection device, a coupling member, a connecting line, and a protective member. The coupling member includes a fixing portion and a holding portion, and a folding portion. The connecting line includes an intermediate portion connecting the first detection device and the second detection device that detect a position of the writing tool. At least a part of the intermediate portion extends between the first detection device and the second detection device and is arranged to face the folding portion. The protective member includes an arrangement portion whose length is longer than a length of the intermediate portion. An end portion of the protective member is fixed to at least one of the fixing portion and the holding portion. The arrangement portion is disposed between the folding portion and the intermediate portion of the connecting line.
US09619722B2

A gaze direction detection device according to the present technology includes a detector for detecting a gaze of a driver over a predetermined period of time, a determiner for outputting second gaze information indicating that the driver is gazing, from first gaze information detected by the detector, a generator for generating a gaze distribution from the second gaze information output by the determiner, and a corrector for correcting the first gaze information detected by the detector, where the corrector calculates a center of a reference distribution that is set in advance and a center of the gaze distribution generated by the generator, and causes the center of the reference distribution and the center of the gaze distribution to overlap each other, and then calculates a correction parameter based on a difference between the reference distribution and the gaze distribution, and corrects the first gaze information with the correction parameter.
US09619721B2

To monitor a degree of attentiveness for a driver of a vehicle, a period is determined on the basis of a speed of the vehicle. It is determined whether an eyelid closed time and/or an eyelid closing time of the driver exceeds the period.
US09619717B2

An apparatus for recognizing lane lines including a broken line. An image capture unit is configured to acquire an image of the surroundings including a roadway ahead of a subject vehicle. An edge-point extractor is configured to extract edge points in the image. An first-edge-point detector is configured to detect first edge points facing at least one missing section of a broken line in the edge points extracted by the edge-point extractor. A lane-line recognizes is configured to recognize a lane line using the edge points extracted by the edge-point extractor other than all or some of the first edge points.
US09619703B2

A method and system is provided for geo-demographic classification of a geographical region. The present application discloses an unsupervised learning method and system for analyzing satellite imagery and multimodal sensory data in fusion for geo-demographic clustering. The present application also discloses an inexpensive and faster method and system for geo-demographic classification of a geographical region.
US09619700B2

Provided is an image processing device capable of specifying a character area included in an image even if a variable-density difference in an area included in the image other than the character area is large. A feature point specifying unit specifies corners of edges in a target image as feature points. An area obtaining unit obtains, based on a specified result of the feature point specifying unit, an area including a plurality of feature points aligned in a substantially straight line. A character area specifying unit specifies a character area in the target image based on the area obtained by the area obtaining unit.
US09619695B2

A system for tracking a gaze of a driver of a vehicle includes a tracking device, a processor, a memory, and a display. The tracking device is configured to track a gaze of a driver of a vehicle. The processor is in electronic communication with the tracking device. The memory is in electronic communication with the processor. The memory includes programming code configured to be executed by the processor. The programming code is configured to determine in real-time a duration of the gaze of the driver of the vehicle tracked by the tracking device. The display is in electronic communication with the processor. The display is configured to display a symbol showing the determined duration, or a portion of the determined duration, of the gaze of the driver of the vehicle as determined by the processor.
US09619694B2

In particular embodiments, one or more images associated with a primary user are received. The image(s) may comprise single images, a series of related images, or video frames. In each image, one or more faces are detected and/or tracked. For each face, a set of one or more candidates are selected who may be identified with the face. The primary user has a computed measure of affinity for candidates in the set through a social network, or the candidate in the set is otherwise known to the primary user. A facial recognition score is calculated for each candidate. A subset of candidates is selected, wherein each candidate in the subset has a facial recognition score above a predetermined threshold. A candidate score is calculated for each candidate based on the facial recognition score and the computed measure of affinity. A winning candidate is selected based on the candidate scores.
US09619692B2

A system and method for identifying objects being carried by an operator who is approaching an instrument. The system includes image-, motion-, and depth-capturing sensors that are in communication with the instrument. The captured image, motion, and depth data are compared to data stored in a database and the objects are identified. Once the objects have been identified, an action that corresponds to the identified objects is initiated in the instrument.
US09619690B2

An authentication apparatus includes a prism and an imaging unit. The prism comprises: a contact surface, an imaging surface, a first reflection surface opposed to the imaging surface, contacted with the contact surface to make an angle to be lower than an optimum angle to an incident light from a concave portion of the living body, and to reflect an incident light from a convex portion of the living body on the imaging surface and a second reflection surface opposed to the imaging surface, contacted with the first reflection surface, and to form a reflection body that reflects the incident light from the concave portion of the living body and the incident light from the convex portion of the living body on the imaging surface. The imaging unit images the light which is reflected by the first reflection surface and the light, which is reflected by the second reflection surface.
US09619687B2

An article identifier or code including at least one photo-responsive dye and a method of encoding or embedding information in same. A reader device for decoding or extracting information in an article identifier or code and verifying or authenticating that information and the associated extraction and authentication methods.
US09619684B2

A method and a system for recording data that are generated by manipulating an animal, which can be done by a manipulator, wherein the data are transmitted from a transmission apparatus to a reception apparatus, wherein a network including the transmission apparatus, the reception apparatus and the animal is set up for the purpose of transmitting the data, and wherein the animal is recognized from an identification code and the data are associated with the animal. As part of the data from the manipulation, the identity of the manipulator is also captured.
US09619682B2

An electronic device operable with a radio frequency identification device operable with a detector logic and a method for operating the electronic device with a radio frequency identification device and a detector logic is provided. Firstly, a detection event is registered by the detector logic. The detected event relates to an operation of the radio frequency identification device, which is applicable to transmit data to a counterpart radio frequency identification device. A detection signal is generated and issued by the detector logic in response to the registering and detection event, respectively, which detection signal is received by the electronic device. Then, the electronic device initiates one or more operations in response to the receiving of the detection signal.
US09619663B2

A replaceable printer component includes a first memory device and a communication link. The first memory device is configured to store a first secret. The communication link is configured to communicatively link the first memory device to a printer controller when the replaceable printer component is installed in a printing system. The printing system comprises a second memory device storing a second secret. The second memory device is communicatively linked to the printer controller. The printer controller is configured to determine an authenticity of the replaceable printer component based on the first secret and the second secret.
US09619662B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for implementing virtual network pairs between virtual machines and other devices. In one aspect, a method includes associating each of a plurality of different virtual machine network addresses with a respective host machine network address; receiving, from a sender, a request for a source virtual machine to communicate with a destination virtual machine; determining that the source virtual machine is authorized to communicate with the destination virtual machine; selecting, from the associations, a host machine network address for the destination virtual machine; generating a token based at least partly on the selected host machine network address and on a secret key of the destination virtual machine, wherein the secret key is not known by the source virtual machine; and sending the selected host machine network address and generated token to the sender.
US09619653B2

Embodiments of a system and method for detecting a security compromise on a device are described. Embodiments may be implemented by a content consumption application configured to protect content decryption keys on a device, such as a computer system (e.g., a desktop or notebook computer) or a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone or tablet). For instance, the content consumption application may be configured to provide decryption keys for respective content to a media component (or another component of the operating system) if multiple conditions have been met. For instance, in various embodiments, the content consumption application may pass the key to the media component after ensuring that i) one or more security mechanisms of the device operating system have not been compromised and ii) one or more executable instructions of the content consumption application have not been tampered (e.g., instructions corresponding to a function that handles the decryption key(s)).
US09619650B2

Disclosed are a method and a device for identifying a virus APK. The method comprises: presetting a virus database comprising a virus characteristic code; detecting whether a designated file in a target Android installation package APK contains the virus characteristic code; and if yes, determining that the target Android installation package APK is a virus APK. In the application, the virus APK and a variation thereof can be rapidly, accurately and effectively identified, thereby improving the security of an APK application.
US09619649B1

The disclosed computer-implemented method for detecting potentially malicious applications may include (1) detecting a request issued by an application running on a client device to download a file from a remote device, (2) determining that the request calls an application programming interface that enables the client device to download the file from the remote device, (3) determining that a parameter passed to the application programming interface in the request has been implicated in a previous attempt to download a known malicious file, and then in response to determining that the parameter has been implicated in a previous attempt to download a known malicious file, (4) classifying the application that issued the request as potentially malicious. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09619646B2

In one example, a method includes receiving, by a wireless docking center (WDC) and from a wireless dockee (WD), a request to access one or more peripheral functions (PFs) associated with the WDC, and receiving, by the WDC and from the WD, one or more authentication credentials. In this example, the method also includes determining, by the WDC, whether or not the one or more authentication credentials received from the WD grant access to the one or more PFs to which the WD requests access. In this example, the method also includes permitting, by the WDC, the WD to access a first PF of the one or more PFs to which the WD requests access in response to determining that the one or more authentication credentials grant access to the first PF.
US09619641B2

A function performing apparatus includes a function performing unit performing a specific function, a processor, and memory storing computer-readable instructions therein, the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the function performing apparatus to perform, in response to receiving a user authentication information when the user authentication information has been registered in an authentication memory, transitioning a state of the apparatus from a non-permission state to a permission state, registering, in the authentication memory, a device authentication information in association with the user authentication information upon establishing a first connection with a portable device, and transitioning the state of the apparatus from the non-permission state to the permission state when a second connection with the portable device is established and the device authentication information is obtained from the portable device.
US09619634B2

The invention concerns a method of identification of a person to be identified, comprising: receiving, from an input device (106A to 106C), user input data of the person to be identified and location data indicating the location of the person to be identified; and identifying by a processing device, in a user database (108) storing a plurality of user records of registered users, each record comprising user reference data and historical location information of a registered user, a record of the person to be identified based on the user input data and the location data, wherein the historical location information of at least one of the registered users includes an association of time and location data provided by a user location device associated with the registered user.
US09619633B1

Methods and systems for authenticating a user are described. In some embodiments, an authentication request including biometric information collected from a user is received. The user may be authenticated using a first authentication system by comparing characteristics generated from the biometric information with characteristics of previously collected biometric information. The biometric information collected from the user during the authentication request may be used to automatically enroll the user into a second authentication system.
US09619630B2

A token contains licensing information for software stored on another computer. The token connects to the computer wirelessly, and transmits the licensing information, preferably automatically. While the token is connected to the computer, at least one factor in a multi-factor authentication scheme is satisfied for licensed use of the software. When the token disconnects from the computer either at will, or by exceeding the range of the wireless connection, the software on the computer becomes unlicensed and then can no longer execute.
US09619625B2

A system for optimizing a patient's basal insulin dosage regimen over time, adapted to (a) determine from blood glucose values whether and by how much to vary a patient's present recommended amount of the insulin-containing drug in order to maintain the patient's future blood glucose level measurements within a predefined range, and (b) at the same time display blood glucose value data and the recommended amount data as a function of time.
US09619622B2

Systems and methods are provided though which a transaction, e.g., in a multi-tier, distributed application may be initiated from a portable or hand-held device, such as a smartphone. A computer system or systems, possibly remote from the device, may approve the transaction, complete it, or both, and the remote computer system or systems may cause a document to be printed, e.g., by a printer physically proximate to the device.Aspects of the invention are illustrated by embodiments in which a drug prescription may be created electronically using a hand-held device. In such an embodiment, the prescription may be transmitted to one or more remote computer systems, such as an application server, for processing. If specified, the remote computer systems may cause a prescription to be printed, e.g., at a printer near the prescriber's location. The prescriber may sign the printed prescription and give it to a patient or pharmacy.
US09619619B2

A method for error recognition in a control system of a medical treatment and/or diagnosis device includes processing, by the control system, data in a regular operating mode and supplying, by the control system, test data of a test data record to a safety-critical component of the control system in a test mode of the control system. The safety-critical component of the control system is also checked in the test mode of the control system.
US09619618B2

Systems and methods for credit-based usage of surgical instruments include one or more surgical instruments having associated therewith a usage amount, a pre-determined maximum usage amount, and an available usage credit amount that is less than the pre-determined maximum usage amount. The systems implement and the methods include comparing the usage amount to the pre-determined maximum usage amount and inhibiting further use of the at least one reusable component when the usage amount is equal to the pre-determined maximum usage amount, and identifying the available usage credit amount and inhibiting further use of the at least one reusable component when there is no available usage credit remaining.
US09619612B2

A tester for equipment, apparatuses, or components with distributed measurement and analytical functions comprises a simplified test circuit for obtaining key data representative of the operational characteristics of said equipment, apparatus, or component and transmitting these to a sophisticated device capable of other uses, such as a smart phone or tablet computer. The latter analyzes the raw data with reference to values for nominal characteristics or operation of the equipment, apparatus, or component and provides a result indicative of the condition thereof.
US09619606B2

A method of placing a dummy fill layer on a substrate is disclosed (FIG. 2). The method includes identifying a sub-region of the substrate (210). A density of a layer in the sub-region is determined (212). A pattern of the dummy fill layer is selected to produce a predetermined density (216). The selected pattern is placed in the sub-region (208).
US09619604B1

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for determining an effective electrical resistance in an electronic circuit design. Embodiments may include receiving, at one or more computing devices, an electronic circuit design and identifying one or more features associated with the electronic circuit design. Embodiments may also include performing a resistance only extraction of a circuit net associated with the electronic circuit design and identifying at least two node locations from the electronic circuit as one or more port nodes. Embodiments may further include reducing the resistance only extraction to an equivalent circuit including only the port nodes and attaching a high-resistance ground voltage source to at least one of the port nodes of the reduced equivalent circuit. Embodiments may also include generating a conductance matrix, based upon, at least in part, the reduced equivalent circuit.
US09619601B1

An example method of generating a control and data flow graph for hardware description language (HDL) code specifying a circuit design is described. The method includes traversing an abstract syntax tree (AST) representation of the HDL code having a plurality of modules on a module-by-module basis. The method further includes adding an execution unit to the control and data flow graph for each module having concurrent paths. Each execution unit includes nodes in the control and data flow graph. The nodes include a loopback sink that merges the concurrent paths and a loopback source that receives feedback from the loopback sink and propagates the feedback to the concurrent paths.
US09619600B2

The application is directed towards facilitating the debugging of suspected errors in a proprietary component when the proprietary component is incorporated into a larger electronic design. Various implementations provide for the generation of a reference model for an integrated circuit design, where the reference model includes the proprietary component and sufficient information about the rest of the design to allow for the debugging of the proprietary component over a period of verification where the error in the proprietary component is suspected.
US09619596B2

The floating memristor emulator is based on a circuit implementation that uses grounded capacitors and CFOAs in addition to combinations of diodes and resistors to provide the required nonlinearity and time constants. This circuit results in low power consumption, cost reduction and ease of implementation because it avoids the use of multipliers, ADCs and RDACs. The present circuit is used in an FM demodulator, which exploits the frequency-dependence of the memristance. Successful use in the FM demodulator confirmed the functionality of the present floating memristor emulator circuit.
US09619595B2

Methods and apparatuses related to the generation of test stimuli are described. In some embodiments, a finite state machine is generated based on a mission profile, and test stimuli are generated based on the mission profile.
US09619593B1

An embodiment includes a computer-readable media storing instructions that when executed on processing logic execute a process for reducing complexity. The media stores instructions for identifying data dependencies in a model having executable semantics, the data dependencies affecting verification of the model and for selecting a location in the model, the location having data dependencies with other locations in the model, the location to be verified when the model is verified. The media also stores instructions for detecting complexities in the model, the complexities related to the selected location and presenting information about a source for at least one of the complexities. The media further stores instructions for eliminating the source for the at least one of the complexities and for transforming the model into an updated model based on the eliminating, the updated model not including the source for the at least one of the complexities.
US09619591B2

A response surface can be built with reduced analysis time and shortened time for objective value calculation using the response surface. To achieve this, a connection information generating unit divides data of a machine structure constituting an analysis target into a plurality of parts via an input unit, and parameterizes a distribution of a physical quantity at a connection boundary thereof so as to be given and received as a parameter of a physical quantity of adjacent divided shape data. A response surface generating unit parameterizes a response surface based on the parameterized distribution of the attribute value.
US09619585B2

A computer-implemented method of constructing and maintaining a record keeping dictionary data structure can include: generating a PATRICIA trie from a set of strings; generating multiple kth-level elevator-stairs data structures at exponentially reducing k-levels, wherein each of the kth-level elevator-stairs data structure includes a kth-level trie corresponding to the PATRICIA trie and wherein nodes of the kth-level trie at string depths of integer multiples of k are accessible through hash table links; and linking nodes in neighboring kth-level tries of the multiple kth-level elevator-stairs data structures where the nodes represent a same node in the PATRICIA trie.
US09619580B2

A processor-implemented method, system, and/or computer program product generates and utilizes synthetic context-based objects. A non-contextual data object is associated with a context object to define a synthetic context-based object, where the non-contextual data object ambiguously relates to multiple subject-matters, and where the context object provides a context that identifies a specific subject-matter, from the multiple subject-matters, of the non-contextual data object. The synthetic context-based object is then associated with at least one specific data store, which includes data that is associated with data contained in the non-contextual data object and the context object. A request for a data store that is associated with the synthetic context-based object results in the return of at least one data store that is associated with the synthetic context-based object.
US09619578B2

A method comprises providing an interface permitting a first user to control activation of a mobile information channel through which the first user can share access to content with a plurality of additional users, activating the mobile information channel responsive to input received from the first user via the interface, inserting content provided by the first user into the mobile information channel, receiving additional content relating to the mobile information channel from one or more of said additional users via one or more respective mobile devices associated with at least one wireless network, inserting at least a portion of the additional content into the mobile information channel, and integrating into the mobile information channel information associated with at least one wireless networking functionality of said at least one wireless network.
US09619576B2

Embodiments discussed herein relate to a mobile terminal providing a user interface capable of more conveniently searching a user's visited web pages. To this end, a mobile terminal according to an embodiment discussed herein may include a storage unit configured to store link information between a first web page and a second web page when the second web page is approached from the first web page; a display unit configured to display a first indicator indicating the first web page and a second indicator indicating the second web page together with the link information; and a controller configured to control the display unit to display a web page corresponding to the selected indicator when either one of the first indicator and second indicator is selected.
US09619573B2

Method for calculating tolerance zones for utility assets includes: receiving data about a point, a line, or an area related to a location of an utility asset in a region; receiving information about said utility asset in the region from one or more databases, wherein the received information includes two or more of a type of the utility asset, a location of the utility asset, an accuracy of the location of the utility asset, accuracy requirements for the utility asset, accuracy requirements for the region, and a map tile accuracy; calculating a tolerance zone for said utility asset in the region based on the accuracy requirements for the utility asset and one or more of said accuracy of the location of the utility asset, accuracy requirements for the region, and the map tile accuracy; and transmitting the tolerance zone to a remote device.
US09619566B2

Provided is an information processing apparatus including a selected information acquisition unit for acquiring, from a history management server managing, for each search string, one or more pieces of selected information selected from one or more pieces of page identification information obtained by using the search string, selected information matching a selected string, and a display control unit for performing control such that information regarding a page identified by the selected information acquired by the selected information acquisition unit is displayed.
US09619564B2

Embodiments of the present application relate to a method, a system, and a computer program product for providing recommended terms. A method for providing recommended terms is provided. The method includes determining a search query input by a user and an input time point when the search query was input, determining whether the input time point falls within a time range preset within a current time period, if the input time point falls within the time range preset within the current time period, determining whether the search query is present in a word bank preset for the time range, and if the search query is present in the word bank, providing the user with a special event recommended term preset for the time range.
US09619560B1

In one implementation, a method is described of retrying matching of an audio query against audio references. The method includes receiving a follow-up query that requests a retry at matching a previously submitted audio query. In some implementations, this follow-up query is received without any recognition hint that suggests how to retry matching. The follow-up query includes the audio query or a reference to the audio query to be used in the retry. The method further includes retrying matching the audio query using retry matching resources that include an expanded group of audio references, identifying at least one match and transmitting a report of the match. Optionally, the method includes storing data that correlates the follow-up query, the audio query or the reference to the audio query, and the match after retrying.
US09619559B2

Techniques for re-associating dynamic metadata with media data are provided. A media processing system creates, with a first media processing stage, binding information comprising dynamic metadata and a time relationship between the dynamic metadata and media data. The binding information may be derived from the media data. While the first media processing stage delivers the media data to a second media processing stage in a first data path, the first media processing stage passes the binding information to the second media processing stage in a second data path. The media processing system re-associates, with the second media processing stage, the dynamic metadata and the media data using the binding information.
US09619558B2

Methods, systems and programming for entity recognition in a query. In one example, an index that associates an alias with one or more entities is obtained. Each of the one or more entities is associated with one or more features. A query associated with one or more features is received from a user. The alias is then identified in the query. At least one of the one or more entities is determined based, at least in part, on the features associated with each of the one or more entities and the features associated with the query.
US09619554B2

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for providing query-completion suggestions configured to be searched against vertical information domains in response to receiving a general web search query are provided. At least a portion of a general web search query is received. As the portion of the general web search query is received, query-completion suggestions are determined as is a likely primary intent associated with at least a portion of the determined query-completion suggestions. If the likely primary intent associated with a particular query-completion suggestion is for information associated with a particular vertical information domain other than the general web domain, the query-completion suggestion is provided such that selection thereof causes searching of the query-completion suggestion against the particular information domain for search results.
US09619546B2

A synchronization adapter is coupled to the application that does not support synchronization and generates the necessary synchronization metadata for all data in the application that is to be synchronized. The synchronization adapter then combines the metadata to the actual data to be synchronized to form a synchronization feed. The synchronization feed is stored in an internal cache (or data store) which is internal to the application, or an external cache (or data store), which is external to the application, or it can be stored in both caches. The synchronization adapter also intermittently determines whether the application data has changed, thus warranting a change in its metadata, or whether a synchronization operation is warranted to synchronization operation is warranted to synchronize the data with data in another application. In either case, the synchronization adapter makes the changes to the data, or performs a synchronization operation.
US09619532B2

Multiple mobile devices can be enabled to collaboratively search online information databases for results that may be interesting to all of them. Such search results can involve places of interest at which all of the search participants can conveniently meet due to the locations of those results being near to all of the search participants, for example.
US09619528B2

Automatically creating and modifying a search engine for a website. User input may be received specifying an address of a website. A search engine may be automatically created for the website based on the user input. Webpages of the website may specify a plurality of tags specifying custom attributes of the webpages. During creation of the search engine, these custom attributes may be incorporated into the search engine index. Additional user input may be received customizing the search engine for various search engine contexts, e.g., based on the custom attributes of the webpages. Search engine results for the website may be based on various ranking functions, potentially including social impact of webpages of the website.
US09619525B2

An organic search ranking of a web page for a particular search query can be optimized by publishing a large number of short, subsidiary web documents associated with the web page. The web page and the associated web documents can be individually optimized in terms of one or more parameters based upon web analytical data compiled for the search query. The web page and associated web documents can also be jointly optimized by coordinating the content of the associated web documents to align with the primary web page, and further by providing a network of links between the associated web documents and the primary web page. To provide greater insight and to assess the overall efficacy of the web presence optimization effort, historical search rank data can be correlated with specific events and reported to a user.
US09619517B2

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates reconfirmation of resource records in a cache. The system starts by retrieving the resource record at a client and attempting to establish communication using the data in that resource record. In the event that communication is not successful, the system responds by issuing one or more queries for the resource record in question. The system then waits for a response to the query. If the response to the query is not received in a pre-determined amount of time, the system invalidates the resource record. The response from the device is a multicast response, thereby allowing other clients to update corresponding resource records in their local caches without querying the device, and thus saving network bandwidth.
US09619508B2

Speculative processing of begin transaction database messages may include receiving a begin transaction message from a database client, transmitting an acknowledgement of the begin transaction message to the database client prior to forwarding the begin transaction message to the database server, forwarding the begin transaction message to the database server, and receiving an acknowledgement of the begin transaction message from the database server. In some implementations, the acknowledgement of the begin transaction message to the database client is transmitted substantially without delay after receiving the begin transaction message from the database client.
US09619505B2

A data health management apparatus may include a non-transitory memory and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory. In some cases, the processor may be configured to process instructions read from the memory. For example, the instructions may cause the processor to identify data associated with an application, where the data stored in at least one data repository. The processor may then analyze, the data stored in the at least one data repository, such as via a network, to determine a data health metric. The instructions may then cause the processor to determine an action to be performed on the data repository based on the determined data health metric.
US09619501B2

The index scan device acquires information on a search space in a multi-dimensional space corresponding to a search range of a query; sets, as a search point, a data point corresponding to at least one of a minimum and a maximum of values obtained by changing each data point in the multi-dimensional space to be one-dimensional, from among data points contained in the search space or the partial search space; identifies index data associated with a partial space containing the search point; estimates a boundary line passing through the search space on the basis of identification information on the partial space obtained from the identified index data; and determines, from among divided search spaces obtained by dividing the search space by the estimated boundary line.
US09619500B2

Embodiments include methods, systems and computer program products for performing a tournament tree sort on a hardware accelerator. The method includes receiving a plurality of key values by the hardware accelerator, storing each the plurality of keys into a location on a memory of the hardware accelerator, and creating a pointer to each of the locations of the plurality of keys. The method also includes storing the pointer to each of the plurality of keys into a first array stored by the hardware accelerator, sorting the plurality of keys by ordering the pointers in the first array and by using a second array for storing the pointers, wherein the sorting identifies a winning key from the plurality of keys in the memory, and outputting the winning key.
US09619499B2

Embodiments include methods, systems and computer program products for performing a tournament tree sort on a hardware accelerator. The method includes receiving a plurality of key values by the hardware accelerator, storing each the plurality of keys into a location on a memory of the hardware accelerator, and creating a pointer to each of the locations of the plurality of keys. The method also includes storing the pointer to each of the plurality of keys into a first array stored by the hardware accelerator, sorting the plurality of keys by ordering the pointers in the first array and by using a second array for storing the pointers, wherein the sorting identifies a winning key from the plurality of keys in the memory, and outputting the winning key.
US09619495B2

A method for surrogate key generation performed by a physical computing system includes creating a lookup record for a production key of an input record, a key of the lookup record including the production key and a value of the lookup record including both a record identifier for the input record and a unique identifier of the production key within the input record. The method further includes sending the lookup record to a first node of a distributed computing system, the first node determined by hashing the production key with a first hash function, and with the first node, determining a surrogate key for the production key.
US09619490B2

A method for performing lockless lookups during a rolling upgrade of a column family from an old column family version to a new column family version in a NoSQL database.
US09619489B2

The disclosure relates to systems and methods for augmenting a view of a physical space of one or more geographically definable locations (“geo-locations”) with social media and/or other content originating from the one or more geo-locations. Generally speaking, the system may include a computing device having one or more processors programmed to augment (e.g., add to, overlay, embed, etc.) the view of the physical space of a geo-location with social media content, thereby allowing a user to view a physical space at a geo-location along with social media content that was created from the geo-location.
US09619485B2

A document retrieving apparatus includes a document retrieving unit adapted to retrieve document data which include images that match an input retrieval condition, a retrieval result list display unit adapted to display, on a display unit, a list display of document data that match the retrieval condition based on the retrieval results of the document retrieving unit, and a thumbnail display unit adapted to display, in the list display by the retrieval result list display unit, a first thumbnail image associated with a page or an image element which matches the retrieval condition, and a second thumbnail image associated with another page or another image element which forms the document data that includes the page or the image element which match the retrieval condition.
US09619482B1

A method and system for anonymizing data to be stored in a destination computing device is disclosed. A first data store is provided in a first user computing device, the first data store including a file folder designated as a first sync folder. A destination data store is provided in a destination computing device, the destination data store including a file folder designated as a destination sync folder. A file stored in the first sync folder is also stored in the destination sync folder and the file stored in the destination sync folder is anonymized before transmission of the file to the destination computing device over a network for storage in the destination sync folder.
US09619473B1

This disclosure relates to a method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for generating a snapshot map used to facilitate storage system management. In some embodiments, this includes displaying a snapshot map comprising a set of components, each of the component representing a snapshot configuration characteristic, selecting a component from the set of components, obtaining the snapshot configuration characteristic represented by the selected component, dragging the selected component from the snapshot map, dropping the selected component to a configuration display, generating configurations based on the snapshot configuration characteristic, summarizing in the configuration display the configurations, and confirming the configurations.
US09619472B2

Provided are a computer program product, system and method for updating class assignments for data sets during a recall operation in a storage environment having a plurality of storage devices. Information on a data set is processed to determine at least one current attribute of the data set. A determination is made as to whether the determined at least one current attribute satisfies a criteria. Indication is made in a catalog to change a class associated with the data set in response to determining that the at least one current attribute satisfies the criteria, wherein the class is used to determine how to manage the data set. The data set is migrated from a first storage to a second storage. A recall operation is initiated to recall the data set from the second storage. In response to the recall operation and determining that the catalog indicates to change the class associated with the data set, the catalog is processed to determine whether to change the class for the data set from a first class to a second class and a management operation is performed on the data set to conform the data set to the second class when recalling the data set.
US09619471B2

A presentation application for masking portions of an object, such as the background of an image, is provided. The presentation application may provide a background removal tool that allows a user to define an initial point in the background of the object. The presentation application may establish an initial background color based on the initial point, and may compute and automatically adjust a color tolerance of the background color based on the distance that a user-controlled cursor is from the initial point. Using a seed-fill algorithm, the presentation application can select a contiguous portion of the object for masking that includes the initial point and surrounding pixels that are within the background color tolerance. To smoothen the edges of the contiguous portion, the presentation application can convert the portion to a vector graphic before making the object.
US09619458B2

A system and method for matching phrases having arbitrary text. A first data structure stores a list of common phrases having multiple words. Each unique word is indexed in a hash table and mapped to one or more values that describe attributes of using the word in one or more of the common phrases. Using the hash table and the list of common phrases, a temporary array is defined to keep track of possible matches between words in an input string and the list of common phrases.
US09619445B1

Embodiments are provided for conversion of content to formats suitable for digital distributions. In some embodiments, a transformation of selected markup elements within a content item into semantic markup elements is performed, where the transformation provides receipt of a selection indicative of a mapping between a chosen markup element and a pattern element of a defined pattern, the defined pattern defining at least one of a semantic markup tag and a semantic attribute for each pattern element, and processing of the transformation by assigning to the chosen markup element at least one of a semantic markup tag and a semantic attribute defined for the pattern element mapped to the chosen markup element.
US09619436B2

Implementing an electronic calendar can include accessing a first electronic calendar owned by a first party, accessing a second electronic calendar owned by a second party, and presenting a view that combines at least one existing entry from within each of the first and second electronic calendars. Source information for each of the first and second electronic calendars may be electronically maintained. The combined view may be updated electronically to reflect a change to at least one of the existing entries from within at least one of the first and second electronic calendars. Electronic calendars may be accessed and overlaid without importing events, thus enabling simple updating. Event information may be imported and source or other attributes may be associated with imported information to enable updating and other sorting functions.
US09619416B2

Component apparatuses with inter-component communication capabilities, and system having such component apparatuses are disclosed herein. In embodiments, such a component may include a number of control pins including a clock pin, a number of data pins, and a logic unit. The logic unit may be configured to receive a clock signal from another component through the clock pin, to provide an alert signal to the other component through a selected one of the control and data pins to initiate a transaction with the other component, to receive in response to the alert signal from the other component through the data pins a status request to determine nature of the transaction, and to provide in response to the status request to the other component through the data pins a status to indicate the nature of the transaction. The provision of the alert signal, the receipt of the status request and the provision of the status may be in reference to the clock signal. Other embodiments may be disclosed or claimed.
US09619414B2

An improved system and method for deinterleaving a data unit containing chunks of two or more different data types. In an embodiment of the invention, both a device MPU and DMA hardware are used to deinterleave a data unit containing chunks of both compressed data and uncompressed data. The device MPU is used to transfer compressed data from an interleaved data buffer to a compressed data buffer, while the DMA hardware is used to transfer uncompressed data from the interleaved data buffer to a compressed data buffer. By using both the MPU and the DMA hardware, the overall efficiency of the data transfer process is improved.
US09619412B2

In one embodiment, a processor includes an access logic to determine whether an access request from a virtual machine is to a device access page associated with a device of the processor and if so, to re-map the access request to a virtual device page in a system memory associated with the VM, based at least in part on information stored in a control register of the processor. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09619411B2

Techniques for polling an input/output (I/O) device are described herein. The techniques include polling a device for data from the I/O device, and receiving the data from the I/O device at the host device as a result of the polling. The techniques include determining whether the data received is the same as data received at a previous polling of the I/O device. Upon determining the data received is the same, the techniques include decreasing the polling rate if the data is the same, and if it is not the same. Upon determining the data is not the same, the techniques include increasing the polling rate if the data is not the same.
US09619410B1

A low latency packet switching system comprising a switching device and a processing device. The switching device may include a first plurality of input/output (I/O) ports and a second plurality of I/O ports, wherein each port of the first plurality of ports may be electrically coupled to a pluggable transceiver socket configured to receive a cable connector. The processing device may include a plurality of transceivers electrically coupled to the second plurality of ports. The switching device may be configured to receive a first electric signal encoding one or more incoming data packets. The switching device may be programmed to output the first electric signal to one or more ports, in accordance with a programmable port mapping scheme. The processing device may be configured to receive the first electric signal and to output a second electric signal encoding one or more modified data packets derived from the incoming data packets.
US09619403B2

A method including creating a transaction object for a transaction identified by a TOI and associated with an object identified by an OID, storing a TE and a MD frag for the transaction object, receiving a write request to write data to the transaction object, storing second TE including a TOI and offset and a data frag including the data, storing an entry including a hash value and a physical address of the data frag, and receiving a commit request to commit the transaction. In response to the commit request storing a third TE and a second MD frag for the transaction object, where the second MD frag identifies the object and specifies that the transaction is committed and updating a second entry including a second hash value and a second physical address for a second data frag to replace the second physical address with the physical address.
US09619400B2

A computer-implemented method for managing memory operations includes reading a first memory page from a storage device responsive to a request for the first memory page. The first memory page is stored to a system memory. Based on a pre-established set of association rules, one or more associated memory pages are identified that are related to the first memory page. The associated memory pages are read from the storage device and compressed to generate corresponding compressed associated memory pages. The compressed associated memory pages are also stored to the system memory to enable memory access to the associated memory pages during processing of the first memory page. The compressed associated memory pages are individually decompressed in response to the particular page being required for use during processing.
US09619397B2

For browser cache cleanup, to consider for eviction a data item stored in a cache of a browser application in a device, a probability that the data item will be needed again during a period after the eviction is computed. A type is determined of a network that will be available at the device during the period. A cost is computed of obtaining the data item over a network of the type, from a location of the device during the period. Using the probability and the cost, a weight of the data item is computed. The weight is associated with the data item as a part of associating a set of weights with a set of data items in the cache. The data item is selected for eviction from the cache because the weight is a lowest weight in the set of weights.
US09619393B1

A system and/or computer program product selectively adjusts a resources addresses cache of addresses of resources used by virtual processors. A first dispatch from a hypervisor dispatches a first virtual processor, and then tracks processes executed by the first virtual processor. The hypervisor caches cache addresses of resources used by the processes after the first dispatch in a resources addresses cache. The hypervisor undispatches the first virtual processor, and then redispatches the first virtual processor as a second virtual processor by issuing a second dispatch. Processes executed by the second virtual processor are compared to processes executed during by the first virtual processor, thus leading to an identification of a level of process utilization consistency. The hypervisor then adjusts the resources addresses cache by selectively clearing resource addresses based on the level of process utilization consistency.
US09619392B2

An electronic device includes a semiconductor memory that includes: a variable resistance element formed over a substrate; and a carbon-containing aluminum nitride layer formed on sidewalls and in an upper portion of the variable resistance element.
US09619388B2

A method for managing cache data of a mobile terminal includes determining whether first cache data corresponds to an application exists. If it is determined that the first cache data does not exist, a data request is sent to request server data corresponding to the first cache data, the server data is downloaded, forming the first cache data by using the downloaded server data.
US09619385B2

Cache miss rates for threads operating in a simultaneous multi-threading computer processing environment can be estimated. The single thread rates can be estimated by monitoring a shared directory for cache misses for a first thread. Memory access requests can be routed to metering cache directories associated with the particular thread. Single thread misses to the shared directory and single thread misses to the associated metering cache directory are monitored and a performance indication is determined by comparing the cache misses with the thread misses. The directory in the associated metering cache is rotated, and a second sharing performance indication is determined.
US09619383B2

A transactional memory system predicts the outcome of coalescing outermost memory transactions, the coalescing causing committing of memory store data to memory for a first transaction to be done at transaction execution (TX) end of a second transaction, the method comprising. A processor of the transactional memory system determines whether a first plurality of outermost transactions from an associated program that were coalesced experienced an abort, the first plurality of outermost transactions including a first instance of a first transaction. The processor updates a history of the associated program to reflect the results of the determination. The processor coalesces a second plurality of outermost transactions from the associated program, based, at least in part, on the updated history.
US09619382B2

Methods for read request bypassing a last level cache which interfaces with an external fabric are disclosed. A method includes identifying a read request for a read transaction, generating a phantom read transaction identifier for the read transaction and forwarding the read transaction with the phantom read transaction identifier beyond a last level cache before detection of a hit or miss with respect to the read transaction. The phantom read transaction identifier acts as a pointer to a real read transaction identifier.
US09619372B2

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and systems for hybrid testing, combining the optimization features of functional testing brought forth to security testing. One disclosed method may include receiving a list of input points associated with a software unit under test and assigning, by a processor, risk values to the input points based on one or more risk rating factors. The risk values may reflect security risk associated with the input points. The method may further include providing, to the software unit under test, input values indicative of a functional test for input points assigned values reflecting a low security risk and input values indicative of a security test for input points assigned values reflecting a high security risk. The method may further include executing a security test for the software unit under test using the input values.
US09619367B1

According to example embodiments of the present invention, an object to be monitored is determined, the object being associated with a variable in a code snippet including a plurality of statements. The object is monitored in execution of the plurality of statements. If a plurality of updates of the object are detected in the execution of the plurality of statements, a snapshot associated with each of the updates of the object is created. The snapshot includes a current value of the object and a memory address for the current value of the object.
US09619364B2

A method for analyzing race conditions between multiple threads of an application is disclosed. The method comprises accessing hazard records for an application under test. It further comprises creating a graph comprising a plurality of vertices and a plurality of edges using the hazard records, wherein each vertex of the graph comprises information about a code location of a hazard and wherein each edge of the graph comprises hazard information between one or more vertices. Additionally, it comprises assigning each edge with a weight, wherein the weight depends on a number and relative priority of hazards associated with a respective edge. Finally, it comprises traversing the graph to report an analysis record for each hazard represented in the graph.
US09619363B1

Predicting software product quality. Real-time and historic software code metrics, software code defect data for the software product, and test case-related data for the software product are received. A feature predicted fallibility that estimates the number of code defects for a new feature of the software product, a product version projected fallibility that estimates the number of code defects for a new version of a software product, a test case related quality coefficient that estimates the likelihood of discovery of code defects in a new feature, a feature quality and a product quality indexes that are qualitative indications of quality of the new code of a feature and the new product version, are calculated. A report is then output that includes at least the calculated values, whereby developer resources are directed to features of the software product for which the calculated values indicate likelihoods of a high defect densities.
US09619362B2

According to an aspect of an embodiment, a method may include determining event sequences of an event-driven software application. The method may further include determining, for each event sequence, a distance with respect to each of one or more target conditions of the event-driven software application. The event sequence distance may indicate a degree to which execution of its corresponding event sequence satisfies a corresponding target condition. The method may also include prioritizing execution of the plurality of event sequences based on the event sequence distances. Further, the method may include exploring, according to the prioritization of execution, an event space that includes one or more of the event sequences and a dependent event that corresponds to the one or more target conditions.
US09619354B2

Diagnosing faults in a hardware appliance. Information is read by a hand-held reader from one or more contactless tags associated with one or more components in a hardware appliance. One or more component faults and/or issues are identified based on the read information. A query is formed based on the identified one or more component faults and/or issues. A diagnostic database in the hand-held reader is queried, based on the formed query, and one or more query results are displayed in a ranked order on a display of the hand-held reader. In one aspect of the embodiments, the information read from the one or more contactless tags includes a pointer to a datastore in one of the one or more components. An ad hoc wireless network connection is established with the hardware appliance, and information in the datastore is downloaded over the connection.
US09619350B1

An information handling system may include a processor and a first storage management console comprising a program of executable instructions embodied in non-transitory computer-readable media accessible to the processor, and configured to, when read and executed by the processor: (i) manage input/output between an application and a primary physical storage controller to perform input/output between the application and a storage resource communicatively coupled to primary physical storage container; (ii) asynchronously mirror application-consistent snapshots of data associated with the application from the primary physical storage controller to a storage virtual controller configured to emulate a physical storage controller such that the storage virtual controller stores the snapshots to remote storage geographically remote from the information handling system; (iii) store metadata associated with the application and data stored to the storage resource and the remote storage; and (iv) copy the metadata to a second storage management console executing on a second information handling system geographically remote from the information handling system.
US09619333B2

As disclosed herein, a method for optimizing data synchronization when performing a block-level backup includes receiving a customized merging plan, and creating a padding map that includes missing data information, and sending the padding map to a local backup server to request missing data. The method further includes receiving from the local backup server the missing data, and performing a snapshot consolidation according to the customized merging plan to provide a consolidated snapshot.
US09619329B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus and methods for converting a volatile memory module device to a non-volatile memory module device. In one embodiment, a male contact edge of a memory module device is inserted to a first memory module device socket of a memory module device adaptor, the memory module device adaptor having a first male contact edge. Power is provided to the memory module device in the event of a system failure. Diodes operatively connected to one or more power pins of the first memory module device socket prevent current from flowing to the battery to one or more power pins of the male contact edge of the memory module device adaptor. Applications needing dedicated memory are registered and, in the event of a system failure memory module device data associated with the registered applications can be recovered without the use of flash memory.
US09619321B1

Systems and methods for internal copy-back with read-verify are described. In one embodiment, a storage device includes a controller to select a first single level cell (SLC) page of a plurality of SLC pages on the storage device to transfer to a triple level cell (TLC) page. The controller, in conjunction with an error correcting code (ECC) decoder, read-verifies the first SLC page. Read-verifying the first SLC page includes reading the first SLC page to an internal page buffer, decoding the first SLC page read into the internal page buffer, determining a number of errors contained in the first SLC page based at least in part on the decoding, and verifying whether the number of errors contained in the first SLC page satisfies an error threshold. The controller transfers the first SLC page to the TLC page according to a result of read-verifying the first SLC page.
US09619311B2

Storage area network (SAN) components contain a processor configured to provide a first event handling module that can receive an error event at a first hardware component of the storage area network. A database is accessed that contains associations between error event data and potential sources of errors. A plurality of hardware components are identified using the database and error event data. The hardware components are ranked and one is selected based on the ranking. An error notification is sent to a second event handling module of the hardware component. Based upon the response of the second event handling module, an error handling procedure is carried out.
US09619305B2

Handling locale information on a computing platform, a computer obtains, in response to an event that an application is pushed to a computing platform, locale information corresponding to the application. The computer determines the type of the application, configures a runtime executable file required by the application according to the locale information corresponding to the application and the type of the application, creates a script for configuring a locale of an operating system on the computing platform consistent with the locale information corresponding to the application, and creates a droplet for the application that includes the configured runtime executable file required by the application and is associated with the created script.
US09619303B2

A controller has a cache to store data associated with an address that is subject to conflict resolution. A conflict resolution queue stores information relating to plural transactions, and logic reprioritizes the plural transactions in the conflict resolution queue to change a priority of a first type of transaction with respect to a priority of second type of transaction.
US09619302B2

A system and method for distributed locking for networked device management is provided. In one aspect, a lock is granted for a resource attached to a switched fabric, in response to receiving a request to access the resource. If the resource is already locked by another process or device, or otherwise unavailable, the request may be queued or failed.
US09619299B2

A system and method for synchronizing information from an information handling system is disclosed. The method includes identifying a device within a pre-determined range of a docking station, the device operable to communicate with the docking station. The method also includes pairing with the device, determining a user of the device, and predicting, based upon past activity by the user at another docking station, content to be launched on the device. The method further include presenting the content for launching on the device, receiving a selection of the content; and launching the content on the device.
US09619296B2

Disclosed are systems, hybrid compute environments, methods and computer-readable media for dynamically provisioning nodes for a workload. In the hybrid compute environment, each node communicates with a first resource manager associated with the first operating system and a second resource manager associated with a second operating system. The method includes receiving an instruction to provision at least one node in the hybrid compute environment from the first operating system to the second operating system, after provisioning the second operating system, pooling at least one signal from the resource manager associated with the at least one node, processing at least one signal from the second resource manager associated with the at least one node and consuming resources associated with the at least one node having the second operating system provisioned thereon.
US09619290B2

A method of balancing execution rates for a plurality of parallel program loops being executed concurrently by a processor may include estimating a completion time for each program loop of the plurality of program loops, determining a difference between the estimated completion time of a first program loop of the plurality of program loops and the estimated completion time of a second program loop of the plurality of program loops, and decreasing the difference by adjusting an execution rate of the first program loop.
US09619289B2

Systems and methods for a workload optimized server for intelligent algorithm trading platforms. In an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, an Information Handling System (IHS) may include a plurality of Central Processing Units (CPUs) and a control circuit coupled to the plurality of CPUs, the control circuit having a memory configured to store program instructions that, upon execution by the control logic, cause the IHS to: set a first number of enabled cores in a first CPU to operate with a first all-core turbo frequency, and set a second number of enabled cores in a second CPU to operate with a second all-core turbo frequency, where the first number of enabled cores is different from the second number of enabled cores, and where at least one of the first or second all core turbo frequencies is selected to cause the IHS to operate with reduced execution jitter.
US09619285B2

Provided is a method for managing operation requests using different resources. In one embodiment, a first queue is provided for operations which utilize a first resource of a first and second resource. A second queue is provided for operations which utilize the second resource. An operation is queued on the first queue until the first resource is acquired. The first resource is released if the second resource is not also acquired. The operation is queued on the second queue when the first resource is acquired but the second resource is not. In addition, the first resource is released until the operation acquires both the first resource and the second resource.
US09619281B2

Particular techniques for improving the scalability of concurrent programs (e.g., lock-based applications) may be effective in some environments and for some workloads, but not others. The systems described herein may automatically choose appropriate ones of these techniques to apply when executing lock-based applications at runtime, based on observations of the application in the current environment and with the current workload. In one example, two techniques for improving lock scalability (e.g., transactional lock elision using hardware transactional memory, and optimistic software techniques) may be integrated together. A lightweight runtime library built for this purpose may adapt its approach to managing concurrency by dynamically selecting one or more of these techniques (at different times) during execution of a given application. In this Adaptive Lock Elision approach, the techniques may be selected (based on pluggable policies) at runtime to achieve good performance on different platforms and for different workloads.
US09619279B2

A method of enabling multiple different operating systems to run concurrently on the same RISC (e.g. ARM) computer, comprising selecting a first operating system to have a relatively high priority (the realtime operating system, such as C5); selecting at least one secondary operating system to have a relatively lower priority (the general purpose operating system, such as Linux); providing a common program (a hardware resource dispatcher similar to a nanokernel) arranged to switch between said operating systems under predetermined conditions; and providing modifications to said first and second operating systems to allow them to be controlled by said common program.
US09619276B2

A technique for operating a computer system to support an application, a first application server environment, and a second application server environment includes intercepting a work request relating to the application issued to the first application server environment prior to execution of the work request. A thread adapted for execution in the first application server environment is created. A context is attached to the thread that non-disruptively modifies the thread into a hybrid thread that is additionally suitable for execution in the second application server environment. The hybrid thread is returned to the first application server environment.
US09619275B2

The present disclosure discloses a data processing method, apparatus and mobile terminal. In the data processing method, the mobile terminal performs data computation in a sub-thread of the current program when a data request is received. The mobile terminal loads the requested data in the main thread of the current program based on the data computation results and displays the loaded requested data. The present disclosure ensures the smoothness of user interface threads, the stability of systems, and the display performance of user interfaces.
US09619263B2

In one embodiment, a virtual machine manager may use dynamic memory balancing and greedy ballooning to improve guest memory performance. A memory 130 may have a system memory page set with a system memory page set size associated with the virtual machine to support a guest memory page set of the virtual machine with a guest memory page set size. A processor 120 may instruct the virtual machine to execute a reduction of the guest memory page set size. The processor 120 may maintain the system memory page set size during the reduction.
US09619260B2

Policy enforcement in an environment that includes virtualized systems is disclosed. Virtual machine information associated with a first virtual machine instance executing on a host machine is received. The information can be received from a variety of sources, including an agent, a log server, and a management infrastructure associated with the host machine. A policy is applied based at least in part on the received virtual machine information.
US09619256B1

A computer implemented method, system, and computer program product for replicating multiple tenants comprising creating a first sub cluster at a production site; wherein the production site has a cluster of replication appliances and wherein the sub-cluster comprises a subset of the replication appliances in the cluster of replication appliance at the production site, creating a second sub cluster at a replication site comprising of a subset of replication appliances in the cluster of replication appliance at the production cluster, and creating a replication subsystem comprising of the first and second sub-clusters and replicating from the production sub-cluster to the replica sub cluster.
US09619247B2

In one embodiment, a memory resource manager may pass data memory structures between application components on a computing device. A memory resource 306 may store a data memory structure for a holding application component 302. A processor 120 may pass a handle representing the data memory structure to a calling application component 308 upon access by the calling application component 308.
US09619245B1

A converged network adapter card utilizes a single option ROM to support configuring and booting the protocols of the multifunction converged network adapter. In one embodiment the single option ROM stores a sequence of images to: 1) support configuring and booting the network interface card (NIC) and storage protocols supported by the converged network adapter card and 2) support all of the boot solutions for the converged network adapter card.
US09619236B2

An apparatus is described having instruction execution logic circuitry to execute first, second, third and fourth instruction. Both the first instruction and the second instruction insert a first group of input vector elements to one of multiple first non overlapping sections of respective first and second resultant vectors. The first group has a first bit width. Each of the multiple first non overlapping sections have a same bit width as the first group. Both the third instruction and the fourth instruction insert a second group of input vector elements to one of multiple second non overlapping sections of respective third and fourth resultant vectors. The second group has a second bit width that is larger than said first bit width. Each of the multiple second non overlapping sections have a same bit width as the second group. The apparatus also includes masking layer circuitry to mask the first and third instructions at a first resultant vector granularity, and, mask the second and fourth instructions at a second resultant vector granularity.
US09619235B2

A processor accesses memory storing a compressed instruction sequence that includes compression information indicating that an instruction that with respect to the preceding instruction, has identical operation code and operand continuity is compressed. The processor includes a fetcher that fetches a bit string from the memory and determines whether the bit string is a non-compressed instruction, where if so, transfers the given bit string and if not, transfers the compression information; and a decoder that upon receiving the non-compressed instruction, holds in a buffer, instruction code and an operand pattern of the non-compressed instruction and executes processing to set to an initial value, the value of an instruction counter that indicates a count of consecutive instructions having identical operation code and operand continuity, and upon receiving the compression information, restores the instruction code based on the instruction code held in the buffer, the instruction counter value, and the operand pattern.
US09619228B2

The data processor includes CPU operable to execute an instruction included in an instruction set. The instruction set includes a load instruction for reading data on a memory space. The data read according to the load instruction includes data of a format type having a data-read-branching-occurrence bit region. The CPU includes a data-read-branching control register; a data-read-branching address register; and a read-data-analyzing unit. On condition that a bit value showing the occurrence of data read branching has been set on the data-read-branching-occurrence bit region, and a value showing the data-read-branching-occurrence bit remaining valid has been set on the data-read-branching control register, the switching between processes is performed by branching to an address stored in the data-read-branching address register.
US09619220B2

In one implementation, a computer-implemented method includes accessing, by a computer system, information that describes use of one or more computer-based services by a particular user from one or more computing devices that are associated with the particular user; identifying one or more native applications that are associated with the one or more services, wherein the one or more native applications are configured to be installed and executed by one or more types of mobile computing devices; determining whether to recommend the one or more native applications based on the information and one or more threshold levels of use of the one or more computer-based services; and providing, based on the determining, a recommendation that is associated with the particular user and that identifies at least one of the one or more native applications.
US09619218B2

Implementations for setup of management system in a virtualization system are disclosed. A method of the disclosure includes installing, by a setup program of a host machine, a virtual machine (VM) on the host machine in view of configuration information obtained by the setup program, verifying that an operating system (OS) is installed on the VM, verifying that a management system is installed on the VM, confirming that the management system is responsive, when responsiveness of the management system is confirmed, sending a command to the management system to add the host machine to a list of host machines associated with the management system, and restarting the VM when a confirmation that the host machine is added to the list of the management system is received from the management system, wherein the management system is to manage the VM and one or more other VMs of the host machine.
US09619195B2

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for transmitting data using invisible light via a display assembly of an electronic device are provided. This may enable more data to be transmitted simultaneously via a single display assembly of a limited size. For example, a single display assembly may simultaneously transmit a first type of data using visible light that may be comprehensible to a user (e.g., textual information that may be legible to a human) as well as a second type of data using invisible light that may be machine-readable (e.g., a barcode that may be detected by a scanner device but that may not be seen by a human).
US09619180B2

The present system enables more efficient I/O processing by providing a mechanism for maintaining data within the locality of reference. One or more accelerator modules may be implemented within a solid state storage device (SSD). The accelerator modules form a caching storage tier that can receive, store and reproduce data. The one or more accelerator modules may place data into the SSD or hard disk drives based on parameters associated with the data.
US09619179B2

Data Storage Apparatus An apparatus (1) for storing data comprises a plurality of physical data storage disks (2). Each of the physical data storage disks (2) is divided into a plurality of sub-regions (3). The apparatus also comprises data processing means (4) configured such that: the data to be stored is divided into a plurality of data blocks, a plurality of copies of the plurality of data blocks is made and each copy is labelled with a distinct identifier, and assigned to the plurality of sub-regions (3) such that: (a) each copy of any given data block is assigned to a different physical data storage disk (2), and (b) none of the plurality of data blocks with a first identifier is assigned to the same sub-region (3) as any of the plurality of data blocks with a second identifier, for any pair of distinct identifiers.
US09619177B2

According to one embodiment, a system includes first to third managers and a storage unit. The first manager generates read requests corresponding to read-unit data items read by a read command received from an device, and manages first information indicating the state of transmission of the read-unit data items to the device. The storage unit temporarily stores the read-unit data items read from nonvolatile memories in a random order, based on the read requests. The second manager manages second information indicating whether each read-unit data item has been read from the nonvolatile memories. The third manager transmits, based on the first and second information, the read-unit data items to the device in an order designated by the read command, the read-unit data items being stored in the storage unit in a random order.
US09619170B2

According to an embodiment, when a storage status of a first storage unit is recognized as a protected state, a control unit writes data to a second storage unit. When a read target address is recorded in a data migration log area, the control unit reads data from the second storage unit. When the read target address is not recorded in the data migration log area, the control unit reads data from the first storage unit.
US09619169B1

A method is used in managing data activity information for data migration in data storage systems. Slice activity data for slices stored in a data storage system is identified. The slice activity data is divided into multiple subsets of slice activity data. A subset of slice activity data may be obtained and stored in working memory. The slice activity data may be updated to correspond to changes slice activity. After a determined time, the updated slice activity data is copied to a disk drive and the method is repeated with the next subset of slice activity data.
US09619158B2

A mechanism is provided for coordinated garbage collection in an array controller of a two-level hierarchical log structured array architecture for a non-volatile memory array. The two-level hierarchical log structured array (LSA) architecture comprises an array-level LSA in the array controller and a node-level LSA in each node of the non-volatile memory array. The array controller writes logical pages of data to containers in memory of the array-level storage controller at node logical block addresses in an array-level LSA. The array-level LSA maps the host logical block addresses to node logical block addresses in a node-level LSA in a plurality of nodes. Responsive to initiating array-level garbage collection in the array controller, the mechanism identifies a first container to reclaim according to a predetermined garbage collection policy. Responsive to determining the first container has at least a first valid logical page of data, the mechanism moves the first valid logical page of data to a location assigned to the same node in a target container in the memory of the array-level storage controller, remaps the first valid logical page of data in a corresponding node, and reclaims the first container.
US09619152B2

Techniques for transforming character delimited values are presented herein. An input module may be configured to read a set of character delimited values. A generation module may be configured to generate, in real-time, a synchronization block for the set of values that includes a nibble for each value in the set of values. The nibbles may represent either a byte size of the associated value or may be a flag representing a predetermined value. An output module may be configured to sequentially output the synchronization block and the set of values to a binary data output stream for output in a device dependent byte order according to the respective byte sizes of the values in the set of values.
US09619150B2

An operation unit updates grouping information about grouping of data sets stored in a storage device, based on access information about access to data stored in the storage device and memory loading information about data loaded and held in a memory according to access to data stored in the storage device. The operation unit updates data arrangement in the storage device according to the updating of the grouping information. In the updating of the grouping information, the operation unit updates the grouping information based on relationship information between data sets according to the access information.
US09619149B1

Described are techniques that select a physical storage device for storing data. Device weights for physical storage devices are determined in accordance with factor(s) including a storage capacity each physical storage device and an amount of remaining write capacity of each physical storage device representing an amount of remaining writes for an expected lifetime of each physical storage device. A replica set is determined for each physical storage device in accordance with a device weight. Hash value sets are determined for the physical storage devices using a hash function. A first hash value for a first data item is determined using the hash function. The first hash value is mapped to a second hash value included in one of hash value sets associated with a corresponding one of the physical storage devices. The corresponding one of the physical storage devices is selected to store the first data item.
US09619146B2

A work machine includes a controller having a first storage unit that can store work machine information and rewrite the stored work machine information, and a processing unit that collects the work machine information, and stores at least one kind of the work machine information in the first storage unit when trigger information for causing the first storage unit to start storing the work machine information occurs. The controller can change from an outside at least one of the number of data prior to a trigger of the work machine information collected by the processing unit before the trigger information, the number of data subsequent to the trigger of the work machine information collected by the processing unit after the trigger information, and a time interval during which the work machine information is collected.
US09619145B2

An array can include a controller and multiple storage devices of a first type. When a storage device of the first type is replaced by a replacement storage device of a second type, and other storage devices of the first type remain in the array, the controller instructs the replacement storage device to configure itself as a storage device of the first type. When the last storage device of the first type in the array is replaced by a replacement storage device of the second type, the controller instructs all the storage devices of the array to configure themselves as storage devices of the second type.
US09619143B2

A computing device with a touch screen display displays a first set of a first plurality of icons in a first area of the touch screen display, the first plurality of icons including a plurality of sets of icons that are separately displayed in the first area of the touch screen display, the first plurality of icons including application launch icons; displays a second plurality of icons in a second area on the touch screen display, the second plurality of icons including application launch icons, wherein the second area is different from the first area; detects a finger swipe gesture in the first area; and, in response replaces display of the first set with display of a second set of the first plurality of icons in the first area while maintaining the display of the second plurality of icons in the second area.
US09619137B2

A display protection system for use in a portable electronic device includes first and second lenses overlaying the device display. The first lens includes an aperture over a lens sensor mounted in the device, whereas the second lens includes an opaque region in that same area. In this way, the lens sensor may detect the presence or absence of the secondary lens and adjust touch sensor behavior accordingly.
US09619135B2

A method is provided for modifying an image. The method comprises displaying an image, the image comprising a portion of an object; and determining if an edge of the object is in a location within the portion. The method further comprises detecting movement, in a member direction, of an operating member with respect to the edge. The method still further comprises moving, if the edge is not in the location, the object in an object direction corresponding to the detected movement; and modifying, if the edge is in the location, the image in response to the detected movement, the modified image comprising the edge in the location.
US09619132B2

In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a device with a touch screen display is disclosed. In the method, at least a first portion of an electronic document is displayed at a first magnification. A gesture is detected on or near the touch screen display corresponding to a command to zoom in by a user-specified amount. In response to detecting the gesture, decreasing portions of the electronic document are displayed at increasing magnifications. If, upon detecting termination of the gesture, the magnification exceeds a predefined magnification, a respective portion of the electronic document is displayed at the predefined magnification.
US09619124B2

Described herein are frameworks, devices and methods configured for enabling display for facility information and content, in some cases via touch/gesture controlled interfaces. Embodiments of the invention have been particularly developed for allowing an operator to conveniently access a wide range of information relating to a facility via, for example, one or more wall mounted displays. While some embodiments will be described herein with particular reference to that application, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to such a field of use, and is applicable in broader contexts.
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