US09616669B2

Provided is a liquid injecting apparatus equipped with a liquid injecting head, which is mounted on a carriage and moved reciprocally in a widthwise direction of a target, and a valve unit, which is mounted on the carriage to be supplied with liquid via a supply passage from a liquid retainer and to supply liquid to the liquid injecting head. The valve unit has a pressure chamber connected to the liquid retainer via the supply passage; a valve, which opens or closes the supply passage to supply liquid to the pressure chamber; and a flexible film member, which is displaced based on a negative pressure generated as liquid in the pressure chamber decreases to thereby operate the valve.
US09616657B2

A method is provided of charging an inker in a lithographic printing press. The method comprises placing all of the printing units of the printing press in an off impression position, with a continuous substrate passing through the printing units, each printing unit including a blanket cylinder; and in one or more printing units of the plurality of printing units, moving the takeaway roller into contact with the blanket cylinder of the printing unit. Thereafter, the method includes driving the ink train, plate cylinder, blanket cylinder and the take away roller at a first surface speed, whereby the ink from the ink train transmitted to the plate cylinder from the ink train, from the plate cylinder to the blanket cylinder, and from the blanket cylinder to the take away roller; and during said driving step, keeping the continuous substrate stationary or moving the continuous substrate at a second surface speed less than 50% of the first surface speed. Also provided is a closed loop control system for controlling the ink film thickness applied to a printed substrate in a lithographic printing press.
US09616653B2

An ink-based digital printing system for variable data lithographic printing includes an imaging member having a surface configured to absorb dampening fluid. A dampening fluid patterning system jets dampening fluid onto the imaging member surface according to image data to form a dampening fluid pattern. The system includes a transfer member that receives the jetted dampening fluid pattern from the imaging member at a dampening fluid loading nip for subsequent inking of the dampening fluid pattern to form an ink pattern. The ink pattern is transferred to a substrate from the transfer member at an ink pattern transfer nip.
US09616652B2

The present disclosure provides a system for removing a touch panel from a display panel. The system includes: a carrying device on which the display panel adhered with the touch panel is placed; a heating device configured to heat an adhesive between the touch panel and the display panel; and a cutting device arranged on the carrying device and configured to cut the adhesive so as to remove the touch panel from the display panel.
US09616644B2

A lamination device includes a jig configured to accommodate a window having a curved surface; a transfer member configured to allow a film member attached to the window to be spaced from the window; a roller unit configured to press a surface of the transfer member to which the film member is not attached and attaching the film member to the window; a driving unit connected to the roller unit and configured to move the roller unit along the curved surface of the window by rotating with respect to a single rotational center; and a pressing unit connected to the driving unit and the roller unit and configured to press the roller unit.
US09616630B2

Methods of making a golf ball that includes a lattice reinforced layer, which is a layer made of at least two materials with different properties, includes various injection and compression molding steps. In some embodiments, the lattice reinforced layer is manufactured using a shutoff molding technique so that the entire lattice reinforced layer is molded in the same mold. In other embodiments, a grid for the lattice layer is formed first, then filled using an injection molding technique.
US09616629B2

A blade including a structure with aerodynamic profile including two opposite skins obtained by three-dimensional weaving of a fibrous reinforcement densified by a matrix, and a longeron including a fibrous reinforcement obtained by three-dimensional weaving and densified by a matrix, the longeron including a first part extending outside the structure with aerodynamic profile and designed to be connected to a drive hub in rotation of the blade and a second part arranged inside the structure with aerodynamic profile between the two skins. The second part of the longeron has a thickness substantially similar to that of the skins of the structure with aerodynamic profile. In addition, the fibrous reinforcement of the second part of the longeron has the same weaving armor as that of the reinforcement of the skins of the structure with aerodynamic profile.
US09616628B2

An apparatus for manufacturing tires for vehicle wheels wherein each tire includes a carcass structure formed starting from at least one carcass ply laid on a forming support extended along a longitudinal axis. The apparatus includes at least one device for positioning at least one annular anchoring structure on at least one end edge of the carcass ply, the positioning device being circumferentially extended around the longitudinal axis of the forming support and axially movable with respect to the forming support between an operating position distal from the forming support and at least one operating position close to the forming support. The apparatus further includes a device for turning up the end edge of the carcass ply around the annular anchoring structure, the turning up device being circumferentially extended about the longitudinal axis of the forming support and axially movable for approaching/moving away to/from the forming support. The positioning device and the turning up device are radially expandable/contractible in a synchronous manner with respect to the longitudinal axis of the forming support and are settable in a plurality of different operating radial positions, each operating radial position being selected based on a respective radial dimension of the tire to be manufactured.
US09616627B2

A molding element for a mold for vulcanizing a tread of a tire, comprising a base able to mold part of the tread surface of the tread and a bar able to mold a groove in the tread, the bar comprising two lateral faces extending along its length and projecting from the base and an upper face connecting the lateral faces. The molding element comprises a contact edge formed by the base and the bar, intended to come into contact with another molding element to form all or part of the vulcanizing mold, and further comprising at least one recess in the bar, which opens onto one of the lateral faces and onto the contact edge, but does not open onto the upper face of the bar.
US09616624B1

A system to repair a hose made from deformable material includes an elongated container for holding a liquid heated sufficiently for softening the hose. A heater can be positioned in the container. A plurality of restraining members can be positioned to retain the hose immersed in the liquid within the container. A gas supply is used to pressurize the hose prior to immersion, and a support is provided for holding the hose before and after immersion. A method includes filling an elongated container with a heated liquid and pressurizing the hose with a gas. The pressurized hose is immersed in the liquid and maintained immersed by retaining members to soften the hose. The hose is removed from the liquid, depressurized and allowed to cool.
US09616622B2

An RTM method in which a preform formed from a reinforcing fiber substrate is placed in a cavity of a molding die, and resin is injected from a plurality of injection ports into the cavity and impregnated into the preform, includes disposing the plurality of injection ports in first positions in a central section of the cavity corresponding to positions of the preform located in a product area of an article to be finally molded and second positions located in a periphery of the cavity corresponding to positions of the preform outside the product area of the article to be finally molded or corresponding to positions inside the cavity but outside an area of the preform, and causing the timing of closing the injection ports after resin injection to be different from each other between injection ports disposed in the first positions and injection ports disposed in the second positions.
US09616621B2

A one-part wheel which is made of fiber composites without interruption of fibers with excellent mechanical properties and with low weight at the same time as well as a process for the manufacture thereof. The wheel has especially a rim well as well as a wheel disk passing over into a wheel flange of the rim well, where the wheel disk is formed at least partly by fiber layers, which run from the rim well over a wheel flange and the wheel disk. The wheel is manufactured by a multipart mold with parts displaceable at least in the axial direction. The mold is completely removed after the deposition of fibers or remains as a lost core in the wheel.
US09616619B2

A multifunctional detabber apparatus and method for producing bottles having a bottom surface with a hook projection integrally molded with and extending from the bottom surface in a deployed position. The bottom surface also includes at least one locking channel in order to receive and releasably secure the hook projection in a non-deployed position. The multifunctional detabber apparatus includes at least a grabber, a trimmer, and a hook closer. The grabber includes first and second jaws which surround the bottle and prevent movement. The trimmer includes first and second strikers for creating an outer periphery of the hook projection and an opening in the hook projection. The hook closer includes a mandrel that extends to bend and secure the hook projection in the locking channel in the bottom surface of the bottle.
US09616617B2

The present disclosure provides a biochip and methods of fabricating. The biochip includes a fluidic part and a sensing part bonded together using a polymer. The fluidic part has microfluidic channel pattern on one side and fluidic inlet and fluidic outlet on the other side that are fluidly connected to the microfluidic channel pattern. The fluidic inlet and fluidic outlet are formed by laser drilling after protecting the microfluidic channel pattern with a sacrificial protective layer. The polymer bonding is performed at low temperature without damaging patterned surface chemistry on a sensing surface of the sensing part.
US09616613B2

An imprint apparatus cures an imprint material, while a pattern formed on a mold is kept in contact with the imprint material, thereby transferring the pattern onto the imprint material. The apparatus includes a measurement unit which performs, in parallel, alignment measurement in which a relative position between the mold and a shot region on the substrate, to which the pattern is to be transferred, is measured so as to align the mold and the shot region, and overlay measurement in which a relative position between a first pattern already formed in another shot region on the substrate using the mold, and a second pattern underlying the first patter is measured.
US09616612B2

An apparatus for producing a stretchable sheet includes a pair of gear rolls each having a plurality of teeth arranged on a circumference thereof. The apparatus is configured to draw a raw sheet by passing the raw sheet through a gap between the pair of gear rolls. The raw sheet contains a plurality of types of fibers, and has a plurality of recessed sections formed by pressing. The recessed sections are formed collinearly at least along the drawing direction at a predetermined formation pitch in the drawing direction. An arrangement pitch of the teeth in the drawing direction is greater than the formation pitch and smaller than twice the formation pitch.
US09616601B2

The invention concerns a disc-shaped retaining device for bushings of a rotary tablet press, wherein the disc-shaped retaining device comprises two disc halves that are connected with one another, each of which shows multiple holes, which align with one another if the disc halves are connected with one another and thus form mounting holes in which one respective bushing is located, wherein the bushings between the disc halves that are connected with one another are designed in a form-fit manner.
US09616598B2

An aspect or the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a plastic lens, which comprises casting a plastic lens starting material liquid into a cavity in a forming mold and conducting a polymerization reaction of the plastic starting material liquid within the cavity to provide a molded article. The forming mold is one in which two molds are disposed opposite each other, a gasket made of an elastic resin is disposed around the two molds to form the cavity, and at least one of the two molds is made of an elastic resin, one surface of the molded article is a convex surface and the other surface of the molded article is a concave surface, and the concave surface is formed by transferring a molding surface of the mold made of elastic resin.
US09616595B2

The present invention relates to a method for removing ink printed on a plastic film comprising various physical/chemical treatments. The main steps in the method are: conditioning the material, grinding, removing ink from the film, washing the film, recovering the cleaning solution, recovering the pigment and drying the film. As a result of the method, it is possible to obtain, on one hand, a plastic film free of ink and, on the other hand, the pigment. Said products may be reused in industry, thereby enhancing the value chain of the product.
US09616593B2

A tile or masonry saw assembly may include a saw, a frame, and a workpiece support. The saw includes a motor operable to turn a blade assembly to cut a workpiece. The frame is operably coupled to the saw to enable the saw to be moved along the frame in a first direction. The workpiece support is operably coupled to the frame to support the workpiece relative to the saw, and to allow the workpiece support to be moved along the frame. The saw assembly further includes a movement assembly via which both movement of the workpiece support and movement of the saw relative to the frame is accomplished, such that a movement of the work piece support along the frame in a second direction is enabled to cause the saw to move along the frame in the first direction which is opposite the second direction.
US09616591B2

A slurry distribution system can include a feed conduit and a distribution conduit in fluid communication therewith. The feed conduit can include a first feed inlet and a second feed inlet disposed in spaced relationship thereto. The distribution conduit can extend generally along a longitudinal axis and include an entry portion and a distribution outlet in fluid communication therewith. The entry portion is in fluid communication with the first and second feed inlets of the feed conduit. The distribution outlet extends a predetermined distance along a transverse axis, which is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The slurry distribution system can be placed in fluid communication with a gypsum slurry mixer adapted to agitate water and calcined gypsum to form an aqueous calcined gypsum slurry.
US09616582B2

A handling system having at least one vacuum generator and an associated vacuum handling device connected to and operable via the vacuum generator. The vacuum handling device is provided with an individually assigned recognition unit including a memory device in which operating data for the vacuum handling device is storable and can be read out. Each vacuum generator has a respective sub-control unit adapted to control the vacuum generator depending on data transmitted from the recognition unit. The memory device of the recognition unit can be read out directly from the sub-control unit.
US09616577B2

The present invention relates to an end effector including: blade members for holding substrates, each configured to hold the substrate, and configured such that each interval between the blade members can be changed; a blade support unit configured to support the blade members, the blade support unit being configured to be driven integrally with the blade members by the robot; and blade drive means configured to change the interval between the blade members by moving at least one of the blade members relative to another blade member.
US09616568B1

Methods, apparatus, and computer readable storage media related to utilizing a thermographic camera to capture at least one thermal image of an object following human manipulation of the object, and generating a grasp affordance for the object based on the temperatures indicated by the captured thermal image. The generated grasp affordance may be utilized, directly or indirectly, by one or more robots for determining grasping parameters for manipulating the object and/or other objects that are similar to the object.
US09616560B2

A pipe separator for separating pipes at a pipe joint includes an elongate shaft and an engagement portion. The engagement portion is configured to be mounted adjacent to a pipe joint. A force is applied to the pipe separator to separate the pipes at the joint without damaging the pipes.
US09616544B2

Disclosed herein is a wafer inspection method of inspecting a wafer after polishing. The wafer inspection method includes the steps of polishing the wafer after grinding, imaging a polished surface of the wafer to thereby create image data including the characteristics of plural saw marks left on the polished surface of the wafer from a detected image, performing Fourier transform to the image data to thereby extract a frequency distribution corresponding to the saw marks, performing inverse Fourier transform to the frequency distribution extracted above to obtain an amplitude of each saw mark, and determining imperfect polishing of the wafer in the case that the amplitude is greater than a predetermined range.
US09616538B2

The invention relates to an interlinking system for overhead transfer devices having at least two portals for the transport of workpieces or of workpieces on pallets between machines and/or supply/removal devices and vice versa. Each of the portals is in this respect equipped with at least one loading unit and the two portals are equipped with a transfer module for conveying the workpieces or the workpieces on pallets between a first and a second portal which is in turn equipped with a transport device for the reception of one or more workpieces or workpiece pallets.
US09616535B2

A positioning device includes a main body, a drive member, and a pin assembly. The main body defines a receiving portion which extends through two opposite ends of the main body. The drive member is partially or completely received in the receiving portion. The pin assembly includes a pin bushing and a pin. The pin bushing is securely coupled to the main body and defines an expansion slot on the sidewalls. The expansion slot extends along a central axis of the pin bushing. The pin is coupled to the drive member and extends through the pin bushing. The drive member is configured to drive the pin to move in the pin bushing, pressing the inner sidewalls of the pin bushing to enlarge a diameter.
US09616534B2

A modular structure includes a structural element, a rod, a knuckle, a rod mount, and a bearing holder. The knuckle is connected to a first end of the structural element and the rod mount is connected through the structural element. The bearing holder is removably connected to an actuated member and slides along the rod held by the rod mount.
US09616533B2

An industrial plant includes a plurality of first operating stations and a plurality of second operating stations, respectively placed at a first level (H1) and at a second higher level or height (H2). Each of the operating stations is adapted to carry out a production activity on the industrial product, at least one of the activities being one among a manufacturing, processing, forming, transforming and assembling activity of an industrial product. The plant includes a moving system configured to transport the industrial product, by lifting and/or lowering the industrial product from at least one of the first operating stations to at least one of the second operating stations. A central control system controls the moving system by automatically moving the industrial product between the operating stations as a function of a predetermined principle and based on the state of occupancy of the operating stations.
US09616527B2

Process for laser welding at least one metal workpiece (1) by a laser beam (3), the workpiece having a surface coating (2) containing aluminum, characterized in that the laser beam (3) is combined with at least one electric arc (4) so as to melt the metal and actually weld the workpiece(s).
US09616525B2

The invention relates to a nozzle for laser cutting comprising a nozzle body (1) comprising an axial housing (5) and a first outlet orifice (11) situated in the region of the front face (1a) of the nozzle body (1), a mobile element (2) arranged in the axial housing (5) of the nozzle body (1), comprising a skirt-forming front part (2a) and comprising a second outlet orifice (12), said mobile element (2) being able to be moved in a translational movement inside the axial housing (5) toward the first outlet orifice (11) under the effect of a gas pressure applied to the mobile element (2) until such time as the skirt-forming front part (2a) of the mobile element (2) projects out from the axial housing (5) through the first outlet orifice (11), and an elastic element (8) arranged in the axial housing (5), between the nozzle body (1) and the mobile element (2), applying an elastic return force to the mobile element (2). According to the invention, the front part (2a) comprises an end portion (17) the outside diameter of which decreases progressively toward the second outlet orifice (12). Focusing head and associated laser cutting installation. Laser-beam cutting method employing a nozzle according to the invention, a laser focusing head according to the invention or an installation according to the invention.
US09616518B2

A feed-through, in particular a feed-through which passes through part of a housing, in particular a battery housing, for example made of metal, in particular light metal, for example aluminum, an aluminum alloy, AlSiC, magnesium, an magnesium alloy, titanium, a titanium alloy, steel, stainless steel or high-grade steel. The housing part has at least one opening through which at least one conductor, in particular an essentially pin-shaped conductor, embedded in a glass or glass ceramic material, is guided. The base body is, for example, an essentially annular-shaped base body.
US09616514B2

The invention described herein generally pertains to a method for improved droplet detachment detection in a welding process in which a derivative of at least one welding parameter over time is used to detect droplet detachment from the wire during a welding operation based identification of a peak signature.
US09616509B2

An apparatus for fixing a saw blade and a knife plate of a saw grinding machine includes a driving device including an axis; and a fixture plate having a first end and a second end. The fixture plate includes a connective hole coupled to the driving device, and a coupled portion defined at the first end thereof. The saw blade is pivotally connected to the axis of the driving device, with the saw blade and the fixture plate moved with respect to the driving device simultaneously. The knife plate is coupled to the coupled portion of the fixture plate and includes a blocked side formed on a side thereof, with a vertical distance between the blocked side and the saw blade maintained to be fixed.
US09616507B2

A replaceable head cutting tool increases the strength of engagement between a tool body and a coupling member without causing damage. A cylindrical mounting unit of the coupling member which is made of a metal having hardness lower than the hardness of the tool body, is inserted into a mounting hole having a concave portion formed on the inner surface of the tool body. The mounting unit is plastically deformed so as to increase in diameter, and the outer peripheral surface of the mounting unit contacts the inner peripheral surface of the mounting hole and is engaged with the concave portion which includes a first wall surface that is inclined toward the outer peripheral side as it moves in an insertion direction of the mounting unit, and a second wall surface that is inclined toward the inner peripheral side as it moves in the insertion direction.
US09616502B2

A cutting tool holder has a holder body and a vibration damping weight assembly. The holder body has first and second side surfaces, and a top surface extending there between, and a cutting portion located at a front end of the holder body at the top surface thereof. A weight aperture opens out to the first and second side surfaces and has an aperture inner surface. A weight assembly is located within the weight aperture, having a first weight portion with a through hole, a second weight portion with a threaded hole, a damping ring located along the aperture inner surface, and a fastening member configured to connect together and urge the first and second weight portions towards one another, such that the contact surface of each weight portion presses against the damping ring, within the weight aperture.
US09616501B2

An apparatus for feeding bars to a machine tool including an end adjacent a working zone in which a spindle is provided; a drum element, rotatable around an axis; a movable support provided on the drum element for supporting and guiding a bar parallel to the axis. The movable support slidably drivable on the drum element parallel to the axis between a disengagement retracted configuration and an engagement extended configuration. The movable support having telescopic tube configured for being received inside tubular housing and guide for coupling with the spindle. The telescopic tube defines, a cylindrical containing structure configured for enclosing and supporting in a distributed manner a respective bar along the entire supporting zone, so as to prevent the bar from flexing because of the centrifugal actions generated by rotation.
US09616496B2

In a steel ladle used for handling molten steel, a precast ladle barrel ring forms part of a refractory structure that covers the bottom wall and side wall of the steel ladle. The precast ladle barrel ring is comprised of a monolithic annular ring formed of a high-temperature, cast refractory. The annular ring further includes means for positioning the precast ladle barrel ring in a steel ladle.
US09616490B2

A method to manufacture reticulated metal foam includes coating a precursor in a molten wax to increase ligament thickness; and investment coating the molten wax coated precursor with a ceramic plaster.
US09616484B2

The method for forming a turbofan mixer comprises providing a single monolithic and generally flat annular sheet metal blank, providing a die surface substantially corresponding in shape to a turbofan mixer shape, positioning the blank with reference to the die surface, and forcing the blank against the die surface to transform the blank into a monolithic turbofan mixer.
US09616472B2

Various embodiments of contaminant removal systems, compositions, and methods are described herein. In one embodiment, a method for oxidizing a contaminant includes contacting the contaminant with a peroxygen compound and initializing, maintaining, or propagating degradation of the peroxygen compound with an oxygenated organic compound, thereby releasing oxidizing radicals. The method also includes oxidizing the contaminant with the released oxidizing radicals.
US09616469B2

A light irradiation device includes a workpiece support onto which a workpiece (object to be processed) is placed, an ultraviolet lamp for emitting a vacuum ultraviolet beam to a target surface (surface to be processed) of the workpiece, and a light transmitting window member disposed between the workpiece and the ultraviolet lamp and configured to pass the vacuum ultraviolet beam from the ultraviolet lamp therethrough. A gap defined between the target surface of the workpiece and the light transmitting window member is no greater than 1 mm. A gas supply unit is provided for supplying a processing gas into the gap such that the gas travels along the target surface in one direction. A gas blocking member is provided on the workpiece support in a region where the workpiece is not present. The region extends along a supply direction of the processing gas.
US09616465B1

A dry trim and sift bag apparatus comprising a hollow body having open axial ends; a pair of selectively openable and closable end caps respectively sealing the open axial ends; a compression spring operatively coupled to the hollow body and configured to hold the hollow body in an expanded configuration and to be collapsed under compression to a collapsed configuration; and a sifting screen operatively coupled within the hollow body partitioning the interior of the hollow body into a trim chamber for product to be trimmed and a sift chamber for sifted product, the trim chamber having a greater volume than the sift chamber. Additionally, the dry trim and sift bag apparatus comprises multiple handle assemblies for ergonomic and efficient motion series of operation.
US09616463B2

A probe for an ultrasound system, and a method of manufacturing the same are disclosed. The probe includes a backing layer, an electrode part formed on the backing layer, and a piezoelectric member installed to the electrode part. The probe is manufactured by connecting the piezoelectric member to the PCB via a unidirectional conduction part, instead of soldering which requires difficult and laborious operations, thereby allowing easy connection therebetween while reducing an operation time for connection.
US09616462B2

The present invention relates to a method of joining polymer coated steel pipes comprising the steps of—providing polymer coated pipe segments with an uncoated length on both ends of the segments; —welding the polymer coated pipe segments together; —applying a curable polymer (A) onto the uncoated length of the welded pipe segments to form an first coating layer; and—applying a polymer composition (B) onto the first coating layer to form a topcoat layer with a thickness of 0.5 to 10 mm, wherein the polymer composition (B) has a melt flow rate MFR2 of 1.0 to 6.0 g/10 min, determined according to ISO 1133 at a temperature of 190° C. under a load of 2.16 kg, and includes a base resin comprising (B-1) a non-elastomeric polyethylene in an amount of 60 to 85 wt % of the total polymer composition being produced in a process using a single-site catalyst, and (B-2) an elastomer comprising a copolymer of ethylene and at least one polar comonomer, wherein component (B-1) or components (B-1) and (B-2) have been grafted with an acid grafting agent and the use of polymer composition (B) as topcoat layer with a thickness of 0.5 to 10 mm in a coating of coated steel pipe field-joints, a method of coating a steel pipe and the use of polymer composition (B) for the coating of steel pipe joints or steel pipes.
US09616459B1

A method for coating a surface of a material involves contacting a surface of a material with a surface activator containing a fluoride-containing compound and an organic solvent to form an activated surface, contacting the activated surface with a protective reagent to form an initial coated surface, and contacting the initial coated surface with a thinning agent containing a fluoride-containing compound and a surfactant to from a final coated surface, wherein the final coated surface is coated with a protective coating that is covalently bonded to the surface of the material.
US09616454B2

A multicomponent cartridge which is designed for single use includes two separate supply chambers arranged coaxially of each other and two pistons. The two pistons are movable via a plunger to simultaneously discharge two components. A guide element guides the two pistons in the respective supply chambers and contains a discharge opening for discharging the first component. The guide element is movable relative to a housing via a movement element in order to open the discharge opening.
US09616448B2

The present invention provides a wheel spraying device, comprising a frame, an electric motor, a hollow shaft, a ring flange, and cylinders. During use of the device, the need of jacking up and rotating a wheel in wheel spraying can be met, and the difficulty of removing the protection plugs of bolt hole due to thickening and clogging after completion of spraying can be completely avoided. Meanwhile, the device has the characteristics of simple structure, convenience for use, low manufacturing cost, and safe and stable performance.
US09616442B2

A rotary atomizer is disclosed for the even distribution of a treatment fluid within a treatment chamber. The treatment fluid is delivered onto a rotating disk atomizer through multiple outlet ports. Fluid passages provide each outlet port with an even flow of treatment fluid at generally the same time and rate. This even and simultaneous flow of treatment fluid results in a more even distribution of treatment fluid on the seed that flows through the treatment chamber throughout the treatment cycle.
US09616441B2

A dispenser for mixing and dispensing a liquid chemical concentrate with a dilutent from a container. The dispenser includes two slideable eductors one of which is also rotatable. Both a high and low flow rate can be obtained with simultaneous adjustment of concentration of the chemical concentrate. The dispenser has a high degree of accuracy of the amount of dilution of the chemical concentrate as well as positive positioning of the high and low flow rate.
US09616435B2

A self-cleaning sprinkler is disclosed, generally comprised of an upper and lower housing, which encase a nozzle and a diaphragm. The diaphragm moves in an upward and downward position relative to the nozzle, which allows water located within a chamber to be expelled out of an exit aperture of the nozzle. A needle is secured within the diaphragm to correspondingly move in an upward and downward position, such that once in a closed position, the needle will penetrate the exit aperture of the nozzle in order to clean any debris that may have accumulated therein. The diaphragm moves in from a closed position to an open position depending on the incoming water pressure.
US09616431B2

An apparatus and method for separating a natural gas production stream from hydrocarbon well operations into a gas component and a sand and liquid component is described. More specifically, a sand separator comprising a cylindrical body, a production stream inlet port, a gas outlet port and a solid and liquid drain port is described. The cylindrical body has an inner cavity with an inner cone having one-way gas vents and a stationary auger wrapped around the inner cone. The production stream inlet port includes a pipe having a curved tip that directs the production stream into the body and around the inner cone and stationary auger, causing the production stream to slow down and the components to separate.
US09616427B2

This invention relates to a cartridge assembly tray for conducting automated biochemical tests, such as immunoassay tests. The tray comprises a base member, a hinged frame and a locking mechanism. The base member includes a plurality of slots within the base member. Each of the plurality of slots is to receive a test cartridge. The hinged frame is coupled to the base member. The hinged frame is capable to rotate to an opened position or a closed position. The hinged frame includes a horizontal push bar configured to apply a downward force to test cartridges received in the plurality of slots when the hinged frame is in the closed position. The locking mechanism is to lock the hinged frame in the closed position when the hinged frame rotates to the closed position.
US09616420B2

A heterogeneous catalyst article having at least one combination of a first molecular sieve having a medium pore, large pore, or meso-pore crystal structure and optionally containing a first metal, and a second molecular sieve having a small pore crystal structure and optionally containing a second metal, and a monolith substrate onto or within which said catalytic component is incorporated, wherein the combination of the first and second molecular sieves is a blend, a plurality of layers, and/or a plurality of zones.
US09616416B2

The invention relates to a process for preparing a hydroconversion catalyst based on modified zeolite Y, comprising the steps of: A—preparation of a modified zeolite Y, whose intracrystalline structure presents at least one network of micropores, at least one network of small mesopores with a mean diameter of 2 to 5 nm and at least one network of large mesopores with a mean diameter of 10 to 50 nm, these various networks being interconnected; B—mixing the zeolite with a binder, shaping the mixture and then calcining; C—introducing at least one catalytic metal chosen from metals of group VIII and/or of group VIB, followed by calcination. The invention also relates to a catalyst obtained via this process and also to the use thereof.
US09616410B2

The object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust gas purifying catalyst, exhibits excellent performance for methane purification. The object can be solved by the exhaust gas purifying catalyst comprising a substrate and a catalyst layer provided on the substrate, in which the catalyst layer comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of vanadium, niobium and tantalum; and platinum, and/or palladium.
US09616396B2

An aftertreatment system comprises a SCR system. A mixing assembly is positioned upstream of the SCR system and includes a housing defining a flow path for an exhaust gas. An injection port is defined on a first sidewall of the housing and oriented at a predetermined angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the flow path. A mixer is positioned within the flow path downstream of the injection port and includes a plurality of plates each positioned in the flow path. A first plate is positioned distal to the injection port and adjacent to a second sidewall of the housing opposite to the first sidewall. The first plate has a first length substantially longer than a length of the other plates and extends in a direction upstream of the mixer. An exhaust reductant injector is positioned on the first sidewall of the housing proximal to the injection port.
US09616393B2

It is intended to provide a porous hollow fiber membrane for treating blood which suffers from little mechanical damage in the course of production, transfer or handling and shows excellent fractionation properties though it is a thinned polysulfone-based hollow fiber membrane. A porous hollow fiber membrane for treating blood which comprises a polysulfone-based polymer and polyvinylpyrrolidone and has a gradient porous structure with an increase in pore size from the inside to the outside along the membrane thickness direction, characterized in that the porous structure has a membrane thickness of 25 μm or more but less than 40 μm, and fibrils having an average diameter of from 100 to 200 μm are provided in such a manner that the ratio (To/Ti) of the average outside diameter (To) along the membrane thickness direction to the average inside diameter (Ti) is adjusted to not more than 2.
US09616378B2

A system and method of reducing the net carbon dioxide footprint of an industrial process that generates power from the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels in which ambient air is admixed with up to 50% by volume of an effluent gas from the power generator of the industrial process, in order to substantially increase the CO2 concentration in the air prior to treatment. The treatment comprises adsorbing CO2 from the admixed ambient air utilizing a cooled, porous substrate-supported amine adsorbent, wherein the porous substrate initially contacts the mixed ambient air containing condensed water in its pores, which act as an intrinsic coolant with respect to the exothermic heat generated by the adsorption process. In addition, prior to regenerating the supported adsorbent, air pressure is substantially reduced in the sealed regeneration chamber and the low pressure chamber is placed in fluid connection with a higher pressure regeneration chamber containing steam and carbon dioxide, to preheat the sorbent to be regenerated and to quickly cool the regenerated sorbent prior to use for further CO2 adsorption.
US09616375B2

Disclosed is a method for removing carbon dioxide from a gas stream, comprising placing the gas stream in contact with a resin, wetting the resin with water, collecting water vapor and carbon dioxide from the resin, and separating the carbon dioxide from the water vapor. The resin may be placed in a chamber or a plurality of chambers connected in series wherein the first chamber contains resin that was first contacted by the gas, and each successive chamber contains resin which has been wetted and carbon dioxide collected from for a greater period of time than the previous chamber, and so on, until the last chamber. Secondary sorbents may be employed to further separate the carbon dioxide from the water vapor.
US09616367B2

Cloth retention apparatus for retaining the edges of a filter cloth comprises an edge strip having which can engage with a channel in a frame member, and be retained therein by a wedging member. The wedging member may be separate or attached to the bead, or incorporated therein.
US09616358B2

This invention relates to solvents for extracting C1 to C4 carboxylic acids from aqueous streams. More specifically, the extraction solvents include one or more salts composed of a tetraalkylphosphonium cation and a phosphinate anion. The extraction solvents may further include one or more co-solvents as an enhancer. The co-solvents may be selected from higher carboxylic acids, ethers, esters, ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and nitriles. The extraction solvents are useful for extracting aqueous mixtures containing one or more lower carboxylic acids, such as monocarboxylic acids and organofluorine carboxylic acids.
US09616356B2

A blowout in which the required exhaling force of for stretching thereof may be precisely set to a suitable level. The blowout may include: a stretchable body having a generally tubular shape; a wire body having elasticity and arranged along the longitudinal direction of the stretchable body; and a mouthpiece connected to an end of the stretchable body. In use, the mouthpiece may be held in the mouth such that air is blown therethrough, whereby the stretchable body is stretched. The stretchable body remains curled into a spiral shape by the wire body when air is not blown thereinto. The elastic force of the wire body may be set to a predetermined value, the mouthpiece may include an air regulator for regulating the quantity of airflow, and the stretchable body may not stretch unless the force of air blown is equal to or more than a predetermined value.
US09616348B2

A method of receiving a leaderboard associated with a software game executed at a wireless device is provided. The method includes monitoring at least one metric associated with the software game while the software game is played. The method further includes collecting a value of the at least one metric when the game is over and comparing the value of the at least one metric to a device leaderboard. The method additionally includes transmitting the value of the at least one metric to a game server when the value of the at least one metric is a best value when compared to the device leaderboard. The device leaderboard may indicate a ranking of scores achieved by playing the software game at the wireless device in which the software game is executed.
US09616322B2

A system and method for playing a card game is provided. The play may occur in a casino using a standard deck of cards with players making an ante wager, optional second wager, a third wager, and optional bonus event wager. Players are dealt two cards face down (player viewable only), two shared community cards which are dealt face down, and one or more shared community joker value cards. A player first makes an ante wager and then an optional second wager based on the player's impression of the player dealt cards. Then, a first community card is revealed to the player and the player provided an opportunity to make an optional third wager, which is required to continue game play. If a third wager is placed, the dealer reveals the second community card and the player's five card hand and bonus event hand is evaluated for a winning outcome.
US09616320B1

Apparatus for billiards break shot practice, comprising a lightweight force absorption pillow and a triangle rack pattern combination. Game player breaks with maximum force to achieve greatest transfer to cue ball travelling to break up game balls, but using a reduced three-game-ball configuration with assistance of pillow and pattern that well-simulates virtually the same resistance of full fifteen-game-ball tournament game ball formation. A player saves tremendous time and effort in game ball setup and can practice break shots in rapid succession to develop high levels of breaking skill. Head and cue ball travel are observed in more iteration per practice session. The pillow has a storage flap to hold pattern, making it portable and quick to layout. Aligning pillow and pattern different distances apart simulates different ball resistances for game variations like 9-ball or 10-ball, or for different table sizes.
US09616318B2

A personal vehicle system including a deck having a substantially flat top surface, where the top surface is substantially flat and is of sufficient area to support two feet of a user, a truck coupled to the deck, where the truck consist of a first portion coupled to the deck and a second portion that tilts relative to the first portion, and a wheel motor coupled to the second portion of the truck. A personal vehicle system that includes a deck, a truck coupled to the deck, and a wheel motor coupled to the truck, where the wheel motor has a passive cooling system. The passive cooling system includes at least one endcap that rotates about a wheel rotation axis during operation of the wheel motor and the endcap has at least one fin.
US09616313B2

Disclosed herein is a portable exercise storage apparatus, comprising: a rigid hollow tube comprising a first end and a second end; a first end cap that is configured to removably close the first end; and at least one strap releasably connected to the first end and the second end.
US09616311B2

A sports simulator calculates spin of a sports object using image analysis. A velocity vector is also calculated. These are combined to produce a predicted future trajectory of the sports object. In one embodiment, the sports object is a golf ball and the sports simulator simulates golf.
US09616308B2

The disclosure is directed to a rotatable life size cut out of a lacrosse goalie target made of plastic, foam rubber, or other material, and preferably a foam rubber, adapted to absorb the shock of repeated impacts of lacrosse balls, holding a lacrosse stick. The target is placed in front of (and optionally attached to by a coupler) a goal net to assist lacrosse players in their practice sessions. The practice goalie can be disposed in a first orientation holding a lacrosse stick such that the net of the lacrosse stick is to the right of the practice goalie's head or in a second orientation wherein the lacrosse stick is to the left of the practice goalies head, and can preferably be rotated to any angle therebetween the first and second configurations. Players can use either positioned practice goalie to practice their shooting using both of their hands.
US09616305B2

A golf club that utilizes multiple materials to achieve improved performance is disclosed herein. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of forming golf club that utilizes different materials to construct different portions of the iron type golf club head allowing weight to be removed from portions of the golf club head that doesn't require such weighting. The current invention utilizes a lightweight material to form a blade portion of the golf club head while utilizing a standard steel material to form the hosel portion of the golf club head to allow the malleability characteristics of a golf club head to be maintained. The weight saved from the lightweight material used to create the blade portion can then be used to create a sole insert that is made out of a dense and heavy material to improve the CG and MOI characteristics of the golf club head to dramatically improve the performance of the golf club head. The current invention's usage of the multiple materials allows the performance of the golf club head to be increased without sacrificing the feel characteristics of the golf club head.
US09616298B1

A golf club with improved weighting characteristic is disclosed. More specifically, the present invention discloses to a golf club wherein the improved weighting distribution stems from an increase in the mass of the golf club at a specific distance away from the butt end or proximal end of the golf club head to help increase the feel and minimize the dispersion of the golf shot by minimizing the pull and or draw tendencies of a golf shot.
US09616294B2

An apparatus for receiving one or more activity attachments including a deck having one or more openings along a long axis of the deck and between the top surface and the bottom surface of the deck. Each of the one or more openings having a circular aperture for receiving an accessory of a set of accessories. Each accessory of the set of accessories providing an activity for a user of the activity. Each accessory having an attachment platform configured to attach the accessory to the board. The attachment platform having a locking mechanism to engaging with a complementary locking mechanism of the board.
US09616293B2

A system trains a sport player and includes at least one wearable item to be worn by the sport player, such that the wearable item includes a plurality of colors. Accordingly, each one of the plurality of colors is displayed on a designated portion of the wearable item. The system further includes a plurality of equipment devices. Each one of the equipment devices includes a color that corresponds to one of the plurality of colors displayed on the wearable item, Each equipment device directs the sport player to perform a specific operation, such that the operation is executed with the designated portion of the wearable item.
US09616291B2

The invention relates to sports monitoring equipment and methods. The invention provides a device or system comprising means for reading a heartbeat signal corresponding to heartbeat of the person during the performance, and means for reading a motion signal corresponding to motion of the person during the performance. There are also computing means for estimating energy consumption of the person during the performance using one or both of said signals. According to the invention, the device or system further comprises means for determining the type of the sports performance. The computing means for calculating the energy consumption parameter are adapted to utilize said heartbeat signal, said motion signal or both signals in combination in a manner depending on the type of the sports performance determined. The invention allows for accurate estimation of energy consumption in versatile sports.
US09616282B2

Apparatus and associated methods relate to a knee-position control system having a knee engagement pad, a lower-leg control member and an upper-leg control member, the knee engagement pad configured to naturally position a user's knee in response to movement of a foot-rest of a natural-gait therapy system. In an illustrative embodiment, the upper-leg control member may pivot about a point substantially axially coincident with a user's hip. In some embodiments, the upper-leg control member may be pivotally coupled to the lower-leg control member at a pivot point substantially axially coincident with a user's knee. The lower-leg control member may be pivotably coupled to the foot rest at a pivot point substantially axially coincident with a user's ankle. The knee-position control system may advantageously position a user's knee in a natural position relative to both the user's ankle and the user's hip, in response to movement of the user's foot.
US09616280B2

An oblong orbital exercising machine includes a main frame, an upright, a seat support, a cycle movement mechanism, two swinging handles, two drive bars, two pedal units and two adjustment units. Each of the pedal units includes a fixing plate, a rocking plate, two springs, two fastening rods and a pedal. Each of the two adjustment units includes a fixed disk, an adjusting disk, two limit stubs, a hollow rod, a hollow mounting sleeve and a positioning pull pin. Thus, when the pedal units are moved in concert with the drive bars, the pedal of each of the pedal units is adjusted to correspond to the oblong trace of movement. In addition, the user can adjust the position of each of the pedal units easily and quickly by operation of each of the two adjustment units.
US09616277B2

An exercise assisting device includes a table shape body configured for a user to step on, a main body which supports the table shape body from below, and a hold body which is arranged on the main body. The hold body is configured to hold a trunk of the user as the user steps on the table shape body and a center of gravity of the user is positioned more forward of a step position provided on the table shape body. The exercise assisting device is configured to move the table shape body relative to the main body and/or the hold body relative to the main body while regulating a forward inclination of the user as the user uses the device.
US09616274B2

A resistance training apparatus and method for providing a plurality of training vectors having points of origin variable by direction and elevation to a trainee. The apparatus may accommodate a plurality of trainees and provide multiple training vectors to each trainee. In one embodiment the apparatus includes a base forming the training area and a pair of tower assemblies, each providing members for attachment to the harnesses worn by the athlete. In another embodiment the apparatus provides at least sixteen training vectors to a trainee. Each of the members providing the training vectors are independently adjustable such that balanced or unbalanced loading may be applied simultaneously to a trainee from multiple directions and multiple planes.
US09616273B2

An adjustable dumbbell device includes a handle bar having two plates extended from end portions and two extensions, a number of weight members each having a groove and a passage, two blocks are secured to the extensions, two pairs of beams are secured between the plates and the blocks and engageable into the groove of the weight member, two latches are slidably engaged onto the extensions, two rods are secured to the latches for moving the latches relative to the beams, two catches are engaged onto the rods and biased to engage with the beams, and two weight elements are detachably attached to the blocks, the weight elements each has a weight of one half (½) of that of the weight member.
US09616261B1

A fireman shield assembly for inhibiting a fireman from being struck by falling, burning debris includes a frame that may be positioned around a fireman. A shield is positioned over the frame. The covers the fireman when the fireman stands in the frame. Thus, the shield inhibits falling debris from striking the fireman.
US09616257B2

A lightweight, low bulk, mobile CB shelter fabric includes a high tensile strength woven scrim laminated between two thin CB-impenetrable polymer films. Laminate adhesives can include isocyanate adhesion promotors. Coatings can provide camouflage, increased light opacity, increased CB protection, sun, fire, and weather resistance. Lamination heat and pressure can cause the films to conform and bond through the scrim, while a pre-applied coating does not flow and remains uniform in thickness. The resulting fabric weight can be approximately 50% of conventional CB fabrics. The films can be hard-drawn polymers. A coating of hammer milled kaolin clay can provide increased light opacity. The films can be 1 micron thick, and can be nylon, aliphatic nylon, urethane, or poly-ether. The scrim can be a 1500 denier Vectran® (liquid crystal polymer) with a 4.5 ends-per-inch warp and a 3.5 ends-per-inch fill. The scrim yarns can be flattened bundles of untwisted fiber.
US09616253B2

A water-absorbing polymer obtained from (A) a phosphate-containing (meth)acrylic monomer and/or a salt thereof, (B) a monomer having one (meth)acrylic group within the molecule and/or a salt thereof other than component (A), and (C) an organopolysiloxane having a (meth)acrylic group at both ends and related compositions.
US09616252B2

A multi-field cancer therapy apparatus and method of use thereof is described increasing dimensionality of incident tumor treatment angles while minimizing distance between a final beamline focusing magnet and the patient. Increased dimensionality of incident tumor treatment angles is achieved through coordinated use of one or more of: a rotatable targeting magnet; a first patient rotation platform rotating the patient around, without intersecting, a vertical axis; a second patient rotation platform rotating a body part through a movable vertical axis; and patient tilt. The increased charged particle incident angle dimensionality distributes Bragg peak tail energy about the tumor. Dynamic energy and/or intensity control of the charged particle beam as a function of efficiency of beam delivery based on tumor shape further reduces Bragg peak tail energy delivered to healthy tissue about the tumor.
US09616249B2

A radiotherapy control apparatus includes a fluoroscopic image acquisition unit to acquire fluoroscopic images of markers in a patient from a single fluoroscopic imaging device, a projection line calculation unit to identify projected positions of the markers on the fluoroscopic image and calculate equations of projection lines linking these projected positions and a focus position of the imaging device, an inter-marker distance acquisition unit to acquire a distance between each pair of the markers, a marker position calculation unit to calculate current positions of the markers based on the equations and the distances, and a therapeutic radiation emission determination unit to determine whether to emit therapeutic radiation based on the current positions of the markers.
US09616245B2

This Invention relates to a method for achieving Focused Resonance Nanopermeabilization (FORN), which can be utilized in a novel anticancer therapy, and other selective permeabilization therapy and a machine to carryout the said method, where the transient permeabilization of cells by Focused Resonance pulses induces a significant increase of anti-tumor drug concentration in tumor or other interested cells. This invention can be successfully applied to the treatment of tumors in humans and Animals by using antimitotic drugs, chemotherapy. The invention is also useful in transpermeabilization of drug molecules for non cancer applications like vaccine and delivery of genetic materials for therapeutic purposes. Focused Resonance Nanopermeabilization (FORN), would enable a practical solution to a whole body application in its natural environment, without implanting electrodes or external probes, FORN is completely non-invasive. This invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the above method.
US09616244B2

An external defibrillator estimates the phase of ventricular defibrillation (VF) by deriving, from an ECG exhibiting VF, at least one quality marker representing the morphology of the ECG and, therefore, the duration of the VF. The duration of the VF is calculated as a function of the value (s) of the quality marker (s). The quality marker (s) may comprise any one or more of the median slope of the ECG, the average slope of the ECG, the ratio of the power in relatively high and low frequency bands of the ECG, and a measure of the density and amplitude of peaks in the ECG, over a predetermined period.
US09616242B2

Embodiments of the invention provide apparatus, systems and methods for harvesting energy from bio-kinetic events to power various implanted medical devices. One embodiment provides an energy harvesting mechanism for a cardiac pacemaker comprising an energy converter and a signal path component. The energy converter is positionable inside a human body and configured to generate electric power signals in response to a bio-kinetic event of the human body such as a heart beat, respiration or arterial pulse. The converter can comprise a piezoelectric material which generates electricity in response to mechanical deformation of the converter. The converter can also have a power generation characteristic that is matched to the frequency of the bio-kinetic event. For heart beat powered applications, the power generation characteristic can be matched to the physiologic range of pulse rates.
US09616231B2

A method and apparatus for treating a condition associated with impaired blood pressure and/or heart rate in a subject comprising applying an electrical treatment signal, wherein the electrical treatment signal is selected to at least partially block nerve impulses, or in some embodiments, to augment nerve impulses.
US09616215B2

The invention pertains to a one-way valve 1, especially for medical use, comprising at least one valve housing, an inlet 22, an outlet 26, and a valve element consisting of a valve body 20 and a valve seal 16. To it make possible for the one-way valve 1 to function reliably even in the case of liquids containing dietary fiber and for the tubing assembly to be filled rapidly, it is provided according to the invention that the valve body 20 comprises a passageway 21, which opens out into a sealing cavity 23 between the valve body 20 and the valve seal 16, and that the valve seal 16 comprises an opening 39, which can be closed in such a way by the valve body 20upon relative movement of two housing parts 2, 3 that the valve seal 16 rests with a sealing lip 28 against the valve body 20. As part of an infusion kit above the one-way valve 1, a feed pump is used, which produces a feed pressure for lifting the sealing lip 28 from the valve body 20, so that, after the passageway 21 has been closed, the feed pressure ensures a continuous flow of the infusion solution to the patient.
US09616212B2

The application provides an injection cannula having an implant which is detachably secured in the cannula. The application also provides a method for detachably securing an implant in an injection cannula.
US09616205B2

An orthopedic implant system includes an orthopedic implant implantable at a selected location within a corporeal body and configured for delivering at least one therapeutic agent to the corporeal body, the implant defining a reservoir and a plurality of channels, the reservoir configured for receiving the at least one therapeutic agent, the plurality of channels configured for conveying the at least one therapeutic agent from the reservoir to a treatment site relative to the corporeal body, the implant being at least one of an internal fixation device and a porous device.
US09616201B2

A venous access catheter is combined with a needle, guidewire, and actuator where the needle is disposed coaxially over the guidewire and the catheter is disposed coaxially over the needle. A hub at a proximal end of the access catheter includes a wiping element to clean blood from the needle and guidewire as they are removed and a side port to allow connection of fluids after the access catheter is placed.
US09616199B2

An irrigated catheter includes a catheter body having both proximal and distal irrigation passageways. A first fluid delivery tube feeds the proximal irrigation passageway and is fluidly isolated from the distal irrigation passageway, while a second fluid delivery tube feeds the distal irrigation passageway and is fluidly isolated from the proximal irrigation passageway. Typically, the first and second fluid delivery tubes will be unitary, at least through the catheter body. The overall shape of the first and second fluid delivery tubes, as well as their respective lumens, may vary as necessary for a particular application of the irrigated catheter. The system also includes an irrigation fluid source and at least one pump to deliver the irrigation fluid through the irrigation passageways. Typically, the pump will be a volume-driven pump, such as a rolling pump.
US09616195B2

A catheter device comprising an elongated outer member having an outer surface and an interior surface forming a lumen extending from a proximal end to a distal end, wherein an outer diameter of said distal end is larger than an outer diameter of said proximal end, and embodiments thereof.
US09616192B2

A breathable gas inlet control device permits flow regulation at the inlet of a flow generator for a respiratory treatment apparatus such as a ventilator or continuous positive airway pressure device. The device may implement a variable inlet aperture size based on flow conditions. In one embodiment, an inlet flow seal opens or closes the inlet to a blower in accordance with changes in pressure within a seal activation chamber near the seal. The seal may be formed by a flexible membrane. A controller selectively changes the pressure of the seal activation chamber by controlling a set of one or more flow control valves to selectively stop forward flow, prevent back flow or lock open the seal to permit either back flow or forward flow. The controller may set the flow control valves as a function of detected respiratory conditions based on data from pressure and/or flow sensors.
US09616183B2

An autoinjector has a main body (10, 12) containing a syringe (13) or cartridge with a needle at its front end for being moved forwardly in the body to extend the needle from the body for an injection, the body housing in a forward region a shroud (24) having a forward portion of generally tubular form (32), the shroud being moveable longitudinally between a rearward retracted position and a forward extended position, the autoinjector further including a spring arrangement for biasing the shroud forwardly, the spring arrangement (44) including two springs disposed alongside and spaced from the longitudinal axis.
US09616181B2

An auto-injector with an interlock mechanism for defining an operation sequence of the auto-injector in a manner to allow a lateral trigger button to be operated only when a proximal end of the auto-injector is pressed against an injection site.
US09616179B2

A driver for driving a spindle of a drug delivery device is provided. Said driver comprises a first component and a second component rotationally coupled to said first component. During resetting of said drug delivery device, said first component is rotationally decoupled from said second component.
US09616176B2

A syringe carpule for storing, transporting and in situ mixing of a local anesthetic, such as lidocaine, and a buffer, such as sodium bicarbonate, and delivery of buffered anesthetic solution comprises a hollow tubular body received within the frame of a carpule syringe, at least one axially movable plunger within the body and configured to be engaged and moved by a rod of the carpule syringe, a seal pierced by a rear portion of a needle coupled to the carpule syringe, a first chamber within the body filled with anesthetic solution during storing and transport, a second chamber defined within the body filled with buffering solution during storing and transport; and a breachable separating member between the first and second chamber configured to be removed by a piercing-mixing unit for in situ mixing of the buffering and the anesthetic solutions allowing for delivery of a buffered anesthetic solution.
US09616173B2

An auto-injector for injecting a fluid medicament into a patient from a pre-filled syringe requires a disposable cassette that is selectively engageable with the reusable injector. The syringe is latched onto the cassette, and the cassette is then engaged with the injector. Activation of the injector causes a first motor to move the syringe so its needle is extended from a concealed position inside the cassette for injection of the medicament. A second motor on the injector is then activated to expel fluid medicament from the syringe. Then, the first motor is again activated to withdraw the syringe into the cassette for disposal of the cassette/syringe after an injection.
US09616170B2

An infusion pump comprises a tube attachment section configured such that an infusion tube is detachably attachable to the tube attachment section, an access cover configured to close the tube attachment section in an openable manner, and a tube clamp mechanism located within the tube attachment section and configured to clamp and block a portion of the infusion tube. The tube clamp mechanism comprises a base member, a clip clamp member rotatably mounted on the base member, a tube clamp release lever rotatably mounted on the base member, and a tube clamp member rotatably mounted on the base member.
US09616168B2

The invention relates to a medical device and a method for delivering at least one fluid from a medical device. More particularly, the present patent application relates to medical devices for delivering at least one, in particular two drug agents from separate reservoirs. The technical problem of preventing after-dripping and at the same time improving the safety and the dose accuracy of a medical device is solved by a method for delivering at least one fluid from a medical device, wherein the fluid is ejected from a reservoir by an advancing movement of a bung, wherein an electromechanical device is instructed to move the bung via a piston over a predetermined distance and wherein, after a dwell time following the advancing movement of the piston, the piston is retracted by the electromechanical device.
US09616166B2

A method and system for tailoring an injection protocol to an individual patient, wherein the injection protocol is administered in connection with a diagnostic imaging procedure. The method includes: administering a test injection of a fluid including a contrast enhancing fluid into the patient at an administration site; performing a test scan of one or more regions of interest of the patient as the fluid propagates through the patient to obtain scan data; determining from the scan data an enhancement output from each of the one or more regions of interest at a plurality of points in time as a result of the propagation of the fluid through the patient; and determining the injection protocol for the patient based at least in part upon the enhancement output from each of the one or more regions of interest at each of the plurality of points in time.
US09616164B2

A device and method for detecting recirculation for an extracorporeal blood treatment apparatus and an apparatus with a device for detecting recirculation are based on targeted haemodilution by administration of a substituate bolus, causing a pressure change in venous and arterial branches of the extracorporeal circuit due to a viscosity change of flowing fluid. Recirculation is detected based on detection of the pressure change. The device includes a control unit cooperating with a device for conveying blood and a device for supplying substituate. The control unit provides an operating mode for detecting recirculation, in which blood flow rate is reduced during administration of a substituate bolus. With simultaneous substituate bolus administration and reduction of blood flow rate, the composition of fluid flow is optimized for detection of recirculation, so that fairly large pressure changes result in venous and arterial branches, thereby improving sensitivity and reliability of the measurement method.
US09616160B2

A blood treatment unit has a blood treatment device which is part of an extracorporeal blood circulatory system. The unit has a control unit and a display and input unit having a touch screen. In order to simplify the operation of the blood treatment unit using the touch screen, the control unit and the display and input unit are suitable for representing various mode means on the touch screen which correspond to the various time modes of the blood treatment. The control unit automatically instigates the beginning of the following time mode at the end of at least one time mode, this being indicated by a change in the representation of the selected mode means on the touch screen. It is especially advantageous to use sensors through whose measured values the control unit identifies the end of one time mode and the beginning of the subsequent time mode.
US09616155B2

Fixation devices for tissue repair, for example sutures, surgical arrows, staples, darts, bolts, screws, buttons, anchors, nails, rivets, or barbed devices comprise at least one of angiogenic material; angiogenic precursor material which is capable of breaking down in vivo to form angiogenic material; or tissue-engineered material, which tissue-engineered material is capable of producing angiogenic material. In a preferred form, the material is incorporated into a polymer matrix having predetermined hydrophobicity to allow controlled release of angiogenic materials such as butyric or hydroxybutyric acid or salts thereof. Polymer matrix compositions comprising angiogenic materials and methods for tissue repair are also provided.
US09616152B2

Embodiments of the present invention encompass anti-adhesion wound dressings including patches made from amnion tissue obtained from human birth tissue. Exemplary amnion patches can be fabricated by folding a section of amnion over on itself with the epithelial layer on the outside of the folded patch and the fibroblast layer on the inside of the folded patch. Optionally, individual amnion tissue pieces can be sandwiched together to provide a multi-layer patch. Sufficient pressure is applied to the layered amnion to cause adherence between opposing faces of the fibroblast layers. The pressed fibroblast layers provide mechanical strength to hold the amnion patch together with the epithelial layers on the outsides of the amnion patch.
US09616151B2

The present disclosure provides sulfhydryl-modified polymer foams, which may be used for wound dressing materials. For example, the modified materials can include free sulfhydryl group, which can serve as a linker to attach biologically active molecules. For example, sulfhydryl groups can be used to conjugate biologically active polypeptides and/or metals to foam polymers. Methods for using sulfhydryl-modified polymers, such as for wound dressings, are also provided.
US09616143B2

An improved mobile apparatus for sterilizing surgical trays serves as a self-contained autoclave, allowing sterilization of the interior of the apparatus and its contents. A method of sterilization using the apparatus is presented as well. By means of a dedicated transfer and storage system, the apparatus, integrable with respect to a transfer cart and a lift device, may be moved easily between a location of sterilization, a storage area, and an operating room, and more than one such apparatus may be stacked vertically for storage to enhance storage efficiency.
US09616134B2

A liquid preparation includes an etherified cyclodextrin derivative and a substituted benzimidazol, where the etherified cyclodextrin derivative is one of alpha-, beta, and gamma-cyclodextrin ether.
US09616132B2

The solubility of kinetin and/or of zeatin is increased when either or both are combined in a formulation that includes a polyoxyalkylene-n-glycerol dicarboxylate component and a fatty acid component. These two components provide a synergistic increase in the solubility of kinetin and/or zeatin that is greater than that which would be expected based on the solubility of kinetin and zeatin in the individual components.
US09616122B2

The present invention relates to a pH sensitive particle, a method of preparation thereof, and a use thereof. More particularly, the invention provides a pH sensitive metal nanoparticle and its use for medical treatment utilizing cell necrosis during photothermal therapy. The pH sensitive metal nanoparticle based on this invention consists of a pH sensitive ligand compound whose charge changes depending on the pH of the metal nanoparticle. The particle can be collected in cells, such as cancer cells which present an abnormal pH environment. The pH sensitive metal nanoparticle based on this invention can induce cell death through a photothermal procedure after aggregation. Therefore, the invention enables medical treatment using cell necrosis for e.g. cancer treatment.
US09616120B2

The invention provides antibody to canine or feline or equine antigens. Specifically, antibodies directed to canine CD20 which have been caninized or felinized are provided. Also provided are methods for preparing high affinity antibodies to canine and feline CD20 as well as methods for treating B cell disorders in companion animals.
US09616118B2

The present invention encompasses engineered Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) vaccines or compositions. The vaccine or composition may be a recombinant vaccine. The invention also encompasses recombinant vectors encoding and expressing avian pathogen antigens, more specifically avian influenza proteins, epitopes or immunogens. Such vaccines or compositions can be used to protect animals, in particular avian, against disease.
US09616116B2

The present invention provides an immunogenic composition of a lipopolysaccharide vaccine and a non-alum adjuvant. The immunogenic composition may be detoxified J5 core lipopolysaccharide of Escherichia coli non-covalently complexed with group B meningococcal outermembrane protein. Also provided are methods for preventing an infection caused by a Gram-negative bacteria in an individual via administering the immunogenic compositions to the individual.
US09616114B1

Bacterial strains are provided having at least one of a reduced size, a sialic acid coat, inducibly altered surface antigens, and expression of PD-L1 or CTLA-4 agonists and/or tryptophanase. The bacteria may have improved serum half-life, increased penetration into tumors, increased tumor targeting and increased antitumor activity. The bacteria are useful for delivery of therapeutic agents that treat of neoplastic diseases including solid tumors and lymphomas.
US09616110B2

Fabrication method for stratified and layered tissue to repair osteochondral defects. In a method of the present disclosure, the method comprises the step of applying a first direction magnetic field to a first quantity of a first collagen solution to align collagen within the first collagen solution in a first direction relative to the first direction magnetic field, forming a first layer of collagen. In a method of generating an aligned collagen layer of the present disclosure, the method comprises applying a first magnetic field at or greater than 0.1 Tesla to a layer of a first collagen solution defining a horizontal plane, within a temperature at or between 2° C. and 45° C., to generate an aligned collagen layer.
US09616092B2

The invention relates to the use as a drug or medical nutritional product in humans to treat a pathological dysbiosis and/or to prevent or treat at least one derived metabolic disease chosen from among excess weight with comorbidity, obesity, diabetes, heart and vascular diseases, atherosclerosis, degenerative bone disease, neurodegenerative disease, metabolism-related cancers, autoimmune diseases, steatosis, metabolic steatohepatitis, and chronic inflammatory diseases of the intestine, by increasing the Christensenella bacterial genus in the intestine, of a composition comprising a mixture of active ingredients consisting of at least: a whey hydrolysate with a molecular weight comprised between 200 and 10,000 Daltons, a whey isolate and/or a concentrate, and calcium caseinate.
US09616088B2

A hemostatic putty for treatment of a variety of wounds topographies, including but not limited to highly three dimensional wounds, for example gunshot wounds and impalements, is disclosed. The putty is comprised of a matrix polymer weakly crosslinked or not crosslinked such that a viscoelastic matrix is formed. The viscoelastic nature of the putty is tunable by the composition and enables the putty to conform to a variety of wound topographies. Likewise, a hemostatic polymer, for example chitosan or hydrophobically modified chitosan, is included in this matrix to impart hemostatic properties and tissue adhesive on the putty. The hemostatic polymers disclosed prevent microbial infection and are suitable for oxygen transfer required during normal wound metabolism.
US09616086B2

The present invention relates to use of a microRNA or an inhibitor thereof, and specifically, the present invention relates to use of a microRNA or an inhibitor thereof in preparing a medicament for regulating lipid metabolism or preparing a medicament for preventing or treating a disease related to lipid metabolism. The microRNA is one or more of the following: miRNA-96, miRNA-185, and miRNA-223. The present invention also relates to use of the microRNA or the inhibitor thereof in regulating the expression level of a protein related to lipid metabolism. The present invention also relates to a composition comprising the microRNA or the inhibitor thereof. The microRNA or the inhibitor thereof in the present invention can be used as a pharmaceutical component, and can be applied in preventing or treating a disease caused by lipid metabolism disorders such as hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease or other diseases.
US09616081B2

Provided is a novel combination therapy using an FTD/TPI combination drug which exhibits remarkable antitumor effects, and few side effects.An antitumor agent is characterized in that the FTD/TPI combination drug is administered, using a reduced amount of trifluridine, at a dose in the range of 35 to 70 mg/m2/day and CPT-11 is administered at a dose in the range of 45 to 144 mg/m2/day.
US09616079B2

A new class of pseudo-trisaccharide aminoglycosides having an alkyl group at the 5″ position, exhibiting efficient stop codon mutation readthrough activity, low cytotoxicity and high selectivity towards eukaryotic translation systems are provided. Also provided are pharmaceutical compositions containing the same, and uses thereof in the treatment of genetic disorders, as well as processes of preparing these aminoglycosides. The disclosed aminoglycosides can be represented by the general formula I: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein R1 is selected from the group consisting of alkyl, cycloalkyl and aryl; and all other variables and features are as described in the specification.
US09616074B2

The subject matter of the instant invention is pertinent to the field of hormone therapy. More specifically, the subject matter of the instant invention concerns methods of treating estrogen-dependent conditions such as endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer in a female undergoing estrogen and/or selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) therapy. The instant invention is also relevant to the suppression of endometrial proliferation. The instant invention is also relevant to the treatment of pain associated with endometriosis. The compositions for practicing the methods, comprising progesterone antagonists are also disclosed. Embodiments of the instant invention also disclose methods for identifying new selective progesterone receptor modulators for practicing disclosed methods of treatment.
US09616071B2

An oral sustained release pharmaceutical composition comprising a plurality of granules having diameters of not more than 1000 μm, wherein each of the granules comprise a nucleus granule comprised of beraprost sodium and a coating agent coating the nucleus granule, and wherein the coating agent is comprised of a first skin layer containing one or more relatively water-insoluble macromolecular substances, and a second skin layer containing one or more hot-melt low-melting substances.
US09616066B2

A method is disclosed of treating acute, sub-acute or chronic constipation in a patient having a condition requiring such treatment. The method includes administering a lipase inhibitor. Also provided is a method of treating chronic pain in a patient which includes administration of a lipase inhibitor, with or without pain medication.
US09616065B2

The present invention provides compounds useful for treating or preventing a brain-related disease or disorder. The present invention further provides a method of treating or preventing a brain-related disease or disorder in a patient, the method comprising administering to the patient a pharmaceutical composition comprising at least one compound of the invention. The present invention further provides a method of modulating the activity of a monoamine transporter.
US09616064B2

The subject invention concerns materials and methods for treating diseases and disorders associated with expression of Rho associated kinases (ROCKs). Examples of diseases and disorders contemplated within the scope of the invention include, but are not limited to, oncological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, CNS disorders, and inflammatory disorders. In one embodiment, a method of the invention comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of one or more compounds of the present invention, or a composition comprising the compounds, to a person or animal in need of treatment. The subject invention also concerns compounds that inhibit ROCKs, and compositions that comprise the inhibitor compounds of the invention. Compounds contemplated within the scope of the invention include, but are not limited to, those compounds shown in Table 5.
US09616057B2

Compositions and methods are provided for inhibiting or treating the early and established stages of inflammatory diseases by administration of an effective dose of the desethylhydroxychloroquine (DHCQ). A benefit of the methods is the ability to deliver a dose of agent that is effective in treating inflammation while sparing the individual from retinal toxicity.
US09616048B2

This technology relates generally to compounds and methods for stimulating neurogenesis (e.g., post-natal neurogenesis, including post-natal hippocampal and hypothalamic neurogenesis) and/or protecting neuronal cell from cell death. Various compounds are disclosed herein. In vivo activity tests suggest that these compounds may have therapeutic benefits in neuropsychiatric and/or neurodegenerative diseases such as schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, normal aging, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Down syndrome, spinocerebellar ataxia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's disease, stroke, radiation therapy, chronic stress, abuse of a neuro-active drug, retinal degeneration, spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve injury, physiological weight loss associated with various conditions, as well as cognitive decline associated with normal aging, chemotherapy, and the like.
US09616032B2

There are provided compositions for extended release of a nucleic acid agent, comprising a lipid-saturated matrix formed with a biodegradable polymer. Also provided are methods of producing the matrix compositions and methods for using the matrix compositions to provide controlled release of the nucleic acid agent.
US09616030B2

Disclosed in certain embodiments is a solid oral dosage form comprising a plurality of particles, each particle comprising (i) a core comprising an active agent susceptible to abuse and an internal adhesion promoter, wherein the cores are (i) dispersed in a matrix comprising a controlled release material or (ii) coated with a controlled release material. The dosage form can also include an alcohol resistant material.
US09616026B2

Sustained release compositions of sotalol, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, are provided. In certain examples, sotalol, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, may be administered in an effective amount to provide a therapeutic effect to a patient, such as, for example, a patient suffering from a cardiac disorder. In some examples, sotalol combined with a sustained release system may be administered to provide a sustained release of sotalol for a desired period, e.g., at least about 24 hours.
US09616017B2

Ophthalmic products and related methods are described herein. These methods include a stabilizing composition comprising a therapeutically active agent which is separated from a liquid vehicle composition by a barrier. The barrier may be removed to allow the two compositions to mix to provide an ophthalmically acceptable liquid comprising the therapeutically active agent.
US09616016B2

A composition includes at least one fatty acid glycerol ester for use during or after a vitrectomy procedure, the composition being bioresorbable, being injectable in the vitreous cavity, having a density below 1, more preferably between 0.90 and 1, or a density above 1, more preferably between 1 and 1.5; having a surface tension of less than 50 dynes/cm more preferably ranging from 20 and 30 dynes/cm, being not susceptible to emulsify into droplets when injected; method for treating a retinal disorder involving the use of the composition.
US09616011B2

Personal care compositions comprising a dipeptide and methods of using such compositions to treat the condition of keratinous tissue. The C terminal amino acid of said dipeptide is threonine. The personal care composition can be applied topically, ingested orally, injected, or used as part of a combined treatment regimen.
US09616009B2

The present invention relates to a composition including at least one C7 sugar, or derivative from esterification of said sugar, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier for treating alopecia. The present invention also relates to a method for cosmetically treating hair and nails, said method being intended to stimulate the growth thereof and/or slow the loss thereof. According to said method, a cosmetic composition including at least one C7 sugar, or derivative from esterification of said sugar, is administered. The present invention finally relates to a method for cosmetic care of hair and/or eyelashes and/or nails.
US09616008B2

An anti-microbial composition, comprising a chelator (such as EDTA and its salts), and a transport enhancer (such as Methyl Sufonyl Methane; MSM) is provided. Together, the combination of the two substances unexpectedly and beneficially inhibits bacterial or fungal biofilms when administered to an area of microbial infection. Preferred formulations include spray, lotion, solution, gel, cream, ointment, soap, deodorant, surgical rinse, or dental rinse.
US09616001B2

The present invention relates to new (foodgrade) solid lipid nanoparticles, as well as the production of such solid lipid nanoparticles and the use of them.
US09615996B2

The invention relates to a closure cap (1) for receptacles for receiving medical liquids, in particular receptacles filled with infusion solutions, transfusion solutions or liquids for enteral nutrition. The invention further relates to a receptacle (40) for receiving medical liquids, in particular a bottle, comprising such a closure cap. The closure cap (1) according to the invention is characterized by two injection parts (6 and 7) arranged separately from one another, each for injecting an additive. One injection part (6) serves to inject an additive with an injection syringe that has a needle (cannula), while the other injection part (7) serves to inject an additive with a needle-less injection syringe.
US09615994B2

A personal massage apparatus includes a personal massager and can also include a controller for controlling the operation of the massager. The massager includes a motor or other motion-causing device and can also include an interface (e.g., a wireless interface) to the controller (where such a controller is included). The controller is a remote control that can include a motion sensor (e.g., an accelerometer) for detecting motion of the controller (e.g., changes in orientation). The massager can also have a motion sensor for detecting motion of the massager. Circuitry in the controller and/or massager converts the detected motion of the controller or massager into control signals for the controller or massager. The operation of the controller or massager (e.g., the output motor power, a vibration pattern, or another massage setting) is adjusted based on the detected motion of the controller or massager.
US09615991B2

Intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) devices facilitate fluid circulation in a body by providing alternating higher pressure and a lower or no pressure in an associated inflatable cuff. A source of air at a pressure less than 130% of the higher pressure at the inflatable cuff communicates to the inflatable cuff through a large-cross-section, continuously-open passageway. A large vent valve on that passageway opens for a lower or no pressure condition and closes to achieve a higher pressure within 0.1 second. For the lower or no pressure state, the vent valve not only vents the inflatable cuff, but also vents continuing air flow from the source of air pressure, until the next rapid pressure rise. The periods between successive compressions are from 2 to 10 seconds, with compressions from 0.35 to 5 seconds. While most of the inflatable cuff is not transparent, portions adjacent the heel and toes are.
US09615986B2

Chiropractic table that allows conservation of the natural curves of the spine of a patient using thereof, comprising a continuous curved surface having a concave section at its central portion on the convex side of said curved surface defining first and second convex sections, wherein the ends of the curved surface are in contact with the ends of a frame composed of a plurality of longitudinal straight bar pairs, parallel to each other and which are transversely joined by a plurality of main transverse bars to said longitudinal straight bars, wherein further the first convex section has a greater height then the second convex section with respect to the plane defined by the plurality of longitudinal straight bars and the plurality of main transverse bars.
US09615985B2

A system and method for tilting an infant-supporting device can be decoupled through a manual coupler or decoupler, that includes a clevis (40) coupled to the lifting means (4, 9) and a pivot pin (41) slidably coupled to the tilt means (12).
US09615972B2

An ophthalmic laser surgery apparatus includes an irradiation optical system and including an objective lens, and treats a patient's eye by using a laser beam. The ophthalmic laser surgery apparatus includes a delivery unit that includes an irradiation end unit, includes at least a portion of the irradiation optical system, and optically guides the laser beam, a first movement unit that includes a first drive section and integrally moves the irradiation end unit and an eyeball fixing unit which is connected to the delivery unit and fixes the patient's eye, a second movement unit that includes a second drive section and moves the eyeball fixing unit by driving the second drive section, and drive control means for controlling driving of the first drive section and driving of the second drive section, and individually moving the first movement unit and the second movement unit.
US09615968B2

Hypothermic therapy headgear for patients includes a headpiece for engaging the head of the patient and a cooling member engaged to the headpiece for contacting at least one surface portion of the patient. The cooling member includes at least one cooling surface for contacting the surface portion of the patient, and at least two endothermic reaction components. The endothermic reaction components have an initial state where the endothermic reaction components are separated from contact with each other, and a treatment state in which the endothermic reaction components are placed into contact, wherein an endothermic reaction takes place and cools the cooling surface and the corresponding portion of the patient. An activation device selectively places the endothermic reaction components into the treatment state when a patient is in need of hypothermic therapy. A thermal therapy device and a method for administering thermal therapy are also disclosed.
US09615959B2

A dilation apparatus comprises an elongate member and a dilation assembly that is slidable along the elongate member. The dilation assembly comprises a platform and an inflatable dilator. The platform and the elongate member cooperate to absorb inflation forces from the dilator directed toward the longitudinal axis of the elongate member, such that the dilation forces are exerted against tissue asymmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the elongate member. The dilation apparatus may be used to dilate the ethmoid infundibulum in a human patient. Various devices may be used to maintain the dilated state of an ethmoid infundibulum, including a wedge, a mesh, and a tether. An illuminator may be configured to reach around an uncinate process, retract the uncinate process, and then illuminate the ethmoid infundibulum to provide improved visualization of the ethmoid infundibulum.
US09615951B2

A system for mechanically deploying intraluminal implants is disclosed. The system is used with an implant that is delivered and/or deployed via a pull wire and includes a handle having a funnel and receiving channel for receiving the pull wire, a slider having a thumb grip and a wedge, and a shuttle having a grabber for grasping the pull wire. The thumb grip is pulled proximally to retract the wedge to cause the grabber to grasp the wire and retract the shuttle but not the wire. An extension spring linked between the slider and the shuttle abruptly pulls the shuttle to retract the pull wire after the slider is fully retracted.
US09615949B2

A delivery device for deploying an expandable prosthesis and method of use thereof are described. The delivery device includes an outer sheath that is capable of retracting in a proximal direction and resheathing over the prosthesis in a distal direction. The device includes a drive pulley that can engage gears to retract or resheath the outer catheter in relation to the prosthesis. In some embodiments, the delivery device may include a reinforced outer sheath disposed over an inner elongate member, the reinforced outer sheath comprising a proximal section reinforced with a braid, a distal section reinforced with a coil and an overlapping section extending between the proximal section and the distal section. Additionally or alternatively, the delivery device may include a stabilizing element for releasably holding the stent to the inner catheter.
US09615947B2

An artificial blood vessel that can be transplanted to blood vessels with a small diameter, can be adjusted to an arbitrary size of a diameter, improves in invasiveness when a graft is taken, and overcomes the problem on the provision of a graft is provided. An artificial blood vessel prepared from a decellularized tubular structure, which is prepared by processing a decellularized, sheet-like blood vessel (decellularized blood vessel sheet) into a roll structure, and a tissue adhesive, wherein a portion which is contacted with blood that flows within the artificial blood vessel consists of the tissue of the tunica intima lined with the tissue of the tunica media whereas a portion of the sheet that overlaps when the sheet is processed into a roll structure (overlap width) consists of the tissue of the tunica media and wherein a tissue adhesive is applied to the overlap width.
US09615941B2

An orthopedic tool for loosening the connection between orthopedic components. In one embodiment, the orthopedic tool includes a housing and a wedge. The housing has a head, an upper portion, a lower portion, and an opening between the upper and lower portions. The wedge is positioned at least partially between the upper portion and the lower portion of the housing and is actuatable to move toward the head of the housing. When at least a portion of the head of the housing is placed in mating engagement with the junction between two assembled orthopedic components, advancement of the wedge towards the head results in separation of the upper portion and lower portion of the housing. Thus, as the wedge is advanced toward the head, the upper and lower portions of the housing are separated, which results in corresponding separation of the assembled orthopedic components.
US09615938B2

Various surgical devices and methods for facilitating distraction of adjacent vertebrae and/or insertion of an intervertebral implant material therebetween are disclosed. The devices include an elongated barrel having a cannula. A distal end of the barrel is configured to engage the adjacent vertebrae. Slots may be formed on at least a portion of the barrel such that at least the distal end of the barrel may be expanded to distract vertebrae. In one embodiment, an inner member is reciprocally positioned within the barrel. The inner member includes features that engage one or more surfaces of the barrel to expand the distal end of the barrel as the inner member moves with respect to the barrel. In some embodiments, cams are used to expand the distal end of the barrel.
US09615937B2

An expandable interbody fusion device configured for placement into the intradiscal space between vertebral bodies in a lumbar spine from a lateral approach. The device is expanded by the insertion of a plurality of wafers into the device in situ. The length of the device is configured to extend on the vertebral body endplate from pedicle to pedicle and to reside interiorly of the ring apophysis with at least a portion of the device resting on the area of increased bone density at the posterior portion of the endplate between the pedicles.
US09615919B2

The invention relates to an implantable valve prosthesis, optionally comprising a support structure and at least one valve leaflet. The valve prosthesis comprises a material structure of unidirectional reinforcing elements of drawn ultra high molecular weight polyolefin, extending in at least two directions, wherein the modulus of elasticity of the polyolefin reinforcing elements is at least 60 GPa. The invention furthermore relates to a method for manufacturing such an implantable valve. The valve is easily manufactured and has an improved durability.
US09615914B2

Apparatus and methods for nipple and breast formation are described where devices precondition or expand a target nipple tissue to reduce the pressure exerted by the skin on an eventual implant. Generally, the apparatus comprises a mold having a contact surface which is curved in conformance with a breast upon which the mold is positionable, the contact surface having an adhesive for securement upon the breast, and the mold defining a cavity along the contact surface which conforms to a size of a nipple to be formed upon the breast and where the cavity further comprises the adhesive for securement to the nipple. A breast enlargement device comprises a cup larger than the target breast and further defines an inner surface which adheres to the breast when contacted.
US09615911B2

An implant delivery system can be used to deliver an implant into a body. The implant delivery system can include an inflation tube and a tubular member surrounding the inflation tube. The inflation tube can be used to provide an inflation medium to the implant. The tubular member can have a distal tip and an opening spaced from the tip to allow the implant to be released through the opening into an anatomical structure within the body.
US09615910B2

The invention relates to a method for producing a multi-layer collagen scaffold. The method generally comprises the steps of: preparing a first suspension of collagen and freezing or lyophilizing the suspension to provide a first layer; optionally preparing a further suspension of collagen and adding the further suspension onto the layer formed in the previous step to form a further layer, and freezing or lyophilizing the layers, wherein when the layer formed in the previous step is formed by lyophilization the lyophilized layer is re-hydrated prior to addition of the next layer; optionally, repeating the aforementioned step to form one or more further layers; and preparing a final suspension of collagen and pouring the final suspension onto the uppermost layer to form a final layer, and freeze-drying the layers to form the multi-layer collagen composite scaffold.
US09615905B2

The present invention includes a method of implanting a urethral prosthesis. The method includes making an incision, positioning arms of the prosthesis in the pelvic region of the patient, and positioning a stem of the prosthesis in the scrotum of the patient.
US09615901B2

An apparatus for determining surface topology of a portion of a three-dimensional structure is provided, that includes a probing member, an illumination unit, a light focusing optics, a translation mechanism, a detector and a processor.
US09615890B2

A surgical robot system includes a slave system to perform a surgical operation on a patient and an imaging system that includes an image capture unit including a plurality of cameras to acquire a plurality of affected area images, an image generator detecting an occluded region in each of the affected area images acquired by the plurality of cameras, removing the occluded region therefrom, warping each of the affected area images from which the occluded region is removed, and matching the affected area images to generate a final image, and a controller driving each of the plurality of cameras of the image capture unit to acquire the plurality of affected area images and inputting the acquired plurality of affected area images to the image generator to generate a final image.
US09615879B2

Medical devices and methods for using medical devices are disclosed. An example medical device may include an open-irrigated ablation catheter. The open-irrigated ablation catheter may include a catheter body, an electrode tip body with one or more irrigation ports at a distal end, and a proximal insert for providing cooling fluid to a proximal end of the electrode tip body.
US09615876B2

A device for morcellating tissue within a body cavity of a patient comprises a stationary tube (8) having a distal end portion, and a bipolar electrosurgical electrode assembly (13) located at the distal end of the tube. The electrosurgical electrode assembly (13) comprises first and second electrodes (14, 16) separated by an insulation member (15). When an electrosurgical cutting voltage is applied to the electrode assembly (13), and relative movement is initiated between the tube (8) and the tissue, a slug of resected tissue is formed within the tube such that it can be removed from the body cavity of the patient. The bipolar electrosurgical assembly (13) has a first circumferential region (A) and a second circumferential region (B), the first circumferential region (A) being longer than the second circumferential region (B), the bipolar electrosurgical assembly being adapted to cut tissue preferentially in the first circumferential region (A) as compared with the second circumferential region (B).
US09615874B2

Methods and systems for bone plate bending are provided which include bending tools that couple relative to the bone plate to bend the plate. Such system permit bending without necessitating that the bending tools are in direct contact with the holes in the plate, which could deform the holes.
US09615868B2

A bone fastener includes a first portion that defines a longitudinal axis and includes an inner surface defining an implant cavity. An intermediate portion includes a first part having a wall including a first end surface that defines at least a portion of the implant cavity and a second end surface. The intermediate portion further includes a second part having a wall including an end surface connected with the second end surface of the first part and an inner surface. The second part is rotatable relative to the first part. A second portion includes a first end engageable with the inner surface of the second part and a second end configured to penetrate tissue. Systems and methods are disclosed.
US09615865B2

A bone end (epiphysis) fracture device including a rotatable fixation plate having a guide pin aperture and a plurality of fixation screw apertures formed therethrough. The guide pin aperture is used by a surgeon to position the fixation plate so that one or more fixation screw apertures are properly positioned to receive fixation screws inserted by the surgeon for repairing a bone end fracture. In another embodiment, the fracture fixation device also includes a side plate to which the fixation plate is rotatably attached. This embodiment further includes one or more side plate apertures formed through an elongate extension, whereby the fixation device may also be attached to the bone for which an end fracture is being repaired. A lock screw is provided in this embodiment for locking the position of the fixation plate with respect to the side plate.
US09615864B2

An Intramedullary Distraction Osteotomy (IM DO) apparatus and corresponding methods are disclosed that allow for the patient or another to lengthen residual bone. The apparatus may be inserted into the intramedullary canal of the residual bone and may be lengthened through the application of a traction force. The apparatus protrudes from the body through a single percutaneous site. Lengthening of the amputated limb is achieved by the application of a controlled traction force that is generated by turning a lengthening knob external to the percutaneous site. One or more additional screw segments may be utilized to assist in limb lengthening. The traction force serves to separate a distal bone segment from a proximal bone segment at a specified, controllable rate, allowing new bone growth to fill in the resulting gap. Components of the apparatus provide support and alignment to the residual bone during both the lengthening and consolidation phases. External components of the apparatus may be removed after desired limb length has been achieved, reducing the risk of infection and improving patient mobility.
US09615854B2

A beauty tool (1) includes: a substantially rod-shaped main body (10); an attraction head (2) provided in the main body (10); and a beauty effect imparting part for imparting a beauty effect to human skin in a state where it is in contact with or close to the human skin. The attraction head (2) is provided at one end of the main body (10) and includes a magnetic force generating surface (20) for attracting and removing, by means of a magnetic force, a cosmetic agent applied to the human skin.
US09615847B2

In one embodiment, a medical device may include an insertion member configured to be inserted into a body opening, and a needle member, movably coupled to the insertion member, configured to be inserted into the body opening. The needle member may include a lumen configured to transfer dissection fluid, a blunt tip located on a distal end of the needle member, and an opening disposed proximate to the blunt tip that is configured to discharge the dissection fluid into a space between tissue layers.
US09615832B2

An aneurysm occlusion system includes a device positionable within a cerebral blood vessel covering a neck of an aneurysm on the blood vessel. The device includes an expandable tubular element having a lumen surrounded by a sidewall including a plurality of gaps. When expanded, the tubular element includes longitudinal standards arrayed helically in a proximal to distal direction. The standards support struts and the gaps are defined between adjacent struts and are sufficiently large to permit delivery of embolic coils or other embolic materials therethrough.
US09615827B2

A surgical stapling device for sequentially applying a plurality of fasteners to body tissue and simultaneously incising tissue is provided. The surgical stapling device is adapted to receive disposable loading units having staples in linear rows whose length can be between about 30 mm and 60 mm. The disposable loading unit includes a proximal body portion, a mounting assembly and a tool assembly. The mounting assembly is secured to the proximal end of the tool assembly and pivotally mounted about a pivot axis to the distal end of the proximal body portion. A support member or blow-out plate assembly is positioned on opposite sides of the pivot axis and extends between the proximal body portion and the mounting assembly.
US09615826B2

In various embodiments, a staple cartridge for use with a surgical stapler is disclosed. The staple cartridge comprises a cartridge body comprising a deck, a row of first staple cavities defined in the deck, a plurality of first staples, wherein the first staples are positioned in the first staple cavities, a row of second staple cavities defined in the deck, and a plurality of second staples, wherein the second staples are positioned in the second staple cavities. The staple cartridge further comprises a first layer comprising a first portion positioned over the first staple cavities and configured to be captured within the first staples and a second portion positioned over the second staple cavities and configured to be captured within the second staples. The staple cartridge further comprises a second layer positioned over the second portion and not positioned over the first portion of the first layer.
US09615821B2

Systems and methods for soft tissue to bone repairs, without knot tying. The soft tissue repair systems include self-cinching constructs with splices and loops that are pre-loaded onto modified knotless anchors (for example, swivel and/or screw-in suture anchors and/or push-in suture anchors with a distal eyelet) to position the self-locking, adjustable construct at the repair site. The systems allow for knotless tensioning of the tissue after the knotless anchors have been implanted.
US09615814B2

An invention is disclosed for locating a region of interest in the calcaneus. A pair of ultrasound transducers are positioned on the medial and lateral sides of the heel, respectively. The positioning is based on a size of a portion of the body of a subject upon whom the ultrasound assessment of the calcaneus is to be made. In a presently preferred embodiment, the length of the foot from the back to the head of the first metatarsal is used in conjunction with a proportionality constant and an angle, to position the pair of transducers. The positioning so obtained facilitates (i) reproducible measurements and (ii) comparisons of the results obtained in one person with another, because relatively analogous portions of the highly heterogeneous calcanei are assessed in both. In an alternative embodiment, a single transducer is positioned similarly on the heel, operating in pulse-echo mode.
US09615801B2

An animal holder for use with an imaging device includes a body tube for receiving a first body portion of the animal. The animal holder also includes a head immobilization mechanism disposed adjacent one end of the body tube for receiving a head of the animal. The head immobilization mechanism includes opposing first and second flexible fingers that have free ends configured to contact and immobilize the head of the animal when the fingers are moved to a compressed position.
US09615796B2

A patient immobilization device for positioning a patient in the prone position for breast irradiation, includes a cephalic module for supporting the head and upper extremities of the patient, a thoracic module for supporting the patient thorax, and shaped to allow at least one breast to extend below the thoracic module, and a caudal module for supporting the pelvis and lower extremities of the patient, wherein the cephalic module is optionally detachable and securable to the thoracic module; wherein the thoracic module is optionally detachable and securable to the caudal module and the device can be pivoted in an indexed way around a craniocaudal patient axis F.
US09615795B2

Employed is a probe support apparatus having: a base stand; an arm connected to an upper end of the base stand so that the arm can be tilted and rotated in a horizontal direction; and a probe support section connected to a distal end of the arm at a side opposite that of a portion connected to the base stand. The probe support section is constituted by a deformable section and a non-deformable section, and the non-deformable section is connected to a distal end of the arm so that the non-deformable section can rotate about an axis parallel to a rotation axis about which the arm is tilted.
US09615793B2

An ECG monitoring system for ambulatory patients includes a small multi-electrode patch that adhesively attaches to the chest of a patient. A reusable battery-powered ECG monitor clips onto the patch and receives patient electrical signals from the electrodes of the patch. A processor continuously processes received ECG signals and stores the signals in memory in the monitor. The processor also analyzes the received ECG signals for predefined arrhythmia. If an arrhythmia is detected, a wireless transceiver in the ECG monitor transmits the event information and an ECG strip to a cellphone handset. The cellphone handset automatically relays the event information and ECG strip to a monitoring center for further diagnosis and necessary intervention.
US09615782B2

A device for drawing fluid from a lumen comprising a body, a first needle portion extending from a forward portion of the body and a second needle portion extending from a rear portion of the body, wherein the body includes an observation portion adapted to allow visual observation of the fluid, and wherein the observation portion is provided with enhancement means adapted to enhance the visibility of the fluid in the observation portion.
US09615776B2

The invention provides signal processing algorithms and apparatus for detecting bradykinesia, tremor, or other symptoms of neurological dysfunction in subjects, using three-dimensional sensors to tract finger and hand position. The invention provides Cartesian Genetic Programming networks and particular function blocks for such networks to enable identification of subjects exhibiting such symptoms.
US09615767B2

A method for use in analyzing impedance measurements on a subject is described. The method can include, in a processing system, determining at least one impedance value at each of a number of frequencies, each impedance value representing the impedance of a segment of the subject, determining a dispersion parameter value indicative of a dispersion of the impedance values and, determining an indicator based at least on part on the dispersion parameter value.
US09615763B2

Physiological monitoring can be provided through a lightweight wearable monitor that includes two components, a flexible extended wear electrode patch and a reusable monitor recorder that removably snaps into a receptacle on the electrode patch. The wearable monitor sits centrally (in the midline) on the patient's chest along the sternum oriented top-to-bottom. The placement of the wearable monitor in a location at the sternal midline, with its unique narrow “hourglass”-like shape, significantly improves the ability of the wearable monitor to cutaneously sense cardiac electrical potential signals, particularly the P-wave and, to a lesser extent, the QRS interval signals indicating ventricular activity in the ECG waveforms. Additionally, the monitor recorder includes an ECG sensing circuit that measures raw cutaneous electrical signals using a driven reference containing power supply noise and system noise to the reference lead, which is critical to preserving the characteristics of low amplitude cardiac action potentials, particularly P-waves.
US09615757B2

Methods and apparatus to determine the presence of and track functional chronotropic incompetence (hereinafter “CI”) in an in-home setting under conditions of daily living. The functional CI of the patient may be determined with one or more of a profile of measured patient heart rates, a measured maximum patient heart rate, or a peak of the heart rate profile. The functional CI of the patient may be determined with the measured heart rate profile, in which the measured heart rate profile may correspond to heart rates substantially less than the maximum heart rate of the patient, such that the heart rate can be safely measured when the patient is remote from a health care provider. The functional CI of the patient may be determined based a peak of the remotely measured heart rate profile, for example a peak corresponding to the mode of the heart rate distribution profile.
US09615753B2

A system and method are provided for assessing the compliance of internal patient tissue for purposes of catheter guidance and/or ablation procedures. Specifically, the system/method provides for probing internal patient tissue in order to obtain force and/or tissue displacement measurements. These measurements are utilized to generate an indication of tissue elasticity. In one exemplary embodiment, the indication of elasticity is correlated with an image of the internal tissue area and an output of this image including elasticity indications is displayed for a user.
US09615751B2

An object information acquiring apparatus, comprising: a plurality of detecting elements which detect an acoustic wave generated from an object irradiated with light and convert the acoustic wave into detection signals; a signal determining unit which determines a detection signal detected by a detecting element which is not in acoustic contact with the object, of the plurality of detecting elements; a signal acquisition unit which generates a corrected detection signal by deleting at least a region which is not based on an acoustic wave generated from the interior of the object, from the determined detection signal; and an image processor which forms image data of the object from a detection signal detected by a detecting element which is in acoustic contact with the object and from the corrected detection signal.
US09615745B2

A system and method for monitoring a physical parameter of a subject is provided. The system may include a casing with a sensor coupled to the casing. The sensor may be configured to detect a physical parameter of the subject. The physical parameter may include a chemical parameter of the subject. The system includes an endoscopic clip coupled to the casing and may include a wireless transmitter for transmitting a signal via a wireless medium. The signal encodes the physical parameter of the subject detected by the sensor and the wireless transmitter is electronically connected to the endoscopic clip. The system may further include a monitor configured to communicate with the wireless transmitter for receiving the signal encoding the physical parameter of the subject.
US09615742B2

Aspects of the present invention relate to methods and systems for imaging, recognizing, and tracking of a user's eye that is wearing a HWC. Aspects further relate to the processing of images reflected from the user's eye and controlling displayed content in accordance therewith. Aspects further relate to determining health conditions of the user based on eye imaging technologies.
US09615735B2

Systems and methods for determining thickness of lipid and aqueous layers of a tear film in which a spectrum array is generated from optical coherence tomography and input into a statistical estimator, which determines the thickness of the lipid and/or aqueous layers at a nanometer resolution based on the inputted spectrum and other information, such as information about a laser intensity noise, Poisson noise, and dark noise associated with the OCT.
US09615712B2

A pad particularly adapted for surface cleaning. The pad includes an absorbent core having the ability to absorb and retain liquid material, and a liner layer in contact with and covering at least one side of the absorbent core. The liner layer has the ability to retain and wick liquid material through the liner layer. Cleaning apparatus containing such pads and methods of using such pads are also described.
US09615711B2

A brush vacuum cleaner having a safety shutdown of the drive via an overload brush roller torque detection. A mechanical triggering element via transmission elements actuates an electrical switch for the main switch to shut down the drive above a torque threshold. The switch is additionally connected in parallel by an external actuating element to an on and off position by a spring-loaded control element and a coupling element. Due to the control element, switching the switch into an off position due to overload is transmitted to the actuating element that can be adjusted into an off position. The control element is spring held in the on position in an arrangement for the engagement of the control element, where an unlocking can be set as off position by adjustment of the control element via the actuating element against the spring pressure.
US09615708B2

A vacuum cleaner having a base, an agitator cleaner, an agitator, and a motor. The agitator extends in a longitudinal direction and is mounted to the base to rotate about a longitudinal axis of the agitator and to move between a first position in which the agitator is spaced from the agitator cleaner and a second position in which the agitator engages the agitator cleaner. The motor is operatively associated with the base and configured to rotate the agitator about the longitudinal axis of the agitator while the agitator is in the second position to remove debris from the agitator by interaction between the agitator and the agitator cleaner.
US09615707B2

A floor care appliance having a height-adjustable brush set. A pushbutton of the brush set is actuatable for height adjustment via a manual suction tube of the floor care appliance. The pushbutton has a receptacle for receiving an edge region of a manual suction tube and/or for foot actuation.
US09615705B2

A liquid vacuuming device for drawing off and vacuuming up liquids may include a housing (1), an extractor device formed by at least one extracting lip (7) for extracting and collecting the liquid in front of at least one vacuum mouth (5), a vacuuming device that features a motor-driven vacuum subassembly and is able to vacuum an air/liquid flow mixed with the liquid to be vacuumed up along a flow pathway from the vacuum mouth (5) through an intake channel (4) into the housing (1), a separating device (13) for separating the liquid from the air and a tank for receiving the separated liquid. The device may further include an on/off function that turns on the motorized drive or increases the motor power when pressure is exerted upon the extracting lip (7) and turns off the motorized drive or reduces the motor power when the pressure decreases. Similar functionality may be implemented by an orientation switch.
US09615696B2

A grill removal assembly removes a hot grill grate from an appliance such as a grill, smoker, oven, or the like. The assembly includes a handle has a slot and a pair of tabs. The slot may insertably receive a selected one of a rod on a grill. The tabs may be positioned beneath a central rod on the grill when the slot receives the selected rod. A stabilizer is attached to the handle. The stabilizer abuts the selected rod when the slot receives the selected rod thereby facilitating the handle to remove the grill from an oven.
US09615694B2

A heating cooker is provided with: a container for housing food; a housing unit for housing the container; a discharge port for discharging air in the lateral direction towards the inside of the housing unit, the discharge port being provided at the upper part of a side wall of the housing unit; outlet ports through which air in the housing unit flows out, the outlet ports being provided to the housing unit; an airflow duct communicating the outlet ports and the discharge port to each other; an airflow fan for channeling air flowing into the airflow duct towards the discharge port; and a duct heater, which is a heating unit for heating the air channeled into the airflow duct.
US09615692B2

A grill and/or frying plate for use on an induction cooking hob, including at least one grill section and at least one section different from the grill section, in particular a frame section or a warming section. When the grill and/or frying plate is mounted to the cooking hob, the at least one grill section is at least partially arranged directly above at least one heating element of the cooking hob and that the at least one section different from the grill section is at least partially arranged in a position where no heating element is arranged below. A recess and/or a securing recess and/or a fixation groove are arranged in a region that delimits the grill section from the section different from the grill section, in such a way that the heat transfer from the grill section to the section different from the grill section is reduced.
US09615690B2

A cooking appliance including a housing and cooking vessel having a rim. A lid covers the cooking vessel when seated on the rim. At least one latch is disposed on the lid and a complementary engagement member is disposed on a sidewall of the housing. The at least one latch includes a base attached to the lid, a rotating arm having a cammed head at one end that engages the base, and a rod pivotally connected to the cammed head on one end and having a foot disposed at an opposite end. The rod passes through an aperture in the base and the cammed head engages the base as the arm is rotated. The rotation of the arm causes an axial displacement of the rod to cause a stop member on an end of the rod to engage the engagement member to seal the lid to the cooking vessel rim.
US09615689B2

An appliance including a heating and circulating unit immersed in a pot for cooking food inside a cooking bag immersed in the water. A first recess is formed in a base for storing the heating and circulating unit. A second recess is formed in the base for storing the vacuum packaging unit. A third recess is formed in the base for holding a supply of cooking bags. Prior to cooking food is placed into the cooking bag and evacuated with the vacuum packaging unit. The vacuum packaging unit includes an electronic display and an electronic control panel. An electrical cable connects the vacuum packaging unit and the heating and the circulating unit. The heating and the circulating unit and the vacuum packaging unit are controlled from the electronic control panel and data related to the operation thereof is displayed on the electronic display.
US09615685B2

An apparatus for dressing aid includes a first side arm, a second side arm, a stationary stabilizer bar, a removable stabilizer bar, a first and second attachment clip. The first and second side arms are oppositely positioned of each other along the stationary stabilizer bar and pivotably connected to the stationary stabilizer bar. The first and the second attachment clips are respectively connected to a distal end of the first side arm and the second side arm so that a garment can be secured to the first and second side arms. The apparatus is then utilized to put the garment, wherein the first and second side arms are individually operated about pivot connections of the stationary stabilizer bar. The first and second side arms also form a rigid structure with the removable stabilizer bar that attaches to a proximal end of the first and second side arms.
US09615683B2

A household liquid-dispensing container such as a drinking vessel or a jug comprising a vessel (30) that is configured to hold a liquid and that has a base (37) on which it can stand, an opening (39) and at least one side (38); and a handle (50) that is configured to be held by a user and that is attached to a side of the vessel (38) by a joint that forms a single gimbal between the handle (50) and the vessel (30) and that allows the handle (50) to pivot about a single axis (21) that extends directly above the center of gravity of the vessel (30) when the vessel base (37) is standing on a horizontal surface; an optional baffle assembly (80) to reduce sloshing; and a lid (120).
US09615681B2

An arrangement for a screen with a number of sections which are foldable and/or pivotal in relation to one another and which form a screen-off, which includes a fixed section and two sections pivotal in relation thereto, or one fixed section and a number of foldable or pivotal sections in relation to one another, which are pivotally mounted on the fixed section, the fixed section being mounted on a foot, the foot includes a supporting base plate, and the base plate is covered with a hood for preventing direct contact of at least the upper side of the base plate and possibly also the major portion of the edges of the base plate.
US09615677B2

A retail fixture includes a platform having a plurality of openings and a cover having at least one slot where the cover is positioned over the platform such that each of the at least one slots of the cover is aligned with an opening of the platform. A set of spaced-apart nubs extends along at least one opening. A bracket extends across the plurality of openings and is mounted to a bottom surface of the platform. The bracket has channels aligned with the openings. Each channel has a first width proximate the bottom surface and a second width distal from the bottom surface wherein the second width is wider than the first width.
US09615675B2

A product display unit for a displaying a plurality of products thereon is disclosed. The product display unit comprises a bottom member, a first rib, a second rib and a top member. The bottom member is configured to be positioned on a first product-supporting shelf. The first rib projects upwardly from the product-supporting surface and extends longitudinally along the bottom member. The second rib projects upwardly from the product-supporting surface and extends longitudinally along the bottom member, such that a distance is defined between the first rib and the second rib. The top member is disposed in juxtaposed relation with the bottom member and is configured for suspension from a second product-supporting shelf. The distance between the first rib and the second rib is dimensioned to be less than the widest portion of a product configured to be supported by the bottom member.
US09615674B2

A dispenser is provided for storing and individually dispensing cylindrical containers in a vertical orientation. The dispenser includes an upper chamber having a ramp sloping downward toward a back of the dispenser, which receives the containers loaded in a vertical orientation at a front of the dispenser. The containers move down the upper chamber ramp by gravity to an opening at a back end of the dispenser, through which the containers pass to a lower chamber. The lower chamber has a ramp sloping downward toward the front of the dispenser. The containers move down the lower chamber ramp by gravity to a dispensing position at the front of the dispenser. A latch is positioned at a back portion of the upper chamber to restrict passage of the containers so that they pass through the opening one at a time as containers are removed from the dispensing position.
US09615665B2

A foldable mobile restaurant booth and a method of its use are configured for ease of mobility and storage by allowing the seat portion to fold upward toward the seat back. The booth has a seat back and seat portion coupled to a base, and a linkage arrangement coupling the seat portion to the seat back. The base may have a plurality of wheels for allowing the booth to roll easily on the ground. The linkage arrangement permits the seat portion to move between a first, operative position to a second, folded position in which the seat portion extends at an angle no more than 45 degrees from vertical.
US09615657B2

A corner joint for use in a modular portable stand that can be quickly and easily assembled and disassembled by one person without using any tools or hardware.
US09615654B2

A slimfold table has a plurality of legs, at least one table leaf, an inner cross brace, and an outer cross brace. The plurality of legs, the at least one table leaf, the inner cross brace, and the outer cross brace are movable from a deployed condition to a nested condition. The deployed condition has the plurality of legs all generally parallel each other and spaced apart by the inner and outer cross braces, with the at least one table leaf generally orthogonal the legs. The nested condition has the plurality of legs all generally parallel and adjacent to each other and to the inner and outer cross braces and to the at least one table leaf, with the legs and the at least one table leaf nested within the inner cross brace and the inner cross brace nested within the outer cross brace.
US09615649B2

The invention is directed to an improved hydration dispensing device and method for preventing the freeze-up of the hydration line, to dispense potable fluids, such as water, from the hydration dispensing device, eliminating freezing by routing the line under the user's clothes with the line accessible section and extending beyond user's cuff, to be accessible at any time. The device and method comprise a remotely actuated valve mechanism adapted worn and remotely actuated, having a valve means for controlling the flow of potable fluid through the mechanism and a shell, defining an interior cavity, providing a valve seat projecting into the interior cavity, adapted to cooperatively seat the valve means, and operationally adapted to selectively open and close a hydration line when operated. The hydration line attaches to a hydration reservoir, or pack liquid-filled bladder, containing the potable fluid.
US09615648B1

A backpack is provided, which includes a bag, a first to third zippers, a first extended fabric, and a buckle set. The bag includes a first cloth, a second cloth, and a third cloth, which neighbor each other. Three openings are formed among the three cloths. The three zippers respectively seal the three openings. Two first fasteners are provided on the second and the third cloths, wherein a first segment of the third zipper is located between the two first fasteners. The buckle set includes two buckles, connected to the first cloth and the slider of the third zipper respectively. With the first extended fabric and the buckle set, the backpack is double anti-theft; on the other hand, after the two buckles are detached from each other, the bag is easy to be opened by pulling the first extended fabric.
US09615645B2

A roller assembly for a cosmetic device includes a cylindrical drum portion having an interior and an abrasive outer surface; first and second ends enclosing opposite ends of the cylindrical drum portion; and first and second posts extending from the interior of the cylindrical drum portion and being movable along a longitudinal axis of the roller assembly.
US09615643B2

A hair styling device is disclosed. In one aspect the hair styling device includes: a body defining a chamber adapted to accommodate a length of hair, the chamber having a primary opening through which the length of hair may enter the chamber; a rotatable element adapted to engage the length of hair adjacent to the primary opening; an elongate member around which, in use, the length of hair is wound by the rotatable element; a guide part adapted to guide the length of hair towards the primary opening, the rotatable element being rotatable relative to the guide part, the guide part being movable relative to the body. The movable guide part may also serve to press the length of hair towards the primary opening.
US09615631B2

A ratchet belt system includes a belt having a notch strip extending along a portion of the length thereof. The notch strip is formed of a plurality of adjacent notches, each being configured to engage a ratcheting tab of an associated buckle. The belt is configured with a first belt layer, a second belt layer, and a monolithic insert disposed between the first and second layers. The belt with monolithic insert can be configured for use with a gun holster.
US09615625B1

A sole assembly for an article of footwear having a midsole defining a sidewall channel in the forefoot and a sidewall channel in the heel. The forefoot and heel channels terminate at the arch. The sole assembly includes a plate disposed below the midsole. The plate may include an arch portion, forefoot legs extending along the medial and lateral sides of the forefoot and heel legs extending along the medial and lateral sides of the heel. The medial forefoot leg may extend almost the full length of the forefoot. The lateral forefoot leg may extend about half-way through the forefoot. The lateral heel leg may extend almost the full length of the heel. The medial heel leg may extend about half-way through the heel. The sole assembly may include an outsole with slots in the heel and forefoot. The slots may terminate short of the peripheral edge.
US09615616B2

A therapeutic bra and its method of use are presented. The therapeutic bra is intended for use by individuals recovering from shoulder surgery or otherwise having areas of discomfort in the shoulder region. A single strap is provided for interconnection above the cup of the bra that is associated with the non-sensitive, unaffected shoulder. The strap extends across the unaffected shoulder and then makes interconnection with any of various receiving sleeves along a top edge of the back portion of the bra. The receiving sleeve employed will typically be a function of the anatomy of the user and the associated cup size. The single bra strap may be connected around the neck of the user and to the top of each of the cups of the bra to be used as a halter, or the strap can be totally removed and not used at all.
US09615613B2

A sleep apnea prevention sleep-aid mask is described. The sleep-aid mask is configured to secure the lips of a user together in a natural state, in order to encourage the respiratory system of the user to employ the nasal passages rather than the mouth for respiration. A pad equipped with a perforated mesh or channel is positioned over the lips and mouth of the user, and secured in position on the user via an adhesive, which temporarily affixes the pad to the face of the user. The sleep-aid mask is preferably shaped and sized according to the specific size of the user's face, and is configured to limit the effective diameter of the mouth of the user, in order to cause continued use of respiration via the nasal passages.
US09615612B2

A filtering face-piece respirator 10 having a mask body 12 formed of a filtering structure 16. The mask body 12 has at least one transversely extending stiffening member 50, formed by an s-shaped or tri-fold pleat permanently connected, such as by welding. The at least one stiffening member 50 increases the integrity of the mask body 12, when in the opened cup-shaped configuration, inhibiting collapse of the mask body, due to, for example, increased pressure drop across the mask body 12 due to dirty or moisture laden air.
US09615609B2

A nursing bra includes a front portion including a first cup and a second cup; a back portion, wherein the front and back portions are connected at the sides of the bra. The nursing bra further includes a first shoulder strap extending from the back portion to the first cup and a second shoulder strap extending from the back portion to the second cup, wherein the straps are permanently connected to the front portion through connection parts and the straps are releaseably connected to the cups through cup release elements. The front portion includes a first flexible tube and a second flexible tube each including filler in the form of a liquid or a semi-liquid, wherein the first tube extends along at least part of the underside edge of the first cup and the second tube extends along at least part of the underside edge of the second cup.
US09615604B2

A food waste dehydrator that can efficiently collect food scraps and food waste and create an output that can be used as livestock feed, livestock feed supplement, or can be further processed into compost or soil amendment. In some embodiments, the food waste dehydrator is mobile and modular. In some embodiments, the food waste dehydrator includes a self-contained heating and energy source.
US09615592B2

The invention provides a combination of a conveying device for slaughter animals and a removing device (15). The conveying device comprises a guide (2) extending along a transport path, product carriers (3) for the slaughter animals, which are movable in a direction of movement along the guide, each product carrier comprising at least one groove inclined according to a direction of inclination for holding at least one held part of a slaughter animal therein. The at least one groove has an open upper end and a lower end. The removing device comprises a pusher element, which is movable to and fro between a passive position and an active position for pushing the at least one held part out of the at least one groove. The removing device comprises a further pusher element which is movable to and fro between a further passive position and a further active position. The pusher element is designed to push the at least one held part of a slaughter animal from the intermediate position, via the upper end of the at least one groove, out of said at least one groove in the active position or during its movement from the passive position to the active position.
US09615591B1

A meat stripper is disclosed for stripping meat from the bone of an animal part. The meat stripper includes a slide block and a first stripper plate assembly including an arm pivotally mounted to the slide block and having a first stripper plate at an opposite end. A second stripper plate assembly including an arm is pivotally mounted to the slide block and has a second stripper plate at an opposite end with the second stripper plate opposing the first stripper plate. The first and second stripper plates move away from each other to open the meat stripper when the arms are pivoted apart and move toward each other to surround the bone when the arms are pivoted together. A mechanism is disclosed for moving the stripper plates along the length of the bone to strip meat from the bone. A mechanism also is disclosed for articulating at least one of the stripper plates after meat has been stripped from the bone in such a way that meat lodged in or on the stripper is dislodged and falls to a collection location below. In one example, the pivot plate pivots to dislodge the meat and is magnetically biased to a stripping position.
US09615590B2

This disclosure relates to a system and method for preparing and offering to the marketplace a muscle cut from a carcass for use as a steak. In particular, the Subscapularis muscle may be utilized according to the instant invention as a high-end cut of meat. In an embodiment, a Subscapularis muscle will be processed into a steak via a prescribed series of cuts. The steak will, in some embodiments, be further processed by trimming fat and connective tissue as is taught herein.
US09615588B2

A dehider includes an elongated handle having side-by-side circular disks, one of which is stationary and the other is rotary. A pinion gear is power-driven to rotate the rotary disk.
US09615584B2

Described herein are eco-friendly formulations and methods for providing such formulations to plants. The formulations include mixtures of microbial isolates. In particular, numerous bacterial and fungal strains were isolated from a variety of soil types, from rhizospheres and from root nodules of leguminous plants, in designed combinations, for providing plant growth and plant productivity enhancing formulations. These specifically designed polymicrobial formulations provide protection against plant pathogens, lower the need for nitrogen containing fertilizers, solubilize minerals, protect plants against pathogens, and make available to the plant valuable nutrients, such as phosphate, thus reducing and eliminating the need for using chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides.
US09615581B2

The present invention describes natamycin comprising needle shaped crystals.
US09615575B2

Composition for elimination of troublesome varmints comprises all the non-essential amino acids alanine, glycine, proline, serine, tyrosine, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid.
US09615568B2

An apparatus for carrying waterfowl decoys is provided having a hollow tubular member with an inner diameter. A line extends through the interior of the hollow tubular member. A first, smaller clip is affixed to one end of the line and a second, larger clip is affixed to the other end of the line. The first clip is sized so as to be able to be passed through the interior of the hollow tubular member, while the second clip is sized such that cannot be passed through the interior of the hollow tubular member. The hollow tubular is preferably flexible. The cables of the waterfowl decoys are drawn by the smaller clip into the interior of the hollow tubular member so as to allow for carrying of the waterfowl decoys.
US09615550B2

The invention provides genetically modified non-human animals that express chimeric human/non-human MHC I polypeptide and/or human or humanized β2 microglobulin polypeptide, as well as embryos, cells, and tissues comprising the same. Also provided are constructs for making said genetically modified animals and methods of making the same. Methods of using the genetically modified animals to study various aspects of human immune system are provided.
US09615543B2

The present invention is a self-adjusting link for connecting two anchors that move under a varying external force, comprising: N magnetic units; N−1 link connectors, each link connector connecting one unit to an adjacent unit, each magnetic unit being held by the link connectors such that each pair of adjacent units can move from a closed position where they are magnetically bound to an open position where they do not exert significant force on each other; and anchor connectors attached to the anchors. The length of the link increases as the external force increases sufficiently to cause one or more pairs of magnetic units to move from the closed position into one of the open positions to permit the anchors to further separate, and the length of the link decreases as the external force is reduced and one or more pairs of magnetic units move into the closed position.
US09615541B2

According to an exemplary embodiment, an improved nipple water valve includes a nipple housing, a deflector, an annular seal, a nipple stem, a resilient element, and an orifice housing portion, assembled such that the deflector deflects water exiting the valve toward an internal surface of the nipple housing, thereby reducing spray. The deflector is also arranged to restrain movement of the nipple stem in a direction toward the deflector and to permit movement of the nipple stem away from the deflector to aid operation of the nipple water valve.
US09615540B1

A dispensing system for dispensing water and/or food to a pet that is confined in an automobile. A backboard is attached to the rear of a vehicle's seat using suspension elements. At least one storage container is mounted to the backboard. A tray is positioned under the storage containers. The tray holds a bowl for each storage container. The tray is also attached to the backboard. The bowls receive the dispensed water and/or food dispensed from the storage containers. The bowls are specially formed to minimize spillage in an automobile. Each bowl is annular in shape. As such, each bowl has a central opening. When water or food fills a bowl, any overflow or spillage flows into the central opening. Under the bowls, the spillage is captured by receptacles in the underlying tray.
US09615537B2

A milking box comprises a stall portion having a longitudinal axis. A backplane is positioned in the stall portion and moves toward the rear of the stall portion along the longitudinal axis in response to pressure applied, and toward the front of the stall portion in response to pressure removed. A robotic attacher extends from the rear of the stall portion and between the hind legs of a dairy livestock. A controller determines the position of the backplane relative to the rear of the stall portion and determines a positional offset that increases as the dairy livestock moves toward the front of the stall and decreases as it moves toward the rear of the stall. The controller further communicates a signal to move the robotic attacher along the longitudinal axis. The amount of movement is determined at least in part according to the positional offset.
US09615535B2

The invention provides seed and plants of spinach hybrid SV1778VC and the parent lines thereof. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of spinach hybrid SV1778VC and the parent lines thereof, and to methods for producing a spinach plant produced by crossing such plants with themselves or with another spinach plant, such as a plant of another genotype. The invention further relates to seeds and plants produced by such crossing. The invention further relates to parts of such plants, including the leaf and gametes of such plants.
US09615532B2

The present invention relates to a spinach plant which may comprise a single dominant gene which confers resistance to Peronospora farinosa f. sp. spinaciae races Pfs1, Pfs2, Pfs3, Pfs4, Pfs5, Pfs6, Pfs9, Pfs11, Pfs12, Pfs13 and UA4410, and to isolate E1314-283, wherein the gene is obtainable by introgression from a plant grown from seeds of which a representative sample was deposited with the NCIMB under NCIMB accession numbers 41857, 41976, 41977, 41978, 41980, 41981, 41984, 42116. The invention further relates to progeny of the plant, to propagation material therefore, such as seed, and to food products which may comprise the spinach leaves.
US09615530B2

The invention relates to the novel cotton variety designated 14R938B2XF. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants, plant parts and derivatives of the cotton variety 14R938B2XF. Also provided by the invention are methods of using cotton variety 14R938B2XF and products derived therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing cotton plants by crossing the cotton variety 14R938B2XF with itself or another cotton variety and plants and seeds produced by such methods.
US09615525B2

The invention relates to the soybean variety designated 01051642. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety 01051642. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety 01051642 and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety 01051642 with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
US09615520B1

An inbred corn line, designated LLM06BM, the plants and seeds of the inbred corn line LLM06BM, methods for producing a corn plant, either inbred or hybrid, produced by crossing the inbred corn line LLM06BM with itself or with another corn plant, and hybrid corn seeds and plants produced by crossing the inbred line LLM06BM with another corn line or plant and to methods for producing a corn plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic corn plants produced by that method. This invention also relates to inbred corn lines derived from inbred corn line LLM06BM, to methods for producing other inbred corn lines derived from inbred corn line LLM06BM and to the inbred corn lines derived by the use of those methods.
US09615511B2

A combine harvester is provided that separates grain material from material other than grain using multiple processing areas, including a harvesting area, a feederhouse area, a threshing area, a cleaning area, and a grain delivery area. In a location at or prior to entering one of the processing areas, the material may be collected and held until a collection threshold is reached. Once it is determined that the collection threshold is reached, the material forming a first group of material may be transported from the location to the processing area or a subsequent processing area. The first group of material is transported from the location to the processing area or the subsequent processing area substantially simultaneously and thus simulates the gathering of a large amount of crop material even when small plots are involved. In this way, reduced cycle times may be achieved, and the efficiency benefits of large-plot harvesting may be extended to small-plot applications.
US09615510B2

A turf groomer is coupled to a reel cutting unit in advance of the cutting reel and is powered by a gearbox having a rotary gear drive that provides alternately usable first and second drive paths capable of selectively rotating the turf groomer in opposite directions at different speeds. The rotary gear drive includes an axially slidable input gear on an input shaft. An actuator is coupled to the input gear to slide the input gear from one position in which the input gear is within the first drive path to select rotation of the turf groomer in a first direction at a first rotational speed. Alternatively, the actuator can slide the input gear into a second operational position in which the input gear is within the second drive path to select rotation of the turf groomer in an opposite direction at a different speed.
US09615502B1

A holder unit facilitates secure, safe and adjustable connection between an agricultural implement and a draft vehicle such as a tractor. The holder unit mounts to the tongue of the implement and engages a portion of a drivetrain, allowing the drivetrain to rest on a saddle of the holder unit. The holder unit features three adjustability orientations, a fore-and-aft adjustability, a height adjustability and a saddle pivot adjustability. These adjustability orientations are easily combined by the user to achieve accurate alignment for PTO-to-drivetrain connection irrespective of variations between the draft vehicle and the implement drivetrain connector device respective orientations and terrain unevenness.
US09622385B2

A heat dissipating module of an electronic device includes a casing, a circuit board, at least one heat generation element, and a fastening assembly. The casing includes at least one lateral plate. The at least one heat generation element is firmly fixed on the at least one lateral plate through a fixing element. After the at least one lateral plate and the circuit board are combined together through the fastening assembly, the at least one lateral plate and the circuit board pass through a reflow furnace, so that the at least one heat generation element is welded on the circuit board. The heat generated by the at least one heat generation element is transferred to the at least one lateral plate of the casing so as to be dissipated away.
US09622378B2

A recirculating cooling unit includes a plurality of components which require supervision and maintenance. The interior of the cooling unit includes an open space, named a service area, designed to house a human working in the space, and the components are arranged so that they are accessible from the service area, and the cooling unit is provided with an opening design to allow a human to enter into the cooling unit and to enter the service area.
US09622373B1

Several embodiments include a server rack that accesses high voltage direct current (HVDC) power from a power source external to the server rack. The server rack can provide the HVDC power to two or more shelves in the server rack via at least a HVDC power rail pair. One or more DC-DC converters in a shelf of server rack can convert the HVDC power to a lower DC voltage usable by information technology (IT) load in the shelf. A power distribution board (e.g., in the shelf or in the server rack) can then provide the lower DC voltage to the IT load. The DC-DC converters can be blindly mated with the power distribution board and can be hot swappable from the power distribution board.
US09622371B2

An arrangement system composed of a plurality of electrical/electronic components particularly of a voltage converter device of a power supply system for use in oil/natural gas production composed of at least one support member that is provided on at least one side with a surrounded accommodating recess, a circuit carrier which is arranged in the accommodating recess and electrically connected to the components, and a holding member fixing the circuit carrier and/or the components in the accommodating recess. An insulating material is arranged at least in part between the circuit carrier and/or components and the support member. Such an arrangement system permits an adequate electrical insulation of the corresponding components and optionally also of the circuit carrier in relation to the support member together with an adequately high heat conduction. At the same time an arrangement system for components is provided that is mechanically stable and permits a good electrical insulation of the components with heat transfer to the outside with respect to the arrangement system.
US09622356B2

An assembly and method for mounting an electronic package to a printed circuit board (PCB) in which a gasket is shaped to fit tightly around and under a perimeter edge of an electronic package. The electronic package may be carried by the PCB and comprise electrical package contacts on an underside of the package, which contact PCB contacts on the PCB. The gasket may be disposed between the underside of the package and the PCB substrate and surround the contacts, and may be shaped to fit around and under a perimeter edge of the package to protect the contacts from contamination.
US09622353B2

Substrates, such as printed circuit boards, are coated with an aqueous alkaline developable UV photosensitive material followed by applying an aqueous soluble UV transparent film to coat the UV photosensitive material. An aqueous alkaline strippable UV blocking composition is selectively applied to the surface of the UV transparent film to function as a mask. UV light is applied to portions of the UV photosensitive material not covered by the mask. The UV blocking composition, UV transparent film and selective sections of the UV photosensitive material are simultaneously removed with an aqueous alkaline developer solution to form an image on the substrate.
US09622350B2

A circuit board upon which to mount an integrated circuit chip may include a first interconnect zone on the surface of the circuit board having first contacts with a first pitch, and a second interconnect zone, surrounding the first zone, having second contacts or traces with a second pitch that is smaller than the first pitch. The first contacts may have a design rule (DR) for direct chip attachment (DCA) to an integrated circuit chip. The first contacts may be formed by bonding a sacrificial substrate having the first contacts to a surface of the board; or by laser scribing trenches where the conductor will be plated to create the first contacts. Such a board allows DCA of smaller footprint processor chips for devices, such as tablet computers, cell phones, smart phones, and value phone devices.
US09622348B2

A multilayer circuit board includes a plurality of stacked substrates, a plurality of first conductive lands, and a plurality of second conductive lands. A surface at a side of each of the substrates has an exposed portion which is not covered by the neighboring substrate, wherein each of the first conductive lands is respectively provided on each of the exposed portions. Each of the second conductive lands is provided on the exposed portion of the outermost substrate, wherein each of the substrates has a conductor pattern to be electrically connected to one of the first conductive lands and to one of the second conductive lands.
US09622345B2

It is an object of the present invention to prevent an influence of voltage drop due to wiring resistance, trouble in writing of a signal into a pixel, and trouble in gray scales, and provide a display device with higher definition, represented by an EL display device and a liquid crystal display device. In the present invention, a wiring including Cu is provided as an electrode or a wiring used for the display device represented by the EL display device and the liquid crystal display device. Besides, sputtering is performed with a mask to form the wiring including Cu. With such structure, it is possible to reduce the voltage drop and a deadened signal.
US09622344B2

A multi-layer wiring board includes wiring layers stacked on a substrate with an insulating layer between each layer. A wire formed in the wiring layer consists of a first layer and a second layer to form a double layered structure. The first layer is made of a first conductive material and the second layer is made of a second conductive material having relative magnetic permeability of 10 or more and larger than that of the first conductive material. The characteristic impedance of the wire is adjusted to a value closer to 50 ohms than that of a wire which has the same thickness as of the wire with the double layered structure, and is made only of the first conductive material.
US09622342B2

Provided is a display apparatus. The display apparatus includes a display panel including a substrate including a display region in which a display unit is located, a non-display region that extends outward from the display region and in which a plurality of pads are located, and a sealing portion that covers the display unit. The display apparatus also includes a circuit board including a flexible film and a plurality of terminals on the flexible film that are electrically coupled to the plurality of pads. The plurality of pads are spaced from each other along a first direction of the display panel and pad central points of the plurality of pads are located at at least two different locations along the first direction.
US09622332B2

In an extreme ultraviolet light generation apparatus, a target detection section may include a light source, a transfer optical system, an image sensor configured to output image data of an image that has been formed by irradiating a target outputted from a target supply device with light outputted from the light source on a light-receiving unit of the image sensor by the transfer optical system, and a processing unit, connected to the image sensor, configured to receive the image data, obtain a first optical intensity distribution along a first line that intersects with a trajectory of the target and a second optical intensity distribution along a second line that intersects with the trajectory, calculate a center of gravity position in the first optical intensity distribution and a center of gravity position in the second optical intensity distribution, and calculate an actual path of the target based on the calculated positions.
US09622318B2

A light assembly includes an electroluminescent cable, an elongated lens, and a substantially planar substrate. The electroluminescent cable has an outer surface extending along a longitudinal dimension of the electroluminescent cable. The elongated lens extends along the longitudinal dimension of the electroluminescent cable and encloses at least a portion of the outer surface of the electroluminescent cable. The elongated lens is adapted to refract light emitted from the electroluminescent cable. The elongated lens structure is adhered to the substantially planar substrate. In certain instances, the substrate is a reflective substrate adapted to reflect light emitted from the electroluminescent cable.
US09622312B2

A drive circuit (1) according to the present invention is a drive circuit which causes an LED module (4) to emit light, using a dimming signal which is an alternating current signal which has been phase-controlled in response to a dimming level, the drive circuit (1) including a control signal generating unit (8) which integrates a voltage of a rectified dimming signal to generate a control signal for controlling the luminance of the LED module (4), the voltage being greater than or equal to a first voltage and less than or equal to a second voltage less than a maximum voltage of the dimming signal.
US09622311B1

The invention relates to a sub-assembly for a searchlight signal comprising three distinct light emitting diodes and an interface module for connecting the three diodes to a controller.The interface module comprises:a light input adapted to receive a signal for feeding a light emitting diode,a first relay having an active position and an inactive position, anda second relay having an active position and an inactive position,such that:when the second relay and the first relay are in the inactive position, the light input is fed to a first LED,when the first relay is in the active position, the light input is fed to a second LED, andwhen the second relay is in the active position, the light input is fed to a third LED.
US09622309B2

A light emitting module includes a plurality of light emitting device packages configured to be sequentially turned on or off according to the level of external drive voltage and connected to one another in series. Each of the plurality of light emitting device packages includes a light emitting cell having at least one light emitting device, and an on/off controller configured to control to turn the light emitting cell on or off.
US09622304B2

A load driving circuit includes: a driving circuit that supplies a predetermined voltage to a load element connected to an output terminal by a repetitive pulse; a capacitor that is connected between the output terminal and a terminal having a predetermined potential level; a comparison circuit that compares a voltage of the output terminal and a threshold voltage; and a determination circuit that, when the driving circuit is in a driven state, determines an open circuit fault state in a case where a comparative output is not obtained before a predetermined time elapses after a time point where the repetitive pulse into the load element is cut off. The comparative output indicates a change in which the output voltage from the comparison circuit reaches the threshold voltage. The open circuit fault state is a state in which the load element is disconnected from the output terminal.
US09622299B2

A display device includes a substrate, a mask, a case, and a sealing member. The mask has a mask surface and a side wall provided around a periphery of the mask surface and projecting backwardly from the mask surface. The mask is provided on a front surface of the substrate so that the mask surface faces the front surface of the substrate and the side wall surrounds a side surface of the substrate. The case is provided on a back surface of the substrate to sandwich the substrate between the mask and the case. The sealing member is provided in a first region, a second region, and a third region provided between the first region and the second region. The sealing member has a first protrusion which is in contact with a step end surface of the case in the third region.
US09622296B2

The present invention relates to an induction cooking hob including at least one induction coil (20). The induction cooking hob comprises a housing (10) with at least one vertical wall (12, 14, 16) and a bottom panel (18). A top panel is provided for covering the top side of the housing (10). The induction coil (20) is connected or connectable to the at least one vertical wall (12, 14, 16) by at least one fixing element (22). A rigid conjunction is provided between the vertical wall (12, 14, 16) and at least one the fixing element (22). The induction coil (20) and the at least one fixing element (22) form a rigid body, so that the induction coil (20) is supported by the vertical wall (12, 14, 16). Further, the present invention relates to an induction coil (20) provided for said induction cooking hob.
US09622290B1

Methods and systems are provided for identifying customers at an establishment. In an embodiment, a low-cost Internet base station (LCIB) receives a request from a mobile station to register for service with the LCIB. The LCIB is located at an establishment, such as a store. The LCIB then determines whether the mobile station is authorized to register with the LCIB. If the mobile station is authorized to register with the LCIB, the LCIB allows the mobile station to register. If the mobile station is not authorized to register with the LCIB, the LCIB or LCIB controller responsively (a) rejects the registration request and (b) sends a notification message to the establishment, the notification message identifying the mobile station.
US09622287B2

A device and method for controlling communications between a User Equipment (UE) (20) and a base station (BS) (90) in a radio access network (RAN) (16) is provided. The UE (20) indicates to the BS (90) in the RAN (16) that a transceiver at the UE (20) will temporarily suspend communications with the RAN (16). The BS (90) acknowledges the indication from the UE (20) and temporarily suspends communications with the UE (20). Responsive to the acknowledgement from the BS (90), the UE (20) temporarily suspends communications between the transceiver and the RAN (16). The UE (20) then resumes communications between the transceiver and the BS (90) in the RAN (16).
US09622278B2

A wireless networked device interface is disclosed. The wireless networked device interface comprises a central processing unit (CPU), a bus coupled to the CPU, a memory/buffer coupled to the bus, a peripheral bus interface coupled to the bus, an upstream network module coupled to the bus, a downstream network module coupled to the bus and a peripheral device. The device interface includes a nonvolatile memory (NVM) coupled to the bus. The NVM includes a configuration function which through a portable device can associate with one or more portable devices on the downstream wireless network and associate with one or more access points on the upstream wireless network. The wireless networked device as well as the access point can be discovered, selected and auto-configured through the graphic user interface of one of the portable devices on the downstream wireless network.
US09622277B1

A method for matching a ground station to an aerial vehicle for establishment of a backhaul link to an airborne network involves: (i) determining location information for a ground station that is configured to provide a backhaul link to an airborne mesh network, (ii) determining flight data for one or more of the aerial vehicles in the airborne mesh network, (iii) based at least in part on the combination of (a) the location information for the ground station and (b) the flight data for the one or more of the aerial vehicles, selecting a flight with which the ground station should establish a backhaul link to the airborne network, and (iv) generating a link-assignment message that comprises instructions for the ground station to establish a backhaul link between the ground station and an aerial vehicle carrying out the selected flight.
US09622273B2

A method and apparatus is provided for communication between a first terminal capable of using both a Circuit Switched (CS) call and an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) session, and a second terminal capable of using the IMS session, in a communication system supporting a Combined CS call and IMS session (CSI service). If the second terminal sends a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) request (INVITE) message to originate a voice service or a multimedia service including the voice service with the first terminal, a CSI Application Server (AS) of an IMS domain managing the first terminal separates a voice service-related component included in the request message from a multimedia service-related component, and generates and sends first and second request messages to the first terminal. Upon receipt of first and second response messages corresponding to the first and second request messages from the first terminal, the CSI AS generates a combined response message and sends the combined response message to the second terminal.
US09622269B2

Described herein are systems, methods and computer program products for controlling operation of wireless network devices, such as wireless access points and wireless client devices. The techniques described simplify the process of associating wireless devices with wireless networks. Wireless devices can associate with a wireless access point without knowing details of the wireless access point, such as a service set identifier (SSID). Upon associating with a wireless access point, client devices cease transmission of or reduce a transmission rate of wireless probe requests, resulting in more efficient wireless radio frequency use and reduced possibility of interference due to wireless probe request transmissions.
US09622263B2

A technique for emulating virtual port control of airtime fairness for wireless stations using per station Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) parameters. Specific parameters are received for each of a plurality of stations connected to the access point. An EDCA field of a beacon that stores a general EDCA parameter is set to an empty state. The beacon is broadcast to a plurality stations on the wireless communication network and within range of an access point. The beacon comprises a BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier) for use by the plurality of stations to connect with the access point for access to the wireless communication network. The beacon also comprises an empty EDCA field. In response to broadcasting the empty EDCA parameter, receiving a direct inquiry from each of the plurality of stations for the general EDCA parameter. Each of the plurality of stations is responded to with a direct communication of a specific parameter corresponding to each station. A transmission is received from at least one of the stations complying with the specific parameter.
US09622255B2

Network prioritization is contemplated. The network prioritization may relate to prioritizing consumption of network services as a function of user priority. The user priority may be associated with the devices desiring consumption of network services in order to ensure higher priority users are granted network resources over lower priority users.
US09622252B2

Systems and methods for Dynamic Wideband Channel Selection with which a wireless Access Point gets the ability to dynamically decide and switch to better available channels with wider bandwidths for higher efficiency and throughput taking care of the restrictions applied by the regulatory domains in the widespread spectrum.
US09622244B2

A method and apparatus are provided for determining a resource for an acknowledgement signal by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. A method includes receiving an index associated with a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) for transmission of an uplink control signal in an operating bandwidth; and determining an RB for transmission of the acknowledgement signal, based on the index.
US09622242B1

At certain beamforming angles (i.e., those greater than a threshold amount) a sidelobe of a beamforming pattern used by a first sector may be pointed at wireless devices being serviced by a second sector. This causes the interference experienced by the first sector to be increased due to the transmissions of the wireless devices being serviced by the second sector. To help mitigate the interference experienced by the first sector, when the access node determines it is using a beamforming angle that may be susceptible to interference from the second sector (e.g., beamforming angle greater than a threshold), the first sector selects an amount of TTI bundling to be used by a wireless device. By configuring a wireless device to use TTI bundling (i.e., increase redundancy), the link budget for the wireless device is improved thereby lessening the effects of the interference being received via the sidelobe.
US09622239B2

A base station is used for a mobile communication system that supports a dual connectivity. The base station includes a controller configured to establish an RRC connection with a user terminal, and to perform a mobility control in the dual connectivity.
US09622235B2

A method is provided for receiving control information by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. The UE receives information on a time-resource region in which common search space (CSS) monitoring on a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is performed. The UE further receives monitoring information on a CSS on an enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH). The UE detects control information according to the monitoring information. If the time-resource region in which the CSS monitoring on the legacy PDCCH is performed is identical to the time-resource region in which CSS monitoring on the EPDCCH is performed, the control information is detected by monitoring a CSS determined according to a transmission mode of the UE.
US09622230B2

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques that may be utilized to perform communications using narrow bands partitioned from available bandwidth. In some cases, a base station may select at least one narrow band, from a number of narrow bands partitioned from an available system bandwidth, for communications with a user equipment (UE), signal information regarding the selected narrow band to the UE, and communicat with the UE using the selected narrow band. The UE may receive the information regarding the selected at least one narrow band, and communicate with at least one base station using the at least one narrow band.
US09622228B2

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate defining a new control region over resources allocated for communicating general non-control data in a legacy network specification. The new control region can comprise multiple control channels, which can be multiplexed together and/or with general data channels. Devices can receive control data over the new control region as well as information regarding the region, such as location of the region, location of specific resources, multiplexing schemes, frequency hopping patterns, and/or the like to appropriately decode relevant control data. This allows for expanded control resources to support multicarrier assignments, large numbers of devices being addressed, special operation modes, new downlink control information (DCI) formats, and/or the like.
US09622227B2

A user equipment (UE) may determine channel state information (CSI) reports with each CSI report being related to a component carrier. The UE may send a subframe with CSI report(s) on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). When a collision occurs in the subframe having the CSI report(s) on the PUCCH a lower priority CSI report may be dropped from the transmission.
US09622226B2

A method and a user equipment (UE) are provided for transmitting uplink data in a wireless communication system. Uplink data is mapped to resource elements corresponding to a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in a UE-specific aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) subframe. The UE-specific aperiodic SRS subframe includes a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbol reserved for an aperiodic SRS. The aperiodic SRS is transmitted in the reserved SC-FDMA symbol when triggered by a base station. The uplink data is not mapped to the SC-FDMA symbol reserved for the aperiodic SRS regardless of whether the aperiodic SRS is transmitted in the reserved SC-FDMA symbol or not. The mapped uplink data is transmitted to the base station via the UE-specific aperiodic SRS subframe.
US09622224B2

An anchor radio base station 310A comprises: a control unit 316A that decodes an uplink signal before decoding received from UE 10, without receiving an uplink signal before decoding from a non-anchor radio base station 310B through a backhaul network; and an interface 315A that notifies the non-anchor radio base station of necessity to transmit the uplink signal before decoding through the backhaul network in case of failure in decoding the uplink signal before decoding received from the radio terminal. A non-anchor radio base station 310B comprises: an interface 315B that transmits the uplink signal before decoding to the anchor radio base station when the non-anchor radio base station is notified of the necessity to transmit the uplink signal before decoding, by the anchor radio base station.
US09622221B2

Disclosed are channel management methods in a multicarrier structure in a mobile communication system. Uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) channel management methods in a carrier aggregation environment are used as the channel management methods. In DL, a base station determines a component carrier (CC) of an unstable radio channel state, stops data retransmission by the CC, and notifies a terminal of retransmission stop. In UL, the base station determines a CC of an unstable radio channel state and instructs the terminal to stop data retransmission by the CC, and the terminal stops the data retransmission and initializes a retransmission buffer. Using the channel management methods in the mobile communication system employing the multicarrier structure, an increase in the number of unnecessary retransmissions is prevented, so that unnecessary retransmission and power consumption of the terminal can be reduced and the waste of radio resources and the degradation of base station performance due to unnecessary retransmission can be prevented.
US09622214B2

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes: a transceiver configured to receive, from at least one wearable device, information indicating whether the at least one wearable device is being worn; and a processor configured to determine whether the at least one wearable device that is being worn, based on the received information indicating whether the at least one wearable device is being worn, and to provide a notification to the at least one wearable device in response to determining that the at least one wearable device is being worn.
US09622210B2

A method and an apparatus for estimating femto cell proximity by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system are provided. The method includes receiving, by the UE, a measurement report request message from an eNodeB (eNB), estimating the femto cell proximity based on user context information, and transmitting, to the eNB, a measurement report message including a result of the estimation.
US09622207B1

Techniques disclosed herein are directed toward make use of known wireless transmit station geometry (e.g., from a cell location database/almanac) to create an optimized search window, where the size of the search window is a function of an angle between a line from the center of the region of position uncertainty of the mobile device to the location of the reference transmit station, and a line from the center of the region of position uncertainty of the mobile device to the location of the remote transmit station. Techniques can be utilized for various types of wireless transmit stations not only in cell networks, but Global Navigation Satellite Systems as well.
US09622205B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide a terminal registration method, device, and system, and relate to the field of communications technologies, so as to ensure that a terminal determines in time whether registration is successful, and save network resources. The method includes: starting, by an access point device, monitoring on a monitored resource when the access point device receives an access request message sent by a terminal; and after the terminal sends a registration request message to a database, if the access point device receives, when the monitored resource monitored by the access point device does not reach a monitoring threshold, a registration response message sent by the database, stopping the monitoring on the monitored resource. Embodiments of the present invention are used for terminal registration.
US09622191B2

Provided is a communication control device including a communication unit configured to make communication with one or more secondary communication nodes operating a secondary system using at least one of a frequency channel allocated to a primary system and a frequency channel adjacent to the frequency channel, a determination unit configured to determine an upper limit number of secondary systems or secondary communication nodes to be allocated with transmission power, and a power allocation unit configured to allocate transmission power to each secondary system or each secondary communication node in each secondary system based on the determined upper limit number and the acceptable interference amount of the primary system.
US09622185B2

A wireless communication method including: transmitting a first control signal from a connected wireless station to a wireless terminal, the connected wireless station being one of a plurality of wireless stations that is connected to the wireless terminal, the first control signal relating to a communication level between the wireless terminal and at least one wireless station that is selected from among the plurality of the wireless station, and controlling, by the wireless terminal that receives the first control signal, a transmission power of a transmission signal to the selected at least one wireless station based on the received first control signal.
US09622184B2

This disclosure relates to reducing power consumption for cellular communication based on transport block size in combination with channel condition measurements for applications with certain application characteristics. In one embodiment, a transport block size for use for uplink communication with a base station by a wireless device may be selected. The transport block size may provide more robust communication characteristics than required for current channel conditions. The transport block size may be selected based on application characteristics of an application performing the uplink communication. A transmit power for the wireless device to use for the uplink communication may be selected based on the transport block size providing more robust communication characteristics than required for the current channel conditions. In particular, transport power selection may be biased towards a reduced transmit power based on the transport block size providing more robust communication characteristics than required for the current channel conditions.
US09622181B2

A method for reducing power consumption in a transceiver front-end circuit for a cellular radio. The transceiver circuit includes a receiver module having a delta-sigma modulator that converts analog receive signals to a representative digital signal in an interleaving process, where the delta-sigma modulator includes a low noise amplifier (LNA), an LC filter and a quantizer circuit. The LC filter is a multi-order filter and the quantizer circuit is an interleaving quantizer circuit that interleaves multiple groups of bits from the filter. The method includes selectively reducing the order of the LC filter in situations where a full dynamic range of the cellular radio is not required and reducing a bit resolution of the quantizer circuit so as to reduce the power requirements of the cellular radio.
US09622171B2

A method and network node of a radio network, for enabling a User Equipment (UE) to save power in radio communication with the network node. The network node sets a waiting threshold for the UE and communicates data with the UE over a radio link. The network node also obtains traffic characteristics pertaining to the radio communication, and predicts a waiting time until next data is to be communicated with the UE based on the traffic characteristics. The network node further triggers the UE to enter a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) sleep when the predicted waiting time is longer than the waiting threshold. Thereby, power can be saved in the UE by immediately going to sleep after the last data.
US09622168B2

A satellite system controller for a satellite system can comprise a receiving module, an interval selector, an epoch selector, and a scheduler. The receiving module can receive, from a transmission originator device, a set interval request message requesting the satellite system controller set a transmission interval and an epoch time for a satellite receiver, the transmission interval being an amount of time the satellite receiver is to remain in a sleep mode between expected transmissions and the epoch time being an instant at which the satellite receiver is to expect a satellite transmission. The interval selector can determine, based on the transmission interval, a sleep mode cycle for the satellite receiver. The epoch selector can select the epoch time according to the sleep mode cycle and the scheduler can schedule the satellite transmission with the satellite system at approximately the epoch time and according to the sleep mode cycle.
US09622164B2

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for transmitting/receiving data, and a method for a user equipment transmitting data, according to one embodiment of the present invention, comprises: a step of determining conditions for determining whether a condition for transmitting short data is satisfied, when data to be transmitted is generated; and a step of including the data to be transmitted in a radio resource control (RRC) connection setup completion message and transmitting same, when the condition for transmitting the short data is satisfied. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the problem of network overload can be prevented by reducing signaling overhead when processing small packets, which are generated intermittently, in the mobile communication system, and an apparatus and a method for enhancing battery performance in the user equipment can be effectively provided.
US09622161B1

The present disclosure is directed generally to systems and methods for scheduling dynamic frequency selection channel availability checks. The systems and methods may include detecting lull times in between servicing clients, and scanning for channel availability during the lull times.
US09622160B2

Some aspects of what is described here relate to systems, devices, and computer-implemented methods for capturing data related to a mobile device in a wireless network. In one example, a method may include receiving, at a first mobile device, data capture configuration information from a wireless network. The data capture configuration information indicates a target mobile device from which data is to be captured during group communication between the first mobile device and the target mobile device. Thereafter, in response to detecting a group communication between the first mobile device and the target mobile device, a data element is stored in a local memory of the first mobile device. The data element includes information from the group communication between the first mobile device and the target mobile device. The data element is sent to the wireless network.
US09622156B2

An extension to the Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP) protocol allows stations (STAs) to discover multiple APs via a single ANQP request/response exchange. A STA can send a single ANQP request message to request information for multiple APs, e.g., two or more neighboring APs. The receiving AP may retrieve discovery information for one or more neighboring APs, and send an AP response message including the retrieved discovery information to the requesting STA. The ANQP request message identify the multiple APs for which discovery information is sought, and may specify which information is being requested for that corresponding AP.
US09622153B2

A method for active scanning in a wireless network may include two transmitters. In such a method, the following steps may take place: detecting a first probe request having a scanning target originating from a first transmitter; desiring to send a probe request to the scanning target from a second transmitter; and canceling the second probe request on a condition that the second transmitter detects the first probe request.
US09622148B2

Embodiments may allow remote base transceiver stations (BTSs) physically located away from a local source of users to be able to provide local service as if the remote BTSs were at or near the local source of users. Some embodiments may include a plurality of BTSs, each having one or more sectors, and one or more digital access units (DAUs). Embodiments may also include a plurality of repeater digital units (RDUs), where each RDU may be configured to communicate to at least one of the plurality of BTSs and may be operable to route signals optically to the one or more DAUs. Embodiments may also include a plurality of digital remote units (DRUs) located at a location remote to the one or more DAUs, wherein the plurality of remote DRUs may be operable to transport signals to the one or more DAUs.
US09622147B2

A method and device for decoding packets received via a wireless local area network. The method performed by the device including receiving a packet, the packet including a signal portion and a data portion, verifying the signal portion of the packet is valid, determining if the packet is destined for the device, determining if the packet is a retransmission, combining, when the packet is a retransmission, information from the data portion of the packet with stored information from a previously received packet having a data portion that was not successfully decoded and attempting to decode the packet based at least in part on the information and stored information.
US09622137B2

The disclosed solution dynamically selects a handover trigger for triggering handover of a mobile terminal in a wireless network from a source base station to a target base station based on one or more Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Each KPI indicates a quality of wireless services provided by the wireless network responsive to a particular handover trigger. A trigger selection circuit selects one of multiple candidate triggers as the handover trigger based on a comparison between corresponding KPIs for different ones of the candidate triggers.
US09622132B2

A method and an apparatus for switching D2D data communications between a licensed and a license-exempt band are disclosed. A D2D device receives from a cellular network a pre-switch notification to prepare for a switch of its D2D communications, and in response adopts a temporary strategy for conducting its D2D transmissions prior to the switch. After the switch the D2D device discontinues the temporary strategy. In one embodiment the temporary strategy and its duration are indicated in the pre-switch notification. Two example temporary strategies are presented: ‘no-new-data’ where new data transmissions are suspended and data re-transmissions are sent with high reliability; and ‘no-feedback’ where new data is sent with high reliability and data re-transmissions are suspended. Different embodiments have the cellular network access node or D2D device contending for the radio resource in the license-exempt frequency band.
US09622130B2

A method for performing handover by wireless User Equipment (UE) is provided. The UE includes a Long Term Evolution-Mobile Extreme Convergence (LTE-MXC) application processor, a LTE processor and a Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The UE buffers a set of IP packets when a Radio Access Technology (RAT) indicator is less than a pre-defined threshold and sends the set of IP packets to the LTE processor and the DSP. The LTE processor transmits the set of IP packets to the LTE network and sends acknowledgement signals to the LTE-MXC application processor and the DSP. When the handover is complete, the LTE processor sends the transmission status of the set of IP packets to the DSP. The UE also includes multimode Radio Resource Control (RRC) and Non-Access Stratum (NAS) modules.
US09622129B2

The present invention is a method for controlling re-direction between heterogeneous mobile communication systems, comprising a step in which a terminal, a connection request of which is rejected from a first communication system (UTRAN), receives, from a second communication system to which the terminal intends to connect, information indicating that the second communication system does not support the terminal; a step of setting information for preventing re-direction to the second communication system; and a step of transmitting, to the first communication system, a request for connection to the first communication system, which includes the information.
US09622116B2

A method of managing event information relating to User Equipments (UEs) in a device is disclosed. The method includes creating a group of segments for each of the UEs upon the event information of the UEs, wherein each group includes at least one segment and each segment of one group includes the event information relating to the same UE; and storing the segments in order of time when the event information is recorded to obtain an event information sequence. A method for searching for the requested event information from the event information sequence is also provided.
US09622115B2

A channel negotiation method, device, and system are provided. The channel negotiation method includes obtaining channel occupancy information; sending, according to the channel occupancy information, a channel negotiation execution frame that includes a channel switching manner to a network device in at least one established network, so that the network device in the at least one established network switches a current operating channel according to the channel switching manner to generate an idle channel; and receiving a channel negotiation execution acknowledgement frame fed back by the network device in the at least one established network, and performing a networking operation on the idle channel. The channel negotiation method provided in the embodiments of the present invention can improve a bandwidth utilization ratio and a data transmission rate.
US09622114B2

Disclosed are a method and apparatus for load balancing by using multiple interfaces. The load balancing method using multiple interfaces and performed by the load balancing apparatus includes acquiring information about a plurality of wireless communication interfaces supported by a terminal, measuring transport qualities of the plurality of wireless communication interfaces, calculating data transfer rates of the plurality of wireless communication interfaces based on the transport qualities, and simultaneously transporting data based on the transfer rates through the plurality of wireless communication interfaces.
US09622109B2

The present invention discloses a method, device, terminal, and system for controlling access of multiple terminals, and belongs to the field of communications. The method includes: receiving an access request, where the access request carries a classification identifier (101); setting up a public bearer for a terminal corresponding to the classification identifier (102); and notifying the terminal corresponding to the classification identifier, so that the terminal corresponding to the classification identifier accesses a network through the public bearer (103). The terminal includes a third sending module, a second receiving module, and an access module. The system includes a network element at an access side and a terminal. In the present invention, a signaling storm can be avoided, a load of a network can be reduced, and QoS quality of service can be improved.
US09622105B2

A slave device accesses an external network through a master device via a short-range wireless communication channel between the master device and the slave device. The slave device receives a notification message from the master device, wherein the notification message includes information about a intermediate network used by the master device to connect to the external network. And the slave device controls network traffic between the slave device and the external network according to a type of the intermediate network. When a master device uses a network of a cellular network type, use of network traffic in an application on a slave device can be restricted, thereby saving traffic.
US09622104B2

A method and apparatus for transmitting cell load information in a wireless communication system is provided. A first eNodeB (eNB) of a first system receives cell load information of a cell in a second system, from a radio network controller (RNC) of the second system, and transmits the received cell load information to at least one second eNB of the first system. The first system may be an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), and the second system may be an UTRAN.
US09622098B2

A receiver is provided that receives signals from a device under test (DUT) for one or more modes of operation. For each mode, the system detects beacon transmission signals from the DUT, and counts the number of beacons for a period of time. If the count is not consistent with an expected count, e.g. a stored value, the system may preferably provide an output to indicate that there is a problem with the DUT. If the count is consistent with the expected count, the system may preferably perform further testing for other modes of operation. If the count output of the DUT is consistent with expected counts over each of the operation modes, the system may provide an indication that the DUT has passed the beacon tests.
US09622093B2

Methods are provided for transmitting and receiving a message to or form a wireless limited node (10) in a wireless network (100) wherein the wireless limited node (10) is related to a coupled device (30) in the wireless network (100) and is able to receive data only within limited reception opportunities following transmission by the wireless limited node (10). The method of transmitting comprises noticing a need for transmitting the message to the wireless limited node (10), preparing the message to be transmitted, the coupled device (30) changing a physical parameter for triggering external activation of the wireless limited node (10), and after receiving a signal transmitted by the wireless limited node (10) upon said external activation, sending the message to be transmitted to the wireless limited node (10) within the limited reception opportunities. The method of receiving does not comprise the steps of preparing the message and transmitting it to the wireless limited node (10). In the method of receiving, the message to be received is part of the signal transmitted upon activation.
US09622091B2

A method, computer program product, and computer system directed to an online and distributed optimization framework for wireless analytics. A radio network controller determines a ranking for each of a plurality of received objects using a plurality of similarity graphs. The radio network controller extracts a common structure by collaborative filtering data associated with a plurality of user devices and the plurality of received objects. The common structure is analyzed to infer usage patterns within a time slot. The radio network controller stores a subset of the ranked objects of the plurality of received objects in response to the analysis.
US09622087B2

The present disclosure provides a spectrum resource sharing method and an base station. The method includes: acquiring, by a first-communications standard base station, time and frequency information and power of each second-communications standard channel interfering with the first-communications standard base station; if in one transmission time interval, no frequency number in a shared spectrum is occupied by the second-communications standard channels, using, by the first-communications standard base station, the shared spectrum for uplink and downlink data channel scheduling in the one transmission time interval.
US09622086B2

The primary channel selection method for relay networks functions in a relaying cognitive network where a number of relays are used to forward the source message to destination. The primary users utilize orthogonal spectrum bands. One primary user is selected among the available primary users in order to share its spectrum with the secondary users (source and relay). A certain amount of interference is allowed between the primary and secondary users when the primary users' channels are shared by the secondary users.
US09622085B2

A system and method for autonomous dynamic spectrum assignment for operating and configuring a cellular wireless communication network, employing multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs). The method consists of: partitioning the system radio frequency resources (spectrum) into fixed and pooled spectrum blocks; autonomously assigning pooled spectrum blocks at individual system access points or radio units or groups thereof; dynamically adapting the assignment of pooled spectrum blocks at individual system APs/RUs or groups of APs/RUs; implementation of the pooled block assignment function and integration with radio resource assignment functions of co-deployed RATs.
US09622083B2

A communication device may include: a circuit being identified by a unique identifier; a determiner configured to determine as to whether the communication device is unwantedly out of the authorized user's control; a communication connection establisher configured to establish a Subscriber Identity Module less communication connection; and a transmitter configured to transmit a verification state request message including information indicating the unique identifier to another communication device.
US09622080B2

Techniques for managing cell update messages are described here. An information element (IE) that indicates the security status of a user equipment (UE) may be included in the cell update message when a cell update procedure is triggered during an ongoing security mode procedure. To ensure the size of the cell update message is equal to or smaller than the transport format size, other IEs may be omitted from the cell update message if the security mode procedure is in progress. Alternatively, if the security mode procedure is not in progress, there may not be a need to update the security status of the UE and, thus, the IE that indicates the security status may be omitted from the cell update message to reduce the size of the cell update message.
US09622077B2

Systems and methods are provided for controlling the authentication or authorization of a mobile device user for enabling access to the resources or functionality associated with an application or service executable at the user's mobile device. The user or user's mobile device may be automatically authenticated or authorized to access application or system resources at the device when the current geographic location of the user's mobile device is determined to be within a preauthorized zone, e.g., based on a predetermined geo-fence corresponding to the preauthorized zone. A security level or amount of authorization credentials required to authorize a user for data access may be varied according any of a plurality of security levels, when the current or last known geographic location of the user's mobile device is determined to be outside the preauthorized zone.
US09622073B2

Disclosed is a method for changing an AID in a wireless LAN system. The method for changing an AID of a terminal by an access point comprises: a step of receiving an AID reassignment frame from the access point; a step of extracting an AID reassignment counter value from the AID reassignment frame; and a step of changing the AID of the terminal to the new AID included in the AID reassignment frame after the beacon periods of the access point indicated by the AID reassignment counter value extracted from the AID reassignment frame reception time have elapsed. Thus, a conflict between AIDs can be prevented.
US09622066B2

A system and method which permit the RNC to control purging of data buffered in the Node B. The RNC monitors for a triggering event, which initiates the purging process. The RNC then informs the Node B of the need to purge data by transmitting a purge command, which prompts the Node B to delete at least a portion of buffered data. The purge command can include instructions for the Node B to purge all data for a particular UE, data in one or several user priority transmission queues or in one or more logical channels in the Node B, depending upon the particular data purge triggering event realized in the RNC.
US09622064B2

A method of adjusting power of a neighbor discovery signal may include determining a maximum transmission power of a transmitting wireless device. The transmitting wireless device may be configured to transmit a neighbor discovery signal to one or more receiving wireless devices. The one or more receiving wireless devices may be discovered neighbor wireless devices of the transmitting wireless device and may be configured to receive the neighbor discovery signal. The method may further include determining a power level of the neighbor discovery signal based on the maximum transmission power of the transmitting wireless device and a number of the discovered neighbor wireless devices.
US09622055B2

A device to automatically provide differing information levels according to a predetermined social hierarchy includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores social templates corresponding to unique social signatures and being selectable to provide, for each level of the predetermined social hierarchy, a corresponding differing amount of information to each member of the predetermined social hierarchy and/or a social networking service. The processor receives sensor data from a sensor set which detects sensor data related to an environment of a communication device, creates a detected social signature from the received sensor data, determines which of the social signatures of the social templates has the greatest correspondence with the created social signature, retrieves from the memory the determined one social template having the greatest correspondence, and provides only as much information as allowed in the retrieved social template.
US09622053B1

Methods and apparatus for tactical radios for receiving speech from a user in a microphone and converting the speech to text with a voice-to-text module. The radio provides the text to the user for verification by the user and receives an indication from the user for verification that the text corresponds to the speech. The radio then transmits the text.
US09622052B1

A communication system including a caption device and a mobile device configured to engage in communication with each other. The caption device is configured to receive a text signal originating at a relay service, the text signal corresponding to a far-end voice signal originating at a far-end device. The caption device is configured to display text corresponding to the text signal on a display. The relay service is configured to receive the far-end voice signal, and transmit the text signal to the caption device. The mobile device is configured to receive the far-end voice signal, and transmit the far-end voice signal to the relay service. A method of facilitating a captioned conversation between a far-end user and a near-end user having a caption device includes establishing communication between a caption device and a mobile device, and between the caption device and a relay service.
US09622047B1

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to making a localization map for a network. A fixed location for a plurality of wireless devices is received and a bisecting line is determined in a plane for each straight line that joins a pair of the plurality of wireless devices. An initial wireless device access sequence is assigned to each of a plurality of regions created on the localization map by the bisecting lines based on the Euclidean distance of the wireless device to the each of the plurality of regions, wherein the wireless device access sequence is the sequence of the wireless devices that provide the strongest to weakest signal to the region. Receiving from a user computing device a received signal strength (RSS) value for each signal received by the user computing device from each of the plurality of wireless devices and updating the localization map based on RSS values.
US09622034B2

An intelligent guiding method and system based on a M2M system are provided. The method includes that when receiving a service request message from an intelligent guiding M2M terminal device, an intelligent guiding M2M platform requests guiding information or a guiding information identifier from an intelligent guiding M2M application according to the location information of the intelligent guiding M2M terminal device; and the intelligent guiding M2M platform sends, to the intelligent guiding M2M terminal device, the guiding information provided by the intelligent guiding M2M application or guiding information that is retrieved according to the guiding information identifier provided by the intelligent guiding M2M application. The M2M technology and the electronic guiding system thus can be effectively combined, and rich guiding services can be provided based on the M2M system.
US09622013B2

A sound modification system is disclosed that includes one or more audio sensors coupled with a processing device and arranged to detect sounds within an environment, and one or more audio output devices coupled with the processing device. The processing device operates to generate an audio signal based on sounds detected from within one or more selected directions for sound modification within the environment, and to output the generated audio signal using the one or more audio output devices. The output generated audio signal combines with the detected sounds to produce a desired sound modification.
US09622010B2

Embodiments are directed to an interconnect for coupling components in an object-based rendering system comprising: a first network channel coupling a renderer to an array of individually addressable drivers projecting sound in a listening environment and transmitting audio signals and control data from the renderer to the array, and a second network channel coupling a microphone placed in the listening environment to a calibration component of the renderer and transmitting calibration control signals for acoustic information generated by the microphone to the calibration component. The interconnect is suitable for use in a system for rendering spatial audio content comprising channel-based and object-based audio components.
US09622007B2

Stereophonic sound is reproduced by acquiring image depth information indicating a distance between at least one object in an image signal and a reference location, acquiring sound depth information indicating a distance between at least one sound object in a sound signal and a reference location based on the image depth information, and providing sound perspective to the at least one sound object based on the sound depth information.
US09622000B2

Provided is an audio device, including: a vibrator 10 that includes a piezoelectric element 101 configured to undergo flexure and a panel 102 configured to be bent directly by the piezoelectric element 101 to vibrate; and a holder 60 that includes a behind-the-ear portion 602 to be hooked over a helix of a user's ear and that holds the vibrator 10 in a position that allows the vibrator 10 to abut against the user's ear, wherein sound is heard by a user.
US09621993B2

The present disclosure provides an electromagnetic speaker including a frame having an elongated axis, a magnet assembly received in the frame, an elastic plate perpendicular to the elongated axis for suspending the magnet assembly in the frame, a voice coil surrounding and keeping a distance from the magnet assembly, and a diaphragm driven by the magnet assembly. When the electromagnetic speaker is mounted in a mobile phone, the diaphragm vibrates along a direction parallel to the screen, and the amplitude thereof will not be affected by the height of the mobile phone. In addition, the amplitude of the diaphragm at low frequency is greater than a normal speaker.
US09621988B2

Certain exemplary aspects of the present disclosure are directed towards apparatuses and methods which mitigate the effect of speaker vibration on a disc drive. Audio associated with a speaker output is detected and triggers the generation of an output signal indicative of speaker vibration associated with such an audio output of a speaker. A magnetoresistive transducer of the disc drive is positioned relative to a storage medium based on the output signal, a target data storage location in the storage medium from which data is to be accessed via the positioning, and the position of the transducer. The output signal mitigates the effect of the speaker vibration on the transducer.
US09621985B2

A method terminal includes an apparatus for automatically adjusting volume in the terminal. An automatic volume adjuster extracts a representative volume from individual frame information of an audio file, and adjusts a master volume by a deviation between the extracted representative volume and a reference volume, and a controller plays the audio file with the master volume adjusted by the automatic volume adjuster.
US09621980B2

A dynamic microphone includes: a diaphragm; a voice coil fixed to the diaphragm; a magnetic circuit which includes a magnetic gap in which the voice coil is arranged and generates a magnetic field in the magnetic gap; a volume reducing member which is attached to the magnetic circuit, is arranged in a back surface space of the diaphragm, and reduces a volume in an air chamber in the back surface space; a communication passage which is formed along between the volume reducing member and the magnetic circuit and communicates the back surface space with a back side air chamber; and an acoustic resistance which is attached to the magnetic circuit and intervenes between the communication passage and the back side air chamber.
US09621962B2

A method includes receiving and processing an electronic signal that represents television content to provide a first media signal that is playable to present a forward-playback of the television content. The method also includes, responsive to a first instruction, providing a second media signal that is playable to present a reverse-playback of the television content, and recording a portion of the television content that corresponds to the reverse-playback. Further, the method includes, responsive to a second instruction, stopping the recording of the television content. In addition, the method includes, responsive to a third instruction, saving one or more recorded portions of the television content. The method also includes, responsive to receiving a fourth instruction, communicating the saved recording of the television content to a separate computing device.
US09621961B1

A system and method includes an input device, a client device registering an input device to form an association and a server device registering the input device and registering the association with the server device. The input device broadcasts a control signal to the client device and the server device. The server device receiving the control signal directly from the input device. The server device communicates a response signal to the client device in response to the receiving the control signal.
US09621957B2

Aspects of a method and system for low-latency browsing on a device with limited processing resources are provided. In this regard, content may be retrieved and processed by a server on behalf of a client device, and the server may communicate the processed content to the client device. In processing the content, the server may process a portion of the content that will initially be displayed in a browser window by the client before processing one or more other (e.g., remaining) portion(s) of the content. The processed portion that will initially be displayed in the browser window may be communicated to the client device while a another portion of the content is processed by the server. In this manner, a user does not have to wait for an entire web page to be processed before at least a portion of the web page is viewable in the browser window.
US09621954B2

A method includes providing a programming guide including listings associated with a number of channels provided by a television service provider. The method may also include receiving, from a user, input corresponding to a request to add a listing in the programming guide associated with an online content provider, and providing a user interface requesting that the user add information associated with the online content provider. The method may further include receiving, via the user interface, an identifier associated with the online content provider, storing the identifier in a memory, and modifying the programming guide to include a listing associated with the online content provider.
US09621949B2

A sink apparatus for receiving and playing back multimedia data receives data frames and discards data frames from its processing pipeline in order to reduce latency if it is determined that an amount of media data buffered in one or more portions of the processing pipeline during a fixed playback time period is above a threshold value. The threshold value and therefore the extent to which data frames are discarded can be varied in order to balance latency and quality of the displayed multimedia data.
US09621948B2

A first controllable appliance receives from a second controllable appliance a command for causing the first controllable appliance to be placed into a state and, in response, determines a trust level of the second controllable appliance. When it is determined that the second controllable appliance is trustworthy, the first controllable appliance executes the command. When it is determined that the second controllable appliance is untrustworthy, the first controllable appliance ignores the command. Otherwise, the first controllable appliance enters into a state in which the first controllable appliance waits for at least a predetermined period of time for a user to confirm whether or not the first controllable appliance should be caused to execute the command.
US09621940B2

Apparatus and methods to manage recording of streaming packetized content (such as for example live IP packetized content) for access, retrieval and delivering thereof to one or more users. In one embodiment, the foregoing is accomplished via communication between a recording manager and a receiver/decoder device. The recording manager manages and schedules recording of content on behalf of the receiver/decoder device (and/or mobile devices) disposed at a user's premises. The recording manager runs one or more computer programs designed to receive requests to record packetized content from one or more consumer devices, and use metadata contained within the requests to cause a cloud storage entity or premises storage device to record the content at its scheduled date/time (either via the receiver/decoder device itself, or another network entity). In this manner, the recording manager provides digital video recording (DVR) functionality to devices that would be otherwise incapable of scheduling a recording and/or recording such content.
US09621931B2

A method of receiving and processing a broadcast signal including a Non-Real Time (NRT) service and a broadcast receiver are disclosed herein. A method of processing a Non-Real Time (NRT) service in a broadcast receiver, the method comprises receiving and processing a signaling information table including access information of the NRT service, receiving data of the NRT service based on the signaling information table in non-real time and storing the received data of the NRT service in a storage medium, extracting service information including service type of the NRT service and detail information of the NRT service from the signaling information table, and controlling processes of the NRT service based on the extracted service information.
US09621928B2

There is provided a system and method for dynamically generated client side streaming playlists. There is provided a method comprising receiving a request to stream a video asset for playback, retrieving, from a network, a video asset playlist corresponding to the video asset and an ad campaign playlist, generating a consolidated video playlist including the video asset playlist and the ad campaign playlist, and processing the consolidated video playlist using a media playback framework to stream a plurality of video files from the network for decoding and output to a display. Discontinuity tags within the video asset playlist may be utilized as insertion points for portions of the ad campaign playlist. The consolidated video playlist may be accessed through a local HTTP web server, advantageously allowing the use of commonly installed media playback framework models such as QuickTime X to trigger adaptive bitrate support through HTTP Live Streaming.
US09621917B2

Continuous block tracking (CBT) tracks macroblock locations over reference frames to produce better inter-predictions than conventional block-based motion estimation/compression. CBT includes frame-to-frame tracking, estimating motion from a frame to a previous frame, and continuous tracking, related frame-to-frame motion vectors to block tracks. Frame-to-frame tracking may include block based or hierarchical motion estimations. CBT combined with enhanced predictive zonal search may create unified motion estimation. Accumulated CBT results may form trajectories for trajectory-based CBT predictions. Metrics measuring continuous track and motion vector quality can assess relative priority of CBT prediction against non-tracker-based predictions and to modify encoding choices. Continuous tracks can be analyzed for goodness-of-fit to translational motion models, with outliers removed from encoding. Translational motion models can be extended to entire frames in adaptive picture type selection. Outputs from CBT used in look-ahead processing, via look-ahead tracking, may provide rate control and scene change detection for the current frame being encoded.
US09621915B2

An image coding method includes: generating a first flag indicating whether or not a motion vector predictor is to be selected from among one or more motion vector predictor candidates; generating a second flag indicating whether or not a motion vector predictor is to be selected from among the one or more motion vector predictor candidates in coding a current block to be coded in a predetermined coding mode, when the first flag indicates that a motion vector predictor is to be selected; and generating a coded signal in which the first flag and the second flag are included in header information, when the first flag indicates that a motion vector predictor is to be selected.
US09621911B2

According to the present invention, an inter-prediction method includes: receiving mode information on the inter-prediction of a current block; decoding the received mode information; and performing inter-prediction using the decoded mode information. According to the present invention, image compression efficiency may be improved.
US09621904B2

A method and system of transmitting a plurality of wide-area surveillance area-of-interest video codestreams is described, First and second video codestreams are generated from a plurality of large format images that are captured sequentially in time. The first video codestream has a first plurality of areas-of-interest selected from the plurality of large format images and the second video codestream has a second plurality of areas-of-interest from the same plurality of large format images. The first video codestream is generated at a first frame rate and the second video codestream is generated at a second frame rate and the first and second video codestreams are combined to obtain a combined video codestream at third frame rate. The combined video codestream is then transmitted through a link to a demultiplexer that regenerates the first and second video codestreams.
US09621901B1

An example method for encoding computer-generated video content may comprise: generating, based on a geometric model, a sequence of video frames. The example method may further comprise determining, based on the geometric model, a velocity map comprising a plurality of velocity values for a plurality of pixels, wherein each velocity value represents a difference between a viewport position of a pixel in a current frame and a previous frame. The example method may further comprise determining, based on the velocity map, a plurality of motion vectors, wherein each motion vector corresponds to a macroblock comprising one or more pixels of a video frame of the sequence of video frames. The example method may further comprise producing, by a processing device, an output bit stream representative of the sequence of video frames, by encoding, using the motion vectors, the sequence of video frames.
US09621900B1

There is described herein motion-based adaptive quantization for compressing video streams. Motionless portions of pictures are detected and the compression quality of these portions is increased while the compression quality of non-motionless portions is decreased. The QP of a portion of image data, such as a macroblock, is modified for successive motionless portions from a start QP to a target QP in accordance with a multi-step change.
US09621886B2

A motion video encoding apparatus includes: a group determining unit which determines to which of a plurality of groups each block belongs; a group decode time information computing unit which computes a decode time for each of the groups; a group information appending unit which appends group information identifying the group to which each block belongs to data to be output; a code amount control unit which controls an amount of code for each block contained in the group so that data needed for decoding all the blocks contained in the group will arrive at a stream receive buffer provided in a motion video decoding apparatus by the decode time of the group when the data is transmitted to the motion video decoding apparatus at a prescribed transmission rate; and an encode processing unit which encodes each block, based on control information concerning the amount of code.
US09621880B2

A mode setting part 112 has a function to selectively set 2D and 3D display output modes. A play control part 132 changes the manner in which to control switching between display images in accordance with the display output mode set by the mode setting part 112. The play control part 132 changes the opacities of first and second display images with time so that when the two display images are cross-faded, the sum of the opacities of the first and second display images in a 3D display output mode is equal to or smaller than the sum of the opacities of the first and second display images in a 2D display output mode during a cross-fading period.
US09621876B2

A scanning 3D imager for recording images of a scene comprises a light source configured to emit a fan-shaped pulsed light beam with linear cross section, a scanning mirror arranged in the light path of the light beam to guide the light beam into the scene and to successively illuminate slices of the scene by sweeping the light beam through the scene transversally to the linear cross section thereof, and an imager chip arranged to receive light from the scene via the scanning mirror, the imager chip comprising an photosensor array disposed in such a way that the illuminated slices of the scene are successively imaged thereon.
US09621874B2

A multiple imager camera includes a block, an imager, and an alignment apparatus. The block is configured to direct an image to a plurality of imagers located proximate to a plurality of apertures defined by the block. The imager of the plurality of imagers is configured to receive the image through an aperture of the plurality of apertures. The alignment apparatus is interposed between the block and the imager. The alignment apparatus is configured to allow for six degrees of freedom to align the imager with the image. The six degrees of freedom include adjustment along a x-axis, a y-axis, and a z-axis of the aperture, and adjustment about a pitch-axis, a yaw-axis, and a roll-axis of the aperture. The alignment apparatus is further configured to fixedly couple the imager to the block after the imager is aligned with the image.
US09621868B2

An image capture method performed by a depth sensor includes; emitting a first source signal having a first amplitude towards a scene, and thereafter emitting a second source signal having a second amplitude different from the first amplitude towards the scene, capturing a first image in response to the first source signal and capturing a second image in response to the second source signal, and interpolating the first and second images to generate a final image.
US09621866B2

An image processing apparatus includes a display control unit configured to scroll a plurality of pieces of content data, a prediction unit configured to predict which content data among the plurality of pieces of content data moves from a hidden area to a display area according to a scroll display control condition controlled by the display control unit, and a decoding unit configured to decode the content data predicted by the prediction unit before the predicted content data moves to the display area.
US09621864B2

An embodiment of the invention provides a spectral imager for imaging a scene comprising a semiconductor photosensor comprising light sensitive pixels and a power source that applies voltage to the photosensor to control responsivity of the pixels to light incident on the pixels in different wavelengths bands of light.
US09621846B2

The present invention relates to capturing and presenting, in conjunction with video assistant selection, personalized, user-specific performance ratings for video assistants that the user has transacted/interacted with in the past. Once a user logs in or otherwise presents identifying credentials, the system or methodology accesses the user's recent remote video assistant session data (i.e., which video assistants the user previously transacted with and at least one corresponding user-specific performance rating) and presents a listing of the video assistants which the user previously interacted with along with at least one user-specific performance rating for each remote video assistant. By providing for display of the user-specific performance rating along with the video assistant identifier, the user is aware of not only which video assistants they conducted transactions/interactions with in the past, but also how the remote video assistant performed for the user during the previous transactions/interactions.
US09621840B2

Among other things, videos and commercials are downloaded to a mobile device for storage on the mobile device and later playout on the mobile device. The downloading includes downloading of metadata associated with the commercials and based on which the mobile device can select commercials for insertion into videos being played back to the user of the mobile device. The commercials to be downloaded are selected based on one or a combination of any two or more of the location of the user, the type of mobile device, and personally-identifiable information about a user of the mobile device.
US09621837B1

The present disclosure relates to TV devices that implement methods for switching an accompanying sound of a TV program. According to the method, the TV device may display a current TV program under a first operation state of a plurality operation state associated with the current TV program; when receiving a first controlling signal, display a target menu on the screen, wherein the target menu includes a target menu option of operation which is a default option and is associated with the plurality of operation states of the current TV program; and when receiving a second controlling signal, directly switch the TV device to a second operation state along a sequence of the plurality of operation states.
US09621836B2

A codeset having function-code combinations is provisioned on a controlling device to control functions of an intended target device. Input is provided to the controlling device which designates a function to be controlled on the intended target device. From a plurality of codes that are each associated with the designated function in a database stored in a memory of the controlling device a first code that is determined to be valid for use in controlling the designated function on the intended target device is selected. When the codeset is then provisioned on the controlling device, the provisioned codeset includes as a function-code combination thereof the designated function and the first code.
US09621834B2

Disclosed herein is a solid-state imaging element including a pixel unit configured to include a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix and a pixel signal readout unit configured to include an analog-digital conversion unit that carries out analog-digital conversion of a pixel signal read out from the pixel unit. Each one of the pixels in the pixel unit includes a plurality of divided pixels arising from division into regions different from each other in optical sensitivity or a charge accumulation amount. The pixel signal readout unit reads out divided-pixel signals of the divided pixels in the pixel. The analog-digital conversion unit carries out analog-digital conversion of the divided-pixel signals that are read out and adds the divided-pixel signals to each other to obtain a pixel signal of one pixel.
US09621830B2

An image sensor comprises: a first semiconductor including a plurality of pixels two-dimensionally arranged, and a plurality of divided output lines, in a first direction, configured to read out pixel signals from the plurality of pixels in the first direction; and a second semiconductor including a plurality of signal processing units, corresponding to the plurality of output lines, respectively, configured to process the readout pixel signals, and a readout unit configured to read out the signals output from the signal processing units in a second direction, wherein the first semiconductor and the second semiconductor are stacked, and the plurality of output lines and the plurality of signal processing units are connected in correspondence with each other.
US09621829B1

Imaging system, imaging system unit cell, and a method of detecting an image. One example of an imaging system unit cell includes a photodetector configured to generate a photo-current, a transimpedance amplifier circuit configured to integrate an electrical charge accumulated from the photo-current during an integration period and provide an integration voltage at an output node, and quantization circuitry configured to generate a digital signal during the integration period based at least in part on the integration voltage, the quantization circuitry including a comparator configured to receive the integration voltage and a voltage ramp signal, compare the integration voltage and the voltage ramp signal, and determine an intersection of the voltage ramp signal and the integration voltage at an intersection time, and a latch coupled to the comparator and configured to latch a digital counter value corresponding to the intersection time, the digital signal including the digital counter value.
US09621827B2

The present technology relates to an imaging element, a driving method, and an electronic apparatus that can decrease a voltage and increase a saturation signal amount.In each pixel configuring a pixel array unit, a photodiode receiving light from a subject and performing photoelectric conversion on the light and a first charge accumulating unit accumulating charges generated by the photodiode are provided. A reset gate unit to initialize the first charge accumulating unit is connected to the first charge accumulating unit through a third transfer gate unit. When the first charge accumulating unit is initialized, a voltage is applied to gate electrodes of the third transfer gate unit and the reset gate unit and a positive voltage is applied to a well region provided with a pixel to assist voltage application. Thereby, initialization is appropriately performed and a reset level is suppressed low. As a result, a voltage can be decreased and a saturation signal amount can be increased. The present technology can be applied to a solid-state imaging element.
US09621825B2

An integrated circuit for capturing panoramic image is disclosed. The integrated circuit comprises a plurality of pixel arrays fabricated on a common substrate, wherein each pixel array being positioned to capture an image to be projected thereon, and wherein the orientation of each pixel array is rotated to match with the orientation of the image projected thereon. The integrated circuit also includes readout circuits coupled to the pixel arrays for reading electrical signals corresponding to the images captured from the pixel arrays. In one embodiment, the plurality of pixel arrays corresponds to four pixel arrays and the orientation of said each pixel array is substantially 90° apart from a neighboring pixel array. The integrated circuit further comprises a timing and control circuit, wherein the timing and control circuit is for controlling said one or more readout circuits and the plurality of pixel arrays.
US09621820B2

An image projection apparatus includes a projection unit that projects a pattern image on a projection surface; an image capturing unit that captures the projected pattern image; and a corrector that corrects the captured image so that an imaging distortion caused due to image capturing and a projection distortion caused due to projection are corrected. The projection unit projects the corrected captured image at a predetermined position on the projection surface.
US09621816B2

A lighting control device includes: a luminance acquirer that acquires a luminance measured value of a fixed point of an object when the object is viewed from a predetermined viewpoint; and a lighting adjuster that individually controls a plurality of light sources irradiating the object from different directions based on the luminance measured value, and adjusts lighting on the object such that the luminance of the fixed point comes close to a predetermined setting value.
US09621813B2

An image display apparatus configured to zoom display an image to be displayed on a display area has a position specifying unit that specifies a position of an object contained in a displayed image, a position deciding unit that decides a positional relationship between an outer frame of the display area and the position of the object, and a zoom speed changing unit that changes a zoom speed in the zoom display depending on the decided positional relationship.
US09621808B2

A method of operating an inspection device includes collecting a plurality of successive image frames using an image sensor of the inspection device and displaying the plurality of successive image frames on a display of the inspection device. The method includes processing, via a processor of the inspection device, each image frame of the plurality of successive image frames by determining a motion parameter of each respective image frame and adding each respective image frame to a frame buffer when the respective image frame is motion free. The method includes receiving a control signal from a user interface of the inspection device requesting an image frame output. The method further includes determining, via the processor of the inspection device, a noise-reduced image frame from the frame buffer in response to the control signal and outputting the noise-reduced image frame in response to the control signal.
US09621802B2

A method and an apparatus for presenting a panoramic photo in a mobile terminal, and a mobile terminal. A trigger instruction that is used to instruct the mobile terminal to enter an immersive browsing mode is detected, where the immersive browsing mode is a browsing mode in which a panoramic photo moves as the mobile terminal rotates; and if the trigger instruction is detected, a rotation angle of the mobile terminal is detected and determined, and a panoramic photo that is presented in a normal mode in the mobile terminal is moved and presented according to the determined rotation angle. By using the present invention, complexity of panoramic photo browsing can be reduced, which makes it convenient for a user to browse a panoramic photo.
US09621800B2

A mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed, by which a plurality of images are synthesized. The present invention includes a camera configuring to acquire a first image in response to a shooting command and a plurality of second images on a preset condition, a controller creating a synthetic image by synthesizing a whole part of the acquired first image and at least one portion of a plurality of the acquired second images, and a display unit configured to display the created synthetic image, wherein the controller controls a prescribed visual effect to be displayed on the synthetic image to indicate a region corresponding to the first image.
US09621798B2

A method for providing a high resolution display image that includes providing a camera image that can be processed into at least two different camera views. The method also includes identifying a warped grid in each of the at least two different camera views and identifying a minimum field of view for displaying each of the at least two different camera views. The method further includes cropping the camera image based on the identified minimum field of view and de-warping the at least two different camera views to provide the high resolution display image.
US09621795B1

Various examples related to determining a location of an active speaker are provided. In one example, image data of a room from an image capture device is received and a three dimensional model is generated. First audio data from a first microphone array at the image capture device is received. Second audio data from a second microphone array laterally spaced from the image capture device is received. Using the three dimensional model, a location of the second microphone array with respect to the image capture device is determined. Using the audio data and the location and angular orientation of the second microphone array, an estimated location of the active speaker is determined. Using the estimated location, a setting for the image capture device is determined and outputted to highlight the active speaker.
US09621791B2

An imaging apparatus and a control method thereof includes an image unit adapted to perform imaging, a drive unit adapted to move a location of a lens in the imaging unit to adjust a focus, a touch screen adapted to display a live view generated by the imaging unit and receive a touch gesture for the live view, and a controller adapted to set an auto focus mode corresponding to the touch gesture among a plurality of auto focus modes when the touch gesture is input, and to control the drive unit to move the location of the lens so that the focus can be adjusted based on the set auto focus mode.
US09621777B2

A component imaging device has: a head unit that has a first head row and a second head row; an imaging unit that images components held by heads; a moving device for moving the head unit; and an imaging control device. The imaging unit includes an image sensor and an optical system. The optical system includes a first light-guiding portion that guides light from a component of the first head row to the image sensor, and a second light-guiding portion that guides light from a component of the second head row to the image sensor. An optical path length of the first light-guiding portion is set so as to obtain a focused image, and an optical path length of the second light-guiding portion is set so as to obtain a focused image. The imaging control device controls the positions of the heads and the exposure timing.
US09621776B2

An imaging element includes: a plurality of pixels configured to receive light from outside and generate and output an imaging signal depending on an amount of the light received; a first transfer line connected to the pixel; a second transfer line; a column selection switch configured to select one pixel column and output the imaging signal to the second transfer line; a column source follower including a gate to which the imaging signal transferred by the first transfer line is input, a drain end being connected to a power supply voltage, and a source end being connected to the column selection switch; a constant current source configured to drive the column source follower and read out the imaging signal to the second transfer line; and a current generating unit configured to flow a predetermined current to the source end side of the column source follower.
US09621773B2

The optical apparatus comprises a semiconductor substrate and at least one optics substrate. The semiconductor substrate comprises a first active region establishing a first image sensor, said semiconductor substrate further comprising an additional active region, different from said first active region. The additional active region establishes or is part of an additional sensor which is not an image sensor. And the at least one optics substrate comprises for said first image sensor at least one lens element for imaging light impinging on the optical apparatus from a front side onto the first image sensor. Preferably, at least two or rather at least three image sensors are provided, such that a computational camera can be realized. The additional sensor may comprise, e.g., an ambient light sensor and/or a proximity sensor.
US09621770B2

A camera system includes a camera mounting frame having a plurality of camera mounts. Each camera mount is configured to hold a respective camera at a respective lens orientation such that mounted cameras provide different respective lens orientations relative to each other, with each mounted camera providing a different field of view facing outward from the mounting frame. The camera system may provide obstruction-free, fully spherical image and video capture to record spherical images or spherical videos in which the nadir hole and/or a physical support element of the camera system is eliminated or reduced in size during the digital stitching process of the image or video.
US09621768B1

Displaying media information includes receiving a first media stream that is encoded based at least in part on a plurality of recordings; displaying the first media stream, including simultaneously displaying a first main view and a first set of auxiliary views, the first main view corresponding to at least one of the plurality of recordings and at least some of the first set of auxiliary views corresponding to at least some of the plurality of recordings; receiving a user selection that corresponds to a selected one of the first set of auxiliary views; in response to the user selection, receiving a second media stream that is encoded based at least in part on at least some of the plurality of recordings; and displaying the second media stream, including simultaneously displaying a second main view and a second set of auxiliary views, the second main view corresponding to the selected one of the first set of auxiliary views and the second set of auxiliary views corresponding to at least some of the plurality of recordings.
US09621764B2

A printer cartridge includes a memory device and at least one compressed color table stored on the memory device. A compressed color table includes a losslessly compressed neutral axis, a number of nodes that correspond to seed color table nodes and a number of delta nodes that correspond to a number of delta tables. The number of delta tables indicate differences between interpolated color table nodes and corresponding actual color table nodes.
US09621762B2

A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes a halftone calibration system that receives one or more un-calibrated halftones, generates one or more calibrated halftones using an ink model from the one or more un-calibrated halftones, analyzes a printed calibration screen of the one or more calibrated halftones, and performs a halftone calibration.
US09621751B2

An image reading apparatus includes: a contact glass setting a manuscript thereon; an image sensor extending in a first direction and having a reading surface which faces the contact glass for reading an image from the manuscript on the contact glass; a rail member extending inside the apparatus main body in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; a carriage having a sensor container to contain the image sensor, a taper end portion formed in an end portion in the first direction to become smaller in height toward the end side, and an opening formed in the bottom of the sensor container on the taper end portion side; a biased portion adjacent to the reading surface of the image sensor in the second direction; and a biasing member biasing the image sensor toward the contact glass via the biased portion.
US09621736B2

A method includes determining that a mobile computing device is within an enterprise geographic location. The method further includes, when the mobile computing device is within the enterprise geographic location, determining that a user of the mobile computing device is eligible for an enterprise sponsored mobile data service. The method further includes, when the user of the mobile computing device is eligible, determining use parameters for the enterprise sponsored mobile data service. The method further includes registering the mobile computing device for the enterprise sponsored mobile data service with an enterprise server and/or a mobile data service provider. The method further includes the mobile computing device receiving the enterprise sponsored mobile data services in accordance with the use parameters. The method further includes adjusting, by the mobile data service provider, billing rate of the mobile computing device while receiving the enterprise sponsored mobile data service.
US09621735B2

A database stores unique associations between account identifiers and mobile-network telephone numbers assigned by a mobile network to mobile communications devices. The account identifiers are also associated with voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephone numbers. Voice calls between the mobile communications devices are made as voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls using respective VoIP telephone numbers. Tracking of the VoIP calls is performed through the mobile network using respective mobile-network telephone numbers, so that a prepaid balance can be enforced.
US09621727B2

A system and method for processing interaction requests includes a computer system that receives over a data channel from an end user device accessible to the customer, a request for an interaction. The request includes data from an application running on the end user device. The data is stored by the computer system upon receipt. When a voice call from a telephony device accessible to the customer is received, a voice media session is established with the telephony device over a voice channel. The data is identified based on information associated with the voice call. A contact center resource is further identified for routing the voice call. The data is attached to a request to route the call to the identified contact center resource.
US09621701B2

An apparatus, device, methods, computer program product, and system are described that make a determination that a wireless device is in proximity to at least one secondary wireless device, and determine an aggregate user interface on the wireless device based on the determination.
US09621698B2

Arrangements described herein include identifying a voice communication session established between a first communication device and a second communication device and, based on the voice communication session established between the first communication device and the second communication device, identifying a plurality of contacts who potentially may be the second user. A list including at least a name of each of the plurality of contacts who potentially may be the second user is presented to a first user using the first communication device.
US09621676B2

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a method for providing access to a data object stored on an application server from within a client side machine. The method includes creating a remote reference that is linked to the data object, transmitting the remote reference to an application executing on a second machine, receiving an expression to evaluate that includes the remote reference, accessing at least one element included in the data object via the remote reference, evaluating the expression based on the at least one element to produce a result, and transmitting the result to the application.
US09621675B2

A method and apparatus for providing briefing information from a portable terminal to a user is provided. Briefing information is received and stored before an alarm time that is set according to a briefing alarm configuration. An alarm is output at the alarm time. The briefing information is displayed when the alarm turns off.
US09621672B2

A request to add at least a second user of a social network as a contact of a first user in the social network can be received. A social hierarchy indicating a hierarchical relationship between the first user and the second user can be accessed. Based on the hierarchical relationship between the first user and the second user, whether the second user must approve the request in order for the at least second user to be added as the contact of the first user in the social network can be determined. Responsive to determining that it is not required that the at least second user must approve the request in order for the at least second user to be added as the contact of the first user in the social network, the second user can be added as the contact of the first user in the social network without prompting the second user to approve the request.
US09621668B2

The present application is directed towards invalidating (also referred to as poisoning) ASDR table entries that are determined to be inaccurate because of changes to a multi-node system. For example, when a node leaves or enters a multi-node system, the ownership of the entries in the ASDR table can change thus invalidating cached and replica entries. More specifically, the system and methods disclosed herein include searching an ASDR table for cached entries responsive to the system determining the multi-node system has changed. After finding a cached entry, the system may determine if the entry should be poisoned. The decision to poison the entry may be responsive to the creation time of the entry, the time when the change to the multi-node system occurred, and in the case of a replica, the owner of the replica's position in a replication chain relative to source of the replica.
US09621665B2

A multimedia redirection method, a multimedia server, and a computer system. The method includes: receiving a virtual-desktop login request of a user, where the virtual-desktop login request includes an identifier of the user; acquiring, according to the identifier of the user, metadata of a multimedia instance that is not shut down by the user before a last disconnection, where the metadata includes path information of a multimedia file corresponding to the multimedia instance; and sending the metadata to a client of the user so that the client acquires, according to the metadata, multimedia data corresponding to the metadata and plays the multimedia data. The adoption of technical solutions of the present invention can implement that multimedia that is not closed before a last disconnection may be automatically played when a user logs in again, thereby improving experience of multimedia application of the user.
US09621664B2

A pattern associated with a mobile device is determined based at least in part on time information and location information associated with the mobile device. A mobile device behavior to be associated with the pattern is determined. The mobile device is configured to exhibit the mobile device behavior automatically during at least a portion of a subsequent repetition of the pattern.
US09621661B2

An improved system and method for defining an event based upon an object location and a user-defined zone and managing the conveyance of object location event information among computing devices where object location events are defined in terms of a condition based upon a relationship between user-defined zone information and object location information. One or more location information sources are associated with an object to provide the object location information. One or more user-defined zones are defined on a map and one or more object location events are defined. The occurrence of an object location event produces object location event information that is conveyed to users based on user identification codes. Accessibility to object location information, zone information, and object location event information is based upon an object location information access code, a zone information access code, and an object location event information access code, respectively.
US09621654B2

Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems that can intelligently copy data to a plurality of datastores using performance monitoring are described. In one embodiment, a shortest path tree determines the most efficient paths available for copying data from a source datastore to one or more destination datastores. During the copying of the data between a source datastore and the one or more destination datastores, a performance value of each of the datastores involved in the copying process is compared to a threshold. In response to determining that the performance value of a given source or destination datastore involved in the copying exceeds the threshold, the copying of the data to the corresponding destination datastore is suspended. An updated shortest path tree is determined to locate a more efficient path for copying data to the suspended destination datastore. Copying is resumed to the suspended destination datastore using the updated shortest path tree.
US09621650B2

Systems and methods are provided for sharing or recreating a state from a mobile device. For example, a mobile application state identifier can include a protocol identifier, a target task component associated with a mobile application executing when the application state identifier is generated and a sub-task component related to a user-interface active in the mobile application when the application state identifier is generated. The application state identifier can also include a user input component reflecting actions taken by a user during execution of the mobile application. A method can include generating, on a first mobile device, an application state identifier and transmitting the application state identifier to a second mobile device, wherein the second mobile device opens a mobile application associated with the target task to a user-interface corresponding to the sub-task component in response to receiving the application state identifier.
US09621639B2

Methods and apparatus to reduce memory requirements of software applications in a process control system are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a primary process space to execute a primary application for use in a process control system, a primary user interface associated with the primary application and to be rendered on a display, and a secondary application to be invoked via the primary application. The secondary application includes a client application to enable interaction between the primary application and the secondary application, and a server application that serves the client application to implement at least one software component to generate a secondary user interface associated with the secondary application. The secondary user interface is to be communicated to the primary application to be rendered within the primary user interface.
US09621633B2

Generally, this disclosure relates to low latency networking. A system may include processor circuitry comprising at least one processor; memory circuitry configured to store an application, a receive queue and a networking stack comprising a network device driver; a network controller comprising a flow director, the network controller configured to couple the host device to at least one link partner and the flow director configured to store one or more selected received packets in the receive queue, the selecting based, at least in part, on a packet flow identifier; and a network device driver configured to identify the receive queue in response to a polling request comprising the packet flow identifier; poll the receive queue; and process each received packet stored in the receive queue.
US09621631B2

In various example embodiments, a system and method for transferring the state of a first device to a second device are disclosed. An instruction to transfer a state of a first device to a second device is received. In response, information related to the state of the first device is packaged into a file. A type of connection to be used to transfer the state of the device is determined based on the connections available to the first device and the second device. The file containing the information of the state of the first device is transferred to the second device using the connection type. The file, when processed by the second device, causes the second device to reproduce the state of the first device.
US09621616B2

A system and method for processing and displaying at least two media content streams, a first content stream and an auxiliary content stream. The system receives, stores, decodes and displays at least two consecutive media content streams. The media content streams include an initial XML which includes a memory allocation datum in relation to the auxiliary content stream. The system utilizes the memory allocation datum to download and store auxiliary media content while the first content is being decoded and displayed.
US09621610B2

A method performed by a server of a communication network for making an HTTP media stream accessible to a client is provided. A Media Presentation Description (MPD) is generalized, such that the MPD is provided with at least one period element sequentially arranged according to a media play timeline. Each period element is provided with at least one representation such that at least one of the period elements is provided with at least two alternative representations. Each representation is provided with an ordered sequence of at least one media segment URI. Each media segment URI references at least one media segment of the HTTP media stream. The generated MPD enables a client to select representations and to acquire referenced media segments based on the selected representations.
US09621609B2

A system and method for content streaming with feature detection, comprising determining a streaming format compatibility criteria of a remote web browser, determining a content selection from a list of one or more content selections, receiving at a content server a streaming request, streaming the content selection, the streaming including dividing a source content into a plurality of segment files, encrypting the plurality of segment files, sending a manifest file from the content server to the remote web browser, receiving requests at the content server for each of the plurality of segment files and a decryption key, sending from the content server each one of the requested plurality of segment files and the decryption key, and selecting the next content selection in the list until the last content selection is selected and streamed.
US09621603B2

A method includes generating a random identification token on a computer that identifies the computer; modulating the identification token to an audio signal on the computer; causing, with the computer, a speaker to emit the audio signal receiving, at video conference device, the audio signal with a microphone associated with the video conference device; demodulating the audio signal to the identification token in the video conference device; sending at least the identification token and a unique identifier of the video conference device to the computer; and establishing a communication session through a communication network, that both the computer and video conference device are communicatively connected to, from the computer to the video conference device enabling control of, and data transfer to, the video conference device from the computer.
US09621597B2

In one embodiment, a method for forensic triage may include coupling, communicatively, a computer and a mobile device. The computer can be booted with machine readable instructions stored on the one or more mobile memory modules of the mobile device. A search data set can be received with one or more mobile processors of the mobile device. One or more processors of the computer, the one or more mobile processors, or both, can execute, automatically, the machine readable instructions stored on the one or more mobile memory modules of the mobile device to search one or memory modules of the computer in a read only mode for triage data that corresponds to the search data set. The triage data can be transmitted via one or more communication modules of the mobile device.
US09621584B1

Systems and methods are provided for configuring and monitoring computing resources of an entity for compliance with one or more standards. In one implementation, a server receives one or more identifiers of one or more standards and determines a plurality of configuration settings for the computing resources of the entity, based on the received one or more identifiers. The plurality of configuration settings comply with the one or more standards. The computing resources of the entity are configured according to the plurality of configuration settings. The server detects an event related to the computing resources. The detected event and the plurality of configuration settings are evaluated for compliance with the one or more standards. A determination is made whether the entity is compliant with the one or more standards, based on the evaluation, and an action is taken, based on the determination.
US09621583B2

In an embodiment, a method comprises intercepting, using a server computer, a first set of instructions that define a user interface and a plurality of links, wherein each link in the plurality of links is associated with a target page, and the plurality of links includes a first link; determining that the first link, which references a first target page, is protected; in response to determining the first link is protected: generating a first decoy link that corresponds to the first link, wherein the first decoy link includes data that references a first decoy page which includes false information; rendering a second set of instructions that defines the first decoy link, wherein the second set of instructions is configured to cause a first client computer to hide the first decoy link from the user interface; sending the second set of instructions to the first client computer.
US09621582B1

A technique for informing an Internet site operator of potential pharming attacks includes generating pharming alerts based on mismatches between a set of expected IP addresses and IP addresses obtained from DNS servers on the Internet and filtering the generated alerts based on circumstances surrounding the generated pharming alerts. Filtering the alerts blocks less suspect pharming alerts while allowing more suspect ones to pass to the site operator, reducing the rate of false positives and better enabling the operator to focus on alerts that may present actual threats.
US09621575B1

Methods and systems for dynamic threat protection are disclosed. An example method for dynamic threat protection may commence with receiving real-time contextual data from at least one data source associated with a client. The method may further include analyzing the real-time contextual data to determine a security threat score associated with the client. The method may continue with assigning, based on the analysis, the security threat score to the client. The method may further include automatically applying a security policy to the client. The security policy may be applied based on the security threat score assigned to the client.
US09621571B2

An apparatus and method for searching for similar malicious code based on malicious code feature information. The apparatus includes a malicious code registration unit for registering input new malicious code as a new malicious code sample, and extracting and registering detailed information of the new malicious code sample, a malicious code analysis unit for analyzing the detailed information of the new malicious code sample, a malicious code DNA extraction unit for extracting malicious code DNA information including malicious code feature information, a malicious code DNA comparison unit for comparing the extracted malicious code DNA information with malicious code DNA information of prestored malicious code samples, and calculating similarities therebetween, and a similar malicious code search unit for calculating, based on the calculated similarities, all similarities between the new malicious code sample and prestored malicious code samples, and extracting a specific number of malicious code samples.
US09621568B2

A method and apparatus for distributed threat detection in a computer network is described. The method may include receiving, by a threat detection system of a first computer network, a request for a service from a threat sensor of a second computer network, the service requested of the threat sensor within the second computer network from a network element of the second computer network. The method may also include emulating the service identified in the request to generate a response to the request, and sending the response to the threat sensor for forwarding to the network element within the second computer network. Furthermore, the method may include analyzing one or more communications between the threat detection system and the network element during emulation of the service requested by the network element to determine whether the network element is a threat to the second network.
US09621567B2

Devices, systems, and methods of detecting user identity, differentiating between users of a computerized service, and detecting a possible attacker. The methods include monitoring of user-side input-unit interactions, in general and in response to an interference introduced to user-interface elements. The monitored interactions are used for detecting an attacker that utilizes a remote access channel; for detecting a malicious automatic script, as well as malicious code injection; to identify a particular hardware assembly; to perform user segmentation or user characterization; to enable a visual login process with implicit two-factor authentication; to enable stochastic cryptography; and to detect that multiple users are utilizing the same subscription account.
US09621564B1

A method, a system, and computer readable medium comprising instructions for message delivery security validation are provided. At least one authentication setting from an end user is received at a data collection system. A validation key is generated based on the at least one authentication setting. A message and the validation key are sent to a device of a recipient. The device of the recipient are automatically authenticated using the validation key. The message is delivered to the device of the recipient upon authentication.
US09621563B2

The method includes identifying a computing device attempting to access content. The method further includes identifying a defined geographical boundary that is associated with the content, wherein the defined geographical boundary includes coordinates that define a geographical area that allows access to the content within the defined geographical boundary. The method further includes determining a geographical location of the computing device. The method further includes determining whether the geographical location of the computing device is within the identified defined geographical boundary.
US09621556B2

A system using mobile devices and a network provides access authentication, authorization and accounting to computing resources using a two-person access rule solution approach. A central access control server coordinates a rule-based authorization process in which a requesting user and one or more authorizing users are engaged in real-time communications to facilitate approved access to a sensitive resource. The technique utilizes mobile cellular interfaces and location service technologies, while also providing traditional security control measures of voice and visual verification of user identities.
US09621539B2

A method and apparatus for secure access to a computer network and for safeguarding the confidentiality and privacy of data stored and distributed by the network is disclosed. The method and apparatus addresses both limiting access to the computer network to those who are authorized to have access as well as the privacy of the information stored in the network.
US09621535B2

An electronic key system includes a mobile device and a control device. Main identification information identifying the control device is registered in the control device as registrant identification information. When the mobile device receives a response request including the registrant identification information and response timing, the mobile device compares the registrant identification information and the response timing which included in the response request with registrant identification information and response timing registered in the mobile device. When a result of the comparing is a match, the mobile device transmits the mobile device code to the control device. The control device includes a registration unit that newly generates the main identification information with different content each time a registration command is inputted, and registers the newly generated main identification information in a storage device of the control device as registrant identification information.
US09621534B2

The first authentication unit of an authentication apparatus decides whether first authentication data exists in a received message, and performs, if it is decided that the first authentication data exists, authentication based on the first authentication data. The second authentication unit of the authentication apparatus decides whether second authentication data exists in the received message, and performs, if it is decided that the second authentication data exists, authentication based on the second authentication data. If the second authentication unit decides that no second authentication data exists in the received message, and the first authentication unit decides that authentication has succeeded, it is decided that authentication for the received message has succeeded.
US09621533B2

A system includes a first bit string position permutation unit to perform position permutation of an input first bit string; a template generation unit to perform an exclusive OR operation of a bit string resulting from the position permutation of the first bit string and a code word of a binary linear code and generate auxiliary data; a second bit string position permutation unit to perform same position permutation of an input second bit string; and a bit string collation unit to verify that a hamming distance between position permutation result of the second and second bit strings is not more than a predetermined value.
US09621527B2

The invention is a method for loading data into a portable secure token comprising a plurality of security domains. A first security domain comprises a first administration agent and a second security domain comprises a second administration agent. A remote application server comprises a first data to be provided to the second administration agent. A syndication server, which is distinct from the remote application server, contains a list which comprises a reference to the first data. The list is sent in response to a polling request that is sent by the first administration agent. This list is comprised in a polling response which is sent by the syndication server.
US09621516B2

A method is provided to control the flow of packets within a system that includes one or more computer networks comprising: policy rules are provided that set forth attribute dependent conditions for communications among machines on the one or more networks; machine attributes and corresponding machine identifiers are obtained for respective machines on the networks; and policy rules are transformed to firewall rules that include machine identifiers of machines having attributes from among the obtained machine attributes that satisfy the attribute dependent policy rules.
US09621512B2

Techniques for providing DHCP updates are provided. In various embodiments, a DHCP notification is received from a DHCP server, the notification includes a network address and a unique device identifier combination of a device. A second notification is generated in response to receiving the first notification, the second notification includes the network address and the unique device identifier combination.
US09621510B2

Components of a telephone system often do not evolve in lock-step with other system improvements. For a variety of reasons, a component in a system may be operational to enable telephone calls utilizing a particular dialing format but be inoperable for calls utilizing a different format. Telephone number formats were initially numeric. The number of digits and format of the digits was often determined based on a country-specific dialing plan. Many countries have moved to more digits or alphanumeric formats (e.g., URIs). By capturing these enhanced addresses and generating an associated unique identifier, internal networks may utilize legacy numbering systems internally and, once the call reaches an edge device, route them based upon the enhanced address.
US09621508B2

A method and system for sharing host entries between virtual tunnel endpoints (VTEPs). The method includes making a first determination that an NLHE is present in a locally learned host entry table on a VTEP where the NHLE is associated with a first timestamp, and making a second determination that a first entry corresponding to the NHLE is present in a Host-Specific Portion of Global Host Entry Table (HSPT) on the VTEP, where the first entry is associated with a second timestamp. Based on the second determination, making a third determination, using the timestamps, that the NHLE is more recent than the first entry and based on the third determination updating an active forwarding table on the first VTEP to include a second entry corresponding to the NHLE and to remove the first entry and sending the NHLE to a VXLAN controller operatively connected to the VTEP.
US09621492B2

An information providing method and system may provide information while conversing with a user through an instant messaging application. The information providing system enables a user terminal to add, as a friend, a software bot which may be a virtual friend configured in an artificial software program through the instant messaging application executed in a user terminal. When the user inputs and transmits a message to the software bot through a conversation session, the information providing system may retrieve an appropriate response corresponding to the message from a database by inputting the message as a query, and may transmit the response to the user terminal, thereby providing the response to the user through the conversation session.
US09621487B2

A protection switching method and apparatus based on a memory control in a packet transport system are provided. The protection switching method may perform hardware-based protection switching based on a type of path failures that occur. The protection switching method may perform protection switching for each of an Automatic Protection Switching (APS) frame or a Loss of Continuity (LoC)/Clear Loss of Continuity (CLoC) message received via an interface unit from a packet processor, a LoC/CLoC message received via a local bus interface from a host processor, an APS frame generation command input via the local bus interface from protection software (SW) of the host processor, and an APS frame generation command input via another interface unit from the protection SW.
US09621486B2

A system is described that includes devices detecting and periodically transmitting data of events and conditions within an environment. The devices are communicatively coupled with applications running on processors of a remote server. The devices periodically request a connection with the applications, wherein the applications monitor a range of port numbers for receiving the devices' connection requests. The devices request connections at corresponding port numbers among the monitored range of port numbers. The applications accept the connection requests from the devices at the corresponding port numbers, wherein the devices transmit the data to the one or more applications during corresponding communication sessions. The applications evaluate attributes of the devices' connection requests and communication sessions and manage assignment of the devices to port numbers using information of the evaluating.
US09621478B2

Embodiments relate to a software-defined networking (SDN) single-source enterprise workload manager. An aspect includes a computer-implemented method for SDN single-source enterprise workload management. A network flow graph of a workload is received at an SDN controller in an enterprise network from a workload compiler of the enterprise network. The network flow graph defines interactions between a plurality of subprograms distributed in the enterprise network based on compile-time information of the workload. The SDN controller analyzes the network flow graph to identify the interactions between the subprograms as prompts. The SDN controller allocates network resources to define a plurality of flows through the enterprise network based on the prompts and characteristics of the enterprise network. Network traffic in the enterprise network is controlled based on the flows.
US09621476B2

A method is provided in one example embodiment and may include determining a predicted average throughput for each of one or more cellular interfaces and adjusting bandwidth for each of the one or more of the cellular interfaces based, at least in part, on the predicted average throughput determined for each of the one or more cellular interfaces. Another method can be provided, which may include determining a variance in path metrics for multiple cellular interfaces and updating a routing table for the cellular interfaces using the determined variance if there is a difference between the determined variance and a previous variance determined for the cellular interfaces. Another method can be provided, which may include monitoring watermark thresholds for a MAC buffer; generating an interrupt when a particular watermark threshold for the MAC buffer is reached; and adjusting enqueueing of uplink packets into the MAC buffer based on the interrupt.
US09621468B1

A packet transmission scheduler that may temporally smooth packet transmission over paths or connections to destinations by scheduling packets for transmission to destinations during transmit windows, and by limiting the amount of data that is scheduled for transmission to each destination in each transmit window. A transmit window limit and state information may be maintained for each destination and used in scheduling packets for the destination in the transmit windows. The scheduler may dynamically adjust the transmit window limits for the destinations according to performance feedback for the connections, allowing the packet transmission scheduler to determine optimal or near-optimal transmit window limits for connections so that packets can be sent to the destinations as quickly as possible at rates that the respective connections can handle without dropping packets or experiencing other problems such as long round trip times.
US09621464B2

Use of a hash operation based on selected information in the packet to select one of a set of enable vectors. The selected enable vector is then effectively ANDed with the link expansion vector to select the actual links to be used. The enable vectors vary by selecting a different link in the LAG port for each enable vector. Thus the hash is used to vary the link of the LAG port used to transmit the packet for that multicast packet.
US09621463B2

A system and method for handling context aware network includes a managing server including a control unit, a memory coupled to the control unit, one or more virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) tables stored in the memory, and one or more ports coupled to the control unit and configured to couple the managing server to a network. The managing server is configured to store VRF information in the one or more VRF tables, receive a request packet including a context from a first edge switch, determine the context included in the request packet, examine the one or more VRF tables to identify a VRF-ID associated with the context, and forward a VRF configuration flow control message to the first edge switch. The managing server is further configured to forward one or more additional VRF configuration flow control messages to one or more second edge switches.
US09621458B2

A non-gateway node transmits an internet route request to neighbor nodes and receives, from a gateway node, a response message including an address of the gateway node and a gateway indicator. The non-gateway node sets a gateway pointer equal to this address. A gateway node receives an internet route request from neighbor nodes and transmits, to the neighbor nodes, a response message including an address of the gateway node and a gateway indicator. A non-gateway node receives, from gateway nodes on the network, an announcement of internet connectivity that includes address of the gateway nodes. The non-gateway node adds these addresses to a list of potential gateways. When the non-gateway nodes receives packets for transmission to an internet destination, it selects a gateway address from the list, and transmits the packets to a destination gateway associated with the gateway address.
US09621455B2

A cross-device linear multiplex section protection method, including: a controller receives a first negotiation message transmitted by a first gateway, the first negotiation message is transmitted when the first gateway detects that a failure occurs in a link between the first gateway and a second gateway; the controller transmits a second negotiation message to the first gateway and the second gateway, the second negotiation message is used for indicating bridging service data on an active link to a protection link for transmission, the active link is a link between the second gateway and the controller, and the protection link is a link between the first gateway and the controller.
US09621445B2

System and method for utilizing transmission of known sequences to indicate qualities of operating points of first and second transceivers. One method includes the following steps: transmitting a first known sequence by a first transceiver upon identifying a quality degradation in its operating point; and replying with a second known sequence by a second transceiver upon receiving the first known sequence. The method further includes the steps of transmitting the second known sequence by the second transceiver upon identifying a quality degradation in its operating point, and replying with the first known sequence by the first transceiver.
US09621433B2

A control method used in a remote control system according to the present disclosure includes: a step of displaying candidates for a target apparatus to be controlled among apparatuses on a user interface region of a display unit of an information terminal; a step of obtaining, via a network, control indexes used to determine a display mode for the user interface region; a step of displaying, on the user interface region, one or more control menus in a display mode determined based on a selected target apparatus and the control indexes; a step of generating a control signal for causing the target apparatus to perform an operation according to control corresponding to a control menu, when the control menu is selected from the one or more displayed control menus; and a step of transmitting the control signal to the target apparatus via the network.
US09621432B2

This disclosure is directed to performing diagnostics on deployed devices that use network connectivity to transmit data in response to at least partially automated processes. In some embodiments, a diagnostic entity may monitor network traffic from deployed devices. The diagnostic entity may aggregate at least some of the network traffic to create profiles for at least some of the deployed devices and/or for some activities. The diagnostic entity may then identify outlier devices/activities from observed network behavior of deployed devices and/or activities based on the accessed network traffic and the profiles. The diagnostic entity may generate reports and/or perform or cause some corrective operations in response to identification of the outliers. In various embodiments, the diagnostic entity may predict network usage information for a group of devices and may possibly suggest revisions to service plans and/or usage of the deployed devices based at least partly on the predicted usage.
US09621430B2

A design support apparatus includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor executes a process including: accepting inputs of the number of nodes to be connected to a network, the number of networks to be connected to each node, and the number of nodes to be connected to a terminating device being a relay device to be connected to the nodes among relay devices relaying communication between nodes; calculating the number of terminating devices included in each network based on the numbers having been accepted; specifying nodes to be connected to each terminating device for each network such that each node is connected to any of the number of terminating devices calculated and that individually different combinations of nodes are connected to the terminating devices included in all the networks; and outputting connection information indicating that the nodes specified are connected to the terminating devices.
US09621420B2

Method and system are provided for network device configuration management. The method includes: receiving a set of user commands for configuration of a network device; retrieving a syntactic model of a network device configuration interface for a network device type and generating a modelled configuration of a current configuration of the network device; predicting the effect of the user command on the modelled configuration to generate a predicted modelled configuration; and applying rules for a user and/or network device type to determine if the command is permitted based on the predicted modelled configuration of the network device. Predicting the effect of the user command predicts in near real-time the effect on the network device configuration of a command that the user enters.
US09621418B2

The implementation of the relay configuration tool may lead to the rapid deployment of relay links between network nodes. The tool may receive identification information of a donor network node that provides backhaul access to a core network, as well as identification information of a remote network node that is to use the backhaul. The tool may further obtain node information on the donor network node and the remote network node from a node information database based on the identification information. The tool may additionally receive link specifications for a relay link to be established between the network nodes. Accordingly, the tool may determine the communication frequencies and a power level for the relay link based at least on the node information and the link specifications. The communication frequencies and the power level, along with other configuration parameters, may be used by the tool to establish the relay link.
US09621417B2

In order to increase the likelihood of possession of an electronic device (such as an access point), a modified identifier associated with the electronic device may be provided to another electronic device. In particular, the modified identifier may be generated by adding one or more additional characters to an identifier. For example, the identifier may include a serial number of the electronic device, and the one or more additional characters may include alphanumeric information and/or random numbers. These one or more additional characters may be: added to a beginning of the identifier, added to an end of the identifier, interspersed with characters in the identifier, and/or in a reserved field in the identifier. Moreover, the one or more additional characters may be predefined. Alternatively, the one or more additional characters may be dynamically generated.
US09621413B1

Systems and methods can operate to improve the identification and diagnoses of DHCP client IP address assignment failures. The DHCP protocol can require a plurality of DHCP messages to be exchanged by DHCP server, relay agent and clients. Failure of DHCP message delivery can result in a DHCP client not obtaining an IP address. DHCP information can be displayed and captured in the DHCP relay agent that can assist in the identification and diagnosing of DHCP client IP address assignment failures.
US09621407B2

A secure communication mechanism is disclosed. The secure communication mechanism may utilize one or more secure communication capabilities to secure communications of various types of users in various types of networks. The secure communication capabilities may include one or more of a user pattern hiding capability (e.g., a user behavior pattern hiding capability, a user communication pattern hiding capability, a user browsing pattern hiding capability, or the like), a gateway hopping capability, or the like, as well as various combinations thereof. The users may include corporate users (e.g., for communications related to corporate matters or for communications related to personal matters), user associated with non-corporate entities, individuals not associated with a corporation or other type of entity (e.g., individual users, groups of users, or the like), or the like.
US09621403B1

Systems and methods for installing network certificates on a client computing device are provided. In some aspects, a method includes automatically determining that the certificate associated with the network is not installed on the computing device. The method also includes determining that the certificate can be installed on the computing device without assistance. The method also includes determining whether end-user input is required to install the certificate. The method also includes, if end-user input is required to install the certificate, displaying a graphical component which prompts an end-user for an input associated with generating the certificate, receiving the input, and providing a request to generate the certificate based on the input. The method also includes, if end-user input is not required to install the certificate, providing a request to generate the certificate. The method also includes storing the certificate. The method also includes connecting to the network using the certificate.
US09621401B1

A dynamic network and a method for performing data analysis within a dynamic network. A query request generated by a root node in the dynamic network is propagated through other nodes in the dynamic network in a number of request messages. A number of response messages responding to the query request are received at the root node from the other nodes in the dynamic network. Data analysis is performed using data contained in the number of response messages as the number of response messages is received. A request index that keeps count of the number of request messages propagated through the dynamic network is updated using a tracking parameter in each of the number of response messages.
US09621392B2

A method and an apparatus for receiving broadcast signals thereof are disclosed. The method for receiving broadcast signals, the method comprises receiving the broadcast signals, demodulating the received broadcast signals by an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) scheme, parsing a signal frame from the demodulated broadcast signals, MIMO (Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output) decoding service data in the parsed signal frame, decoding signaling data in the parsed signal frame and decoding the MIMO decoded service data.
US09621386B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus for detecting a center frequency of an input signal, the input signal including a carrier signal modulated with a modulation signal. Detecting a frequency of a second signal. Determining a difference signal between the center frequency of the input signal and the frequency of the second signal. Modifying the frequency of the second signal based on the difference signal to provide the carrier signal. And, outputting the carrier signal.
US09621382B1

A receiver applies a calibration method to compensate for skew between input channels. The receiver skew is estimated by observing the coefficients of an adaptive equalizer which adjusts the coefficients based on time-varying properties of the multi-channel input signal. The receiver skew is compensated by programming the phase of the sampling clocks for the different channels. Furthermore, during real-time operation of the receiver, channel diagnostics is performed to automatically estimate differential group delay and/or other channel characteristics based on the equalizer coefficients using a frequency averaging or polarization averaging approach. Framer information can furthermore be utilized to estimate differential group delay that is an integer multiple of the symbol rate. Additionally, a DSP reset may be performed when substantial signal degradation is detected based on the channel diagnostics information.
US09621381B2

Disclosed are a communication apparatus and a communication method capable of improving transmitting/receiving frequency efficiency of a satellite signal per bandwidth or spectral efficiency (S.E) per bandwidth by removing and improving a distortion or inter-symbol interference for applying a minimum-mean square error (MMSE) equalizer required to detect a frame synchronization and a modulation code rate in a satellite service for satellite broadcasting or communication under the variable coding and modulation (VCM) or adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) environment.
US09621368B2

Provided is a method for displaying electricity use status and a portable device thereof by identifying at least one electronic appliance in an image on a screen captured through a camera, receiving electricity use information of the at least one electronic appliance, determining the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance using the received electricity use information, and displaying one of a plurality of Graphical User Interfaces (GUI), wherein each GUI corresponds to a different stage of the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance.
US09621363B2

The present invention discloses a method for implementing multicast on a shared network, which includes receiving a multicast program request from a terminal device; updating an entry corresponding to the multicast program requested by the terminal device in a table of correspondence between multicast program information and terminal device identifiers according the multicast program request, where the table of correspondence between multicast program information and terminal device identifiers includes a plurality of relation entries, and each entry corresponds to a different multicast program and includes identifier information of terminal devices that request the multicast program; and providing the multicast program and the identifier information of terminal devices in the updated relation entry for each terminal device in the broadcast manner, where the identifier information of terminal devices is used to indicate whether each terminal device needs to receive the multicast program.
US09621359B2

Presented are systems, devices, and methods for reliably authenticating asymmetric cryptography-based ICs based on Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) that are immune to reverse engineering. Various embodiments of the invention enhance the level of security in IC architectures without the need to connect to a remote certification authority, thereby, eliminating shortfalls associated with online authentication. Certain embodiments accomplish this by using a PUF-generated secure private key that need never be output by or exported from the PUF.
US09621355B1

A client application of a device queries/interrogates a secure device identity module of the device to obtain a device identifier of the device and a signed string generated by the security device identity module using a private key unique to the device. The client application of the device sends to an authorization server a request containing the device identifier and the signed string. Depending on an authentication result obtained for the device based on the device identity, the authorization server sends to the device an access token that enables the client application to access a resource.
US09621354B2

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for delivering a content piece over a network using a set of reconstructable objects. During operation, the system obtains a metadata file that includes a set of rules; generates the set of reconstructable objects for the content piece based on the set of rules included in the metadata file; cryptographically signs the set of reconstructable objects to obtain a set of signed reconstructable objects; and delivers, over the network, the set of signed reconstructable objects along with the metadata file to a recipient, thereby enabling the recipient to extract and store a copy of the content piece and then to reconstruct the set of signed reconstructable objects from the stored copy of the content piece and the metadata file.
US09621350B2

A method and system of authenticating a person is disclosed. The authentication may include verifying authenticity of the person when interacting with a point of sale system or other authenticating requesting device according to whether biometric information collected proximate in time to the authentication request sufficiently correlates with biometric information previously collected from trust sources.
US09621348B2

A device including circuitry configured to receive a security profile corresponding to one or more of a user and an application to which an output of a secure text generation process will be applied, wherein the security profile includes a private key. The circuitry may receive a sequence of characters input from a text input device in communication with the circuitry. The circuitry may generate, for each character input in the sequence of characters, one or more random characters, wherein the one or more random characters are generated based on an algorithm having the character text input and the private key as inputs, and wherein the algorithm includes a mathematical function corresponding to the private key. The secure text generation process is iteratively performed on a single character, of the sequence of characters received from the text input device, without storing preceding received characters included in the sequence of characters.
US09621345B2

Embodiments of the present invention relate to providing encrypted content to authorized content consumers while providing robust traitor tracing. In some embodiments, at least one device key is read. A key block is read. A media key precursor is determined from the key block and the at least one device key. At least one encrypted block key is read. A block master key is determined from the media key precursor. A security program is executed to determine a decrypted block key from the media key precursor, the block master key, and the encrypted block key. The decrypted block key is provided for application to the encrypted content to obtain decrypted content.
US09621344B2

A system and method for recovering a security credential is provided. A security credential stored in the storage of a computing device is encrypted using a first encryption key generated by a server. A first decryption key for decrypting the security credential and a second encryption key for re-encrypting the security credential are received. The first decryption key and the second encryption key are generated by the server. The security credential is decrypted using the first decryption key. The security credential is communicated to a user of the computing device. The security credential is re-encrypted in the storage of the computing device using the second encryption key.
US09621335B2

A method distributing data in a network is provided. The method comprises measuring the path lengths between a reference clock and a plurality of remote destinations and sending a timing signal from the reference clock to the plurality of remote destinations. The method further comprises measuring the phase between the reference clock and a return signal from each of the plurality of remote destinations and adjusting the phase of the data such that each remote destination receives the data within a skew tolerance.
US09621327B2

Improved switched multiplexer architecture for supporting carrier aggregation in front-end applications. In some embodiments, an N-plexing system can include an assembly of filters configured to provide N filtered paths, and a switching circuit in communication with the assembly of filters. The switching circuit can be configured to provide a plurality of switchable paths between the assembly of filters and an antenna port to allow simultaneous operation between the N filtered paths and the antenna port. In some embodiments, N can be 4 for a quadruplexing system or 2 for a duplexing system, and such a system can be implemented in a front-end module (FEM) for wireless devices.
US09621325B1

This invention relates to techniques for timing control in transmission or reception of data units in wireless communication. To better use the resources in a transceiver, a timing parameter is repeatedly initiated and reassigned. Depending on how the data units being handled, the timing parameter can be used to control a transceiver to retry transmission of data units or purge data units.
US09621323B2

A method for transmitting uplink control information and an apparatus thereto are disclosed, wherein the method includes: generating a plurality of HRAQ-ACKs; selecting one first resource index and two second resource indices, each corresponding to the plurality of HARQ-ACKs; transmitting through a first antenna port a first modulation symbol and a first reference signal for demodulating the first modulation symbol; and transmitting through a second antenna port a second modulation symbol and a second reference signal for demodulating the second modulation symbol. Both a transmission resource for the first modulation symbol and a transmission resource for the first reference signal are given using one first resource index. A transmission resource for the second modulation symbol is given using one of two second resource indices, and a transmission resource for the second reference signal is given using the other of two second resource indices.
US09621321B2

According to teachings herein, a base station of a wireless communication system obtains channel state information from a user equipment (UE), based on transmitting first and second offset values to the UE. The first offset value is for a first set of subframes of a first type and is based on first channel information, while the second offset value is for a second set of subframes of a second type and is based on second channel information. The base station obtains the channel state information from the UE, which is configured to receive the first and second offset values and to determine the channel state information based on reference signals for subframes of the first type and the first offset value and based on reference signals for subframes of the second type and the second offset value.
US09621310B2

This disclosure relates to TTI bundling for downlink communication. According to one embodiment, a base station and a wireless device may establish a wireless communication link. The base station may determine to enable TTI bundling for downlink communication for at least one carrier of the wireless communication link. The base station may provide an indication to the wireless device to enable TTI bundling for downlink communication for the determined carrier(s) of the wireless communication link. The base station may subsequently transmit TTI bundle downlink communications to the wireless device via the determined carrier(s).
US09621301B1

Systems and methods are described for determining a modulation and coding scheme for a small cell. A small cell may receive a first signal level for a first signal received at a wireless device and a second signal level for a second signal received at the wireless device, wherein the received first signal is from the small cell and the received second signal is from a macro cell. The small cell may also receive a channel quality indicator from the wireless device that indicates a channel quality for communications between the wireless device and the small cell. A signal level metric may be calculated based on the first signal level, the second signal level, and the received channel quality indicator. A modulation and coding scheme for a transmission from the small call may be determined, wherein the transmission is associated with an almost blank subframe transmission from the macro cell.
US09621300B2

A communications system comprising an ECM signal transmission arrangement for generating and transmitting an ECM signal, a first controller operable to control the ECM transmission arrangement such that the transmitted signal takes a pulsed form including a plurality of first periods in which the ECM signal is transmitted separated by second periods in which the ECM signal is not transmitted, a radio signal receiver arrangement forming or including a bandpass filter and arranged to receive a radio signal, and a second controller operable to control the signal received by the receiver arrangement to take a pulsed form including a plurality of third periods in which the radio signal is received by the receiver arrangement separated by fourth periods in which the radio receiver does not receive the radio signal, wherein the first and second controllers are synchronised such that the second periods are synchronised with the third periods, at the radio signal receiver arrangement such that the pulsed signal received by the receiver arrangement is reconstituted in the bandpass filter into a continuous signal, free or substantially free of ECM interference.
US09621299B2

The estimation of an amount of chromatic dispersion using a training signal sequence is possible. A transmission method includes: a training signal sequence generation step of generating, as training signal sequences, a plurality of signal sequences having power concentrated in a plurality of frequency bands, the power concentrated at different frequency bands; a training signal sequence selection step of selecting at least one training signal sequence from among the plurality of training signal sequences generated in the training signal sequence generation step, a signal multiplexing step of generating a signal sequence obtained by time-division multiplexing the training signal sequence selected in the training signal sequence selection step with a transmission data sequence, and an electrical-to-optical conversion step of transmitting the signal sequence generated in the signal multiplexing step as an optical signal.
US09621298B2

Proposed is a method of optical data transmission. The method comprises different steps. At least one stream of data bits is received. Sets of data bits are mapped onto successive logical states. The logical states correspond to respective sets of two initial QPSK symbols chosen according to a QPSK mapping and according to a set partitioning rule. The logical states are differentially encoded according to a differential encoding rule. For the differentially encoded logical states respective sets of two resulting QPSK symbols are derived according to the QPSK mapping and according to the set partitioning rule. The encoded sets of two QPSK symbols are transmitted using polarization division multiplexing. The differential encoding rule results in a differential encoding of one of the initial QPSK symbols but not the other of the initial QPSK symbols.
US09621292B2

A system and method to implement a scheduling algorithm in a communication network using time division multiple access (TDMA) are described. The system includes a plurality of devices, each device transmitting a packet of data in the communication network, and a memory device to store the scheduling algorithm. The system also includes a processor to execute the scheduling algorithm to form a deterministic packet scheduling scheme, the deterministic packet scheduling scheme being based on a base unit representing a minimum among maximum packet intervals corresponding to the plurality of devices in the communication network.
US09621290B2

An apparatus and method are described for compensating for frequency and phase variations of electronic components by processing packet delay values. In one embodiment, a packet delay determination module determines packet delay values based on time values associated with a first and a second electronic component. A packet delay selection module selects a subset of the packet delay values based on the maximum frequency drift of the first electronic component. A statistical parameter determination module evaluates a first and a second parameter based on portions of the subset of packet delay values. A validation module validates the parameters when each portion the subset of packet delay values includes a minimum of at least two packet delay values. An adjustment module compensates for at least one of a frequency variation and a phase variation of the first electronic component based on the parameters if the parameters are both validated.
US09621281B2

Some novel features pertain to a device that includes a first integrated device package and a second integrated device package. The first integrated device package includes a first package substrate, a first integrated device, and a first configurable optical transmitter. The first configurable optical transmitter is configured to be in communication with the first integrated device. The first configurable optical transmitter is configured to transmit an optical beam at a configurable angle. The first configurable optical transmitter includes an optical beam source, an optical beam splitter, and a set of phase shifters coupled to the optical beam splitter. The set of phase shifters is configured to enable the angle at which the optical beam is transmitted. The second integrated device package includes a second package substrate, a second integrated device, and a first optical receiver configured to receive the optical beam from the first configurable optical transmitter.
US09621278B2

A frequency offset compensation apparatus includes: first FFT means for performing a discrete-time Fourier transform of an input signal; second FFT means for performing a discrete-time Fourier transform; and offset compensation means for changing an order of output data of the first FFT means according to a frequency offset compensation amount, and rearranging the output data, and then inputting the output data to the second FFT means. This makes possible a frequency offset compensation without needing a new complex multiplier or a new memory in optical communication.
US09621274B2

Consistent with the present disclosure a transmitter is provided that transmits data in either a “quasi-DP-BPSK” (“QDP”) mode or in a DP-QPSK mode. In the QDP mode, data bits are transmitted as changes in phase between first and second phase states along a first axis or as changes in phase between third and fourth phase states along a second axis in the IQ plane. Although the transmitter outputs an optical signal that changes in phase between each of the four states, a sequence bit identifies which axis carries the data bit. The sequence bit is one of a series of sequence bits that may be generated by a pseudo-random number generator. The series of sequence bits can be relatively long, e.g., 32 bits, to permit sufficiently random changes in the axis that carries the data. Thus, unlike conventional BPSK, in which data is transmitted between phase states along a single axis, the present disclosure provides an apparatus and related method for randomly selecting one of two axes, for example, for each transmitted bit. In the receiver, it has been observed that the MU-CMA algorithm can process data carried by optical signals in the QDP mode with relatively few errors. Thus, the same equalizer (FIR) filter may be used to process BPSK, as well as QPSK data.
US09621273B2

In an example, the present invention includes an integrated system-on-chip device. The device is configured on a single silicon substrate member. The device has a data input/output interface provided on the substrate member. The device has an input/output block provided on the substrate member and coupled to the data input/output interface. The device has a signal processing block provided on the substrate member and coupled to the input/output block. The device has a driver module provided on the substrate member and coupled to the signal processing block. In an example, the device has a driver interface provided on the substrate member and coupled to the driver module and configured to be coupled to a silicon photonics device. In an example, a control block is configured to receive and send instruction(s) in a digital format to the communication block and is configured to receive and send signals in an analog format to communicate with the silicon photonics device.
US09621268B2

An optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (O-OFDM) system with pulse-width modulation (PWM) dimming includes a driver responsive to one or more predetermined dimming set points configured to generate PWM signals having a predetermined duty cycle and configured to supply current to one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs). An O-OFDM generator responsive to the one or more predetermined dimming set points and digital data is configured to generate digital inverted O-OFDM signals during on-states of the PWM signals and non-inverted O-OFDM signals during off-states of the PWM signals according to the predetermined duty cycle and convert the digital inverted O-OFDM signals and the digital non-inverted O-OFDM signals to analog output O-OFDM signals. A combiner circuit responsive to the current from the driver and the analog output O-OFDM signals is configured such that the analog output O-OFDM signals modulate the current to the one or more LEDs to provide a high capacity visible light communication link
US09621264B2

A bidirectional optical tap-monitor is described for detecting an optical signal power carried by a through waveguide. The tap-monitor comprises a tap waveguide placed near the through waveguide, and a single waveguide-type photodetector for detecting a fraction of the optical signal power coupled from the tap waveguide. The tap waveguide includes two ports at opposite ends of the tap waveguide and the waveguide-type photodetector includes two ports that are connected respectively to the two ports of the tap waveguide. When light travels through the through waveguide in one direction, the coupled fraction of the optical signal power is fed to the photodetector via one of the two ports of the tap waveguide, and when light travels through the through waveguide in the opposite direction, the coupled fraction of the optical signal power is fed to the photodetector via the other one of the two ports of the tap waveguide. The bidirectional optical tap-monitor is operable in either a forward-propagating or a backward-propagating direction.
US09621263B2

The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for detecting an optical signal-to-noise ratio, a node device, and a network system. The method includes: receiving a detected optical signal carrying amplified spontaneous emission ASE noise; detecting a first alternating current component and a first direct current component of the detected optical signal; acquiring first modulation information of the detected optical signal; acquiring first correction information corresponding to the first modulation information according to the first modulation information; and determining an optical signal-to-noise ratio OSNR of the detected optical signal according to the first alternating current component, the first direct current component, and the first correction information.
US09621259B2

A method and system for providing configuration parameters to TDMA nodes are disclosed. The configuration parameters are repeatedly transmitted to the TDMA nodes in a predetermined fashion, allowing existing nodes to receive the up-to-date configuration parameters from messages being broadcast in the TDMA network. Any new node joining the TDMA network may also receive the up-to-date configuration parameters, allowing the new node to apply such parameters accordingly and join the network as applicable.
US09621256B1

Power spectral density in an aeronautical satellite communication system is controlled through the use of adaptive inroute selection and spreading. Once a communication session has been established between the aircraft and the satellite, environmental conditions and aircraft conditions are monitored to detect events capable of affecting transmit/receive properties during the communication session. A maximum allowable transmission output is determined based, at least in part, on governmental regulations and the conditions being monitored. One or more transmit parameters are adjusted in order to maintain transmission output power of the aircraft terminal below the maximum allowable transmission output power.
US09621252B2

The present invention describes a method to select an application on a first device having an NFC interface and comprising a plurality of applications using the NFC interface, said method comprising the steps of detecting a second device having a NFC interface via the NFC interface of the first device, obtaining via the NFC interface a message comprising a message type and a service identification, determining an application type based on the message type and the service identification, selecting at least one application among the plurality of applications matching the message type and the service identification, prompting a user of the first device to accept a communication between the second device and the selected application, in case of positive answer, notifying the selected application of the message type, establishing the communication between the selected application and the second device via the NFC interface.
US09621251B2

A method and apparatus for implementing spatial processing with unequal modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) or stream-dependent MCSs are disclosed. Input data may be parsed into a plurality of data streams, and spatial processing is performed on the data streams to generate a plurality of spatial streams. An MCS for each data stream is selected independently. The spatial streams are transmitted via multiple transmit antennas. At least one of the techniques of space time block coding (STBC), space frequency block coding (SFBC), quasi-orthogonal Alamouti coding, time reversed space time block coding, linear spatial processing and cyclic delay diversity (CDD) may be performed on the data/spatial streams. An antennal mapping matrix may then be applied to the spatial streams. The spatial streams are transmitted via multiple transmit antennas. The MCS for each data stream may be determined based on a signal-to-noise ratio of each spatial stream associated with the data stream.
US09621245B2

The disclosed embodiments provide a system that uses a first antenna and a second antenna in a portable electronic device. During operation, the system receives a request to switch from the first antenna to the second antenna to transmit a signal to a cellular receiver. Next, the system loads a set of radio-frequency (RF) calibration values for the second antenna. Finally, the system performs the switch from the first antenna to the second antenna to transmit the signal, wherein the second antenna is operated using the RF calibration values after the switch.
US09621238B2

A method and system for improving the accuracy of phase and frequency offset during multiple in multiple out (MIMO) channel estimation in a sounding procedure. The improved phase and frequency offset process selects resource allocation unit configuration to ensure a minimum pilot density from the available operation modes. A method for reducing the data in the feedback matrix of the sounding procedure correlates the long training frame (LTF) and number of groups (Ng) between the sounding frame and the feedback to improve efficiency in the amount of feedback that is returned.
US09621234B2

A mobile communication system includes a first base station, a second base station connected with the first base station via an X2 interface, and a user terminal configured to receive data from both the first and second base stations using radio resources provided by both the first and second base stations. The first base station comprises a controller including at least one processor, the controller executing functions of plural layers. The plural layers include a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and a physical (PHY) layer. The controller is configured to receive user data addressed to the user terminal from a core network, convert the user data to PDCP data unit provided with a sequence number, in the PDCP layer, and transmit the PDCP data unit to the second base station from the PDCP layer.
US09621228B2

Technology is described for proximity based communications. A proximity boundary can be defined with dimensions defined, in part, by a communication range of one of a first Short Range Communication (SRC) device and a 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. 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. An RF link can be established between the first SRC device and the second SRC device to enable selected data communications to continue between the first SRC device and the second SRC device even after one or more of the first SRC device or the second SRC device exits the proximity boundary.
US09621223B2

The present invention relates to inspection apparatus for use in wellbores in the oil and gas industries. In particular the invention relates in general to the field of transmission of data between downhole module in a wellbore and a controlling module at the surface. The invention provides a method and apparatus for determining analog filter parameters for an analog front end comprising a plurality of filter stages receiving signals from a telemetry module, by repeating the steps of; receiving a signal of a known frequency and processing said signal by determining the magnitude of the frequency of the received signal until a plurality of signals have been received and processed; calculating an optimum set of filter parameters in dependence upon the measured frequency magnitudes and a predefined set of filter stage frequency responses.
US09621222B2

An electronic device including an antenna device with an integrated sensor is provided. In an embodiment, first and second antenna radiators are operably connected. A communication module transmits or receive communication signals through the first and/or second antenna radiator. A separation circuit such as a series connected inductor is connected in a path between the first and second antenna radiators. The separation circuit prevents passage of the communication signals through the path while enabling passage of a sensing signal acquired through the first and second antenna radiators. A sensor module such as a proximity sensor receives the sensing signal acquired through the first and second antenna radiators. A processor controls a function of the electronic device based on the sensing signal.
US09621208B1

A communication system periodically changes the carrier wave frequency or phase such that a signal traveling a reflected path no longer destructively interferes with a signal traveling a direct line-of-sight path. The communication system negotiates a periodic frequency or phase shift with a receiver, and then shifts the frequency or phase according to the negotiated schedule to maintain continuous communication.
US09621205B2

A device and method for estimating a bias in a frequency estimate of a received signal. Circuitry generates a first signal including a number of sample-blocks, wherein the first signal is shifted in frequency from the received signal by a first frequency shift. Based on the first signal, a second signal and a third signal are generated, by shifting a frequency of each of the samples of the first generated signal by a second frequency shift and a third frequency shift, respectively. For each generated signal, a variance for each sample-block is computed. An average variance of the computed sample-block variances is further calculated and a bias of the received signal is determined as one of the first frequency shift, the second frequency shift, and the third frequency shift, corresponding to the generated signal having the smallest calculated average variance.
US09621203B2

An in-medium monitoring system for monitoring material carried within a pipe. The system includes an acoustic device installed within the pipe that generates voltage signals indicative of changes in the material, such as flow rate or leaks, a hardware unit that includes a detector module and a communication module, a switch for switching the voltage signals to and communication signals from the hardware unit. The hardware unit and a power source are attached to the pipe. The acoustic device may be detector or a sensor. The communication module may communicate date through the sensor in the medium or outside of the pipe to a fixed network. The hardware unit may include a log detection amplifier for generating an amplified pulsed output signal without voltage gain and without significantly adding noise.
US09621202B2

Antenna diversity integrated circuit having two or more RF input connections for connecting an antenna (1a, 1b, 1c). A low noise amplifier circuit is present having a first stage (7a, 7b, 7c) for each one of the two or more RF input connections and a single second stage (8). Output connections of each of the first stages (7a, 7b, 7c) are combined in a single summing node to which an inductor (L) and an input connection of the second stage (8) are connected. During operation one of the two or more first stages (7a, 7b, 7c) is activated to provide an input signal to the second stage (8).
US09621196B2

A high-frequency module according to an embodiment includes a first board, a first device, a second board, a metal core, and a casing. The first board is formed with an opening, and has a surface at a first side on which a transmission circuit transmitting microwaves is formed. The first device is disposed in the opening of the first board. The second substrate is disposed at a second side of the first board. The second substrate is formed with a control circuit for the first device, and has an opening at a location overlapping the first device. The metal core is disposed between the first board and the second board, and is in contact with the first device. The casing includes a connection connected with the metal core via an opening formed in the second board.
US09621195B2

A full duplex microwave front end (300, 400, 500, 600, 800) for the communication system of an unmanned aerial vehicle such as a drone, comprising: —a transmitter module (310, 410, 510, 610, 710, 810) capable of selecting an antenna (311, 312, 411, 412, 511, 512, 611, 612, 711, 712), the most appropriate one at a given time, in order to emit and/or receive a signal, —a filter module (320, 420, 520, 620, 720, 820), capable of insulating the emission function from the reception function in order to emit the signal or insulating the reception function from the emission function in order to receive the signal, and —an amplifier module (340, 440, 540, 640, 740, 840), capable of amplifying the weak signal received in order to demodulate it, or capable of amplifying the power of the modulated signal intended to be emitted, characterized in that it comprises, —a switch module (330, 430, 530, 630, 730, 830) capable of switching the frequency bands B1 and B2 used for emitting and receiving the said signal respectively.
US09621191B2

In group-wise interleaving, interleaving of an LDPC code having a code length N of 64800 bits and an encoding rate r of 5/15 is performed in a unit of a bit group of 360 bits. In group-wise deinterleaving, an arrangement of the LDPC code that has undergone group-wise interleaving is returned to an original arrangement. The technology can be applied to a case of transmitting data using the LDPC code. The data processing device and data processing method can ensure excellent communication quality in data transmission using an LDPC code.
US09621187B2

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe devices, apparatus, methods, computer-readable media and system configurations for processing elementary check nodes associated with an iterative decoder in a manner that conserves computing resources. In various embodiments, first and second sets of m tuples may be received, e.g., as input for the elementary check node. Each tuple may include a symbol and a probability that the symbol is correct, and the first and second sets of m tuples may be sorted by their respective probabilities. In various embodiments, less than all combinations of the first and second sets of m tuples may be computed for consideration as output of the elementary check node, and some computed combinations may be eliminated from consideration as output. In various embodiments, the elementary check node may output a set of m output tuples with the highest probabilities. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09621186B2

Aspects of dynamic data compression selection are presented. In an example method, as uncompressed data chunks of a data stream are compressed, at least one performance factor affecting selection of one of multiple compression algorithms for the uncompressed data chunks of the data stream may be determined. Each of the multiple compression algorithms may facilitate a different expected compression ratio. One of the multiple compression algorithms may be selected separately for each uncompressed data chunk of the data stream based on the at least one performance factor. Each uncompressed data chunk may be compressed using the selected one of the multiple compression algorithms for the uncompressed data chunk.
US09621174B2

A frequency calibration method for calibrating an output frequency of a voltage-controlled oscillator is provided. The voltage-controlled oscillator includes a first capacitor bank, a second capacitor bank, and a third capacitor bank. The first capacitor bank and the third capacitor bank are initially disabled and the second capacitor bank is initially enabled. The method includes, when the initial output frequency is lower than a reference frequency, adjusting the capacitance of the second capacitor bank until the calibrated output frequency is greater than the reference frequency, and when the initial output frequency is greater than the reference frequency, enabling the first capacitor bank and gradually increasing the capacitance of the first capacitor bank until the calibrated output frequency is lower than the reference frequency.
US09621170B2

A micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) oscillator supplies an oscillator output signal having a first frequency that differs from a predetermined frequency of the output signal. An error determination circuit determines frequency error from the predetermined frequency based on initial frequency offset and/or temperature and provides the error information indicating a difference between the first frequency and the predetermined frequency. The error information is used by a receiving system in frequency translation logic that utilizes the oscillator output signal as a frequency reference.
US09621162B2

A high side driver component for generating a drive signal at an output thereof for driving a high side switching device within a high voltage driver circuit. The high side driver component is arranged to operate in at least one reduced slew rate mode in which at least one drive stages is arranged to be in a non-drive state, and the high side driver component further comprises at least one discharge protection component arranged to, when the high side driver component is operating in the at least one reduced slew rate mode, receive an indication of the high voltage driver circuit being in an idle state, and cause the second switching device within the at least one drive stage in a non-drive state to be turned on, in response to the indication of the high voltage driver circuit being in an idle state.
US09621150B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes: a first switching element comprising a heterojunction comprising a first compound semiconductor layer and a second compound semiconductor layer; and a driver which applies a voltage to a gate of the first switching element to control turn-on and turn-off of the first switching element. The driver temporarily increases a gate voltage of the first switching element at a timing when the first switching element is turned on, during a period while the first switching element is on.
US09621149B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for operating a highly linearized resistance for a switch through use of a bootstrapped features. In one exemplary implementation, there is provided a method and system that implements a method for operating a circuit configured to provide a highly linearized resistance including receiving a signal via a bootstrapped switch, coupling the received signal to a gate if the received signal is high, receiving a signal via a switch control input coupled to a high impedance element. Moreover, the method includes coupling the high impedance element to the gate and turning off the switch via a gate turn off when the gate turn off pulls the gate low.
US09621145B2

A method and device for input offset cancellation utilizing a latched comparator that is configurable as a linear amplifier capable of sampling and cancelling offset in the inputs to the latched comparator. The latched comparator is configured according to three control signals for operation in three operating intervals. During a first operating interval, the latched comparator is configured as a linear amplifier that samples the offset at the inputs to the latched comparator. Based on the sampled offset, the linear amplifier cancels the offset in the inputs to the latched comparator. During a second operating interval, the latched comparator is configured to operate as comparator and the inputs to the latch are reset. During a third interval, the latch resolves the inputs to the comparator and generates an output signal indicating the relative values of the inputs.
US09621143B2

Techniques are disclosed relating to detecting and minimizing timing problems created by clock domain crossing (CDC) in integrated circuits. In various embodiments, one or more timing parameters are associated with a path that crosses between clock domains in an integrated circuit, where the one or more timing parameters specify a propagation delay for the path. In one embodiment, the timing parameters may be distributed to different design stages using a configuration file. In some embodiments, the one or more parameters may be used in conjunction with an RTL model to simulate propagation of a data signal along the path. In some embodiments, the one or more parameters may be used in conjunction with a netlist to create a physical design for the integrated circuit, where the physical design includes a representation of the path that has the specified propagation delay.
US09621139B2

Provided with one or more first transistors of a first conductivity type each including a gate, a source, and a drain, the gate being connected to an input terminal, the source being configured to be connected to a first voltage source, the drain being connected to an output node, one or more second transistors of a second conductivity type each including a gate, a source, and a drain, the gate being connected to the input terminal, the source being configured to be connected to a second voltage source, the drain being connected to the output node, a first resistor that is inserted and connected between the input terminal and the output node, a first output terminal that is connected to the input terminal, and a second output terminal that is directly or indirectly connected to the output node.
US09621138B1

An apparatus includes a swing control circuit, a slew control circuit, and a driver circuit. The swing control circuit is configured and arranged to be powered by an input supply voltage, to receive an input data signal and, in response, to generate a first internal signal having a swing level corresponding to the input supply voltage. The slew control circuit, including a switched capacitor circuit, is configured and arranged to receive the first internal signal and, in response, to generate a second internal signal using the switched capacitor circuit that is configured to set a slew rate for the second internal signal. Further, the driver circuit is configured and arranged to receive the second internal signal and, in response, to generate an output signal that is based upon the swing level and the slew rate of the second internal signal.
US09621137B2

An amplitude normalization circuit includes: a peak detector that detects a peak value of a full-wave rectified voltage of an AC voltage; a triangular wave oscillator connected to the peak detector generates a triangular wave voltage having the peak value; a comparator connected to the triangular oscillator compares the triangular wave voltage with the full-wave rectified voltage and outputs a pulse width modulation signal; and a waveform converter connected to the comparator converts a waveform of the pulse width modulation signal and outputs an output voltage with constant amplitude.
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