US09685618B2
There is provided a compound having Formula I In the formula: R1-4 are the same or different and are H, D, alkyl, silyl, aryl, deuterated alkyl, deuterated silyl, deuterated aryl, or an electron-withdrawing group; R5 is H, D, alkyl, aryl, deuterated alkyl, or deuterated aryl; and R6-R9 are the same or different and are H, D, alkyl, silyl, aryl, deuterated alkyl, deuterated silyl, or deuterated aryl. At least one of R1-4 is an electron-withdrawing group.
US09685614B2
A compound represented by the following formula (1):
US09685608B2
Providing for two-terminal memory that mitigates diffusion of external material therein is described herein. In some embodiments, a two-terminal memory cell can comprise an electrode layer. The electrode layer can be at least in part permeable to ionically or chemically reactive material, such as oxygen or the like. The two-terminal memory can further comprise a diffusion mitigation material disposed between the electrode layer and external material. This diffusion mitigation material can be selected to mitigate or prevent diffusion of the undesired element(s) or compound(s), to mitigate or avoid exposure of such element(s) or compound(s) to the electrode layer. Accordingly, degradation of the two-terminal memory as a result of contact with the undesired element(s) or compound(s) can be mitigated by various disclosed embodiments.
US09685577B2
The present application relates generally to light emitting diodes and photodetectors as well as their methods of manufacture and use. In one exemplary embodiment, an integrated device may include a substrate, a light emitting diode formed on the substrate, and a photodetector formed on the substrate. In another embodiment, a device may include a light emitting diode formed on a substrate, and the light emitting diode may act as both a solid state light and as an optical transmitter.
US09685576B2
A photon detector includes a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) disposed proximate to a front side of a semiconductor layer. The SPAD includes a multiplication junction that is reversed biased above a breakdown voltage such that light directed into the SPAD through a backside of the semiconductor layer triggers an avalanche multiplication process. A guard ring is disposed in a guard ring region that surrounds the SPAD to isolate the SPAD in the semiconductor layer. A guard ring region reflecting structure is disposed in the guard ring region proximate to the guard ring and proximate to the front side of the semiconductor layer such that light directed into the guard ring region through the backside of the semiconductor layer that bypasses the SPAD is redirected by the guard ring region reflecting structure back into the semiconductor layer and into the SPAD.
US09685565B2
The performance of a semiconductor device having a memory element is improved. An insulating film, which is a gate insulating film for a memory element, is formed on a semiconductor substrate, and a gate electrode for the memory element is formed on the insulating film. The insulating film has a first insulating film, a second insulating film thereon, and a third insulating film thereon. The second insulating film is a high-dielectric constant insulator film having a charge accumulating function and contains hafnium, silicon, and oxygen. Each of the first insulating film and the third insulating film has a band gap larger than the band gap of the second insulating film.
US09685558B2
Disclosed is a flexible electronic device having an adhesive function, including an adhesive tape that includes a flexible film and an adhesive layer formed on one side of the flexible film, and an electronic device formed on a remaining side of the flexible film of the adhesive tape. Accordingly, the flexible electronic device of the present invention is transferred on a surface of various flexible materials or materials having a curved surface so as to freely adhere and minimize breakage of the electronic device and maintain performance over a long period of time, even if the substrate is modified or repeatedly bent.
US09685553B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method of forming fin-type transistors. The method includes forming a finFET structure having a fin channel region underneath a gate structure, and a source region and a drain region directly adjacent to the fin channel region at two opposing sides of the gate structure; and subjecting the source region and the drain region to a compressive strain; thereby causing the source region and the drain region to exert a tensile strain to the fin channel region. A finFET transistor formed thereby is also provided, which includes a channel region of fin shape covered by a gate on top thereof; a source next to a first end of the channel region on a first side of the gate; and a drain next to a second end of the channel region on a second side of the gate, wherein the source and drain are made of epitaxially grown silicon-germanium (SiGe) having a Ge concentration level of at least 50% atomic percentage covered with silicon cap.
US09685551B2
A semiconductor device according to embodiments includes a p-type SiC layer having a first plane, a gate electrode, and a gate insulating layer provided between the first plane of the SiC layer and the gate electrode. The gate insulating layer includes a first layer, a second layer, and a first region. The second layer has a higher oxygen density than the first layer. The first region is provided between the first layer and the second layer and includes a first element, the first element being at least one element in the group of N (nitrogen), P (phosphorus), As (arsenic), Sb (antimony), and Bi (bismuth).
US09685548B2
A HEMT made of nitride semiconductor materials is disclosed. The HEMT includes the GaN channel layer, the InAlN barrier layer, and the n-type GaN regions formed beneath the source electrode and the drain electrode at a temperature such that the InAlN barrier layer in the crystal quality thereof is not degraded, lower than 800° C. The n-type GaN regions are doped with silicon (Si) and have a ratio of silicon atoms against carbon atoms (Si/C) greater than 100.
US09685543B2
The inventive concept relates to a thin film activation method, a thin film transistor fabrication method, and a substrate processing device, and more particularly, to a method of activating a thin film by using electrical energy, a method of fabricating a thin film transistor, and a device of processing a substrate. The thin film activation method according to an embodiment of the inventive concept may include supplying electrical energy to a thin film.
US09685536B2
Raised structures comprising overlying silicon layers formed by controlled selective epitaxial growth, and methods for forming such raised-structure on a semiconductor substrate are provided. The structures are formed by selectively growing an initial epitaxial layer of mono crystalline silicon on the surface of a semi conductive substrate, and forming a thin film of insulative material over the epitaxial layer. A second epitaxial layer is selectively, grown on the exposed surface of the initial epitaxially grown crystal layer, and a thin insulative film is deposited over the second epitaxial layer. Additional epitaxial layers are added as desired to provide a vertical structure of a desired height comprising multiple layers of single silicon crystals, each epitaxial layer have insulated sidewalls, with the uppermost epitaxial layer also with an insulated top surface.
US09685534B2
Provided is a method of forming a semiconductor device. The method includes providing a substrate; depositing a flowable dielectric material layer over the substrate; performing a wet annealing process and a dry annealing process to the flowable dielectric material layer. The wet annealing process includes a first portion followed by a second portion. The second portion is performed at a temperature above 850 degrees Celsius, and the first portion is performed at a temperature lower than that of the second portion and is performed for longer duration than the second portion. The dry annealing process is performed at a temperature at least 500 degrees Celsius.
US09685529B1
Methods for creating barrier layers in a III-V electron channel to reduce band-to-band leakage current and the resulting devices are disclosed. Embodiments include forming a fin channel portion comprising a III-V material, on a barrier layer; forming undoped InP semiconductor spacers at opposite ends of the fin channel portion on the barrier layer; forming S/D regions adjacent the undoped InP semiconductor spacers on the barrier layer; and forming a high-k/metal gate over the fin channel portion and undoped InP semiconductor spacers.
US09685521B2
The present disclosure provides a method of forming a gate structure of a semiconductor device with reduced gate-contact parasitic capacitance. In a replacement gate scheme, a high-k gate dielectric layer is deposited on a bottom surface and sidewalls of a gate cavity. A metal cap layer and a sacrificial cap layer are deposited sequentially over the high-k gate dielectric layer to form a material stack. After ion implantation in vertical portions of the sacrificial cap layer, at least part of the vertical portions of the material stack is removed. The subsequent removal of a remaining portion of the sacrificial cap layer provides a gate component structure. The vertical portions of the gate component structure do not extend to a top of the gate cavity, thereby significantly reducing gate-contact parasitic capacitance.
US09685513B2
Semiconductor devices that include a semiconductor structure integrated with one or more diamond material layers. A first diamond material layer is formed on a bottom surface and optionally, the side surfaces of the semiconductor structure. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the semiconductor structure is embedded in the diamond. An electrical device can be formed on a top surface of the semiconductor structure. A second diamond material layer can be formed on the top surface of the semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure can include a III-nitride material such as GaN, which can be embedded within a the first diamond material layer or encased by the first and/or second diamond material layer.
US09685510B2
A method includes providing a Si substrate having an overlying layer of Si1-xGex; growing, over the layer of Si1-xGex, a layer of Si in an NFET region and a second layer of Si1-xGex in a PFET region; partitioning the layer of Si1-xGex into a structure including a first Si1-xGex sub-layer disposed in the NFET region and a second Si1-xGex sub-layer disposed in the PFET region; annealing the structure to convert the first Si1-xGex sub-layer and the overlying Si layer into a tensily strained Si1-xGex intermixed layer and to convert the second Si1-xGex sub-layer and the overlying second layer of Si1-xGex into a compressively strained Si1-xGex intermixed layer, where a value of x in the tensily strained Si1-xGex intermixed layer is less than a value of x in the compressively strained Si1-xGex intermixed layer and forming a first transistor in the NFET region and a second transistor in the PFET region.
US09685506B2
There are disclosed herein implementations of an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) having an inter-trench superjunction structure. Such an IGBT includes a drift region having a first conductivity type situated over a collector having a second conductivity type. The IGBT also includes first and second gate trenches extending through a base having the second conductivity type into the drift region, the first and second gate trenches each being bordered by an emitter diffusion having the first conductivity type. In addition, the IGBT includes an inter-trench superjunction structure situated in the drift region between the first and second gate trenches. The inter-trench superjunction structure includes one or more first conductivity regions having the first conductivity type and two or more second conductivity region having the second conductivity type, the one or more first conductivity regions and the two or more second conductivity regions configured to substantially charge-balance the inter-trench superjunction structure.
US09685501B2
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention include a method of fabricating a finFET device comprising forming a dielectric layer over the top surface of a semiconductor substrate. A first semiconductor layer is deposited over the dielectric layer. A second semiconductor layer is then deposited over the first semiconductor layer, such that the first semiconductor layer can be preferentially etched with respect to the second semiconductor layer. At least a fin is formed in the second semiconductor layer. A portion of the first semiconductor layer is removed from beneath a portion of the fin such that the bottom surface of the fin is exposed. A gate oxide layer is deposited over the fin such that the gate oxide layer surrounds a portion of the fin, and a gate structure is deposited over at least a portion of the gate oxide layer such that the gate structure surrounds the fin.
US09685496B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip including a main surface, an internal circuit including a plurality of transistors, formed on the main surface, a bonding pad electrically connected to the internal circuit, formed on the main surface, an inductor for communicating an external device in a non-contact manner, formed on the main surface, and a seal ring formed along an outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor chip to surround the internal circuit and the bonding pad in a plan view. The inductor has a configuration to surround the internal circuit and the bonding pad in the plan view and along the seal ring. The inductor is arranged inside the seal ring.
US09685469B2
A display may have an array of pixels controlled by display driver circuitry. The pixels may have pixel circuits. In liquid crystal display configurations, each pixel circuit may have an electrode that applies electric fields to an associated portion of a liquid crystal layer. In organic light-emitting diode displays, each pixel circuit may have a drive transistor that applies current to an organic light-emitting diode in the pixel circuit. The pixel circuits and display driver circuitry may have thin-film transistor circuitry that includes transistor such as silicon transistors and semiconducting-oxide transistors. Semiconducting-oxide transistors and silicon transistors may be formed on a common substrate. Semiconducting-oxide transistors may have polysilicon layers with doped regions that serve as gates. Semiconducting-oxide channel regions overlap the gates. Transparent conductive oxide and metal may be used to form source-drain terminals that are coupled to opposing edges of the semiconducting oxide channel regions.
US09685461B2
A manufacturing method of an array substrate, an array substrate and a display device are provided. The array substrate includes a first thin film transistor and a pixel electrode (327), wherein, an active layer (324) and source and drain electrodes in the first thin film transistor as well as the pixel electrode (327) are formed by one patterning process. According to the invention, an array substrate with good performance can be manufactured only by three photolithography processes. Thus, the production cycle of a thin film transistor is shorted greatly, characteristics of the thin film transistor is improved, and meanwhile, yield of products is enhanced greatly.
US09685455B1
The technique described herein can form a semiconductor device having a favorable characteristic over a flash memory with a 3D structure. Provided is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, including: (a) forming a stacked structure having an insulating film and a sacrificial film stacked therein by performing a combination a plurality of times, the combination including: (a-1) forming the insulating film on a substrate; (a-2) forming the sacrificial film on the insulating film; and (a-3) modifying at least one of the insulating film and the sacrificial film to reduce a difference between stresses of the insulating film and the sacrificial film.
US09685454B2
Disclosed herein is 3D memory with vertical NAND strings having a III-V compound channel, as well as methods of fabrication. The III-V compound has at least one group III element and at least one group V element. The III-V compound provides for high electron mobility transistor cells. Note that III-V materials may have a much higher electron mobility compared to silicon. Thus, much higher cell current and overall cell performance can be achieved. Also, the memory device may have better read-write efficiency due to much higher carrier mobility and velocity. The tunnel dielectric of the memory cells may have an Al2O3 film in direct contact with the III-V NAND channel. The drain end of the NAND channel may be a metal-III-V alloy in direct contact with a metal region. The body of the source side select transistor could be formed from the III-V compound or from crystalline silicon.
US09685450B2
Provided are semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same. The methods may include forming a molding layer on a semiconductor substrate. A storage electrode passing through the molding layer is formed. A part of the storage electrode is exposed by partially etching the molding layer. A sacrificial oxide layer is formed by oxidizing the exposed part of the storage electrode. The partially-etched molding layer and the sacrificial oxide layer are removed. A capacitor dielectric layer is formed on the substrate of which the molding layer and the sacrificial oxide layer are removed. A plate electrode is formed on the capacitor dielectric layers.
US09685433B2
In some embodiments, a capacitor device includes a metal-oxide-metal (MOM) capacitor array and a varactor array configured overlapping with the MOM capacitor array. The MOM capacitor array includes a first MOM capacitor unit. The first MOM capacitor unit includes a first electrode pattern and a second electrode pattern in a first metallization layer. The first electrode pattern includes a plurality of first fingers and a first bus interconnecting the plurality of first fingers. The second electrode pattern includes a plurality of second fingers and a second bus interconnecting the plurality of second fingers. The varactor array includes a first varactor unit. The first varactor unit includes a first electrode contacting region and a second electrode contacting region. The first electrode pattern contacts the first electrode contacting region. The second electrode pattern contacts the second electrode contacting region.
US09685423B2
The invention relates to a chip arrangement (18) comprising a terminal substrate (12) and a plurality of semiconductor substrates (1) which are arranged on the terminal substrate, in particular chips, wherein terminal faces (5) arranged on a contact surface of the chips (1) are connected to terminal faces on a contact surface (14) of the terminal substrate (12), wherein the chips (1) extend parallel with a lateral edge and transversally with their contact surface to the contact surface of the terminal substrate (12), wherein vias (13) are arranged in the terminal substrate, which connect external contacts (15) arranged on an external contact side to terminal faces formed as internal contacts (14) on the contact surface of the terminal substrate, wherein terminal faces of the chips, which are arranged adjacent to the lateral edge, are connected to the internal contacts of the terminal substrate by way of a re-melted solder material deposit (16). Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for producing a chip arrangement (18).
US09685420B2
An apparatus relates generally to a microelectronic device. In such an apparatus, a first substrate has a first surface with first interconnects located on the first surface, and a second substrate has a second surface spaced apart from the first surface with a gap between the first surface and the second surface. Second interconnects are located on the second surface. Lower surfaces of the first interconnects and upper surfaces of the second interconnects are coupled to one another for electrical conductivity between the first substrate and the second substrate. A conductive collar is around sidewalls of the first and second interconnects, and a dielectric layer is around the conductive collar.
US09685418B2
A high-frequency package has: a resin substrate; a high-frequency device mounted on a side of a first surface of the resin substrate; a ground surface conductor of a ground potential formed on a second surface of the resin substrate on an opposite side to the first surface; a transmission line for a high-frequency signal formed in an inner layer of the resin substrate; and a ground via of a ground potential formed within the resin substrate. A through hole is formed in the ground surface conductor. The ground via is placed between the transmission line and the through hole.
US09685413B1
Semiconductor packages and methods of forming semiconductor packages are described. In an example, a semiconductor package includes a shielding layer containing metal particles, e.g., conductive particles or magnetic particles, in a resin matrix to attenuate electromagnetic interference. In an example, the shielding layer is transferred from a molding chase to the semiconductor package during a polymer molding operation.
US09685412B2
According to the embodiments, a semiconductor device includes a substrate, a plurality of insulating layers, a lower shield plate, a semiconductor device, an upper shield plate, and a side shield member. A first contact portion is formed on the substrate. The lower shield plate includes a magnetic substance and is provided above the substrate so as to avoid the first contact portion. The semiconductor chip is provided above the lower shield plate and has a second contact portion electrically connected to the first contact portion. The upper shield plate includes a magnetic substance and is provided above the semiconductor chip so as to avoid the second contact portion and a connection member. The side shield member includes a magnetic substance and connects side portions of the lower shield plate and the upper shield plate on which the connection member is not disposed.
US09685409B1
A vertical transistor includes a source layer arranged on a substrate; a channel extending vertically from the source layer; a drain arranged on a distal end of the channel that opposes the source layer, the drain including an epitaxial growth; and a drain contact wrapped around exposed areas of the drain and filling a cavity having a liner layer disposed sidewalls of the drain contact.
US09685400B2
A semiconductor package includes a first package substrate, a first semiconductor chip disposed on the first package substrate, the semiconductor chip including first through hole vias, and a chip package disposed on the first semiconductor chip, the chip package including a second package substrate and a second semiconductor chip disposed on the second package substrate, wherein a first conductive terminal is disposed on a first surface of the semiconductor chip and a second conductive terminal is disposed on a first surface of the second package substrate, the first conductive terminal disposed on the second conductive terminal.
US09685392B2
A radiofrequency high-output device includes: a base plate having a mount portion and a flange portion; a frame joined to an upper surface of the mount portion; and a semiconductor chip mounted on the upper surface of the mount portion in the frame, wherein a cut or an aperture in which a screw is inserted to fix the base plate is provided in the flange portion, and a groove is provided between the mount portion and the flange portion of the base plate.
US09685389B1
An embodiment of a memory device is disclosed. The memory device includes a multi-stack dielectric layer over a substrate; a first conductive layer over the multi-stack dielectric layer; a second conductive layer over the first conductive layer; a getter layer over the second conductive layer, wherein the getter layer includes a first layer that is formed of titanium and a second layer overlying the first layer that is formed of tantalum nitride; and an interconnect layer over the getter layer such that the interconnect layer is electrically coupled to the first conductive layer.
US09685381B2
Different n- and p-types of device fins are formed by epitaxially growing first epitaxial regions of a first type material from a substrate surface at a bottom of first trenches formed between shallow trench isolation (STI) regions. The STI regions and first trench heights are at least 1.5 times their width. The STI regions are etched away to expose the top surface of the substrate to form second trenches between the first epitaxial regions. A layer of a spacer material is formed in the second trenches on sidewalls of the first epitaxial regions. Second epitaxial regions of a second type material are grown from the substrate surface at a bottom of the second trenches between the first epitaxial regions. Pairs of n- and p-type fins can be formed from the first and second epitaxial regions. The fins are co-integrated and have reduced defects from material interface lattice mismatch.
US09685370B2
Approaches for providing a liner at a via-to-wire interface are provided. A method includes: forming a via opening that exposes an upper surface of a copper wire; forming a titanium liner on the upper surface of the wire; forming a tungsten liner on the titanium liner; and forming a via on the second liner in the via opening.
US09685359B2
A load port device comprises a link mechanism that has a main moving link whose one end is connected with a door holding member in a rotatable manner, a guide that bends and extends from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction and that guides one end of the main moving link, a main moving block with which the other end of the main moving link is connected in a rotatable manner and a door hoisting shaft that extends in the vertical direction and that moves the main moving block in the extending direction. The link mechanism allows the end of the main moving link to move from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction or from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction along the guide in a state that the other end of the main moving link moves to the vertical direction.
US09685355B2
A laser dicing device includes a laser light source, an AF light source, a light path of the processing laser light and a light path of the AF laser light being partially shared with each other, a condenser lens arranged on the shared light path between the first laser light and the second laser light, an AF signal processing unit that generates a focus error signal based on reflected light of the AF laser light reflected by the surface of the wafer, a controller that moves the condenser lens such that a distance between the condenser lens and the surface of the wafer is made constant based on the focus error signal, and a focus lens group that adjusts the position of the condensing point of the AF laser light in a state where the position of the condensing point of the processing laser light is fixed.
US09685343B2
[Problem] To provide a method for producing a polished object, which can remarkably reduce a haze level on a surface of the object to be polished while defects are significantly reduced.[Solution] A method for producing a polished object, which includes a double-side polishing step in which an object to be polished is subjected to double-side polishing using a double-side polishing composition including first abrasive grains having an average primary particle diameter of 40 nm or more and a nitrogen-containing water-soluble polymer to obtain a double-side polished object; and a single-side polishing step in which the double-side polished object is subjected to single-side polishing using a single-side polishing composition including second abrasive grains having an average primary particle diameter of 40 nm or less and a water-soluble polymer, and in which a ratio of an average primary particle diameter (A) of the first abrasive grains with respect to an average primary particle diameter (B) of the second abrasive grains (A)/(B) is more than 1 and 2.5 or less.
US09685341B2
The polishing composition has a pH of 7 or more and is used in applications for polishing a silicon substrate. The polishing composition contains abrasive grains and a water-soluble polymer. The water-soluble polymer is a copolymer including a first monomer unit having a characteristic value P of 50-100 inclusive, and a second monomer unit having a characteristic value P of at least −100 and less than 50. The characteristic value P is the result of subtracting an adsorption coefficient S2 of the abrasive grains obtained through a specific standard test B from a wettability coefficient S1 of the silicon substrate obtained through a specific standard test A.
US09685337B2
A method for fabricating semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes the steps of : providing a substrate; forming a first gate structure on the substrate; forming a first contact plug adjacent to the first gate structure; and performing a replacement metal gate (RMG) process to transform the first gate structure into metal gate.
US09685335B2
Provided are a power device having an improved field stop layer and a method of manufacturing the same. The power device includes: a first field stop layer formed of a semiconductor substrate and of a first conductive type; a second field stop layer formed on the first field stop layer and of the first conductive type, the second field stop layer having a region with an impurity concentration higher than the first field stop layer; a drift region formed on the second field stop layer and of the first conductive type, the drift region having an impurity concentration lower than the first field stop layer; a plurality of power device cells formed on the drift region; and a collector region formed below the first field stop layer, wherein the second field stop layer includes a first region having a first impurity concentration and a second region having a second impurity concentration higher than the first impurity concentration.
US09685334B1
Methods of forming a semiconductor fin and methods for controlling dopant diffusion to a semiconductor fin are disclosed herein. The methods provide alternative ways to incorporate a carbon dopant into the fin to later control out-diffusion of dopants from a dopant-including epitaxial layer. One method includes depositing a carbon-containing layer over a portion of the fin adjacent to the gate and annealing to diffuse carbon from the carbon-containing layer into at least the portion of the semiconductor fin. This method can be applied to SOI or bulk semiconductor substrates. Another method includes epitaxially growing a carbon dopant containing semiconductor layer for later use in forming the fin.
US09685329B2
A method and structure for integrating gallium nitride into a semiconductor substrate. The method may also include means for isolating the gallium nitride from the semiconductor substrate.
US09685326B2
A method of manufacturing a polysilicon (poly-Si) layer, a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display apparatus using the method, and an organic light-emitting display apparatus manufactured by using the method. The method includes forming an amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer on a substrate having first and second areas, thermally treating the a-Si layer to partially crystallize the a-Si layer into a partially crystallized Si layer, removing a thermal oxide layer through a thermal treatment, selectively irradiating the first areas with laser beams to crystallize the partially crystallized Si layer.
US09685321B2
A semiconductor memory device in an embodiment includes a semiconductor layer, a control gate electrode, an organic molecular layer provided between the semiconductor layer and the control gate electrode, and a first insulating layer provided between the organic molecular layer and the semiconductor layer, the first insulating layer having a first layer containing alkyl chains and a second layer containing siloxane, the second layer being provided between the first layer and the organic molecular layer.
US09685307B2
Provided is a tabular sputtering target on which an erosion portion and a non-erosion portion are formed, and the surface area thereof exceeds 100% but is less than 125% of the surface area when the target is assumed to be planar. Also provided is a tabular sputtering target on which an erosion portion and a non-erosion portion are formed comprising one or more concave portions on the target surface region, and the surface area thereof exceeds 100% but is less than 125% of the surface area when the target is assumed to be planar. An inexpensive, small-capacity power supply unit can be used by minimizing the electrical variations in the sputtering circuit as much as possible throughout the lifespan of the target through self sputtering or high power sputtering.
US09685301B2
The present invention provides a charged-particle radiation apparatus with a defect observation device for observing defects on a sample, the apparatus including a control unit and a display unit. The control unit is configured to execute a drift correction process on one or more images acquired with the defect observation device under a plurality of correction conditions, and display the plurality of correction conditions and a plurality of corrected images obtained through execution of the drift correction process in association with each other, as a first screen on the display unit.
US09685300B2
A method is provided for processing and/or observing an object using at least one particle beam that is scanned over the object. A scan region on the object is determined, the scan region having scan lines, and the particle beam is moved in a first scanning direction along one of the scan lines. The first scanning direction is changed to a second scanning direction at a change-of-direction time. Changing from the first scanning direction to the second scanning direction comprises setting of a point of rotation in that scan line of the scan region in which the particle beam is situated at the change-of-direction time, with an axis of rotation extending through the point of rotation. The first scanning direction is changed into the second scanning direction by rotating the scan region about the axis of rotation, with the point of rotation being selected dependent on the direction of rotation.
US09685294B2
A fusible link (11) includes a fuse element (13) provided with a fusible conductor part (25) which has a melting part (31) provided between parallel inner side edges (21) of a first terminal part (17) and a second planar terminal part (19). The fusible link (11) also includes an insulative housing (15), having a melting part accommodating space (35) to accommodate the melting part (31) therein, which is mounted to a front surface side of the fuse element (13) to cover the inner side edges (21) of the first planar terminal part (17) and the second planar terminal part (19) and the fusible conductor part (25).
US09685291B2
Frequency addressable micro-actuators having one or more movable resonating elements actuators, such as cantilevers, can be forced into oscillation by, e.g., electromagnetic actuation. The movable structure is designed to latch at a certain amplitude using one of several latching techniques, such as a near-field magnetic field. In operation, the movable element is driven into resonance, producing a large amplitude, which results in the structure latching. Through resonance, a small force applied in a repeating manner can result in the latching of the actuator, an operation which would normally require a large force. If two or more units, each with different harmonic frequencies, are placed under the same influence, only the one with a harmonic response to the driving force will latch. A single influencing signal may be used to latch more than one device on demand by tuning the frequency to match the natural frequency of the device of interest.
US09685290B1
Small, low-profile magnetic switch assemblies (26, 76, 126, 168) include a base (38, 78, 156) equipped with first and second laterally spaced apart switch electrodes, indentations (62, 102, 158) between the electrodes, and electrically conductive movable components (72, 110, 166), which are magnetically shiftable between a first switch position in simultaneous contact with the base electrodes, and a second switch position out of such simultaneous contact. The switch position of the component (72, 110, 166) is determined by the magnetic field conditions experienced by the component (72, 110, 166). The indentations (62, 102, 158) and associated shiftable components (72, 110, 166) permit the assemblies (26, 76, 126, 168) to be constructed as comparatively tiny units, which may be mounted on circuit boards.
US09685289B1
Switch apparatus (10) includes a switching assembly (16) and an operating component assembly (18) respectively designed for mounting upon relative shiftable members, such as a door (12) and frame (14). The assembly (16) includes a magnetic switch unit (30) having an elongated housing (40), first and second spaced apart switch elements (36, 38), and a shiftable, electrically conductive body (50) within the housing and movable between a first switch state where the body is in simultaneous contact with the switch elements (36, 38), and a second switch state where the body is not in such simultaneous contact. In order to prevent unauthorized opening of the relatively shiftable members through use of an external defeat magnet (62), the switch unit (30) is mounted substantially horizontally rather than in an upright or oblique orientation.
US09685286B2
There is provided a keyboard device including a plurality of key tops that include magnets and are depressible, an opposing member which is provided to face the plurality of key tops and in which signal lines are wired, and a plurality of openings that is formed corresponding to positions of the magnets when the key tops are pressed in the opposing member. The signal lines are wired while avoiding the openings.
US09685276B2
A capacitor module includes a capacitor element, a first voltage terminal connected to a first pole of the capacitor element, and a second voltage terminal connected to a second pole of the capacitor element. The capacitor module further includes a cooling duct system for cooling the capacitor element, and a housing encapsulating the capacitor element and the cooling duct system. The housing comprises wiring lead-throughs for the first and second voltage terminals and piping lead-throughs for the cooling duct system. As the capacitive module is encapsulated and includes the cooling ducts and the wiring and piping lead-throughs, modular capacitive energy-storages of different sizes can be built by interconnecting capacitor modules of the kind described above, and there is no need to build separately an encapsulation provided with cooling ducts.
US09685267B2
A coil component is of the type where a helical coil is directly contacting a magnetic body where such coil component still meets the demand for electrical current amplification. The coil component is structured in such a way that a helical coil is covered with a magnetic body. The magnetic body is mainly constituted by magnetic alloy grains and contains substantially no glass component, and each of the magnetic alloy grains has an oxide film of the grain on its surface.
US09685264B2
A stator core is formed from a continuous strip of wound sheet stock material, in which the sheet stock material is converted from the sheet stock to a formed material including winding slot cutouts. This strip of formed material is then wound into the stator core, with the winding slot cutouts in the formed material maintained at a substantially constant width throughout most of the radial extent of the resulting winding slots in the finished article. However, one or more of the radially innermost and radially outermost layers may define winding slot cutouts that are wider than the other winding slot cutouts. Where several radial layers are altered in this way, the cutout widths are progressively expanded such that the resulting winding slot has terminal ends with edges that are effectively “radiused” or rounded, thereby protecting windings near the edge of such slots.
US09685260B2
A method of cooling at least one superconductive cable is disclosed which is arranged in a cryostat having at least one thermally insulated pipe with a free space surrounded by the pipe, wherein the cable and at least one tubular structure are arranged in the free space, and wherein a cooling agent is conducted through the free space from a feeding point located at one end to a distal end. The cooling agent is conducted through the cryostat and the tubular structure exclusively in one direction of the cable until it reaches its temperature of operation and is discharged to the outside at the distal end. After reaching the temperature of operation, the cooling agent is returned from the distal end of the arrangement through the tubular structure to the feeding point.
US09685252B2
The present disclosure relates to an aluminum electrode, a method of forming an aluminum electrode and an electronic device therewith. An aluminum electrode according to one aspect of the present disclosure comprises: a bottom layer consisting of molybdenum; a top layer consisting of molybdenum; and an aluminum layer located between the bottom layer and the top layer, wherein the bottom layer, the top layer and the aluminum layer are formed at a temperature below 120° C. An aluminum electrode according to one embodiment of the present disclosure eliminates the mouse bite phenomenon. An aluminum electrode according to another aspect of the present disclosure comprises: a bottom layer consisting of a metal or metal-alloy nitride; a top layer consisting of molybdenum; and an aluminum layer located between the bottom layer and the top layer, wherein the bottom layer, the top layer and the aluminum layer are formed at a temperature below 120° C. An aluminum electrode according to another embodiment of the present disclosure eliminates both of the mouse bite phenomenon and the undercut phenomenon, and can further arrive at a desired profile angle by controlling the content of nitrogen.
US09685243B2
Apparatuses and methods involving the determination of soft data from hard reads are provided. One example method can include determining, using a hard read, a state of a memory cell. Soft data is determined based, at least partially, on the determined state.
US09685238B2
A clock signal generation device includes a variable voltage providing circuit, a fixed voltage providing circuit and a clock signal generating circuit. The variable voltage providing circuit provides a variable reference voltage based on a selection signal, a reference voltage and a temperature coefficient. The variable reference voltage is varied according to temperature. The fixed voltage providing circuit provides a fixed reference voltage that is determined according to the selection signal. The fixed reference voltage is a constant voltage. The clock signal generating circuit provides a clock signal based on the fixed reference voltage and the variable reference voltage. The performance of the clock signal generation device may be increased by providing the clock signal based on the variable reference voltage that is varied according to the temperature and based on the fixed reference voltage.
US09685236B2
A memory chip includes a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells connected to word lines and bit lines, and a sense amplifier configured to detect data stored in a memory cell that is connected to a selected one of the word lines and a selected one of the bit lines, and a control circuit configured to read data from the memory cell in a first read mode when a first command is received and in a second read mode when a second command is received. A peak or an average value of an operation current that is flowing between power supply and ground terminals of the memory chip during a read operation in the first read mode is less than a peak or an average value of the operation current during a read operation in the second read mode.
US09685234B2
The disclosed technology relates to a memory device configured to perform multiple access operations in response to a single command received through a memory controller and a method of performing the multiple access operations. In one aspect, the memory device includes a memory array comprising a plurality of memory cells and a memory controller. The memory controller is configured to receive a single command which specifies a plurality of memory access operations to be performed on the memory array. The memory controller is further configured to cause the specified plurality of memory access operations to be performed on the memory array.
US09685224B2
A memory comprises a first set of memory cells coupled between a first data line and a second data line. The memory also includes a first input/output (I/O) circuit coupled to the first data line and the second data line. The first I/O circuit is also coupled to a first control line to receive a first control signal and coupled to a first select line to receive a first select signal. The first I/O circuit is configured to selectively decouple the first data line and the second data line from the first I/O circuit during a sleep mode based on the first control signal and the first select signal.
US09685220B2
There are provided a DDR controller, a method for implementing the same and a chip, which are applicable to the field of DDR controller technology. The method includes the steps of: parsing a plurality of buffered commands concurrently (S501); prejudging relationships between a bank and a row of an address to be accessed by each parsed command and a bank and a row of an address for a currently executed command; and transmitting a PRECHARGE command and an ACTIVE command in advance. With the above technical solution, the PRECHARGE command and ACTIVE command which should have been transmitted serially can be transmitted in advance by being hidden in parallel in a Read or WRITE period to thereby make full use of a bandwidth of a DDR device.
US09685216B2
A non-destructive readout ferroelectric memory as well as a method of preparing the ferroelectric memory and a method of operating the ferroelectric memory are disclosed. The ferroelectric memory comprises a ferroelectric thin film layer. The ferroelectric memory of the invention can realize a non-destructive readout by way of current, is suitable for a high density application, is simple in preparation and has a low cost.
US09685206B2
A memory device includes a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells, and a page buffer unit including a plurality of page buffers configured to store a plurality of pieces of data sequentially read from some of the plurality of memory cells at different read voltage levels, respectively, and to perform a logic operation on the plurality of pieces of data, respectively. The memory device further includes a counting unit configured to count the number of memory cells that exist in each of a plurality of sections defined by the different read voltage levels, based on results of the logic operation.
US09685204B2
A system and technique is disclosed for writing data in a cross-point memory. The state of one or more memory cells of the cross-point memory are sensed and then are continued to be selected and left on. It is then determined which of the one or more memory cells are to change state based on incoming user data that is to be written into the one or more memory cells. The one or more memory cells determined to change state and are still selected to be on are then written by applying a write-current pulse to the memory cells. In one exemplary embodiment, the one or more memory cells comprise one or more phase-change-type memory cell devices.
US09685202B1
A near-field transducer includes an enlarged portion and a peg protruding from a first edge. The enlarged portion has a second edge facing away from the first edge. The near-field transducer includes a heat sink disposed on the enlarged portion and with an outline shape that matches that of the enlarged portion. The heat sink is disposed at a first separation distance from the first edge of the enlarged portion and a second, greater, separation distance from the second edge of the enlarged portion. The first separation distance is greater than the second separation distance.
US09685193B2
In an approach to determining a pre-recorded video for use in place of a video feed of a user in a video conference, a computer determines a sentiment of the video conference and determines a first video of one or more pre-recorded videos of a user that corresponds to the sentiment. The computer displays the first video in the video conference.
US09685191B2
A recording tape cartridge includes a release member, a sliding protrusion portion, a metallic plate and a reference portion. The release member is provided in a reel hub to be rotatable integrally with the reel. The release member moves a locking member from a locking position to an allowing position when a pushing surface of the release member is pushed from an outer side of a case. The sliding protrusion portion protrudes from the locking member toward the side thereof at which the release member is disposed. The metallic plate is provided in the release member. A distal end of the sliding protrusion portion touches the metallic plate. The reference portion is provided at the release member. The reference portion positions a position of the metallic plate relative to the pushing surface in the axial direction of the reel.
US09685186B2
Methods and apparatus for forming substrates having magnetically patterned surfaces is provided. A magnetic layer comprising one or more materials having magnetic properties is formed on a substrate. The magnetic layer is subjected to a patterning process in which selected portions of the surface of the magnetic layer are altered such that the altered portions have different magnetic properties from the non-altered portions without changing the topography of the substrate. A protective layer and a lubricant layer are deposited over the patterned magnetic layer. The patterning is accomplished through a number of processes that expose substrates to energy of varying forms. Apparatus and methods disclosed herein enable processing of two major surfaces of a substrate simultaneously, or sequentially by flipping. In some embodiments, magnetic properties of the substrate surface may be uniformly altered by plasma exposure and then selectively restored by exposure to patterned energy.
US09685185B2
With regard to a glass substrate 1 according to the present invention, a value of an amendment concentricity AC that has taken into consideration Sk and/or Ku calculated from a shape profile over the whole circumference of an inside hole, or the skewness is within a predetermined range. The glass substrate for a magnetic recording medium can stably read servo information including track information stored on a magnetic disk when the glass substrate is used for an HDD.
US09685181B2
In the present disclosure, a method of operating a data storage apparatus is provided. The method includes writing a data signal into a portion of a data layer in a recording medium of a data storage apparatus. The method further includes determining a data layer coupling interference value arising due to interference from the data layer provided in between a sensor head and a servo layer of the recording medium in reading servo data, the data layer coupling interference value determined based on the data signal. The method further includes writing the data layer coupling interference value onto the recording medium. A corresponding data storage apparatus is provided.
US09685178B1
A lateral spin valve reader includes a channel layer having a first end that is proximate to a bearing surface and a second end that is away from the bearing surface. The lateral spin valve reader also includes a detector structure disposed over an upper surface of a first portion of the channel layer that is proximate to the first end of the channel layer. A spin injection structure disposed below a lower surface of a second portion of the channel layer is proximate to the second end of the channel layer. An area of overlap between the spin injection structure and the second portion of the channel layer is substantially larger than an area of overlap between the detector structure and the first portion of the channel layer.
US09685165B2
A method and an apparatus for predicting a high band excitation signal are disclosed. The method includes: acquiring, according to a received low band bitstream, a set of spectral frequency parameters that are arranged in an order of frequencies, calculating a spectral frequency parameter difference between every two spectral frequency parameters that have a same position interval; acquiring a minimum spectral frequency parameter difference from the calculated spectral frequency parameter differences; determining, according to a frequency bin that corresponds to the minimum spectral frequency parameter difference, a start frequency bin for predicting a high band excitation signal from a low band; and predicting the high band excitation signal from the low band according to the start frequency bin. By implementing embodiments of the present invention, a high band excitation signal can be better predicted, thereby improving performance of the high band excitation signal.
US09685164B2
A particular method includes encoding a first frame of an audio signal using a first encoder. The method also includes generating, during encoding of the first frame, a baseband signal that includes content corresponding to a high band portion of the audio signal. The method further includes encoding a second frame of the audio signal using a second encoder, where encoding the second frame includes processing the baseband signal to generate high band parameters associated with the second frame.
US09685163B2
In general, techniques are described for transforming spherical harmonic coefficients. A device comprising one or more processors may perform the techniques. The processors may be configured to parse the bitstream to determine transformation information describing how the sound field was transformed to reduce a number of the plurality of hierarchical elements that provide information relevant in describing the sound field. The processors may further be configured to, when reproducing the sound field based on those of the plurality of hierarchical elements that provide information relevant in describing the sound field, transform the sound field based on the transformation information to reverse the transformation performed to reduce the number of the plurality of hierarchical elements.
US09685162B2
An electrically operated food processor with a mixing bowl and a mixer in the mixing bowl is provided with an acoustic transducer and with stored speech recognition software, it being possible to use speech recognition to cause the food processor to carry out a routine task. The speech recognition may be activated by turning on the food processor.
US09685152B2
The present invention is provided with: a voice input section that receives a remark (a question) via a voice signal; a reply creation section that creates a voice sequence of a reply (response) to the remark; a pitch analysis section that analyzes the pitch of a first segment (e.g., word ending) of the remark; and a voice generation section (a voice synthesis section, etc.) that generates a reply, in the form of voice, represented by the voice sequence. The voice generation section controls the pitch of the entire reply in such a manner that the pitch of a second segment (e.g., word ending) of the reply assumes a predetermined pitch (e.g., five degrees down) with respect to the pitch of the first segment of the remark. Such arrangements can realize synthesis of replying voice capable of giving a natural feel to the user.
US09685145B2
A stringed musical instrument has a molded sound box and neck where the sound box is formed of between 20% to 60% carbon fibers, or other suitable fibers, and a polymeric resin or binder. The composition of materials utilized in the sound box is selected to increase stiffness and to control the tone of the instrument. The sound box includes an adjustable attachment mechanism having a pivot which is used to secure the neck to the sound box. The sound box includes a molded bracing structure having a plurality of braces and a molded bridge having a plurality of pockets which are used to enhance the structure for the sound box and provide a desired tone quality for the stringed instrument. The neck may include a molded neck insert and a molded fingerboard which are used to enhance the stiffness and stability of the neck.
US09685143B2
A display control device for displaying content, the representation form of which is changeable by a user's operation on a display screen, on a display screen is provided. The display control device includes an operation acquisition unit configured to acquire a change instruction to change the representation form of the content and an image changing unit configured to distort the representation form of the content, in response to a change instruction which instructs to change the representation form of the content beyond a threshold value, to be different from the representation form as instructed. Thus, the display control device facilitates the user to recognize the threshold for change when the representation form of the content is changed by zooming in, zooming out, scrolling the content and the like.
US09685142B2
A method, computer program product, and system to optimize the display of related elements. The method includes a processor obtaining data elements and groups of data elements, and relationships between data elements in different groups and identifying parent-child dependencies between the groups. The processor identifies a root group among the groups: the root group has no parent dependency. The processor orders data elements in the root group, based on a predetermined policy and determines a display order of data elements in groups that are not root groups by optimizing a length of relationship lines representing the relationships between the data elements in different groups. The processor also determines a scroll position for each group and displays, in a graphical user interface on the display, the groups with a scroll bars at the scroll position in each group, and the relationships between data elements in different groups.
US09685141B2
A circuit for generating a clock signal formed as a hybrid of a multiplying delay-locked loop (MDLL) and a phase locked loop (PLL). In one embodiment a chain of inverting delay multiplexers is connected in a ring configuration capable of operating as a ring oscillator, with a first delay multiplexer in the ring configured to substitute a feed-in clock signal for the feedback clock generated by the ring oscillator when an edge, either rising or falling, is received at the forwarded clock input. The first delay multiplexer may also be configured to interpolate between the phase of the feedback clock and the phase of the feed-in clock. The interpolation may be based on transistor channel widths and the value of a control signal, and results in behavior intermediate to that of an MDLL and that of a PLL.
US09685140B1
Systems, methods and articles of manufacture for optimized rendering of multimedia content as described herein. An embodiment includes identifying one or more content layers for display and promoting the multimedia content layer for display over all layers of the one or more content layers, when no content is to be displayed over the multimedia content layer. Another embodiment includes identifying one or more content layers for display and displaying a bitmap representing a multimedia content layer directly on a display device, when no content is to be displayed over the multimedia content layer.
US09685137B2
According to an aspect, a display device includes: an image display unit in which pixels are arranged, each of the pixels including a fourth sub-pixel and surrounding sub-pixels arranged around the fourth sub-pixel, the fourth sub-pixels of the respective pixels being arranged in a two-dimensional matrix and displaying a white color component as a fourth color, each of the pixels sharing at least one of the surrounding sub-pixels with an adjacent pixel adjacent to the pixel; and a signal processing unit that, based on a first input video signal for a specific pixel and a second input video signal for an adjacent pixel adjacent to the specific pixel, generates an output signal for the surrounding sub-pixels belonging to the specific pixel and outputs the generated output signal to the image display unit.
US09685123B2
In a method of testing a display apparatus, a plurality of minimum compensation data for a plurality of grayscales, respectively and a plurality of maximum compensation data for the plurality of grayscales, respectively are determined. The display apparatus includes a display panel displaying an image having the plurality of grayscales. A plurality of grayscale compensation data corresponding to the plurality of grayscales, respectively are set based on the plurality of minimum compensation data and the plurality of maximum compensation data. A flicker characteristic with respect to the plurality of grayscales is measured based on the plurality of grayscale compensation data and test images displayed on the display panel. The flicker characteristic is optimized by selectively changing the plurality of grayscale compensation data based on the measured flicker characteristic.
US09685113B2
An OLED pixel compensation circuit includes first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh transistors and a storage capacitor. The first transistor has a gate electrode coupled to a scan signal, a first electrode coupled to a data signal, and a second electrode coupled to a gate electrode of the fifth transistor. The second transistor has a gate electrode coupled to the scan signal, a first electrode coupled to a power supply voltage, and a second electrode coupled to a second electrode of the storage capacitor. The third transistor has a gate electrode coupled to a first light emitting signal, a first electrode coupled to the power supply voltage. The transistors and the storage capacitor are configured to compensate the threshold voltage drift of the fifth transistor, which is the driving transistor for the OLED.
US09685109B2
A system and method for increasing perceived contrast in a medical display (174) is provided. The method involves temporarily increasing luminance output of at least part of a display (174) in response to a received request for improved visualization. To compensate for the change in luminance especially while the viewer's eyes adapt to the change in luminance, the method includes continuously modifying the display parameters especially during an adaptation period to match an adaptation of the viewer's eyes. The modified parameters at any given may correlate to the degree of adaptation by the viewer's eyes to the change. After a period of time, the display (174) may be returned to its normal operating luminance and corresponding settings, which may be selected to maximize the lifetime of the display (174).
US09685108B2
An image display system includes an LCD (liquid crystal display) or other display driven by alternating current and driven in an inverted manner by a predetermined driving method on a pixel basis, and an LCD driving device for generating a Frame Rate Control (FRC) pattern which is the same as the pattern utilized by the predetermined driving method. The display is thereby driven so as to allow the display to make an expression in gradations higher (for example, 256 gradations) than gradations (for example, 64 gradations) natively supported by the display.
US09685099B2
A system for characterizing manual welding exercises and providing valuable training to welders that includes components for generating, capturing, and processing data. The data generating component further includes a fixture, workpiece, at least one calibration devices each having at least two point markers integral therewith, and a welding tool. The data capturing component further includes an imaging system for capturing images of the point markers and the data processing component is operative to receive information from the data capturing component and perform various position and orientation calculations.
US09685093B2
A wireless computer-aided occupational therapy and education tool for young children or children with developmental delays. The tool comprises a wireless input device and preferably a covering. The wireless input device of the tool comprises a switch, a transmitter, and identification code. The covering can be made in various shapes, sizes, and colors. The wireless input device is removably attachable to the covering.
US09685091B2
A method of displaying information pertaining to an air vehicle is disclosed. Information is displayed indicative of first portions of a map where distance between a current altitude of the air vehicle and terrain in the map are within a first threshold. Information is displayed indicative of second portions of a map where a distance between the current altitude of the air vehicle and terrain in the map are within a second threshold. The first and second portions are updated based on a change in the current altitude of the air vehicle. In another example, a map including a projected flight path of an aircraft is displayed. Location-based information pertaining to radio frequency (RF) status between the aircraft and at least one ground radio is displayed on the map. The location-based information pertaining to RF status is updated based on a change in the current position of the air vehicle.
US09685086B2
In one embodiment, a device sends collision avoidance safety messages to prevent potential collisions between vehicles and the portable electronic device. The device determines whether a current or predicted future location of the device intersects an action zone. An action zone corresponds to a geographic area in which a potential collision may occur between a vehicle and the device. The device adjusts a broadcast rate for the collision avoidance safety messages based on whether the device determines that the current or predicted future location of the device intersects an action zone.
US09685082B2
In one aspect, traffic signaling apparatus are described herein. In some embodiments, a traffic signaling apparatus described herein comprises a first traffic light structure and a second traffic light structure. The second traffic light structure is operable to display a plurality of traffic signals, such as a red traffic signal and a green traffic signal. Further, the second traffic light structure is attached to a horizontal or substantially horizontal cable or to a horizontal or substantially horizontal mast arm. Moreover, the first traffic light structure is attached to the second traffic light structure or to the mast arm by a pole. Additionally, in some cases, the first traffic light structure is disposed at least three feet above the second traffic light structure. The first traffic light structure can also be substantially vertically aligned with the second traffic light structure.
US09685078B2
One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for determining a scaled flow rate of traffic for a road segment. For example, probe flow rate information is determined based upon locational information from one or more probe vehicles on a road segment (e.g., a flow rate of probe vehicles corresponding to a sum of probe vehicles identified from time stamped global positioning system coordinates provided by the probe vehicles). Satellite imagery of the road segment is analyzed to identify a count of vehicles on the road segment. Scale factor and offset information is estimated based upon the probe flow rate information and the count of vehicles. The scale factor and offset information is used to scale the probe flow rate information to determine a scaled flow rate that may be a relatively accurate flow rate of traffic, which may correspond to an inferred traffic volume along the road segment.
US09685077B2
A traffic control system (TCS) is provided comprising at least one traffic control unit, TCU, (9) equipped with a proximity enabled traffic user equipment, PETUE, (1) and adapted to control traffic of mobile entities wherein the proximity enabled traffic user equipment, PETUE, (1) of said traffic control unit, TCU, (9) is configured to transmit traffic information by sending at least one discovery message, DM, directly via a user equipment to user equipment link to at least one other proximity enabled traffic user equipment, PETUE, of a mobile entity, wherein said discovery message, DM, includes a proximity service, ProSe, application identifier comprising a string of traffic labels, TLs, representing hierarchical traffic information levels.
US09685071B1
A system comprising an antenna module and a processor sub-module. The antenna module is configured to connect and send data to a network through a wireless connection. The network is configured to (A) connect to web services in a first mode and (B) integrate with user devices in a second mode. The processor sub-module is configured to provide a physical connection to (i) the antenna module, (ii) a plurality of output devices, and (iii) a plurality of sensors. The plurality of output devices are configured to implement a virtual receptionist. The plurality of sensors send data to the network.
US09685066B2
The communication between a tracking device and a secondary device that tracks the tracking device can be severed. On detecting a loss of connection, the secondary device retrieves a last known location of the tracking device from the tracking server. On receiving the last known location, the secondary device activates location detection functionality to determine a current location of the secondary device. If the current location is further than a predetermined threshold distance from the last known location of the tracking device, a notification is displayed by the secondary device indicating that the connection to the tracking device is lost. If the secondary device is within the predetermined threshold distance from the tracking device's last known location, the secondary device waits for a predetermined interval of time to elapse, and if the tracking device is not detected during this interval, a notification is displayed by the secondary device.
US09685065B2
The invention relates to sensor systems and related data manipulation methods and software and use thereof, for instance amongst others, in surveillance systems, e.g. fall detection, more in particular systems and methods for capturing data of a scene is provided, comprising a first sensor, providing a first data set; a second sensor, spatially arranged with respect to the first sensor in a predetermined arrangement, the second sensor providing a second data set; and data manipulation means using said first and/or second data set to support enhanced data computations on one or both of said data sets to generate said scene data.
US09685062B2
A security warning system applied in an electronic device includes a motion identifying unit, a walking speed calculation unit, an image processing unit, and an executing unit. The motion identifying unit identifies whether a number of continuous walking steps of a user of the electronic device is greater than a first predetermined value. The walking speed calculation unit calculates a walking speed of the user and compares the calculated walking speed to a second predetermined value. The image processing unit determines whether the user is in a special sidewalk. The executing unit determines whether the user is in a walking state and whether the electronic device needs to execute a security mode. An electronic device and a security warning method are also provided.
US09685061B2
Systems and methods for providing spoken messages that reflect event status of one or more hazard detection systems within a smart-home environment are described herein. The messages can inform occupants in concise manner that does not overload cognitive recognition of those occupants. For example, the messages may be prioritized to limit the amount of information that is spoken and intelligently condense information in as concise a manner as possible. This may be accomplished by using one or more speaking paradigms to compile audible messages to be played back through a speaker of the hazard detection system.
US09685057B2
A tag used for storing information related to chain of custody of an object is described. The tag is at least one of attacked to a physically associated with the object and the tag includes memory that has custody claim entries written thereto. When custody of the object is transferred from one entity to another entity or when an entity relinquishes custody of the object, a release record is also written to the tag. The custody claim entries and release records written to the tag can be used to verify the chain of custody of the object.
US09685055B2
An anti-theft device for an electronics apparatus, including (a) locating means for determining an actual location, (b) storage means for storing a permissible location, and (c) processing means connected to the locating means and storage means. The processing means is configured to retrieve the actual location from the locating means, and to compare the actual location against the permissible location. The processing means is further configured to disable at least part of the functionality of the electronics apparatus if the actual location is more than a predetermined distance from the permissible location. The processing means is further configured to enter the anti-theft device in a standby mode, wherein the electronics apparatus is never disabled by the anti-theft device, and the standby mode may be entered for a predetermined time period.
US09685053B2
Systems and methods are providing which utilize data collection to determine whether an event requiring routing of individuals through a structure has occurred and thereafter controlling the operation of guidance devices to conduct and guide individuals safely through and out of the structure.
US09685050B2
A method of updating a notification preference of a system includes detecting a remote alert, identifying at least one feature of the remote alert, determining a plurality of alerts available to the system, mapping the at least one feature of the remote alert and the available alerts to a concept map, and selecting an alert from the plurality of available alerts using the mapping, wherein a selected alert changes a notification preference of the system.
US09685045B2
A computerized card game management system includes a communications interface, a winning percent module, a dealer module, and a game play module. The communications interface is configured to receive data inputs from client devices. The winning percent module is configured to generate a first set of winning percentages defining each player's likelihood of winning each hand of the play cycle during the first segment. The dealer module is configured to select, for each hand of the play cycle, a set of hole cards to be dealt to each player during the first segment. The dealer module selects the set of hole cards based on each player's likelihood of winning the hand as defined by the first set of winning percentages. The game play module is configured to generate a graphical user interface for each player and to provide the graphical user interfaces to the plurality of client devices.
US09685044B2
A computer-implemented system and method that includes displaying a group of numbers to a first and second player. The system and method further includes receiving a group of N numbers and a sequence of numbers for first and second players. The system and method includes receiving a wager, fold indication or raise indication from the first or second player and receiving an event result that includes N winning numbers corresponding to winning participants and a winning sequence of N winning numbers. The system and method includes receiving a wager, fold indication or raise indication from a first or second player and comparing the N winning numbers and winning sequence to the numbers and sequences for the first and second players. The system and method includes identifying a winning player matching winning criteria of a higher ranking winning category and distributing a winning pool of wagers to the one winning player.
US09685035B2
An apparatus and method for a game of play for use in a casino establishment, or on a general purpose computing device for offering games with multiple outcomes and including blockading game elements or symbols. A base game, or an outcome on a base game that triggers a sub-game or a bonus game involves forming winning combinations from combinations of symbols in a matrix using only accessible symbol positions. Achieving winning combinations of symbols among accessible symbols results in awards to players. The apparatus and method are offered on electronic gaming machines such as slot machines and video poker machines, but may also be deployed on other devices such as on a general purpose computing device or mobile phone in stand-alone form or connected to a network, such as the internet.
US09685033B2
Creative multi-act games for the younger generation of casino players accustomed to creative simulation games such as “The Sims®” and familiar TV characters such as the cast of “Friends”. Stories unfold through acts that have been staged by the player by selecting and placing acting objects. A palette of betting opportunities may be provided in each act in accordance with the staged act to allow the player(s) to place bets. A typical storyboard may include three acts: (a) a construction act, (b) a testing act and (c) a destruction or resolution act. The unfolding of acts may be non-linear and several players may participate simultaneously, sharing the opportunity to affect a storyboard's direction through decision-making.
US09685032B2
There is disclosed an electronic gaming system (100) comprising one or more player interfaces (6, 7, 17), and a main video display screen (1). The system enables players to simultaneously play a plurality of reel-type games and to place bets on lines of the games. The system displays a plurality of display windows on the main display screen, each window being associated with a respective one of the simultaneously played games and displaying the reels of that game, each reel displaying reel indicia. The system is configured for any one of the games to enter a feature phase when a feature-triggering event occurs. At the start of the feature phase, all the display windows on the main screen, except the particular display window associated with the feature phase, reduce in size or disappear, while the size of the feature game's display window increases, and the other games are also suspended, until the feature phase is completed.
US09685031B2
A method and apparatus for use in a wagering environment are disclosed. An exemplary embodiment comprises a wagering terminal including a processor, a memory, a primary display, and a secondary display. The primary display is configured for displaying visual messages. These visual messages are displayed as part of a graphical user interface and include at least one wagering transaction message. The secondary display is configured for displaying additional visual messages associated with the visual messages of the primary display. These additional visual messages are displayed as part of an additional graphical user interface. The wagering terminal may further include a proximity detector configured for detecting the presence of a gaming patron, a user identification unit configured for sampling a unique physical attribute of a user, and an image capture unit configured for capturing at least one image in a vicinity of the wagering terminal.
US09685029B2
Wagering game systems including gaming chairs are described herein. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving, in a wagering game machine, access information identifying a wagering game player, and determining the wagering game players motion profile associated with a gaming chair connected to the wagering game machine, wherein the motion profile indicates movements of the gaming chair that are acceptable to the wagering game player. The method also includes determining prescribed motions for the gaming chair, wherein the prescribed motions are associated with wagering game events, and determining that one of the wagering game events occurred on the wagering game machine. The method also includes moving the gaming chair in accordance with the prescribed motions for the gaming chair and the wagering game players motion profile.
US09685020B2
An apparatus and a corresponding method for checking the security element of a value document, as well as to an apparatus for processing value documents involve at least one sensor for capturing electromagnetic radiation emanating from along a dimension of the security element and for generating a corresponding sensor signal pattern along the one dimension of the security element. Also included is an evaluation device for checking the value document with the help of the sensor signal pattern of the security element, from the sensor signal pattern along the one dimension there being generated a binary signal pattern which has only two different signal values and with the help of which the security element of the value document is checked with regard to a microwriting of the security element.
US09685012B2
Disclosed are an apparatus and method that enables an owner/administrator to manage access to a shared resource based on identity that is established by use of biometric data. For example, access to a shared physical resource can be restricted via use of a biometric locking device. An access management platform can be used to authorize a new user to access the shared resource. Once authorized, the new user can unlock the biometric locking device based on, for example, fingerprint data of his finger. The access management platform can similarly be used to manage access to a virtual shared resource, such as an online account. A virtual locking device, such as a computer that acts as an intermediary between the user and the online account, can be used to restrict access to the online account. The access management platform can enable the user to access the online account based on biometric data.
US09685000B1
A method is used in using augmented reality in data storage management. An original image of data center equipment is received. Based on the original image, the data center equipment is automatically identified. Based on the identification, management/status information about the data center equipment is automatically retrieved. An augmented reality image is derived from the original image and the management/status information.
US09684998B2
One embodiment includes determining a first z-range for a first portion of a coarse raster tile, where the first portion includes a plurality of pixels having a first set of pixel locations, retrieving from a memory a corresponding z-range related to a second set of pixel locations associated with the coarse raster tile, where the first set of pixel locations comprises a subset of the second set of pixel locations, and comparing the first z-range to the corresponding z-range to determine whether the plurality of pixels is occluded. If the plurality of pixels determined to be occluded, then the plurality of pixels is culled. If the plurality of pixels is determined to not be occluded, then the plurality of pixels is transmitted to a fine raster unit for further processing. The coarse raster tile comprises a plurality of portions, including the first portion, and those portions are processed serially.
US09684989B2
A user interface transition between a camera view and a map view displayed on a mobile platform is provided so as present a clear visual connection between the orientation in the camera view and the orientation in the map view. The user interface transition may be in response to a request to change from the camera view to the map view or vice-versa. Augmentation overlays for the camera view and map view may be produced based on, e.g., the line of sight of the camera or identifiable environmental characteristics visible in the camera view and the map view. One or more different augmentation overlays are also produced and displayed to provide the visual connection between the camera view and map view augmentation overlays. For example, a plurality of augmentation overlays may be displayed consecutively to clearly illustrate the changes between the camera view and map view augmentation overlays.
US09684976B2
A display module parameter selection system is presented. A processor can be coupled to a display. The processor can be configured to execute software applications, each having corresponding graphical output specifications. The processor can execute a display control module resident in an operating system. The display control module can maintain an application data structure to store the corresponding graphical output specifications of each of the plurality of software applications. The display control module can maintain a display capability data structure to store a plurality of settings for each of the variable display parameters. In response to one of the plurality of software applications being launched, the display control module can process data stored in the application data structure and the display capability data structure to generate a set of display parameter settings to output to the display module for use in outputting graphical output from the launched application.
US09684975B2
A system, device, computer-readable instructions, and method are provided for mapping and filtering of visual objects to address bump mapping. For example, a system, device, computer-readable instructions, and method are provided as a unified shading model representing both bump orientation and bidirectional radiance distribution function (“BRDF”). The computer-readable instructions are non-transitory, and storable on a storage device, including a CDROM, flashdrive, cloud, processor memory, or other storage capability.
US09684969B2
A detection method by which a computer to execute the following processes: The detection program causes the computer to execute a process of detecting times at which a timelike change amount temporarily decreases in a plurality of images that are sequentially taken. The detection program also causes the computer to execute a process of extracting, on the basis of the detected times, either a movement of beating time of a person included in the taken images or times at which the person included in the taken images beats time.
US09684963B2
Various techniques are disclosed for a system and method to dynamically co-register images captured by two or more separate imaging modules. For example, in one embodiment, a method includes: capturing a thermal image of an object; capturing a visible light (VL) image of the object; determining a plurality of thermal image reference points from the thermal image; determining a plurality of VL image reference points from the VL image; determining a geometric transform based on the plurality of thermal image reference points and the plurality of VL image reference points; and applying the geometric transform to the thermal image or the VL image to align the thermal image and the VL image. In another embodiment, an imaging system comprises two or more separate imaging modules and one or more processors configured to perform the method above to dynamically co-register images.
US09684952B2
Methods and systems are described for removing reflective artifacts from an imaging model of a patient's teeth. A first volumetric model and a second volumetric model of the patient's teeth are accessed from a computer-readable memory. The orientation and scale of at least one of the two models is repeatedly and automatically adjusted until an optimized orientation and scale is determined that correlates the first volumetric model and the second volumetric model. The second volumetric model is then overlaid onto the first volumetric model. Any data points in the first volumetric model that extend beyond a surface of the patient's teeth in the second volumetric model are detected and removed to create an artifact-reduced volumetric model.
US09684934B1
An enhanced claims settlement apparatus may process insurance claims rapidly and accurately. The apparatus may first receive a notification of loss associated with an insured item (e.g., car, boat, truck, home, etc.). The apparatus may then apply various algorithms for using sensors to identify, analyze, and estimate the cost of damage associated with the insured item. The sensors that are a part of the enhanced claims settlement server may include cameras, tactile sensors, electromagnetic sensors, etc. that may communicate data to a processor associated with the server. Once the data has been generated and analyzed by the sensors, a claim settlement file may be transmitted to a claimant.
US09684928B2
A system and method are described for tracking the location and orientation of a user's feet for an augmented reality display. A depth sensor generates a depth map of a scene within the field of view of the depth sensor, the field of view containing at least a portion of the user. A processor is configured to identify a portion of the depth map as a candidate object for foot tracking, determine a central skeleton representation of the identified portion, determine a location of a toe of the user's foot and a location of an ankle of the user's foot, based on the central skeleton representation, and calculate an orientation of the user's foot based on the determine locations of the toe and the ankle.
US09684927B2
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with a consumer purchase decision scoring tool are described. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a target identifier that identifies a target product. The example method also includes calculating a buy score for the target product.
US09684923B2
Circuits and method for connecting a communication terminal to at least one end of a twist pair of a building infrastructure and to a complimentary circuit terminating the other end of the twist pair for propagating distinctly modulated higher carrier frequency and lower carrier frequency for propagating simultaneously two modulated information signals comprising higher speed data and lower speed data via at least one twist pair, the higher speed data is used for upgrading and loading data into a memory of the communication terminal and the lower speed data controls and directs the higher speed data through I/O ports of each of the CPUs included in the two circuits terminating the twist pair, the communication terminal uses the stored data to select items of service and merchandise for shopping in a closed circuit e-commerce by propagating a completed order to a server of the building.
US09684920B2
Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems and methods for allowing a single representation of a trigger for payment across different environments using machine readable codes. A machine readable code may be encoded with a URL and information about a product to which the machine readable code is attached. A first electronic device may be able to scan and decode the machine readable code into first recognizable product information using a complaint application. The compliant application may populate a first form on the first electronic device for a first transaction with the recognizable product information without having to access a server. A non-compliant application on a second electronic device will launch a browser using the URL and provide the unrecognizable product information to the server for decoding. The server will decode the unrecognizable product information into a second recognizable product information that may be used to populate a second form for a second transaction.
US09684917B2
A user input pertaining to a question is received. Based on the question a new message is generated and posted in at least one web based forum. Responses to the new message are monitored and analyzed to determine whether, for each response, the response pertains to a subject of the question. Responsive to determining that at least one response pertains to the subject of the question, information contained in the response is presented to the user.
US09684907B2
An information element, uniquely related to a media fingerprint that is uniquely derived from a media content portion during play out thereof, is provided to a first web page. The first web page stores the information element with an associated first information set, which relates to one or more media fingerprints. One or more second web pages store at least a second information set, which relates to one or more media fingerprints. The first and at least second web pages are accessed and crawled in relation to the first and the at least second information sets. One or more information elements, which are common to the first and the at least second information sets, are indexed. The first web page and the at least one of the second web pages are related based on the indexed common information elements.
US09684901B2
Embodiments of configuring elements of a publication server of a product or server sales architecture in mechanisms are described generally herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US09684898B2
Systems and methods can secure personal identification numbers associated with secure elements within mobile devices. A host application of the mobile device can receive a personal identification number (PIN) or user PIN from a user. The application can generate one or more random PIN components. The application can compute a PIN for the secure element based upon the user PIN and each of the one or more random components. The SE can be configured using the PIN computed for the secure element. Each of the one or more random components may be stored in one or more distinct, diverse locations. In addition to entering the correct user PIN, each of the one or more random components must be retrieved from the diverse locations in order to reconstruct the PIN for the secure element whenever performing a transaction using the secure element.
US09684896B2
Systems, methods, and devices are disclosed which allow a mobile device user to complete financial transactions even when the mobile device is not connected to a wireless network. The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure may utilize a combination of an encrypted lockbox containing out of network payment codes on the mobile device and a matching set of out of network payment codes stored on a server of a payment authority.
US09684895B2
An information output control apparatus includes a code reader, a POS terminal configured to receive codes read by the code reader, a first printer having a first code associated therewith, and a second printer having a second code associated therewith. When the code reader reads the first code, the POS terminal transmits printing information to the first printer, the printing information including information about products selected for purchase, and when the code reader reads the second code, the POS terminal transmits the printing information to the second printer.
US09684887B2
An exemplary method implemented by a first end-user communication device originates an electronic communication. User input is received to create information to be conveyed by the transmission of a digital packet having a header segment and a user data segment. The user data segment contains a user message and a priority value where the priority value conveys a corresponding message priority to a recipient device. The priority value and the user message are determined by the user of the first end-user communication device. Under the control of a first module of an enhanced services application program, a composition screen is displayed by which the user input including the user message is entered. Visual indicia indicative of a current message priority to be assigned to the user message is displayed on the composition. The first module causes insertion of the priority value corresponding to the current message priority in a priority field in the user data segment prior to transmission of the digital packet. The digital packet is transmitted with the user data segment that contains the user message and the priority value.
US09684884B2
Systems and methods for identifying one or more objects hung from a display peg are described herein. The system may include a display peg comprising a first and second electrically conductive terminal. An object comprising a resistive element may be hung from the display peg such that the resistive element is in electrical communication with the terminals. A source may be configured to provide a current that flows from the first terminal through the resistive element to the second terminal. An electronic device may be configured to detect the electrical current flowing from the second terminal. The system may be configured to identify the type of object depending on the detected electrical current.
US09684879B2
Various embodiments of the present disclosure include methods and systems for tracking and reporting environmental impact and agricultural-producer information. In an example embodiment, a method comprises receiving first data associated with an impact on groundwater pollution or surface water pollution, the impact on the groundwater pollution or the surface water pollution resulting from a production of an agricultural product, the first data being received from a single representative sampling location; receiving second data associated with the impact on the groundwater pollution or surface water pollution, the second data being received from at least one of a plurality of representative sampling locations; generating an aggregate result based on the second data; calculating comparative data using the aggregate result and at least some of the first data; and reporting the aggregate result and the comparative data to a user.
US09684871B2
An efficient fact checking system analyzes and determines the factual accuracy of information and/or characterizes the information by comparing the information with source information. The efficient fact checking system automatically monitors information, processes the information, fact checks the information efficiently and/or provides a status of the information.
US09684869B2
A system that enables development and execution of predictive models comprises a centralized data management system, a data extraction tool a model validation tool and a model execution tool. In embodiments, a data management system includes a data management server that can be accessed via a web browser that stores data in the form of a flat file. An extraction tool extracts data. A model validation tool validates a model by scoring an analytical environment data set and a production environment data set. A model execution tool allows a user to select when and how often a model is scored.
US09684866B1
A work package is obtained defining a data analytic plan for analyzing a given data set associated with a given data problem. The work package is generated in accordance with an automated data analytics lifecycle. The data analytic plan and the given data set are analyzed. Based on at least a portion of results of the analysis, at least one of a cost parameter and a time parameter is computed for one or more computing resource configurations proposed for implementing the data analytic plan. One of the one or more computing resource configurations is selected based on at least one of the cost parameter and the time parameter. A computing resource infrastructure is caused to be provisioned in accordance with the selected computing resource configuration. The above steps are performed on one or more processing elements associated with a computing system.
US09684865B1
In a system for enabling configuration of an ensemble of several solvers, such that the ensemble can efficiently solve a constraint problem, for each one of several candidate configurations, an array of scores is computed. The array corresponds to a statistical parameter related to a problem solution, and the computation is based on, at least in part, a set of features associated with the problem. One candidate configuration is assigned to a solver, and based on the array of scores associated with that candidate configuration the same or a different candidate configuration is assigned to a another solver. A system for dynamically reconfiguring an ensemble of solvers obtains runtime data from several solvers, and a new configuration is determined by applying a machine learning and/or heuristic analysis procedure to the runtime data. The configuration of a solver may be updated according to the new configuration while that solver is running.
US09684859B2
Image plane registration errors are corrected for a multi-channel printing system that prints on a continuous web of media. Nominal in-track line spacing are defined for each image plane, and are used to print lines of image data for each image plane. An in-track registration error is measured for a misregistered image plane in the printed image, and is used to determine an adjusted in-track line spacing that will bring the misregistered image plane back into registration in the in-track direction over a predefined correction time interval. Additional image data is then printed using the adjusted in-track line spacing during the correction time interval, after which image data is printed using a new in-track line spacing that is different from the adjusted in-track line spacing.
US09684854B2
A printer includes a control section that generates print data specifying the amount of image forming ink for forming an image and the amount of undercoating ink for forming an undercoat for each pixel on the basis of color information of pixels included in image data. Also, when the amount of the image forming ink to be used is small in each pixel included in the print data, the control section reduces the amount of the undercoating ink to be used to an amount smaller than that of when the amount of the image forming ink to be used is large.
US09684849B2
An image processing device includes: an image sequence acquisition section that acquires an image sequence that includes a plurality of constituent images; and a processing section that performs an image summarization process that deletes some of the plurality of constituent images included in the image sequence to generate a summary image sequence, the processing section detecting an observation target area from each of the plurality of constituent images, selecting a reference image and a determination target image from the plurality of constituent images, calculating deformation information about a deformation estimation target area included in the reference image and the deformation estimation target area included in the determination target image, and determining whether or not the determination target image can be deleted based on the observation target area included in the reference image, the observation target area included in the determination target image, and the deformation information.
US09684842B2
Methods and apparatus to extract text from imaged documents are disclosed. Example methods include segmenting an image of a document into localized sub-images corresponding to individual characters in the document. The example methods further include grouping respective ones of the sub-images into a cluster based on a visual correlation of the respective ones of the sub-images to a reference sub-image. The visual correlation between the reference sub-image and the respective ones of the sub-images grouped into the cluster exceeding a correlation threshold. The example methods also include identifying a designated character for the cluster based on the sub-images grouped into the cluster. The example methods further include associating the designated character with locations in the image of the document associated with the respective ones of the sub-images grouped into the cluster.
US09684826B2
Provided is a process including: determining that a mobile computing device has crossed a geofence associated with a merchant store; sending, to a remote classifier server, a request for object-recognition classifiers for objects in the merchant store; receiving a set of object-recognition classifiers; receiving with the mobile computing device from user a request to search for offers; capturing an image with a camera of the mobile computing device; receiving one or more wireless beacon identifiers with the mobile computing device; based on the wireless beacon identifiers, selecting a subset of the object-recognition classifiers in the set of object-recognition classifiers; and recognizing an object in the captured image based on the selected subset of the object-recognition classifiers; and requesting, from a remote offer publisher server, offers corresponding to the recognized object; and receiving offers from the remote offer publisher server; and displaying the received offers to the user.
US09684816B2
A first method comprises using an imaging device to produce a plurality of images of a culture device, analyzing a first image to identify a microorganism colony at a first location, analyzing a second image to identify a gas bubble at a second location, and determining whether the first location is proximate the second location. A second method comprises analyzing an image of a culture device to detect gas bubbles and classifying the gas bubbles according to a size parameter associated with each of the gas bubbles. A third method comprises analyzing a first area of an image of a culture device to detect a first number of gas bubbles, analyzing a second area of the image to detect a second number of gas bubbles, and comparing the first number of gas bubbles to the second number of gas bubbles.
US09684815B2
A system for transforming an image of a fingerprint, comprises a mobile device, comprising: a first communication interface, a camera configured to capture at least one image of at least one fingerprint, and a mobile device processor configured to execute instructions, the instructions configured to cause the mobile device processor to receive the image from the camera and transmit them to an image processing system via the first communication interface; and an image processing system, comprising: a second communication interface configured to receive the image, and an image processor configured to execute instructions, the instructions configured to cause the image processor receive the image form the second communication interface, and: render the image into a high contrast image, establish focus and image resolution for the image, perform noise reduction on the image, and perform distortion elimination on the image.
US09684804B2
A method, computer program product and system for protecting content includes a mobile device screen including a plurality of pixels, whereby each of the plurality of pixels have first sub-pixel units that include a first viewing angle and second sub-pixel units that include a second viewing angle. Within each of the plurality of pixels, the first sub-pixel units are adjacent to the second sub-pixel units. A processing unit is coupled to the mobile device screen and determines a portion of the mobile device screen that displays sensitive content. The processing unit obscures the sensitive content displayed on the portion of the mobile device screen by deactivating the first sub-pixel units at the portion of the mobile device screen that displays the sensitive content and activates the second sub-pixel units at the portion of the mobile device screen that displays the sensitive content.
US09684797B2
Various systems and methods for protecting privacy with secure digital signage in vehicle registration plates are described herein. A system with an electronic registration plate for protecting privacy with secure digital signage, the electronic registration plate attached to a vehicle, the system may include a data access module to: access, a data store of registration numbers, the data store including a plurality of unique registration plate numbers and assigned to the vehicle; and retrieve a registration plate number from the data store; and a display module to present the registration plate number on the electronic registration plate.
US09684791B2
A secure secrets proxy is instantiated in a first computing environment and includes secure secrets proxy authentication data for identifying itself to a secrets distribution management system in a second computing environment as a trusted virtual asset to receive and cache secrets data in a secure secrets cache outside the second computing environment. A virtual asset requests one or more secrets, triggering a process to authenticate the requesting virtual asset, gathering authorized secrets data representing secrets the virtual asset is allowed to have. The secure secrets proxy is provided data representing the requested secrets and stores that secrets data in the secure secrets cache of the proxy.
US09684788B2
A method is provided to instrument applications with an instrumentation policy that is visually configurable and allows for run-time modifications of the policy. Instrumentation is achieved without modifying the source code of the applications. Modification of the instrumentation policy of an application is applied without re-compiling, re-deploying, and re-provisioning the application. The instrumentation tracks the flow of values at run time throughout the execution of an application and fixes any security violation automatically by dynamically modifying any value that violates integrity or confidentiality.
US09684786B2
An application that runs in a process virtual machine is monitored by injecting listening code into a target class of the application. The listening code collects and forwards data to a monitoring agent. The target class is configured for monitoring according to alternative embodiments. In response to the process virtual machine providing notification of an event, such a loading the target class, the listening code may be injected into the target class. In another embodiment, the process virtual machine is configured to load a first minor class containing a minor entry point to the application. A mirror target class is loaded in response to a request to load the target class. The minor target class contains a minor entry point to the target class and the listening code. In another embodiment, listening code may be added to the target class before running the application.
US09684785B2
A sandbox tool can create and maintain multiple isolated execution environments, simultaneously. The sandbox tool can assign a unique security label to each isolated execution environment. In order to ensure the security labels are unique, the sandbox tool, for each security label, can bind a communication socket in an abstract name space of the operating system with a name that is the same as the security label. If the operating system returns an error that the name for the communication socket is already in use, the sandbox tool can determine that the security label is already in use by another isolated execution environment or other process.
US09684773B2
An approach is provided for providing product leak source identification. A product leak detection platform determines one or more identifiers associated with one or more devices. The product leak detection platform further processes and/or facilitates a processing of the one or more identifiers to determine one or more variations of one or more user interface elements to be presented in at least one user interface of the one or more devices. The product leak detection platform also causes, at least in part, an installation of the one or more variations of the one or more user interface elements at the one or more devices, wherein a rendering of the one or more variations at the one or more devices facilitates, at least in part, a determination of the one or more identifiers.
US09684766B2
A system and method for bulk encoding medical items in a tracking system in a healthcare facility comprises attaching to each of a plurality of identical medical items a blank RFID tag. When activated simultaneously, the serial numbers of all RFID tags on all the identical medical items are read and their serial numbers are associated with the pre-stored characteristics of the medical item in a data base. The RFID tags are blank in that they include no human-readable data concerning the medical article to which the RFID tag is attached. A data mining system and method are provided for mining the database.
US09684765B2
Improved systems and methods are described for improving patient care, safety, and workflow. In particular, a rewritable identification device is provided. In some examples, identification data is exchanged between an identification device and a bidirectional device. At the outset, the identification device may receive a request for identification data from the bidirectional device. In response to the request, the identification device may retrieve the requested identification data as well as supplemental data associated with the identification data. After retrieval, the identification device may transmit, within an ultra-high frequency range, a radio frequency identification tag containing the requested identification data and the supplemental data to the bidirectional device.
US09684763B2
In a housing configured to mount thereon a biosensor in an attachable and detachable manner in which the biosensor is configured to have a liquid sample of a biological object deposited thereon, the medial measuring device includes a measuring component operable to measure biological information from the liquid sample of the biological object, a recording component operable to store a result measured by the measuring component, and an information protection component operable to determine an access limitation to personal information data stored in the recording component. With this configuration of the device, it is possible to properly protect personal information stored in the device.
US09684748B1
The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for electronic design automation. The method may include providing, using one or more computing devices, an electronic design including a first net and a second net. The method may include identifying a shortest path between the first net and the second net and determining at least one common shape associated with the shortest path. The method may also include identifying one or more adjacent shapes to the at least one common shape and identifying at least one fork associated with each of the one or more connectivity reference points. The method may further include analyzing an intermediate fork of the at least one fork to identify an electrical short associated with the electronic design.
US09684744B2
A method for design verification includes receiving a definition of a design of an integrated circuit device and at least one assertion of a property that is to be verified over the design. The definition is compiled into a graph of processing elements, including first processing elements that simulate operation of the device and at least one second processing element representing the at least one assertion. The at least one second processing element includes a hierarchical arrangement of at least one operator node and one or more leaf nodes corresponding to inputs of the at least one assertion. A simulation of the design is executed by triggering the processing elements in the graph in multiple, consecutive clock cycles and evaluating the property during execution of the simulation.
US09684743B2
For a design under test (DUT) that is to be emulated, a host system partitions the DUT into multiple partitions and maps each partition to an FPGA of an emulator which will emulate the partition. The host system stores information describing to which FPGAs each component of the DUT has been mapped. Additionally, mapped to each FPGA is trace and injection logic that traces signals exchanged by the FPGA with other FPGAs during emulation of the DUT. After the emulation of the DUT is complete, if a user wishes to debug a component of the DUT, the FPGAs that are configured to emulate the component are identified. For each identified FPGA, the trace and injection logic injects previously traced signals into the logic of the FPGA in order to reemulate the component. The host system generates waveforms for the user that include signals traced during the reemulation of the component.
US09684742B1
A method for performing timing analysis on calibrated paths includes performing static timing analysis on the calibrated paths to obtain delay and margin information. The delay and margin information are utilized to emulate operations performed during calibration.
US09684741B2
A query may be applied against search engines that respectively return a set of search results relating to various items discovered in the searched data sets. However, presenting numerous and varied search results may be difficult on mobile devices with small displays and limited computational resources. Instead, search results may be associated with search domains representing various information types (e.g., contacts, public figures, places, projects, movies, music, and books) and presented by grouping search results with associated query domains, e.g., in a tabbed user interface. The query may be received through an input device associated with a particular input domain, and may be transitioned to the query domain of a particular search engine (e.g., by recognizing phonemes of a voice query using an acoustic model; matching phonemes with query terms according to a pronunciation model; and generating a recognition result according to a vocabulary of an n-gram language model.)
US09684740B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide information processing systems and methods for proliferating testing data based on sample testing data. In one embodiment, a difference is determined by comparing a desired query result to a query result acquired by executing a query statement on sample testing data. Sample testing data can then be proliferated based, at least in part, on the difference and data generation constraint conditions.
US09684736B2
Systems and methods are provided for a global communication handler to facilitate communication between an Flex application and an Enterprise Application Server (“EAS”) database. Data is obtained from the EAS database by the global communication handler, and the global communication handler instantiates at least one object that provides that data to a Flex application. The global communication handler also receives data from the Flex application, and writes that data to the EAS database.
US09684733B2
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for abstract internationalization of web applications may be provided. In this method, a first set of object files may be generated according to a locale of a plurality of locales and one or more properties files. Each properties file may be associated with a web application of a plurality of web applications. A localization module operable to facilitate abstract internationalization of a web application may be stored. A request to use the web application may be received from a client. The request may indicate a locale of the client. A second set of one or more object files may be selected according to the web application and the locale of the client. A response comprising markup language that describes the web application, the second set of object files, and the localization module may be generated and transmitted to a client.
US09684727B1
Ranking of geographic information includes receiving information about geographic features, identifying documents based on the information, each document being associated with one of the geographic features, and generating a rank score for each document based on one or more properties of the geographic feature associated with the document.
US09684725B1
An electronic process for presenting interpersonal relationship analysis includes: receiving recorded responses of a plurality of users to selected stimuli, such recorded responses comprising indications of traits and preferences that are not explicitly identified in the recorded response; generating match profile data at least partially from the response; and presenting potential matches to a first user based on a compatibility score generated from correlating match profile data of the plurality of users with the match profile data of the first user.
US09684719B2
Systems and methods search video data for objects that satisfy a general object description. A database is populated with identified objects and object characteristics detected in video data with at least one identifier that specifies video image data. At least one search parameter is received that presents a general object description. The database is queried based upon the received at least one search parameter. At least one identifier is returned from the database based upon the at least one search parameter.
US09684714B2
A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for using paraphrase metrics for answering questions. The mechanism receives an input question and generating a candidate answer from a corpus of information. The candidate answer has a supporting passage from the corpus of information. The mechanism divides the input question into a first sequence of tokens and divides the supporting passage into a second sequence of tokens. The mechanism identifies a plurality of subsequences of tokens within the second sequence of tokens and applies a paraphrase metric to compare the first sequence of tokens to each of the plurality of subsequences of tokens to generate a plurality of paraphrase metric scores. The mechanism then determines a confidence score for the candidate answer based on a highest paraphrase metric score within the plurality of paraphrase metric scores.
US09684711B2
A method may provide an agent service to a user terminal by including receiving a user instruction from the user terminal, determining whether at least one agent reply to at least one keyword included in the user instruction is able to be searched for in a database, providing at least one suggestive query to the user terminal to allow a search for the at least one agent reply, receiving at least one set of additional information with respect to the at least one suggestive query from the user terminal, and providing the at least one agent reply to the user terminal based on the at least one set of additional information.
US09684704B2
Techniques for a method for efficiently extracting data from multidimensional databases are disclosed herein. When extracting data from a subset of a multidimensional database, the method first extracts data from high-level cells within the subset. If there are any empty high-level cells, the method removes lower-level cells that roll-up into the empty high-level cell, without extracting data from these lower-level cells. The method improves the data extraction efficiency by reducing the overhead of extracting data from empty cells of multidimensional databases.
US09684696B2
An information cataloging system disclosed herein provides a system and method for inferring relationships between various elements, such as e-mail address, phone number, etc., of various observations, such as business cards, observations obtained from the Internet, etc. The method comprises representing various elements, such as name, e-mail address, etc., using nodes, representing the relations between the various elements using edges connecting these nodes, computing a distance between two disparate nodes, wherein each of the two disparate nodes represent an element related to the entity. An implementation of the information cataloging system disclosed herein also provides a method of calculating noise and signal to noise ratio attached to various nodes and using such noise information in calculating confidence level of relationships between various elements.
US09684686B1
A database system may implement database system recovery using non-volatile system memory. An update to a data page of a database may be received. A version of the data page may be obtained in system memory. A new version of the data page may be determined according to the received update. The new version of the data page may be maintained in a non-volatile portion of system memory irrespective of a failure of the database. In at least some embodiments, the update may be performed without generating recovery log records indicating the update. Upon recovery from a database failure, data pages maintained in non-volatile system memory may be made available to service access requests.
US09684680B2
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for providing version control for a model. A database (102) is divided into three logical areas corresponding to working model area (120), full model area (122), and permanent model area (124). Data, which may be CIM formatted data, imported into the model is validated against data previously stored in the full model area (122) and version controlled based in part on timestamp data. The version controlled data may then be exported for use by network applications. Imported data may come from a power system utility while the exported data may be used for control of such a utility.
US09684668B1
A computer-implemented method for performing lookups on distributed deduplicated data systems may include (1) identifying a collection of deduplicated data stored within a plurality of nodes, (2) identifying a request to locate a deduplicated object of the collection within the plurality of nodes, (3) identifying a fingerprint of the deduplicated object, the fingerprint being generated using an algorithm that maps deduplicated objects onto a fingerprint space, (4) directing the request, based on a partitioning scheme that divides the fingerprint space among the plurality of nodes, to a first node within the plurality of nodes that is responsible for forwarding requests pertaining to a partition of the fingerprint space that includes the fingerprint, and (5) forwarding the request from the first node to a second node identified by the first node as corresponding to the fingerprint. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09684664B2
Accessing a file on a sequentially accessed storage device such as a magnetic tape often involves bypassing valid files and gaps between valid files. Presently taught is a method of copying valid files being bypassed to a second sequentially accessed storage device while not copying the gaps. When a read target file is reached, the read target file is read. During a write to a file writing position, valid files are copied to the second sequentially accessed storage device until the file writing position is reached and the file is written at the end of the valid files on the second sequentially accessed storage device.
US09684660B2
Various embodiments provide a file processing method and system. An exemplary file processing method can include receiving a request for opening a file, applying for a memory area corresponding to the file requested for opening and setting a property of the memory area as non-readable and non-writable. After receiving a request for reading the file, the memory area corresponding to the file requested for reading can be accessed. If the accessing fails for a failure reason that the property of the memory area is non-readable and non-writable, file data requested for reading can be obtained from a disk by calling a memory access exception handler function registered in an operating system. The obtained file data can be stored in the memory area. The property of the memory area can be set as readable and writable and the file data can be read from the memory area.
US09684649B2
In one exemplary embodiment, a system for discovering suspicious account groups establishes a language model according to the post contents from each account of a first group of accounts during a first time interval, to describe the speech of the account, and compares the similarity among a plurality of language models of the first group of accounts to cluster the first group of accounts; and for a plurality of newly added data during a second time interval, discovers near-synonyms of at least a monitored vocabulary set, and updates the near-synonyms to a plurality of language models of a second group of accounts. The system further integrates the first and the second groups of accounts, and re-clusters an integrated group of accounts.
US09684644B2
A system and method is provided for managing and displaying annotations in online hosted videos. To determine related annotations associated with a video, a plurality of annotations for one or more intervals of the video are collected and organized into a plurality of groups. Each group includes annotations for intervals of the video that are similar to each other. A group having related annotations is identified, and an annotated clip of the video is formed based upon the intervals in the group. This process can be used to determine any number of groups in a given video having related annotations, forming the respective annotated intervals within a single video, and can also identify and organize annotated intervals within a large number of different videos.
US09684640B2
A method for facilitating the processing of markup language documents, e.g., XML documents, uses a code generator that creates programs configured to read dynamic XML documents at run time, avoiding many of the complexities arising from the use of conventional “XML Parse” statements. In one embodiment, this process involves (1) creating a template document using the markup language, wherein the template document includes a set of tags associated with the markup language documents; (2) parsing the template document to determine a data structure corresponding to the tags in the template document; and (3) generating an application program in the programming language (e.g., COBOL), wherein the application program includes a definition of the data structure, and is configured to read, during run-time, the markup language document and generate a corresponding set of data elements corresponding to the data structure.
US09684638B2
A computer system for accessing location-based information on a mobile device. The computer system determines whether a default HTML including information of a location is available, in response to determining that a wireless network at the location is available. The computer system determines geographical coordinates of the location and calculates a URL and the default HTML using the geographical coordinates, in response to determining that the wireless network at the location is not available and in response to determining that the default HTML is not available. The computer system displays one or more pages created by the default HTML that is calculated. The computer system displays the one or more pages created by the default HTML that is available, in response to determining that the default HTML is available.
US09684624B2
Master and slave devices may be coupled to a control data bus. A method includes controlling data transmissions over a bus using a master device. A clock signal is provided by the master device on a clock line (SCL) of a serial bus, a receive clock generated from transitions on the SCL line when a slave device is transmitting data on the SDA line, is calibrated using a delay based on a duration of time measured between an edge of the clock signal provided on the SCL line and at least one transition produced on the SDA line by a slave device in response to the edge of the clock signal. Data, including double data rate data, may be reliably received using the calibrated receive clock.
US09684615B1
One embodiment relates to an integrated circuit for a multiple-channel direct memory access system. The integrated circuit includes multiple direct memory access (DMA) controllers, each one corresponding to a different DMA channel. A channelizer receives descriptors from the DMA controllers. Fragmentation circuits in the channelizer fragment descriptors to generate multiple sub-descriptors therefrom, and the sub-descriptors may be sorted into priority queues. Another embodiment relates to a method of providing DMA transfers for multiple DMA channels using an integrated circuit. Another embodiment relates to a system for multiple-channel direct memory access. Other embodiments and features are also disclosed.
US09684613B2
A storage controller of a data storage system maintains, for each interrupt vector, (1) a pending status that indicates whether one or more completions are pending in the completion queue (CQ) associated with the interrupt vector, and (2) an in-progress status that indicates whether or not the storage controller is currently in the process of composing an interrupt. The storage controller utilizes these two statuses to reduce or eliminate spurious interrupts by preventing an interrupt from being composed if there are no completions in the CQ, by preventing an interrupt from being composed if the corresponding interrupt mask has been set before composition of the interrupt begins, and by preventing an interrupt from being sent to the host system in cases where the interrupt mask was set after composition of the interrupt began, but before the interrupt has been sent to the host system.
US09684611B2
Aspects include transmitting a synchronous I/O command to a persistent storage control unit (SCU in response to a synchronous I/O request from an operating system (OS). A unit of work in the OS corresponding to the synchronous I/O request remains active at least until the synchronous I/O request is completed. Based on an operation code of the synchronous I/O command specifying a read operation and in response to detecting that the persistent SCU has stored one or more read data records in a memory located on the processor, the firmware indicates to the OS that the synchronous I/O request is completed. Based on the operation code specifying a write operation and in response to detecting an indication from the persistent SCU that write data has been written or indicating that an error has occurred, indicating to the OS that the synchronous I/O request is completed.
US09684603B2
Techniques are generally described for cache management in a processor with a cache. In response to receiving a bulk memory modification instruction, data blocks of the cache associated with the bulk memory modification instruction may be identified. A cache coherence state of the identified data blocks may also be identified. The updated cache coherence state may be indicative of a zero value of the data blocks and the cache coherence state of the identified data blocks may be updated without modification to a cache data array.
US09684593B1
Techniques are described for storing data. A command is issued from a client to a data storage system. The data storage system includes a plurality of storage tiers comprising a first storage tier of physical storage devices and a second storage tier of physical storage devices, wherein data stored on any physical storage device of the first storage tier is stored in an encrypted form and data stored on any physical storage device of the second storage tier is not stored in an encrypted form. The command includes a hint indicating whether data stored at a first logical address range of a first logical device is stored in an encrypted form. The command is received at the data storage system. First data written to the first logical device at the first logical address range is stored on one or more physical storage devices of any of said first storage tier and said second storage tier in accordance with the hint.
US09684583B2
A method for easily tracing the execution of an application in a computer system having a plurality of computing nodes interconnected by high speed data links is disclosed. While executing the application on one or more of the computing nodes, trace data is collected into a separate temporary trace buffer coupled to each computing node. A trace transfer request event may be generated after collecting a portion of the trace data. The trace data is recorded on a designated recording and analysis computing node by transferring the trace data from each trace buffer to a recording buffer in the designated recording node in response to the transfer request by performing memory mapped write transfers initiated by each computing node that has collected trace data. The address of the recording buffer is memory mapped into an address space of each computing node that has collected trace data.
US09684567B2
Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for hypervisor agnostic interchangeable backup recovery and file level recovery from virtual disks. Data is stored for a first virtual disk that represents data in a first format and metadata for the first virtual disk in a common data format in a storage having a fixed block length. A virtual disk file represents data in a second format that allows variable size blocks. Multiple instances of the fixed block length of blocks of data for the second virtual disk indicated in the virtual disk file are read. Each instance of the read fixed block length of blocks is written to the storage in the common data format with metadata describing the format of the blocks in the second virtual disk, and can be restored to a third virtual disk in the first or second format.
US09684555B2
A correctable memory error may be identified at a first address within a memory device. Based on at least the identifying, a first correctable memory error count may be updated from a first quantity to a second quantity. The second quantity may be determined to exceed or not exceed a threshold. In response to the determining, the first correctable memory error count of the second quantity may be: converted to a third quantity and reported to a host device accordingly, reported to a host device, or not reported to a host device.
US09684551B2
In a data processing system, a switch includes a receive data structure including receive entries each uniquely corresponding to a receive window, where each receive entry includes addressing information for one or more mailboxes into which messages can be injected, a send data structure including send entries each uniquely corresponding to a send window, where each send entry includes a receive window field that identifies one or more receive windows, and switch logic. The switch logic, responsive to a request to push a message to one or more receiving threads, accesses a send entry that corresponds to a send window of the sending thread, utilizes contents of the receive window field of the send entry to access one or more of the receive entries, and pushes the message to one or more mailboxes of one or more receiving threads utilizing the addressing information of the receive entry or entries.
US09684543B1
An apparatus includes a processor and a storage storing instructions causing the processor to: maintain a federated area; receive a request to perform a job flow with a data set from a remote device; retrieve a job flow definition specifying the tasks of the job flow from the federated area; determine whether there is an instance log in the federated area generated by a previous performance of the job flow with the data set; in response to there being such an instance log, compare the version specified in the instance log of each task routine for each task to the most recent version stored in the federated area; and in response to each version specified in the instance log matching the most recent version, provide the remote device with access to a result report generated by the previous performance in lieu of generating a new result report.
US09684537B2
A transaction is detected. The transaction has a begin-transaction indication and an end-transaction indication. If it is determined that the begin-transaction indication is not a no-speculation indication, then the transaction is processed.
US09684535B2
The data storage system according to certain aspects can manage the archiving of virtual machines to (and restoring of virtual machines from) secondary storage. The system can determine whether to archive virtual machines based on usage data or information. The usage information may include storage usage, CPU usage, memory usage, network usage, events defined by a virtual machine software or application, etc. The system may archive virtual machines that are determined to have a low level of utilization. For example, a virtual machine can be archived when its usage level falls below a threshold level. The system may create a virtual machine placeholder for an archived virtual machine, which may be a “light” or minimal version of the virtual machine that acts as if it is the actual virtual machine. By using a virtual machine placeholder, a virtual machine may appear to be active and selectable by the user.
US09684534B2
Data is collected for at least one metric relating to utilization of a computing resource allocated to a virtual machine. The data is compared to decision criteria. A confidence level that the virtual machine is not utilized based, at least in part, on the comparing is determined. A policy is identified that defines an action to be taken for the confidence level. A severity of the action is greater as the confidence level increases. The action is initiated the action in accordance with the policy and confidence level.
US09684533B2
One or more concurrency limits may be checked in connection with the performance of a virtual machine management operation such as a virtual machine deploy, resize or migration operation to enable the virtual machine management operation to be scheduled on a host for which no concurrency limits have been met.
US09684530B2
A system and a method for assigning virtual functions, and a management host thereof are provided. The management host is connected with a computer host through a bridge and has at least one virtual function. A management processor of the management host updates a mapping table according to a virtual function establishing request to assign the at least one virtual function to the computer host according to the mapping table, wherein the management processor determines whether to establish the virtual function according to the mapping table. The management processor transmits a hot-plug event to the corresponding computer host via a switch according to an assignment result and connects the virtual function with the corresponding computer host to dynamically adjust an allocation of the virtual function.
US09684529B2
A system and methods are disclosed for employing firmware metadata and migrating firmware in virtualized environments. In accordance with one example, a hypervisor that is executed by a computer system obtains an address of a firmware program stored in a non-volatile memory of the computer system. The hypervisor also obtains metadata that specifies a set of capabilities of the firmware program, where the metadata is not accessible to any virtual machine hosted by the computer system.
US09684522B2
A method of utilizing a startup wizard is disclosed. The startup wizard guides a user through the installation of a food freshness barcode printer, enabling a non-technical user to complete the installation in minimal time. Specifically, the startup wizard detects first power on or is accessible from a system menu. Then, when the printer is installed, the startup wizard is entered which prompts the user for some or all of the following items: language, date format, product database, network configuration, or other specific elements required for implementation. The user is then guided through the installation process which enables a non-technical user to complete the installation of the food freshness barcode printer in minimal time.
US09684515B2
A condition code can depend upon a numerical output of a floating point operation for a processing pipeline. A classification can be determined for the floating point operation of a received instruction. In response to the classification and using condition determination logic, a value can be calculated for the condition code by inferring from data that is available from the processing pipeline before the numerical output is available. The value for the condition code can be provided to branch decision logic of the processing pipeline.
US09684514B2
A condition code can depend upon a numerical output of a floating point operation for a processing pipeline. A classification can be determined for the floating point operation of a received instruction. In response to the classification and using condition determination logic, a value can be calculated for the condition code by inferring from data that is available from the processing pipeline before the numerical output is available. The value for the condition code can be provided to branch decision logic of the processing pipeline.
US09684498B2
A file processing method applied to an operating system, includes: packaging a first package file which supports a plurality of language versions into a plurality of first single-language package files, wherein the plurality of first single-language package files correspond to the plurality of language versions, respectively; and adding the plurality of first single-language package files to a plurality of language packages, respectively.
US09684491B2
Example systems and methods that provide annotations of item descriptions are described. In one implementation, a method accesses data associated with an item and identifies multiple attributes associated with the item. The method further generates a Java class associated with the item and annotates the Java class to include the attributes associated with the item.
US09684489B2
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for squaring an operand include identifying a fixed-point value with a fixed word size and a substring size for substrings of the fixed-point value, wherein the fixed-point value comprises a binary bit string. A square of the fixed-point value can be determined using the fixed point value, the substring size, and least significant bits of the fixed-point value equal to the substring size.
US09684485B2
A network device transmits to at least one playback device, audio information and playback timing information, wherein the audio information is associated with a first timestamp and a second timestamp; wherein the first timestamp and the second timestamp identify a time to playback the audio information; and wherein the playback timing information comprises the first timestamp. After transmitting the audio information and playback timing information, the network device receives while playback of the audio information is paused via the network interface, a command to resume playback of the audio information; wherein the audio information is paused prior to a time indicated by the first timestamp and second timestamp to play back the audio information. The network device instructs the at least one playback device to update the first timestamp, and updates the second timestamp to facilitate playback the audio information in synchrony.
US09684481B2
In a job processing apparatus and a method of controlling the same according to this invention, if a setting has been made to automatically transmit history information of an executed job, history information printed by a print unit is not managed as output history information. On the other hand, if no setting has been made to automatically transmit the history information, control is performed to manage, as output history information, the history information printed by the print unit.
US09684479B1
In a method for adapting a label-making tool, a selection component may be presented via a user interface. The selection component may include a finite set of items corresponding to types of objects for labels. User input selecting an item corresponding to a type of label object may be received. Data-acquisition actions performable by the label-making tool to obtain data for the label object may be identified based on the type of the label object. A selection component including a finite set of items corresponding to the data-acquisition actions may be presented. User input selecting an item corresponding to a data-acquisition action may be received. The workflow of a label-making tool may be adapted to include the data-acquisition action. The tool may be configured to perform the data-acquisition action to generate a label including the obtained data.
US09684478B2
A network-enabled device can operate to permit user access to the depletable resource only if information stored on the device indicates that the replenishment for the depleted resource is being obtained from an appropriate or approved source.
US09684477B2
According to an aspect of the invention, an image processing device includes a storage that stores character information, which is information affecting legibility of a character, on a character-by-character basis, and circuitry configured to determine a toner saving ratio for each character contained in a to-be-printed image so that legibility of the character achieves a preset target value at the determined toner saving ratio by assessing the legibility of the character based on the character information.
US09684470B2
An image version of a source instance is prepared and is transferred to a destination environment. Two or more copies of the transferred image version of the source instance are created at the destination environment. The first copy of the transferred image version of the source instance is adjusted while the source instance is in use. The second copy of the transferred image version of the source instance is resynchronized with one or more changes made to the source instance. The adjustments made to the first copy of the source instance are applied to the resynchronized second copy of the source instance.
US09684466B2
A semiconductor device in which unwanted change in the secondary data which must be reliable is suppressed and the need for a considerable increase in the capacity of a memory unit can be avoided. Also it ensures efficient data processing by asymmetric access to the memory unit. It includes a memory unit having a first memory without an error correcting function, a second memory with an error correcting function, and a plurality of access nodes for the memories. A plurality of buses is coupled to the access nodes and a plurality of data processing modules can asymmetrically access the memory unit through the buses. The first memory stores primary data before data processing by the data processing modules, and the second memory stores secondary data after data processing by the data processing modules.
US09684463B1
Predictive block allocation in a flash device, where the flash device includes a plurality of blocks may include: receiving a request to store data to the flash device; determining, in dependence upon one or more characteristics of the data, a usage prediction value for the data; determining, in dependence upon the usage prediction value for the data and upon wear levels for the plurality of blocks, a block from among the plurality of blocks; and; and storing the data in the block of the plurality of blocks.
US09684460B1
A system and method for scheduling read and write operations among a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array comprises an I/O scheduler. The data storage controller is configured to receive requests targeted to the data storage medium, said requests including a first type of operation and a second type of operation. The controller is further configured to schedule requests of the first type for immediate processing by said plurality of storage devices, and queue requests of the second type for later processing by the plurality of storage devices. Operations of the first type may correspond to operations with an expected relatively low latency, and operations of the second type may correspond to operations with an expected relatively high latency.
US09684452B2
The system includes host computers, file servers and a storage system having automated page-based management means. The storage system interface receives instructions to change the condition for decision for migration regarding particular parts or the whole volume. The host computer can control execution of the migration performed by the storage system by specifying areas or volumes with the condition via the interface. Highly optimized, appropriate data placement and data relocation in computer system can be achieved when the application, host computer or management computer can recognize or predict the usage of the data or files. The storage system having automated page-based management may include compression/decompression and a control method for the compression and decompression process.
US09684448B2
A device and user interface for visually impaired users for, and methods for manufacturing and using same. One aspect includes a method of providing a device user interface for visually impaired users and receiving touch-based user input via the interface, the method including: replacing automatically a default device user interface with the device user interface for visually impaired users; presenting via a touch screen of the user device a first menu item comprising menu text; and presenting via a speaker of the user device a first audio message corresponding to the first menu item text. Another aspect includes a user device for visually impaired users comprising a touch screen configured to receive touch input from a user and present a touch-input interface for Braille input comprising a plurality of input regions defined by and separated by input region boundaries.
US09684415B2
An optical touch-control system is provided. The optical touch-control system includes: a display unit; a light source; a retro-reflective touch-control device; at least two image capturing units, and a processor. The image capturing units are configured to capture a plurality of images in front of the display unit, which are generated by the retro-reflective touch-control device reflecting the light emitted from the light source. The processor determines whether at least one first cluster is in the images from the image capturing units based on a first threshold. The processor further calculates a touch position of the retro-reflective touch-control device on the display unit based on the at least one first cluster.
US09684411B1
A method and apparatus of detecting user initiated movement by an input element handled by a user is disclosed. The method may include performing a calibration procedure that is initiated by the user via a physical movement performed by the user. The method may also include positioning at least one sensor to dynamically adjust a size of an effective workspace range capable of detecting the user's movement of the input element.
US09684409B2
A method calculates the position of a conductive object hovering above a plurality of mutual capacitance sensors, where each mutual capacitance sensor is represented as a unit cell in an array of unit cells. The method measures the capacitance of each sensor. The method identifies a peak unit cell based on the measured capacitances and calculates an edge cutoff value. A plurality of unit cells with measured capacitances within a range defined by the edge cutoff value are selected and the position of the hovering object is calculated. In some embodiments, the array comprises a first plurality of capacitance sensing electrodes disposed along a first axis and a second plurality of capacitance sensing electrodes disposed along a second axis. In some embodiments, the array and a controller form a user interface device, and the controller is configured to calculate the position of the conductive object using the method described above.
US09684403B2
A method of controlling a touch screen of an electronic device includes the following steps: switching the touch screen from a normal state into a shrunk state; and confining a touch interactive region of the touch screen to a sub-region of the touch screen and positioning a non-interactive region of the touch screen away from an edge of the touch screen to be partially covered by a finger performing an operation when the touch screen is in the shrunk state. The touch interactive region is a region within which the touch screen displays an interactive frame, and when the touch screen is in the normal state, the touch interactive region extends beyond the sub-region.
US09684402B2
Provided are a touch display panel and a touch display device. The touch display panel comprises a TFT array substrate (200) and a color film substrate (100) arranged opposite to each other. The TFT array substrate (200) comprises: a plurality of touch drive wires (TD), a plurality of touch sensing wires (TS), and a plurality of touch TFTs (220), one of the source (2053) and the drain (2054) of the touch TFTs (220) is electrically connected to the touch drive wires (TD), and the other one of the source (2053) and the drain (2054) of the touch TFTs (220) is electrically connected to the touch sensing wires (TS). The color film substrate (100) comprises: a plurality of conductive pillars (110) facing the TFT array substrate (200), and the conductive pillars (110) are arranged corresponding to the touch TFTs (220) to control the channel current of the touch TFTs (220). TFT arrays in the provided touch display panel and touch display device are compatible with the existing pixel array structure and technology, without adding additional process steps, and the realization of the touch function and the realization of the display function do not interfere with each other.
US09684400B2
The present invention provides a capacitive sensing detection method for an active pixel matrix. The method comprises to select a first sensing region in the active pixel matrix. Then, a first signal is transferred to the first sensing region. Next, a second sensing region is selected. A second signal is transferred to the second sensing region for sensing. Finally, a change of the first signal and the second signal is detected and calculated to determine a position.
US09684393B2
A display control device (500) is the display control device (500) that controls output of display data to a plurality of display units that are arranged on different surfaces of a case, comprising a posture detection unit (510), a visibility state determination unit (520), and a display data output unit (530). The posture detection unit (510) detects a posture of the case. The visibility state determination unit (520) determines a display unit that is visually recognizable to the user from among the plurality of display units according to the posture of the case detected by the posture detection unit (510). The display data output unit (530) outputs the display data to the display unit that the visibility state determination unit (520) determined as visually recognizable to the user.
US09684392B2
Provided is an in-car operation display device which improves the operability of a display unit. The display unit is used for indications and operations for car-installed functions such as settings and instructions of the car-installed functions. An operating means (first switch plate SpL, second switch plate SpR) includes an operating-plate portion (6L, 6R) configured to be operated to move along a display screen 5a of a display unit 5. The operating-plate portion (6L, 6R) includes a protruding switch portion (touch-sensor protrusion 10-15).
US09684391B1
An exemplary embodiment of a touch tool mechanism includes a touch tool, including a stylus and an elongated bar connected with the stylus. The mechanism is carried on a pen holder. A rotating sleeve assembly is rotatable by the user, which extends the stylus above a retracted position for use in operating on an intelligent device. Further rotation of the sleeve assembly retracts the stylus into a storage position.
US09684388B2
An apparatus, method, and computer program product are described that can receive a signal from a tangible object, where the signal includes an indication of an operation to be executed upon receipt of a user input applied by the tangible object, and that can determine the operation based on the indication. In this way, the user is not required to provide additional user input to define the particular operation that is desired. The apparatus may determine at least one recipient with whom data selected via a user input applied by the tangible object may be shared. The apparatus may further provide for the determination of an operation to be executed based on an identification of a selection of content and may provide for the association of the operation with the tangible object, such that subsequent user input applied via the tangible object causes execution of the operation.
US09684372B2
A system and method for human computer interaction (HCI), may acquire image data, determine an interaction intended to be conducted by a user based on various gestures and poses of the user detected from the image data, and perform an operation and/or function which is displayed on a display of a display unit, in response to a result of the interaction.
US09684369B2
An immersive virtual reality system for larger, theater-sized audiences is disclosed. The system enables multiple users to collaborate or work together as a group, or enable groups to compete. Users interact with the virtual reality system through the manipulation of handheld interactive devices. Each device has multiple lights forming a pattern. Tracking sensors monitor the handheld devices, and the system interprets the motions of the users and dynamically changes the virtual reality environment based on the motions of the users. The system may assign unique roles for users within a group.
US09684358B2
An electrical appliance includes a communication unit receiving energy related information from the outside; a control unit receiving the energy related information from the communication unit; an energy consumption component operating by the control unit; and an input unit receiving a command for selecting an operation mode of the energy consumption component. The operation mode of the energy consumption component includes a first power saving mode in which the operation of the energy consumption component is restricted on a basis of the energy related information, and a second power saving mode in which the operation of the energy consumption component is restricted irrespective of the energy related information. One of the first and second power saving modes is selected through the input unit.
US09684352B2
A memory system and an operating method thereof stably supplies power, so that it is possible to improve performance of a memory system by omitting an operation, which has been performed in order to prevent an error due to the blocking of a power supply, in a condition in which an error due to the blocking of the power supply may not be generated.
US09684350B2
An apparatus is described herein. The apparatus includes a plurality of electrical components, wherein at least one component is to increase a total impedance at a port. The apparatus also includes a comparator, wherein the comparator is to determine an additional impedance from the plurality of electrical components at the port and adjust the impedance to maintain signal integrity along a trace to the port in response to a device being coupled with the port.
US09684347B2
Certain embodiments herein relate to automated display of permissive logic in control systems associated with a power generation unit. A control device may be configured to provide automated updates of system data, such as signals received from power generation equipment, to a human machine interface (HMI) or a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) display, as non-limiting examples. A logic builder block may receive permissive logic configurations, including one or more combinational logic blocks. A logic builder block may be associated with power generation equipment to facilitate the identification of related system data and the subsequent association of the system data to corresponding input pins for the combinational logic blocks. The permissive logic configurations may be compiled into object code and downloaded to the control device, where it may be executed to perform the above described functions, among other functions.
US09684346B2
A power supply includes a main body having a coupling face and a handlebar. The coupling face includes a first end and a second end forming a power socket. The handlebar includes a first beam coupled to the first end and a second beam. The first beam extends a tab outwardly. The handlebar defines a window configured to expose the power socket. The handlebar is transitionable between: (i) a first configuration in which the second beam couples the second end, the window corresponds and exposes the power socket, the tab extends toward a first direction, and (ii) a second configuration in which the second beam is remote from the second end, the window is remote from the power socket, and the tab extends toward a second direction different from the first direction. A method for removing the power supply from a case of an electronic device is also provided.
US09684343B2
The description relates to devices, such as computing devices that have hinged portions. One example can include a display portion that includes a display screen and an input portion that includes an input device. This example can also include a radius hinge assembly rotatably securing the first and second portions. The radius hinge assembly can be configured to provide a curvilinear articulation that allows 360 degrees of relative rotation between the first and second portions.
US09684334B2
A tablet computer device comprises a overlay membrane detachably couplable to the tablet computer device to protect a display element of the tablet computer device, the overlay membrane having an integrated keyboard.
US09684322B2
A voltage limiting device for limiting the voltage being transferred from a trunk circuit to a spur circuit of a distributed control network includes an AC signal device that passes the AC data signals between the trunk circuit and the spur circuit.
US09684319B2
A method for entering an operation mode in a low-temperature environment is applicable in a situation that plural electronic devices in an electronic apparatus are not activated. Through performing the method, the electronic apparatus obtains a temperature of each electronic device after receiving a request of a user. Then the electronic apparatus determines whether the temperatures of all the electronic devices reach a threshold value. If the temperatures of at least two electronic devices do not reach the threshold value, the electronic apparatus generates a plurality of corresponding enable signals for the electronic devices having the temperatures lower than the threshold value. The waveforms of the enable signals vary alternately. The electronic apparatus transfers the enable signals to a plurality of corresponding heaters. Being activated by the received enable signal, each of the heaters heats the corresponding electronic device.
US09684318B2
A gas distribution system is provided for use in an enclosed volume. This system includes a distribution duct and a first inflatable duct portion in fluid communication with the distribution duct. A passageway is provided defining an opening which extends through the passageway wherein the opening is in fluid communication with the first inflatable duct portion and wherein a cross-sectional area of the opening is less than a cross-sectional area of the first inflatable duct portion. Additionally, an inflatable enclosure is provided which is in fluid communication with the opening of the passageway wherein the inflatable enclosure is configured to form a volume within and separated from the enclosed volume.
US09684313B2
An automatic water drain apparatus includes a reservoir, a fluid inlet, and a fluid outlet. A first valve member is moveable between an open position for admitting fluid to the reservoir via the fluid inlet and a closed position for preventing admission of fluid to the reservoir. A second valve member is moveable between an open position for exhausting fluid from the reservoir and a closed position for preventing exhaust of fluid from the reservoir. At least one actuator is operable to move the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet between their respective open and closed positions. A sensor is disposed outside the reservoir and is operable to produce a first sensor output signal in response to detection of the presence of water, wherein the at least one actuator moves the first valve to the open position in response to the first sensor output signal.
US09684309B2
A guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system guides an aircraft based on a special partial differential equation (PDE). The system does not depend on a predetermined desired flight path. To overcome effects of unpredictable wind speed and direction, systems and methods effectively repeatedly determine the worst landing the wind can cause and issue flight control commands that minimize among these worst outcomes. A function C that satisfies the PDE calculates smallest miss distance a guidance system can bring about by appropriately steering an aircraft, given the aircraft's current heading, current location relative to a target and current remaining amount of time to fly. The system repeatedly determines at least a component of a current gradient of the function C. A value of the gradient component is used to select an appropriate flight control command, such as turn left or turn right.
US09684304B2
A communication module for controlling a motor vehicle, which is configured for receiving vehicle-independent commands and converting these received commands into a target trajectory of the motor vehicle, and transmitting this target trajectory to an implementation module which is configured for associating a sequence of control commands for components of the motor vehicle with this transmitted target trajectory.
US09684283B2
A pivot for a timepiece mechanism, including a first rotational guide member for radially holding an arbor in a plate, and a second front guide member for axially limiting an end of the arbor, and including at least one resilient shock absorber acting on at least the first rotational guide member and/or the second front guide member. The resilient shock absorber is made in a one-piece manner in a micromachinable material or in silicon or quartz or diamond with a structural element other than the first rotational guide member and the second front guide member.
US09684277B2
Provided are a process cartridge and an image-forming method each of which has a satisfactory cleaning property even at the initial stage of the use of a brand-new process cartridge or electrophotographic apparatus, and hence can suppress a reduction in image quality due to the contamination of a charging member. The charge transporting layer of an electrophotographic photosensitive member contains a specific polyarylate resin or polycarbonate resin, and a toner contains a specific fine particle on the surface of a toner particle.
US09684264B2
A toner container installed in an image forming apparatus includes a toner container main body having a predetermined length and in which toner is accommodated, a discharge port through which the toner is discharged from the toner container main body, a shutter which opens and closes the discharge port, a handle provided on the toner container main body, and a pressed portion provided on the toner container main body and which is pressed by the image forming apparatus to project the handle out from the image forming apparatus.
US09684261B2
A cartridge for use with a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the cartridge being dismountable from the main assembly and including (i) a developing roller for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, the developing roller being rotatable about an axis thereof; and (ii) a coupling member capable of taking a rotational force transmitting angular position for transmitting a rotational force for rotating the developing roller to the developing roller and a disengaging angular position in which the coupling member is inclined away from the rotational force transmitting angular position.
US09684255B2
Provided is a coating agent having a polymerizable compound containing a hydroxyl group in the molecule, conductive inorganic particles whose surface is treated with a dispersing agent having a nitrogen atom in the molecule, and a solvent, in which when the interatomic distance between an oxygen atom of the hydroxyl group and the atom farthest away from the oxygen atom in the molecule of the polymerizable compound is represented by D1 and the interatomic distance between the nitrogen atom and the atom farthest away from the nitrogen atom in the molecule of the dispersing agent is represented by D2, D1 and D2 satisfy the relationship represented by the following formula (1). [(|D1−D2|)/D2]≦0.30 Formula (1)
US09684240B2
To provide a negative-working photosensitive siloxane composition developable inorganically, and also to provide a cured film-manufacturing method employing that. The present invention provides a negative-working photosensitive siloxane composition comprising a polysiloxane, a silicon-containing compound having an ureido bond, a polymerization initiator, and a solvent. This composition is coat on a substrate, exposed to light, and developed, so that a cured film can be obtained without carrying out post-exposure baking.
US09684233B2
A curable composition for imprints, containing (A1) a polymerizable compound having at least one of a fluorine atom and a silicon atom, (A2) a polymerizable compound having an aromatic group and (B) a photopolymerization initiator, exhibits good patternability in repeated pattern transferring and solvent resistance.
US09684225B2
A controller controls a focus lens driver so as to maintain an in-focus state associated with a magnification variation, based on information on a tracking curve that represents a position of the focus lens corresponding to an object distance and a focal length of an image-pickup optical system. The controller controls the focus lens driver so as to prevent the focus lens from being moved for focusing based on a difference between an actual position of the focus lens and the position of the focus lens indicated by the tracking curve in a case the focus lens driver is driving the focus lens based on information on the tracking curve.
US09684212B2
A liquid crystal device comprises a first substrate, a second substrate, an insulating film, and a first, second, and third translucent electrode. The second substrate is disposed facing the first substrate. The first translucent electrode is disposed between the second substrate and the first substrate. The second translucent electrode is disposed between the first translucent electrode and the first substrate. The insulating film is disposed between the second translucent electrode and the first substrate. The third translucent electrode is disposed between the insulating film and the first substrate.
US09684207B2
Provided are: a polymer for alignment films, which enables the production of a liquid crystal display device that is suppressed in image burn-in even if the light irradiation time is reduced; and a liquid crystal display device which is suppressed in image burn-in even if the light irradiation time is reduced. A polymer for alignment films, which has a main chain and a side chain that contains a structure represented by chemical formula —O—C(C6H5)(CO—C6H5)—O—; and a liquid crystal display device which comprises a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal layer that is held between the pair of substrates, and wherein at least one of the substrates has an alignment film, on which a polymer layer for controlling the alignment of liquid crystal molecules is formed, and the alignment film is formed using a polymer for alignment films, which has a main chain and a side chain that contains a structure represented by chemical formula —O—C(C6H5)(CO—C6H5)—O—.
US09684203B2
A selectively-absorptive wire grid polarizer comprising an array of parallel, elongated rods disposed over a surface of a transparent substrate with gaps between adjacent rods, each of the rods including a reflective wire sandwiched between two absorptive ribs. A method of making this wire grid polarizer. A use of this wire grid polarizer in an image projection system.
US09684197B2
An electro-optic device includes: a liquid crystal panel which includes an element substrate, a facing substrate arranged so as to face the element substrate with a sealing material interposed therebetween, and a liquid crystal layer sealed in a region surrounded by the sealing material; and a mold which covers an outer circumference of the liquid crystal panel and functions as a mold, in which the mold covers a region, which is overlapped with at least a part of the sealing material in a plan view, from an end of the element substrate and an end of the facing substrate on a surface of the element substrate on an opposite side to the liquid crystal layer and a surface of the facing substrate on an opposite side to the liquid crystal layer, and in which a surface of the mold has liquid repellency.
US09684196B2
A display device having a flexured element. More particularly, the display device may incorporate a cover glass with one or more flexure bearing sections. The flexure bearing may permit the cover glass to flex and/or bend in response to stresses or strains while still maintaining contact with an attachment point. If the attachment points have different heights, for example, the cover glass may flex at the flexure bearing, thereby permitting the portion of the cover glass between the attachment points to maintain a relatively planar alignment.
US09684188B2
A hinge and joint for a pair of eyeglasses is disclosed. A split frame has upper and lower rim end pieces that bend and extend rearwardly. A vertically-extending hollow shaft is provided on the end of a temple. A spring or springs are positioned laterally between the rim end pieces and the shaft, such that the shaft bears against the spring or springs. A U-shaped housing fits over the exterior top, bottom, and side of the joint and has a pair of aligned slots in top and bottom flanges. A pin is placed through the aligned slots in the housing and the shaft of the temple. Lateral force provided by the spring or springs biases the joint away from the aligned position, and that force, in combination with upper and lower shoulders on the pin, keep the joint and hinge together.
US09684185B2
A therapeutic eyewear frame is disclosed. A therapeutic agent is integrated with one or more frame before, during or after forming a material into the frame, the therapeutic agent having between 100 and 10,000 negative ions per cubic centimeter.
US09684183B2
SMA actuator wires in an SMA actuation apparatus are connected in tension between a movable element and a support structure, applying forces to the movable element in opposed directions. Measures of the resistances of the SMA actuator wires are detected. A feedback difference measure is derived being the sum of the measures of resistance of the SMA actuator wires, relatively scaled by factors, in respect of the SMA actuator wires, the magnitude of which represents a component along the predetermined axis of a force applied by the SMA actuator wire and the sign of which represents a direction along the predetermined axis. The ratio has opposite signs for respective ones of said opposed directions. The powers of drive signals supplied to the SMA actuator wires are controlled in response to the feedback difference measure to reduce the difference between the feedback difference measure and a target difference measure.
US09684182B2
An optical image offset device for compensating for or producing a lateral offset of an image of an observation object (41) in an optical observation device (33) is provided. The optical image offset device comprises at least two optical wedges (1, 3) which are arranged successively along an optical axis (OA) and which are respectively composed of at least two optical elements (5, 7, 9, 11). Each optical wedge (1, 3) has an adjustable wedge angle (α, β) Furthermore the optical wedges (1, 3) have different refractive indices and different dispersions.
US09684181B2
The optical device includes a diffuser which diffuses light, a holder which holds the diffuser, a driver which vibrates the holder, and a supporter whose one end elastically supports the holder at one point and whose other end is fixed to an installation plane.
US09684179B2
A presentation device according to the present invention includes a panel-shaped image-forming optical element and a flat panel display, and forms a video picture (image) appearing on the display as a spatial image in space over the image-forming optical element. Between the upper surface of the image-forming optical element and the spatial image, a plate (guide plate) having an opening corresponding to the planar shape of the image-forming optical element is disposed at an attitude inclined upwardly from the front toward the back side with respect to the image-forming optical element, whereby the spatial image floats up through the opening of the guide plate. This allows anyone to view a three-dimensional spatial image rich in a sense of depth without experience and skill automatically in an appropriate direction from an appropriate position.
US09684178B2
A solid state illuminator for generating time sequential 6-primary color includes a first light source, a second light source, a path choosing module, a multi-band filter, a first photoluminescence module, a second photoluminescence module, a first optical module, and a second optical module. The first light source and the second light source provide a first beam with a first wavelength and a second beam with a second wavelength respectively, and the first wavelength is not overlapped with the second wavelength. The first optical module enables the first beam to enter the first photoluminescence module and guide the beam to pass through the multi-band filter to arrive at a predetermined position. The second optical module enables the second beam to enter the second photoluminescence module and guide the beam to be reflected by the multi-band filter to arrive at the predetermined position.
US09684167B2
When a combiner is used, a cut part of a shift in an outer circumferential edge portion of the combiner is reduced, and a front scenery of a vehicle is more easily seen and recognized. A vehicular display device includes a displayer 4 configured to project display information; and a combiner 1 which enlarges and reflects the display information projected to the displayer 4, images the display information on a vehicle front side, and shows both a virtual image made by the imaging and the front scenery of the vehicle which is seen through. The thickness of an end portion of the combiner 1 gradually becomes thinner as being close to an edge of the combiner 1.
US09684160B2
The present disclosure relates to an electrowetting display device and a manufacturing method for the same, using a UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer. The UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer can include a UV-cured fluorine based material positioned above a cured UV reactive material. In an embodiment, the electrowetting display device can also include a substrate with a layer of pixel electrodes formed over the substrate, and partition walls formed over at least a portion of the layer of pixel electrodes. In one embodiment, the UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer can be formed between the partition walls and above an inter-layer insulation film. In another embodiment, the UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer can be formed between the partition walls and above the layer of pixel electrodes. The electrowetting display can also include a water repellent layer formed over the UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer.
US09684150B2
An optical image capturing system includes, along the optical axis in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, and a fifth lens. At least one lens among the first to the fifth lenses has positive refractive force. The fifth lens can have negative refractive force, wherein both surfaces thereof are aspheric, and at least one surface thereof has an inflection point. The lenses in the optical image capturing system which have refractive power include the first to the fifth lenses. The optical image capturing system can increase aperture value and improve the imagining quality for use in compact cameras.
US09684147B2
A changeable lens barrel includes a fixed barrel formed in an annular shape a straight-advancing barrel housed in the fixed barrel during non-photographing and extended to an outside of the fixed barrel during photographing, and a first annular member that turns according to manual operation. When the changeable lens barrel is in a photographable state, a part of an outer circumference of the first annular member is exposed to an outside and a front end face of the annular member forward in an optical axis direction is located further forward than a front end face of the fixed barrel, and, when the changeable lens barrel is in an un-photographable state, a rear end face backward in the optical axis direction is within the fixed barrel and the rear end face is present further backward in the optical axis direction than when the changeable lens barrel is in the photographable state.
US09684135B2
In an optoelectrical connector including two connectors to be interconnected, each having at least one optical connection part and at least two electrical connection parts, the electrical connection parts of one of the connectors are pins and the electrical connection parts of the other connector are spring contacts. The connector having the spring contacts includes, before the spring contacts, positioning holes in which the pins are to be inserted. The tips of the pins come into contact with the spring contacts to make electrical connection. The bases of the pins fit in the positioning holes to perform positioning for optical connection. The optoelectrical connector can be smaller, lighter, and thinner.
US09684131B2
Embodiments are provided for an improved 2×1 switch cell design with integrated photodiode for off-state monitoring. In an embodiment, am optical switch comprises a 2×1 multi-mode interferometer (MMI) coupler including two input waveguides jointly coupled to an output waveguide, and a photodetector coupled to an edge of a first waveguide of the input waveguides, and positioned next to a side of the output waveguide. In another embodiment, an optical chip comprises two input waveguides parallel to each other, and an output waveguide coupled to the two input waveguides. The optical chip further includes a photodetector coupled to a first waveguide of the two input waveguides, and positioned next to the output waveguide, and a branch waveguide extending from the first waveguide into the photodetector.
US09684127B2
An optical device includes a first optical cavity, a second optical cavity, a first light guide and a second light guide. Each of the first and second optical cavities is formed on a semiconductor substrate, and is configured to store light. The first light guide has an input, and is optically coupled to the first optical cavity by a first coupling strength. In addition, the first light guide is optically coupled to the second optical cavity by a second coupling strength. The second light guide has an output, and is coupled to the second optical cavity by a third coupling strength. The first coupling strength is greater than the second coupling strength, and the third coupling strength is greater than the second coupling strength.
US09684126B2
An optical module that implements an MMI device including an optical hybrid primarily made of semiconductor material is disclosed. The MMI device, which has a rectangular plane shape and includes multi-mode couplers, is mounted on a carrier. The carrier provides a step extending in a whole lateral width of a top surface thereof, where the step makes a gap against the MMI device in an area where the MMI couplers are formed.
US09684117B2
A backlight assembly includes an upper reflective layer including a plurality of first openings; a lower reflective layer secured to the upper reflective layer; a light guide plate disposed between the upper and lower reflective layers; an opaque shading layer disposed on one surface of the upper reflective layer; and a circuit board disposed above the shading layer and including a circuit and a plurality of second openings. Light with enhanced brightness is transmitted to bottoms of keycaps of an input device of a 3C product with energy consumed to a minimum during light transmitting.
US09684103B2
A structured light generation device includes a first surface structure and a second surface structure, which are opposed to each other. The first surface structure includes a diffractive optical element. The second surface structure includes a lenticular lens structure. By the diffractive optical element, an incident dot beam is processed into plural dot beams with different sizes and different brightness values. By the lenticular lens structure, the each dot beam is expanded to a linear beam. After the single dot beam is processed by the structured light generation device, a structured light is generated. The structured light generation device can be applied to a projection system with a 3D gesture sensing control or detection device.
US09684099B2
A flexible display device includes an antireflective film on an image display surface of the flexible display device, wherein the antireflective film includes an antireflective layer disposed on at least one surface of a transparent resin film having flexibility and including inorganic particles and matrix resin, wherein a volumetric ratio of the inorganic particles in the antireflective layer is equal to or larger than 40 vol %, wherein a diameter of each of the inorganic particles is within a range of 5 to 200 nm, wherein a thickness of the antireflective layer is within a range of 50 to 200 nm, and wherein there is no crack when a bending test of the antireflective film is performed based on JIS K 5600-5-1 and using a cylindrical mandrel with a diameter of 2 mm.
US09684094B2
A photonic crystal supporting highly frequency-sensitive self-collimation phenomenon, which is formed by at least two kinds of materials, and has a periodic distribution of refractive index, the photonic crystal has straight equi-frequency contours or flat equi-frequency surfaces in a certain band in the first Brillouin zone of wave-vector space, and the frequency-sensitivity of self-collimation is at least 50 times higher than the change rate of curvatures of the equi-frequency contours or the equi-frequency surfaces with frequencies in a vacuum.
US09684090B1
Nulling utility locators including a transmitter element, a sensing element, and an electronic circuit for processing signals from the transmitting element to at least partially cancel each other and determine information associated with a buried utility are disclosed.
US09684088B2
Disclosed are methods and systems for using a rigid-stem assembly comprising a plurality of interconnected rigid stems in a marine survey. An embodiment discloses a geophysical sensor streamer comprising a rigid-stem assembly comprising a plurality of rigid stems that are interconnected and each comprise a stem body defining one or more interior chambers, wherein a geophysical sensor is incorporated into one or more of the rigid stems.
US09684086B2
A method for marine seismic surveying includes separating up-going and down-going wavefields from seismic energy emitted by at least one marine seismic energy source. The separated up-going and down-going wavefields are propagated from the at least one marine seismic energy source to at least one of a water surface and a common reference depth. One of the up-going and down-going wavefields is phase shifted 180 degrees. The propagated, phase shifted up-going and down-going wavefields are summed.
US09684085B2
A method for maximizing a repeatability between a base seismic survey and a monitor seismic survey of a same surveyed subsurface during a 4-dimensional (4D) project. The method includes receiving first seismic data associated with the base seismic survey; receiving second seismic data associated with the monitor seismic survey, wherein the monitor seismic survey is performed later in time than the base seismic survey; estimating subsurface reflection-points and incidence angles; determining 4D-binning based on the estimated subsurface reflection-points and incidence angles; and maximizing the repeatability between the first seismic data and the second seismic data by using the 4D-binning.
US09684083B2
An X-ray detector panel includes a plurality of photodetector wafers are arranged in a photodetector array. Each photodetector wafer comprises a sensing surface, a contact surface disposed opposite the sensing surface, and an electrical contact coupled to the contact surface. A substrate is coupled to the photodetector array such that the photodetector array is substantially surrounded by the substrate and a face surface of the substrate is substantially coplanar with the sensing surface. A scintillator is coupled to the face surface of the substrate and substantially covers the sensing surfaces of the photodetector array. A scintillator cover is substantially sealingly coupled to the face surface.
US09684081B2
An approach is provided for generating location data error maps. The approach involves determining location data error information associated with at least one set of location data. The approach also involves causing, at least in part, an encoding of the location data error information as a function of a position parameter. The approach further involves causing, at least in part, a generation of at least one location data error map based, at least in part, on the encoding.
US09684070B2
A radar apparatus measures at least one characteristic of at least one object. A sweep generator generates a sweep signal to modulate an oscillator to generate a varying frequency signal. A transmitter transmits the varying frequency signal as a radar signal. A receiver receives a reflected radar signal to produce a received signal using the varying frequency signal. A compensation signal memory holds a previously stored compensation signal. A compensation circuit compensates the received signal based on the previously stored compensation signal to produce a compensated received signal. A quiet switch quiets the reflected radar signal and determines the previously stored compensation signal, during calibration of the radar apparatus, and the received signal is written into the compensation signal memory. Switched loads can be used to quiet the reflected radar signal. For field calibration, the compensated signal can be adjusted but not necessarily written back into the compensation signal memory.
US09684061B2
A method and a device for determining a fill level of a medium using the radar principle that has a high degree of accuracy and reliability. In accordance with the method, an electromagnetic signal is transmitted from a transmitting device and an electromagnetic signal is received for determining the fill level. Thereby, a slope of the transmitting device relative to the force of gravity and an evaluation value dependent on the determined slope are identified for determining the fill level.
US09684060B2
Spatially located ultrasound beacons are provided in known locations within a distributed communication system. The ultrasound beacons are configured to emit ultrasound pulses that can be received by client devices in ultrasound communication range of the beacons. The client devices are configured to analyze the received ultrasound pulses from the beacons to determine their time-difference of arrival and as a result, their location(s) within the distributed communication system. The client devices comprise inertial navigation systems (INS) that calculate client device location as the client device moves, and when received ultrasound signals are below a predefined threshold.
US09684050B2
A method for producing an image of an object located in the field of view of a Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging system including determining a center of an echo, shifting the data elements of the raw matrix by whole positions to align the center of the echo, multiplying the shifted raw matrix by a low pass filter, Fourier transforming the filtered matrix, dividing each nonzero pixel of the low resolution complex image by its magnitude, calculating a blending function shifted by the determined fractional echo position, multiplying each data element of each row of the raw matrix by corresponding blending function coefficient values, performing a two-dimensional Fourier transform in row directions and column directions, multiplying the complex image by a complex conjugate of the phase map and extracting the real part of the complex numbers in the phase corrected image to provide the image of the object.
US09684049B2
In a method and apparatus to acquire correction data in connection with pulse sequences to acquire measurement data whose echo times—the duration between excitation and measurement data acquisition of the pulse sequences—are less than 500 microseconds, the pulse sequences acquire measurement data by repetition of a pulse sequence scheme, wherein different gradients for spatial coding are switched in each repetition, and correction data are acquired every n repetitions in a time window in which no gradients are switched, wherein n is a predetermined natural number. The method and apparatus enable correction of measurement data with which solid substances can be depicted without the hardware being used needing to be adapted and without external sensors being necessary.
US09684044B2
In order to provide a technique which can suppress coupling to homogenize the spatial distribution of an RF magnetic field and can improve penetration of the RF magnetic field into the subject, pad-like electric field conductors having a predetermined area are provided outside both ends of a rung conductor as a part of a configuration which forms a loop-like circuit and is driven as an antenna. An antenna device includes a sheet-like conductor, a rung conductor which is arranged at a predetermined distance from the sheet-like conductor, two electric field conductors which are arranged in both end portions of the rung conductor at a predetermined distance from the sheet-like conductor, and connection terminals which are transmission and reception terminals provided in the rung conductor and the sheet-like conductor. The rung conductor and the sheet-like conductor configure a loop circuit which resonates at a preset frequency.
US09684041B2
A production method of a gas cell includes: forming a coating layer on a surface of a plate material; assembling a plurality of the plate materials having the coating layer formed thereon so as to form a cell surrounded by the surface having the coating layer formed thereon; and filling the formed cell with an alkali metal gas.
US09684038B2
A magnetic field sensor system has a plurality of magnetic field sensor elements, which each are configured to provide an individual sensor value, and of which a first portion is arranged in a first contiguous area and a second portion is arranged in a second contiguous area, and a coil wire arrangement with a first coil portion and at least a second coil portion being connected to the first coil portion, wherein the first coil portion is arranged close to the sensor elements of the first area and the second coil portion is arranged close to the sensor elements of the second area such that, if a predetermined current is applied to the coil wire arrangement, a first magnetic field component is generated at the first area and a second magnetic field component is generated at the second area being opposite to the first magnetic field component. The magnetic field sensor system is configured to produce a total sensor value that is based on a difference between the individual sensor values provided within the areas.
US09684032B2
A Propagation Test instruction, a Decay Test instruction and a Cycle Test instruction provide testing of DC and AC interconnect circuits between circuits including JTAG boundary scan cells. A few additions to the Test Access Port circuitry, including gating producing a Capture Test Strobe (CTS) signal, and the boundary scan cells are required to implement the additional instructions. The instructions are extensions of the conventional JTAG operating structure.
US09684021B2
This disclosure describes techniques for measuring the resistance of a component with measurement circuitry that is electrically coupled to the component via one or more electrical conductors (e.g., one or more bond wires). The resistance measurement techniques of this disclosure may measure a resistance of an electrical conductor, and generate a value indicative of a resistance of a component other than the electrical conductor based on the measured resistance of the electrical conductor. The electrical conductor for which the resistance is measured may be the same as or different than one or more of the electrical conductors that the couple the measurement circuitry to the component to be measured. Using an electrical conductor resistance measurement to determine the resistance of a component may improve the accuracy of the resistance measurement for the component.
US09684010B2
An apparatus and method for detecting a moving object as it passes through a light curtain generated by one or more emitters, by the means for detecting the light of the light curtain reflected by the passing object onto a photoelectric detector. The object sensing area is not constrained by mechanical means and is limited only by the light curtain shape. Velocity of the object is determined primarily by dividing the known distance between two or more parallel light curtains by the time of passage between the light curtains. Additional velocity measurement obtained from the known object length divided by the time of its passage through the light curtain allows verification of the primary velocity measurement. Direction of the object motion across the sensitive area is determined by implementing two or more uniquely identifiable, closely spaced parallel light curtains, and corresponding uniquely identifiable detectors.
US09684006B2
Methods and systems for use with an automation system in an automated clinical chemistry analyzer can include one or more surfaces configured to dynamically display a plurality of optical marks, a plurality of independently movable carriers configured to move along surfaces and to observe them to determine navigational information from the plurality of optical marks, and a processor configured to update the plurality of optical marks to convey information that pertains to each respective independently movable carrier. The plurality of marks can include two-dimensional optically encoded marks, barcodes oriented in a direction of travel of the carriers, marks that dynamically convey data, dynamic lines configured to be followed by the carriers, marks indicating a collision zone, or dynamic marks displayed at a location coincident with the location of a pipette.
US09684005B2
An apparatus for spectroscopic analysis of vinificition liquids features a sample holder for a sample container of vinification liquid, a light source for directing a beam of light into the sample supported by the sample holder, a spectrometer arranged for receiving and measuring the beam of light after interaction thereof with the sample in order to perform a spectroscopic scan of the sample and generate measured spectral data thereon, and a scanning device positioned for scanning a machine readable code on the sample container. A computing device in communication with the spectrometer and the scanning device applies a classification to the measured spectral data of the sample according to a classification code read from the sample container. The classification code is used to determine what parameters should be calculated from the spectral data for the particular sample in question.
US09684000B2
Methods of diagnosing and treating disorders related to TH2 inhibition, including but not limited to asthma, are provided. Also provided are methods of selecting or identifying patients for treatment with certain therapeutic agents that are TH2 pathway inhibitors.
US09683997B2
The present invention relates to the development of a monoclonal antibody which has binding activity to many high-risk types of HPV, etc. The present invention also provides a simple and high-throughput method for measuring cross-neutralizing antibody titers, which is used for assay of cross-neutralizing antibody against HPV in serum samples from subjects, etc. The method of the present invention for measuring cross-neutralizing antibody titers comprises the steps of: preparing a monoclonal antibody against a peptide having a specific amino acid sequence common to high-risk types of HPV; and assaying cross-neutralizing antibody using this monoclonal antibody.
US09683995B2
Provided herein are methods for diagnosing cancer by determining the level of expression of SETDB1 in a biological sample. Also provided herein are methods for treating cancer by administering an inhibitor of SETDB1 to a subject in need thereof.
US09683994B2
The present invention provides novel methods for performing pulsed field mobility shift assays in microfluidic devices. In particular, the methods of the invention utilize differences between electrophoretic mobilities (e.g., as between reactants and products, especially in non-fluorogenic reactions) in order to separate the species and thus analyze the reaction.
US09683984B2
An apparatus arranged for examining particles, comprising: a cartridge having at least one microchannel, a viscoelastic fluid flowing in the microchannel, the fluid comprising a suspension of particles, thereby effecting alignment of the particles in at least one-dimensional array parallel to the fluid flow, and an optical magnifying means generating an image of the particles in the microchannel.
US09683983B2
An insert for a centrifuge tube suitable for use in density gradient separation is described. The insert includes a member sized to fit within the tube for dividing the tube into a top portion and a bottom portion. Optionally the insert has a support extending or depending from the member for positioning the member within the tube. At least two openings are located on the member so that a first opening is closer to a bottom end of the tube relative to a second opening when the insert is positioned in the centrifuge tube. Also described are methods for separating a target population of cells from a sample using the insert for a centrifuge tube.
US09683982B2
In a method for diagnosing and/or prognosis of cancers, diagnosing origin of tumor cells, optimizing cancer therapy, and screening active substances for oncology, the mechanical properties of tumor cells and reference cells are analyzed under mechanical load that causes linear or non-linear deformation of the loaded cell. The engineering strain of the cells caused by directed mechanical stress being introduced is used to determine metastasis risk and the presence of uncontrollably proliferating and/or invasive cells, or the origin of the tumor. The metastasis risk is determined based on the proportion of cells in the sample exhibiting engineering strain in a direction opposite to the stressing direction. The risk of the presence of uncontrollably proliferating cells for non-linear deformation of the cell is determined in the sample based on the mean value of the engineering strain in the direction of cell stressing.
US09683967B2
Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for implementing molecular sensors. In one aspect, an ion-gas sensor device includes a pre-concentration module to collect and concentrate a gas-phase chemical for analysis; a piezoelectric fan to produce an air-flow through acoustic streaming to drive the gas-phase chemical released by the pre-concentration module to one or more downstream modules; an ionizer downstream from the piezoelectric fan to ionize the gas-phase chemical; and a gas sensor downstream from the piezoelectric fan and the ionizer to detect the ionized gas-phase chemical driven by the piezoelectric fan. The piezoelectric fan can include a stack of thin-film layers that includes a thin-film piezoelectric layer. The ion-gas sensor device is made into an ultra-portable package capable of integration with mobile communication devices, such as PDA devices or smart phones.
US09683954B2
A material signature detector that provides for the assessment of changes in critical material properties of materials such as pharmaceuticals and solutions is disclosed. The material signature detector is non-contact and non-invasive and provides the ability to detect unintended changes in the contents of a vial or other container during the fill-finish process, transport, compounding, or storage. The material signature detector uses a novel resonant electrical impulse spectroscopy circuit that employs quadrature demodulation at lower frequencies to detect changes in the capacitance and conductance (resistance) of the sample under test. A series of digital signatures are created at different frequencies to provide an overall assessment of changes in the properties of the material under test. These digital signatures may in turn be stored in an electronic library for subsequent analytics.
US09683950B2
Disclosed is a sample handling assembly facilitating a sample holding cell used for XRD analysis. The assembly holds the sample cell upright during sample loading and analysis phases. The sample handling assembly is vibrated, partly by a tuning fork, to allow the powder to flow into the sample cell. After the XRD analysis, a rotating arm holding the sample cell is rotated 180° to orient the sample cell completely upside down so that the sample can be emptied. Also disclosed are jets of air that are pulsed onto the sample cell, and/or into the sample cell funnel-tube assembly, to shake and clean the components.
US09683940B2
A particle detecting device includes: a light measuring instrument that measures measured values for intensities of first, second, and third lights of mutually differing wavelengths, produced by particles to be measured; a boundary information storing portion that stores a non-linear discriminating boundary for separating a class of a first classification of particles and a class of a second classification of particles; and a particle classifying portion that classifies the particle being measured into either of the classifications for the first and second classifications of particles, based on measured values for the intensities of the first through third lights and on the discriminating boundary.
US09683937B2
An imager may include an array of pixels formed on a substrate. A chemisorption layer such as a planar chemisorption layer may be deposited over the array of pixels. The chemisorption layer may include active sites that bond with anchoring molecules. The anchoring molecules may be bonded to the planar chemisorption layer in only localized regions each covering a respective pixel of the array of pixels. The image sensor may include a photoresist layer that covers the chemisorption layer. Openings in the photoresist layer may define the boundaries of the localized regions. The anchoring molecules may be bonded only with the chemisorption layer without bonding to the photoresist layer. The anchoring molecules may serve to bond with analyte molecules. By forming the anchoring molecules within only localized regions centered over respective pixels, spatial resolution of the imager when imaging the analyte molecules may be improved.
US09683936B2
A laser light source for emitting excitation light, a sample case, a photomultiplier tube, a fluorescence collecting optical system and so forth are embedded in a resin material that is transparent to the excitation light and the light including fluorescence emitted from a sample. The resin material is provided in at least part of a light path that guides the fluorescence in the fluorescence collecting optical system, and this resin forms a housing that holds the laser light source, the fluorescence collecting optical system, the photomultiplier and so forth. A pigment having wavelength characteristics for absorbing the excitation light, Raman light generated from the resin, and so forth is contained substantially in a uniform manner in a resin region that surrounds the light path through which the excitation light and the light including the fluorescence pass.
US09683931B2
An apparatus for detecting a first component in a sample, the first component being responsive to at least radiation of a first wavelength, the sample comprising the first component and a second component responsive to at least radiation of a second wavelength.
US09683930B2
This disclosure is generally directed to systems for imaging polarization properties of optical-material samples. As one example, there is provided a system for precise, simultaneous imaging of both the in-plane and out-of-plane birefringence properties of sample material over a wide range of incidence angles. An example spatially resolved imaging approach described herein is amenable to determination of a wide range of polarimetric properties, in addition to the in-plane and out-of-plane birefringence measure discussed as a preferred embodiment.
US09683929B2
An optical measuring system measures polarization optical properties of a sample. The system includes (a) a light source that emits measuring light along an optical axis of an analysis beam path, (b) a polarization state generator, arranged downstream with respect to the light source in the analysis beam path which provides light with a defined polarization state, (c) a sample holder, arranged downstream with respect to the polarization state generator in the analysis beam path which accommodates the sample, (d) a polarization state analyzer, arranged downstream with respect to the sample holder in the analysis beam path which measures the polarization state of the measuring light after passing through the sample, and (e) a mechanical support structure, at which at least the polarization state generator, the sample holder and the polarization state analyzer are directly attached. Also described is a method for producing such an optical measuring system.
US09683926B2
The present invention is one that can, with suppressing moisture from condensing, easily set a dilution ratio to that enabling measurement accuracy to be improved, and provided with a constant volume sampling part that samples mixed gas that is controlled to have a constant flow rate, wherein the constant volume sampling part is provided with: a main flow path that is connected with an exhaust gas flow path and a diluent gas flow path, and intended to flow the mixed gas that is a mixture of exhaust gas and diluent gas; a constant flow rate mechanism that is configured to control a flow rate of the mixed gas to the constant flow rate; and a moisture detecting part that is provided on an upstream side of the constant flow rate mechanism to detect moisture in the mixed gas or the diluent gas.
US09683923B2
A system for collecting and analyzing maximized amounts of fluorescent radiation using frequency scattering ports or waveguides that absorb a desired size of wavelengths.
US09683910B2
Various embodiments include a leak detection system for a turbine compartment. In some embodiments, the leak detection system includes: a tracer fluid system fluidly connected with the turbine compartment, the tracer fluid system configured to provide an optically detectable fluid to a fluid supply of the turbine compartment; an optical detection system operably connected to the turbine compartment, the optical detection system configured to detect the presence of the optically detectable fluid in at least one location of the turbine compartment; and a control system operably connected to the tracer fluid system and the optical detection system, the control system configured to obtain data about the presence of the optically detectable fluid in the at least one location, and provide an indicator indicating a potential leak location based upon the data about the presence of the optically detectable fluid in the at least one location.
US09683903B2
The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits. More particularly, the present invention provides a circuit and method for sensing a voltage and/or temperature from an integrated circuit device such as a Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) integrated circuit device. But it will be recognized that the technique can be used for monitoring other system on chip devices, such as micro-controllers, digital signal processors, microprocessors, networking devices, application specific integrated circuits, and other integrated circuit devices that may desire on-chip temperature and/or voltage sensing capability.
US09683898B2
The present invention relates to a method for determining an actual junction temperature (Tj) and/or an actual collector current (IC) of an IGBT device, wherein the IGBT device has a main emitter (EM) and an auxiliary emitter (EA), comprising the steps of; measuring the characteristics of an emitter voltage drop (VEE′) as a difference between a main emitter voltage (VE) at the main emitter (EM) and an auxiliary emitter voltage (VE′) at the auxiliary emitter (EA) during a switching operation of the IGBT device; and determining the junction temperature and/or the collector current (IC) based on the characteristics of the emitter voltage drop (VEE′).
US09683893B2
The invention relates to a system for detection and infrared imaging by spectral analysis in several wavelength bands comprising: —an imaging sensor comprising a plurality of elementary sensors together forming a matrix sensitive surface; —an imaging optic adapted for forming on the sensitive surface of the imaging sensor, a first image of the scene to be analyzed in a first wavelength band, and at least one second image of the scene to be analyzed in a second wavelength band, characterized in that said detection and imaging system furthermore comprises an optical device consisting of a fixed optical plate adapted for shifting the first image with respect to the second image in the plane of the sensitive surface, the shift between the images being along a direction defined by a row, a column or a diagonal of elementary sensors, the shift distance being equal to the spacing of the elementary sensors of the matrix sensitive surface along this direction or to a multiple of this spacing.
US09683889B2
A photodiode (2) and a further photodiode (3) are arranged in a substrate (1) at or near a main surface (10). The photodiodes are formed and arranged in such a manner that in case of incident ultraviolet radiation (26) the electric signal from the photodiode (2) is larger than the further electric signal from the further photodiode (3). In particular, the first photodiode may be more sensitive to ultraviolet radiation than the further photodiode. The electric signal from the photodiode is attenuated by the further electric signal and thus yields an electric signal primarily measuring the incident ultraviolet radiation. The attenuation of the electric signal from the first photodiode may be achieved internally using an integrated circuit (25) or externally using a separate device.
US09683888B2
The invention relates to a method for measuring a light radiation (300) emitted by a light-emitting diode (210). In the method, an end (121) of an optical fiber (120) which is connected to a measuring device (130) is irradiated with the light radiation (300), which is emitted by the light-emitting diode (210), through an optical device (140), so that a portion of the light radiation (300) is coupled into the optical fiber (120) and is guided to the measuring device (130). The optical device (140) causes the light radiation (300) passing through the optical device (140) to be emitted in diffuse form in the direction of the end (121) of the optical fiber (120). The invention also relates to an apparatus (100) for measuring a light radiation (300) emitted by a light-emitting diode (210).
US09683887B2
A photoelectric conversion device includes a circuit board, a light emitting module, a light receiving module, and an optical coupling lens. The circuit board includes two positioning portions apart from each other. The light emitting module and the light receiving module are mounted on the circuit board, and are spaced apart from each other. The optical coupling lens includes a bottom surface facing the light emitting module and the light receiving module, two first converging portions formed on the bottom surface, and two locating portions. Centers of the positioning portions are aligned with centers of the locating portions to ensure perfect alignment of the light emitting module and the light receiving module with the first converging portions.
US09683878B2
An electromagnetic flowmeter applies a magnetic field, which is generated by excitation current, to a fluid to be measured flowing in a measurement tube, and measures a flow rate of the fluid to be measured on the basis of a detection signal to be generated from an electrode provided in the measurement tube. The electromagnetic flowmeter includes an excitation circuit configured to generate the excitation current having a positive excitation period, a negative excitation period and a non-excitation period, and a diagnosis unit configured to detect an abnormality based on characteristics of the fluid to be measured, on the basis of a level of the detection signal in a non-excitation stable period, which is a period in which a differential noise of detection signal to be generated in the non-excitation period converges.
US09683873B2
The present invention relates to a torque sensor cover. According to an embodiment of the present invention, as a second cover is formed of plastic through injection-molding, costs and weight can be reduced as compared with a wire cover manufactured of aluminum through casting according to the related art.
US09683866B2
A device for correcting a sensor signal, includes a sensor interface, a signal processing unit, a feedback unit, and a signal correction unit. The sensor interface is configured to read in a sensor signal which represents a physical variable. The signal processing unit is configured to determine a processing signal by using the sensor signal. The feedback unit is configured to output a feedback signal to the sensor and to provide the feedback signal on the basis of a nonlinear processing rule and the processing signal. The signal correction unit is configured to determine a corrected signal by using the processing signal, and to determine the corrected signal by using the nonlinear processing rule or a processing rule derived from the nonlinear processing rule.
US09683864B2
A system for providing aircraft landing instructions is provided. The system comprises a memory component configured to store specifications for an aircraft. The system also comprises a controller configured to operate in either of a first mode or a second mode, wherein the first mode comprises a fly-along mode, and wherein the second mode comprises an emergency mode. In the fly-along mode, the controller is configured to generate, based on a received operator indication of a destination, a map, wherein the map comprises at least an indication of a current location of the aircraft and a destination indication. In the emergency mode, the controller is configured to generate a series of instructions for controlling and landing the aircraft, wherein the series of instructions are generated at least in part based on the stored specifications for the aircraft. The system also comprises a presentation component configured to provide the generated series of instructions to an operator of the aircraft.
US09683858B2
Described is a technology by which raw GPS data is processed into segments of a trip, with a predicted mode of transportation (e.g., walking, car, bus, bicycling) determined for each segment. The determined transportation modes may be used to tag the GPS data with transportation mode information, and/or dynamically used. Segments are first characterized as walk segments or non-walk segments based on velocity and/or acceleration. Features corresponding to each of those walk segments or non-walk segments are extracted, and analyzed with an inference model to determine probabilities for the possible modes of transportation for each segment. Post-processing may be used to modify the probabilities based on transitioning considerations with respect to the transportation mode of an adjacent segment. The most probable transportation mode for each segment is selected.
US09683857B2
Traffic notification systems include a location determination system that can determine a geographic location of a subscriber, and an automated traffic notification system that can automatically transmit a traffic notification message that is based on the geographic location of the subscriber to a wireless terminal associated with the subscriber.
US09683848B2
A system for determining a hitch angle between a vehicle and trailer is provided. The system includes an imaging device disposed on the trailer. A first navigation system is disposed on-board the vehicle. A second navigation system is integrated with the imaging device. A controller determines the hitch angle based on data received from the first navigation system and the second navigation system.
US09683847B2
We have disclosed systems and methods for portable performance monitoring of an individual during a physical activity. The systems and methods may include a portable performance monitoring configured to be carried by the individual during the fitness activity. The portable performance monitoring device may include a display screen and a control unit. The systems and methods may also include a sensor configured to receive athletic performance data of the individual engaged in the fitness activity and communicate the athletic performance data to the control unit. The control unit may be configured to wirelessly upload the athletic performance data to a base station and wirelessly download athletic performance information determined by the base station based on the athletic performance data. The display screen may be configured to display the athletic performance information to the individual. The base station may also be configured to store the athletic performance data.
US09683845B2
A magnetometer unit which may be incorporated in an electronic device receives first magnetic response data from a first magnetic sensor and second magnetic response data from a second magnetic sensor displaced from the first magnetic sensor. The magnetometer unit generates a composite response surface representation from the first magnetic response data and the second magnetic response data, and stores the composite response surface representation in a non-transitory memory.
US09683841B2
Fabrication of an imaging range finder is disclosed. The range finder can be formed of an imaging lens and an array of emitters and photodetectors in optical communication with the lens. The emitters in the array can be formed to emit light that is directed by the lens toward a target object. The photodetectors in the array can be formed to detect light received from the object through the lens and onto the photodetectors. The lens, the array, or both can be movable to adjust the light emitted by the range finder. The range finder can be formed to find the object's range based on characteristics of the emitted light and/or the detected light.
US09683840B2
A method and a device for continuously detecting thickness of a sheet-type medium in a continuous conveying process can achieve a more accurate and stable detected thickness value. The device for detecting thickness of a sheet-type medium comprises a conveying roller; a detection roller, the detection roller being arranged opposite to the conveying roller, and an elastic displacement existing between the detection roller and the conveying roller; a plate spring, arranged by pressing opposite to the other side of the detection roller relative to the conveying roller; a sensor, arranged above the plate spring; and a thickness calculation unit, calculating a thickness value of the sheet-type medium according to a distance detection value and a standard zero value; and further comprises a zero value correction unit.
US09683839B2
In a shape measuring apparatus having a scanning probe to perform scanning measurement using a tip ball provided at an end of a stylus with the tip ball being in contact with an object to be measured, a tip ball displacement detector detects a displacement of the tip ball of the scanning probe, a displacement of a moving mechanism that relatively moves the object to be measured and the scanning probe is detected, and an angle formed by a contact direction of the tip ball with the object to be measured and an axial direction of the stylus is calculated. The displacement of the tip ball that is detected by the tip ball displacement detector is corrected on the basis of the angle, and a corrected value of the displacement is outputted. The corrected value is added to the displacement of the moving mechanism to calculate a measurement value.
US09683832B2
Method and apparatus are provided for image based positioning comprising capturing a first image with an image capturing device. Wherein said first image includes at least one object. Moving the platform and capturing a second image with the image capturing device. The second image including the at least one object. Capturing in the first image an image of a surface; capturing in the second image a second image of the surface. Processing the plurality of images of the object and the surface using a combined feature based process and surface tracking process to track the location of the surface. Finally, determining the location of the platform by processing the combined feature based process and surface based process.
US09683830B2
A fiber light source comprises a laser pump configured to generate a pump laser beam at a predetermined wavelength; a first segment of rare earth doped fiber; a second segment of rare earth doped fiber; and an optical coupler coupled to a first end of the first segment and a first end of the second segment. The optical coupler is configured to split the pump laser beam based on a power coupling ratio. The first segment generates a first stimulated emission having a first mean wavelength sensitivity to pump laser power fluctuations and the second segment generates a second stimulated emission having a second mean wavelength sensitivity to pump laser power fluctuations such that a combined stimulated emission is approximately insensitive to pump laser power fluctuations.
US09683829B2
A detection coil incorporated in a self-oscillation circuit, which includes the coil and a capacitor and is set to a high frequency band (e.g., around 1 MHz or higher). A target section has a relative position to the coil section that varies in response to displacement of a detection object and includes a magnetism-responsive member constructed to cause inductance of the coil to vary with the relative position. A rectifier circuit extracts an amplitude level of an oscillation output signal of the self-oscillation circuit and outputs the extracted level as detected position data. For example, a plurality of self-oscillation circuits are provided. Alternatively, a single self-oscillation circuit forms a plurality of series circuits by, for each coil pair, connecting in series the two coils of the coil pair, and connecting the series circuits in parallel as an inductor element for self-oscillation.
US09683828B2
The invention relates to a measuring machine and a method for automated measurement of an object and detection of differences between a feature of the object and CAD data of the object. The measuring machine comprises a probe head, a probe system comprising a probe and measurement functionality for determining three-dimensional coordinates of a feature of the object, a local computer terminal, an assigned memory unit, and an assigned set of measurement software programs for controlling the measuring machine. The stored CAD data of the object comprise typical dimensions and tolerances of the features, and the assigned set of measurement software programs comprises an optimization algorithm for the measurement of each feature which algorithm is designed to automatically select measuring parameters of the measuring machine and/or a measurement software program from the set of measurement software programs.
US09683826B2
Disclosed is a measurement device including a first measurement element including a base surface and an upper surface, the upper surface of the first measurement element spaced apart from the base surface of the first measurement element by a first height; and a second measurement element including a base surface and an upper surface, the upper surface of the second measurement element spaced apart from the base surface of the second measurement element by a second height, the second height greater than the first height and the second measurement element attached to the first measurement element. The measurement device can function as a spacer to gauge short distances such as when installing trim around a window or door casement or when installing cabinetry, tile, or siding.
US09683822B2
A munition that is adapted to enhance fragmentation effects upon detonation includes preformed fragments between a casing and a shell. The overall mass of the preformed fragments is greater than the overall combined mass of the casing and the shell for enhancing the degree of controlled fragmentation compared to uncontrolled fragmentation. By enhancing the dispersal of controlled fragmentation, the overall fragmentation area coverage and fragmentation pattern density may also be enhanced while limiting travel of the fragmentation beyond the target area for reducing collateral damage. The preformed fragments may fill a continuous volume between the casing and the shell to effectively utilize the munition volume and to maximize the amount of preformed fragments contained within the shell. The preformed fragments may be free flowing pellets that are poured into the volume between the casing and the shell for enhancing distribution of the fragments and for improving assembly of the munition.
US09683817B1
A magnetic coupling (MC) circuit is provided for detecting an obscured object. The MC circuit connects to a current measuring instrument and includes a Marx bank having a plurality of stages; a peaking circuit; and an induction loop. Each stage of the Marx bank includes a resistor-capacitor (RC) loop having a first resistor connecting to a breakdown circuit. The Marx bank connects to a fixed potential known as ground. The breakdown circuit includes a breakdown switch, a second resistor and a bank capacitor. The voltage source connects to the Marx bank. The peaking circuit includes a peaking inductor, a peaking capacitor and a peaking switch disposed in parallel. The peaking switch connects the Marx bank to the peaking capacitor. The induction loop includes an impedance inductor connecting to the peaking switch. The instrument measures a first current in absence of the object and a second current in presence of the object, and detects the object based on difference between the first and second currents.
US09683816B2
The present technology provides armor articles for use in body armor, vehicle armor, and aircraft armor, including helicopters. The armor articles include a ceramic plate having a front surface and a rear surface; a polymer backer affixed to the rear surface of the ceramic plate, wherein the polymer backer comprises a laminate of at least two layers of material, each layer comprising a ballistic fabric; and self-repair conduits on the front surface of the ceramic plate and covered by a layer of material, wherein the self-repair conduits contain a self-repair composition. The present armor articles are light weight yet can still sustain multiple hits by armor piercing bullets. Armor articles may also be produced without the ceramic plate.
US09683810B2
A shooter's case and table combo configured to convert from a gun carrying case into a shooter's table, using no tools, is presently disclosed. The shooter's case and table combo has two identical rectangular panels attached in the center with a hinge. Each panel has a slot proximate each end, each slot formed by a respective end of the panel and a respective leg mount. Four identical length legs are configured to be constrained inside the panels and each of the legs having a top end configured to be placed in one of the slots in one of the panels. A pair of retaining pins are provided for each leg, each of the pair of retaining pins being configured to be received by a pair of apertures in the leg mount and a pair of apertures in the legs and hold the leg to the panel.
US09683809B2
A holster apparatus securely holds a long gun on a MOLLE/PALS-compliant garment in a hands-free secure position, but so that the gun is quickly and easily accessible. The apparatus includes a holster with openings configured to slidingly engage an ammunition magazine attached to a long gun, with a bottom surface of the long gun supported on the holster. A mount securely holds the holster on a MOLLE/PALS-compliant garment in a selected balanced position with the long gun oriented generally horizontally, so that a professional can use their hands for tasks while having confidence in the security and safe-carrying of the long gun. The holster can be located anywhere on the garment, and can be oriented as desired by the professional user. Related methods are also described and claimed.
US09683806B1
A compound archery bow includes a pulley member that is rotatable on a transverse axle and that takes up a power cable as the bow is drawn. The pulley member is arranged so as to be fixed at any one of multiple transverse positions along its rotation axis relative to the bow limb by one or both of: (i) the transverse axle being retained on the bow limb at any one of multiple axle positions along the rotation axis by engagement of the transverse axle with the bow limb, or (ii) the pulley member being retained on the transverse axle at any one of multiple pulley positions along the transverse axle by engagement of the pulley member with the transverse axle. Performance characteristics of the bow can be optimized with respect to the transverse position of the pulley member along its rotation axis.
US09683805B2
A tag in the form of a band provides ballistic information for rifle ammunition or flight or sight information for arrows. The band is selectively attachable to the weapon such that the ballistic information is readily available to the user of the weapon and the band can be removed and used again on the same or a different weapon. The band can wrap around a portion of the weapon and be held by friction or a combination of friction and compressive force. The band can be elastic and stretch over the stock of a rifle or shotgun, the grip of a handgun, the stock of a cross bow, or a counterweight on a compound bow. The disclosure also provides a method for providing the ballistic information to the user of the weapon through the band that is selectively attachable to the weapon. The band can be provided with the container of ammunition at the time of purchase.
US09683802B2
A muzzle brake for reducing the recoil associated with firing a weapon comprising a plurality of gas vents, a plurality of projections extending outward from the muzzle brake, and an interiorly depressed annular nose surrounding the projectile's exit point, for capturing, redirecting, and/or creating turbulence in propellant gases generated from firing the weapon.
US09683792B2
The present invention generally pertains to a system which utilizes floating thermal contact to enable PCR, in a thermal management device. Comprised of multiple thermal zones attached to a framework, each zone an individually actuated, isolated sub-assembly. The actuation of each zone ensures physical contact with an uneven, yet flat microfluidic chip to achieve effective, conductive heat transfer. The isolation of each zone serves to insulate the thermal zones from each other and minimize undesired heat transfer between adjacent zones, so that each zone is at a proper, uniform temperature.
US09683786B2
A heat exchanger, in particular an exhaust gas cooler or charge air cooler, is provided that includes a plate stack which has a plurality of elongated plate pairs, each set of two interconnected plates forming a respective second fluid channel between themselves, and a first fluid channel being formed between two plate pairs, a first fluid channel being surrounded by two second fluid channels, each second fluid channel being connected to at least one manifold.
US09683785B2
A heat exchanger includes a housing and a fluid flow conduit located within a cavity formed in the housing, the fluid flow conduit including an outer tube located adjacent to an inner wall of the housing and an inner tube in fluid communication with the outer tube, the inner tube being located between the outer tube and a longitudinal axis of the housing. An inlet port is located on the housing, the inlet port being in fluid communication with the cavity. The heat exchanger includes an outlet port located on the housing, the outlet port being in fluid communication with the cavity.
US09683783B2
A stave cooler for a metallurgical furnace includes a panel-like body having a front face for facing the interior of the metallurgical furnace, an opposite rear face, an upper face, an opposite lower face, and two side faces. At least one internal coolant passage is arranged within the panel-like body. The panel-like body is provided with a ledge on its front face extending between the side faces for being arranged in a horizontal plane. At least one protection element is provided for covering at least part of an upper face of the ledge. The protection element includes a first lateral portion, a second lateral portion, and a central portion. The lateral portions each include a widened front section and a narrow connection section. The panel-like body is provided with at least one through hole arranged for passing each of the lateral portions and the central portion of therethrough in turn.
US09683782B2
Methods for forming monolithic refractory compositions may include providing a particulate refractory composition including 2 to 90 mass-% alumina, aluminosilicate, or mixtures thereof; 2 to 70 mass-% silicon carbide; 2 to 10 mass-% carbon; 1 to 10 mass-% Si powder; 1 to 3 mass-% microsilica; and up to 5 mass-% ferrosilicon. The methods may further include adding an amount of water to the particulate refractory composition to form a uniform mixture, installing the uniform mixture and allowing it to set, such that the monolithic refractory composition is required, and heat-treating the set mixture at a temperature no higher than 1200° C. under atmospheric conditions to form a monolithic refractory composition. The methods may optionally include heat-treating the obtained monolithic refractory composition to form silicon carbide whiskers within the monolithic refractory composition.
US09683779B2
Provided is an indirectly heated rotary dryer which has achieved enhanced energy-saving performance by reducing heating tubes non-contacting with material to be dried and reducing power required for rotation even when a hold up ratio is increased.Specifically provided is an indirectly heated rotary dryer having four partition walls extended respectively along a shaft center in an inner space of a rotating shell at angle intervals of 90 degrees in the vertical and horizontal directions. The four partition walls partition the inner space of the rotating shell at a lateral section of the rotating shell into four approximately-sector-shaped small spaces respectively extended along the shaft center. Heating tubes are aligned in the rotating shell in three lines extended respectively in parallel to the shaft center of the rotating shell. The heat tubes heat and dry the material to be dried by supplying heated steam to the heating tubes and performing heat exchange with the material to be dried in the rotating shell.
US09683777B2
Embodiments described herein provide a method and systems for separating carbon dioxide from heavy hydrocarbons. The method includes cooling a first liquid stream including carbon dioxide and heavy hydrocarbons within an oscillatory crystallization unit to generate carbon dioxide solids and a second liquid stream including the heavy hydrocarbons. The method also includes separating the carbon dioxide solids from the second liquid stream via a solid-liquid separation system.
US09683775B2
A refrigerator may include guide members mounted to a storage chamber, with each guide member including a vertical guide hole and a vertical guide groove. A shelf may be mounted to the guide members, to be vertically movable, and switch members mounted to the shelf, to be movable forwards and rearwards. Each switch member may include a body, and a protrusion protruding from the body, to be guided along the guide groove of the corresponding guide member. A rotating shaft may be mounted beneath the shelf, to be guided along the guide holes. Pinions may be provided at the rotating shaft. Rack gears may be vertically mounted to the guide members, to be coupled to the pinions. A connecting device may transmit a force to vertically move a front half portion of the shelf to a rear half portion of the shelf such that the shelf is vertically movable while being maintained in a horizontal state.
US09683769B2
An insulated icemaking compartment is provided in the fresh food compartment of a bottom mount refrigerator. The icemaking compartment may be integrally formed with the liner of the fresh food compartment, or alternatively, may be modular for installation anywhere in the fresh food compartment. A removable bin assembly with a front cover normally seals the icemaking compartment to maintain the temperature in the compartment. A cold air duct formed in the rear wall of the refrigerator supplies cold air from the freezer compartment to the icemaking compartment. A return air duct directs a portion of the air from the icemaking compartment back to the freezer compartment. An air vent in the icemaking compartment directs another portion of air into the fresh food compartment. A control system provides for controlling refrigerator functions in a manner that promotes energy efficiency.
US09683764B2
Evaporator, notably for motor vehicle air-conditioning circuit. According to the invention, the evaporator (1), which comprises three layers—upstream (2), intermediate (3) and downstream (4)—through which there flows a coolant that enters the evaporator (1) via the intermediate layer (3) and leaves the evaporator via the upstream layer (2) to cool an air flow (A) passing in succession across said upstream (2), intermediate (3) and downstream (4) layers, comprises means (5E) for inducing a pressure drop between the outlet of the intermediate layer (3) and the inlet of the downstream layer (4).
US09683761B2
In an integration valve, a body, in which a vapor-liquid separating space is provided, includes a fixed throttle decompressing liquid-phase refrigerant, a liquid-phase refrigerant side valve body member opening or closing a liquid-phase refrigerant passage, and a vapor-phase refrigerant side valve body member opening or closing a vapor-phase refrigerant passage. Further, the vapor-phase refrigerant side valve body member is configured by a differential pressure regulating valve operated based on a pressure difference between a refrigerant pressure at a side of the vapor-phase refrigerant passage and a refrigerant pressure at a side of the liquid-phase refrigerant passage. The vapor-phase refrigerant side valve body member is movable when the liquid-phase refrigerant side valve body member is moved by a solenoid. Therefore, a cycle configuration of a heat pump cycle configuring a gas injection cycle can be simplified.
US09683748B2
A rooftop air conditioning unit to provide conditioned air to a conditioned space within a building is provided and includes a housing, disposed on a roof of the building roof, defining a pathway from an inlet fed by exterior and/or interior air to an outlet leading to the conditioned space and a hydronic heating system disposed within the housing to heat the air traveling along the pathway.
US09683739B2
A fuel injector having a body with a bore, which defines a fuel manifold. The injector also has a variable-area injector arrangement having a pintle with a conical head and a pintle spring connected to the body. The pintle spring urges a tip of the pintle to seal against an exit orifice of the body, such that application of pressurized fuel within the body causes the pintle to move. Above some threshold pressure, the pressurized fuel causes the conical head to move out of contact with the exit orifice of the body. This, in turn, provides a corresponding variable area for passage of the pressurized fuel through the exit orifice about the conical head of the pintle. The injector further includes a swirler configured to create a swirling action in the flow of pressurized fuel through the fuel manifold, wherein the manifold is upstream of the exit orifice.
US09683736B2
A precombustor system (300) including an ignition chamber (301) having a front wall (308), a central axis, a diameter Dic, and an outlet (313) configured to discharge a product gas (315). The ignition chamber (301) includes a central ignition oxygen injector (307) configured to inject a first oxygen stream from the front wall (308) substantially parallel to the central axis, and a tangential primary fuel injector (303) configured to inject a primary fuel stream tangential to the central axis at a location an axial distance Xpf downstream of the front wall (308). The ratio Xpf/Dic is from 0.25 to 4.0. The central axis forms an angle a with a vertical line of less than or equal to about 45 degrees. The trajectory of the primary fuel stream forms an angle θ with a plane that is perpendicular to the central axis of less than or equal to about 20 degrees. A method for combustion is also disclosed.
US09683730B1
The apparatus is designed to modify the quality of a beam of light while maximizing the amount of light directed along a desired trajectory. The light optimization device contains an aperture, a diffuser, a modifying substrate, and a mirror. The aperture enables light to travel through the mirror. The diffuser splits a single beam of light traveling towards the modifying substrate into multiple beams of light, which are traveling towards the modifying substrate. The modifying substrate becomes excited when struck by light, and then produces light with desired characteristics. The mirror reflects light that is generated by, or reflected off of, the modifying substrate, and traveling along suboptimal trajectories. As such, the reflected light is redirected towards the modifying substrate.
US09683721B2
A lighting system with extended arrays of LED light engines is disclosed. The extended arrays of LED light engines are coupled to bent, curved, contoured or angled support surfaces within a housing structure, coupled to bent, curved, contoured or angled surfaces of the housing structure or a combination thereof. Preferably, the extended arrays of LED light engines emit both upward and downward lighting through diffuse surfaces of the housing structure. In some embodiments of the invention the positions and/or angles of light emitting surfaces of extended arrays of LED light engines are adjustable within the housing structure.
US09683720B2
A reflecting structure includes at least one light source; and a reflector, in which the light source is disposed to emit light, including at least one light intercepting plate and a main body, wherein the light intercepting plate includes an inner surface which is a plane serving as a light intercepting surface intercepting the light from the light source, at least one reflecting surface extending from the light intercepting surface and perpendicularly toward an outer surface of the light intercepting plate and at least one positioning structure; the main body is joined to the light intercepting surface and includes at least two convex curved surfaces disposed on two opposite sides of a vertical line extending through the light source to reflect light from the light source directly and the light reflected by the light intercepting surface.
US09683713B2
A flameless candle includes a shell that has a sidewall and a hollow interior region. The sidewall can be made of a waxen material. The sidewall has a thickness and opacity. The shell also has a hollow interior region within the sidewall. A lamp (for example, LED) may be housed within the hollow interior region. The flameless candle also includes an insert. The insert can be made of a waxen material that may have different properties from the material of the sidewall. The insert is positioned in a top area of the hollow interior region. The insert includes a shading wall that has a thickness and opacity. The thickness of the sidewall may be different than the thickness of the shading wall. As another option, the opacity of the sidewall may be different from the opacity of the shading wall.
US09683712B2
A collapsible candle lantern having a spare candle storage compartment. The candle storage compartment can be defined by a base and a cap. A candle bracket can be attached to the cap. The base can have partial annular walls and an interior annular wall.
US09683711B2
The present invention relates to an optical device substrate comprising: unit block substrates wherein a flat panel metal substrate are partitioned into n (n>1) number of optical device attachment areas, and the insulating members are formed inside the metal substrate in a way that the adjacent partitioned areas are insulated; first horizontal insulating members for insulating between the unit block substrates being stacked; outer metal electrode substrates bonded to the unit block substrates located in the upper end and the lower end among the unit block substrates being stacked; second horizontal insulating members for insulating between the outer metal electrode substrates and the unit block substrates; a pair of inner metal electrode substrates inserted instead of the first horizontal insulating members into more than any one of the adjacent unit block substrates; and third horizontal insulating members for insulating the pair of inner metal electrode substrates.
US09683706B2
Provided is a Cylinder Valve capable of switching a fluid sealing state to a fluid releasing state or vice versa with certainty and also capable of preventing a flow noise from being caused when the fluid is released. A Cylinder Valve—includes a Residual pressure Valve mechanism located in a Residual pressure Valve mechanism insertion space formed in a flow path. The Residual pressure Valve mechanism includes a valve that is located in the Residual pressure Valve mechanism insertion space so as to freely advance or retract to a valve close position or a valve open position and retracts toward the valve open position by a pressure of gas flowing in the flow path; a forward convex portion located at a tip of the valve; a coil spring that urges the valve in a direction in which the valve advances from the valve open position toward the valve close position; and a seal seat and a pressing portion that retain the O-ring while exposing a contact permission portion that allows the forward convex portion to be in contact therewith. The seal seat and the pressing portion are secured to an outlet.
US09683699B2
A compressed gas tank (1) made from carbon fibre materials, which has a filling and removal neck, and a method for the production thereof, with the following steps: providing a meltable core, which forms an interior of the compressed gas tank (1), wrapping the core with at least one carbon fibre bandage and impregnating the carbon fibres with a curable polymer matrix material, thereby providing a preform of the compressed gas tank (1), consolidating the polymer matrix material of the preform and obtaining the carbon fibre composite compressed gas tank (1), and liquefying the core material by melting, and removing the liquid core material from the filling and removal neck.
US09683694B2
A stand structure for an article includes: a pin engaging groove formed in an article body; a pivot portion formed below the pin engaging groove and supporting a first arm of a stand; and an engaging portion disposed in a second arm of the stand and engaged with the pin engaging groove. A switching position exists within a range of the pin engaging groove. When, in a state where the bottom portion and the coupling portion are butted against the placement surface, the engaging portion is engaged with a portion of the pin engaging groove which is located at a position lower than the switching position, the article body is supported in a backward inclined state by the stand.
US09683691B2
The present application provides various examples that may include a hose and a system. The hose may include a hose body, where an end segment of the hose body may be foldable over a clamp seat area of the hose body. There may be an opening in the end segment sized and shaped to provide access to a clamp, so as to better hold the clamp in place, while still enabling access.
US09683686B2
An apparatus having one or more filters positioned by a connection member. The connection member orientates one or more filters at a transverse angle relative to the horizontal to drain contaminants from the filter.
US09683685B2
Plumbing fitting assemblies are described. The plumbing fitting assemblies use a male and female fitting combination that enables a user or installer to make a sealed connection on an internal diameter of a female part or receiving end by way of an o-ringed shank on a male part or insert end. A connecting device is rotatably attached to the male end. The connecting device also engages to an outer surface of the female part such that the sealed fitting assemblies will not disconnect under normal pressure of a fluid or air working through the assemblies.
US09683681B2
A lateral sway brace is disclosed for bracing a service pipe disposed at a predetermined distance from a building support. The lateral sway brace can include a pipe coupler securable to the service pipe and a brace coupler securable to a brace member. The brace coupler and the pipe coupler are operable with the brace member to laterally support the service pipe from the building support. The brace member has a length less than the predetermined distance between the service pipe and the building support. The lateral sway brace can also include a length adjustment mechanism operable with the brace coupler and facilitating a variable length to accommodate a difference between the predetermined distance between the service pipe and the building support and the length of the brace member.
US09683679B2
A method for pipe laying, includes the step of vertically forcing a generally rigid pipe section in a substantially vertical direction downwards from a position above ground towards a desired pipe section position in the ground, wherein the pipe section maintains a substantially horizontal position upon forcing the pipe section downwards. The vertically forcing a generally rigid pipe section in a substantially vertical direction downwards is beneficial for pipe laying because time consuming digging of a slit is not required anymore.
US09683677B2
A bypass valve is described comprising a delivery duct, a return duct and a central duct connecting the delivery and return ducts for the circulation of a heat-exchange fluid. A first ball valve is placed along the delivery duct and a second ball valve is placed along the return duct, at the intersection between the central duct and the delivery and return ducts. The rotation axes of the balls of the ball valves are perpendicular to each other.
US09683671B2
A valve block assembly for multiple valves, in particular expansion valves and/or shut-off valves, includes a valve block having a plurality of flow paths for fluids and a plurality of adjustment units with assigned drive units, wherein the valve block is designed as comprising two parts, these being a flow path element with the flow paths and a limiting element.
US09683664B2
A double seat valve comprising a valve housing, a first closing element, a second closing element, a leakage chamber arranged intermediate the first and second closing elements, the second closing element connected to the second displacement rod via spokes, wherein at least one of the spokes comprises: a leading edge that faces the leakage chamber and extends in a radial direction outwards from the second displacement rod; and first and second sides that extend from the leading edge in a direction from the leakage chamber to the drain passage on a respective side of the spoke.
US09683661B2
A shift-by-wire system, including a controller that includes a motor driver, and a microcomputer connected to the motor driver to control a motor that drives a control object. The control object has a park lock mechanism having a lock state and an unlock state. The lock state and the unlock state are switched according to an operation position of the control object. The controller is configured to estimate a tilt of a vehicle, detect whether the lock mechanism is in the lock state or in the unlock state, and adjust a target rotation speed of the motor according to the estimated tilt when the operation position of the control object is changed for switching the lock state to the unlock state.
US09683649B2
A vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes a power source, at least one wheel, a gearbox. The gearbox includes a housing, gearing disposed in the housing, and an insulator disposed between the gearing and the housing. The gearing is configured to couple the power source to the at least one wheel. The insulator is configured to reduce thermal energy losses of a fluid that lubricates the gearing.
US09683647B2
Assembling method of a pinion on a turbine axis of an internal combustion engine, wherein said pinion is made in a single piece having axial symmetry and equipped with an annular toothed part and with an axial part coaxial with said annular part and provided with a coaxial hole with a thread to screw the pinion on said axis of the turbine, wherein said thread has localized pitch variations.
US09683646B2
In a differential device which includes: a cross-shaped shaft body integrally including a first shaft and a second shaft orthogonal to each other, and configured to rotate integrally with an input member around an axis of the second shaft; a pinion pivotally supported on the first shaft; and a pair of side gears meshing with the pinion, the side gears respectively include small-diameter holes supporting the second shaft such that the second shaft passes through the small-diameter holes, and large-diameter holes continuous to outer ends of the small-diameter holes via step surfaces. The large-diameter holes respectively house fixing members connected to both end portions of the second shaft so as to block the side gears from coming off the second shaft, and output shafts are relatively unrotatably fitted in inner peripheral surfaces of the large-diameter holes outside the fixing members in an axial direction.
US09683645B2
The invention relates to a differential of lightweight construction for motor vehicles having a differential housing made of two sheet metal shells, in which differential bevel gears are supported on carrier studs fixed to the housing and mesh with axle bevel gears, and wherein a carrier shell having a drive gear attached to the exterior circumference thereof and a cover shell are joined along a common joining plane to form the differential housing, one or more carrier each having at least one end mounted in and attached to holes in the housing, which are each formed half in the carrier shell and the cover shell. Both sheet metal shells are encompassed by one or more circumferential rings adjacent to the connecting plane thereof for reinforcement.
US09683643B2
A linear actuator assembly (30) having an inner sleeve (100) which moves in a first direction or in an opposite second direction relative to a fixed outer sleeve (90) between a fully extended position and a fully retracted position. The linear actuator assembly (30) also has an emitter (180) and a sensor (184) positioned near the emitter (180) that detect changes in an emitted signal resulting from the movement of the inner sleeve (100) relative to the outer sleeve (90) along a longitudinal axis and a controller (101) electrically coupled to the sensor (184) to determine the axial position of the inner sleeve (100) relative to the outer sleeve (90) along the longitudinal axis.
US09683638B2
A continuously variable gear can include an input shaft, a plurality of traction balls distributed radially around the axis, each traction ball is mounted on an axle passing there through, the axles are tiltable in the radial grooves in the housing and support plate. To control the position of the traction balls, the axles are guided in curved slots of a turnable iris plate. To control the axial placement of the traction balls, there is a rotatable input disc positioned adjacent to the traction balls, a rotatable output disc positioned adjacent to the traction balls opposite the input disc, and a pre-spanning ring around the traction balls such that each of the traction balls is making three-point contact with the input disc, the output disc and the pre-spanning ring, the contact surface of the pre-spanning ring having a specific curvature larger than the radius of the traction balls.
US09683634B2
A multi-stage transmission for a vehicle may include an input shaft, an output shaft, first, second, third and fourth planetary gear devices disposed between the input shaft and the output shaft to transmit rotary force, each of the first, second, third and fourth planetary gear devices having three rotary elements, and at least six shifting elements connected to the rotary elements of the planetary gear devices.
US09683627B2
A filtering mechanism for torque fluctuations is interposed between a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine and a transmission. This mechanism comprises a rotating member to be damped, an oscillating inertial flywheel rotating around the axis of revolution, and pivot-mounted modules allowing angular deflection of the oscillating inertial flywheel with respect to the member to be damped. The modules each have at least one oscillating arm pivoting radially with respect to the member to be damped and a kinematic connecting member between the oscillating arm and the oscillating inertial flywheel. When the mechanism rotates centrifugal forces on the oscillating arm produce a counteracting torque that tends to return the oscillating inertial flywheel and the member to be damped toward the equilibrium position. The counteracting torque increases with the rotation speed of the filtering mechanism and with the amplitude of the angular deflection.
US09683618B2
An SOWC configured to prevent an unintentional engagement is provided. A pawl comprises a strut that is pushed up toward a notch through an aperture of a selector plate, a stopper plate protruding laterally from a rear end side of the strut, and a first inclined face formed on the stopper plate to incline downwardly from the rear end side toward the leading end side of the strut. A side plate is formed along each long side of the aperture to protrude toward the pocket plate, and the second inclined face is formed on the side plate to be brought into contact to the first inclined face.
US09683614B2
A transmission gear synchronizer may include a sliding sleeve, a hub configured to be received within the sliding sleeve, and a blocker ring disposed adjacent the hub. The blocker ring may have a plurality of molded clutch teeth and a plurality of molded grooves extending axially along an inner surface of the blocker ring.
US09683611B2
A front axle shift mechanism configured to be operably associated with a front axle housing having a front differential and a first lubricant is provided. The front axle shift mechanism includes a disconnect feature housing defining an inner cavity to house a shifting mechanism configured to selectively provide power to front wheels of the vehicle, the shifting mechanism configured to rotatably couple to the front differential. The inner cavity is configured to receive a second lubricant to facilitate providing lubrication to the first clutch gear and the second clutch gear. The second lubricant is fluidly separate from the first lubricant.
US09683606B2
A washer (5) to be mounted to an end surface (14) of an inner ring includes an extension portion (52) extending along an outer peripheral surface (15) of the inner ring. The extension portion (52) includes an engaging projection portion (53) to be engaged with an engaging recessed portion (16) formed in the outer peripheral surface (15) of the inner ring. The engaging projection portion (53) includes a rounded curved surface portion (55), and a flat surface portion (54) formed continuously with a forward side in a pressing direction of the rounded curved surface portion (55) and inclined radially outward.
US09683596B2
A nut fastener is provided for locking the nut to prevent inadvertent loosening of the nut. The nut fastener is particularly useful for tightening a wheel onto an axle. The nut fastener includes a nut, a collar and a retaining ring. The nut is unlocked by pushing on an engagement surface of the collar or by riding ratchet teeth over each other. When the collar is released, the collar locks against the nut to resist rotation of the nut.
US09683587B2
A fluid pressure control device includes a first control valve that switches to supply a working fluid to the pressure chamber of a cylinder on which a load pressure by the load acts so as to control the extension operation of the cylinder, a second control valve that switches to discharge the working fluid in the pressure chamber so as to control the contraction operation of the cylinder, an operate check valve that is interposed between the pressure chamber and the second control valve and that interrupts the discharge of the working fluid from the pressure chamber when the operate check valve is switched to a closed state and a pilot valve that performs, with a pilot pressure, a pilot operation on the second control valve and that switches, with the pilot pressure, the operate check valve to an opened state.
US09683581B2
A stator assembly for a rotary machine having a rotor arranged to rotate about an axis in use. The stator assembly has a circumferential support member or casing arranged about said axis and a plurality of elements extending in a substantially radial direction from the support. The elements have a platform at an end thereof for engagement within the support, wherein the elements each comprise a hollow internal cavity having an opening through the platform at the end of the element, wherein said internal cavity is filled with a vibration damping material. The elements may be filled vanes in a gas turbine engine compressor. The platforms may also be filled with the vibration damping material.
US09683578B2
A turbocharger has a casing system which houses a centrifugal impeller connected to a turbine by a shaft. The casing system includes an insert casing which forms a duct for feeding air to and through the impeller, and a volute casing which forms a volute for receiving compressed air from the impeller, the insert casing inserting into the volute casing. The casing system further includes a main casing which forms a housing for the shaft and for the shaft-side end of the impeller. The impeller includes a hub which has a radially outer annular rim, and has front and rear faces which converge towards the rim from respectively the inlet side and the shaft side of the hub. The impeller further includes a plurality of circumferentially arranged vanes on the front face of the hub. The impeller further includes a seal formation formed on the rear face at the rim.
US09683572B2
A draining pump for a washing machine and the washing machine thereof are disclosed. The washing machine includes an inlet system, and a draining system containing the draining pump device. The draining pump has a draining motor, a pump shell, a spinning blade and a filter, wherein, an inlet nozzle and an outlet nozzle are also arranged on the pump shell, and the pump shell is internally arranged with a front pump chamber and a rear pump chamber which are communicated according to the water draining sequence; the spinning blade is arranged in the rear pump chamber and installed coaxially with a revolving shaft of the drain motor, the filter is arranged in the front pump chamber, and a pressure relief plate with pressure relief holes is arranged at one side of the outlet of the filter corresponding to the water spinning blade.
US09683568B2
A scroll compressor is provided. The scroll compressor may include a fixed scroll including a fixed wrap, and an orbiting scroll including an orbiting wrap coupled to the fixed wrap to form a pair of compression chambers. An entire cross-sectional area of bypass holes formed at a compression chamber with a larger volume reduction gradient between the compression chambers may be formed to be larger than an entire cross-sectional area of bypass holes formed at the other compression chamber to prevent over-compression at the compression chamber with the larger volume reduction gradient, thereby enhancing an entire efficiency of the compressor.
US09683566B2
A stator casing of an eccentric screw pump with an elastomer stator inner part including a plurality of shell-like casing segments and a production method for such a stator casing, with which the outlay for maintenance work can be reduced. According to the invention, casing segments adjacent in the longitudinal direction of the stator casing are disposed offset with respect to one another around the longitudinal axis of the stator casing, wherein each casing segment includes connection means and at least four casing segments engage with one another and form a composite. For the production of the stator casing, the casing segments are acted upon by an axial force component as a result of clamping, wherein the casing segments engage with one another, as a result of which a radial force component is generated and the composite is formed.
US09683563B2
A system and method are provided for a variable speed compressor with a control module that controls an operating frequency of the variable speed compressor. The control module stores a prohibited frequency range that includes a resonant frequency of the variable speed compressor and an allowed upper frequency above the prohibited frequency range and an allowed lower frequency below the prohibited frequency range. The control module determines a requested frequency and operates the variable speed compressor at the allowed upper frequency for an upper frequency operating time and at the allowed lower frequency for a lower frequency operating time when the requested frequency is within the prohibited frequency range. The control module determines the upper frequency operating time and the lower frequency operating time such that a time-averaged frequency output over the upper frequency operating time and the lower frequency operating time corresponds to the requested frequency.
US09683559B2
Provided is a fuel pump comprising: a pump body; a plunger reciprocatably displaceable with respect to the pump body; and a plurality of valve elements inclusive of a suction valve to allow the fuel to be sucked into the fuel pressurizing chamber and a discharge valve to allow the fuel to be discharged out of the fuel pressurizing chamber, in which the pump body comprises a tubular valve retention member to retain the plurality of valve elements, a cylinder member to slidably retain the plunger, and an outer shell member having an inner wall surface facing an outer surface of the valve retention member, the inner wall surface and the outer surface of the valve retention member collectively forming a suction gallery chamber.
US09683553B2
Systems and methods for monitoring wind turbine loading are provided. In one embodiment, a system includes a main shaft, a bedplate, and a gearbox coupled to the main shaft and mounted to the bedplate. The gearbox includes an outer casing and a torque arm extending from the outer casing. The system further includes an isolation mount coupled to the torque arm, and a sensor configured to measure displacement of the torque arm. In another embodiment, a method includes operating the wind turbine, and detecting displacement of a torque arm of a gearbox of the wind turbine. The method further includes calculating a moment for a main shaft of the wind turbine based on the displacement of the torque arm.
US09683544B2
A wave power generating apparatus is provided. A generator including a housing and a drive shaft coupled to the housing is coupled to a floating part that is floatable on a sea. The drive shaft is positioned on an extension of the center of rotation extending from the housing. A first rotary unit is coupled to the generator housing, is rotatable in a first direction together with the housing about the extension of the center of rotation, and includes a first blade able to pivot about a first pivot axis perpendicular to the extension of the center of rotation. A second rotary unit is coupled to the drive shaft of the generator, is rotatable in a second direction opposite to a direction in which the first rotary unit rotates, and includes a second blade able to pivot about a second pivot axis perpendicular to the extension of the center of rotation.
US09683533B2
A fuel injector rail assembly for direct injection of fuel includes an elongate fuel distribution tube, a plurality of fuel injector sockets each formed to contain therein a fuel injection valve and being integrally secured to the fuel distribution tube, and a plurality of brackets each integrally secured to the distribution tube. The brackets each are made of pressed sheet metal and includes a mounting plate portion formed with a bolt hole for mounting the fuel distribution tube on an engine head and an opening for permitting each lower portion of the fuel injector sockets inserting therethrough, a pair of stationary arm portions extended in parallel from one side edge of the mounting plate portion at opposite sides of the respective fuel injector sockets and secured to the distribution tube. An outward flange formed at each lower end of the injector sockets is secured to an underside surface of the periphery of the opening for each injector socket. A central axis of the bolt hole is offset from a central axis of each of the fuel injector sockets in a longitudinal direction of the fuel distribution tube.
US09683523B2
A vapor purge system having a tank isolation valve and a canister vent valve, where each valve includes a latching mechanism for maintaining the valves in an open position, and a diagnostic test is performed on the purge system to prove that each of the valves are functioning correctly. Using latching valves in these applications reduces electricity draw from the battery and reduces electrical interference with integrated pressure sensors. The fuel tank is sealed by the tank isolation valve between the fuel tank and a vapor storage canister, and the canister vent valve provides sealing between the canister and the atmosphere, and controls venting of the canister. The diagnostic test is performed using the tank isolation valve and the canister vent valve under different operating conditions.
US09683516B2
A turbine engine convergent-divergent nozzle including an annular central element and an annular cap arranged coaxially around the central element to co-operate with the central element to define an annular flow channel for a gas stream from the engine. Between a throat section and an ejection section of the nozzle, the central element and the cap present respective internal profiles in longitudinal section that are modeled by curves having respective radii of curvature that are identical in absolute value.
US09683509B2
In a method for actuating a switch element of a valve device between a first end position and a second end position, in a normal mode within a cycle following an end of a first energization, a movement of the switch element in a first direction effected by the loading device is retarded in a first direction by a brief second energization (“braking pulse”) that is introduced within the cycle once a pause period has ended following a characteristic point in time. It is provided that the optimum pause period and/or the optimum variable characterizing the braking pulse be ascertained in an adaptation mode.
US09683501B2
A multi-cylinder internal combustion engine includes: a first fuel injection valve that injects fuel into each cylinder; a second fuel injection valve that injects fuel into an intake passage; and an exhaust recirculation device that causes some of exhaust flowing in an exhaust passage to recirculate into the intake passage. A control device is used in the multi-cylinder internal combustion engine. The control device limits recirculation of exhaust into the intake passage by the exhaust recirculation device when imbalance determination is conducted during engine operation by fuel injection from the first fuel injection valve only, compared to when imbalance determination is conducted during engine operation involving fuel injection from the second fuel injection valve.
US09683498B2
A method for operating an internal combustion engine includes monitoring engine parameters using an electronic controller, determining a surge speed limit for the engine based on a compressor map, determining an offset engine speed based on a margin between the surge speed limit and an engine speed, determining a minimum engine speed based on the margin, applying the offset engine speed to an engine speed signal to provide an adjusted engine speed, and applying the adjusted engine speed to a desired engine speed when a speed of the engine approaches the surge speed limit.
US09683497B2
Methods and systems are provided for adjusting a throttle based on an intake oxygen sensor output. In one example, a method may include adjusting a position of a throttle based on a dilution threshold and a total aircharge dilution level, the total dilution aircharge level based on an output of an intake oxygen sensor. Additionally, spark timing may be adjusted based on the total aircharge dilution level.
US09683496B2
A control apparatus for an internal combustion engine that can be a four-cycle engine including cylinders into which fuel is directly injected, the control apparatus includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to execute a fuel injection and an ignition for the cylinder in an expansion stroke on a condition that a stop of the piston in any one of the cylinders at vicinity of a top dead center after a compression stroke is predicted when the electronic control unit is configured to stop the fuel injection and the ignition for the internal combustion engine upon fulfillment of a predetermined stop condition.
US09683494B2
A method is provided for carrying out a diagnosis of an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle wherein, during the diagnosis, at least partially an additional drive machine, particularly an electric motor, generates a torque, and thereby changes an operating point of the internal combustion engine.
US09683485B2
An exhaust-gas turbocharger (1) having a turbine housing (2), which has a bypass duct (10) with a bypass opening (9); and having a control flap (3), which is mounted pivotably between a closed position and an open position in the turbine housing (2), the control flap (3), when in its closed position, resting on a bearing region (8) of a housing wall (11) which conducts exhaust gas and contains the bypass opening (9), wherein at least one flow imperfection (12A, 12B; 23A, 23B) is arranged in the turbine housing wall (11) in the bearing region (8) of the control flap (3) and/or in the control flap (3).
US09683484B2
A centrifugal compressor for a turbocharger includes an inlet-adjustment mechanism in an air inlet for the compressor, operable to move between an open position and a closed position in the air inlet. The inlet-adjustment mechanism includes a variable-geometry conduit comprising a plurality of vanes that in the closed position collectively form a converging inlet member having a trailing edge inner diameter that is smaller than an inner diameter of the shroud surface of the compressor housing at the inducer portion of the compressor wheel such that an effective diameter of the air inlet at the inducer portion is determined by the trailing edge inner diameter of the variable-geometry conduit. The vanes in the open position are pivoted radially outwardly so as to increase the trailing edge inner diameter of the inlet member and thereby increase the effective diameter of the air inlet at the inducer portion.
US09683464B2
A method for producing a camshaft module and a camshaft module are provided. The camshaft module includes a camshaft and a bearing frame having bearing devices with cut-outs. The camshaft includes a shaft and cams having cut-outs. The shaft has at least two different outside diameters. At least some of the cams and/or some of the bearing devices have cut-outs of differing diameters. The bearing frame is supported during shaft insertion to be movable along a movement axis during production of the camshaft module and to be substantially rigid along an insertion direction of the shaft. The shaft is inserted into the bearing frame in the insertion direction in such a way that interference fit is obtained in each case at least between the shaft and at least some of the cams. A predefined target distance between two elements such as a gear located outside of the bearing frame and a cam or bearing device located inside of the bearing frame adjacent to the element outside of the bearing frame may be obtained by partially inserting the shaft, determining a distance between the two elements, and applying an insertion force to the shaft based on the determined distance to advance the shaft to result in setting the distance between the two elements to the target distance.
US09683463B2
A system for controlled recovery of thermal energy and conversion to mechanical energy. The system collects thermal energy from a reciprocating engine, specifically from engine jacket fluid and/or engine exhaust and uses this thermal energy to generate a secondary power source by evaporating an organic propellant and using the gaseous propellant to drive an expander in production of mechanical energy. A monitoring module senses ambient and system conditions such as temperature, pressure, and flow of organic propellant at one or more locations; and a control module regulates system parameters based on monitored information to optimize secondary power output. A tertiary, or back-up power source may also be present. The system may be used to meet on-site power demands using primary, secondary, and tertiary power.
US09683458B2
A bearing housing comprises a body having a partition wall delimiting the bearing housing from an environment and defining a bearing housing interior cavity configured to receive an oil feed. An inlet bore is in the partition wall in fluid communication with the bearing housing interior cavity. The inlet bore is configured to receive an end of an oil tube, the inlet bore comprising a contact surface configured for contacting the oil tube. A seal is between the inlet bore and the oil tube. An oil recuperation passage is defined in the partition wall in fluid communication with the inlet bore between the seal and at least a portion of the contact surface, the oil recuperation passage being in fluid communication with an oil recuperating cavity.
US09683457B2
In a foundation in which both ends of a turbine rotor are arranged in the foundation and are freely rotatably supported by bearings, there are provided rectangular notches extending over a prescribed vertical depth from the top face of a wall surface on the casing side of a concrete section, having prescribed width and horizontal depth; bearing support members formed with an extension are laid in these notches; the bearings are installed on these extensions.
US09683455B2
A component for releasing a flow of material into an environment subject to periodic fluctuations in pressure, which has: a first surface that includes an inlet; a second surface that includes an outlet; a duct formed in the component and extending from the inlet to the outlet so, when the component is in use, a flow of material received at the inlet can flow along the duct to be released at the outlet into an environment subject to periodic fluctuations in pressure. The duct includes a constriction at which it decreases in cross-sectional area as it progresses from the inlet to the outlet. This can help reduce the variation in flow rate of material released at the outlet caused by the periodic fluctuations in pressure, and may help to avoid/reduce ingestion, when the component is in use. Preferably, the component is configured to form part of a gas turbine engine.
US09683431B2
A method of treating a subterranean formation comprises pumping into a well penetrating the formation a surface modifying treatment agent having a metallic anchor and at least one hydrophobic tail attached to the metal of the anchor. The surface modifying treatment agent is covalently bound to the surface of the subterranean formation through the metal of the anchor.
US09683428B2
A system is provided that allows relatively low temperature water to be withdrawn from a pipeline, heated and then returned to the pipeline. At least one embodiment includes a device for adjusting the rate of flow through a primary pipe so that desired temperatures are maintained during the heating process.
US09683416B2
A wellbore servicing method includes positioning a tubing string within a wellbore. The tubing string comprises a lower tubular coupled to an upper tubular via a disconnectable assembly having a lower section connected to the lower tubular and an upper section connected to the upper tubular. The method also includes disconnecting the lower tubular from the upper tubular via the disconnectable assembly. Disconnecting the lower tubular from the upper tubular comprises introducing a releasing member into the upper tubular and conveying the releasing member through the upper tubular to engage the disconnectable assembly. The method also includes retracting the upper tubular upwardly within the wellbore. Upon retracting the upper tubular, the releasing member is retracted along with the upper section of the disconnectable assembly. Also, upon retracting the upper tubular, a route of fluid communication out of the upper tubular is provided.
US09683407B2
A roller blind assembly includes a roller, a generally rectangular panel formed from a flexible sheet material having an upper marginal edge secured to the roller and a free lower marginal edge, a screen in the form of a web of flexible material being detachably mounted on the free lower marginal of the panel edge via a releasable fastening device, the releasable fastening device comprising cooperating first and second fastening components being respectively provided on the lower marginal edge of the panel and an upper edge of the screen, wherein the first and second fastening components comprise mating elongate members each having a substantially U shaped cross section to define cooperating hook-like members adapted to releasably engage one another to support the screen from the panel.
US09683401B2
Some embodiments include a system. The system includes a jacket having one or more armor panels. The jacket can be coupled to an exterior surface of an automated teller machine, the automated teller machine having the exterior surface and a vault that has a hollow interior. Further, when the jacket is coupled to the exterior surface of the automated teller machine, the jacket can prevent and/or deter unauthorized access to the hollow interior of the vault of the automated teller machine. Other embodiments of related systems and methods are also disclosed.
US09683396B2
A safety device for doors of lockable receptacles and a method of use are disclosed herein. The disclosed safety device generally comprises a base member attachable to a lockable receptacle; an arm member having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the proximal end is attached to the base member; and a wedge member forming a portion of the arm member. Upon opening the door of the lockable receptacle, the wedge member becomes positioned between the open door and the lockable receptacle, thereby preventing closure of the door on a user's body part positioned between the door and the lockable receptacle.
US09683384B2
A surface mount barrier post and assembly method has a retaining system to receive the post. The retaining system includes a post retaining element for receiving the post. The retaining element has a substantially vertical hollow steel section having an opening at its lower end on a first side, a steel foot box aligned with the opening and extending in a first direction, and a bottom plate to which the hollow section and foot box are attached. A steel front traverse member passes over the foot box and lies adjacent the bottom plate perpendicular the first direction. A steel rear traverse member lies adjacent the vertical hollow section on a second side opposite substantially perpendicular to the first direction. U-bolts are arranged to pass over the front and rear members on either side of the retaining element for receipt into holes in a surface on which the retaining system is mounted.
US09683381B1
A rafter measuring template includes a length adjustable primary arm, the distance between opposed ends being user-adjustable to indicate a rafter length. A ridge assembly is coupled to the primary arm configured to clamp onto a ridge board and determine potential rafter angle. The ridge assembly includes a clamp portion selectively attachable to the ridge board and securing the primary arm and an angle measurement portion coupled to the clamp portion and pivotal in an up/down manner, the measurement portion having indicia indicative of the angle of the primary arm relative to the ridge board. A wall plate engagement member having a wall plate is coupled to the primary arm defining an upstanding channel having a plurality of spaced apart selectable notches indicative of predetermined rafter widths. A plate engagement flange is capable of nesting flush against the wall plate such that the engagement flange determines a plate notch configuration.
US09683377B1
A crown molding hanger is provided. The crown molding hanger can be used to install a piece of crown molding requiring only the time and effort of a single craftsman. The crown molding hanger has a mounting member and a support member. The support member is removably coupled to the mounting member. In use, the mounting member is coupled to a surface via a coupler and then the support member is removably coupled to the mounting member. The support member has a support surface that engages and holds a length of crown molding while the coupler secures the mounting member, support member, and length of crown molding. The crown molding hanger can be reused many times while leaving no visible blemish to the wall during the typical installation process of a piece of crown molding using the crown molding hanger.
US09683371B1
A gutter screen contemplating a first slip joint and a second slip joint located at a second end of the gutter screen and matable to the first slip joint, the first slip joint being a descending step-stair design; and the second slip joint being an extended beveled edge, the beveled edge matable to each step of the first slip joint such that when pressure is applied the extended beveled edge will ascend the step-stair, and when pressure is reduced the extended beveled edge will descend the step-stair.
US09683367B1
Curtain wall mullion anchoring systems for resisting dead load and negative wind load, and that permit three-way construction tolerance adjustments. The mullion anchoring systems include an anchoring device secured to a building structural element and attached to a mullion connection bridge, which is connected to a mullion connection clip, which is connected to a mullion. Uplifting forces on the anchoring device may be significantly reduced or even eliminated by transmitting dead load under negative wind load conditions from the mullion to the anchoring device at a point over the inside of a concrete floor slab, such that the dead load counteracts any uplifting force generated by the negative wind load.
US09683353B2
A faucet spray head magnetic docking system includes a socket that couples to an end of the spout, and a bonnet that couples to the spray head and that engages with the socket. The socket includes a shell configured to be arranged in the mouth of the spout, and integrated with one or more magnetic elements. The magnetic elements may be inserted into corresponding holes of the socket shell. Alternatively, the magnetic elements may be incorporated directly into the shell. The bonnet includes a threaded portion for coupling to corresponding threads of a connector at the spray head, and includes one or more corresponding magnets configured to magnetically attract to the magnetic elements of the socket.
US09683345B2
A method of deploying a containment boom is provided whereby an elongated material, such as a sheet, yarn, or yarn bundle, is formed into a roll and the material is pulled from the interior of the roll to create a helical structure. A pull rope is threaded through the interior of the roll and is deployed along with the material, such that the material is wrapped around the pull rope. The pull rope prevents the boom from stretching and distorting the helical structure formed by the material, as well as preventing the material from self-wringing. Multiple rolls of material may be provided in a single boom package arranged in coaxial alignment. When the materials are connected in parallel, they are integrated into a single boom having concentrically wrapped materials, thereby providing for greater stability and functionality.
US09683344B2
The invention relates to an oil collector including a brush (3), provided with substantially straight bristles (1) and a horizontal shaft (2), and a cleaning structure in the upper part of the brush for cleaning the brush from oil. According to the invention, the bristles (1) of the brush (3) are substantially parallel to the horizontal shaft (2).
US09683338B2
The invention relates to a traveller (1) for the construction of engineering works, comprising two structures, namely: a securing structure (2) for securing to the already built engineering work, and a working structure (3) on which construction of the work advances. The traveller is characterized in that the securing structure (2) comprises: a first end ring (6) and a second middle ring (7), both of said rings (6, 7) being coupled to the periphery of the section (27) of the already built work; at least one transom bar (9) that joins the end ring (6) and the middle ring (7) on the side of the carriage (1); and connecting elements between the end ring (6) and the middle ring (7). The working structure (3) comprises exterior formwork (25) and floor formwork (23).
US09683324B2
A fans-motor assembly for condenser laundry dryer machine, of unusually low cost and overall dimensions, comprising: a drive shaft which can be associated in a rotating manner with a frame of a laundry dryer machine and designed to be connected by means of a transmission belt to a rotating drum thereof; a fan for the hot air and a fan for the cold air integral in rotation with said drive shaft and designed to convey respectively a flow of hot air and a flow of cold air along separate paths of said laundry dryer machine; a synchronous permanent magnet electric motor comprising an internal stator traversed by said drive shaft and an external rotor integral during rotation with said drive shaft.
US09683320B2
The present invention provides fabrics with cut loop pile comprising a core yarn of a synthetic multifilament yarn and covering yarn of a split microfiber yarn and a manufacturing method thereof. The core yarn at the section where said loops are cut is outwardly protruded from the covering yarn, wherein the synthetic multifilament core yarn has been separated into multiple filaments to function as hooks. The fabrics with cut loop pile show superior characteristics in polishing properties, sliding properties, water absorption properties, rapid drying properties and feeling of touch since polishing can be performed while easily catching foreign substances such as extremely minute dust particles or human hairs and the like by the hook-shaped multifilaments of the core yarn. Thus the fabrics with cut loop pile according to the present invention can be used usefully in products such as various kind of mats, towels, bathroom products, and the like including dishcloths and mops.
US09683314B2
The invention relates to an oxygen and nitrogen co-doped polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber and a preparation method thereof. The oxygen and nitrogen co-doped polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber is prepared by electrochemical modification of a raw-material polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber, such that the surface thereof has an active layer formed by oxygen-containing active functional groups and nitrogen-containing active functional groups, wherein the nitrogen-containing active functional groups are obtained by activation of the doped nitrogen inherently contained in the raw-material polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber by means of electrochemical modification. The method for preparing the oxygen and nitrogen co-doped polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber comprises the following steps: placing the raw-material polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber in an electrolyte solution, subjecting it to cyclic treatment between electrochemical oxidation and electrochemical reduction, and thus obtaining the oxygen and nitrogen co-doped polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber. The oxygen and nitrogen co doped polyacrylonitrile based carbon fiber of the present invention has both the pseudo capacitive properties for oxidation reduction reactions and electrocatalytic properties for the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction.
US09683311B2
Heat-resistant, high strength fibers useful in a wide range of end-use applications are prepared using a polymeric composition containing polyetherketoneketone and mineral nanotubes.
US09683306B2
A method of forming a composite material is provided. The method may include: arranging a suspension in physical contact with a carrier, wherein the suspension may comprise an electrolyte and a plurality of particles of a first component of the composite material; causing the particles of the first component of the composite material to sediment on the carrier, wherein a plurality of spaces may be formed between the sedimented particles; and forming by electroplating a second component of the composite material from the electrolyte in at least a fraction of the plurality of spaces.
US09683301B2
A golf club head is provided having a club body and a contact plate secured to the club body. The contact plate defines at least a portion of a striking surface having a plurality of striking surface grooves. The contact plate is formed using an electroforming process.
US09683295B2
Provided herein is an apparatus, including a substrate; an etch stop layer overlying the substrate, wherein the etch stop layer is substantially resistant to etching conditions; and a patterned layer overlying the etch stop layer, wherein the patterned layer is substantially labile to the etching conditions, and wherein the patterned layer comprises a number of features including substantially consistent feature profiles among regions of high feature density and regions of low feature density.
US09683293B2
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of conversion coating. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to improved methods for improving efficiency of chromium conversion coat processing lines.
US09683287B2
Films comprising Aluminum, carbon and a metal, wherein the aluminum is present in an amount greater than about 16% by elemental content and the film has less than about 50% carbon. Methods of forming the films comprise exposing a substrate to a metal halide precursor, purging the metal halide precursor from the processing chamber and then exposing the substrate to an alkyl aluminum precursor and an alane precursor, either sequentially or simultaneously. The alane precrursor comprises an amine-alane and a stabilizing amine selected from one or more of diemthylcyclohexylamine or dicyclomethylhexylamine.
US09683284B2
A sputtering target for a magnetic recording film which contains carbon, the sputtering target is characterized in that the ratio (IG/ID) of peak intensities of the G-band to the D-band in Raman scattering spectrometry is 5.0 or less. The sputtering target for a magnetic recording film, which contains carbon powders dispersed therein, makes it possible to produce a magnetic thin film having a granular structure without using an expensive apparatus for co-sputtering; and in particular, the target is an Fe—Pt-based sputtering target. Carbon is a material which is difficult to sinter and has a problem that carbon particles are apt to form agglomerates. There is hence a problem that carbon masses are readily detached during sputtering to generate a large number of particles on the film after sputtering. The high-density sputtering target can solve these problems.
US09683280B2
An alloy consists essentially of, in terms of weight percent: 6 to 8.5 Cr, 5.5 to 13.5 Mo, 0.4 to 7.5 W, 1 to 2 Ti, 0.7 to 0.85 Mn, 0.05 to 0.3 Al, up to to 0.1 Co, 0.08 to 0.5 C, 1 to 5 Ta, 1 to 4 Nab, 1 to 3 Hf, balance Ni. The alloy is characterized by, at 850° C., a yield strength of at least 36 Ksi, a tensile strength of at least 40 Ksi, a creep rupture life at 12 Ksi of at least 72.1 hours, and a corrosion rate, expressed in weight loss [g/(cm2sec)]×10−11 during a 1000 hour immersion in liquid FLiNaK at 850° C., in the range of 8 to 25.
US09683277B2
This invention relates to a process for preparing a ferric nitrate (Fe(NO3)3) reagent, capable of serving as a solvent and copper species oxidizing agent in the ore curing, heap leaching, and/or run of mine (ROM) leaching of a copper ore hydrometallurgical process located at a brown field or green field, from an aqueous copper raffinate solution from the copper ore hydrometallurgical process of copper ore containing iron (II) (Fe2+), and the reagent prepared pursuant to this process.
US09683268B2
The present invention relates to previously undescribed viruses that are associated with significant expansion of the virome, immunodeficiency, and enteropathy during lentiviral infection. The invention also provides methods to detect acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS progression in a subject, methods to diagnose immunodeficiency or enteropathy in a subject, and methods to identify a therapeutic agent to treat the same.
US09683267B2
The invention relates to a method for in vitro testing of specimens, such as biomaterials or implants, wherein the method comprises at least immersing at least a part of the test specimen into a liquid media, controlling the liquid media, controlling surrounding environment, providing a predetermined non-destructive force to the specimen, and measuring reactions of the specimen or constituents of the liquid media. Further it relates to an apparatus for in vitro testing.
US09683263B2
Methods are disclosed herein for identifying a subject with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Methods are also disclosed for determining if an agent is effective for the treatment or prevention of IBS. Methods of treating a subject with IBS, such as a subject identified using the disclosed methods, are also provided.
US09683260B2
An apparatus with a transducer having a first output signal and arranged to receive an electrical input. The transducer switches the first output signal between an ON and OFF state. The apparatus has a chemical sensing surface coupled to the transducer arranged to receive a chemical input. A signal generator oscillates one or more of said inputs to vary the switching point of the transducer. The oscillating input may be the chemical input and/or the electrical input. The output signal may be a pulse whose period ON or OFF is determined by the oscillating input modulated by the chemical input.
US09683255B2
The present invention concerns a method for activating a nucleic acid for a polymerase reaction with the steps: (a) Heating a nucleic acid to a temperature of 55° C. to 80° C., (b) cooling the nucleic acid to a temperature at which a polymerase shows no substantial decrease in activity, and (c) starting the polymerase reaction by the addition of a heat-labile polymerase to the nucleic acid.
US09683252B2
A method for producing a protein of interest on a manufacturing scale is based on integration, by homologous recombination, of the DNA encoding the protein of interest into a bacterial cell genome at a pre-selected site. The manufacturing scale production of recombinant proteins is in the fed-batch mode, semi-continuous or in a chemostat.
US09683251B2
A method for the production of nucleic acid encoding a target protein. The method comprises (a) providing an array of RNA or DNA molecules including one or more encoding the target protein; (b) generating a target protein from the array to form RNA-protein or DNA-protein complexes in which the RNA or DNA molecule is non-covalently or covalently bound to the complex; (c) separating the complexes into compartments wherein most or all of the compartments contain no more than one complex; (d) subjecting the complexes to reaction conditions which allow target protein activity; and (e) selecting nucleic acid encoding the target protein on the basis of the activity associated therewith, wherein when the complex is a DNA-protein complex in which the DNA is non-covalently bound, step b) is performed in the absence of separate compartments for each complex.
US09683247B2
The disclosure relates to a recombinant microorganism engineered to express an enzyme which catalyzes the conversion of a primary amine and an acyl thioester to a fatty amide. The disclosure further encompasses a method of producing a fatty amide by culturing the recombinant microorganism in the presence of a carbon source.
US09683242B2
The invention provides specific transgenic soybean plants, plant material and seeds, characterized in that these products harbor a stack of specific transformation events at specific locations in the soybean genome. Tools are also provided which allow rapid and unequivocal identification of these events in biological samples.
US09683240B2
A mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant cell comprising: (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence encoding a neoxanthin synthase and having at least 60% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID No. 6; (ii) a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide set forth in (i); (iii) a polypeptide having at least 66% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2 or at least 60% sequence identity to SEQ ID No. 7; or (iv) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the isolated polynucleotide set forth in (i), and wherein the expression or activity of the neoxanthin synthase is modulated as compared to a control or wild type plant.
US09683235B2
Disclosed herein are antisense compounds and methods for decreasing Tau mRNA and protein expression. Such methods, compounds, and compositions are useful to treat, prevent, or ameliorate Tau-associated diseases, disorders, and conditions.
US09683225B2
The present invention relates to polypeptides having xylanase activity, catalytic domains, and carbohydrate binding domains, and polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides, catalytic domains, and carbohydrate binding domains. The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods of producing and using the polypeptides, catalytic domains, and carbohydrate binding domains.
US09683220B2
The present invention provides improved P450-BM3 variants with improved activity. In some embodiments, the P450-BM3 variants exhibit improved activity over a wide range of substrates.
US09683218B2
The use of biomaterials, such as viruses and virus-like particles, to form nanostructures is generally disclosed. For instance, rod-like viruses can be used to form composite nanofibers that are fixed together in a head-to-tail assembly by a polymer. Also, 2-dimensional nanostructures formed from crosslinked viruses assembled in a single, film-like layer are generally disclosed. Porous gels having controllable pore size through the use of virus particles are also disclosed.
US09683209B2
A cell permeabilizing microfluidic system for permeabilizing one or more cells in a fluid flow. The system has a microfluidic channel for channeling at least one cell in a fluid flow and an optical source for generating a beam of light for permeabilizing the at least one cell, wherein the channel and the source are arranged so that the light beam and fluid flow are collinear in a permeabilization part of the channel and cells are permeabilized within the permeabilization part.
US09683206B2
A Low-VOC, water-based cleaner containing TKPP Aqueous 60%, EDTA Versene 100, Glycol Ether DPNP, or glycol ether EB and DB, or just glycol ether EB, Acetone, Acetic Acid, and fragrance. The VOC content of this composition is selectable to be 18.18%. 9.09%, or 0% (zero).
US09683200B2
A non-Newtonian concentrate composition includes a sensitizer or irritant, a surfactant, an anti-mist component and optionally a stability component. Example sensitizers and irritants include, but are not limited to, acids, quaternary compounds, and amines, and example anti-mist components include, but are not limited to, polyethylene oxide and polyacrylamide.
US09683189B2
The invention provides a water-soluble metal-working oil agent, including a component A, a component B, a component C, and a component D, wherein the component A is an ester compound which has a characteristic temperature, as measured in accordance with JIS K2242, of 570° C. or higher and which is contained in the water-soluble metal-working oil agent in an amount of 10 mass % or more with respect to the entire amount of the agent; the component B is at least one condensed fatty acid which is selected from a condensed fatty acid (1), produced through dehydration condensation of a hydroxycarboxylic acid, and a condensed fatty acid (2), produced through dehydration condensation of an alcoholic hydroxyl group of the condensed fatty acid (1) with a monovalent carboxylic acid, which has a characteristic temperature, as measured in accordance with JIS K2242, of 650° C. or higher, and which is contained in the water-soluble metal-working oil agent in an amount of 7.5 mass % or more with respect to the entire amount of the agent; the component C is a carboxylic acid which is contained in the water-soluble metal-working oil agent in an amount of 2 mass % or more with respect to the entire amount of the agent; and the component D is a basic compound contained in such a neutralization equivalent that at least the component B and component C are neutralized to cancel out the sum of the acid values thereof. The agent can provide excellent workability with a hard-to-work material and can prolong tool life.
US09683178B2
A method for processing an acidic hydrocarbon feed comprising a hydrocarbon material and an acidic constituent soluble in the feed is provided. The method may comprise contacting the feed under a first condition with an active agent having an initial solubility in the feed and the acidic constituent and providing a second condition wherein the active agent has a secondary solubility in the feed lesser than the initial solubility to form a separable enriched active agent phase. The acidic constituent solubility in the active agent may be greater than its solubility in the hydrocarbon material under both the first and second conditions such that the acidic constituent dissolves in the active agent. The acidic constituent solubility in the active agent under the second condition may be greater than its solubility in the active agent under the first condition. The method may further comprise separating the enriched active agent phase from the hydrocarbon material depleted in the acidic constituent under the second condition.
US09683161B2
A self-adaptive cement formulation includes cement, water and thermoplastic block-polymer particles. The set cement demonstrates self-healing properties when exposed to methane, and is particularly suited for well-cementing applications. After placement and curing, the self healing properties help maintain zonal isolation should bonding be disrupted between the set cement and the formation or a casing string, should cracks or defects appear in the set-cement matrix, or both.
US09683152B2
A two-component polyurethane adhesive is described. The polyurethane adhesive has high strength and extensibility, wherein the mechanical properties are only slightly dependent on the temperature. The polyurethane adhesive is suitable as a structural adhesive that is decomposed by heating in such a way that adhesive bonds can be undone in a temperature range of interest. The adhesive can include a triol, a diol, an alkoxylated aromatic diol, a polyamine, a polyisocyanate, and a polyurethane polymer having isocayanate groups in certain ratios.
US09683142B2
A sealant composition comprising: (a) from 10 to 40 wt % of an acrylic polymer or copolymer; (b) from 20 to 65 wt % of a powdered filler; and (c) from 0.1 to 20 wt % of a hydrocarbon polymer.
US09683137B2
Adhesive compositions are described which can be selectively detackified or deadened. Articles using such adhesive compositions are also described. Also described are techniques in which select regions of adhesive layers in the articles are detackified. Also described are systems and methods using the various articles and adhesive compositions. And particular label constructions are described.
US09683132B2
Methods for protecting an electronic device from contaminants by applying different polymeric materials to different vital components of a device are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises applying a first polymer, such as an acrylic-based polymer, to one or more connectors and components located on the printed circuit board of the device. The method further comprises applying a second polymer, such as a silicone-based polymer, to different connectors and components on the printed circuit board. The method leads to different components being coated with a different polymers, without the need for multilayer coatings on any component. Electronic devices that are protected by such polymeric, hydrophobic coatings are also disclosed. Non-limiting examples of such devices include smart phones, computers, and gaming devices.
US09683128B2
A polymerized film forming method for forming a polymerized film on a target surface of a target object by using a first raw material gas containing acid dianhydride and a second raw material gas containing diamine, the method comprising performing a surface treatment on the target surface by supplying a gas containing an adhesion promoting agent for enhancing adhesion between the target surface and the polymerized film, and supplying the first raw material gas and the second raw material gas to the surface-treated target surface to form the polymerized film, wherein when performing the surface treatment, at least one of the first raw material gas and the second raw material gas is supplied in addition to the gas containing the adhesion promoting agent.
US09683124B2
Multifunctional coating films that can be applied in liquid form are provided for compressing, sealing, covering and preserving surfaces. The films include a composition of polysaccharide materials and/or homo- or heteroglycan water-soluble polysaccharide derivatives, polyol spacers, and crosslinkers with carbonyl or carboxylic function(s). As-applied, the composition is water-soluble and reactive, but after hardening it is capable of absorbing water or swelling, impermeable to water vapour, stable against water and UV and can be biologically degraded in a controlled manner. By reacting polysaccharide materials, polysaccharide derivatives and polyol spacers with cross linkers having carbonyl or carboxylic function(s), mechanically stable flexible films are obtained, which retain their mechanical properties up to a foreign material content of 80%. The films can swell in a controlled manner and can bind up to 75% water relative to their dry weight, corresponding to the degree of crosslinking and the spacer that is used.
US09683122B2
An ink composition comprising a nanomaterial and a liquid vehicle, wherein the liquid vehicle includes a composition including one or more functional groups that are capable of being cross-linked is disclosed. An ink composition comprising a nanomaterial, a liquid vehicle, and scatterers is also disclosed. An ink composition including a nanomaterial and a liquid vehicle, wherein the liquid vehicle includes a perfluorocompound is further disclosed. A method for inkjet printing an ink including nanomaterial and a liquid vehicle with a surface tension that is not greater than about 25 dyne/cm is disclosed. In certain preferred embodiments, the nanomaterial includes semiconductor nanocrystals. Devices prepared from inks and methods of the invention are also described.
US09683121B2
The invention provides: an ink composition, a method of producing the ink composition, and an image forming method using the ink composition. The ink composition includes: a urethane resin that includes an alicyclic structure at a content of from 6,000 mmol/kg to 12,000 mmol/kg; a water-soluble organic solvent; water; and a colorant.
US09683119B2
A jet ink composition, a jet ink coating method and a resulting jet ink coated article are all predicated upon the jet ink composition which includes in addition to a particulate pigment material and a solvent composition a resin composition. The resin composition includes an uncured silicone resin, an uncured epoxy resin and an uncured melamine resin. Upon thermal cure the uncured resin composition forms a cured resin composition with superior adhesion to substrates such as but not limited to glass substrates, ceramic substrates and metal oxide substrates.
US09683104B2
Provided is a surface modification method of calcite powder prepared from desulfurized gypsum and heat-treated at a high temperature. According to the surface modification method, hydrophilic calcite powder having polarity may be changed into hydrophobic non-polar calcite powder by safely adsorbing a surface modifier onto a surface of the calcite powder and coating the surface with non-polar fatty acid. Particularly, in the case in which calcite powder heat-treated at a high temperature is hydrophobized, a significantly excellent hydrophobic surface property may be implemented.
US09683103B2
A polymeric dye compound, photosensitive resin composition comprising the same and use thereof are disclosed. The polymeric dye compound comprises three kinds of monomeric units. The photosensitive resin composition comprises a colorant, an alkali-soluble resin, a polymerizable monomer and a polymerization initiator, wherein the colorant comprises the polymeric dye compound and a pigment. The polymeric dye compound is prepared by copolymerization of styrenic monomer and other monomers, such that a colored layer having excellent heat resistance, light resistance and high transmittance can be formed.
US09683102B2
A system is provided comprising an optical filter. The optical filter comprises a Cu-porphyrin dye compound. The transmission spectrum of the system has an average transmission across the wavelength range of 460 nm-700 nm of at least 80%. The transmission spectrum of the system has an average transmission across the wavelength range 400 nm-460 nm that is less than 75%.
US09683099B2
Disclosed is an integrated circuit (100) comprising a semiconductor substrate (110) carrying a plurality of circuit elements (111); and a carbon dioxide sensor (120) over said semiconductor substrate, said sensor comprising a pair of electrodes (122, 124) laterally separated from each other; and a carbon dioxide (CO2) permeable polymer matrix (128) at least partially covering the pair of electrodes, said matrix encapsulating a liquid (126) comprising an organic alcohol and an organic amidine or guanidine base. A composition for forming such a CO2 sensor on the IC and a method of manufacturing such an IC are also disclosed.
US09683096B2
A polypropylene impact copolymer is disclosed. The propylene impact copolymer composition comprises from 60 to 90 percent by weight of the impact copolymer composition of a matrix phase, which can be a homopolymer polypropylene or random polypropylene copolymer having from 0.1 to 7 mol percent of units derived from ethylene or C4-C10 alpha olefins. The propylene impact copolymer composition also comprises from 10 to 40 percent by weight of the impact copolymer composition of a dispersed phase, which comprises a propylene/alpha-olefin copolymer having from 6 to 40 mol percent of units derived from ethylene or C4-C10 alpha olefins, wherein the dispersed phase has a comonomer content which is greater than the comonomer content in the matrix phase. The propylene impact copolymer composition is further characterized by having the ratio of the dispersed phase intrinsic viscosity (IV) to the matrix phase IV being 0.95 or less. The polypropylene impact copolymers of the present invention are well suited for making spunbond fibers which can be used to make nonwoven fabrics having good haptics.
US09683093B1
A resin composition includes cellulose derivatives, wherein, in a molecular weight distribution curve obtained by subjecting the cellulose derivatives to gel permeation chromatography (GPC), a maximum (PL) exists in a low molecular weight region of 10,000 to 40,000 and a maximum (PH) exists in a high molecular weight region of 100,000 to 180,000, and with respect to a total amount of a peak area (SL) of a peak including the maximum (PL) and a peak area (SH) of a peak including the maximum (PH), a ratio of the peak area (SL) is 1% to 99% and a ratio of the peak area (SH) is from 1% to 99%.
US09683092B2
The present invention relates to polymer fibres. More specifically, the invention relates to polymer fibres comprising aero gel particles.
US09683085B2
One-part binder compositions are described that may include a protein and a crosslinking combination. The crosslinking combination may include at least a first crosslinking compound and a second crosslinking compound. The first and second crosslinking compounds are individually crosslinkable with each other and with the protein. Examples of the protein include soy protein. Fiber products and methods of making the fiber products are also described. The fiber products may include organic fibers, inorganic fibers, or both, in a cured thermoset binder based on solutions of the one-part binder compositions.
US09683084B2
The present invention relates to a curable silicone composition comprising: (A) an organopolysiloxane represented by a specific average unit formula and having at least two alkenyl groups in a molecule, (B) an optional straight-chain organopolysiloxane having at least two alkenyl groups and not having any silicon-bonded hydrogen atoms in a molecule, (C) an organopolysiloxane having at least two silicon-bonded hydrogen atoms in a molecule, wherein at least 80 mass % of this component comprises an organotrisiloxane represented by the formula: H(CH3)2SiO(C6H5)2SiOSi(CH3)2H, and (D) a hydrosilylation reaction catalyst. The curable silicone composition has excellent handleability and high reactivity and forms a cured product with low gas permeability.
US09683072B2
Provided are: an epoxy resin composition which enables the production of a carbon-fiber-reinforced composite material having excellent tensile strength and compressive strength and suitable as a material for structures; a prepreg; and a carbon-fiber-reinforced composite material. An epoxy resin composition characterized by comprising at least [A] an epoxy resin having a structure represented by formula (1), [B] an epoxy resin having at least one amine-type glycidyl group or at least one ether-type glycidyl group and having a liquid form at 40° C. and [C] a curing agent; and a prepreg and a carbon-fiber-reinforced composite material, each produced using the epoxy resin composition. (In the formula, R1 to R4 independently represent at least one atom or group selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen atom, an aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, an alicyclic hydrocarbon group having 4 or less carbon atoms, and a halogen atom.)
US09683069B2
The present invention relates to a method for preparing a weather resistant reinforced acrylate based resin. More specifically, an activator-free conversion rate improver is included in an acrylate-styrene based graft copolymer, thereby improving the haze value, light transmittance, and yellow index when mixed with an acrylate-styrene based non-graft copolymer, and securing the weather resistance. In particular, according to the present invention, a weather resistant reinforced thermoplastic resin having excellent colors which are close to natural colors can be provided even without using sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate (SFS) and iron ions.
US09683048B2
Antibody molecules that specifically bind to PD-1 are disclosed. The anti-PD-1 antibody molecules can be used to treat, prevent and/or diagnose cancerous or infectious conditions and disorders.
US09683043B2
One aspect of the present disclosure provides antibodies that can act as agonists of PD-1, thereby modulating immune responses regulated by PD-1. Another aspect of the disclosure provides compositions comprising PD-1 specific antibodies and their use in methods of down regulating the immune response. These methods can be practiced on any subject, including humans or animals. Anti-PD-1 antibodies disclosed herein may be used, in another aspect of the invention to detect PD-1 or its fragments in a biological sample. The amount of PD-1 detected may be correlated with the expression level of PD-1, and associated with the activation status of immune cells (e.g., activated T cells, B cells, and/or monocytes) in the subject.
US09683042B2
The present invention relates to a humanized scFv delivery vehicle targeted to be human T-cell specific, and provides: a humanized scFv which comprises a heavy-chain variable region (VH) consisting of a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence given by sequence number 32 and comprises a light-chain variable region (VL) consisting of a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence given by sequence number 34; and a T-cell-specific drug or marker delivery vehicle comprising the humanized scFv. The humanized scFv of the present invention has minimalised antigenicity and has an effect which does not give rise to an immune reaction even when used in the human body, and thus can advantageously be used as a delivery vehicle for specifically delivering a target substance such as a siRNA gene or an immune reaction regulating protein to T-cells.
US09683040B2
The present invention relates to an antibody having an anti-angiogenesis activity. More specifically, the present invention relates to an antibody against ROBO4 and a pharmaceutical composition containing the antibody. An object of the present invention is to provide an anti-ROBO4 antibody having an anti-angiogenesis effect, a pharmaceutical composition or the like comprising the antibody, a method for suppressing angiogenesis using the antibody, etc. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing the antibody. The antibody of the present invention activates the downstream signal of ROBO4 and has a suppressive activity against cell migration induced by VEGF or bFGF. The antibody of the present invention also exhibits an anti-angiogenesis effect in in-vivo models.
US09683036B2
Humanized antibodies specific to human interleukin 20 (IL-20) and uses thereof in treating diseases associated with the IL-20 signaling pathway, e.g., osteoporosis, inflammatory disease (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis), cancer, stroke, and renal failure.
US09683031B2
The present invention relates to the diagnosis of autoimmune disorders, more specifically to the diagnosis of rheumatoid disorders, chronic autoimmune arthritis and even more specifically to the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. A biomarker panel is provided which can be used to detect if a subject has rheumatoid arthritis. Also described are methods of identification of such biomarkers.
US09683028B2
Methods useful in constructing libraries that collectively display and/or express members of diverse families of peptides, polypeptides or proteins and the libraries produced using those methods. Methods of screening those libraries and the peptides, polypeptides or proteins identified by such screens.
US09683020B2
This disclosure relates to immunogenic compositions and methods of enhancing an immune response to an antigen. In certain embodiments, the disclosure relates to virus-like carries comprising a TLR5 agonist on the exterior without an antigen.
US09683019B2
The invention provides a cyclic polypeptide of Formula I (SEQ ID NO: 1): X1-R-X3-X4-L-S-X7-X8-X9-X10-X11-X12-X13 I or an amide, an ester or a salt thereof, or a bioconjugate thereof, wherein X1, X3, X4, X7, X8, X9, X10, X11, X12 and X13 are defined herein. The polypeptides are agonist of the APJ receptor. The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing the polypeptides of the invention or bioconjugates thereof, and their therapeutic uses such as treatment or prevention of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF), chronic heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, atrial fibrillation, Brugada syndrome, ventricular tachycardia, atherosclerosis, hypertension, restenosis, ischemic cardiovascular diseases, cardiomyopathy, cardiac fibrosis, arrhythmia, water retention, diabetes (including gestational diabetes), obesity, peripheral arterial disease, cerebrovascular accidents, transient ischemic attacks, traumatic brain injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, burn injuries (including sunburn) and preeclampsia. The present invention further provides a combination of pharmacologically active agents and a pharmaceutical composition.
US09683011B2
A method of forming a cross-linked protein structures includes preparing a solution of protein dissolved in a benign solvent and forming an intermediate protein structure from the solution. The intermediate protein structure can be cross-linked by providing for a specific ratio of chemical cross-linking agents to form the cross-linked protein structure. The solution can be prepared by adding a cross-linker of N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) at a ratio of two-to-one of NHS to EDC to alcohol. PBS buffer (20×) can be added to the solution until the volume ratio of PBS buffer (20×) to alcohol is about one-to-one. About 16 percent by weight of protein can be dissolved in the solution. The solution can be electrospun to form an intermediate protein structure. After a period of time, the protein structure can be cross-linked to form the cross-linked protein structure.
US09683009B2
Compounds and compositions for the treatment of bone disorders are presented.
US09683001B2
The present invention generally relates to processes for the enzymatic production of a phosphinothricin product or precursor thereof from a nitrile-containing substrate.
US09682997B2
The present invention related to a process of preparation of pharmaceutically acceptable formulations containing as active substance 3-(4-cinnamyl-1-piperazinyl)-amino derivatives of 3-formylrifamycine SV and 3-formylrifamycine S, which possess high activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative microorganisms, as well as against tuberculous micobacteria (including atypical and rifamycin resistant), and to a method for the preparation of 3-(4-cinnamyl-1-piperazinyl)-amino derivatives of 3-formylrifamycine SV and 3-formylrifamycine S. The method for the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions is readily feasible, and does not require special equipment for its implementation. The process for preparing the compounds is characterized by high yield and purity, using an environmental clean solvent—ethanol and water in the preparation and isolation of substances, and the absence of residual organic solvents in the final product.
US09682994B2
Methods for preventing or treating retroviral infection, such as human immunodeficiency virus, in vivo utilize transcriptional inhibitory compounds. These include cortistatin A and analogs of the cortistatin family.
US09682992B2
The subject of the present invention are water-soluble derivatives of camptothecin, their synthesis and use. These compounds exhibit preferable biological properties for use in anti-neoplasm therapy.
US09682976B2
This disclosure concerns compounds which are useful as inhibitors of protein kinase C (PKC) and are thus useful for treating a variety of diseases and disorders that are mediated or sustained through the activity of PKC. This disclosure also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds, methods of using these compounds in the treatment of various diseases and disorders, processes for preparing these compounds and intermediates useful in these processes.
US09682973B2
The present invention relates to phthalazinone derivatives, including pharmaceutical compositions and for the preparation of phthalazinone derivatives. And more particularly the present invention provided a pharmaceutical composition of phthalazinone derivatives for inhibiting activity of the Poly(ADP-riboside) polymerase enzyme.
US09682972B2
The present invention relates to compounds of Formula (I), and solvates, hydrates, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, wherein ring A, R1, R5 and R6 are as defined herein, useful as FLAP modulators. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising compounds of Formula (I). Methods of making and using the compounds of Formula (I) are also within the scope of the invention.
US09682971B2
The present invention relates to compounds of Formula (I), and solvates, hydrates, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, wherein ring A, R1, R5 and R6 are as defined herein, useful as FLAP modulators. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising compounds of Formula (I). Methods of making and using the compounds of Formula (I) are also within the scope of the invention.
