US07746685B2
SRAM cells are arranged in matrix along a first and a second bit line and a word line for single-ended reading of data from the second bit line. A first NMOS transistor and a first transfer transistor contained in the SRAM cell are formed in a first well with respective identical gate lengths and gate widths. A second NMOS transistor and a second transfer transistor contained in the SRAM cell are formed in a second well with respective identical gate lengths and gate widths. These gate widths are made wider than the gate widths of the first NMOS transistor and the first transfer transistor.
US07746683B2
A memory arrangement includes: a first line for applying a reference voltage, a second line for applying an operating voltage, and a plurality of resistive memory elements, each element includes a resistive memory cell and a MOS memory cell selection transistor. A NOR memory arrangement is configured with each memory element including the resistive memory cell and selection transistor connected in series with the transistor connected to the first line, and the memory cell connected to the second line. A NAND memory arrangement is configured with a series of resistive memory elements forming a chain with each memory element including the resistive memory cell and selection transistor connected in parallel. The chain is connected to the first line disposed on a side of the memory cells facing the selection transistors and the second line disposed on a side of the memory cells which is remote from the selection transistors.
US07746680B2
A nonvolatile memory device includes a plurality of nonvolatile memory cells arranged in a substantially hexagonal pattern. The nonvolatile memory cells may be pillar shaped non-volatile memory cells which can be patterned using triple or quadruple exposure lithography or by using a self-assembling layer.
US07746662B2
A touch panel includes a light-transmissible upper board, a lower board, an upper resistor layer on a lower surface of the upper board, a lower resistor layer provided on an upper surface of the lower board and facing the upper resistor layer with a predetermined space between the resistor layers, a wiring board having an end located between the upper board and the lower board, plural wiring patterns provided on the wiring board and connected to the upper resistor layer and the lower resistor layer, respectively, and an insulating cover sheet provided on the wiring board and covering the wiring patterns. The cover sheet extends to an inside beyond at least one of respective ends of the upper board and the lower board. This touch panel can be electrically connected to an electronic circuit stably.
US07746655B1
A grid array socket pin field is protected during manufacture of an information handling system with a dust cap having first and second attachment devices. The first attachment device secures the cap to the socket during assembly of the socket in the computer. The second attachment device secures the cap to a load mechanism assemble proximate the socket. Engagement of the second attachment device to the cap automatically releases the cap from the socket to allow removal of the cap from the socket by actuation of the load mechanism to an open position. The second attachment device secures the cap to the load mechanism until a processor is placed in the socket.
US07746651B2
A heat sink assembly includes a heat sink and a clip for mounting the heat sink to an electronic component of a printed circuit board. The heat sink includes a base and a plurality of fins extending from the base. The clip includes a pressing member and a pair of elongated arms formed on opposite ends of the pressing member. The pressing member has a lower portion protruding toward the base of the heat sink. A middle one of the fins extends upwardly through the pressing member in a manner such that the lower portion of the pressing member resiliently abuts against the heat sink. The two arms are located on opposite lateral sides of the heat sink and bent downwardly to engage with the printed circuit board so that the pressing member exerts a force on the heat sink toward the electronic component.
US07746647B2
A clip (50) for securing a heat dissipating device to a heat source comprises a spring arm (510) and an ear (530). The spring arm comprises two wires (512) substantially parallel to each other, a hook (514) formed at one end of the spring arm to connect ends of the wires and two barbs (516) each formed at another end of each of the wires. A central portion of each of the wires projects downwardly. The ear comprises a main body (530a), two notches (532) in an upside of the main body and a clamping unit (537) at a downside of the main body. Each of the notches comprises from above to below an insertion slot (5321), an elongated sliding slot (5323) and a retaining slot (5325). The spring arm engages with the ear with the barbs extending into the insertion slots, and the wires are slideable downwardly along the sliding slots to be fixed in the retaining slots.
US07746632B2
An air duct (10) is used for directing air in a computer enclosure (50) to flow from an interior to an exterior thereof for dissipating heat generated from an electronic device (82) in the computer enclosure. At least one cable is provided in the computer enclosure for power supply or data transmission. The air duct includes a top wall (11), a pair of side walls (13), and at least one retaining member. The side walls depend from opposite ends of the top wall. At least one retaining member is formed on at least one of the top wall and one of the side walls for retaining the at least one cable therein. The at least one retaining member and the at least one of the top wall and the side walls cooperatively form a retaining space therebetween.
US07746631B2
An electronic device can be provided with a first housing at least partially containing a first electronic component, a second housing, and a hinge assembly coupled to the first housing and the second housing. The hinge assembly may be configured to dissipate heat generated by the first electronic component away from the first housing. In some embodiments, the hinge assembly may be configured to dissipate heat generated by the first electronic component away from the first housing and on to the second housing. The second housing may include a heat spreader for dissipating the heat from the hinge assembly throughout the second housing.
US07746629B2
Methods and systems for coupling a laptop or other portable or hand-held device to a docking system using an Ethernet Interface are disclosed and may comprise interfacing a portable computing device to a docking station using an Ethernet interface. Power may be applied from the docking station to the portable computing device via the Ethernet interface using power over Ethernet (POE) protocol. Audio, video, multimedia, control and/or data signals may be communicated between the docking station and the portable computing device via the Ethernet interface. Data exchanged between the portable computing device and the docking station may be encapsulated in Ethernet frames and tagged appropriately. The interface may be accomplished by directly coupling an Ethernet port of the docking station to an Ethernet port of the portable computing device, or by utilizing an Ethernet cable. The docking station may be an active or passive docking station.
US07746627B2
A portable electronic apparatus includes a housing and an output device configured to output sound. The output device is disposed on a surface on an inside of a slope disposed on a lower surface of the housing, the slope resulting in the housing being opened in a predetermined direction. The slope forms a space between the slope and a mounting surface on which the housing is placed. The surface on the inside of the slope includes a curved surface. The curved surface may be concavely curved relative to the bottom surface of the housing. The electronic apparatus may also include an input device, and the output device may be disposed on a side forward of the input device.
US07746621B2
A bar type ionizer has a discharging electrode, a ground electrode, a high voltage unit, and a controller unit and uses the technique of eliminating static electricity by corona discharging. The ionizer also has a FND unit mounted on the bar which lets the user see the bar information including address of the bar, frequency, duty rate, alarm, run/stop state easily, plus buttons that let the user control the bar information easily, an air supply device installed around the needles in the air injecting socket which sends air, and a second air supply device installed around the needles having round sections and sending air to the end of the needles to eliminate the dust attached on the end of the needles. The ionizer has a streamlined section so that inside air flows smoothly. The second air supply device is elliptic with the minor axis smaller than the radius of the needle. The needle is positioned at the center of this elliptic groove and fixed by it.
US07746616B2
A protection circuit includes an interruption device formed to interrupt a current path between a protection circuit input and a protection circuit output upon exceeding a predetermined temperature at a temperature measurement location, and a control device formed to generate a control signal depending on a current in the current path, wherein the protection circuit is formed to increase the temperature at the temperature measurement location or decrease the predetermined temperature, when the control signal indicates that the current in the current path is higher than a threshold value current.
US07746615B2
System and method for protecting a power converter. The system includes a compensation system configured to receive an input signal and generate a control signal, a cycle threshold generator configured to receive the control signal and generate a cycle threshold, and a comparator configured to receive the cycle threshold and a feedback signal and generate a comparison signal. Additionally, the system includes a pulse-width-modulation generator configured to receive the comparison signal and generate a modulation signal in response to the comparison signal, and a switch configured to receive the modulation signal and control an input current for a power converter. The input current is associated with an output power for the power converter. The cycle threshold corresponds to a threshold power level for the output power. The threshold power level is constant, decreases, or increases with respect to the input signal.
US07746612B2
One embodiment of the invention includes a power regulation system. The system comprises a power regulator configured to periodically generate a switch signal that regulates a current flow through an inductor to set a magnitude of an output voltage. The system further comprises an overvoltage protection circuit configured to monitor a peak voltage magnitude of the switch signal and to generate an overvoltage indication signal in response to the peak voltage magnitude of the switch signal exceeding a predetermined limit.
US07746609B2
An ESD (Electro-Static Discharge) protection circuit includes a detection unit for detecting a rising time of a signal flowing into a first and a second power lines; a pre-driver for buffering an output signal of the detection unit; and a power clamp which operates in response to an output signal of the pre-driver and connects the first and the second power lines each other. The detection unit includes: an RC filter connected in series between the first and the second power lines; a first inverter for inverting an output of the RC filter; and a first capacitor, connected between the first power line and a source end of a first transistor of the first inverter, for preventing a leakage current from flowing through the first transistor and a second transistor of the first inverter when a power noise is applied to the first and the second power lines.
US07746598B2
An information recording medium excellent in surface smoothness. The information recording medium has a data track pattern and a servo pattern formed on at least one surface of a substrate by a concave/convex pattern including a plurality of convex portions. The concave/convex pattern has concave portions each having a non-magnetic material embedded therein. An A concave/convex pattern forming the servo pattern includes a plurality of servo convex portions formed in a manner associated with servo data. At least part of the plurality of servo convex portions are formed by a B concave/convex pattern including a plurality of non-servo convex portions. This arrangement makes it possible to maintain excellent surface smoothness within a servo pattern area, thereby enabling the recording/reproducing apparatus to execute stable recording and reproducing on and from the information recording medium.
US07746597B2
A slider comprises an air bearing surface which is arranged to face a recording medium and a protective film which covers at least a part of the air bearing surface. The protective film includes a first protective film formed on the air bearing surface and made of an amorphous material based on carbon and hydrogen and a second protective film formed to cover the first protective film and made of an amorphous material based on carbon and hydrogen. Further, the atomic fraction of hydrogen in the second protective film is lower than that in the first protective film.
US07746587B2
In a magnetic recording apparatus, a magnetic recording medium has a RAM area on which rewritable information can be recorded. The magnetic recording medium also has a ROM area having a pattern area in which first-type segment sequence of magnetically rewritable magnetic segments and magnetically non-rewritable nonmagnetic segments is fixedly recorded as first-type modulation information. Predetermined segments in the first-type segment sequence are magnetized and changed to magnetized segments. A segment sequence of first and second segments magnetized in one and opposite directions is used to magnetically record second-type modulation information in the pattern area.
US07746585B2
An exemplary lens module includes a number of optical components, a barrel, a holder, a filter base, a filter carrying member, an infrared-cut filter and a visible-light-cut filter. The barrel is configured for receiving the optical components therein. The holder holds the barrel therein. The filter base is disposed in the barrel. The filter carrying member is movably mounted on the filter base. The infrared-cut filter and the visible-light-cut filter are mounted on the filter carrying member. The filter carrying member is movable relative to the filter base so as to selectively bring either the infrared-cut filter or the visible-light-cut filter into optical alignment with the optical components in the barrel. The lens module can be capable of performing infrared and visible-spectrum photography.
US07746583B2
A lens apparatus includes a barrel and a focus member mounted on the barrel. The barrel includes a fixing body and an engaging unit disposed at an outside wall of the fixing body. The focus member includes a retaining body contacted with the outside wall of the fixing body and a retaining unit disposed at an inside wall of the retaining body. The retaining unit and the engaging unit fasten each other for mounting the focus member on the barrel. When a force is applied on the focus member, the focus member drives the barrel to rotate by a friction generated between the retaining unit and the engaging unit.
US07746578B2
A lens assembly is provided and includes: a lens frame; and a lens frame having a hollow part into which the lens is inserted. The lens frame has a bonding hole into which an adhesive agent is injected for bonding and fixing to the lens frame the lens inserted into the lens frame and which passes through an outer wall of the lens frame and an inner wall of the hollow part.
US07746573B2
A second optical element is bonded to a first optical element by forming the second optical element by pressing a second optical element material against the first optical element under a condition free from restriction to the second optical element material in the direction orthogonal to a direction in which the second optical element material is pressed.
US07746563B2
This large magnification factor zoom lens includes, in an order arranged from an object side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power, a second lens group having a negative refractive power, a third lens group having a positive refractive power, and a fourth lens group having a positive refractive power. The third lens group includes, in an order arranged from the object side, a positive lens, a positive lens, a positive meniscus lens having a larger radius of curvature on an image surface side, and a negative lens. The positive lens has an aspherical surface on an object side.
US07746554B2
A lenticular lens comprises multiple convex unit lenses, two sides of each unit lens being curved surfaces gradually spreading outwardly from the upside (plane of emergence) to the base (plane of incidence) of the unit lens, and these unit lenses are disposed on a base film in parallel with each other. The acute angle θ between a tangent to two curves corresponding to the two sides of the unit lens on its section vertical to the longer direction and a line parallel to the upside (or the base) of the unit lens is in a range represented by the following inequality: 139(d/p)3−176(d/p)2+78(d/p)+74.4 >θ>346(d/p)3−469(d/p)2+219(d/p)+45.0 where d is the length of half of the distance between the two curves, and p is the pitch at which the unit lenses are disposed.
US07746552B2
A microscope with a light source that produces an illumination light beam for evanescently illuminating a sample includes an adjustment mechanism with which the polarization of the illumination light beam may be changed.
US07746548B2
Optical amplifier transient control methods and apparatus which limit the extent of cumulative transient gain errors in the rapid control of multiple optical amplifiers in a communication system. In an exemplary embodiment, if the input power to an optical amplifier drops below a predetermined threshold, the gain of the amplifier is set to clamp the output power of the amplifier to its initial level less the threshold, thereby preventing the continuous growth of gain error. This is based on the assumption that once the input power goes below the threshold, it should no longer go above the threshold until the transient condition is corrected. The present invention can operate to handle down-as well as up-transient events and is not amplifier technology dependent.
US07746535B2
A rearview mirror assembly comprising a rear housing section with wiring connected to a first electrical connection device and a circuit board with a second electrical connection device, with first electrical connection device and the second electrical connection device being configured to automatically mate when the circuit board and the rear housing section are moved relatively towards each other. The rearview mirror assembly can also include a circuit board with a third electrical connection device and a reflective element with a fourth electrical connection device, with third electrical connection device and the fourth electrical connection device being configured to automatically mate when the circuit board and the reflective element are moved relatively towards each other.
US07746522B2
A scanner unit includes a housing having an opening on its upper surface, a platen glass provided so as to be exposed from the opening on the upper surface of the housing, a carriage provided in the housing so as to be movable parallel with the platen glass, a linear CIS mounted on the carriage in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction to read the image of a document placed on the platen glass, roller units provided in the vicinity of both ends and central part with respect to the vicinity of the both ends of the CIS in the longitudinal direction so as to abut on the platen glass, and a coil spring provided in the carriage so as to force the CIS toward the platen glass.
US07746517B2
Scanning devices and method of use that permit the capture of high resolution images of an original that is illuminated by a light source that is located outside of the optical field of view of an image detector. In one aspect, the image detector may be a monochrome sensor that sequentially captures different color plane images of an original that is illuminated by different colors. The different color plane images may be processed to generate a full color copy of the original. Light and images may be directed through tapered optical waveguides to minimize the volume of the scanning device. The image detector may include a first associated waveguide while the light source may include a second associated waveguide.
US07746514B2
A scanner includes a scan flatbed, an optical module, a driving source, and an exposure control unit. The scan flatbed is for carrying a to-be-scanned document. The optical module includes a photo sensing device, for reading N scan lines of the to-be-scanned document. The driving source, used for driving the optical module, includes an encoder for outputting a position signal corresponding to a position of the optical module. The exposure control unit, including a timer, controls exposure time for each scan line to be constant according to the position signal. The scan method includes driving the optical module to read the scan lines of the to-be-scanned document and output the corresponding position signal; and controlling the photo sensing device to read each scan line of the to-be-scanned document for a constant period of time according to the position signal.
US07746502B2
A main vector: m^=(mx, my) and a sub-vector: s^=(sx, sy) determining cyclic structure of a basic matrix are defined, and a positional vector for a pixel configuring the basic matrix Pi^=(Pix, Piy) is defined, where the suffix i denotes an i-th pixel configuring the basic matrix. Then, the pixels configuring the basic matrix are arranged in such a manner as to satisfy the cyclic structure, and transformation of Pi^→Pi^+km^+ls^ is carried out where k and l are arbitrary integers, and may be negative values. Then a new shape of the basic matrix is obtained with Pi^+km^+ls^ as a new pixel positional vector Pi^.
US07746497B2
In a data processing system in which data to be processed is managed as processing-object data, and the processing-object data is processed in response to a designation, there are provided: data management means for managing the processing-object data together with processing-object attribute information indicative of an attribute thereof; processing designation means for designating a processing with respect to the processing-object data through a dialog performed with the user; processing execution means for executing a processing of the processing-object data in response to a designation performed by the processing designation means; and first processing result forecasting means for executing, when the dialog is performed, a forecast on a result of the processing by comparing processing-subject attribute information, which indicates an attribute of a processing to be executed by the processing execution means, with the processing-object attribute information, and for outputting to the user forecast notification information in accordance with the result of the processing obtained through the forecast.
US07746492B2
Provided is an image data transmitter in which, in the event of transmission of the same image data to multiple recipients, the image data with added supplementary information different for each of the multiple recipients can be transmitted through easy operation. Further provided is an image data communication system using the image data transmitter. An image of a document is read out, and a destination of the image is set. Multiple destinations can be set. Then, selection is performed whether or not to input supplementary information. When performing input processing, a destination to which the supplementary information is to be transmitted is selected from the multiple destinations. Subsequently, the supplementary information for the destination is input, and the supplementary information is correlated with the destination. Additionally, the image data and the supplementary information are combined. Then, composite data for the destination is transmitted to the destination.
US07746489B2
An image forming apparatus according to the present invention performs a process of printing on the printing paper in such a manner that, if a plurality of images are to be printed on one sheet of printing paper and there is improper image data among the image data of the plurality of images, a region in which an image corresponding to the improper image data is to be printed is left blank, and if the image data of all of the plurality of images is improper, the image forming apparatus does not perform the process of printing on the printing paper.Another image forming apparatus according to the present invention reads out image data of a plurality of images from a recording medium, prepares printing image data for an image in which the plurality of images, having been reduced, are arranged in predetermined regions, and prints that image on one sheet of printing paper. If the image data of the plurality of images comprises improper image data, then the image forming apparatus prepares the printing image data in such a manner that regions in which images corresponding to the improper image data are arranged are left blank, and the image forming apparatus does not perform the process of printing on the printing paper if the image data of all of the plurality of images is improper.
US07746478B2
The invention relates to a method for interferometrically measuring large optics. A combination of a method known as stitching technique, during which the sub-interferograms are determined on partial surfaces of measuring area and are joined in a software-controlled manner and which, as a result, enables the use of small, more cost-effective interferometers, however polished surfaces of the test piece being assumed, together with an immersion method, during which, in fact, lower demands for the surface quality of the test piece exist that, however, is accompanied by edge faults. In order to make this combination possible, a modification of the stitching technique is developed, during which the measuring area (CA) is completely covered by a film consisting of an immersion liquid. A device a suited for carrying out this method is characterized by contact bodies, which are made of transparent material, rest upon the main surfaces of the test piece, and which completely cover the measuring area (CA), a film consisting of an immersion liquid being formed between the contact bodies and the main surfaces of the test piece.
US07746477B1
The present invention discloses an optic system for providing illumination and imaging functions in an optical navigation system. Generally, the optic system includes a unitary optic component having an illumination lens and at least one prism to project a collimated beam of light from a light source in the optical navigation system onto a surface, and an imaging lens to image at least a portion of the illuminated surface to an array of photosensitive elements. In one embodiment, optic system further includes an aperture component having a precision aperture, the aperture component configured to locate the precision aperture between the imaging lens of the unitary optic component and the array of photosensitive elements in a path of light reflected from the portion of the illuminated surface to the array of photosensitive elements. Other embodiments are also described.
US07746462B2
An inspection system and method is provided herein for increasing the detection range of the inspection system. According to one embodiment, the inspection system may include a photodetector having a plurality of stages, which are adapted to convert light scattered from a specimen into an output signal, and a voltage divider network coupled for extending the detection range of the photodetector (and thus, the detection range of the inspection system) by saturating at least one of the stages. This forces the photodetector to operate in a non-linear manner. However, measurement inaccuracies are avoided by calibrating the photodetector output to remove any non-linear effects that may be created by intentionally saturating the at least one of the stages. In one example, a table of values may be generated during a calibration phase to convert the photodetector output into an actual amount of scattered light.
US07746441B2
To improve reliability of a liquid crystal display apparatus using an upper substrate, the upper substrate to be combined with a lower substrate includes a transparent electrode and a first spacer. The lower substrate includes a display region and a driving region surrounding the display region to provide a drive signal to the display region. A liquid crystal layer is interposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate. The first spacer is formed on the transparent electrode corresponding to the driving region to protect the driving region. The first spacer is disposed such that a rubbing having a rubbing direction of the upper substrate does not end at the first spacer. Thus, a corner white phenomenon that is caused by impurities stacked at a side portion of the first spacer may be reduced.
US07746438B2
The liquid crystal display device includes a first insulation substrate, a gate line which is disposed on the first insulation substrate and extends substantially in a first direction, first and second data lines which are insulated from the gate line, extend substantially in a second direction and intersect the gate line, a pixel electrode which includes first and second sub-pixel electrodes which are each provided with different data voltages via the first and second data lines, respectively, and which are separated from each other by a gap, the second sub-pixel electrode at least partially overlapping the first and second data lines, a second insulation substrate which faces the first insulation substrate, a black matrix which is disposed on the second insulation substrate and includes an irregular shape and extends substantially along the first and second data lines and a liquid crystal layer which is interposed between the first and second insulation substrates.
US07746437B2
A liquid crystal display includes an insulating substrate, an alignment layer covering a main surface of the insulating substrate, and electrodes interposed therebetween. The alignment layer defines an alignment direction parallel to the main surface, an upstream side as one end's side of the alignment direction, and a downstream side as another end's side of the alignment direction, and tilts liquid crystal molecules toward the downstream side. Each electrode includes an upstream section that includes a first edge facing the upstream side and a downstream section that includes a second edge facing the downstream side and is provided with a recess recessed relative to the second edge. The first recess forms on the downstream section a third edge extending in the alignment direction and a fourth edge connecting the third edge to the second edge and facing the upstream side.
US07746432B2
An exemplary liquid crystal display device (1) includes a first substrate assembly (14), a second substrate assembly (16) parallel to the first substrate assembly, a liquid crystal layer (18) sandwiched therebetween, and a backlight module (12) adjacent to the first substrate assembly. The first substrate assembly includes a first substrate, a plurality of pixel electrode (145) and a color filter (148). The first substrate includes a plurality of pixel regions. Each pixel region includes a reflection region and a transmission region. The reflection region includes a thin film transistor (TFT) (146) and a reflective layer (147) covering the TFT. The pixel electrodes cover the transmission regions and the reflection regions.
US07746425B2
A polarizing optical device has first and second major surfaces. The polarizing optical device is provided at the first major surface thereof with extrafine structures made of a metal and arranged in a specific direction. The extrafine metal structures are provided at surfaces thereof with a metal compound part, the metal compound part being formed by performing surface treatment on the surfaces of the extrafine metal structures. When light is incident from the first major surface side, light polarized in a direction parallel to the specific direction is absorbed, and light polarized in a direction perpendicular to the specific direction is transmitted. When light is incident from the second major surface side, light polarized in the direction parallel to the specific direction is reflected, and light polarized in the direction perpendicular to the specific direction is transmitted.
US07746419B2
A liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes a liquid crystal display panel, and a backlight arranged on a back surface of the liquid crystal display panel. The backlight includes a plurality of rod-shaped light sources, electrode fittings for holding the rod-shaped light sources, and side wall plates covering the electrode fittings. The electrode fittings are connected to a connection portion extending in the parallel-arrangement direction of the rod-shaped light sources. The side wall plate includes a plurality of projecting members arranged in parallel to each other in the extending direction of the connection portion. The connection portion includes positions which are brought into contact with the projecting members and portions which are not brought into contact with the projecting members. By adopting the above-mentioned constitution, the liquid crystal display device can reduce squeals and the like.
US07746414B2
Provided are an illumination system, a projection TV employing the illumination system, and a projection method. The illumination system includes: a laser light source which emits a plurality of laser beams including beamlets along different optical axes; and a diffractive optical element which spatially averages the laser beamlets by superimposing the laser beamlets to remove speckles of the laser beamlets and which shapes each of the laser beamlets.
US07746408B2
Herein described is a system and method for improving the appearance of video by generating an improved 4:2:2 chroma. The system comprises a 4:2:2 to 4:2:0 chroma regenerator that regenerates 4:2:0 chroma given a received 4:2:2 chroma, and a 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 chroma generator that weaves and interpolates the regenerated 4:2:0 chroma to yield an adjusted 4:2:2 chroma. The system further comprises a blending system used for blending the adjusted 4:2:2 chroma with the received 4:2:2 chroma based on a control input provided by a motion indication signal. The method comprises regenerating a 4:2:0 chroma from a received 4:2:2 chroma using an algorithm. The method further comprises generating an adjusted 4:2:2 chroma using the regenerated 4:2:0 chroma using another algorithm. The method further comprises blending the adjusted 4:2:2 chroma with the received 4:2:2 chroma to generate an improved 4:2:2 chroma.
US07746405B2
There is provided an illumination apparatus used for imaging a moving picture made up of a plurality of frames, and for irradiating an auxiliary light from a light source constituted by one or a plurality of LEDs onto a photo-object. The one or plurality of LEDs are duty-driven by a duty ratio smaller than 100% during an imaging period (during a period for exposing a CCD) of a frame period. The heat releasing effect and the light emitting efficiency can be improved as compared to a case where the LEDs are successively turned on during an imaging period. As a result, the light emitting intensity at the time the light emitting diodes are turned on can be heightened with the amount of consumed electricity unchanged, and the light emitting efficiency of the light emitting diodes can be improved.
US07746395B2
This invention of a color interpolation method for correcting color values of an image, comprising the steps of: constructing a color interpolation matrix having a plurality of points and a center point as an interpolation point, where each point being expressed by one known color and two unknown colors; correcting the known color value of the center point as a function of the color values of the center point and the points in the matrix having the same known color; choosing the horizontal direction or the vertical direction with respect to the center point as the benchmark direction for interpolation calculation; and interpolating one or more unknown color values of the center point as a function of the known color values of the points in the benchmark direction and the known color value of the center point.
US07746394B2
An image-capturing apparatus includes a pixel array including pixels. Each of the pixels includes a transducer for generating signal charge according to the intensity of an incident light beam. The image-capturing apparatus further includes an output circuit for outputting a pixel signal outside the pixel array at a frame rate depending on the pixel position in the pixel array, based on the signal charge; and an output-controlling unit for controlling the operation of the output circuit.
US07746392B2
The technique of the invention accurately detects a pixel defect in an image taken by an imaging device, such as a digital still camera. The image processing flow of the invention maps luminance data to respective pixels of a specified pixel array and computes a difference between the luminance data of each target pixel and an average value of the luminance data of four adjoining pixels on the top, bottom, left, and right of the target pixel. The presence or the absence of any pixel defect is detected according to the computed difference. The luminance data of an identified defective pixel detected as the pixel defect is corrected with the luminance data of adjoining pixels on the top, bottom, left, and right of the identified defective pixel.
US07746391B2
A resolution proportional digital zoom system comprises a CCD imaging device with over a million pixels resolution. A standard fixed-1X optical lens is fitted to the imager. A communication channel with a limited bandwidth is used to transmit video. Such bandwidth is substantially less than the imager's full resolution times its frame rate. A user is provided with controls to pan and zoom within the imager's field of view. The pixel resolution is proportionally controlled such that video output data rate on the communication channel is optimal and held within maximum limits at any pan/zoom setting.
US07746390B2
Disclosed is a technique for processing pixel array data of a mobile terminal with a digital camera function. A device for processing pixel array data includes: an image sensor having (x×y)-sized pixel capacity, converting an optical signal received via a lens into an electric signal, and generating (x×y)-sized pixel array data; and an image signal processor for generating an (X×Y)-sized extended pixel array data area, receiving pixel values of the (x×y)-sized pixel array data from the image sensor, arranging the pixel values of the (x×y)-sized pixel array data in the (X×Y)-sized extended pixel array data area, arranging pixel values obtained by performing an arithmetical operation on pixel values of (x×y)-sized pixel array data, adjacent to remaining pixel areas of the (X×Y)-sized extended pixel array data other than the pixel areas having the pixel values of the (x×y)-sized pixel array data, in the remaining pixel areas, and outputting the (X×Y)-sized extended pixel array data.
US07746387B2
In an image pickup apparatus, a level compensator compensates the level of an image xL (i, j) sensed by an image sensor by exposure for a long time on the basis of the exposure of the image to produce a compensated image xL′ (i, j), while another level compensator compensates the level of an image xS (i, j) sensed by the image sensor by exposure for a short time on the basis of the exposure of the image to produce a compensated image xS′ (i, j). The image pickup apparatus also includes an image synthesizer to synthesize these compensates images xL′ (i, j) and xS′ (i, j) to produce a single synthetic image x (i, j). A dynamic range compressor also included in the image pickup apparatus compresses the synthetic image x (i, j) to produce a compressed image y (i, j) for delivery to outside.
US07746384B2
An image data recorder coding a still image in accordance with a moving image coding system, and recording a still-image-converted moving image acquired by coding onto a recording medium includes: a reading unit reading out an aspect ratio set for the recording medium; a determining unit acquiring an aspect ratio of the still image, and determining whether the acquired aspect ratio is the same as the aspect ratio for the recording medium; a coding unit adding an interpolation area on the top and bottom, or left and right of the still image in accordance with the result of the determination to generate an interpolation-area-added still image whose aspect ratio matches the aspect ratio for the recording medium, and coding the interpolation-area-added still image in accordance with a moving image coding system to generate the still-image-converted moving image; and a recording unit recording the still-image-converted moving image onto the recording medium.
US07746382B2
The automated video enhancement system and method includes a system and method for automatically enhancing video. The automated video enhancement method uses frame-to-frame motion estimation as the basis of the video enhancement. Motion estimation includes the computation of global motion (such as camera motion) and the computation of local motion (such as pixel motion). The automated video enhancement method includes generating global alignment transforms, generating optic flow vectors, and using these global alignment transforms and optic flow vectors to enhance the video. The invention also includes video processing and enhancement techniques that use the frame-to-frame motion estimation. These techniques include a deinterlace process, a denoise process, and a warp stabilization process that performs both damped and locked stabilization.
US07746381B1
A multi-display digital photo frame is provided. The multi-display digital photo frame includes a front cover, a rear cover, and a body. The front cover includes at least two apertures, the body includes at least two holding components for placing LCDs, the bottom of each holding component mounted a LCD further for mounting a processor, wherein the processor is connected to the corresponding LCD through a bus.
US07746375B2
A digital camera has a memory and a scan-mode. In this mode, the camera takes a sequence of still pictures. A next one of the pictures in the sequence is selected for being stored in the memory based on an amount of overlap regarding a picture content with a previous one of the pictures stored in the memory. The camera processes the pictures stored in the memory so as to create a composite picture.
US07746370B2
One scanning interval of a laser beam is divided into a plurality of blocks, correction data, which corresponds to optical characteristics of an optical unit placed between a laser element and a photosensitive drum, is stored in memory in association with each block, the correction data corresponding to a block being scanned by the laser beam is read out of the memory, and the laser is driven upon correcting the laser drive signal based upon the correction data read out and correction data corresponding to a block adjacent to the block being scanned by the laser.
US07746354B2
A graphics integrated circuit chip is used in a set-top box for controlling a television display. The graphics chip processes analog video input, digital video input, a graphics input and an audio input simultaneously. The system may use anti-aliased text and graphics to provide high quality display of graphical elements, or glyphs, which represent an image of a character of text or graphics, on television and other displays. The graphical elements may be superimposed over live video or arbitrary graphics imagery.
US07746349B1
To display a row of characters in the VGA alphanumeric mode, the ASCII and attribute bits for all such characters are retrieved from the main memory and stored in a local cache memory. The font and unused bits that are also retrieved from the memory during the retrieval of ASCII and attribute bits are discarded. The stored ASCII and attribute bits for each such character is then used to compute the address of the associated font bits in the main memory. Next, for each character, the font bits are retrieved from the main memory using a burst read operation and using the computed address for that font. The font bits associated with all the characters in the row are stored in the local cache memory and are subsequently scanned out to be used in the display of the characters.
US07746338B2
A scanning circuit and an image display device in which the influence of losses in a signal path to scanning wiring and a scanning signal output circuit can be reduced. By considering matrix drive in which one row is driven at a time and two or more of the rows are not simultaneously driven, the 480 rows are divided into six modules and one feedback circuit is provided in correspondence with each module to perform feedback control of the output buffers corresponding to 80 rows. An output from a switch is amplified by an operational amplifier and is input as a compensation signal to all the output buffers by an output voltage compensation circuit. Compensation for a voltage drop is made by using the compensation signal for an increase in voltage such that the apparent voltage drop due to the output current is limited to a small value.
US07746336B2
A power supply circuit for supplying a voltage to a counter electrode which faces a pixel electrode in an electro-optic device, an electro-optic material being disposed between the counter electrode and the pixel electrode, includes: an operational amplifier which drives the counter electrode; and an operational amplifier control circuit which controls at least one of a slew rate and an electric current drive capacity of the operational amplifier. The operational amplifier control circuit increases at least one of the slew rate and the electric current drive capacity of the operational amplifier, during a control time starting at a start timing of a write-in to the pixel electrode, and brings the slew rate and the electric current drive capacity of the operational amplifier back to the state prior to the control time after passing the control time.
US07746325B2
An approach for accurately determining touch location on a touch screen is provided. According to one aspect, a touch signal shape may be correlated with a level of touch-induced touch signal error present in the touch signal. The touch signal shape is associated with a preferred time for obtaining touch signal information to determine the touch location. Touch signal location information is acquired in response to detecting the touch signal shape in the touch signal. The location of the touch is determined from the acquired touch signal information.
US07746320B2
A method of compensating for network latency in haptics transmission in which the position of a haptic effector is controlled by signals received from a network. The method comprises storing a series of locations of the haptic effector, determining from the series using Fourier Transformation or other means frequencies having a growing amplitude and creating a filter function to eliminate the growing frequencies from output signals directing the force and direction of the haptic effector.
US07746316B2
A liquid crystal display (LCD) comprising an LCD panel on which an electrode pad is provided; a driving part connected to the electrode pad and applying a driving signal to the LCD panel; a light source part providing light to a rear surface of the LCD panel; and a circuit board comprising a driving circuit part applying a driving control signal to the driving part and an inverter providing a light source driving voltage to the light source part. Accordingly, the LCD may improve work efficiency in a modular assembly process and decrease voltage overload of a voltage converter.
US07746312B2
A liquid crystal display is provided, which includes: a liquid crystal panel including a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of data lines, and a plurality of pixels including switching elements connected to the gate lines and the data lines, liquid crystal capacitors and storage capacitors connected to the switching elements; a gate driver for supplying gate voltages for driving the switching elements to the gate lines; a data driver for supplying gray voltages corresponding to applied data signals to the data lines; and a driving voltage generator for boosting a voltage according to a booster clock signal and for generating the gate voltages and a common voltage based on the boosted voltage, and the booster clock signal is synchronized with the common voltage.
US07746308B2
A liquid crystal display that is unsusceptible to the effect of a pixel potential during writing of data to a memory, allowing a large margin to be provided against variation in characteristics of transistors forming a pixel circuit, and a portable terminal having the liquid crystal display. In a pixel circuit including a memory circuit (25), separate paths are provided for writing image data from a signal line (16-i) to the memory circuit (25) via a data-write switch (24) and for reading image data held in the memory circuit (25) out into a liquid crystal cell unit via a data-read switch (27). Furthermore, image data are read via a data-read buffer (26). Accordingly, when image data is written to the memory, data held in the memory circuit (25) is not affected by a pixel potential. Thus, a large margin can be provided against variation in the characteristics of the transistors forming the pixel circuit, serving to avoid variation in picture quality due to the variation in the transistor characteristics.
US07746305B2
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus of driving a liquid crystal display device improving a picture quality. In the method and apparatus, modulated data bands including at least two modulated data centering a gray scale being approximate to a gray scale value of source data are derived. An approximation is carried out in two directions perpendicular to each other within the modulated data bands to derive unregistered modulated data positioned between the modulated data, thereby modulating the source data.
US07746304B2
A liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal display panel for displaying picture images, and a color correction unit. Upon receipt of raw RGB picture data corresponding to raw RGB gamma curves, the color correction unit generates corrected RGB picture data based on values over a predetermined imaginative gamma curve established in accordance with the characteristic of the liquid crystal display panel. The color correction unit stores values over corrected RGB gamma curves corresponding to the corrected picture data, and gamma-corrects the raw RGB picture data based on values over the stored corrected RGB gamma curves, thereby displaying the picture images.
US07746297B2
The present invention provides a method of driving a gas discharge display apparatus for displaying gray-scale display levels finer than those achieved by the conventional methods, and also to provide a gas discharge display apparatus with a driver capable of performing such a driving method. An opposed discharge between the sustaining electrode and the address electrode in addition to the conventional surface discharge is generated for the light emission from the fluorescent material in light emitting tubes. The method and the apparatus effect improvements in finer gray-scale display levels than those by the conventional methods.
US07746291B2
An integrated circuit includes an on-chip antenna interface, coupled to an off-chip antenna interface having at least one off-chip impedance matching component, that forms a programmable impedance matching network with the at least one off-chip impedance matching component. The programmable impedance matching network is programmable based on a control signal. An RF receiver, coupled to the programmable impedance matching network, that generates inbound data in response to a received signal from the programmable impedance matching network.
US07746286B2
An antenna device suitable for short distance wireless communication is provided which can have a good symmetry of directional characteristics and increase a gain at both end sides in a longitudinal direction of a ground pattern. An antenna device is formed by patterning a metal conductor on a printed substrate. The antenna device is provided with a ground pattern of a rectangular shape, a power feed element arranged adjacent to one short side portion of the ground pattern, a correction pattern that projects from the short side portion and is located lateral to the power feed element, and a parasitic radiation element extending along the short side portion at a separation position facing the short side portion of the ground pattern through the power feed element and the correction pattern. An electrical length of the parasitic radiation element is set to be approximately ½ of a resonant length. When power is feed, the power feed element is excited to radiate electric waves.
US07746280B2
A mobile communication terminal may be made smaller by using an internal antenna and a conductive layer. The conductive layer is spaced apart from the antenna by a fixed gap, and the conductive layer may be located either internally or externally to the terminal housing. The addition of the conductive layer provides a second resonant frequency in a higher frequency band than a first resonant frequency. Because the conductive layer has a relative smaller amount of radiation and is more directly affected by a human body than the internal antenna with a relatively larger amount of radiation, the performance characteristics of the terminal can be increased by a corresponding amount.
US07746277B2
A plane super wide band coupling antenna comprises an isolating substrate for installing with a metal thin film layer by printing; a first radiating portion being a metal thin film layer printed upon the isolating substrate; the first radiating portion having a coupling section and being extended with a feeding point; a second radiating portion being a metal thin film layer printed upon the isolating substrate; the second radiating portion extending from a ground portion on the isolating substrate and being a bended structure; the second radiating portion being formed with gaps with the first radiating portion; the ground portion being formed by a metal thin film layer; one end thereof being electrically connected to the second radiating portion; a signal feeding wire being a coaxial cable; and the main signal wire of the signal feeding wire being electrically connected to the feeding point of the first radiating portion.
US07746267B2
A synthetic aperture radar hybrid-polarity method and architecture comprising transmitting circular polarization (by driving the orthogonal linear feeds simultaneously by two identical waveforms, 90° out of phase), and receiving horizontal (H) and vertical (V) linear polarizations, coherently. Once calibrated, the H and V single-look complex amplitude data are sufficient to form all four Stokes parameters, which fully characterize the observed backscattered field.
US07746254B2
A sample and hold circuit includes an op-amp, inverting-side capacitors, and non-inverting-side capacitors paired with the inverting-side capacitors. At least one capacitor pair serves as a feedback capacitor in a holding phase. A total capacitance of the inverting-side capacitors to which an input voltage is applied in a sampling phase is α, a total capacitance of the non-inverting-side capacitors to which the input voltage is applied in the sampling phase is β, a total capacitance of the inverting-side capacitors to which the input voltage is applied in a holding phase is γ, and a total capacitance of the non-inverting-side capacitors to which the input voltage is applied in the holding phase is η. α is substantially different from β. A total capacitance of a feedback capacitor pair is substantially equal to (α−β−γ+η)·(N/2), where N is a positive number.
US07746253B2
The present invention is directed to reduce offset error voltage in a signal source impedance of analog input signal voltage supplied to an input terminal due to input offset voltage of an operational amplifier in a sampling circuit or a multiplexer coupled to an input terminal of an A/D converter. A semiconductor integrated circuit has an A/D converter and a sampling circuit. The sampling circuit samples an analog input signal in first and second sample modes. The A/D converter converts the sampled analog signal to a digital signal in a conversion mode. By switching of an internal circuit of an operational amplifier between the first and second sample modes, the functions of a non-inverting input terminal (+) and an inverting input terminal (−) realized by first and second input terminals are switched. Synchronously with the switching, supply of an analog signal to the non-inverting input terminal by input switches is also switched.
US07746248B2
A method and a system for automatically exchanging information by wireless communication, particularly between a vehicle such as an aircraft and an information center, is proposed. The information to be exchanged concerns an amount of water for the vehicle. The amount of water on board of the vehicle is automatically measured by a device for determining the amount of water. The transmitter of a device for exchanging information at the vehicle automatically and wirelessly transmits the information concerning the current amount of water to a receiver of a device for exchanging information at an information center. New information parameters are wirelessly transmitted from the transmitter of the device for exchanging information at the information center to the receiver of the device for exchanging information at the vehicle.
US07746236B2
A fire detection system for detecting fires may include an infrared detector array. The fire detection system may use the infrared detector array to monitor the temperature of a target environment over time. In some cases, a positioning apparatus may be used to move the field of view of the infrared detector array, allowing the infrared detector array to scan a relatively large target environment while still achieving a given resolution.
US07746234B2
The RFID tag includes a base that can bend and unbend; a communication antenna wired on the base; a circuit chip that is electrically connected to the antenna and performs radio communication via the antenna; a reinforcing member as a chip reinforcing member that covers at least the periphery of the circuit chip and a section of the antenna wiring, the covering preformed at least in an upper side with respect to the base designated as a bottom, and that has a concavo-convex shape and intersects with the antenna wiring at a concave section of the concavo-convex shape; and an adhesive that adheres the reinforcing member to the base, and in which an edge along a concave section of the edge of the reinforcing member traverses over the antenna.
US07746230B2
The present invention teaches a method of manufacturing an enclosed transceiver, such as a radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tag. Structurally, in one embodiment, the tag comprises an integrated circuit (IC) chip, and an RF antenna mounted on a thin film substrate powered by a thin film battery. A variety of antenna geometries are compatible with the above tag construction. These include monopole antennas, dipole antennas, dual dipole antennas, a combination of dipole and loop antennas. Further, in another embodiment, the antennas are positioned either within the plane of the thin film battery or superjacent to the thin film battery.
US07746225B1
Disclosed herein is a fast method that locates nearby sources based solely on the time-of-flight of a signal across an array of sensors. The time delay for signal passage between all pairs of sensors is determined using cross-correlation estimates and a vector of time delays, τ, is constructed from the results. In the noise free case, each point in the plane is associated with a unique value of the τ vector. The plane is searched for a source location by minimizing the difference between the value of τ associated with the candidate location on the plane and the value estimated from cross-correlations. The search takes place over the three dimensional space that includes two coordinates in the plane and the propagation speed. The starting point for the search is constructed from an analytic fit of circular wave fronts to groups of sensors within the array.
US07746221B2
Disclosed is a method for preventing lane departure for use in a vehicle. The method determines whether the vehicle is moving out of its lane by extracting lane markings from an image inputted by using rear side cameras mounted on both side mirrors, calculating a lane departure distance from the directional angle and side distance calculated by three-dimensional mapping of the extracted lane markings, and estimating a lane departure time through the calculated lane departure distance and a vehicle speed sensed by a vehicle speed sensor, thereby preventing vehicle accidents caused by the driver's lane departure.
US07746215B1
The present invention discloses a radio frequency (RF) reader grid and method for facilitating transactions. The RF reader grid includes a transponder, a RFID reader, and a host RFID reader in communication with a merchant system. The secondary and host RFID readers communicate with one another via wireless, RF frequencies. The present invention also discloses a wireless grid that comprises non-radio frequency readers, such as magnetic stripe readers. In addition, a method for using a secondary RFID reader to perform a transaction is disclosed. The method includes the steps of initializing the secondary RFID reader, communication transaction information using the secondary RFID reader and processing the transaction information using a host RFID reader.
US07746204B2
The present invention relates to a field coil assembly of an electromagnetic clutch for a compressor. A field coil assembly according to the present invention includes a field coil member 20 having a coil wire 22 extending outward; a power connecting member 30 having a sleeve 35 with a terminal 40 protruding out, the terminal electrically connecting the coil wire 22 to an external power source; a flange 28 coupled to one side of the field coil member 20 with the coil wire 22 drawn therefrom, the flange 28 having a catching portion 29 coupled with the sleeve 35, the flange 28 having electric conductivity; and a ground terminal 50 provided in the sleeve 35 and electrically connected to the terminal 40, the ground terminal 50 having at least a portion contacted with the catching portion 29.
US07746201B2
A portable electronic device includes a cover section (54), a body section (52), a magnet (60) and a hall sensor (70). The cover section has a printed circuit board secured therein. The body section has a connecting portion, and the body section is rotatably connected to the cover section with the connecting portion. The magnet is secured in the connecting portion, and the hall sensor is electrically attached to the printed circuit board. The magnet acts on the hall sensor according to relative rotation between the cover section and the body section, thereby switching the portable electronic device to a work mode when the cover section is opened away from the body section or a power save mode when the cover section is closed to the body section.
US07746181B1
An improved circuit and method is described herein for extending the usable frequency range of a high performance, narrow band phase locked loop (PLL) device. For example, the improved circuit and method may perform a calibration sequence for calibrating an LC-type voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) immediately before or during operation of the PLL device. Unlike previous methods, the calibration sequence described herein provides a fast and convenient method for extending the usable frequency range of a PLL by shifting the center frequency of the LC-type VCO to a desired frequency. For example, the VCO center frequency may be incrementally shifted (e.g., either high or low) to compensate for the actual environmental conditions in which the PLL is used (i.e., to compensate for specific process, voltage, and temperature conditions). Once the calibration bits are set to the desired frequency, the calibration sequence is disabled, and the appropriate calibration bit values are applied to the VCO during normal operation of the PLL.
US07746177B2
Self-biased bipolar ring-oscillator phase-locked loops with a wide tuning range are disclosed. In a particular example, an apparatus to provide a phase-locked loop is described, comprising a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) to provide an output clock signal having a frequency, a quantizer, a phase-frequency detector to generate an adjustment signal, and a charge pump to modify the control voltage. The example VCO includes several ring-oscillator stages, where each ring-oscillator stage includes several gain stages to provide several output currents based on a comparison of a control voltage and several corresponding threshold voltages. The example quantizer includes several comparators to generate digital signals based on the output currents. The example charge pump modifies the control voltage based on the digital signals and the adjustment signal, and includes several switching elements to increase or decrease current to the charge pump based on the digital signals.
US07746168B2
A bias circuit of a resistance load differential amplifier comprises a first differential pair and a control unit for controlling a tail current of the first differential pair, and making an output current of the first differential pair being in inverse proportion to a load resistance in the resistance load differential amplifier when applying a constant potential difference to an input of the first differential pair. The control unit further controls a tail current of a second differential pair constituting the resistance load differential amplifier, and makes the tail current of the second differential pair being in direct proportion to the tail current of the first differential pair.
US07746162B2
A method for waking up a circuit, comprising charging a voltage line of the circuit with a constant wake-up current until the voltage line reaches a predetermined voltage. Also, an apparatus, comprising a circuit portion, a switch configured to selectively couple an input of the circuit portion to a supply voltage, a current source configured to generate a first current, and a control circuit configured to control a state of the switch depending on the first current.
US07746160B1
Disclosed is an improved substrate bias feedback circuit, and a method for operating the same.
US07746138B2
A plurality of flip-flop circuits, having different circuit configurations, which perform an identical digital signal processing are mixed on a single semiconductor substrate. A first flip-flop circuit among the plurality of flip-flop circuits receives a clock signal supplied from outside the flip-flop circuits, through at least two stage inverters, and operates with clock signals outputted from the inverters. A second flip-flop circuit receives the clock signal supplied from outside the flip-flop circuits through at least one inverter having a less number of stages than the number of stages of the inverter contained in the first flip-flop circuit, and operates with at least one of the clock signal and a clock signal outputted from the inverter.
US07746137B2
A method is disclosed that includes propagating data via a first data path of a sequential circuit element in response to a clock signal received at a single clocked transistor of the sequential circuit element. The method also includes retaining information related to the data propagated via the first path at a retention circuit element of a second data path, where the first data path includes a first transistor that is responsive to an output of the single clocked transistor. The first transistor has a higher current flow capacity than a second transistor associated with the second data path.
US07746128B2
A clock multiplier includes a phase-frequency detector, a voltage-current converter, a duty ratio control circuit, a plurality of variable delay cells and an edge combiner. The phase-frequency detector generates control signals. The voltage-current converter converts the control signals to generate first and second current control voltages. The duty ratio control circuit modifies the duty ratio of an input clock signal based on the first and second current control voltages. Each of the variable delay cells generates a triangular wave voltage based on the modified input signal, generates a square wave voltage based on the triangular wave voltage to generate a delay signal. The edge combiner generates a plurality of multiplied clocks based on the delay signals from the variable delay cells.
US07746120B2
A signal receiving device includes: a first conversion unit comprising a first input terminal to which a signal including a voltage signal and a reference voltage is inputted, and a first output terminal which output a first current signal voltage-current converted from the signal; a second conversion unit comprising a second input terminal to which the reference voltage is inputted, and a second output terminal which output a second current signal voltage-current converted from the reference voltage; a current mirror circuit comprising a third input terminal to which the second current signal is inputted, and a third output terminal which output a third current signal corresponding to the second current signal; and an output unit connected to both the first and third output terminals.
US07746116B1
One aspect of the invention relates to a device including a first storage element and a first clock gating element, wherein a data input of the first storage element is coupled to an output of a combinatorial logic (CL) element, wherein the first storage element is clock-gated with the first clock gating element using a first clock enable signal to generate a clock signal for the first storage element, wherein the first clock enable signal is generated to suppress the clock signal in the first clock gating element when each of the at least one data input of the CL element is in a second quiescence inducing condition with respect to the clock signal at the same time as when each of the at least one control input of the CL element is in the first quiescence inducing condition.
US07746111B1
Circuits for implementing gating logic in a self-timed integrated circuit. An integrated circuit includes a plurality of interconnected logic blocks, each including a logic circuit and an output circuit. Each output circuit has a data input coupled to an output of the logic circuit, a gating input, and a data output coupled to an output of the logic block. The output circuit is coupled to place a value on the data input onto the data output when the gating input has a first value and the output circuit receives tokens indicating valid new data on both the data input and the gating input of the output circuit. The output circuit is coupled to leave the data output unchanged when the gating input has a second value and the output circuit receives a token indicating valid new data on both the data and gating inputs of the output circuit.
US07746110B1
Circuits for fanning out data in a self-timed integrated circuit. An exemplary integrated circuit includes a plurality of interconnected logic blocks, each including a logic circuit and an output circuit. The output circuit has a first data input coupled to a first output of the logic circuit, a second data input coupled to a second output of the logic circuit, and a data output coupled to a first output of the logic block. The data output reflects a value on the first data input. The output circuit is programmably coupled, in one of a plurality of operating modes, to provide an output token only when the first data input is accompanied by a first token indicating valid new data on the first data input. The output circuit is further programmably coupled to consume, when the output token is provided, both the first token and a second token accompanying the second data input.
US07746101B1
A cascading input structure for logic blocks in an integrated circuit. An exemplary integrated circuit includes a plurality of substantially similar logic blocks arrayed to form a column of the logic blocks, and a self-timed vertical cascade chain. Each of the logic blocks has self-timed first and second inputs. The vertical cascade chain has a plurality of self-timed outputs, each of the self-timed outputs being coupled to a first self-timed input of a corresponding logic block in the column. In some embodiments, each logic block includes a multiply block having first and second self-timed inputs, where each output of the vertical cascade chain is coupled to the first input of the multiply block in the corresponding logic block. In some embodiments having a multiply block in the logic block, the inputs and output may not be self-timed.
US07746095B2
A registered memory module includes several memory devices coupled to a register through a plurality of transmission lines forming a symmetrical tree topology. The tree includes several branches each of which includes two transmission lines coupled only at its ends to either another transmission line or one of the memory devices. The branches are arranged in several layers of hierarchy, with the transmission lines in branches having the same hierarchy having the same length. Each transmission line preferably has a characteristic impedance that is half the characteristic impedance of any pair of downstream transmission lines to which it is coupled to provide impedance matching. A dedicated transmission line is used to couple an additional memory device, which may or may not be an error checking memory device, to the register.
US07746091B2
The present invention includes an output circuit section for digitally outputting from an output terminal in a time division system a failure detection signal from a failure diagnosis circuit and a sense signal from a process circuit section, leading to reduction in size of a sensor apparatus. Further, outputting a failure detection signal earlier than a sense signal leads to improvement in reliability at the time of abnormality.
US07746080B2
A system and a method for determining a position of a single phase fault to ground in a feeder line are provided. The feeder line is electrically connected to an electrical substation via a substation bus. The system includes first and second sensors electrically coupled to a transformer in the electrical substation. The system further includes a processor that determines a reactance value based on measured electrical characteristics and a predetermined constant. The processor accesses a table having a plurality of position identifiers associated with positions on the feeder line, and a plurality of reactance component values corresponding to positions on the feeder line relative to the substation bus. The processor selects a first reactance component value from the plurality of reactance component values in the table to determine the position of a fault.
US07746075B2
A circuit for determining a polarization of a gas. The circuit includes a polarimetry circuit having an NMR coil that is configured to excite a polarized gas and that is responsive to an electromagnetic signal generated by the excited, polarized gas. The polarimetry circuit has a reproducible polarization measurement variability of less than about 2% when the NMR coil is exposed to a temperature in a range of about 0° C. to about 200° C.
US07746065B2
A magnetic field sensor comprises a reference magnetic field generator (8), a magnetic field sensing cell (6) including Hall effect sensing elements (12), and a signal processing circuit (4) connected to the output (11) of the magnetic field sensing cell and comprising one or more feedback lines (27, 28) for correcting error fluctuations in the transfer characteristic of the magnetic field sensor. The reference magnetic field generator is adapted to generate a frequency modulated reference magnetic field. The signal processing circuit further includes a modulator connected to the magnetic field sensing cell, adapted to modulate the output signal thereof at a frequency different from the modulation frequency of the reference magnetic field generator.
US07746062B2
A radio frequency (RF) testing system (100) includes a RF signal source (10) generating RF signals, an antenna (50), a RF testing circuit (40) disposed on a printed circuit board (PCB) (41), a testing probe (20) for receiving the RF signal from the RF testing circuit, and a testing apparatus (30) for testing the RF signals from the testing probe. The RF testing circuit includes a first pad (42), a second pad (44), a transmission line (48), and at least one ground portion (49) parallel to the transmission line. A distance between a first region defined by the first pad and a second region defined by the second pad positioned between the first region and the antenna is equal to one-fourth of the wavelength. During testing, the testing probe is electrically connected to the first pad, and the second pad is electrically connected to ground of the PCB.
US07746049B2
A power supply device includes a DC-DC converter configured to regulate an output voltage based on an externally input instruction, and a discharge circuit connected to an output capacitor of the DC-DC converter, wherein the discharge circuit includes a switch element configured to switch between a conductive state and a nonconductive state according to an instruction, and a capacitor-resistor (C-R) circuit configured to charge electric charge accumulated in the output capacitor of the DC-DC converter when the switch element is conductive and to discharge the electric charge to ground when the switch element is nonconductive.
US07746043B2
A method and system monitor gate charge characteristics of one or more field effect transistors in a switching power converter to detect an end of an inductor flyback time interval. The switching power converter includes a switch coupled to an inductor to control current flow in the inductor. When the switch turns OFF, a collapsing magnetic field causes the inductor current to decrease and the inductor voltage to reverse polarity. When the magnetic field completely collapses, the inductor current goes to zero. At the end of the inductor flyback time interval, a voltage is induced across a Miller capacitance of the switch. The voltage can be detected as a transient change in the gate voltage of the switch. A switch gate sensor detects the gate voltage change associated with the end of the inductor flyback time interval and provides a signal indicating an end of the inductor flyback time interval.
US07746037B2
An electric window dimming device for reducing the light transmission of a window for an aircraft. The electric window dimming device comprises a capacitance. The electric window dimming device is adapted for being connected to the capacitance and to a primary energy source that provides energy. If the primary energy source fails, the capacitance supplies energy for electric window dimming device.
US07746033B2
A secondary battery module includes a unit battery aggregate having a plurality of unit batteries arranged spaced from each other; a housing adapted to receive the unit battery aggregate; and a communicating member installed inside the housing, the communicating member adapted to supply a cooling medium flowing into the housing between a plurality of the unit batteries. The housing includes an inlet for flowing temperature control air into the unit battery aggregate, an outlet for flowing out the air passing through the unit battery, and a communicating member arranged perpendicular to the direction of inflow and outflow of the air with respect to the inlet and the outlet to communicate with a flowing channel between unit batteries, respectively.
US07746024B2
A power converter includes a PWM active rectifier and controller that minimize harmonic ripple currents on the DC link during an engine start mode (first stage) in which power is provided to an AC starter motor. The PWM active rectifier and controller also minimize harmonic currents on AC input lines during a second stage (active filter mode). The power converter also includes a PWM inverter and corresponding inverter controller that controls the performance of the AC starter motor during the first stage based on mode selection input received. The power converter system further includes pre-charge circuitry that charges a DC link capacitor located within the power converter system to a desired level prior to providing the power converter system with AC power.
US07746022B2
A stepping motor controller for controlling a stepping motor which drives a load, including: a load drive state detection section which detects a driving state of the load; and a control section which controls the stepping motor, when a detection result of the load drive state detection section is beyond a prescribed range, so as to maintain a driving speed of the load, and when the detection result of the load drive state detection section is within the prescribed range, so as to control the driving state of the load based on a control pattern.
US07746019B2
The present invention discloses a servo control circuit comprising: a first node for receiving a control voltage; a second node for receiving a feedback voltage; an operational amplifier controlling a current on a path according to the voltages at the first and second nodes, the path including an internal voltage node thereon; an analog to digital converter (ADC) for converting the voltage at the internal voltage node to a digital signal; and a control logic circuit for generating a servo control signal according to the digital signal.
US07746017B2
An exemplary fan driving system includes a driving device and a MOSFET group. The driving device includes a first adjustable resistor connected between its first voltage signal input terminal and ground, and a second adjustable resistor connected between its second voltage signal input terminal and ground. The MOSFET group includes two N-type MOSFETs and two P-type MOSFETs. The first terminal of the fan is connected to an anode of D1 and a cathode of D3. The second terminal of the fan is connected to an anode of D2 and a cathode of D4. Cathodes of the D1 and D2 are configured to connect a supply voltage. Anodes of the D3 and D4 both are grounded. The fan driving system can effectively discharge off the residual current in the coil of the fan at the moment of the MOSFET group being switched off.
US07746015B2
Method for feeding an operating motor of a rolling shutter and a device for a driven rolling shutter
The inventive method makes it possible to feed an alternating current electric motor used for operating a rolling shutter in a building by means of a gear whose performance substantially varies when a movable element drives or is driven by the rolling shutter. The electric motor is supplied, in certain phases, at a reduced tension, wherein the motor slipping measuring a relative speed deviation with respect to a zero running torque speed remains less the motor slipping when the rotor thereof ruts at a nominal speed at least if the rolling shutter does not meet obstacles. The drive for the rolling shutter for carrying out said method is also disclosed.
US07746005B2
A circuit arrangement for operating a high-pressure gas discharge lamp has an igniting-circuit circuit arrangement having a capacitor able to be connected via two terminals to a voltage supply unit. The capacitor is connected in parallel with a primary winding of a transformer by a switching element that becomes conductive above a given voltage. The circuit arrangement also has a lamp-circuit circuit arrangement in which the high-pressure gas discharge lamp is connected on one side, via a secondary winding of the transformer, to a terminal for connection to the voltage supply unit. The other side of lamp-circuit is connected, via an inductive element, to a second terminal for connection to the voltage supply unit. The inductive element is formed by an air core inductor or rod core inductor that is exposed or is encapsulated in an insulating substance and that has an inductance equal to or less than 20 μH.
US07745997B2
A multi-electrode double tube fluorescent lamp includes first external electrodes formed at two ends of an outer glass tube or an inner glass tube, and a second external electrode formed at an inner wall surface of the inner glass tube in a longitudinal direction. A first power source is connected with the first external electrode, and a second power source is connected with the second external electrode. A third external electrode formed along an outer surface of the outer glass tube is connected with the second power source. The second external electrode and the third external electrode are arranged in a radial shape in a direction vertical with respect to the longitudinal direction.
US07745994B2
The invention provides a display device including: a first electrode and a second electrode which are disposed in different directions from each other on a flexible substrate; an optical functional layer disposed between the first and second electrodes; and a display unit having a display pixel formed at a rectangular area of overlap between the first and second electrodes, in which the first and second electrodes are respectively connected to a first flexible wiring member at a first region of a periphery of the flexible substrate and a second flexible wiring member at a second region adjacent to the first region, one of the first and second flexible wiring members is adhered onto the display unit, and a first connection portion and a second connection portion for connecting the flexible wiring members with external drive units are disposed at the same region on the periphery of the flexible substrate.
US07745993B2
To provide a bright and highly reliable light-emitting device. An anode (102), an EL layer (103), a cathode (104), and an auxiliary electrode (105) are formed sequentially in lamination on a reflecting electrode (101). Further, the anode (102), the cathode (104), and the auxiliary electrode (105) are either transparent or semi-transparent with respect to visible radiation. In such a structure, lights generated in the EL layer (103) are almost all irradiated to the side of the cathode (104), whereby an effect light emitting area of a pixel is drastically enhanced.
US07745990B2
A white light-emitting organic electroluminescent element is disclosed, containing a substrate having thereon: an anode; a cathode; and a plurality of light emitting layers between the anode and the cathode, wherein the plurality of light emitting layers contains: a first light emitting layer which emits a light having a predetermined wavelength; a second light emitting layer which is located at a nearer position to the anode than the first light emitting layer and emits a light having a complementary color to the light having the predetermined wavelength; and a third light emitting layer which is located at a nearer position to the cathode than the first light emitting layer and emits the light having the complementary color to the light having the predetermined wavelength.
US07745986B2
Disclosed is a conventional organic light emitting diode (OLED) having one reflective electrode in combination with at least one transparent OLED in stacked configuration functioning as backlighting in a transflective display apparatus such as a liquid crystal display (LCD). Preferably, at least two transparent OLEDs are arranged in a stacked configuration with one conventional OLED, each of the three OLEDs emitting light of a different bandwidth. The reflective electrode located behind the backlight also serves as a reflecting plate for the display. This arrangement enhances reflectivity and permits color sequencing in the transmissive mode, allowing all the components of a full color display (i.e. red, green, blue) to emit through the same pixel without the need for a color filter.
US07745982B2
The invention relates to a lamp socket 1 for lamps 25, in particular vehicle lamps, comprising a connection region 2 for arranging the lamps 25 on a headlamp, a light or the like, a hollow-cylindrical receiving section 3 for arranging a bulb 27 on the lamp socket 1, and a cylindrical metal sleeve 4 which is arranged in the receiving section 3. In order to provide a lamp socket 1 of simple and stable design which has high heat-resistance, it is provided that a flange 5 arranged on the metal sleeve 4 rests on protrusions 7 which project from an upper edge 6 of the receiving section 3.
US07745980B2
There is provided a piezoelectric resonant element having excellent electrical characteristics in which spurious is suppressed. The piezoelectric resonant element (10) is constituted by sticking a pair of oscillatory electrodes (12, 13), respectively, to both major surfaces of a rectangular piezoelectric substrate (11). In the nonopposing regions of both the oscillatory electrodes (12, 13), extending portions (12c, 13c) are provided to extend in the opposite directions outward from the center X of the opposing region.
US07745977B2
An ultrasonic probe is provided which includes a piezoelectric vibrator having an earth electrode and a signal electrode on a rear surface, an acoustic matching layer disposed on a front surface side of the piezoelectric vibrator, a packing material disposed on the rear surface of the piezoelectric vibrator, and a flexible printed circuit that is interposed between the piezoelectric vibrator and the packing material to cover the entire rear surface of the piezoelectric vibrator and has an earth wiring layer and a signal wiring layer. The earth wiring layer and the signal wiring layer are exposed from a surface facing the piezoelectric vibrator of the flexible printed circuit so as to be electrically connected to the earth electrode and the signal electrode through an exposed surface of the earth wiring layer and an exposed surface of the signal wiring layer, respectively.
US07745966B2
A plurality of fan blades are secured to a rotor assembly of a single directional motor. When the motor is powered on, a force generated by the fan blades pushes the rotor assembly in a direction of a low friction thrust interface. When the motor is backdriven in a direction opposite the powered direction, the force generated by the fan blades pushes the rotor assembly in a direction of a higher-friction thrust interface, causing a tapered surface of the pinion and a tapered surface of a bearing retainer to be pressed against each other to produce a frictional braking force. The backdriven speed of the motor and drive device is therefore reduced, improving the reliability of the motor assembly. The invention can be applied to motor actuators used to control air dampers and other valves in gas or fluid delivery systems. The invention can also be used to reduce water hammer in water delivery systems.
US07745962B2
The invention is a converter for converting thermal energy into electrical energy. The energy conversion takes place by causing magnetic particles that are initially suspended in ferrofluid to circulate in the converter and to induce electric currents when they pass through one or more coils of electric wires that are coiled around parts of the conduits of the converter. The particles are caused to circulate around the main circuit of the converter by controlling the local temperature and pressure at different locations in the main circuit. The invention also is a method of using the converter to produce electricity.
US07745950B2
In order to provide a high electric power for an aircraft via a generator driven by the engine, an additional free turbine is included in the hot-gas flow of the engine, which—equipped with generator-starter magnets (9) and surrounded by annularly arranged generator-starter coils (12)—forms a generator-starter turbine (5) and is connected to the high-pressure shaft (1) via an overrunning clutch (15), and hence, is also used for starting the engine.
US07745949B2
A method of assembling an electrical machine includes programming at least one processor with a stator flux vector estimation scheme. The electrical machine has a stator at least partially extending around a rotor. The electrical machine is electrically coupled to an electric power system. The electric power system transmits at least one phase of electric power to and from the electrical machine with at least partial power conversion. The stator flux vector estimation scheme is programmed to generate at least one stator back-electromagnetic force (back-EMF) signal and to generate at least one stator flux vector signal using the at least one stator back-EMF signal. The at least one stator flux vector signal at least partially represents an estimated rotor position. The method also includes coupling at least one output device in data communication with the at least one processor.
US07745943B2
A microelectronic package includes a microelectronic element having faces and contacts, the microelectronic element having an outer perimeter, and a substrate overlying and spaced from a first face of the microelectronic element, whereby an outer region of the substrate extends beyond the outer perimeter of the microelectronic element. The microelectronic package includes a plurality of etched conductive posts exposed at a surface of the substrate and being electrically interconnected with the microelectronic element, whereby at least one of the etched conductive posts is disposed in the outer region of the substrate. The package includes an encapsulating mold material in contact with the microelectronic element and overlying the outer region of the substrate, the encapsulating mold material extending outside of the etched conductive posts for defining an outermost edge of the microelectronic package.
US07745940B2
Methods of forming a microelectronic structure are described. Embodiments of those methods include bonding at least one bond pad of a device side of a first substrate to at least one bond pad of a device side of a second substrate, forming at least one via to connect to at least one of an active feature and an interconnect structure disposed within the first substrate, and forming a reactive material on a surface of at least one of the active features.
US07745933B2
A circuit structure has a first dielectric layer, a first circuit pattern embedded in the first dielectric layer and having a first via pad, a first conductive via passing through the first dielectric layer and connecting to the first via pad, and an independent via pad disposed on a surface of the first dielectric layer away from the first via pad and connecting to one end of the first conductive via. The circuit structure further has a second dielectric layer disposed over the surface of the first dielectric layer where the independent via pad is disposed, a second conductive via passing through the second dielectric layer and connecting to the independent via pad, and a second circuit pattern embedded in the second dielectric layer, located at a surface thereof away from the independent via pad, and having a second via pad connected to the second conductive via.
US07745931B2
A BGA type semiconductor device having high reliability is offered. A pad electrode is formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate and a glass substrate is bonded to the surface of the semiconductor substrate. A via hole is formed from a back surface of the semiconductor substrate to reach a surface of the pad electrode. An insulation film is formed on an entire back surface of the semiconductor substrate including an inside of the via hole. A cushioning pad is formed on the insulation film. The insulation film is removed from a bottom portion of the via hole by etching. A wiring connected with the pad electrode is formed to extend from the via hole onto the cushioning pad. A conductive terminal is formed on the wiring. Then the semiconductor substrate is separated into a plurality of semiconductor dice.
US07745929B2
A semiconductor device (1) has a semiconductor component (2), a first electrode (6) and a control electrode (7) being arranged on the top side (4). The semiconductor device (1) furthermore has a circuit carrier (3) having a chip island (9) and a plurality of flat conductors (10). The rear side (5) of the semiconductor component (2) is mounted on the chip island (9). The first electrode (6) is electrically connected to a first flat conductor (13) via a first contact clip (16) and the control electrode (7) is electrically connected to a control flat conductor (14) via the second contact clip (19). The upper surface (33) of the first contact clip (16) is at least partly arranged in a plane which is further away from the top side (4) of the semiconductor component (2) than the entire upper surface (34) of the second contact clip (19).
US07745926B2
A composite multi-layer substrate comprising a flat plate-like core member formed of a material having an excellent electric conductivity, an excellent heat conductivity, and a high rigidity, a front resin layer and a rear resin layer covering at least the front and rear surfaces of the core member, and a bottomless hole formed in the core member through the front and rear sides of the core member, wherein an electronic component is installed in the bottomless hole, whereby since the strength of the composite multi-layer substrate can be assured by the rigidity of the core member, conventional prior art glass cloth can be eliminated, deterioration in the electric characteristics caused by ion migration can be avoided and will result in reduced production cost.
US07745925B2
A multi-functional metal shield case and a method for making the same are provided. The multi-functional metal shield case includes a metal main body and an electrically non-conductive and heat conductive silicon layer. The metal main body includes a base and sidewalls integrally bent along edges of the base, and the electrically non-conductive and heat conductive silicon layer is formed on inner sides of the base and the sidewalls. Accordingly, heat can be rapidly transferred to the metal main body and emitted to an outside. Since the heat conductive silicon layer is non-conductive, an electric shock does not occur between the electronic component and the metal shield case. Further, since the heat conductive silicon layer is in contact with the electronic component, heat can be transferred more rapidly.
US07745918B1
A package includes an internal package stacked upon a primary die. The package includes interconnection balls to allow the package to be electrically and physically connected to a mother board. The package is mounted to the mother board in a single operation thus minimizing labor and the associated manufacturing cost. Further, the package is tested and verified to be non-defective prior to mounting to the mother board.
US07745917B2
An integrated circuit package may include a plurality of interconnects, and an integrated package substrate coupled to the plurality of interconnects and comprising an integrated circuit package substrate core. A first surface of the integrated circuit package substrate core may define a depression.
US07745916B2
The invention relates to a module having a carrier element with electrical contact elements and a component applied to the carrier element with electrical connections on the side remote from the carrier element. The electrical connections of the component are electrically connected to contact elements of the carrier element via polymer-containing connecting elements.
US07745910B1
A semiconductor device has a substrate comprising at least one dielectric layer and at least one metal layer on a first surface of the substrate. A die is attached to the first surface of the substrate. A mold compound is used to encapsulate the die and partially encapsulate the first surface of the substrate. The mold compound has a protrusion proximate to the at least one metal layer. A conductive material covers the mold compound, including the protrusion, and contacts the at least one metal layer.
US07745909B2
Disclosed are embodiments of a semiconductor structure and method of forming the structure with selectively adjusted reflectance and absorption characteristics in order to selectively control temperature changes during a rapid thermal anneal and, thereby, to selectively control variations in device performance and/or to selectively optimize the anneal temperature of such devices. Selectively controlling the temperature changes in different devices during a rapid thermal anneal is accomplished by selectively varying the isolation material thickness in different sections of a shallow trench isolation structures. Alternatively, it is accomplished by selectively varying the pattern of fill structures in different sections of a semiconductor wafer so that predetermined amounts of shallow trench isolation regions in the different sections are exposed.
US07745906B2
An n+-emitter layer arranged under an emitter electrode is formed of convex portions arranged at predetermined intervals and a main body coupled to the convex portions. A convex portion region is in contact with the emitter electrode, and a p+-layer doped more heavily than a p-base layer is arranged at least below the emitter layer. In a power transistor of a lateral structure, a latch-up immunity of a parasitic thyristor can be improved, and a turn-off time can be reduced.
US07745905B2
Provided is a semiconductor device having an electric fuse structure which receives the supply of an electric current to be permitted to be cut without damaging portions around the fuse. An electric fuse is electrically connected between an electronic circuit and a redundant circuit as a spare of the electronic circuit. After these circuits are sealed with a resin, the fuse can be cut by receiving the supply of an electric current from the outside. The electric fuse is formed in a fine layer, and is made of a main wiring and a barrier film. The linear expansion coefficient of each of the main wiring and the barrier film is larger than that of each of the insulator layers. The melting point of each of the main wiring and the barrier film is lower than that of each of the insulator layers.
US07745903B2
A technique is provided which permits formation within a single chip both a field effect transistor of high reliability capable of suppressing the occurrence of a crystal defect and a field effect transistor of a high integration degree. In a mask ROM section having an element isolation region with an isolation width of smaller than 0.3 μm, a planar shape of each active region ACT is made polygonal by cutting off the corners of a quadrangle, thereby suppressing the occurrence of a crystal defect in the active region ACT and diminishing a leakage current flowing between the source and drain of a field effect transistor. In a sense amplifier data latch section which is required to have a layout of a small margin in the alignment between a gate G of a field effect transistor and the active region ACT, the field effect transistor is disposed at a narrow pitch by making the active region ACT quadrangular.
US07745900B2
A transient index stack having an intermediate transient index layer, for use in an imaging device or a display device, that reduces reflection between layers having different refractive indexes by making a gradual transition from one refractive index to another. Other embodiments include a pixel array in an imaging or display device, an imager system having improved optical characteristics for reception of light by photosensors and a display system having improved optical characteristics for transmission of light by photoemitters. Enhanced reception of light is achieved by reducing reflection between a photolayer, for example, a photosensor or photoemitter, and surrounding media by introducing an intermediate layer with a transient refractive index between the photolayer and surrounding media such that more photons reach the photolayer. The surrounding media can include a protective layer of optically transparent media.
US07745887B2
A semiconductor device and related methods of manufacture are disclosed in which dual work function metal gate electrodes are formed from a single metal layer by doping the metal layer with carbon and/or fluorine.
US07745882B2
A method for forming a bipolar junction transistor comprises forming a first well of a second conductive type for forming a collector region in a substrate including device isolation layers, wherein the substrate comprises a first conductive type, forming a second well of the first conductive type for a metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor of the second conductive type within the first well of the second conductive type, wherein the second well of the first conductive type is formed deeper than the device isolation layers, forming a shallow third well of the first conductive type for a base region within the first well of the second conductive type, wherein the shallow third well of the first conductive type is formed shallower than the device isolation layers, and simultaneously forming an emitter region within the shallow third well of the first conductive type and a plurality of collector contacts within the first well of the second conductive type by performing an ion implantation process for forming source/drain regions of the metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor of the second conductive type.
US07745873B2
A vertical tunneling, ultra-thin body transistor is formed on a substrate out of a vertical oxide pillar having active regions of opposing conductivity on opposite ends of the pillar. In one embodiment, the source region is a p+ region in the substrate under the pillar and the drain region is an n+ region at the top of the pillar. A gate structure is formed along the pillar sidewalls and over the body layers. The transistor operates by electron tunneling from the source valence band to the gate bias-induced n-type channels, along the ultra-thin silicon bodies, thus resulting in a drain current.
US07745868B2
A semiconductor device may include a MOS transistor having source and drain regions in a semiconductor substrate, a first inter-layer insulator having first contact holes that reach the source and drain regions over the MOS transistor. Cell contact plugs in the first contact holes contact with the source and drain regions. A second inter-layer insulator over the first inter-layer insulator and the cell contact plugs has second contact holes that reach the cell contact plugs. Contact plugs each have first and second portions. The first portion is in the second contact hole. The second portion extends over the first second inter-layer insulator. Metal barrier layers cover the upper surfaces of the second portions of the contact plugs. Capacitors each have a bottom electrode layer, a capacitive insulating layer and a top electrode layer. The bottom electrode layers each have a contact portion that contacts with the metal barrier layer.
US07745867B2
A capacitor under bitline DRAM memory cell and method for its fabrication provides a high density memory cell with the capacitor formed in the PMD layer. The memory cell utilizes several variations of storage contact pillar structures as, for example, a storage plate of the memory cell capacitor formed within a trench in the PMD layer. This capacitor plate structure is overlaid with a capacitor dielectric layer which is overlaid with another conductive layer, for example, the M1 layer to form the other capacitor plate. An access transistor formed between substrate active regions and a word line, is in electrical communication with a bit line contact, the storage contact capacitor plate, and the word line respectively. The high density memory cell benefits from the simple standard processes common to logic processes, and in one embodiment requiring only one additional masking step.
US07745866B2
A semiconductor device includes a capacitor which has: a lower electrode formed along an opening provided above a semiconductor substrate to have a concave cross section; a capacitor insulating film formed on the inner and top surfaces of the lower electrode; and an upper electrode formed on the capacitor insulating film. The upper electrode includes: a first conductive film formed on the inner surface of the capacitor insulating film and filling the opening; and a second conductive film formed to extend from the top surface of the first conductive film to the top surface of the capacitor insulating film.
US07745865B2
Devices and methods for preventing capacitor leakage caused by sharp tip. The formation of sharp tip is avoided by a thicker bottom electrode which fully fills a micro-trench that induces formation of the sharp tip. Alternatively, formation of the sharp tip can be avoided by recessing the contact plug to substantially eliminate the micro-trench.
US07745863B2
A method of forming an integrated ferroelectric/CMOS structure which effectively separates incompatible high temperature deposition and annealing processes is provided. The method of the present invention includes separately forming a CMOS structure and a ferroelectric delivery wafer. These separate structures are then brought into contact with each and the ferroelectric film of the delivery wafer is bonded to the upper conductive electrode layer of the CMOS structure by using a low temperature anneal step. A portion of the delivery wafer is then removed providing an integrated FE/CMOS structure wherein the ferroelectric capacitor is formed on top of the CMOS structure. The capacitor is in contact with the transistor of the CMOS structure through all the wiring levels of the CMOS structure.
US07745856B2
A sensor apparatus comprising a nanotube or nanowire, a lipid bilayer around the nanotube or nanowire, and a sensing element connected to the lipid bilayer. Also a biosensor apparatus comprising a gate electrode; a source electrode; a drain electrode; a nanotube or nanowire operatively connected to the gate electrode, the source electrode, and the drain electrode; a lipid bilayer around the nanotube or nanowire, and a sensing element connected to the lipid bilayer.
US07745850B2
A high electron mobility transistor is disclosed which has a triple-layered main semiconductor region formed on a silicon substrate via a multilayered buffer region. The multilayered buffer region is in the form of alternations of an aluminum nitride layer and a gallium nitride layer. Whilst the aluminum nitride layers are of n-like conductivity, the gallium nitride layers are doped into p-type conductivity, with the consequent creation of pn junctions between the two kinds of buffer layers. Another pn junction is formed between one p-type gallium nitride layer and the adjoining n-like electron transit layer included in the main semiconductor region. The pn junctions serve for reduction of current leakage.
US07745848B1
Gallium nitride material devices and methods associated with the devices are described. The devices may be designed to provide enhanced thermal conduction and reduced thermal resistance. The increased thermal conduction through and out of the gallium nitride devices enhances operability of the devices, including providing excellent RF operation, reliability, and lifetime.
US07745845B2
An integrated low leakage Schottky diode has a Schottky barrier junction proximate one side of an MOS gate with one end of a drift region on an opposite side of the gate. Below the Schottky metal and the gate oxide is a RESURF structure of an N− layer over a P− layer which also forms the drift region that ends at the diode's cathode in one embodiment of the present invention. The N− and P− layers have an upward concave shape under the gate. The gate electrode and the Schottky metal are connected to the diode's anode. A P− layer lies between the RESURF structure and an NISO region which has an electrical connection to the anode. A P+ layer under the Schottky metal is in contact with the P− layer through a P well.
US07745844B2
An LED package is provided. The LED package comprises a metal plate, circuit patterns, and an LED. The metal plate comprises grooves. The insulating layer is formed on the metal plate. The circuit patterns are formed on the insulating layer. The LED is electrically connected with the circuit pattern on the insulating layer.
US07745842B2
A transmissivity controlled film 12 (CrO or the like), a transmissivity reduced film 13 (Cr or the like), and a resist film 14, for instance, are sequentially formed on, e.g., a transparent substrate 11. A resist is removed from an area (an area C) where a light-transmission section is to be formed, and the transmissivity reduced film 13 and the transmissivity controlled film 12 are removed from the area, thereby forming a light-transmission section. Next, a resist is removed from an area (an area A) in which a graytone section is to be formed, thereby removing the transmissivity reduced film 13 from that area, to thereby form a graytone section. Thus, a graytone mask is manufactured.
US07745837B2
The invention discloses a semiconductor light-emitting device and a method of fabricating the same. The semiconductor light-emitting device according to the invention includes a substrate, a first semiconductor material layer, a multi-layer structure and an ohmic electrode structure. The substrate has a first upper surface and a plurality of recesses formed on the first upper surface. The first semiconductor material layer is formed on the first upper surface of the substrate and has a second upper surface. The multi-layer structure is formed on the second upper surface of the first semiconductor material layer and includes a light-emitting region. The ohmic electrode structure is formed on the multi-layer structure. In particular, the first semiconductor material layer has a refractive index different from those of the substrate and a bottom-most layer of the multi-layer structure.
US07745834B2
A semiconductor image sensor includes: a semiconductor imaging element including an imaging area, a peripheral circuit area, and an electrode area; cylindrical electrodes provided on electrode terminals so as to be electrically connected with an external device; and a transparent resin layer provided on the upper surface of the semiconductor imaging element. The upper surface of each cylindrical electrode and the upper surface of the transparent resin layer are substantially of the same height.
US07745825B2
A pixel structure comprising at least one transistor, a first storage capacitor, a first conductive layer, an interlayer dielectric layer, a second conductive layer, a passivation layer, and a third conductive layer is provided. The first storage capacitor is electrically connected to the transistor. The interlayer dielectric layer having at least one first opening covers the first conductive layer. The second conductive layer is formed on a part of the interlayer dielectric layer and is electrically connected to the first conductive layer through the first opening. The passivation layer having at least one second opening covers the transistor and the second conductive layer. The third conductive layer is formed on a part of the passivation layer and is electrically connected to the transistor through the second opening. The first storage capacitor is formed by the third conductive layer, the passivation layer, and the second conductive layer.
US07745819B2
The present invention provides an organic electronic device using the compound of the formula (1) and a pyrene derivative having a new structure.
US07745814B2
A semiconductor device is provided comprising a first potential well located within a pn junction and a second potential well not located within a pn junction. The potential wells may be quantum wells. The semiconductor device is typically an LED, and may be a white or near-white light LED. The semiconductor device may additionally comprise a third potential well not located within a pn junction. The semiconductor device may additionally comprise absorbing layers surrounding or closely or immediately adjacent to the second or third quantum wells. In addition, graphic display devices and illumination devices comprising the semiconductor device according to the present invention are provided.
US07745810B2
Nanotube films and articles and methods of making the same are disclosed. A conductive article includes an aggregate of nanotube segments in which the nanotube segments contact other nanotube segments to define a plurality of conductive pathways along the article. The nanotube segments may be single walled carbon nanotubes, or multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The various segments may have different lengths and may include segments having a length shorter than the length of the article. The articles so formed may be disposed on substrates, and may form an electrical network of nanotubes within the article itself. Conductive articles may be made on a substrate by forming a nanotube fabric on the substrate, and defining a pattern within the fabric in which the pattern corresponds to the conductive article. The nanotube fabric may be formed by growing the nanotube fabric on the substrate using a catalyst, for example, in which the catalyst is a gas phase catalyst, or in which the catalyst is a metallic gas phase catalyst. The nanotube fabric may be formed by depositing a solution of suspended nanotubes on the substrate. The deposited solution may be spun to create a spin-coating of the solution. The solution may be deposited by dipping the substrate into the solution. The nanotube fabric is formed by spraying an aerosol having nanotubes onto a surface of the substrate.
US07745809B1
Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus comprising a substrate comprising an emitter layer and at least one emitter interface adjacent to the emitter layer, and a metal protective layer on a top surface of the at least one emitter interface. A method of manufacturing such an apparatus is also disclosed. The method may include performing plasma nitridation directed at column micro-trench strips. Other embodiments are also described.
US07745805B2
A system and method for measuring the physical characteristics of an object is provided, wherein the method includes disposing the object within the sensor optical path of an inspection system, causing a source collimated light beam to propagate along the source optical path to be at least partially incident upon the reflecting device, reflecting the source collimated light beam to create a reflected collimated light beam that propagates along the sensor optical path such that the reflected collimated light beam is at least partially incident upon the object to produce a silhouette, wherein at least a portion of the silhouette is incident upon the sensing device to generate initial image data responsive to the silhouette and processing the initial image data responsive to at least one predetermined algorithm to generate resultant image data responsive to at least one of a plurality of physical characteristics of the object.
US07745800B1
A directional neutron detecting apparatus includes first and second neutron detectors. Each neutron detector includes a thin planar sheet of neutron-reactive material; a first ohmic electrode operably coupled to one side of the planar sheet of neutron-reactive material; a second ohmic electrode operably coupled to a second side of the planar sheet of neutron-reactive material; a voltage source operably coupled to the first and second ohmic electrodes; and an electrical current detector operably coupled in series between the first ohmic electrode and the voltage source. The first and second neutron detectors are arranged so that their planar neutron-reactive sheets are substantially parallel, opposing and are spaced from each other. Multiple directional neutron detecting apparatuses may be arranged mutually orthogonally to thereby provide omni-directional neutron detection.
US07745799B2
In the field of protection from ionising alpha particle radiation there is a need for a low cost, reliable, maintenance free, and self-contained detector that can monitor continuously over a plurality of time periods the levels of airborne alpha particle radiation. The detector operates by measuring the charge created by alpha particle decay between electrodes in an enclosure. Detectors may be linked together to monitor several parts of a building or a large area for applications such as civil emergencies and earthquake warning.
US07745798B2
A solid state radiation detector capable of improving the sharpness of obtained radiation images. The solid state radiation detector includes: two scintillator layers that convert irradiated radiation to light; and a solid state photodetector, disposed between the two scintillators, that detects the light converted by the two scintillator layers and converts the detected light to electrical signals. Here, the scattering length of each of the scintillators is not greater than 100 μm for the light propagating in the direction parallel to the surface of the scintillator.
US07745785B2
A sample holder is offered which is used when a sample is inspected by irradiating the sample with a primary beam consisting of a charged-particle beam (such as an electron beam) via a film. Furthermore, method and apparatus for preventing destruction of the film due to a pressure difference by detecting damage to the film during inspection are offered.
US07745775B2
Testing is performed on an amplifier wafer housing a transimpedance amplifier prior to packaging the transimpedance amplifier with an external photodetector, wherein the transimpedance amplifier includes a small, auxiliary, integrated silicon photodetector provided at the input of the transimpedance, in parallel with external photodetector attachment points. Totest the transimpedance amplifier, the transimpedance amplifier is stimulated by optically exciting the small auxiliary photodetector, wherein the small auxiliary photodetector is excited using short wavelength light, whereby advantages such as higher efficiency may be obtained. The testing method includes placing the amplifier wafer in a testing system, probing the power and ground connections on the amplifier wafer, illuminating the small auxiliary photodetector on the amplifier wafer, and detecting the output of the transimpedance amplifier housed on the amplifier wafer.
US07745770B2
A light intensity control device of the present invention includes a light source for outputting a plurality of types of light beams having different wavelengths; a light receiving section for receiving and converting the light beams into an electric signal in accordance with the intensity of the respective light beam; and a polarization separation section provided between the light source and the light receiving section. The plurality of types of light beams include a first light beam and a second light beam having a longer wavelength than that of the first light beam. The polarization separation section guides both a first polarization direction light component of the second light beam and a second polarization direction light component, perpendicular to the first polarization direction, of the second light beam to the light receiving section. The polarization separation section guides a first polarization direction light component of the first light beam to the light receiving section, and suppresses a second polarization direction component, perpendicular to the first polarization direction, of the first light beam from advancing to the light receiving section.
US07745768B2
The present invention relates to an absolute target system intended to be incorporated in observation satellites. To establish an absolute target system provided with maximum accuracy, the present invention proposes coupling a star sensor (4) to an optical metrological system (5N, 5R). Since these two items of equipment are normally already on board the satellites, in particular for formation flight missions, this solution adds no extra weight or cost.
US07745760B2
A soldering iron provided with a soldering tip that melts solder at a distal end, having inside said soldering tip a substantially cylindrical insertion fit recess portion extending from a proximal end of the soldering tip to the distal end, opening at the proximal end, and a heater formed into a coil shape and whose surface is covered with an insulating oxide film being fittingly inserted into the insertion fit recess portion.
US07745756B2
A laser processing machine is provided in which a machining tool is automatically exchanged with a laser processing tool to be mounted to a processing head thereof to perform machining operations such as tapping to works. A machining tool 70 which is exchangeably clamped to a mounting section 510 of a processing head 50 of a laser processing machine has a body 720 and a piston member 730 in the body 720, and the piston member 730 supports an air motor 740, a reducer 750, a tool chuck 760, and a tap 762. Air is sent to the air motor 740 from an air source 551b by switching a valve, and an assist gas for a normal or reverse rotation is sent from an assist gas source 554b to the upper portion of the piston member 730, so that a tap is lowered to perform tapping to a work.
US07745748B2
A diode unit (9) including at least one diode (13) and a pair of terminals (15) is mounted on a switch body (2) having an actuate-able key (6) and at least two terminal points (4). The diode unit (9) is positioned on the exposed end of the key (6) such that surface parts of the diode unit (9) is brought into engagement with corresponding surface parts of the switch body (2) so as to prevent the diode unit (9) from movement in relation to the switch body (2) in a predefined plane. The diode unit terminals (15) extend in a direction transverse to said plane, and the diode unit terminals (15) are connected to the terminal points (4) of the switch body (2) so as to prevent movement of the diode unit (9) in relation to the switch body (2) transversely to said predefined plane.
US07745747B2
A microswitch which is electrostatically actuated, which has a first open position and a second closed position in which said switch closes at least a contact line (30); the microswitch comprising a movable part (10) which has at least a first actuated portion (11) and a second contact portion (12), which are mechanically connected by means of at least a connection element (13); said contact line/s (30) being placed between said first and second portions; wherein in the rest position of the microswitch the actuated portion is at a first distance d1 from the contact line and the contact portion is at a second distance d2 from the contact line; wherein the operation of the microswitch is the following: the first actuated portion is actuated by at least an actuating electrode (20), and in response to said actuation and via the connection element (13) the second contact portion (12) is arranged to contact said contact line (30) reducing said second distance d2 to zero.
US07745746B2
A mechanical switch is arranged to electrically connect a power source to an electrical component. The switch includes a resilient structure, a first electrically conductive element connected to the power source and a second conductive element connected to the electrical component. At least one of the conductive elements is attached to the resilient structure. The switch is arranged such that the conductive elements are positioned out of contact with one another in the absence of a force being applied to the switch, and the resilient structure is moveable in response to a force applied thereto, the force being applied upon rotation of a tire to which the switch is connected. Upon the application of a force above a predetermined threshold, the resilient structure moves to bring the conductive elements into contact with one another, the contact electrically connecting the power source to the electrical component.
US07745743B2
This invention provides a method and a device for controlling switch between appliances. The method includes: setting a group of control signals according to operations to be performed by appliances involved in a switch between a current appliance and a target appliance; and controlling the appliances involved in the switch between the current appliance and the target appliance to perform operations corresponding to the group of control signals, when the switch is triggered. The method simplifies the operation of switch between appliances in a multi-appliance environment and enables one appliance switching key to control multiple appliances.
US07745742B2
A button assembly includes a first-button assembly (70), and a second-button assembly (80). The first-button assembly comprises a first button (72), and a first-supporting frame (74) used for supporting the first button. The first supporting frame includes a plurality of latching poles (78) projecting therefrom. The second-button assembly includes a plurality of second buttons (82) arranged around the first button, and a second-supporting frame 86 for supporting the second buttons. The second-supporting frame includes a plurality of latching holes 842 for receiving the latching poles. An electronic product having the button assembly is also disclosed.
US07745723B2
A Fresnel lens comprising a substantially polygonal focusing portion adapted to focus solar radiation to a area having the same geometry as the focusing portion of the lens. Also a solar module comprising the Fresnel collecting lens and a substantially polygonal photovoltaic cell. The photovoltaic cell is mounted at distance from the Fresnel collecting lens so that the size of the area substantially matches the size of the photovoltaic cell. Also a solar panel having multiple modules within a glazed building envelope system. The solar panel also includes an actuating mechanism within the glazed window envelope system. The actuating mechanism is operatively connected to the plurality of solar modules and is adapted to move the solar modules to track the sun.
US07745707B1
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV443328. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV443328, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV443328 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV443328 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV443328.
US07745699B2
DNA encoding a herbicide metabolizing protein. Such DNA may, for example, be employed to produce herbicidally resistant plants.
US07745692B2
The invention relates to genetic manipulation and evaluation of soybean seed, particularly for the enlargement and use of endosperm tissue for galactomannan gum extraction. A method for combining several elements which have heretofore been misunderstood or were unknown, is presented. The resulting enlarged endosperm tissue has many commercial uses.
US07745688B2
The present invention provides a non-human model mammal of Alzheimer's disease (AD) containing chimeric amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene capable of producing human amyloid β peptide (Aβ) or a living part thereof, characterized in that Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio at 8-weeks-old is about 7-fold or more (about 140-fold or more in homozygote) higher compared to that of a corresponding wild-type mammal. Moreover, the present invention provides the mammal or a living part thereof, further characterized in that the level of APP expression is not significantly different compared to the corresponding wild-type mammal, and a screening method for a prophylactic and/or therapeutic drug for AD, a biomarker in biological fluids and molecular imaging of amyloid deposition or other pathological changes in the brain for an early diagnosis of AD using the mammal or a living part thereof.
US07745679B2
A method of stabilizing a waste in a chemically bonded phosphate ceramic (CBPC). The method consists of preparing a slurry including the waste, water, an oxide binder, and a phosphate binder. The slurry is then allowed to cure to a solid, hydrated CBPC matrix. Next, bound water within the solid, hydrated CBPC matrix is removed. Typically, the bound water is removed by applying heat to the cured CBPC matrix. Preferably, the quantity of heat applied to the cured CBPC matrix is sufficient to drive off water bound within the hydrated CBPC matrix, but not to volatalize other non-water components of the matrix, such as metals and radioactive components. Typically, a temperature range of between 100° C.-200° C. will be sufficient. In another embodiment of the invention wherein the waste and water have been mixed prior to the preparation of the slurry, a select amount of water may be evaporated from the waste and water mixture prior to preparation of the slurry. Another aspect of the invention is a direct anyhydrous CBPC fabrication method wherein water is removed from the slurry by heating and mixing the slurry while allowing the slurry to cure. Additional aspects of the invention are ceramic matrix waste forms prepared by the methods disclosed above.
US07745676B2
A process is described for producing an alkylaromatic compound, in which a first feed comprising an alkylatable aromatic compound and a second feed comprising an alkene are introduced into a first alkylation reaction zone comprising a first alkylation catalyst. The first alkylation reaction zone is operated under conditions effective to cause alkylation of the alkylatable aromatic compound by the alkene to produce said alkylaromatic compound, the conditions being such that the alkylatable aromatic compound is at least predominantly in the vapor phase. A first effluent comprising the alkylaromatic compound and unreacted alkylatable aromatic compound is withdrawn from the first alkylation reaction zone and at least part of the unreacted alkylatable aromatic compound is treated to remove catalyst poisons therefrom and produce a treated unreacted alkylatable aromatic stream. At least part of the unreacted alkylatable aromatic compound and a third feed comprising said alkene is introduced into a second alkylation reaction zone comprising a second alkylation catalyst. The second alkylation reaction zone is operated under conditions effective to cause alkylation of the unreacted alkylatable aromatic compound by the alkene to produce said alkylaromatic compound, the conditions being such that the alkylatable aromatic compound is at least predominantly in the liquid phase. A second effluent comprising said alkylaromatic compound is withdrawn from the second alkylation reaction zone.
US07745666B2
A bisphosphite represented by the general formula (I):General Formula (I) (in the formula, A represents an alkylene group which may have a substituent, a cycloalkylene group which may have a substituent, a phenylene group which may have a substituent, or a naphthylene group which may have a substituent; and R1 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group) and a method for producing an aldehyde including reacting a non-conjugated diene having a carbon-carbon double bond in a molecular end and having from 6 to 20 carbon atoms with a carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of such a bisphosphite and a group 8 to 10 metal compound, are provided.
US07745660B2
An improved process for recovering a crystalline product (particularly an N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine product) from a solution comprising both a product subject to crystallization and undesired impurities is provided.
US07745655B1
The present invention relates to a process for preparing bisphosphites which contain dioxaphosphorinone units.
US07745653B2
Fluorochemical silane compounds and coating compositions derived therefrom are described. The compounds and compositions may be used in treating substrates, in particular substrates having a hard surface such as ceramics or glass, to render them water, oil, stain, and soil repellent.
US07745647B2
The present invention relates to novel diterpene compounds isolated from the fruiting body of Antrodia camphorata, especially to the new compounds of following structural formula: and pharmaceutically acceptable salt, solvate, hydrate or biologically active equivalent thereof. The present invention also relates to a pharmaceutical composition containing at least one of the novel diterpene compounds, and a use of the diterpene compound as a neuroprotective agent.
US07745642B2
The present invention relates to compounds of formula (I), or to salts or solvates thereof, their use in the manufacture of medicaments for treating neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, in particular psychoses, dementia or attention deficit disorder. The invention further comprises processes to make these compounds and pharmaceutical formulations thereof.
US07745640B2
Compounds, compositions, and methods for optical, including fluorescence optical, determinations useful in labelling biomolecules such as protein and deoxyribonucleic acid for their detection and quantitation. The compounds are diasteromeric cyanines with high hydrophilicity and other desirable properties.
US07745635B1
The invention provides a) a method for making improved ionic halide salts, e.g., 1-methyl-4-amino-1,2,4-triazolium iodide and b) a method for making energetic ionic salts, e.g., 1-methyl-4-amino-1,2,4-triazolium nitrate, in high yield and purity from triazolium precursors. Also provided are the resulting novel salts from the above methods.
US07745632B2
A cyanine compound represented by the general formula (I), (VI) or (VII): wherein ring-A1 is an optionally substituted benzene or naphthalene ring; B is a group represented by the general formula (II) or (III); R1 is a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, an alkoxy group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, or an aryl group having 6 to 30 carbon atoms; R2 is a substituent represented by the general formula (IV); and Y1 is a hydrogen atom, an organic group having 1 to 30 carbon atoms, or a substituent represented by the general formula (IV): wherein ring-A2 is the same as the ring-A1 in the general formula (I); Y4 and Y5 each are independently the same as Y1 in the general formula (I); X2 is the same as X1 in the general formula (I); R10 is the same as R1 in the general formula (I); R11 is the same as R2 in the general formula (I); R23 and R24 are the same as R21 and R22 in the formulas (II) and (III); n is an integer of 0 to 6; the polymethine chain may have a substituent; Anq− is a q-valent anion; q is 1 or 2; and p is a factor keeping the neutrality of charge.
US07745626B2
In an illustrative embodiment, the present invention describes the synthesis of the following compound and similar compounds, in high stereochemical purity by a novel stereoselective alkylation process:
US07745624B2
A process for the preparation of an acid addition salt of ziprasidone base and intermediates thereof comprising exposing the ziprasidone base in solid form to a gaseous acid in a substantially dry environment.
US07745623B2
The present invention provides a cyclic amide derivative useful as a drug for treating thrombosis, which is represented by the formula (I): wherein R1 represents an optionally substituted cyclic hydrocarbon group or an optionally substituted heterocyclic group, W represents a bond or an optionally substituted divalent chain hydrocarbon group, a represents 0, 1, or 2, X1 represents an optionally substituted lower alkylene or an optionally substituted lower alkenylene, Y1 represents —C(O)—, —S(O)— or —S(O)2—, A represents a piperazine ring which may be further substituted or a piperidine ring which may be further substituted, X2 represents a bond or an optionally substituted lower alkylene, Y2 represents —C(O)—, —S(O)—, —S(O)2— or —C(═NR7)—, X3 represents an optionally substituted C1-4 alkylene or an optionally substituted C2-4 alkenylene, Z3 represents —N(R4)—, —O— or a bond, Z1 represents —C(R2)(R2′)—, —N(R2)—, etc., and Z2 represents —C(R3)(R3′)—, —N(R3)—, etc., or a salt thereof.
US07745619B2
The present invention relates to derivatives of vinca alkaloids. Pharmaceutical compositions containing these compounds as well as processes of preparation and treatment of various conditions are also disclosed.
US07745614B2
A universal linker structure is provided, in which a functional group and activating leaving group are placed on a tether, allowing the placement of an electrophile at the end of any nucleic acid sequence. The electrophile on the tether can react with a second nucleic acid carrying a nucleophile when the two nucleic acids are hybridized near one another, resulting in release of the leaving group, and creation of a functional change. The linker can be designed to destabilize the ligation product without slowing the rate of reaction. This lowers product inhibition, and the target DNA or RNA can become a catalyst for isothermally generating multiple signals for detection. This enhanced signal is demonstrated in solution experiments and in solid supported assays. The universal linkers of the present invention are simple and inexpensive to prepare, and can be appended to any polynucleotide in automated steps on a standard DNA synthesizer.
US07745609B2
Antisense compounds, compositions and methods are provided for modulating the expression of CD40. The compositions comprise antisense compounds, particularly antisense oligonucleotides, targeted to nucleic acids encoding CD40. Methods of using these compounds for modulation of CD40 expression and for treatment of diseases associated with CD40 are provided.
US07745608B2
The invention relates to iRNA agents, which preferably include a monomer in which the ribose moiety has been replaced by a moiety other than ribose. The inclusion of such a monomer can allow for modulation of a property of the iRNA agent into which it is incorporated, e.g., by using the non-ribose moiety as a point to which a ligand or other entity, e.g., a lipophilic moiety. e.g., cholesterol, is directly, or indirectly, tethered. The invention also relates to methods of making and using such modified iRNA agents.
US07745599B1
A method of producing hexose oxidase by recombinant DNA technology, recombinant hexose oxidase and the use of such enzyme, in particular in the manufacturing of food products such as doughs and dairy products, animal feed, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, dental care products and in the manufacturing of lactones. Suitable sources of DNA coding for the enzyme are marine algal species including Chondrus crispus, Iridophycus flaccidum and Euthora cristata. In useful embodiments, the recombinant hexose oxidase is produced by Pichia pastoris, Saccharomyces cerevisiae or E. coli.
US07745588B2
The invention relates to a low molecular weight peptide (or suite of related peptides) isolated from the submaxillary saliva glands of shrews of the species Blarina as a paralytic agent. This novel paralytic agent is useful as a neuromuscular blocker and analgesic or as an insecticide.
US07745587B2
Proteins that bind to matrix metalloproteinase 14 and methods of using such proteins are described.
US07745585B2
The functional characterization of ILEI to be a novel cytokine involved in epithelial/mesenchymal transition and the identification of biologically active ILEI provides the basis for generating ILEI inhibitors, in particular anti-ILEI antibodies, that are useful in the therapy of cancer, fibrosis and COPD.
US07745581B2
Isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding T-bet, and isolated T-bet proteins, are provided. The invention further provides antisense nucleic acid molecules, recombinant expression vectors containing a nucleic acid molecule of the invention, host cells into which the expression vectors have been introduced and non-human transgenic animals carrying a T-bet transgene. The invention further provides T-bet fusion proteins and anti-T-bet antibodies. Methods of using the T-bet compositions of the invention are also disclosed, including methods for detecting T-bet activity in a biological sample, methods of modulating T-bet activity in a cell, and methods for identifying agents that modulate the activity of T-bet.
US07745577B2
Novel peptides and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same are disclosed. Conjugated compositions peptides linked to detectable agents and/or cytotoxic agents. are disclosed. Method of detecting tumors that have p185 on tumor cell surfaces are disclosed. Methods of preventing transformation of a normal cell into a tumor cell in an individual at risk of developing a tumor having tumor cells which have p185 on their surfaces are disclosed. Methods of treating an individual who has cancer characterized by tumor cells that have a p185 on their cell surfaces are disclosed.
US07745569B2
Phage peptide display technology was used to identify peptides that bind specifically to the amyloid form of the Aβ1-40 peptide. Peptides with similar structural features and bind to the amyloid form of Aβ1-40 but not to monomeric Aβ1-40, are provided. Such peptides are useful as carrier molecules to deliver therapeutic and diagnostic reagents to amyloid plaques.
US07745568B2
A process is provided for recovering polymer solids from a polymerisation reactor effluent. The process comprises extracting the polymerisation effluent from a polymerisation reactor; passing the effluent, or a part thereof, to a flash vessel for flashing liquid in the effluent to vapour, and removing said vapour from said flash vessel; passing the polymer solids from the flash vessel to a transfer apparatus which comprises a transfer vessel; passing the polymer solids from the transfer vessel to a purging means for removing residual liquid from the polymer solids; wherein the polymer solids are passed from the flash vessel to the purging means in a continuous flow such that a quantity of polymer solids is maintained in the transfer vessel. An apparatus for performing the process is also provided.
US07745567B2
A process for continuously stripping a polymer dispersion comprising a heat exchanger with minimal internal obstructions for the stripper. The process is particularly adapted to dispersions that are heat and shear sensitive. The process is able to extract hydrophobic VOC's more efficiently than a single, jacketed tube design.
US07745562B2
In one embodiment, a selectively-releasable adhesive includes a copolymer formed from a multifunctional alcohol and a multifunctional carboxylic acid, wherein the copolymer has been cured the equivalent of up to approximately 20 hours at 120° C. and 100 millitorr.
US07745555B2
The present invention relates to novel materials particularly useful for ophthalmic applications and methods for making and using the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to relatively soft, optically transparent, foldable, high refractive index materials particularly suited for use in the production of intraocular lenses, contact lenses, and other ocular implants and to methods for manufacturing and using the same.
US07745547B1
The present invention provides multi-arm siloxane-based molecules suitable for use as a drug delivery vehicle comprising a central core molecule that comprises a cyclic or cubic siloxane, and a plurality of arms attached to the central core molecule, wherein each arm comprises an organic moiety. The multi-arm siloxane-based molecules described herein are suitable for encapsulation of a therapeutic agent. The invention further includes pharmaceutical compositions comprising the claimed multi-arm siloxane-based molecules and an encapsulated therapeutic agent in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. Methods of making and using the multi-arm siloxane-based molecules are also provided.
US07745546B2
A composition comprising (a) a resin composition comprising a block copolymer of the formula hydrocarbon-polyether-polyamide-polyether-hydrocarbon; and (b) a polar liquid. The block copolymer may be prepared by a process comprising reacting together reactants comprising dimer acid, diamine, and a polyether having termination at one end selected from amine, hydroxyl and carboxyl, and termination at another end selected from hydrocarbons. The polar liquid may be one or more of an aromatic liquid, a polar aprotic liquid, a ketone-containing liquid, an ester-containing liquid, an ether-containing liquid, an amide-containing liquid and a sulfoxide-containing liquid. The composition may be a gel at room temperature.
US07745539B2
The present invention relates to nitrile rubber polymers having lower molecular weights and narrower molecular weight distributions than those known in the art. The present invention also relates to a process for the manufacture of said nitrile rubber and the use of said nitrile rubber for the manufacture of shaped articles.
US07745519B2
Provided by the invention is a non-halogen flame-retardant thermoplastic resin composition not requiring crosslinking with a peroxide, having excellent in moldability, and moreover, having high flame-retardancy to pass the test for V-0 grade of the UL-94. standards The non-halogen flame-retardant thermoplastic resin composition comprises, as a uniform blend: (A) 100 parts by mass of a thermoplastic resin other than polycarbonate and polyphenylene ether resins, (B) 10 to 300 parts by mass of an inorganic powder, (C) 1 to 50 parts by mass of an organopolysiloxane having a specified structure, and (D) 0.01 to 10 parts by mass of an organic compound having a specified structure.
US07745516B2
Water absorption resistant polyimide/epoxy-based compositions, like pastes (or solutions), are particularly useful to make electronic screen-printable materials and electronic components. A group of hydrophobic epoxies (and soluble polyimides) was discovered to be particularly resistant to moisture absorption. The polyimide/epoxy pastes made with these epoxies (and these polyimides) may optionally contain thermal crosslinking agents, adhesion promoting agents, blocked isocyanates, and other inorganic fillers. The polyimide/epoxy pastes of the present invention can have a glass transition temperature greater than 250° C., a water absorption factor of less than 2%, and a positive solubility measurement.
US07745515B2
The present invention relates to an epoxy resin varnish composition with high glass transition temperature for laminate plate, wherein the resin composition comprises: (A) a new dihydrobenzoxazine thermosetting resin obtained by reacting compounds: (a) phenolic products from reaction of di- or multifunctional epoxy resin and di-functional phenolic compounds; (b) mono- or di-functional primary amines; (c) di-functional phenols; and (d) formaldehyde or paraformaldehyde, (B) one or more epoxy resins, (C) novolac resin curing agents, and (D) curing promoters. For the epoxy resin varnish composition, crosslinking density of resin is increased due to using modified dihydrobenzoxazine thermosetting resin with multiple functional groups, so that mechanical strength and heat resistance of the obtained substrate are remarkably improved, and solubility problem of dihydrobenzoxazine in solvent is solved to greatly elevate production efficiency. The epoxy resin varnish composition according to the present invention, which is useful as high performance electronic materials, is of high glass transition temperature (Tg), low water absorption and excellent heat resistance, and is qualified for UL94 V-0 Flammability Test.
US07745509B2
A polymer composition that includes a hydrophilic polymer, an optional secondary organic polymer, and a bioactive agent distributed therein, wherein the bioactive agent is selected from the group consisting of a silver compound, a copper compound, a zinc compound, and combinations thereof.
US07745508B2
A composition for coating food cans is disclosed. The composition comprises a polyester, an acrylic copolymer and a crosslinker; the polyester and acrylic copolymer have been compatibilized in some way, such as through graft copolymerization. Methods for compatibilizing acrylics and polyesters are also disclosed as are methods for coating cans using compositions comprising acrylic and polyesters.
US07745507B2
This invention is to provide an absorbent member and a method for making such an absorbent member. The absorbent member comprises modified water absorbent having good production efficiency, good absorbency against pressure, good absorption speed, gel strength, good liquid permeability, and the like. The modified water absorbent resin is made by a method, which comprises (i) a mixing step comprising mixing a water absorbent resin, water, and a water-soluble radical polymerization initiator without addition of an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, to obtain a water absorbent resin composition, and (ii) an irradiating step comprising irradiating said water absorbent resin composition obtained in the mixing step with active energy rays, wherein the surface water content of said water absorbent resin in said water absorbent resin composition at least at any point of time in the irradiating step (ii) is controlled to a level of not lower than 3.0% by weight based on 100% by weight of the water absorbent resin. Preferably, the amount of water mixed in said step (i) exceeds 20 parts by weight and is not more than 100 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the water absorbent resin.
US07745496B2
A process for preparing a compound of formula (I) X-(CH2)n-ONO2 (I) wherein: X is a halogen atom selected from Cl, Br, I; n is an integer from 3 to 6; said process comprising the slow addition of a compound of formula (II) X-(CH2)n-OH (II) wherein X and n are as defined above to a nitrating agent selected from the group consisting of concentrated nitric acid/concentrated sulfuric acid (sulfonitric mixture), nitric acid alone, NaNO2 in trifluoroacetic acid, nitronium salts such as NO2BF4 and an organic solvent selected from the group consisting of CH2Cl2, CHCl3, CCl4, perfluorohexane, perfluoroheptane. The invention refers also to solutions containing: a compound of general formula (I) and a solvent selected from the group consisting of CH2Cl2, CHCl3, CCl4, perfluorohexane, perfluoroheptane, characterized in that the compound of formula (I) is present in a concentration not higher than 20% by weight.
US07745495B2
The invention relates to compounds of formula (I) wherein A1 is C(R1R2)p; A2 is C(R6R7)q; p is 1 or 2; q is 1 or 2; each of R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 and R8 which may be the same or different, represents hydrogen, methyl or ethyl and R9 is C1-C4alkyl; R10 is hydrogen, halogen, C1-C3alkyl or C1-C3-haloalkyl, and agronomically acceptable salts/isomers/enantiomers/tautomers/N-oxides of those compounds.
US07745488B2
A composition and method for promoting neutrophil survival and activation such as the treatment of neutropenia arising as an undesirable side effect of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. A composition containing medium-chain fatty acids, such as Capri acid or caprylic acid, or salts or triglycerides thereof, or mono- or diglycerides or other analogues thereof or medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) is administered to a human or animal needing treatment in an amount sufficient to reduce or eliminate neutropenia. The composition is administered in an amount effective to treat the disorder. The methods are also useful in the management of bone narrow transplantation and in the treatment of various neutropenic diseases.
US07745474B2
The present invention relates to novel imidazole derivatives having a positive allosteric GABAB receptor (GBR) modulator effect, methods for the preparation of said compounds and to their use, optionally in combination with a GABAB agonist, for the inhibition of transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations, for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease, as well as for the treatment of functional gastrointestinal disorders and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The compounds are represented by the general formula (I) wherein R1, R2, R3 and Y are as defined in the description. For example, R1 may be phenyl, R2 may be dimethylamino, R3 may be alkoxy and Y may be a thioylamino- or methyl eneamino- linked substitutuent containing an aryl group.
US07745473B2
There is provided a novel pyrrole-imidazole polyamide compound for alkylating the specific base sequence of DNA, the polyamide compound being capable of being synthesized through fewer reaction steps than known hybrid molecules and having a combination of a high reactivity in DNA alkylation and the ability to recognize a sequence. Furthermore, there is provided an alkylating agent and a molecule serving as a drug, the alkylating agent and the molecule containing the polyamide compound.An indole derivative is represented by general formula (1): wherein R1 represents a functional group for alkylating DNA; R2 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or an acyl group; and X represents a divalent group having one constitutional unit or having two or more constitutional units which may be the same or different, the constitutional unit being represented by the following formula: (wherein m is an integer of 0 to 10), wherein among the constitutional units, a terminal constitutional unit adjacent to R2 may be a constitutional unit represented by the following formula: (wherein k is an integer of 0 to 10).
US07745457B2
A compound of the structure is described. This compound and its use for preparing medicines useful in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders is described.
US07745449B2
The present invention comprises a new class of compounds useful for the prophylaxis and treatment of protein kinase mediated diseases, including inflammation and related conditions. The compounds have a general Formula I wherein A1, A2, B, R2 and R3 are defined herein. The invention also comprises pharmaceutical compositions including one or more compounds of Formula I, uses of such compounds and compositions for treatment of kinase mediated diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and other inflammation disorders, as well as intermediates and processes useful for the preparation of compounds of Formula I.
US07745442B2
Prophylactic treatment methods are provided for protection of individuals and/or populations against infection from airborne pathogens. In particular, prophylactic treatment methods are provided including administering a sodium channel blocker or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof to one or more members of a population at risk of exposure to or already exposed to one or more airborne pathogens, either from natural sources or from intentional release of pathogens into the environment.
US07745439B2
The inventive indene derivatives of formula (I) are capable of selectively modulating the activities of peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs), causing no adverse side effects, and thus, they are useful for the treatment and prevention of disorders modulated by PPARs, i.e., metabolic syndromes such as diabetes, obesity, arteriosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, hyperinsulinism and hypertension, inflammatory diseases such as osteoporosis, liver cirrhosis and asthma, and cancer.
US07745437B2
The invention provides a novel class of compounds, pharmaceutical compositions comprising such compounds and methods of using such compounds to treat or prevent diseases or disorders associated with abnormal or deregulated kinase activity, particularly diseases or disorders that involve abnormal activation of the Abl, BCR-Abl, PDGF-R, trkB, c-SRC, BMX, FGFR3, b-RAF, ΣΓK, Tιε2, Λχκ, θNK2α2, MKK4, c-RAF, MKK6, SAPK2α and SAPK2β kinases.
US07745434B2
Compounds of the formula (I), in which R6, R7, R8, R9, Het1, X and X′ have the meanings indicated in claim 1, are inhibitors of tyrosine kinases, in particular TIE-2, and Raf kinases and can be employed, inter alia, for the treatment of tumours.
US07745428B2
Compounds of formula (I): which possess cell-cycle inhibitory activity are described.
US07745421B2
The invention provides therapeutic methods and compositions for the prevention and treatment of Siglec-8 associated diseases and disorders such as asthma and allergic reactions. In particular, the invention provides methods and compositions for the prevention and treatment of diseases and disorders associated with Siglec-8 expressing cells in humans, as well as other animals, through the administration of one or more novel, carbohydrate-based compounds.
US07745417B2
The object of the present invention is to provide a nucleoside or nucleotide having an unnatural base. The nucleoside or nucleotide of the present invention has a 5-substituted-2-oxo(1H)-pyridin-3-yl group as a base. Preferably, the 5-position of the above base is substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of the following: 1) a photoreactive group selected from iodine and bromine; 2) an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group or an amino group, or a derivative thereof; 3) biotin or a derivative thereof; and 4) a fluorescent molecule selected from fluorescein, 6-carboxyfluorescein, tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine, and derivatives thereof.
US07745414B2
Glucopyranosyl-substituted benzonitrile derivatives as defined herein, including the tautomers, the stereoisomers thereof, the mixtures thereof and the salts thereof. The compounds according to the invention are suitable for the treatment of metabolic disorders.
US07745413B2
The use of a collection of compounds of general formula (I), wherein: n is 0 or 1; p represents an integer between 1 and 6; r represents an integer between 1 and 12; R1 and R′1 represent in particular a hydrogen atom; R2 represents an amino acid side chain or an amino acid derivative; R3 represents a group derived from a carboxylic acid, bearing a basic entity; R4 represents in particular an alkyl group containing 1 to 10 carbon atoms; and A represents a hydrogen atom, a protecting group or a tracing group, in particular a fluorophor, a coloring agent or a quencher, for determining, through binding studies, ligands of receptors whose ligand is unknown or whose ligand useful for carrying out specific affinity binding assays is unknown.
US07745403B2
GLP-2 analogues are disclosed which comprise one of more substitutions as compared to [hGly2]GLP-2 and which improved biological activity in vivo and/or improved chemical stability, e.g., as assessed in in vitro stability assays. More particularly, preferred GLP-2 analogues disclosed herein comprise substitutions at one or more of positions 8, 16, 24 and/or 28 of the wild-type GLP-2 sequence, optionally in combination with further substitutions at position 2 (as mentioned in the introduction) and one or more of positions 3, 5, 7, 10 and 11, and/or a deletion of one or more of amino acids 31 to 33 and/or the addition of a N-terminal or C-terminal stabilizing peptide sequence. The analogues are particularly useful for the prophylaxis or treatment of stomach and bowel-related disorders and for ameliorating side effects of chemotherapy. Also disclosed are methods and kits for selecting a patient from populations suited for treatment with GLP-2 analogues.
US07745401B2
A method of treating fungal infections by treatment with CAP37 peptides and derivatives thereof, including peptide analogs having serine or threonine substitutions at least one of the two cysteine residues therein. Other substitutions of the amino acid residues of the peptide are also contemplated.
US07745396B2
Compositions and methods for antiplatelet/anti-thrombotic therapy in a mammalian subject are provided. The method involves administering a therapeutically effective amount of SERP-1 admixed with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier to a subject in need of such therapy. Methods of administering SERP-1 with at least one other antiplatelet agent are also provided. The compositions and methods of the present invention are useful for treating and preventing recurrence of numerous cardiovascular diseases and injuries.
US07745391B2
A human thrombospondin 1 protein, polynucleotide encoding the protein, and pharmaceutical composition thereof.
US07745389B2
The invention relates to Factor H gene polymorphisms and haplotypes associated with an elevated or a reduced risk of AMD. The invention provides methods and reagents for diagnosis and treatment of AMD.
US07745386B2
Dryer-added fabric conditioning articles that comprise friable perfume microcapsules provide consumers an impactful freshness experience while wearing clothing that is treated by the article. Manufacturing processes of incorporating friable perfume microcapsules into dryer-added articles that maximizes the yield of unruptured microcapsules are provided.
US07745384B2
The present invention relates to hard surface cleaning compositions useful in cleaning, and optionally a disinfecting or sanitizing benefit which are particularly adapted to clean lavatory appliances, particularly toilets and the like. The compositions are largely aqueous, thickened, acidic compositions which comprise an acid, a thickening constituent or constituents which form a thickener system, at least one detersive surfactant and at least one superwetter surfactant which is based on a narrow range ethoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant having two cloud points.
US07745383B2
Cleaner for hard surfaces, especially glass. Application of the cleaner containing a colloidal silica sol results in a modification of the streaming potential of the surface by −5 to −50 mV. The cleaner can be used to hydrophilize and clean hard surfaces by contact.
US07745377B2
The invention provides peptide synthons having protected functional groups for attachment of desired moieties (e.g. functional molecules or probes). Also provided are peptide conjugates prepared from such synthons, and synthon and conjugate preparation methods including procedures for identifying the optimum probe attachment site. Biosensors are provided having environmentally sensitive dyes that can locate specific biomolecules within living cells and detect chemical and physiological changes in those biomolecules as the living cell is moving, metabolizing and reacting to its environment. Methods are included for detecting GTP activation of a Rho GTPase protein using polypeptide biosensors. When the biosensor binds GTP-activated Rho GTPase protein, the environmentally sensitive dye emits a signal of a different lifetime, intensity or wavelength than when not bound. New fluorophores whose fluorescence responds to environmental changes are also provided that have improved detection and attachment properties, and that can be used in living cells, or in vitro.
US07745373B2
The present invention is a method to activate a noble metal complex dispersed on a catalyst support comprising calcining in hydrogen in order to decompose and reduce the noble metal complex in a single step. In a preferred embodiment, the noble metal catalyst is a combination of platinum and palladium and the noble metal complexes are the hydroxides.
US07745372B2
A catalyst for the selective hydrogenation of olefins especially dienes, its preparation and use, said catalyst comprising an alumina support and cobalt and/or nickel selected from Group VIII, molybdenum and/or tungsten from Group VIB and alkali metal components supported on said support, characterized in that the catalyst contains 0.5-8% by weight of cobalt and/or nickel selected from Group VIII, 2-15% by weight of molybdenum and/or tungsten from Group VIB, over 2-8% by weight of alkali metals, and a balanced amount of alumina support calculated for oxides and based on the catalyst. Compared to the prior catalysts, the activity and selectivity for olefins especially dienes of the catalyst are higher when used in the hydrogenation of a gasoline distillate.
US07745371B2
In order to provide an exhaust gas purifying catalyst having improved heat resistance and OSC, a metal oxide particle, and a production process of the metal oxide particle, a metal oxide particle having a core (1) where the total molar number of alumina and silica is larger than the molar number of ceria, and a surface layer (2) where the molar number of ceria is larger than the total molar number of alumina and silica is provided. Further, an exhaust gas purifying catalyst comprising the metal oxide particle and a noble metal supported on the metal oxide particle; and a production process of the metal oxide particle are provided.
US07745366B2
The microwave spent catalyst decoking method is a method for regenerating petrochemical catalysts by removing coke deposited in the catalyst using a 2.45 GHz microwave oven. The spent catalyst is heated in air or pure oxygen in the presence of a susceptor. The susceptor is made of silicon carbide-based composite material that absorbs 2.45 GHz microwave energy fast and efficiently. In one embodiment, the susceptor material is formed into pellets that are preferably four to five millimeters in diameter. The susceptor pellets are mixed with the spent catalyst and loaded into a thermally shielded refractory tube that rotates about its central axis. In a another embodiment, the apparatus is a thermally shielded tower or vertical tube made of refractory material that is transparent to microwave radiation and supports rows of susceptor rods that are aligned horizontally.
US07745365B2
An improved spent catalyst regenerator which contains sub-troughs branching off from the main trough, distribution troughs which extend outward from the sides of the main trough and the sub-troughs, and downflow tubes extending downward from the bottom of the main trough and sub-troughs.
US07745355B2
Aspects of the invention are found in a heating component having a composite material coated on a support. The composite material includes a fluorinated or silicone polymer and inductively-heatable particles. Additional aspects of the invention are found in a heating belt having a flexible support coated with a composite material. The composite material includes a polymer material and inductively-heatable particles. Further aspects of the invention are found in a system for heating an article. The system includes a heating belt and a field generator. The heating belt includes a flexible support coated in a composite material. The composite material includes a polymeric matrix and inductively-heatable particles. The field generator induces a field about the heating belt. The inductively-heatable particles heat in the presence of the field.
US07745350B2
Methods are disclosed of depositing a silicon oxide film on a substrate disposed in a substrate processing chamber. The substrate has a gap formed between adjacent raised surfaces. A first portion of the silicon oxide film is deposited over the substrate and within the gap using a high-density plasma process. Thereafter, a portion of the deposited first portion of the silicon oxide film is etched back. This includes flowing a halogen precursor through a first conduit from a halogen-precursor source to the substrate processing chamber, forming a high-density plasma from the halogen precursor, and terminating flowing the halogen precursor after the portion has been etched back. Thereafter, a halogen scavenger is flowed to the substrate processing chamber to react with residual halogen in the substrate processing chamber. Thereafter, a second portion of the silicon oxide film is deposited over the first portion of the silicon oxide film and within the gap using a high-density plasma process.
US07745348B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device employs a PEALD method including using an organometallic Ta precursor to form a TaN thin film. As a result, a conformal TaN diffusion barrier may be formed at a temperature of 250° C. or higher, so that impurities are reduced and density is increased in the TaN thin film.
US07745346B2
A method for forming a silicon-based dielectric film on a substrate with a single deposition process operation using pulsed plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) wherein the high frequency radio frequency power of the plasma is pulsed, allows enhanced control, efficiency and product quality of the PECVD process. Pulsing the high frequency RF power of the plasma reduces the deposited film thickness per unit time the high frequency RF power of the plasma is on. This yields silicon-based dielectric films that are both thin and conformal.
US07745334B2
By performing sophisticated anneal techniques, such as laser anneal, flash anneal and the like, for a metal silicide formation, such as nickel silicide, the risk of nickel silicide defects in sensitive device regions, such as SRAM pass gates, may be significantly reduced. Also, the activation of dopants may be performed in a highly localized manner, so that undue damage of gate insulation layers may be avoided when activating and re-crystallizing drain and source regions.
US07745331B2
An insulation layer including a landing plug is formed over a substrate. An amorphous carbon hard mask is formed over a certain portion of the insulation layer. The insulation layer is etched using the amorphous carbon hard mask to form a storage node contact hole exposing the landing plug. A conductive material is formed in the storage node contact hole to form a storage node contact plug. Other embodiments are also described.
US07745318B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a semiconductor layer containing a semiconductor material having a first oxide-generating Gibbs free energy required to become an oxide; forming a first material for a gate insulator on the semiconductor layer, said first material containing an element having a second oxide-generating Gibbs free energy required to become an oxide and becoming insulative when the element is oxidized or nitrided; and annealing the first material in an atmosphere containing hydrogen atoms, or heavy hydrogen atoms, and oxygen atoms in a temperature range where the first oxide-generating Gibbs free energy is equal to or higher than the second oxide-generating Gibbs free energy.
US07745316B2
Provided is a method for fabricating a Schottky barrier tunnel transistor (SBTT) that can fundamentally prevent the generation of a gate leakage current caused by damage of spacers formed on both sidewalls of a gate electrode. The method for fabricating a Schottky barrier tunnel transistor, which includes: a) forming a silicon pattern and a sacrificial pattern on a buried oxide layer supported by a support substrate; b) forming a source/drain region on the buried oxide layer exposed on both sides of the silicon pattern, the source/drain region being formed of a metal layer and being in contact with both sidewalls of the silicon pattern; c) removing the sacrificial pattern to expose the top surface of the silicon pattern; and d) forming a gate insulating layer and a gate electrode on the exposed silicon pattern.
US07745312B2
A method of making a pillar device includes providing an insulating layer having an opening, and selectively depositing germanium or germanium rich silicon germanium semiconductor material into the opening to form the pillar device.
US07745310B2
To provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device in which the space between semiconductor films transferred at plural locations is narrowed. A first bonding substrate having first projections is attached to a base substrate. Then, the first bonding substrate is separated at the first projections so that first semiconductor films are formed over the base substrate. Next, a second bonding substrate having second projections is attached to the base substrate so that the second projections are placed in regions different from regions where the first semiconductor films are formed. Subsequently, the second bonding substrate is separated at the second projections so that second semiconductor films are formed over the base substrate. In the second bonding substrate, the width of each second projection in a direction (a depth direction) perpendicular to the second bonding substrate is larger than the film thickness of each first semiconductor film formed first.
US07745301B2
Self-alignment structures, such as micro-balls and V-grooves, may be formed on chips made by different processes. The self-alignment structures may be aligned to mask layers within an accuracy of one-half the smallest feature size inside a chip. For example, the alignment structures can align an array of pads having a pitch of 0.6 microns, compared to a pitch of 100 microns available with today's Ball Grid Array (BGA) technology. As a result, circuits in the mated chips can communicate via the pads with the same speed or clock frequency as if in a single chip. For example, clock rates between interconnected chips can be increased from 100 MHz to 4 GHz due to low capacitance of the interconnected pads. Because high-density arrays of pads can interconnect chips, chips can be made smaller, thereby reducing cost of chips by order(s) of magnitude.
US07745296B2
A method for forming raised source and drain regions in a semiconductor manufacturing process employs double disposable spacers. A deposited oxide is provided between the first and second disposable spacers, and serves to protect the gate electrode, first disposable spacers and a cap layer during the dry etching of the larger, second disposable spacers. Mouse ears are thereby prevented, while the use of a second disposable spacer avoids shadow-effects during halo ion-implants.
US07745292B2
A method of making a semiconductor device is disclosed. A mask if formed over a first and a second region of a semiconductor body, and a vertical diffusion barrier is formed in a region between the first and second regions. A mask is then formed over the second region and the first region is left unmasked. The semiconductor body is exposed to a dopant, so that the first region is doped and the second region is blocked from the dopant by the mask and by the vertical diffusion barrier.
US07745283B2
A method of forming a memory transistor includes providing a substrate comprising semiconductive material and forming spaced-apart source/drain structures. At least one of the source/drain structures forms a Schottky contact to the semiconductive material. The method also includes forming a memory gate between the spaced-apart source/drain structures and forming a control gate disposed operatively over the memory gate.
US07745281B2
An improved method for forming a capacitor. The method includes the steps of: providing a metal foil; forming a dielectric on the metal foil; applying a non-conductive polymer dam on the dielectric to isolate discrete regions of the dielectric; forming a cathode in at least one discrete region of the discrete regions on the dielectric; and cutting the metal foil at the non-conductive polymer dam to isolate at least one capacitor comprising one cathode, one discrete region of the dielectric and a portion of the metal foil with the discrete region of the dielectric.
US07745280B2
A metal-insulator-metal capacitor structure includes a lower electrode, a buffer layer, a barrier layer, a dielectric layer and an upper electrode. The lower electrode is disposed in the buffer layer. The barrier layer covers part of the lower electrode and is disposed between the lower electrode and the upper electrode. The buffer layer serves as an etching stop layer to define the dielectric layer. The dielectric layer in the metal-insulator-metal capacitor structure has a uniform and ideal thickness.
US07745279B2
A decoupling capacitor is formed on a semiconductor substrate that includes a silicon surface layer. A substantially flat bottom electrode is formed in a portion of the semiconductor surface layer. A capacitor dielectric overlies the bottom electrode. The capacitor dielectric is formed from a high permittivity dielectric with a relative permittivity, preferably greater than about 5. The capacitor also includes a substantially flat top electrode that overlies the capacitor dielectric. In the preferred application, the top electrode is connected to a first reference voltage line and the bottom electrode is connected to a second reference voltage line.
US07745278B2
A method of forming a CMOS structure, and the device produced therefrom, having improved threshold voltage and flatband voltage stability. The inventive method includes the steps of providing a semiconductor substrate having an nFET region and a pFET region; forming a dielectric stack atop the semiconductor substrate comprising an insulating interlayer atop a high k dielectric; removing the insulating interlayer from the nFET region without removing the insulating interlayer from the pFET region; and providing at least one gate stack in the pFET region and at least one gate stack in the nFET region. The insulating interlayer can be AlN or AlOxNy. The high k dielectric can be HfO2, hafnium silicate or hafnium silicon oxynitride. The insulating interlayer can be removed from the nFET region by a wet etch including a HCl/H2O2 peroxide solution.
US07745266B2
The present invention provides a semiconductor device with a fuse part and a method of forming the same. The method includes forming a selective metal layer on a via hole which is connected to a metal line in a semiconductor device, forming a fuse metal layer on the selective metal layer, and forming a fuse metal layer pattern by using a photosensitive layer pattern which is formed on the fuse metal layer.
US07745263B2
An integrated circuit or chip includes a first die and a second die positioned on a lead frame of a package including a lead frame, such as a QFP, DIP, PLCC, TSOP, or any other type of package including a lead frame. The integrated circuit further includes a redistribution layer formed on the first die to couple selected bond fingers of the lead frame to selected bonding pads of the first and second die. The selected bond fingers may correspond to bond fingers that receive a first supply voltage or the first supply voltage and a second supply voltage.
US07745260B2
A method of forming a semiconductor package (10) including forming a plurality of cavities (14) in a substrate (12). An electrically conductive pattern (16) is formed on the substrate (12) and over the cavities (14). An electrically insulating layer (22) is formed over the substrate (12) and the electrically conductive pattern (16). A plurality of vias (24) is formed in the electrically insulating layer (22). An integrated circuit (IC) die (28) is attached to the electrically insulating layer (22) and electrically connected to the vias (24) such that the IC die (28) is connected to the electrically conductive pattern (16). A molding operation is performed to encapsulate the IC die (28). The substrate (12) is removed such that the electrically conductive pattern (16) is exposed.
US07745253B2
A flexible conductive ribbon is ultrasonically bonded to the surface of a die and terminals from a lead frame of a package. Multiple ribbons and/or multiple bonded areas provide various benefits, such as high current capability, reduced spreading resistance, reliable bonds due to large contact areas, lower cost and higher throughput due to less areas to bond and test.
US07745249B2
Provided are a multi-scale cantilever structure having nano-sized holes prepared by anodic oxidation and a method of preparing the same. The multi-scale cantilever structure is prepared using anodic oxidation and electro-polishing so that a manufacturing process is simple and a manufacturing cost is inexpensive. In addition, the multi-scale cantilever structure has a porous structure having a plurality of nano-sized holes inside thereof, and thus a surface area of the cantilever structure can be maximized. Therefore, when the cantilever structure is used in a sensor, the sensor can have improved sensitivity and selectivity.
US07745248B2
The current invention provides methods of fabricating a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) that includes oxidizing a substrate to form an oxide layer on a surface of the substrate having an oxidation-enabling material, depositing and patterning an oxidation-blocking layer to form a post region and a cavity region on the substrate surface and remove the oxidation-blocking layer and oxide layer at the post region. The invention further includes thermally oxidizing the substrate to grow one or more oxide posts from the post region, where the post defines the vertical critical dimension of the device, and bonding a membrane layer onto the post to form a membrane of the device. A maximum allowed second oxidation thickness t2 can be determined, that is partially based on a desired step height and a device size, and a first oxidation thickness t1 can be determined that is partially based on the determined thickness t2.
US07745246B2
A light emitting device wafer is fabricated, having a light emitting layer section, composed of AlGaInP, based on a double heterostructure and a GaP light extraction layer disposed on the light emitting layer portion, having a first main surface thereof appearing on the first main surface of the wafer, so as that a P-rich off-angled {100} surface, having a higher existence rate of P atoms than an exact {100} surface, appears on the first main surface the GaP light extraction layer. The main first surface of the GaP light extraction layer is etched with an etching solution FEA so as to form surface roughening projections. Therefore, it provides a method of fabricating a light emitting device capable of applying surface roughening easily to the GaP light extraction surface having the {100} surface, off-angled to be P-rich, as a main surface thereof.
US07745236B2
A method of deprocessing a semiconductor structure is provided. The method involves removing a silicide layer over a second poly layer, an interpoly dielectric layer, a first poly layer, an optionally an oxide layer on a substrate. The method may further involve at least one of removing a second poly layer, removing an interpoly dielectric layer, removing a first poly layer, removing an oxide layer, and removing an unimplanted portion of a substrate. The exposed layer/portion of the semiconductor structure can be subjected to an inspection for defects and/or other characteristics. The inspection can aid in defect reduction strategies, among other things, when applied to new technology ramp, monitoring of baseline wafer starts, customer returns, etc.
US07745232B2
According to the present invention, contact plugs are formed by a CVD method without deteriorating the properties of the ferroelectric capacitor in a semiconductor device having a fine ferroelectric capacitor. Adhesive film is formed in a contact hole, which exposes an upper electrode of the ferroelectric capacitor after conducting heat treatment in an oxidizing atmosphere, and a W layer is deposited by the CVD method using such TiN adhesive film as a hydrogen barrier and the contact hole is filled.
US07745220B2
The present invention provides devices and methods for detection of analytes based on measuring the anchoring strength of liquid crystals having distorted geometries. Methods for detecting an analyte in a sample include the steps of: (a) capturing an analyte on a substrate surface wherein the substrate surface defines an easy axis when in contact with a liquid crystal. Substrate surface and liquid crystal are brought into contact and an analyte-dependent departure in the orientation of the liquid crystal from the easy axis of the substrate surface is measured. This departure indicates the presence of the analyte in the sample.
US07745219B2
The enumeration and analysis of residual white blood cells in a sample of leukocyte-reduced blood products is conducted by forming a suspension of the leukocyte-reduced blood products with a sufficient amount of a lysing reagent. The lysing reagent comprises a buffer with a low molar concentration, and a non-ionic surfactant. The suspension of leukocyte-reduced blood products and the lysing reagent is incubated for a sufficient time at a temperature sufficient to selectively lyse the platelets and red blood cells without damaging the white blood cells. The white blood cells of the lysed blood products are then contacted with a suitable dye to stain the white blood cells and the number of stained white blood cells is measured. The lysing reagent is free of harsh organic solvents which can damage the plastic components of automated clinical analyzers.
US07745210B2
A vessel for culturing of cells is disclosed. The vessel is capable of exhausting substantially all liquid material from the vessel's internal volume through an outlet port. A flange incorporated with the outlet port is utilized as a flow diverter for removing liquid media from internal surfaces of the vessel. The flange also engages the vessel body so that the flow of a liquid medium is directed outward from the internal surfaces of the vessel through the outlet port. The top surface, flange base, and planar surfaces of the flange further assist to redirect surface tension of the fluid toward the port.
US07745209B2
A multilayered cell culture apparatus for the culturing of cells is disclosed. The cell culture apparatus is defined as an integral structure having a plurality of cell culture chambers in combination with tracheal space(s). The body of the apparatus has imparted therein gas permeable membranes in combination with tracheal spaces that will allow the free flow of gases between the cell culture chambers and the external environment. The flask body. also includes an aperture that will allow access to the cell growth chambers by means of a needle or cannula. The size of the apparatus, and location of an optional neck and cap section, allows for its manipulation by standard automated assay equipment, further making the apparatus ideal for high throughput applications.
US07745194B2
The present invention is directed to isolated bacteriophage having strong lytic activity against strains of Staphylococcus aureus, in particular, MRSA, and methods of using that bacteriophage, and/or progeny or derivatives derived therefrom, to control the growth of Staphylococcus aureus in various settings.
US07745190B2
A novel endoribonuclease activity exhibiting polypeptide; a nucleic acid coding for the polypeptide; a recombinant DNA comprising the nucleic acid; a transformant obtained by transformation using the recombinant DNA; a process for producing the polypeptide, characterized by including the steps of culturing the transformant and collecting the polypeptide from the culture; a process for producing single-strand RNA fragments, characterized by including the step of causing the polypeptide to act on a single-strand RNA; and a method of fragmenting a single-strand RNA.
US07745189B2
The present invention generally relates to hyphal growth in fungi and in particular describes the modulation of genes associated with hyphal growth in filamentous fungi. The present invention provides methods and systems for the production of proteins and/or chemicals from filamentous fungi which comprise modulation of genes associated with hyphal growth. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a full length cotA gene, its gene product and methods of use.
US07745184B2
The present invention provides a microorganism useful for biologically producing 1,3-propanediol from a fermentable carbon source at higher yield than was previously known. The complexity of the cofactor requirements necessitates the use of a whole cell catalyst for an industrial process that utilizes this reaction sequence to produce 1,3-propanediol. The invention provides a microorganism with disruptions in specified genes and alterations in the expression levels of specified genes that is useful in a higher yielding process to produce 1,3-propanediol.
US07745178B2
The presently claimed invention provides for novel methods and kits for reducing the complexity of a nucleic acid sample by providing non-gel based methods for amplification of a subset of the sequences in a sample. In a preferred embodiment, amplification of a subset can be accomplished by digesting a sample with two or more restriction enzymes and ligating adaptors to the fragments so that only a subset of the fragments can be amplified. The invention further provides for analysis of the above amplified sample by hybridization to an array, which may be specifically designed to interrogate the desired fragments for particular characteristics, such as, for example, the presence or absence of a polymorphism.
US07745170B2
The present invention relates to a process for producing zeaxanthin, β-carotene, or lycopene, comprising inducing mutation in a carotenoid-producing microorganism in which the base sequence of DNA corresponding to 16S ribosomal RNA is substantially homologous to the base sequence described in SEQ ID NO: 1; screening for a mutant strain having a high product proportion of zeaxanthin, β-carotene, or lycopene to the whole production amount of carotenoids to provide a microorganism producing zeaxanthin, β-carotene, or lycopene; culturing the mutant microorganism; and harvesting zeaxanthin, β-carotene, lycopene or a carotenoid mixture containing the same from the resultant culture.
US07745164B2
The invention provides isolated protein kinase polypeptides related to novel brain-localized protein kinases homologous to known homeodomain-interacting protein kinases (HIPKs), isolated nucleic acid molecules that encode these polypeptides, inhibitors, and methods related thereto. The novel polypeptides and nucleic acid molecules of the invention are termed HIPK4. The invention also provides genetically engineered expression vectors, host cells, and transgenic animals comprising the novel nucleic acid molecules of the invention. The invention additionally provides antisense and RNAi molecules to the nucleic acid molecules of the invention, as well as inhibitors, activators, and antibodies capable of binding to the protein kinase polypeptides of the invention. The invention further provides uses of HIPK4 and its inhibitors, e.g., mutants of HIPK4 lacking protein kinase activity, for modulation of apoptosis, as well as the prevention and treatment of neurological disorders and cancers.
US07745161B2
Provided is a method of detecting characteristics of a reaction of interest, including instituting the reaction of interest, obtaining an amplified heat related to the reaction of interest, measuring the amplified heat, and determining the characteristics of the reaction of interest, using the signal obtained in the step of measuring.
US07745153B2
A method for protein determination utilizing a pyrocatechol violet-metal complex, a composition used in the protein determination assay, and a kit.
US07745151B2
Inhibitors of Nogo Receptor (NgR)-p75 binding are used to reduce NgR-p75 binding mediated axon growth inhibition. Mixtures of NgR and p75 are used in pharmaceutical screens to characterize agents as inhibiting binding of NgR to p75 and promoting axon regeneration.
US07745145B2
The present invention relates to a method for stabilization of analytes in solutions of solubilized body samples. The method comprises the steps of solubilizing the body samples obtained from a subject in a suitable sample medium and stabilizing said body sample contained within the sample medium by heating said sample medium for a certain period of time. A further aspect of the invention is a method of a denaturing immunoassay of proteins in solution. The method comprises the steps of bringing a sample containing proteins into contact with a denaturing agent and heating said sample in the presence of the denaturing agent to allow the protein to be denatured.
US07745142B2
Assays for detecting molecular modifications such as phosphate modifications and the presence and/or activity of enzymes and other agents involved in facilitating or otherwise regulating such modifications.
US07745136B1
A method for detecting ribosome inactivating protein (RIP) activity in a sample is provided that involves contacting a sample that contains an RIP with an inventive substrate that is depurinated to form product. The product is hybridized to a template and cleaved by an apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease such that releasing the blocked 3′ end only in a sample that contains RIP activity. The 5′ end of the product serves as a primer for extension by a polymerase reaction. The newly synthesized strand complementary to the template is detected by RT-PCR processes. A kit is provided suitable for field or laboratory use.
US07745132B1
A method of identifying an animal having a disease or condition without clinical symptoms includes detecting an elevated level of plasma DNA from blood or a blood fraction from the animal. In particular, the disease or condition can be a lymphoid neoplastic disease. Also, the plasma DNA can comprise a tumor-derived plasma DNA. In certain embodiments, the evaluation of the blood or blood fraction from the animal for the mutation assists in the identification of the disease or condition and/or its prognosis in the animal.
US07745124B2
A hybridization method is provided in which an efficient hybridization reaction can be carried out. Further, there are provided, using this hybridization method, a method for detecting a target gene with high sensitivity and a signal amplifying method for markedly improving the detection sensitivity of the target gene. There is provided a hybridization method comprising the use of oligonucleotides in a reaction solution, the method comprising forming partially a reaction temperature region in the reaction solution and performing a hybridization reaction in the reaction temperature region.
US07745116B2
The present invention provides compositions and methods for detecting incorporation of a labeled nucleotide triphosphate onto the growing end of a primer nucleic acid molecule. The method is used, for example, to genotype and sequence a nucleic acid. In a preferred embodiment, the method described herein detects individual NTP molecules.
US07745110B2
This invention relates to the relationship between infection with an adipogenic adenovirus, such as adenovirus-36, and obesity-related disease. In particular, this invention relates to assaying a subject to determine the adipogenic adenovirus infection status and then determining the subject's predisposition to developing an obesity-related disease based on the adipogenic adenovirus infection status.
US07745109B2
The invention features a method of identifying a compound that inhibits (a) the physical interaction (binding) between MUC1 and tumor progressors (e.g., β-catenin, c-Src, EGF-R, p120ctn, or PKCδ) and/or (b) phosphorylation of MUC1 by tumor progressors with kinase activity (e.g., c-Src, EGF-R, or PKCδ). The invention also includes a method of inhibiting an interaction between MUC1 and β-catenin and a method of inhibiting expression of MUC1 or a tumor progressor in a cell.
US07745101B2
A method of making a metallic pattern (250) comprises: depositing a layer of photoresist (130) on a substrate (110); forming a pattern on the photoresist; depositing a layer of metal nanoparticles (190) on the photoresist and pattern; removing the photoresist and overlying metal nanoparticles on the photoresist; and sintering the remaining nanoparticles to form a metallic pattern.
US07745092B2
A method of forming a plurality of encoded microparticles with a lithography process to define codes for identifying the particles is disclosed herein.
US07745087B2
An electrostatic image developer contains a toner and a carrier having a resin coating layer formed on the surface of a core material containing a ferrite component, wherein a ratio R1/R2 is from 0.88 to 0.92 where R1 is the resistance value (Ω) of the developer having a toner concentration of 2 mass % in a state formed into a magnetic brush, at an applied voltage of 104 V/cm, and R2 is the resistance value (Ω) of the developer having a toner concentration of 12 mass % in a state formed into a magnetic brush, at an applied voltage of 104 V/cm.
US07745073B2
Preparing a stencil mask comprising a silicon thin film in which an opening for selectively irradiating charged particles to a semiconductor substrate is provided and whose irradiation surface on which the charged particles are irradiated is implanted with an impurity, and selectively irradiating charged particles to the semiconductor substrate using the stencil mask which is opposingly arranged on the semiconductor substrate.
US07745066B2
The present invention relates to materials comprising hydrophilic polymers and immobilized proteorhodopsin and the use of such materials as an optical information carrier. The material comprises one or more hydrophilic polymers that are capable to form a homogeneous phase with proteorhodopsin prior to solidification to a solid form. The hydrophilic polymer, for example, is silica sol-gel, gelatin, polyvinylalcohol, agarose, agar, methyl cellulose, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polyethylene glycol, or a mixture thereof. The solid material having immobilized proteorhodopsin is deposited on a substrate selected from the group consisting of glass, paper, metal, fabric material, plastic material, and used as an optical data storage material or a fraud-proof carrier. The present invention further provides a security ink comprising proteorhodopsin and one or more hydrophilic polymers.
US07745064B2
Fuel oxidation facilitators for use in electrochemical devices are described, as well as devices incorporating facilitators and methods of their use. Exemplary facilitators separate a liquid anode of a fuel cell from fuel supplied to the fuel cell, and facilitate oxidation of the fuel.
US07745062B2
A separator comprises a first and second metal plates laid over each other. A cooling medium flow passage is integrally provided between the first and second metal plates. The cooling medium flow passage has inlet buffer portions communicating with a cooling medium inlet communication hole, outlet buffer portions communicating with a cooling medium outlet communication hole, and linear flow passage grooves linearly extending in the direction of arrow B and that of arrow C.
US07745048B2
Disclosed is a rechargeable lithium polymer battery comprising a negative electrode including a negative active material layer deposited on a substrate, a positive electrode including a positive active material; and a polymer electrolyte including a lithium salt, an organic solvent, and a polymer.
US07745046B2
A secondary battery includes: an electrode assembly including positive and negative electrodes; a container adapted to receive the electrode assembly; a cap assembly having at least two terminals exposed outside the container, the cap assembly being adapted to be fixed to the container to seal the container; and lead elements adapted to electrically connect the terminals and the electrode assembly. A center of the terminals are aligned with a center of the electrode assembly, and the lead elements are spaced apart from the center of their respective terminals and adapted to be connected to their respective terminals and the electrode assembly.
US07745042B2
A lithium ion secondary battery in which an abnormal overheat due to a short circuit of a current collecting portion of one electrode and an electrode material mixture of the other is prevented. The lithium ion secondary battery has: a positive electrode including a core material having a current collecting portion and a material mixture carrying portion and a material mixture layer carried thereon; a negative electrode including a core material having a current collecting portion and a material mixture carrying portion and a material mixture layer carried thereon; a separator and a porous electron-insulating layer including an inorganic oxide filler and a binder both interposed between the positive and negative electrodes; and a non-aqueous electrolyte. The insulating layer is carried on a region including surfaces of the positive electrode current collecting portion and material mixture layer, and/or a region including surfaces of the negative electrode current collecting portion and material mixture layer. The positive and negative electrodes are wound with the separator and the insulating layer interposed therebetween.
US07745039B2
A control system for a rechargeable battery including at least two electrochemical generators electrically connected by a power line. The system includes a protection unit and at least two control units respectively connected to the terminals of each electrochemical generator. Each control unit is designed to measure at least one operating parameter pertaining to the generator and to command the protection unit by transmission of carrier currents on the power line. The control system dispenses with the master processor for commanding the battery protection units and reduces the connecting wires by dispensing with the measurement leads designed to transmit the measurements of the operating parameters of each generator to the master processor.
US07745037B2
A membrane electrode assembly for a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell includes an anode electrode, a cathode electrode, and a polymer electrolyte membrane sandwiched by the electrodes, the catalyst layer of the cathode electrode containing a catalyst supporting particle in which a precious metal is supported on heat-treated carbon black or activated carbon, an ion conductive material, and a crystalline carbon fiber. Heat treatment is preferably applied at 2,500 to 3,000° C. (degrees Celsius).The membrane electrode assembly provides superior power generation performance.
US07745030B2
A proton-conducting polymer membrane comprising polyazoles containing sulfonic acid groups is obtainable by a process comprising: A) mixing one or more aromatic or heteroaromatic tetraamino compounds with one or more aromatic or heteroaromatic carboxylic acids or derivatives thereof which contain at least two acid groups per carboxylic acid monomer, with at least part of the tetraamino compounds or the carboxylic acids comprising at least one sulfonic acid group, or mixing of one or more aromatic or heteroaromatic diaminocarboxylic acids, of which at least part comprises sulfonic acid groups, in polyphosphoric acid to form a solution or dispersion; B) optionally heating the solution or dispersion obtained by step A) under inert gas to temperatures of up to 325° C. to form polyazole polymers; C) applying a layer using the mixture from step A) or B) to a support, thus forming a membrane, and D) partially hydrolyzing the polyphosphoric acid moieties of the membrane from step C) until it is self-supporting.
US07745028B2
A fuel cell system comprising a fuel tank, a stack generating electrical energy using fuel and an oxidizer supplied thereto, and a pressure reducing unit supplying the fuel from a fuel tank to the stack while maintaining the pressure of the stack lower than the atmospheric pressure is provided.
US07745025B2
A power pack system for charging a set of isolated batteries is provided. In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, a single fuel cell, a single DC-DC converter and a single system controller device comprises the power-generation side of the power pack. A set of switches is used to connect the power-generation side of the Power pack to one of the isolated batteries in the power pack, thereby recharging that particular battery in the battery power pack set. A battery protection and powerpath control device communicates with the system controller to determine which switches are to be closed depending upon which battery requires recharging. During normal operation the switches will follow the direction from the system controller. If a fault is detected by the battery protection circuit, the protection circuit will take priority and turn off the appropriate switch(es).
US07745024B2
A sealed accumulator (1) having an electrochemical bundle (9) including at least one positive electrode and one negative electrode arranged in a container (2); positive (6) and negative (7) current output terminals arranged on a cover (5) of the container and respectively connected to the positive and negative electrodes; a circuit-breaker including a connecting piece (10) and a membrane (20), electrically insulated from the connecting piece and suitable for deforming under the effect of an overpressure in the container, to break the connecting piece. The connecting piece extends over the top of the cover of the container and conducts an electric current between an electrode of one polarity and its current output terminal. The connecting piece is dimensioned to allow the passage of a current greater than 50 A.
US07745023B2
The present invention provides composite biological devices that include biological material as an integral component thereof. The devices can be used for producing hydrogen gas, for example.
US07745000B2
The present invention is concerned with flash-spinning a surface-modified structure such as a plexifilimentary yarn or a microcellular foam.
US07744995B2
A multi-layer coating for application to a substrate including a paint coating layer, a metallic coating layer, and a clear coating layer. The metallic coating layer includes chromium metallic flake pigment. The multi-layer coating may be resistant to discoloration in acids including, without limitation hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid and combinations thereof.
US07744993B2
The present invention provides for a polymer composite foam with a treated filler and methods for making the same. The polymer composite foam includes a polymer capable of being formed into a polymeric foam and a treated filler, wherein the polymer defines a plurality of cells dispersed therethrough and the treated filler is dispersed throughout the polymer. The filler is treated by techniques which exfoliate, delaminate or intercalate the filler particles into individual micro and/or nano size particulates and platelets. Ideally, the treated filler has a median particle size ranging from about 0.1 nm-10 μm. The treated filler enhances the rigidity, barrier properties, heat deflection temperature, nucleation characteristics, fire retardant characteristics and impact properties of the foam. The products fabricated from the polymer composite foam include containers, cups, sleeves, bags, plates, bowls, protective packaging, boards, sheets, void fillers, storageware, dinnerware and cookware. The present invention also provides for methods of fabricating the polymer composite foam.
US07744981B2
An embossed multi-ply fibrous structure product having enhanced quilted appearance comprising: two or more plies of fibrous structure wherein at least one of the piles has a plurality of embossments thereon having a total embossment area of from about 6% to about 16%; the embossments forming a latticework defining a plurality of unembossed cells; wherein each cell has a surface area of from about 0.5 square inches to about 6 square inches, the cells being unadhered to the adjacent ply and the embossments having a height from about 350 μm to about 1,500 μm. Further embodiment comprise a product having a Percent Compressibility from about 1.5% to about 4.5%.
US07744969B2
The present invention provides a method for producing a retardation film of a polypropylene resin, the method comprising subjecting a film of a polypropylene resin to longitudinal stretching and transverse stretching which are performed sequentially, wherein the transverse stretching comprises the following steps, and a polypropylene resin retardation film which is obtained by such a method and has both a high axial retardation and a uniform retardation:a step of preheating the film at a preheating temperature which is equal to or higher than the melting point of the polypropylene resin;a step of stretching the preheated film in the transverse direction at a stretching temperature which is lower than the preheating temperature; anda step of heat setting the film stretched in the transverse direction.
US07744947B2
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device by filling carbon nanotubes in a recess is disclosed. The method of fabricating the semiconductor device comprises patterning a mold on a substrate, coating carbon nanotubes on an entire surface of the recess and the mold formed by the patterning, filling the carbon nanotubes coated on the an entire surface of the mold in the recess, and removing the mold.
US07744939B2
An infusion beverage package includes a body portion having overlying layers of porous material that are joined to form at least one compartment for carrying infusion beverage product in addition to a weight that causes the body portion to sink in water. The compartment(s) may also carry an agent (e.g., sweetener) that imparts flavor characteristics into a solution during steeping of the infusion beverage product. The weight is preferably realized by a non-toxic, insoluble odorless, flavorless microwaveable material (e.g., ceramic material, porcelain material, and naturally-occurring rock material). Alternatively, the weight may be realized by a dissolvable agent such as a sweetener. A multi-compartment single bag design and dual-bag designs are illustrated.
US07744931B2
The inventive subject matter relates to methods for treating oral cancers, comprising administration of a composition comprising therapeutically effective amounts of supercritical extracts of rosemary, turmeric, oregano and ginger; and therapeutically effective amounts of hydroalcoholic extracts of holy basil, ginger, turmeric, Scutellaria baicalensis, rosemary, green tea, huzhang, Chinese goldthread, and barberry. The inventive subject matter further relates to methods for modulating gene expression of genes selected from the group consisting of interleukin-1α, interleukin-1β, heme oxygenase 1, aldo-keto reductase family 1, member C2, colony stimulating factor 3, leukemia inhibitory factor, heat shock 70 kDa protein, and combinations thereof, by administration of an effective amount of said compositions.
US07744925B2
The present invention encompasses a therapeutic composition in solid dose form that is suitable for pulmonary administration. The therapeutic composition may comprise therapeutic particles in a glassy state. The therapeutic composition preferably comprises a bioactive material such as insulin, and a sugar alcohol. The components are optionally in solid solution. The therapeutic composition can preferably remain in a glassy state when stored at elevated temperatures, and/or extended periods.
US07744921B2
This invention relates to encapsulation of drugs and other agents into liposomes.
US07744920B2
The present invention provides the use of a glucocorticoid (GC) or of a GC derivative encapsulated in a liposome for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of an inflammatory associated condition in a subject, provided that said condition is not associated with a neurodegenerative disease or disorder. A specific use concerns a liposomal formulation comprising methylprednisolone sodium hemisuccinate (MPS) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
US07744919B2
A micelle drug composition having an enhanced drug-loading capacity and improved sustained-release characteristics comprising an amphiphilic block copolymer including at least one hydrophilic blocks and at least one hydrophobic blocks. The block copolymer comprises functional groups selected from the group consisting of carboxyl, amine, hydroxyl, amide, thiol and sulfonic acid groups, in the hydrophobic block chain of the copolymer, and the average number of the functional groups range from 1.1 to 30.
US07744902B2
Recombinant respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) having the position of genes shifted within the genome or antigenome of the recombinant virus are infectious and attenuated in humans and other mammals. Gene shifted RSV are constructed by insertion, deletion or rearrangement of genes or genome segments within the recombinant genome or antigenome and are useful in vaccine formulations for eliciting an anti-RSV immune response. Also provided are isolated polynucleotide molecules and vectors incorporating a recombinant RSV genome or antigenome wherein a gene or gene segment is shifted to a more promoter-proximal or promoter-distal position within the genome or antigenome compared to a wild type position of the gene in the RSV gene map. Shifting the position of genes in this manner provides for a selected increase or decrease in expression of the gene, depending on the nature and degree of the positional shift. In one embodiment, RSV glycoproteins are upregulated by shifting one or more glycoprotein-encoding genes to a more promoter-proximal position. Genes of interest for manipulation to create gene position-shifted RSV include any of the NS1, NS2, N, P, M, SH, M2(ORF1), M2(ORF2), L, F or G genes or a genome segment that may be part of a gene or extragenic. A variety of additional mutations and nucleotide modifications are provided within the gene position-shifted RSV of the invention to yield desired phenotypic and structural effects.
US07744896B1
The present invention refers to Tat as the active principle for a prophylactic and/or therapeutic vaccine against HIV infection, the progression towards AIDS and the development of tumors and other syndromes and symptoms in subjects infected by HIV. Tat is in biologically active form either as recombinant protein or peptide or as DNA. More particularly, the invention refers to a vaccine based on HIV-1 Tat as immunogen, inoculated as DNA and/or recombinant protein or as peptides, alone or in combination with other genes or viral gene products (Nef, Rev, Gag) or parts thereof, or in combination with various immuno modulant cytokines (IL-12, IL-15) or with the gene coding for an immuno modulant cytokine or part thereof. Tat, Nef, Rev, Gag and the immuno modulant cytokines are administrated both as a mixture of recombinant proteins, peptides or fusion proteins (Tat/Nef, Tat/Rev, Tat/Gag, Tat/IL-12, Tat/IL-15) or as plasmid DNA.
US07744872B2
The invention provides compositions and methods for the detection and quantification of Ehrlichia ewingii, Ehrlichia ewingii antibodies, antibody fragments, and polypeptides.
US07744863B1
A method of inhibiting Th1 immune response in a subject in need of such treatment which comprises administering to the subject effective amounts for inhibiting Th1 immune response of an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody and IL-5 or an analogue or mimetic thereof.
US07744859B2
Disclosed herein is a semipermanent hair shaping method comprising: (a) applying onto the hair a first composition comprising, in a cosmetically acceptable medium, at least one solubilized fixing polymer chosen from anionic and amphoteric polymers, this application being optionally followed by a resting time for said first composition, (b) applying onto the hair a second composition comprising in a cosmetically acceptable medium at least one acid chosen from mineral and organic acids, such application being optionally followed by a resting time for said second composition, where step b) is conducted prior to or after step a), (c) rinsing the hair, and (d) shaping the hair either after applying the first composition of step a), or after applying the second composition of step b) and prior to the rinsing step c).
US07744852B2
A method of marking a cavity in a breast for subsequent visualization may include steps of providing a device having a delivery opening, a first marker and a second marker, the first and second markers being movable through the delivery opening, the first marker being configured to be visualized by ultrasound and the second marker configured to be radiopaque, the first and second markers being free to move relative to one another; introducing the device into a breast so that the delivery opening is positioned in a cavity formed in the breast; and moving the first marker and the second marker through the delivery opening and into the cavity in the breast, the first and second markers being free to move relative to one another when delivered into the cavity so that the first and second markers may take a number of different positions relative to one another when positioned within the cavity.
US07744849B2
A method and catalysts and fuel processing apparatus for producing a hydrogen-rich gas, such as a hydrogen-rich syngas are disclosed. According to the method a CO-containing gas, such as a syngas, contacts a water gas shift catalyst in the presence of water, preferably at a temperature of less than about 450° C. to produce a hydrogen-rich gas, such as a hydrogen-rich syngas. Also disclosed is a water gas shift catalyst comprising: a) Pt, its oxides or mixtures thereof; b) at least one of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, their oxides and mixtures thereof; and c) at least one of Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Fe, Co, Ir, Ni, Pd, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, their oxides and mixtures thereof. The WGS catalyst may be supported on a carrier, such as any one member or a combination of alumina, zirconia, titania, ceria, magnesia, lanthania, niobia, yttria and iron oxide. Fuel processors containing such water gas shift catalysts are also disclosed.
US07744848B2
A process of producing magnetite with a high purity of greater than 90% magnetite, more typically greater than 98% magnetite, by reducing powdered hematite into magnetite under maximum temperatures of about 700 to 1300° C. against a counter-current of or concurrent with methane or natural gas in a heating device. The amount of methane used to reduce the hematite may be about 0.18 and 1.8 standard cubic feet of methane per pound of hematite. A product of high purity methane produced from the process is also provided, where the magnetite is below 1 μM in diameter and has a magnetic saturation greater than 90.0 emu/g. Corresponding apparatus using an improved feeder system for powdered hematite is provided.
US07744847B2
A process for upgrading an inferior grade of zircon to a superior grade thereof includes mixing the inferior grade of zircon, in comminuted form, with at least one mineralizer, to obtain a zircon/mineralizer mixture, which is a calcined product. The calcined product is washed, and thereafter, in a comminution step, the washed calcined product is comminuted to obtain a superior grade of zircon, which is suitable for use as a glaze opacifier.
US07744846B2
A method for forming a copper oxide catalyst includes forming a precipitate of copper hydroxide from a copper salt solution; forming dried particles of copper hydroxide by drying the precipitate at a temperature of less than 30° C.; heating the copper hydroxide particles to form copper oxide; and activating the copper oxide. The copper oxide catalyst includes particles of copper oxide. Copper oxide catalyst particles can preferably include a metastable form of copper oxide. The copper oxide catalyst particles are useful for low-temperature and near-ambient temperature catalysis and/or oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide.
US07744844B2
The present invention involves the interaction of radiation with functionalized carbon nanotubes that have been incorporated into various host materials, particularly polymeric ones. The present invention is directed to chemistries, methods, and apparatuses which exploit this type of radiation interaction, and to the materials which result from such interactions. The present invention is also directed toward the time dependent behavior of functionalized carbon nanotubes in such composite systems.
US07744839B2
The method comprises passing an N2O- and NOx-containing gas over a sequence of two catalyst beds, adding reducing agents for NOx and for N2O between the catalyst beds in such an amount that not only NOx but also a predetermined proportion of N2O is reduced. The reaction conditions are set so that the N2O content of the gas is reduced by not more than 95%, based on the N2O content at the entrance of the first catalyst bed, by decomposition to nitrogen and oxygen in the first catalyst bed and that not only chemical reduction of NOx but also chemical reduction of N2O occurs in the second catalyst bed so that the N2O content of the gas is reduced by at least 50%, based on the N2O content at the entrance of the second catalyst bed.
US07744838B2
One aspect of the present invention relates to ionic liquids comprising a pendant Bronsted-acidic group, e.g., a sulfonic acid group. Another aspect of the present invention relates to the use of an ionic liquid comprising a pendant Bronsted-acidic group to catalyze a Bronsted-acid-catalyzed chemical reaction. A third aspect of the present invention relates to ionic liquids comprising a pendant nucleophilic group, e.g., an amine. Still another aspect of the present invention relates to the use of an ionic liquid comprising a pendant nucleophilic group to catalyze a nucleophile-assisted chemical reaction. A fifth aspect of the present invention relates to the use of an ionic liquid comprising a pendant nucleophilic group to remove a gaseous impurity, e.g., carbon dioxide, from a gas, e.g., sour natural gas.
US07744836B2
This gas purifying process removes trace constituents from a mixed gas that includes a rare gas and nitrogen as main components, and at least one from among hydrogen, nitrogen and hydrogen reaction products, and water vapor as the trace constituent. This process sequentially carries out an adsorbing step for removing water vapor and nitrogen and hydrogen reaction products; a hydrogen oxidation step for converting the hydrogen into water vapor by means of a hydrogen oxidation catalytic reaction in the presence of oxygen; and a drying step for removing water vapor generated in the hydrogen oxidation step. When nitrogen oxides are included as a trace constituent, then a denitration step is carried out prior to the adsorbing step, to convert nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and water vapor by means of a catalytic denitration reaction in the presence of a reducing substance.
US07744831B2
Disclosed is an annular distributor having: an annular slit layer that is mounted on an inner circumferential surface of the annular distributor and has at least one slit discharging or introducing a fluid; at least one opening that is formed on an outer circumferential surface of the annular distributor and is connected with any one of a fluid supply duct and a fluid discharge duct; and at least one guide vane selected from three types of guide vanes that are installed in the annular distributor, and splits a flow rate of the fluid supplied from the duct or collects a flow rate of the fluid discharged to the duct. And disclosed are a reactor or heat exchanger has the annular distributor, and a method of producing unsaturated aldehyde or unsaturated acid from olefin by catalytic gas phase oxidation in the reactor.
US07744822B2
There is disclosed a microchip reactor capable of being used in research on reaction kinetics. With this microchip reactor, the time (reaction time) elapsed until a measurement is made since mixing of two liquids is variable. The microchip reactor comprises a base portion and a movable portion which have sliding contact surfaces that are in contact with each other. The base portion and movable portion have their respective downstream flow channel portions which meet at an intersection. Different reagents are introduced at the intersection, mixed, and reacted. An opening is formed in the movable portion. A slot is formed in the base portion. The major axis of the slot is in the direction of sliding motion of the movable portion. The position of the intersection where the reagents are mixed is determined by the intersection of the opening and the slot.
US07744818B2
Selecting a stationary phase for a fluid analyzer using certain criteria to determine an appropriate material for use in, for instance, a micro fluid analyzer. High absorption of an analyte or sample, low water sorbency and high porosity or permeability of the material may be sought. A selected material may incorporate a toughening agent using a neutral leaving group. A selected material may have a capping agent to promote hydrophobicity. A selected material may be a hydrophobic polymer. The selection of a stationary phase may involve molecular modeling.
US07744817B2
A manifold assembly that directs fluid to and from individually selectable sample receiving trays of a tissue processing system includes a manifold, fluid conduits machined in the manifold, and valves that may be selectively configured to provide a direct fluid path to or from a particular tray. The valves are controlled by a controller that positions each valve such that a desired path is created. Pressure is created in supply and/or drain bottles to supply or drain fluid from the trays supported by the manifold assembly. Independently operated heaters are provided on the manifold assembly to heat the trays to desired temperatures. Thermoelectric cooling elements may also provided to cool the heaters and/or trays.
US07744816B2
The methods and apparatus 100, disclosed herein are of use for sequencing 150 and/or identifying 160 proteins 230, 310, polypeptides 230, 310 or peptides 230, 310. Proteins 230, 310 containing labeled amino acid residues may be synthesized and passed through nanopores 255, 330. A detector 257, 345 operably coupled to a nanopore 255, 330 may detect labeled amino acid residues as they pass through the nanopore 255, 330. Distance maps 140 for each type of labeled amino acid residue may be compiled. The distance maps 140 may be used to sequence 150 and/or identify 160 the protein 230, 310. In different embodiments of the invention, amino acid residues labeled with luminescent labels 235, 245 or nanoparticles 315 may be detected using photodetectors 257 or electrical detectors 345. Apparatus 100 of use for protein 230, 310 sequencing 150 and/or identification 160 are also disclosed herein.
US07744813B2
An austenitic stainless steel displaying high temperature oxidation and creep resistance has a composition that includes in weight percent 15 to 21 Ni, 10 to 15 Cr, 2 to 3.5 Al, 0.1 to 1 Nb, and 0.05 to 0.15 C, and that is free of or has very low levels of N, Ti and V. The alloy forms an external continuous alumina protective scale to provide a high oxidation resistance at temperatures of 700 to 800° C. and forms NbC nanocarbides and a stable essentially single phase fcc austenitic matrix microstructure to give high strength and high creep resistance at these temperatures.
US07744807B2
A coherent nonwoven fibrous web comprises directly formed elastic fibers that have a molecular orientation sufficient to provide a birefringence number of at least 1×10−5 and preferably at least 1×10−2. The web can be made by a method that comprises a) extruding filaments of elastic-fiber-forming material; b) directing the filaments through a processing chamber in which gaseous currents apply a longitudinal stress to the filaments that attenuates and draws the filaments; c) maintaining the filaments at their orienting temperature while the filaments are under attenuating and drawing stress for a sufficient time for molecules within the filaments to become oriented along the length of the filaments; d) cooling the filaments to their orientation-locking temperature while the filaments are under attenuating and drawing stress and further cooling the filaments to a solidified fiber form; and e) collecting the solidified fibers as a fibrous nonwoven web. In a preferred aspect, the method includes the further step of annealing the collected fibers by exposing them to a temperature that is above their shrinking temperature but less than their relaxation temperature, and preferably bonding the fibers after (or before) the annealing step. Dimensionally stable webs comprising elastic oriented fibers are obtained.
US07744801B2
A 3D modeling device performs repeatedly a step of cutting a subsidiary material layer formed of a subsidiary material and cutting a modeling material layer formed of a modeling material. The 3D modeling device comprises at least one of a subsidiary material supplying device which discharges the subsidiary material drop by drop from an outlet positioned apart from a region in which the subsidiary material is to be applied at a predetermined distance, and a modeling material supplying device which discharges the modeling material drop by drop from an output positioned apart from a region in which the modeling material is to be applied at a predetermined distance. Since the material can be applied with high precision, a high-quality 3D molded object is provided.
US07744787B2
In monitoring anomalies in a measurement process comprising a main measurement process Sa which performs a measurement by forward rotating a screw 3 having a back-flow prevention valve 2 installed on the tip and a post-measurement process which performs a post-measurement process Sb for closing said back-flow prevention valve 2 after this main measurement process Sa ends, after said post-measurement process Sb ends, an injection process Si wherein said screw 3 is put in a freely-rotatable state and moved forward is performed, the amount of rotation Rd of said screw 3 since the start of this injection process Si is detected, and if the detected amount of rotation Rd exceeds at least a preset amount Rs, an anomaly processing (S9) is performed.
US07744779B2
A nickel-rhenium alloy powder comprising nickel as a main component, 0.1 to 10% by weight of rhenium, and having an average particle size of 0.05 to 1.0 μm is provided. The nickel-rhenium alloy powder has a surface oxide film containing a nickel oxide and a rhenium oxide, and the amount of oxygen in the surface oxide film is 0.1 to 3.0% by weight relative to the total weight of the powder. The nickel-rhenium alloy powder is suitable, in particular, for forming internal electrode layers of a multilayer ceramic electronic component. The obtained powder is homogeneously mixed and dispersed in an organic vehicle, together with other additives as needed, to prepare a conductor paste. The surface oxide film allows bringing the sintering shrinkage behavior of electrode layers and ceramic layers closer to each other when the nickel-rhenium alloy powder is used, in particular, for forming internal electrodes of a multilayer ceramic electronic component. Moreover, there occurs no electrode spheroidizing caused by oversintering. and thus thinner, dense internal electrodes having excellent continuity can be formed.
US07744772B2
The field of the present invention relates to the field of batteries and of polymer electrolytes for batteries and more particularly to the field of lithium batteries.The invention relates to a composition which can be polymerized and/or crosslinked photochemically or under an electron beam for a battery electrolyte comprising: (a) at least one polyorganosiloxane (POS) (A) comprising, per molecule at least 2 siloxyl units carrying radicals comprising an epoxy (Epx) functional group with optionally an ether (Eth) functional group, and at least one of the siloxyl units carries a polyoxyalkylene (Poa) ether radical; (b) at least one electrolyte salt ; and (c) an effective amount of at least one cationic photoinitiator.
US07744768B2
A resist pattern thickening material has resin, a crosslinking agent and a compound having a cyclic structure, or resin having a cyclic structure at a part. A resist pattern has a surface layer on a resist pattern to be thickened with etching rate (nm/s) ratio of the resist pattern to be thickened the surface layer of 1.1 or more, under the same condition, or a surface layer to a resist pattern to be thickened. A process for forming a resist pattern includes applying the thickening material after forming a resist pattern to be thickened on its surface. A semiconductor device has a pattern formed by the resist pattern. A process for manufacturing the semiconductor device has applying, after forming a resist pattern to be thickened, the thickening material to the surface of the resist pattern to be thickened, and patterning the underlying layer by etching, the pattern as a mask.
US07744765B2
A system, a device and a method for maintaining water quality in a pool or similar water container for use by people which is characterized in that a pressure sensor is arranged to sense the pressure variations inside a main water container 1 and to provide a pressure variation signal to a control and processing unit 3. The control and processing unit is connected with a dispensing module and is adapted to generate and transfer control signals to said dispensing modules. The control signal depends on the detected pressure variation signal. The system for water treatment comprises also a water treatment circulation loop 3A-D at least one controllable chemical dispensing module 8A-D, 9A-D. The circulation loop is adapted to pump water from the main water container 1, around the circulation loop 3A-D, and back into the main water container 1 via the dispensing module for dispensing a chemical treatment agent.
US07744757B1
A filtering assembly includes a container and a filtering cap which is connected to a connection end of the container. A flange extends spirally from an outside of the connection end and includes a positioning portion which is the longest section of the flange. The filtering cap includes an inner skirt and an outer skirt, wherein the inner skirt has a groove defined in an inside thereof the flange can be engaged with the groove. The groove has a positioning port which is the deepest portion of the whole groove. A plurality of bosses extend from an inside of the outer skirt. The positioning portion is engaged with the positioning port and the bosses are engaged with the wave-shaped ring when the filtering cap is located onto the container.
US07744756B2
An apparatus for diverting wastewater in septic system comprises a top, a side adjoining and extending downwardly from the top, the top and the side form an inner volume and a partially open bottom. The bottom can be fully open. A first opening extends upwardly from the partially open bottom. A second opening, having a perimeter, is also on the side. The apparatus can be placed at outlet end of a trench to receive the trench pipe. The first opening, the open bottom and the inner volume permit the apparatus to be placed over a pipe without adjustments or modifications.
US07744751B2
The present invention provides a process for producing reagents for a chemical reaction by introducing a fuel containing hydrocarbons into a flash distillation process wherein the fuel is separated into a first component having a lower average molecular weight and a second component having a higher average molecular weight. The first component is then reformed to produce synthesis gas wherein the synthesis gas is reacted catalytically to produce the desire reagent.
US07744749B2
The reduction in the sulfur-containing content of diesel fuel is achieved by oxidation in the presence of a catalyst followed by a liquid-liquid countercurrent extraction.
US07744745B2
A process is described for fluid catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons with high levels of basic nitrogen, where hydrocarbon feedstocks A and B with different levels of basic nitrogen are injected in a segregated fashion, into different risers of a multiple riser FCCU that possesses at least two risers. The injection of the feedstocks is made in such a way that feedstock A, to be injected in the riser with greater volume—main riser 7—possessing a level of basic nitrogen at least 200 ppm lower than the level of feedstock B to be injected into the riser with lower volume—secondary riser (8).
US07744743B2
A feedstream comprising tar is fed to a solvent deasphalter wherein it is contacted with a deasphalting solvent or fluid to produce a composition comprising a mixture or slurry of solvent containing a soluble portion of the tar, and a heavy tar fraction comprising the insoluble portion of the tar. These fractions may be separated in the deasphalter apparatus, such as by gravity settling wherein the heavy tar fraction is taken off as bottoms, and the solvent-soluble fraction taken as overflow or overheads with the solvent. The overflow or overheads is sent to a solvent recovery unit, such as a distillation apparatus, wherein solvent is recovered as overheads and a deasphalted tar fraction is taken off as a sidestream or bottoms. The solvent or a portion thereof, recovered as overheads, may be then be recycled to the solvent deasphalter, or in a preferred embodiment, at least a portion of the solvent is steam cracked to produce a product comprising light olefins.
US07744723B2
A multiply fibrous structure product having two or more plies of fibrous structure wherein the fibrous structure has a Compression Slope from about 11 to about 30; a basis weight from about 26 lbs/3000 ft2 to about 50 lbs/3000 ft2; a Wet Caliper greater than about 18 mils; and a Flex Modulus from about 0.1 to about 0.8.
US07744708B2
A method for producing a tubular bar, more particularly a stabilizer bar, is provided. The method comprises providing a tubular bar of desired size having an outer and inner surface, heating the bar to an elevated temperature, quenching the bar by application of a cooling fluid to the surfaces of the bar, and forming the tube to a desired shape without annealing. The method further provides for the composition of a high-strength, high formability carbon steel alloy to be used in conjunction with the method. Advantageously, the bar is formable without thermal processing subsequent to quenching. In this fashion, metal tubular bars, such as stabilizer bars, may be formed at reduced cost.
US07744701B1
A method of removing paint from a plastic substrate at least partially coated with a paint coating by: providing at least one plastic substrate at least partially coated with a paint coating; providing a kit for a user to utilize to remove paint from the plastic substrate, which is at least partially coated with a paint coating; immersing the at least partially coated plastic substrate into first mix of components by the end user wherein the first mix of components further comprises water when the at least partially coated plastic substrates are immersed into the first mix of components; and rinsing the plastic substrate with water. The immersing and rinsing steps remove the paint coating from the plastic substrate. The kit includes: a first mix of components that includes: at least one aromatic alcohol; an alpha-hydroxy acid; an anionic surfactant; 2-mercaptobenzothiazole or salts thereof; and an arene; and instructions instructing an end user to remove paint from the plastic substrate using the first mix of components.
US07744691B2
Pozzolan compositions incorporate glassy, amorphous particulates derived from byproducts of processes in which substantial energy was invested in generating those byproducts, at least one of which comprises amorphous calcium silicate slag generated as a byproduct of phosphorous production. The calcium silicate particulate is blended with one or more additional pozzolans, preferably one or more particulates of a material selected from the group consisting of fused silica of the type generated as a byproduct of making refractory grade fused silica and cullet glass of the type rejected from glass making processes. Pozzolanic cements incorporating up to about 50% by weight of such pozzolan compositions are also disclosed.
US07744687B2
The present invention consists of an aqueous putty or liquid suspension, formed by a mix of components a) and b) which are described as follows: a) an anhydrous silicate of an alkaline metal or alkaline terreous, in any of its forms (in dust, particles, granulates or fibers), or a hydrated silicate of an alkaline metal or alkaline terreous (in dust, particles, granulates or fibers), or a mix of both, b) a component of titanium, and optionally, in addition, of components c), d), e) and f), described as follows: c) one or more neutral or acid salts, of mono or poli ammonia, d) fungicide components, e) antibacterial components, and f) odor-controlling components. This putty can be utilized to stop or retard fire, as a coating or incorporated into granulated or aminated components, or in finished moulded products and similar items.
US07744681B2
The present invention relates generally to a filtration article, such as a protective facemask, a method for using a filtration article, and a method for preparing a filtration article. In particular, the invention relates to a protective facemask that cost-effectively offers a broad spectrum of antimicrobial protection through the use of fibers treated with one or more oligodynamic metal and/or salt of an oligodynamic metal.
US07744678B2
Powdered lime composition having a BET specific surface area that is equal to or greater than 25 m2/g and a BJH total pore volume obtained from nitrogen desorption that is equal to or greater than 0.1 cm3/g, and furthermore comprising an alkali metal. The alkali metal content is equal to or greater than 0.2% and equal to or less than 3.5% based on the total weight of the composition. There is also described a method of preparing the composition and use thereof to reduce flue gases.
US07744674B2
A method of producing a fluxing agent that can be used in production of steel, preferably stainless steel, employs as a raw material a hydroxide sludge that results from neutralization of metal-contaminated pickling liquid from a pickling step for a steel and contains at least one fluoride-containing compound. The hydroxide sludge is calcined. Steel, preferably stainless steel, is produced by decarburizing a steel heat, whereby a slag is formed on top of the steel heat, and adding a fluxing agent to the slag.
US07744656B2
The present invention is related to an aqueous colouring composition for keratin fibers especially human hair based on hair direct dyes and optionally oxidative dyes and comprising at least one arylated silicone.
US07744643B2
In at least one embodiment, a stent comprises a side branch structure having an inner crown, an outer crown and a plurality of side branch connectors, each side branch connector connecting between the inner crown and the outer crown. Upon expansion of the side branch structure, the inner crown displaces outwardly in a stent radial direction. The entire inner crown moves out of the area defined by the generally cylindrical framework of the main stent body. Upon the outward displacement of the inner crown, the side branch connectors may reorient and also extend out of the area defined by the generally cylindrical framework of the main stent body. The inner crown may further comprise a plurality of outwardly deployable petals. Desirably, side branch expansion forces placed on the inner crown will first cause the inner crown to displace outwardly, then cause the petals to deploy outwardly.
US07744634B2
A spinal rod system includes a first rod and a second rod engaged to one another in end-to-end fashion. The first and second rods include rod portions with differing characteristics, and a coupling mechanism allows the spinal rod system to be assembled with rod portions having the desired characteristics while minimizing the footprint of the coupling arrangement between the first and second rods.
US07744633B2
A crosslink member for securing spinal rods is disclosed having connector ends that include a brace and a locking member, each having an arcuate face resting on and securing a spinal rod. The locking member is secured by a cam member that rotates relative to the locking member and that cams against the connector to displace the cam member. The crosslink includes a male connector with a cylindrical cross rod received by a cavity in a female connector. The cross rod is secured by a pivotable clamp device in the female connector, and the cross rod connector and female connector may pivot, rotate, and telescope relative to each other. To reduce size without sacrificing pivot sweep, the cross rod has beveled edges, and the cavity of the female connector has windows to provide pivot clearance.
US07744632B2
An apparatus for coupling a spinal rod to a cross bar comprising a main body having a channel with a wall for receiving a spinal rod therein, an opening for receiving a fastener with at least one tang adjacent to the opening, a clamping body pivotally disposed in the main body, the clamping body being moveable between a first position in which it does not clamp the spinal rod in the channel and a second position in which it does clamp the spinal rod in the channel, a cross bar having an opening aligned substantially with the opening of the main body and having the tang disposed therein, and a fastener for rigidly coupling the cross bar to the main body, the fastener being positioned within the openings of the cross bar and the main body, wherein the fastener is operable to force the tang into the cross bar to clamp the cross bar to the main body and simultaneously to move the clamping body between the first position and the second position.
US07744630B2
An implant for use with the opposing facets of two adjacent vertebrae includes a facet bearing body having a cavity for receiving a filler material, and at least one fixation wing for securing the facet bearing body to at least one of the two vertebrae, wherein the facet bearing body is positionable between the opposing facets and the at least one fixation wing is fixable to at least one of the two vertebrae. The filler material may be an in situ curable polymer such as bone cement, a polyurethane or an elastomer. To stabilize the adjacent vertebrae, the facet bearing body is inserted between the opposing facets of the adjacent vertebrae. The at least one fixation wing is fixed to at least one of the two adjacent vertebrae. The filler material is injected into the cavity and allowed to harden.
US07744613B2
Apparatus and methods are provided for forming a gastrointestinal tissue fold by engaging tissue at a first tissue contact point and moving the first tissue contact point from a position initially distal to, or in line with, a second tissue contact point to a position proximal of the second contact point, thereby forming the tissue fold, and extending an anchor assembly through the tissue fold from a vicinity of the second tissue contact point. Adjustable anchor assemblies; as well as anchor delivery systems, shape-lockable guides and methods for endoluminally performing medical procedures, such as gastric reduction, treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease, resection of lesions, and treatment of bleeding sites; are also provided.
US07744611B2
A clip of a self-closing type is used for valve repair. The clip is generally U-shaped with two end points separated from each other when it is constrained to be in an open configuration, but tends to coil up to assume its natural closed configuration if the constraint is removed. At least one end point is connected through a suture to a tissue-penetrating needle. A needle holder has an outer tube and an inner member which has a slit at the front and is slidable inside the outer tube. They are designed such that the slit can grab the needle tightly or release it as the inner member is moved backward or forward with respect to the outer tube. With the needle secured at the front, the needle holder is passed through a cannula inserted through an incision and the needle penetrates the leaflets such that the clip can be positioned with its end points hooked to the pair of leaflets to be stitched together. If the clip is released from the suture thereafter, it tends to coil up, reducing the distance between the end points and pulling the leaflets together. A double-arm clip assembly with each of the end points of the clip attached through a suture to a separate needle may be similarly used for valve repair. Such a double-arm clip assembly may contain two of such clips mutually connected by means of a flexible connector such that two leaflets are held together by the connector, with the two clips each anchored to a corresponding one of the leaflets.
US07744605B2
The invention relates to a medical instrument comprising an instrument body (8), an instrument tip (5) and a tracking means (1,2, 4), characterized in that said instrument tip (5) is fitted with a touch-sensor (3) which detects a contact between said tip (5) and an object, for example a patient. It is preferably realized as an indicator device or pointer, in particular as a registering pointer for instrument tracking systems.
US07744603B2
There is disclosed an accommodating intraocular lens for implantation in an eye having an optical axis. The lens comprises an anterior portion which in turn comprises an anterior viewing element and an anterior biasing element. The lens further comprises a posterior portion which in turn comprises a posterior viewing element in spaced relationship to the anterior viewing element and a posterior biasing element. The anterior portion and posterior portion meet at first and second apices of the intraocular lens. The anterior portion and the posterior portion and/or the apices are responsive to force thereon to cause the separation between the viewing elements to change. Additional embodiments and methods are also disclosed.
US07744602B2
A tool for separating an acetabular shell of a hip prosthesis from the surrounding pelvic bone includes a fixture which attaches to the acetabular shell and has a chisel guide mounted on it. A chisel associated with the chisel guide is curved to conform to the outer periphery of the acetabular shell, and the chisel guide causes the chisel to circumscribe the acetabular shell as the chisel is inserted between the acetabular shell and the pelvis.
US07744598B2
An instrument is provided for use in orthopedic surgery for reduction of a connecting member such as a spinal rod toward an implant such as a bone screw. An embodiment of the instrument includes handle portions that are pivotable relative to each other and biased apart, and arm portions pivotable relative to each other and to the handle portions. Distal portions of the arm portions, which may be offset from the arm portions, provide structure for engaging a connecting member and an implant. Squeezing the handle portions force the distal portions of the arm portions together, forcing together the connecting member and the implant. A toothed bar and pawl may be provided to retain the instrument in a squeezed state.
US07744584B2
Methods and kits for delivering pharmaceutical agents to the adventitia and other regions outside the external elastic lamina (EEL) surrounding a blood vessel utilize a catheter having a needle. The needle is positioned in up to 5 mm beyond the EEL and delivers an amount of pharmaceutical agent sufficient to circumferentially permeate around the blood vessel and, in many cases, extend longitudinally and radially along the blood vessel. Confirmation that a delivery aperture of the needle lies beyond the EEL may be required before delivering the pharmaceutical agent.
US07744577B2
A disposable pull-on wearing article has its waist region divided into a front section and a rear section and connector sheets 21 adapted to connect these two sections together. Each of the connector sheets has joint zones to be joined to the front section and the rear section, respectively, and a non-joint zone interposed between the joint zones so as to define a tear-apart line extending in vertical direction along which the article is torn apart. The non-joint zone has a tensile strength of at least 8N in the waist-surrounding direction and a tear strength in a range of 0.1 to 12N also in the waist-surrounding direction.
US07744574B2
An elongate medical device and methods for making and using the same. The elongate medical device may be a catheter that includes an elongate tubular shaft having a lumen defined therein. A scraping member is coupled to an inner wall surface of the shaft and extends into the lumen. The scraping member is configured to remove debris that may build up or otherwise be disposed on another medical device such a guidewire.
US07744571B2
A tearaway sheath assembly (100) having a splittable sheath tube (102) a splittable hub (110), a splittable valve (150) and a split cap (180). The valve (150) is of the elongated duckbill type and having a slit (158) almost completely across the distal end wall (154) such that two diverging sides (156) of the distal valve portion may be moved apart during insertion therethrough of a dilator or a catheter. A two-part cap (180) is affixed to the hub proximal end (120) and traps a seating flange (168) of the valve between itself and a seating groove (136) of the hub. Pairs of opposed gaps (184,122) of the cap (180) and the hub (110) are aligned with frangible sections or seams (108) of the sheath tube (102) and frangible sections (172) and slits (166) of the valve, facilitating splitting of the assembly (100) when desired by the practitioner to peel it away from the inserted catheter.
US07744569B2
A surgical seal assembly includes a sleeve housing adapted to be operatively connected to a surgical sleeve, a seal housing adapted for releasable mounting to the sleeve housing and having a seal member with inner portions adapted to permit passage of a surgical object in substantial sealed relation therewith, and a manual lock member associated with the sleeve housing. The manual lock member is adapted for movement relative to the seal housing between a first position corresponding to a release position of the seal housing to permit removal of the seal housing from mounting to the sleeve housing and a second position corresponding to a lock position of the seal housing to secure the seal housing to the sleeve housing. The manual lock member is preferably adapted for rotational movement relative to a longitudinal axis of the seal housing to move between the first and second positions thereof.
US07744564B2
A system for delivering an agent to tissue surrounding a target vessel includes an elongate delivery device and a source coupled to a proximal tubular portion of the device. A first lumen extends through the tubular portion and an expandable sheath of the device, wherein the expandable sheath has a proximal end that surrounds and overlies a distal end of the tubular portion. The device further includes a stiffening member, attached to the sheath, and a balloon attached to the stiffening member, at a location spaced apart from the sheath. A second lumen extends, within the tubular portion and the stiffening member, to the balloon. A volume of fluid may be delivered, from the source, through the first lumen and into a section of the target vessel that is downstream from the expandable sheath and upstream of the balloon, in order to expand the sheath, fill the section and apply a pressure sufficient to cause extravasation of the section.
US07744558B2
A pill plunger includes a hollow tube having a forward end and a rearward end. A rod or plunger has a forward end having a dished out portion for receiving medication and a rearward end having a button. The plunger occupies the tube with the dished out portion at the forward end of the tube and the button extending from the rearward end of the tube. Medication is placed in the dished out portion, which is then retracted into the tube. After insertion of the tube into a patient's mouth, the button is depressed to extend the plunger and dispense the medication. A spring can be used to retract the plunger upon release of the button. The dished out portion can be sealed to carry a fluid or powder. A dual dished out portion can be provided in the rod, and a window can be formed in the hollow tube.
US07744555B2
An implant comprises a photocatalytic layer on at least one surface. In some embodiments, the photocatalytic layer is a semiconductor oxide that is doped. According to some embodiments, the implant comprises a wave guide. According to some embodiments the implant comprises a light port. According to some embodiments, the implant comprises a reflective material on a surface of the waveguide. According to some embodiments the implant comprises a composite material comprising a first material that has a transmissivity when exposed to a predetermined wavelength of light and a second material that has photocatalytic activity when exposed to the predetermined wavelength of light. According to some embodiments the implant comprises a light source adapted to irradiate the photocatalytic surface.
US07744552B1
A device that straps against the front of one's pelvis and features chest and leg engagements extending from a central main-body to create a personal upper body support system. As wearer bends forward from the waist, the leg engagements leverage oppositely threaded shafts to screw together into an internally threaded main-body either against a powerful spring means used to effect a compressive stop or a spring-back counter force to the wearer's overhanging upper body weight. A knob-ended threaded rod screws through one of the shafts to adjust the point of engagement and/or spring tension. This device creates a prop effect between the wearer's chest and upper legs. The oppositely threaded shafts provide a unique mechanism that divides the transferred load equally to each leg regardless of leg stance, as well as for allowing unrestricted upright walking.
US07744547B2
A negative pressure ventilation system comprising a dynamically movable, multi-component artificial rib cage configured to fit snugly around the patient's own chest wall and abdomen is disclosed. The shape, dimensions and the dynamic movement of the artificial rib cage are designed to mimic those of the patient's own chest wall. The artificial rib cage includes an artificial spine to which are connected artificial ribs for forming an artificial chest wall including a sternum component. An abdominal component for placement on the patient's abdomen is connected to the chest wall component through a translating element which allows the abdominal component to move towards and away from the chest wall component. The chest wall and abdominal components cooperatively interact to allow the ventilator to move both the chest wall and abdomen during inspiration and expiration, mimicking the patient's own natural breathing pattern.
US07744540B2
A system and method for screening for coronary heart disease is provided. The method includes the steps of retrieving a test for assessing risk of coronary heart disease, the test including a plurality of data fields relating to coronary risk factors; accessing a database to populate the data fields with information of an individual patient; and calculating a risk assessment of the individual patient developing coronary heart disease. A system includes a first database including a plurality of structured computerized patient records; a second database including a knowledge base relating to coronary heart disease, the second database including at least one test for determining coronary heart disease risk; and a processor for retrieving the at least one test from the second database, populating the at least one test with patient information retrieved from the first database and calculating a risk assessment for at least one patient.
US07744539B2
A distal hard part in an insertion portion is provided with an ultrasonic transducer in which a large number of ultrasonic vibrators are arranged in the circumferential direction. The ultrasonic transducer is shaped like a cylinder. Each member that constitutes an endoscopic observation section is passed through this tunnel-like passage. Each ultrasonic vibrator is provided with a single common electrode and individual electrodes the number of which corresponds to the number of the ultrasonic vibrators. Flexible boards and are provided on the proximal and distal end sides of the ultrasonic transducer. Wires are connected to these flexible boards. The wires from the flexible board are extended without changes, whereas the wires from the flexible board are reversely turned from the distal end side, are then passed through the tunnel-like passage, and are extended in the direction of an angle part.
US07744536B2
Beamforming for N elements in performed in log(N) steps of complexity O(N). The signals measured at each element are treated as a receive beam formed by that element with a beam width equal to the element pattern or the width of the transmit illumination. In each of multiple stages, the number of elements is halved by effectively doubling the pitch. The number of beams formed by each element is doubled by narrowing the beam width by a factor of 2 in sin(θ). Since steering and focusing are separated, a single set of delays are applied to each element signal individually prior to the multi-stage beam forming for each finite depth. The data is in a sector format, but by using two beamforming steps, data in a Vector® format is provided.
US07744528B2
Embodiments include devices and methods. One embodiment includes a method for imaging an endometrial cavity, including acquiring a plurality of images using an imaging system. A first part of the imaging system is positioned within the endometrial cavity. At least portions of two or more of the images are combined into a representation of at least a portion of the endometrial cavity. The combining at least portions of two of the images may include determining any motion of the first part of the imaging system, between the two or more of the images. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US07744518B2
This folder includes a device for cutting sheets from a web of paper, a folding cylinder which is provided with movable retention devices and movable blades for folding the sheets cut from the web, a cam for controlling the movement of the movable retention devices by contact with cam followers, a cam for controlling the movement of the tucking blades by contact with cam followers, and at least one covering cam.The covering cam includes two semi-cams which can each be moved radially between a retracted position and an extracted position, the covering cam being in a configuration for straight operation when the semi-cams are in a retracted position and in a configuration for collect operation when the semi-cams are in an extracted position.
US07744517B2
A tamper indicating, resealable closure for a package includes first and second film layers releasably adhesively joined together such that the first and second film layers are at least partially separable when the second film layer is pulled away from the first film layer. The first film layer includes first and second tear lines formed thereon to define first and second panel sections respectively. The first panel section defines an access opening through the first film layer when it is separated along the first tear line during an initial separation of the first and second film layers. The second panel section also becomes separated from the first film layer when the second film layer is separated from the first film layer to provide an indication of an initial opening of the closure. Subsequently, the second film layer may be re-adhered to the first film layer to reseal the access opening, while the second panel section remains separated from the first film layer.
US07744509B1
Apparatus for enhancing relative rotation between a substrate and a rotatable member. The substrate preferably comprises a pole of a leg support assembly in a stilt device, and the rotatable member preferably comprises a leg engagement assembly of the stilt device which engages a user's leg. The reinforcement member preferably operates as a spacer for the substrate, as well as to reduce wear between the substrate and an elongated member which couples the rotatable member to the substrate. A limit surface of the reinforcement member limits mechanical deflection of the elongated member and preferably comprises an annular sidewall of an aperture. A locking feature of the reinforcement member preferably comprises a tab which engages a channel in the substrate to maintain a desired axial orientation of the reinforcement member.
US07744508B2
A stationary exercise device with adjustable members for varying the stride path and the exercise intensity of a user. The stationary device having a stationary frame and a movable frame that moves relative to the stationary frame to vary the exercise intensity of a user.
US07744506B2
An exercise device for the crossover step, including an upper wheel supported, the upper wheel having a skating surface and being rotatable; a lower wheel joined to the upper wheel via a hub, the lower wheel having idler wheels supporting the upper wheel; upper legs and lower legs, the upper and lower legs being joined to the lower wheel; a track joined to the upper legs and lower legs, the track adapted to allow the upper wheel, lower wheel, upper legs and lower legs to be stored vertically against a wall and positioned for use adjacent a floor; and mechanism for controlled increase of simulated G-forces applied to a skater skating on the skating surface.
US07744504B2
A vehicle control apparatus is provided which can detect a rotating speed drop of an engine generated together with a clutch connection so as to be set to a trigger of a control start. An engine rotating speed at a time of issuing the trigger is set to a target rotating speed, and a rotating speed feedback control having an engine torque as an operation amount is carried out. An ignition retard and a fuel cut are provided as an operator for engine torque in addition to an intake air amount operation by an electronically controlled throttle.
US07744501B2
A stop control method which is intended for a heat engine of a vehicle that is equipped with a reversible electric machine. According to the invention, a decision is made to stop the heat engine as a function of: (i) steady conditions which are essentially stable prior to a stopping phase; and (ii) variable conditions which can change following a positive test on the steady conditions and prior to a stopping phase, said steady conditions being tested prior to the variable conditions. The invention is suitable for motor vehicles.
US07744497B2
A swing implement, such as a baseball bat (9), adapted for gripping by the hands of a user having a support surface (10) between the knob (20) and the handle (30) of the swinging implement. The support surface provides a gradual transition between the knob and the handle. The support surface supports the hand of the user while gripping the swinging implement. Another swinging implement (10) comprises a support surface extending at a shallow angle from the handle between the handle and the end surface of the knob for supporting the hand of the user while gripping the swinging implement. A support sleeve (6c) adapted to cooperate with a handle and knob of a conventional baseball bat including a support surface for providing added support for the hands of a user gripping the bat.
US07744496B2
An improved multi-adjustable batting practice tee featuring a base assembly with an improved tube assembly thereby enhancing tube movement and overall batting tee stability is disclosed. The base assembly is configured to have standard dimensions for a “HOME PLATE” in accordance with the rules of Major League baseball. The base assembly includes a continuous channel positioned across the entire horizontal plane of the base assembly that includes an inner-locking guide rail system for enhanced batting tee stability.
US07744495B2
A golf mat for holding multiple tees for golf practice. The mat has a foam bottom in underlying relation to an artificial turf into which is formed a plurality of recesses each of which is adapted to accommodate a golf tee that lies in the recess, placing it out of the path of a golf club. This provides a longer lasting mat and golf tee combination.
US07744493B2
The present invention is directed to an improved golf ball displaying the desired spin profile and having a generally rigid, thermoset polybutadiene outer core surrounding a relatively soft, low compression inner core. In general, this golf ball has an inner core and at least one outer core layer surrounding the inner core. The inner core has a hardness less than a hardness of the outer core and a specific gravity less than or equal to the outer core specific gravity. Overall the inner core compression and outer core are formulated to provide a combined overall core compression of greater than about 50, preferably greater than about 70. A cover layer is provided to surround and to cover the outer core layer.
US07744492B2
The present invention provides a multi-piece solid golf ball having a core obtained by molding under heat a specific rubber composition and having a cover of at least three layers which encases the core. By optimizing the deflection of the core under a specific load, optimizing the hardness at the center of the core and the hardnesses of the innermost cover layer, outermost cover layer and intermediate cover layer, setting the combined thickness of the cover layers to at least a specific value, and forming the innermost cover layer of a highly neutralized ionomer resin composition, a sufficient reduction in the spin rate of the ball on shots taken with a driver can be achieved, enabling the distance traveled by the ball to be increased.
US07744490B2
A golf ball including a unitary core having a volume, an outer surface, a geometric center, and an outermost transition volume adjacent to the outer surface, the core being formed from a substantially homogenous composition; and a cover layer. The outermost transition volume is disposed between the core outer surface and the geometric center, the transition volume has an outer portion congruent with the core outer surface, and comprises the outermost 45% of the core volume or less. Both a hardness of the core outer surface and a hardness within the outermost transition volume are less than the hardness of the geometric center to define a negative hardness gradient.
US07744482B1
The present invention provides a portable device that can be used anywhere and that enables a golfer to improve putting performance, for training or entertainment purposes. The device has an electronic analyzing system comprising, in one embodiment of the invention, only three passive infrared sensors to accurately detect all the crucial movements of a putter head (or any other golf club) (e.g., squareness at impact, speed, distance) throughout the crucial portion of a swing at the virtual point of impact (or actual point of impact if a golf ball is used). The device further uses these sensors to capture information in tandem with preset and/or selectable features and options (e.g., stimp, slope, statistics, games) to supply a holistic approach to putting practice. The device may also be equipped with an accelerometer/inclinometer to instantly inform the user of the slope and drop of the ground on which the device is placed.
US07744481B2
According to the present invention there is provided a method for positioning a person in an optimal stance for hitting a golf ball along an intended path toward a target. The method including the steps of: (a) holding an end of a golf club in one hand that is used by the person as a lower hand in a conventional golf grip; (b) positioning the club such that a striking surface of the club faces the target and is spaced behind the ball relative to the target; (c) placing both feet side-by-side at a distance from the ball and lateral to the intended path; (d) orienting the person's arm by which the club is held so as to locate the person's elbow of the arm as close as possible to the navel and/or spine of the person; (e) re-gripping the club with both hands; and (f) moving said feet apart so as to locate the front foot further forward of the ball and said back foot further rearward of the ball prior to swinging the club.
US07744479B2
A portable golf practice game consisting of a wall having a front face, rear face, and base. The wall includes a plurality of openings along the base for the entry of an object there-through. Each opening includes an opening sensor to detect the presence of an object there-through. The wall further includes proximity sensors along the base to detect the presence of an object not passing though an opening. The sensors emit a signal which is detected by a processor connected to the wall. Each opening has a corresponding graphic element which displays a value interpreted by the processor. A user chooses a game on the input device, then propels an object toward the wall, a sensor emits a signal, the processor interprets the signal and the graphic element displays an assigned value.
US07744477B2
The bank shot guide for billiards has at least one visible marking which may be disposed on a pool cue shaft, tape measure, floor, or floor accessory adapted to be easily observable by the shooter while setting up a pool shot on a pool table. The markings can be aligned along the length of the pool cue shaft, tape measure, floor, or floor accessory at predetermined distances to provide graphical symbols that can aid a player in calculating bank angle game parameters applicable to the game table being played on. The markings are designed to represent extensions of readily observable existing diamond markings typically located on the pool table side rails. Groups of the markings may be color coded and/or rotationally separated from each other to visibly display the appropriate group of markings applicable to a particular length of pool table being used.
US07744475B2
An assembly line for continuously manufacturing fasteners from a rod with a groove for receiving a wire for retaining the fasteners in a strip includes a receiver for receiving the rod. A die press is arranged to receive the rod from the receiver and includes a piercing member for piercing an aperture in each fastener and a cutting member for cutting each fastener from the rod. A tapping member provides ribs to an inner wall of the aperture formed in the fastener by the piercing member. An inspector inspects the internal rib formed into the inner wall of the aperture disposed in the fastener verifying exactness of the aperture and the rib. A wire inserter inserts the wire into the groove forming a strip of connected fasteners. The inserter receives the fasteners sequentially from the inspector after verification of the exactness of the aperture disposed in each fastener.
US07744470B2
A console for receiving an entertainment machine thereon is disclosed, which includes side- and rear walls that are defining a space for use as a foot rest space, which space is illuminated by associated lighting.
US07744457B2
In a virtual spinning reels type video slot machine, one or more of the possible symbols are special symbols. Examples of special symbols are wild cards and multipliers. If the special symbol cannot be utilized in the current game to grant an award to the player, the special symbol is carried over into the next game. When the player spins the reels for the next game, the special symbol(s) moves (e.g., randomly) to any position in the array as the reels appear to spin. When the reels stop, the special symbol(s) carried over from the previous game is applied to the current game to grant an award to the player. In another embodiment, special symbols are not extinguished after they are used, but may continue for any selected number of games.
US07744450B2
A particulate residue separator and a method for separating a particulate residue stream may include a plenum borne by a harvesting device, and have a first, intake end and a second, exhaust end; first and second particulate residue air streams which are formed by the harvesting device and which travel, at least in part, along the plenum and in a direction of the second, exhaust end; and a baffle assembly which is located in partially occluding relation relative to the plenum, and which substantially separates the first and second particulate residue air streams.
US07744445B2
A polishing apparatus has a polishing tape (21), a supply reel (22) for supplying the polishing tape (21) to a contact portion (30) at which the polishing tape (21) is brought into contact with a notch portion (11) of a substrate (10), and a take-up reel (23) for winding up the polishing tape (21) from the contact portion (30). The polishing apparatus also has a first guide portion (24) having as guide surface (241) for supplying the polishing tape (21) directly to the contact portion (30), and a second guide portion (25) having a guide surface for supplying the polishing tape (21) tot the take-up reel (23). The guide surface (241) of the first guide portion (24) and/or the guide surface of the second guide portion (25) has a shape corresponding to a shape of the notch portion (11) of the substrate (10).
US07744444B2
A centerless feed-through super-finishing device including: first and second feed-through rollers having first and second longitudinal outer surfaces; a metallic part having a generally cylindrical section, disposed between the outer surfaces, wherein a longitudinal axis of the cylindrical section is generally aligned with the outer surfaces, the cylindrical section having a metal working surface, the outer surfaces disposed in a near-parallel fashion; a rotating mechanism for rotation of the rollers along respective longitudinal axes thereof, and for effecting thereby a rotation of the cylindrical section, wherein an angle between the rollers is selected such that rotation of the rollers propels the cylindrical section between the rollers; and a lapping system including: a lapping tool having a polymeric contact surface disposed to contact the working surface, and a lapping mechanism, associated with the lapping tool, adapted to exert a load on the contact and working surfaces; and abrasive particles, freely disposed between the contact and working surfaces, wherein the contact surface and the lapping mechanism are adapted, and the abrasive particles are selected, such that the relative motion under the load effects lapping of the working surface, and wherein the surfaces of the rollers are covered with a polymeric material.
US07744441B2
The present disclosure is directed to interactive play sets that include play companions and play companion bases, and methods of guiding play companions to those play companion bases.
US07744438B2
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a light-emitting device. At least one of a light-emitting film forming step, a conductive film forming step and an insulating film forming step is carried out while holding a substrate in a manner that an angle subtended by a surface of the substrate and the direction of gravity is within a range of from 0 to 30°.
US07744436B2
A portable, roll-able or fold-able mat for supporting one or more individuals includes a non-inflatable, buoyant core. The core includes buoyancy sufficient to support the one or more individuals on a surface of the mat. The core includes at least one layer of foam and a non-foam layer connected with at least one surface of the layer of foam.
US07744433B2
A jet-propulsion personal watercraft includes an engine configured to generate a driving power for generating a propulsion force to propel the watercraft, an engine speed changing system configured to be able to change an engine speed of the engine, a determiner configured to determine whether or not to execute control for effectively steering the watercraft at start of deceleration, and an engine controller configured to control the engine speed changing system based on information received from the determiner. The engine controller is configured to, when the determiner determines that the control for effectively steering the watercraft should not be executed, control the engine speed changing system so that a decrease rate of the engine speed immediately after the determination is smaller than a decrease rate of the engine speed in a case where the determiner determines that the control for effectively steering the watercraft should not be executed.
US07744432B2
A squib connector connecting structure of an airbag inflator comprises a shunt bar connector and a retainer sequentially inserted into an insertion hole of an inflator, and a squib connector inserted into retainer. Further, a guide groove is formed at insertion hole of inflator and a body of squib connector is fully fitted into guide groove.
US07744430B1
An electrical contact includes a body extending along a longitudinal axis. The body includes a mating contact portion for electrical connection with an electronic module, an intermediate portion extending from the mating contact portion, and a mounting contact portion extending from the intermediate portion for electrical connection with a circuit board. The mounting contact portion extends from the intermediate portion at a bend. The mounting contact portion extends from the bend to an end portion. The body also includes a push surface formed when a carrier strip that initially connects the electrical contact to other electrical contacts is separated from the electrical contact. The push surface is offset from the bend along the longitudinal axis in a direction away from the mating contact portion.
US07744429B2
A connector connected with a circuit board includes a housing and a main body. The housing has an insert hole and an accommodating portion. The main body is fixed in the accommodating portion and has a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of pins arranged in the same direction. When a plug is plugged in the insert hole, a plugging direction of the plug is perpendicular to the circuit board.
US07744428B2
The present invention provides an audio signal switcher including a jack switcher and a plug switcher. The jack switcher includes an audio jack and a first USB port. The first USB port includes a first data pin, a second data pin, a power pin, and a ground pin. The audio jack includes a left track segment, a right track segment, and a ground segment, which are electrically isolated coupled to at least three pins of the first USB port. The plug switcher includes an audio plug and a second USB port. The second USB port also includes a data pin, a second data pin, a power pin, and a ground pin. The audio plug also includes a left track segment, a right track segment, and a ground segment, which are electrically isolated coupled to at least three pins of the second USB port according to a connection between the audio jack and the first USB port. The plug switcher can be connected to the jack switcher by a USB cable.
US07744424B2
An expansion connection module is disclosed for connecting to at least two coil connectors of an electromagnetic switching device, in particular a contactor. In at least one embodiment, the expansion connection module includes a housing; at least one fastening device for fixing the expansion connection module to the electromagnetic switching device or to a switchgear unit positioned adjacent to the electromagnetic switching device; at least two connection openings and at least two terminal blocks associated with the at least two connection openings for the purpose of connecting voltage supply lines; and at least two flexible leads for electrically connecting the terminal blocks of the expansion connection module to the at least two coil connectors of the electromagnetic switching device.
US07744422B2
The present invention relates to an electrical card connector comprising: a first connector with a plurality of first contacts; a second connector located at the lateral side of the first connector and with a plurality of second contacts; a PCB located at the bottom of the first connector and the second connector; a shell covering the first connector; a bottom plate mounted at the bottom of the shell; the first connector and the second connector are held on the same side of the PCB, a first receiving room is defined between the shell and the bottom plate, and the second receiving room is defined between the bottom plate and the PCB.
US07744420B2
A method including providing a connector having a plurality of signal contacts and non-signal contacts. A circuit trace element is provided to be disposed within the connector. The circuit trace element has a ground structure. The circuit trace element has at least two non-signal traces, a first one of the non-signal traces being electrically connected to the ground structure by a connection within the circuit trace element and a second one of the non-signal traces being connectable to the ground structure through a separate electrical component. The second non-signal trace may serve to power an active signal conditioning element within the second connector or, in the absence of the active signal conditioning element, may be connected to the ground structure through the separate electrical component.
US07744419B2
The present invention relates to an appliance connector device having an A plug contact, a B plug contact and a G plug contact, an A′ terminal, a B′ terminal and a G′ terminal, an electrically conducting filter jacket and a filter module, wherein the filter module has an A″ conductor, a B″ conductor and a G″ conductor, wherein the A contact is connected to the A′ terminal via the A″ conductor, wherein the B contact is connected to the B′ terminal via the B″ conductor, wherein the G contact is connected to the G′ terminal via the G″ conductor, wherein the G″ conductor of the filter module has a shielding plate extending in a cross-sectional plane of the filter jacket and wherein the filter module has capacitance elements on both sides of the shielding plate with conducting surfaces aligned parallel to the shielding plate to generate capacitances between the A″ conductor and the B″ conductor and between these conductors and the G″ conductor. With such a plug device, it is provided, in particular for improving the ground connection of the G″ conductor of the filter module, that the shielding plate is provided with a plurality of contact fingers at the edge along most of its circumference, these contact fingers being in contact with the filter jacket on the inside under elastic tension, and the filter element has a contact surface for establishing a ground connection.
US07744411B2
This connector part includes an insulating housing provided with a plurality of sockets for receiving a contact, which have a rear contact insertion end; a joint, which is provided with a plurality of cable passages corresponding to the sockets and which is placed in said housing behind the sockets; and a cable-guiding grid, which is fixed in the housing behind the joint, supporting the latter, said grid being provided with a plurality of cable passages corresponding to the sockets. It also includes a member for blocking the passages of the grid, which is fixed on said grid and is designed for being pierced selectively for the insertion of contacts into a predetermined group of sockets. The invention also relates to a piercing tool, which is designed for being used with one such connector part, and to a corresponding wiring method.
US07744405B2
In a current conducting terminal in contact with the positive electrode of a battery (A) and with the negative electrode of a battery (B) in order to conduct current between the two batteries (A), (B), a conductive polymer is placed between the positive electrode side electrode 1, which is in contact with the positive electrode of the battery (A), and the negative electrode side electrode (2), which is in contact with the negative electrode of the battery (B).
US07744400B2
An electrical cord locking connector joins electrical cords in series and presents a streamlined profile that minimizes interference in restricted spaces through which the cords must be fed to service a job site. The connector joins the ends of successive cords utilizing the outwardly projecting shoulder provided on the female socket of one cord in cooperation with a latch member on the male end of the connecting cord to lock the two cords together. A cord provided with a female end terminating in a replacement cord cap is provided with a socket presenting a generally circular face and an outwardly projecting shoulder at the face for engaging a releasable latch member of a mating plug, thereby preventing separation of the plug and socket under force until the latch member is disengaged.
US07744397B2
An electrical connector assembly comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts received in the insulation housing, a linking device located in a side of the insulation housing and a load plate linking with the linking device and covering the insulation housing. The load plate has two side arms and an opening between the side arms, an expanding width of the side arm is smaller than a half of a width of the opening, two adjacent side arms of two adjacent load plates in a same row are inserted into a same opening of an opposite load plate in the other row. The electrical connector assembly can save metal material and improve manufacture efficiency.
US07744389B1
Apparatus for making an electrical connection in a system requiring four electrical connections, including an electrical connection pad having an array of four types of electrically conductive contacts, all conductive contacts of a given type being electrically connected to all other conductive contacts of the same type; and an arrangement for providing electrical connections to conductive contacts on the pads, the arrangement having electrically conductive pins for making contact with the conductive contacts, wherein the types of electrically conductive contacts include two contacts for power and two separate contacts for signals. The pins may be arranged at corners of a first square and a second square, with the first square being rotated by forty-five degrees with respect to the second square, and a pin located at a common center of both squares. A method of operation of the apparatus, and various applications and configurations for its use.
US07744387B2
A portable USB device is described herein. According to one embodiment, a portable USB device includes a core unit having a USB plug connector coupled to one or more multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory devices and an MLC flash controller disposed therein. The device further includes a housing for enclosing the core unit. The device further includes a swivel cap having a top surface and a bottom surface by bending a flat panel into a U-shape block having an opening end, a close end, and two side-openings, where the top and bottom surfaces of the swivel cap include a rivet opening align with each other. The housing having the core unit therein is sandwiched by the swivel cap using a set of rivets through the rivet openings of the housings and the swivel cap. The core unit can be rotated with respect to the rivet set in and out of the swivel cap.
US07744383B2
Ground connections are made between first and second electrical connectors (1, 27). The first connector has a first sleeve (5) and has contact elements (23) mounted on the first sleeve. The second connector has a second sleeve (31) with slots (35) that receive the contact elements (23) when the connectors mate. Locating ribs (21) lie forward (F1) of the contact elements to align the slots in the second sleeve with the contact elements.
US07744382B2
An electrical connector (100) defining an inserting port (10) for connecting a corresponding plug, includes a first contact module and a second contact module fixed with each other. The first contact module includes a first housing (1) and a number of first contacts (31) insert molded in the first housing (1). The first housing (1) has a tongue (12) extending into the inserting port (10). Each first contact (31) has a first contact portion (311) extending to a free end of the tongue (12). The second contact module includes a second housing (2) and a number of second contacts (32) insert molded in the second housing (2). Each second contact (32) has a second contact portion (321) extending out of the second housing (2). The second contact portions (321) extend to the tongue and offsetting with the first contact portion (311) along a length direction of the tongue (12).
US07744381B2
An electronic device includes a printed circuit board, a connector mounted on the printed circuit board, a casing, and a sealing member. The casing houses the printed circuit board and a part of the connector in such a manner that the other part of the connector protrudes to an outside of the casing. The casing has a casing-side recess portion and a casing-side protruding portion that are connected each other to have a loop shape. The housing has a connector-side protruding portion and a connector-side recess portion that are connected to each other to have a loop shape. The connector-side protruding portion is fitted into the casing-side recess portion through the sealing member and the casing-side protruding portion is fitted into the connector-side recess portion through the sealing member.
US07744377B2
An electrical connector includes: an insulating housing having a plurality of passageways; a plurality of contacts retained in the passageways of the insulating housing, the contact having a retaining beam engaged with the insulating housing, a first contacting beam extending from the retaining beam, a second contacting beam opposite to the first contacting beam and a connecting portion connected with the first and second contacting beam. The second contacting beam and the connecting portion define an acute angle between 10° to 40° to make the contact in a low profile. The insulating housing has a blocking portion with a large thickness protruding into the passageway to downwardly block the second contacting beam from upwardly moving.
US07744374B2
In a sliding contact retaining device for a contacting device of a rotor, the rotor can have a plurality of slip rings, wherein the contacting device serves to retain the sliding contact retaining device, and wherein an electrical contact can be established between the slip rings of the rotor and sliding contacts of the sliding contact retaining device, wherein using the sliding contact retaining device, sliding contact retainers can be disposed in a first and a second serial arrangement parallel to a rotational axis of the rotor, and wherein adjacently arranged slip rings can be contacted alternately from a sliding contact of the first serial arrangement and a sliding contact of the second serial arrangement, wherein the sliding contact retaining device has at least one holding device for receiving at least two serial arrangements of sliding contact retainers.
US07744362B2
A temperature control system (100) includes a heating system (1), a cooling system (2) and a control unit (3). The heating system has a heated fluid. The heated fluid is heated by a solar energy for increasing the mold temperature. The cooling system has a cooled fluid. The cooled fluid cools for decreasing the mold temperature. The control unit controls the heating system and the cooling system to be opened or closed.
US07744355B2
An aquarium pump including a first unit comprising a magnet in an encasement disposed against the outside panel of an aquarium or other tank, and a second, submersible unit comprising a magnet in an encasement and a motor, an impeller, and buoyant material contained within a chamber disposed against the inside panel of an aquarium or other tank and opposing the first unit. The magnet included on the second, submersible unit includes a plurality of recesses into which are inserted synthetically coated ball bearings that are allowed rotate freely, with a portion of the ball bearings extending outside the magnet thus allowing the ball bearings to make contact with the aquarium or tank wall and allowing the second, submersible unit to be maneuvered into place without the necessity of violating the aquatic environment. The buoyant material allows the second, submersible unit to remain fixed in place solely utilizing magnetic attraction.
US07744353B2
A fluid pump has a cylinder supporting a plunger and a pump housing formed with dissimilar metals. A pressing mechanism presses the cylinder and the pump housing relative to each other so that a pressurizing chamber is sealed through a pressing surface between the pump housing and the cylinder. The number of seal points can be reduce, and a reduction in reliability can be eliminated while realizing a reduction in weight of the pump housing and a reduction in cost due to increase in cutting capability, by using a soft material such as an aluminum alloy for the pump housing.
US07744349B1
In the absence of centrifugal force produced during rotation of helicopter blades, damage may result if a blade is rotated upward by wind or other forces. Lock units removably appended between the rotor assembly and each blade pitch housing attached to a helicopter blade are usable to restrict upward rotation. A base portion of a lock unit may be configured to be held in position by a removable pin device. An extendible device extending from the base portion to a surface of a blade pitch housing can be adjusted to press the base portion back against a surface of the rotor assembly. The lock unit thereby restricts these surfaces of the blade pitch housing and rotor assembly from moving closer to each other and thereby restricts upward rotation of the blade pitch housing and its attached helicopter blade. The lock units are readily removable in preparation for returning a helicopter to active use.
US07744348B2
A component, especially a hot gas component of a turbomachine, has at least one passage (7, 7′), especially a cooling passage, which is embedded in an outer wall (5) of the component (1) of the turbomachine and basically extends parallel to the surface (6) of the component (1). The component (1) has a basic body (8) and at least one coating (9) which is applied to the basic body on the outside, and the passage (7, 7′) on one hand is formed by a cavity which is formed in the basic body (8), and on the other hand is closed off towards the surface (6) of the component (1) by the coating (9).
US07744345B1
A vertical axis wind turbine provides a rotor assembly which rotates on bearing assemblies affixed to a rotor shaft supported by a base, the rotor assembly having vertical blades mounted between top and bottom plates, and power takeoff means to provide power by direct mechanical linkage or to drive an electrical generator. The rotor assembly is partially enclosed by a housing. Attached to the side of the housing is a wind vane. Attached to the bottom side of the housing are rollers. The wind vane, in combination with the rollers, act to rotate the housing to a position that will permit the wind to act upon the exposed vertical blades.
US07744340B2
The linear fan comprises blades that are fixed onto a flexible transmission engaging leading and follower pulleys. Each blade has cylindrical shanks to facilitate swivel fixation. The veer of the blades is provided with directive disks.
US07744339B2
The present invention allows for the exploitation and transformation of eolic energy into mechanical or electric energy by means of coupling it to a fixed generator. The tower is a vertical structure that houses a vertical axis rotor and makes better use of the wind's thrust by producing a funnel and a tunnel effect over the rotor. This arrangement makes possible to obtain energy independently from the wind's direction and to use a greater range of wind intensities, avoiding stops due to great winds by incorporating a duly synchronized gate system that allows stopping, maintaining and regulating the wind-driven rotor.
US07744337B2
The invention relates to a conveyor unit constituting a separating and feed mechanism (33), in particular for sheet-shaped workpieces, in particular sheets (3) to be printed, with a lifting mechanism (2) for transporting the sheet (3) vertically and a conveyor track with conveyor means (51, 52) for transporting the sheet (3) horizontally. This being the case, the conveying means (51, 52) are displaceable in a guide system between an operating position for feeding the sheet (3) to a production unit (36), in particular a printing machine (37), and a non-operating position to enable the sheet (3) to be lifted unhindered from a sheet stack (39).
US07744335B1
A pallet jack with a pallet engaging fork having separate and independently movable first and second fork arms connected to independently controlled and operable first and second fork arm elevating means, for lifting a pallet loaded with a stack of items so that when the stack of items leans and is out of balance one fork arm can be elevated higher than the other to compensate and restore balance to the stack of items.
US07744334B2
The present invention relates to a semi-trailer, comprising a gooseneck chassis and a container lifting device with at least one crane part displaceable along the chassis. The chassis comprises frame portions which are vertically displaced relative to each other, where the available vertical space for driving the displaceable crane part is limited particularly in the transition between said frame portions. The displacement of the crane part on one frame portion of the chassis takes place by means of a linearly operating, longitudinally variable elongate actuator, which both in the retracted and in the extended state is positioned substantially within the height limits of the chassis and has a substantially constant angle to the chassis. A vertically articulated link arm is at one end connected to a driving part of the actuator and at the other end articulated to said displaceable crane part.
US07744329B2
A release mechanism for use with an explosives disposal robot having an elongated boom includes a latch member secured to an outer end of the boom, the latch member having a fixed portion and movable latch or lever members. A flexible strap extends between the lever members, with one end being attached to one of the lever members and the other end being releasably attached to the other lever member. When the other lever member is moved to a release position the other end of the strap falls from the other lever member so as to release, for example, a firing line cradled in the strap. The one lever member can be actuated by way of a remote controlled solenoid connected thereto via a flexible cable or by way of an elastic member connected thereto. The elastic member is particularly useful when the elongated boom is telescopic in nature, as the latch member will be secured to one of the boom members and one end of the elastic member will be connected to another of the boom members with the other end of the elastic member being connected to the one lever member. When there is telescopic extension movement between the boom members the elastic member will act on the one lever member to cause it to move so as to release the strap from the other lever member.
US07744328B2
An apparatus for aligning a tray and tray holder, including a vertically positioned tray formed with coupling holes and a tray holder having coupling arms to couple with the coupling holes, and to prevent the bending of the tray and the tray holder. The tray includes a substrate frame that can receive a substrate, and the tray holder is coupled with a drive shaft for transferring the tray in the vertical position to a mask for vapor deposition. One end of a plurality of guide shafts securely contacts the rear side of the tray holder to prevent bending of the tray holder. The tray can have magnetic attaching members and the tray holder can have supporting members corresponding to the attaching members. The supporting members can magnetically couple with the attaching members in a position determined by corresponding grooves or protrusions to align the tray and tray holder.
US07744327B2
The invention relates to a tubular handling apparatus for moving tubulars between a substantially horizontal transfer station and a second transfer station. The apparatus comprises a base and a boom, rotatable with respect to the base between a lowered position and a raised position by boom rotation drive means in a boom rotation direction around a horizontal boom rotation axis. Furthermore, the apparatus comprises a gripper, rotatably attached to the boom and adapted for gripping the tubular, which gripper is rotatable about a gripper rotation axis by a gripper rotation drive means in a gripper rotation direction. According to the invention, the gripper rotation axis is parallel to and spaced from the horizontal boom rotation axis and in that the gripper rotation drive means provide a gripper rotation direction opposite to the boom rotation direction.
US07744323B2
A retractable nail includes a head portion having a striking surface and a slot through the striking face. The slot is configured for receiving a removal tool. The nail includes a piercing part the head portion and the piercing part. A longitudinal main body is positioned between the longitudinal main body includes a front side, rear side and two lateral sides. The front and rear sides include respective front and rear helical thread segments formed along a longitudinal length of the main body. The threads are filled or covered with a plastic material, epoxy, glue, composite or the like to prevent damage to the helically threads when the device is hammered or bored with a pneumatically or electrically powered nail gun into a solid material.
US07744322B2
A nut having a nut body, a spring case, a washer, and a nut body urging spring. The nut body has received in it at least three or more nut segments and a nut segment urging spring, where the nut segments are, when rotated in the tightening direction after a bolt is inserted into the nut segments, screwed on to the thread of the bolt inserted. The spring case is attached at its upper end to the outer circumferential surface other than the upper part of the nut body so that the spring case is rotatable together with the nut body. The washer is rotatably attached to the lower part of the spring case. The urging spring is installed such that its one end received in the spring case is connected to the spring case or to the nut body and the other end to the washer, so that the urging spring can constantly urge the nut body in the tightening direction when the nut body is screwed on the bolt. When the nut is fitted on the bolt and rotated in the tightening direction, at least the three or more nut segments are screwed on to the thread of the bolt, causing the nut body in which the nut segments are received to be constantly urged in the tightening direction, which eliminates play of the nut segments to keep the nut and the bolt in a state where they are reliably screwed to each other.
US07744316B2
A lift bracket system for lifting a building structure such as a foundation and the like comprising a lift plate having a top surface and a bottom surface, the top surface for insertion under the building structure; a generally cylindrical housing affixed to the lift plate and extending perpendicularly from the top surface and the bottom surface of the lift plate, the housing defining a generally circular opening through the lift plate, the opening being disposed away from the center of the lift plate; and at least one gusset for supporting the lift plate, the gusset having a first end and a second end, the gusset disposed beneath the lift plate, wherein the first end of the gusset is attached to the bottom surface of the lift plate and the second end of the gusset is attached to the housing.
US07744305B2
The present invention relates to a manhole (10) with a locking device, and more particular to a manhole with a locking device, which comprises a manhole frame (20) having a plurality of insertion slots (24) inwardly protruded from an inner circumferential surface thereof, each insertion slot (24) having a latching protrusion (26) formed in such a manner that a top surface of the insertion slots (24) is partially opened; a bearing member (30) having a female screw portion formed on the center thereof and a plurality of fastening pieces (36) radially formed outwardly from the outer circumferential edge thereof, so that the bearing member (30) is detachably fastened to the manhole frame (20); and a manhole cover (40) having a through-hole (41) centrally formed therein so that an upper portion of the vertical screw rod (42) is rotatably inserted into the through-hole (41), the vertical screw rod (42) having a male screw portion (45) formed on the lower portion thereof so as to be threadably fastened to the female screw portion (35) of the bearing member, a head portion (43) formed on the upper portion thereof so as to abut against an upside surface of the manhole cover (40), and a support portion (44) formed on the upper portion thereof so as to abut against an underside of the manhole cover (40), so that the manhole cover (40) is closed by rotating the head portion (40) of the vertical screw rod (42). Thus, in a case of the manhole (10) mounted on a vehicle road, the manhole cover (40) is prevented from being separated from the manhole frame (20) without permission by a vehicle running at a high speed as well as from frictional noise generated between the manhole cover (40) and the manhole frame (20). Further, in a case of the manhole (10) mounted on the waterside of a river, the manhole (10) maintains its watertightness and is readily opened and closed by an operator.
US07744295B2
To provide an aperture mechanism and an optical apparatus which are reduced in size. The aperture mechanism comprising: a driving member to be driven in accordance with an aperture operation; an aperture member having an aperture to be driven by the driving member; a first engagement section connected to one of the driving member and the aperture member; a second engagement section connected to another one of the driving member and the aperture member and engaged with the first engagement section; and a biasing member connected to at least one of the driving member and the aperture member to provide a bias in a direction in which the first engagement section and the second engagement section are facing to each other.
US07744291B2
An operational optical transceiver configured to self-validate a boot image loaded from the persistent memory early in the boot process. The optical transceiver includes a persistent memory, a controller, and a system memory. The controller initializes the boot process and begins to load information from the persistent memory to the system memory. Next, the controller detects early in the boot process boot image verification data in the information being sent to the system memory. The controller then determines if the boot image verification data has an expected value. If the verification data includes the expected value, the controller continues the boot process. If the verification data does not include the expected value, the controller will retry the boot process a predetermined number of times and will enter a default operational state if the expected value is not detected while retrying the boot process the predetermined number of times.
US07744283B2
A bearing for alternators and a bearing for pulleys for reducing hydrogen embrittlement or cracking is used when the bearing is in an environment having a severe condition, such as, when hydrogen is generated from grease or the like. The bearing includes a rolling element, an inner ring and an outer ring, and at least one of the rolling element, where the inner and outer rings have a nitrogen enriched layer containing austenite crystal grains having a grain size number exceeding 10.
US07744280B2
According to the present invention, there is provided a wasp repellent device comprising a suspension member operatively connected to a closed end of a nest mimic The nest mimic has a skirt extending from the closed end of the nest mimic to a mouth of the nest mimic, with a drawstring for contracting the mouth of the nest mimic to give the nest mimic the approximate shape of slightly tapered inverted cone. The exterior of the nest mimic is provided with irregular and uneven striated pattern and, in use, the nest mimic imitates the appearance of a natural wasp nest.
US07744277B2
An X-ray diagnostic apparatus includes a floor rotating arm which is installed at one end on a floor surface so as to be rotatable around a first rotation axis, a C-arm which is mounted on the other end of the floor rotating arm so as to be rotatable around a second rotation axis, an X-ray tube which is mounted on one end of the C-arm, an X-ray detector which is mounted on the other end of the C-arm, and a bed which has a table top provided to be movable along a longitudinal axis. The bed is placed such that the longitudinal axis is spaced apart from the first rotation axis by a predetermined distance.
US07744276B2
There are a number of sensors (2, 22) such as thermocouples which can provide a putative measurand signal which is within a predicted range for such signals whilst the sensor is incorrectly operating, such as as due to an open circuit. Techniques and processes are available to determine by interrogation sensor operational validity, but these can distort the measurand signal if correct. By time division multiplex techniques the present arrangement takes a putative measurand signal from a sensor (2, 22) in order that either within the same time division or more normally a separate time division, an interrogation of the sensor is performed in order to determine accuracy and therefore validity of the sensor 22. In such circumstances, the putative measurand signal from the sensor 22 is dynamically verified by the interrogator 23 to allow greater confidence with respect to interpretation, if an invalid sensor operation is determined, then a pre-defined value for that sensor failure can be output for the data signal.
US07744272B2
A portable apparatus has a push button mounted on a casing for operating a contact inside the casing. The push button is axially slidable in a pipe fixed in a through-hole extending through the casing. A coil spring encircles the pipe and is interposed between a flange of the pipe and a head of the push button to urge the push button outwardly. A packing ring for sealing the space between the pipe and push button is attached to either the pipe or the push button in the region where the coil spring encircles the pipe. Since the coil spring overlaps the packing ring, the axial length of the pipe and push button can be shortened to reduce the size of the casing.
US07744266B2
Socket arrangements for releasably mounting LEDs and light fixtures or assemblies employing such sockets are described. The socket arrangements facilitate the replacement of LEDs to replace an original LED with a brighter replacement, to change the color of the LED, to replace a single LED with a multiple chip LED, to replace a damaged or burned out LED with a new one, or the like. In further assemblies with plural LEDs, the use of ready release sockets facilitates selective replacement of an LED or LEDs and greatly enhances the flexibility of such units.
US07744265B2
A backlight assembly that does not use a bottom chassis is presented. The absence of bottom chassis reduces manufacturing cost, simplifies the assembly process, and facilitates heat dissipation. The backlight assembly includes a lamp, a light guide plate, a mold frame and a securing mold. The lamp unit includes a lamp that generates light and a lamp cover that partially encloses the lamp. The light guide plate receives the light from the lamp unit and guides the light toward the front of the backlight assembly. The mold frame receives the lamp unit and the light guide plate through an open portion. The securing mold is coupled to the lamp unit and combines with the mold frame to secure the first lamp unit. The backlight assembly relies on one mold frame to hold its components together.
US07744264B2
An exemplary semiconductor solid-state light-source module includes a printed circuit board, at least one semiconductor solid state light source mounted on the printed circuit board and a light guide plate optically coupled to the semiconductor solid state light source. The printed circuit board includes a protrusion and a recess. The protrusion is configured for engaging with a recess of the printed circuit board of another similar semiconductor solid-state light-source module.
US07744262B2
An exemplary backlight module includes a light guide plate, and a light source positioned for illuminating the light guide plate. The light source includes a plurality of LED units, and each LED unit includes a red LED, two green LEDs, and a blue LED. Each red, green, and blue LED has a center. In each LED unit, the centers of the red LED and the blue LED are at two opposite sides respectively of an imaginary line defined between the centers of the green LEDs.
US07744252B2
A lighted heat dissipating panel made of sustainable renewable materials such as recycled aluminum and soy-based urethane, for use in architectural or shelving applications. The panel may be flat, rectangular, curvilinear, or of varying cross section so as to include any three-dimensional shape as desired. Lightweight materials such as carbon fiber, fiberglass, resin, soy-based urethane, and similar materials are used in combination with thermally conductive structural materials, such as expanded aluminum honeycomb, preferably fabricated from recycled aluminum, to provide a stiff, lightweight, machinable, moldable, and thermally conductive panel for use with lighting elements. Lighting elements are housed within the panel, providing illumination as desired. Heat is transferred from the lighting elements through the panel to the supporting structure and radiated from the panel itself, providing cooling effect for the lighting elements, reducing the temperature in the immediate vicinity of the lighting elements and providing for longer lighting element life.
US07744251B2
An LED lamp includes a lamp holder, a heat sink, a plurality of LED modules, a cover, an envelope and a sealing cushion. The lamp holder has a connecting portion at a bottom thereof adapted for engaging with a lamp socket to fix the LED lamp in position. The heat sink is disposed on the lamp holder. The LED modules are attached to a circumference of the heat sink. The cover is coupled to a top of the heat sink. The envelope encloses the heat sink and the LED modules therein and has a lower end engaging with the lamp holder and an upper end engaging with the cover. The sealing cushion is provided between at least one of the combinations of the lamp holder and the envelope, and of the cover and the envelope to prevent an entry of foreign matter.
US07744250B2
An LED lamp includes a heat sink (10), a plurality of heat pipes (20) mounted on outer sidewalls (120) of the heat sink, and a plurality of LED modules (30) attached on the outer sidewalls of the heat sink with a portion of each LED module contacting a corresponding heat pipe directly. A plurality of fins (14) extend inwardly from an inner wall of the heat sink in a manner such that a through hole (16) is enclosed by the fins, thereby providing an airflow passage axially through the heat sink. By the use of the heat pipes, heat generated by the LED modules can be transferred to the heat sink evenly, whereby the heat can be dispersed to ambient air efficiently and rapidly.
US07744249B2
The present invention provides a high-pressure discharge lamp having a long life.A high-pressure discharge lamp (100) comprises a light emitting part (4); first and second sealing parts (6, 8); first and second electrodes (10, 11); a first conductive lead (21) wound around the first sealing part; a first lead wire (22) electrically connecting the first conductive lead to the first electrode; a second conductive lead (25) wound around the second sealing part; and a second lead wire (26) connecting the second conductive lead to the first electrode. The second lead wire detours the light emitting part to avoid being affected by heat.After the lamp is turned off, the temperature of base parts of the electrodes immediately falls, and much mercury can be collected in the vicinities of the base parts.
US07744245B2
An exemplary prism sheet includes a transparent main body. The main body includes a first surface, a second surface and a plurality of conical frustum micro-depressions and a plurality of triangular pyramidal micro-depressions. The first surface and the second surface are on opposite sides of the main body. The conical frustum micro-depressions are formed in the first surface and the triangular pyramidal micro-depressions are formed in the second surfaces. A backlight module using the present prism sheet is also provided.
US07744238B2
The present invention relates to an input device having a multi-stage indicating lamp. The input device includes a case and an electronic lighting module. The electronic lighting module includes a printed circuit board, a first electronic lighting element, a second electronic lighting element, a light guide post member, a light-shielding member, a lamp cover and a button. By means of the light guide post member and the light-shielding member, the possibility of scattering the light beams is reduced.
US07744234B2
A backlight assembly is suitable for preventing generation of foreign materials. The backlight assembly comprises a reflector on a bottom cover, a set of optical sheets supported by the bottom cover, stoppers on opposite edges of the bottom cover to prevent movement of the optical sheet set, and supports extending from the reflector at least partially contacting inner sides of the first stoppers.
US07744229B2
In some embodiments of outer rear-view mirrors, a mirror head (12) and a mirror base (11) are joined together in an articulated manner by a hinge (15, 16). The mirror head (12) can pivot out of a normal operational position in or against the travelling direction (10) and be fixed in the position swivelled against the travelling direction (10). For the outer rear-view mirror to be pivotable out of its normal operational position in or against the travelling direction (10), the intermediate joint (30) has two parallel joint axes arranged between the mirror base and the mirror head, and a U-shaped projection (37). The outer rear-view mirror is advantageously used in motor vehicles.
US07744225B2
In a light source apparatus, a reflector has an inner reflective surface complementary to a part of the outer surface of an ellipsoid with a pair of focal points. The surface part has a first one of the pair of focal points therewithin. An array of light emitting elements is disposed at the position of the first focal point within the reflective surface. Thus, light rays emitted by the array of light emitting elements are reflected by the inner surface of the reflector so as to be focused at the other of the pair of focal points.
US07744221B2
A method of performing an OCT image scan is presented. Other images are taken and a template is formed to correct the OCT images, for example, for eye motion, blood vessel placement, and center offset. In some embodiments, video images are taken simultaneously with the OCT images and utilized to correct the OCT images. In some embodiments, a template OCT image is formed prior to acquisition of the OCT images and the template OCT image is utilized as a template from which to correct all of the OCT images.
US07744219B2
A binocular indirect opthalmoscope assembly and fixation light system is disclosed for easily directing the patient's line of sight in a direction that places the optic nerve and surrounding vessels in the center of the examiner's view. The fixation system includes two fixation light assemblies that may be mounted onto the binocular indirect opthalmoscope assembly and activated by a motion sensor.
US07744218B1
A system and pupil position acquisition method and a device containing computer software for executing the same are provided. The system includes a shooting module, a scanning module, a signal transformation module, and a signal analysis module. The shooting module shoots an eyeball image using an image shooting device, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. The scanning module scans the eyeball image to acquire an eyeball signal. The signal transformation module performs a wavelet transform on the eyeball signal. The signal analysis module analyzes the eyeball signal after the wavelet transform to acquire a signal interval, and analyzes and acquires a position of a pupil with respect to the eyeball image according to the signal interval.
US07744217B2
The disclosure relates to a method for determining an eyeglass prescription for a vision defect of an eye. In certain embodiments, the method includes optimizing a caustic in the area of the retina of the eye for a light ray passing through the eyeglass prescription and the eye. The disclosure further relates to an apparatus that is suitable for carrying out the method.
US07744214B2
An electro-active spectacle lens is disclosed. The disclosed lens includes a first lens optic. The disclosed lens also includes a first electro-active zone positioned in a cooperative relationship with the first lens optic. In certain embodiments, the electro-active lens includes a range finder positioned in a cooperative relationship with the electro-active lens.
US07744210B2
A step-wise medium transport system is provided having high accuracy for transporting recording media in a digital printer, the medium is transported using accurately moving tables to which the medium is attached during printing steps the working area of the medium, on which the printing is done by the printer, is at all times fully supported by a static table avoiding disturbances.
US07744209B2
In an image forming apparatus, a nip roller group for pressing a face of a conveyance belt on which a recording medium is held includes a pair of first end pressing parts which are arranged in the width direction of the conveyance belt at a distance corresponding to the recording medium having a predetermined size, and a first center pressing part which is arranged between the pair of first end pressing parts. Herein, a pressing force of the first center pressing part is set to be smaller than pressing forces of the first end pressing parts.
US07744208B2
A printer has a chassis with a pair of guide rails. A retractable print media tray assembly is arranged on the guide rails in a displaceable manner. At least one print engine is arranged on the chassis and has an ink ejecting printhead assembly configured to eject ink onto an associated ink transfer roller. At least one cleaning station is engaged with a respective ink transfer roller and configured to clean residual ink from the transfer roller, subsequent to transfer of ink from the transfer roller onto the print media.
US07744197B2
A method for manufacturing an inkjet recording head includes an ejecting step, a measuring step, dividing step and applying step. The ejecting step ejects test ink droplets and print ink droplets from nozzles. The measuring step measures ejection results of the test ink droplets. The dividing step divides a plurality of nozzles into a plurality of groups based on the ejection results. The applying step applies a group-based polarizing voltage determined for each group to the piezoelectric elements belonging to a corresponding group to polarize the piezoelectric elements so that ejection results of the print ink droplets fall in a predetermined range.
US07744193B2
The present invention relates to an inkjet print head (1) comprising at least one nozzle chamber (2), having a nozzle aperture (3) defined in one wall thereof for the ejection of printing fluid out of said aperture (3), and a printing fluid supply channel interconnected with said nozzle chamber (2). A printing fluid droplet tail release guide arrangement (4) is arranged at a predetermined position at an edge of a circumference of said aperture (3). The present invention further relates to a method for increasing droplet placement accuracy in an inkjet print head having at least one nozzle chamber with a nozzle aperture defined in one wall thereof for the ejection of printing fluid out of said aperture. The method comprises the step of providing a printing fluid droplet tail release guide arrangement at a predetermined position at an edge of a circumference of said aperture.
US07744192B2
A nozzle plate for use with a spray apparatus and a fabrication method thereof are provided. The nozzle plate has a plurality of orifices each including an inlet end and an outlet end. The inlet end and the outlet end have a geometrical structure with mirror symmetry and a centroid with positional deviation from a pattern center. The pattern center is the center of an imaginary circle circumscribed about the geometrical structure. The geometrical structure controls the propagation direction of liquid spray, expands the nebulizing range per unit density of orifices, enables product miniaturization, and saves energy.
US07744191B2
A printhead module assembly includes a printhead integrated circuit (IC) assembly. The printhead IC assembly includes a plurality of ink ejection nozzles arranged to form staggered rows. The printhead IC assembly defines a plurality of ink channels for supplying ink to the ink ejection nozzles. A flexible printed circuit board (PCB) is electrically connected to supply both power and data to the IC assembly. A support sheet defines a plurality of ink holes. The IC assembly is bonded to the support sheet so that the ink channels are aligned with the ink holes.
US07744189B2
A controller of a liquid ejecting apparatus forms first inspection patterns on a medium in a head moving direction while moving a liquid ejecting head in a forward direction. Corresponding second inspection patterns are formed on the medium in the head moving direction while moving the liquid ejecting head in a backward direction. When forming the patterns, the controller sets a voltage of a drive pulse corresponding to a preferable combination of the first and second inspection patterns, as a normally-used voltage used for normal forming. The controller differentiates the voltages of the drive pulses used for forming the inspection pattern for every combination of the first and second inspection patterns. The second inspection patterns correspond to the first inspection patterns at timings when positions of the second inspection patterns in the head moving direction are theoretically aligned with the positions of the first inspection patterns.
US07744188B2
A printer has a print head check unit that performs an ink ejection check to confirm whether or not ink is being ejected normally from nozzles, based on induced voltage generated when charged ink droplets are ejected onto a check area. Upon receipt of a print instruction (S100), the printer sets a flag F to 1 so as to start an ink ejection check and starts a paper feed process (S110). When the processes has been terminated (S120, S130), the printer starts printing. Accordingly, as an ink ejection check takes place concurrently with the paper feed process, the overall time required for the processes can be reduced, in comparison with any method in which the processes are executed separately. In this way, because of efficient implementation, the overall time required for the processes of the ejection check of the print recording liquid and an image forming process can be reduced. In addition, the ink ejection check may be performed in parallel with or partly overlapping with a process of receiving print data, a process of conversion into print data, a process of ejecting paper after printing, or a flashing process, etc.
US07744181B2
Provided is a printer controller for a pagewidth printer having a printhead configured to print according to print quality information. The printer has a paper transport mechanism for transporting a sheet of paper along a media path through the printer. The controller includes a processor having an address, data and control bus, an expander unit and a decoder unit each coupled to the bus and configured to decompress a bi-level black layer and a continuous tone (contone) layer of a page to be printed. The controller also includes a replaceable ink cartridge arranged in the media path and having a first integrated circuit (IC) interfaced with the processor, the first IC containing the print quality information. Also included is a second IC interfaced to the processor. The processor is configured to count a number of drops of ink printed by the printhead, to update a remaining drop count of the ink cartridge using the counted drops printed and to write an updated remaining drop count to the second IC each time a page has been printed. The processor is also configured to control the paper transport mechanism during printing.
US07744177B2
A mounting apparatus is configured for mounting a slide rail to a bracket. The bracket includes a flange with a plurality of mounting holes defined therein. A plurality of mounting rods is arranged on the slide rail for engaging in the corresponding mounting holes of the flange. The mounting apparatus includes a resisting member fixed to the slide rail, and an operating member pivotably attached to the resisting member. The resisting member includes a resisting portion configured for engaging with the flange. The operating member is capable of urging the resisting portion of the resisting member away from the flange.
US07744176B2
A telescopic drawer slide including first, second and third drawer slides, each having a longitudinal length with a web and arcuate arms along the longitudinal margins of the web, the second drawer slide being nested within the arcuate arms of the first drawer slide, and the third drawer slide being nested within the arcuate arms of the second drawer slide. There is a lock between the second drawer slide and the first drawer slide, the lock having a biased tab rotatably coupled to the second drawer slide and an emboss on the first drawer slide. The tab moves into a portion of the emboss upon movement over the emboss, thereby preventing the second drawer slide from closing relative to the third drawer slide.
US07744174B2
A latch mechanism is provided for retaining a slide rail assembly, which includes first and second slide rails. The latch mechanism includes a first latch member pivotably attached to the second slide rail, and a second latch member movably attached to the second slide rail. The first latch member includes a driving portion, an operating portion, and a first stop portion. The second latch member includes a second stop portion and a driven portion. A protrusion extends from the first slide rail capable of being blocked between the first and second stop portion to confine the second slide rail relative to the first slide rail. The operating portion is capable of being pressed to bias the first latch member, such that the driving portion drives the driven portion to bias the second latch member to thereby release the protrusion of the first slide rail from the first and second stop portions.
US07744171B2
This new accessory chest is a four piece sectioned assembly storage chest that will neatly store from top to bottom and throughout the chest, a large or small amount of separated variety of accessory selections of dressing attire that will complement the clothing to be worn and to use as a storage for these accessories until ready to use. A grooming area will be available with a midsection fold down doll valet that also swivels to the other side for apparel dressing, rolls out and lock whereby a storage seat is available there to finalize the dress by putting on the footwear. Pre-dressing and having the accessory attire in one location should have conserved time and shows a ‘preview of how you want to coordinate the apparel/accessories for the occasion’. The suggested variety includes, but not exclusive to: shoes, boots, socks/stockings, sneakers, purses/shoulder bags, belts, scarves/ties, house slippers, hats/caps, gloves, glasses/shades, jewelry variety and even extra hair plus more . . . The versatility and flexibility variety of this chest is probably all in a class by itself.
