US07764216B2

In an analog-to-digital converter, when a capacitive element with a small capacitance is used in order to reduce power consumption, the characteristics of the analog-to-digital converter deteriorate due to the variation in the specific accuracy. Further, the method of reducing the variation with the specific accuracy causes an increase in the size of the circuit and power consumption. An analog-to-digital converter includes an analog core unit having at least one capacitive element. The capacitive element includes a capacitive bank having plural capacitive element units having substantially the same capacitance value, and the capacitive bank is configured to select one capacitive element unit from the plural capacitive element units with substantially equal probability.
US07764215B2

An Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) has a Successive-Approximation-Register (SAR) driving a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that generates an analog voltage compared to an input voltage by a series of stages. The last stage feeds a compare signal to the SAR. Each stage has a dual-input differential amplifier that operates as a unity gain op amp during an auto-zeroing phase and as a high-speed low-gain amplifier during an amplifying phase. The dual-input differential amplifier has two pairs of differential inputs. A secondary pair has an offset-storing capacitor across it, and connects to the output pair through feedback switches during auto-zeroing. A primary pair connects to stage inputs through input switches during the amplifying phase. Since two pairs of differential inputs are provided to the dual-input differential amplifier, the offset capacitor is completely isolated from the input pair. The current sink in the dual-input differential amplifier is adjusted higher during the amplifying period.
US07764214B2

A sub-A-D converter circuit converts a sampled analog signal into a digital signal of a predetermined number of bits. a D-A converter circuit converts the digital signal converted by the sub-A-D converter circuit into an analog signal to generate a residual signal to be processed by a subsequent conversion processing where the analog signal is to be removed from an analog signal to be sampled by the sub-A-D converter circuit. The D-A converter circuit is of a capacitor array type, and an offset compensation voltage used to compensate for at least part of an offset voltage added to the analog signal sampled by the sub-A-D converter circuit is supplied to at least one capacitor in the capacitor array.
US07764209B2

A CPU outputs digital data from a built-in RAM to a buffer in response to a request from the buffer. The buffer has a FIFO configured of a plurality of stages, each stage of the FIFO is capable of storing one unit (10 bits) of digital data, the buffer as a whole is capable of storing digital data in number of units equivalent to the number of configured stages. A register captures digital data stored inside the buffer by each unit in synchronous with an output control clock. The digital data stored in the register is outputted to a parallel DAC as data for D/A conversion. A WR signal output timer generates a writing control signal having one shot pulse of “L” in synchronous with the output control clock.
US07764208B2

A process and apparatus for generating an output signal whose frequency varies according to a modulation scheme, the process including the steps of providing a dither generator for receiving a first input signal representative of a clock frequency and for generating, according to the modulation scheme, a dithered output signal representative of the first signal at a dithered frequency; providing a DSP for receiving the following input signals: the signal at the dithered frequency and a second signal representative of a clock frequency, the DSP adapted to generate a processed output signal representative of the maximum frequency of the second signal; wherein the modulation scheme has a periodic ultrasonic modulating wave.
US07764199B2

The present invention provides a multifunctional input device. The input device includes a functional mode which defines the mode of operation of the input device. Each functional mode includes one or more domain levels with each domain level containing one or more domain-level values. Each domain level-value within each functional mode is assigned to one of a plurality of programmable input keys. The domain-level value assigned to each programmable input key controls the function of that programmable input key within a given functionality and domain level. The present invention also includes a display to indicate the domain-level value associated with each of the programmable input keys within a given functionality.
US07764193B2

A traffic regulation system (100) includes a first traffic light (110) for controlling traffic in a first direction, a second traffic light (120) for controlling traffic in a second direction intersecting the first direction, an infrared light detector (130) for receiving an infrared light signal transmitted from a pedestrian proceeding in the second direction on a pedestrian crossing and producing a corresponding feedback signal associated with the infrared light signal, and a control unit (160) for receiving the feedback signal from the infrared light detector and instructing the first traffic light and the second traffic light to signal the pedestrian to proceed in the second direction.
US07764183B2

Visual and audio communication interface for a perishable integrity indicator system which includes a RFID transponder and perishable integrity sensor. A perishable integrity indicator system includes a RFID transponder and a perishable integrity sensor. The RFID transponder includes a RF integrated circuit coupled with an antenna. The sensor monitors the time and temperature of the perishable. A freshness determining module receives time- and temperature-dependent measurement data from the perishable integrity sensor and determines a current freshness status. A communications interface to the RFID transponder permits a RFID reader to retrieve current freshness status data corresponding to the freshness status determined by the freshness determining module. The system further includes a power management module. The visual and audio communication interface provides a communications means for sending sensor alerts, sensor setup and history as either a supplement to the RF communication or as an alternative to RF when RF is either not available or not able to communicate.
US07764172B1

An optical receiving and data communications system for sensing materials of interest (e.g., drugs and/or explosives) in transportation systems such as buses, trucks, cars, trains, aircraft, and ships, and checkpoints such as building entrances, roadblocks, passenger boarding areas, and the like. The system can be included in the transportation system, and includes a fiber optic frontend that focuses and/or concentrates light reflected from a target into the fiber filament for communication to an optical sensor. When the target is illuminated at a predetermined wavelength, a vapor plume and/or particulate matter associated therewith is energized such that change information is caused to occur and be received into the fiber system. The change information is communicated over a fiber communications network to a remote processing and analysis system for processing and analysis to determine its chemical components.
US07764170B2

An emergency alarm system is provided, including: a mobile communication terminal to measure and transmit a user's bio signal and to output sound data with a bell sound when an emergency alarm signal is received from a health care server; and a health care server to determine from the bio signal whether or not the user is in an emergency, and to transmit an emergency alarm signal to the mobile communication terminal when the user is determined to be in an emergency.
US07764160B2

The invention provides a variable-resistance element having a multilayer structure. The variable-resistance element includes, for example, a first electrode, a second electrode, and an oxygen ion migration layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. In the oxygen ion migration layer, oxygen vacancy can be produced owing to oxygen ion migration, thereby forming a low resistance path. The variable-resistance element also includes an oxygen ion generation promoting layer disposed between the oxygen ion migration layer and the first electrode and held in contact with the oxygen ion migration layer.
US07764153B2

A magnetic field generator comprises a superconducting bulk body, which generates a superconducting magnetic field, a refrigerant vessel for storing solid nitrogen, a vacuum container, which accommodates therein the superconducting bulk body and the refrigerant vessel, and a refrigerator having a cooling head for cooling the refrigerant vessel. The superconducting bulk body is arranged along a wall of the vacuum container. The cooling head of the refrigerator and the refrigerant vessel are in thermal contact with each other. The refrigerant vessel and the superconducting bulk body are in thermal contact with each other.
US07764147B2

A coplanar resonator which is comprised of a dielectric substrate, a center conductor formed in the surface thereof, and a ground conductor formed so as to surround the same center conductor, wherein the same center conductor is comprised of a main line conductor 31, formed by extension in a rectilinear shape, and auxiliary line conductors 32a and 32b bifurcating from at least one end of the same main line conductor, folding back and being extended on both sides of the main line conductor.
US07764135B2

A circuit arrangement and method utilize a variable threshold, multi-stage pulse shaping circuit to pulse shape a signal output by a crystal oscillator circuit. Each stage of the pulse shaping circuit includes a Schmitt trigger that drives an input of a latch, and that has a programmable trip point controlled to reject distorted pulses generated by the crystal oscillator circuit. A variable threshold, multi-stage pulse shaping circuit may be used, for example, to generate a clock signal for an electronic circuit that is more resistant to noise and other environmental effects, thereby reducing the likelihood of clock-related errors in the electronic circuit.
US07764132B2

A (DFLL) circuit residing on a local core of a multi-core microprocessor for generating a local core clock with a frequency for driving the local core includes a micro-controller configured to receive core characterizing digital data; a ring oscillator configured to generate the local core clock for the local core, and having a delay chain disposed between an output and a feedback input of the ring oscillator, the delay chain having delay taps each receiving the local core clock enabling quantum changes in the frequency of the local core clock; and a counter device configured to continually validate the frequency by generating a digital signal representative of the frequency to the micro-controller, the micro-controller compares the frequency of the local core clock to a desired clock frequency, and selects one of the delay taps based on the comparison to adjust the frequency value of the local core clock.
US07764130B2

A clock distribution system that includes a length of two-conductor transmission line driven differentially at one end and terminated at the other end, a plurality of regeneration devices, and a plurality of regeneration device pairs. The two-conductor transmission line is arranged in a serpentine configuration with a number of locations at which portions of the transmission line come physically close to each other. The regeneration devices are located at various spaced-apart positions on the transmission line and operate to provide energy to a wave traveling on the transmission line. Each of the regeneration device pairs is connected between the transmission line portions that are physically close to each other so as to cause a traveling wave on adjacent portions of the line to have opposite phases.
US07764119B2

A circuit for controlling voltage includes a condenser having a first end coupled to an input node of a target circuit, and a second end coupled to a predetermined fixed potential, a constant current source coupled to the first end of the condenser, and a control circuit configured to charge or discharge the condenser by the constant current source, to measure a first time period passing from start timing of the charge or discharge to timing at which a voltage at the first end of the condenser reaches a predetermined voltage, and to change an input condition or operation condition of the target circuit upon passage of a second time period from the start timing where the second time period is responsive to the first time period.
US07764109B2

A semiconductor device includes a resistance layout area that disposes multiple unit resistors, and a voltage divider circuit that divides a voltage applied to a series circuit and has the series circuit including a first resistance element, a second resistance element, some trimming resistance element connected in series, and some trimming fuse respectively connected in parallel with the trimming resistance element, in the circuit, the unit resistors belonging to each of three main resistance elements formed by the first resistance element, the second resistance element, and a highest trimming resistance element whose resistance value is highest among the trimming resistance elements are divided into multiple blocks each including a predetermined number of the unit resistors, and the multiple groups each including one block of each of the three main resistance elements adjacently arranged are formed, and the groups arranged close to a center portion of the resistance layout area.
US07764094B1

An apparatus and method for converting an input frequency signal to an output frequency signal is able to detect and lock onto the phase and frequency of the input signal by using a fractional-N divider phase-locked loop configuration, in which a frequency division signal is generated having an on time that is independent of the division ratio of a fractional-N divider.
US07764080B2

An electronic circuit includes an output terminal and at least a first measuring FET. The second drain-source terminals of a plurality of FETS to be tested are interconnected with the first drain-source terminal of the first measuring FET and the output terminal. The second drain-source terminal of the first measuring FET is interconnected with a first biasing terminal. The first drain-source terminals of the FETS to be tested are interconnected with a second biasing terminal. A state machine is coupled to the gates of the FETS to be tested and the gate of the first measuring FET. The state machine is configured to energize the gate of the first measuring FET and to sequentially energize the gates of the FETS to be tested, so that an output voltage appears on the output terminal. Circuitry to compare the output voltage to a reference value is also provided. The gate of the first measuring field effect transistor is energized; the gates of the field effect transistors to be tested are sequentially energized, whereby an output voltage appears on the output terminal; and the output voltage is compared to the reference value.
US07764079B1

A modular probe system that includes components that are selected to test different devices-under-test (DUTs) in a number of different scientific fields. The system includes quick-release connectors that may be used to releasably secure components of the modular probe system to one another or to a mounting interface. These connectors permit quick and easy attachment and detachment of various components in a manner that permits a user to readily configure the probe system for each DUT.
US07764075B2

A probe system for providing signal paths between an integrated circuit (IC) tester and input/output, power and ground pads on the surfaces of ICs to be tested includes a probe board assembly, a flex cable and a set of probes arranged to contact the IC's I/O pads. The probe board assembly includes one or more rigid substrate layers with traces and vias formed on or within the substrate layers providing relatively low bandwidth signal paths linking the tester to probes accessing some of the IC's pads. The flex cable provides relatively high bandwidth signal paths linking the tester to probes accessing others of the IC's pads.
US07764073B2

The electrical connecting apparatus comprises: a wiring base plate having a first surface provided with a plurality of first conductive portions; a probe base plate having a second surface provided with a plurality of second conductive portions with its second surface opposed to the lower surface; a plurality of screws for removably coupling the wiring base plate and the probe base plate; and a connecting device for electrically connecting the first and second conductive portions.
US07764065B2

An arrangement to transmit magnetic resonance signals has a local coil composed of a number of individual antennas for acquisition of radio-frequency signals of a magnetic resonance examination. Preamplifiers amplify the radio-frequency signals, and a transmission device transmits the radio-frequency signals from the local coil to the preamplifiers. The transmission device is fashioned as a readout coil and has a number of individual antennas. The individual antennas of the readout coil are magnetically coupled with the individual antennas of the local coil, with the individual antennas of the local coil and the individual antennas of the readout coil forming a linear MIMO transmission system describable by a transmission matrix.
US07764064B2

A sample exchange device (1), in particular, for an NMR spectrometer, comprising a circumferential chain (22), sample receptacles (7) which are disposed on the chain (22) at equal distances and are connected to each other via webs (23), and a measuring or transfer position (9), wherein each sample receptacle (7) can be moved to the measuring or transfer position (9) by moving the chain (22), characterized in that a chain guidance is provided which guides the circumferential chain (22) along a meandering path. The inventive sample exchange device is particularly economic and does not impair the analysis of the samples.
US07764060B2

There is disclosed a voltage summer including a transformer having a primary side and a secondary side, wherein a first voltage to be summed is connected to the primary side and a second voltage to be summed is connected to the secondary side. There is further disclosed a transformer comprising a primary winding and a secondary winding and having a turns ratio of primary winding to secondary winding of x:y, providing x turns in series in the primary winding and providing y turns in series in the secondary winding; providing an equal number of turns in the primary and secondary windings; and closely coupling each primary winding turn with a secondary winding turn.
US07764057B2

A signal regulator includes a switching circuit, a controller, and a threshold generator. The switching circuit generates a regulated output voltage, and the controller activates the switching circuit for a predetermined time when the regulated output signal has a predetermined relationship to a threshold voltage. The threshold generator generates the threshold voltage in response to the controller. Generating the threshold voltage in response to the switching controller can reduce the effect that noise has on the operation of the switching circuit, and can thus decrease the magnitude of the noise-induced jitter in the regulator's steady-state switching frequency as compared to conventional switching regulators.
US07764055B2

A supply voltage controlled power amplifier includes a power amplifier, a closed power control loop configured to generate a power control signal, and a voltage regulator coupled to the power control loop, the voltage regulator including a first regulator stage, a second regulator stage, and a peak detector, wherein an output of the second regulator stage is applied as a feedback signal to the first regulator stage and wherein an output of the first regulator stage is decreased to a level consistent with an output of the power amplifier and an additional operating buffer amount.
US07764054B1

A voltage regulator with current-mode, dual-edge pulse width modulation (PWM) and non-linear control. The voltage regulator may include a top switch (e.g., MOSFET) configured to couple a power supply supplying an input voltage to a load. A linear control circuit of the regulator may use a first ramp signal to control turning ON of the top switch and a second ramp signal to control turning OFF of the top switch. A non-linear control circuit may turn ON the top switch upon detection of a load current step-up change to maintain an output voltage of the regulator within its regulation band. The non-linear control circuit may turn OFF the top switch upon a load current step-down change to prevent output voltage overshoot.
US07764048B2

A method for charging a rechargeable battery, and a protection circuit for the rechargeable battery. The protection circuit perceives whether the battery is charged or not by sensing the voltage of the bare cell, changes the direct voltage applied between a gate electrode and a source electrode of a charging field effect transistor, which is connected in series between one terminal of the bare cell and one terminal of a charger, and controls the amount of the current flowing from the source electrode of the charging field effect transistor to a drain electrode at a low level, thereby maintaining a low charging rate of the battery.
US07764032B2

A method and apparatus for electronic commutation of a pulse width modulation (PWM) controlled motor involves temporarily increasing the frequency of one or more PWM drive signals applied to the motor upon the occurrence of an asynchronous commutation event.
US07764029B2

An activation circuit and a method for operating an activation circuit for a DC motor having an electrically actuated stopping brake, in particular for adjusting a rotor blade of a wind or water power facility. The activation circuit includes an emergency operation supply unit and a three-phase bridge inverter. The emergency operation supply unit is connected so it is disconnectable via an emergency operation network switching element to the intermediate circuit of the three-phase bridge inverter, the DC motor is connected via an emergency operation motor changeover element either to the three-phase bridge inverter or to the emergency operation supply unit, and the stopping brake is connected via an emergency operation brake changeover element either to the three-phase bridge inverter or to the emergency operation supply unit.
US07764028B2

A driver circuit 3 feeds a pulse signal to an SSR 2 every half wave of alternating-current power from a commercial power source 4, and thereby separately controls the amounts of emitted light of LED groups 1x and 1y forming an LED unit 1, the LED groups 1x and 1y being connected in parallel in such a way as to point in different directions. That is, a first pulse signal for controlling the duration of light emission of the LED group 1x and a second pulse signal for controlling the duration of light emission of the LED group 1y are fed to the SSR 2 from the driver circuit 3.
US07764026B2

In computer games, there is typically a display that represents a view into a virtual world of some type. There is also typically a user in a real world environment that surrounds the display screen interacting with the virtual world. Disclosed herein are systems and methods for using lighting systems, in particular LED based lighting systems, to allow a user to receive information from the virtual world in coordination with, in addition to, and/or instead of the information received from the display.
US07764022B2

A liquid crystal display apparatus is capable of reducing a power loss incurred by a power-supply section in a process of generating a power-supply voltage for driving a backlight section. In the configuration of the power-supply section, a main power-supply circuit and an inverter circuit (or a DC-DC converter) are connected to an input-voltage generation unit in parallel to each other, which is used for rectifying and smoothing the commercial alternative current power. The main power-supply circuit and the inverter circuit (or the DC-DC converter) each include an isolation transformer including a primary-side winding not isolated from the commercial alternative current power and a secondary winding provided on the secondary side. The direct current input voltage is supplied to the primary side to be subjected to a power conversion process to generate an output voltage on the secondary side of the isolation transformer. Thus, the number of power conversion process stages for supplying power to the backlight section connected to the inverter circuit (or the DC-DC converter) is reduced by 1. As a result, the power loss incurred by the power-supply section can be reduced to a value smaller than that of the conventional one.
US07764021B2

A method according to one embodiment may include supplying ignition power and steady state power to at least one lamp. The method of this embodiment may also include receiving, during an ignition period of said lamp, a feedback signal indicative of power supplied to said lamp; comparing said feedback signal to a signal that is approximately equal to a signal indicative of steady state power; and maintaining a supply of ignition power to said lamp while said feedback signal remains below said signal indicative of said steady state power. Of course, many alternatives, variations, and modifications are possible without departing from this embodiment.
US07764006B2

A piezoelectric actuator is disclosed. The piezoelectric actuator includes a base member and three or more piezoelectric element members in which plural piezoelectric elements are formed by slits. The three or more piezoelectric element members are arrayed in a line on the base member and a gap is formed at the connection position between two adjacent piezoelectric element members.
US07764004B2

Provided is an apparatus. In one embodiment, this apparatus includes a substrate having a surface, and a plurality of nanostructures each having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of each of the plurality of nanostructures is attached to the surface. At least a portion of the second ends of the plurality of nanostructures, in this embodiment, are bent toward one another to form two or more similarly configured clumps each including two or more nanostructures.
US07763997B2

A dissipator for discharging heat from electronic components, the electronic components being intended for the functioning of a rotary electrical machine, the rotary electrical machine comprising a rear bearing, the dissipator comprising a top face and a bottom face integrating fins, wherein the dissipator is disposed between the rear bearing of the rotary electric machine and the electronic components, the bottom face integrating the fins coming opposite the rear bearing when the dissipator is disposed between the rear bearing of the rotary electrical machine and the electronic components.
US07763987B2

A contact arrangement is manufactured by providing a substrate that includes first regions that are arranged along a row direction and a second region. An interlayer is provided that covers the first regions and the second region. A buried mask including a first trim opening above the first regions is provided. A top mask including first template openings is provided, where each first template opening is arranged above one of the first regions. A second template opening is provided above the second region. The fill material and the interlayer are etched to form contact trenches above the first regions and the second region. Substrate area efficient chains of evenly spaced contacts are provided.
US07763986B2

A semiconductor chip package including a film substrate and a semiconductor chip loaded on the semiconductor chip is provided. The semiconductor chip includes a plurality of input pads and a plurality of output pads. A power supply input pad of the input pads is formed at a different edge from an edge of the semiconductor chip where other input pads are formed. The film substrate includes input lines and output lines. The input lines of the film substrate are connected to the corresponding input pads of the semiconductor chip, and the output lines thereof are connected to the corresponding output pads of the semiconductor chip.
US07763984B2

A semiconductor package and a method for manufacturing the same. The semiconductor package includes a substrate having connection pads formed on one surface thereof, a semiconductor chip having bonding pads formed on one surface thereof to correspond to the connection pads; bumps for electrically connecting the connection pads and the bonding pads with each other, a coating layer located on exposed surface portions of the bonding pads and the connection pads to prevent voids from being formed in spaces between the substrate and the semiconductor chip, and an underfill member filled in the spaces over the coating layer.
US07763983B2

A method of manufacturing a microelectronic package. The method includes the steps of attaching at least one microelectronic element to a tape having upper terminals projecting upwardly from an upper surface of a dielectric layer, so that top surfaces of the terminals are disposed coplanar with or above a top surface of the microelectronic element after the attaching step, electrically connecting the microelectronic element to at least some of the upper terminals; and further includes the step of applying an encapsulant to cover at least a portion of the upper surface of the dielectric layer, leaving the upper terminals surfaces of the terminals exposed.
US07763976B2

A disclosed integrated circuit (IC) module includes an IC panel and multi level circuit structure, referred to as an IPD structure, overlying an upper surface of the IC panel. The IC panel includes an electrically conductive embedded ground plane (EGP), an integrated circuit (IC) die, and an encapsulating material. The EGP is a substantially planar structure that includes or defines a plurality of cavities. The EGP may include or define an IC cavity and an IPD cavity. The IC die may be positioned within the IC cavity such that a perimeter of the IC cavity surrounds the IC die. The IPD structure may define or include a passive device such as an inductor. The passive device may be positioned or located overlying the void in the EGP.
US07763975B2

A low-cost ceramic package, in land-grid array or ball-grid array configuration, for micromechanical components is fabricated by coating the whole integrated circuits wafer with a protective material, selectively etching the coating for solder ball attachment, singulating the chips, flip-chip assembling a chip onto the opening of a ceramic substrate, under filling the gaps between the solder joints with a polymeric encapsulant, removing the protective material form the components, and attaching a lid to the substrate for sealing the package. It is an aspect of the present invention to be applicable to a variety of different semiconductor micromechanical devices, for instance actuators, motors, sensors, spatial light modulators, and deformable mirror devices. In all applications, the invention achieves technical advantages as well as significant cost reduction and yield increase.
US07763973B1

In an embodiment, an integrated heat sink for a microchip includes a substrate having a plurality of interconnected electronic devices formed in a plurality of layers. At least one heat sink element is interposed within the layers and includes a microchannel to provide a fluid flow path for heat transfer. Other embodiments include a method of making an integrated heat sink for a microchip.
US07763968B2

In a semiconductor device, a plurality of interconnections are formed in an interconnection formation insulating interlayer, and a plurality of reinforcing elements are substantially evenly formed in blank areas of the interconnection insulating interlayer in which no interconnection is formed. A wire-bonding electrode pad is provided above the interconnection formation insulating interlayer so that a pad area, on which the wire-bonding electrode pad is projected, is defined on the interconnection formation insulating interlayer. A part of the reinforcing elements included in the pad area features a larger size than that of the remaining reinforcing elements.
US07763959B2

A heat slug is provided for a package structure, including a main body and a plurality of protrusions. The main body has a surface in which at least one ditch is defined. Each protrusion is connected to and extends from the main body and has a surface in which a plurality of dimples is defined.
US07763954B2

A semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure includes: a substrate having at least one metal wiring level within the substrate; an insulative layer on a surface of the substrate; an inductor within the insulative layer; and a wire bond pad within the insulative layer. The inductor and the wire bond pad are substantially co-planar. The inductor has a height greater than a height of the wire bond pad.
US07763947B2

A piezo thin-film diode (piezo-diode) cantilever microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and associated fabrication processes are provided. The method deposits thin-films overlying a substrate. The substrate can be made of glass, polymer, quartz, metal foil, Si, sapphire, ceramic, or compound semiconductor materials. Amorphous silicon (a-Si), polycrystalline Si (poly-Si), oxides, a-SiGe, poly-SiGe, metals, metal-containing compounds, nitrides, polymers, ceramic films, magnetic films, and compound semiconductor materials are some examples of thin-film materials. A cantilever beam is formed from the thin-films, and a diode is embedded with the cantilever beam. The diode is made from a thin-film shared in common with the cantilever beam. The shared thin-film may a film overlying a cantilever beam top surface, a thin-film overlying a cantilever beam bottom surface, or a thin-film embedded within the cantilever beam.
US07763945B2

A semiconductor device pair is provided. The semiconductor device pair comprises a semiconductor substrate comprising a first gate structure with a first type polarity and a second gate structure with a second type polarity, the first and the second gate structures comprise a high-K gate dielectric. A plurality of oxygen-free offset spacer portions are adjacent either side of the respective first and second gate structures, each comprising a stressed dielectric layer, to induce a desired strain on a respective channel region while sealing respective high-K gate dielectric sidewall portions, wherein the oxygen-free offset spacer portions adjacent either side of the first gate structure and the oxygen-free offset spacer portions adjacent either side of the second gate structure are formed with different shapes.
US07763938B2

A transistor has a source electrode (22) on the opposite side of a semiconductor body layer (10) to a gate electrode (4) insulated from the body layer (10) by gate insulator (8). The source electrode (22) has a potential barrier to the semiconductor body layer (10), for example a Schottky barrier. At least one drain electrode (54) is also connected to the semiconductor body layer (10). A suitable source-drain voltage and gate voltage depletes the region of the semiconductor body layer adjacent to the source electrode (22), and then source-drain current is controlled by the gate voltage.
US07763926B2

A technique is provided which makes it possible to achieve both of a reduction in contact resistance in a memory device and a reduction in contact resistance in a logic device even when oxidation is performed during formation of dielectric films of capacitors. Conductive barrier layers (82) are provided in the top ends of contact plugs (83b) electrically connected to ones of source/drain regions (59). Lower electrodes (70) of capacitors (73) are formed in contact with the conductive barrier layers (82) of the contact plugs (83b) and then dielectric films (71) and upper electrodes (72) of the capacitors (73) are sequentially formed. In the logic region, contact plugs (25) are formed in an upper layer so that they are in contact respectively with contact plugs (33) electrically connected to source/drain regions (9).
US07763925B2

A semiconductor device incorporating a capacitor and a method of fabricating the same include a first inter-layer dielectric film formed on a semiconductor substrate, a first electrode pattern formed on the first inter-layer dielectric film, and a capacitor region self-aligned to the first electrode pattern and in which the first inter-layer dielectric film is etched. An MIM capacitor is conformably formed on the sidewall of the first electrode pattern in the capacitor region. In the capacitor region, a first hollow region is formed enclosed by the MIM capacitor and a second electrode pattern fills the first hollow region. The second electrode pattern has a sidewall opposite to the sidewall of the first electrode pattern. The MIM capacitor is conformably formed in the capacitor region that is deepened more than a thickness of an interconnection layer, so that it has a capacitor area wider than an area contacting with the interconnection layer. Further, the MIM capacitor can be enlarged in area by transforming a planar form of the electrode pattern.
US07763923B2

A semiconductor capacitor device. A dielectric layer is on a substrate. A stack capacitor structure is disposed in the dielectric layer and comprises first and overlying second MIM capacitors electrically connected in parallel. The first and second MIM capacitors have individual upper and lower electrode plates and different compositions of capacitor dielectric layers.
US07763916B2

A substrate table used for manufacturing a chip is provided. The substrate table includes a substrate stage, a substrate placement surface formed on the substrate stage, and on which a substrate is placed, and a guiding member that can project and retract from the substrate placement surface. The guiding member positions the substrate when the guiding member is at a projected position abutting an edge portion of the substrate placed on the substrate placement surface, and the guiding member retracts at a time of applying a tape to the substrate.
US07763900B2

Disclosed are a light emitting device having a plurality of light emitting cells connected in series and a method of fabricating the same. The light emitting device includes a buffer layer formed on a substrate. A plurality of rod-shaped light emitting cells are located on the buffer layer to be spaced apart from one another. Each of the light emitting cells has an n-layer, an active layer and a p-layer. Meanwhile, wires connect the spaced light emitting cells in series or parallel. Accordingly, arrays of the light emitting cells connected in series are connected to be driven by currents flowing in opposite directions. Thus, there is provided a light emitting device that can be directly driven by an AC power source.
US07763896B2

An exemplary LED includes a substrate, an LED chip, a light pervious encapsulation, and an auxiliary electric component. The substrate includes a first surface, an opposite second surface, and an accommodating space defined therein between the first surface and the second surface. The LED chip is mounted on the first surface of the substrate. The light pervious encapsulation is formed on the substrate and covers the LED chip. The auxiliary electric component is received in the accommodating space between the first and second surfaces of the substrate.
US07763893B2

A silicon carbide semiconductor device includes a semiconductor element disposed in a semiconductor substrate having a first conductive type silicon carbide layer and a silicon substrate. The device includes: a trench on the silicon carbide layer to reach the silicon substrate; and a conductive layer in the trench between the silicon carbide layer and the silicon substrate to connect to both of them. The semiconductor element is a vertical type semiconductor element so that current flows on both of a top surface portion and a backside surface portion of the semiconductor substrate. The current flows through the conductive layer.
US07763892B2

Affords a Group III nitride semiconductor device having a structure that can improve the breakdown voltage. A Schottky diode (11) consists of a Group III nitride support substrate (13), a gallium nitride region (15), and a Schottky electrode (17). The Group III nitride support substrate (13) has electrical conductivity. The Schottky electrode (17) forms a Schottky junction on the gallium nitride region (15). The gallium nitride region (15) is fabricated on a principal face (13a) of the Group III nitride support substrate (13). The gallium nitride region (15) has a (10 12)-plane XRD full-width-at-half-maximum of 100 sec or less.
US07763888B2

To reduce white spots by optimizing an impurity concentration of a p-type impurity doped region of a well contact, a size of a contact portion, a position of an n-type region serving as a photoelectric converter, and so on.In a solid state image pickup device in which a semiconductor substrate 11 includes a pixel region where a plurality of pixels are arranged, each pixel including a photoelectric converter 21, and a pixel well 12 shared by the respective pixels, a well contact 14 supplying a reference voltage to the pixel well 12 includes: an electrode 15 supplying a reference voltage; a p-type impurity doped region 16 placed in a surface of the pixel well 12; and a contact portion 17 placed in the p-type impurity doped region 16 so as to be connected to the electrode 15 and having a higher concentration than the p-type impurity doped region 16. The p-type impurity doped region 16 is doped with at least a p-type impurity, with an impurity concentration of 1×1019 cm−3 or less.
US07763884B2

An organic semiconductor material represented by the following general formula (1): wherein X1 to X4 each independently represent a chalcogen atom; and at least one of R1 and R2 represents a substituent for obtaining solubility, and R1 and R2 may be connected to each other to form a ring.
US07763879B2

A three-dimensional phase-change memory array. In one embodiment of the invention, the memory array includes a first plurality of diodes, a second plurality of diodes disposed above the first plurality of diodes, a first plurality phase-change memory elements disposed above the first and second plurality of diodes and a second plurality of memory elements disposed above the first plurality of memory elements.
US07763877B2

The invention provides an optical drop detection system (10), for a low-flow metering device of the type having a drop generator 12, 24, (19), the system comprising at least one optical transmitter (26) which produces a plurality of light beam pulses (28) of microsecond duration and at millisecond intervals, and at least one optical receiver (33) positioned to register receipt of the light pulses (28) transmitted through the path of drops (18) generated by the drop generator (12, 24, 19) and to record the number of pulses which hit a given drop and which do not register on the receiver (32), the frequency and strength of the pulses being calibrated so that a single drop is impinged upon by a plurality of pulses, and further comprising automatic feed-back means for adjusting the parameters of interaction between the at least one optical transmitter (26) and the at least one optical receiver (32) to produce and maintain a predetermined minimum and a predetermined maximum number of hits per drop.
US07763876B2

A system is provided for measuring gloss and spatial dependence of gloss. In a first embodiment, the system comprises: a first illuminator configured to emit a first light beam at a point on a target, thereby producing a generally specular reflectance in a first direction; a second illuminator configured to emit a second light beam at the point on the target, thereby producing generally diffuse reflectance in the first direction; a linear array sensor configured to detect the generally specular reflectance and the generally diffuse reflectance in the first direction; and a processor configured to process the generally specular reflectance and the generally diffuse reflectance detected by the linear array sensor. In a second embodiment, the system comprises: an illuminator configured to emit a beam of light at a point on a target, thereby producing a generally specular reflectance in a first direction and generally diffuse reflectance in a second direction; a first linear array sensor configured to detect the generally specular reflectance in the first direction; a second linear array sensor configured to detect the generally diffuse reflectance in the second direction; and a processor configured to process the generally specular reflectance detected by the first linear array sensor and the generally diffuse reflectance detected by the second linear array sensor.
US07763875B2

Systems and methods adapted for use with uncalibrated patterned surfaces for sensing any of position, displacement, velocity, acceleration, area, and volume are provided. A system includes a memory, processing electronics, and at least one readhead adapted to move relative to the surface and including a radiation source, lens, and an optical array transducer. One aspect includes generating a mapping data set representative of an intensity map of the patterned surface. Another aspect provides a variable travel speed readhead. Other aspects include multiple readheads adapted to travel in concert. Incremental and absolute sensing are provided, including systems having sub-pixel spatial resolution.
US07763865B2

The present invention therefore provides a method of treating the surface of an item for a radiotherapy apparatus, comprising the steps of machining into a planar reflective surface of the item a stepped profile, each step having a first surface angled to the planar reflective surface such that, in use, the first surface reflects light incident on the planar reflective surface away from the isocenter of the radiotherapy apparatus and a second surface angled with respect to the planar reflective surface and the first surface such that, in use, the second surface is shadowed from light incident on the planar reflective surface by the first surface, the steps having a depth which does not exceed 2.15% of the total depth of the item.
US07763858B2

Methods and apparatus are provided for measuring emissions from radioactive material in a matrix. Consideration is made in the variation in counts observed at different rational positions of the body of material so as to establish the information about the position of the radioactive material within the matrix.
US07763857B2

Provided is an infrared imaging optical system with an advantageously varying focal length across the field of view. More specifically, in a particular embodiment, provided is an inverse telephoto lens group having a field of view on the order of at least two radians. The focal length of the lens group is structured and arranged to vary in a pre-determined fashion across the field of view. An IR detector is optically coupled to the inverse telephoto lens group. A pupil is disposed between the IR detector and the inverse telephoto lens group.
US07763850B2

The invention relates to a method of determining the consumption of oil from an oil separation system (2) in the blow by gas recycling circuit of an internal combustion engine. The invention is characterised in that it comprises the following steps consisting in: marking the lubrication oil of the engine by inserting at least one radioactive tracer, trapping the oil that has not been separated from the blow by gases exiting the oil separation system (2) in an oil trapping device (4) which is located downstream of the oil separation system (2); using a detector (3), which is positioned close to the oil-trapping device (4) and which is sensitive in the ionising radiation emitted by the radioactive tracer(s), in order to measure the radioactivity of the oil which has not been separated in the oil separation system (2) and which is held back by the oil-trapping device (4); and transmitting the results of said measurements to a computer (5) which can calculate therefrom the consumption of lubricating oil that has not been separated in the separation system (2). The invention also relates to a device for implementing one such method.
US07763847B2

An ion optical system to form a loop orbit is provided to sufficiently ensure required performance such as ion transmission efficiency while making it easy to design the system by alleviating a space-focusing condition. The loop orbit of the ion optical system is realized so as to satisfy (t|x)=(t|α)=(t|δ)=0 as the time-focusing condition and to satisfy −2<(x|x)+(α|α)<2, and −2<(y|y)+(β|β)<2 as the space-focusing condition. (x|x) and other similar terms are constants determined by the elements indicated in the parenthesis in a general expression format of the ion optical system. The conditions are substantially alleviated as opposed to the conventional space-focusing condition where each of (x|x), (α|α), (y|y) and (β|β) needs to be ±1. Thus, the parameters to decide the shape of electrodes by which the ion optical system is configured have higher degree of freedom.
US07763839B2

A luminous intensity measuring device includes a photoresistor, a number of voltage-dividing resistors, a plurality of comparators, a micro control unit (MCU), and an indicator. The photoresistor is connected to a current-limiting resistor in series between a direct current (DC) power supply and ground. The voltage-dividing resistors are connected in series, and together are connected parallel to the photoresistor and the current-limiting resistor located between the DC power supply and ground. A non-inverting node between the photoresistor and the current-limiting resistor is connected to the non-inverting input terminals of the comparators. The inverting terminals of the comparators are respectively connected to inverting nodes between every two adjacent voltage-dividing resistors. The output terminals of the comparators are connected to the input terminals of the MCU. The indicator is connected to the output terminals of the MCU. The MCU controls the indicator to indicate luminous intensity.
US07763837B2

An electronic imager includes a plurality of pixels having photosensors for accumulating charge corresponding to individual pixel values of a sensed image. Each of the pixels includes an anti-blooming function which allows charge in excess of a predetermined amount to be drained from the photosensor thus reducing the charge from the pixel that migrates to adjacent pixels. The imager also includes circuitry which controls the anti-blooming function in response to image intensity to reduce dark current in the imager caused by the anti-blooming function.
US07763836B2

The present invention relates to projection systems. According to one embodiment the system comprises one or more projectors oriented to project an image on a projection screen and one or more image sensors oriented to acquire an image projected on the projection screen. The projector is operated to project a calibration image comprising one or more image fiducials on the image projection screen. The image sensor acquires the projected calibration image including the image fiducials. The respective positions of the image fiducials are identified and the identified fiducial positions are validated by applying a parametric model to compare respective ones of the identified fiducial positions with corresponding approximations of the identified fiducial positions. Corrected fiducial positions are generated when a result of one of the comparisons exceeds an error threshold. Additional embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
US07763832B2

The cook top includes a colorless transparent glass ceramic plate, which is provided with an opaque coating extending over its underside, except that in at least one window area a window coating is provided on the underside of the glass ceramic plate area instead of the opaque coating. In order to optimize colored displays arranged under the at least one window area and to facilitate the use of capacitive touch sensors, the window coating is a burned-in noble metal preparation with an electrical surface resistance of 1 MΩ/□ and in the at least one window area the glass ceramic plate coated with the window coating has a transmission in a range from 1.0 to 21.0% and a light scattering in a range of from 0.0 to 1.0% for visible light with wavelengths of from 400 nm to 750 nm.
US07763827B2

Methods and systems for laser welding using a galvanometer to deliver laser energy in a multiple point sequence for high-speed and low-temperature welding of batteries, capacitors, medical devices, and related medical device components or the like.
US07763825B2

An axle beam for an industrial vehicle has a beam and a boss. The beam is supported on a vehicle body. The boss is provided at opposite ends of the beam for supporting a kingpin. The beam includes at a longitudinally middle thereof a portion having a closed cross-section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the beam and is shaped at the portion to form a space which is surrounded by a front and rear and a top and bottom of the beam. The portion is formed by welding two members or by one tube member.
US07763820B1

A piece of material that includes low-Z elements is classified based on photonic emissions detected from the piece of material. Both XRF spectroscopy and OES techniques, for example, Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and spark discharge spectroscopy, may be used to classify the piece of material. A stream of pieces of material are moved along a conveying system into a stimulation and detection area. Each piece of material, in turn, is stimulated with a first and second stimulus, of a same or different type, causing the piece of material to emit emissions, for example, photons, which may include at least one of x-ray photons (i.e., x-rays) and optical emissions. These emissions then are detected by one or more detectors of a same or different type. The piece of materials is then classified, for example, using a combination of hardware, software and/or firmware, based on the detected emissions, and then sorted.
US07763808B2

An electrical feedthrough assembly for providing connection to components of a compressor. The electrical feedthrough assembly includes a housing having an inner surface defining a channel. A sealed wire assembly is provided in the channel. The sealed wire assembly includes a body having an outer surface defining a groove and a plurality of wires sealingly passing through the body. An o-ring fits in the groove to provide a hermetic seal between the body and the inner surface of the housing.
US07763805B2

A multi-pair cable having a plurality of twisted conductor pairs and a shielding arrangement. The shielding arrangement including at least one shielding component. The shielding component including a length of tape encased by a dielectric material.
US07763802B2

An electrical cable includes insulated primary conductors and at least one insulated secondary conductor, which extend along the cable. The primary conductors define interstitial spaces between adjacent primary conductors, and the primary conductors have approximately the same diameter. The primary conductors include power conductors and a telemetric conductor. The secondary conductor(s) each have a diameter that is smaller than each of the diameters of the primary conductors, and each secondary conductor is at least partially nested in one of the interstitial spaces. The electrical cable may include at least one fiber optic line.
US07763786B2

A stringed musical instrument has a head assembly, a tail, and an elongate neck extending from the head assembly to the tail. The neck defines a fingerboard having a surface layer and a substrate. The surface layer includes an exposed surface formed of sheet metal deformed to unitarily define a plurality of frets thereon. A plurality of strings extends from the head assembly along the neck and adjacent to the fingerboard. In another variation, the surface layer has an exposed surface unitarily defining frets thereon. Each fret forms a peak, and the surface layer defines a plurality of troughs separated by the peaks. Each trough has a single arcuate shape extending between each peak. A method of forming the stringed musical instrument is also disclosed.
US07763782B2

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV107099. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV107099, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV107099 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 CV107099 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 CV107099.
US07763779B2

Methods and compositions for modulating plant development are provided. Polynucleotide sequences encoding ZmSNAC polypeptides are provided, as are the amino acid sequences of the encoded polypeptides. The sequences can be used in a variety of methods including modulating root development, modulating floral development, modulating leaf and/or shoot development, modulating senescence, modulating seed size and/or weight, and modulating tolerance of plants to abiotic stress. Transformed plants, plant cells, tissues, and seed are also provided. A stress-inducible ZmSNAC1 promoter is also provided.
US07763773B2

The enzymes of the ACC synthase family are used in producing ethylene. Nucleotide and polypeptide sequences of ACC synthases are provided along with knockout plant cells having inhibition in expression and/or activity in an ACC synthase and knockout plants displaying a staygreen phenotype, a male sterility phenotype, or an inhibition in ethylene production. Methods for modulating staygreen potential in plants, methods for modulating sterility in plants, and methods for inhibiting ethylene production in plants are also provided.
US07763753B1

Methods of producing 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene are disclosed. One method comprises dissolving a 1,3,5-trialkoxy-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene compound in an organic solvent to form a 1,3,5-trialkoxy-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene compound solution. The 1,3,5-trialkoxy-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene compound solution is heated to a temperature of from approximately 30° C. to approximately 110° C. The 1,3,5-trialkoxy-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene compound is reacted with an aminating agent at a pressure of from approximately 30 pounds per square inch to approximately 120 pounds per square inch to produce a 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene solution.
US07763751B2

This invention is related to hydroxylamino derivatives of the general formula (I) wherein n is 0, 1 or 2; R1 and R2, independently of each other, are H, OH or OCH3; R3 is H or CH3; R4 is H, C1-C3 straight or branched alkyl or, together with R3, forms a five to seven-membered carbocyclic ring; and R5 and R6, independently of each other, are H or C1-C5 straight or branched alkyl and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts or prodrug thereof, for the preparation of medicaments useful for the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of CNS degenerative disorders related to protein misfolding and/or misaggregation. The invention also relates to novel compounds included in formula (I), to a method for preparing said compounds and to pharmaceutical compositions containing them.
US07763746B2

The present invention provides a method for minimizing the decomposition of cyanohydrins in exothermic chemical reactions involving cyanohydrins. The method comprises providing a reaction medium and reactants to a tubular reactor having internal mixing means, mixing the reaction medium and reactants to form a homogenous reaction mixture, removing heat from the reaction process and reacting the reactants to produce a mixed product having a bulk temperature. The method may further comprise cooling the reaction medium to a temperature from 1-10° C. cooler than the bulk temperature of the mixed product prior to providing the reaction medium to the tubular reactor.
US07763743B2

This invention is directed to compounds useful as intermediates in the synthesis of lipoxin A4 analogs of the following formulas (I) and (II): wherein R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 are described herein. These analogs are useful in treating inflammatory and autoimmune disorders in humans. These analogs are also useful in treating pulmonary or respiratory tract inflammation in humans.
US07763733B2

The present invention describes a new one ritonavir analogous compound that presents significantly superior activity in inhibition of HIV protease. There are also described the usage of the ritonavir analogous compound of the present invention or salt, ester or prodrug thereof as well as the usage of the compound and its pharmaceutical compositions in medicine, particularly, in the treatment of HIV infection, by itself or in combination with others anti-HIV drugs.
US07763727B2

Disclosed is a novel compound suitable as an electron transporting material for organic electronic devices. Also disclosed is an organic electronic device using such a compound which has higher sensitivity and longer life than conventional organic electronic devices.Specifically disclosed is a compound having a structure wherein structural units represented by the general formula (1) below are bonded to one another without a linking group, wherein, in the formula, X1 to X4 independently represent an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom or NR0 (wherein R0 represents a hydrogen atom, or a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent organic group); Z0 represents a tetravalent organic group; and * represents a bonding position.
US07763726B2

The present invention relates to compounds and methods from the treatment of cancer. The invention provides compounds that inhibit Aurora kinase, pharmaceutical compositions comprising compounds that inhibit Aurora kinase, and methods for the treatment of cancer using the compounds of the presentation invention or pharmaceutical compositions comprising compounds of the present invention.
US07763718B2

The present invention provides a soluble T cell receptor (sTCR), which comprises (i) all or part of a TCR α chain, except the transmembrane domain thereof, and (ii) all or part of a TCR β chain, except the transmembrane domain thereof. (i) and (ii) each comprise a functional variable domain and at least a part of the constant domain of the TCR chain, and are linked by a disulphide bond between constant domain residues which is not present in native TCR.
US07763713B2

Novel polypeptide combinations, polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides, and related compositions and methods are disclosed for soluble zalpha11 receptors that may be used as novel cytokine antagonists, and within methods for detecting ligands that stimulate the proliferation and/or development of hematopoietic, lymphoid and myeloid cells in vitro and in vivo. Ligand-binding receptor polypeptides can also be used to block zalpha11 Ligand activity in vitro and in vivo, and may be used in conjunction with zalpha11 Ligand and other cytokines to selectively stimulate the immune system. The present invention also includes methods for producing the protein, uses therefor and antibodies thereto.
US07763709B2

The invention describes an isolated nucleic acid sequence comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a degenerate variant of SEQ ID NO:1. The nucleic acid sequence encodes an Ig-E binding immunogenic polypeptide the amino acid sequence of which comprises at least one sequence selected from SEQ ID NOS:4-25. The invention additionally provides an in vitro diagnostic test for detecting anti-cashew IgE in a patient. The test comprises reacting the patient's serum with a purified polypeptide the amino acid sequence of which comprises at least one sequence selected from SEQ ID NOS:3-25; separating the polypeptide from unreacted patient serum; reacting the polypeptide with a labeled human IgE-reactive agent after separating from unreacted patient serum; separating the polypeptide from unreacted labeled human IgE-reactive agent; and detecting labeled human IgE-reactive agent bound to the polypeptide after separating from unreacted agent to thereby indicate presence in the patient's serum of anti-cashew IgE.
US07763707B2

The present disclosure relates, in one aspect, to use of ghrelin splice variant or an analogue thereof for the preparation of a medicament for one or more of: treatment and/or prevention of loss of body weight and body fat, prophylaxis or treatment of cachexia, stimulation of appetite, stimulation of food intake, stimulation of weight gain, or increasing body fat mass, or increasing body lean mass. Another aspect relates to the use of a ghrelin splice variant-like compound for the preparation of a medicament for the prophylaxis or treatment of cancer cachexia in an individual in need of such treatment. Another aspect relates to the use of a ghrelin splice variant-like compound for the preparation of a medicament for prophylaxis or treatment of cachexia in an individual by administering a subcutaneous dosage of said medicament to the individual. A further aspect relates to the use of a ghrelin splice variant-like compound or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof for the preparation of a medicament for stimulation of appetite in an individual by administering a subcutaneous dosage of said medicament to the individual. A further aspect relates to a number of new ghrelin splice variant-like compounds and uses thereof, as well as to pharmaceutical compositions and medical packaging comprising the new ghrelin splice variant-like compounds.
US07763701B2

The invention is a method for making condensation polymers, such as polyethylene terephthalate polyester. The method includes introducing to a polycondensation reaction a catalyst system that includes a coordination catalyst and a composite catalyst, which includes an acid component and an auxiliary component.
US07763688B2

The present invention describes the synthesis of solvent soluble copolymers containing multiple unsaturations. These copolymers contain reactive vinyl groups, which can be further reacted in a second stage polymerization. The process involves copolymerization of a vinyl monomer with an inclusion complex of a monomer having multiple unsaturations and a cyclic macromolecular compound to yield soluble polymers. These polymers may be cast into films, membranes or may be converted in micro or nanoparticles and then crosslinked in a second step polymerization.
US07763684B2

The invention relates to novel phosphorus-containing dendrimers having a core, at least one generation and an external layer consisting, completely or partly, of identical or different units, the said units satisfying the following formula (I): in which R1 and R2, which may be identical or different, are alkyl, alkoxy or aryl groups. These dendrimers are used for extracting actinides and lanthanides from aqueous solutions containing them.
US07763681B2

Process for the preparation of polyalkenyl acylating agents which comprises: a. reacting at a temperature higher than 180° C. a reactive polyalkene, having a number average molecular weight Mn ranging from 500 to 5000 and having a content of terminal vinylidene groups greater than or equal to 30%, with an enophile; b. thermally carrying out the reaction for a time sufficient for having a conversion of the terminal vinylidene groups higher than 15%; c. completing the reaction always under heat in the presence of a reaction accelerator consisting of a Lewis acid selected from a tin, zinc, aluminum or titanium halide.
US07763680B2

Core/shell polymer is provided wherein the core comprises non-melt flowable PTFE and the shell comprises melt-fabricable perfluoropolymer, the core/shell polymer providing a thixotropic melt blend and improved physical properties as compared to the melt-fabricable perfluoropolymer by itself.
US07763672B2

A red-colored film in which when an elliptically polarized light is incident on the film in a direction 45° aslant from a normal line direction with respect to a surface of the film, a light transmitted through the film has an average amplitude transmittance ratio (av. tan Ψ) in a wavelength region of 575 to 635 nm, which satisfies the following equation (1): 0.960
US07763670B2

An energy-core ink or varnish composition is provided for use in an in-mold decoration (IMD) process, comprising an energy-curable resin, additional reactive monomers and/or oligomers and, optionally and in an amount not exceeding 10% by weight, a solvent, wherein the resin comprises a urethane acrylate oligomer having an aromatic or aliphatic polycarbonate backbone. For inks, the composition additionally includes a pigment or dye. For photocure compositions, a photoinitiator is also included. Also provided is an in-mold decoration (IMD) process employing the ink or varnish composition.
US07763666B2

A process for the regeneration of loaded ion-exchange resin comprising (a) providing loaded resin for regeneration; (b) providing first stage and third stage regenerant suitable for regenerating loaded resin; (c) providing a plurality of regeneration vessels; (d) filling a regeneration vessel with a desired amount of the loaded resin before filling another regeneration vessel; (e) once a regeneration vessel has been filled, contacting the loaded resin within the vessel with first stage regenerant in a plug flow to provide a first stage regenerated resin; (f) contacting the first stage regenerated resin with third stage regenerant in a plug flow to provide regenerated resin and (g) removing and collecting third stage regenerant from a vessel containing regenerated resin and adding the collected regenerant to the first stage regenerant.
US07763656B2

Novel acetylamino benzoic acid compounds, methods of using and pharmaceutical compositions comprising an acetylamino benzoic acid derivative are disclosed. The methods include methods of treating or preventing a disease ameliorated by modulation of premature translation termination or nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, or ameliorating one or more symptoms associated therewith.
US07763652B2

A prostaglandin derivative represented by Formula (I): wherein X is a halogen atom in the α- or β-substitution, Y is an ethylene group, a vinylene group or an ethynylene group, R1 is a C3-10 cycloalkyl group, a C3-10 cycloalkyl group substituted with a C1-4 straight or branched chain alkyl group or a C4-13 cycloalkylalkyl group, R2 is a hydrogen atom or a CO2R3 group (R3 is a hydrogen atom, a C1-4 straight or branched chain alkyl group or a C2-4 straight or branched chain alkenyl group), n is an integer of 1 to 4 and p is 0, 1 or 2, a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or a hydrate thereof.
US07763643B2

The present invention comprises compounds and compositions comprising substituted thiophene derivatives with the following backbone structure: The compounds of this type are of useful in the treatment of various disorders, such as, respiratory disorders and snoring, acute and chronic disorders, disorders induced by ischemic and/or reperfusion events and by proliferative or fibrotic events, disorders of the central nervous system and lipid metabolism, diabetes, blood coagulation and infection by parasites.
US07763641B2

The present invention concerns the compounds having the formula (I), N-oxides, salt, stereoisomeric forms, racemic mixtures, prodrugs, esters and metabolites thereof, wherein Haryl is an aromatic monocyclic, bicyclic or tricyclic heterocycle having 3 to 14 ring members which contains one or more heteroatom ring members selected from nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur and which may optionally be substituted on (i) one or more carbon atoms by C1-6alkyl, halogen, hydroxy, optionally mono- or disubstituted amino, nitro, cyano, haloC1-6alkyl, carboxyl, C3-7cycloalkyl, optionally mono- or disubstituted aminocarbonyl, methylthio, methylsulfonyl, aryl, —(R7a)n—M—R7b, Het1 and Het2; whereby the optional substituents on any amino function are independently selected from R5 and —A—R6; and on (ii) a nitrogen atom if present by hydroxy or —A—R6. It further relates to their use as broadspectrum HIV protease inhibitors, processes for their preparation as well as pharmaceutical compositions and diagnostic kits comprising them. It also concerns combinations thereof with another anti-retroviral agent, and to their use in assays as reference compounds or as reagents.
US07763633B2

Indolo[3,2-c]quinoline compounds of formula (I) shown below. Each variable in this formula is defined herein. These compounds can be used to inhibit both growth of cancer cells and activity of telomerase.
US07763629B2

The present invention relates to compounds useful as inhibitors of protein kinase, represented by Structural Formula (I): wherein the variables in Structural Formula (I) are as described herein. The invention also provides pharmaceutically acceptable compositions comprising said compounds and methods of using the compositions in the treatment of various disease, conditions, or disorders. The invention also provides processes for preparing compounds of the inventions.
US07763627B2

A compound according to Formula IV: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, and methods of use thereof, wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and X are as defined in the specification.
US07763625B2

A method for treating migraine comprising administering, as an active ingredient, a xanthine derivative represented by the following formula or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
US07763624B2

The present invention relates to compounds of Formula I or a stereomer, a tautomer, a solvate, a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, or a prodrug thereof, pharmaceutical formulations containing the compounds, methods of treatments using the compounds, for example, protein tyrosine kinase-associated disorders such as immunologic and oncologic disorders and methods of preparing medicaments comprising the compounds.
US07763623B2

A compound having the general structure of Formula (I): or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, solvate, ester, or tautomer thereof, are useful in treating diseases, disorders, or conditions such as metabolic syndrome and dyslipidemia.
US07763620B2

The present invention relates to piperazinone compounds, pharmaceutical compositions containing those compounds and methods of treating tumors and cancer, among other disease states and conditions in mammalian patients, especially including humans.
US07763616B2

The present application discloses a compound, or enantiomers, stereoisomers, rotamers, tautomers, racemates or prodrug of said compound, or pharmaceutically acceptable salts, solvates or esters of said compound, or of said prodrug, said compound having the general structure shown in Formula 1: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, solvate or ester thereof, wherein the various moieties are defined herein. Also disclosed is a method of treating chemokine mediated diseases, such as, palliative therapy, curative therapy, prophylactic therapy of certain diseases and conditions such as inflammatory diseases (non-limiting example(s) include, psoriasis), autoimmune diseases (non-limiting example(s) include, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis), graft rejection (non-limiting example(s) include, allograft rejection, xenograft rejection), infectious diseases (e.g, tuberculoid leprosy), fixed drug eruptions, cutaneous delayed-type hypersensitivity responses, ophthalmic inflammation, type I diabetes, viral meningitis and tumors using a compound of Formula 1.
US07763604B2

This invention relates to methods of inhibiting growth and/or proliferation of a neoplastic cell, and methods of treating neoplasms by administration of the farnesylated dibenzodiazepinone compound of Formula I via continuous intravenous infusion. The invention includes pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compound of Formula I:
US07763602B2

Novel pyrrole derivatives of formula (I) and their pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts having superior antimycobacterial activity against clinically sensitive as well as resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as well as having lesser toxicity compared to known compounds. The use of the novel compounds of formula (I) for treatment of latent tuberculosis including Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR TB). The methods for preparation of the novel compounds, pharmaceutical compositions containing the novel compounds and method of treating MDR TB by administration of compounds of formula (I).
US07763601B2

O-(3-piperidino-2-hydroxypropyl)-nicotinic amidoxime (BGP-15) or a pharmaceutically suitable acid addition salt thereof can be used for the prevention or reduction of weight gain or the reduction of the rate of body weight gain.
US07763600B2

The invention concerns compounds capable of being fixed on hormone receptors and having a nitrogen monoxide donor group and their use for preventing premature births, increasing cervical dilatation, for use in hormone substitution therapy as anti-hypertensive drug and their therapeutic use for preparing a medicine for use in obstetrics and gynecology.
US07763595B2

An external preparation composition used for preventing or treating symptoms or diseases related to dermatopathy caused by dryness, UV rays and aging such as wrinkles and sags of the skin, pigmentation of the skin, skin roughness and coarse texture and skin diseases such as psoriasis, lichen, ichthyosis, keratosis, Darier's disease, pustulosis, acne, eczema and atopic dermatitis. The external preparation composition comprises at least one of acyl glucosamine derivatives represented by the following Formula (I): wherein R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 are defined; and X is any one of groups represented by the following Formulas (A) to (C): wherein Y, n and R6 are also defined.
US07763581B2

The invention provides the mutants and coding genes of trichosanthin (TCS). The mutants thereof are the TCS mutants with the single or double alternation of tyrosine-55 and aspartate-78 (counted from N-terminus), wherein the tyrosine-55 is mutated to an aliphatic amino acid and aspartate-78 is mutated to an amino acid with low hydrophilicity. This invention also relates to the application of TCS mutants and their coding genes in the drug development to treat carcinoma, AIDS and other diseases.
US07763579B2

A method of preparing a composition for use in a unit dose fabric treatment system, the method comprising the steps of reacting together, in the presence of water, a ester-containing soap precursor, a base material, and optionally a solvent.
US07763578B2

Use of high boiling hydrofluoroethers as nucleating agents in the production of a polymeric foam, in particular in the production of polyurethane foams and phenolic foams. Also, blowing agent compositions and foamable compositions comprising one or more high boiling hydrofluoroether nucleating agents and foams made using such blowing agent compositions and foamable compositions.
US07763577B1

An acidic post-CMP cleaning composition includes at least one polyamino-polycarboxylic acid, or salt thereof; at least one hydroxycarboxylic acid, or salt thereof; and the remainder being substantially water. The acidic cleaning composition also includes a surfactant. The acidic post-CMP cleaning composition has a pH of 1 to 5, and is useful for removing the contaminants from the wafer surface after a CMP process without making roughness worse.
US07763561B2

This invention provides a compositions that are useful for polymerizing at least one monomer into at least one polymer.
US07763557B2

A porcelain enamel composition having a metallic appearance is disclosed. The composition comprises about 45% to about 55% SiO2, about 4 to about 20% R2O, about 9 to about 15% B2O3, about 4 to about 12% MnO2, about 1.5 to about 7% F2, about 0% to about 20% MO2, about 0% to about 10% RO, about 0% to about 6% NO2, about 0% to about 2% P2O5, about 0% to about 3% CoO, about 0% to about 3% NiO, about 0% to about 3% Al2O3, about 0% to about 3% Fe2O3, about 0% to about 3% CuO, about 0% to about 4% ZrO2, about 0% to about 2% Nb2O5, and about 0% to about 5% Sb2O3, wherein R2O represents at least one alkali oxide, wherein RO represents at least one alkaline earth oxide and wherein MO2 represents at least one opacifying pigment selected from the group consisting of ZrO2, TiO2, CeO2, SnO2 and La2O3.
US07763545B2

In a semiconductor device manufacturing method having the etching step of an electrode material film constituting a capacitor using ferroelectric substance or high- dielectric substance, etching of a conductive film that acts as an electrode of the capacitor formed over a semiconductor substrate is carried out in an atmosphere containing bromine, and a heating temperature of the semiconductor substrate is set in a range of 300° C. to 600° C., otherwise etching of at least the conductive film is carried out in an atmosphere to which only hydrogen bromide and oxygen are supplied from an outside.
US07763544B2

There are provided a method of forming a fine pattern of a semiconductor device using a silicon germanium sacrificial layer, and a method of forming a self-aligned contact using the same. The method of forming a self-aligned contact of a semiconductor device includes forming a conductive line structure having a conductive material layer, a hard mask layer, and a sidewall spacer on a substrate, and forming a silicon germanium (Si1-xGex) sacrificial layer, which has a height equal to or higher than a height of at least the conductive line structure, on an entire surface of the substrate. Then, a photoresist pattern for defining a contact hole is formed on the sacrificial layer, and the sacrificial layer is dry-etched, thereby forming a contact hole for exposing the substrate. A plurality of contacts for filling the contact hole are formed using polysilicon, and the remained sacrificial layer is wet-etched. Then, the region where the sacrificial layer is removed is filled with silicon oxide, thereby forming a first interlayer insulating layer.
US07763535B2

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a backside contact of a semiconductor component, in particular, of a solar cell, comprising a metallic layer on the backside of a substrate in a vacuum treatment chamber, and the use of a vacuum treatment system for performing said method. Through this method and its use, in particular silicon based solar cells, can be provided with a back contact in a simple manner in a continuous process sequence, wherein the process sequence can be provided particularly efficient and economical, since no handling systems for rotating the substrate are required, and in particular silk screening steps can be dispensed with.
US07763526B2

A laser beam is applied to an interior of a wafer through a top surface to form modified areas in a plurality of layers of modified area groups. Intervals of the modified areas in one of the layers of modified area groups differ from intervals of the modified areas in another one of the layers of the modified area groups, which is closer to the top surface of the wafer in comparison to the one of the layers of the modified area groups.
US07763507B2

By forming an etch control material with increased thickness on a first stressed dielectric layer in a dual stress liner approach, the surface topography may be smoothed prior to the deposition of the second stressed dielectric material, thereby allowing the deposition of an increased amount of stressed material while not contributing to yield loss caused by deposition-related defects.
US07763495B2

The invention relates to the field of electronics, more particularly to the wire bonds incorporated into an integrated circuit package such as a quad flat pack, a ball grid array or hybrid style module. The present invention takes the normally undesirable wire bond inductance and uses it in an operational circuit where positive inductance is required. The circuit in which the wire bond inductance is used is located primarily in the integrated circuit die housed in the integrated circuit package, but may also include off-die components. In one example, a wire bond is used as the required series inductance in a discrete circuit impedance inverter which consists of two shunt-to-ground negative inductances and one series positive inductance. One of the negative inductances is located on-die, while the other is located off-die.
US07763478B2

Semiconductor light emitting device packaging methods include fabricating a substrate configured to mount a semiconductor light emitting device thereon. The substrate may include a cavity configured to mount the semiconductor light emitting device therein. The semiconductor light emitting device is mounted on the substrate and electrically connected to a contact portion of the substrate. The substrate is liquid injection molded to form an optical element bonded to the substrate over the semiconductor light emitting device. Liquid injection molding may be preceded by applying a soft resin on the electrically connected semiconductor light emitting device in the cavity. Semiconductor light emitting device substrate strips are also provided.
US07763477B2

A method for fabrication of a semiconductor device, the semiconductor device having a plurality of epitaxial layers on a substrate. The plurality of epitaxial layers include an active region in which light is able to be generated. The method comprises applying at least one first ohmic contact layer to a front surface of the epitaxial layer, the first ohmic contact layer also acting as a reflector. The substrate is then remove from a rear surface of the epitaxial layers. The rear surface is then textured.
US07763459B2

A method is provided for sequential decellularization of an isolated tissue using solubilizing solutions comprising at least one oxidizing agent that removes all cellular and nuclear materials from the tissue while substantially maintaining the biological and, mechanical properties, and the biochemical properties of the resulting extracellular matrix.
US07763452B2

The present invention provides for a novel method for purification of EGFR family proteins obtained from cultures of insect cells. The process comprises subsequent steps of a) diafiltration and exchange of culture medium with buffer, b) immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC), c) size exclusion chromatography (SEC), and d) anion exchange chromatography (AIE). The method also provides for an immunogenic variant of HER-2 protein for which the purification process has been especially adapted, as well as means for the preparation of the variant.
US07763447B2

Succinic acid is produced by allowing a bacterium modified to enhance fumarate reductase activity or cell preparation thereof to react with an organic raw material in a reaction solution containing one of a carbonate ion, a bicarbonate ion, and carbon dioxide gas to generate succinic acid. More preferably, succinic acid is produced by allowing a bacterium modified to enhance activities of fumarate reductase and pyruvate carboxylase and decrease lactate dehydrogenase activity or cell preparation thereof to react with an organic raw material in a reaction solution containing one of a carbonate ion, a bicarbonate ion, and carbon dioxide gas to generate succinic acid. Succinic acid is obtained by collecting the produced succinic acid.
US07763434B2

Antagonists of mammalian interleukin-15 (“IL-15”) are disclosed and include muteins of IL-15 and modified IL-15 molecules that are each capable of binding to the IL-15Rα-subunit and that are incapable of transducing a signal through either the β- or γ-subunits of the IL-15 receptor complex. Also included are monoclonal antibodies against IL-15 that prevent IL-15 from effecting signal transduction through either the β- or γ-subunits of the IL-15 receptor complex. Methods of treating various disease states are disclosed, including treating allograft rejection and graft-versus-host disease.
US07763433B2

A method for the determination of a target analyte in a sample, said method comprising: a) applying a liquid sample suspected of containing said target analyte to a solid support capable of allowing lateral flow of liquid there through, which support has diffusibly arranged thereon, (i) either (a) a labeled binding partner for said analyte or (b) a labeled analogue of said analyte, and (ii) a labeled control reagent; b) allowing the sample, labeled binding partner for said analyte or a labeled analogue of said analyte and labeled control reagent to flow through a detection zone on said solid support; c) allowing the sample, labeled binding partner for said analyte or a labeled analogue of said analyte and labeled control reagent to flow through a control zone; and d) detecting the labeled density in the detection zone and the label density in the control zone and comparing these densities.
US07763429B2

The present invention relates to a method for activating TRPV3 (transient receptor potential vanilloid 3) using FPP (farnesyl diphosphate) and a method for screening a TRPV3 activity inhibitor. FPP of the present invention has TRPV3 specific activity and therefore it can be effectively used for the study on TRPV3 mechanism and functions and for the development of a TRPV3 based pain reliever.
US07763423B2

Reactive surfaces, substrates and methods of producing and using such substrates and surfaces are provided. The substrates and surfaces provide low density reactive groups preferably on an otherwise non-reactive surface for use in different applications including single molecule analyses.
US07763415B2

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes forming at least one etch target film on a substrate, forming a first reflowable etch mask on the at least one etch target film, patterning the etch target film using the first reflowable etch mask. The method further includes reflowing the first reflowable etch mask to form a second etch mask and patterning the etch target film using the second etch mask.
US07763407B2

Toner images applied on the first-side and on the second-side of a substrate are fixed together by microwaves, by being heated to a final fixing temperature, and that the toner image applied on the first-side is prefixed by microwaves before a toner image on the second-side is applied, with the toner image of the first-side being heated to a prefixing temperature that is lower than the final fixing temperature.
US07763402B2

The present invention relates to a photosensitive resin composition, and more particularly, to a photosensitive resin composition for forming an over coating layer of a color filter. The photosensitive resin composition according to the present invention includes a UV absorber. The photosensitive resin composition according to the present invention adjusts line width and height of a pattern without difficulty, forms a linear pattern, provides good transmittance and is adequate to form the over coating layer of the color filter.
US07763399B2

Techniques associated with surface treatments for photomasks, semiconductor wafers, and/or optics are generally described. In one example, a method includes preparing a surface of a photomask or semiconductor wafer for cleaning, and removing ionic contamination from a surface of a photomask or semiconductor wafer using radical or atomic hydrogen, or suitable combinations thereof, to reduce the ionic contamination, wherein removing ionic contamination reduces the number of defects and increases semiconductor product yields accordingly.
US07763398B2

A layout method for a mask can include forming a cell including a first main pattern. A second main pattern can be formed in a main chip layout, and the cell can be inserted into the main chip layout. A dummy pattern inhibiting region can be created on the basis of the first main pattern and the second main pattern. Then, plural dummy patterns having a single common shape can be formed over the entire main chip layout into which the cell is inserted. Dummy patterns that overlap with the dummy pattern inhibiting region can be removed.
US07763397B2

Provided are photomask registration errors of which have been corrected and a method of correcting the registration errors of a photomask. The photomask includes a photomask substrate, an optical pattern formed on one surface of the photomask substrate, and a plurality of stress generation portions formed in the photomask substrate. A method of correcting the registration errors of a photomask includes the steps of forming an optical pattern on a photomask substrate, measuring the registration errors of the optical pattern, and forming a plurality of stress generation portions in the photomask substrate so that the stress generation portions correspond to the measured registration errors.
US07763386B2

A cathode active material having a large capacity and improved charge/discharge cycle characteristics is disclosed. A battery has a cathode (2) having a cathode active material, an anode (3) and a non-aqueous electrolyte, and uses a cathode active material composed of a mixture of a first lithium-transition metal composite oxide containing Ni and Co and comprising a layer structure and a second lithium-transition metal composite oxide containing Ni and Mn and comprising a layer structure.
US07763380B2

A package container for shipping and transporting small batteries, such as lithium ion rechargeable batteries, from manufacturers which meets the conditions of Container Grade II applicable to lithium batteries including a large amount of metal lithium and satisfies the requirements of ICAO/IATA Code A45. By employing a material having a bursting strength of 13.0 kgf/cm2 or more, according to a bursting strength test method regulated in JIS, in order to form an exterior container having a gross weight is 25 kg or lower and arranging the small batteries in package packs in the exterior container, the small batteries are transported safely.
US07763374B2

Fuel cell electrodes are fabricated on electrode base substrates. The electrode substrates can be evenly and uniformly covered with electrocatalysts, which are supported on carbon nanomaterials, and ionomers by means of filtration and pressing. The electrodes can be used as anodes or cathodes for membrane fuel cells, such as DMFC and PEMFC.
US07763373B2

A method for producing an electrode arrangement for use in a fuel cell. The method includes providing a filament comprising a supporting core and a plurality of webs extending radially from the core, the filament forming a radially internal, electrically conductive first electrode; and pulling a woven stocking over the filament.
US07763364B2

An organic electroluminescence device including at least a light-emitting layer between a pair of electrodes and a hole transport layer between the light-emitting layer and an anode of the pair of electrodes, wherein the device further includes a mixture layer of an electron transporting material and a hole transporting material, the mixture layer being disposed between the light-emitting layer and the hole transport layer and in direct contact with the light-emitting layer. An organic electroluminescence device having high light emitting efficiency and high driving durability is provided.
US07763359B2

An aluminum phosphate composition comprising aluminum phosphate, aluminum polyphosphate, aluminum metaphosphate, or a mixture thereof. The composition may be characterized by, when in powder form, having particles wherein some of the particles have at least one or more voids per particle. In addition, the composition is characterized by exhibiting two endothermic peaks in Differential Scanning Calorimetry between about 90 degrees to about 250 degrees Celsius. The composition is also characterized by, when in powder form, having a dispersibility of at least 0.025 grams per 1.0 gram of water. The composition is made by a process comprising contacting phosphoric acid with aluminum sulfate and an alkaline solution to produce an aluminum phosphate based product; and optionally calcining the aluminum phosphate, polyphosphate or metaphosphate based product at an elevated temperature. The composition is useful in paints and as a substitute for titanium dioxide.
US07763322B2

A process for overcoating multicoat paint systems comprising (1) applying by pneumatic spray application to the multicoat paint systems the extract, free from opaque pigments, of an aqueous basecoat material (A) or of a corresponding aqueous basecoat material, (2) flashing off and/or drying the resulting film (1) without curing it completely, (3) coating by pneumatic spray application at a reduced spraying pressure the resulting flashed off and/or dried film (2) with the aqueous basecoat material (A) or a ′ corresponding aqueous basecoat material, (4) flashing off and/or drying the resulting aqueous basecoat film (3) without curing it completely, (5) coating the resulting flashed off and/or dried aqueous basecoat film (4) with a liquid clearcoat material, and (6) jointly curing the film (1), and, where resulting clearcoat film (5), the aqueous basecoat film (4) and the appropriate, any further uncured films that are present.
US07763319B2

A method of orienting microphase-separated domains is disclosed, comprising applying a composition comprising an orientation control component, and a block copolymer assembly component comprising a block copolymer having at least two microphase-separated domains in which the orientation control component is substantially immiscible with the block copolymer assembly component upon forming a film; and forming a compositionally vertically segregated film on the surface of the substrate from the composition. The orientation control component and block copolymer segregate during film forming to form the compositionally vertically-segregated film on the surface of a substrate, where the orientation control component is enriched adjacent to the surface of the compositionally segregated film adjacent to the surface of the substrate, and the block copolymer assembly is enriched at an air-surface interface.
US07763317B2

Surface preparation of a compound semiconductor surface, such as indium antimonide (InSb), with a triflating agent, such as triflic anhydride or a trifluoroacetylating agent, such as trifluoroacetic anhydride is described. In one embodiment, the triflating or trifluoroacetylating passivates the compound semiconductor surface by terminating the surface with triflate trifluoroacetate groups. In a further embodiment, a triflating agent or trifluoroacetylating agent is employed to first convert a thin native oxide present on a compound semiconductor surface to a soluble species. In another embodiment, the passivated compound semiconductor surface is activated in an ALD chamber by reacting the triflate or trifluoroacetate protecting groups with a protic source, such as water (H2O). Metalorganic precursors are then introduced in the ALD chamber to form a good quality interfacial layer, such as aluminum oxide (Al2O3), on the compound semiconductor surface.
US07763312B2

Dispersion of sol-derived nano-alumina in an organic solvent mixture containing a 1,2-diol with simple agitation. A thixotropic solution is obtained at 20% alumina in ethylene glycol, while a low viscosity (<100 cps) solution is possible for a 20% alumina in (1:1, N-methylpyrrolidone-ethylene glycol) solution. Alumina particles are de-agglomerated with minimal agitation. The resulting solution or resin solution is stable to settling and re-agglomeration. The nano-alumina dispersion solution can then be mixed with an imide coating to provide for a wire coating to give the wire improved abrasion, COF, and corona resistance.
US07763307B2

The components which have suwari-inhibiting action of rice bran extracts is reduced or removed, enabling broader utilization of them for fish paste products. A rice bran extract in which components having specific physiologically active functions are singled out, and these components are reduced or removed. The components are suwari-inhibiting components. The rice bran extract is preferably a water extract. The components are reduced or removed by precipitation or dialysis. The precipitation is calcium precipitation. The suwari-inhibiting components are phytin and/or phytic acid. The rice bran extract can be used as a fish paste additive.
US07763302B2

The present invention includes methods and devices for mass producing cooked, cooled egg products having a grill fried egg appearance. One device includes a portion for positioning whole, intact, shelled eggs positioned laterally across and above a cooking mold conveyor, and a portion for cracking the eggshells and depositing the eggs into cooking molds on the conveyor. Some devices and methods include an egg yolk splitter for rupturing the egg yolk sac to deposit a whole egg having a ruptured egg yolk into each mold. Other devices and methods include irregularly shaped egg molds for providing a mass produced cooked egg having a natural, irregularly shaped outlines and/or surfaces. Devices and methods according to the present invention can be used to produce irregularly, outlined shaped cooked egg products including whole eggs, formulated eggs, or eggs made from scrambled egg mixes. The pre-cooked eggs can be delivered pathogen free to fast food establishments and reheated for consumers in less time than required to cook the egg.
US07763300B2

The present invention relates to non-segregating, non-agglomerated flavored coffee compositions. In particular, the present invention relates to novel flavored coffee compositions that minimize or inhibit the segregation and separation of constituent components, and the corresponding processes for making such compositions. The flavored coffee compositions herein are characterized as having a roast and ground, an instant coffee component, or mixtures thereof. The roast and ground coffee component will have a moisture level in the range of from about 1% to about 15%, a particle density in the range of from about 0.1 g/cc to about 0.45 g/cc, and a mean particle size distribution in the range of from about 400 microns to about 1300 microns. The instant coffee components used herein will have a particle density in the range of from about 0.1 g/cc to about 0.8 g/cc, a mean particle size distribution in the range of from about 250 microns to about 2360 microns, and a moisture level in the range of from about 1% to about 4.5%. The flavored coffee composition further includes a flavoring component with a moisture level in the range of from about 1% to about 7%, a particle density in the range of from about 0.1 g/cc to about 0.8 g/cc, and a mean particle size distribution in the range of from about 5 microns to about 150 microns. The ratio of coffee component particle size to flavor component particle size is in the range of from about 100:1 to about 5:1.
US07763290B2

The invention is directed to chemical processes of preparing fractions form North American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) and pharmaceutical compositions containing these fractions. The products of the present invention may be used to stimulate the production of cytokines and/or antibodies, or as therapeutics targeted at conditions characterized by low immunity, such as the common cold, influenza, chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS and cancer.
US07763285B2

A method of treating type II diabetes with a polyacetylenic compound of the following formula: in which R1 is H, C1-C10 alkyl, C2-C10 alkenyl, C2-C10 alkynyl, C3-C20 cycloalkyl, C3-C20 cycloalkenyl, C1-C20 heterocycloalkyl, C1-C20 heterocycloalkenyl, aryl, or heteroaryl; R2 is H or a monosaccharide residue; R3 is H or C1-C10alkyl; m is 2, 3, or 4; n is 0, 1, 2, or 3; o is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4; and p is 1, 2, 3, or 4.
US07763275B2

A method for the production of nano- or microcapsules having a diameter of from 20 nm to 40 μm is suggested, wherein template particles are supplied in an aqueous medium, electrically recharged with a polyelectrolyte, re-recharged without separation or washing steps using a second polyelectrolyte having a complementary charge with respect to the first polyelectrolyte, and said process is optionally continued with alternately charged polyelectrolytes.
US07763274B2

Administration forms for application to the skin or mucosa, comprising a carrier matrix and at least one active substance, are characterized in that the carrier matrix has a plurality of particles having open pores or containing capillary spaces, said particles serving as active substance reservoir and containing at least one active substance.
US07763237B2

An ultraviolet protective preparation comprising an ester prepared from glycerol and/or a condensate thereof, a straight-chain saturated fatty acid having 2 to 28 carbon atoms, and an aliphatic saturated dibasic acid having 12 to 28 carbon atoms, an oil liquid or pasty at ordinary temperatures which consists of an ester of a mono- to hexa-carboxylic acid having 2 to 36 carbon atoms with a mono- to hexa-hydric alcohol having 1 to 36 carbon atoms, and an ultraviolet protective powder in prescribed portions; and cosmetics containing the ultraviolet protective preparation. The invention provides an ultraviolet protective preparation which is improved in the dispersion stability of ultraviolet protective powder such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide while keeping the handleability and the ability to give cosmetics excellent in organoleptic properties and storage stability; and cosmetics excellent in organoleptic properties and storage stability.
US07763236B2

Use of osteopontin for reducing plaque bacterial growth on tooth enamel and dental formulations containing osteopontin.
US07763235B2

A dentifrice composition comprising an orally acceptable vehicle having distributed therein water hydratable film flakes having a matrix comprised of a water soluble hydroxy alkyl cellulose polymer and a starch, and having entrained therein a constituent selected from therapeutic cosmetic and decorative materials.
US07763232B2

The invention provides a method for the formation of small-size titanium oxide particles, comprising the steps of a) preparing a starting aqueous solution comprising at least one of titanic ions and complexes thereof, at a concentration of at least 0.1% w/w titanium; b) maintaining the solution at a temperature lower than 70° C. for a retention time in which hydrolysis takes place, the extent of the hydrolysis being sufficient to produce O.i mmol protons per mmol of titanium present in solution, wherein the time does not exceed 14 days, to form a system containing a retained solution; and c) adjusting the conditions in the system by at least one of the steps of: i) heating the retained solution to elevate the temperature thereof by at least 1° C.; ii) changing the pH of the retained solution by at least 0.1 units; and iii) diluting the retained solution by at least 20% whereby there are formed particles, wherein the majority of the particles formed are between about 2 nm and about 500 nm in size.
US07763221B2

A novel process for complete utilization of olivine is based on purification of brine by oxidation and precipitation of iron and nickel compounds.
US07763218B2

Partial conversion hydrocracking process comprising the steps of(a) hydrotreating a hydrocarbon feedstock with a hydrogen-rich gas to produce a hydrotreated effluent stream comprising a liquid/vapour mixture and separating the liquid/vapour mixture into a liquid phase and a vapour phase, and(b) separating the liquid phase into a controlled liquid portion and an excess liquid portion, and(c) combining the vapour phase with the excess liquid portion to form a vapour plus liquid portion, and(d) separating an FCC feed-containing fraction from the controlled liquid portion and simultaneously hydrocracking the vapour plus liquid portion to produce a diesel-containing fraction, orhydrocracking the controlled liquid portion to produce a diesel-containing fraction and simultaneously separating a FCC feed-containing fraction from the vapour plus liquid portion.The invention also includes an apparatus for carrying out the partial conversion hydrocracking process.
US07763209B2

A sample preparation device for reducing a concentration of one or more concomitant components of a sample and/or increasing a concentration of one or more desired sample components is described.
US07763204B2

A manufacturing process that comprises placing an article within a particulate medium (4), the article being provided with a molded body (8) of small ceramic particles. On application of heat and pressure the small ceramic particles are pushed between the particulate medium (4) to permit localized deformation of the article (2).
US07763203B2

A method for manufacturing microneedle structures is disclosed using soft lithography and photolithography, in which micromold structures made of a photoresist material or PDMS are created. The micromold manufacturing occurs quite quickly, using inexpensive materials and processes. Once the molds are available, using moldable materials such as polymers, microneedle arrays can be molded or embossed in relatively fast procedures. In some cases a sacrificial layer is provided between the forming micromold and its substrate layer, for ease of separation. The microneedles themselves can be solid projections, hollow “microtubes,” or shallow “microcups.” Electrodes can be formed on the microneedle arrays, including individual electrodes per hollow microtube.
US07763196B2

The catheter provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention includes an elongate tube having a proximal tube portion and a distal tube portion formed by stretching the distal portion of the elongate tube. The catheter is made throughout from an identical material. The distal tube portion has a reduced outer diameter and thus is of a higher flexibility and softness. Therefore, the danger of injuries to vessels or the dura is decreased. The catheter can be produced in an inexpensive and simple manner.
US07763192B2

Method of manufacturing composite wheel beam key by: forming entirely from carbon fiber precursors or from carbon fiber precursors and ceramic materials a fibrous preform blank in a shape of a desired wheel beam key, wherein the fiber volume fraction of the preform blank is at least 50%; carbonizing the carbon fiber precursors; rigidifying the carbonized preform blank by subjecting it to at least one cycle of CVD; grinding the surface of the preform blank to open pores on its surface; and subjecting the open-pored preform blank to RTM processing with pitch. Also, carbon-carbon composite or carbon-ceramic composite wheel beam key produced by this process, having a density of from 1.5 g/cc to 2.1 g/cc and a maximum internal porosity of 10% or less.
US07763184B2

A light stabilizing liquid matter, that can be added to a composition to be stabilized and that has a storage stability high enough for storage before being added to the composition, includes a product formed by mixing: (A) 2-(2-hydroxy-3-α-cumyl-5-tert-octylphenyl)-2H-benzotriazole with (B) at least one benzotriazole compound other than 2-(2-hydroxy-3-α-cumyl-5-tert-octylphenyl)-2H-benzotriazole plus a hindered amine compound, or with (B′) at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a benzotriazole compound other than 2-(2-hydroxy-3-α-cumyl-5-tert-octylphenyl)-2H-benzotriazole, and a hindered amine compound, and (C) an anti-oxidant including at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a phosphite compound and a phenolic compound.
US07763182B2

The present invention provides a liquid crystal film with improved adhesivity to a tacky adhesive or an adhesive, formed from a liquid crystalline composition comprising a specific (meth)acrylic compound having an oxetane group and a liquid crystalline compound having an oxetane group.
US07763181B2

A liquid crystal display showing a high contrast and reduced in color shift depending on the viewing angle is provided.The liquid crystal display device comprises a liquid crystal cell having a retardation value Re1(400) at 400 nm and a retardation value Re1(550) at 500 nm in the black state; and at least one layer of optically anisotropic layer formed of a composition comprising at least one species of liquid crystalline compound, having a retardations value Re2(400) at 400 nm and a retardation value Re2(550) at 550 nm,wherein Re2(400) and Re2(550) of said optically anisotropic layer, and retardations values Re1(400) and Re1(550) satisfy the relational expression (1) below: 0.9≦α2/α1≦1.1  Relational Expression (1) where, α1=Re1(400)/Re1(550) and α2=Re2(400)/Re2(550).
US07763180B2

The present invention provides a wrinkle-removing composition capable of removing wrinkles in fiber products without deteriorating the texture, even if heat treatment such as ironing and steam pressing is not carried out. The present relates to a wrinkle-removing composition containing an alkylene oxide adduct (a) represented by a specific general formula (1) or a general formula (2) or (3), as well as a method of removing wrinkles in fiber products, which includes applying the wrinkle-removing composition onto fiber products.
US07763177B2

Some demonstrative embodiments of the invention may include a liquid disinfection system having built-in cleaning and deposit prevention capabilities. The system may include a conduit to carry a flowing liquid to be disinfected, an illumination source and an ultrasonic cleaning unit mounted on an external surface of the conduit.
US07763170B2

Disclosed is a unique filter assembly for ensuring replacement cartridge compatibility in filtration systems having replaceable filter cartridges with lugged mounting systems. One representative filter assembly includes a representative cartridge member having a body portion for enclosing filter media and a neck portion depending therefrom. The representative neck portion of the representative cartridge includes at least one axial inlet port for directing unfiltered fluid into the body portion and at least one axial outlet port for directing filtered fluid out of the body portion. The representative neck portion also has at least two representative lugs depending radially outwardly therefrom, wherein at least one lug defines a keyed surface formation.
US07763159B2

A method for preparation of nanocomposite solution, comprises preparing basic silica colloid aqueous solution; providing an electrolysis apparatus by installing a negative electrode containing aluminum and a positive electrode containing silver into the basic silica colloid aqueous solution; and forming nanocomposite by applying voltage to the respective electrodes of the electrolysis apparatus. With this configuration, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing solution dispersed with nanocomposite, further particularly to, a method of manufacturing nanocomposite solution having excellent storability and thermal stability and containing silver having antibacterial function, far infrared radiation function, deodorization function.
US07763157B2

An electrodeionization device for large-volume ultra-pure deionization of water is disclosed. The device comprises a plurality of alternating ion depletion and concentration compartments, interposed between an anode assembly and a cathode assembly, through which flows either a product stream or a waste stream. Each compartment contains several fluid-accessible channels packed with an appropriate ion-exchange medium. The flow of the waste and product streams among the compartments is “parallel” (i.e., contemporaneous). The flow of a stream through the compartments—i.e., through the channels therein—is “serial” (i.e., sequential). In an embodiment, electrical current is generated through the compartments using segmented electrodes—either in the anode and/or the cathode assembly—that are connected to a single multiple-outlet power source. The device is fast, efficient, robust, and its configuration is comparatively easy to scale upwards to accommodate larger water processing volumes.
US07763154B2

A method and a sensor element are provided for determining the concentration of an oxidizable gas in a gas mixture, e.g., in exhaust gases of internal combustion engines. Within the sensor element of a gas sensor, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen, and/or carbon monoxide contained in the gas mixture are at least partially removed in an initial step. In a further step, the concentration of the gas to be detected in the gas mixture freed of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and/or hydrogen is ascertained.
US07763150B2

A method and device for magnetron sputtering are provided. A magnetron coating system includes a first coating source and an auxiliary substrate arranged between the first coating source and an area into which a substrate to be coated is to be received. The system also includes a magnetron having a cathode composed of the auxiliary substrate. Additionally, the system includes a device structured and arranged to determine an area density of the auxiliary substrate.
US07763144B2

The invention relates to a method and a device for the removal of a tube blank (3) located on a support core (2). The tube blank (3) is detached from the support core (2) by means of the introduction of a medium through a device (10), whereby a detachment may be alternatively or additionally achieved by the application of a vacuum to a sleeve (4) enclosing the tube blank (3).
US07763141B2

An annular convex portion is formed along an outer periphery of a back face of a wafer so as to surround a ground area in the back face. The annular convex portion is suction held by a holding table while being brought into close contact with the holding table, and fluid is supplied into a space defined between the back face of the wafer and the holding table. In this state, a separating adhesive tape is supplied toward a surface of a protective tape, and then a joining roller moves from a first end to a second end of the wafer while pressing the adhesive tape against the wafer. Then, a guide member moves from the first end to the second end of the wafer to guide the adhesive tape joined to the protective tape in a reverse direction.
US07763136B2

A tape applicator apparatus for applying tape to a surface. The apparatus is configured for application of parallel strips of tape, as lateral plates holding tape are adjusted laterally dependent on the width desired intermediate the tape strips. At least two oppositely disposed tape holders are attached to the lateral plates and are configured collinear to at least two spool members and at least two distal and proximal rollers. The collinear nature of the tape holders, spools, and rollers allow the tape to be applied to the surface in a parallel fashion with a specifically set intermediate distance.
US07763134B1

The subject invention relates to a facer which is comprised of a breathable film and a glass-mat, wherein the breathable film and the glass mat are bonded together with an adhesive, wherein the breathable film is comprised of a breathable polymeric material selected from the group consisting of polyolefins, nylons, polyesters, and thermoplastic elastomers, and wherein the facer is water resistant. The facers of this invention can be employed in manufacturing construction board, such as polyisocyanurate boards, polystyrene boards, or gypsum boards. The present invention accordingly more specifically discloses a construction board which is comprised of a rigid sheet and a facer, wherein the facer is bonded to at least one side of said rigid sheet, wherein the rigid sheet is comprised of a member selected from the group consisting of gypsum, blown polystyrene, and polyisocyanurate, wherein the facer is comprised of a breathable polymeric material selected from the group consisting of polyolefins, nylons, polyesters, and thermoplastic elastomers, wherein the breathable polymeric material is bonded to another substrate, such as a glass-mat with an adhesive, and wherein the facer is water resistant.
US07763131B2

The invention relates to a method of improving the cooling of a blown-gas cooling chamber or of a blown-air cooling section in a line for heat treating steel and/or aluminum, and/or of improving the quality of products for treatment by reducing the vibration generated by the cooling, in which jets of gas or air are projected against each of the faces of the strip traveling through said section or chamber. In accordance with the invention, the jets (58) of gas or air are emitted from blow tubes (52) fitted to tubular nozzles (51) arranged at a distance transversely on either side of the travel direction (100) of the strip (53), said jets being directed towards the corresponding face of the strip while being inclined simultaneously essentially towards the edges of said strip in a plane perpendicular to the panel of the strip and to the travel direction (100) of said strip, and towards the upstream or downstream end of the strip in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the strip and parallel to the travel direction (100) of said strip.
US07763124B2

Provided are a steel having excellent rolling contact fatigue life and the manufacturing method thereof. The steel consists essentially of 0.7 to 1.1% C, 0.2 to 2.0% Si, 0.4 to 2.5% Mn, 1.6 to 4.0% Cr, 0.1% or more and less than 0.5% Mo, 0.010 to 0.050% Al, bymass, and balance of Fe and inevitable impurities, is treated by quenching and tempering, has residual cementite grain sizes ranging from 0.05 to 1.5 μm, and has prior-austenite grain sizes of 30 μm or smaller. When the steel is used to bearing steel, the bearing life extends even under service in more severe environments.
US07763106B2

The present invention provides an ink set for inkjet recording which has excellent resistance to light and can prevent image blurring and image deformation due to cracks or the like, wherein the ink set includes: a first liquid including a water soluble organic solvent, water and a pigment dispersed therein, in which an average particle diameter of the pigment is from 5 nm to 50 nm and a monodispersity of the pigment is 1.5 or less; and a second liquid which includes a component that can reduce a pH of the first liquid to less than 7 when contacted with the first liquid and can transform the first liquid from a region in which the dispersion of the pigment particles is stable to a region in which the dispersion of the pigment particles is unstable. The invention also provides a method of image recording using the ink set for inkjet recording.
US07763105B2

An adjustable air filter for a computer, includes a bracket, a plurality of frames with air filter units set therein rotatably mounted to the bracket, a first transmission bar connected with each of the frames, a second transmission bar rotatably mounted to the bracket and connected with the first transmission bar, and a driver fixed to the bracket with a shaft retractably extending therefrom. The first transmission bar drives the frames to rotate when the first transmission bar is moved. The second transmission bar drives the first transmission bar to move when the second transmission bar is rotated. The shaft of the driver is connected with the second transmission bar. The driver drives the shaft to extend out or draw back according to the temperature in the computer to drive the second transmission bar to rotate.
US07763103B2

The present system is an adsorption system for separating air into a concentrated gas component, which has an air supply, a compressor for receiving and compressing the air supply, providing a compressed air supply, and molecular sieve material for separating the compressed air supply into a concentrated gas component. The adsorption system delivers at least 5 liters per minute (LPM) of concentrated gas component from the molecular sieve material in which the system has a specific total weight per LPM<9 lbs/LPM. Additionally, an output quantity of the concentrated gas is delivered by the adsorption system and a purging quantity of the concentrated gas is dispensed into a sieve chamber of the adsorption system undergoing a purge cycle. The purging quantity has a value equal to or less than the difference between the maximum quantity and the output quantity, and the purging quantity is controlled based on the output quantity.
US07763097B2

A device for removal of at least a portion of carbon dioxide from an aqueous fluid includes at least one membrane through which carbon dioxide can pass to be removed from the fluid and immobilized carbonic anhydrase on or in the vicinity of a first surface of the membrane to be contacted with the fluid such that the immobilized carbonic anhydrase comes into contact with the fluid. The first surface exhibits carbonic anhydrase activity of at least 20% of maximum theoretical activity of the first surface of the membrane based on monolayer surface coverage of carbonic anhydrase in the case that the carbonic anhydrase is immobilize on the first surface.
US07763094B2

A precursor particle having a particle size of 10 nm or more and 1 μm or less, and comprising a first compound selected from an alkoxide, a hydroxide, a sulfate, a nitrate, a carbonate, or a carboxylate of magnetic metal containing at least one metal of Fe and Co, and a second compound selected from an alkoxide or a hydroxide, a sulfate, a nitrate, a carbonate, or a carboxylate of a metal element for forming an oxide, is prepared. Then the precursor particle is heated in a reducing atmosphere to form an insulating particle made of an oxide of the metal element by decomposing the second compound, and to precipitate a particle of the magnetic metal in the insulating particle at a particle size of 1 nm or more and 100 nm or less, thereby manufacturing a high frequency magnetic material.
US07763088B2

A cost-effective biomass gasification method and system for converting biomass materials into gaseous fuel. The system and method are capable of converting at least about 50-70% of the carbon in a biomass material into gaseous carbon at a temperature lower than about 1300° F. Also provided is a highly-efficient, cost-effective biomass gasification system comprising a combustor and a gasifier with an inside diameter of at least about 36 inches and a height of at least about 40 feet.
US07763085B2

An apparatus and method for producing a hydrogen-enriched reformate. The apparatus includes a fuel processor for converting a fuel to a reformate having fluctuations in pressure and or flow rate, means for reducing the fluctuations, a compression unit for compressing the reformate and one or more of a purification unit and a storage unit downstream of a compression unit. Means for reducing the fluctuations in the reformate can include one or more of a buffer and a conduit for providing a controlled flow of a supplemental fluid to an inlet of the compression unit. The supplemental fluid can include the compressed reformate, a hydrogen-enriched reformate, and mixtures thereof. The apparatus can include means for regulating power to the compression unit that can incrementally increase power to the compression unit particularly during start up. The purification unit can include one or more of a hydrogen selective membrane and a pressure swing adsorption unit. Methods for producing hydrogen are also disclosed.
US07763079B2

An interbody osteogenic fusion device is provided that includes opposite end pieces with an integral central element. The end pieces are sized to maintain the height of an intervertebral disc space. The central element has a much smaller diameter so that the osteogenic fusion device forms an annular pocket around the central element. An osteogenic material is disposed within the annular pocket between the opposite end pieces. In one embodiment, the osteogenic material constitutes a collagen sheet soaked in a solution containing a bone morphogenetic protein. The osteogenic fusion device is configured so that the osteogenic material is in direct contact with the adjacent vertebral bone. In addition to the enhanced area of contact between the vertebral bone and the fusion material, the inventive osteogenic fusion device reduces stress-shielding and minimizes the radiopacity of the implant so that growth of the fusion mass can be continuously assessed. In yet another embodiment, the osteogenic fusion device includes at least one end piece with a truncated surface. The osteogenic fusion devices of the present invention may be combined with other fusion devices to form an implant system. The implant system includes at least one load bearing member having a truncated surface configured to nest within another load bearing member, preferably the load bearing, osteogenic fusion device of the present invention. The invention also provides implant systems comprising adjacent load bearing members connected to one another to resist lateral separation. Methods of promoting fusion bone growth in the space between adjacent vertebrae utilizing devices and systems of the invention are also described.
US07763069B2

An intraocular lens for insertion into the capsular bag of an eye contains an optic, an outer periphery, and an outer support structure. The optic has a periphery and centered about an optical axis. The outer periphery is disposed about the optic and configured to engage an equatorial region of the capsular bag of an eye. The outer support structure is disposed along the periphery and spaced from the optic with voids outer support structure and the optic. The intraocular lens further comprises a first intermediate member and a weakened region disposed along the outer periphery between the outer support structure and the first intermediate member. The first intermediate member operably couples the optic and the outer support structure. The weakened region is attached to, and configured to provide relative motion between, the outer support structure and the first intermediate member in response to the ciliary muscle of the eye.
US07763068B2

A stent shaped as a three-dimensional body which is formed by interlaced threads (1) arranged in multistart turns of a helical line. The threads (1) are arranged in at least two groups (2 and 3) of the helical turns featuring opposite senses of helix. The stent ends are established by sections (5) where the turns of one helical line merge into those of the other helical line, said sections appearing as a single length of the thread (1).
US07763064B2

Disclosed is a stent having struts with reverse direction curvature for providing a reduced compressed profile and an increased expanded profile. The strut configuration comprises a plurality of arcuate sections facing in opposite convex and a concave orientation. The strut width may be gradually decreased from its ends towards the strut's mid-section to redistribute maximal strains away from portions of the stent more susceptible to permanent deformation, such as the loop portions. Varying strut lengths to offset the maximum circumferential widths of adjacent portions of the stent may further reduce the compressed stent profile. The varied stent lengths may also contribute to an increased expanded stent profile. Stents with the reverse direction curvature strut design can obtain an expanded to compressed stent diameter ratio of about 7:1 compared to conventional stents that have a ratio of up to about 5:1. The curved strut can be utilized with any stent design.
US07763063B2

A delivery system and kit for endovascularly delivering a prosthesis along a guidewire to an curved implantation site includes a control handle having a handle body with a prosthesis movement control assembly movably disposed thereto. A proximal end of a catheter is connected to the control handle. A prosthesis delivery assembly is movably disposed in the catheter. The delivery assembly has a guidewire lumen slidably receiving therein the guidewire and having a curved distal end orienting the delivery assembly when passing through a curved vessel portion. A method for automatic endovascular alignment of the prosthesis includes loading it in the distal delivery assembly, positioning the guidewire into the curved implantation site, and threading the guidewire lumen over the guidewire with the delivery assembly and into the implantation site to at least approximately align the curved distal portion to a curve of the curved implantation site and, thereby, orient the prosthesis.
US07763052B2

A flexible spinal fixation device having a flexible metallic connection unit for non-rigid stabilization of the spinal column. In one embodiment, the fixation device includes at least two securing members configured to be inserted into respective adjacent spinal pedicles, each securing member each including a coupling assembly. The fixation device further includes a flexible metal connection unit configured to be received and secured within the coupling assemblies of each securing member so as to flexibly stabilize the affected area of the spine.
US07763051B2

Various methods and devices are provided for stabilizing the posterior elements of the spine, and more preferably methods and devices are provided for sharing the load with the intervertebral disc, the facet joints, the ligaments, and the muscles of the spinal column. In certain exemplary embodiments, methods and devices are provided for substantially controlling or providing resistance to movement, including flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation, of the adjacent vertebrae.
US07763042B2

A lancet having a slider with a puncture needle holding mechanism at one end thereof, and having a cam ring with a continuous cam groove rotatable about a support shaft, and with a cam ring claw and an anti-return claw restricting the rotation. The lancet also having a ring spring applying a force to rotate the cam ring, having a rotatable stopper arm holding and releasing the rotation of the cam ring, and having a rotatable ratchet restricting the direction of rotation of the cam ring. A puncture needle unit including a puncture needle body integrally molded with a protrusion fitted to the lancet, a rotation stop rib, a puncture needle, and a puncture needle cap lightly pressed into the puncture needle body.
US07763040B2

A tissue connector assembly comprising a clip movable between an open configuration and a closed configuration and a mechanical restraining device attached to the clip for restraining the clip in its open configuration. A needle may be releasably attached to the clip. A method for connecting tissues is also disclosed. The method includes inserting a clip through tissue with the clip being biased in an open position by a restraining device secured to the clip, and removing the restraining device from the clip.
US07763039B2

A single handed articulating blunt dissector/gastric band application device includes a support shaft connecting a handle at a first end of the device to an articulating assembly at a second end of the device. The handle includes an actuation mechanism linked to the articulating assembly for controlling movement thereof. The second end includes a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the distal end includes a blunt distal tip shaped and dimensioned for dissecting tissue without unduly causing trauma to the tissue. The second end also includes a suture grasping notch shaped and dimensioned for engaging and pulling a gastric band.
US07763038B2

An improved suture needle retention device suitably adapted to be removably attached to the end of a surgical instrument for convenient placement proximate to the surgical field yet out of the way of the surgeon, said device having a needle pervious retention member to accept the sharp end of a suture needle, with said retention member encased by a needle impervious protective sheathing to prevent inadvertent pass-through of the suture needle.
US07763028B2

A device having an adjustable height and angle to space vertebral members. The device includes a plurality of links that extend between a plate and a deployer. A first section of the deployer is moved to change the angle of the plurality of links and expand the height of the spacer. A second section of the deployer is moved to change the angle of the plate relative to the centerline. A method of using the spacer is also disclosed and includes positioning the spacer while in the closed orientation between the vertebral members. The spacer is then expanded to a second height. The angle of the spacer is than adjusted as necessary to space the vertebral members.
US07763026B2

A saw guide for medicinal purposes is provided, having a handle and a sawblade guide element mounted on the handle to receive and guide a sawblade, said sawblade guide element including a frame mounted on the handle and a guide recess for the sawblade, mounted rotatably in the frame. The sawblade guide element can be secured on the material being sawed and can be adjusted in the position fixed at various end positions on the saw material. The frame is configured as a circle segment open on one side, into which the guide recess, which has an essentially circular base body, can be inserted in a form-locking connection. A stud is configured on the base body extending radially outward and having at least one essentially vertical slit for receiving the sawblade.
US07763022B2

An interlocking nail, particularly for fractures of the proximal femur having a proximal portion that has provided therein a bore preferably extending obliquely to the axis of the proximal portion for receiving a screw or pin, particularly a femoral neck pin. The bore is formed so that the lateral edge portions located on opposed sides are flattened and rounded at the inlet end or also the outlet end of the bore.
US07763018B2

An ablation electrode system includes a handle assembly; a needle electrode assembly supported in and extending from the handle assembly. The needle electrode assembly includes an outer tube having at least a conductive distal tip and defining a cavity therein; and an inner tube disposed at least partially within the cavity of the outer tube and defining a lumen therein. The ablation electrode assembly includes a hub assembly fluidly connected to the needle electrode assembly. The hub assembly defines a first chamber and a second chamber; wherein the proximal end portion of the inner tube is in fluid communication with the first chamber and the proximal end portion of the outer tube is in fluid communication with the second chamber. The ablation electrode assembly includes a first fluid conduit fluidly connected to the first chamber; and a second fluid conduit fluidly connected to the second chamber.
US07763011B2

A stent comprises at least one stent member woven to form a substantially tubular body that defines a flow path. The tubular body comprises a first region and a second region. In the first region the at least one stent member defines a plurality of first region openings and in the second region at least one first portion of the at least one member and at least one second portion of the at least one member are engaged together to form at least one primary strand. The at least one primary strand defines a plurality of second region openings. The at least one of the plurality of second region openings is in fluid communication with the flow path. The plurality of second region openings provide the second region with a greater porosity than the first region.
US07763007B2

Branching catheter systems with diagnostic components for detecting and isolating fluid flow problems (e.g., leaks, occlusions, etc.) and methods for detecting and isolating fluid flow problems are disclosed. Among the fluid flow problems that may potentially be detected are leaks in the branching catheter systems (e.g., cuts, disconnected components, etc.). Another fluid flow problem that may be detected using the diagnostic systems of the present invention is the presence of occlusions or other blockages that prevent fluid flow within the catheter systems. In addition to identifying that a problem exists, the diagnostic components may preferably also be used to identify the location of the fluid flow problem as discussed herein. Connectors for use in the branching catheter systems are also disclosed. Among the diagnostic components that may be used in branching catheter systems of the present are valves to control fluid flow through the various sections of the branching catheter system, fluid flow detectors to detect flow through the one or more sections of the branching catheter system and a control system for operating the diagnostic components.
US07762997B2

A unique construction of this douche ensures that the incoming and outgoing streams of cleansing liquid do not mix inside the device. Thus it provides a superior cleansing of the vagina. The device has two parts: an inner core and an outer casing, which so snap fit together that create two isolated spaces inside the device securing no leakage between them. The parts are easily separable for cleaning purposes. The base of the device is round so, when placed against the entrance of the vagina, it acts as a plug. The base has two pipe connectors for a cleansing liquid, an inlet and an outlet, and these are interchangeable. A stream of liquid passing through the device smoothes out folds of the vagina, covering its entire surface, and thus ensures Improved hygiene and therapy. This douching device simultaneously provides vaginal hydromassage, which can be enhanced by manually compressing the outlet.
US07762993B2

A catheter syringe conveyor with a needle guard housing is adapted to facilitate the insertion of a catheter into a targeted blood vessel. A catheter syringe is slidably situated within a hand-held housing structure; a syringe holder that is slidably connected to the housing allows a technician to maneuver the catheter syringe up and down within the housing. At least one stabilizer finger is attached to the bottom of the housing. After a blood vessel is penetrated by the needle of the catheter syringe, the technician maneuvers a catheter pusher to lower the catheter off of the needle and into the blood vessel. After the catheter is inserted, the technician is able to slide the catheter syringe back up within the housing to move the needle within the protective walls of the housing for safety, and a syringe lock holds it there securely for safekeeping.
US07762981B2

An ophthalmic injection device has a dispensing chamber housing, a plunger, an actuator for driving the plunger, a temperature control device, and a temperature release mechanism. The dispensing chamber housing has an inner surface and an outer surface. The inner surface partially defines a dispensing chamber for holding a quantity of a substance. The plunger is engaged with the inner surface of the dispensing chamber housing, is capable of sliding in the dispensing chamber housing, and is fluidly sealed to the inner surface of the dispensing chamber housing. The temperature control device at least partially surrounds the dispensing chamber housing and is capable of altering the temperature of the substance in the dispensing chamber. The temperature release mechanism is in a locked position when the substance is outside the proper temperature range and an unlocked position when the substance is in the proper temperature range.
US07762977B2

Vascular access systems for performing hemodialysis are disclosed. The vascular access system contemplates a catheter section adapted for insertion into a vein and a graft section adapted for attachment to an artery. The catheter section may have metal or polymer wall reinforcements that allow the use of thin-walled, small outer diameter conduits for the vascular access system. One or more of the adhered, embedded or bonded conduit reinforcement structures may be removable without significant damage to the conduit sections to facilitate attachment of the sections, or to a connector between the sections. Various self-sealing materials are provided for use in the vascular access system, as well as temporary access sites and flow control/sensor systems.
US07762974B2

An orthopedic ankle orthosis having a closure unit with a pull system that provides a mechanical advantage for applying user-desired forces to the ankle joint structures and yet permits the ankle joint to move within a range of motion during activity by the user. The method of using the orthopedic ankle orthosis includes placing the orthosis over a user's ankle, wrapping the lateral and medial body members of the orthosis around the user's ankle, and pulling the elongated pull member to apply user-defined forces to the ankle joint structures.
US07762971B2

The invention relates to a tilt-stable rotating joint suitable for technical orthopedic components, including a forked external joint part with two limbs whose parallel inner walls pointing towards each other form a slit of a given width and are provided with flush continuous holes. A flat inner joint part protrudes into the slit and a continuous hole, and a shaft arrangement protruding through the continuous holes forms a rotating bearing surface with a cover surface. The tilt-stability is increased because the shaft arrangement is formed by sections protruding from the inner joint part, having an external diameter corresponding to the internal diameter of the continuous holes of the limbs. Stability is also increased by the fact that the shaft arrangement is rotationally fixed to the inner joint part and sliding bearings are formed between the walls of the continuous holes of the limbs and the sections of the shaft arrangement.
US07762966B1

A massaging mattress assembly for massaging various parts of a user's body while lying down. The massaging mattress assembly includes a mattress that has a top, a head end, and a plurality of slots that are spacedly disposed in the top. A headrest assembly is removably attached to the head end of the mattress. A roller assembly is disposed in the slots of the mattress. The roller assembly includes base members that are disposed in the slots and also includes ball members upon which a user lies. A vibrating assembly is disposed in said mattress.
US07762962B2

An intermediate member is disposed between a first member made of a first metal material and a second member made of a second metal material having a different composition from that of the first metal material. The intermediate member is welded to the first member and the second member to connect the first member and the second member to each other. The intermediate member contains at least one metal component, wherein the metal component is Pd, Pt, Rb, Ir or Ta.
US07762961B2

The invention relates to pressure generating units, in particular to pressure generating unit arranged in the hand piece of a vacuum biopsy device in the form of a sirynge (2). In said units, air intake is open by a piston when said piston (5) is in the rear position thereof in the space of a vacuumed cylinder (11) which is switched for generating a superpressure, thereby initiating the outflow of a tissue liquid by the air introduced into the space of the vacuumed cylinder. For this purpose, the space of the vacuumed cylinder is connected to the space of an atmosphere pressure cylinder (12) arranged behind the piston, by means of a connection line (15), and an absorbing element (14) is placed on the piston axis.
US07762960B2

Embodiments of the invention include devices for obtaining tissue including a proximal actuator and a distal assembly having first and second end effectors. The first and second end effectors include the features of at least one element within the inner surface either of the first and second end effectors for aiding in the capture and retention of a targeted tissue sample.
US07762958B1

A method and apparatus are disclosed for determining injection depth and/or tissue type based on the heat dissipation characteristics of body tissue.
US07762953B2

This invention provides monitoring garments for non-invasively monitoring physiological parameters in un-restrained and/or restrained animals, such as monkeys, rabbits, dogs, horses, and the like. The invention also includes methods and systems for collecting and processing monitoring data and methods for recognizing apneas and other respiratory events, periods of restfulness and wakefulness, stereotypical behavior and other indicators of dysphoric states, periods of emesis, and occurrence of barking and coughing.
US07762951B2

The invention provides a system and method for harvesting a vessel section. The system includes an endoscope, at least one harvesting tool, and an elongated instrument including a shaft and a housing. The shaft includes a viewable region along a length of the shaft and a lumen to slidably receive the endoscope. The housing is releasably engaged with the shaft and includes an elongated opening to provide a working area adjacent to a vessel for the harvesting tool. The method includes making an incision at a point corresponding to the proximal end of the vessel section to be harvested. A shaft is inserted through the incision and adjacent to the vessel section. A housing is slidably engaged with the inserted shaft. Harvesting operations are performed in a working area defined by sidewalls of the housing. The harvesting operations are visually monitored through the shaft.
US07762939B2

A label product in web form has alternating, oppositely indented creases in the liner of the product to produce a fan-folded stack having alternating, reversely folded plies. Each crease is substantially, if not entirely, perforation-free to maximize the strength of the liner at the fold lines. The product is preferably produced on a narrow web press in a creasing station that includes a stack of rolls wherein a first die roll is on the bottom of the stack, a second die roll is on the top of the stack, and a pair of base rolls are located in the middle of the stack between the die rolls. A blade on each die roll cooperates with a cushion on the corresponding base roll to produce a crease during every other rotation of the die roll, each of the base rolls having a smaller circumference than its corresponding die roll.
US07762935B2

An exercise apparatus resistance unit includes flex members to bend to provide a resistance, a first end piece, a second end piece provided another end of the flex members to secure the flex members to rotate and translate within the body according to a bending motion of the flex members, a main pulley, and auxiliary pulleys rotatably provided on the first end piece. The resistance unit may provide a variable resistance.
US07762924B2

A method for operating an engine and transmission in a vehicle is described. The method comprises up-shifting the transmission based on whether engine knock limits spark advance at engine conditions after the up-shift. Further, the method may include accounting for differences in fuel types, and their effects on engine knock in future gears.
US07762913B1

A truncated bat training device provides for training of the muscles and muscular strengthening of certain parts of the trainee's body. The bat has a 45 degree angle portion with a rotatable D-ring for attaching the bat to a fixed point. The angle portion projects to the backside of the upper body of the trainee and is turned toward the fixed point when the trainee swings the bat in a backward motion of a swing cycle in a resistance training mode. The angle portion provides a transition zone in which the D-ring rotates as the bat crosses perpendicular to the upper body allowing the trainee's wrist to accelerate with a ball at a simulated impact point where the trainee normally makes contact with the ball upon completion of the swing cycle. A ridge line teaches proper hand alignment, and several training techniques can be used with the training device.
US07762912B2

An apparatus and method are provided for practicing pitching a baseball. The apparatus can be configured to receive pitches thrown into a specific designated area of the strike zone and to reject pitches not thrown to the specific designated area. The apparatus alters the position of the strike zone to compensate for the positioning of a catcher behind home plate. The apparatus more accurately identifies the strike zone, and areas outside the strike zone, to which a pitcher should practice throwing pitches.
US07762904B2

A golf swing training device comprising a base adapted for support by the ground and a vertical pole connected to and extending vertically from the base to accommodate the height of a golfer. A reminder seat is connected to the vertical pole to accommodate the golfer's posterior resting against the seat during a golf swing and facing away from the vertical pole. An elastic band is secured to the vertical pole at a distance above the reminder seat forming a loop around the golfer's chest. The elastic band enables the golfer's abdominal and core muscles to keep flexion throughout the golf swing, thereby allowing a free swinging motion of the golfer while limiting lateral and vertical movement of the body.
US07762896B2

A method and apparatus for use in connection with a theatrical stage presentation for rendering an actor or object located on the stage visible or invisible at will. The apparatus used to create the illusion includes a strategically located, selectively transparent screen and a large, generally vertically extending mirror. In carrying out the method of the invention, the mirror is controllably moved across the stage at a location intermediate a rear wall and the selectively transparent screen from a first position out of sight of the audience to a second position wherein the mirror is disposed between the rear wall and the selectively transparent screen.
US07762895B2

An amusement apparatus includes at least a pair of interconnected platforms configured to move on a track. A seat may be connected to at least one of the platforms and may include, for example, a support and an immobilization device for immobilizing the user on the support suitable for acting on the user's back. The seat may optionally have a motorcycle shape and may include handlebars and retractable leg extensions projecting from each side of the seat for maintaining a user's legs in a crouched motorcycle riding position. At least one of the platforms may include a bridging portion to bridge a gap between the platforms during, for example, loading and unloading of the amusement apparatus with riders.
US07762885B2

A game redemption system is provided by allowing a game to be played in exchange for a monetary input and awarding either prize credits or one or more merchandise prizes based on an event that is associated with play of the game. Either a video selection interface screen or a prize-selection mechanism that is associated with the game redemption system can be used for redeeming the prize credits or the one or more merchandise prizes.
US07762876B2

The cabin exhaust device ventilates vehicles provided with retractable windows and mounts on a portion of the vehicle, preferably on a door frame or in an opening between a window panel and a window frame. The cabin exhaust device comprises a squeegee and a ventilation panel having an air dam, a first portion, and a second portion, wherein the first and second portions are provided with angularly oriented apertures, thereby creating a vacuum on the vehicle's interior side. The first and second portions are outwardly convexed, thereby facilitating the creation of a pressure differential between the vehicle's interior and its exterior, thus forcing the air and other contaminants out from the vehicle's interior.
US07762870B2

A polishing pad includes a polishing layer having abrasive grains dispersed in a resin and is characterized in that the resin is a resin containing ionic groups in the range of 20 to 1500 eq/ton.
US07762865B2

A crib mobile comprises a base assembly, a support bar mounted on the base assembly, and a body assembly mounted on the support bar, The body assembly includes a motor for rotating a support frame. The support frame has a clover-leaf configuration comprising a plurality of contiguous lobes each having a circularly opening. A plurality of character elements are mounted on each of the lobes and are rotatable thereabout. The character elements simulate the appearance of an animal figure and may include peripheral portions which are pivotally attached to the character element and are rotatable relative to one another. Each of the character elements includes a musical instrument and a movable member for simulating the playing of the musical instrument in response to gravitational forces acting upon the movable member during rotation of the support frame. The base assembly produces preprogrammed music during the simulated playing of the musical instruments.
US07762863B1

There are illustrated and claimed three versions of toy characters that are programmed to go through various sequences of movements such as sitting, lying down, rotating on a support accomplished by the movements of the body and leg assemblies as determined by a microprocessor. The three characters include various rib and block assemblies to provide for the desired programmed movements.
US07762860B2

A flotation device for attachment to a small object to prevent the object from sinking if it is dropped into a body of liquid and for allowing the user to quickly and easily retrieve it. The device comprises a float formed of buoyant material and having a longitudinally oriented opening therethrough, a lanyard having its free ends attached together and fixed within said opening so as to form a loop portion about the float, and a spring-biased clip attached to the loop and attachable to the object to be prevented from sinking in a pool of liquid.
US07762854B1

A RF connector assembly includes a male connector, and a female connector connected to the male connector for signal transmission. The female connector and male connector each have a U-shaped locating groove upwardly extending around the periphery of the electrically insulative housing thereof, a connector terminal device inserted into the electrically insulative housing, and a U-clamp mounted in the U-shaped locating groove and partially extended to the inside of the electrically insulative housing to secure the connector terminal device firmly in position.
US07762849B2

An expandable and collapsible peripheral device is disclosed, along with methods of manufacturing same. When in an expanded state, the peripheral device may have a length which conforms to the ExpressCard standard, and when in a collapsed state, the peripheral device may have a form factor approximating that of a CompactFlash card. Peripheral devices of the present invention may operate according to standards other than the ExpressCard standard, and may have sizes in the expanded and collapsed positions unrelated to ExpressCards and/or CompactFlash cards.
US07762848B2

An interconnect device for battery cell assemblies is provided. The interconnect device couples a first set of electrodes at a first polarity in series with a second set of electrodes at a second polarity in a battery module.
US07762844B2

An electrical connector having an electrical interface assembly electrical processing circuitry, and an EMI barrier. The electrical interface assembly has a plurality of electrical contacts for interfacing with a receptacle when the electrical connector is connected to a corresponding receptacle. The electrical processing circuitry is for processing electrical signals received from at least some of the plurality of electrical contacts and/or to be sent to the plurality of electrical contacts. The EMI barrier substantially contains the electrical processing circuitry except at a number of EMI barrier openings. The largest of these EMI barrier openings is where the electrical contacts pass through the connector.
US07762840B2

A connector system includes an upper electrical connector having a housing that defines an open bottomed cavity defining a cavity envelope and that defines a mating interface for a mating connector. The upper electrical connector further has contacts mounted to the housing and extending along the mating interface. The connector system includes a first lower electrical connector mountable to a circuit board that has a first outer envelope adapted for fitting in the cavity envelope, and a second lower electrical connector mountable to a circuit board that has a second outer envelope adapted for fitting in the cavity envelope. The upper electrical connector is separately mountable to the circuit board over each of the first lower electrical connector and the second lower electrical connector. Optionally, the upper electrical connector may be mountable over only one of the first lower electrical connector and the second lower electrical connector at a time.
US07762838B2

A wiring module that can be installed in an electrical junction box and can receive a removable electrical outlet module, a removable electrical switch module, or other types of electrical functional modules. The wiring module and the removable electrical outlet and switch modules may include connectors having a mechanical portion and an electrical portion. The electrical connector portions may be configured so as not to be exposed to user contact when the mechanical connector portions are at least partially engaged.
US07762830B2

A connector assembly for a thermal cutting system or welding system can include a housing having a locking device. The locking device can cause, upon application of a translational force, engagement of the connector assembly relative to a stationary receiving mechanism and can cause, upon application of a force on a contact member or a rotational moment on the contact member, disengagement of the locking device relative to the stationary receiving mechanism. The connector assembly can include a conduit disposed in the housing, the conduit carrying a gas to the thermal cutting system or welding system. The connector assembly can include a first current carrying member disposed in the housing, the first current carrying member carrying an operating current to the thermal cutting system or welding system and a second current carrying member disposed in the housing, the second current carrying member carrying a second current.
US07762827B2

A card socket assembly includes a main body, a hinge assembly; a cover rotatably assembled on the main body by the hinge assembly; and a release button releasably latching the cover to the main body. When the release button is detached from the cover, the cover is rotated relative to the main body by the hinge assembly.
US07762824B2

A female hydraulic coupling member and/or a male hydraulic coupling member is equipped with an electrically conductive contactor which contacts the opposing coupling member when the coupling is fully made up thereby electrically bonding the coupling members.
US07762811B2

An orthodontics assisting system includes index members which indicate respective reference positions of a pre-correction dentition model and a post-correction predictive dentition model; an arranging device 6 for arranging the index members; an image data generating means for generating image data by imaging the pre-correction dentition model and the post-correction predictive dentition model; a screen display means for screen-displaying a pre-correction dentition image and a post-correction predictive dentition image respectively based on the image data; a position adjusting means for adjusting mutual display positions of the pre-correction dentition image and the post-correction predictive dentition image; and a tooth position adjusting means for adjusting the display position of a teeth image.
US07762810B2

A positioning apparatus and method for using the positioning apparatus to position a dental arch model in a dental articulator, simulating the position of dental arch in a skull. The positioning apparatus includes a first member, a second member that slides with respect to the first member, and a third member that slides with respect to the second member. A locating member on the second member and one or more adjustment members on the third member impart an orientation to a mounting surface representative of a plane in which a dental arch lies. A maxillary tray having radio-opaque members may be mounted to the mounting surface. X-ray data obtained while the maxillary tray is engaged with a patient's teeth is used to determine the position and orientation of a dental arch model while said model is engaged with the maxillary tray on the mounting surface.
US07762809B2

Disclosed is a heat treatment apparatus which includes a processing vessel having a furnace throat at its bottom and adapted to accommodate process objects therein to perform a heat treatment to the process objects under reduced pressure, the processing vessel having a vessel main body made of quartz, a metallic lid adapted to support thereon a holder for holding a plurality of process objects so as to load and unload the holder into and from the processing vessel and to close and open the furnace throat, and an annular sealing member disposed on the lid to seal a gap between the lid and the furnace throat. A contact-preventing member is disposed between the lid and the furnace throat to prevent contact of the lid with the furnace throat due to squashing of the sealing member that would otherwise occur when an internal pressure of the processing vessel is reduced.
US07762801B2

Apparatus and method for producing fibrous materials in which the apparatus includes an enclosure having an inlet configured to receive a substance from which the fibrous materials are to be composed, a common electrode disposed in the enclosure, and plural extrusion elements provided in a wall of the enclosure opposite the common electrode so as to define between the plural extrusion elements and the common electrode a space in communication with the inlet to receive the substance in the space. In the method, a substance from which the fibrous materials are to be composed is fed to the enclosure having the plural extrusion elements, a common electric field is applied to the extrusion elements in a direction in which the substance is to be extruded, the substance is extruded through the extrusion elements to tips of the extrusion elements, and the substance is electrosprayed from the tips to form the fibrous materials.
US07762794B2

The tube 110 has a hollow portion 111 and a wall portion 112. The tube 110 has mutually contacting wall portions 111a that become compressed in such a way that the wall portion 112 comes into mutual contact in the hollow portion 111 through compression by a compressing mechanism 120, and is designed so that the mutually contacting wall portions 111a come into mutual contact, and the mutually contacting wall portions 111a recover upon release of the compressing mechanism. The mutually contacting wall portions 111a have readily contacting portions C1 that come into mutual contact at a certain level of compressing force, and contact resistant portions S1 that come into mutual contact only at a higher level of compressing force than in the readily contacting portions C1. The thickness of the wall portion 12 around the hollow portion 11 varies so that the readily contacting portions C1 are subjected to greater force than the contact resistant portions S1.
US07762792B2

There is provided a rotary compressor capable of preventing deterioration of performance following plug fixing carried out to prevent falling-off of a spring member. The rotary compressor comprises a cylinder constituting a rotary compression element, a roller engaged with an eccentric portion formed in a rotary shaft of an electric element, and eccentrically rotated in the cylinder, a vane abutted on the roller to divide an inside of the cylinder into a low pressure chamber side and a high pressure chamber side, a spring member for always pressing the vane to the roller side, a housing portion of the spring member, formed in the cylinder, and opened to the vane side and a hermetically sealed container side, a plug positioned in the hermetically sealed container side of the spring member, and inserted into the housing portion to fit into a gap, and an O ring attached around the plug to seal a part between the plug and the housing portion. In this case, a space between the cylinder and the hermetically sealed container is set smaller than a distance from the O ring to an end of the plug on the hermetically sealed container side.
US07762781B1

A turbine blade and platform assembly in which the platform is a separate piece that is secured to the blade through shear pins that extend along slots formed between opposed abutting parts of the blade and the platform. Because the platform is detached from the blade, the blade can be made of a single crystal superalloy with a reduction in casting defects. The platform has one or more airfoil shaped openings or slots on the outer surface in which a blade is inserted. The shear pins are inserted to secure the platform to the blade. In another embodiment, the blade root is inserted into an opening formed in the rotor disk, and shear pins are inserted into slots formed in the root and the disk opening in order to secure the blade to the rotor disk. With this embodiment, the blade can be made of a ceramic material because only compressive forces are formed to hold the blade in place.
US07762779B2

A turbine blade tip shroud. The tip shroud may include a platform, a number of Z-notched positioned within the platform, a number of seal rails positioned on the platform, and a number of cavities positioned within the platform and adjacent to seal rails and the Z-notches.
US07762777B2

A Savonius vertical axis wind turbine rotor has at least three spokes, at least two vanes, and fasteners. Each spoke includes a hub with central opening and arcuate ribs integral with the hub and extending radially outwardly. Channels are defined in at least one surface of each rib. Vanes of sheet material generally conform to an inner or outer surface of the ribs and have openings aligned with the channels. First fasteners pass through the openings into the channels and cooperate with second fasteners provided within the channels. Each hub may define a clamp which cooperates with a shaft, the clamp including a radial slot in the hub communicating with the central opening and fastener receiving elements on opposite sides of the slot. The vanes may overlap the central opening so that there is spillover from one vane to the next when the rotor is rotated by the wind.
US07762775B1

A turbine airfoil used in a gas turbine engine in which the airfoil is cooled by passing cooling air through the airfoil. The trailing edge of the airfoil is cooled by a row of metering and diffusion cooling holes connected to a cooling air supply channel arranged along the trailing edge region of the airfoil. Each metering and diffusion cooling holes includes a metering section having a constant area extending along the section, and a diffusion section that is convergent in the airfoil streamwise direction while divergent in the airfoil spanwise direction. The streamwise convergent shape allows for the airfoil trailing edge to be thin, while the divergent spanwise shape allows for the area ratio fro the inlet to the outlet to be from around 5 to 15 such that the cooling flow rate is high and the cooling air is diffused.
US07762774B2

A cooling arrangement (11) for a highly tapered gas turbine blade (10). The cooling arrangement (11) includes a pair of parallel triple-pass serpentine cooling circuits (80,82) formed in an inner radial portion (50) of the blade, and a respective pair of single radial channel cooling circuits (84,86) formed in an outer radial portion (52) of the blade (10), with each single radial channel receiving the cooling fluid discharged from a respective one of the triple-pass serpentine cooling circuit. The cooling arrangement advantageously provides a higher degree of cooling to the most highly stressed radially inner portion of the blade, while providing a lower degree of cooling to the less highly stressed radially outer portion of the blade. The cooling arrangement can be implemented with known casting techniques, thereby facilitating its use on highly tapered, highly twisted Row 4 industrial gas turbine blades that could not be cooled with prior art cooling arrangements.
US07762773B2

A turbine airfoil of a turbine engine having cooling channels positioned on side surface edges of a platform of the airfoil. The platform may include at least one angled side surface that may be aligned with a side surface of a platform of an adjacent turbine blade. The airfoil may include a suction side edge formed from a first surface at an obtuse angle relative to an upper surface of the platform and a second surface at an obtuse angle relative to a bottom surface of the platform. One or more film cooling slots may be positioned in the first surface and may include a diffusion portion. A damper may also be positioned in a groove between the second surface and an adjacent platform. The damper may include cooling slots on a side surface proximate to the second surface of the suction side edge.
US07762769B2

The present invention provides an axial fan assembly including a motor having an output shaft rotatable about a central axis and a shroud coupled to the motor. The shroud includes a substantially annular outlet bell centered on the central axis. The axial fan assembly also includes an axial fan having a hub coupled to the output shaft for rotation about the central axis, a plurality of blades extending radially outwardly from the hub and arranged about the central axis, a substantially circular band coupled to the tips of the blades, and a plurality of leakage stators positioned radially outwardly from the band and adjacent the outlet bell.
US07762752B2

The object of the present invention is to provide a bolt that effectively prevents gouging, seizure and racing between the bolt and nut without the aid of a guide boss and is effective when combined with the case nut. The object can be attained by providing a bolt having a threaded shank portion wherein a plural number of notched faces slanting toward the end of the threaded shank portion at an angle ranging from ±15° to ±80° toward the axis of the threaded shank portion, are formed at the beginning of the thread part of the threaded shank portion.
US07762750B2

A removable rack mount frame for securing goods within a container while permitting unfettered access to the goods includes forming an inner frame assembly and an outer frame assembly. Nesting the inner frame assembly within the outer frame assembly in a manner that permits the inner frame assembly to slide relative to the outer frame assembly. A biasing mechanism is provided to one of the inner frame assembly or the outer frame assembly so as to arrest the inner frame assembly in a predetermined orientation relative to the outer frame assembly. Selectively operating the biasing mechanism to permit the inner frame assembly to be moved from the predetermined orientation.
US07762745B1

The present invention is a silt fence installer of unique design wherein the frame is angular rather than longitudinal and the fabric chute assembly is oriented parallel with the angular frame. This arrangement results in an installer with a generally perpendicular trailing edge, a fabric chute assembly with a closed leading edge and no need for hinged relationship between the sidewalls, and simple fabric threading with a single directional turn of the fabric. Further, the angular frame results in a shorter installer able to be more responsive to turns. In addition, the invention includes a sliding offset hitch wherein a silt fence installer may be adjusted laterally by hand due to strategic placement of rollers.
US07762740B1

By providing an easily transported, filler component system, leaching field forming elements for establishing a series of flexible design passageways into which the desired fill material is placed, a highly effective, easily installed, competitively priced with enhanced biological habitat underground fluid distribution system is achieved. In accordance with the present invention, the desired passageways are quickly and efficiently created by employing pre-folded cardboard panels, or other pervious materials, placing the materials in an excavated location or site in cooperating relationship with each other for creating the desired leaching fields. In the preferred embodiment, two, substantially identical, pre-folded cardboard panels are employed and are positioned in juxtaposed, cooperating, spaced, facing relationship with each other, establishing a central passageway therebetween.
US07762739B2

A fastener is disclosed. The fastener includes a housing, a cage, one or more retaining members, and a plunger. The housing defines a housing cavity. The housing cavity includes a recess. The cage is disposed at least partially in the housing cavity. The cage includes a cage cavity and one or more passages in the cage aligned with the recess. The one or more retaining members are retained within the one or more passages. The plunger is movable in the ball cage cavity between a first position to cause the one or more balls to be displaced outwardly relative the one or more passages to seat the one or more retaining members in the recess thereby mechanically locking the housing to the ball cage, and a second position thereby allowing the one or more retaining members to be displaced radially inwardly relative the one or more passages to cause the one or more retaining members to be unseated from the recess.
US07762732B2

A light quantity control device includes: a bottom board having an opening; a first blade, a supporting blade and a second blade linearly moving in opposing directions and controlling light quantity passing through the opening; and a driving lever connected to the set of blades and driving the set of blades by rotation of the driving lever. The driving lever rotates within degrees centering on a phantom line A passing through a rotational center of the driving lever and being parallel with the moving directions of the blades.
US07762730B2

A bi-directional optical subassembly (BOSA) is disclosed. The BOSA of the present invention provides first and second optical devices, a WDM filter and the body that is configured to secure two optical devices and to install the WDM filter. The body has a cylindrical shape with a large bore, a small bore and a joint bore connecting two bores. The WDM filter is attached to the tapered surface of the joint bore.
US07762725B2

A shaft is supported in a housing on the front and rear antifriction bearings that are mounted in opposition. The front bearing has an outer race provided with an external thread that engages an internal thread within the housing. That outer race is fitted with a locking ring provided with an inner flange that is engaged to turn the race and thereby bring the front and rear bearings into the correct adjustment. The locking ring also has an axially directed outer flange that is segmented, so that one of the segments can be bent outwardly into a recess in the housing, thus providing a tab that prevents rotation of the locking ring and outer race.
US07762720B1

A method of coupling a silica fiber and a sapphire fiber includes providing a silica fiber having a doped core and a cladding layer, with the doped core having a prescribed diameter, providing a sapphire fiber having a diameter less than the doped core, placing an end of the sapphire fiber in close proximity to an end of the silica fiber, applying a heat source to the end of silica fiber and introducing the end of sapphire fiber into the heated doped core of the silica fiber to produce a coupling between the silica and sapphire fibers.
US07762706B2

A planar light source has a light emitting source, and a light guide plate for receiving light beams emitted from the light emitting source at a front side thereof and changing direction of the light beams, discharging the light beams from an upper surface thereof. A first anisotropic diffusion surface is formed on a lower surface of the light guide plate, and a reflection member is provided on the first anisotropic diffusion surface. The first anisotropic diffusion surface is hologram diffusion surface or a hairline diffusion surface.
US07762702B2

A light guide display system includes a display and a first light guide adjacent the display and having transmissive and nontranasmissive regions. The transmissive regions are configured to transmit light in a first pattern from the first light guide to the display. A second light guide is adjacent the first light guide opposite the display. The second light guide has transmissive and nontransmissive regions, and the transmissive regions of the second light guide are configured to transmit light from the second light guide through the first light guide and to the display in a second pattern.
US07762698B2

An auxiliary lighting energy interruption system for use with snow plows and like front-mounted vehicle accessories is disclosed which facilitates the interconnection of such systems to the lighting system of a vehicle upon which the vehicle accessory is mounted to provide power to and to control the auxiliary lights with the lighting system of the vehicle. The system provides first and second harness portions for respective installation on the vehicle and the vehicle accessory, with the first harness portion having a first configuration when it is not connected to the second harness portion and a second configuration when it is connected to the second harness portion.
US07762697B2

A light-emitting element is disposed to face the front side such that an end point of a rectangular or square light-emitting chip corresponding to the vehicle's own lane is positioned at a rear focal point of a convex lens. An additional lens is disposed to surround the convex lens. The additional lens includes an incident surface, a reflection surface, and an emitting surface. The additional lens is divided into a-plurality of fan-shaped areas in a circumferential direction with respect to an optical axis Ax. The division is performed for each angular range where a corner point of the light-emitting chip, which is positioned at an uppermost end of an image of the light-emitting chip formed on the reflection surface by the light emitted from the light-emitting element, becomes the same corner point.
US07762688B2

The invention relates to a lamp (1) comprising a projector (3) and an adjustable holding device (5), by means of which the projector (3) is joined to a base part (2) of the lamp (1). The holding device (5) is provided with an elongate support element (6), a holding element (7) at least for part of the projector (3), a joint (8) between the support element (6) and the holding element (7), and a clamping device (9) for locking the joint (8). The joint (8) and the clamping device (9) are disposed in a projector housing (11). In order to ensure that the projector (3) is easy to handle for adjustment purposes, a removing mechanism (41), with the aid of which the clamping force of the clamping device (9) can be reduced or canceled, is arranged in the projector housing (11). Said removing mechanism (41) is accessible from outside the projector housing (11) in order to be manually manipulated while being provided with a manually actuated actuating element (42) which is located at a distance next to a supporting element (49) that is fixed to the housing. The actuating element (42) can be moved towards the supporting element (49) by having two fingers of an operator's hand engage over both elements (42, 49).
US07762686B2

A lamp adjuster for adjusting the aim of a headlamp. The adjuster includes a housing having a first adjustment point, a gear having a second adjustment point, and an output shaft disposed at least partially within and functionally engaging the gear. Movement of the output shaft can be effected using either the first adjustment point or the second adjustment point. The adjuster can also include a clutching feature.
US07762684B2

A hand-held laser pointer is disclosed that comprises a laser module that is isolated from unwanted hand tremor motions of the laser pointer housing. A passive inertial stabilizer is utilized for stabilizing the laser module to suppress laser dot jitter associated with hand tremor. To achieve the above object, a collimated laser diode module is mounted on a stage that is suspended by a low-friction gimbal that pivots with respect to the housing of the pointer on two intersecting and mutually perpendicular axes. The inertial stage is coupled to the housing via a spring and damper.
US07762680B1

The shoe light attachment of the present invention includes a harness disposed and fitted to the dimensions of a shoe upper portion. The harness further includes an integrated mounting panel substantially disposed over a shoes laces and having a plurality of receiving sockets formed therein for receiving a light device. The light device includes engagement extensions for selectively moving the light device to varying positions along the mounting panel for proper alignment and orientation of the light device. The harness further includes an oversized switch means to actuate the light device by a foot tap. The harness further includes an elongate ridged member having a first end attached to the mounting panel bottom surface and a second end capable of flexing somewhat stiffly outwardly so as to facilitate the second end being positionable and secured under a shoes laces. The shoe light attachment is secured to a users shoe by the elongate ridged member and straps that extend from the harness around the heel of the shoe.
US07762679B2

A ferrule includes a body having a cylindrical shape. Elastic gripping portions are arranged on the body so as to bulge radially inwardly. The elastic gripping portions can have elastic contact with the outer circumferential surface of a glass tube. The body of the ferrule is mounted to the glass tube via the elastic gripping portions capable of elastic and radial deformation. Thereby, the variations in outer diameter of the glass tube can be absorbed, and therefore the dimensional control with high precision is not required for glass tubes at the time of manufacturing. This leads to cost reduction.
US07762658B2

An ink jet head of an ink jet printer comprises an ink jet nozzle ejecting ultraviolet curing ink, a pair of ultraviolet LEDs provided on both sides of the ink jet nozzle in the moving direction for emitting ultraviolet light in order to cure the ultraviolet curing ink.
US07762656B2

A method of operating a print head comprises heating the print head from a first temperature below a melting temperature of the phase change ink to a second temperature above the melting temperature. The print head has a nozzle plate with plurality of nozzles for ejecting the phase change ink onto an ink receiver. A first pressure is applied to an interior of the print head as the temperature of the print head increases from the first temperature to the second temperature. The first pressure is configured to prevent phase change ink from entering into the print head through the nozzles of the print head. The first pressure is removed from the print head in response to the print head being at approximately the second temperature.
US07762655B2

A solid ink delivery system with discrimination feature for identifying the presence of improper ink sticks for use in solid ink printers for delivering ink to media to form an image thereon is provided. The ink delivery system includes a proper ink stick having a first feature on the stick. The ink delivery system also includes a frame and a guide connected to the frame. The guide guides the sticks in a prescribed path and cooperates with the first feature of the proper ink sticks. The ink delivery system also includes a sensor for sensing the presence of a target surface of a stick at a first position with respect to the frame. The guide cooperates with the first feature of the proper ink sticks to position the target surface of the proper ink sticks in the first position. The guide cooperates with the improper ink sticks to position the target surface of the improper ink sticks spaced from the first position so that proper ink sticks may be distinguished from improper ink sticks.
US07762654B2

A liquid container includes a housing, a flexible film, a liquid reservoir configured to directly store liquid therein and defined by the housing on one side and the flexible film on the other side, a liquid supply port provided in the liquid reservoir and configured to supply liquid to a recording head, and an overhang protruding from the housing and located in the liquid reservoir and substantially near the liquid supply port. The absorbing member is configured to absorb the inertial force of liquid, the inertial force being generated in liquid in the liquid reservoir by an external force applied to the housing.
US07762653B2

A tube for supplying a fluid therethrough having a base wall and an enlarged wall is provided. The base wall is outside a first closed line segment which defines an inside of the inner surface of the tube and is inside a second closed line segment which is similar to the first closed line segment and encloses the first closed line segment with a gravity center of the second closed line segment coincident with a gravity center of the first closed line segment. And the enlarged wall is outside the second closed line segment and is inside a third closed line segment which encloses the second closed line segment, wherein either the third closed line segment is dissimilar to the second closed line segment or a gravity center of the third closed line segment is different from that of the second closed line segment.
US07762632B2

A connecting structure between two passages includes a connecting sleeve including a large-diameter portion and a small-diameter portion with a shoulder surface defined therebetween. A recess is formed in the shoulder surface at its radially inner portion. When the connecting sleeve is inserted into a connecting hole formed in a mating member with a seal member fitted on the small-diameter portion, the seal member is radially compressed and is allowed to swell not only in the direction in which the connecting sleeve is inserted but toward the shoulder surface because the shoulder surface is formed with the recess. This prevents the force that tends to axially slide the radially inner portion of the seal member, thus preventing inclination of the seal member.
US07762628B2

The present invention provides a lounge chair cover comprising a substantially-rectangular, typically absorbent, textile sheet and adjustable fasteners at the four corners of the textile sheet.
US07762622B2

A structural member of a motor vehicle, e.g., a “B” pillar, comprises a reinforcing member having an elongate core of ultra high strength steel and a casing of aluminum alloy, the casing having a constant section profile with a closed section cavity. The core is encased within the casing and the core and the casing bonded together by co-drawing the core and the casing through a die. The casing has a pair of spaced flanges which connect the reinforcing member to aluminum alloy pressings to form the structural member. The reinforcing member has considerable yield strength from the use of the ultra high strength steel in the core while the flanges, being of aluminum alloy, are readily joined by self-piercing rivets.
US07762610B2

A convertible top can be displaced between a closed position and a put-away position. The convertible top contains a flexible convertible top cloth, rear side regions of which each have at least one folding device acting on them, impressing at least one defined fold in each case on the convertible top cloth during the transfer from the closed position into the put-away position. Each folding device has at least one linear, rod-shaped folding mechanism which, during the transfer of the convertible top into the put-away position, prevents a folding of the convertible top cloth transversely with respect to its longitudinal direction.
US07762607B2

A decklid linkage mechanism allows movement of a decklid relative to a body of an automotive vehicle. The decklid linkage mechanism includes a frame, an actuator and a linkage mechanism. The frame supports at least a portion of the decklid. The frame is pivotally coupled to the body for movement of the frame and decklid together between a closed position concealing a storage space in the vehicle and a first open position allowing access to the storage space from a first end of the storage space. The decklid is coupled to the frame for movement of the decklid between the closed position and a second open position allowing access to the storage space from a second end of the storage space opposite the first end. The actuator drives the decklid between the closed position and the first open position. The linkage mechanism includes an overcenter arrangement that locks the decklid in the closed position.
US07762606B2

An instrument panel with a one piece body constructed of a thermoformed material and exhibiting first and second visually differentiable surface patterns. An associated process includes the creation of an instrument panel, such as through the use of a clamshell slush mold, and including the formation of a groove between the surface patterns which exhibits a visually appealing and rounded cross sectional profile.
US07762602B2

The invention relates to a device for storing objects in a loading space (11) of a motor vehicle (1, 101) having a storage container (2, 702, 802) which can be attached to the loading space (11) of the motor vehicle, wherein the storage container (2, 702, 802) has a supporting surface (21, 821) and a wall (20) which can deform at least partially elastically and/or inelastically, characterized in that in order to change the volume of a storage compartment a height of the wall (20) can be changed at least in certain sections by an adjustment device comprising at least one winding shaft (61, 61a, 61b, 61c, 61d), the adjustment device has at least one detachable securing device (8, 108, 208, 308, 408), and a rotational movement of the at least one winding shaft (61, 61a, 61b, 61c, 61d) can be locked by means of the detachable securing device for the purpose of transportation, with the result that at least a lengthening of the wall (20) is prevented during transportation, and/or the adjustment device comprises an extension-limiting device (9, 408, 509) which limits a maximum extension movement of the at least one winding shaft (61, 61a, 61b, 61c, 61d).
US07762595B2

Impact damping arrangement, in particular for a motor vehicle, comprising a cross member and at least one impact damper, an impact damper being positioned between the cross member and a vehicle frame for absorbing a force (FL) in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the impact damper, wherein the connection of the impact damper to the vehicle frame comprises an absorbing arrangement having at least one deformation zone to bring about the attenuation of a force introduced transversely to the longitudinal axis of the impact damper by means of a material deformation in the deformation zone. An impact damping arrangement is thus provided which absorbs an impact in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle as well as an impact with a force effect extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of the motor vehicle.
US07762592B2

A tube fitting that uses only two components, namely a fitting body and a fitting nut. The nut and body are adapted to be threadably coupled together by relative rotation therebetween. The nut includes an integral tube gripping ring that cooperates with a camming surface on the body when the fitting is made-up. The camming surface preferably has a steep camming angle. The ring is radially compressed against the tube outer wall to form a seal and a tight tube grip. The ring also forms a line contact-type seal against the camming surface. The ring is designed to have a hinging action and to plastically deform during pull-up to embed into the tubing for excellent tube grip, and an axially adjacent swage or collet zone that isolates any stress riser resulting from the embedding action from vibration effects. The fitting components, and particularly the ring, may be case hardened, the fitting may include a self-gauging feature to indicate sufficient pull-up to prevent excessive pull-up. Also provided is a single ferrule tube fitting that uses a steep camming surface and is at least about 3.3 times harder than the stainless steel tube end.
US07762576B2

A structure for a driver's airbag cushion of a vehicle is provided to protect the driver's lower body as well as the driver's upper body and head, without mounting a knee airbag at the lower portion of the crash pad. The structure may include a blocking member that extends from a rear upper end of an airbag cushion to a front end of the airbag cushion and divides the interior of the airbag cushion into a face chamber defined by a front upper space of the airbag cushion and a pelvis chamber defined by a lower space thereof, the blocking member blocks the face and pelvis chambers, a temporary blocking member provided at a predetermined portion of the blocking member to control fluid-communication between the face chamber and the pelvis chamber when a tensile force is applied thereto, and/or a tensile force-providing member that applies tensile force to the temporary blocking member so that the pelvis chamber may be communicated with the face chamber by releasing the temporary blocking member when the pelvis chamber substantially expands.
US07762573B2

A method and apparatus for providing a gliding board binding, such as a snowboard binding. The binding may include an adjustment indicator that allows for determination of a longitudinal position of the base relative to a gliding board, heel-to-toe position of the base relative to a gliding board and/or an angular position of the base relative to a gliding board when the base is secured to the gliding board. The adjustment indicator may be included with a footbed that is removable from a binding base, e.g., that includes a foot engagement member to secure a rider's foot to the binding and board. A removable footbed may include a toe portion that is adjustable in position relative to a heel portion of the footbed. A gliding board may include a channel for mounting a binding that is arranged in the board core so that no portion of the board core is located on top or bottom sides of the channel, and instead so the top and bottom reinforcement layers are located above and below the channel.
US07762549B2

A recording apparatus includes a feeding section configured to feed a recording sheet, a first conveyance roller which conveys the recording sheet fed from the feeding section to a recording area and conveys the recording sheet during a recording operation, a recording section configured to record an image on the recording sheet at the recording area downstream from the first conveyance roller in the direction of feeding the recording sheet, a conveyance rate detection unit configured to detect the conveyance rate of the recording sheet conveyed by the first conveyance roller, a recording sheet end detection unit disposed downstream from the first conveyance roller and detects the end part of the recording sheet, and a correction unit configured to correct the conveyance rate of the recording sheet conveyed by the first conveyance roller based on a result detected by the conveyance rate detection unit.
US07762546B2

A sheet conveying device including: (a) a sheet discharger configured to discharge a sheet in a discharging direction; (b) a tray configured to receive the sheet discharged by the sheet discharger; (c) a stopper protruding upwardly from the tray; and (d) a guide provided by an upper surface of the tray and located on an upstream side of the stopper in the discharging direction, and configured to warp the discharged sheet such that the warped sheet has a downwardly convex shape in its cross section that is perpendicular to the discharging direction, for thereby allowing a leading end of the warped sheet to pass over the stopper and to be positioned on a downstream side of the stopper in the discharging direction.
US07762545B2

An image formation apparatus includes a paper supply section, a feeding section, a cam, a baseplate and an arm portion. The paper supply section is withdrawably mounted at a main body of the image formation apparatus. The feeding section is provided at the image formation apparatus main body and feeds a sheet. The cam is provided at the image formation apparatus main body and rotates in conjunction with the feeding section. The baseplate is provided at the paper supply section and is urgeable the sheet toward the feeding section. The arm portion is swingably provided at the paper supply section. When the paper supply section is installed at the image formation apparatus main body, the arm portion swings with rotation of the cam together with the feeding section and, via the resilient member, the arm portion urges the baseplate toward the feeding section.
US07762539B2

In one embodiment of the present invention, a sheet post-processing apparatus includes an ejection path that successively feed sheets each with an image found thereon from an ejection outlet. A processing tray is disposed under the ejection outlet to temporarily store sheets fed from the ejection path. A port processing unit performs post processing such as binding and punching. The post processing unit is located under the ejection path and is provided with a cooling fan that sends air toward the post processing unit.
US07762538B2

A gatherer stitcher includes an endless gatherer chain for gathering and transporting folded sheets astride the chain. The gatherer chain has chain roof segments and driving elements being adjustable in position. In an inactive position, a driving element that can be folded forms part of the roof of the gatherer chain and, in another, active position, projects out of the roof of the gatherer chain transversely relative to the conveying direction. The driving element can be driven by a control device. A method for adapting the endless gatherer chain to a format of a product is also provided.
US07762536B2

This invention can improve the appearance quality of a pamphlet produced by suppressing a swell of a folded sheet bundle and prevent a drop in productivity without enlarging the size of a sheet processing apparatus. A sheet bundle receiving position is changed depending on a sheet size and the moving direction of the press unit is changed corresponding to the sheet size of a conveyed sheet bundle. As a consequence, the enlargement of the sheet processing apparatus can be avoided without deteriorating productivity.
US07762533B2

A fastener is configured to affix a first article such as a picket to a second article such as a rail to form a railing or balustrade. The fastener includes a first engaging surface having a maximum diameter configured to engage an interior surface of an opening in the first article and a mating surface configured to mate with the second article. The first engaging surface can have shape selected from cylindrical, ellipsoidal, conical, elliptic conical frustum, pyramidal frustum, and ball and other shapes having cross-sections of rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal and other regular polygons having at least four sides such that good engagement is obtained and the fastener is hidden from view in the assembled railing.
US07762529B1

An universal tool for unlatching a locking pin on a gooseneck ball hitch comprises an arm supported on a support leg.
US07762520B2

The invention provides a servo valve which is operable in vacuum systems and can be switched between an open and a closed state even by use of low forces. For that purpose, the valve has a closure member (4) moving between the open and a closed position under influence of a difference between a control pressure of a control chamber (13) and the pressures of the intake (2) and outlet (3), respectively. The control chamber is in constant fluid communication with the intake, and in adjustable fluid communication with the outlet to influence the control pressure mainly by the intake pressure and the outlet pressure depending on the adjustable fluid communication. The invention further provides a vacuum system with such a servo valve.
US07762518B2

A support structure for supporting a display device includes a base member mounted on a rear surface of the display device, a support member rotatably mounted on the base member that supports the display device in a state in which a lower surface of the display device is in contact with a setting plane and the support member is opened by a predetermined angle with respect to the base member, and a protruded portion formed integrally with an outer surface of the support member and extending in a widthwise direction of the support member, the protruded portion restricting rotation of the support member beyond a supporting position thereof by contact of the protruded portion with the base member when the display device is tilted.
US07762514B2

A feeding apparatus includes a screw shaft, a feeding nut, a supporting member, a driving unit, an intermediate member supported by the screw shaft and arranged to be rotatable relative to the supporting member, and an elastic biasing mechanism. The intermediate member includes a radial sliding contact surface slidably contacting a radial bearing surface of the supporting member, first and second thrust sliding contact surfaces contacting first and second thrust bearing surfaces formed at the supporting member, respectively. The elastic biasing mechanism elastically biases the first and second thrust sliding contact surfaces of the intermediate member to contact the first and second thrust bearing surfaces, respectively, and further elastically biases the intermediate member to a thrust receiving member provided at the screw shaft for assembling the intermediate member and the thrust receiving member onto the screw shaft without a clearance between the intermediate member and the thrust receiving member.
US07762505B2

A fixing device for fixing cameras and other optical devices to stands or for connecting them to other accessories, includes an adapter journal joined to the camera or other optical devices and a receiving device connected to the stand or other accessories and which is provided with an opening for receiving the adapter journal, and a rotatable locking device. The opening is configured as an insert opening on a part which can be displaced axially in an outward manner by means of housing part of the receiving device such that the adapter journal can be inserted radially into the insert opening.
US07762497B2

A device is provided which is used automatically to release the lines of a power kite or kitesurf when, under the force of the wind, the bar applies pressure on a quick release jaw clip or snap hook. According to the invention, the rear liens are fixed to the ends of the bar and to the rear ends of the wing. Moreover, the clip or snap hook is connected to the front lines which are in turn connected to the wing and to the user by the device. The device includes front lines, jaw elements belonging to the clip or snap hook; an axle comprising a shackle around which the clip or snap hook pivots; lugs belonging to the clip or snap hook; a spring; a bar having the rear lines attached to the ends thereof; and a cord which is connected to the shackle and to the kitesurfer (or user) by his/her harness.
US07762495B2

A solar powered aerial vehicle includes an elongated airframe incorporating lifting and control surfaces, a mechanism for propelling the airframe through the air such that lift developed by the lifting surface is equal to or greater than the weight of the aerial vehicle, a planar solar sail coupled to the airframe and having at least one surface adapted to collect solar energy during the day and to power the propelling mechanism with a first portion of the energy collected, and an apparatus such as a fuel cell/electrolyzer for storing a second portion of the solar energy collected by the solar sail during the day and for powering the propelling mechanism with the second portion of energy during the night. The vehicle is capable of continuous operation at northern latitudes and during the winter months for extended periods without landing or refueling.
US07762491B2

In a process for winding a continuously supplied band (5) onto a bobbin (2), with the bobbin (2) being rotated and the band (5) being reciprocated along the entire length of the bobbin (2) at a winding angle (α) by means of a cross-winding device (4), each time the bobbin diameter has increased by a particular value, the winding ratio, i.e., the ratio between the number of bobbin rotations and the reciprocating motion (to-and-fro stroke) of the cross-winding device is stepwisely changed such that the winding ratio will change in essentially integral steps.
US07762483B2

An air vortex mill (1) mill dries a flowable product in a gas-/air flow-through grinding chamber (3) with several grinding stages arranged in the grinding chamber. The grinding stages are formed by a rotor (4) with a multitude of grinding plates (9) and a stator housing. A device (12, 13) delivers preferably heated carrier gases, as a device (6, 15, 16, 18) delivers the product into the grinding chamber (3). In order to improve the product delivery to the mill (1), one component of the delivery device is a supply line (6) which encircles at least part the circumference of the grinding chamber (3). The supply line (6) is equipped with an inflow (15) for the product to be treated and a plurality of outlet apertures (18) distributed over the circumference of the grinding chamber, for delivering the product into the grinding chamber.
US07762480B1

In a fluid pump and cartridge assembly, a cartridge includes a material inlet port, a material outlet port, and a feed screw. The feed screw delivers fluid to be dispensed from the fluid inlet to the outlet port. The fluid inlet is preferably elongated in a direction along a longitudinal axis of the feed screw to enhance consistency in material flow through the cartridge. The feed screw is preferably driven by a closed-loop servo motor to achieve high-performance dispensing resolution. The assembly is preferably compatible with fixed-z and floating-z cartridges. A optional vented dispense tip, in combination with the fluid pump, allows for repeatable deposit of fillet patterns while maintaining optimal consistency.
US07762475B2

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for spray application of a monolithic refractory material, designed to add water to a powder material and knead the powder material during feeding. In the method and apparatus, a primary water injector 7 is arranged in a feed hose 5 extending from a spray-material supply device 1 to a distal spray nozzle 4, and a secondary water injector 8 is arranged in the feed hose at a position just before the distal spray nozzle 4. The primary water injector 7 is arranged on an upstream side of the secondary water injector 8 with a given distance therebetween. 10 to 50 mass %, preferably 15 to 40 mass %, of application water on the basis of the total application water required for the spray application is added from the primary water injector together with compression air in the form of water particles having an average particle size of 100 μm or less, to evenly wet a spray material during feeding to the extent capable of preventing the spray material from being slurried. Then, the remaining application water is injected from the secondary water injector together with compression air. The spray application method and apparatus of the present invention can achieve a high kneading effect by a low amount of application water while improving operational efficiency.
US07762474B2

Coating adhesion on wooden members, such as wooden railroad crossties, is improved through use of three surface-treating techniques prior to application of the coating. The first technique involves forming grooves on the surface of the wooden article, the second technique involves exposing the wooden article to heat to reduce the moisture content of the surface of the wooden article, and the third technique involves creating incisions on the surface of the wooden article to further promote adhesion. The techniques may be advantageously used together to further enhance coating adhesion.
US07762469B2

There is provided a short-range wireless communication apparatus and a cellular phone terminal that can surely and immediately notify a user of the optimum distance between a contactless IC card reader/writer and a contactless IC card not through an MPU or a CPU and if the contactless IC card function is locked, surely notify the user as such. In an RFID card, a magnetic field strength/brightness conversion section adjusts the brightness of two LEDs in accordance with the detected magnetic field strength of a carrier wave. A blink generation circuit detects whether the RFID card is in a communication state and blinks the LEDs if so. A function combining section combines the functions to indicate the magnetic field strength and the communication state with the brightness and blinking of the LEDs. An LED with another color illuminates only when an RFID function LSI is in a lock state.
US07762468B2

The present invention provides readers to analyze emerging security or authentication feature for physical objects (e.g., identification documents, product packaging, banknotes, etc.). One claim recites a reader including: an excitation source to excite an object with first non-visible light, the object comprising first indicia provided with a first ink or dye and second indicia provided with a second ink or dye, the second ink or dye comprising an emission decay time that is relatively longer than an emission decay time of the first ink or dye, the first indicia and the second indicia collectively conveying a first machine readable feature when illuminated with the first non-visible light, with the second indicia individually conveying a second machine readable feature after emissions attributable to the first indicia fall to a first level; and a code reader to read at least the second machine readable feature after emissions attributable to the first ink or dye fall to the first level and before emissions attributable to the second ink or dye fall to a second level. Other claims and combinations are provided as well.
US07762465B2

A device for optically multiplexing a laser beam, having a glass plate construction with an input surface and an output surface, and bearing reflective and semi-reflective coatings arranged so as to optically multiplex an input laser beam entering the input surface, into multiple spatial-coherence reduced output laser beams exiting from the output surface. Through such optical multiplexing, and recombination, the coherence of the resulting laser beam is substantially reduced, as is the power of speckle pattern noise observed at an image detection array detecting an image of an object illuminated by said laser beam.
US07762463B2

Embodiments of the invention is directed to a portable identification object (e.g., ID card), an object recognition system (e.g., card reader system), and a method of identity verification or authentication utilizing the portable identification object and the object recognition system. Illustratively, the ID Card incorporates an optical MEMS that, in a passive aspect, exhibits amplitude modulation, wavelength selectivity and/or optical phase modulation with respect to an input signal provided by the card reader system; and, in an active aspect, exhibits amplitude modulation, wavelength selectivity and/or optical phase modulation with respect to an input signal provided by the card reader system based on specific stimulation of the MEMS. MEMS stimulation may be activated by the card reader system in response to a selective user input (e.g., PIN) and algorithmic processing provided by the card reader system. Resultant signals produced by the MEMS ID card and read by the card reader are compared to results stored in a database. An identity or authentication determination can then be made based on the validity of the comparison.
US07762459B2

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for real-time data transfer between sensor or actuator devices and higher-level applications.In one aspect, an integration engine receives a set of rules from an external application and receives item data including item identifiers from one or more tag readers, each item identifier being read from a digital tag bound to a physical item. The integration engine uses the rules and item data to determine in real time which subset of the item data to furnish to the external application.In another aspect, the integration engine receives from the external application configuration data for controlling an actuator device. The integration engine converts the configuration data to a format compatible with the actuator device; and furnishes the converted configuration data in real time to the actuator device.
US07762458B2

A media enhanced shopping cart system comprises a shopping cart comprising a frame, a basket, a handle, a base tray, a plurality of wheels, a read component for performing a proximity scan of the shopping cart, a locationing component for determining a location of the shopping cart within a store based on the scan, and a display component for displaying at least one advertisement for a product based on the location of the shopping cart within the store, wherein the locationing component is further operable to determine a location of the product within the store relative to the shopping cart based on the scan, and wherein the display component is further operable to display an indication of the location of the advertised product relative to the location of the shopping cart.
US07762442B2

In a controlling mechanism for pneumatic nailer, the pneumatic nailer includes a leaf spring, a trigger, a trigger valve and a safety rod attached to a main body of the nailer. The control mechanism includes a control valve and a connecting rod. The control vale includes a valve plug adjacent to the safety rod. The connecting rod is engaged with the valve plug and the safety rod. The connecting rod extends to a position that is capable of being pressed by the leaf spring. The connecting rod is configured for driving the valve plug and the safety rod to move downwardly when the leaf spring press thereof, thereby controlling the pressurized air to drive the nail gun. As such, the valve plug can move in to a position that can to control the nail hitting action of the nail gun in advance so the stability of control increases.
US07762439B2

A variable tip nozzle and cap assembly is disclosed for a dispensing pouch which contains a confectionery, the assembly including threaded portions of different diameters which receive decorating tips for application of the confectionery as a decoration to cakes and cookies, for example.
US07762436B2

A metering valve (2) and a device (1) provided with it for metered dispensing of a preferably cosmetic liquid (3) and a process for producing such a metering valve and a use of such a metering valve. The metering valve preferably has a sealing element (14) which is injection molded onto the valve element (6) or a valve housing (7) or attached in some other way so that simple and economical production by injection molding is enabled. Optimum sealing is achieved in that the sealing element, at least in sections, is made at least annular or sleeve-shaped, seals radially with the inlet valve closed, and is supported either radially inside or outside.
US07762419B2

A cap has a pair of L-shaped, flexible engaging arms that extend, from the end of a cap body opposite to the direction of fitting, in the direction of fitting with a distance away from the cap body. The distal ends of the engaging arms are connected by a pair of flexible connecting bridges to surround the outer periphery of the cap body with a distance away therefrom. The cap body is fitted into a cylindrical part of a cylinder head cover and engaging projections of the pair of engaging arms are engaged with an engaging recess in the outer periphery of the cylindrical part. The engaging arms are flexed to get away from the outer periphery of the cylindrical part by pushing circumferentially middle parts of the connecting bridges to come close to each other, so that the engaging projections are disengaged from the engaging recess.
US07762413B2

A holder for use with a nipple-topped nursing bottle includes a sleeve portion for covering the nursing bottle. Surrounding the sleeve portion is a ring portion. The ring portion may be grabbed and squeezed by the animal being nursed during the nursing process. Such grabbing and squeezing during the nursing process overcomes the reluctance of the animal to take nourishment through the nipple of nipple-tipped nursing bottle and shortens the time during which an animal may be weaned to a nipple-tipped nursing bottle.
US07762401B1

A template according to the invention is configured for manual testing of a mail piece to determine if the dimensions and stiffness of the mail piece are acceptable for passage through an associated automated mail sorting machine. The template includes a frame having a pair of spaced, curved walls defining a curved test slot. The curved slot has an open end through which a mail piece can be inserted and a removal opening for removing the mail piece from the slot. The removal opening in a preferred embodiment comprises a lengthwise slot in one of the curved walls through which the mail piece can be manually held and pushed back out of the open end of the template. The template may include a bracket for mounting the template on a secure surface.
US07762398B2

Hanger labels that include a first label segment, a second label segment, and a hanger are described. The hanger may include a hook, a first connection connecting the hook to the first label segment, and a second connection connecting the hook to the second label segment. Alternatively, the hanger may include a strap connecting first and second label segments. Containers including such hanger labels are also described.
US07762393B2

A transport and storage container for liquids includes a parallelepiped-shaped or cubic inner container of plastic, a closable filling socket, and a draining socket for a draining fitting with a plastic housing, a flexible inner sheathing of plastic material which can be placed in the inner container and is provided with a filling socket, a discharge socket, an outer casing of metal grating or sheet metal and a pallet-like underframe for supporting the inner container. A threaded sleeve of plastic material is welded onto the drain socket of the inner container. When the filling socket of the fitting housing is screwed onto the threaded sleeve welded onto the connecting socket of the inner container, the sealing flange is clamped between the free end in the housing of the drain fitting of the threaded sleeve and an internal shoulder of the filling socket of the fitting housing, for sealing the connecting socket of the inner container and the threaded sleeve welded to the inner container and pulled through the drain socket by the internal sheathing.
US07762387B2

A conveyor idler assembly (10) for supporting a conveyor belt (11) comprising a support frame (12) having at least one elongated linear or longitudinally curved support beam (16) which extends transversely of the conveyor belt (11) and at least one idler cassette (13) having an idler roller (30), the cassette (13) being mounted to the support beam (16) for slidable movement therealong.
US07762381B2

The conveyor of a travelator comprises a number of shafts and a number of mutually parallel endless belts. The conveyor comprises a number of conveyor modules successively connected to each other with a connecting section between them. The belts in the connecting section are arranged to be loosenable so that at least one shaft over which the belts to be loosened are passed is detachable so as to allow the conveyor modules to be released from each other. To release a conveyor module, at least one shaft on which the belt loops in the connecting section turn over is moved in relation to another shaft to slacken the belt loops. The shaft over which the loosened belt loops are passed is detached and removed from the belt loops. The detached conveyor module is removed for maintenance and/or replaced. In the assembly, a number of conveyor modules are provided, the conveyor modules are placed one after the other and connected to each other in the connecting section by belt loops and at least one detachably mounted shaft, which is placed in the belt loops in the connecting section. At least one of the shafts over which the belt loops in the connecting section are passed is moved to tighten the belt loops and to form a substantially continuous conveyor surface across the connecting section.
US07762367B2

A motorcycle that ensures engine cooling efficiency while suppressing radiator exposure has a head pipe and left and right downtubes extending downward from the head pipe. A radiator catches traveling wind from forwardly of the motorcycle. A louver provided on the radiator includes baffle plates that lead traveling wind to the radiator. The radiator has an overlapping portion between the downtubes that overlaps the downtubes as viewed from laterally of the motorcycle.
US07762353B2

In one aspect of the invention, a downhole tool string component comprises a fluid passageway formed between a first and second end. A valve mechanism is disposed within the fluid passageway adapted to substantially cyclically build-up and release pressure within the fluid passageway such that a pressure build-up results in radial expansion of at least a portion of the fluid passageway and wherein a pressure release results in a contraction of the portion of the fluid passageway. The valve mechanism disposed within the fluid passageway comprises a spring. Expansion and contraction of the portion of the fluid passageway varies a weight loaded to a drill bit disposed at a drilling end of the drill string.
US07762350B2

The invention relates to an impulse generator (2) for a rock breaking tool, which comprises a propulsion chamber (6) for receiving a pressurizeable liquid volume (8), and an in the propulsion chamber (6) received impulse piston (10), where the impulse piston (10) is arranged for transfer of pressure peaks in the liquid volume (8) into impulses in the tool (12), whereby transfer of energy from a propulsion mechanism (14) into impulses in the tool (12) is effected by volume reduction of the propulsion chamber (6), whereby the impulse piston (10) is driven forward by a pressure peak in the propulsion chamber (6). The invention also relates to a hydraulic impulse tool comprising an impulse generator (2).
US07762345B2

A conservation tillage implement having three or more rows of individual coulter wheel assemblies laterally spaced apart and removably mounted on a cultivator frame, a coulter wheel assembly in a given row being staggered with respect to the coulter wheel assemblies in a longitudinally adjacent row. The coulter wheel assemblies may be laterally adjustable and may be mounted to the cultivator frame using a mounting means that permits rotation about a vertical axis. The coulter wheel assemblies may comprise a coil spring having a horizontal spring axis to permit upward deflection in response to impact with an obstacle. Leveling attachments may optionally be mounted to the cultivator frame, along with additional field working tools. The implement is used in the management of crop residue as part of a minimum tillage strategy. The implement is particularly resistant to plugging and can be operated at high speeds without undue damage upon impact with obstacles. Advantageously, the implement can be operated in standing water, as found in the growing of rice.
US07762342B2

A flow conduit may have at least one orifice is in the vicinity of a flow source. The source is at least partially covered (and flow blocked by) an optional temporary coating or barrier. The flow pathway between the orifice and the source is temporarily blocked with a degradable material or barrier. The material disintegrates (e.g. under the influence of time or temperature) to optionally produce a product that removes the temporary coating in the area adjacent the barrier. The method is useful in one non-limiting context of recovering hydrocarbons where the flow conduit is the casing or liner of the well and the flow source is a subterranean reservoir where the temporary coating is a filter cake.
US07762340B2

Installation for enhanced oil recovery comprising in succession: a polymer storage hopper, a grinding device, a dissolution/maturation tank for the dispersed polymer, and a pump for transferring pressurized polymer solution in the pipeline conveying the injection water for introducing the mixture of polymer and injection water into a well. The grinding device has a chamber for grinding and draining the dispersed polymer comprising a rotor and a stator, and on all or part of the periphery of the chamber, a ring fed by a secondary water circuit. The ring communicates with the chamber for spraying of pressurized water on the blades of the stator. A method implementing the installation is also provided.
US07762332B2

A thermal insulating packer fluid contains at least one water superabsorbent polymer and optionally water and/or brine, and a viscosifying polymer. The composition is capable of inhibiting unwanted heat loss from production tubing or uncontrolled heat transfer to outer annuli. The viscosity of the composition is sufficient to reduce the convection flow velocity within the annulus.
US07762331B2

A process is disclosed for assembling a loading tube for a perforating gun for use in a perforating system. At a first location, e.g., a shop, which is not the location at which perforating operations will be conducted, the loading tube is completely assembled. The completely assembled loading tubing is then transported to a second location where perforating operations are to be conducted. In one embodiment, an RF-safe initiator, wiring, a detonating cord and a plurality of shaped charges are installed into the loading tube at a first location. The RF-safe initiators may comprise an exploding foil initiator or an exploding bridge wire. A process for assembling a loading tube for a single-shot perforating gun is also disclosed.
US07762330B2

Methods of removing casing from a wellbore, the method including disposing a drilling tool assembly in a wellbore, the drilling tool assembly including a cutting device, a spearing device, and a jarring device. The methods further including activating the cutting device, cutting a first casing segment, deactivating the cutting device and activating a spearing device. The method further including engaging the spearing device with the first casing segment, activating the jarring device to free the first casing segment, and removing the first casing segment from the wellbore.
US07762327B2

A casing annulus is remediated by inserting a hose into a casing annulus, the hose having a nozzle on its lower end. An acoustic signal is directed into the annulus. A sensor in the hose receives the acoustic signal and transmits data from the sensor to the surface. The data represents the acoustic signal arrival time to the sensor, and an analyzer estimates the sensor depth based on the data. The hose is inserted from a reel into a wellhead above the annulus. An electrical transducer mechanically coupled to the hose creates the acoustic signal. The signal is propagated along the hose and transferred to the fluid in the annulus, where it then propagates further into the annulus. The transducer can be installed on a hose roller along which the hose is fed into the wellhead.
US07762317B2

What is disclosed herein deals with low to medium pressure, high temperature, all ceramic, air-to-air, indirect heat exchangers, novel ball joints, high load-bearing ceramic tube sheets, and tube seal extenders for ceramic tubes that are useful in such heat exchangers. Also disclosed are new and novel systems used in new and novel industrial processes such as chemical processing, sludge destruction and the production of particulates such as, for example, carbon black. Systems utilizing several heat exchangers are also disclosed.
US07762312B2

A method and device for driving the support rolls of a continuous casting machine for liquid metals, which support rolls form a strand guide for the continuously cast strand. The strand guide includes electrically driven individual support rolls and/or hydraulically adjustable support roll segments. An automatic load balance control system for the drives is used as the sum of the individual forces for casting speed, motor torque, motor speed, and standard correction factors and is provided with individual adjustment of torque and speed of each drive support roll motor. A total driving torque for all drives is determined from the normal force of the driven drive support rolls and proportionately transmitted to each support roll in such a way that a static base setting of the torque distribution is used as the basis for the specific load capacity of each drive support roll.
US07762302B2

There is provided a label printer 10 that performs printing on a label L including a front-part label area L1 located at the front side in the feed-out direction and a rear-part label area L2 which is connected thereto. The label printer 10 comprises a printing unit 12 that performs printing on the label L, a sticking unit 14 that sticks the label L to an object W while holding the label L and a turn-over device 15 that turns over the front-part label area L1 to the rear face side of the rear-part label area L2. The sticking unit 14 is arranged so as to stick the label L to the object W after the front-part label area L1 is turned over and attached to the rear-part label area L2 by the turn-over device 15.
US07762298B2

A pneumatic tire has a tread pattern wherein a circumferential groove continuously extending in a circumferential direction is formed in at least a first half part of a treading face within a range of 10-30% of a treading face width from an end of the treading face and a plurality of curvedly slant grooves extending from the circumferential groove toward a side of a central part of the treading face so as to make an angle at an acute angle side with respect to the circumferential direction gradually small away from the circumferential groove are arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction, in which a land row consisting of tapered land portions defined between the circumferentially adjoining curvedly slant grooves and having a width gradually decreased toward the side of the central part of the treading face is formed in the treading face, and sipes linearly extending at two large and small inclination angles with respect to the circumferential direction without crossing with each other are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction, and first type of the sipes has an angle at the acute angle side with respect to the circumferential direction of 75-90° and second type of the sipes has an angle at the acute angle side of 30-60°.
US07762291B2

A capless closure assembly for a fuel tank filler tube has a housing adapted for covering a bulkhead with an opening disposed on a proximal end of the filler tube, a sliding element disposed in the housing, and a door that is biased to close an aperture in the housing. The sliding element is movable between a first position that exposes the opening in the bulkhead and a second position that covers the opening in the bulkhead, and the door cooperates with the sliding element to move the sliding element from the second position to the first position as the door is opened.
US07762290B2

A method of loading particulate matter into a transport container having at least one chamber with a peripheral region using an apparatus comprising a rotatable member configured to be positioned at least partially into an opening for the chamber. The method can include the acts of locating the apparatus adjacent the opening for the chamber by movement relative to the transport container, initiating a flow of particulate matter from the apparatus into the opening, rotating the rotatable member to facilitate the dispensing of particulate matter within the chamber, and engaging the rotatable member with particulate matter so that at least a portion of particulate matter that has been dispensed into the chamber is pushed into the peripheral region within the chamber.
US07762288B2

A method for insertion of a weft thread (2, 3, 4) on a weaving loom whereby insertion parameter is determined and in which on the one hand at least one control parameter for an insertion is adapted or, on the other hand, at least one control parameter for a weaving cycle is adapted. A weaving loom with control devices (41,42) and a selection device (43) for the application of a method as stated above.
US07762287B2

Included is a woven fabric having warp yarns and weft yarns. Either warp yarn or weft yarn or both warp and weft yarns have two separate systems of yarns. The systems of yarns include a hard yarn forming the main body of fabric and a composite covered elastic yarn with an elastic fiber core; wherein the fabric has an outer face side, a back side, and the fabric includes at least one of: (a) a weaving pattern where the composite yarn and at least one adjacent hard yarn pass over the same pick when the composite yarn is on the outer surface; (b) the ratio of hard yarn denier to composite yarn denier is at least 1:1; and (c) the composite yarn floats over no more than 5 picks on the outer face side.
US07762283B2

The present invention provides a covering member including: a surrounding member including a heat insulating material and having a heat generating member or a heat insulating function, the surrounding member being wound from an open state so as to cover an object; and a fixing unit including: an engagement member including: a ring including a heat resistant elastic material; and a hook fitted to the ring; a holding member disposed on one end of the surrounding member, the holding member fastening the ring of the engagement member to hold the engagement member; and a receiving member disposed on one end of the surrounding member so as to correspond to the holding member, the receiving member including a receiving metal fitting to be engaged with the hook of the engagement member.
US07762280B2

A valve assembly is provided having two valve sections, each having a tubular passageway portion and when joined together, defining a ball cavity in communication with the tubular passageways. One of the body sections is provided with an inlet/outlet in communication with the ball cavity as well as a spindle flange. An elongate spindle extends through the spindle flange projecting into the ball cavity region to rotate a spherical ball element between an open and a bypass position. The ball valve has a primary elongate passage which interconnects the two tubular passage portions in the valve body sections when the ball valve is in the open position. When the ball valve is rotated to the bypass position, the tubular passage portion of one of the ball body sections is sealed closed while the other tubular passage portion communicates with an internal bypass port within the ball valve which in turn, communicates with the auxiliary inlet/outlet. The preferred embodiment includes a pair of valve assemblies for use with a tankless hot water heater system.
US07762276B2

A check valve for a fluid handling system is disclosed, the check valve having a main body with a poppet valve disposed therein and a spring urging the poppet valve into abutment with an inner surface of the main body, wherein the check valve facilitates a flow of fluid in one direction and militates against the flow of fluid in an opposite direction.
US07762262B1

A garment includes a bifurcated body having front and rear sections wherein the front section is provided with a sheath oriented about a genital region and includes a ribbed outer surface. The rear section is provided with a plurality of apertures and is oriented about a buttock region respectively. The ribbed outer surface includes a plurality of protrusions. The apparatus further includes a mechanism for fastening the garment about the user's waist. A condom is positionable about a user's penis wherein a proximal end portion of the condom is engageable about the ribbed outer surface of the sheath, defining a frictional contact area for assisting to maintain the condom positioned about the penis during sexual activities.
US07762258B2

An infant nasal interface mask for use with a nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) system including a mask body and a base. The mask body forms a cavity and is defined by a leading portion, an intermediate shell portion, and a trailing portion. The leading portion terminates in a leading edge forming an aperture open to the cavity and having a generally triangular shape for placement over a patient's nose. The trailing portion includes a bellows segment characterized by an increased flexibility as compared to a flexibility of the intermediate shell portion. The base extends from the trailing portion opposite the leading portion and forms at least one longitudinal passage extending through a thickness of the base and fluidly connected to the cavity. The intermediate shell portion is laterally pivotable relative to the base via the bellows segment.
US07762256B2

A protective device comprising a mask part, which covers the wearer's mouth and nose and is provided with elements through which air can be supplied inside the mask part to enable breathing. To eliminate problems caused by draught, the mask part is provided with a wall portion, which is arranged to extend from the edge portion of the mask part against the wearer's face inside the mask part so that an interspace connected to the inner space of the mask part is formed between the wall portion and the inner surface of the mask part and that the elements through which air for breathing can be supplied inside the mask part are arranged to open into the interspace.
US07762253B2

A multiple lumen nasal cannula that can be used to delivery two separate supplies of gases to a patient. The multiple lumen nasal cannula includes a first lumen for delivering a first gas and a second lumen for delivering a second gas. The first lumen includes support structure that reduces the tendency of the cannula to kink and lock the delivery of gas to a patient. The cannula assembly includes a mixing chamber positioned near the patient such that the two supplies of gas are not mixed until a location approximate to delivery to the patient. The nasal cannula assembly includes a connecting device that allows the two separate supplies of gas to be correctly delivered to the two different lumens of the nasal cannula.
US07762246B2

A paintball gun preferably includes an adjustable, clamping feed tube. The feed tube can, for instance, include a lever for closing and opening a clamp, thereby tightening or loosening a receiving end of a feed tube to secure or release a hopper neck. The feed tube also preferably includes a finger adjustable nut for adjusting the size of the receiving end to accommodate differently sized hopper necks.
US07762240B2

A fuel system comprising a fuel tank having an opening. A cap is removably coupled to the fuel tank and operable for sealingly closing the opening to prevent ingress and egress of air through the opening. An overfill chamber is in communication with the fuel tank, and a hydrocarbon collection chamber is in communication with the overfill chamber. A valve is disposed between the hydrocarbon collection chamber and the overfill chamber. The valve includes a reference axis and is configured to permit fluid communication between the overfill chamber and the hydrocarbon collection chamber only when an angle between a vertical axis and the reference axis is less than about thirty-five degrees.
US07762232B2

A method for controlling a vehicle engine having a plurality of cylinders and an electric motor configured to rotate the engine is provided. The method includes, during engine idling, advancing spark timing of at least one cylinder to substantially before a peak torque timing. The method further includes adjusting motor torque output of the electric motor to maintain engine idle speed.
US07762230B2

The invention relates to a method for operating at least one drive motor, particularly an internal combustion engine, of an automobile, particularly a motor vehicle, wherein the engine speed of the drive motor in the detected idle state of the motor vehicle does not exceed a predetermined maximum value by means of engine speed limitation. It is provided that the idle state detected is verified at least once by means of a test cycle.
US07762216B1

A hot water heating system is provided for heating water that is utilized to heat a structure such as a tobacco barn. The hot water heating system includes a base and a vessel, movably mounted on the base, for holding water supported on the base. The vessel is movable back and forth on the base between a heating position and a loading position. In the heating position, the vessel overlies a fire chamber. When the vessel moves to the loading position, the fire chamber is open at the top so as to permit solid fuel, such as wood, to be loaded through the open top of the fire chamber.
US07762210B2

The present invention relates to a construction for an overhang (5) in a pit (1) of a milking parlour. The construction comprises a metal profile (2) fastened to the edge of the pit (1), and a reinforcement strut (6) mounted to said profile (2) in order to support an overhang (5) attached to said profile (2). The invention provides more space in the pit (1) for mounting of milking related equipment.
US07762207B2

An application robot, specifically a painting robot, for coating workpieces with a coating medium and an appropriate operating method. The painting robot has multiple movable axes and a spatially positionable end effector. Multiple application devices are attached to the end effector.
US07762204B2

A bowsprit for a sailing vessel having a deck and a hull. A supporting member of the bowsprit has first and second opposing ends and is pivotably attachable to the deck such that the opposing ends of the supporting member extend outwardly past the hull. First and second movable members of the bowsprit are joined at an apex. First and second movable members are for disposition substantially adjacent to respective outer sides of the sailing vessel such that the apex is forward of the vessel and the first and second movable members are supported by and are slidable over the supporting member.
US07762194B2

An apparatus that provides shock absorption and ejection for a payload that is to be deployed from a launch capsule is disclosed. The payload ejection mechanism comprises a movable housing that houses a resilient member and a shock-damping system. The rapid acceleration of the capsule upon launch causes the movable housing to move, which compresses the resilient member, thereby storing energy. Movement of the housing also provides shock damping behavior. A locking mechanism maintains the compression of the resilient member until the capsule opens to deploy the payload. As the capsule opens, a restraint decouples from the locking mechanism and permits the resilient member to expand. Expansion of the resilient member causes the movable housing to move, thereby propelling the payload away from the capsule.
US07762192B2

A method is provided for validating a firing of a munition and duration of firing of the munition. The method including: providing the munition with a power supply having a piezoelectric material for generating power from a vibration induced by the munition; monitoring an output from the power supply; calculating an impact pulse from the output; and determining one or more of whether the munition has been fired and the duration of firing based on the calculation.
US07762188B2

A reimageable printing member such as for use in flexography, includes a layer having a multiplicity of holes, wherein the holes include therein a dimension change material and a printing material upon the dimension change material. Thus, the holes house vertically expandable units, the top portion of which is capable of protruding out of an opening of the hole at a top surface of the layer. Each of the holes may be individually addressed to provide a stimulus that initiates a change in dimension in the dimension change material. In this manner, selected ones of the units may be made to print a corresponding portion of an image on an image receiving substrate brought into contact with the printing member.
US07762184B2

A printing device, a production unit and a production method of electronic parts suitable for production of precise electronic parts are provided. A squeegee is attached to a rotating machine, and is autorotated and self-driven, and moreover, a printing pressure is generated in the squeegee, and resin is strongly filled, thereby achieving a print having a precision-shape. Further, with a perforated plate as a boundary, upper and lower chambers are provided so as to control a pressure, thereby performing cutting and dispensing of the resin and achieving a print having a precision-shape. This method is applied to the packaging of electronic parts. A printing device E1 comprises: a roller 3 allowing a peripheral surface 32 to approach one side 21 of a circuit board 2; moving means 4 for horizontally moving the roller 3; rotating means 5 for allowing the moving means 4 to rotate the roller 3; a squeegee 6 rotatably supported along the peripheral surface 32 of the roller 3; and printing pressure generating means 7 for pressing the squeegee 6 to the circuit board 2 by a rotating reactive force of the roller 3.
US07762182B2

A tilting handle for pans is integral with a supporting extension, to which is rotatably coupled a projection rotatable about a horizontal axis, the two sides of the supporting extension and rotary projection including slots therein mutually facing swinging pins arranged along a cross axis of the handle are engaged, the handle including a swinging lever which may swing against an urging spring and comprises a detent tooth engageable with a detent step of the supporting extension.
US07762180B2

An apparatus for preparing a beverage fit for consumption with a fine-bubble froth layer, in particular cappuccino. The invention provides a beverage unit, which dispenses under pressure a beverage to be processed to a beverage processing path, through which, in use, the beverage flows to obtain the beverage with the fine-bubble froth layer. The beverage processing path successively includes a nozzle and a buffer reservoir, the nozzle being positioned relative to the buffer reservoir such that, in use, it generates a liquid jet squirting into the buffer reservoir to obtain the beverage with the fine-bubble froth layer. The buffer reservoir is provided with an outlet path for discharging the beverage from the buffer reservoir, the liquid flow path, upstream of the nozzle, further including an additive holder which, in use, can be filled with a product to be dissolved in the beverage, such as concentrated milk or milk powder. In use, beverage leaving the beverage unit flows into the additive holder to dissolve the possible additive in the beverage. The additive holder is provided with an outlet path, via which the beverage is further transported from the additive holder to generate the jet of the beverage.
US07762177B2

A hydraulic cylinder unit is provided with a rod seal and/or piston seal which has a surface that deviates from the vertical circular cylindrical surface of the piston head throughhole through which the piston rod passes or the vertical circular cylindrical surface of the cylinder interior while forming respective converging gaps with regard to the rod surface and the interior surface of the cylinder, respectively.
US07762176B2

A radial piston pump has a pump housing (1) and at least one pump unit (2) with a pump piston (3) and a cylinder (4) wherein the pump piston (3) can be mounted such that it can be moved backwards and forth, wherein the pump unit (2) can be driven by means of a camshaft (5) mounted in the pump housing (1); and a roller plunger (6) is arranged between the camshaft (5) and the pump unit (2), consisting of a plunger (7) and a roller (8), wherein the plunger has a guide area (9) which is used to guide it a first slot-shaped guide groove (10) of the cylinder insert (4). The roller plunger (6) is thus reliably prevented from rotating inside the cylinder insert (4). The radial piston pumps are particularly suited for high rotational speeds occurring in high-pressure fuel pumps.
US07762172B2

A loading tube for installation in the body of a perforating gun is disclosed. The loading tube holds a plurality of shaped charges whose detonation is electrically initiated, and the loading tube, when installed in the body, comprises at least a portion of the electrical circuit used to initiate detonation the shaped charge. In one embodiment, the loading tube comprises the hot portion of the electrical circuit, the body comprises the ground portion of the electrical circuit and the loading tube and the body are insulated from one another. Alternatively, the loading tube may comprise two distinct portions of conductive material which are electrically isolated from one another where the two portions of conductive material comprise the hot and ground portions of the electrical circuit. Additionally, a loading tube according to the present invention may comprise a conductor which is disposed in the loading tube near the outer surface of the loading tube and which is insulated from the loading tube. A system is disclosed comprising a loading tube having the aforesaid characteristics and a method is provided which utilizes the loading tube as a portion of the electrical circuit to initiate detonation of the charges.
US07762170B2

A perforator configured to perforate a sheet includes a first frame and a blade. The first frame includes a first main face having a first hole, and is provided under a transport path of the sheet. The blade is moved into the first hole to perforate the sheet transported in the transport path. A bending strength of the first main face in a vertical direction with respect to the transport path of the sheet is smaller than a bending strength of the first main face in a parallel direction with respect to the transport path of the sheet.
US07762168B2

A sheet processing apparatus provided with a sheet punching device and a processor unit for controlling the apparatus, said processor unit being adapted to enable an operator to specify sheet size, sheet orientation, and hole positions in batches of sheets being processed and creating a staggered stack of sheets by stacking said batches of sheets with holes aligned.
US07762164B2

A torque-limiting driver has a handle, a body, a torque-limiting assembly and a work-piece engaging tip. The torque-limiting assembly includes an upper and lower shank that have a plurality of teeth circumferentially spaced. The teeth have a vertical face, and inclined face and a flat peak. The inclined face is defined by a radius of curvature that transitions to the flat peak. There is a spring for applying pressure across the upper and lower shank. The teeth engage for relative rotation when the handle is turned and disengage when a predetermined value of torque is exceeded.
US07762163B1

A combination tool that includes opposing jaws and handles that function as conventional pliers and wherein the handles are configured to be abutted with one another to form a spudding tool having a generally circular cross section and wherein at least one ridge extending from one of the handles cooperatively seats within at least one groove in the opposing handle when the handles are abutted with one another.
US07762159B2

Rotary support bodies which support both ends of a rod penetrating a manipulating knob body are formed by joining a first rotary support member which is arranged at one side of the manipulating knob body and supports one end of the rod and a second rotary support member which is arranged at another side of the manipulating knob body and supports another end of the rod, and one end of the rod is fixed to the second rotary support member, and another end of the rod is engaged with the first rotary support member. Accordingly, a manipulating knob can be mounted on a casing in a state the manipulating knob is mounted on the rotary support body.
US07762146B2

Stresses or deformations can be applied to a specimen, by at least one carrier having a number of flexible fingers extending therefrom, the fingers being securable to the specimen at spaced-apart locations, the carrier typically being attached to a motion-control and load measuring system. The fingers are relatively rigid in tension (or compression if desired) but flexible with respect to motions in other in-plane directions. They may or may not be flexible in out-of-plane directions. Commonly, there may be two carriers on opposite sides of the specimen for applying substantially uniaxial stress, or four carriers at 90 degrees to each other around the specimen for applying substantially biaxial stress, though any number of carriers may be used.
US07762144B2

An apparatus, method, and system are disclosed, which provide a means of real time surface profile evaluation in wet cement. The sliding profiler can be pulled behind various stages in a paving train. The user is alerted to profile discrepancies while the cement is still pliable and afforded the opportunity to make adjustments to the paving process, to include additional finishing. The system is made of affordable components and thus is appropriate for construction projects of different scale. In addition, multiple sliding profilers can measure the profile of multiple wheel paths simultaneously. The system can measure profile changes of less than 150 mils. Use of the system described herein will contribute to better roadways at lower costs.
US07762139B2

A pressure header assembly has a closed front and back surface. The back surface has an aperture for accommodating a separate dual die pressure header. The dual die pressure header has an absolute and differential pressure sensor positioned thereon. A differential pressure port is located on a side surface of the pressure header assembly and is directed to a bore in the pressure header assembly. The bore contains an elongated tube which is positioned in the pressure header assembly and locked in place by means of a crush nut and locking nut assembly. One end of the tube is coupled to the differential pressure port, while the other end of the tube accommodates a differential pressure tube which is bent in an arcuate position and directed to the underside of the sensor of the differential sensor assembly mounted in the dual die pressure header. Suitable leads from the dual die pressure header assembly are directed to a terminal board which is mounted within a pressure transducer housing shell, which terminal board coacts with an outboard contact cap assembly forming the transducer. The pressure header assembly portion also contains extending tabs which have apertures for external mounting.
US07762138B2

Implantable pressure sensors and methods for making and using the same are provided. A feature of embodiments of the subject pressure sensors is that they are low-drift sensors. The subject sensors find use in a variety of applications.
US07762135B2

There is disclosed methods and apparatus for compensated measurement of angular displacement within an instrument (600), such as a total station. Improved and compensated measurement of angular displacement is obtained by using a combination of e.g. an angular resolver (145) and an inertial sensor (645). A compensated angular position measurement is produced by combining at least portions of the output signals obtained from the angular resolver and the inertial sensor, respectively.
US07762128B2

In a wheel support bearing assembly including a plurality of rolling elements (5) interposed between an outer member (1) and an inner member (2), a sensor unit (21) is fitted to one of the outer member and the inner member, which serves as a stationary member. The sensor unit includes a sensor mounting member (22) and a strain sensor (23) fitted to the sensor mounting member. The sensor mounting member has a plurality of contact fixing portions (22a, 22b) that are fixed to at least two locations spaced a distant from each other in a direction circumferentially of the outer member. A cutout (24) is provided in the outer member at respective positions corresponding to the neighboring contact fixing portions of the sensor mounting member, so as to extend in an axial direction. The strain sensor is arranged intermediate between the neighboring contact fixing portions.
US07762123B2

The invention relates to a seal intended for sealing an axis pair, whereby the axes rotate in the same direction, the inner one of the axes is inside the outer axis and the phase difference of the axes is arranged to remain within predefined limits. The seal (200) is a tubular seal made of an elastic material and comprises at least two tube sections (202, 204) fixed to each other. Folds (212, 214) of the at least two tube sections (202, 204) have opposing twisting angles. One end of the seal (200) is fastened to the outer axis and the other end is fastened to the inner axis, and the seal (200) is arranged to twist by a torque proportional to the phase difference between the axes.
US07762111B2

A cylinder lock assembly includes a cylinder body and a plug assembly which is manufactured in a multiple of pieces to facilitate casting of each plug piece in a single operation. The plug assembly includes a plug body with a plug insert opening to receive a plug insert. The plug insert opening is generally L-shaped in cross-section to receive the plug insert which is correspondingly shaped. The plug insert includes a plug outer portion which defines an arcuate outer surface which corresponds with the outer circumference of the plug body when the plug insert is mounted therein. A plug pin chamber portion extends generally transverse to the plug outer portion to define a multiple of tumbler pin chambers which extend through the plug outer portion.
US07762105B2

A backup structure for an uprising pipe or a downfalling pipe of a vacuum degassing apparatus including the uprising pipe, a vacuum degassing vessel and the downfalling pipe, comprises the uprising pipe or the downfalling being made of platinum or a platinum alloy and having refractory bricks disposed therearound; and the refractory bricks having a thermal expansion relief member disposed on a top end thereof, the thermal expansion relief member comprising a material selected from a metal material and a ceramic material having a creep strength (JIS Z2271: 1993) of 35 MPa or above at 760° C.
US07762095B2

A showcase for storing and/or displaying objects which require a protective gas atmosphere, the base and the cover construction of the showcase more or less surrounding the showcase interior which is sealed in an airtight manner as far as possible relative to the exterior air, having a compressor (2) by which the air (1) present outwith the showcase interior (7) is suctioned in and compressed. Subsequently a protective gas is produced from the compressed air by a gas producer (3) and is supplied to the showcase interior (7), the gas producer (3) being able to be accommodated within or outwith the showcase. In this way, provision of a supply container for the protective gas is avoided.
US07762092B2

An ice making device and a refrigerator having the ice making device include an ice making tray having ice making grooves opened at upper sides thereof to receive water and a cool air flow channel disposed below the ice making grooves and along which cool air flows. Cool air is uniformly supplied from one side to the other side of the ice making tray along the cool air flow channel, and therefore, the ice making process is completed in a reduced time.
US07762087B2

A mid-turbine frame connected to at least one mount of a gas turbine engine transfers a first load from a first bearing and a second load from a second bearing to the mount. The mid-turbine frame includes a load transfer unit, a torque box rotatably positioned within the load transfer unit, and a plurality of struts. The load transfer unit has a first locking element and combines the first load and the second load into a combined load. The torque box has a second locking element that is engagable with the first locking element of the load transfer unit. The plurality of struts are connected between the torque box and the mount, and transfer the combined load from the torque box to the mount. The first locking element and the second locking element are at least one of a rib or a groove.
US07762086B2

An exhaust nozzle for a gas turbine engine according to an exemplary aspect of the present invention includes: an outer cowl; a cowl interface ring attached to the outer cowl; an acoustic nozzle; an acoustic nozzle interface ring attached to the acoustic nozzle, the acoustic nozzle interface ring attachable to the cowl interface ring; and a removable nozzle section attachable to the acoustic nozzle interface ring and the cowl interface ring.
US07762083B2

In a gas turbine plant and a gas turbine power generator plant, as a device of reducing the heat transfer from the gas turbine to the compressor, for instance, an air flow path for circulating part of compressed air from the compressor toward the gas turbine is formed between the gas turbine and the compressor. With the air flow path, which is a heat transfer reducing device, the heat conducted from the gas turbine to the compressor can be reduced by cooling or interception, and accordingly the temperature on the compressor side does not rise high, making it possible to prevent the performance of the compressor from deteriorating.
US07762076B2

A combustor assembly includes a metal section having an axial slot that receives a ceramic section. A clamp is received about the axial slot to secure the metal section and ceramic section together. Tabs on the metal section, a gasket between the metal section and the ceramic section, and springs within the clamp deform an amount that is greater than a thermal expansion difference between the metal section and the ceramic section to maintain a clamping force of the clamp.
US07762075B2

A liner stop for retaining a liner within a sleeve of a combustion system, includes: a female component including a saddle, the female component adapted for coupling to one of the liner and the sleeve; a male component including a tab for insertion into the saddle, the male component adapted for coupling to an opposite one of the liner and the sleeve; and an insert adapted for being attached to the tab and ensuring dampening of vibration when the tab is disposed within the saddle. A method and a system are also disclosed.
US07762068B2

An air flow amount passing through a centrifugal compressor is acquired on the basis of outputs of an air flow meter. A surge limit compressor rotation speed is acquired on the basis of the obtained air flow amount passing through the compressor. A current compressor rotation speed (turbo rotation speed) is acquired by a turbo rotation speed sensor. A rotation speed of the compressor is controlled on the basis of the surge limit compressor rotation speed and the current compressor rotation speed. More specifically, while being limited so as to be equal or less than the surge limit compressor rotation speed, a target compressor rotation speed is controlled so as to be a value according to the operating conditions, such as accelerator opening and engine speed, of an internal combustion engine. In addition, the surge of the compressor is judged on the basis of the surge limit compressor rotation speed and the current compressor rotation speed.
US07762058B2

An ultra-compact aerovortical swirl-enhanced combustion (ASC) system features an aerovortical swirl generator for use in rocket thrusters utilizing hypergolic or non-hypergolic propellants. The ACS thruster can be sized for diameters ranging from about 0.5 to about 2.0 inches, and producing thrust levels of approximately 5 lbf to about 250 lbf. A plurality of helicoid flow channels in the swirl generator introduces swirl into a flow stream of a first propellant within ultra-compact sized rocket thrusters. The ASC system also includes injectors for introducing a second liquid propellant into the swirling flowfield to promote rapid and efficient atomization, mixing and vigorous combustion, which, results in major improvements in combustion and propulsion performance over current rocket thrusters, but in much shorter combustor systems. Hence, the ultra-compact ASC system is a substantial improvement in small bipropellant chemical propulsion thrusters, which can be utilized in-space satellite, spacecraft maneuvering and attitude/orbit control.
US07762038B2

The invention relates to a rigid screwed assembly system for metal structures, which is designed to fix secondary sections (3) to a H-shaped receiving section (2) or similar. According to the invention, accessories (1) are provided at the assembly points, said accessories being fitted into the receiving section (2), and the secondary sections are fixed using screwed attachments (4) which pass through the corresponding assembly parts of the sections (2 and 3) as well as the corresponding accessories (1).
US07762031B2

A connection between a first structural member and a second structural member by a separate structural connector is provided where the second structural member has a first surface from which a fastener protrudes, and the fastener has a relatively narrow shank and a head that is wider than the shank attached to the shank, the head being held away from the first surface of the second structural member, the head also having a top surface and a bottom surface, and the connector is formed with at least one restraint opening therethrough, the restraint opening being formed to have a first ledge and a second ledge that are spaced apart and the head of the fastener is inserted between the first ledge and the second ledge.
US07762030B2

A fastener assembly comprises a first cylindrical member disposed within a second cylindrical member. One of the first and second cylindrical members is movable relative to the other in a first direction. The other one of the first and second cylindrical members is locked relative to the one in a second direction opposite to the first direction. A spring is operably attached to the first and second cylindrical members to urge one of the first and second cylindrical members in the first direction. A removable member is operably associated with the first and second cylindrical members to prevent one of the first and second cylindrical members from moving in the first direction prior to removing the removable member. The removable member is configured to be pulled out to allow one of the first and second cylindrical members to move in the first direction.
US07762026B2

The present invention is directed to a brace apparatus having a core member configured to absorb energy generated by seismic or other forces by undergoing plastic deformation. A buckling restraining assembly is included for maintaining the structural integrity of the brace after the core member has undergone plastic deformation. The buckling restraining assembly includes one or more bearings is located proximal the core member. The bearings are adapted to minimize friction between the core member and the buckling restraining apparatus. An air gap is positioned between the core member and the one or more bearings of the buckling restraining apparatus are adapted to prevent bonding of the core member and buckling restraining assembly. Projections are included in the core member of the brace apparatus to minimize movement of the middle portion of the core member relative to the buckling restraining assembly.
US07762024B1

An adjustable size pitch pocket is formed by assembling together two identical pocket members to form a whole pocket. Each pocket member has a U-shaped vertical wall with a short wall section and a parallel long wall section. The long wall section has transverse scorings for cutting the length of the long walls of two mated pocket members to form a pocket of a desired size.
US07762021B2

A vehicular door sash includes a sash frame formed by subjecting a predetermined metal sheet to a roll molding process to have a predetermined cross section. The sash frame includes a groove portion for retaining a glass-run channel, a retainer portion for retaining a weather strip, a flange portion that connects the retainer portion and the groove portion and partially forms an outer surface of a door of a vehicle, and a sash molding configured to cover the flange portion. The flange portion has a first configuration in which the flange portion is not covered by the sash molding and a second configuration in which the flange portion is covered and compressed by the sash molding.
US07762014B2

A removable and attachable debris guard for a back wall of a loader bucket or a bulldozer blade is provided with a frame that is a generally inverted U-shape with outwardly tapering side legs, and has a strong mesh screen supported on the frame. The frame includes a cross plate that extends rearwardly of the mesh screen and has attachment hooks for fitting over a top rail of a back wall of a loader bucket. The frame includes brackets for securing the legs to a forward side of the back wall.
US07762004B2

An inspection tool for a turbine bucket shroud includes: a clamp device for clamping a dovetail portion of a turbine bucket; a template plate provided with an aperture defined by a edge shaped to conform to a specified shape of the turbine bucket shroud, wherein the template is moveable to a location over the turbine bucket shroud in a direction toward the clamp device, and wherein, at the location, the aperture represents a design specification location for the turbine bucket shroud relative to the dovetail portion of the bucket. A measurement gauge is provided for measuring gaps between edges of the shroud and edges of the template aperture.
US07762000B2

According to the present invention there is provided head unit (10) for an animal shearing and clipping apparatus, the head unit (10) being configured to receive either a clipping comb and cutter arrangement (12, 14) or a shearing upper and lower blade arrangement (16, 18), the head unit (10) comprising a body (20) having a drive member (22, 24) arranged to drive a movable blade or cutter (14, 18), a mount (28) arranged to receive a complementary mounting feature of a comb or fixed blade (12, 16), a shearing blade guide and a clipping cutter guide.
US07761992B2

A process for machining axial blade slots in turbine disks used in jet engines is provided. The process broadly includes the steps of providing a turbine disk, forming a roughened slot having a plurality of joined rectangular areas in the turbine disk, and machining the roughened slot to a finished slot.
US07761991B2

A method facilitates assembling a gas turbine engine assembly including at least a first member and a second member. The method comprises inserting a threaded fastener through an opening formed in a flange, and providing at least one shank nut including a flanged mating end, an opposite non-mating end, and a body extending therebetween. The body includes an internal surface, an external surface, and a centerline extending between the body ends. The flanged mating end includes a substantially planar exterior surface that is aligned perpendicularly to the centerline and an annular groove that extends from the exterior surface at least partially towards the non-mating end. The method also comprises securing the assembly together such that the mating end is positioned flush against the flange and such that the threaded fastener extends at least partially into a bore extending through the shank nut and defined by the shank nut internal surface.
US07761980B2

The method manufactures a wiring substrate. The method comprises: a recess section forming step of forming recess sections corresponding to a prescribed wiring pattern, on a substrate; a filling step of filling a conductive paste containing thinner, into the recess sections; a curing step of causing the conductive paste filled in the recess sections in the filling step to contract, by drying and curing; and a plating step of forming a wiring conductor serving as the wiring pattern, by performing a plating process using the conductive paste in contact with at least a portion of an inner circumferential face of the recess sections, as at least one of a catalyst and a current feed layer.
US07761976B2

The present invention relates to a method for mounting magnet elements on the surface of a rotor for use in a permanent magnet motor. The method comprises the steps of : providing a first tube like element, wherein said first tube like element has an inner diameter that corresponds to an outer diameter of said rotor, providing a second tube like element, wherein said second tube like element has an inner diameter that is larger than an outer diameter of said first tube like element, inserting said first tube like element into said second tube like element, in order to create a hollow space between them, inserting a number of magnet elements into said hollow space, and inserting said rotor into said first tube like element, whereupon said magnet elements are in a tight fit arrangement between said first tube like element and said second tube like element.
US07761973B2

A connection system for steel construction employs both fasteners and an adhesive for connecting panels to a metal frame or metal studs. The connection system also joins metal components such as web stiffeners, hold-down clamps and vertical clips to metal studs and cross-channel members. The fasteners may be a self-drilling screw, rivets, pins, clinches or other mechanical fasteners. The adhesive may be a two-part epoxy system, an acrylic, a urethane or other structural adhesive system designed to bond light gauge steel.
US07761972B2

An eccentric fastening device is provided. The eccentric fastening device includes a first threaded fastener, a base and a rotary lug providing a non-fastened pre-assembled position. The base includes a top, a bottom, a stem and a hole, where the stem axially extends from the bottom of the base, and the hole axially extends from the top through the stem of the base. The rotary lug is releasably retained in the hole of the base by the first threaded fastener. The rotary lug includes a cylindrical portion having a thread and a head, wherein the head is offset from the cylindrical portion. The cylindrical portion is substantially axially concentric with the hole of the base, allowing the head to be eccentrically rotated on or off of the stem, whereby a selective structure may be variably clamped and releasably retained between said head and said base. An aircraft having an eccentric fastening device is also provided. A method of installing the same is also provided.
US07761967B2

A method of assembling a metal shore post of a concrete forming assembly is disclosed. An outer telescoping tube is provided that has a main section with a first inside diameter and top portion with a section having a second inside diameter reduced relative to the first inside diameter of the outer tube. An inner telescoping tube is inserted for telescopic movement inside the outer tube. After assembly, a pair of pistons are inserted through access holes in the outer tube to provide a crushing force to the inner tube deforming it to create a region of increased diameter that is greater than that of the reduced diameter section but not so large as to prevent telescopic movement of the inner tube inside the outer tube. The increased dimension region thereby prevents accidental separation of the inner tube from the assembly, thereby improving safety and efficiency. Openings are provided in the inner tube in the region being crushed in order to control the region of deformation.
US07761962B2

A hose clamp includes a clamping band, a tensioning device and a positioning arrangement for positioning the hose clamp on a hose. The positioning arrangement includes at least two positioners. The two positioners may be arranged at a distance from each other in a circumferential direction of at least 120°. Axial stops may be arranged on both sides in a circumferential direction of at least one of the positioners.
US07761959B2

A handle assembly for a stamp has a frame, a handle and a connector. The handle and the connector are mounted respectively on opposite sides of the frame and connect with each other. Therefore, the connection between the handle and the connector is firm and robust and the stamp has a durable handle assembly with increased use-life and reliability.
US07761957B2

A canister of a vacuum cleaning system has first and second motor support plates mounted within the canister forming an intervening chamber and an upper motor cooling chamber. An auxiliary plate is attached to the second motor plate and has a dimension sized to enable the auxiliary plate to be removed from the canister interior past auxiliary components mounted on the side wall of the canister avoiding removal of the auxiliary components. A first motor is removably mounted on the first support plate and extends through an opening formed in the second support plate and is fastened to the auxiliary plate by a plurality of fasteners. The first motor is removable from the canister interior with the auxiliary plate after unfastening the auxiliary plate from the second motor support plate. A second motor is removably seated in a retainer ring attached to the second motor support plate.
US07761955B1

Apparatus for and method of cleaning or extracting liquid from carpet coupled to a truck mounted or portable carpet cleaning machine. The apparatus includes an elongated non-fixed handle that is attached to a vacuum head with two inlet ports parallel to one another. A solution manifold is attached parallel between the two ports. A plurality of spray jets derive from the spray manifold. A wheel assembly is mounted for stability of the vacuum head and are adjustable.
US07761950B2

A cleaning tool is formed by bundling a plurality of water-disintegrable cords to have a holding part in which the cords are joined to one another with a holding material wound therearound and bonded thereto by a water-soluble adhesive, and a cleaning part in which the cords are positioned independently from one another. Each cord is formed by twisting a water-disintegrable sheet such as a fiber entangled nonwoven fabric of pulp fibers, rayon fibers, and the like entangled by water-jet processing.
US07761948B2

A waste line clean-out apparatus in which a video camera is positioned proximate the outboard end of an elongated flexible coil spring assembly and is interconnected with a remotely located viewing monitor by means of various operating cables, including a fiber optic signal transmitting cable. The apparatus includes a pull cable that extends interiorly of the spring assembly for protecting the fiber optic signal transmitting cable and the various companion operating cables from undue stress during the waste line clean-out operation.
US07761944B2

A baby changing duffel includes a changing pad formed of resilient material, sized and shaped to serve as a changing surface for either an infant or a toddler. The pad is covered with a removable, washable cover. The cover is sized and shaped to fit over the changing pad and has an inner changing surface and an outer surface. An upper pouch is attached adjacent to an upper end of the outer surface. A retaining sleeve is attached to a lower end of the cover and encloses a folded portion of the pad and cover. The side pockets have interior compartments and are attached at the edges of the outer surface of the cover. The side pockets are folded over the inner changing surface for transport. A carrying handle extends between side edges of the cover and is located to support the duffel when folded to fit the retaining sleeve.
US07761941B2

A patient positioning table for a tomography device has a table board movably mounted on a table stand. At one end of the table board, a module is attached that has a receptacle compartment therein, serving as a storage space and/or a receptacle for medical equipment. Attachments can be attached to the module for holding or mounting other items that are used in connection with a tomography procedure.
US07761940B2

In some example, an apparatus comprises a first corner component that is configured to be attached to a first corner of a bed sheet. The first corner component comprises a first bottom attachment to couple to the first cap. The apparatus includes a second corner component that is configured to be attached to a second corner of the bed sheet that is on an opposite end but same side relative to the first corner. The second corner component comprises a second bottom attachment to couple to the second.
US07761935B1

A shower curtain with an integral flap for accommodating a tub transfer bench. The flap, located along the bottom edge of the shower curtain, can be pulled into the slot of a tub transfer bench to prevent water from splashing outwards of the bathtub. Two side slits bound the flap and reinforcing material is provided at the boundary of the side slits to reduce the possibility of tear propagation. A handle may be provided at the lower end of the flap to facilitate easy grasping of the flap. The shower curtain may further include straps having hook-and-loop pads at the top edge to facilitate easy hanging and removal of the shower curtain from a conventional shower curtain rod.
US07765607B2

Probes and methods of making probes are provided, particularly probes or nano-tools having tip active areas of extremely small dimensions, e.g., on the order of one angstrom to a few nanometers. One method of making a nano-tool includes forming a composite including a tool layer less than 10 nm thick on a substrate layer, subtracting a region of the substrate layer at least partially through the thickness of the substrate layer, thereby exposing a well surface, and folding the composite so that portions of the tool layer surface diverge and portions of the well surface converge, wherein an outer crease of the folded tool layer is a nanotool active area. Another method of making a nano-tool includes forming a composite including a tool layer less than 10 nm thick on a substrate, subtracting a region of the substrate layer at least partially through the thickness of the substrate layer, thereby exposing a well surface, and folding the composite so that portions of the tool layer surface diverge and portions of the well surface converge, wherein an outer crease of the folded tool layer is a nanotool active area, whereby the tip may be cut mechanically or altered to expose two probe active areas. The herein probes may be very useful in systems and methods that benefit from probes having resolution capabilities less than the dimensions of the objects to be analyzed.
US07765579B2

To address security that can arise in information systems, the present invention uses novel methods and/or systems to enhance security in information systems, using a new way to deploy selected security policies. Instead of trying to modify a whole binary file all at once to add in code to implement additional security policies, the current invention modifies the code in memory in a piecemeal, as-needed fashion.
US07765572B2

A digital television (DTV) receiver and a decoding method are discussed. According to an embodiment, the DTV receiver includes: a receiving unit for receiving a digital broadcasting signal including a plurality of extended text tables (ETTs) that appear in transport stream packets having common PID values, each ETT comprising a section header and a message body, wherein the section header contains a table identification extension field that serves to establish uniqueness of each ETT, and wherein the message body includes an extended text message (ETM) which provides detailed descriptions of a virtual channel or an event associated with each ETT; and a program and system information protocol (PSIP) decoder for detecting the table identification extension field to determine uniqueness of each ETT and detecting at least one pertinent ETT from the plurality of ETTs using the determined uniqueness of each ETT.
US07765549B1

Systems and techniques for distributing items for processing include receiving a request for a batch of items to be processed and determining whether a number of available items exceeds a first predetermined threshold. A batch of the available items is sent in response to the request if the number of available items exceeds the first predetermined threshold. However, if the number of available items does not exceed the first predetermined threshold, a determination is made as to whether a time period associated with the available items exceeds a second predetermined threshold. If so, a batch of the available items is sent.
US07765539B1

A method of porting a video game or other application from one platform to another involves decompiling the game executable to develop source code in a high level programming language such as C. The (re)generated source code is re-linked using target native libraries to handle hardware functions (e.g., video, audio, etc.) for the target platform. The resulting “trans-compiled” executable is able to efficiently run on the target platform, potentially providing orders of magnitude speed performance boost over other traditional techniques.
US07765537B2

A data processing system, method and computer program product for profiling interface assisted class loading for byte code instrumented logic can be provided. The system can include a development environment configured for byte code instrumentation of byte streams for instantiation in a virtual machine, such as a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The system further can include a profiling interface agent, such as a JVM profiling interface (JVMPI) compliant profiling interface agent. Finally, the system can include profiling assisted class loading logic coupled to the agent. The profiling assisted class loading logic can include program code enabled to identify an extension class required for use by an embedded class for a byte code instrumented byte stream and to request the profiling interface agent to load the extension class in the virtual machine.
US07765535B2

In a computer where a software development tool program is started, an updating elapse degree and an execution frequency for a series of source programs used for generating an execution module are acquired. An optimization option of the level according to the updating elapse degree or the execution frequency is set for each of the source programs. Compiling accompanied by the optimization of the level indicated by the optimization option is performed for each of the source programs. Object programs created by the compiling are coupled.
US07765527B2

A method, system and computer program product for collecting profiling information during runtime of a multithreaded program. According to the method, a plurality of instructions of the program for execution in an application thread are first received; a plurality of variable size profiling records are then stored in a buffer assigned exclusively to the application thread during execution of the plurality of instructions; and the plurality of profiling records in the buffer are then processed. The program may be written in Java bytecode for execution in a Java virtual machine with the processing of profiling buffers performed by a component of a JIT compiler for insertion into a repository in internal JIT format, e.g. a hash table, for later optimization processing.
US07765526B2

Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture, wherein a first application requests an operating system to monitor a memory address, and wherein the operating system generates a signal in response to an operation that affects the memory address. A second application receives the generated signal. The second application determines whether to forward the signal to the first application. The first application processes the signal, in response to the signal being forwarded by the second application.
US07765515B2

A method for applying optical proximity correction (OPC) to a circuit layout, includes storing distinct defect patterns in a defect pattern library and modifying the circuit layout to fix defect pattern. The method also includes storing a distinct patterns in an OPC pattern library storing one or more post-OPC targets in association with one of distinct patterns in the OPC pattern library, wherein the one or more post-OPC targets are configured to correct optical proximity effects of the associated distinct pattern. The method further includes identifying in the circuit layout a pattern that has substantially the same optical proximity environment as the one of the distinct patterns in the OPC pattern library; and applying OPC to the identified pattern using the one or more post-OPC targets associated with the one of the distinct pattern in the OPC pattern library.
US07765514B2

A method, system and computer program product for performing synthesis of representations is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a representation of a relation and building a gate representing an OR function of one or more selected parent paths into a node of said representation of said relation. A synthesized gate for said gate representing said OR function and synthesis of a set of representations of relations by iterating said building step and said creating step over one or more variables in said representation of said relation is performed to accumulate a synthesized gate set, which synthesized gate set is returned.
US07765506B2

Methods and apparatuses to time-share resources having internal states are described. A first design of a system having a plurality of instances of a logical block to perform logical operations is received. The instances may have internal states. The system is automatically transformed to generate a second design having a fewer quantity of time-shared instances of the logical block. The plurality of the instances in the first design is replaced with the fewer time-shared instances in the second design. The time-shared instances in the second design have elements to time multiplex the internal states.
US07765502B1

A method for generating hardware description language source files is provided. The method includes extracting an input/output (I/O) list and building a port list declaration file from the I/O list. The method also includes building a default instantiation file according to renaming rules and interpreting coding constructs to determine both variable types and sizes. The method further includes generating a sensitivity list.
US07765501B2

Systems and methods for designing systems that include computer applications hosted on hosting environments are disclosed. The hosting environments are modeled to include hosting environment settings and constraints placed on applications. The applications are also modeled to include application settings and constraints placed on the hosting environments. Hosting environment and application models are then used to validate designs by confirming that settings are in compliance with the constraints.
US07765500B2

A method of more efficiently, easily and cost-effectively analyzing the performance of a device model is disclosed. Embodiments enable automated generation of theoretical performance analysis for a device model based upon a workload associated with rendering graphical data and a configuration of the device model. The workload may be independent of design configuration, thereby enabling determination of the workload without simulating the device model. Additionally, the design configuration may be updated or changed without re-determining the workload. Accordingly, the graphical data may comprise a general or random test which is relatively large in size and covers a relatively large operational scope of the design. Additionally, the workload may comprise graphical information determined based upon the graphical data. Further, the theoretical performance analysis may indicate a graphics pipeline unit of the device model causing a bottleneck in a graphics pipeline of the device model.
US07765498B1

Computer-implemented methods of generating netlists for use in post-layout simulation procedures. A lookup table includes a predetermined set of features (e.g., transistors of specified sizes and shapes) supported by an integrated circuit (IC) fabrication process, with dimensions and process induced dimension variations being included for each feature. A netlist is extracted from an IC layout, the extracted netlist specifying circuit elements (e.g., transistors) implemented by the IC layout and interconnections between the circuit elements. A search pattern is run on the IC layout to identify features in the IC layout corresponding to features included in the lookup table. Circuit elements in the extracted netlist that correspond to the identified features are then modified using values from the lookup table, and the modified netlist is output. In some embodiments, the netlist extraction, search pattern, and netlist modification are all performed as a single netlist generation step.
US07765496B2

The present invention relates to a system and method for improving the navigation of complex visualizations on a computer display for the visually impaired persons to toggle between objects or nodes. An object or node may be a square, a circle or other object which a display screen may show. The objects or nodes have characteristics which may include a name which indicates the name of the node, a direction which indicates the direction of the next node to progress to (along an arc), priority which indicates the priority that the node has with respect to other nodes, properties which indicates the certain properties of the node, and operation which indicates the operation to be performed. The system has a user indicator for indicating to the visually impaired user the characteristics of the objects or nodes which are connected by arcs. The node or object characteristics are informed to the user by the indicator to allow the user to toggle from one node to the other along the arc route. The system has a control center which has a receiver for receiving the toggle commands and node characteristics from each node. The toggle command moves a selector (which selects which object is being acted upon—sometimes, for visually unimpaired people, the selected object is shown in bold or a distinct color) to the next node according to the characteristics. The receiver also passes the node characteristics to a parser. The parser parses the node characteristics and passes it on to the director for determining the next step. The director examines the characteristics, such as name, direction, properties, and operations, and indicates to the user the characteristics of the node—generally by audible means but not so limited. This allows the visually impaired user to ascertain where he/she on the display. This is generally done by way of an audible device but could be accomplished in other ways.
US07765490B2

A method and structure for a tiled interface system provides a Tiled User Interface (TUI) in which a tile manager manages at least one tile cluster on a display device and translates an input event into a tile cluster event and at least one tile cluster controlled by the tile manager to be displayed on the display device. Each tile cluster includes at least one tile, each tile cluster corresponds to one or more predefined functions for a specific application, each tile cluster provides a complete interaction of all the predefined functions for the specific application respectively corresponding to that tile cluster, and each tile cluster can be presented in its entirety on a single frame of the display device using at most one input event.
US07765480B2

An image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a reference image extracting section for extracting a reference image as an object for display; a parameter managing section for managing a plurality of parameters and their values for the extracted reference image; a parameter setting section for selecting any two arbitrary parameters and setting the selected parameters as scales for the vertical axis and horizontal axis; a peripheral image preparing section for preparing peripheral images each obtained by changing the values of the two parameters selected for the reference image by a specified amount; and an image display controller for providing display controls by correlating parameter values of peripheral images to those for the vertical axis and horizontal axis of the reference image so that the reference image is displayed at a specified position of a screen and also peripheral images thereof are displayed surrounding the reference image in n layers.
US07765473B2

A client-side handheld device requests a server to convert server-side documents into a compression format prior to transmission of said documents to the client. The server retrieves and converts the requested documents to a raster image that is then compressed according to attributes based on information received from the client device in the initial document request. Instead of having to manipulate multiple formats which the original documents are in and supported by the server, the client-side device is preferably optimized in hardware and/or software to support and otherwise take advantage of the requested compression format. The compressed document is then delivered to the client device, in whole or in part, selectively or progressively over time per individual requests prior to displaying the received data to the end-user. Depending on the requested delivery mode, server-side documents are preferably compressed using wavelet compression methods, such as the JPEG 2000 standard, known in the arts. Through such a compression format, documents of sizes (in total bytes) exceeding one or more Megabytes can be compressed down to as small as 30 kilobytes or less.
US07765458B1

The disclosed technology provides systems and methods for identifying potential error locations, patterns, and likelihood metrics in connection with trellis-based detection/decoding. In one aspect of the invention, the disclosed technology detects information that was previously encoded based on a trellis, and decodes the detected information based on the trellis to provide decoded information. The decoded information corresponds to a winning path through the trellis that ends at a winning state. The disclosed technology can identify one or more alternate paths through the trellis that also end at the winning state, and can generate a potential error pattern for each of the alternate paths.
US07765455B2

A semiconductor memory device includes a parity generation circuit which generates a parity bit corresponding to a first number of data bits, a memory cell array including memory cells, and having first and second areas, the first area storing data, the second area storing the parity bit, a syndrome generation circuit which generates a syndrome bit for correcting an error in read data which are read from the first area, has the first number of data bits and corresponds to the parity bit read from the second area, based on the parity bit and the read data, and a parity correction circuit which corrects the parity bit generated by the parity generation circuit. The parity generation circuit generates the parity bit for data which includes input data and a part of the read data.
US07765452B2

A disk controller includes a determining unit for determining whether check codes added to data read from a disk drive are first type check codes or second type check codes, and a check code conversion unit. The check code conversion unit includes conversion unit for converting, if the check codes added to the read data are first type check codes, the first type check codes into second type check codes and a writing unit for writing the data provided with the second type check codes into the disk drive. The disk controller also includes a control unit for performing background processing, which is performed at a time different from processing performed when a data read request or a data write request is sent from a host device, by reading data provided with check codes from the disk drive and by starting check code conversion processing performed by the check code conversion unit.
US07765446B2

A method is provided for testing a semiconductor integrated circuit by utilizing a scan path circuit provided to detect the degeneracy fault in the semiconductor integrated circuit, and bringing scan chains to states in which shift resistor operations can be effected for the input of patterns by which a glitch fault and the IR-DROP fault between the scan chains can be detected.
US07765440B2

A system, apparatus, and method to capture recovery information of a host device, independent of the operating system of the host device, are described herein. Platform recovery management components of the host device transmit recovery information using secondary network communication channels to a remote device, such as a recovery server, independent of the operating system. In various embodiments, the remote device, such as a remote core dump repository with a diagnostics resource layer, uses ex post facto and audit diagnostic resources on the host device and/or the remote device to determine if existing repository information includes system restoration or system healing information.
US07765435B2

A method of configuring a supercomputer having a plurality of computing elements, each having an irreducible core computing capability to store and retrieve data, includes the steps of: defining an operating time interval; establishing an desired probability of successful operation over the operating time interval; having regard to the total number of computing elements, configuring each computing element so that, over the operating time interval, the probability of successful operation of the irreducible core capability of each computing elements is greater than, or equal to, the desired probability of successful operation over the operating time interval.
US07765427B2

A monitoring system and methods are provided for a distributed and recoverable digital control system. The monitoring system generally comprises two independent monitoring planes within the control system. The first monitoring plane is internal to the computing units in the control system, and the second monitoring plane is external to the computing units. The internal first monitoring plane includes two in-line monitors. The first internal monitor is a self-checking, lock-step-processing monitor with integrated rapid recovery capability. The second internal monitor includes one or more reasonableness monitors, which compare actual effector position with commanded effector position. The external second monitor plane includes two monitors. The first external monitor includes a pre-recovery computing monitor, and the second external monitor includes a post recovery computing monitor. Various methods for implementing the monitoring functions are also disclosed.
US07765425B1

A system and method for using variable delay adjusters located at various points across an integrated circuit to measure clock skew and jitter for clock signals of the integrated circuit. A delay controller of the integrated circuit may measure and compensate for clock skew detected between two clock signals by configuring variable delay adjusters located inline with the respective clock signals. Such a delay controller may also use the variable delay adjusters to correct duty cycle errors in a clock signal and may further utilize the variable delay adjusters to measure and characterize jitter detected on the clock signals.
US07765421B2

A system delivers power to a powered device through a local area network using a power sourcing equipment to process data of an interconnected network and to receive power from a first power source coupled to the power sourcing equipment. The system may include a powered device coupled at a distance away from the power sourcing equipment through a local area network (LAN) to process the data of the interconnected network through the power sourcing equipment. The powered device may include a modular power over LAN circuit to enable power to the powered device through the LAN when the modular power over LAN circuit is coupled to the powered device.
US07765418B2

A supply voltage is provided in an integrated circuit by retrieving an indicator from a storage device and generating a supply voltage for use by the integrated circuit, the supply voltage being regulated responsive to the indicator being in a first state and unregulated responsive to the indicator being in a second state. Alternatively or additionally, an external voltage provided to the integrated circuit is compared with a threshold. The supply voltage is regulated responsive to the external voltage exceeding the threshold level and unregulated responsive to the external voltage falling below the threshold level.
US07765417B2

An apparatus including an electrical energy storage device arranged to provide an output voltage that decreases with time;a reference clock; and a multi-mode controller having a first mode in which the reference clock is disabled and a second mode in which the reference clock is enabled, the multi-mode controller being operable, when in the first mode, to monitor a voltage provided by the electrical energy storage device and to change the mode of the controller from the first mode to the second mode when the monitored voltage falls beneath a threshold value and being operable, when in the second mode, to enable storage of electrical energy in the electrical energy storage device.
US07765411B2

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates receiving content from a primary peer and forwarding it to a secondary peer, wherein blocks of the content are sent to the secondary peer prior to all of the blocks of the content being received from the primary peer. The system starts by receiving an encrypted list of checksums from a server, wherein each checksum in the list is associated with a corresponding block of the content. Next, the system decrypts the encrypted list of checksums to form a list of decrypted checksums. The system then receives a block of the content from the primary peer and calculates a checksum for the block of the content. The system subsequently compares the calculated checksum with a corresponding checksum from the list of decrypted checksums received from the server. If the calculated checksum matches the corresponding checksum, the system sends the block of the content to the secondary peer.
US07765410B2

In accordance with this invention, a system, method, and computer-readable medium that aggregates the knowledge base of a plurality of antivirus software applications are provided. User mode applications, such as antivirus software applications, gain access to file system operations through a common information model, which obviates the need for antivirus software vendors to create kernel mode filters. When file system operations are available to antivirus software applications, the present invention may cause each antivirus software application installed on a computing device to perform a scan to determine if the data is malware.
US07765405B2

A new method and framework for scheduling receive-side processing of data streams received from a remote requesting client by a multiprocessor system computer is disclosed. The method receives data packets from the remote requesting client via a network and, for each data packet, applies a cryptographically secure hashing function to portions of the received data packet yielding a hash value. The method further applies the hash value to a processor selection policy to identify a processor in the multiprocessor system as a selected processor to perform receive-side processing of the data packet. The method queues the received data packet for processing by the selected processor and invokes a procedure call to initiate processing of the data packet.
US07765400B2

In accordance with this invention, a system, method, and computer-readable medium that aggregates the knowledge base of a plurality of antivirus software applications are provided. User mode applications, such as antivirus software applications, gain access to file system operations through a common information model, which obviates the need for antivirus software vendors to create kernel mode filters. When file system operations are available to antivirus software applications, the present invention may cause each antivirus software application installed on a computing device to perform a scan to determine if the data is malware.
US07765389B2

Exception handling is simulated. An exception simulator is employed to simulate exceptions generated from routines simulating operations. The exception simulator provides an indication of the exception and invokes an interruption, when appropriate. The exception simulator includes an instruction invoked to handle the exception and any interruption.
US07765388B2

The present invention relates to a device for an interrupt verification support mechanism and the method for operating said device comprising a processor and an input for external interrupt requests or interrupt pseudo-instructions communicatively coupled to the processor. The method comprises the steps of processing at least one actual instruction in the processor in an instruction pipeline, and if an external interrupt request is received by the processor, the actual instruction is replaced with the pseudo-instruction. Pursuant to the method, instructions are concurrently processed in the processor in an instruction pipeline with several stages. In the instruction pipeline, instructions are processed by an instruction fetch stage, an instruction decode stage, an instruction issue stage, an execute stage and a result write-back stage. Thereby, interrupt requests are only processed at the fetch stage of the instruction pipeline. The device of an interrupt support mechanism and the method for operating said device provides the advantage a simplification of interrupt verification.
US07765387B2

A program counter control method controls instructions by an out-of-order method using a branch prediction mechanism and controls an architecture having delay instructions for branching. The method includes the steps of simultaneously committing a plurality of instructions including a branch instruction, when a branch prediction is successful and the branch instruction branches, and simultaneously updating a program counter and a next program counter depending on a number of committed instructions.
US07765371B2

An improved system and method are disclosed for the backup and restoration of data. An init image is created for a new system. Data is uploaded from a current system and a data image is generated. The resulting data image and the init image are combined to create a combined data image, which is then stored on an on-line backup host. A copy of the combined data image is transferred to the new system. The uploaded data is extracted from the copy of the combined data image and stored on the new system in the same location as the original system. Metadata describing the location of the combined data on the new system is captured and then applied to the combined data image stored on the on-line backup host. The extracted data on the new system is compared to the current data on the original system and the new system is updated. A differential backup is performed on the new system and then uploaded to the on-line backup host, where it is associated with the combined data image.
US07765367B2

The present invention provides a control device of the memory, which accelerates the memory to execute iterant commands. This control device includes a micro-controller unit, a controller, a block information table and a state machine. Among them, the micro-controller unit is used to issue a command to operate the memory, which contains several blocks. The controller is coupled between the memory and the micro-controller unit. When it determines the command needs not be executed repeatedly, the micro-controller unit would issue the command through the control device. When the command is determined necessary for repetitive execution, the state machine would repeatedly carry out this command. The state machine performs an analysis based on the state of every block in the block information table and executes repetitively the command accordingly. It also updates the state information on the blocks in the table accordingly.
US07765363B2

A system comprises a plurality of cache agents, a computing entity coupled to the cache agents, and a programmable mask accessible to the computing entity. The programmable mask is indicative of, for at least one memory address, those cache agents that can receive a snoop request associated with a memory address. Based on the mask, the computing entity transmits snoop requests, associated with the memory address, to only those cache agents identified by the mask as cache agents that can receive a snoop request associated with the memory address.
US07765361B2

To ensure that logs representative of data changes are durably written, localized storage media cache is flushed to force a write to stable storage. Log sequence number tracking is leveraged to determine if log data in a localized storage media cache is likely to have not been written to durable storage. When this condition is likely, a FLUSH_CACHE command is issued to a storage media controller to force a durable write. This allows recovery of data changes to a transactional system even when its associated storage media does not provide write-ordering guarantees. Moreover, flushing of the storage media cache can be accomplished at a frequency that provides an upper bound on a maximum time between a transaction commit and data being made durable.
US07765360B2

Mechanisms for performing useful computations during a software cache reload operation are provided. With the illustrative embodiments, in order to perform software caching, a compiler takes original source code, and while compiling the source code, inserts explicit cache lookup instructions into appropriate portions of the source code where cacheable variables are referenced. In addition, the compiler inserts a cache miss handler routine that is used to branch execution of the code to a cache miss handler if the cache lookup instructions result in a cache miss. The cache miss handler, prior to performing a wait operation for waiting for the data to be retrieved from the backing store, branches execution to an independent subroutine identified by a compiler. The independent subroutine is executed while the data is being retrieved from the backing store such that useful work is performed.
US07765356B2

According to one embodiment of the invention, a data modifying bus buffer generally includes a switch that is configured to selectively couple a first databus to a second databus. The switch is controlled by a buffer controller. The first databus and a second databus have a similar predetermined protocol. The buffer controller is operable to monitor the first databus for the presence of a particular sequence of the signals such that, when the particular sequence of the signals is found, the first switch may be selectively opened or closed.
US07765355B2

An IEEE 1394 device detecting circuit includes a south bridge chip, a control device, an IEEE 1394 interface, and a resistor. The control device includes a power reset pin, a bus reset pin, and a cable power pin. The control device is connected to the south bridge chip through the bus reset pin, which is further connected to the power reset pin. The cable power pin is connected to a direct current power through the resistor. The control device is further connected to the IEEE 1394 interface, which is connected to an IEEE 1394 device.
US07765352B2

A power control unit (PCU) may reduce the core wake-up latency in a computer system by concurrently waking-up the remaining cores after the first core is woken-up. The power control unit may detect arrival of a first, second, and a third interrupt directed at a first, second, and a third core. The power control unit may check whether the second interrupt occurs within a first period, wherein the first period is counted after waking-up of the first core is complete. The power control unit may then wake-up the second and the third core concurrently if the second interrupt occurs within the first period after the wake-up activity of the first core is complete. The first period may at least equal twice the time required for a first credit to be returned and next credit to be accepted.
US07765346B2

A method, system, and medium for compressing systems management information in a historical data store. Dynamically determining the appropriate compression algorithm to apply based on the type of data being compressed and stored. As further input is received for any particular measurement, the appropriate compression algorithm will be automatically selected from the set of available compression algorithms or be defined by a user configuration parameter. The amount of historical data stored with the minimal amount of data loss is optimized by the system dynamically changing the compression algorithm used for the given input data over a particular time span. The system engineer is therefore presented with the pertinent information for monitoring, administrating and diagnosing system activities.
US07765333B2

A signal associated with multiple haptic effects is received, each haptic effect from the multiple haptic effects being associated with a time slot from multiple time slots. Each haptic effect from the multiple haptic effects is associated with an effect slot from multiple effect slots at least partially based on the time slot associated with that haptic effect. An output signal is sent for each effect slot from the multiple effect slots, when the associated haptic effect is scheduled for its time slot.
US07765332B2

A modular system comprising a host, a consumer electronic device, and an adapter coupling the consumer electronic device to the host. The adapter performs a first function of supplying at least one service provided by one of the host and the consumer electronic device to the other of the host and the consumer electronic device, and a second function. The second function can be different from the first function. The second function can be unrelated to the supply of a service.
US07765327B2

A system to facilitate data transfer between a server and a client in an uninterrupted manner. At least one server network communicates data via a first Input/Output (I/O) architecture. At least two Virtual Network Interface Cards (VNICs) communicate the data via the first I/O architecture. A client network communicates data via a second I/O architecture. At least two bridging devices convert packets useable in the first I/O architecture to packets useable in the second I/O architecture. No more than one of the at least two bridging devices transfers the data with any one of the at least two VNICs, and the at least two bridging devices transfer the data with the client network. At least one intermediate driver binds to the at least one server network and to the at least two VNICs. The at least one intermediate driver provides a fail-over function to maintain a connection between the server network and the client network.
US07765320B2

A method of configuring a filter for a data stream organized in frames in a protocol tester that is simple without requiring any knowledge of an internal protocol configuration provides the frames partially decoded in an overview display. A user searches the frames for a desired content and selects one of the frames having the desired content. The selected frame is displayed in a fully decoded view. A filter rule is derived from the desired content for configuring the filter. The filter rule may be further defined by modifying parameters from the fully decoded view of the selected frame. The configured filter is applied to all the frames to produce a set of filtered frames.
US07765318B2

A system for data transmission and reception is provided. The system includes a wireless data broadcast system (100) broadcasting outgoing data from a data network to a plurality of users (126, 128) using one or more wireless broadcast repeaters. A wireless data return path system receives incoming data from the plurality of users and provides the incoming data to the data network. The wireless data return path system further comprises one or more wireless collector system (120) receiving data from a predetermined set of the plurality of users, and one or more return path repeater systems receiving data from one or more predetermined wireless collector systems. The system also uses terrestrial line-of-sight broadcasting in conjunction with satellite data transmission systems.
US07765315B2

Techniques are described for synchronizing multiple time-based data streams with independent clocks wherein relationships between clock rates of timing devices associated with the time-based data streams are determined, and based on these relationships, times in at least one of the time-based data streams may be translated to times in any of the other time-based data streams despite the data streams having independent clocks.
US07765308B2

A computer network based digital information library system employing authentication and encryption protocols for the secure transfer of digital information library programs to a client computer system and a mobile digital information playback device removably connectable to the client computer system. The present invention is a computer network based library and information delivery system for accessing and obtaining selected digital information files. The library and information delivery system comprises: 1) a library server having a plurality of digital information files; 2) a client computer system coupled to the library server over a network; and 3) a mobile device removably connectable to the client computer system, the client computer system including logic for requesting a download of a selected one or more of the digital information files from the library server, the client computer system further including logic for downloading the selected one or more of the digital information files to the mobile device.
US07765303B2

A method for communicating from a first processing unit located on a first network to a second processing unit located on a second network, through a wireless network, comprising a plurality of nodes, wherein a plurality of routes is dynamically established between a first gateway and the second processing unit.
US07765302B2

An apparatus, method, and computer program manage communication sessions that include a plurality of portions. Different processors handle each portion of a communication session. The apparatus, method, and computer program transfer the communication session from one of the processors to another of the processors during the different portions of the communication session.
US07765301B1

A benefit task system implements a policy for allocating resources to yield some benefit. The method implemented may be applied to a variety of problems, and the benefit may be either tangible (e.g., profit) or intangible (e.g., customer satisfaction). In one example, the method is applied to server allocation in a Web site server “farm” given full information regarding future loads to maximize profits for the Web hosting service provider. In another example, the method is applied to the allocation of telephone help in a way to improve customer satisfaction. In yet another example, the method is applied to distributed computing problem where the resources to be allocated are general purpose computers connected in a network and used to solve computationally intensive problems. Solution of the Web server “farm” problem is based on information regarding future loads to achieve close to the greatest possible revenue based on the assumption that revenue is proportional to the utilization of servers and differentiated by customer class. The method of server allocation uses an approach which reduces the Web server farm problem to a minimum-cost network flow problem, which can be solved in polynomial time. Similar solutions are applicable to other resource allocation problems.
US07765294B2

A system and method for managing subscriber usage of a packet network. The system may include at least one database configured to store network performance information of data packets including real-time content and non-real-time content communicated over a packet network. The database may further be configured to store the network performance information as related to respective subscribers of a communications carrier managing the communications network. In one embodiment, the database may include an indicia associated with each subscriber and the network performance information may be collected during communications by respective subscribers over the packet network.
US07765293B2

A computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer program product for monitoring event specification and monitoring event subscription. Monitorable events are defined in a context of execution of a monitored component. Monitorable points of execution of the monitored component are identified, wherein events can be generated from the monitorable points. Possible events that can be generated in the identified monitorable points are then identified to define the monitorable events.
US07765292B2

To provide a network monitoring system extracting the performance measurement data while eliminating the performance measurement data that is not effective for improvement of the network performance on the basis of a predetermined extraction condition and presenting the extraction result to the operator. The network monitoring system includes extraction condition presenting means for presenting a predetermined extraction condition indicating a relationship between performance measurement data of each device configuring the network and a status of a device to be eliminated upon extracting said performance measurement data; and performance measurement data extracting means for eliminating the performance measurement data that is measured under a status of the device to be eliminated on the basis of an extraction condition indicated by said extraction condition presenting means and extracting the performance measurement data that is effective for improvement of the network performance.
US07765289B2

A communication method for a device in a network system and a system for managing network devices are disclosed. The communication method for a device in a network system includes connecting a management server that manages at least one device in an internal network, the at least one device, and a designated device with one another through a firewall, the internal network, and an external network; the designated device maintaining a connection with the management server; and if a message for requesting a connection with a target device among the at least one device is received by the designated device from the management server, the designated device forwarding the received message to the target device. According to this method, the management server can connect and communicate with managed devices, whenever necessary, by making the designated device connected to the network continuously maintain the connection with the management server.
US07765281B1

A method, system, computer system and computer program product to distribute data to arbitrarily large subsets of a very large client base, with each client computer system running client software referred to as an agent. The data distribution system uses minimal server resources and a large-scale network such as the Internet. The data to be distributed may include, for example, agent software configuration data; agent software programs, plug-ins, and associated data; announcements; and other data that is centrally managed by an administrator. Using this invention, millions of client computer systems, such as computer systems for subscribers to a broadband service, can be configured and managed centrally, while allowing data to be distributed to all or a subset of subscribers efficiently and using minimal bandwidth. Agents assist in determining whether particular data are to be distributed to them, enabling much larger-scale applications to be supported with limited server-side resources.
US07765277B1

Methods and apparatuses for dynamically locating resources. In one aspect of the invention, a method to retrieve a resource for a digital processing system includes: receiving a request for a resource; downloading a first version of the resource from a server through a network connection to satisfy the request if the first version of the resource is retrievable through the network connection; and loading a second version of the resource from a storage device of the digital processing system if the first version of the resource is not retrievable through a network connection. In one example, downloading the first version is performed in response to a determination that the first version of the resource is different from a second version of the resource on a storage device of the digital processing system.
US07765275B2

A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for generating cookies. A cookie value is retrieved in response to receiving the request. An expiration for the cookie value is set based on a time period in which the request is received. A set of unique identifiers, including the expiration, are added to the cookie value and a cookie name to form a cookie. A response to the request is sent to an intermediate server. The response includes data responsive to the request and the cookie. The validity of the data for the response is related to the expiration.
US07765273B2

A method and apparatus for distribution of electronic media replace the display of printed employee communications with a method and apparatus for distribution of electronic media. In a typical embodiment of the invention, electronic media replaces the posters and printed materials and the conventional bulletin board is replaced by an electronic display. Maintaining the employee communications in electronic form from creation to display significantly reduces and cost while dramatically improving the flexibility of an employee communications program.
US07765270B2

A portable music player downloads a musical composition data from a distribution server. When this musical composition data is played back, a sample musical composition data composing a part of the musical composition data is distributed to a surrounding player by wireless. At this time, a terminal identification number IDa of the supplier player is included in tag information of the sample musical composition data, and the user of the surrounding player can download the musical composition data related to the sample musical composition data for value from the distribution server. A part of its sold price is refunded to the user of the supplier player.
US07765268B2

A method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for determining user uniqueness in e-mail campaigns. An instruction set is placed in an e-mail to form a modified e-mail. The modified e-mail is sent to a server for a distribution list, wherein the instruction set is executed in response to the modified e-mail being opened, wherein the instruction set identifies a reader of the modified e-mail based on an e-mail address of the reader and sends information to a collection device about the modified e-mail and an identification of the reader that opened the modified e-mail.
US07765252B1

A technology generally related to large-scale computations employed in the fields of cryptography and data security system employing a new and improved variant of the Karatsuba multiplication approach. The variant of the Karatsuba multiplication approach being utilized to minimize the number of coefficient multiplications needed to multiple two polynomials of degree four.
US07765249B1

Some embodiments of the invention provide a configurable integrated circuit (“IC”). The configurable IC includes a set of configurable logic circuits for configurably performing a set of functions on a set of inputs. The IC also includes several input select interconnect circuits for selecting the input set supplied to each configurable logic circuit. Each input select interconnect circuit is associated with a particular configurable logic circuit. When a configurable logic circuit is used to perform a multiplication operation, at least one of its associated input select interconnect circuits performs a logic operation that implements part of the multiplication operation.
US07765248B2

A service provider apparatus is provided with a first application for executing a process related to a Web page or Web contents, and a service providing part for providing services. The first application sends a request to a second application included in another apparatus. The service providing part receives a service providing request related to the request from the second application, and provides a service depending on the service providing request, so as to expand functions of the services provided by the service provider apparatus.
US07765242B2

A computer-implemented method for performing structure layout optimization of a data structure in a multi-threaded environment is provided. The method includes determining a set of code concurrency values. The method also includes calculating a set of cycle gain values. The method further includes employing the set of cycle gain values and the set of code concurrency values to create a field layout graph, which is configured to illustrate relationship between a set of data fields of the data structure. The method yet also includes employing a cluster algorithm to the field layout graph to create a set of clusters. Each cluster of the set of clusters is employed to generate a cache line.
US07765233B2

The present invention provides a data structure recorded in a recording medium, data recording method and data recording apparatus, in which data are recorded in a high-density recording medium such as a Blu-ray disc. In recording data per cluster within a recording medium, a data structure recorded in the recording system is characterized in that the data includes an address unit in which a plurality of per recording unit address fields included in a corresponding cluster and a control information field indicating per recording unit attribute are recorded and in that each information configuring the control information field is identified by byte unit.
US07765231B2

An apparatus, including a receiver for receiving information regarding an image of a person of interest obtained with an image capture device. The apparatus includes a database to store information regarding a plurality of images and persons; a processor for processing the image and comparing it to a plurality of images to determine whether the image matches an image of a person. If there is a match, then the processor generates a message. The apparatus also includes a transmitter for transmitting the message to the person of interest, where the message contains a request for permission to provide access to information regarding the person of interest to the requesting user. The apparatus receives a response to the request and determines whether the response indicates that permission has been granted and, if permission is granted, then the apparatus transmits information regarding the person of interest to the image capture device.
US07765230B2

Method and system for validating data residing on different servers is provided. The method includes providing a first user interface from a first location, said first user interface providing access to data residing on a server in the first location, a substantial copy of said data made available on a server in a second location; re-directing a user to a second user interface from the second location upon an event in the first location, said second user interface providing access to the validated data on the server in the second location; and initiating a validation mode for validating the substantial copy of the data on the server at the second location upon the event in the first location. A Validator module identifies one or more data added or updated to a metadata on the server at the second location based on said validation parameters; and verifies existence of said identified data in one or more data files on the server at the second location based on said validation parameters.
US07765226B2

The present invention is generally directed providing a method, system and article of manufacture for automatically generating database transaction statements (such as queries, inserts, updates, and deletes) based on fields from existing queries and user input. By identifying fields of existing queries (or statements) and gathering attributes of those fields, a transaction generator can be configured to provide users with a selection of generated transactions that can be performed on data that corresponds to the selected fields. The selection of transactions may be provided to users via a variety of interfaces including graphic interfaces and plug-in components utilized by external applications.
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