US07766945B2

The present invention provides a stabile construct to facilitate connecting a spinal fixation rod to a plurality of vertebral bodies. The construct or implant comprises a housing and an insert. The housing and insert are shaped to cooperatively engage the bone screw and rod to provide a stable construct that allows for polyaxial orientation between the bone screw and the remainder of the construct.
US07766936B2

A filter for filtering micro-emboli from a patient's blood during an angioplasty procedure is disclosed which comprises a plurality of curved wires connected to a rod between a first connector fixed with respect to the rod and a second connector slidingly mounted on the rod. Two layers of filter material are connected to opposite sides of the wires, and each layer includes perforations which are offset from the perforations in the other layer. When the rod and the wires are disposed within a catheter, the inner wall of the catheter compresses the wires toward the rod and when the rod is extended from the catheter, the wires resume their curved shape and pull the sliding connector along the rod toward the fixed connector.
US07766934B2

An embolic protection device includes a basket defined by a section of a set of wires arranged as a plurality of struts. These struts are coupled together at their distal ends as well as to the distal end of a core wire or mandrel. Another section of the wires spirals around the core wire to define a hollow channel in which the core wire can reciprocate. Thus, pulling or pushing a proximal end of the core wire relative to the struts expands or contracts the basket. A filter bag is attached to the basket for capturing clots when the basket is in an expanded configuration.
US07766933B2

A vasoocclusive embolic delivery system for use in placement of an embolic coil at a treatment site within a vessel. The embolic coil includes an elongated stretch resistant fiber having its distal end bonded to the distal end of the embolic coil. The stretch resistant fiber extends through a central lumen of the coil and extends beyond the proximal end of the coil. Also included is a generally cylindrical stabilization bead, having a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the central lumen of the coil, mounted on the stretch resistant fiber within the lumen of the embolic coil. The stabilization bead serves to keep the stretch resistant fiber centered within the lumen of the embolic coil. Additionally, a headpiece is mounted on the proximal end of the stretch resistant fiber and serves to couple the embolic coil to the delivery system.
US07766927B2

The present invention is concerned with methods and equipment for the treatment of the eye and more particularly with an instrument to increase eye filtration and treat glaucoma. The instrument is surgical tool operated entirely by the surgeon's hands and is composed of a hand-piece and an eye-penetrating intraocular segment each having two opponent and reciprocally operating fork-like arms and blade-sharp leaves, respectively. The eye-penetrating segment is a rigid embodiment of a size to create a limbus-pointing tunnel in the cornea, penetrate the eye of a patient through a water tight incision and, in a five step dissect and extract procedure, remove from within the eye a trabecular tissue block leaving the incision to self-seal by intraocular pressure. In the same “modus operandi”, a sample tissue can be extracted from any other hollowed or parenchimatous organ.
US07766919B2

This invention provides devices and methods for mixing and extruding compositions which are medically and non-medically useful. The devices are particularly useful for mixing substances which are relatively inert when alone but become reactive when mixed. A common feature of all of the devices is that they allow the user to mix and ultimately extrude a composition from a single device which includes a single container or multiple interconnected containers.
US07766915B2

A dynamic fixation medical implant includes a longitudinal connecting member assembly having an elongate coil-like outer member and an inner cylindrical core attached to the outer member at only one end thereof. Some assemblies include a second longitudinal connecting member in the form of a rod that is fixed to the inner core and extends outwardly from the assembly. Certain assemblies include a threaded core or threaded inserts that cooperate with a helical slit of the coil-like outer member. Two or more cooperating bone screw assemblies attach to the connecting member assembly. The bone screw assemblies may include upper and lower compression members for affixing to and cradling the coil-like outer member only, allowing relative movement between the outer member and the inner cylindrical core. Press fit or snap-on features attach one end of the coil-like outer member to one end of the inner cylindrical core.
US07766914B2

An intervertebral disc space preparation guide comprises a first member and a second member. The first member includes a first spacer portion adapted for insertion in an intervertebral disc space and a first cutting block portion through which a first bore extends. The second member includes a second spacer portion adapted for insertion in an intervertebral disc space and a second cutting block portion through which a second bore extends. The first member is movably connected to the second member.
US07766913B2

A bone resection tool for resecting an end of a bone along a surface having a curvature comprises a guide, a cutting tool and a track follower. The guide is configured to be removably attached in a fixed position to the end of the bone. The guide is configured to include a track exhibiting a curvature generally corresponding to the curvature of the surface to be resected in the bone. The cutting tool includes a cutting face. The track follower is configured to couple to the cutting tool and cooperate with the track to facilitate reciprocation of the cutting tool relative to the guide to induce the cutting face to resect the bone along the surface having the curvature. A method for cutting a bone along a curved surface conforming to the curvature of a curved surface of the underside of a prosthetic component comprises the steps of incising the tissue surrounding the surface of the bone, positioning a guide alongside the surface of a bone to be cut, affixing the guide to the bone, interconnecting a cutter having a cutting face with the guide, maintaining the cutting face generally parallel to the tangent of the curved surface and traversing the cutting face along the bone while guiding the cutter along the track. The tissue incision incises the tissue surrounding the surface of the bone to be cut in a minimally invasive fashion. The positioned guide includes a track configured to assimilate the curvature of the curved surface of the underside of the prosthetic component.
US07766901B2

The invention relates to a device for treating bladder emptying dysfunctions of a human, in which a catheter that can be inserted into the urethra is provided with a bladder emptying channel and with a balloon arrangement, which serves to seal the bladder and to hold the catheter inside the bladder lumen and which can be filled with a fluid. In addition, an automatically closing valve having an elastically held closure part is provided in a proximal end area of the catheter and is connected via a connecting channel filled with an actuating fluid to an actuating balloon placed at the distal end section of the catheter. Without the use of mechanical means, the closure part can be lead out of a sealing system solely due to a hydraulic action effected by the actuating balloon via the hydraulic pressure built up in the connecting channel at said proximal end section. This closure part can be lead out of the sealing system to such an extent as to open the bladder emptying channel of the catheter for an unobstructed passage of urine.
US07766895B2

Lung volume reduction is performed in a minimally invasive manner by isolating a lung tissue segment, optionally reducing gas flow obstructions within the segment, and aspirating the segment to cause the segment to at least partially collapse. Further optionally, external pressure may be applied on the segment to assist in complete collapse. Reduction of gas flow obstructions may be achieved in a variety of ways, including over inflation of the lung, introduction of mucolytic or dilation agents, application of vibrational energy, induction of absorption atelectasis, or the like. Optionally, diagnostic procedures on the isolated lung segment may be performed, typically using the same isolation/access catheter.
US07766894B2

A robotic medical system and method of performing a medical procedure are provided. The robotic medical system comprises a user interface configured for receiving commands, an electromechanical driver configured for being coupled to outer and inner catheters having proximal and distal balloons, a balloon controller configured for being coupled to the proximal and distal balloons, and an electric controller configured for directing the electromechanical driver to linearly translate the outer and inner catheters relative to each other and for directing the balloon controller to inflate and deflate the proximal and distal balloons in response to the command(s). The method may comprise inflating and deflating the proximal and distal balloons, and linearly translating the inner and outer catheters relative to each other in a specified sequence to move the inner and outer catheters along the anatomical vessel.
US07766890B2

A disposable diaper includes a hook and loop fastener which includes: (i) a plurality of hook components, which are fixed in place on both lateral sides of a rear side of the disposable diaper, and (ii) a hook receiving component that is fixed in place at a belly side of the disposable diaper. The hook components are engageable with the hook receiving component to form a fixing member for putting the disposable diaper on a user. The hook receiving component includes a base material section having a target that is visible from a front surface side of the hook receiving component, and a plurality of loops which are fixed in place on a surface of the base material section. Each of the loops is formed of a non-crimp treated continuous filament yarn that is straight or slowly curved.
US07766877B1

A set of parts for providing a medical device, including a lumen element adapted for mounting at a location on the skin of the patient, and a valve member. The lumen element and the valve member have releasable connection members such that, when the connection members are engaged, an assembled medical device is provided which is adapted for accessing an internal organ of a patient.
US07766876B2

A gastrostomy catheter introducing device includes a puncturing device 1 including a body 6 having a tube 4 and a flange 5, and a puncturing needle 7 axially slidably held in the tube 4 of the body 6; and a gastric wall fixating and fistula expanding device 2 including an outer tube 9 to be inserted into the tube 4 of the puncturing device 1, a gastrostomy catheter guide member 10 held inside the outer tube 9, a clip 11 swingably attached to an inner end part of the gastrostomy catheter guide member 10, and a clip turning member 12 having one end connected to the clip 11 to turn the clip 11.
US07766873B2

An improved pump, reservoir and reservoir piston are provided for controlled delivery of fluids. A motor is operably coupled to a drive member, such as a drive screw, which is adapted to advance a plunger slide in response to operation of the motor. The plunger slide is removably coupled to the piston. A method, system, and an article of manufacture for automatically detecting an occlusion in a medication infusion pump is provided. The electrical current to an infusion pump is measured. Based on a series of measurements of one or more variables, the infusion pump detects whether there is an occlusion in the system.
US07766865B2

The invention relates to a breast cap part for a breast pump, which is disposed on an areola of a female breast when used. The breast cap includes a truncated base body (1) having a large rear opening (13) and a small front opening (14), the base body being embodied in order to receive a breast cap (6) in a funnel. The truncated base body (1) is at least partially made of a heat accumulating and/or heat conducting material and is heated when required. The heating does not exclusively occur when the body temperature of the female breast is transmitted. Other means for heating the breast cap part are used.
US07766861B2

Method and apparatus for limiting absorption of food products in specific parts of the digestive system is presented. A gastrointestinal implant device is anchored in the pyloric portion of the gastrointestinal system and extends beyond the ligament of Treitz. All food exiting the stomach is funneled through the device. The gastrointestinal device includes an anchor for anchoring the device in the pyloric portion and a flexible sleeve that extents into the duodenum. The anchor is collapsible for endoscopic delivery and removal.
US07766852B2

Nerve treatment/mobilization apparatuses are configured to mobilize a user's peripheral nervous system. The nerve treatment apparatus includes a back support, a pair of force applying members and a neck cradle. Additional optional attachments include upper body nerve mobilization tracks and a lower peripheral nerve mobilization device.
US07766850B2

A brace for correction of scoliosis is disclosed, comprising at least one thoracic shell element and a pelvic shell element and at least one working element having a main longitudinal axis to be oriented parallel to the trunk to be treated, anchored on one of its opposite ends to the thoracic shell element and on the other to the pelvic shell element, and having spring characteristics adapted to apply continuous de-rotational force about said longitudinal axis.
US07766849B2

A disposable massage apparatus having a massage actuator operatively engaged to a holding member which defines a slot adapted to receive a conductivity blocker that prevents operation of the massage apparatus is disclosed. In operation, the user withdraws the conductivity blocker from the slot in order to make the massage apparatus operational while re-inserting the conductivity blocker into the slot makes the massage apparatus inoperative.
US07766843B2

A biopsy method is disclosed. The biopsy method can be used to provide a fine needle aspiration sample and a core biopsy sample. The biopsy method can include adjusting a sample port length without removing the biopsy device from the patient.
US07766841B2

The sleep diagnosis device 1 of the present invention comprises three-dimensional acceleration sensors 2a and 2b, a posture detector 5 which detects a posture of the patient from a DC component of the three-dimensional acceleration sensors, and a breathing movement detector 4 which detects a breathing movement of the patient from the AC component of the three-dimensional acceleration sensors. The sleep diagnosis device of the present invention can detect the posture (sleeping posture) and the breathing movement of the patient by using one three-dimensional acceleration sensor, so it is possible to reduce the number of sensors. Furthermore, the sleep diagnosis device can detect the breathing movement accurately by the three-dimensional acceleration sensors.
US07766839B2

Embodiments of a needle insertion system and method are disclosed. One method embodiment includes transmitting a sound beam along an axis to contact a blood vessel; receiving the reflected sound beam from the blood vessel; processing the reflected sound beam to detect the location of the blood vessel; and, responsive to the detection, receiving a needle in a guideway that is oriented parallel to the axis.
US07766830B2

Apparatuses and methods for medical monitoring physiological characteristics values such as blood glucose levels for the treatment of diabetes, are presented. The apparatuses and methods provide dynamic glucose monitoring functions that perform predictive analysis to anticipate harmful conditions, such as glucose crash and hyperglycemic incidents for a patient. The dynamic functions can also be used to maximize athletic performance and warn of inadequate nocturnal basal rate. Other aspects include advanced alarm and reminder functions, as well as advanced data presentation tools to further facilitate convenient and efficient management of various physiological conditions.
US07766824B2

A surgical access apparatus adaptable to permit the sealed insertion of either the surgeon's hand and/or surgical instruments during laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical procedures includes an access member having a passageway therethrough and first and second seal members mounted across the passageway. The first and second seal members each has an aperture in non-overlapping relation to each other in the absence of the object positioned therein. The outer seal portion of the first seal member may include a plurality of expansible ribs and corresponding recesses arranged along respective lines of intersection with the axis of the first seal member.
US07766816B2

Apparatus and methods to reduce ventricular volume are disclosed. The device takes the form of a transventricular anchor, which presses a portion of the ventricular wall inward, thereby reducing the available volume of the ventricle. The anchor is deployed using a curved introducer that may be inserted into one ventricle, through the septum and into the opposite ventricle. Barbs or protrusions along the anchor body combined with a mechanical stop and a sealing member hold the device in place once deployed.
US07766812B2

The various aspects of the invention pertain to devices and related methods for treating heart conditions, including, for example, dilatation, valve incompetencies, including mitral valve leakage, and other similar heart failure conditions. The devices and related methods of the present invention operate to assist in the apposition of heart valve leaflets to improve valve function. According to one aspect of the invention, a method improves the function of a valve of a heart by placing an elongate member transverse a heart chamber so that each end of the elongate member extends through a wall of the heart, and placing first and second anchoring members external the chamber. The first and second anchoring members are attached to first and second ends of the elongate member to fix the elongate member in a position across the chamber so as to reposition papillary muscles within the chamber. Also described herein is a method for placing a splint assembly transverse a heart chamber by advancing an elongate member through vasculature structure and into the heart chamber.
US07766806B2

A rotating member of a printing press is typically a cylinder that is provided with a circumferential area. A securement channel or a flow channel, which is at least partly open toward the circumferential area of the cylinder, is formed in the cylinder. A profiled member, which at least partly covers the securement channel or flow channel, with respect to its circumferential area, is inserted into the cylinder to form an integrated joint with the cylinder.
US07766802B2

A rowing or mid-row exercise machine has a main frame and a user support frame pivotally mounted relative to the main frame for rotation between start and end positions. The user support frame supports spaced positions on a user's body in the same relative orientation throughout an exercise movement. A user engagement device is movably mounted relative to the frames and has at least one handle gripped by the user in performing exercises. The handle is movable in a predetermined rowing exercise path between a start position spaced in front of a user's chest and an end position closer to the chest. A connecting linkage translates movement of the user engagement device to rotational movement of the user support frame. A load resists movement of at least one of the user support, user engagement device, and connecting linkage.
US07766788B2

A drive force output apparatus has a controller that sets an upper limit of power allowed to be consumed by an auxiliary based on at least a reference power storage amount corresponding to the reference of the range in which the power storage amount of a power storage is monitored and controls a power generator, an electric motor, and the auxiliary such that drive force corresponding to target drive force is output to a drive shaft while the power consumed by the auxiliary remains equal to or smaller than the upper limit.
US07766787B2

A rotating power tool has a transmission assembly having a transmission casing, a common annulus, at least two planetary gear assemblies and a thrust washer assembly. The common annulus is tubular, is mounted securely in the transmission casing and has an inner surface and multiple teeth. The planetary gear assemblies are connected in series in the common annulus, and each planetary gear assembly has a sun gear, a planet carrier and at least three planetary gear assemblies. The planet carrier is an annular bracket. The planetary gear assemblies are mounted around and engage a sun gear and the teeth in the common annulus. The thrust washer assembly is mounted between adjacent planetary gear assemblies. Consequently rotation of the transmission assembly is smooth and stable. The thrust washer assembly damps reactive force to prevent damage and guarantee normal operation of the hand-held rotating power tool.
US07766782B2

The transmission has a plurality of members that can be utilized in powertrains to provide eight forward speed ratios and one reverse speed ratio. The transmission includes three planetary gear sets, six torque-transmitting devices, two fixed interconnections and a grounded member. The powertrain includes an engine and torque converter that is continuously connected to one of the planetary gear members and an output member that is continuously connected with another one of the planetary gear members. The six torque-transmitting devices provide interconnections between various gear members, and the transmission housing, and are operated in combinations of two to establish eight forward speed ratios and one reverse speed ratio.
US07766774B2

A decoupler assembly is provided for allowing an alternator to be rotatably driven by a serpentine belt in an engine of an automotive vehicle and for allowing the speed of the belt to oscillate relative to the alternator. A hub is fixedly carried by a drive shaft from the alternator for rotation therewith. A pulley is rotatably journaled to the hub by a ball bearing assembly. A bare, helical clutch spring is operatively coupled between the hub and pulley for transferring rotational movement from the pulley to the hub during acceleration of the pulley relative to the hub by the serpentine belt and for allowing the hub to overrun the pulley during deceleration of the pulley relative to the hub. A torque limiter, preferably a spring or sleeve, is wrapped about the torsion limiting outward expansion of the torsion isolating the torsion spring from torques above a predetermined limit.
US07766766B2

Golf balls and methods and systems for manufacturing golf balls. In one exemplary embodiment, a portion of a golf ball comprises a core material having a void, a semiconductor component disposed at least partially in the void, and a filler material in the void and surrounding the semiconductor component, the filler material being placed in the void in a liquid state and occupying a first volume in the liquid state and the filler material transforming into a solid state which occupies substantially the first volume. Methods for manufacturing golf balls and fixtures and apparatuses for manufacturing golf balls are also described.
US07766765B2

A wood-type golf club head has a volume V (cc) of not less than 350 cc and a club face area S (sq.cm) of not less than 30 sq.cm but not more than V×0.08+5. Preferably, the weight of the face portion is in a range of from 20 to 40% of the overall weight of the club head, and the overall weight is in a range of from 150 to 210 grams.
US07766757B2

A golf device is provided that includes a storage mechanism to store information related to a desired swing of a golf club, and a swing identifying device to identify when the golf club has moved a desired distance based on the stored information related to the desired swing.
US07766755B2

A cover for a sandbox comprising a plurality of vertical poles situated around the perimeter of the sandbox and a cover assembly. The cover assembly comprises an outer frame, inner frame, and flexible cover. The inner frame comprises a plurality of support members, which support a flexible cover and are fixedly attached to the outer frame. Each vertical pole comprises a pulley system and a vertical slot. The pulley system is connected to the outer frame with an attachment means and is fully enclosed within the vertical pole except for a portion of the attachment means. The attachment means travels up and down within the vertical slot. Each vertical pole comprises a pole cover that is slightly shorter than the vertical slot and moves laterally to expose or conceal the vertical slot.
US07766754B2

One embodiment of the invention discloses a method for animating an advertising device. The method comprising multiple steps such as providing a track system and a tower that is operatively coupled to the track. The tower can comprise one or more substantially transparent sections. The method further comprises providing a base support system that is operatively coupled to the tower. The base can be operatively coupled to a facade with one or more substantially non-transparent sections. The method further includes providing a vehicle system comprising a passenger-carrying vehicle that is operatively coupled to the track. Finally, the method includes animating the advertising device by transporting the vehicle between the substantially transparent section of the tower and the substantially non-transparent section of the facade. The vehicle movement can, for example, simulate fluid movement between the tower and the facade.
US07766753B2

A water transportation system and method are described, generally related to water amusement attractions and rides. This transportation system comprises at least two water stations and at least one water channel connecting the at least two water stations for the purpose of conveying participants between the at least two water stations. In addition, a floating water park positioned in a body of water is described, as well as, a floating marine park. A floating marine/water park may include one or more floating containers positioned in a body of a first fluid. One or more of the floating containers may function to hold a second fluid, marine life, and/or participants in water amusement activities. A floating marine park may include two or more of the floating containers, which may be assembled and used at a first site, dissembled, and then assembled and used at a second site.
US07766746B2

The game apparatus comprises a first LCD 11 for displaying a first game image, a second LCD 12 for displaying a second game image relating to the first game image, character display control means for displaying a player character 80 on at least one of the first LCD 11 and the second LCD 12, and character ability changing means for changing the ability of the player character 80 depending on whether the player character 80 is displayed on the first LCD 11 or the second LCD 12. With the above-described game apparatus having two display sections, it is possible to realize amore novel and interesting game.
US07766743B2

A system, method, apparatus, means, and computer program code for facilitating or allowing a user's affinity for a property to be evaluated, recognized, rewarded and/or monetized. A user may access a Web site, computer system, kiosk, or other resource operated by, for or on behalf of a property. For example, a server may implement a Web site on behalf of one or more properties. The user may then provide or authorize a payment that allows the user to receive or take a test directed to examining the user's knowledge of a property and/or to receive information regarding one or more actions that the user may complete to demonstrate the user's affinity for the property. A user demonstrating affinity for the property may receive recognition or other benefit associated with the property.
US07766740B2

A gaming apparatus and method of play including a value input device and a controller operatively coupled to the value input device. The controller receives wager data in response to a wager made by a person on a game, with the wager data including a first plurality of indicia of a first type, a second plurality of indicia of the first type, where the second plurality of indicia potentially randomly selected to replace one or more of the indicia of a first type in at least one of the first plurality of indicia, and the second plurality of indicia also having an indicia of a second type. A winner is determined from matching any of the first plurality of indicia of the first type with any of the second plurality of indicia of the first type, including any replaced indicia, and a value payout is associated with the level of matching.
US07766739B2

A system and method are provided for playing a game of chance. The game of chance may include, for example, a lottery-type game. A result of the game of chance is revealed to a player in another medium. In one example, the result is revealed during multiple game instances of one or more online games. In one example, the online game includes a scrambled word game similar to the well-known game of JUMBLE.
US07766733B2

A storage control apparatus comprises a vertical logic board; and a cooling mechanism for cooling the logic board. This cooling mechanism is constituted such that air taken in from the front of the storage control apparatus travels to the rear side of the storage control apparatus and then rises up, this risen air rises further while cooling the vertical logic board, and the risen air is discharged from the rear of the storage control apparatus.
US07766732B2

A ductless fumehood system comprising: at least one ductless fumehood comprising a housing; a workspace formed within the housing; a door for selectively closing off the workspace; an air inlet for introducing air into the workspace; a master module for receiving air from the workspace, purging unwanted substances from that air, and then exhausting that filtered air to the ambient room atmosphere; and a slave module for receiving air from the workspace, purging unwanted substances from that air, and then exhausting that filtered air to the ambient room atmosphere; wherein the slave module is in communication with the master module such that the master module central processing unit is capable of (i) controlling the operation of the active elements of the slave module, (ii) detecting a function failure of the slave module, and (iii) activating the master module alarm in the event of a failure within that slave module.
US07766729B2

A smoking rail feed device as well as a method of accurately positioning a smoking rail in sausage loops or in loops of other products suspended from a hanger, and having, for improved insertion of the smoking rail into the loops, a smoking rail support, on which the smoking rail rests, at least partially, and oriented in the direction of the hanger. The smoking rail support is adapted to be displaced such that the smoking rail is transferred substantially in the longitudinal direction from the smoking rail feed device to a pick-up area of the hanger, in which the loops are arranged for being picked up.
US07766727B2

A tribological system including: a tribological workpiece having a working surface adapted for moving relative to a counter-surface in a presence of a lubricant, in a load-bearing environment, the working surface for disposing generally opposite the counter-surface, the working surface having: (i) a metal surface layer; (ii) a plurality of organic particles incorporated in the metal surface layer, and (iii) a plurality of inorganic particles incorporated in the working surface, the inorganic particles having a Mohs hardness of at least 8.
US07766726B2

An assembly is provided for cropping the trailing edge tip of a stator zero blade in-situ. The cropping assembly includes a base plate that is secured to the end of the compressor stator blade to be cropped; a removable, rotational guide block; and a drill that is mounted to the guide block and rotatable relative to the base plate to crop the trailing edge tip of a stator blade.
US07766725B2

A loader arrangement 7 of a shot-blasting machine includes a bucket loader 29 having a tip opening that can be opened and closed by means of a lid 35. The loader arrangement 7 also includes a swivel arm 32, which is vertically and pivotally attached to a frame 4 via a linkage 31, for vertically swiveling the bucket loader 29, and a chain block 34 for swiveling the arm 32. Once the bucket loader 29 has reached the upper position above a rotary drum 5 by means of the swivel arm 32, a guide means 30, which is attached to the arm 32, allows the bucket loader 29 to approach the drum 5 through its top opening by driving a hydraulic cylinder 33, while the tip of the bucket loader 29 is opposed to the bottom wall of the drum 5. Once the tip of the bucket loader 29 is close to the bottom wall or the inner peripheral wall of the drum 5, the lid 35 is opened to drop the work pieces in the bucket loader 29 into the drum 5. Because the work pieces thus tumble from the low level relative to the bottom wall or the inner peripheral wall of the drum 5, the impact of the work pieces being dropped can be inhibited, and thus damage to the work pieces and the noise of the sounds of hitting can be reduced.
US07766724B2

Slicing multiple cylindrical workpieces into wafers by a multi wire saw with a gang length LG, is performed by: a) selecting a number n≧2 of workpieces from a stock of workpieces with different lengths, satisfying the inequality L G ≥ ( n - 1 ) · A min + ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ ⁢ L 1 ( 1 ) and making right-hand side of the inequality as large as possible, where Li with i=1 . . . n are for the lengths of the workpieces and Amin is a predefined minimum spacing, b) fixing the n workpieces successively in the longitudinal direction on a mounting plate while maintaining a spacing A≧Amin therebetween such that the relationship L G ≥ ( n - 1 ) · A + ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ ⁢ L i ( 2 ) is satisfied, c) clamping mounting plates workpieces in a multi wire saw, and d) slicing the n workpieces perpendicularly to their longitudinal axis by means of the multi wire saw. Preferably, the wafer stacks are separated from one another by separating pieces after slicing, and at the same time are laterally supported.
US07766717B2

A system is provided for representing an autonomous entity, which may be a winged entity. In a particular embodiment, the system includes a vessel having an interior that is viewable from outside the vessel. The system further includes a rotational drive system, a flexible shaft connected to the rotational drive system for rotation by the rotational drive system, and a display object positioned in the interior of the vessel and connected to the flexible shaft at a position that is spaced from the rotational drive system. In a particular embodiment, the display object has a plurality of wings, including a first wing and a second wing that is generally opposed to the first wing. Rotation of the flexible shaft causes the display object to move within the vessel.
US07766714B2

A method is provided for manufacturing an image display apparatus having a hermetic container including, as constructive members, a first substrate and a second substrate opposite to each other, and an external frame disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and an image display disposed within the hermetic container. The method includes a step of disposing a conductive bonding member between the first substrate and the external frame, and a step of sealing the first substrate and the external frame by heating the conductive bonding member. The second substrate has an electrode located outside of the hermetic container, and the sealing step includes a step of extending the conductive bonding member softened by heating from a sealing area between the first substrate and the external frame to the electrode to be in contact with the electrode.
US07766711B2

A wakeboard binding assembly includes a binding base and an outersole. The binding base is adapted to attach both to the wakeboard, and an upper of the binding. The outersole is designed to surround the periphery of the binding base and cover the area of attachment between the binding base and the binding upper. The attachment of the upper to the binding base eliminates the need to use hardware and fasteners for attachment of the upper to the wakeboard.
US07766665B2

A system for directly connecting multiple printed circuit boards (PCB) circuits without the need for peripheral connectors. Multiple PCBs are electrically and mechanically interfaced with one or more plated holes or tabs on at least one first PCB and one or more plated tabs or holes on at least one second PCB. The plated tab(s)/hole(s) from said second PCB mate with the corresponding plated tab(s)/hole(s) from said first PCB to form a mechanical and electrical interconnect.
US07766656B1

A single use cartridge 10 is disclosed for dispensing a medicament or other substance for dental, medical, or veterinarian applications. A motive fluid can contact the medicament to mix and dispense from reservoir 12, or the motive fluid can act on a plunger 21 to dispense the medicament. A handpiece 15 can sealably connect the cartridge 10 to a source of the motive fluid. The cartridge 10 can be easily replaced to facilitate the use of multiple cartridges with a single handpiece 15. An ultrasonic cleaning element 30 with a channel for fluid flow can be used in a handpiece 25 with a single use medicament cartridge 28 to dispense medicament during ultrasonic dental procedures. A cartridge 72 can contain a mixing element 70 to mix the motive fluid and abrasive particles for tooth surface polishing.
US07766650B2

A controller includes a shell, a valve, a temperature-sensitive regulator and a cover. The shell defines an intake, a first space in communication with the intake, a second space in communication with the first space and an outlet in communication with the second space. The valve is installed in the first space for shutting the intake. The temperature-sensitive regulator is installed in the second space for contact with the valve. The cover is used to shut the second space and contact the temperature-sensitive regulator.
US07766642B2

A portable conduit bending frame assembly comprises a support member having a conduit support surface extending substantially perpendicular to a top surface of the support member. A shoe is attached to the top surface of the support member. The shoe has a first alignment surface extending substantially perpendicular to a second alignment surface. A conduit bending surface extends between the first and second alignment surfaces and has a substantially arcuate configuration. The conduit bending surface faces the conduit support surface. A heating device is arranged proximate the conduit support surface for heating a conduit prior to bending the conduit at least partially about the conduit bending surface.
US07766641B2

A printer system is provided for developing a three dimensional (3D) printed structure. The system includes a plurality of spaced apart sets of printing devices. A conveyor system is arranged to serially convey a print medium operatively with respect to each set so that printed voxels from each successive set can form successive layers of the 3D printed structure upon the print medium. A placement mechanism is configured to place an object upon layers of the 3D printed structure. The placement mechanism includes a translation mechanism configured to translate the object at substantially the same velocity as the conveyance of the print medium during placement of the object. A plurality of curing mechanisms is interleaved between the sets of printing devices and is configured to cure the printed voxels.
US07766635B2

A rotary pump has a housing composed of two intersecting cylinder sections and pump rotors therein. The rotors roll off on one another and against the interior wall of the housing in a sealing manner and have two approximately club-shaped sections that are connected to each other at their narrower ends via a waisting. The club-shaped section of one rotor engages into the waisting of the other rotor. The rotors create in each phase of the rotation movement an evenly increasing intake volume in front of the inlet port and an evenly decreasing discharge volume in front of the outlet port, provision is made that, in order to improve the pumping performance and increase the stability under load, the surface lines, which function as sealing lines are designed sine shaped.
US07766633B2

A scroll compressor includes a compression section having an orbiting scroll with volutes that are substantially symmetrically formed on both surfaces of an orbiting base plate. A main shaft penetrates through and is fixed to a center portion of the base plate. A pair of fixed scrolls is placed on both surfaces of the orbiting scroll, and has volutes which correspond to the respective volutes of the orbiting scroll to form compression chambers. The main shaft has a notch part which is formed at a portion penetrating through the orbiting scroll and fixed scrolls. A slider is provided which has an eccentric hole including a flat slide surface corresponding to the notch part. The slider is fitted to the main shaft where the notch part is formed. The slider is made slidable in a direction orthogonal to a length direction of the main shaft by the flat slide surface.
US07766632B2

A scroll-type compressor includes a compression unit, a main frame supporting the compression unit, and a driving shaft having an oil supply path. The oil supply path is located eccentrically with the driving shaft and an upper part of the driving shaft is supported by the main frame. The compressor also has a motor for rotating the driving shaft, an oil cap located on an upper side of a rotor of the motor, and a balance member to compensate the driving shaft.
US07766626B2

A multipiston pump including a plurality of piston pumps hydraulically combined into at least two pump units are coupled on the intake side, but supply two separate hydraulic circuits of a vehicle brake system with pressure fluid. To reduce brake pedal pulsation the piston pumps are driven in phase-offset fashion.An eccentric unit comprising two spaced-apart cams rotated counter to one another, with the individual piston pumps being located in a number of sectional planes through the pump housing corresponding to the number of cams and locate the connecting conduits for hydraulically coupling the pump units are located in a region of the pump housing defined by the sectional planes.
US07766609B1

A float wall heat shield for use on an endwall of a stator vane used in a gas turbine engine. The heat shield includes an attachment extending from a center of the heat shield to secure the shield to the vane. A plurality of ribs formed on the inside surface of the shield forms cooling channels extending in the streamwise direction. The leading edge of the shield curves downward over the leading edge of the endwall and forms a cooling air inlet. The trailing edge of the shield forms a cooling air exit extending in a straight direction to provide purge air for a rim cavity of an adjacent rotor blade assembly. The heat shield includes pressure and suction sides that conform to an outline of the airfoil of adjacent vanes, and forms cooling air exit gaps so that the cooling air passing through the channels can discharge to prevent inflow of the hot gas flow. The heat shield eliminates the need for film cooling holes.
US07766608B2

The invention concerns a wind power installation, whether an offshore or an onshore wind power installation. An offshore wind power installation comprising an underwater construction which is externally provided with a structure which promotes a growth with marine fauna and flora for later harvest.
US07766599B2

A plasma boundary layer lifting system includes at least one gas turbine engine vane having a spanwise extending airfoil with an outer surface extending in a chordwise direction between opposite leading and trailing edges and chordwise spaced apart plasma generators for producing a plasma extending in the chordwise direction along the outer surface. Each plasma generator may include inner and outer electrodes separated by a dielectric material disposed within a spanwise extending groove in the outer surface. The airfoil may be hollow having an outer wall and the plasma generators being mounted on the outer wall. A method for operating the system includes forming a plasma extending in the chordwise direction along the outer surface of the airfoil. The method may further include operating the plasma generators in steady state or unsteady modes.
US07766598B2

The configuration comprises a carrier equipping an ejection plate on the front for ejecting the bundled-paper sheet material P and equipping a plurality of cutout parts, which are open in their top parts, at a predetermined interval on both the left and right sides; and a drive transmission unit being equipped by a plurality of drive rollers, each of which comprises a plurality of bosses in a predetermined interval on a single circumference around the rotation center thereof, in a predetermined interval on both the left and right sides of the bundled-paper sheet material transport path, wherein a drive force is transmitted by allowing bosses of each drive roller, which rotates by receiving a drive force from a drive source, engage in the respective cutout parts of the carrier sequentially, thereby allowing the carrier travel in the front and back directions of the bundle transport path.
US07766597B2

The invention provides a loader work machine with improved front visibility and improved aesthetic appearance. The loader work machine includes a self-propelled machine body, a work device having a boom, a boom cylinder, and a side frame for vertically pivotally supporting base portions of the boom and the boom cylinder, and a frame unit for attaching the work device to the self-propelled machine body. The frame unit has a support platform projecting laterally outward from the self-propelled machine body and a main frame mounted erect on the support platform for supporting and connecting a lower portion of the side frame. An accumulator is connected to the boom cylinder for absorbing shock occurring during a vertical pivotal movement of the work device and this accumulator is attached to the frame unit.
US07766594B2

A slot nut is provided for securing a threaded rod to a section of channel where the channel defines a slot and the slot nut is affixed to the threaded rod prior to receipt within the slot. A method of securing threaded rod to channel defining a slot using a slot nut is also disclosed wherein the slot nut is affixed to the threaded rod prior to the threaded rod being positioned within the channel slot.
US07766591B2

A method of transporting insulation panels to a location, the method comprising providing a plurality of insulation panels; placing a predetermined number of said insulation panels into stacks, said stacks including a top surface, lateral sides and a bottom surface; covering said stack with a heat shrinkable material, wherein said heat shrinkable material covers said top surface and said lateral sides, at least a portion of said material extending below the intersection between said bottom surface and said lateral sides; heating said heat shrinkable material, thereby shrinking said heat shrinkable material substantially flush against said lateral sides; loading a plurality of stacks on a vehicle; and moving said vehicle with said plurality of stocks to the location.
US07766574B2

A fastener system is configured to fasten together at least two parts, one of which includes at least one flange that is caused to bear against a surface of the other part by a plurality of pins each presenting a collar having a non-circular outline. The collar is received in a groove formed in a bearing surface of one of the parts, and is designed to prevent the pins from turning by abutment against a wall, wherein the outline of each collar includes two substantially opposite plane surfaces that serve as mutual abutments against two adjacent collars.
US07766568B2

A printhead carrier having a zero clearance bearing arrangement includes a first open-faced bearing coupled to a dampener frame. The first open-faced bearing has a first bearing surface positioned to contact the cylindrical guide surface of a guide rod of an imaging apparatus. A second open-faced bearing is coupled to the dampener frame. The second open-faced bearing has a second bearing surface positioned to contact the cylindrical guide surface of the guide rod. The guide rod is diametrically positioned between the first open-faced bearing and the second open-faced bearing. An elastic foam member is interposed between the first open-faced bearing and the dampener frame. The elastic foam member is compressed to exert an expansion force between the first open-faced bearing and the dampener frame to load the second open-faced bearing on the guide rod in a zero-clearance relationship with the guide rod.
US07766566B2

In the present invention, a substrate transfer unit into/from which a substrate is transferred from/to the outside of a treatment container and a developing treatment unit in which development of the substrate is performed are arranged side by side in the treatment container, and a carrier mechanism is provided which carries the substrate while grasping an outside surface of the substrate from both sides, between the substrate transfer unit and the developing treatment unit. A developing solution supply nozzle for supplying a developing solution onto the substrate and a gas blow nozzle for blowing a gas to the substrate, are provided between the substrate transfer unit and the developing treatment unit and above a carriage path along which the substrate is carried, and a cleaning solution supply nozzle is provided in the developing treatment unit for supplying a cleaning solution onto the substrate. According to the present invention, since the substrate is carried with its outside surface being grasped, spread of contamination can be prevented to restrain generation of particles in the treatment container.
US07766563B2

A shutter device includes: a base plate having a photographic aperture and a front surface and a rear surface; a shutter blade group that closes and opens the photographic aperture to light; a rear cover having an opening portion that corresponds to the photographic aperture, provided to the rear surface of the base plate with the shutter blade group between the rear cover and the rear surface of the base plate, and having a front surface and a rear surface; and a reflection prevention member fitted to the rear surface of the rear cover.
US07766557B2

The fiber optic connector includes a housing, a first lens, a second lens, a first ferrule, a second ferrule, a first optical fiber, a second optical fiber, an o-ring, and a clip. The housing includes a collar, a mounting portion, and a groove formed in the mounting portion. The first and second lenses, and the first and second ferrules are attached to the housing. The first and second optical fibers are attached to the first and second ferrules, respectively. The first and second lenses are in optical communication with the first and second optical fibers, respectively. The o-ring is attached to the collar. The clip is mounted to the groove formed in the mounting portion of the housing. The fiber optic connector is mountable to a back-plane of a host device.
US07766547B2

An object comprising a body part having an electrically insulating outer surface part, and a first layer arranged on the outer surface part. The first layer is formed by one or more electrically conducting materials and defines one or more conducting paths between a first area of the outer surface part and a second area of the outer surface part. Thereby electrical signals may be transferred between the first and second area parts. The layer further defines a sensing device, which is thereby embedded into the object. The object is provided with a threaded portion defining an outer thread. Thereby the object may easily be fitted into an opening having a mating inner thread. The object may be in the form of an ordinary bolt with a sensing device embedded in a surface part thereof.
US07766543B2

A method is disclosed that monitors and controls the condition of an expandable mixture before injecting it in a mold and that maintains the conditions for filling so as to make a casting mold having a uniform strength.The method comprises (a) a step of measuring the temperature of the expandable mixture, (b) a step of determining each reference value of the one or more characteristic parameters that show a characteristic property of the expandable mixture based on the measured temperature and the predetermined relationship between a characteristic property of an expandable mixture and its temperature, (c) a step of measuring the one or more characteristic parameters that show the condition of the mixing of the expandable mixture, (d) a step of determining whether each characteristic parameter is within the corresponding reference value, and (e) a step of determining whether the expandable mixture has been made under the normal condition or if it needs to be adjusted.
US07766540B2

A kitchen blender provides improved efficiency of mixing and cleaning by positioning the motor and electrical components in an enclosed top component which mounts snuggly into a pitcher with a smooth, easily cleaned interior surface and an enlarged base.
US07766528B2

A directly illuminated display unit has a display panel and one or more light sources disposed behind the display panel. A diffuser is disposed between the one or more light sources and the display panel, and a light diverting layer is disposed between the one or more light sources and the diffuser. The light diverting layer has a first light-diverting surface facing the one or more light sources and a second light diverting surface facing the display panel. The light diverting layer diverts light passing from the one or more light sources to the diffuser, thus improving the uniformity of the light in the display unit.
US07766523B2

A lamp unit 18 is provided with a reflecting face 25b for an overhead sign and a light receiving face 28 for the overhead sign. The reflecting face 25b for an overhead sign reflects light from a light source 23a and is provided on an upper side of the light source 23a and rearward from a rear side focal point F of a projector lens 11. The light receiving face 28 for the overhead sign is provided on a front side of a movable shade 30 arranged between the projector lens 11 and the light source 23a. The light receiving face 28 forms overhead sign irradiating light P2 by reflecting light from the reflecting face 25b for the overhead sign to the projector lens 11. Illuminance reducer for reducing a portion of irradiating light is provided at a position of a vicinity of an upper end of the movable shade 30 of the light receiving face 28a for the overhead sign.
US07766520B2

A lighting unit with a replaceable and rotatable lens. The lens unit can be removed and replaced. A lens rotating motor is off axis, and is counterbalanced by the light bulb holding structure that is located at the other side of the lighting unit.
US07766517B2

A computing device is disclosed. The computing device includes a housing having an illuminable portion. The computing device also includes a light device disposed inside the housing. The light device is configured to illuminate the illuminable portion.
US07766515B2

A light transforming method and device that includes a lens having one or more specifically shaped surfaces designed to generate an output image by directing the appropriate amount of electromagnetic energy from a substantially collimated beam to the required regions of the output image for the purpose of recreating the output image. The lens has one or more non-imaging radiant energy distribution surfaces that is of a non-uniform. shape.
US07766510B2

Provided is a cooling structure for a street lamp using light emitting diodes. The cooling structure comprises a heat-dissipating case having an installation portion therein, a printed circuit board installed within the installation portion, one or more light emitting diodes installed under the printed circuit board, a heat transfer unit for transferring heat to be generated from the light emitting diodes to the top of the heat-dissipating case and dissipating the heat to the outside, and reflection plates disposed at the bottom of the heat-dissipating case. The cooling structure is efficiently improved to quickly and rapidly dissipate heat generated from the light emitting diodes during turn-on. With this configuration of the cooling structure, the street lamp is protected from failure and has greatly improved durability. In addition, the light emitting structure is improved to inhibit loss of luminance. Therefore, the energy efficiency of the street lamp can be effectively improved.
US07766505B2

A light source assembly includes a first and a second light source modules. The first light source module includes a first light source, a first heat-dissipating base, and a first connecting part. The first heat-dissipating base has a first side and a second side. The first light source is mounted on the first side of the first heat-dissipating base, and the first connecting part extends outwardly from the second side of the first heat-dissipating base. The second light source module includes a second light source, a second heat-dissipating base, and a second connecting part. The second heat-dissipating base has a first side and a second side. The second light source is mounted on the first side of the second heat-dissipating base, and the second connecting part extends outwardly from the second side. The first connecting part is detachably and slidably engaged with the second connecting part.
US07766502B2

Position adjustable self-illuminated panel units may be used in combination with conventional shelf supports. Preferred shelf-units include a light-transmissive panel, a shelf frame holding the panel and having an illumination element for providing a light source to illuminate the panel, and a magnetic connector electrically interconnected to the illumination element and adapted to being magnetically and electrically coupled to a source of electrical power. The illumination element most preferably includes an LED strip housed within one member of the frame and positioned adjacent to an edge of the panel. A magnetic connector includes a pair of electrically conductive side panels, an electrically non-conductive spacer sandwiched between the side panels, and a pair of magnet bars fixed to the spacer. The magnet bars define an air gap therebetween such that electrical contact may be established between the magnet bars and a respective one of the side panels. Shelf lighting systems according to the present invention will most preferably include a self-illuminated panel unit as described briefly above, and a ferromagnetic power strip for supplying electrical power thereto. The magnetic connector is therefore capable of magnetic and electrical interconnection to the power strip (e.g., via the magnet bars thereof so as to in turn supply power to the panel unit (e.g., via lead wires connecting the side panels to the LED strip).
US07766495B2

A light-emitting device including a light source that exhibits polarization anisotropy and a reflector that is shaped so that for light emitted in at least two directions from the light source, the angle between the dominant polarization directions after reflecting from the reflector is smaller than the angle between the dominant polarization directions before reflecting from the reflector. In the light-emitting device the light source may be a light-emitting diode chip or one of a plurality of light sources.
US07766491B2

An optical beam scanning device includes a polygon mirror 80 in which tilt angles with respect to a rotation axis of the polygon mirror 80 of respective plural reflecting surfaces are set to angles corresponding to photoconductive members associated with the respective reflecting surfaces, a post-deflection optical system A1 that guides light beams reflected and deflected by the respective plural reflecting surfaces in the polygon mirror 80 to the photoconductive surfaces of the photoconductive members corresponding to the respective reflecting surfaces, and a pre-deflection optical system 7a that shapes the light from the light source to be a light beam of a predetermined sectional shape and guides the light beam to the polygon mirror 80, the pre-deflection optical system 7a guiding the light from the light source to the polygon mirror 80 through an optical path that passes, in the main scanning direction, on an optical axis of the post-deflection optical system A1 and passes, in the sub-scanning direction, a position further apart from the optical axis of the post-deflection optical system A1 than all light beams after reflection and deflection guided by the post-deflection optical system A1.
US07766490B2

Amber light LEDs have a higher luminance than red light LEDs. A vast majority of images displayed on television consists of colors that can be created using amber, green and blue components, with only a small percentage of red. In one embodiment of the present invention, the typically red primary light source in a projection display system is augmented with an amber light source. Green and blue primary light sources are also provided. All the light sources are high power LEDs. The particular mixture of the red and amber light is accomplished by varying the duty cycles of the red LEDs and the amber LEDs. If the RGB image to be displayed can be created using a higher percentage of amber light and a lower percentage of red light, the duty cycle of the amber LEDs is increased while the duty cycle of the red LEDs is decreased. Light/pixel modulators for creating the full color image from the three primary light sources are controlled to compensate for the variable amber/red mixture. This technique improves the efficiency of the projection system and generates less heat. A further increase in luminance can be achieved by controlling the light mixture from green and cyan LEDs as a primary light source and/or by controlling the light mixture from blue and blue-cyan LEDs as a primary light source.
US07766488B2

A projection-type image display apparatus for projecting an image, enlargedly, onto a projection surface, comprises: an image display element; a lens group, being disposed behind the image display element, comprising therein, a front lens group made up with a plural number of lenses, including, at least, a refractive lens, having a positive power and being rotationally symmetric in a surface configuration thereof, and a rear lens group made up with a plural number of lenses, including, at least, a lens having a free curved surface configuration and being rotationally asymmetric, thereby emitting the image displayed on the image display element; a reflection mirror for reflecting the light from the lens group, thereby projection onto the projection surface, obliquely; a first mounting base, on which the rear lens group is mounted; and a rod member, which is provided on the mounting base for moving the mounting base.
US07766484B2

A structure for cooling a lamp used for a projection type display apparatus is provided. The structure comprises a lamp house for housing a lamp that is operable as a light source, said lamp house being configured to be installed in a housing of said projection display apparatus; and a fan for supplying cooling air into said lamp house. The lamp house comprises a removable lamp house cover, and an exhaust duct for said cooling air is integrated with said lamp house cover.
US07766483B2

An optical projection system for use with a display surface includes at least one image source including an array of source image pixels, a projector to project a first projection of the array of source image pixels, and at least one mirror including at least one curved reflecting surface having a curved profile. The at least one curved reflecting surface is adapted to convert the first projection to a curved second projection directed onto the display surface to provide an array of displayed image pixels on the display surface corresponding to the array of source image pixels, wherein the array of displayed image pixels have constant pixel pitch among adjacent displayed image pixels.
US07766480B1

A gonio lens is provided including a contact lens element and a geometric reference member. The contact lens element has an optical axis, a concave posterior contact surface to be placed in optical contact with the cornea of a patient's eye, and an anterior surface. The geometric reference member, such as a scale, is provided near the concave posterior contact surface of the contact lens element. The configuration and location of the geometric reference member are chosen to provide an image of the geometric reference member adjacent to an image of the periphery of the anterior chamber of the eye of a patient within a field of view of the contact lens element when the contact lens element is placed on the eye of a patient. The two images are formed relative to each other such that they are simultaneously in focus to permit visual comparison between the two.
US07766476B2

A photographic printing device includes an ink-jet printer with recording paper magazine. The recording paper magazine includes a housing and a humectant. The housing is configured to receive a recording paper. The humectant is provided in order to moisturize the inside of the housing of the magazine. The humectant is preferably placed at an upper portion of the magazine in order to allow efficient moisture transfer by way of natural convection.
US07766473B2

An inkjet recording apparatus including: a recording head having a plurality of ink ejection openings for ejecting photo-curable ink, the ink ejection openings being formed along a feeding direction of the recording medium; a light irradiation device for irradiating the ejected ink; a moving unit for reciprocally moving the recording head and the light irradiation device in a main scanning direction; a feeding unit for feeding the recording medium in the feeding direction by a predetermined amount at a time; and a control unit for ejecting ink needed for forming one band by reciprocally scanning the recording head n times to record an image, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus irradiates the ink ejected in respective scans of first to (n−1)th scans with the light at the respective scans and the inkjet recording apparatus irradiates the ink ejected in the nth scan at one of the (n+1)th and subsequent scans.
US07766469B2

An ink cartridge includes a particular wall, a protruding member extending from the particular wall in a particular direction, a protrusion extending from the particular wall in the particular direction, and an ink chamber configured to store ink therein. The ink cartridge also includes a translucent portion defining an enclosure, an ink supply portion configured to supply ink from an interior of the ink chamber to an exterior of the ink chamber, in which the ink supply portion and the translucent portion are each positioned between the protrusion and the protruding member. The ink cartridge further includes a signal blocking member positioned within the enclosure. Moreover, the signal blocking member is configured to move within the enclosure based at least on an amount of ink disposed within the ink chamber, and the signal blocking member is sandwiched between the at least one pair of wall surfaces.
US07766468B2

A print media and printing fluid cartridge is provided which is removably mounted to a support structure of a digital photofinishing system in juxtaposition with a printer mounted to the support structure together with a digital processor and print media drive mechanism for the printer. The cartridge has a roll of print media, a print media delivery arrangement arranged to couple with the print media drive mechanism so as to feed the print media from the roll to the printer on demand, and at least one removable printing fluid first cartridge for feeding printing fluid to the printer on demand. A slitting device is located in series with the printer so as to receive printed media therefrom. The slitting device has a printed media guide for transporting the printed media in a longitudinal direction away from the printer, and a slitter for slitting the printed media in the longitudinal direction.
US07766465B2

A system and method of aligning a charge tunnel of a continuous inkjet printer with a drop generator and a catcher, wherein the charge tunnel passes through an outer wall of a charge tunnel unit, including adjusting a linear position of the charge tunnel unit, and adjusting a rotary position of the charge tunnel unit. The adjusting steps are performed to ensure that the charge tunnel is aligned with the drop generator and the catcher.
US07766463B2

A fluid dispensing subassembly includes a diaphragm arranged to be operated on by a transducer, an aperture array through which fluid is forced onto a substrate, a manifold body between the diaphragm and the aperture array, a spacer between the manifold body and the aperture array, the spacer arranged to form a gap at least partially overlapping the manifold, and a compliant film arranged between the manifold body and the spacer such that the fluid resides on a side of the film adjacent the manifold, and that the film is unsupported by the spacer over a least a portion of the manifold. A fluid dispensing subassembly, includes a first set of plates including a diaphragm to be operated on by a transducer, a second set of plates including at least one manifold plate to direct ink to an aperture plate forming an exterior surface of the second set of plates, and a polymer compliant film arranged in between the first and second sets of plates to attach the first and second sets of plates together to form the fluid dispensing subassembly. A method of manufacturing a fluid dispensing subassembly includes forming a first structure of at least a diaphragm, forming a second structure of at least a manifold body, placing a polymer compliant film between the first and second structures, and using the polymer compliant film as an adhesive to attach the first and second structures of plates together, forming a fluid dispensing subassembly.
US07766460B2

In an ink-jet head as a liquid-droplet jetting apparatus, a manifold channel which supplies an ink to pressure chambers has a first area communicating with the pressure chambers and a second area communicating with a dummy nozzle formed therein, with the first and second areas sandwiching a projection therebetween. Air exists at an upper portion of the second area, and the air is in contact with the ink in the manifold channel. When a pressure is applied to the ink in the pressure chambers by a piezoelectric actuator so as to jet the ink from nozzles, a pressure wave is generated in the pressure chambers and is propagated to the manifold channel. The pressure wave propagated to the manifold channel is attenuated in the second area by the air which is in contact with the ink in the manifold channel.
US07766455B2

Micro-fluid ejection head structures, methods of making micro-fluid ejection head structures having improved operability, and methods for improving the durability of micro-fluid ejection head structures are provided. One such micro-fluid ejection head structure includes a micro-fluid ejection head having a substrate and nozzle plate assembly adhesively attached adjacent to a substrate support using a substrate adhesive. The nozzle plate is adhesively attached adjacent to the substrate with a nozzle plate adhesive. A thermally, UV or other cure mechanism encapsulant material is attached adjacent to the ejection head and substrate support. Each of the substrate adhesive, and the encapsulant material, after curing, have a Young's modulus of less than about 2000 MPa, a shear modulus at 25° C. of less than about 15 MPa, and a glass transition temperature of less than about 90° C.
US07766454B2

A liquid discharge head configured to discharge liquid is disclosed that includes a silicone resin layer formed on the side of a surface from which the liquid is discharged. The silicone resin layer serves as a water-repellent layer. The number of water-repellent molecular chains is greater than or equal to half of the number of hydrophilic molecular chains on the surface of the silicone resin layer, and the number of hydrophilic molecular chains in the silicone resin layer is greater on the side of the interface with a base material on which the silicone resin layer is formed than on the surface of the silicone resin layer.
US07766449B2

An ink-jet recording apparatus includes an ink-jet head having an ink ejection surface which has a plurality of ink ejection ports formed therethough, and a cap including a base, and an annular protrusion which extends from the base in a protruding direction. The annular protrusion has a recess formed therein, and when the annular protrusion contacts the ink ejection surface, an enclosed space is defined therebetween. The apparatus also includes a first movement mechanism configured to move the cap relative to the ink-jet head in a first plane which is parallel to the ink ejection surface to selectively position the annular protrusion in a first position in which the annular protrusion opposes the ink ejection surface, and a second position in which the annular protrusion is offset from the ink ejection surface in the protruding direction. Moreover, the apparatus includes a brush comprising a plurality of flexible needle members.
US07766443B2

An image forming apparatus includes a feeding roller and a recording unit. The feeding roller is rotatably disposed to convey the recording medium in a conveying direction, and includes a rotational axle that is eccentric and a peripheral surface having an actual external dimension that is different from a theoretical external dimension. The recording unit has a head length in the conveying direction. A method of compensating for an error of a conveyance distance of a recording medium in the image forming apparatus includes (1) printing a first image on the recording medium; (2) rotating the feeding roller N turns, N being a positive integer; (3) printing a second image on the recording medium after the feeding roller has been rotated N turns; and (4) determining difference of the actual external dimension from the theoretical external dimension, based on both the first image and the second image.
US07766442B2

The image forming apparatus includes: a first group of large nozzles which eject large droplets of liquid for a color; a second group of small nozzles which eject small droplets of the liquid for the color, the small droplets having volume smaller than the large droplets; a dot data creation device which creates dot data according to input image data; a dot data correction device which corrects the dot data if there is an abnormal nozzle in one of the first and second groups, in such a manner that a corrective nozzle is selected from the other of the first and second groups, and droplet ejection performed by the corrective nozzle substitutes for droplet ejection that is originally to be performed by the abnormal nozzle; and a driving device which drives the large and small nozzles to eject the large and small droplets according to the corrected dot data.
US07766441B2

A printing apparatus includes at least two print head groups, each print head group having at least one print head for printing on a printing medium by ejecting ink, the print head being movable; and at least two image processing sections, each image processing section being provided for each of the print head groups, the image processing section being capable of processing an image to be printed on the printing medium using the print head that belongs to the print head group corresponding to that image processing section.
US07766439B2

A recording apparatus including: a recording head having a plurality of actuators for performing dot printing; a drive circuit which outputs respective drive pulses to the respective actuators; and a main circuit which transmits, to the drive circuit, a drive signal for outputting the respective drive pulses to the respective actuators. The drive signal includes selection data for selecting, for each of the actuators, a drive-waveform signal which provides a waveform of each of the drive pulses, among plural sorts of drive-waveform signals. The main circuit transmits, to the drive circuit, a clock signal and a drive-waveform-data signal that is a serial signal in which is included data to generate the plural sorts of drive-waveform signals. The drive circuit includes a drive-waveform-signal generating circuit which generates the plural sorts of drive-waveform signals on the basis of the clock signal and the drive-waveform-data signal. The drive circuit selects, for each of the actuators, one of the plural sorts of drive-waveform signals and outputs, to each of the actuators, the drive pulse which is based on said one of the plural sorts of drive-waveform signals selected for said each of the actuators.
US07766438B2

A method of ink evaporation prediction for an ink reservoir includes establishing an empirical evaporation curve representing evaporation characteristics for an ink reservoir type, the ink reservoir belonging to the ink reservoir type; and establishing an evaporation prediction curve for the ink reservoir that approximates the empirical evaporation curve.
US07766430B2

A seat assembly is adapted to be coupled to a vehicle floor and includes a seat back (16) and a seat cushion (12). The seat back is pivotally coupled to a support bracket (50) mounted to the floor. A fold flat mechanism (58) includes a transfer link (60) pivotally coupled to the support bracket, a seat cushion link (68) coupled between the seat cushion and the transfer link, and a seat back link (76) coupled between the seat back and the transfer link for transferring pivotal movement of the seat back through the transfer link to the seat cushion link to automatically move the seat assembly between a seating position wherein the seat back is in an upright position and the seat cushion is spaced above the floor, and a stowed position wherein the seat back is pivoted to a fold flat position overlying the seat cushion and the seat cushion is lying flat against the floor.
US07766426B2

A tilt mechanism for a chair includes rotary stop means defining a plurality of selectable tilted positions of the chair seat/back. In another aspect, an anti kick-back feature is provided based. The mechanism includes upper and lower housing parts and a cushioning spring that normally maintains the parts in a rest position with respect to one another while allowing the mechanism to tilt. A further aspect of the invention provides an improved spring tension control that allows the spring to be installed and removed in a fully relaxed condition so that no special tools are required.
US07766421B2

A lift chair includes: a base; a seat; a backrest; at least one ottoman; a lift-reclining mechanism attached to the base and to the seat; a backrest reclining mechanism coupled with the lift-reclining mechanism and attached to the seat, the backrest and the ottoman; a lift power unit attached to the base and to the lift-reclining mechanism; and a backrest reclining power unit attached to the base and to the backrest reclining mechanism. The lift-reclining mechanism is configured to move the chair between an upright position, in which the seat is generally horizontally disposed and positioned above the base at a first height and at a first pitch angle that is positive relative to horizontal, the backrest is generally upright, and the ottoman is positioned below the seat, and a lifted position, in which the seat is raised to a second height that is higher than the first height and at a second pitch angle that is negative relative to horizontal. The lift-backrest reclining mechanism is further configured to move the chair from the upright position to a TV position, in which the ottoman is generally horizontally disposed in front of the seat, and to a fully reclined position, in which the backrest is reclined relative to the seat. The backrest reclining mechanism is configured to move the chair between the TV and fully reclined positions.
US07766418B2

A mounting structure for the front end of a car or small truck has a frame-shaped structure that surrounds an air cooled pass-through area and exhibits an upper crossmember, a lower crossmember and sidemembers connecting them. The upper crossmember is designed as a closed wall for receiving a hood lock and forms a sealing rib that borders on the air cooled pass-through area for an air-blocking connection of a radiator component. To provide the upper crossmember as the lock crossmember at the mounting structure with a high moment of inertia and to reduce the air cooled pass-through area only to a negligible degree, the upper crossmember is strutted using a lattice structure that is adjacent to the sealing rib and protrudes into the air cooled pass-through area, where the lattice openings form a part of the air cooled pass-through area with their entire opening area.
US07766417B2

A vehicle cowl structure includes a cowl box including a closed cross-section, an inclined holding surface configured to hold a lower end portion of a windshield, an upper wall extending toward an interior of a vehicle cabin from an upper end of the holding surface, a vertical wall extending downward from an inside end of the upper wall, a bottom wall extending toward a front portion of the vehicle from a lower end of the vertical wall, and a recessed portion formed on the upper wall extending in a direction of the width of the vehicle, wherein the recessed portion is depressed toward an inside of the cowl box and is smoothly curved from the windshield holding surface to the vertical wall.
US07766411B2

An adjusting mechanism of a movable component, particularly a soft top compartment cover of a convertible, which is movably mounted by means of at least one control arm (2) that is hingedly connected to the vehicle body. A crossarm gear (19, 20) is mounted between the control arm (2) and a drive unit (27, 28) of the adjusting mechanism. In order to improve the moving behavior of the movable component, the control arm (2) is coupled to a rotatably mounted crank (14) via a coupling rod (11). Said crank (14) is connected to a driving arm (21) via two crossarms (19, 20), the driving arm (21) being movable by the drive unit (27, 28).
US07766403B2

An underrun protection arrangement for a vehicle having a frame includes an impact element arranged in a position that corresponds to an anticipated impact from a force in the event of a collision with another vehicle, and at least one energy-absorbing connecting element which connects the impact element to the frame and which is designed to be compressed in the event of the collision. The connecting element includes an outer section and an inner section which are telescopically arranged so that displacement of the outer section in relation to the inner section may occur upon the impact while energy is absorbed, the connecting element also including an energy-absorbing unit arranged to be compressed while absorbing energy during the displacement.
US07766402B2

A bumper mounting system (10) for locating and installing a bumper (14) on a vehicle having a chassis and a hood (18) includes a chassis support member (42) pivotally mountable to a portion of the vehicle hood (18) and adjustably mountable to a portion of the vehicle chassis. The system also includes a bumper mounting member (46) mountable to both an interior portion of the bumper (14) and a portion of the chassis support member (42). The system further includes a first bumper support feature (114) formed on the chassis support member (42) and a second bumper support feature (118) formed on the bumper mounting member (46). The second bumper support feature (118) is engageable with the first bumper support feature (114) to at least temporarily position the bumper (14) relative to the hood (18).
US07766396B1

A coupling for non-metallic flexible electrical conduit is formed of a one piece lightweight molded thermoplastic cylindrical sleeve having a pair of threads extending inwardly toward opposite ends. Spaced axially inwardly from the inner end of each thread is an annular sealing ring having a sloped leading face and a perpendicular trailing face with the faces intersecting at a sharp annular edge. Lengths of conduit are engaged over opposite ends of the coupling and rotated to advance the conduit lengths over the sleeve. A liquid tight engagement is effective between each conduit length and the coupling when the conduit length advances past the sealing ring.
US07766388B1

One embodiment of a modular base assembly comprises a frame and leveler assemblies used to support a vehicle model. The frame has a frame segment with several parts including a cross-support and a side-support having a surface defining a plurality of holes where model-making components can be attached and unattached thereto. Leveler assemblies level the base assembly, and each can include a wheel hub locator that adjustably fixes a hub along a longitudinal horizontal, a vertical, and a lateral horizontal direction. Another embodiment comprises a motorized vehicle undercarriage that carries a frame. The frame has a platform with a top surface defining a plurality of holes in the form of a matrix. Model-making components can be attached and unattached thereto.
US07766386B2

An energy absorber device having a hollow body of generally conical shape. The hollow body is formed by at least two truncated or cylindrical segments, aligned with each other along their axes of extension and/or symmetry, with successive sections being of decreasing width. The various truncated or cylindrical segments are connected to each other by intermediate portions defining, with the aforementioned segments, recesses or steps. The hollow body can be crushed into itself by a return of the segments of smaller dimension into the adjacent segments of larger dimension, generally telescopically. The device is dimensioned such that the base segment has a height equal to X and the other segments of smaller width have a height corresponding to about 2X.
US07766385B2

A passenger-seat airbag (32) includes a left airbag (44), a right airbag (46), and a root portion (48). A strap (70) is provided in the root portion (48) that is inflated by gas injected from an inflator (28) when a passenger-seat airbag device (10) operates. The strap (70) connects the base-end portion (48B) of the root portion (48) to a connection root portion (48C). Further, the strap (70) is provided such that a peripheral length (L2) on a front side is longer than or equal to a peripheral length (L1) on a rear side in a lateral view showing the inflated root portion (48).
US07766383B2

Adjustment system for adjusting a vehicular component based on occupancy of a seat includes a support structure arranged underneath the seat to movably support the seat on a substrate in the vehicle, the support structure being structured and arranged to transfer a force exerted by the occupant on the support structure to the substrate, a sensor system arranged underneath the seat, optionally in connection with the support structure, for providing a variable output as a function of weight of the occupant, an adjustment system arranged in connection with the component for adjusting the component, and a processor for receiving outputs from the sensor system and directing the adjustment system to adjust the component based thereon. An object recognition or identification system or other morphological characteristic determining system may be used to determine that the occupant is one which requires adjustment of the component.
US07766367B2

An adjustable handle assembly is configured for a device that supports and carries a child and that can be moved along a surface. The handle assembly is coupled to a handle extension that extends from a part of the device and that has an end with an extension axis. The handle assembly has a stem configured to attach to the end of the handle extension. The handle assembly also has a grip body coupled to the stem. The grip body is independently movable relative to the handle extension both longitudinally along the extension axis and rotationally about the extension axis. An actuator is provided on the handle assembly and can be actuated between a lock position and a release position. In the lock position, the grip body is in a fixed position relative to the handle extension. In the release position, the grip body is permitted to move both longitudinally and rotationally relative to the extension axis between a plurality of selectable longitudinal and rotational positions. In one example, the device is a stroller that utilizes two such handle assemblies.
US07766357B2

A step assembly is easily mounted on the trailer hitch of a vehicle, and easily folded to a closed position or unfolded to an open position in place on the vehicle or off of the vehicle. In the open position, a person or a pet can more easily enter or leave a vehicle. In the closed position, the step assembly is more easily stored.
US07766337B2

A game playing apparatus is provided. The apparatus is configured to facilitate playing a game. The apparatus includes a body including at least one first column including at least one receptacle and a second column coupled to the at least one first column. The second column has an upper surface having a plurality of openings such that a member may be tossed into at least one of the openings. The apparatus also includes a game surface coupled to the body, and a backboard coupled substantially perpendicular to the game surface.
US07766303B2

The force to draw an armature of an electromagnetic valve apparatus driving a valve for opening or closing a high-pressure liquid passage is increased and valve bouncing is alleviated by a surface of the core being flat and a surface of the armature facing the surface of the core being shaped convexly spherical. Interference of the surfaces is prevented by a smaller initial gap in a central portion of the faces, even when the armature is installed aslant due to insufficient accuracy of the component parts. Strong electromagnetic attraction can be secured because the smaller the gap is, the stronger the electromagnetic attraction.
US07766300B2

The invention relates to a machine, whereby at least one machine bed (2) of the machine is linked to a floor (1), by means of at least one support element (9a), said support element (9a) being pivotally mounted in relation to the machine bed (2) and the floor (1). The invention also relates to a support element (9a), for bearing a machine, whereby said support element (9a) comprises means (10a), by which the support element is pivotally linked to the machine and means (11a), by which said element is pivotally linked to the floor (1). The invention thus avoids horizontal movements of the machine bed.
US07766282B2

Trailing edge device catchers and associated systems and methods are disclosed. A system in accordance with one embodiment includes a wing having a wing support, a trailing edge device carried by and movable relative to the wing and having a device support, and a coupling connected between the wing and the trailing edge device. The coupling can include a pivot joint that includes a pivot element aligned along a pivot axis and connected between the wing support and the device support. The coupling can further include an actuator coupled between the wing and the trailing edge device, with the actuator having a first position in which the trailing edge device is stowed, and a second position in which the trailing edge device is deployed, with an air flow gap located between the wing and the trailing edge device when the trailing edge device is in the second position. A cam track is carried by one of the wing and the trailing edge device and has opposing cam track surfaces fixed relative to each other. A cam is carried by the other of the wing and trailing edge device and is positioned within the cam track between the opposing cam track surfaces. The cam is offset from the pivot axis and during normal operation the cam can carry no load or a first load along a load path that includes the cam track, and when a decrease in support provided by at least one of the pivot element, the wing support and the device support occurs, the cam can carry a second non-zero load greater than the first load along the load path.
US07766274B1

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has a payload or body affixed at one end of an elongated airfoil. The entire airfoil/payload combination rotates about a center of mass to define a rotor disk. Thrust is provided by air-augmented rocket engine thrusting tangentially at a location remote from the payload. A control system maintains knowledge of its environment, as by a camera, to produce directional control signals which actuate lift control means in synchronism with the rotational position of the vehicle. A deployable object may be carried. Protection of the stowed vehicle is provided by blister packaging.
US07766272B2

A rotating apparatus for a winding reel of a high-pressure cleaner, including a rotating wheel with a slideway, a slider and a handle mounted on the slider, said slider slides in the slideway, the slider has a first working position that fixes the entire slider in the rotating wheel and a second working position that makes the slider partly in the rotating wheel. When the slider is at the second working position, the arm of force is increased without occupying more space. When the rotating apparatus is not in use, the handle is placed in concave portion. Compared with conventional rotating apparatuses, the rotating apparatus is foldable, occupies less space, makes the whole body of the high-pressure cleaner beautiful, convenient to operate, and suitable for popularizing with high-pressure cleaners, and with similar devices.
US07766271B1

A hand activated retainment, storage and deployment device for binding straps used to secure loads on cargo transportation vehicles such as tractor trailers. The device has a winding mechanism with a spooling reel for winding excess binding strap during use and for removable storage of the strap when not deployed.
US07766270B2

A transportable insulated blanket roller has a support, and a riser coupled to and extending vertically from the support. A bearing support is coupled to the riser, and has an insulated blanket retaining rod passing through the bearing support. The rod has a bifurcation defining first and second insulated blanket holding rods that are operative to receive an insulated blanket therebetween. A crank produces a rotary motion in the retaining rod, in turn winding the blanket onto the blanket holding rods. The transportable insulated blanket roller is combined with a land vehicle having a trailer hitch receiver or comparable coupling or support, and an insulated blanket. A method of efficiently using the transportable insulated blanket roller at a construction site is also presented, including using the bifurcated roller to roll an unrolled insulated blanket, and then sliding the insulated blanket off of the bifurcated roller.
US07766261B1

A compact, molded liquid oscillator nozzle having a longitudinal axis and a power nozzle, an interaction region having diverging sidewalls, top and bottom walls, and a pair of control ports at opposing sides of the interaction region, and an inertance loop connecting the control ports, characterized in that the inertance loop is molded in a plane that is transverse to the longitudinal axis.
US07766260B2

A switchable showerhead has a body, a switching device, a water-spraying device and an operating device. The body has a mounting recess, a front through hole, a rear through hole, a mounting chamber, a connecting frame, an inserting hole and an inner tube. The switching device is mounted in the body and has a holding element, a front guide base, a rear guide base and a valve stem. The valve stem is movably mounted in the guide bases. The water-spraying device is mounted in the body, communicates with the switching device and has a shell and a cover. The shell is mounted in the mounting recess. The cover is mounted on the shell and has an inserting tube and multiple spouts. The operating device is mounted on the body, is connected to the switching device and has an operating panel connected to the valve stem.
US07766247B2

A diesel/electric appliance for heating coolant within an auxiliary heater circuit and for heating potable water within a potable water circuit. The appliance includes a diesel powered auxiliary heater and a coolant jacket surrounding the burner of the auxiliary heater. Electrical resistance elements are immersed within the coolant jacket to maintain the temperature of the potable water circuit by transferring heat through a heat exchanger to the potable water circuit.
US07766246B2

A zone control panel for use with an HVAC system having zone control and a variable speed blower, and a method for controlling a fluid temperature conditioning device. In one aspect, the zone control panel includes a plurality of thermostat terminals for receiving thermostat signals, a plurality of damper terminals for transmitting damper control signals, and one or more terminals for transmitting signals to control a fluid temperature conditioning device having a variable speed blower. The zone control panel also includes a blower terminal for transmitting a signal to a dehumidification terminal associated with the fluid temperature conditioning device, where the dehumidification terminal is labeled or indicated for use with a dehumidification operating mode or for initiating a dehumidification operating mode of the variable speed blower. The blower terminal changes state in response to the number of zones that are calling for conditioning and changes between only a first off state and a second alternating current (AC) signal state. The change in the state of the blower terminal causes the speed of the variable speed blower to change.
US07766245B2

A machine readable code is defined by a portion of graphical indicium located on a substrate; wherein the code is delimited by a temporary boundary that is generated by a reading machine relative to a fixed trigger point only when the code is being read.
US07766238B2

An electronic shipping container labeling system for labeling a plurality of shipping containers transported through a shipping system. The system includes a plurality of electronic-ink shipping labels affixed to a plurality of shipping containers. Each electronic-ink shipping label displays graphical indicia representative of information relating to the status of the shipping container within the shipping system. One or more activation modules are provided throughout the shipping system for transmitting electromagnetic data signals to electronic-ink shipping labels and providing instructions to updateable electronic-ink shipping labels employed in the determination of graphic indicia to be displayed on electronic-ink shipping labels. Each electronic-ink shipping label employs an addressable display assembly including a layer of electronic ink including a bi-stable non-volatile imaging material. The electronic-ink shipping label includes an integrated circuit structure having a storage element for storing instructions, programs and data, and a programmed processor in communication with storage element. A signal receiving structure receives electromagnetic signals from the activation module, using the antenna structure. The electronic-ink shipping label displays graphical indicia representing information relating to the shipping container and/or its contents.
US07766237B2

A mobile radio communication device can automatically initialize the mode of a SAM card (or the SAM function area of an IC card) after executing radio communication with an external radio communication apparatus. The mobile radio communication device transmits/receives data to/from an external radio communication apparatus located in an area that allows radio communication. In the mobile radio communication device, an IC card that receives power supply from a mobile radio communication device main-unit, that manages data transmitted/received to/from the external radio communication apparatus, and that manages a communication mode state of the mobile radio communication device is detachably connected to the mobile radio communication device main-unit. The mobile radio communication device further includes radio-signal strength determining means for determining whether or not a strength of radio signals received from the external radio communication apparatus is less than or equal to a preset threshold value, and IC-card-mode initializing means for resetting a mode of the IC card to an initial state when the radio-signal strength determining means determines that the strength of the radio signals is less than or equal to the threshold value.
US07766232B2

An operation for a chemical of indefinite form is managed so that operation record of the chemical is traceable. An IC tag (3) is attached to various containers (4a to 4c ) each holding a chemical, and a chemical ID to identify the chemical held in each of the containers (4a to 4c) is stored in the IC tag (3). When an operation involving a mass change or a change of composition information is carried out, such as apportioning, mixing, reacting, and separating, while the containers (4a to 4c) serve as receivers of the chemical, a record management apparatus (1) newly generates a chemical ID, and a IC tag terminal (2) updates the chemical ID in the IC tag (3) to the new chemical ID. In addition, the record management apparatus (1) manages a correspondence between the chemical ID stored in the IC tag (3) (old chemical ID) and the chemical ID newly stored in the IC tag (3) (new chemical ID).
US07766229B2

A bill and coin processing system including a bill and coin processing apparatus having: an interface unit capable of exchanging information via a communication unit with the point-of-sales terminal machine; a money receiving unit receiving money by way of a price of a commercial product; a discriminating unit discriminating between at least denominations of the bills and coins received from the money receiving unit; a storing/discharging unit stored with the received bills and coins on the basis of a result of the discrimination made by the discriminating unit and capable of discharging the bills and coins by giving a discharge instruction to the bill and coin processing apparatus from the point-of-sales terminal machine; a money discharging unit discharging the bills and coins outside a machine, which have been discharged from the storing/discharging unit; and a control unit controlling the money discharging unit to discharge the bills and coins from the storing/discharging unit on the basis of a discharge instruction accepted by the interface unit and given to the bill and coin processing apparatus from the point-of-sales terminal machine.
US07766228B2

A system for the sale of consumer goods, wherein the system comprises a device for providing a customer with a non-validated token that represents an article of merchandise. The article is to be paid for by the customer at a checkout unit when the token is checked by said unit. Said checkout unit has a means for providing a validated token that bears a transaction code. Said checkout unit has a means for communicating with an article dispensing device and providing the article dispensing device with said transaction code after the article has been paid for. The validated token is used to obtain the purchased article from the article dispensing device with the aid of a comparator device within the article dispensing device which compares the transaction code on the validated token with the transaction code communicated by said communication device, wherein the article dispensing device delivers the purchased article when there is a defined code correspondence.
US07766224B2

A financial transaction wall unit workstation is provided which may be configured to attach to a vertical support and may comprise include at least one display face, a transaction interface for communicating between the financial transaction wall unit workstation and a financial services provider, and a consumer display with instructions for using the financial transaction wall unit workstation to transact a financial transaction with the financial services provider. In certain aspects, the financial transaction wall unit workstation may be attached to a vertical support using a flexible attachment mechanism. Attachment of the financial transaction wall unit workstation to a vertical support using flexible attachment mechanisms may provide for vertical movement of the financial transaction wall unit workstation and may allow for accessibility of the financial transaction wall unit workstation by people of different statures and people in wheel chairs.
US07766223B1

A method for providing mobile services, such as mobile financial services, includes providing a wireless handset or other device as an adjunct access device for a user account. The device is assigned a unique identification number, such as an MDN, MEID, or both. The unique identification number is associated with the account and in an exemplary embodiment, comprises at least a portion of the account number(s) with the service provider. Transactions are conducted with the handset access device and enhanced multi-factor and biometric security authentication may be provided. Handset voice, data, or other usage is settled and billed within the financial account. The service provider is able to download software, advertising, or content applications to the adjunct device and maintains the capability to disable the device. In a further aspect, a system for the execution of mobile transactions is provided.
US07766202B2

A carrier having a foot member, a post and a top member. The foot member has a first end and a second connecting end adapted to be detachably connected to a hitch of a vehicle. A bottom end of the post is connected to the first end of the foot member and extends upwardly therefrom in an operational position. The top member is pivotally connected to a top end of the post and is displaceable between a deployed operative position where at least a carrying portion thereof extends away from the vehicle and a collapsed inoperative position where the carrying portion and a major part of the top member are located between a longitudinal axis the post and the vehicle. Retaining means selectively retain the top member at least in the deployed position.
US07766201B2

A device for attaching a bag to a luggage carrier of a bicycle includes a beam secured to the bag, two hooks installed on the beam to hook the luggage carrier and a restraining unit. The restraining unit includes a plate formed on the beam, a cover attached to the plate, at least one latch movably installed on the plate, at least one elastic element compressed between the cover and the latch so that an end of the latch is exposed from the plate for restraining the luggage carrier, a shackle movable on the plate between a first position for keeping the end of the latch exposed from the plate and a second position for allowing the retreat of the end of the latch into the plate and a elastic element compressed between the cover and the shackle for keeping the shackle in the first position.
US07766197B2

A dispenser for dispensing a viscous material in a selected one of a multiplicity of configurations comprises a container for a volume of a viscous material and having a squeezable body and a neck with a discharge opening at its upper end. Engaged on the container is a closure body of generally circular cross section having a top wall and a skirt, and the top wall has a discharge passage therethrough aligned with the discharge opening of the neck. The body top wall has a generally circular recess therein extending from the periphery thereof and beyond the discharge passage of the closure. Disposed in the circular recess is a generally circular rotating disc which has a multiplicity of discharge openings spaced about the disc in a circular array, and the discharge openings have a multiplicity of configurations. The disc is rotatable to align a selected discharge opening with the discharge passage in the top wall to permit viscous material to flow through the neck and the top wall of the closure body into and through a selected disc discharge opening.
US07766196B2

This invention provides an aerosol product for use in control of bees or horseflies, and more particularly a horizontal jetting structure aerosol product provided with a grip movably attached to a position orthogonal to an aerosol vessel body when contents are jetted, wherein during jetting when the grip is located at a position orthogonal to the aerosol vessel body, a maximum arrival distance of an effective component is 10 m or longer and a jetted quantity of the contents for an initial 5 sec is 40 g or more, thereby capable of jetting the contents of the aerosol vessel afar and exactly by a simple operation.
US07766190B2

A crimp tube having a sealed throat opening at one end and an open end crimped close at an opposite end is provided with an internal stiffener which is resilient and will return to its original shape upon release of pressure. The stiffener is generally cylindrical and has generally radial openings therethrough communicating to the space between the outer diameter of the stiffener and the inner diameter of the tube to allow contents to flow to the interior of the stiffener and from the interior of the stiffener to the area between the stiffener and the inner diameter of the tube. The tube being formed of soft material is collapsible against the stiffener and further collapsible with the stiffener to dispense materials from the tube subsequent to opening the closure at the throat. On release of pressure the stiffener will return to its uncompressed condition.
US07766177B2

A release device for a draft gear assembly comprises a draft gear housing for slidably supporting a yoke shaft and capturing a cushion unit associated with the yoke shaft between buff and draft stops. The buff stop comprises a release ring within the interior of the draft gear housing being radially divided into two or more sections. A plurality of release bolts designed to shear under emergency buffing forces extend through the draft gear housing and into the sections of the release ring to draw the sections radially outward to the interior surface of the draft gear housing eliminating gaps and minimizing flexing of the release bolts.
US07766170B2

A transport unit comprises a load carrier, a load which comprises at least one coil of a web; the web being wound on a reel, a load distributing element, and a tightening strap, the load being carried by said load carrier in such a manner that the reel of said at least one coil is arranged perpendicular to the load carrier, the load having an upper surface facing said load distributing element, the load distributing element being arranged on the upper surface of the load, and the tightening strap enclosing a force-absorbing structure formed of the load carrier, the reel and the load distributing element and adapted to secure the load to the load carrier. The load carrier has a flat load surface, and the web comprises interconnected container blanks, the load having a lower surface which rests on the load surface and comprises an end face of the reel of the at least one coil and a bottom surface formed of a bottom edge of the web of interconnected container blanks. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a transport unit.
US07766168B2

Containers which may be worn by a user and into which small refuse items and other materials can be inserted for temporary storage or for later disposal using one or more fingers of one hand, are described. In one embodiment, a hollow body having a closed end and an open screw cap cooperate to hold a deformable septum having a slit or perforation such that small items may easily be inserted into the body through the slit wherein they are securely enclosed until the body is detached from the cap. The contents can then be disposed of in an acceptable manner or otherwise used. In another embodiment of the invention, the screw cap and septum are replaced by a cover closed at one end and having a slit or opening having radially disposed arms in the closed end for introducing materials into the hollow body through the slit. Larger containers may be set into cup holders for use. Among the uses of the invention is the secure storage of waste fishing line and other discarded articles along streams and lakefronts for later disposal.
US07766163B2

The present invention relates to a package comprising a container defining a compartment for containing a liquid and at least partly a medical device. The compartment extends in a longitudinal direction from a bottom of the container towards an opening of the container, wherein a first section of the compartment has a cross-sectional area which is smaller than a cross-sectional area of a second section of the compartment, and where the first section is arranged between the opening and the second section. As the cross-sectional area of the first section is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the second section the first section will function as a stop for the liquid in case the container is placed in a horizontal orientation.
US07766155B2

The invention relates to a transfer device (15) for transferring an article (9) in a printing machine (2), the device comprising a hinged manipulator arm (20), a hinged gripper clamp (22), and drive means adapted to drive both the manipulator arm (20) and the gripper clamp (22) together in rotation. The drive means include synchronization means adapted to inhibit the rotary movement of the gripper clamp (22) relative to the rotary movement of the manipulator arm (20), temporarily as a function of the position of the manipulator arm (20). The invention also provides a printing machine (2) including such a transfer device (15), and to an associated method.
US07766153B2

Trays are indexed at predetermined pitch on a tray conveyor. As the trays are conveyed, a turning guide engages a leading tray portion, turning the tray and urging it transversely downward and/or into buckets on an adjacent bucket conveyor or cartons on an adjacent carton conveyor. A cam is disposed rearward of each tray on the tray conveyors and the turning trays pivot about that cam. A hold-down prevents trays climbing over the turning guide. Pressure relief and tray indexing are provided upstream of the tray conveyor. Apparatus and methods are disclosed.
US07766150B2

A passenger conveyor handrail (30) includes a sliding layer (40) that is non-woven in some examples and non-fabric in other examples. A first polymer material is used to establish a body portion (32) of the handrail (30) to provide, for example, a gripping surface (34). The sliding layer (40) is secured to a surface (38) of the handrail (30) to cover at least a portion of that surface to meet the needs of a particular situation. Disclosed examples include a variety of configurations and a variety of techniques for applying such a sliding layer (40) to a handrail (30).
US07766146B2

A currency receiving/dispensing machine comprises a currency receiving opening, identifying means for transferring currency set into the currency receiving opening and for identifying the currency, a currency storing section for storing the currency in a predetermined place based on a currency receiving approving instruction and a result of identification of the identifying means, a currency dispensing opening through which the currency taken out from the currency storing section is dispensed based on a currency dispensing instruction, and mode designating means for switching and designating various operation modes, wherein the currency receiving/dispensing machine has two kinds of maintenance modes for carrying out maintenance and inspection of the currency receiving/dispensing machine designated by the mode designating means, the two kinds of maintenance modes comprises a first maintenance mode in which currency can not be taken out from the currency storing section, and a second maintenance mode in which currency can be taken out from the currency storing section.
US07766144B2

A clutch plate assembly is provided having a friction interface and internal fluid passages for delivering pressurized fluid to the friction interface to cool the interface, and to reduce spin losses through the clutch assembly. The fluid passages comprise a plurality of primary passages extending inward from a clutch plate inner or outer diameter, and a plurality of secondary fluid passages intersecting the primary fluid passages for conducting fluid to the friction interface. Fluid is directed to the friction interface during clutch engagement for cooling thereof when the clutch assembly is engaging, and separates the clutch plates to reduce spin losses when the clutch assembly is disengaged. A method is also provided for controlling fluid flow at the friction interface, including providing fluid directly to the interface for cooling when the clutch plate assembly is engaging, and for reducing spin losses when the clutch plate assembly is substantially disengaged.
US07766135B2

A front bicycle suspension assembly having an inertia valve is described. The front bicycle suspension assembly may include at least upper and lower telescoping tubes and include a damping tube containing an inertia valve. The inertia valve may include an inertia mass movable along the outer surface of a valve shaft as the inertia valve moves between first and second positions.
US07766127B2

A barrier assembly for a wheelchair lift assembly is provided. The wheelchair lift assembly includes a lift frame and a platform reciprocally coupled to the lift frame. The barrier assembly includes a frame having a first side rail and a second side rail. The frame is coupled to at least one of the lift frame or a structural frame. The barrier assembly also includes a barrier slidably disposed between the first and second side rails. A drive assembly is operably coupled to the barrier for selectively moving the barrier between at least a stowed position and a deployed position.
US07766119B2

A motorcycle has a head pipe and an engine disposed with its cylinder axis inclined rearward. An intake pipe located between a down tube and the engine is connected to a front part of the engine and includes an engine connecting part connected to a front part of the engine. The engine connecting part is inclined upward to the front to define an acute angle with respect to the cylinder axis of the engine. A funnel is connected to a throttle body and extends upward to the front in a more vertically upward direction than an axis of the throttle body.
US07766110B2

A vehicle having in-wheel motors, wherein when the in-wheel motors are mounted on the vehicle driven by the torque of an internal combustion engine, the in-wheel motors are mounted on wheels on one side of the vehicle opposite to the other side on which the internal combustion engine is mounted. The non-rotating side of the motor and the knuckle are supported by a buffer mechanism having plates connected to each other by a direct-acting guide with springs composed of a direct-acting guide having a linear bearing and a rod and spring members moving in the vertical direction of the vehicle and mated with the direct-acting guide and a damper for interconnecting the plates, moving in the vertical direction of the vehicle to support the motor to either one or both of the unsprung mass of the vehicle and the car body by the buffer mechanism. Thus, the running ability and riding comfort of the vehicle having in-wheel motors can be improved.
US07766104B2

A method of operating an articulated machine includes sensing an articulation angle and a wheel steering angle of the machine, and controlling a locking state of a differential responsive to a steering radius of the machine. An articulated frame wheeled machine is further provided, and includes a front frame unit with a wheel steering apparatus, a back frame unit and an articulation apparatus coupled between the front and back frame units. First and second sensors are operable to sense a wheel steering angle and an articulation angle of the machine, and an electronic control is provided which is configured to selectively lock or unlock a differential of the back frame unit responsive to a steering radius of the machine.
US07766095B2

The invention relates to a lower link assembly for a tractor hitch. The lower link assembly includes a first strut and a second strut. The first strut includes a channel at an end thereof and a hollow space defining first and second walls and adjacent to the channel. The second strut may be inserted into the channel. A locking element is associated with the hollow space for latching the second strut to the first strut, and may be moved between an unlocked position and a latching position. A spring pretensions the locking element in the latching position. A grip element is connected to the locking element, by means of which an operator may move the locking element into the unlocked position. The spring is biased to retain the locking element in the hollow space.
US07766087B2

A method and downhole tool are presented herein for driving completion equipment in a borehole. The method comprises the steps of positioning the completion equipment in the borehole; and moving the completion equipment along the borehole by operation of a downhole driving tool connected to the completion equipment. Operation of the driving tool comprises accumulating energy in the driving tool and releasing the energy to force a moveable member against an impact surface in the driving tool to provide a driving force which is applied to the completion equipment to move the completion equipment in the borehole, wherein the step of accumulating energy in the driving tool comprises providing energy to the driving tool by means of an energy source located at the surface selected from the group consisting of an electrical energy source provided by a wireline cable, a hydraulic energy source provided by a pipe, and combinations thereof.
US07766077B2

The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus for heating a fluid without a flame. The modular heater (apparatus) that includes an enclosure, a dynamic heat generator disposed within the enclosure, an electric motor disposed within the enclosure, a first fluid connector attached to the enclosure, a second fluid connector attached to the enclosure and an electrical connector attached to the enclosure. The electric motor drives the dynamic heat generator to heat the fluid to a specified temperature without a flame. The first fluid connector connects the dynamic heat generator to a fluid source. The second fluid connector connects the dynamic heat generator to a fluid storage. The electrical connector connects the electric motor to a power source.
US07766069B2

An overhead garage door having a concealing apparatus between adjoining horizontal sections of the door is provided. The garage door may include horizontal sections and the door may be formed from a plurality of these sections, arranged in a stack, and pivotally connected to adjacent sections. The concealing apparatus, such as meeting rails, may be attached to adjacent horizontal sections to mask the appearance of a seam created as adjacent sections are joined. The meeting rails may also aid in sealing the door to form a weather-tight seal and keep wind, moisture and debris out of the garage. The concealing apparatus may also be an overlapping plate with an attachment region and an overhanging region.
US07766063B2

A system to fabricate a composite item includes an end effector, robotic vehicle, sensor, and cutting system. The end effector applies a course to a layup form. The robotic vehicle positions the end effector. The sensor senses an edge of a previously applied course. The cutting system cuts a profile on the course in response to the sensed edge.
US07766060B2

A tire comprising a tread layer comprised of a tread rubber and an electrically conductive band arranged in a widthwise middle portion thereof, and a method of producing the tire, wherein the tread rubber is made of a low-conductive continuous rubber ribbon circumferentially wound plural times, and the electrically conductive band is made of a high-conductive thin annular rubber sheet. Also, the electrically conductive band is arranged so as to extend in the widthwise region ranging from a part of the top face of the first tread rubber portion to a part of the bottom face of the second tread rubber portion, whereby the tire uniformity is improved and the production is possible in a multi-size mixed production system and the conductive path from the belt to the treading face can be surely formed at a low cost.
US07766055B2

A method of fabricating an elastomeric structure, comprising: forming a first elastomeric layer on top of a first micromachined mold, the first micromachined mold having a first raised protrusion which forms a first recess extending along a bottom surface of the first elastomeric layer; forming a second elastomeric layer on top of a second micromachined mold, the second micromachined mold having a second raised protrusion which forms a second recess extending along a bottom surface of the second elastomeric layer; bonding the bottom surface of the second elastomeric layer onto a top surface of the first elastomeric layer such that a control channel forms in the second recess between the first and second elastomeric layers; and positioning the first elastomeric layer on top of a planar substrate such that a flow channel forms in the first recess between the first elastomeric layer and the planar substrate.
US07766048B2

A process for lining an existing pipeline or conduit with a flexible resin impregnated cured in place liner by pulling in the liner and inflating a resin impregnated inflation bladder with air and curing the liner with flow-through steam without loss of pressure is provided. The liner includes a resin absorbent material in tubular form with an impermeable membrane forming an outer layer. The inflation bladder also includes a resin absorbent material in tubular form with an impermeable membrane forming an outer layer and an exhaust assembly at the trailing end and is passed through a pressurized inversion apparatus into the collapsed liner. As the bladder reaches the distal end, the exhaust assembly exits the everting bladder and is coupled to an exhaust hose. Steam is then introduced the inversion apparatus to cure the resin and is exhausted through the exhaust tube. After cure, steam is replaced with air to cool the liner and the ends are cut to restore service through the host pipe.
US07766046B2

A plug for use during a pipeline laying operation for sealing off sections of the pipeline in case of water ingress. A sealing and gripping assembly is formed of slip segments around a partially conical shaped surface, the slip segments being moved by a piston/cylinder arrangement. A valve connected to a pressure vessel actuates the piston/cylinder in response to the detection of conductivity of fluid around the plug.
US07766033B2

Membrane valves and latching valve structures for microfluidic devices are provided. A demultiplexer can be used to address the latching valve structures. The membrane valves and latching valve structures may be used to form pneumatic logic circuits, including processors.
US07766025B2

A regenerative heat exchanger includes a pair of heat exchangers, an inlet valve assembly and an outlet valve assembly. Each valve assembly includes two corresponding pairs of valve ports and two poppet discs each being movable between said corresponding pairs of valve ports. The poppet discs have rods extending to distal ends. Distal ends extending from the inlet valve assembly are pivotably interconnected to distal ends from the outlet valve assembly and pivotably interconnected to a crank of an eccentric mechanical drive to operate one of the inlet poppet discs and one of the outlet poppet discs in tandem.
US07766012B2

A device for the controlled inhalation of therapeutic aerosols comprises means providing individual patient parameters and/or aerosol parameters for the inhalation. The aerosol doses, such as the tidal volume and the respiratory flow, are individually adjusted on the basis of these individual parameters. Thus, the inhalation device may be individually adjusted to the patient to be treated.
US07766010B2

A method of providing concentrated oxygen product gas to a patient. The method comprises producing product gas by a vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) process with an oxygen concentrator comprising a plurality of separation columns connected to a vacuum source driven by a motor. Separated product gas is then pumped to a product reservoir. The pressure of the reservoir is monitored and used to adjust the speed of the motor based on the reservoir pressure. The separated gas is then delivered to the patient.
US07766004B1

An outdoor cooking apparatus includes a burner frame that has a base with a portion that engages an underlying support surface during use, an upper grill or grate that receives a pot during use, the upper grill having a cooking surface. The frame includes a plurality of legs that extend between the base and the grill. In the preferred embodiment, the base can be a ring. In the preferred embodiment, the grill can include a ring and a plurality of radially extending struts. In this fashion, the ring surrounds a pot that is placed upon the struts, limiting the lateral movement of the pot. The pot has a diameter and a height, the pot is sized and shaped to fit inside the frame envelope during shipment or storage. The legs extend around the pot and the burner element in the storage position. A wind guard shroud is attached to the underside of the radial struts. This shroud is also contained within the pot when in a storage position.
US07765995B2

A fuel injection device includes a fuel injection valve for injecting fuel, which is distributed from a pressure-accumulation vessel. A pressure sensor is located in a fuel passage, which extends from the pressure-accumulation vessel to a nozzle hole, and configured to detect pressure of the fuel. The pressure sensor is located closer to the nozzle hole than the pressure-accumulation vessel. A storage unit stores individual difference information, which indicates an injection characteristic of the fuel injection valve, the injection characteristic being obtained by an examination. The individual difference information is related to a fluctuation pattern of a portion of the fluctuation in detected pressure waveform of the pressure sensor. The fluctuation is attributed to one fuel injection through the nozzle hole. The portion of the fluctuation is subsequent to an end of the fuel injection.
US07765987B2

An apparatus is described for actuating at least one piezoelectric actuating drive (1) of an injection nozzle for an internal combustion engine, comprising a control device (6) which cyclically actuates a charging circuit and a discharging circuit (2, 3) of the piezoelectric actuating drive (1). In order to enable a power-increasing actuation of the piezoelectric actuating drive (1) it is proposed that a capacitive equivalent load (9), which is connected to a charging stage (13) and electrically simulates the piezoelectric actuating drive (1), and an additional discharging stage (7) for piezoelectric actuating drive (1) and a changeover switch (8) which can be actuated by a control circuit (11) are provided, which switch connects the equivalent load (9) or the piezoelectric actuating drive (1) to the discharging circuit (3) which is controlled via the control device (6), and that after it has been decoupled from the discharging circuit (3) the piezoelectric actuating drive (1) can be discharged with a delay, via the additional discharging stage (7) which can be actuated by the control circuit (11), depending on at least one parameter which changes with the loading of the internal combustion engine.
US07765985B2

An intermediate element for a fuel injector situated in a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine is disposed between a valve housing of the fuel injector and a wall of a receiving bore of the cylinder head, and/or between the valve housing and a clamping shoe holding the fuel injector down in the cylinder head. The intermediate element is made up of a plurality of layers having different patterning and/or being made of different materials.
US07765983B2

An internal combustion engine is provided with at least one modulator for adjusting an air mass in a cylinder. It is also provided with an injection valve for metering fuel to which fuel is supplied via a fuel supply device. A maximum fuel quantity which can be metered to the cylinder per working stroke is determined. Depending on the maximum meterable fuel quantity, a maximum producible torque is determined. An air mass flow is determined depending on an air/fuel ratio to be adjusted and the maximum meterable fuel quantity is adjusted by controlling the at least one modulator for adjusting the air mass. The injection valve is controlled in accordance with the maximum meterable fuel quantity when the required torque is greater or equal the maximum producible torque.
US07765978B2

A differential pressure sensor apparatus for use in a fuel delivery system measures the differential pressure of the fuel between a point immediately upstream and a point immediately downstream of a fuel monitor element. The differential pressure sensor apparatus uses an electronic transducer to monitor differential pressure and may be used with interlocks to shutdown fuel delivery if the measured value of the differential pressure is above a predetermined threshold value and to notify an operator of the fuel delivery system of such an increase in the differential pressure.
US07765971B1

A valve cover system for covering valves, rocker arms and a cam shaft of an engine includes a mounting plate being mounted to a cylinder head of the engine. The mounting plate has an access aperture extending through a top surface and a bottom surface of the mounting plate. The access aperture permits the valves, the rocker arms and the cam shaft to extend through the mounting plate when the mounting plate is mounted to the cylinder head. A plurality of securing assemblies is coupled to the mounting plate and upwardly extending therefrom. A cover is mounted to the mounting plate to cover the access aperture and inhibits debris from entering the valves, the rocker arms and the cam shaft. A pair of latch assemblies is operationally coupled to the cover. The latch assemblies receive the securing assemblies to secure the cover to the mounting plate.
US07765963B2

An internal combustion engine usable for producing a rotational output, the internal combustion engine comprising: a casing; a cylinder defining a cylinder head and a combustion chamber extending from the cylinder head, the combustion chamber being substantially arc segment shaped and defining a chamber radius of curvature, the cylinder being mounted to the casing so as to be movable relatively thereto along a substantially annular path extending in a substantially concentric relationship relatively to the combustion chamber, the substantially annular path having a path radius of curvature substantially similar to the chamber radius of curvature; a piston, the piston being operatively coupled to the cylinder so as to be reciprocatingly movable within the combustion chamber, the piston being mounted to the casing so as to be movable relatively thereto along the substantially annular path; an output element operatively coupled to the cylinder and to the piston for producing the rotational output; and a unidirectional coupler operatively coupling at least one of the cylinder and the piston to the casing such that the at least one of the cylinder and the piston is unidirectionally movable relatively to the casing.
US07765961B2

Systems capable of using kinetic/inertial and renewable energy to generate hydrogen for use as a fuel in vehicles and other applications are provided, including systems in which hydrogen is generated during vehicle braking and which is operable with an internal combustion engine, and which can be retrofitted to vehicles with such an engine as well as to stationary combustion devices. Methods for generating hydrogen to power vehicles and vehicles utilizing the inventive technology, stationary devices, such as space heaters and water heaters, capable of generating hydrogen for use as a fuel additive therewith, and methods of generating hydrogen using such devices are also provided.
US07765957B2

A barrier capable of being removably secured to a protective collar. The barrier can include a fastener and a partition, wherein the fastener is capable of positioning the partition inside the protective collar or about an outer arcuating edge of the protective collar.
US07765947B2

A configuration for the deck of a marine vessel, wherein parallel and perpendicular travel paths, for movement of individual OBS unit storage baskets, are formed along a deck utilizing, in part, the storage baskets themselves. A portion of the deck is divided into a grid defined by a series of low-to-the-deck perpendicular and parallel rails and each square in the grid is configured to hold an OBS unit storage basket. Around the perimeter of the grid is an external containment wall which has a greater height than the rails. Storage baskets seated within the grid are configured to selectively form internal containment walls. Opposing internal and external containment walls define travel paths along which a storage basket can be moved utilizing a low, overhead gantry. A basket need only be lifted a minimal height above the deck in order to be moved along a path. The containment walls and the deck itself constraining uncontrolled swinging of baskets, even in onerous weather or sea conditions. The system is flexible to meet the needs of a desired operation since the internal walls of the grid can be reconfigured as desired in order to free up a particular storage basket or define a particular travel path.
US07765946B1

A system and apparatus for providing integrated boat thrusters which eliminates interfering with the integrity of the hull, and undesirable drilling and cutting of the hull to accommodate separate glass tubes or pipes that are conventionally used to form thruster tunnels. The instant system provides integrally molded thruster tunnel sections within the hull, and unique keystone inserts which are complementary to the molded thruster tunnel sections and complete the water flow chambers through the hull about the propellers. Separate tubes are not utilized. Thruster motors and mounting mechanisms are securely fastened in flat planes enhancing strength, performance and maintenance of the assemblies. In a preferred embodiment, the keystone insert is generally wedge shaped to provide a secure fit and bond within the molded tunnel section having angled walls.
US07765936B2

A transporting system with a fire door (100) is provided with: a rail (1) installed within a facility; a transporting carriage (3), whose wheel (4) is set so as to roll over a surface for rolling of the rail; a fire door plate (7) for segmenting a space within the facility in a direction intersecting the rail at a predetermined position of the rail; and a door plate moving device (8) capable of moving the fire door plate from an open position for the transporting carriage to pass through the predetermined position, to a close position for the fire door plate to segment the space. A first cut (1a) is formed obliquely with respect to a width direction of the rail when planarly seen on the surface for rolling, in the rail at the predetermined position. The fire door plate has a shape capable of passing through the first cut when being moved to the close position.
US07765929B2

A printing device, a patterning method using the same and a method of fabricating an LCD device using the same are disclosed. The printing device includes a printing roll having a blanket adhered to an outer surface thereof; and an absorption nozzle to absorb solvent from the blanket. The absorption nozzle may include an absorber having a slit, a vacuum controller connected to the absorber, and a pipe connected to the vacuum controller.
US07765927B1

A platen for use in printing on an object, wherein the platen has an adjustable area of a working surface on which to place the object. The platen surface includes a plurality of elements, wherein each element includes a flat surface that can be positioned at a working level at which the object is to be placed, and wherein an operator can insert or remove each element and thereby the corresponding flat surface of that element from the working level as required in order to provide a desired area of the working surface. In one embodiment, the platen includes a base plate and a plurality of elements which can be positioned on the base plate or removed to form a desired configuration of the working surface.
US07765925B2

A web-fed rotary printing press includes a printing unit which has a specific width for printing a web with six adjacent vertical printed pages in a first newspaper format. A longitudinal cutting device is used to divide the web into three partial webs, each of which having a width corresponding to two of the newspaper pages. A folding assembly includes a group of three fold formers which are located next to each other on a machine plane. The three formers are disposed in the web-fed rotary press in such a that the two distances between the folding planes of two of the formers, which are placed next to each other in pairs, can be modified.
US07765922B2

The present invention is a biomass compactor. The device is made up of a frame having a hydraulic compaction cylinder. When the hydraulic control is activated, the compaction cylinder moves forward through a hopper filled with various biomass materials, such as but not limited to, yard waste and food waste products. The compaction cylinder pushes the raw biomass material into the compaction area, thereby compressing the biomass material. When the compaction cylinder is retracted, the hopper can then be refilled and the compaction process repeated as desired up until the point where the compression area is full. The resulting compressed biomass material is removed and can be used as fuel, such as by burning the resulting compressed biomass material in a fireplace or wood burning stove.
US07765908B1

A folder for a web printing press includes a first cutting and nipping device for partially cutting a web so as to form first cuts in the web and for nipping the web. A second cutting and nipping device cuts the web between the first cuts so as to form signatures, the web being nipped at a nip of the second cutting device. Also disclosed is a method for cutting a web which comprises the steps of partially cutting the web so as to form first cuts in the web while web is nipped; and cutting the web between the first cuts of the web while the web is nipped.
US07765904B2

A system and method for performing machining operations on first and second ends of an elongate workpiece, the system comprising a support for the workpiece which has first and second, spaced sides, each of which has first and second spaced ends, a first machining tool disposed proximate the first end of the first side for performing a first machining operation on a first end of the workpiece, a second machining tool being positioned proximate the second end of the second side for performing a second machining operation on a second side of the workpiece, the first and second machining tools being mirror images of one another.
US07765902B2

It is an object to provide a cutting tool which can perform high-quality, high-efficiency machining of a workpiece such as hardened steel.The cutting tool includes a finishing cutting edge 6 which initially cuts into the workpiece, and superfinishing cutting edges 7 for finishing the workpiece cut by the finishing cutting edge. The superfinishing cutting edges 7 project from the finishing cutting edge by a predetermined amount B in such a direction that the depth of cut of the superfinishing cutting edges increases. Each superfinishing cutting edge includes a burnishing portion 7a having a predetermined width L in the feed direction of the tool, and a wiper portion 7b. The superfinishing cutting edges 7 burnish the finished surface formed by the finishing cutting edge, while removing a affected layer formed by the finishing cutting edge.
US07765898B2

For accurate holding, easy attachment and detachment, and sufficient rotation force, a rotary tool has a holding and transmitting part 1 to hold a hexagonal column of a rotated body and give rotation force, comprising a recessed part 2, which has an inner face having an approximately regular triangle cross sectional shape, run-off parts 2a at corners of the triangle shape, and a uniform shape in depth direction, and plate springs 3, which are fixed at a bottom of the recessed part 2 and have pawl parts 3a at tips thereof positioned at the opening side of the recessed part 2, and the pawl parts 3a can be moved into the run-off parts 2a while contacting to three side faces of the hexagonal column H and generate spring force, when the hexagonal column H is inserted into the recessed part 2.
US07765893B2

Disclosed herein is a pedal equipped with a displacement detecting sensor using like magnetic poles. The pedal includes a pedal unit, a shock-absorbing unit, a sensor inserting unit, a rod unit, and a sensing unit. The pedal unit includes a support plate, an actuating pedal coupled to the support plate, a shock-absorbing hinge, and a coupling hinge. The shock-absorbing unit includes a shock-absorbing mounting part, support shafts provided in shock-absorbing cylinders, and shock-absorbing springs. The sensor inserting unit includes an insertion housing in a center of the shock-absorbing unit, an upper permanent magnet seated in an upper support seat, a lower permanent magnet seated in a lower support seat, and a sensor support. The rod unit includes a rod mounting part having a rod mounting hole, and cylindrical insertion rods. The sensing unit includes a sensor housing at a center in the rod unit, and a displacement sensor.
US07765889B2

The invention concerns a decreasing reduction start-up phase coaxial mechanical reducer using constantly variable radius gears, with a final direct drive 1:1 ratio obtained without internal movement component.
US07765887B2

A drive has a drive source and a continuously variable transmission, with an outgoing shaft having a first gear wheel. A clutch is present between the drive source and the ingoing shaft. The outgoing shaft of the transmission is connected to a gear wheel connected to a differential via a drive line for driving forwards. The drive line has an intermediate shaft with thereon a second gear wheel, which is interlocked with the first gear wheel and the third gear wheel, which is interlocked with the gear wheel. For reversing, the drive line can be interrupted by means of a disengagement and the drive is provided with a further drive line between the gear wheel that is connected to the differential and the outgoing shaft of the transmission.
US07765883B1

A method of monitoring and evaluating the dry-blending of powders and granular materials via the use of non-dissolvable particulate matter such as mustard seed as a blending aid. The mustard seed is blended into the total batch of dry blend materials and the mustard seed can subsequently be extracted by a process of sieving from a known volume of sample taken of the mixture since the mustard seed is larger than the other particles that are being blended. The weight and or sight count of the extracted mustard seed present in the sample is determined and compared with the amount of seed that should be present in a perfect blend to determine if the dry blend materials are thoroughly mixed.
US07765881B2

A programmable liquid sampler for obtaining and digitally analyzing multiple, sequential samples in real time from an external source of liquid to be analyzed comprises an adaptive feedback algorithm for correcting sample weight measurements occasioned by vacuum delays. A sampling assembly receives and at least temporarily stores a sample drawn by suction through an air port that can also pressurize the chamber. A load cell determines sample mass through a logic controller that implements adaptive feedback by recognizing a desired target sample size, requesting an initial sample, and measuring the initial sample size. A variable scaling factor is derived by comparing the target sample size to said measured sample size and the subsequent requesting size is scaled. Samples can be stored in multiple compartments of a radial table that is indexed by the computer software for proper sample control.
US07765857B2

An influence component N30m of every 30 degrees in a 30 degree rotation speed N30 base as time required for 30 degree rotation of a crankshaft is calculated by using a frequency characteristic of an influence given to a rotation fluctuation of a crankshaft by output torque output from a motor, which is calculated by using a mechanical model and an amplitude P and a phase q at a time of vibration control by the motor, a determination duration T30j is calculated by subtracting an influence component T30m as an inverse number of this from 30 degree duration T30, and misfire of an engine is determined by comparing the calculated determination duration T30j with a threshold value Tref. Thereby, misfire of the engine outputting power to a post-stage via a damper can be determined more reliably and accurately.
US07765841B2

A disclosed device and method are useful for monitoring a tube bending process. An example sensor detects a force associated with moving a mandrel in tubing during at least a portion of a tube bending process. The detected force is used to determine a quality of the tube bending process. For example, a detected pulling force provides an indication of whether a bent portion of a tube is within an acceptable range of a desired configuration. The detected pulling force is also useful to provide an indication of whether a condition of a mandrel or a machine used during the process is as expected.
US07765834B2

A double-cylinder circular knitting machine for hosiery or other knitted articles comprises a lower needle cylinder with a vertical axis and an upper needle cylinder arranged above and coaxially to the lower needle cylinder. Aligned axial slots are formed on the lateral surface of the lower and upper needle cylinders. Each of the axial slots of the lower and upper needle cylinders accommodates an actuation element which can engage a needle to be actuated and is provided with a fixed heel, and with a heel which can be extracted radially on command from the axial slot. The transfer of a needle from one needle cylinder to the other is performed by fixed cams and by a selection device producing transition into the extracted position of the movable heel exclusively of the actuation elements that correspond to the needles to be moved to the lower needle cylinder.
US07765815B2

A refrigerator which includes a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment, a first evaporator and a second evaporator corresponding to the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, respectively, a compressor compressing refrigerant to be supplied to the first and second evaporators, a first fan and a second fan supplying cool air to the compartments, respectively, an external temperature sensor detecting an external temperature of the refrigerator, a multi-directional valve supplying the refrigerant to at least one of the evaporators, and a control unit operating the compressor and the multi-directional valve, and driving the first fan and the second fan until temperatures of the compartments reach a predetermined reference temperature. When the detected external temperature meets a low temperature condition, the control unit controls the multi-directional valve to supply the refrigerant to the first evaporator such that the compressor is operated and an operation of the first fan is halted.
US07765813B2

The present invention is an apparatus and process for cooling and de-steaming hot calcined stucco used in the production of gypsum boards or bagged plaster. The apparatus is a fluid bed stucco cooler and comprises a cooler housing having a plenum having a stucco inlet and stucco outlet. The stucco cooler includes a rotating disk in the plenum. The rotating disk includes nozzle for spraying fluid, and is attached to a rotable shaft extending from the side of the cooler also includes a fluidization pad and agitator to help to mix the air and the stucco powder to insure fluidization, prevent channeling, and prevent the stucco powder from building up on the various components. The air also forces steam from the hot calcined stucco out through an air outlet located at the top of the stucco cooler, thereby de-steaming the stucco. The stucco flows through the plenum and passes over the cooling coils, thereby cooling the stucco as it reaches the stucco outlet.
US07765812B2

A system for detecting a mis-connected state between communication lines for a multi-type air conditioner and a method thereof. The system comprises an indoor unit pipe temperature detection unit for detecting a temperature of an indoor unit pipe, and a microprocessor for controlling an opening of an electronic expansion valve based on a temperature detected by the indoor unit pipe temperature detection unit, comparing a temperature response characteristic of the indoor unit pipe with a preset temperature response characteristic of a normal indoor unit pipe based on an opening of the electronic expansion valve, and thereby judging whether the communication lines are mis-connected to one another or not. An indoor unit from which the mis-connection has been generated is fast detected, and error information is displayed. Accordingly, the mis-connected state between the communication lines is restored, thereby preventing a damage of the system due to the mis-connection.
US07765811B2

In one exemplary embodiment, an assembly includes one or more thermoelectric modules, a compliant thermal interface, and a heat spreader. The compliant thermal interface is configured such that it may substantially conform against and intimately thermally contact an outer surface of a fluid conduit. The heat spreader is disposed generally between and thermally coupled to the compliant thermal interface and the one or more thermoelectric modules. The heat spreader may have greater flexibility than the one or more thermoelectric modules. The heat spreader may also have a thermal conductivity greater than the compliant thermal interface. The assembly may have sufficient flexibility to be circumferentially wrapped at least partially around a portion of the fluid conduit's outer surface, with the compliant thermal interface in substantial conformance against and in intimate thermal contact with the fluid conduit's outer surface portion. Accordingly, a thermally-conducting heat path may thus be established from the fluid conduit to the one or more thermoelectric modules via the compliant thermal interface and the heat spreader.
US07765810B2

A method of lowered NOx combustion is taught wherein the kinetic rate of NOx formation is reduced for a given combustion temperature in a gas turbine combustor. A supply of fuel is provided along with a supply of ambient air in sufficient quantity to form a fuel/air mixture having an equivalence ratio greater than about 0.55 when mixed with the fuel. The fuel/air mixture is mixed with a supply of cooled combustion gases in sufficient quantity such that the oxygen content of the resulting air mixture is less than about 18 percent. The resulting air mixture is then passed into the combustor.
US07765806B2

A powertrain includes an Atkinson cycle engine having at least one cylinder, a crankshaft, and an air intake system that provides selective fluid communication between the at least one cylinder and the atmosphere. A motor is in hybrid combination with the engine, and a compressor is configured to selectively pressurize air in the air intake system. The powertrain provides the fuel efficiency of an Atkinson cycle engine while compensating for the reduced torque output of an Atkinson cycle engine.
US07765803B2

We present a high-efficiency crankless reciprocating steam engine that loses only a small amount of energy when the rectilinear motion of its piston is changed into the rotary motion of its driveshaft. The present invention continuously rotates a valve in one direction while alternately introducing steam into two piston housing chambers to generate the rotary force of the driveshaft. Therefore, engine efficiency is greatly increased because the inertial force losses in the valve are much smaller compared to the case when the valve rotation stops or changes direction.
US07765802B2

A device for the treatment of an exhaust gas flow includes at least one inflow channel with a front region and a rear region and at least one return flow channel. A first coating is provided in the rear region of the at least one inflow channel. The coating assists an exothermal reaction of the exhaust gas flow. A device is formed in the front region of the inflow channel for the transfer of heat from a return flow channel. A method for operating a device for the treatment of an exhaust gas flow, a vehicle having the device and an operating method for an exhaust gas system of a vehicle having the device, are also provided.
US07765799B2

A low emissions 2-stroke natural gas fueled engine includes at least one cylinder with an exhaust port in communication with a silencer/catalytic converter unit. The unit has first and second volumes in communication with each other. The first volume dampens spurious exhaust pressure excursions and removes particulates in the exhaust. The second volume houses an oxidation catalyst for treating exhaust to reduce exhaust emissions. The engine oil has at most 10 ppm zinc content to reduce metal poisons contained in the exhaust prior to contact with the oxidation catalyst. The engine oil preferably has a very low ash content to minimize sulfur combustion components in the exhaust to reduce masking of the oxidation catalyst. The first volume preferably has a pressure relief valve set to relieve at a pressure greater than the maximum normal operating pressure of the engine to avoid excessive pressure excursions of the engine exhaust from damaging the oxidation catalyst.
US07765789B2

A gas turbine engine assembly is provided. The gas turbine engine assembly includes a core engine. The gas turbine engine assembly further includes a first rotor spool including a first fan assembly, an intermediate-pressure turbine, and a first shaft. The first fan assembly includes a single stage fan assembly coupled upstream from the core engine. The intermediate-pressure turbine includes a single stage turbine coupled downstream from the core engine. The first shaft extends between the first fan assembly and the intermediate-pressure turbine. The gas turbine engine assembly further includes a second rotor spool including a second fan assembly, a low-pressure turbine, and a second shaft. The second fan assembly includes a single stage fan assembly coupled upstream from the first fan assembly. The low-pressure turbine includes a single stage turbine coupled downstream from the intermediate-pressure turbine. The second shaft extends between the second fan assembly and the low-pressure turbine. A method of assembling the same is provided.
US07765788B2

A heat exchange system for use in operating equipment in which a working fluid is utilized in providing selected operations thereof, including for use in lubricating systems for aircraft turbofan engine equipment, the heat exchange system for providing air and working fluid heat exchanges to cool the working fluid at selectively variable rates in the operating equipment developed airstreams. A heat exchanger core is provided in a controlled air flow duct system opening at its entrance to those airstreams and having its outlet end opening downstream in those airstreams.
US07765785B2

A combustion engine that has at least a plurality of power strokes during a complete cycle of engine operation that is of compact packaging and Brayton cycle operable. In a preferred embodiment, a piston-cylinder arrangement used to compress air and deliver it to a combustion chamber where it is combusted along with fuel. The combustion gases are returned back to the piston-cylinder arrangement where they act on the piston to output power in a power stroke. A second power stroke can be implemented where additional combustion gases are available to extract additional power from. In a preferred embodiment, the same piston-cylinder arrangement receives the additional combustion gases from the combustion chamber in the second power stroke.
US07765783B2

An open-end spinning device (1) with a spinning rotor (2) whose shaft end (11) is supported by an aerostatic axial bearing (10) with an air gap (18) located between a bearing plate (17) of the axial bearing (10) and the shaft end (11). The aerostatic axial bearing (10) comprises a bearing plate (17) and a throttle device (19) made from a porous graphite material placed before the bearing plate (17). The throttle device (19) is an stamped pressed, tablet-shaped molding with largely homogenous porosity. In a process for manufacturing an aerostatic axial bearing (10) for a spinning rotor (2) of an open-end spinning device (1), a throttle device (19) made from a porous graphite material is placed before the axial bearing (10). The throttle device (19) is stamped pressed in a press tool as a tablet-shaped molding.
US07765781B1

A scrapping plate includes alternating channels or pockets offset in the fore-and-aft direction relative each other to accommodate the different spindle paths associated with spindle bars having spindles which are non-aligned or offset at an angle relative to each other. The offset pockets provide optimal spacing between the different spindle paths and the plate to ensure maximum contact between the spindle picking ends and the cotton bolls to maximize overall picking efficiency. In one embodiment, the pockets are identical but offset in the spindle travel direction from each other and include leading and trailing ends which are angled or curved for conforming closely to the different spindle paths.
US07765775B2

A sorbent canister having a hollow body and porous end caps fused to opposite ends of the hollow body includes beveled surfaces at the fused sites to aid in the dispensing of the canisters into product packaging.
US07765772B2

An automated capping head is disclosed. It has a linkage which permits its driven rotational sleeve to be linked to a housing such that these parts can move axially relative to one another as a cap is being tightened on a bottle. The configuration of the parts reduces wear and maintenance issues.
US07765767B2

The invention relates to a machine frame (1) for a packaging machine being constructed in such a way that its manufacture is simple and flexible for the various widths and lengths of foil packaging material without having the need for an expensive and labor intensive intercoupling. This machine frame is also robust and interiorly good cleanable, so that hygienic risks may be substantially decreased. This machine-building element comprises a profile element (2) made of strong sheet material, like e.g. metal or plastic material, comprising a mainly straight horizontal part (2c) that tapers off on both sides over an angle of approximately 90° to two downwardly directed vertical parts (2a, 2b). These parts are longitudinally interconnected completely to a compact unit by means of a plurality of hollow functional sockets (7).
US07765766B2

Structure and procedure for erecting concrete towers used in wind turbines in which said towers consist of sections, which in turn may each comprise a different number of segments or longitudinal sections. The procedure includes two differentiated cycles, which may take place alongside each other: the pre-assembly of each section of tower and their assembly. The sections may be pre-mounted on bases placed on the ground, with the segment in turn fitted with the help of struts and mechanical clamps. This procedure is extremely versatile in that it makes the best logistic use of the material, resources and requisite assembly times since the assembly procedures for each section can be developed alongside each other in the different wind farm towers, and also greater heights can be achieved than is traditionally possible.
US07765761B2

A wall and/or ceiling polymer-based composite structural sheathing board has a polymer material or predominantly polymer material core layer with a density between 1.6 lbs/ft3 and 25 lbs/ft3. A facer overlays at least one of the major surfaces of the core layer. The facer is generally coextensive with and bonded to the overlaid major surface of the core layer and enhances the integrity and fastener pull through strength of the polymer-based composite structural sheathing board as well as other desired physical and performance characteristics of the polymer based composite structural sheathing board. A wall and/or ceiling system of a building structure includes a plurality of the polymer-based composite structural sheathing boards overlaying and secured to a structural wall and/or ceiling frame and forming a wall and/or ceiling sheathing layer over the structural frame.
US07765753B1

An interlocking curtain wall insulation system for a building having a backer bar spaced from a floor slab defining a perimeter void between the floor slab and an outer wall, a safing insulation disposed above the backer bar and compression fit within the perimeter void between the floor slab and the backer bar, a first curtain wall insulation extending from an upper surface of the safing insulation adjacent the backer bar, a second curtain wall insulation depending from the backer bar.
US07765743B2

A rain gutter screen assembly for use at the inside corner of a rain gutter. The assembly includes a screen having portions sized to overlie intersecting ends of the rain gutter sections, to allow water cascading down the roof corner to flow into the intersecting ends while blocking the entry of debris into the intersecting ends, and a central portion sized to extend outwardly beyond outboard edges of the intersecting ends in cantilever fashion; and a frame structure mounting outboard edges of the screen and defining a plate extending outwardly beyond the outboard edges of the intersecting ends in cantilever fashion in underlying relation to the central screen portion, whereby cascading water trajecting beyond the intersecting ends may pass through the central screen portion and onto the cantilever plate for redirection into the rain gutter sections.
US07765739B2

The present invention employed an elevating device for a window glass provided in a door of a vehicle, including: a guiding device which is provided in the door; a career plate which engages with the guiding device and slidably moves in an elevating direction of the window glass in relation to the guiding device; and a driving device which raises and lowers the career plate. The career plate is provided with a stopper which abuts on the guiding device when the career plate reaches an elevation-limiting position. The stopper is provided with an attaching portion which is attached to the career plate, and an abutting portion which abuts on the guiding device and elastically deforms when the stopper reaches the elevation-limiting position. The abutting portion is formed such that a width thereof becomes wider than the attaching portion and such that the width becomes smaller toward a distal end side.
US07765730B2

Back-up sights for use on a rifle configured with an optical sight aligned along a first sighting axis include a handguard or support carrying first and second attachment points that are substantially parallel with the central axis of the rifle's barrel but offset at a different angle than the first sighting axis. A back-up front sight and rear sight are carried on a back-up sight base, where the front sight and rear sight are aligned along a second sight axis that is offset, preferably, by one-eighth turn from the first sighting axis. When using the back-up sights, the user tilts or cants the rifle to one side, rotating the rifle one-eighth turn about the axis of the barrel's bore, to look down the second sighting axis, while aiming the rifle at the target.
US07765726B2

The invention relates to a sandwich scraper strip for the blade of a snowplow and provided at the top with a steel fastening neck onto which a rubber body having at least one embedded hard material body is molded. According to the invention, the hard material body is provided in the form of a hard metal core surrounded by a steel jacket. This results in achieving a surprisingly high serviceable life of the sandwich scraper blade.
US07765710B2

A measuring apparatus is provided for measuring a diameter of a hole. The measuring apparatus includes a sensor unit, a data processing unit, and a display unit. The sensor unit includes a probing member. The probing member includes a plurality of probes with contact ends being arranged on a circumference, and a plurality of angle sensors. The probes are capable of contacting the inner surface of the hole. The angle sensors are arranged on each of the probes to obtain digitally an angle value of each splaying probe contacting the inner surface of the hole. The data processing unit is configured for receiving the angle value generated by the sensor unit and computing the diameter of the hole according to the value of an angle. The display unit is configured for displaying the diameter computed by the data processing unit. A method is also provided for using the measuring apparatus.
US07765692B2

A solder resist comprising a thermosetting resin is printed on a surface of an insulating board (7) having a conductor circuit (6). The solder resist is then heat-cured to form an insulating film (1) having a low thermal expansion coefficient. A laser beam (2) is then applied to the portion of the insulating film in which an opening is to be formed, to burn off the same portion for forming an opening (10), whereby the conductor circuit (6) is exposed. This opening may be formed as a hole for conduction by forming a metal plating film on an inner surface thereof. It is preferable that an external connecting pad be formed so as to cover the opening. The film of coating of a metal is formed by using an electric plating lead, which is preferably cut off by a laser beam after the electric plating has finished.
US07765686B2

A method of manufacturing a multilayer wiring structure is disclosed. The method comprises a step of forming a via post on a first metal wiring element, a step of printing an interlayer insulation film on the first metal wiring element, with use of a screen mask having a non-ejection area slightly larger than a head of the via post, such that the interlayer insulation film has an upper surface at the level lower than the head of the via post, while generally aligning the non-ejection area with the head of the via post, a step of curing the interlayer insulation film, and a step of forming a second metal wiring element in contact with the via post on the interlayer insulation film such that the first metal wiring element and the second metal wiring element are connected through the via post.
US07765681B2

A fabrication method of an RF MEMS switch includes forming a signal transmission line having a first signal transmission line and a second signal transmission line electrically separated from each other for transmitting a signal and forming an on/off component for turning on/off the signal transmission line. The forming the on/off component further includes forming a suspension layer, forming a piezoelectric capacitor disposed at the suspension layers, and actuated with a piezoelectric characteristic by receiving an external power, forming a contact electrode disposed at the suspension layers, and electrically separated from the piezoelectric capacitors, and forming a ground line adjacent to the signal transmission line, wherein the ground line is electrically connected to the signal transmission line by a connection line.
US07765678B2

A method of bonding a metal ball for a magnetic head assembly is provided. The method comprises: preparing a capillary; disposing the capillary so as to face a bonding surface of the electrode pad of the slider and that of the electrode pad of the flexible printed circuit board; carrying the metal ball to the bonding surfaces by introducing the metal ball and the inactive gas stream into the carrying route of the capillary; positioning and retaining the metal ball on the bonding surfaces by the inactive gas stream passing through the carrying route and issued radially from the cutoff portions; and melting the metal ball by directly applying laser beams via the cutoff portions of the capillary, and bonding the electrode pad of the slider and the electrode pad of the flexible printed circuit board by the melted metal.
US07765665B2

A method and apparatus for assembling a fluid conduit assembly and testing the fluid conduit for leaks. Clipping devices support fasteners at a position remote from the conduit. According to the invention the fasteners can be loaded into clip nests provided by the clipping devices while leak testing of the conduit is performed. The performance of these steps simultaneously effectively eliminates the conventional requirement of pre-loading installation fasteners into the leak testing apparatus, and thus reduces the overall time required for the testing and assembly of fluid conduits by approximately one third. If the leak test is successful, all of the fasteners are then moved to the conduits and closed to integrate the conduit assembly.
US07765656B2

An apparatus and method for generating post-burial audio communications from surviving family members, friends, and loved ones by adapting a burial casket with an electronic audio communication system that automatically generates post-burial communications in the casket. The burial casket is thus adapted with an audio message system containing electronically stored audio and music files that are automatically played in accordance with a programmed schedule thereby allowing surviving members means for communicating to the deceased for a period of time after burial. An electronic device having a data storage system for storing recorded audio, such as messages from family and friends, music, or any other suitable audio file is provided. A date tracking timer allows for the selective broadcast of audio content automatically in accordance with user programmed and selected scheduling. A battery power source provides electrical power for the system. The present invention thus provides surviving family and friends with a means of automatically communicating messages and sounds to the deceased after burial. The apparatus has a housing that includes a relatively thin projecting peripheral lip sized to fit on the back of a conventional picture frame such that it may be concealed behind a photograph of the deceased when affixed in the casket. A wireless update device is further provided to allow surviving family members the ability to update, revise, and edit, stored audio files and programming after burial.
US07765654B2

A method of producing a decorative carpet tile may include providing a carpet tile in accordance with the prior art techniques and then treating the carpet tile in one of various manners to provide a separation internal to side edges of the carpet tile. The treatment can include tip shearing side portions relative to an internal portion to provide at least one discontinuity, dripping colors to provide a frame, carving, burning, or otherwise providing a separation internal to the side edges of the carpet tile in various disclosed embodiments.
US07765649B2

The inner bottom (222b) of a female-like projection (22b) is provided with an elastic viscous material (4) continuous along the longitudinal direction so as to bulge into a space defined between hooks (221b, 221b) of the female-like projection (22b). When a female-like projection (21a) is fitted in the female-like projection (21b), the elastic viscous material (4) is pressed against the head (221a) of the male-like projection (22a) so as to be abutted against the head (221a) of the male-like projection (22a) while undergoing elastic deformation, and is in intimate contact with the surface of the front end side of the head (221a) by the adhesive force and elastic force, whereby the airtightness of the zipper-equipped bag can be secured.
US07765648B2

In an apparatus for detecting a parameter at a plurality of slivers fed to a drafting system of a spinning machine, especially for detecting the movement and/or the presence of a sliver, in which the parameter is measurable separately at each sliver, each sliver is drawn out of sliver cans over a respective driven feed roller and fed to the drafting system and is mechanically sensed by a feeler element, the deflections of which are convertible into electrical signals. To allow an improved and more accurate detection of the individual slivers in a structurally simple manner, a distance sensor that is a contactless distance sensor is provided to detect the position of each feeler element, the sensor being connected to an electrical evaluating unit.
US07765646B2

The present invention relates to an instrument for manual operation (1) comprising a stem (2), an attendant member (3) disposed at a distal end of the stem (2), and a hand grip (4) disposed at a proximal end of the stem (2), having a substantially round shape and being fixed in the extended direction of the stem (2), wherein the stem (2) is placed eccentrically in relation to the hand grip (4), such that the body of the hand grip (4) has an axis that runs next to the axis of the body of the stem (2), at a side away from the attendant member (3), wherein at the functional side of the attendant member (3), the hand grip (4) possesses a first curve (5) and at the side opposite the functional side of the attendant member possesses a second curve (6) that differs from the first curve.
US07765641B2

A central vacuum cleaning system hose handle uses a battery, and has a battery compartment and a battery housing. Battery housing is interchangeable with power plug housing. When housing is drawer then drawer and handle have slide mechanism on which drawer extends in and out. First stop limits depth drawer can slide in. Second stop limits depth drawer can extend out. External access prevented when drawer extended to first stop, permitted when drawer extended to second stop. Releasable locking mechanism inhibits drawer from extending out when handle in use. Crib releasably retains battery. Spring electrical contacts at opposing ends of crib. Crib generally formed to profile of battery. Drawer oriented generally parallel to longitudinal wand adapter axis of handle, crib opening away from axis. Alternatively, housing has body with internal chamber to receive battery and an opening to provide access through an aperture in the handle to the chamber.
US07765639B2

A turbine brush for a vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention, comprises a turbine brush body connected to a cleaner body in which a suction force is generated and having a suction path therein, a brush member rotatably mounted to the turbine brush body, a driving unit rotatably mounted in the turbine brush body to drive the brush member, and an inertia member for adding inertia to a driving force of the driving unit. Accordingly, a rotative force is not deteriorated even by small particles such as fine dust and hair, owing to the inertia added to the turbine, thereby improving a cleaning efficiency.
US07765637B2

A manually guided suction apparatus for suctioning up material via a suction air stream, comprising a suction fan having a fan housing surrounding a fan wheel and provided with an intake opening. A removal opening for sucked up material is disposed upstream of the intake opening in an intake channel that guides the suction air stream toward the suction fan. The removal opening empties into a collection bag, and the suction air stream in the intake channel is guided past the removal opening. An endless tube folded up to form a supply portion is stored in a storage chamber. A container portion of the endless tube forms the collection bag. A weight support for the collection bag prevents the supply portion from being pulled out of the storage chamber.
US07765634B2

Machine for cleaning mainly vertical surfaces comprising a body attached to the cable of the crane, brushes with an actuator attached to the body with the possibility of rotation, three or more wheels attached to the body with the possibility of rotation, and the attachment being such that their working components are in the same plane, and distinguished in that it comprises a box with an open wall on the side of the treated surface, with an elastic seal around the perimeter of the open part of the box and means to extract air from the box.
US07765633B2

A broom (10) having a stick (20) insertable on a top side (11′) of a shaped batten (11) from the bottom side (11″) of which there extend bristles (12) adapted for sweeping surfaces. The broom (10) is provided with a casing (30) made in the shape of a shell, shaped so that in a first lowered position, it covers the bristles by at least a portion of the length thereof, and in a second raised position, it allows the use of the broom for sweeping.
US07765629B2

A toothbrush head of an electric toothbrush, which comprises a handpiece equipped with a drive, a brush head carrier that is connectible to the handpiece, and several bristle supports that carry a respective bristle set, are movably mounted on the brush head carrier and drivable in an oscillatory manner by the drive, each of the bristle supports being adapted to be coupled to a translator element of the drive by means of a respective drive coupling. According to the invention the bristle supports each have drive coupling means enabling them to be coupled to eccentric drivers of the drive translator element which is adapted to be driven for rotation about a longitudinal axis. Owing to the arrangement of two separately mounted bristle supports which are driven by a common drive translator element about various axes of motion, it is possible to achieve an improved cleaning effect by simple means. The relative movement of the bristle sets that are mounted on the bristle supports assists the cleaning motion so that the cleaning effect is not obtained solely by the operator's movement.
US07765624B1

An epaulet system for shoulder pads, the system including an epaulet having an elongate epaulet projection extending outwardly therefrom, an epaulet restraining member having an elongate channel for receiving the epaulet projection, a flexible connector hingedly connecting the epaulet to the shoulder pad, and a force member for urging the epaulet toward the shoulder pad.
US07765618B2

An article of clothing comprises four layers. A first layer of fabric is in the form of a wearable garment. A second layer of synthetic tricot fabric is attached to the first layer. A third layer of foam has the same shape and size as the second layer, is aligned with the second layer, and is heat fused to a horizontal fiber size of the tricot fabric. A fourth layer of loop material has the same shape and size as the third layer, is aligned with the third layer, has two sides both of which comprise nylon loops, and is heat fused to the fourth layer. A display item of a plurality of display items has a substantially smooth front portion and a back portion having a plurality of hooks. The display items are attachable and rearrangeable by joining the plurality of hooks to the loops of the fourth layer.
US07765617B2

An apparatus including an inner face, an outer face coupled to the inner face, an opening for receiving a hand of a wearer, and means for separating the pocket created by the coupling of the inner and outer face such that the apparatus fits securely around the wearer hand. A thumb covering is connected to the apparatus in order to allow the wearer to fully use an opposable thumb.
US07765612B2

A protective garment (10) is provided for use by a firefighter or other emergency worker in connection with a weight-bearing harness (24, 30) worn by the firefighter or other emergency worker over the exterior of the protective garment (10). The protective garment (10) includes an outer shell (40), a moisture barrier liner (42) within the outer shell (40). The protective garment (10) is constructed of first and second moisture barrier materials (50, 51), with the first moisture barrier material (50) having superior wear resistance in comparison to the second moisture barrier material (51). The first moisture barrier material (50) is utilized in areas requiring additional wear protection.
US07765609B2

The invention is an apparatus and method for a protective cover to protect a user's shoulder area during such activities as burping, feeding, or playing with an infant. The cover has two grooves, one to contour around the user's neck region, and another to contour the user's arm region. In one embodiment of the present invention, the cover has multiple layers, wherein least one of the layers is made of a high friction fabric to prevent the cover from slipping off the user's shoulder. In another embodiment of the present invention two elasticized straps are attached to the cover and wrap around the user's neck to prevent the cover from slipping off the user's shoulder. The straps are convenient and easy to use, allowing one to either slip the cover over one's head or quickly fasten or unfasten around the neck.
US07770223B2

In one embodiment of a method and apparatus for protecting data, voice, and video networks from individuals with malicious intent, a real network or network device has a vicarious simulated counterpart that may take the place of the real device or network upon appropriate triggering. The simulated counterpart behaves like the real device, but records the suspect transactions. The integrity of the real network or device is therefore continuously maintained because the suspect is isolated from the real network and the suspect transactions are not passed on to the actual device or network. The recorded transactions may then be analyzed for purposes of exposing the perpetrator, discovering perpetrator behavior patterns, and identifying device or network security weaknesses.
US07770222B2

Systems and techniques are provided for controlling requests for resources from remote computers. A remote computer's ability to access a resource is determined based upon the computer's operating environment. The computer or computers responsible for controlling access to a resource will interrogate the remote computer to ascertain its operating environment. The computer or computers responsible for controlling access to a resource may, for example, download one or more interrogator agents onto the remote computer to determine its operating environment. Based upon the interrogation results, the computer or computers responsible for controlling access to a resource will control the remote computer's access to the requested resource.
US07770221B2

A method and apparatus for integrating intercepted information with information obtained from an at least one data retention source, the method comprising receiving intercepted information from an interception source, receiving information from a data retention source, and analyzing the information received from the data retention source, in association with the intercepted information. The intercepted information can comprise meta data related to the intercepted communications, and/or the contents of the communication themselves. This enables a user such as a law enforcement agency to reveal possibly indirect connections between target entities s wherein the connections involve non-target entities. The method and apparatus combine interception and content analysis methodologies with traffic analysis techniques.
US07770220B2

A system and method for controlling the reproduction of secure documents includes detecting an electronic data storage device of a secure document; reading the electronic data storage device of the secure document; determining rules for accessing the information stored in the electronic data storage device of the secure document; obtaining a user identity; comparing the rules for accessing the information with the user identity; and determining which of the information stored in the electronic data storage device to allow access to.
US07770217B2

Methods and systems for QoS based Web filtering are described. A network access control device either permits or denies access to a web site. The network access control device also contains a mapping table which maps filtering categories to differentiated services values. When a web request is received by the network access control device, a query is sent to a web filtering server. The web filtering server returns a filtering category to the network access control device. The filtering category is mapped to a corresponding differentiated services value. The network access control device grants access privileges to the web request based on the differentiated services value.
US07770215B2

A method for protecting firewall load balancers from a denial of service attack is provided. Packets are received by the firewall load balancer. Each packet has a source and a destination. The firewall load balancer is equipped with a connection database that can contain entries about the packets. Upon receipt of a packet, the connection database is queried to determine whether or not there is an entry for the received packet. If an entry is found in the database, the packet is forwarded to its destination. Otherwise, if the packet was received from a firewall, then a new connection entry for the packet is built and is saved to the connection database and the packet is forwarded on to its destination. If the packet does not have an entry (match) in the connection database and the packet was not received from a firewall, then the packet is forwarded to a firewall.
US07770211B2

Unauthorized access from a network to a terminal is prevented. If a signaling packet received from an external terminal contains a virus, the signaling packet is discarded. If the signaling packet does not apparently contains a virus, an unnecessary part is deleted and the signaling packet is transferred to an internal terminal in response to a polling signal. A port number described in a response packet received from the internal terminal is translated to a different port number. If a session packet received from the external terminal does not conform to a predetermined protocol, the session packet is discarded. If the session packet received from the external terminal conforms to the predetermined protocol, a port number is subject to reverse translation and a resultant session packet is transferred to the internal terminal.
US07770210B2

A projector system of the present invention includes a projector 10 and a personal computer PC as an information terminal, which communicate with each other via a network connection. The projector 10 generates a password required for establishment of the network connection and projects the password on a screen SC. A user of the personal computer PC inputs the password projected on the screen SC. The password is used for authentication of the network connection between the projector 10 and the personal computer PC and cipher communication therebetween. This arrangement of the present invention enhances the convenience of the projector that is capable of establishing a network connection with the information terminal, while ensuring secrecy of communicating data.
US07770207B2

According to an aspect of the invention, a management of each authentication subprocess assures the each authentication subprocess, and assurance contents can be verified by verification side, so that trustworthiness of the whole authentication process can be improved. An authentication system includes authentication entity devices which separately execute authentication subprocesses P1 and P2 and a verification device which verifies the executed contents of each of the authentication subprocesses P1 and P2. The entity device includes a confidential information management unit which manages confidential information, an authenticator generating unit which generates an authenticator using the confidential information, and a context generating unit which generates a specific context pursuant to a specific format from the authenticator and the executed contents.
US07770204B2

Methods, systems, and data stores generate and manage temporarily assigned identities. A requestor issues a request for a service. The request includes an identity used for authenticating the requestor. The identity is used for generating an identity configuration and for generating a temporarily assigned identity that is updated to a protected identity directory. The request and the temporarily assigned identity are transmitted to the service. The service uses the temporarily assigned identity to access the protected identity directory for purposes of authenticating the request. The service uses the authenticated request to access attributes associated with the temporarily assigned identity.
US07770196B1

A set top terminal is disclosed for creating a favorites menu of television programs available for viewing, based on a user's preferences. The terminal receives a television signal from an operations center, extracts individual programs from the signal, and sends one or more of the individual programs to a television for display, based on a selection by the user. The terminal generates an interactive electronic program guide for the selection of programs. The favorites menu of the guide narrows the list of available programs to those most likely of interest to the user. The terminal receives and stores user information, including general demographic information and viewing preference information. The viewing preference information may be received directly from the user, for example by querying the user. Alternatively, it may be learned by tracking the user's viewing habits. The viewing preference information may include, for example, frequently-watched channels, frequently-watched programs, or information related to program content. The user information may be stored in a user profile. Using the user information, the terminal identifies those programs available for viewing that most closely match the user information. A program menu including the identified programs is then generated for display on a television.
US07770194B2

The present invention makes viewers surely view commercial programs.When a commercial program is broadcasted and displayed on a display (7A), a viewer is requested a response. The viewer operates a prescribed key in the ten key (32) of a remote controller (31) for response. If the viewer responds to the response request of the commercial program, points are added to a smart card (10). The viewer can view a pay program using the points recorded in the smart card (10).
US07770177B2

An information processing apparatus includes a thread management unit managing thread information on a per data processing unit basis, and a memory area management unit managing a memory area. The thread management unit stores a thread list containing entry time information that is recorded on a per thread basis as function call time of an operating system from a data processing program. The memory area management unit stores a release queue containing release request time that is recorded on an area unit basis concerning an unreleased memory area in response to a release request, compares the release request time set in each queue component contained in the release queue with the oldest entry time of each queue component in the thread list during a memory area allocation process, and allocates the memory area to the queue component having the release request time set prior to the oldest entry time.
US07770174B1

A method and apparatus for managing data resources on a computing device. One or more data resources are pre-loaded on the device but are not accessible to application programs on the device. A resource manager sits on the device as an intermediary or gatekeeper to manage the data resources. The resource manager maintains a set of access-rights data that indicates for each of the data resources whether a right exists to access the data resource. In response to a request to access or add a given one of the pre-loaded but not yet accessible data resources, the resource manager invokes a network-based rights-acquisition session through which the device acquires a right to access the data resource. The access-rights data is then updated to reflect that an access-right exists, and access is thereafter allowed.
US07770162B2

A method for statement shifting to increase the parallelism of loops includes constructing a data dependence graph (DDG) to represent dependences between statements in a loop, constructing a basic equations group from the DDG, constructing a dependence equations group derived in part from the basic equations group, and determining a shifting vector for the loop from the dependence equations group, wherein the shifting vector to represent an offset to apply to each statement in the loop for statement shifting. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US07770158B2

A method, computer program product, and apparatus comprise providing a Java developer kit class library comprising first Java classes; providing a Java Open Foundation class library comprising second Java classes each containing one or more of the first Java classes; providing a .NET SDK class library comprising .NET classes; providing a .NET language Open Foundation class library comprising first .NET language classes each containing one or more of the .NET classes; wherein each of the .NET language classes presents the same method signature as one of the second Java classes; receiving Java source code defining third Java classes, first calls to the first Java classes, and second calls to the second Java classes; translating the third Java classes into second .NET language classes; and translating the first calls to calls into the .NET SDK class library without modifying the second calls.
US07770142B1

A method for modeling power management in an integrated circuit (IC) includes: specifying a circuit design and a power architecture for the IC, the power architecture including a plurality of power domains for specifying power levels in different portions of the IC; determining a testbench for simulating the IC and a verification plan for evaluating simulation results; using the testbench to simulate variations in power levels of the power domains of the IC; and using the verification plan to evaluate the simulation results for the power domains of the IC.
US07770130B1

A method and apparatus for helping a user to locate new information displayed in a window on a computer display after scrolling the window to a new portion of a document by providing temporary visual clues distinguishing “old” information, also displayed in the window before scrolling, from information not displayed in the window before scrolling. The visual clues are displayed only if the “old” information is displayed in the window before scrolling for more than a predetermined amount of time. According to preferred embodiments the temporary visual clues are implemented to avoid user distraction from his or her main task.
US07770127B2

The invention relates to a method for processing information in a terminal that comprises means for selecting the data group to be processed, and at least one processing means for processing the selected data group. In the method at least a first processing state and a second processing state are determined, as well as a group of functions for said processing means of the data group. In the method the processing state used at a given time is recognized, and a function corresponding to the processing state is set in said at least one processing means of the data group. The invention also relates to a terminal and a wireless communication device applying the method.
US07770114B2

A system for establishing a virtual environment is disclosed. According to an embodiment, the system includes at least one computer terminal for use by a participant for interfacing to the virtual environment and an operation module coupled to the computer terminal for manipulating the virtual environment in response to one or more actions by the participant. The operation module may be adapted to assess the mental dexterity of the participant in the virtual environment. The operation module may also be adapted as a marketing tool for soliciting donations.
US07770113B1

A system and method for dynamically generating a project configuration datasheet. Module and device descriptions are stored in extensible markup language (XML) format. The IDE includes an XSL (extensible stylesheet language) stylesheet. The module and device descriptions are combined with parameterization information as prescribed by the XSL stylesheet to produce a project configuration report. The project configuration report may be formatted in hypertext markup language (HTML) and may be rendered as a visual datasheet by a browser.
US07770109B2

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to arranging content in single and multi-column formats to be displayed using a graphical user interface (GUI). Aspects also relate to utilizing user feedback to determine available screen area for displaying multiple items of the content and arranging and formatting the content for display using heuristics (e.g., rules or logic) that provide guidelines for arranging the content in a readable format while utilizing the available area indicated by the user.
US07770105B2

An apparatus and method for processing a Web page is disclosed. A Web processing unit receives a first Web page from a Web server and displays the first Web page on a screen. The Web processing unit acquires a communication program identified by the first Web page. An external state is monitored and thereby operation information responsive to the external state is generated. The Web processing unit executes the communication program to change the first Web page displayed on the screen to a second Web page according to the operation information.
US07770101B2

A portlet state maintenance system can include a portal page setup component configured to generate a logical form in a single portal page from a multiplicity of forms defined within portlet markup aggregated into the single portal page. A portal state save component further can be configured to save state values for selected portlets defined within the logical form. Finally, a portal state restore component can be configured to restore the saved state values in refreshed portlet markup for the selected portlets. Notably, a refresh timing component further can be configured to embed submit auto-initiation logic in the single portal page responsive to identifying a dynamic refresh requirement associated with the portlet markup in the single portal page. Finally, a portlet markup cache can be coupled to the portal state restore component.
US07770095B2

An apparatus and method are provided including a point-to-point cluster link configured to receive a data packet and determines a cyclic redundancy code check for the data packet. The point-to-point cluster link is configured to add a cyclic redundancy code check bit to the data packet transmitted to the point-to-point inter-cluster link, to clear the cyclic redundancy code check bit when the data packet is received, and to sample a cyclic redundancy code window to identify a corrupted data packet.
US07770090B1

An LDPC decoder, applicable to LDPC codes including codes where check nodes within the same group are connected to a common bit node, successively processes groups of check nodes in a particular iteration, including updating bit nodes in that same iteration responsive to messages generated in response to processing a group of check nodes. Within an iteration, the LDPC decoder may also track the number of unresolved parity check equations, and cease iterating or output to an outer block decoder if that number reaches a local minima or standard minimum, falls below a predetermined threshold, or its rate of change falls below a predetermined threshold, indicating a lack of convergence or false convergence condition. The LDPC decoder may also provide a feedback assist to a demodulator. Also, a novel memory configuration may store messages generated by the decoder in the course of check node processing. The decoder may also employ a novel method for generating check node to bit node messages through a prescribed series of pair-wise computations.
US07770080B2

A method and apparatus are disclosed in which defect behavior in an integrated circuit is discovered and modeled rather than assuming defect behavior in the form of a fault. A plurality of tests are performed on an integrated circuit to produce passing and failing responses. The failing responses are examined in conjunction with circuit description data to identify fault locations. For at least certain of the fault locations, the logic-level conditions at neighboring locations which describe the behavior of a failing response are identified. Those logic level conditions are combined into a macrofault for that location. The macrofault is then validated and can be then used to identify more tests for further refining the diagnosis. Because of the rules governing abstracts, this abstract should not be used to construe the claims.
US07770078B2

An integrated circuit 2 includes a plurality of serial data transmitters 18 and a plurality of serial data receivers 20. On-chip test signal paths 22 with associated on-chip test circuits 24, 26, 28 are provided so as to permit on-chip serial data communication to be performed with test characteristics imposed by the on-chip test circuits 24, 26, 28 thereby providing on-chip stress testing of the data transmitter 18 and the serial data receiver 20.
US07770076B2

The present disclosure pertains to multiple-platter disk drive digital data storage with integrated redundancy operations for improved reliability. Within a single disk drive assembly (300), one or more individual storage platters (304) can be used to store redundant data, enabling recovery of user data in the event that another platter (302) is defective, fails or is otherwise unavailable. “On-the-fly” redundancy operations (FIGS. 6A,6B) can be made transparent to the user or host, and impose no significant speed penalty. A data path switch (26) can reconfigure mappings between logical ports and platter interfaces (210) as needed.
US07770072B2

Systems and methods for performing fault analysis using numerically coded time series data are disclosed. First time series data, including a plurality of first time entries and an associated first data value for each first time entry, may be received for a machine variable for a first printer. Second time series data, including a plurality of second time entries and an associated second data value for each second time entry, may be received for the machine variable for each of a plurality of second printers. For each second printer, a similarity measurement may be determined for the first time series data for the first printer and the second time series data for the second printer. One or more closest matching second printers may be determined based on the similarity measurements. An association may be displayed between the first printer and each closest matching second printer.
US07770066B2

A method for testing a USB (universal serial bus) device includes receiving a USB packet trace output from a USB host, at a USB packet trace converting apparatus, generating at least one token corresponding to the USB packet trace received from the USB host, determining a syntax tree corresponding to the at least one token, and generating a code for a USB host model corresponding to the determined syntax tree.
US07770062B2

A redundancy system that can perform synchronization even if a failure occurs to an application. According to the redundancy system of the present invention, a synchronization data memory area, a management bit map table having a flag created for each segment of the synchronization data memory area, and a management memory area for storing the starting address of the segment are set in each device. In the service application process, a service is performed using one or more segments, a flag corresponding to the segment is set, and synchronization information is written to the management memory each time the segment is written or overwritten. In the read process, each flag in the management bit map table is checked, and if a flag being set exists, the synchronization data is read from the segment corresponding to the synchronization information stored in the management memory, and the flag is reset.
US07770056B2

A technique for creating memory page classification that improves memory dumping efficiency. In one example embodiment, this is accomplished by creating DPCs that substantially maps to operational hierarchy of kernel that includes modules/sub-systems that can allocate and manage the kernel. One or more DPCs associated with the kernel's modules/sub-systems that needs to dumped is then determined upon receiving a computer system panic condition. The memory pages associated with the one or more DPCs are then dumped to an external memory based on the determination.
US07770053B1

Systems and methods are provided for maintaining data integrity in the event of device write failures during a non-disruptive migration. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method is provided. According to the method, a filter driver in a kernel may clone an application write to both a source storage device and a target storage device. The method may detect whether the cloned application write to the source storage device or the cloned application write to target storage device failed. When the cloned application write to the source storage device or the cloned application write to target storage device failed, the method may allow application reads from only one of the source storage device and the target storage device thereafter.
US07770051B2

Various embodiments of the invention provide a frequency shifter to vary the frequency of data transmitted over time, such as to increase and decrease the frequency of test data transmitted over time to verify a digital communication device's ability to receive data having various frequencies within a specific parameter range. The frequency shifter includes a frequency modifier to shift or vary an input clock frequency to a variety of output clock frequencies, such as according to a test protocol. The frequency shifter also includes an elastic data buffer to receive the test data at the input clock frequency and to output the test data at the plurality of output clock frequencies provided by the frequency modifier.
US07770047B2

A gearbox is placed between two clock domains to allow data to be transferred from one domain to the other. Although the two domains may operate at the same clock frequency, typically one domain has a faster clock speed than the other. The gearbox is disposed between the two clock domains to control timing of data transfer from one to the other, by selecting a pattern which identifies when data is made transparent for the transfer. The gearbox allows a number of clock ratios to be selected, so that a particular clock ratio between the two domains may be readily selected in the gearbox for the data transfer.
US07770046B2

An information-processing apparatus for executing processes in mutually independent execution spaces, the processes comprising a first process for managing time information and acquiring and providing clocked time information in accordance with a request; a second process for receiving a request for acquisition of time information, outputting the request to the first process, and acquiring and outputting provided time information; and a third process for outputting a request for acquisition of time information to the second process in accordance with a request from a request source, acquiring time information output by the second process, and providing the acquired time information to the request source.
US07770044B2

An indication that a power supply is ramped up to a threshold level is received. A circuit is woken up in response to receiving the indication if a control field of configuration information is in a first state, and the circuit is not woken up in response to receiving the indication if the control field of configuration information is in a second state.
US07770037B2

A method and apparatus for powering up an integrated circuit (IC). An IC includes a plurality of power domains each coupled to receive power from one of a plurality of power sources. Each power domain includes a power-sensing unit. A power-sensing unit in a first one of the plurality of power domains is coupled to receive a first power ok signal from an upstream power domain, and is configured to assert a second power ok signal to be provided to a second power domain. A power-sensing unit in the second power domain is coupled to detect the presence of voltage in the first power domain, and to receive the first power ok signal. When the power-sensing unit in the second power domain has both sensed the presence of power in the first power domain and received the second power ok signal, a third power ok signal is asserted.
US07770031B2

Systems and methods are provided for protecting electronic content from the time it is packaged through the time it is experienced by an end user. Protection against content misuse is accomplished using a combination of encryption, watermark screening, detection of invalid content processing software and hardware, and/or detection of invalid content flows. Encryption protects the secrecy of content while it is being transferred or stored. Watermark screening protects against the unauthorized use of content. Watermark screening is provided by invoking a filter module to examine content for the presence of a watermark before the content is delivered to output hardware or software. The filter module is operable to prevent delivery of the content to the output hardware or software if it detects a predefined protection mark. Invalid content processing software is detected by a monitoring mechanism that validates the software involved in processing protected electronic content. Invalid content flows can be detected by scanning the information passed across system interfaces for the attempted transfer of bit patterns that were released from an application and/or a piece of content management software.
US07770030B2

A system and method for enabling broadcast programs to be copied once only by consumer recorders includes writing a unique media identification on each blank disk to which content is to copied in a read-only area of the disk before it is initially recorded. Also, a one-way key management media key block is written to the disk. A content key is derived by combining a media key, derived from the media key block, with the media identification. Additionally, to facilitate copying the content one time only, an exchange key is established between the recorder and a sender such as a satellite receiver or a disk player that is associated with the recorder, and the exchange key is modified with one or more special numbers representing control commands including copy once and copy no more. The modified exchange key is then encrypted using the content key to render an encrypted modified exchange key, and the encrypted modified exchange key is then hashed with a nonce to render a bus content key. The bus content key is then used to encrypt the data for copying the data to a disk. Unauthorized attempts to copy the data after the first authorized copy has been made cannot succeed because the media ID is different on subsequent blank media. Further, if illegal clones are manufactured that can calculate the media key, new blank media can change the media key block such that the clones can no longer calculate the correct media key. Authorized players, however, can decrypt the data to display it.
US07770021B2

A processing unit includes a read-only encryption key. Software is loaded into a system memory area from a non-volatile storage device. Software code image that resides in the system storage area includes a prefix value and a suffix value. The prefix value is combined with the master key from the processing unit to create a random value that is the seed for a hashing algorithm. The hashing algorithm uses the seed value with a signature formed from the blocks of code to form a result. Finally, after the last block has been processed, a final result remains. The suffix value is combined with the master key, this hash result is compared with the result that was created using the hashing algorithm on the code. If the two results match, the code is authenticated and is executed. If the results do not match, the code is not loaded.
US07770018B2

In an embodiment, a secure module is provided that provides access keys to an unsecured system. In an embodiment, the secure module may generate passcodes and supply the passcodes to the unsecured system. In an embodiment, the access keys are sent to the unsecured system after receiving the passcode from the unsecured system. In an embodiment, after authenticating the passcode, the secure module does not store the passcode in its memory. In an embodiment, the unsecured module requires the access key to execute a set of instructions or another entity. In an embodiment, the unsecured system does not store access keys. In an embodiment, the unsecured system erases the access key once the unsecured system no longer requires the access key. In an embodiment, the unsecured system receives a new passcode to replace the stored passcode after using the stored passcode. Each of these embodiments may be used separately.
US07770012B2

The present invention provides in a method for providing secure authentication using digital certificates, an improvement to enable the selective transfer of authentication data. The said method comprises presentation of basic authentication data certified by an accepted certifying authority, at the commencement of a secure transaction and transfer of additional individual authentication data units against specific requests, as and when required, thereby eliminating the risks associated with providing any authentication data that is not required for a particular transaction.The instant invention also provides a system and configured computer program product for carrying out the above method.
US07770011B2

The present invention provides in a method for providing secure authentication using digital certificates, an improvement to enable the selective transfer of authentication data. The said method comprises presentation of basic authentication data certified by an accepted certifying authority, at the commencement of a secure transaction and transfer of additional individual authentication data units against specific requests, as and when required, thereby eliminating the risks associated with providing any authentication data that is not required for a particular transaction.The instant invention also provides a system and configured computer program product for carrying out the above method.
US07770010B2

A method for encrypting and decrypting an original data stream comprising: (A) transmitting a copy of a key to an interleaver and to a de-interleaver, wherein the key includes a key-algorithm configured to describe an evolution in time of at least one interleaving parameter; (B) interleaving the original data stream by using the interleaver, wherein the interleaver compensates for a change in latency caused by at least one dynamically changeable interleaving parameter; and (C) recovering the original data stream from the interleaved data stream propagated through the communication channel by using the de-interleaver adapted to communicate with the communication channel, wherein the de-interleaver compensates for a change in latency caused by at least one dynamically changeable interleaving parameter.
US07770009B2

According to the invention, techniques for authenticating that a digitally signed document is genuine. Specific embodiments according to the present invention can determine whether a digital signature was generated by a digital signature generator, or if the digital signature was generated by a third party posing as the digital signature generator. Specific embodiments can provide independent verification of digital signer identity based upon prior signed messages, time/date stamps, and the like. Techniques according to the present invention can be embodied in methods, apparatus, computer software and systems.
US07770007B2

A method and system is provided to integrate the Kerberos security mechanism into the message flow of the signaling operation under the Session Initiation Protocol to allow a SIP client and a SIP proxy to authenticate each other. When the SIP proxy receives an request message, such an INVITE request, from the SIP client, it responds with a challenge message indicating that authentication based on Kerberos is required.In response, the SIP client sends a second request message with a proxy authorization header containing authentication data, including a Kerberos server ticket for the Proxy, to allow the proxy to authenticate the client's user.
US07770004B2

Methods and systems are provided for sharing images over a network. A first user selects an image for sharing and designates an image recipient. Metadata for the first image is transmitted from the first user's terminal to the image recipient's terminal. At least partly in response to receiving the metadata, the image recipient's terminal transmits a request for the first image at a first resolution to the first user's terminal. In response to the request, the first user's terminal transmits the first image at the requested first resolution to the image recipient's terminal.
US07770003B2

A method according to one embodiment may include: receiving a first encrypted signal at a server of a computing network, the first encrypted signal comprising firmware encrypted by a first encryption algorithm having a first complexity level; sending a second encrypted signal over the computing network to at least one managed client in response to the first encrypted signal, the second encrypted signal comprising the firmware encrypted by a second encryption algorithm having a second complexity level, wherein said first complexity level is greater than said second complexity level; and updating existing firmware of the at least one managed client in response to receipt of the second signal at the at least one managed client. Of course, many alternatives, variations, and modifications are possible without departing from this embodiment.
US07769999B2

The present invention discloses a method and system for remote password based authentication using smart cards for accessing a communications network. The disclosed method does not require a remote authentication sever to maintain a table of passwords for all users. The disclosed method and system also support mutual authentication. It not only prevents the illegal use of system resources by an impersonator, the user can also authenticate the identity of the remote authentication server.
US07769997B2

A system, method and computer program product for guaranteeing a data transaction over a network are disclosed. When a data transaction between at least a server and a client is detected on a network, data transmitted via the network between the server and client during the data transaction is captured. At least one identifier is associated with the captured data. A timestamp is also generated for the captured data. The timestamp includes information therein identifying at least a portion of the identifier(s). The captured data, the identifier(s) and the timestamp are stored in one or more data stores. The identifier(s) associated with the stored captured data is also mapped to an entry in an index to permit retrieval of the stored data from the data store via the index.
US07769994B2

A secure access system is used to connect an internal network, such as a private LAN, to an external network, such as the Internet. The system is provided with internal and external gateways, for connecting to the respective networks, as well as an inspection evaluator, content inspector, internal certificate authority, internal SSL terminator and external SSL initiator. Packets routed through the access system are inspected before they are forwarded from one gateway to the other, except those packets of designated users of the internal network which are directly forwarded without inspection. Encrypted packets received by the access system are decrypted, inspected, and then re-encrypted before they are forwarded.
US07769993B2

A security circuit in a computer monitors data busses that support memory capable of booting the computer during the computer reset/boot cycle. When activity oil one of the data busses indicates the computer is booting from a non-authorized memory location, the security circuit disrupts the computer, for example, by causing a reset. Execution from the non-authorized memory location may occur when an initial jump address at a known location, such as the top of memory, is re-programmed to a memory location having a rogue BIOS program.
US07769983B2

A method and apparatus for caching instructions for a processor having multiple operating states. At least two of the operating states of the processor supporting different instruction sets. A block of instructions may be retrieved from memory while the processor is operating in one of the states. The instructions may be pre-decoded in accordance with said one of the states and loaded into cache. The processor, or another entity, may be used to determine whether the current state of the processor is the same as said one of the states used to pre-decode the instructions when one of the pre-decoded instructions in the cache is needed by the processor.
US07769981B2

Provided is a parallel processor for supporting a floating-point operation. The parallel processor has a flexible structure for easy development of a parallel algorithm involving multimedia computing, requires low hardware cost, and consumes low power. To support floating-point operations, the parallel processor uses floating-point accumulators and a flag for floating-point multiplication. Using the parallel processor, it is possible to process a geometric transformation operation in a 3-dimensional (3D) graphics process at low cost. Also, the cost of a bus width for instructions can be minimized by a partitioned Single-Instruction Multiple-Data (SIMD) method and a method of conditionally executing instructions.
US07769978B2

Method for transferring data between a host system and a re-programmable non-volatile mass storage system having memory cells organized into blocks of memory cells is provided. The method includes receiving data via a first interface and/or a second interface; and making data accessible via the first interface and the second interface, even if a file name is not provided by a host system or before a write operation is complete.
US07769977B2

An apparatus and a method for managing a storage space through time-variant consumption estimation. More particularly, an apparatus and a method for managing a storage space through time-variant consumption estimation that estimates consumption of an entire storage space when a user instructs program editing, program recording or reserved recording, and so on. When there is a possibility that the estimated consumption exceeds a predetermined value, immediately providing a user with information indicating that the storage space is lacking. The apparatus includes a storage unit storing contents in the storage space, a consumption estimation unit estimating time-variant consumption of the storage space, a contents management unit deleting at least a portion of the contents or storing at least a portion of additionally input contents according to the estimation result, and an output unit outputting the deletion or storage result.
US07769962B2

A system and a method for thread creation where only copied threads share the same stack location for execution, so unrelated threads have individual stack space and can be executed concurrently in multi-processor system. Also, the copy operation of the stack frame is only necessary among the copied threads, so the speed of context switching among individual threads is fast. This operation can be a simple page table modification in the virtual memory management mechanism for further speed up.
US07769959B2

A system may comprise a first node that includes an ordering point for data, the first node being operative to employ a write-back transaction associated with writing the data back to memory. The first node broadcasts a write-back message to at least one other node in the system in response to an acknowledgement provided by the memory indicating that the ordering point for the data has migrated from the first node to the memory.
US07769957B2

A processor prevents writeback race condition errors by maintaining responsibility for data until the writeback request is confirmed by an intervention message from a cache coherency manager. If a request for the same data arrives before the intervention message, the processor core unit provides the requested data and cancels the pending writeback request. The cache coherency data associated with cache lines indicates whether a request for data has been received prior to the intervention message associated with the writeback request. The cache coherency data of a cache line has a value of “modified” when the writeback request is initiated. When the intervention message associated with the writeback request is received, the cache lines's cache coherency data is examined. A change in the cache coherency data from the value of “modified” indicates that the request for data has been received prior to the intervention and the writeback request should be cancelled.
US07769950B2

A cached memory system that can handle high-rate input data and ensure that an embedded DSP can meet real-time constraints is described. The cached memory system includes a cache memory located close to a processor core, an on-chip memory at the next higher memory level, and an external main memory at the topmost memory level. A cache controller handles paging of instructions and data between the cache memory and the on-chip memory for cache misses. A direct memory exchange (DME) controller handles user-controlled paging between the on-chip memory and the external memory. A user/programmer can arrange to have the instructions and data required by the processor core to be present in the on-chip memory well in advance of when they are actually needed by the processor core.
US07769948B2

In one embodiment, a method for accessing a physical storage-device array comprising a plurality of storage devices. The method includes (1) obtaining at least one parameter from a profile selected from two or more profiles concurrently defining two or more virtual arrays, each profile defining (i) a different virtual array associated with a corresponding set of storage devices and (ii) a parameter set of one or more parameters used for accessing the virtual array; and (2) generating an instruction, based on the at least one parameter, for accessing information to the virtual array defined by the selected profile.
US07769946B2

The present invention provides application software with a function of allowing reproduction of an audio-only disk-shaped recording medium by a similar command to that for reproduction of a disk-shaped recording medium for computer data. The function is interposed between a computer controlling operating system and application software.
US07769945B2

Methods for maintaining data structures in accordance with the events of a nonvolatile memory system. At least part of one or more management tables and a future information data structure are stored in a nonvolatile memory. The future information data structure contains records of events expected to occur subsequent to the storing of the future information data structure. When flash memory events occur, those events are handled in accordance with the future information data structure. When the memory system wakes up, the management table(s) is/are retrieved and the records of the future information data structure are compared with the table(s) state. The table(s) is/are updated in accordance with the future information data structure.
US07769943B2

A flash memory includes input/output buffers, a memory array having memory cells coupled to the input/output buffers, and row and column decoders, and a voltage-generator circuit coupled to the row and column decoders. A microcontroller is coupled to the command user interface. Switch-instruction circuitry selectively provides instructions to the microcontroller from the read-only memory and from off chip through on-board t-latches coupled to the input/output buffers under control of a command user interface.
US07769942B2

In a data processing system, a buffer integrated-circuit (IC) device includes multiple control interfaces, multiple memory interfaces and switching circuitry to couple each of the control interfaces concurrently to a respective one of the memory interfaces in accordance with a path selection value. A plurality of requester IC devices are coupled respectively to the control interfaces, and a plurality of memory IC devices are coupled respectively to the memory interfaces.
US07769941B2

An USB matrix switch system provided for a plurality of USB devices shared with a plurality of hosts is disclosed. The system comprises: (1) a plurality of DP PHYs, respectively, corresponding to the USB devices so as to transfer those series signal received from the USB devices to parallel signals; (2) a plurality of UP PHYs, respectively, corresponding to the hosts for transferring signal received therefrom to parallel signals or doing the reversal operation; (3) a plurality of hubs, respectively, corresponding to the UP PHYs, each hub has a digital repeater, a TT, an up router, a down router, and a hub controllers; (4) a signal fetching monitor for fetching a control signal provided by a user; (5) a plurality of signal control switch modules having a down stream port controller, a disconnection emulator, provided for simulating a disconnection status while the down stream port controller is empty, and a select MUX provided for switching a selected USB device to a selected hub in accordance with content of the hot key.
US07769939B2

An interface apparatus (20) such as a docking station interfaces various electronic devices (30, 40, 50) and reduces the number of required connector pins and input/output (I/O) ports. According to an exemplary embodiment, the interface apparatus (20) includes a first circuit (22), a second circuit (24) and a third circuit (26). The first circuit (22) provides an output signal indicating a connection to a first electronic device (10). The second circuit (24) controls a switching function of the interface apparatus (20) responsive to a first electrical signal from the first electronic device (10). The third circuit (26) generates a control signal for controlling a second electronic device (50) responsive to a second electrical signal from the first electronic device (10). The output signal, the first electrical signal, and the second electrical signal are transmitted between the interface apparatus (20) and the first electronic device (10) through a single lead.
US07769928B1

A data storage system having protocol controller for converting packets between PCIE format used by a storage processor and Rapid IO format used by a packet switching network. The controller includes a PCIE end point for transferring atomic operation (DSA) requests, a data pipe section having a plurality of data pipes for passing user data; and a message engine section for passing messages among the plurality of storage processors. An acceleration path controller bypasses a DSA buffer in the absence of congestion on the network. Packets fed to the PCIE end point include an address portion having code indicating an atomic operation. An encoder converts the code from a PCIE format into the same atomic operation in SRIO format. Each one of a plurality of CPUs is adapted to perform a second DSA request during execution of a first DSA request.
US07769927B2

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for acceleration initiated association. A peripheral knock module receives a first knock command from a first accelerometer of a peripheral device. The first knock command comprises a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of peripheral device accelerations. A peripheral identifier module creates a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps. A broadcast module broadcasts a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier.
US07769922B2

A processing system for accessing first and second data types. The first data type is data supplied from a peripheral and the second data type is randomly accessible data held in a data memory. The processing system includes: a processor for executing instructions; a stream register unit connected to supply data from the peripheral to the processor; and a FIFO. The FIFO is connected to receive data from the peripheral and connected to the stream register unit by a communication path, along which the received data can be supplied from the FIFO to the stream register unit. The Processing system also includes a memory bus connected between the data memory and the processor, across which the processor can access the randomly accessible data.
US07769921B2

This storage apparatus includes multiple controllers, a transfer path, and multiple processors. Each of the multiple controllers is connected to the same or a different processor. A first processor connected to a controller that received a transfer command from the host system determines, based on the transfer command, a first controller to become a transfer source of data and a second controller to become a transfer destination of the data, and determines a path belonging to the transfer path between the first controller and second controller. If there are multiple paths, a path in which the number of controllers connected other than to the second controller becomes maximum as a specific path, and the multiple processors transfer data between the first controller and the second controller along with the specific path.
US07769920B2

An information processing apparatus is connected to a recording or playback apparatus having a file system. The information processing apparatus includes a receiver for receiving a command provided by an operating system in response to a file operating request from an application, and a converter for converting the command provided by the operating system into a request which is to be converted into a command based on a communication protocol capable of handling the file system in communication with said recording or playback apparatus.
US07769915B1

Systems and methods of controlling control and/or monitoring devices are provided. A controller can include a software defined radio in order to communicate with control and/or monitoring devices that employ different communication protocols. The controller can be in the form of a memory stick, memory card or dongle.
US07769909B2

An apparatus and method of speculatively decoding non-memory read commands. A command register and decoder, within the apparatus, compares high-order command bits provided on a serial bus with corresponding bits of recognized non-memory read commands. An early non-memory read command is asserted when incoming command bits match a non-memory read command. Early responsive data is prepared speculatively during the time the remainder of command bits is received and decoded. A determination of command speculation correctness is made after receipt of the full command. If the full command received is not the speculated non-memory read command, the prepared data is discarded. Earlier prepared data is produced as the subsystem response if the full command matches the speculative non-memory read command. For incoming commands with operands, such as an address, the same speculative determination based on high-order operand bits is performed.
US07769899B2

Methods, systems, and computer program products for generating a common event format representation of information from a plurality of messages include parsing a rule associated with a current message to determine if a property of a common event format representation for the current message is to be populated with a property value from a previous message. If the rule specifies to obtain the property value from the previous message, the property value is obtained from the previous message and the common event format representation for the current message is populated with the obtained property value from the previous message. The property value may be obtained by generating a computed key based on properties of the current message that are common to the previous message, and identifying the previous message based on the key of the current message. The rule associated with the current message may also be parsed to determine if the property of the common event format representation for the current message is to be populated with a property value determined by specified code. If the rule specifies to obtain the property value using the specified code, the property value is obtained using the specified code and the common event format representation for the current message is populated with the obtained property value obtained using the specified code.
US07769896B2

In one embodiment, the present invention is a method of dispatching information within a system. The method includes receiving a message. The method also includes extracting address information from the message. The method further includes determining a destination from the address information. The method also includes routing the message to the destination.
US07769895B1

A system and method for ensuring that a web browser displays the highest ranked image format possible for an image is provided. In response to a request from a web browser for a dynamic web page, computer-executable code is integrated with the dynamic web page. The computer-executable code is programmed to determine web browser configuration information and request an image according to a set of image formats which are ranked according to ranking criteria and the web browser configuration information. The modified dynamic web page is sent to the web browser. A request for an image is received from the web browser which executes the computer-executable code. The image request identifies the image format for the image selected. The requested image is generated according to the indicated image format and sent to the web browser for display.
US07769890B2

A system and method for communicating, browsing, verifying and routing data in storage operation systems using network attached storage devices is provided. In some embodiments, the system may include a management module and a media management component connected to the management server, which interoperate with network attached storage devices to provide the communicating, browsing, verifying and routing functions.
US07769889B2

A system and method for providing secure access to a computer system. An access device divides the password into multiple segments and places them in data packets. In one embodiment, an authentication server has multiple addresses, and each packet is sent to a different address. The server then reassembles the password. In another embodiment, when the server receives a password, the server sends an index value back to the access device, which then accesses the server on another address indicated by the index value. Alternatively, the password is sent to multiple addresses for the server, and the server determines whether any of the received packets have been altered. The multiple password packets may be forced to follow different paths to the server, thereby denying hackers the ability to intercept all of the password characters or determine the inter-packet timing factor. The system is effective against passive and active hackers, Trojans, and phishing techniques.
US07769880B2

Various embodiments utilize methods of protecting content, such as Digital Rights Management (DRM), to enable secure playback of content on machines and devices within a local network, such as a home media network. In at least some embodiments, messages and content are delivered using, respectively, a control protocol for streaming and a transport protocol. In at least some embodiments, the control protocol for streaming is Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), and the transport protocol is Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP).
US07769871B2

The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for facilitating end-user access to remote applications based on TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). TCP traffic is packaged into the body of HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) messages, enabling the TCP traffic to be transmitted through HTTP systems in an application-independent manner as if it were native HTTP traffic. TCP traffic therefore flows through firewall systems without requiring access to an external TCP port, and flows through HTTP proxy servers as well. The disclosed technique enables mapping bi-directional TCP messages to HTTP, which is designed for client-initiated message traffic only.
US07769865B1

A central server stores a database of global IP addresses for establishing TCP/IP sessions with other users of computer networks. One user system transfers a data call request to the central server system over a public data network. The central server system identifies the global IP addresses of the calling and called users and determines which ones of the calling and called users is connected to the public data network via a firewall. Depending upon the presence of firewalls, the central server configures the data call to enable direct, point-to-point packet transmission of network packets between the calling and called users without relaying them through the central server.
US07769863B2

A communication system for providing network access over a shared communication link is disclosed. The communication system includes a user access point, a network access point and a communications link. The user access point is coupled to one or more user terminals that access a remote network. The network access point is coupled to the remote network. The communications link couples the user access point and the network access point. The communications link is at least partially controlled by the network access point, which monitors information passed between the remote network and the user access point to create an estimate of future usage of the communications link by the user access point based on the information. The network access point allocates communications link resources for the user access point based on the estimate.
US07769860B1

Systems and methods are provided for analyzing policy rules defined for a subscriber and determining packet treatment in a network. Definitions are retrieved pertaining to policy rules for a subscriber. At least one policy point in a network is determined based on the retrieved definitions. The packet treatment is determined at each of the at least one policy point. The packet treatment is shown for each of the at least one policy point. Packets may be injected into the network at injection points and statistics may be collected. The statistics may be compared with results of analyzing policy rules for the subscriber.
US07769854B2

A technique determines whether configured logical bandwidth allotments for logical channels are supported by maximum available physical bandwidths of physical channels assigned to those logical channels. The technique establishes a bandwidth-constraint directed acyclic graph (DAG) or “BCD” based on novel relationship rules between vertexes of the BCD that represent logical channels or unions of logical channels as well as the underlying physical channels and their maximum available bandwidth constraints. Once the BCD is established, the vertexes of the BCD may be traversed (e.g., from in-neighbor vertexes to out-neighbor vertexes) to determine whether their constraints are met.
US07769852B2

Systems, methods, and/or techniques (“tools”) that relate to detecting network-related events and providing notification of the same are described herein. In different implementations, the tools may receive indications of network accesses from users who are remote from a given machine. In response to the indications, the tools may provide notifications of these network accesses to a user who is associated with the given machine.
US07769845B2

An authentication component resides between a server and a client, or on a server, and monitors one or more transactions communicated between the server and the client. When the authentication component detects a transaction that contains a termination indication, the authentication session is terminated, forcing the client to re-authenticate the next time a transaction with the server is desired. The termination indication may have been provided by an application running on the server, or alternatively, the termination indication may be provided by the authentication component.
US07769838B2

A request is received to establish a VPN session with a server-side system from at least one client computer out of a plurality of client computers coupled to a modem within a client-side system. The request contains login details for a user of the at least one client computer. A network address, such as an IP (Internet Protocol) or MAC (Media Access Control) address of the at least one client computer is then determined. The user is authenticated based on the user login details, and a VPN tunnel is established over the modem between the at least one client computer having the network address and the server-side system. The same method is then used for the remainder of the plurality of client computers coupled to the modem within the client-side system.
US07769834B2

Network devices include proxies and where multiple proxies are present on a network, they can probe to determine the existence of other proxies. Where more than two proxies are present and thus different proxy pairings are possible, the proxies are programmed to determine which proxies should form a proxy pair. Marked probe packets are used by proxies to discover each other and probing is done such a connection can be eventually formed even if some probe packets fail due to the marking. Asymmetric routing can be detected and proxies configured for connection forwarding as necessary.
US07769833B2

A network system including a management device with both a status managing unit for collecting status information on a terminal status and a terminal instructing unit for transmitting a shift start message to the terminal to make transfer data to the server on the basis of the status information collected by the status managing unit. The terminal includes a determining unit for determining data transfer in response to the shift start message, a data transferring unit for transferring the data to the server when the determining unit determines the data transfer, a storage device control unit for erasing the data from a storage device after completion of data transfer, and a thin client shifting unit for causing the terminal to function as a thin client after erasure of data.
US07769829B1

Example configurations herein include a media manager associated with a media player that monitors a media feed for available content. Based on monitoring the media feed (e.g., Really Simple Syndication “RSS” feed), the media manager can receive a pointer to a content playback file. According to one configuration, the content playback file specifies retrievable content (e.g., as specified by pointers therein) and includes instructions indicating how to play back the retrievable content. Upon execution of the content playback file, the media player initiates retrieval of the content as specified by pointers in the content playback file. The media player can initiate playback of the retrieved content in accordance with markup language type playback instructions as specified by the content playback file.
US07769828B2

A method, system and computer program product for dynamically establishing a client's Time Sharing Option (TSO) and/or Interactive Productivity System Facility (ISPF) session and maintaining the client's TSO/ISPF session on a zero-downtime/operating system (z/OS) host over multiple service calls. A session provisioning and maintenance (SPM) utility determines whether a TSO/ISPF session exists for a client making a request for a TSO/ISPF service. When a TSO/ISPF session does not exist for the client, session establishment is initiated by generating a TSO initialization module in a new UNIX System Services (USS) process. Session establishment involves initializing a user's own TSO address space through USS and using USS service call API's to make TSO/ISPF service call requests in the TSO address space. The SPM utility maintains the client's TSO/ISPF session over multiple service calls, bypassing the overhead of having to establish a new session for every service request which requires TSO/ISPF services.
US07769825B2

A runtime architecture for web services utilizes a container driver to accept an invoke request for web services, such as from a protocol adapter. The container driver performs any necessary data binding and unbinding required to process the invoke request and associated message context, utilizing an appropriate plugin component. An interceptor receives the context information from the container driver and modifies the message context for web service compatibility. An invocation handler receives the formatted context information from the container driver and passes parameters from the message context to the target of the request. The invocation handler processes values returned from the target and passes these values to the container driver. The container driver can then formulate a response to the invoke request, and return the response and message context to the client or protocol adapter.
US07769817B2

A method, article of manufacture and apparatus for assisting an electronic mail (e-mail) response message by providing e-mail messages related to an open e-mail message. Specifically, the method determines whether an available e-mail message is related to the open e-mail message. Available e-mail messages may include unopened, previously opened, or incoming e-mail messages. As such, the user is warned of all relevant e-mail messages before responding with a reply message or a forward message.
US07769812B2

An image communication apparatus includes a transmitter that transmits an e-mail with data attached, via a computer network, a receiver that receives an e-mail with data attached, via the computer network, and a controller that converts the attached data into image data. The controller judges whether or not the received e-mail is an error mail, the error mail being related to the e-mail transmitted by the image communication apparatus, based on a search of a header of the received e-mail for a predetermined character string. The predetermined character string is related to a sender of the error mail. The controller determines that the received e-mail in the error mail, when the result of the search indicates that the header of the received e-mail includes the predetermined character string.
US07769810B1

A system for collaborative editing may include a viewer to open a master copy of an electronic document in a local editor, a first queue to store edit operations requested by the local editor, a second queue to store edit operations requested by the remote editor, an update detector to detect a request from the remote editor to perform an edit operation on a remote copy of the electronic document, an update module to perform the edit operation on the master copy of the electronic document and to update the second queue with the edit operation, and a distributor to propagate the edit operation to the remote copy of the electronic document.
US07769808B2

The input unit stores data input by the user in the data storage. The status determiner determines reception status of the screen data to be one of three statuses of “abnormal”, “normal”, and “recovery” from “abnormal” to “normal” on the basis of frame losses. In a case of the “abnormal” status, a transmission controller does not read the input data stored in the data storage. In a case of the “normal” status, the transmission controller reads the input data stored in the data storage, transmits the input data via the transmitter, and deletes the input data stored in the data storage. In a case of the “recovery” status, the transmission confirmer instructs the output unit to output the input data stored in the data storage to ask the user whether to transmit the input data to the server.
US07769805B1

A system for personalizing a user experience on a mobile computing device is provided. The system includes a user environment component associated with the mobile computing device. The user environment component is operable for generating a navigational data associated with interactions with the mobile computing device by the user. The system includes a server in communication with the mobile computing device and has an associated user environment manager component. The user environment manager component is operable for processing the navigational data and cache information associated with the user interactions. The server is operable for using the navigational data and other user information to select content to be provided to the user environment component.
US07769804B2

The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or methods that expand input data. An interface can obtain input data and a wildcard insertion component can modify the input data to include at least one implicit wildcard inserted at an end of each intended word. Additionally, an expansion component can generate a candidate list of expanded data based at least in part on the input data including the at least one implicit wildcard utilizing a language model that provides likely expansions of wildcards. Further, the expansion component can evaluate the input data at a server side.
US07769803B2

A tree-structured index to multidimensional data is created using naturally occurring patterns and clusters within the data which permit efficient search and retrieval strategies in a database of DNA profiles. A search engine utilizes hierarchical decomposition of the database by identifying clusters of similar DNA profiles and maps to parallel computer architecture, allowing scale up past to previously feasible limits. Key benefits of the new method are logarithmic scale up and parallelization. These benefits are achieved by identification and utilization of naturally occurring patterns and clusters within stored data. The patterns and clusters enable the stored data to be partitioned into subsets of roughly equal size. The method can be applied recursively, resulting in a database tree that is balanced, meaning that all paths or branches through the tree have roughly the same length. The method achieves high performance by exploiting the natural structure of the data in a manner that maintains balanced trees. Implementation of the method maps naturally to parallel computer architectures, allowing scale up to very large databases.
US07769785B2

A system and method for interfacing index based and iterator based file management routines. In general, the disclosed system maintains an iterator cache having multiple iterators. Each active iterator is associated with a most recently used directory entry. Upon receiving an index based request, the iterator closest to the index based request is identified. If the index based request is closer to the top of the directory than it is to the closest active iterator, the directory entries are sequentially examined beginning at the top of the directory with the first entry. Otherwise, the system deternines whether the index based request is located above or below the closest iterator. If the index based request is above the closest iterator, the system steps backward beginning with the directory entry associated with the closest iterator until the directory entry associated with the index based request is located. If the closest iterator is located below the closest iterator, the system steps forward through the directory entries beginning with the directory entry associated with the closest iterator until the requested directory entry is located.
US07769774B2

A mechanism for routing content to a person or group of persons for review and evaluation. This mechanism involves receiving the content and analyzing the content to generate identifiers of subject matter of the content. Subject matter categories are then determined to be associated with the content based on the analysis. The mechanism then retrieves profiles for people that are authorized to review and evaluate content. These profiles include identifiers of categories of knowledge that indicate areas of knowledge held by an associated person. A person is then selected based on the subject matter categories and categories of knowledge. The content may then be routed to a client computing device associated with the selected person or group or persons.
US07769768B2

Folders of data from disparate application programs are organized in conformity to a reference taxonomy. A reference taxonomy for representing an organization of stored data found in multiple disparate application programs is created. Each application taxonomy from the multiple disparate application programs is compared to the reference taxonomy by a user. If the user decides to use the reference taxonomy, then the reference taxonomy replaces the application taxonomy for each of the multiple disparate application programs.
US07769767B2

A system and method of contextually filtering content presented to a user on a mobile device based on contextual tagging. The user controls how content will be filtered by the mobile device by creating contextual tags and associating or tagging content with the contextual tags. The contextual tag includes a contextual behavior that is either satisfied or not based on the current context of the mobile device. During operation, content accessible to the mobile device is searched to determine which contextual tags are met based on the current context of the mobile device. Content tagged with contextual tags whose behavior is currently met based on the current context of the mobile device are filtered and presented to the user. This allows the automatic presentation of a more manageable subgroup of content to the user on the mobile device based on the current context of the mobile device.
US07769763B1

A system for generating a model is provided. The system generates, or selects, candidate conditions and generates, or otherwise obtains, statistics regarding the candidate conditions. The system also forms rules based, at least in part, on the statistics and the candidate conditions and selectively adds the rules to the model.
US07769762B2

A method and system are described for generating consolidation groups. An example method includes obtaining a plurality of data type indicators of data types, wherein each data type indicator is associated with a hierarchical subtype of the data type; generating a first subtype indicator of a first hierarchical subtype associated with a first data type indicator in a first hierarchical subtype relationship; generating a first parent list including one or more representations of one or more of the data types associated with the first hierarchical subtype; generating a second subtype indicator of a second hierarchical subtype associated with a second data type indicator in a second hierarchical subtype relationship; generating a second parent list including a representation of one of the plurality of data types associated with the second hierarchical subtype; and generating a first consolidation group based on combining the first subtype indicator with the second subtype indicator.
US07769752B1

A method and system for browsing a document repository are described. According to one embodiment of the invention, one or more hierarchies of categories are generated. For each category in each hierarchy, a search query is generated and assigned to the respective category. The search queries are executed against documents in a document repository and, based on the results of the search queries, a category-to-documents mapping table is updated to indicate the documents that are associated with each category. The categories for which there are associated documents are displayed to a user via a visual interface. As the user selects one or more categories to browse, the hierarchical categories displayed to the user are automatically and dynamically updated to reflect the number of documents associated with the category, based on the user's category selection.
US07769751B1

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that automatically classifies documents (such as web pages) based on user inputs. During operation, the system obtains a “classified” set of documents which are classified as relating to a specific topic. The system also obtains queries related to the specific topic. These queries produce “query results” which enable the user to access documents related to the query. The queries also include “click information” which specifies how one or more users have accessed the query results. The system uses this click information to identify documents in the classified set of documents which are not related to the specific topic or are off-topic. If such documents are identified, the system shifts the identified documents so that they are regarded as off-topic and/or spam, and removes the identified documents from the classified set of documents.
US07769749B2

This disclosure describes systems and methods for categorizing web pages. Web pages and terms selected from those web pages are organized in a matrix. The number of terms in the matrix are filtered using a Laplacian score algorithm. A linear regression algorithm or some other algorithm may use the filtered set of terms to fit the web pages into pre-defined categories.
US07769747B2

A method and apparatus for generating a service data object based service pattern for an EJB model is provided. Definitions of session bean façade, SDOs, and queries are defined in entity beans. When the definitions are processed, SDOs, related SDOs, and queries for SDOs are added to the session bean façade. At run time, a client may manipulate the SDOs and apply changes to the SDOs via a mediator obtained from a mediator cache. The mediator persists the SDOs to a data graph without interfering the entity bean.
US07769744B2

A method of accumulating and aggregating statistics concerning the use of database table indexes includes using a plurality of counters to register index use. The plurality of counters allow multiple instances of index usage to be recorded simultaneously. A missing index may be detected using an optimal index in a query plan. The optimal index is compared against the available indexes to determine if an index is missing. Statistics may be gathered against the used and missing indexes.
US07769742B1

Methods and systems for a web crawler scheduler that utilizes sitemaps from websites are described. A web crawler scheduling system receives a notification from a website or web server. In response to the notification, the system accesses one or more sitemap(s) for documents associated with the website or web server. The system schedules crawls of the documents based on information identified from the sitemaps. The system crawls at least a subset of the documents scheduled for crawling.
US07769738B2

The present invention is related to methods and systems for processing search requests and for performing searches over a network. In an embodiment, a recipient designation is received from a user over a network. The designation indicates that future searches performed by the user are to be associated with the recipient (even if the subject matter of the search is not related to the recipient). A search request is received from the user; causing a search to be performed in response to the search request. An identifier corresponding to the recipient is stored in association with an indication regarding the occurrence of the first search request.
US07769736B2

System and method for efficient issuance of queries, such as DirXML script queries, by a policy for a value of an attribute of an object of the target system are described. In one embodiment, the method comprises, responsive to issuance by a policy of a query for a value of a designated attribute of a designated object of a target system, checking a result cache associated with the target system to determine whether the value for the designated attribute of the designated object is stored therein; responsive to a determination that the value for the designated attribute of the designated object is stored in the result cache, returning the value stored in the result cache to the policy; and responsive to a determination that the value for the designated attribute of the designated object is not stored in the result cache, querying the target system for the value of the designated attribute of the designated object.
US07769734B2

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to managing resource locks and provide method, system and computer program product for managing long-lived resource locks. In a first embodiment, a data processing system for managing long-lived resource locks can include one or more work items disposed in a database of work items, each of the work items including a lock time and a lock flag. The system also can include one or more worker tasks in a work system enabled to access the work items and to assert locks on the work items. Notably, the system can include a stale lock detection task in an administration system enabled to detect and release stale locks in the work items. Finally, the system can include a lock assertion task in the work system enabled to maintain locks on the work items on behalf of corresponding ones of the worker tasks utilizing the work items.
US07769726B2

A method for metadata verification of a data repository of a computer system is described comprising accessing a data repository through a data profiler program, querying the data repository for metadata information about the data repository, presenting statistics regarding the metadata information using the profiler, analyzing the metadata information to identify suspect metadata information from the data repository and presenting the suspect metadata information for inspection using the profiler.
US07769725B2

A storage device implements a file profiling mechanism to minimize fragmentation. A plurality of files is organized according to a high or low read/write access frequency. A plurality of unchanging file types are placed in a first grouping. A plurality of oscillating file types are placed in a second grouping adjacent to the first grouping. A plurality of the high frequency read/write access files which are growing file types are placed in a third grouping adjacent to the second grouping. A remainder of the growing file types not placed in the third grouping is defragmented. The remainder of the growing file types is then placed in a fourth grouping adjacent to the third grouping.
US07769720B2

In one embodiment, a system and a method for migrating a server from one physical platform to a different physical platform pertain to converting a first server for use on a first physical platform into a virtual server and converting the virtual server into a second server for use on a second physical platform, the second physical platform being different than the first physical platform such that the conversions effectively migrate the first server from the first physical platform to the second physical platform.
US07769719B2

A method and system for replicating a file system organized as a data structure from a source server to a target server. The replication process preserves the order of the inode table entries from the source file system to in the target file system at all stages of the replication process, as well as the internal consistency of the replica of the data structure on the target server. This replication eliminates use and employment of a map as the order of the inode index is preserved during the replication process.
US07769716B2

A data warehouse characterized by a plurality of fact tables and at least one dimension table is backed up. For fact tables that are static, those fact tables are backed up using a first backup method that is, for example, optimized for static data. For example, the first backup method may be at the file system level, below the database level, and can be a very time and computationally efficient way to synchronize blocks of data. Thus, for example, the first method may be a method that is not “database-aware” and does not consider the database structure in its backup processing. For fact tables that are dynamic, those fact tables are backed up using a second backup method. For example, the second backup method may account for the dynamic nature of data in the portion being backed up by being, for example, “database aware.” In addition, the at least one dimension table is backed up. By treating the fact tables in this way for backup, the process of backing up a data warehouse can be made more efficient overall.
US07769703B2

A system in accordance with the invention uses an adaptive element to augment a filter for tracking an observed system. The adaptive element only requires a single neural network and does not require an error observer. The adaptive element provides robustness to parameter uncertainty and unmodeled dynamics present in the observed system for improved tracking performance over the filter alone. The adaptive element can be implemented with a linearly parameterized neural network, whose weights are adapted online using error residuals generated from the Filter. Boundedness of the signals generated by the system can be proven using Lyapunov's direct method and a backstepping argument. A related apparatus and method are also disclosed.
US07769701B2

We have discovered a system and method for improving the quality of information extraction applications consisting of an ensemble of per-user, adaptive, on-line machine-learning classifiers that adapt to document content and judgments of users by continuously incorporating feedback from information extraction results and corrections that users apply to these results. The satellite classifier ensemble uses only the immediately available features for classifier improvement and it is independent of the complex cascade of earlier decisions leading to the final information extraction result. The machine-learning classifiers may also provide explanations or justifications for classification decisions in the form of rules, other machine-learning classifiers may provide feedback in the form of supporting instances or patterns. Developers control the number and type of classifiers in the satellite classifier ensemble, the pre-deployment training of these classifiers, and the features monitored by the implemented satellite classifier ensemble.
US07769694B2

In a postage payment system, a secure integrated circuit (IC) card is used to manage postage funds, and created encrypted postage indicia. Among other things, the system is capable of performing charge-back accounting of postage expenses and generating mail contents. In accordance with an aspect of the invention, the postage indicia are applied onto selected locations of the mail contents while they are being generated. In the preferred embodiment, each mail content is placed in a window envelope such that the postage indicium on the mail content exposes through a window of the envelope to facilitate inspection of the indicium. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, by including transactional data in addition to the traditional postal data in a postage indicium, the indicium can be used to pay bills, purchase products and services, including any courier service different than the postal service.
US07769687B2

The present invention provides a system and method for facilitating commercial transactions involving the exchange of monetary value for goods, services, or other value between remote individuals, as in the case of transactions between users of a distributed computer network such as the Internet. Remote individuals are provided with a convenient, cost-efficient, and secure means for engaging in commercial transactions with one another. The invention provides remote sellers with an irrevocable means of receiving funds from a remote purchaser; means for improving purchaser willingness to transact with an unknown party; transaction tracking; and rapid funds availability. The invention also provides remote purchasers with means for making a secure, confidential transfer of funds; means for immediate initiation of shipment by a seller; means for releasing funds to a seller only after approval of the goods, services, or other value; means for demonstrating proof of payment; and means for having some level of recourse against a remote seller.
US07769685B2

The invention relates to an investment risk minimization system involving a venture capital investor and a venture needing investment from the venture capital investor. In such a system, an exemplary method can include providing an investment to a venture having an intellectual asset, and receiving a security interest in the intellectual asset. The security interest secures an ownership right upon failure by the venture to meet established parameters. Further, if the venture receiving the investment fails to meet the established parameters, the method includes obtaining an ownership interest in the intellectual asset, valuing the intellectual asset, and transferring the intellectual asset to a charitable organization.
US07769680B2

In various embodiments, a data signal is received from a computer system. The data signal includes an order for an instrument and further includes an indicator. The indicator indicates that the order is one of a real order or a test order. The order is a test order. A test order that specifies a bid cannot bind an originator of the test order to tender money. A test order that specifies an offer cannot bind the originator of the test order to tender the instrument. The order is matched to another order. Whether the order is a test order or a real order is determined, based at least in part on the indicator.
US07769677B2

A method is provided for fulfilling a pair trade request and includes the steps of receiving a plurality of pair trade requests; executing a transaction for a first portion of one of the plurality of pair trade requests and matching a second portion of the one of the plurality of pair trade requests against another of the plurality of pair trade requests.
US07769669B1

An electronic netting system. The system may include: (a) a plurality of individual, segregated counterparties for providing bilateral trades, (b) a multi-lateral transaction hub, and (c) a trading system in communication with the transaction hub. The multi-lateral transaction hub may be for (i) providing an aggregation of trades between the counterparties, (ii) providing for multi-lateral netting of selected and authorized bilateral trades, and (iii) apportioning the accumulated trade values among the counterparties according to pre-determined netting parameters including a weighted distribution selectable by at least one of the counterparties. The transaction hub may include: (i) a trade processing system and (ii) a netting system in communication with the trade processing system for providing for the optimized, multi-lateral netting of selected and authorized bilateral trades and apportioning the accumulated trade values among the counterparties.
US07769668B2

A system and method for facilitating trading of financial instruments. According to one embodiment, an application receives an indication of interest to trade a financial instrument by a first party, provides the indication of interest to other parties without disclosing a side of trade, receives an offer to trade the financial instrument by a second party based on the provided indication of interest, a side of trade being associated with the offer by the second party but not disclosed to the first party, and receives either a rejection or an acceptance of the second party's offer by the first party.
US07769662B2

A method and system for calculating a tax credit obtains a tax function T(A), a value for deduction (D), and a value for an income amount (A) at which a computation is based. The method and system computes a tax credit C=k(T(A)−T(A−(D−C))). The calculation may be done non-recursively or recursively by calculating values Cn+1=k(T(A)−T(A−(D−Cn))).
US07769658B2

The present invention relates to a commission management system and method for managing soft dollar and commission recapture services over communications network. The system and method pays the invoices from the soft dollar commission account after the client views and approves invoices online.
US07769654B1

Methods for determining a range of fair value prices for equity research to be supplied by a sell-side firm to a buy-side firm. The range of fair value prices may be used, for example, to frame the discussions between the sell-side firm and the buy-side firm over the price of equity research supplied by the sell-side firm. For example, the parties may engage in discussion discussions as to which determined fair value price or prices are most appropriate to the parties' circumstances. A number of different pricing techniques are disclosed.
US07769653B2

A method of constructing a value index and a growth index is disclosed. The method includes, determining a value of each variable in a group of variables for each security in a group of securities, determining a standardized score of each variable for each security, and determining an overall value standardized score and an overall growth standardized score for each security. The method further includes positioning each security in a two-dimensional style space and allocating each security to at least one of the growth index and the value index based on each security's distance from an origin of the two-dimensional style space.
US07769650B2

Network-based systems and methods for hosting and operating a network-based platform that allows clients to open and build a portfolio-swap account that is subdivided into a plurality of client sub-accounts or funds. The methods and systems of the invention allow the client to sub-allocate equity-swap transactions among its various client sub-account or funds as the client deems appropriate.
US07769646B2

A method for processing taxpayer source documents is disclosed. The method may include receiving proforma data and an electronic image of a taxpayer source document, determining a type of tax statement for the taxpayer source document from the electronic image of the taxpayer source document and using the proforma data, a database, and business rules to verify the type of the tax statement for the electronic image of the taxpayer source document. This can be done by searching for an identification code within the electronic image of the taxpayer source document to determine whether the identification code matches the proforma data. The method can also include extracting data from the electronic image of the taxpayer source document and determining if the extracted data from the electronic image of the taxpayer source document has an error. Once the data is extracted, the method can also include creating an electronic document that includes the extracted data.
US07769644B2

The present invention automates the process of receiving transportation documentation and producing advance loading manifests therefrom to optimize load planning and dynamic product shipment and delivery control. Methods provide for receipt of the transportation documentation, initial preparation, and transmission of the documentation from on board a vehicle or while the vehicle is in transit. A remote processor receives the documentation, stores the documentation and feeds the documentation to a load planning software for generation of advance loading manifests from the remote processor and receive them on demand. Further, a mobile data transmission device is provided for use by a driver to communicate transportation documentation, and vehicle information to the remote processor, and, in some applications, can receive instructions for en route alterations of package pickup or delivery. The documentation can reside on a server remotely accessible by customers.
US07769641B2

In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a request for access to a media content asset from a first user of a web-based service, the request specifying a second user that has provided access to the media content asset; retrieving, from a user database, a user entry describing attributes associated with the second user; determining whether the user entry includes digital rights metadata for determining whether the second user is licensed to share at least a portion of the media content asset; and selectively providing the first user with access to at least the portion of the media content asset based on determining from the digital rights metadata that the media content asset is licensed to the second user, and determining that the first user is authorized by the second user to access the media content asset.
US07769635B2

A weight management system comprises a cash register (CRS), a user client (UC) and a weight management module (WM), coupled via a wide area network (WAN). A user has a personal card (PC) with a code, the code identifying the user to the cash register and being related to a user ID. The cash register system (CRS) is arranged for sending, when the user pays the food item, corresponding food intake information and the user ID to the weight management module (WM). The weight management module (WM) comprises a food information system, a calorie intake component and a calorie balance component. The food information system stores a respective calorie content for a plurality of food items. The calorie intake component is coupled to the food information system and calculates an amount of calories taken by the user based on the received food intake information.
US07769632B2

A system for selectively communicating promotional information to a person, includes a sensing system, a storage device, a controller, and a projection device. The sensing system measures a detectable feature associated with the person sensed by the sensing system and the storage device stores a plurality of promotional segments. The controller uses the measured detectable feature associated with the person for selecting one of the stored promotional segments and causing the projection device to project to the person at the predetermined location the selected promotional segment.
US07769630B2

A loyalty or reward point system that utilizes the pre-existing infrastructure of a typical credit card network. In one embodiment, a user makes a purchase at a merchant of a product using a credit card. The merchant contacts the acquiring bank (which may be any type of financial institution but is referred to generically herein as a bank) with which it has contracted for credit card network services, and as known in the art, will get an approval or decline message after the acquiring bank contacts the issuing bank of the credit card used by the purchaser. Assuming that the purchase transaction is approved, the user is awarded loyalty points from the merchant based on the amount of the purchase (e.g. 100 points for a $100 purchase). A central server resides on the credit card network and tracks the transaction between the merchant, the acquiring bank, and the issuing bank. A reward account is maintained on the central server on behalf of the merchant and the user, and the number of reward points in the user's account for that merchant is increased accordingly. In an alternative embodiment, the user's reward points are logged in an account maintained by the acquiring bank on behalf of the merchant (with which it has a contractual relationship) and the user. The user may redeem the reward points earned from the transaction with the merchant at a later time, or may redeem the points with another merchant on the credit card network, or may aggregate those reward points with those of other merchants into a central exchange account, and then redeem the aggregated points for goods or services from any approved merchant on the network, depending on the configuration of the system.
US07769623B2

The invention describes a method and system for conducting online marketing research keeping in consideration the specified budget for the experiment. The invention describes a methodology for effective data collection and optimised utilization of budget through the use of efficient sampling and grouping of users.
US07769620B1

Internet-based software and associated database provide group analysis overlay to monitor client-server web traffic and provide direct marketing to client group. Client car, patient, office or school sensor and interface provides overlay attribute for database comparison to classify usage pattern, location, timing, or family for targeted messaging for enhanced service from server source. Database group registry tracks client classification and provides adaptive context mapping according to set attribute relative to targeted on-line transaction.
US07769614B2

Systems and methods for the collaborative design, construction, and maintenance of fluid processing plants are provided. A collaborative commerce application may provide project management utilities, visualization utilities, dynamic pricing utilities, material procurement utilities, and certification utilities. These features may be integrated seamlessly into the collaborative commerce application. Communication among project team members in the design and construction of fluid processing plants may be made more efficient by providing automatic notifications via the collaborative commerce application. Version control may be used to ensure project team members are working with the latest designs and revisions. Access controls and other security features may be used to prevent confidential data from being disseminated unnecessarily.
US07769612B1

A system and method for facilitating the sale of travel products is disclosed. The system receives travel inquiries from requesters for preferred travel products (905). The system in turn selects and offers the requester an alternate travel product which has a greater value to the seller if sold than the requester's preferred travel product (925). Various systems and methods are disclosed for determining whether an alternate travel product has a greater value to the seller if sold than the preferred travel product. Exemplary determinations are based on profit margin and load factor discrepancy between the preferred travel product and the alternate travel product. The system further provides for the selection and offering of a benefit in conjunction with a requester's acceptance of an alternate travel product, and for the selection of the benefit based on the differences between the requester's preferred travel product and the alternate travel product.
US07769604B1

A health care claim payment system and method receives a claim for a health care service provided to a participant in a benefits plan. The claim is received by a payment services system, and a portion of the claim is payable by the participant. The payment services system remits the portion of the claim payable by the participant on behalf of the participant so that payment can be remitted to the provider in a single payment and accepts risk of delinquency and/or non-payment by the participant. In one example, the health care provider receives payment for the participant portion and employer portion of the claim within 30 days of issuing a health care service.
US07769599B2

Systems and methods for providing finance-related services such as electronic payment delivery are disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment, a payment system is configured to receive a payment message including a type of information, and to add an identification number to the message. The type of information is removed from the payment message, and the revised payment message is forwarded on to an entity responsible for payment. Particular embodiments in accordance with the present invention are suited for removing personal patient information from a HIPAA-compliant payment message, prior to forwarding the revised message over an electronic payment network.
US07769582B2

A method and apparatus are provided for using the uncertainty of a noise-removal process during pattern recognition. In particular, noise is removed from a representation of a portion of a noisy signal to produce a representation of a cleaned signal. In the meantime, an uncertainty associated with the noise removal is computed and is used with the representation of the cleaned signal to modify a probability for a phonetic state in the recognition system. In particular embodiments, the uncertainty is used to modify a probability distribution, by increasing the variance in each Gaussian distribution by the amount equal to the estimated variance of the cleaned signal, which is used in decoding the phonetic state sequence in a pattern recognition task.
US07769578B2

A translated text creator translates a text in which an unknown word is left in an original language representation without being translated, while known words are translated. Translated text created by the translated text creator is displayed. A link setter sets a link for performing a search for the unknown word in a search field of a selected Internet search engine which corresponds to a field of a subject matter of the original text.
US07769574B2

The present invention involves a method of developing a model of groundwater flow with a well configuration. First, a geographic area is specified with one or more related wells. A mathematical model is created of the groundwater flow in relation to the wells with a plurality of layers, each layer having a local flow component and a leakage component. The plurality of layers is modified based on the leakage component of adjacent layers. The simulation of groundwater flow to a collector well, horizontal well, or gallery may thus be accomplished by specifying an array of line-sink elements that represent the lateral arms of the collector well, horizontal well, or gallery. Boundary conditions for groundwater flow to the lateral arms may then be specified. Groundwater flows are then calculated based on the array and boundary conditions, with updating of the boundary conditions during the calculation. Each of the layers may include a component related to frictional head loss. The head losses due to flow into and within the lateral arms may be used to update the layers. Modifications of the models may involve calculating discharge potentials or a head specified condition.
US07769571B2

An improved constraint approach reduces the energy drift rate to acceptable levels. In an embodiment of this approach, massively parallel constrained velocity Verlet NVE (constant particle number, constant volume, constant energy) MD simulations can be run using single precision arithmetic with very low energy drift (e.g., ˜1 Kelvin per microsecond simulated time) using large timesteps (e.g., 2.5 fs) for typical systems and MD force fields.
US07769560B2

In profiling control of a contact type probe in which a contact point is moved along a surface of an object to be measured, while being in contact with the object by a constant measurement force F, a contact determination level is provided for detecting a predetermined force smaller than a target measurement force is applied to the contact point, contact determination is performed at the time when force applied to the contact point reaches the contact determination level during approach, and the contact point is shifted from position control to force control for bringing the contact point into contact with the object by the target measurement force. Thereby contact trace is prevented from occurring on the object to be measured without reducing approach speed as much as possible and lowering measurement efficiency. In this case, a command value of the force control may be interpolated and gradually increased from the contact determination level to the target measurement force, and thus impact increase and over-shoot can be prevented from causing due to high-response.
US07769552B2

A method and apparatus to provide continuous and reliable rotor temperature estimates for line-connected induction motors during steady-state and/or dynamic motor operations. Rotor temperature is calculated from voltage and current measurements without any temperature or speed sensors. First, complex space vectors are synthesized from voltage and current measurements. Second, the instantaneous rotor speed is detected by calculating the rotational speed of a single rotor slot harmonic component with respect to the rotational speed of the fundamental frequency component. Third, the positive sequence fundamental frequency components are extracted from complex space vectors. Fourth, the rotor time constant is estimated in a model-reference adaptive system based on a dynamic induction motor equivalent circuit model. Finally, the rotor temperature is calculated according to the linear relationship between the rotor temperature and the estimated rotor time constant. Real-time induction motor thermal protection is achieved through this continuous tracking of the rotor temperature.
US07769550B2

A stress analysis method uses a thermoelastic stress measurement device to measure measuring stress state acting on an object by measuring material temperature state variation caused by stress, a mechanoluminescence measurement device to measure measuring stress state acting on the object by measuring light emitted from mechanoluminescence material according to the stress and an arithmetic processing device to obtain mechanical information, which includes prescribed stress distribution, by performing arithmetic processing on both the measurement data.
US07769542B2

A memory for storing constraint data describing a constrained area, a location sensor, and a processor operationally coupled to the memory and location sensor for location tracking. In operation, the device acquires real-time location information from the location sensor and calculates a location within the constrained area utilizing the constraint data and the acquired real-time location information. The location sensor may include an accelerometer that produces signals corresponding to a change in speed and a gyroscope that produces signals corresponding to a direction traveled. The processor may calculate a distance traveled over time utilizing the signals from the accelerometer and calculate the location utilizing the calculated distance traveled over time and the direction traveled.
US07769534B1

A diagnostic system for an engine includes an oxygen detection module, a timing module and a control module. The oxygen detection module receives an oxygen signal from an oxygen sensor that detects an oxygen level in an exhaust system of the engine. The oxygen signal has N rich states and M lean states, where N and M are integers greater than or equal to 1. The timing module determines a rich period that the oxygen signal is in at least one of the N rich states and determines a lean period that the oxygen signal is in at least one of the M lean states. The control module detects an asymmetrical error with the oxygen sensor based on a comparison between the rich period and the lean period.
US07769533B2

A system for determining the level of sulphur poisoning of a depollution device integrated into the exhaust line of a motor vehicle engine involves controlling the operation thereof, switching the system between a lean storage mode and a rich storage mode, calculating the sulphur storage speed in the lean mode, calculating the sulphur elimination speed in the rich mode, calculating the quantity of sulphur stored in the depollution device during the operation of the engine and comparing the quantity of sulphur with threshold values for determining a poisoning level of the depollution device.
US07769532B2

A machine is disclosed. The machine may have an engine having a combustion chamber. The machine may also have a first sensor configured to generate a first signal indicative of a speed of the combustion engine. Additionally, the machine may have a second sensor configured to generate a second signal indicative of a desired supplied fuel quantity. The machine may also have a counter configured to generate a third signal indicative of a count. Additionally, the machine may have a fuel injection system having a controller. The controller may be configured to, based on the first, second, and third signals, select one of a plurality of shot modes and generate a corresponding fourth signal. The fuel injection system may also have a fuel injector configured to, based on the fourth signal, inject a quantity of fuel into the combustion chamber.
US07769530B2

For an internal combustion engine with a common rail system including individual accumulators, a process for open- and closed-loop control is proposed, in which the individual accumulator pressure (pE) is detected within a measuring interval and stored, an absolute minimum value of the stored individual accumulator pressure (pE) is interpreted as the end of the main injection, and on the basis of the end of the main injection, a mathematical function is used to calculate a virtual starting time for the main injection. In the measuring interval after the end of the main injection, the individual accumulator pressure (pE) is filtered within a time window, a local minimum value of the filtered individual accumulator pressure is interpreted as the end of a post-injection, and a mathematical function is used to calculate a virtual start of the post-injection.
US07769527B2

An internal combustion engine (100) comprises a fuel injection valve (21, 22) which supplies a first fuel having a higher self-ignitability than gasoline and a second fuel having a higher combustion speed than gasoline such that an air-fuel mixture containing the first fuel and the second fuel is formed in a combustion chamber (14), a spark plug (25) which ignites the air-fuel mixture, and a programmable controller (41) programmed to control supply proportions of the first fuel and the second fuel such that the ignited air-fuel mixture undergoes flame propagation combustion and then undergoes self-ignition combustion. Thus, a reduction in emissions can be achieved, and high thermal efficiency can be realized through the self-ignition combustion.
US07769520B2

A method of controlling tractive force of a vehicle comprising determining a tractive force request of a driver of the vehicle, determining an actual tractive force of the vehicle, and modifying the actual tractive force of the vehicle to be equal to the tractive force request.
US07769518B2

A control device of a lock-up clutch of a torque converter interposed between a transmission and engine used with a vehicle, is disclosed. The control device has a sensor which detects an input rotation speed to the torque converter, a sensor which detects an output rotation speed from the torque converter, a differential pressure control device which controls the differential pressure applied to the lock-up clutch, and a controller which sets a target slip rotation speed of the torque converter; calculates a real slip rotation speed which is a difference between the detected input rotation speed and the detected output rotation speed; and performs feedback control to determine the differential pressure applied to the lock-up clutch so that the real slip rotation speed coincides with the target slip rotation speed. The controller is programmed to: set the target slip rotation speed to a first target slip rotation speed determined from a vehicle running parameter; perform feedback control so that the real slip rotation speed coincides with the first target slip rotation speed; change over the first target slip rotation speed to a second target slip rotation speed according to an error between the first target slip rotation speed and the real slip rotation speed; after changing over, and perform feedback control so that the real slip rotation speed coincides with the second target slip rotation speed; wherein the first and second target slip rotation speeds are different functions of time.
US07769517B2

A lock-up clutch control apparatus for controlling a lock-up clutch (6) provided in a torque converter (5) installed between an engine (3) and a transmission (4), is disclosed. The lock-up clutch control apparatus has a differential pressure generator (7,8) which engages, causes a slip of or disengages the lock-up clutch by adjusting the differential pressure supplied to the lock-up clutch (6); a sensor (11/15) for detecting a rotational speed of the engine; a sensor (16) for detecting an input rotational speed to the transmission; and a controller (1). The controller (1) conducts proportional integration control by using a command signal to the differential pressure generator (7,8), so that an actual slip rotational speed, which is the difference between the engine rotational speed (Np) and input rotational speed (Ni) to the transmission, becomes a target slip rotational speed (Nt). The controller is programmed to conduct integration accumulating the difference (ΔN) between the target slip rotational speed (Nt) and the actual slip rotational speed (SN); to determine whether the accumulated integrated value (I) is equal to or higher than a predetermined integration value (It); and to stop the integration when the accumulated integration value (I) is equal to or higher than the predetermined integration value (It).
US07769516B2

An ECU executes a program including determining whether a mode is a neutral control execution mode, determining whether the mode is a neutral control return mode, detecting a proceeding state of the neutral control return mode when an accelerator is activated during the neutral control return mode, and inhibiting slip start when the mode is in an initial stage of the neutral control return mode.
US07769514B2

A method for damping control of oscillating modes of a continuously variable transmission which is provided with an electric variator by using a heat engine and at least two electric machines. In the method a torque controller of the electric machines is embodied in a form of a sum of a main instruction enabling to attain set torque on a wheel, heat engine torque, and an additional instruction for damping oscillating modes generated by stiffness of a kinematic chain between the heat engine and the wheels.
US07769508B2

In an exemplary vehicle service facility that provides vehicle related sales, maintenance services or the like, a diagnostic tool has wireless packet data communication capabilities. To support voice communication, the tool also has one or more audible input/output transducers and a vocoder, and is configured to use VoIP technology or the like to enable wireless packet data transport of voice calls over the same wireless data links. The packet voice capability can support voice communications with technicians using other tools at the facility or with personnel in an office at the service facility. If the facility has a data link to a wide area packet network, like the Internet, the packet voice capability may also support voice communications with other parties having packet service. Examples are technicians at other locations or various personnel of technical support services for the tools or for different types of vehicles.
US07769505B2

A method of operating a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is provided including the steps of: A) determining whether the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is receiving power from an external power source; B) disabling the operation of the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and executing a thermal program if the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is receiving power from the external power source, wherein the thermal program includes charging a high voltage battery and monitoring the state of charge of the high voltage battery; C) determining if the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle continues to receive power from the external power source; and D) enabling operation of the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle if the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is no longer receiving power from the external power source.
US07769503B2

A method includes controlling an aircraft during descent, and controlling the engine pressure ratio of a jet engine so that the engine has a substantially equal pressure at the exhaust, and at the front of the engine during the descent.
US07769497B2

A method of performing loadflow calculations for controlling voltages and power flow in a power network by reading on-line data of given/specified/scheduled/set network variables/parameters and using control means, so that no component of the power network is overloaded as well as there is no over/under voltage at any nodes in the network following a small or large disturbances. The invented generalized Super Super Decoupled Loadflow (SSDL) calculation method is characterized in that 1) modified real power mismatch at any PQ-node-p is calculated as RPp=[ΔPp′+(Gpp′/Bpp′)ΔQp′]/Vp2, which takes different form for different manifestation of the generalized version SSDL-X′X′ method, 2) transformed values of known/given/specified/scheduled/set quantities in the diagonal elements of the gain matrix [YV] of the Q-V sub-problem are present, and 3) transformation angles are restricted to maximum of −48° particularly for the most successful version SSDL-YY method, and these inventive loadflow calculation steps together yield some processing acceleration and consequent efficiency gains, and are each individually inventive. The other two Super Super Decoupled Loadflow methods: BGX′ version (SSDL-BGX′) and X′GpvX′ version (SSDL-X′GpvX′) are characterized in the use of simultaneous (1V, 1θ) iteration scheme thereby calculating mismatches only once in each iteration and consequent efficiency gain.
US07769493B2

The system for controlling flow characteristics allows a user to selectively modify the inherent fluid flow characteristics of a fluid transmission system including a flow process controller and a control valve positioner. The system includes a programmable flow controller having an input adapted for receiving an input signal from the flow process controller. The programmable flow controller selectively modifies the input signals generated by the flow process controller depending upon user-selectable flow parameters. An output is in communication with the programmable flow controller, with the output being adapted for transmitting output signals to the control valve positioner (and the valve connected thereto). A user interface is provided for inputting the user-selectable flow parameters to the programmable flow controller for modification of the input signal to the user-selectable flow parameters.
US07769487B2

A robotic architecture for capturing the autonomous performance advantages the animal models enjoy in the natural environment is disclosed. A biomimesis process is employed to allow selective utilization of basic physical components and adaptation of a common control paradigm for each of different vehicle types. The biomimetic architecture involves five functional elements: a basic biomorphic plant for capturing the biomechanical advantages of the model organism; a neural circuit-based controller consisting of a finite state machine; myomorphic actuators producing linear graded force in response to trains of current pulses for mediating movements; labeled line code output by neuromorphic sensors; and a reactive behavioral sequencer executing command sequences defined within a behavioral library.
US07769484B2

A setup information generating device for a punch press which can generate setup information on replacement of a punch and a die with compatible tools, that is, replacement among punches and dies identified by the same tool number and used for processing for the same shape and the same size and which can also generate setup information according to processing know-how or the like. The device has a setup information generating device 48 for comparing a processing schedule with tool numbers in a mounted tool information storage device 45 to generate setup information. The device has a compatible tool registering device 38 for registering processing conditions such as material quality and board thickness and information on which of plural types of punches 81 and dies 82 identified by the same tool number are compatible as a punch 81 and a die 82 which meet the processing conditions are registered in accordance with inputs from an operation panel 46. In addition to performing the comparison of the tool numbers, the setup information generating device 48 checks the processing conditions contained in the processing schedule against the compatible tool registering device 38, and compares the obtained compatibility numbers of the compatible punch 81, and die 82 with the compatibility numbers stored in the mounted tool information storage device 45.
US07769483B2

A detection signal representing changes of an object observed can be easily transmitted to any desirable site, without performing complex adjustment to use the signal. An AE sensor is provided on an appropriate part of the circumferential surface of a rotating-side chuck which holds a workpiece. A signal-transmitting unit is provided in a space made in the rotating-side chuck. A signal-receiving unit is mounted on an appropriate part of a main section on which the rotating-side chuck is provided. The signal-transmitting unit transmits by radio a detection signal generated by the AE sensor. The signal-receiving unit receives and demodulates the detection signal, generating a signal that will be processed in signal processing.
US07769472B2

An implantable electrical lead may include a conformable array of electrodes. The array of electrodes may be distributed across a rounded surface to position the electrodes in various positions and orientations relative to a target stimulation site. The lead may be useful in a variety of applications such as spinal cord stimulation to alleviate chronic pain, gastrointestinal stimulation to alleviate gastroparesis or obesity, pelvic floor stimulation to alleviate incontinence or sexual dysfunction, or deep brain stimulation to alleviate neurological disorders.
US07769471B1

In one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a biological electrical stimulus cable assembly, comprises: providing a cable portion including a plurality of first conductive wires; removing a first portion of the insulative material from a surface along the length of the insulative material at a first location to expose only one of the first conductive wires; electrically connecting a second conductive wire to the first exposed wire surface; wrapping the second conductive wire about the cable portion a plurality of times around the cable portion such that the second conductive wire forms a substantially continuous band; electrically connecting a second end of the second conductive wire to a conductive surface; and providing an electrode over the band formed by the second conductive wire, wherein the band formed by the second conductive wire extends along at least a majority of the length of the electrode.
US07769465B2

System and method for monitoring and controlling, defibrillation and pacing which allows a victim of a cardiac rhythm abnormality immediate access to a medical professional at a central station, who will remotely monitor, diagnose and treat the victim at one of a plurality of remote sites in accordance with the following steps: (1) providing a plurality of contact electrodes for a victim at a remote site for the receipt of ECG signals and for the application of electrical pulses to the victim; (2) transmitting the signals from the remote site to a central station and displaying them for review by the medical professional; (3) the medical professional selecting from a menu of defibrillation and pacing pulses, if the application thereof is appropriate; (4) transmitting the selection results to the remote site; and (5) receiving the selection results at the remote site and applying the selected pulses to the victim.
US07769463B2

A therapeutic electrostimulation apparatus and method operates to supply electrostimulation signals to three channels. The basic electrostimulation signal for each of the channels is the same; and this signal is applied to a transcranial electrostimulation set of output electrodes. A second channel provided with the same signal is further operated to modulate the signal with a dual frequency signal pattern for the application of the second channel signal to a second set of electrodes, typically applied to the body near the spinal area. A third channel supplied with the basic electrostimulation signal modulates the electrostimulation signal during a portion of a treatment session with a diapason of frequencies varying randomly, and the output of this channel is applied to a set of electrodes at a local area for therapeutic treatment.
US07769457B2

EMI shields for use in implantable medical devices that include inner and outer metal layers separated by a dielectric layer. When assembled as medical devices, the outer metal layer of an illustrative EMI shield is placed into electrical contact with a conductive inner surface of an associated canister for an implantable medical device.
US07769455B2

A method and an apparatus for projecting an end of service (EOS) and/or an elective replacement indication (ERI) of a component in an implantable device is provided. The method comprises measuring the measured voltage of the energy storage device, and determining whether the measured voltage is less than a transition voltage. When the measured voltage is less than the transition voltage, determining a time period remaining until an end of service of the energy storage device is based upon a function of the measured voltage. When the measured voltage is greater than or equal to the transition voltage, determining a time period remaining until an end of service of the energy storage device is based upon a function of the total charge depleted. The transition voltage is a voltage associated with the transition point of non-linearity in the battery voltage depletion curve.
US07769451B2

In some embodiments, a method for optimizing cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) may include one or more of the following steps: (a) conducting a baseline measurement of a physical parameter of a patient before initiating CRT, (b) performing an implantation process including implanting a pacing device and pacing leads in the patient, the pacing device and pacing leads for providing the CRT, (c) initiating CRT on the patient, (d) measuring the physical parameter of the patient after initiation of the CRT, (e) comparing the measured physical parameter after initiation of the CRT to the baseline measure of the physical parameter to analyze the patient's response to the CRT, (f) adjusting the CRT during the implantation process to try and improve the patient's response to the CRT, and (g) repositioning at least one of the patient leads during the implantation process to try and improve the patient's response to the CRT.
US07769446B2

Various aspects relate to a device which, in various embodiments, comprises a header, a neural stimulator, a detector and a controller. The header includes at least one port to connect to at least one lead, and includes first and second channels for use to provide neural stimulation to first and second neural stimulation sites for a heart. The controller is connected to the detector and the neural stimulator to selectively deliver a therapy based on the feedback signal. A first therapy signal is delivered to the first neural stimulation site to selectively control contractility and a second therapy signal is delivered to the second neural stimulation site to selectively control one of a sinus rate and an AV conduction. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein.
US07769443B2

An implantable spool is used for spooling the excess wiring associated with a lead that extends between at least one electrode and a pulse generator of an electrical stimulation implant system. The present invention also has application to providing a spool for coiling tubing of an implantable drug delivery system. Embodiments of the invention include a method of implanting an implantable system in a body, wherein the implantable system includes a source unit and an elongated member. A method of assembling an implantable system is also described.
US07769434B2

In a method of analyzing patient physiological data, the data is subjected to principal component analysis and compared to a model physiological data principal component analysis. The comparison is used to identify correlations present in the morphology of the patient physiological data. The present invention further includes determining a confidence interval for the detection of a morphological feature and utilizing this confidence interval for improving the quality of the detection of morphological features of the patient physiological data, including automated morphological feature identification.
US07769416B2

A system and a method for implementing an energy-efficient multimedia messaging system to improve mobile device usability and maximize mobile device battery life. The disclosed system includes a hierarchical messaging system for multimedia content leveraging short message service (SMS), an embedded system-based new interface device, and the Internet capability of mobile network access devices which support programmatic control for a power optimization policy. This system reduces energy overhead in network access devices and improves the usability of the multimedia messaging service.
US07769415B2

The invention provides a system and method for controlling operation of a communication device. The communication device comprises: a casing for housing a display and a keyboard; and a microprocessor controlling aspects of the keyboard and display. The invention provides a power application operating on the microprocessor. The application monitors activation cycles of the device, stores activation data related to the activation cycles and identifies a new activation cycle for the device utilizing an activation pattern derived from the activation data.
US07769402B2

A method and apparatus for providing adaptive bearer configuration for MBMS delivery is disclosed. A first aspect of the present disclosure is a method of operating a wireless infrastructure entity (103) wherein a plurality of common radio resources (303) are allocated for receiving combined responses from a plurality of mobile stations (109). A request message, similar to a request for counting, is broadcast to all mobile stations (109) within a coverage area (105) and may indicate a range, for example a signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio range. Mobile stations (109) responding to the request, use specific resources (303) corresponding to respective range values. The infrastructure (103) may use the received information to determine a modulation and coding scheme for PTM broadcast. The total number of responses to the request message may be limited by providing a probability factor within the request message.
US07769396B2

A location beacon database and server, method of building location beacon database, and location based service using same. Wi-Fi access points are located in a target geographical area to build a reference database of locations of Wi-Fi access points. At least one vehicle is deployed including at least one scanning device having a GPS device and a Wi-Fi radio device and including a Wi-Fi antenna system. The target area is traversed in a programmatic route to avoid arterial bias. The programmatic route includes substantially all drivable streets in the target geographical area and solves an Eulerian cycle problem of a graph represented by said drivable streets. While traversing the target area, periodically receive the GPS coordinates of the GPS device. While traversing the target area, detecting Wi-Fi signals from Wi-Fi access points in range of the Wi-Fi device and recording identity information of the detected Wi-Fi access point in conjunction with GPS location information of the vehicle when the detection of the Wi-Fi access point was made. The location information is used to reverse triangulate the position of the detected Wi-Fi access point; and the position of the detected access point is recorded in a reference database.
US07769382B2

The present invention discloses a method of interworking between different radio access networks. In this method, a radio transceiver device capable of operating with the first radio access network and the second radio access network is attached to the first radio access network. The method comprises the steps of detecting a service request, accessing information on conditions for the first and the second radio access network for giving sufficient support for a service requested by the service request, analysing whether or not the first radio access network and the second radio access network meets the conditions, and initiating a handover of the radio transceiver device from the first radio access network to the second radio access network if the second radio access network meets the conditions but the first radio access network does not. Thus, the method according to the present invention serves to support dual mode mobile stations and networks in such a way that the correct radio access which sufficiently supports a requested service is automatically obtained.
US07769379B2

A method and system provides support of unlicensed mobile access to a core network. A mobile terminal and a network controller also provides for unlicensed mobile access which are configured therefore.
US07769375B2

An integrated communication system includes a satellite portion and a terrestrial portion. A plurality of timeslots are allocated for transmission and reception of data by the various components of the satellite portion and terrestrial portion. The allocation of timeslots to the satellite portion and the terrestrial portion may be predetermined or dynamically allocated based on traffic loads, time of day, day of week, and the like. Communication may be accomplished on a single frequency with the appropriate allocation of timeslots. The system includes delay compensation to accommodate signal processing delays and signal propagation delays. For example, a satellite may be instructed to terminate transmission prior to the end of its allocated timeslot to permit the signal from the satellite to propagate to its intended destination within the allocated timeslot to thereby avoid spillover into the next timeslot. This avoids interference between various elements of the communication system.
US07769366B2

A system of exchanging and managing information includes a mobile device configured to automatically insert, exchange and update a caller's contact information into a user's phonebook. The phonebook can reside on either the UICC card, SIM, USIM, Mega SIM, any other smart card or an integrated chip, on the mobile device or on a remote server. The automatic insert and/or automatic exchange mechanism is triggered when a call is made between two people on mobile phones or other devices.
US07769365B2

Disclosed are methods and telephone book interfaces for a navigable telephone book of a mobile communication device. A method includes storing telephone book entries of the navigable telephone book of the mobile communication device, a subset of the telephone book entries being conforming names. The telephone book entries include conforming names to form a retrieved list of conforming names so that they may be accessed by at least one of a fine scrolling control and a coarse scrolling control. A truncated list of conforming names is displayed on the display screen so that a plurality of telephone book entries of the same name are undivided on a display screen, if the retrieved list of conforming names would otherwise span more than one page length of the display. Names are consolidated on the display screen if the consolidated list of conforming names fills at least one page length of the display.
US07769363B2

A multimedia display process executing in a mobile device traps user input signals to allow switching from display of multimedia to another task without requiring manual termination of the multimedia display process by the user.
US07769359B2

An adaptive wireless receiver and method thereof is disclosed in the present invention. The receiver includes an antenna, a bandpass filter, a front-end unit and a demodulator. Elements inside the front-end unit can be reused when the receiver operates in a zero intermediate frequency (ZIF) mode and in a low intermediate frequency (LIF) mode. The front-end unit includes a first and second down-conversion mixer, an analog filter, a first and second analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a digital filter.
US07769354B2

A housing assembly (100), used, e.g., in a mobile device (300), includes a housing body (10) and a display unit (20). The housing body a view opening (110). The display unit is received in the view opening and is configured for providing information and/or graphics. The housing body moldingly receives the view lens therein, via an injection molding process.
US07769348B2

The invention includes a method for a wireless connection of a wireless portable device 10 to a selected wireless device 10a in a group of nearby wireless devices 10a-10c, which device 10 is provided with a short-range-unit 50 for a wireless communication with said group of nearby devices 10a-10c, a substantially omnidirectional antenna 52 connected to said short-range-unit 50 for a substantially omnidirectional communication, and at least one directional communication device 54, 24 for a directional communication, which method includes the steps of: activating the directional communication device 54, 24; directing the directional communication device 54, 24 towards a nearby device 10a; connecting the portable device 10 to the selected device 10a using the directional communication device 54, 24; communicating with the selected device 10a via said substantially omnidirectional antenna 52 after said connecting.
US07769345B2

A portable electronic device that includes an antenna and at least one of a transmitter or a receiver connected to the antenna for transferring information between the portable electronic device and a corresponding device via the antenna. The corresponding device includes a visual indicator indicative of a location of an antenna of the corresponding device. The portable electronic device further includes an imaging device for obtaining an image of the visual indicator, an image analyzer for determining a location of the portable electronic device antenna relative to that of the corresponding device based on the image, a direction analyzer for determining a movement direction of the portable electronic device that would reduce an alignment offset between the antennas, and a directional indicator for indicating the movement direction to a user of the portable electronic device.
US07769335B2

A fixing apparatus according to the present invention ensures a nip width larger than a certain value by a heating roller which has a thin film metal conductive layer, and a foamed rubber layer which is bonded to the end part of the metal conductive layer, formed with a gap in a center part, and not bonded to the metal conductive layer.
US07769331B2

A fuser assembly for an electrophotographic device includes a tubular roller, a pressing member, a pressing roller, and a heater. The pressing member is disposed in the tubular roller, and includes a tubular part that has a flat surface. The pressing roller presses the tubular roller against the flat surface of the tubular part of the pressing member. The heater is disposed in the tubular part of the pressing member.
US07769330B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, an image bearing belt, a first roller to support the image bearing belt, a second roller located away from the first roller in a horizontal direction in a lower place than the first roller to support and drive the image bearing belt, wherein the image bearing belt is inclined between the first roller and the second roller, a third roller located above the second roller to support the image bearing belt, wherein a plane of the image bearing belt formed between the second roller and the third roller is approximately vertical, a conveyance path configured to convey a recording material along the image bearing belt between the second roller and the third roller, and a transfer unit configured to transfer a toner image on the image bearing belt onto the recording material conveyed to the conveyance path.
US07769327B2

A developing device includes a developing roller and a blade. The developing roller includes: a developing sleeve which rotates while holding two-component developer composed of toner and magnetic carrier on the outer surface having a plurality of grooves extending in parallel to an axis of the rotation; and a magnetic member, provided inside the developing sleeve in such a manner as to be unrotatable, for attracting the two-component developer onto the outer surface of the developing sleeve. The blade is provided outside the rotating sleeve with a gap from the outer surface of the developing sleeve for scraping off a part of the two-component developer on the outer surface of the developing sleeve. Also, the magnetic member includes a magnet for controlling magnetic flux density in the gap to range from 70 mT to 150 mT. This allows preventing image degradation caused by generation of development memory.
US07769324B2

An image forming apparatus has a plurality of image carriers, a common drive source which drives the plurality of image carriers and a drive shaft that is connected to and driven by the drive source. It also has a plurality of worm gears that are provided corresponding to the plurality of image carriers and are formed coaxially with the drive shaft, and a plurality of worm wheels that are respectively meshed with the respective worm gears and respectively transmit drive forces of the worm gears to the image carriers. The plurality of worm gears are made of a resin material, and the worm gears and the worm wheels drive the plurality of image carries by making use of the elastic deformation of the worm gears when the worm gears and the worm wheels are respectively meshed with each other.
US07769322B2

An image reading apparatus includes an image reading unit, a compression spring unit, a braking unit, and a switching unit. The compression spring unit serves as an opening and closing mechanism for the image reading unit. The braking unit brakes the opening and closing movement of the image reading unit. The switching unit transmits the rotation of the image reading unit to the braking unit when the image reading unit closes, but does not transmit the rotation of the image reading unit to the braking unit when the image reading unit opens.
US07769320B2

A pressing member applies a pressing force to a trailing end in a direction which intersects a predetermined reference direction, allowing the pressing force to have both a first component in the predetermined reference direction and a second component perpendicular to the predetermined reference direction. A trailing end is pressed in the predetermined reference direction by the first component. In the mounted state, the leading end is in contact with the reference member at two contact surfaces including a first contact surface and a second contact surface. The first contact surface defines a first positioning direction being perpendicular to the first contact surface and intersecting the predetermined reference direction. The second contact surface defines a second positioning direction being perpendicular to the second contact surface and intersecting both the predetermined reference direction and the first positioning direction, allowing the photosensitive-member unit to be positioned with respect to the main body.
US07769317B2

A developing device includes: a housing having an opening; a sheet member provided on the housing and sealing the opening when not used, the sheet member including a forward part and a backward part, the forward part extending from a base end to a folded part, and the backward part extending in the one direction from the folded part to a free end as a top end of the sheet member; and a press unit pressing the backward part of the sheet member toward the forward part when not used, wherein the housing has a guide hole formed in a position where the backward part gradually separates off from the forward part and from the folded part to the free end, the backward part being inserted into the guide hole when not used, and the sheet member being guided by the guide hole when the sheet member is pulled out.
US07769315B2

A cleaning device includes a pair of bilateral cleaning members arranged with an interval in a length direction of a wire rod, an intermediate cleaning member located on an opposite side of the pair of bilateral cleaning members via the wire rod and arranged at an intermediate position between the bilateral cleaning members in the length direction of the wire rod, a wire rod contact unit that controls at least one of the plurality of cleaning members so that the plurality of cleaning members contacts with or separates away from the wire rod, and a cleaning movement unit which moves the plurality of cleaning members along the length direction of the wire rod in the state where the plurality of cleaning members are in contact with the wire rod by the wire rod contact unit.
US07769306B2

Data may be obtained in the form of a printer control density table from a memory within a replacement toner cartridge. The cartridge may include parity bits to ensure the accuracy of the data.
US07769305B1

In a coherent optical receiver, a frequency domain engine digitally processes at least two multi-bit sample streams of a received optical signal. The frequency domain engine includes a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) filter for computing a complex vector representative of a frequency-domain spectrum of the received optical signal. A transpose and add block computes a vector sum of the complex vector and a transposed version of the complex vector, and an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) filter computes a complex output vector from the addition result. With this arrangement, parallel real filter operations are efficiently performed on each of the multi-bit sample streams, using a single back-to-back FFT-IFFT filter structure.
US07769297B2

The invention relates to a transceiver optical system in which a single serializer/deserializer (SERDES) chip is used to drive a plurality of transceiver modules.
US07769295B2

A micro-optic dual beam-splitter assembly comprises at least two beam-splitter optical filters and at least one photoreceptor. Each of the beam-splitter optical filters comprises an optical substrate having at least a coated or uncoated optical tap surface and a filter surface carrying a thin-film optical filter. The thin-film optical filters are substantially normal to the optical path from an optical signal source. Each of the optical tap surfaces is operative as an optical beam splitter to tap off an optical tap signal. The one or more photoreceptors are arranged to receive both or at least one of the optical tap signals. The tap signals comprise a portion of the optical signals passed along the optical path to the optical filter chips. The filter chips are cooperatively transmissive to an optical signal output port of a selected set of wavelengths received from the optical signal source along the optical path, and are reflective of other wavelengths. Each of the one or more photoreceptors are operative to pass tap signals to a corresponding tap signal output port, either as optical or electrical signals. Various different embodiments of the disclosed micro-optic dual beam-splitter assemblies are useful as TOSAs, ROSAs, gain-flattening filters for optical amplifiers, or other applications.
US07769293B2

An apparatus and method for effectively transmitting a packet data and a control data of path information about the packet data in an optical packet data switching network. The method includes grouping a plurality of wavelengths into at least two wavelength bandwidths, each wavelength bandwidth being composed of neighboring wavelengths, and transmitting the optical packet data and the control data with wavelengths of different wavelength bandwidths respectively. Since the wavelength to transmit the optical packet data and the wavelength to transmit the control data has a difference from each other, a node receiving optical data easily divides the packet data and the control data.
US07769272B2

The recording medium has a data structure for managing reproduction of data recorded on the recording medium. A navigation area of the recording medium stores at least one navigation file, which includes navigation commands for managing reproduction of at least video data forming a main reproduction path and a side reproduction path. The side reproduction path is a side path to the main reproduction path.
US07769267B2

The present method and kit provide for effective and efficient patching of fiber optic cables. The kit comprises mechanical fiber optic splicers, a fiber optic patch, a splice housing, and a protective housing. The mechanical fiber optic splicers can be used to splice the fiber optic cable and the fiber optic patch. The mechanical fiber optic splicers, the fiber optic patch, and a portion of the fiber optic cable can be enclosed within the splice housing. The splice housing can then be enclosed within a protective housing.
US07769263B1

An optical fiber comprising: (i) a core; (ii) a cladding surrounding the core; wherein the cladding comprises a cladding ring that: (a) has a width W equal to or less than 10 microns; (b) includes at least 50 airlines, each airline having a maximum diameter or a maximum width of not more than 2 microns and more than 50% of said airlines have a length of more than 20 m; (c) has an air fill fraction of 0.1% to 10%, and (d) has an inner radius Rin and an outer radius Rout, wherein 6 μm≦Rin≦14 μm, and 8 μm≦Rout≦14 μm; and (iii) an outer cladding surrounding said cladding ring.
US07769259B1

A method of operating an optical device includes inserting a light signal into a waveguide positioned on a base. A light sensor is positioned on the base and is configured to receive the light signal after the light signal exits from the waveguide. The method also includes elevating the light signal relative to the base before the light signal enters the light sensor. The light signal is elevated such that the light signal enters the light-absorbing medium in a position that is elevated above the position where the light signal would enter the light-absorbing medium if the light-absorbing medium received the entire light signal directly from the waveguide.
US07769258B2

An optical element may include a first diffractive structure having a radially symmetric amplitude function and a second diffractive structure having a phase function. The second diffractive structure may serve as a vortex lens. A system employing the optical element may include a light source and/or a detector.
US07769257B2

A signal speed converting apparatus to be connected to a WDM transmission end office, comprising a first interface connected to a first optical line group, a plurality of second interfaces connected to a second optical line group, and a speed converter. The first interface has a first framer for terminating a frame in a first format received from the first optical line group and outputting an information signal extracted from the received frames as a serial signal train or parallel signal trains. The speed converter converts the output signal from the first framer into transmission signal trains each including interleaved communication frame by cyclically distributing the output signal from the first framer to a plurality of internal lines. Each of the second interfaces has a second framer for converting the communication frame received from one of the internal lines into information frame in a second format to be transmitted to the second optical line group. Management information inserting units are located between the first and second interfaces in order to insert management information to be communicated with an opposite apparatus into the transmission signal trains on the internal lines.
US07769253B2

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic circuit device capable of reducing the occurrence of electromagnetic waves associated with the propagation of a signal by utilizing light as a signal. The electronic circuit device has a transparent substrate (hereinafter written as a substrate) over which an optical sensor and an optical shutter and an electronic circuit composed of thin film transistors (TFTs) are formed. An optical signal is inputted from an external into the electronic circuit device, the optical signal is directly irradiated on the optical sensor over the substrate, and penetrates through the substrate, and inputted into an optical sensor over another substrate. The optical sensor converts the optical signal into an electronic signal, and the circuit over the substrate operates. A control signal controls the optical shutter, a light is inputted from the external into this optical shutter, and whether it is transmitted or it is interrupted is determined, whereby the signal is taken out.
US07769252B2

Methods and apparatus for distributed temperature sensing (DTS) include marking one or more points at known locations along a waveguide or fiber of a distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system and applying position information from such marked locations to DTS measurements. A Bragg grating in the waveguide or fiber may provide a discrete marker for identification of the position information. Application of the position information from such marked locations to the DTS measurements avoids ambiguous interpretations of other inherent features to assess location and enables data analysis referenced by the known locations to correlate the DTS measurements in space.
US07769244B2

A method, system, and computer program for automatic restoration of digital film and video frames, by operation of a sequence of five main interactive computer program blocks, mainly separating moving objects from still objects, separating smooth texture from regions containing edges using the coherency map, and detecting and removing defects to provide restored frames using a pair of frames as reference frames for each processed frame.
US07769235B2

The present invention discloses a method of character and text recognition of a bit-mapped graphic file received from an optical scanning device. The method comprises a trainable template cache, a preliminarily trained feature analysis means, and a context analysis means. The present invention discloses the way to use said means for achieving the best results in recognition. The method supposes that the template cache along with the context analysis means are used as the main shape characteristic analyzing means. The feature analysis means along with the context analysis means are used as subsidiary shape characteristic analyzing means and as a training means for the template cache. The method comprises applying the main shape characteristic analyzing means and optionally applying the subsidiary shape characteristic analyzing means if no or not enough reliability of recognition is achieved after the template cache analyzing. The obtained results are analyzed and sent to the template cache for template training.
US07769226B2

A color image of an inspection object is taken by an imaging means capable of taking a color image to obtain color information of an RGB color space. A gray-scale image of a color component of the RGB color space or another color space is generated, and the inspection object is detected by a pattern recognition technique. Alternatively, a binary image is generated from the generated gray-scale image, and the inspection object is detected by performing pattern recognition on the binary image. Color data of a pixel occupied by the detected inspection object is compared with color data of a non-defective inspection object which is previously prepared to judge whether or not the inspection object is defective. In addition, this judgment result is reflected in another manufacturing step through a network and product quality is improved.
US07769217B2

A method for performing accurate iterative reconstruction of three dimensional image data sets based on Approximate Discrete Radon Transformation (ADRT) using two dimensional linograms for each of a plurality of defined planes tilted from the (x, y, 0) plane by a tilt angle and orientation angle. Image data is arranged with respect to the defined tilted planes ADRT and its inverse are implemented to provide exactly matched forward and backward projectors suitable for the Maximum-Likelihood Expectation-Maximization (ML-EM) reconstruction in PET. An EM reconstruction algorithm is accomplished by initializing an estimation image.
US07769205B2

The present invention comprises a method and an apparatus for three dimensional modeling to allow dense depth maps to be recovered, without previous knowledge of the surface reflectance, from only a single pair of stereo images. Several initial steps are performed for stereo and radiometric calibration and rectification for obtaining accurate results. The apparatus for the stereo images acquisition includes internal light sources, these are automatically commuted by a illumination control in order to fulfill the reciprocity property, a stereo camera head composed by the necessary optics to acquire the reciprocal stereo images and a compatible PC interface. The invention is faster than other systems since it requires only two images for obtaining a dense depth model of objects with an arbitrary surface reflectance distribution allowing the system to be used in a wide range of applications such as metrology, quality control, medical and dynamic three dimensional modeling.
US07769195B2

A microphone connector module includes a microphone with a receiving face and a contacting face, a body defining a cavity to receive the microphone, a pair of terminals fixed in the body and connecting with the microphone and an external printed circuit board and a casing including a basic portion and a front portion. The basic portion of the casing defines a housing to receive the body. The front portion of the casing defines a voice channel approximately perpendicularly communicating with the housing of the basic portion. The receiving face of the microphone approximately perpendicularly faces to the voice channel and only receives the acoustic waves of single frequency at a time, which avoids the influence of a mixed transformation of the acoustic waves of different frequency to electric signals and enhances the receiving effect of the microphone.
US07769182B2

A method for defining an index of a match between a content of two audio sources, comprising: sampling audio from a first source and a second source generating a first and second set of samples; selecting a sequential number of samples N belonging to the first set of samples and N samples belonging to the second set; transferring the first and second sequences of N samples to the frequency domain, generating a first and second sequences of N/2 frequency intervals; for the first sequence, calculating the sign of the derivative; for the second sequence, calculating the sign and the absolute value of the derivative, and a total sum of the absolute values of the derivative and a partial sum of the absolute values of the derivative; the ratio between the partial sum and the total sum being an index of the match of the audio sources.
US07769180B2

A method and circuit for deriving a set of multichannel audio signals from a conventional monaural or stereo audio signal uses an auxiliary multichannel spectral mapping data stream. Audio can be played back in stereo and multichannel formats from a conventional stereo signal on compact discs, FM radio, or other stereo or monaural delivery systems. The invention reduces the data rate needed for the transmission of multichannel digital audio.
US07769177B2

A method of digital rights management for a broadcast-multicast service, the method comprising receiving a request from a terminal to join a service domain having a common group key; transmitting encryption of one or more service encryption keys using the common group key to the terminal that requested to join; and allowing the terminal to share the same contents and the same services with one or more other devices within the service domain.
US07769147B1

A telephony-based messaging system application is built for use by a particular customer. The application is stored on a computer readable medium and includes a set of modules, where each module comprises call flows, code and a Customization List. The Customization List includes one or more tables each having a list of names and a modifiable list of corresponding DTMF signal identifiers. With this architecture, the particular customer is permitted to change the mapping between caller-entered DTMF signals and the corresponding actions taken by the messaging system by modifying the list of DTMF signal identifiers, i.e., without modifying the call flows or code.
US07769138B2

The x-ray tube is energized (12) and the myocardium is imaged (16) while contrast agent is infused to the coronary arteries of the subject (14). Single photon counting data acquired with the detector while two thresholds are set to form simultaneously low energy images and high energy images (16). The images are processed (18) and displayed (20).
US07769133B2

A readily relocatable X-ray imaging system for inspecting the contents of vehicles and containers, and a method for using the same. In a preferred embodiment, the system is relatively small in size, and is used for inspecting commercial vehicles, cargo containers, and other large objects. The X-ray imaging, system comprises a substantially arch-shaped collapsible frame having an X-ray source and detectors disposed thereon. The frame is preferably collapsible via a plurality of hinges disposed thereon. A deployment means may be attached to the frame for deploying the frame into an X-ray imaging position, and for collapsing the frame into a transport position.The collapsible X-ray frame may remain stationary during X-ray imaging while a vehicle or container is driven through or towed through an inspection area defined under the frame. Alternatively, the collapsible X-ray frame may be movable relative to a stationary vehicle or container during X-ray imaging.
US07769128B2

Pin-based support structures for easily and precisely assembling CT detector components into individual detector modules are described, as are methods of making the same. The pins in these structures serve as the local reference points against which all other detector components (i.e., collimators, scintillator packs, diodes, electronic flex connectors, etc.) are aligned. The pins may also be used to quickly and easily attach the individual detector modules to the local detector reference frame and then to the global reference frame in a CT imaging system. These structures allow CT detector components to be more easily and economically assembled than previously possible. Furthermore, these structures are extensible in the Z-direction, allowing for longer Z-coverage with each rotation of the gantry, thereby allowing for full organ imaging in a single CT scan.
US07769125B2

A spacer grid used for placing and supporting fuel rods in nuclear reactor fuel assemblies is disclosed. The spacer grid of this invention has a plurality of inner strips intersecting each other to form a plurality of guide tube cells and a plurality of fuel rod cells, with a plurality of mixing blades projecting upward from the inner strips at intersections of the inner strips. The spacer grid further includes a plurality of perimeter strips to encircle the intersecting inner strips. Each of the perimeter strips is fabricated with a plurality of unit intermediate strips and a plurality of unit corner strips, with a grid spring provided on each of the unit strips. The grid spring includes a vertical opening formed at a central area of each of the unit strips, a vertical support part extending vertically between the central portions of top and bottom edges of the vertical opening, and a fuel rod support part provided at a central portion of the vertical support part while being bent to have an outward rounded cross-section. The vertical support part is bent at two steps, and the fuel rod support part is bent to be in equiangular contact with each of the fuel rods, thus accomplishing a uniform contact pressure distribution when the fuel rod support part is in contact with each of the fuel rods.
US07769124B2

A handling method for a natural circulation boiling water reactor having a chimney having cylindrical chimney shell disposed above a core in a reactor pressure vessel, a plurality of square tubes disposed in the chimney shell, and a grid support plate with grid holes supporting and in communication with a lower end portion of the square tubes so that adjacent square tubes are disposed at an interval which exceeds the width of one square tube between them. The method includes steps shifting predetermined ones of the square tubes to the interval between the square tubes, and performing maintenance and inspection of members around a core via the grid holes which appear at positions from which the predetermined square tubes are taken out due to the shift of the predetermined square tubes.
US07769105B1

A method for transmitting low data rate symbols from a burst radar transceiver is disclosed. The method includes dividing a symbol having a symbol period into a plurality of symbol sections. Each symbol section has a symbol section interval that is less than or equal to a burst interval of the radar transceiver. At least two symbol sections can be transmitted with the burst radar transceiver. Symbol energy can be accumulated from the at least two symbol sections at the communications terminal. Information in the received symbol sections can be identified based on characteristics of the accumulated symbol energy.
US07769100B2

In a method of canceling crosstalk signals, decoding or precoding through a diagonal channel analysis of the user domain and the time domain is performed, in addition to decoding or precoding in the user and time domains.
US07769094B2

An arrangement and method in a communication system such as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) radio receiver for reducing the impact of interference from an intermittent interfering signal transmitted by an interfering system which may be co-located with the OFDM system or may be remotely located. Each OFDM symbol in a received OFDM signal includes a guard interval (GI), a middle portion, and a last portion identical to the GI. The arrangement determines which portion of each OFDM symbol is contemporaneous with the interfering signal and time-shifts a fast Fourier transform (FFT) window in the OFDM receiver to minimize or eliminate FFT processing of samples of the OFDM symbol that are contemporaneous with the interfering signal, thereby minimizing the impact of the interfering signal.
US07769090B2

A novel apparatus for and method of estimating the cable length of an active network link. The cable diagnostics mechanism of the invention is particularly suited for use in estimating the length of Ethernet network between two edges when the link is active, i.e. data is being transmitted in both directions simultaneously and the transmission of test pulses is not possible. The cable length estimation mechanism of the present invention is based on a well-known property of the spectrum of the insertion loss of the cable, namely, the linear relationship between the attenuation of the cable at a given frequency in decibels and the cable length. Information characterizing this relationship is extracted and used to determine the length of the cable.
US07769087B2

A method and system of encoding and decoding digital video content. The digital video content comprises a stream of pictures which can each be intra, predicted, or bi-predicted pictures. Each of the pictures comprises macroblocks that can be further divided into smaller blocks. The method entails encoding and decoding each picture in said stream of pictures in either frame mode or in field mode.
US07769074B2

Methods and systems for detecting and synchronizing to frequency hopped packets are presented. A technique for detecting a transmitter frequency hopping pattern includes receiving a packet of preamble symbols respectively transmitted over multiple frequency sub-bands according to the transmitter frequency hopping pattern, and partitioning predetermined frequency hopping patterns into disjoint groups of patterns, each group of patterns having an associated periodicity of the received preamble symbols. A group of patterns is selected by comparing a correlation metric of two received preamble symbols for each of the associated periodicities in a first selected frequency sub-band, and a pattern from the selected group of patterns is selected based on a timing of a detected first peak of the correlation metric in a second selected frequency sub-band. Optionally, the selected pattern is verified by comparing the correlation metric at a particular time interval to a threshold value in a third selected frequency sub-band.
US07769072B2

The invention relates to a learning process for an ultra wideband communication system with M transmission antennas and N reception antennas and in which the information is modulated on L possible positions comprising the following steps: a) transmit a series of Nseq learning pulses from each emission antenna to all reception antennas. b) for each reception antenna j, estimate the M composite responses of series of emitted pulses that arrive at this reception antenna j, each composite response being estimated by eliminating the effects of other antennas. c) estimate correlations between the different channels.
US07769071B2

Silica sol gel micro-lasers and methods of fabricating micro-lasers on a chip or a wafer. A silica sol gel micro-laser includes a silica sol gel optical micro-cavity, a substrate, and a support member or pillar that extends between the micro-cavity and the substrate. An outer surface or periphery of the micro-cavity extends beyond a top of the sol gel support member or is overhanging with respect to the underlying support member. Optical energy travels along an inner surface of the silica sol gel micro-cavity. Undoped silica sol gel micro-cavities can be used for Raman lasers. Sol gel micro-cavities can be doped with, for example, erbium, and can be used for erbium-doped micro-lasers that have ultra narrow line widths, for example, less than 100 Hz. Undoped and doped silica sol gel micro-lasers can have Q factors greater than 107.
US07769066B2

A laser diode and method for fabricating same, wherein the laser diode generally comprises an InGaN compliance layer on a GaN n-type contact layer and an AlGaN/GaN n-type strained super lattice (SLS) on the compliance layer. An n-type GaN separate confinement heterostructure (SCH) is on said n-type SLS and an InGaN multiple quantum well (MQW) active region is on the n-type SCH. A GaN p-type SCH on the MQW active region, an AlGaN/GaN p-type SLS is on the p-type SCH, and a p-type GaN contact layer is on the p-type SLS. The compliance layer has an In percentage that reduces strain between the n-type contact layer and the n-type SLS compared to a laser diode without the compliance layer. Accordingly, the n-type SLS can be grown with an increased Al percentage to increase the index of refraction. This along with other features allows for reduced threshold current and voltage operation.
US07769064B2

Even though a laser diode is within the operation guarantee temperature range, the rise time characteristics required to protect and maintain the writing quality right away may not be present at a lower temperature. By sufficiently increasing the rise time, a laser diode control method of the present invention makes it possible to write readily. A laser diode control device includes a temperature sensor for detecting temperature of a laser diode. When a detected temperature by the temperature sensor is equal to or below a predetermined value within the operation guarantee temperature range, a seek motor controls the position of a pickup to move the pickup to a region outside a recording region of a recording medium. In this way, a current exceeding a threshold current value is supplied to the laser diode, and the writing operation starts after the laser diode temperature is increased up to a level where the rise time characteristics required to protect and maintain the writing quality is present.
US07769060B1

A laser light source having a semiconductor laser (102) for outputting pump light, and a laser resonator wherein a solid laser crystal (104) and a non-linear optical crystal (103) are connected by optical contact and a reflection coat (106) and a reflection coat (105) are on the opposed facets of the respective crystals. GdVO4 is the solid laser crystal (104) while LiNbO3 is the non-linear optical crystal (103), and the crystal axis of the solid laser crystal (104) is inclined with respect to the z axis of the non-linear optical crystal (103) within the z-x plane of the non-linear optical crystal (103). The thermal expansion coefficients of the solid laser crystal and of the non-linear optical crystal can be approximated to each other, thereby preventing separation of the bonded laser crystal and non-linear optical crystal due to different thermal expansion coefficients when heat is generated during laser oscillation, which stops laser oscillation.
US07769048B2

A novel encoding scheme is disclosed, enabling the physical layer to identify packet boundaries by looking at a few selected bits while improving the error detection capability and maintaining low overhead for low power states. By eliminating the overhead of 8b/10b encoding for the physical layer, the encoding scheme achieves better error detection ability than current 8b/10b encoding. Further, the novel encoding scheme provides additional error detection capability, a low overhead mechanism to exit low power states, and a mechanism to handle problematic packets.
US07769044B2

A system for aggregating packet in a Medium Access control layer of a router to improve effective bandwidth of transmission over a network. The system begins by receiving Medium Access Control Service Data Unit packets in a Medium Access Control unit of a router wherein each of the Medium Access Control Service Data Unit packets are addressed to different receivers. The Medium Access Control Service Data Unit packets are then aggregated into one Medium Access Control Protocol Data Unit packet. The Medium Access Control Protocol Data Unit packet is then transmitted to said Physical layer of said router for transmission.
US07769020B2

The disclosure relates to a method for establishing a communication link between a first communication terminal and a second communication terminal. According to the inventive method, the communication link is achieved by means of interconnected network elements, selected network elements being authorized to trigger releasing of the communication link.
US07769013B2

A communication apparatus according to the invention can be applied to constitute each of relay nodes in a novel wireless communication network, in which the number of relaying stages formed with the relay nodes can be freely set without restriction by the amount of communication information to be processed, and consequently, a multistage-relayed communication extending over a long distance can be carried out to realize a long-distance communication. The communication apparatus comprises temporary and main managing portions 16 and 18 for controlling temporary and main memory means 15 and 17 and an operation control portion 20, wherein the operation control portion 20 is operative to cause the temporary and main managing portions 16 and 18 to perform control operations for transform an input data frame to be a modified data frame containing transfer mode information representing one of diffusion, percolation and convergence transfer modes determined based on original transfer mode information and particular identification information contained in the detected data frame and history information preserved in the main memory means 17, for causing the modified data frame of the diffusion or convergence transfer mode to be subjected to relay and for causing the modified data frame of the percolation transfer mode to be subjected to relay at a predetermined probability or to deletion.
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