US07815711B2
Improved method for separating gases from a gas mixture, whereby the gas mixture to be treated is led through a membrane separator (3) by means of a compressor installation (2) and whereby the compressed gas mixture to be treated is cooled in the compressor installation (2), among others in order to separate condensate from the gas mixture, after which, as it leaves the compressor installation (2), it will be re-heated before it ends up in the membrane separator (3), characterized in that, in order to re-heat the gas mixture to be treated as it leaves the compressor installation (2), use is made of the recuperation heat of the compressor installation (2) itself.
US07815708B2
The invention relates to a process for the separation and recovery of non-ferrous metals from zinc-bearing residues, in particular from residues produced by the zinc manufacturing industry. The process comprises the steps of: —subjecting the residue to a flash or agitated bath fuming step, thereby producing an Fe bearing slag and Zn- and Pb-bearing fumes; and —extracting the Zn- and Pb-bearing fumes and valorising Zn and Pb; characterised in that CaO, SiO2 and MgO are added as a flux before or during the fuming step so as to obtain a final slag composition with: formula (I) all concentrations being expressed in wt %. The invention also relates to a single-chamber reactor for Zn-fuming equipped with one or more submerged plasma torches as heat and gas sources. [ Fe ] [ SiO 2 ] + [ CaO ] [ SiO 2 ] + [ MgO ] 3 > 3.5 ; 0.1 < [ CaO ] [ SiO 2 ] < 1.3 ; and 6 < [ SiO 2 ] < 22 , ( I )
US07815690B2
A composition which provides stain resistance and soil resistance to substrates comprising a copolymer of Formula 1 is disclosed, wherein D, M, R, Rf, x, k, h, i and j are defined as in claim 1.
US07815675B2
A stent for use in a bifurcated body lumen having a main branch and a side branch. The stent comprises a radially expandable generally tubular stent body having proximal and distal opposing ends with a body wall having a surface extending therebetween. The surface has a geometrical configuration defining a first pattern, and the first pattern has first pattern struts and connectors arranged in a predetermined configuration. The stent also comprises a branch portion comprised of a second pattern, wherein the branch portion is outwardly expandable from the stent body.
US07815674B1
An elongated generally cylindrical stent, fabricated of a resilient material, has a pair of side ends with a top end and a bottom end. The bottom end has a central spine along the entire extent of the stent. The central spine has a plurality of interleafing ribs. Each rib has a lower end coupled to the central spine and an upper free end. A holding sleeve shaped in an elongated, generally cylindrical configuration is fabricated of a resilient material. The sleeve is hollow with an inside cylindrical surface and an outside cylindrical surface and has an open application end.
US07815668B2
In a first aspect, a therapy device is provided. The therapy device includes (1) a hyperbaric chamber adapted to expose at least a target tissue area of a patient to a hyperbaric environment; and (2) a light therapy device adapted to expose the target tissue area of the patient to one or more doses of light energy while the target tissue area is within the hyperbaric chamber. Numerous other aspects are provided.
US07815660B2
A separate deliverable embolic protection device filter that attaches to a helical coil at a distal end of a conventional guide, for use in a blood vessel when an interventional procedure is being performed to capture any embolic material which may be created and released into the bloodstream during the procedure. The device includes a filter assembly with a proximal end and a distal end, and a guide wire connector attached to the distal end of the filter assembly. The guide wire connector is able to couple with the helical coil of the guide wire. A restraining sheath placed over the filter assembly in a coaxial arrangement maintains the filter assembly in a collapsed position and delivers the filter assembly separately to the helical coil of the guide wire, and then the guide wire connector is joined to the helical coil. Alternatively, the guide wire can include a rotatable coil section forming a portion of the distal tip coil on the guide wire which is adapted to be coupled to the filter assembly. This arrangement allows the filter assembly to be rotatably mounted onto the guide wire.
US07815658B2
An ultrasonic treatment apparatus includes a vibrator-assembly which generates ultrasonic vibration, a probe which is detachably mounted to the vibrator-assembly, and has a treatment-portion which performs treatment of a biological tissue in a distal end portion, and a main-body-unit-assembly to which the vibrator-assembly and the probe are detachably mounted, and in which the biological tissue is treated with the treatment-portion when an operator operates the main-body-unit-assembly while the probe is amounted. The main-body-unit-assembly includes a treatment-assembly which has an action-portion in a distal end portion facing the treatment-portion of the probe, and a handle-assembly which is detachably mounted to a proximal end portion of the treatment-assembly, and which brings the action-portion into contact with the treatment-portion of the probe or separates the action-portion from the treatment-portion while the handle-assembly is mounted to the proximal end portion of the treatment-assembly.
US07815654B2
A suturing instrument is configured for to apply sutures to approximate, ligate, or fixate tissue in, for example, open, mini-incision, trans-vaginal, or endoscopic surgical procedures. The suturing instrument includes an elongate body member, a needle exit port, a needle receiving port, and a needle deployment mechanism. The suturing instrument eliminates the need for a preassembled needle and suture and reduces or eliminates the possibility of needle loss during suturing.
US07815653B2
A method of implanting a device to maintain a plication within a hollow organ. The method uses an elongated member having an end effector at its distal end. The end effector has an outer cylinder having at least one opening, and an inner cylinder having at least one opening. The inner cylinder is at least partially disposed within the outer cylinder and the cylinders are rotatable with respect to each other. The end effector is detachable from the elongated member such that it can remain within the body cavity. The method involves the step of inserting the end effector within the organ of a patient such that it is in contact with tissue. The method also involves the step of applying vacuum through the elongated member so as to dispose tissue within the inner cylinder. The method also involves the step of creating a plication by rotating the cylinders with respect to each other. The method also involves the step of detaching the end effector from the elongated member.
US07815651B2
Devices and methods provide accurate targeting, placement, and/or stabilization of an electrode or other instrument(s) into the brain or other body organ, such as to treat severe tremor or other neurological disorders. Targeting is performed using any form of image-guidance, including real-time MRI, CT, or frameless surgical navigation systems.
US07815639B2
A urological resectoscope (1) including a tubular, metallic external stem (2) fitted with holes (3) in its distal end zone, a tubular insulating element (7, 27, 37, 47) being affixed distally to the external stem, further including a tubular internal stem (8) configured within the external stem and resting against it in a sealing manner and an electrode support (13) longitudinally displaceable inside the internal stem and supporting a cutting loop (15) in the region of the insulating element (7, 27, 37, 47). The insulating element (7, 27, 37, 47) is configured in a longitudinally mutually overlapping manner within an affixation zone (6) and the insulating element (7, 27, 37, 47) exhibiting a wall thickness distally from the affixation zone (6) larger than the wall thickness of the external stem (2), wherein the inside diameter of the insulating element (27, 47) is the same as the inside diameter of the external stem (2).
US07815638B2
An applicator for an electrosurgical instrument, alternatively for argon-plasma coagulation and cutting, also argon-supported. The applicator includes a gas and high frequency current terminal, a cutting electrode attached to a gas and high frequency current supply pipe, an insulating cap for detachably fastening the applicator on the instrument handle, and an insulating casing tube displaceable relative to the applicator common longitudinal axis for exposing or covering the cutting electrode and surrounding the gas and high frequency current supply pipe over a longitudinal section, and a collar or an external right-angle bend at the casing tube distal end. At least one radially surrounding gas-sealing inhibiting device is arranged between an inside of the casing tube and an outside of the gas and high frequency current supply pipe, allowing that a respective position be frictionally fixed at any location of the displacement path of the casing tube.
US07815633B2
Hair is permanently removed from a patient's skin by transcutaneously focusing high intensity acoustic energy at a hair follicle and applying sufficient energy to destroy the follicle, whereby hair is removed and regrowth is prevented. Typically, a region of a patient's skin would be ultrasonically imaged to show the location of a plurality of individual hair follicles. The individual imaged hair follicles are then treated using a system which automatically directs the high intensity acoustic energy at each follicle.
US07815631B2
An orientation method for corrective eye surgery that registers pairs of eye images taken at different times and with the patient in different positions includes retrieving reference digital image data on an eye of the patient, including image data on an extracorneal eye feature. Real-time image data are collected that include image data on the extracorneal eye feature. A combined image is displayed of a superposition of the data sets, and a determination is made as to whether the combined image indicates an adequate registration between them based upon the extracorneal eye feature data in the two data sets. If the registration is not adequate, one of the data sets is manipulated until an adequate registration is achieved. A system is directed to apparatus and software for orienting a corrective program for eye surgery.
US07815623B2
Described herein are cannulas having a stepped exterior. Also described are methods of making and using these cannulas, for example to deliver one or more materials to the central nervous system of an animal.
US07815622B2
A modular external infusion device that controls the rate a fluid is infused into an individual's body, which includes a first module and a second module. More particularly, the first module may be a pumping module that delivers a fluid, such as a medication, to a patient while the second module may be a programming module that allows a user to select pump flow commands. The second module is removably attachable to the first module.
US07815621B2
A system allows for the safe, rapid, efficient recovery of a drug solution from sealed vials. The system is closed so that highly potent compounds can later be recovered and reworked without large investment in further engineering controls. The system includes three main components: a recovery device that holds sealed vials containing a solution, and provides means to access the contents of the vials; a peristaltic pump that pumps solution out of the vials; and a recovery tank that receives the pumped solution.
US07815612B2
An apparatus and method for preventing free flow through an infusion set utilizes an occluder disposed within the infusion set to selectively prevent flow therethrough. The occluder may be responsive to a pressure differential within the infusion set or may respond to compression of the infusion set. The occluder may also be configured to allow flow when the infusion set adjacent the occluder is moved sideways relative to the occluder or maintained at an angle relative to the occluder. When a pair of occluders are used in sequence, an in-line pump may be formed.
US07815607B2
An insertion device for an infusion set, the device including a retention means by which the infusion set can be temporarily held on the device and drive means including a pretensionable spring for providing drive energy for an insertion movement of the infusion set, wherein the infusion set is secured by the retention means by clamping when the retention means is in an engage position and can then be moved, with simultaneous pretensioning of the spring, to an insertion movement starting position, wherein the infusion set is already separated from the retention means at the start of the insertion movement, and wherein the infusion set moves through at least part of the insertion movement free of the retention means.
US07815606B2
A syringe adapter assembly comprises an adapter body and a ram extender. In one embodiment, the adapter body (12) is attached to an injector by a rear connector plate (50). In a second aspect, the adapter body (12, 122) may comprise a drain hole (130) and/or sealing ring (140). In another aspect, the invention comprises a cleaning member (200) having a body (204) and a plurality of cleaning members (210, 220, 230) extending therefrom.
US07815601B2
Methods of and devices for palliating gastrointestinal strictures using rapid exchange type enteral stent placement catheters. The catheter may include an inner member and an outer member, with the two members being slidable with respect to one another. In various device embodiments, a ramp for directing a guidewire out from within the catheter is provided using portions of the outer member or a shaped mandrel. The inner member may take a number of forms, including a tubular distal portion, a skived or integrally attached elongate midsection, and a proximal portion. A mandrel can be used in a portion proximal of the guidewire ramp, with the mandrel taking one of several disclosed forms.
US07815597B2
Stuttering-treatment techniques using neural stimulation and/or drug delivery. One or more electrodes and/or a catheter are implanted adjacent to sites in the brain. A signal generator and the electrode deliver stimulation to a first site. A pump and the catheter deliver one or more therapeutic drugs to a second site. The first and second sites could be: the supplementary motor area, the centromedian circuit, the dorsomedial nuclei, the lateral prefrontal circuit, or other paramedian thalamic and midbrain nuclei. The stuttering treatment could be performed via periodic transcranial magnetic stimulation. A sensor, located near the patient's vocal folds, can be used for generating a signal responsive to activity of the patient's speech-producing muscles. A controller adjusts one or more stimulation parameters in response to the signal from the sensor.
US07815591B2
The present invention relates to methods and articles for anchoring within a natural bodily lumen. An anchor is adapted to provide differing radially-outward forces along its length, a securing force and a transitional force. Production of these forces can be controlled by varying a physical property of the anchor, such as its stiffness, thickness, or shape. For example, the stiffness of an elongated anchor can be varied from a relatively soft value at its proximal and distal ends to a relatively stiff value at its center by varying the diameter of wire forming the anchor, thereby tailoring it to an intended application. Such force tailoring can be combined with external barbs and used to reliably anchor other instruments, such as feeding tubes and intestinal sleeves.
US07815587B2
A below-knee orthosis with fastening devices for fastening the orthosis to the foot and to the lower leg includes an L-shaped support spring made of a resilient material. The L-shaped support spring has an upright branch that defines a contact plane, and is intended to bear on the dorsal aspect of the lower leg. The lower end of the upright branch is adjoined by a horizontal branch designed to engage under the foot. The below-knee orthosis allows for an improved heel-to-toe behavior in the material of the support spring which takes into account the natural outward position of the foot by the upright branch being twisted in the lower area in such a way that the horizontal branch continuing the lower end is turned outward by an angle α from the plane lying perpendicular to the contact plane of the upright branch above the twisted lower area.
US07815578B2
The present invention provides methods and apparatus for determining a dynamical property of the systemic or pulmonary arterial tree using long time scale information, i.e., information obtained from measurements over time scales greater than a single cardiac cycle. In one aspect, the invention provides a method and apparatus for monitoring cardiac output (CO) from a single blood pressure signal measurement obtained at any site in the systemic or pulmonary arterial tree or from any related measurement including, for example, fingertip photoplethysmography.According to the method the time constant of the arterial tree, defined to be the product of the total peripheral resistance (TPR) and the nearly constant arterial compliance, is determined by analyzing the long time scale variations (greater than a single cardiac cycle) in any of these blood pressure signals. Then, according to Ohm's law, a value proportional to CO may be determined from the ratio of the blood pressure signal to the estimated time constant. The proportional CO values derived from this method may be calibrated to absolute CO, if desired, with a single, absolute measure of CO (e.g., thermodilution). The present invention may be applied to invasive radial arterial blood pressure or pulmonary arterial blood pressure signals which are routinely measured in intensive care units and surgical suites or to noninvasively measured peripheral arterial blood pressure signals or related noninvasively measured signals in order to facilitate the clinical monitoring of CO as well as TPR.
US07815576B2
A method for determining haemodynamic parameters from patient pressure signals includes receiving patient pressure signals from a measurement receiver to which vessel pressures measured in the body of a patient are supplied, selecting and determining a patient pressure signal as reference pressure signal from the patient pressure signals sent from the measurement receiver, dividing the patient pressure signals and reference pressure signal into segments, and examining these segments for artifacts with methods in the time range by using the first derivative with respect to time of the pressure signals wherein artifact afflicted segments are discarded. The method further includes determining the start and end of a heart beat by the reference pressure signal and using the non-discarded segments of the patient pressure signals for calculating haemodynamic parameters.
US07815574B2
Systems and methods for noninvasive assessment of cardiac tissue properties and cardiac parameters using ultrasound techniques are disclosed. Determinations of myocardial tissue stiffness, tension, strain, strain rate, and the like, may be used to assess myocardial contractility, myocardial ischemia and infarction, ventricular filling and atrial pressures, and diastolic functions. Non-invasive systems in which acoustic techniques, such as ultrasound, are employed to acquire data relating to intrinsic tissue displacements are disclosed. Non-invasive systems in which ultrasound techniques are used to acoustically stimulate or palpate target cardiac tissue, or induce a response at a cardiac tissue site that relates to cardiac tissue properties and/or cardiac parameters are also disclosed.
US07815565B2
A guide system for use with an endoscope, and a method of use is disclosed. The guide system can include a track, in the form of a rail, and a mating member for engaging the rail. The guide system can also include an accessory, such as an accessory guide tube through which a medical instrument can be carried external of the endoscope. An end cap can be provided to support the track relative to the distal end of the endoscope.
US07815559B1
Apparatus and method for forming a stackable container from a container blank. The apparatus generally includes a blank feeder configured to place the blank on a conveyor, an index folder configured to pre-fold a plurality of inner fold-down flaps and an index flap over each of two opposing sidewall flaps of the blank, and a pressure former configured to attach a first leading extension to a leading wall of the blank and a first trailing extension to a trailing wall of the blank, wherein the first leading extension and the first trailing extension are foldably attached at an angle of about 90 degrees to one of the inner fold-down flaps or one of the sidewall flaps. Embodiments of the present the present invention can advantageously provide a reliable approach for forming a container from a blank with relatively fewer folding defects.
US07815555B2
A dual action weightlifting machine has a stationary main frame assembly comprising a right side frame and a left side frame on opposite sides of an exercise area, and a traveling frame movably supported on the stationary frame assembly and having right and left sides and a cross bar connecting the right and left sides above the exercise area, each side of the traveling frame having a vertical guide. A weight bearing exercise bar is movably supported on the traveling frame and has spaced first and second vertical slides slidably mounted on the right and left vertical guides. A horizontal slide assembly has dual horizontal guides on each side frame which engage dual slides on each side of the traveling frame. The horizontal slide assembly is located in a lower portion of the stationary frame assembly completely below the vertical travel path of a user engaging portion of the weight bearing exercise bar.
US07815551B2
A seated exercise apparatus comprises a frame having a seat attached to the frame. A pair of opposed cranks are rotatably coupled to the frame such that they rotate about a first axis. A medial portion of each of a pair of elongated members are rotatably connected to the frame at a second axis. A first end of each elongated member has a handle and a second end of each elongated member is rotatably connected to a one end of a respective pedal arm. The other end of each pedal arm is in turn rotatably connected to a respective crank. Each pedal arm also has a pedal adapted to receive a user's foot. In operation, the apparatus provides the user with coordinated seated exercise of both the arms/hands and legs/feet. The feet move in a generally reciprocating up and down motion and the arms move in a coordinated generally arcuate motion.
US07815549B2
Controlling the operation of an exercise apparatus configurable to facilitate a combination of a substantially horizontal and a substantially vertical exercise motion. Such control functions provide for various exercise levels and/or programs and may utilize various mechanisms, sensors, and other control apparatus to control the operation of the exercise apparatus for various exercise routines.
US07815545B2
An automatic transmission hydraulic control apparatus includes an oil pump driven by an engine, a forward clutch arranged to be engaged by an engagement pressure from the oil pump at a start of the vehicle, a hydraulic pressure sensing section configured to sense a hydraulic pressure in the automatic transmission, a filling start judging section configured to judge a start of filling to the forward clutch in accordance with the sensed hydraulic pressure; and an engagement pressure control section configured to control the engagement pressure to go through a filling phase and an engagement phase. The engagement pressure control section shifts from the filling phase to the engagement phase when a predetermined time elapses from the judgment of the start of the filling to the forward clutch.
US07815542B2
A transfer case comprising a rotational input member, a rotational output member, a rotational planetary gear portion operatingly engaged between the input member and the output member, a moveable cam member selectively engagable with the planetary gear portion, whereby the rotation of the planetary gear portion is stopped when the cam member is engaged with the planetary gear portion, the rotational direction of the output member is in the same direction as the input member when the cam member is not engaged with the planetary gear portion, and the rotational direction of the output member is opposite the rotational direction of the input member when the cam member is engaged with the planetary gear portion.
US07815541B2
A transmission is provided having an input member, an output member, four planetary gear sets, a plurality of interconnecting members and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. Each of the planetary gear sets includes first, second and third members. A first interconnecting member continuously interconnects the third member of the first planetary gear set with the third member of the third planetary gear set. A second interconnecting member continuously interconnects the second member of the first planetary gear set with the third member of the second planetary gear set. A third interconnecting member continuously interconnects the first member of the second planetary gear set with the first member of the third planetary gear set. A fourth interconnecting member continuously interconnects the second member of the third planetary gear set with a third member of the fourth planetary gear set. The torque transmitting devices may include clutches and brakes.
US07815538B2
A device for use with a vehicle transmission system includes a housing having a clutch provided therein and a first member extending from the housing and configured for coupling to a vehicle differential. The first member includes a generally hollow tube configured to carry a rotatable shaft therein. The device does not include a second member for directly coupling the device to a transmission housing or to the differential.
US07815533B2
A camshaft drive system for an internal combustion engine includes a drive sprocket fixed upon a crankshaft of the engine and a driven sprocket fixed upon a camshaft of the engine. A flexible power transmission element extends between the drive sprocket and driven sprocket. A tensioning device for the flexible power transmission element includes a linear actuator and a number of movable contactors for engaging and tensioning both the slack side and the tight side of the power transmission element, such that proper phasing of the camshaft with respect to the crankshaft is maintained.
US07815530B2
Apparatus for accurately measuring the distance between a golf ball and the hole on a putting green, i.e., for determining proximity, especially in golf competitions to see who can hit their ball onto the green to end up in closest proximity to the hole. An accessory to the measurement device is a proximity sign for recording the proximity measurements. The invention comprises apparatus and method for conveniently storing and using the measurement device(s). For proximity measurements, the device is configured to removably and repositionably attach a tape measure to a flag pin (generally the flag pin in the hole on the green in contest). The proximity sign is similarly configured. For storage of a device when not in use, the devices include spring clips and an optional security ring to impede unauthorized removal from the flag pin.
US07815516B1
A golf training and simulation device measures a signal indicative of the displacement of a club and in an alternate embodiment, the detection of a golf ball after being struck. The measurement system can be used in conjunction with a golf simulator or as a golf training apparatus for diagnosing a golf swing. In one application, a putting stroke training device is described with the object to develop a smooth, consistent putting stroke by feedback to the golfer when the putter head has accelerated or decelerated too rapidly or when the golfer opens or closes the club face when striking a golf ball. Positive feedback can also be provided when the putting stroke is square at impact with the ball. The consistency in the repetition of a stroke may also be measured, statistically analyzed, recorded and displayed and thus used in advanced training.
US07815515B1
Disclosed herein is a golf putter having an alignment means for aligning a golfer's line of sight directly over a golf ball and in line with a desired target. The putter head comprises a striking face and a rearwardly extending body portion. The body portion includes an upper section having an alignment bar protruding away from and perpendicular to the striking face and a lower section having an alignment slot extending away from and perpendicular to the striking face. The alignment bar and slot are centrally positioned and spaced apart from each other such that (i) the slot becomes obscured by the alignment bar when the golfer's line of sight is directly over the striking face and the golf ball at their point of contact, and (ii) the alignment bar and slot are in line with the desired target when the striking face strikes the golf ball.
US07815512B2
A following margin of a following flank of an external thread is shifted more in a screw-rotation direction than a leading margin of a leading flank. Thus, during biting, the following margin bites first, thereby suppressing a force that pushes back a tap and reducing a tapping torque. Because margin portions can be disposed parallel to an axis of a thread forming tap, working is easy and manufacture can be performed inexpensively. When, in forming an external thread by grinding by a grinding abrasive, an inclination angle of the axis of a tap blank and an abrasive axis of the grinding abrasive is equal to a lead angle of the external thread, the margins are formed symmetrically across a root. On the other hand, if the inclination angle is made greater than the lead angle, the following margin can be shifted in the screw-rotation direction, enabling manufacture to be performed as easily and inexpensively as in a conventional case.
US07815496B2
The surface(s) of a polishing pad for polishing an object has a first portion including hydrophilic material and a second portion including hydrophobic material. The first portion of the polishing surface is located in a first region of the polishing pad and the second portion of the polishing surface is located in a second region of the polishing pad juxtaposed with the first region in the radial direction of the pad. The hydrophilic material may be a polymer resin that contains hydrophilic functional groups having OH and/or ═O at bonding sites of the polymer. The hydrophobic material may be a polymer resin that contains hydrophobic functional groups having H and/or F at bonding sites of the polymer. The polishing pad is manufactured by extruding respective lines of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic materials. The extruders and a backing are moved relative to each other such that the lines form concentric rings of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic materials.
US07815493B2
An apparatus mounted to a machine for positioning a device near a workpiece during a machining operation, during which the workpiece is movable relative to a machining tool. The apparatus comprises an arm coupled to the machining tool and movable relative thereto to mimic movement of the workpiece relative to the machining tool. The arm includes a shoe for contacting the workpiece during the machining operation. The apparatus further comprises a linear actuator coupled to the arm for moving the arm between a retracted position and an engaged position. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus includes a coolant nozzle assembly. According to another embodiment of the invention, the apparatus includes a workpiece support shoe. According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus includes an in-process gauge assembly.
US07815489B2
A method for the simultaneous double-side grinding of a plurality of semiconductor wafers, involves a process wherein each semiconductor wafer lies such that it is freely moveable in a cutout of one of a plurality of carriers caused to rotate by means of a rolling apparatus and is thereby moved on a cycloidal trajectory, wherein the semiconductor wafers are machined in material-removing fashion between two rotating working disks, wherein each working disk comprises a working layer containing bonded abrasive. The method according to the invention makes it possible, by means of specific kinematics, to produce extremely planar semiconductor wafers.
US07815487B2
A pad for a brassiere has a first layer; a second layer; and an intermediate layer between the first layer and the second layer. The first layer, the second layer and the intermediate layer are connected at predetermined locations to form a first plurality of depressions on the first layer and a second plurality of depressions on the second layer. The brassiere has a pair of back panels, a pair of shoulder straps, and a pair of breast receiving cups. Each of the pair of breast receiving cups has a first layer; a second layer; and an intermediate layer between the first layer and the second layer. The first layer, the second layer and the intermediate layer are connected to form a first plurality of depressions on said first layer and a second plurality of depressions on said second layer.
US07815471B2
An electrical interconnection device (100) includes a first connector (1) having an insulated housing (14) and at least a pogo type contact (15) mounted to the insulated housing; a second connector (2) having base portion (20) and a terminal (25) assembled to the base portion, said terminal having an arc-shaped mating segment; and the first connector pivotally linked to the second connector, with the insulated housing of the first connector disposed adjacent to the base portion of the second connector, the contact (15) pressing onto and sliding along the mating segment of the terminal (25) while the first connector and the second connector are swiveled with respect to one another.
US07815468B2
A connector to be engaged with and connected to an opponent connector, the connector includes a ground plate extending in a first direction; plural signal contacts placed side by side in the first direction, the plural signal contacts being configured to come in contact with corresponding plural signal contacts of the opponent connector; and plural ground contacts placed side by side in the first direction, the plural ground contacts being configured to come in contact with corresponding plural ground contacts of the opponent connector; wherein the ground plate and the ground contacts are formed in a body by processing a single metal plate; and the opponent connector side of the ground plate and the opponent connector side of the ground contacts are electrically connected to each other.
US07815467B2
A connector device includes a first connector and a second connector to be connected the first connector. The first connector includes a first housing, a plurality of first signal terminals arranged in the first housing, and a first shell for covering an outer portion of the first housing. The second connector includes a second housing, a plurality of second signal terminals arranged in the second housing, a second shell for covering an outer portion of the second housing, and a first ground terminal disposed between the second signal terminals for separating the second signal terminals. When the first connector is connected the second connector, the first signal terminals contact with the second terminals.
US07815461B2
Connector for vehicles having a vibration-proof effect against vibration of a shielded electric wire
A connector of the present invention includes: a first terminal electrically connected to a conductor wire of a shielded electric wire; a second terminal electrically connected to the first terminal; a housing provided so as to surround a connection part of the first terminal and the second terminal and a peripheral part thereof, composed of a first housing that holds the first terminal and a second housing that holds the second terminal; and a shielded electric wire support member provided in the first housing, for grasping an insulator coating of the shielded electric wire inserted into the first housing, and supporting the shielded electric wire by the first housing in contact with an inner wall of the first housing.
US07815456B2
A semiconductor device socket including lever members connected to a pressing member movably supported by a pressing member support body. The lever members are operated in conjunction with rotation of an engaging pin of an operating lever supported by a common support shaft with the pressing member support body.
US07815453B2
An electrical connector assembly (100) includes a first retaining half (51) securely mounted on a printed substrate, a load plate (60) pivotally attached to the first retaining half, a second retaining half (52) opposite and distant to the first retaining half, a lever (70) pivotally attached to the second retaining half and including a cam portion (706) capable of pushing down a pressed section (610) from the clip toward the printed substrate, and a connector (30) mounted between the first and second retaining halves.
US07815451B2
A system includes a first bus coupler element, a second bus coupler element, and a visual element associated with the second bus coupler element and including a transparent media enabling the second coupler element to be visually aligned with the first coupler element.
US07815445B2
A cable assembly (1000) includes an elongated metallic housing (10A) and a cable holder member (6) attached to a rear portion of the housing (10A); a cable (4) coupled to the housing, with a mounting portion (40) thereof gripped by the cable holder member; and a protective member (5) embedded in the mounting portion of the cable, disposed outside of the wires (42) of the cable.
US07815442B2
A burn-in socket for electrical connecting with package having solder balls, includes a base and a number of contacts received in the base. Each contact has a spring section movable in the base, a contact section extending upwardly from the spring section and a retention section extending downwardly from the spring section. The contact section includes three tips at a top end thereof for contacting with the solder balls of the package thereby supporting the solder balls.
US07815438B2
A first needle-like member includes a columnar member formed by a conductive material such as a metal material with its up-and-down direction being longitudinal, and a contact member formed on a semiconductor integrated circuit (body to be contacted) side with respect to the columnar member, which are integrally formed. In the columnar member, a through hole is formed in the longitudinal direction of the first needle-like member. The through hole has opening ends on both sides thereof Thus, in the process of manufacturing the needle-like member, the contact member is formed on a rod-like body being a raw material from the same direction as a drill insertion direction to form the through hole.
US07815437B2
A spotlight for illumination in film, studio, event or theatre environments, with an electrical terminal for connecting the spotlight to a supply line for supplying electricity to the spotlight, is provided. The electrical terminal is rotatably mounted on the spotlight and can be matched in terms of its alignment, so as to connect the spotlight to the supply line. The position of the electrical terminal can be matched in dependence on the arrangement of the spotlight, in order to supply the electric supply line to the spotlight from different directions.
US07815436B2
An interface device capable of communicating with a computer running a simulation program, such as a surgical simulation program, comprises an instrument capable of being manipulated by a user. The instrument is receivable within an orifice in an instrument receiving member, the instrument receiving member comprising a capture member engageable with the instrument and a sensor to sense a position of the instrument. The position of the instrument is then used by the computer to control a graphic image related to the simulation. In one version, the simulation is a simulation of a surgical instrument insertion procedure, such as an endoscopy procedure.
US07815431B2
A drive system (10) for shutoff needles in injection molds fitted with needle shutoff nozzles comprises an elevation drive element (20) to which can be affixed at least two shutoff needles (16) of two needle shutoff nozzles, said elevation drive element being displaceable—between two longitudinally supported control rails (30) that can be moved in a first direction (R1)—in a second direction (R2) perpendicular to the first direction (R1), at least two glide elements (50) being configured in grooves (40) oblique to said first and second directions (R1, R2) running between the elevation drive element (20) and the control rails (30), said glide elements converting the first motion of the control rails (30) in the direction (R1) into an elevation motion imparted by the elevation drive element (20) in the second direction (R2). In order to assure in particular substantially maintenance free and durably reliable operation of all valve needles, the invention provides that components which move relative to one another and hence are exposed to wear, in particular the control rails (30) and/or the glide elements (50), are made at least in part of a self-lubricating or a diamantine material or are coated at least in part with a self-lubricating or diamantine material.
US07815430B2
A mold for imprinting a pattern onto a resin material applied onto a substrate is constituted by a mold substrate formed of a material transparent to light in at least a part of a wavelength range of light used for alignment, an alignment structure area having an alignment structure comprising a recess portion, a pattern forming area having a pattern, and a coating layer is formed of a material having an optical characteristic different from that of the mold substrate. The coating layer is on a side wall of the recess portion.
US07815424B2
An imprinting machine that brings a mold having a pattern into contact with an object and transfers the pattern onto the object includes a measurement unit that measures a position of the mold when the mold contacts the object.
US07815415B2
A mounting structure for an air separator in a gas turbine includes an air separator and a rotor blade rotary disk. The air separator includes a cylindrical member with a flange at one end. The rotor blade rotary disk has on its outer face a disk recess portion forming an annular recess around the axial center of the rotor. A sealing face is formed on a contact face between a flange outer peripheral face that is provided on an outer periphery of the flange to be parallel to the axial center of the rotor and a disk recess inner peripheral face opposed to the flange outer peripheral face, that is provided on the disk recess portion and is parallel to the axial center of the rotor and formed around the axial center in an annular shape.
US07815411B2
A multiple function landscaping method and system is capable of operating with or without a dump box. A lower lift, crane or hoist can be utilized by itself or in combination with an upper positioned dump box. The novel usage of a single truck bed to achieve such functions as tree delivery, debris removal and top soil delivery enables landscaping to be more efficiently and economically performed, thus providing a significant advantage to the environment.
US07815410B2
A vehicle parking apparatus for parking a vehicle comprises a main structure having a plurality of storage racks capable of storing vehicles lined up in a vertical direction, a lift cage capable of being mounted with a vehicle, a coupling mechanism having a second coupling member, a first coupling member capable of making contact with the second coupling member from a lower side and capable of relative movement in a downward direction from a position of making contact with the second coupling member, and an urging mechanism causing a prescribed urging force to act in a downward direction on the first coupling member; a wire capable of suspending the lift cage in an elevator shaft H next to the storage racks via the coupling mechanism, and winding apparatus capable of winding the wire up and down. The first coupling member is fixed to one end of the wire, and the second coupling member is fixed to the lift cage. This makes it possible to provide a vehicle parking apparatus and elevator apparatus capable of being stably driven with a simple configuration.
US07815394B2
The invention relates to a device for a watercraft for picking up and launching boats. The device comprises an extension arm that is coupled in such a manner that it can swing freely on the watercraft, that extends at an acute angle in relation to the surface of the water and floats in water by means of floats. The extension arm comprises guide tracks for a boat retrieving device that is maintained on the extension arm in a longitudinally displaceable manner. The boat retrieving device comprises a holding head that is articulated in a displaceable manner on a running part guided on the guide rails, about an axis that is horizontal and approximately transversal in relation to the extension arm. The running part is connected to the drive means for longitudinally displacing the boat retrieving device. The holding head comprises at least one adjusting means that acts upon its adjusting movement about the horizontal axis.
US07815392B2
Disclosed herein is a system and method for a seamless curb system suitable for a sanitary environment while providing an energy absorbing structure. The multicellular structure has a substantially uniform cross section. The structure is formed of hi-density, energy absorbing, expanding polypropylene foam, similar to bumper systems used in cars and trucks. An outer shell is disposed over at least a front portion of the structure. The outer shell may be stainless steel or a polyurea/polyaspartic reinforced coating, as examples. The elements are sealed to each other in an end to end relationship adjacent to a wall to form an energy absorbing protective barrier to the wall. At least one anchor is disposed in a slot in the floor of the manufacturing facility to provide support.
US07815388B2
A retractable writing surface system including a binding mechanism and a pocket directly bound to the binding mechanism, the pocket having an inner cavity. The system further includes a polymer writing surface at least partially received in the pocket. The writing surface is movable between an extended position wherein at least part of the writing surface is exposed for writing upon by a writing instrument, and a retracted position wherein less of the writing surface is exposed for writing upon by the writing instrument compared to when the writing surface is in the extended position. At least part of the writing surface is located in the cavity when the writing surface is in the retracted position.
US07815385B2
A chuck unit (4) for grasping a writing lead (10) and a rotor (6) arranged to be movable in a direction of rotation and an axial direction within a body cylinder (1) are provided. First and second cam faces (6a) and (6b) are respectively formed at one end face and another end face of the rotor in the axial direction, and first and second fixed cam faces (13a) and (17a) are arranged on the body cylinder side to face the first and second cam faces respectively. The first cam face in the rotor is brought into abutment with and meshed with the first fixed cam face by retreat operation of the chuck unit under writing pressure, and the second cam face in the rotor is brought into abutment with and meshed with the second fixed cam face by releasing the writing pressure, so that the rotor rotates, whereby the writing lead also rotates.
US07815373B2
A symmetric ultra-precision spindle design in which all forces of constraint are, within the tolerances of manufacturing and assembly processes, symmetrically arranged about its axis. Additionally this design may require little or no external power other than the forces to rotate the spindle.
US07815360B2
A material processing plant comprises two screw-type extruding machines (1, 2) which are interconnected by means of a link (29). The link (29) is movable from a position of connection into an open position of release of the casing bores (12). Provision is further made for a mover (38) which acts on the link (29) for implementation of the motion.
US07815357B2
A high quality surface light source in which various kinds of unevenness in luminance due to use of small number of spot-like primary light sources for reducing power consumption is eliminated, and a light guide for use therein. The planar light guide (4) guides light emitted from a plurality of spot-like primary light sources (2) and has an incoming end face (41) of lights emitted from the primary light source (2) and an outgoing face (43) of guided light. A high light diffusion region (431) extends substantially along the direction of directivity of light entering the light guide (4) in a plane extending along the outgoing face (43), in the vicinity of the incoming end face of at least one of the outgoing face (43) and its rear surface (44) on the opposite side. The high light diffusion region (431) has a mean inclination angle larger than that of an adjacent region (434).
US07815356B2
A hand-held power tool includes a housing with a tool fitting for receiving an insertion tool, and at least one illuminating element for illuminating the working area of the hand-held power tool; wherein the at least one illuminating element is located in the region of the tool fitting.
US07815349B2
A rear light assembly for a motor vehicle is disclosed. The rear light assembly is disposed on a rear portion of the motor vehicle and includes a signaling device and one or more light devices. The signaling device can be either a reflector or include a light. In some cases, the signaling device can be centrally mounted. In some cases, the light devices can be mounted next to the signaling device.
US07815346B2
A method for calculating out an optimum arrangement pitch between each two LED chip package units, including: providing a backlight module with a predetermined brightness value and a predetermined material information that a customer needs; determining what brightness level and amount of LED chip package units need to be used by a designer according to the brightness value and the material information of the backlight module; and dividedly arranging the LED chip package units determined by the designer on a light-entering area of the backlight module in order to define what the optimum arrangement pitch between each two LED chip package units is.
US07815344B2
A high visibility emergency signaling device includes a base configured to be secured to an external support raised above ground level, light-emitting means mounted thereto for generating at least one light beam, and power supply means for such light-emitting means. Optical means are further provided, operating on the at least one light beam to model and orient it in such a manner as to illuminate a substantially circular area in space and/or on the ground.
US07815338B2
A LED lighting unit including an elongated heat sink having two spaced apart longitudinal grooves, the grooves facing tangentially or at an angle greater than an angle between a tangent of the lighting unit at the groove and a radius of the lighting unit at the groove. At least one LED is mounted to the heat sink between the grooves, and the at least one LED is enclosed by a lens having bulged longitudinal edges by sliding the bulged longitudinal edges into the grooves.
US07815337B2
A flashlight apparatus including a body portion formed from a woven material, the body portion having a longitudinal length and forming at least part of an adjustable cavity for containing at least one battery, and a head portion coupled to the body portion and having at least one of an illumination source for providing illumination and a connector for connecting the flashlight to another device. Accordingly, the flashlight can supply power to the another device. The body portion can adjust (e.g., its length and diameter—or area) to the size and number of battery cells contained therein.
US07815334B2
A wristband mountable accessory is provided which includes a body, a flashlight in said body, and an upper compartment sized and shaped to hold medications (such as tablets, pills, lozenges, etc.) and paper upon which medical and/or emergency information can be written. Mounting wings extend from opposite sides of the body to enable the accessory to be mounted to a wristband by threading the wristband through the mounting wings. The mounting wings are provided with sizing pegs so that the accessory can accommodate a variety of sizes (widths) of wristbands.
US07815328B2
A decorative light and a method for making a decorative light having layers of distinct flexible materials on a bulb are disclosed.
US07815326B2
An interior rearview mirror system for a vehicle includes an interior rearview mirror assembly, a casing, a transflective reflective element, a compass sensor and a control. An information display disposed behind said reflective element whereby information displayed by the information display is viewable through the transflective reflector by a driver of a vehicle when the information display is displaying information. At least a portion of the control is disposed within the mirror casing and behind the reflective element, and another portion of the control is disposed at the mounting structure. The other portion of control may include a forward facing imaging array that is part of at least one of (a) a headlamp controller of the vehicle, (b) an object detection system of the vehicle, (c) a rain sensor of the vehicle and (d) a lane departure warning system of the vehicle.
US07815321B2
An antiglare film is disclosed comprising of an antiglare layer having a surface irregularity on a transparent base material, wherein the antiglare layer includes a binder matrix, an organic particle A and a particle B, and the value that an average particle size of the organic particle A is divided by an average film thickness of the antiglare layer is in the range of 0.4 to 0.7, and the value that an average particle size of the particle B is divided by an average particle size of the organic particle A is in the range of 0.3 to 0.7, and the content of the particle B relative to the organic particle A in the antiglare layer is in the range of 50 wt % to 200 wt %.
US07815318B2
A projector capable of adjusting brightness and brightness uniformity includes a light module, a light pipe, a first lens module, a second lens module and an image module. The light module generates a light ray. The light pipe includes an entrance and an exit. The light ray is converged onto the entrance of the light pipe and outputted through the exit of the light pipe. The first lens module has a first focal surface, which overlaps the exit of the light pipe, and receives the light ray outputted through the exit of the light pipe. The second lens module has a second focal surface and receives the light ray outputted through the first lens module. The image module is disposed on the second focal surface of the second lens module and receives the light ray outputted through the second lens module.
US07815295B2
A liquid discharge device includes a casing, a carriage, a discharge head, a sub tank, an energy supply device, and a controller. The casing has a space for housing a main tank. The carriage is capable of moving. The discharge head is arranged on the carriage. The sub tank is arranged on the carriage. The sub tank communicates with the discharge head. The sub tank is connected with the main tank when the carriage is located at a predetermined position. The sub tank is disconnected with the main tank when the carriage is located at positions other than the predetermined position. The energy supply device supplies energy to liquid within the main tank such that the liquid within the main tank is discharged. The controller controls the energy supply device such that the ink within the main tank is supplied to the sub tank when the carriage is located at the predetermined position. The controller controls the energy supply device such that the liquid within the main tank is discharged before the carriage arrives at the predetermined position.
US07815291B2
A inkjet printhead integrated circuit that has a wafer substrate with a fluid ejection surface, and an array of drop ejectors for ejecting drops of printing fluid onto a media substrate, the array being formed on the fluid ejection surface of the wafer substrate. Each drop ejector has a nozzle through which the drops are ejected, an actuator for ejecting drops through the nozzle and, a drive transistor for energizing the actuator with a drive pulse. The area of the drive transistor projected onto the fluid ejection surface is less than 37 times the area of the nozzle.
US07815290B2
An inkjet printhead includes a nozzle chamber structure defining a nozzle chamber. The nozzle chamber structure further defines a pair of ink ejection nozzles and an ink supply channel in fluid communication with the nozzle chamber. A movable paddle is disposed within the nozzle chamber at a location between the ink ejection nozzles. An actuator is attached to the paddle and, upon actuation, can reciprocate the paddle toward and away from a first one of the ink ejection nozzles so that ink in the nozzle chamber can be ejected out through that first nozzle.
US07815289B2
A substantially planar micro-fluid ejection device, where the micro-fluid ejection head is hermetically sealed and bonded to a support material, and a method of bonding a silicon device, such as a micro-fluid ejection head, to a support material.
US07815284B2
A liquid drop ejecting head includes a cavity section which is formed by laminating a plurality of plates including at least first and second manifold plates adjacent to each other in a laminating direction. Each of the first and second manifold plates includes an opening. The openings overlap with each other when viewed in the laminating direction. At least one of the openings includes: a first opening which extends in the first direction and serves as a common liquid chamber; a second opening which is adjacent to the first opening and serves as a supply path; and a partitioning portion disposed between the first opening and the second opening.
US07815274B2
A method for detecting malfunctioning nozzles of an inkjet printer does not need any sensors, scanning means or processor time. The method includes printing a test pattern with an inkjet printer having at least one array of at least two nozzles, and for each array printing the test pattern includes selecting a nozzle of the array to be investigated, identifying for the nozzle a number of compensating nozzles, each compensating nozzle being suitable to replace the nozzle for printing a dot, and printing a row that includes at least two dot groups and each dot group includes at least one dot. At least one dot group is printed by the nozzle and at least one other dot group is printed by a nozzle of the number of compensating nozzles.
US07815272B2
A stable voltage can be supplied from a voltage converter circuit and an increase in the area of the entire element body can be suppressed even if the number of recording elements increases and the element body becomes longer. An element body for a recording head includes a plurality of arrayed recording elements, and a voltage converter circuit which converts an externally input voltage. The voltage converter circuit includes a reference voltage generating section and a voltage converter section, and the voltage converter section is formed from a plurality of distributedly arranged voltage converter elements.
US07815271B2
A recording medium driving device includes a recording and/or playback unit for performing at least one of recording of a data signal on the recoding surface of a recording medium, and playback of a data signal from the recording surface, a printing unit for printing visible information on the main surface different from the recording surface of the recording medium using an inkjet method, a driver for performing driving as to the recording medium, and a drive control unit for switching the driving speed of the driver by a printing mode for printing visible information on the main surface or a recording/playback mode for recording or playback of the data signal on/from the recording surface.
US07815269B2
A refrigerator includes a heat-insulating housing and at least one heat-insulating door fastened thereto. The door and the housing each have an outer cladding, an inner cladding, and a heat insulation layer produced therebetween by foaming and into which is introduced vacuum insulation panels on the door and/or on the housing. Vacuum insulation panels are disposed on the inner claddings of the doors and housings.
US07815262B2
A track chain assembly (22) has a track shoe (25) and a pair of parallel links (26) that are fixed to a non ground-engaging surface of the track shoe (25) with bolts (36). A connecting shaft (27) is fixed to shaft holes (31) that are provided on end portions each of which is included in the links (26). A reinforcing member (48) connects the links (26) with the bolts (36) so as to reinforce an open side between the links (26). Therefore, the links (26) are prevented from being damaged due to concentration of stress on a specific portion of each link (26).
US07815259B2
An office chair is provided with includes a chair arm assembly on each opposite side thereof for supporting the arms of a user. The arm assemblies each include a latching assembly to permit adjustment of the height of an arm cap thereof while maintaining the arm cap at a selected elevation. The latch assembly is engageable with an inner liner provided within a support post. Further, the armrest assembly has a plurality of interconnected and relatively movable plates which permit adjustment of the angular orientation of the arm cap along with adjustment of the arm cap in the front-to-back direction and the side-to-side direction.
US07815255B1
A seat for a combat vehicle includes a generally rectangular rigid base including front and rear ribs disposed on opposite, longer sides of the base, the base including a pair of slot openings disposed adjacent opposite, shorter sides of the base; a generally rectangular inner cushion disposed on a top surface of the base; a generally U-shaped outer cushion disposed on a top surface of the inner cushion and along outer surfaces of the front and rear ribs; a cover disposed over the outer cushion; and a pair of support assemblies for supporting the seat in the vehicle.
US07815247B2
Deformation by camber recovery etc. due to non-uniform residual stress is suppressed, and occurrence of crack and burr is suppressed by improving press forming property of a roof side T-shaped portion, so that a reinforcing member having a predetermined shape accuracy is manufactured easily and inexpensively by pressing. A reinforcing member (12) is constructed by three members, i.e. an upper member (20), a lower member (22) and a central member (24). A tensile strength of the upper member (20) is selected lower than that of the central member (24), and is higher than that of the lower member (22). In comparison to a case where the upper member (20) and the central member (24) are constructed integrally by an ultra-high tensile steel plate, fluctuation of internally generated residual stress is made small. Shape accuracy is thereby improved by the reduced deforming amount due to camber recovery etc., thus press forming being facilitated. Also, a roof side T-shaped portion constructed by the upper member (20) is improved in the drawing property, and the door frame corner portions (30) and (32) are improved in the outer trimming property. Thus, the shape accuracy is improved, and yield and productivity is increased by suppression of crack generation.
US07815222B2
Embodiments provide a fluid storage tank trailer including a base including a set of rear wheels, a tank supported by the base, the base including a set of skids adapted to engage the ground forward of the rear wheels when the trailer is not connected to a tow vehicle, the skids being adapted to support the tank bottom in relation to the ground, a forward frame extending from generally beneath the tank to the front end, the forward frame including a nose bar at the front end, the forward frame being adapted to be towed by a tow vehicle, a forward platform elevated above the forward frame, a first forward access ladder extending from the forward platform to the first side, and a second forward access ladder extending from the forward platform to the second side.
US07815215B1
This disclosure describes a work site utility carrier that configures as a dolly or hand truck in its retracted mode and a work bench in its elevated mode. Pivoting arm pairs enable the carrier's lower and upper receptacles to be transitioned between modes. Two “wheelbarrow” handles are pivotally attached at the lower outer end of the upper receptacle. When oriented at right angles to the upper receptacle bottom, the handles lessen the effort needed to maneuver the carrier. In a “semi-inclined” position the carrier rests in part on the handle outer ends, with much of the mass of the upper receptacle already elevated. Full elevation is facilitated by moving the lower receptacle toward the handle outer ends which act as brakes to keep the carrier stationary during the elevation.
US07815212B2
An adapter for coupling an actuator having an actuator rod that is linearly translatable along a first axis to a coupler having a lever arm with a contact face adapted to contact the draw arm and move the draw arm translationally along a second axis that is at an angle with respect to the first axis in the range of 1 degree to 120 degrees, the coupler mounted to an existing structure, the adapter including a base plate configured for attachment to the structure; a support plate depending from the base plate and adapted to receive the pneumatic actuator; at least one brace attached to the base plate and to the support plate; and a rotatable cam adapted to transfer force from the actuator rod as it moves along the first axis to the lever arm to cause the draw arm to move along the second axis and into contact with the hook on the coupler.
US07815211B2
A hitch storage device for securing a hitch to a vehicle that minimizes risk of accidental painful contact between the hitch and the operator of the vehicle. The hitch storage device includes a connecting member, a male hitch member, a hitch-support bracket, and a male protrusion member. The hitch storage device incorporates an integral passive securing mechanism whereby a hitch is secured without having to use an active hitch-securing device such as a bolt to secure the hitch shaft to the hitch storage device of the present invention. In a further embodiment, the male hitch member and hitch-support bracket are integrated to provide an L-shaped bracket with an integral sidewall.
US07815209B2
The invention concerns a standing wheelchair for handicapped and invalid people, that includes a chassis supporting an articulated structure which includes a seat support structure, a footrest support structure, a backrest support structure, and support and maneuvering resources of the articulated structure. The support and maneuvering resources are located between the articulated structure and the chassis and which are designed to move the articulated structure from a sitting position to a standing position set back in relation to the sitting position, and vice versa. According to the invention, the standing wheelchair includes resources for setting the angle (α) between the footrest and the seat in the standing position.
US07815203B2
A knuckle includes two steering bosses (i.e., upper and lower), each having a continuous channel, connecting, respectively, separate channel openings where the channels taper outward from an inner diameter to each of their respective openings. A hollow first adapter sleeve is located within either one of the channel openings of the upper steering boss, and a hollow second adapter sleeve is located within either one of the channel openings of the lower steering boss. As a result of this structure, the knuckle may be used on either side of a vehicle, allow for entry of a steering arm/tie rod arm from forward to rear (rearwardly directed) or vice versa in either of the steering bosses, and may be applied to various sizes of knuckle-steer axle assemblies.
US07815202B2
An improved utility cart for use in auto body repair facilities. The cart includes an upright frame from which one or more shelf or basket members extend generally horizontally. Extensions on the spaced apart legs of the cart include at least two elongate upright posts which are spaced apart sufficiently to receive a thin auto body part such as a hood panel or windshield. Elongate support arms may be attached to the upright members of the frame by inserting tabs of the arms into slots in the upright members. The shelf and basket members are supported on a pair of side brackets which have tabs which are received in slots in the upright members. The legs may be adjusted from a parallel position to one which has the legs diverging. The legs are supported by casters mounted at the ends of the legs and at the ends of the leg extensions. A small parts drawer may be carried in a drawer support which can be suspended from either a shelf or a basket member. S-hooks and elastic cords may be attached to cross bars separating the upright members, or from the elongate support arms or the side brackets of the shelf or basket members.
US07815194B2
A mechanical seal 4 includes a rotary sealing ring 8 which is fixed to a rotary shaft body 2 and a stationary sealing ring 9 which is movably held to a tubular case body 1 in an axial direction thereof, and seals a space between inner and outer peripheral areas 5 and 18 of a relative rotation portion by means of the relative rotation of opposite end faces 21 and 27 of both sealing rings 8 and 9. A drive pin 24a which is engaged with a recessed portion 23 formed in an outer periphery of the stationary sealing ring 9 is fixedly supported to the case body 1 at both sides of a place engaging with the recessed portion 23 so as to prevent the stationary sealing ring 9 from rotating relatively to the case body 1. The drive pin 24a is made of a metal or plastic material according to the conditions of use. The rotary prevention function of the stationary sealing ring 9 is stably achieved by the drive pin 24a, and the plastic material that enables to prevent a contamination may be used as the constituting material of the drive pin 24a.
US07815189B1
This patent discloses a playing card game accessories kit. The kit may include a playing card handler, a gunfighter figurine, a card deck, an advanced card deck, a card cover, chips, and a game card rules book that may provide instructions on how to play continuous draw poker. The playing card handler may include a housing, a controls areas supported by the housing, a distribution area supported by the housing and positioned adjacent to the controls area, and electrical components such as a memory and processor. The controls area may include a two-screen monitor and control keys. The distribution area may include a distribution area divided into a deck tray and a card tray. Arranged rollers may pass cards between the deck tray and card tray. A bridge having a mode screen may divide the deck tray and a card tray.
US07815184B2
A take-out device includes a take-out mechanism which takes out postal matters supplied to a take-out position at one end of a deposit section one by one, a separating mechanism which separates second and subsequent postal matters that are carried along with a postal matter to be taken out from the take-out position, and an auxiliary mechanism which applies a negative pressure to the postal matter on the take-out position so as to feed it in both forward and opposite directions. The separating mechanism applies a negative pressure to the postal matter on the conveyance path via a plurality of adsorption holes of a separating roller so as to adsorb it, and applies a separating torque in an opposite direction to the take-out direction thereto.
US07815181B2
A recording apparatus includes a recording head, a transport driving roller, and a transport driven roller. The recording head discharges ink onto a transported recording medium, thereby performing recording. The transport driving roller is provided on the upstream side of the recording head in the transport direction and includes driving side roller portions and depressed portions. The driving side roller portions are rotationally driven, thereby transporting the recording medium. The diameter of the depressed portions is smaller than that of the driving side roller portions. The driving side roller portions and the depressed portions are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the recording medium in such a manner that at least one driving side roller portion alternates with at least one depressed portion. The transport driven roller is provided opposite the transport driving roller and includes driven side roller portions and presser rollers.
US07815174B2
A vibration isolator which is capable of stably opening and closing an orifice is provided at low manufacturing cost. A plunger for opening and closing an idle orifice is disposed in a manner that is slidably engaged with the inner wall surface of an orifice-forming member. A shaft portion extending downward is formed in the central portion of the plunger. A convex portion which is formed with a through-hole in which the shaft portion is slidably is provided on the bottom of the orifice-forming member so as to provide a bearing portion. The shaft portion of the plunger and the bearing portion of the orifice-forming member constitute a guide member for guiding the reciprocating motion of this plunger.
US07815173B2
A cooler includes a body, a water tank installed in the body for storing cooling water, a pump fixed in the water tank, a water pipe connected to the pump and extending upward, a spray pipe connected to the water pipe, at least one gas cooling device located above the spray pipe, at least one fan fixed on top of the body, at least one wind hole formed in a side of the body, at least one cooling pipe uprightly installed in the body and having an upper portion passing through heat-dispersing chips of the gas cooling device and a lower portion passing through heat-dispersing chips of the water cooling device, and at least one water-heat exchanger below the spray pipe and having a heat-dispersing element. The cooler has two stages of cooling by air and water, having a high effect of swift cooling high temperature to low temperature.
US07815169B2
A quick coupling, for example of a female type, to be connected with a counterpart, of a male type, comprises, inside a valve body, downstream of an inlet fitting for receiving a pressurized fluid flow (F), a guide and conveying body (7) having a parabolic cross section, and a plurality of radially outwardly extending ribs, delimiting, circumferentially of the guide and conveying body, a plurality of flow channels communicating with an annular chamber (6) closed by a valve body (3).
US07815164B2
A low noise valve assembly (24) mitigates noise induced by near sonic gas flow encountering stagnant flow in the region of the valve (24). An inlet tube (10) terminates in an annular chamber (12). An outlet tube (17) has a generally annular valve seat (14) disposed within the chamber (12). The valve (24) moves toward and away from a closed condition in direct contact with the valve seat (14). The valve (24) includes an insert body (26) that is spatially segregated from direct contact with the outlet tube (17) while partially filling the flow channel (16) of the outlet tube (17) when the valve (24) is in its closed condition. The insert body (26) has a generally circular base with a diameter that is larger than the throat diameter (T), which is the internal diameter of the flow channel (16) adjacent the valve (24).
US07815157B2
A method for reinstating a pole standing in ground comprising, abutting an inner surface of a sleeve against an outer surface of the pole so as to have a lower portion of the sleeve penetrating the ground and an upper portion of the sleeve projecting above the ground, and sliding a secondary member against an outer surface of the sleeve so that the secondary member locates against the sleeve and projects above the ground and into the ground, wherein the construction is such that the sleeve and secondary member located against the sleeve jointly form a bridging beam incorporating a box section reinforcement of the bridging beam. The formation of this box section substantially improves the strength of the bridging beam above what would be expected from the strength of the individual components.
US07815150B2
Systems and methods are described for controlling flow disturbances emanating from a protrusion, such as a beam propagating device. In one embodiment, a method includes positioning a flow control element at least partially around a base portion of a protrusion, wherein the flow control element includes at least one flow expanding feature. A reduced pressure zone is generated proximate an aft portion of the protrusion by expanding at least a portion of a flowfield. One or more flow disturbances emanating downstream from the protrusion are deflected using the at least one reduced pressure zone.
US07815149B1
A mechanism uses a magnetic field to dock a satellite to a host vehicle. A docking component of the mechanism residing on the host vehicle has a magnet that is used to induce a coupled magnetic field with a docking component of the mechanism residing on the satellite. An alignment guide axially aligns the docking component of the satellite with the docking component of the host device dependent on the coupled magnetic field. Rotational alignment guides are used to rotationally align the docking component of the satellite with the docking component of the host device. A ball-lock mechanism is used to mechanically secure the docking component of the host vehicle and the docking component of the satellite.
US07815147B2
Reinforced cover for cut-outs in an aerodynamic contour of a vehicle, with a first attachment section 1a attachable to a structural element (2,5) of the vehicle (11); a second elastic section 1c which covers the cut-out (4) which is located between a fixed part 5 and a moving part (6, 12) of the vehicle (11), and provided with a low-friction layer (8) on its inner surface (1e), which comprises a first area (1i) in a rectangular configuration and a second area (1j) with a second cross-section smaller than that of the first area (1i); an outer surface (1k) with a fiberglass layer (7a); a main internal body (9) of a flexible material, a transition section (1g) thickened between the first and the second section, (1a, 1c); flushing the outer surface (1k) of the second section (1c) with the outer surface (5a).
US07815143B2
Methods of reducing aircraft noise from landing gear during take off and landing maneuvers. An actuated multi-axle landing gear truck is oriented such that a plane through the axles is substantially parallel to the aircraft water line during approach and takeoff. The embodiment retains the capability to re-orient the truck “toes up” or “toes down,” as may be required, just before touchdown to facilitate rapid application of braking and speed brake/spoiler deployment. It also maintains the capability to re-orient the truck during gear retraction after take off to fit into the aircraft wheel wells. The invention may be retrofitted to existing aircraft or deployed on new aircraft.
US07815133B2
A crushing and reducing device, especially cone crushers, used in the building and ore-dressing industries. A method includes providing a crusher with proximity sensors and a disc rigidly secured to the unbalanced-mass vibration generator of the crusher such that the plane thereof is always perpendicular to the rotation axis of the vibration generator. The method includes measuring a distance to the disc, calculating the three-dimensional position of the disc plane, calculating the amplitude of the circular vibrations of the internal cone according to the position, calculating the size of a crushing gap according to the calculated amplitude, comparing the size with the specified parameter of the gap and, if required based on comparison results, outputting a control command to hydraulic cylinders to modify the position of an adjustment ring. The adjustment ring position is controlled by a proximity sensor which is mounted on the flange of a body top part.
US07815125B2
The microprocessor card includes a first microprocessor and a second microprocessor, the first microprocessor including elements for commanding the second microprocessor. In embodiments, the card includes electrical contacts adapted to carry command signals, these electrical contacts being connected exclusively to the first microprocessor. In embodiments, the first microprocessor includes elements for commanding the second microprocessor via commands conforming to the ISO 7816 standard. The first microprocessor uses a lower level of security than the second microprocessor.
US07815124B2
The invention relates to identification documents, and in particular to pre-printing processing covert images, such as UV or IR images, provided on such identification documents. In one implementation, the invention includes a method of processing a digital image that is to be printed on a surface of an identification document as a fluorescing-capable image to improve the quality of the image. Edges or boundaries are detected within the image, the detected edges or boundaries forming an intermediate image. The edges or boundaries within the image are emphasized, and the emphasized image is used for printing the covert image. In some implementations of the invention, a digital watermark is embedded in the covert image.
US07815123B2
This disclosure is directed towards a method and apparatus provided for improved sterile labeling on medications, solutions and medical supplies. The apparatus includes a sterile label, including associated corresponding medical product information. The sterile label is contained inside a sterile cavity housing which is formed from a first and second sheet of flexible plastic or other material. The flexible plastic material is bound together along its peripheral edges by an adhesive or heat sealing process. In this form, the flexible plastic or other material creates a package which may be peeled apart, enabling the label to be delivered or flipped to a sterile field while maintaining sterility. The label may contain on it many types of information corresponding to a medication. Furthermore, information can be added by a user. The disclosure makes the medication labeling system more accurate, safe and legible.
US07815117B2
The disclosure relates generally to methods and apparatus for protecting against counterfeit products and for methods and apparatus for providing counterfeiting protection for an object. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of: (a) accessing an object including an identifying mark having a first portion and a second portion wherein said second portion includes an encrypted feature; (b) reading the first portion to thereby obtain a first set of information; (c) transmitting the first set of information to a remote location; (d) receiving from the remote location a second set of information; and (e) reading the second portion using the second set of information to thereby determine the authenticity of the object.
US07815107B2
In some embodiments, the present application relates to card-free programs provided by a merchant to a customer, whereby the customer has access to functions such as payment options and/or loyalty program benefits without needing to present a physical card at a point of sale. For example, a customer may make a card-free purchase of goods or services from a merchant, whereby the customer need not present a card such as a debit card, credit card, loyalty card, or other physical tender to make a purchase. Further, the customer need not provide biometric data or otherwise use an electronic device or identifier to make a purchase. Alternatively or additionally, the customer may access a loyalty program without needing to provide a physical card or data associated with a card.
US07815104B2
A cash dispensing automated banking machine (10) includes a user interface (12) including an opening (20). Users of the machine deliver individual sheets and stacks of sheets to and from the machine through the opening. Stacks of sheets may include sheets such as notes, checks or other documents. Stacks input to the machine may include mixtures of various types of sheets. The machine operates to receive notes, process checks and perform other operations. Notes received in the machine may be recycled and dispensed to other users. Checks processed by the machine may be imaged by an imaging device, cancelled and stored in the machine or alternatively returned to a user.
US07815102B2
An inputting device for a refrigerator, comprises: a display having one or more button regions; and an optical sensor for sensing the button region selected by a user according to whether optical signals have been shielded; and a controller for receiving a signal indicating the sensed state from the optical sensor thereby controlling an operation of a refrigerator. Since the optical sensor for sensing the button region selected by a user is provided, an operation error is reduced. Furthermore, since the optical sensor has a low cost, a fabrication cost is reduced.
US07815093B2
The present invention relates to a guiding device (40) configured to guide equipment units for joining pipe sections which are arranged in a substantially upright position. The guiding device comprises a stationary body (41), one or more movable carriers being movably supported on said stationary body and configured to revolve one or more equipment units about a pipe section, a pipeline engagement device (63) configured to engage said guiding device with said pipe section and to support said stationary body, and one or more adjustable supports (44), said one or more adjustable supports being configured to make adjustment possible of a working plane of one or more equipment units (47, 48, 49) mounted on or to be mounted on said one or more carriers with respect to a pipe section on which the guiding device is mounted.
US07815087B2
A nail gun includes a body, a handle, a nail ejection member, and a nail magazine unit. The nail magazine unit includes two parallel cranks connected pivotally to the nail ejection member, and a link having two ends connected respectively and pivotally to free ends of the cranks.
US07815079B2
Some embodiments of the present invention provide a comestible fluid dispensing apparatus including a nozzle defining an interior space and having a fluid inlet through which fluid is received within the interior space and a fluid outlet through which fluid exits the interior space and a substantially conical valve movable relative to the nozzle between different positions with respect to the nozzle and shaped to reduce turbulence and/or provide improved dispensing control.
US07815078B2
A tap having a body, a horizontal inlet, and primary and secondary downwardly-extending spouts, the tap having primary and secondary flow paths. The primary flow path is adapted to dispense a bulk portion of beverage and includes a horizontally oriented primary valve having a primary valve stem and a primary valve seal. The secondary flow path is adapted to dispense a foamed portion of beverage and comprises a flow restriction for inducing turbulence in a beverage flowing through the secondary flow path to produce foam, the secondary flow path including a horizontally-oriented secondary valve with a secondary valve stem and a secondary valve seal. The primary and secondary valves operate independently and have valve stems sliding on spaced apart axes. The primary valve is operatively connected to a handle oriented perpendicular to the horizontal inlet, such that, rotation of the handle in a substantially vertical plane causes the primary valve to open or close and actuation of the secondary valve, for example, by pushing a button operatively connected to the secondary valve stem, causes the secondary valve to open or close.
US07815077B2
A soap dispensing assembly has a container housing having an interior that retains soap. The container housing has an opening which communicates with the interior. A pump unit secured to the top of the container housing at a location separate from the opening. The pump unit includes a dispensing assembly through which soap from the interior is dispensed. A lid that is removably coupled to the opening to allow for a quick replenishment of the soap without having to remove the pump unit. The pump unit can also include an actuator that has a soap outlet, with the actuator is pivoted to draw soap from the interior of the container housing to the soap outlet.
US07815075B2
A personal squeeze bottle dispenser has a clamshell housing adapted to receive a squeeze bottle having a push/pull dispensing valve. A slide mechanism is received within the housing and has a collar at one end engaging the push/pull valve, and a spring at the other end to effect automatic return of the slide mechanism upon termination of a dispensing cycle. The spring biases the push/pull valve to the closed position. The clamshell housing is configured with an opening for a thumb pad of the slid mechanism to achieve opening of the push/pull valve and accommodating pressure upon the squeeze bottle. An opening on the backside of the housing, opposite the thumb pad, is also provided to allow the user's fingers to access the squeeze bottle for the application of dispensing force.
US07815073B1
A convenience container device is disclosed. The device has a food container selectively coupled to a lid assembly. The lid assembly includes a spoon at an end of a handle pivotally coupled to a trigger handle. The food container comprises one or more chambers, and the chambers include solid foods and fluid foods. The chambers communicate with one another so that the solid foods and the fluid foods are mixed. Single-handed manipulation of the trigger handle by a user displaces the spoon having a mixture of the solid and fluid foods along a predefined path to conveniently deliver the food mixture to the user. A method of using the convenience container device is disclosed. Furthermore, a convenience consumer device kit comprises one or more convenience container devices or one or more components of one or more convenience consumer devices, or combinations thereof.
US07815061B1
A push and turn child resistant closure is provided which includes a combined over cap and under cap, the under cap freely rotational within the over cap and the combined closure installed on the container. For removal of the combined closure, both downward and counter-clockwise rotational force is applied to the over cap, the rotational force imparted on the under cap more readily by utilization of a friction ring at the engagement area between the over cap and the under cap while also having an outer gripping ring of highly frictional material making it much more easily rotatable and graspable by a user. The use of a highly frictional material more readily imparts rotational force on the under cap when utilized as depicted herein.
US07815060B2
A case flow bed for the handling of merchandise. The case flow bed including (a) a loading end and, opposite thereto, an unloading end; (b) a roller bed positioned between the loading end and unloading end for supporting and permitting sliding movement of merchandise from the loading end to the unloading end; and (c) apertures associated with at least the loading end for removably receiving at least one lane divider in any of a plurality of laterally extending positions for delimiting lanes of travel for the sliding movement of the merchandise.
US07815059B2
A rack for supporting a plurality of containerized plants has at least one brace supported by and extending between a pair of longitudinally extending rails. The brace is moveable relative to the rails for adjusting the longitudinal position of the brace along the rails such that the brace is positioned to engage at least one of the containers of the containerized plants. In use, one of the containerized plants may be placed in a receiving area defined in part by the brace. The brace may be moved along the rails until the brace engages the container. Then the brace is secured to the rails to resist movement of the brace away from the container along the rails. Some embodiments of the rack are relatively easy to assemble and disassemble. The rack may also be modular to facilitate expansion of the rack to support additional plants.
US07815041B2
A conveyor line for products such as bottles, cans or similar containers with at least one guide railing that is adjustable across the direction of conveyance and is operable by at least one actuator drive, whereby stops which can optionally be moved into several preset positions in the adjustment path of the guide railing or the at least one actuator drive which define various railing positions and thereby delineate the adjustment path.
US07815024B1
The collapsible balikbayan box apparatus is especially suited to surrounding and transporting a square cornered cardboard balikbayan box. The pliable ends, front, and back provide for collapse when the apparatus is not laden. The top is permanently affixed to the back and removably affixed to the two ends and the front. A unique hook latch provides for latch and release via stretching the pliable front and top. The rigid, removable bottom insert provides greater apparatus rigidity in use. Partially recessed wheels are fitted to the bottom. Straps encircle the bottom and extend up a majority of the sides, where the straps and handles are reinforced, so that the apparatus can be pulled or carried by the straps.
US07815018B2
A mechanical brake actuator realizing the miniaturization of the entire device and the reduction of the parts costs is provided. When the brake lever rotates in the cable releasing direction, the connecting pin can be connected with the free end of the brake lever from one facing plate side while the other facing plate restricts the movement of the connecting pin, and the clip (30) is set on one facing plate (23b) so as to restrict the movement of the connecting pin after connecting the brake cable and the brake lever via the connecting pin.
US07815017B2
A lifting station for vertically moving an object, in particular a vehicle body, in a surface treatment installation includes a fixed support structure and a vertically movable lifting cradle which is supported on the support structure and on which at least one conveying device is arranged. Energy for actuating the conveying device can be stored in an energy accumulator arranged on the lifting cradle. In this way, a trailing cable which supplies the conveying device with energy in different lifting positions is not required.
US07815014B2
A construction platform comprising a stationary support structure adapted to be fixedly secured to the floor of a building under construction and project from the edge of the building to a predetermined maximum extent, and a movable deck mounted on the stationary structure which may be extended as a cantilever therefrom or retracted into at least substantial registration therewith.
US07815006B2
To provide a seat belt winding method, a seat belt retractor, and a seat belt apparatus capable of stopping the motor even when the seat belt is being wound and restarting the winding of the seat belt, and capable of reducing excess repetition of stopping and starting of the motor.A seat belt winding method comprises a start signal detecting step (S1) for detecting a buckle release signal, a starting step (S2) for actuating a motor based on a buckle release signal, an overload detecting step (S3) for detecting overload on the motor, a stopping step (S4) for stopping the motor when overload is detected, a waiting step (S5) for stopping the motor for a certain period of time, a storage checking step (S6) for checking the completion of the winding of the seat belt after a lapse of the certain period of time, and a restart determining step (S7) for counting up the number of times the motor is restarted and terminating the winding operation of the seat belt (S8) when the number of times the motor is restarted reaches a predetermined value.
US07815002B2
A snowmobile is provided that includes rearward portion comprising at least one vehicle component (e.g., a seat, or a fuel tank). The snowmobile also includes an exhaust pipe, a radiator, a fan, and a duct. The exhaust pipe extends from an engine compartment in a forward portion to the rearward portion of the snowmobile. The radiator is positioned in the engine compartment. The fan is positioned near the radiator and the duct is provided on a rear side of the fan. The duct extends from the engine compartment to the rearward portion of the snowmobile. The fan and the duct cause air to pass through the radiator and to be discharged outside of the engine compartment. The duct is located between the exhaust pipe and the at least one vehicle component.
US07815000B2
A track driven vehicle has an undercarriage transmission assembly that has a central transmission housing forming a one piece all welded housing. The central transmission housing has upright side wall portions with multiple layers of plates or walls in a sandwich construction on which drive motors are mounted. The drive motors are on the interior of the transmission housing, with track driven sprocket assemblies on the exterior of the side walls. Track mounting pods or frames are welded to the exterior of the side walls of the transmission housing.
US07814999B2
A hydraulic traction system for vehicles is described. The system comprises a hydraulic vane motor mounted at each wheel of the vehicle, and equal number of identical hydraulic vane motors operated as engine driven pumps, and a control system for regulating the flow and direction of hydraulic oil during operation. The hydraulic motor is of a novel design that has a hollow non-drive shaft that accepts incoming hydraulic oil, this allows internal components of the hydraulic motor to be arranged in such a way to improve the efficiency of the hydraulic traction system.
US07814986B2
A powered hammer includes a housing, a tool holder coupled to the housing and configured to hold a tool, a motor within the housing, a cylinder disposed within the housing, and a piston slideably mounted within the cylinder. A drive mechanism converts rotary output of the motor into a reciprocating motion of the piston. The drive mechanism includes a crank shaft rotationally driven by the motor, a drive pin eccentrically mounted on the crank shaft, and a con rod with a first end connected to the drive pin and a second end connected to the piston. A ram is slideably mounted forward of the piston that is reciprocatingly driven by the piston. A beat piece is slideably mounted forward of the ram. The beat piece is repetitively struck by the reciprocating ram, which in turn repetitively strikes an end of the tool when held in the tool holder to transfer the momentum of the ram to the tool. Lubrication fluid covers at least part of the drive mechanism. A rear piston chamber is formed within an end of the cylinder, rearward of the piston, the volume of which repetitively changes as the piston moves within the cylinder, causing air within the housing to be at least one of drawn into and blown out of the rear piston chamber. The movement of air causes the lubrication fluid to move within the housing. A longitudinal passageway defined in at least one of the crank shaft and the drive pin enables passage of air and the lubricating fluid to assist in movement of the lubrication fluid within the housing.
US07814983B2
A fire protection system comprises a supply pipe having a first fluid pressurized to a first pressure and a network of pipes having a plurality of sprinklers. The network of pipes have a second fluid being pressurized to a second pressure at approximately 5.5 times the first pressure. The system further comprises a dry pipe valve including a body defining a passage extending along a longitudinal axis between an inlet coupled to the supply pipe and an outlet coupled to the network of pipes. The inlet has an inlet diameter of approximately WD inches and a seat disposed in the body has a seating surface with a diameter AD approximately less than two times WD inches. The dry pipe valve further includes a clapper pivotable about an axis orthogonal to the longitudinal axis between a first position occluding the passage when the ratio of the second pressure to the first pressure is at least 5.5 and a second position permitting fluid flow through the passage when the ratio is less than 5.5.
US07814981B2
Disclosed herein is an equalizer and fracture valve system. The system includes, a tubular, at least one fracture valve disposed at the tubular is openable and closeable to flow therethrough, and at least one equalizer disposed at the tubular is openable to flow therethrough.
US07814980B2
Methods of forming and utilizing micro-crosslinked gels are disclosed, including a method comprising: providing a micro-crosslinked gel that comprises micro-domains; and placing the micro-crosslinked gel into a subterranean formation via a well bore penetrating the formation at a desired pressure. In another aspect, the invention provides compositions that include a micro-crosslinked gel comprising a jigsaw configuration of micro-domains and particulates.
US07814973B2
A sand control screen assembly (40) is operably positionable within a wellbore (48). The sand control screen assembly (40) includes a base pipe (42) having at least one opening (60) and an internal flow path (44). A swellable material layer (46) is disposed exteriorly of the base pipe (42). A fluid collection subassembly (50) is disposed exteriorly of the swellable material layer (46). The fluid collection subassembly (50) is in fluid communication with the internal flow path (44). A filter medium (62) is operably associated with the sand control screen assembly (40) and is disposed in a fluid path between the exterior of the sand control screen assembly (40) and the internal flow path (44). In response to contact with an activating fluid, radial expansion of the swellable material layer (46) causes at least a portion of the fluid collection subassembly (50) to contact the wellbore (48).
US07814967B2
A heat exchanger having an active surface over which a fluid flows to affect an exchange of heat between the active surface and the fluid. In some embodiments, the active surface includes a logarithmic spiral wherein the radius of the logarithmic spiral measured at equiangular radii unfolds at a constant order of growth. Further embodiments exhibit an active surface conforming to the internal or external surface of particular classes or genera of shells.
US07814960B2
In a mold oscillating apparatus according to the present invention, a connecting plate for interconnecting a moving bearing housing rotated by eccentric rotation of an eccentric shaft and a mold table oscillated by rotation of the moving bearing housing is supported by the mold table from one end of an upper end part thereof to the other end, and supported by the moving bearing housing from one end of a lower end part thereof to the other end. By such a configuration, torsional deformation of the connecting plate is prevented and a stress generated in the connecting plate is eased.
US07814958B2
A roll-up sunroof shade is provided that includes two guide rails running along the sides of the shade sheet. The shade sheet is cut wider than corresponds to the clear distance between the guide rails. While being pulled out, the shade sheet is forced by an appropriate geometry at the inlet end of the guide rails to form a tube-like loop around a piping member that moves along with it. Due to the wrapping of the piping member, the shade sheet is held in place perpendicular to the longitudinal extent of the guide rail.
US07814956B2
An apparatus comprising a first door panel; a second door panel coupled to the first door panel such that the first door panel and the second door panel form a hollow portion of a door panel assembly; and an insulating material placed within the hollow portion of the door panel assembly. An apparatus comprising a door panel assembly including a front side, a back side, a top side, a bottom side, a left side and a right side; a door frame surrounding the door panel assembly at the bottom side, the left side and the right side of the door panel, the door frame including a bottom portion, a left portion and a right portion; means for magnetically coupling the left side of the door panel assembly to the left portion of the door frame; means for magnetically coupling the right side of the door panel assembly to the right portion of the door frame; means for magnetically coupling the bottom side of the door panel assembly to the bottom portion of the door frame.
US07814955B2
A woven corrugator belt having a fabric body that has a base layer fabricated from a polyester material and has at least 1 layer of the polyester that runs in both the machine direction and cross machine direction of the belt. The fabric body has a first end and a second end that are joined by use of an inline seam. A material having greater hydrolysis resistance than the polyester may be woven into side portions of the belt for improved hydrolysis resistance.
US07814954B2
A sheet sticking apparatus 10 comprises a sheet feed-out unit 12 that feeds out an adhesive sheet S to a position facing a surface of a semiconductor wafer W and a press roller 14 that presses the adhesive sheet S to stick the adhesive sheet S onto the wafer W. The sheet feed-out unit 12 includes a tension measuring means 35 for measuring a tension of the adhesive sheet S between the sheet feed-out unit 12 and the press roller 14 and a sticking angle maintaining means 37 provided with a feed-out head 49 for maintaining a sticking angle θ. After measuring and adjusting the tension immediately before sticking the adhesive sheet S, the feed-out head 49 is lowered in proportion to the movement amount of the press roller 14, thereby the sticking angle θ is maintained, and thus the tension is maintained at a constant level.
US07814952B2
The present invention provides a run-flat support body and a tire/wheel assembly whose weights can be respectively reduced. The run-flat support body includes an annular shell and elastic rings, the annular shell having an outer peripheral side as a support surface and an inner peripheral side formed in fork-shaped open legs, the elastic rings being attached respectively to the legs portions of the annular shell, and the elastic rings being designed to be mounted on a rim of a wheel. The annular shell is formed of a porous structural material having fine voids. The run-flat support body is attached to an inside of a pneumatic tire mounted on the rim of the wheel.
US07814951B2
A pneumatic tire which can enhance performance on snow while assuring performance in wet or dry condition is provided.A plurality of inclined lateral grooves 16 which extend from the tread edge 12E toward the tire equatorial surface CL, being inclined with respect to the tire circumferential direction, are arranged in the tread 12 to establish the rotation directionality, whereby high performance in wet condition is obtained. In traveling on snow, the snow is got into the inclined lateral grooves 16, resulting in a force for shearing the snow column being obtained, thus basic performance in traveling on a snow covered road surface is provided. In the land portion 18 between inclined lateral grooves 16 adjoining in the circumferential direction, convexly curved line fine grooves 20 and sipes 22 are formed on the treading-in side, whereby a great edging effect is obtained in treading in the snow, which can enhance traction performance on snow. In addition, in the land portion 18, the kicking-out side is provided with less grooves than the treading-in side, having a higher rigidity, thus the land part rigidity as the entire land portion is assured, resulting in maneuvering performance in wet or dry condition being ensured.
US07814949B2
Handbags with multi-function strap systems and methods of utilizing handbags with multi-function strap systems are provided herein. According to one embodiment, a handbag with multi-function strap system includes a bag portion having an inside and an outside, a ring coupled to one side of the bag, and first and second fasteners coupled to the bag portion. The first and second fasteners are accessible at the inside of the bag, the first fastener is relatively distant to the ring, and the second fastener is relatively near the ring. A strap has first and second ends, and a hook is coupled to the strap adjacent the first end. A third fastener complementary to at least one of the first and second fasteners is coupled to the strap adjacent the strap second end. A fourth fastener complementary to at least one of the first and second fasteners is also coupled to the strap.
US07814941B2
A fluid transfer system includes a fluid container to receive a liquid and an apparatus for pressurizing liquid in the container including a deformable envelope defining a space for receiving a gas. Deformation of the envelope contracts the space to a contracted condition such that, when the space includes the gas, deformation of the envelope contracts the space to effect a transfer of a portion of the gas to the container to effect pressurization of the liquid in the container. A dispensing nozzle includes a fluid passage having a nozzle inlet and outlet, and an orifice defined by a valve seat. The nozzle inlet is in fluid communication with the container for effecting a discharge of the liquid from the container. A sealing member is biased into sealing engagement with the valve seat for sealing fluid communication between the nozzle inlet and the nozzle outlet.
US07814938B2
A safety line hose to which a worker can be attached and which includes a passageway for communicating an air compressor with a pneumatic tool. The safety line includes an elongated flexible pneumatic hose, an elongated flexible tubing enveloping the pneumatic hose, and an elongated, flexible, wear resistant sheath enveloping the tubing. A compressor air hose connector is attached to the end of the pneumatic hose located at the first end of the safety line hose, and is adapted to be connected to the outlet of an air compressor hose. A pneumatic tool connector is attached to the end of the pneumatic hose located adjacent the second end of the safety line hose, and is adapted to be connected to a pneumatic tool. A fastening member is attached to the first end of the safety line hose and is adapted to be releasably fastened to a safety line attachment member.
US07814935B2
A coupling is provided preferably for a vortex valve for use on an outlet pipe in a sewerage system. The coupling comprises an outer component for insertion into a bore of a pipe, and an inner component which is inserted into the outer component, ramp means being provided between the two components, whereby the outer component is expanded to seal against the bore when the inner component is inserted into the outer component so as to engage the second ramp portion. The ramp means comprise first and second portions of different inclinations. The vortex valve has a circumferential inlet which is adjustable.
US07814930B1
A liquid refill control for a holding tank includes a pneumatic solenoid valve for delivering liquid to the tank in an open state and restricting delivery of the liquid to the tank in a closed state. The solenoid valve has a pneumatic exhaust. A container mounted in the tank includes an inlet for introducing liquid from the tank into the container and an outlet formed below the inlet. A discharge valve is operably mounted to the tank for alternately closing and opening the outlet. A lower float closes the discharge valve when the liquid is at or above a predetermined level in the tank and opens the discharge valve when the liquid is below the predetermined level to discharge liquid from the container. A pneumatic exhaust valve alternately opens and closes the pneumatic exhaust which in turn changes the state of the pneumatic solenoid valve. An upper float mounted in the container maintains the pneumatic exhaust valve in one of the open and closed conditions when the liquid in the container is at or above a threshold level and maintains that valve in the other condition when the liquid in the container is below the threshold level.
US07814927B2
Disclosed are faucets having a housing with a hollow main body, a lower inlet, a hollow side arm, and an upper outlet. A control valve is mounted to the side arm. A waterway subassembly is removably mounted in the main body using a catch located in the side arm which is accessible from outside the side arm and moveable between a first position that prevents the waterway from dropping out of the housing lower inlet and a second position that permits the waterway to drop out of the housing lower inlet.
US07814919B2
An ultrasonic cleaning apparatus which cleans a material at a surface by supplying an ultrasonic wave from an ultrasonic wave application head to a cleaning liquid on the surface, and cleans the surface, wherein the ultrasonic wave application head has an ultrasonic wave transmission member which is provided opposite the surface, and has a curved portion on a first plane placed close to the surface, an ultrasonic transducer which is provided on a second plane placed opposite the first plane of the ultrasonic wave transmission member, and generates and applies an ultrasonic wave to a cleaning liquid on the surface through the ultrasonic wave transmission member, and a preventive portion which is provided in the ultrasonic wave transmission member, and prevents the ultrasonic wave applied to the cleaning liquid and reflected on the surface from entering the ultrasonic transducer through the ultrasonic wave transmission member.
US07814918B2
In a method of cleaning an ejection face by supplying a head liquid on a surface (ejection face) of an inkjet head provided with ink ejection outlets, and then by performing wiping operations thereon, an ink residue on the ejection face is efficiently and surely removed from the ejection face to achieve a sufficient cleaning thereon. For this purpose, a first wiping operation is first performed such that a wiper (9A) is relatively largely bent, and slidingly contacts the ejection face at an abdomen thereof to efficiently perform the application, stirring and mixing of the head liquid. Then, a second wiping operation is performed such that an edge portion of the top end of a wiper (9B) slidingly contacts the surface to efficiently scrape the mixture of the head liquid and the ink residue.
US07814913B2
A condom may include pouch having a wall and a frame. The pouch may have an open end and a closed end and the frame may be positioned proximate the open end. An anchoring device may be secured to the pouch proximate the closed end. Further, a harness or accessory attachment may be provided to assist in securing the condom to a user. At least one condom accessory, for stimulating at least one of the five senses, may also be positioned on or in at least one of the pouch, frame, anchor or harness using a variety of attachment methods.
US07814910B2
A nose cap includes a hollow body having a first opening, a second opening communicating with the first opening via a first passage and an outer covering having a third opening communicating with the first opening of the hollow body and a fourth opening communicating with the third opening via a second passage. An air chamber is formed between the hollow body and the outer covering after extension of the hollow body into the second passage. The air chamber is able to provide comfort to a patient.
US07814908B2
In a method and device for reducing the carbon dioxide content in a dead volume intended for connection to the respiratory system of a patient, and an anesthesia apparatus embodying such a device, a flow of gas is generated from an outlet associated with the dead volume and the gas is conducted through a carbon dioxide absorber, and the gas after passing through the carbon dioxide absorber is returned to an inlet associated with the dead volume.
US07814901B2
The present invention provides a nebulizing drug delivery system for delivering an aerosolized drug to a user having various features to increase the capacity of the drug delivery device. The drug delivery system includes a heater to increase the viscosity of the drug, a double aerosolizing system to double the capacity of the device, and a valve system to continuously replenish drug to the aerosol generator thereby providing a high speed delivery.
US07814899B1
In a first embodiment a framed solar panel is retained by a rod inserted through a hole in the panel frame. The rod is attached to the top of a bracket, which is mounted at its bottom to a substantially flat surface. In a second embodiment, a framed solar collector panel is retained by a clip which is designed to fit over the top edge of the frame. The clip is then attached to the top of a second bracket. In a fourth embodiment a tether is fastened between the through hole and the flat surface. These embodiments may be used at either or both ends of the frame. Each embodiment may include a safety tether that is connected between the frame and the bracket.
US07814898B2
A high capacity snow melting apparatus has a hopper with one or a plurality of dedicated heater/blower units coupled to a plurality of commingled heat radiant conduits for contact with snow, ice and water, and manifolds connected to the conduits for additional heat exchange and to direct heated air onto snow in the hopper. Terminal sections of the conduits are elevated to an upper region of the hopper and have downwardly directed exhaust ports for substantial and efficient preheating of new snow loads. Heat exchanger passages through the heated air conduits allow water to flow in the path of heated air in the conduits to substantially increase snow and ice melting efficiency of the conduits. A water bath in the bottom of the hopper is level controlled to cover the conduits and drain water from the hopper.
US07814888B2
A method for operating an internal combustion engine having a fuel system which feeds fuel at a given pressure to a metering valve provides that a controller defines the opening time and the closing time of the metering valve and correspondingly actuates the metering valve so that the metering valve opens and closes at the defined times. In order to permit precise metering of fuel even in high-speed internal combustion engines there is provision for the controller to define at least one of the times for the opening or closing of the metering valve while taking into account the counterpressure actually prevailing at the outlet opening of the metering valve.
US07814887B2
In a method and a device for controlling a pump (14, 20) connected to a fuel rail (12) in an internal combustion engine, in order to provide a predetermined quantity of fuel in the fuel rail (12) for a predetermined operating state, the following steps are provided: determining whether a process occurs that switches the internal combustion engine into a next predetermined operating state; determining a pump output of the pump (14, 20) if the process for switching the internal combustion engine into a predetermined operating state was detected, whereby the pump output of the pump (14, 20) is selected such that the predetermined quantity of fuel is provided for the operating state; and actuating the pump (14, 20) so that the pump (14, 20) provides the predetermined quantity of fuel when the predetermined operating state is reached.
US07814886B2
A shut-off valve of the flow rate of a fuel pump for an internal combustion engine; the shut-off valve is provided with: a tubular cylindrical body, which is closed on top, displays a cylindrical seat, the lower portion of which performs the function of fuel pipe, and comprises a number of radial through holes to allow the introduction of fuel within the cylindrical seat; a lower plate, which is arranged within the tubular cylindrical body and underneath the radial holes and has a central through hole which defines an outlet opening of the fuel; and a cylindrical shutter, which is coupled to the lower plate and is mobile between an open position, in which the outlet opening is in communication with the radial holes, and a closed position, in which the outlet opening is isolated from the radial holes.
US07814880B2
A cover assembly for an internal combustion engine application and method of construction therefore provides one construction for a valve cover assembly, and another construction for an end cover assembly for a crankcase. The cover assemblies include at least one rigid metal carrier having a plurality of bolt openings and a plurality of load limiters located about said openings. A material is overmolded on the carrier and about the load limiters, with the material forming an exposed sealing surface for direct engagement with a seal gasket.
US07814879B2
A cylinder crankcase for a four-stroke engine is disclosed. The cylinder crankcase includes a cylinder head, cylinder block, and crankcase which are monolithic. A half-crank crankshaft bears in a crank arm, which is included in the crankcase. The cylinder crankcase includes a belt driven valve train and crank arm that includes a pocket containing a crank gear attached to the crankshaft for driving the belt.
US07814878B2
A method of operating an engine having an adjustable balance shaft may comprise adjusting operation of the balance shaft during engine operation in response to an engine combustion mode. For example, balance shafts may be disabled during SI mode and enabled during HCCI mode. Various alternative examples may also be used.
US07814871B2
A portable powered device such as a tool, comprising a housing within which is defined a combustion chamber (8) for combustion of a mixture of fuel and a combustion-supporting gas, which mixture is compressed so as to be subjected to a pressure in excess of the ambient atmospheric pressure prior to combustion, combustion of the fuel/combination-supporting gas mixture providing the power by which the device performs its intended task, and wherein the combustion and/or a further combustive event provides the power to compress a successive fuel/combination-supporting gas mixture, such that a successive cycle of operation of the device may be performed without requiring manual compression of a fuel-combustion-supporting gas mixture by the user.
US07814869B2
The present invention provides a hot water supply system using at least two water heaters having versatility to realize switching between a single hot water supply operation mode and a connected hot water supply operation mode of the water heaters and connected operation control after switching to the connected hot water supply operation mode with a simple configuration. Two water heaters D1, D2 each includes a dip switch operated when setting the connected hot water supply operation mode of the two water heaters. When each dip switch is in the ON state to set the connected hot water supply operation mode, hot water supply control by the connected operation is performed under the mutual communication via a communication cable L in the two water heaters D1, D2.
US07814868B2
A fuel-fired water heater has a draft inducer fan assembly with a housing having an inlet for receiving hot combustion gases discharged from the water heater, and an outlet for discharging the combustion gases. A normally closed damper member within the housing is openable by fluid pressure force created by operation of a draft inducer fan portion of the assembly. With the damper in its open position the fan exhausts the received combustion gases through a housing outlet. When the damper closes it prevents convective outflow through the housing outlet of flue-heated air. In alternate embodiments of the assembly the fan is operative to also draw in dilution air that cools the fan motor and the discharged combustion gases, with the assembly having an internal configuration preventing convective outflow of flue-heated air through the housing dilution air inlet during standby periods of the water heater.
US07814867B2
The present invention is an apparatus and method for producing a steam and CO2 mixture, as a super heated dry steam mixture. The apparatus includes a rotatable vessel having a combustion section and a steam producing section. There may also be a dry solid removal, a steam production and solid scrubbing vertical vessel, and a heat exchanger. The vessel is partially filled with spherical bodies, and the sections are partially separated by a partition. A discharge section is located at an end of the steam producing section. A homogenizing section has at least one partition wall guiding flow of gases. The process for producing the steam mixture includes mixing a low quality fuel with an oxidation gas, combusting in a rotating drum filled with spherical bodies, and mixing low quality water with a controlled temperature to generate steam. All liquids convert to gas so that there is no liquid discharge.
US07814863B2
Methods and systems for providing liquid feed to livestock deliver the liquid feed to a feeding station at a temperature below that of the mother's natural milk to encourage use of the liquid feed by the young as a supplement and not a replacement. A second reservoir expands the capacity of the system without increasing the size of the mixing reservoir. The second reservoir is equipped with selectively operable refrigeration and heating elements to facilitate cooling of the liquid feed or heating of a cleaning solution. A peroxide doser introduces small quantifies of peroxide to clean the liquid feed and prevent gorging. Orifices through which feed is discharged at feeding stations decrease in cross sectional area along the circulation line in the direction of flow to counteract variation in discharge flow rates caused by a pressure differential in the liquid feed along the line.
US07814861B2
A device for coating printed circuit boards with a fluid coating compound applied to the board surface is disclosed. The device has a conveyor for the printed circuit boards, a sprayer arranged over or under the conveyor, and a covering element on at least one side over an edge area of the printed circuit boards, wherein the area of the covering element covering the edge area of the printed circuit board can be moved away from the printed circuit board. The device also has a wiper, which wipes the coating compound moved away from the printed circuit board off from the covering element and supplies it to a holding tank.
US07814849B1
A seed tube having a front wall defining a portion of a seed pathway therethrough and having a concave interior surface having a first radius of curvature. The concave surface may extend only partially across the width of the front wall, such that a portion of the front wall lacks a substantially concave surface. Alternatively, the entirely of the front wall defining a portion of the seed pathway may have a concave surface. In this embodiment, the front wall has an asymmetrical cross-section. For example, a first portion of the concave surface may have a first radius of curvature and a second portion of the concave surface may have a second radius of curvature, with the second radius of curvature being greater than the first radius of curvature.
US07814848B2
Biodegradable solid soil amendment material such as poultry litter may be disposed of in soil using an apparatus which includes a soil cutter for cutting a trench and a dispenser for transporting the material and simultaneously grinding or shearing the material and distributing it to the trenches in the soil. The receptacle includes a plurality of troughs across its bottom surface, each having an outlet at one end thereof, and corresponding screw augers therein for distributing and transporting the material to the outlets. As the material is transported toward each of the outlets by the augers it is crushed or ground to a small size. This apparatus allows the material to be dispensed through the multiple outlets at a substantially steady, uniform rate.
US07814847B2
A planting unit for depositing fertilizer and seed in a single pass, double shoot manner includes a rotating disc that cuts a furrow in a planting surface and a trailing seed boot, having a cutting edge, that cuts a vertically and horizontally offset trench in the furrow to form a seed bed in the planting surface. The disc has a mounting frame for mounting the disc to a linkage assembly that is, in turn, coupled to a toolbar mount. The seed boot is also attached to the mounting frame. This common attachment provides a relatively short and compact device without sacrificing fertilizer and seed stratification.
US07814842B2
A hopper car gate for discharging cargo from a hopper car having a length greater than its width. The gate has opposed generally upright side walls and opposed generally upright end walls coupled with the side walls. The coupled walls present a top opening and a bottom opening. A first rail extends between and is coupled with the side walls adjacent the bottom opening. A first door is supported on the first rail and is moveable in a direction that is perpendicular to the length of the hopper car that the gate is joined with between a closed position which blocks the bottom opening and an open position which allows cargo to exit through the bottom opening.
US07814840B2
A magnet arrangement for a magnetic levitation vehicle is described. The magnet arrangement comprises a plurality of magnet poles (11) being combined to form groups (11a to 11f), wherein according to the invention each group contains one magnet pole (11a to 11f) or two magnet poles (11a to 11f). The windings (12a to 12f) of each group are controlled by a control circuit (18) individually assigned to it (FIG. 8).
US07814839B2
A conveyor is powered by a rotating, generally horizontal drive tube or shaft engaged by angularly disposed trolley wheels, in which trolleys support the conveyed products or materials above the drive tube and clear of any parts of the conveyor structure that would interfere with the desired path of travel. Each of the trolleys is provided with load wheels which ride on load rails above the drive tube and associated drive wheels, thereby providing a structure upon which a platform or other support may be mounted for bearing the transported products.
US07814831B2
A printing module provided with a frame (12), an impression roller (13), a plate cylinder assembly (22), an anilox roller and a doctor roller, wherein the printing module comprises two receiving units disposed on opposite sides of the plate cylinder, which are connected with the frame, while fixation means are provided for fixating the plate cylinder assembly in the receiving units, the fixation means (26, 27) being situated substantially under the plate cylinder assembly (22), the fixation means preferably comprising two rods (46,46′) which, at an upwardly directed end, are provided with a hook (47,47′), the two hooks, on opposite sides of the plate cylinder, engaging a stationary shaft of the plate cylinder assembly, while on the rods a pull force is exerted for pressing the plate cylinder assembly into the receiving units.
US07814830B2
A printing plate suitable for retaining ink in an imagewise fashion on a main surface thereof defines an array of pixel-sized cavities. Each cavity has associated therewith a quantity of a light-induced shape-memory polymer. When a cavity is exposed with energy, such as from an imaging laser, the quantity of polymer changes shape and/or position, thereby allowing a relatively greater quantity of ink to be retained in the cavity. The printing plate is then inked, to from a transferable image. The apparatus as a whole enables a gravure-like printing plate to be repeatedly imaged using digital image data.
US07814825B2
An oil delivery system for a popcorn popping machine to deliver cooking oil to a kettle of the popping machine. In one embodiment, the oil delivery system includes more or more containers of oil which are supported within a cabinet of the popping machine so that the outlet of each container is facing downwardly so as to be oriented along a vertical axis. Flexible tubing is provided to connect the outlets of the containers to a pump of the oil delivery system. Each container may comprise a flexible bag which is enclosed in a rectangular box. The outlets of the flexible bags include quick connect/disconnect connectors which are connected with quick connect/disconnect connectors provided on the flexible tubing. The oil delivery system is provided with a flow sensor to detect when a container of oil is empty and provide an alert to an operator to remove and replace the container with a filled container. An electronic valve is provided in the oil delivery system to control the flow of oil from the containers.
US07814814B2
A kit for removal of a broken spark plug from a cylinder head includes first and second tools. The first tool is designed to position a broken porcelain element into the spark plug tip so that the second tool may be utilized to engage the tip by threading into the tip and thereafter axially withdraw the plug tip from the cylinder head by rotation of the tool.
US07814809B2
A plastic gear having a gear peripheral portion including a tooth portion is constituted by a plastic material, and a gear inner circumferential member with an annular shape or a disk shape is provided at the inner circumferential side of the gear peripheral portion. The gear peripheral portion includes an inner core and a surface layer member, the inner core being covered with the surface layer member and made of plastic with high elastic modulus and high strength, and the surface layer member being made of plastic with relatively low elastic modulus. The inner core is revolvably fitted around the gear inner circumferential member so as to revolve around the gear revolving axis, and an engaging portion is provided at an interface of the surface layer member and the gear inner circumferential member for preventing relative revolution around the gear revolving axis.
US07814807B2
A starter is provided, which includes an intermediate gear connected to an intermediate shaft, and engaging with and driven by a pinion gear which is connected to an output shaft of a motor. The intermediate gear engages with a ring gear of an engine to crank up the engine when shifted together with the pinion gear in axial directions of these shafts via a retainer which is slidably supported by both of these shafts. A clutch supported by the shaft of the motor causes this shift by pushing the retainer in its axial direction. The clutch and the intermediate gear, each being defined by its outermost diameter, overlap with each other in the radial direction between these shafts. This overlap reduces stress acting on the retainer when the intermediate gear engages with the ring gear, thus reducing thickness of the retainer and the axial length of the starter.
US07814799B2
The present invention relates to a method for the determination of the stresses occurring in wood when drying or being dried. With the method in accordance with the invention, electrodes are used to generate an electric field in drying wood in order to measure the electric complex spectrum using the impedance spectroscopy method while at the same time employing sensors to measure acoustic emissions from drying wood and using the results for calculating the parameters required for determining the stress state existing in the wood and for monitoring and/or controlling the drying process.
US07814796B2
Provided is a partial pressure measuring method and a partial pressure measuring apparatus by which a partial pressure distribution is easily measured in a vacuum chamber. The partial pressure measuring method and the partial pressure measuring apparatus includes: moving a local plasma source dedicated to partial pressure measuring provided in the vacuum chamber, to a location at which the measuring is to be performed; and measuring a partial pressure distribution in the vacuum chamber, by receiving emission of plasma generated by the local plasma source through a window which is formed in a wall part of the vacuum chamber and through which the emission passes, and thereby performing emission spectral analysis on intensity of the emission.
US07814782B2
Apparatus and method are disclosed for detecting gas in return fluids. A semi-permeable interface is disposed on a tool sub, the semi-permeable interface being in communication with a fluid cell and with a return fluid in an annular region defined by an outside the tool sub and a borehole wall. A sensor responsive to a gas carried by the return fluid is disposed in the fluid cell to sense the gas that enters the fluid cell from the return fluid via the semi-permeable interface.
US07814774B2
A method of evaluating a measuring device for measuring, in normal operation, a diffusion capacity of a person's lungs by measuring a change of concentration of a gas species in a mixture, when the mixture is inhaled and subsequently exhaled by the person or imposed by an artificial ventilator, the method comprising the steps of: (a) receiving the mixture in a compartment; (b) circulating gas from the compartment back to the compartment through a circulation circuit; and (c) selectively reducing partial pressure of the gas species in the circulation circuit to a predetermined level. A device for implementing the evaluation method is also disclosed.
US07814767B2
An induction furnace capable of drawing large diameter preforms of up to 130 mm is described. The induction furnace has top and bottom chimneys surrounding the entire preform during operation of the furnace with an inert conditioning gas which is introduced into the top chimney and flows downward through the furnace body and bottom chimney without significant turbulence. A distributor ring inside the top chimney redirects flow from a circumferential direction to a downward direction. The top chimney also includes a resilient seal to releasably hold the top of the preform. The bottom chimney has a smoothly decreasing cross-sectional area preventing turbulence at the furnace exit. The furnace insulation is preferably a rigid self-supporting graphite cylinder. A method of drawing large diameter preforms either to an optical fiber or to a preform of smaller diameter using such a furnace is also described.
US07814759B2
A computer-implemented method for cooling a modular computer system having multiple cooling devices and multiple heat-generating modules is disclosed. The method includes the steps of determining the number of cooling device installed in the system; determining the positions of the installed cooling devices; applying predefined cooling device placement rules and signaling an error condition if a cooling device is in an unacceptable location; determining locations of all installed heat-generating modules; and applying the predefined cooling device placement rules and signaling an error condition if an installed heat-generating module is in an unacceptable location.
US07814757B2
A method of operating a directed relief valve to ventilate a refrigerant by sensing the concentration of refrigerant leakage from the air conditioning system, and if the first concentration exceeds a threshold, by sensing a second concentration. If the first and second concentrations exceed a predetermined concentration, the system will send a leak message to the operator and/or ventilate the refrigerant to the surrounding atmosphere. The system continuously monitors the refrigerant leakage concentration when the vehicle engine is operative, but only periodically monitors the refrigerant leakage concentration when the vehicle engine is inoperative.
US07814747B2
An exhaust gas aftertreatment installment and associated exhaust gas aftertreatment method utilizes a nitrogen oxide storage catalytic converter and an SCR catalytic converter. A particulate filter is provided upstream of the nitrogen oxide storage catalytic converter or between the latter and the SCR catalytic converter or downstream of the SCR catalytic converter. The time of regeneration operating phases of the nitrogen oxide storage catalytic converter can be determined as a function of the nitrogen oxide content of the exhaust gas downstream of the nitrogen oxide storage catalytic converter or of the SCR catalytic converter and/or as a function of the ammonia loading of the latter. Moreover, a desired ammonia generation quantity can be determined for a respective regeneration operating phase. The installation and method are adopted for use for motor vehicle internal combustion engines and other engines which are operated predominantly in lean-burn mode.
US07814746B2
An exhaust device for a diesel engine supplies liquid fuel (6) from a supply source (5) of the liquid fuel (6) to a gas generator (3) which converts the liquid fuel (6) to flammable gas (7) and from which a flammable-gas supply passage (8) is conducted, the flammable-gas supply passage (8) having a flammable-gas outlet (9) communicated with an exhaust-gas route (1) upstream of a diesel-particulate-filter (2), the flammable gas (7) flowed out of the flammable-gas outlet (9) being burnt in exhaust gas (10) to generate combustion heat which can burn fine particles of the exhaust gas (10) remaining at the filter (2). In this exhaust device for a diesel engine, a case (11) for containing the filter (2) accommodates at least part of the gas generator (3).
US07814744B2
An exhaust after-treatment system for an internal combustion engine includes a lean NOx catalyst having an exhaust stream from the internal combustion engine flowing therethrough. A NOx absorber catalyst is downstream of the lean NOx catalyst. The NOx absorber is selectively regenerated to increase a NOx reduction efficiency of the exhaust after-treatment system.
US07814739B2
A riding type mower includes: a vehicle body, a driver's seat mounted on the vehicle body; an operation part arranged around the driver's seat; a mower unit provided on the vehicle body; a shutter for closing a discharge port; a shutter moving mechanism for moving the shutter between a close position closing the discharge port and an open position opening the discharge port; and a lock mechanism for locking the shutter at the close position. The mower unit includes: a mower deck; a cutting blade installed inside the mower deck; the discharge port formed in the mower deck, through which mown grass cut by the blade is discharge from the mower unit to outside. A shutter operating tool for remotely operating the shutter moving mechanism to open and close the shutter is provided in the operation part. The lock mechanism is remotely operable from the operation part.
US07814734B2
A packaging system (10), and associated components and methodology, that provides for automatic detection of a full, overfull, closed or partially closed container, even when mixed with other containers. An exemplary packaging method includes the following steps: (a.) determining the dimensions of a container; (b.) detecting a height of the container and its contents in one or more locations within a scan area of an open side of the container; (c.) comparing the detected height of the container and/or its contents to pre-specified criteria; and (d.) when the detected height exceeds the pre-specified criteria, generating a signal that indicates that the scan area includes a height that exceeds the pre-specified criteria.
US07814729B2
A stiff panel (1) comprises a skin (2) and at least one stiffener (3) of composite material on said skin. Free surface (311) of web (31) of stiffener (3) on the stiff panel according to the invention comprises a deformable core (33) and a covering (34) which covers core (33) and joins said core with structural part (35) of web (31). The width of core (33) is equal to or greater than the width of structural part (35) of web (31) of stiffener (3), depending on the shock energy against which panel (1) must be protected.
US07814727B2
A wall panel structure which is easily assembled and disassembled and is constructed from a plurality of frame assemblies, each frame assembly comprising a first frame component having a first wall and an adjacent second wall, the first wall having an externally accessible abutment surface; and a second frame component having an angled cross section defined by first and second arms, the first arm having an inwardly extending flange configured to engage said abutment surface of the first frame component, and the second arm configured to engage the second wall of the first frame component.
US07814720B2
A device for bridging a difference in height between two floor surfaces (1, 3) is described, with said device comprising a profiled cover (4) that is provided with a covering flange (5) which covers the edge of each of the two floor surfaces (1,3), with at least one clamping extension (6) that protrudes downward from the covering flange (5), extends longitudinally with respect to the profiled cover (4), and clamps into and engages with a fixture (7), with said device also comprising a compensating strip (10) located between the covering flange (5) of the profiled cover (4) and the lower of the two floor surfaces (1, 3). In order to create advantageous construction conditions it is proposed that the fixture (7) forms a clamping seat (11) for the compensating strip (10).
US07814716B2
A system for mounting a prefabricated construction unit in an aperture in a building structure comprises a plurality of clips. The clips have exterior ends adapted to be affixed to a frame of the construction unit and interior ends adapted to be affixed to the building structure. The exterior ends may be bent to provide deep grooves which receive a flange of the construction unit. The clips permit a construction unit to be installed without the need for a worker to insert fasteners through the flange from outside the building structure.
US07814712B2
A shock suppressor has a first base, a second base, a sliding holder assembly and a connecting device. The first base has an elongated first sliding channel in a first direction. The second base is parallel to the first base and has an elongated second sliding channel in a second direction. The connecting device is slidably mounted between the first and second sliding channels. The sliding holder assembly is mounted between the connecting device and at least one of the bases. The first base is connected with one of the convex ends of the connecting device in a curved contact surface to provide a first sliding mechanism in a first unidirectional sliding direction. The second base is connected with the other convex end of the connecting device to provide a second sliding mechanism in a second unidirectional sliding direction.
US07814711B2
A leveling assembly for an interior wall system is disclosed. The wall system is composed of a number of wall panels configured for installation in a building having a ceiling and a floor. The assembly includes at least one elongate floor channel secured to the floor and a floor rail longitudinally disposed within the floor channel. The floor rail supports one or more of the wall panels. A number of levelers are positioned along the floor channel. The levelers permit the floor rail to be vertically spaced apart from the floor channel. The levelers are adjustable to level the floor rail in relation to the floor.
US07814694B2
A muzzle loading firearm has a barrel with a bore on a bore axis, and the barrel has a muzzle end and a breech end. A frame is connected to the barrel, and has a breech face. The frame moves between an open position in which the breech face is away from the breech end of the barrel, and a closed position in which the breech face abuts the breech end of the barrel. A breech plug is removably attached to the barrel. The breech plug including a seal element closely received by the bore. The seal element may be a set of piston rings that are received in a circumferential groove about a forward end of the plug, or may be a cup at the forward end, with a forward rim that flares under pressure to provide a gas seal.
US07814681B2
The invention is a surf booty with integral one-way flow valves. The invention operates such that when the wearer of the boot steps onto a surface, the pressure thus directly created, with no other pumping provision, drives fluid trapped within the boot out through a valve or valves that are configured to only pass fluid in the outward direction.
US07814670B2
A laser level detection system which detects a reference plane of laser at an arbitrary position includes a plurality of level detection units and an operation unit which displays a detection result of each of the level detection units and can operate each of the level detection units, and the laser level detection unit, which has detected the reference plane of the laser, outputs the detection result and an own identification signal of the level detection unit, and the operation unit displays the detection result and a receiving result of the identification signal of the level detection unit.
US07814668B1
An eye alignment assembly for aligning a tool with a user. The eye alignment assembly is mounted to the tool. The eye alignment assembly includes a sight point of an optical fiber positioned a distance behind an alignment indicia on a lens. An adjustment system is provided to reposition the sight point of the optical fiber relative to the alignment indicia on the lens. The eye alignment assembly provides an indication of orientation of the user relative to the tool in at least two degrees of freedom.
US07814666B2
Preferred embodiments of a reciprocating drive apparatus are disclosed that comprise a housing, a rotatable drive shaft assembly located in the housing an elongated plunger located in the housing for reciprocating motion, the plunger having a front end portion for attaching a tool thereto, a rotary joint rocker mechanism supported in the housing and operatively connected to the plunger and the drive shaft assembly so that rotation of the drive shaft assembly produces reciprocating motion of the plunger. Another preferred embodiment includes a reciprocating counterweight.
US07814642B1
A method of manufacturing an electric rotating machine having a stator that includes a stator core having slots formed at an inner periphery thereof, and a stator winding constituted by conductive wires wound on the slots. The stator winding includes in-slot portions accommodated in the slots and turn portions each connecting each adjacent two of the in-slot portions outside the slots. The stator core includes a core member having at least three tooth portions extending in a radial direction of the stator core and a core back portion integrally connecting the tooth portions at a radially end side thereof. The core member is configured such that each of the first tooth portions folded toward the core back portion is capable of unfolding to extend between a corresponding adjacent two of the in-slot portions when the core member is at a predetermined axial position with respect to the stator winding.
US07814640B2
In order to manufacture a die for forming recesses in a metallic plate which are adapted to be pressure generating chambers in a liquid ejecting head, it is prepared a metallic block adapted to allow a plurality of dies arrayed in a first direction to be cut out, and having a flat end face extending in the first direction. The dies are cut out from the metallic block. A distance between a first part of each of the dies which is adapted to be working members for forming the recesses and the flat end face is made uniform.
US07814637B2
An installation apparatus for installing a wire harness over a fixed structural body and a movable structural body which is slidingly movable to the fixed structural body, the installation apparatus includes a case that receives the wire harness such that the wire harness extends in a sliding direction of sliding movement of the movable structural body, and is folded back into a generally U-shape; and a slider that holds a distal end-side portion of the wire harness extending from the folded-back portion toward a distal end of the wire harness, and is slidably supported on the case so as to move in the sliding direction of the movable structural body, and is operatively connected to the movable structural body so as to move in accordance with the sliding movement of the movable structural body. A slit is formed in a wall of the case, and extends in the sliding direction of the movable structural body. The slit is arranged so as to intersect the folded-back portion of the wire harness in view of above of the wall in which the slit is formed. The distal end-side portion of the wire harness is led out from the case through the slit.
US07814636B2
This invention relates specifically to a seating system or assembly which utilizes a modularized system of standard sized components. The system reduces manufacturing costs, simplifies storage and shipping and improves assembly efficiencies. The system of modularized components allows flexibility in seating use and design.
US07814631B2
Objects of the present invention provide an attachment for power tools that places and sets expansion anchors. One embodiment of the present invention is directed to a new and improved attachment apparatus for a rotary-hammer type drill, the attachment including a first anchor setting end, a second attachment end, and a handle portion connecting the setting end to the attachment end. The attachment apparatus can be efficiently and easily mounted to the rotary-hammer type drill to simplify the installation of expansion anchors.
US07814606B2
A toothbrush including a brush head, bristle clusters protruding from a cleaning surface of the brush head and a depression disposed in the surface and surrounding at least one bristle cluster, the depression having a bottom into which the bristle cluster penetrates and in which the bristle cluster is fixed.
US07814595B2
There is provided a towel presenting, washing and drying machine, including first and second spaced-apart rollers each rotatable in a clock-wise and counter-clockwise sense; a bath having liquid inlet and outlet ports located between the rollers supporting a plurality of rod members for guiding a towel section in a meandering fashion in the bath; means for cleaning the towel section in the bath; at least one drying drum disposed outside the bath between the rollers, at least one motor and transmission means coupled to the rollers and the drying drum, and a controller for timely selectively operating each of the rollers and the drying drum. A method for automatically presenting a clean towel section for drying purposes and for washing and drying soiled towel sections in a towel presenting and washing machine, is also provided.
US07814591B2
A patient positioning device is provided. The patient positioning device includes a patient positioning top and a u-shaped undercarriage that includes first and second parts that can be displaced relative to each other. An undercarriage length is adjustable with the first and second parts.
US07814587B2
An apparatus for applying a motion simulating a moving vehicle to an infant's carrier. A platform supporting the carrier is suspended on flexible members in an open-topped enclosure. A pair of crank shafts with cranks upon which are mounted frictional members positioned under the platform. The frictional members cause the platform to rise and fall and sets it into complex motion on the flexible members while the motion of the frictional members gently bounces an infant in the carrier. By varying the length of the flexible members and the speed of the crank shafts, a user may find a setting effective at calming the infant and inducing sleep.
US07814576B2
A pair of tights restrains the knees from wobbling motions, stabilize running motions, and can be comfortably worn for a long time without causing fatigue. The pair of tights includes front parts for covering the front side of the body between the waistline and the front sides of the ankles, back parts for covering the back side of the body between the waist and the back sides of the ankles, outer side parts each covering a side region between the greater trochanter and the outer side of the ankle, back waist projections each formed integrally with the outer side part and projecting from the upper end of the outer side part over the back side of the waist, inner side parts each covering a region between the crotch and the inner side of the ankle, outer knee support parts for supporting the outer side of the knee, inner knee support parts each for supporting the inner side of the knee, and sartorius and adductors support parts each covering the back side of the waist, the sartorius and the adductors, and extending to the upper end of the inner knee support part. The outer side parts, the back waist projections, and the outer and inner support parts are formed of a stretchable material having a high elastic modulus higher than that of a material forming the rest.
US07814572B2
Adjustable padding systems for garments, incorporating a pocket and a pad. The pocket is coupled to the garment and has a wide, proximal portion and a narrow, distal portion. The pad has corresponding wide and narrow portions. The narrow portion of the pad is longer than the length of the narrow portion of the pocket, but is adjustable in length. Accordingly, the location of the wide portion of the pad along the length of the garment can be adjusted by adjusting the length of the narrow portion of the pad.
US07814571B2
A lightweight thin flexible latex glove article having a polymeric latex coating that penetrates the front portion of a knitted liner half way or more through the liner thickness and for at least a portion of the knitted liner, not penetrating the entire thickness. For example, the liner can be knitted using an 18-gauge needle with 70 to 221 denier nylon 66 multi-filament yarn. The polymer latex coating can be 0.75 to 1.25 times the thickness of the knitted liner. Over 30% reduction of glove thickness is achieved resulting in three times greater flexibility. The polymer latex coating may be foamed with 5 to 50 vol % air content. Open celled foamed latex coating may be coated with a dispersion of fluorochemical dispersion to prevent liquid permeation into the glove. The process can include steps to gel the latex emulsion at interstices of the yarn to prevent further penetration of the emulsion into the liner.
US07818815B2
With regard to data, stored in mobile phone 40, whose a security level is high and contents whose copyrights are protected, mobile phone 40 encapsulates data and contents, and includes the encapsulated data or the encapsulated contents. Further, mobile phone 40 processes the encapsulated data as a perfect encapsulated object utilizing only a method which is not authorized access to the encapsulated data by an executed program (E.g. Downloaded Java Applications). Java AP downloaded to mobile phone 40 instructs a perfect encapsulated object to process the encapsulated data in the perfect encapsulated object by using a method belonging to the perfect encapsulated object. Therefore, this invention makes it possible to ensure securities for programs to be provided through the network without losing diversifications of programs.
US07818807B1
Scanning of a file for malware is performed by prefetching data needed for the scan. The sequence of data to be prefetched is determined based on a previous malware scan of the file. Logical prefetching functionality is used to monitor a sequence of data accesses during the previous malware scan. The sequence is saved and is then later usable to prefetch data in anticipation of a next malware scan of the file.
US07818803B2
The invention is directed to a security module deployed in a host device, which provides a secondary agent that operates in coordination with the host agent in the host device, but operates independent of the host operating system of the host device to independently access an existing communication network interface in the host device or a separate dedicated network interface, if available. In one aspect, the present invention enables robust theft recovery and asset tracking services. The system comprises a monitoring center; one or more monitored devices; a security module in the monitored devices; and one or more active communications networks. Monitored devices may be stand alone devices, such as computers (e.g., portable or desktop computers), or a device or a subsystem included in a system. A monitored device comprises a security module, a host agent and software to support the host agent that runs in the monitored device's OS.
US07818797B1
A method of detecting an intrusion in the operation of a computer system based on a plurality of events. A rule set is determined for a training set of data comprising a set of features having associated costs. For each of a plurality of events, the set of features is computed and a class is predicted for the features with a rule of the rule set. For each event predicted as an intrusion, a response cost and a damage cost are determined, wherein the damage cost is determined based on such factors as the technique of the intrusion, the criticality of the component of the computer system subject to the intrusion, and a measure of progress of the intrusion. If the damage cost is greater than or equal to the response cost, a response to the event.
US07818791B2
This invention provides a fingerprint authentication mechanism for accessing the wireless network system that is applicable to a wireless network communications apparatus, the mechanism including the steps of inputting data of users' fingerprints and converting the same into matrix data compliant with wireless network authentication bit ciphers; setting thresholds for pattern identification with respect to the matrix data as an authentication basis for determining if the user has access rights to the network system upon receipt of a request signal for network connection sent from a user end; and analyzing if the captured fingerprint of the user matches with the preset authentication data to determine if the wireless network communications apparatus is to be started for network connection, thereby increasing the quality, usability and safety of the wireless network connection to achieve an easier scheme of information security management.
US07818780B1
A routing policy compiler generates a configuration data abstraction layer of a routing policy which maps configuration to an intermediate layer comprising fields, operators and arguments. A policy repository verifies the intermediate layer against a set of verification rules for one or more client protocols including versions thereof. The policy repository may generate compiled policy transmission language for use by one or more client protocols including versions thereof. The policy compiler supports multiple software versions of client protocols with differing capabilities as well as differing client protocols. In some embodiments, an optimization may be performed on a compiled policy so that route updates are processed more efficiently. The policy compiler may permit the addition of new attributes to a routing protocol without having to recompile. Policy statements may be verified for more that one client protocol including more than one version of a client protocol. Routers may be transitioned between configuration states without transitioning between intervening states.
US07818779B2
According to the present invention, in a content delivery managing section 16, transmission channels and transmission timing are allocated to contents layered according to content properties or respective contents constituting a program. In a content transmission section 10, on the basis of the transmission channels and transmission timing allocated in the content delivery managing section 16, coded bit sequences 101a to 101n of respective contents are multiplexed with timing information 102 such as decoding timing information, combination timing information, presentation timing information and reproduction start timing information for the contents generated in a timing information generating section 14 to generate transmission bit sequences 105a to 105n, and they are transmitted.
US07818776B1
A unified system of programming communication. The system encompasses the prior art (television, radio, broadcast hardcopy, computer communications, etc.) and new user specific mass media. Within the unified system, parallel processing computer systems, each having an input (e.g., 77) controlling a plurality of computers (e.g., 205), generate and output user information at receiver stations. Under broadcast control, local computers (73, 205), combine user information selectively into prior art communications to exhibit personalized mass media programming at video monitors (202), speakers (263), printers (221), etc. At intermediate transmission stations (e.g., cable television stations), signals in network broadcasts and from local inputs (74, 77, 97, 98) cause control processors (71) and computers (73) to selectively automate connection and operation of receivers (53), recorder/players (76), computers (73), generators (82), strippers (81), etc. At receiver stations, signals in received transmissions and from local inputs (225, 218, 22) cause control processors (200) and computers (205) to automate connection and operation of converters (201), tuners (215), decryptors (224), recorder/players (217), computers (205), furnaces (206), etc. Processors (71, 200) meter and monitor availability and usage of programming.
US07818773B2
A system of distributing video and/or audio information employs digital signal processing to achieve high rates of data compression. The compressed and encoded audio and/or video information is sent over standard telephone, cable or satellite broadcast channels to a receiver specified by a subscriber of the service, preferably in less than real time, for later playback and optional recording on standard audio and/or video tape.
US07818772B2
A system and method for improving quality of video communication includes a packets generator logical unit (PGU) coupled to a video source for receiving a compressed video stream and generating primary and secondary data chunks for transmittal to one or more destination nodes via a network. Each primary data chunk is associated with a secondary data chunk, and each secondary data chunk includes video data that covers a same portion of a video frame as video data included in each associated primary data chunk. The PGU encapsulates the primary and secondary data chunks in associated primary-secondary packet pairs composed of MB data fields, picture header fields, GOB and slice start header fields, and MB header fields, among others. The destination nodes process the secondary packets received via the network if the primary packets are damaged or lost in transmission.
US07818767B2
A system for localizing an EPG program schedule, including an EPG service provider station including a database of channels and corresponding EPG program schedule information, a database manager identifying a plurality of channel line-ups potentially receivable at a viewing location, a transmitter, and a receiver, a multimedia viewer situated at the viewing location including an automatic channel line-up identifier identifying a first line-up of television channels receivable at the viewing location, a channel line-up processor at the viewing location calculating a channel line-up from among the plurality of channel line-ups that substantially matches the first line-up, a receiver receiving from the EPG service provider station the plurality of channel line-ups, and a transmitter transmitting to the EPG service provider station the identifier of the channel line-up calculated by the channel line-up processor, and a network connection linking the multimedia viewer to the EPG service provider, wherein the EPG service provider station transmitter transmits to the multimedia viewer the plurality of channel line-ups and also transmits to the multimedia viewer EPG program schedule information localized to the viewing location and based on the identifier of the channel line-up calculated by the channel line-up processor, and wherein the EPG service provider station receiver receives from the multimedia viewer the identifier of the calculated channel line-up, and wherein the multimedia viewer receiver also receives from the EPG service provider station the EPG program schedule information.
US07818765B2
The present invention provides a system and computer readable medium for object retransmission in an asynchronous environment without a continuous network connection in a digital media distributor (DMD) system. The system and computer readable medium include receiving objects in a receiver from a central site, generating a response document in the receiver, and sending the response document asynchronously to the central site. The received response documents are then utilized in the central site to determine which object to retransmit to the receiver. In another aspect of the present invention, the central site manages the inventory of objects in the receiver by instructing the receiver to delete objects not needed.
US07818758B2
A method and system can comprise a software architecture that allows different applications in the same or different communications protocols to interact with shared resources. More specifically, code for a computer program may be written to increase the amount of code that is generic to (i.e., shared by) more than one application or communications protocol and reduce the amount of code that handle application-specific or protocol-specific actions. In one embodiment, a transaction may be broken down into a set of discrete actions. The discrete actions may include functions that are common to more than one application. These functions may be part of the shared resources. Each application may have its own set of software plug-in modules for the discrete actions.
US07818757B1
A method for processing messages ensures that every message that enters a continuous processing system is fully processed in its entirety, even in the event of a failure within the system. Messages are pushed through an execution plan that includes a set of connected “primitives” that process the message, where the primitives may be distributed across a group of servers. Messages are pushed through in accordance with a protocol that does not permit unprocessed messages to be permanently lost as they travel from input sources, between primitives, and to output sources within the execution plan. The input queue, output queue, and state (if any) associated with each primitive are saved in persistent storage at select checkpoints. If a failure occurs on a server, the server, after it starts up again, restores the primitives on that server to the input queues, output queues, and states saved at the last applicable checkpoint.
US07818755B1
Methods, devices and an associated application programming interface are described that permits a user to register event tap routines (“ETRs”) with an application such as, for example, a window server application. Event tap routines permit events such as human interface device events to be processed at multiple points and in a manner not provided during normal window server operations. Event tap routines may effect passive or active event responses. Passive ETRs may merely record the occurrence of an event or the time between successive events without modifying or altering the event's processing sequence within a window server. Active ETRs, on the other hand, effect some programmatic response to an event. For example, active ETRs may modify the state of an event, delete the event, create one or more additional events or cause the event to be processed “out of sequence” by the window server application.
US07818753B2
A method, system, apparatus, and computer program product for processing e-commerce information are presented. A first business entity and a second business entity may transfer e-commerce agreements through an electronic marketplace. After receiving a document for an e-commerce agreement that represents a legal agreement for a commercial transaction between the first business entity and the second business entity, the first business entity retrieves dependency information about the commercial transaction from the e-commerce agreement. The first business entity then incorporates the dependency information, e.g., dates, costs, deliveries, etc., as dependency relationships within a project model that represents a project for a product or service for sale by the first business entity. The project model may comprise objects representing tasks to be performed or physical components to be processed by the first business entity. The dependency relationships are subsequently used to constrain modifications of the project model with respect to specific parameters.
US07818750B2
The invention relates to a method for controlling data-processing software modules (4, 5, 6, 7), wherein the data to be processed are organized in files, and wherein the processing is performed in a plurality of successive processing sections and the files in one processing section are processed by at least one software module (4, 5, 6, 7). To prevent the propagation and spreading of deviations occurring during the processing in the software modules (4, 5, 6, 7) in subsequent processing sections, information about the data processed are collected in the software modules (4, 5, 6, 7) of the processing sections and are signalized to a control system (8), said control system (8) comparing the information signalized and stopping the processing in a subsequent processing section if the comparison of the information revealed that a predetermined, admissible maximum deviation has been exceeded.
US07818748B2
A task scheduler for a TC subsystem is disclosed. The task scheduler is responsible for responding to computation block requests from the TC subsystem, and retrieving/storing data objects for such computation blocks. The task scheduler thus facilitates a type of logical pipeline by exchanging such data objects with a common TC memory used by each computation block. The task scheduler generally includes a queue, a state machine and a bus master for satisfying the data object requests.
US07818747B1
A chip multithreading processor schedules and assigns threads to its processing cores dependent on estimated miss rates in a shared cache memory of the threads. A cache miss rate of a thread is estimated by measuring cache miss rates of one or more groups of executing threads, where at least one of the groups includes the thread of interest. Using a determined estimated cache miss rate of the thread, the thread is scheduled with other threads to achieve a relatively low cache miss rate in the shared cache memory.
US07818740B2
Techniques to perform gradual upgrades are described. An apparatus may include a database with a data set for a first version of an application program, and a computing device to couple to the database. The computing device may have a processor and memory, with the memory to store a first version of an application program, an installer program, and a gradual update engine. The processor may execute the installer program to install a second version of the application program, and said gradual update engine to convert the data set to a data schema used by the second version one data segment at a time. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US07818739B2
A method and system are provided for updating software on a handheld computer in communication with a client computer system operable to connect to a network. Software installed on the handheld computer is identified with the client computer. Moreover, information on the identified software is transmitted from the client computer to a server connected to the network. Further, updated versions of the software installed on the handheld computer are transferred from the server to the client computer based on the identified software that is installed on the handheld computer. Still yet, the software installed on the handheld computer is updated with the updated versions transferred to the client computer.
US07818738B2
A system and method to automatically identify resources requiring upgrade in a hierarchical database management system. The system may include an input module to receive input identifying a single resource for upgrade. A comparator module may compare an active resource library to a staging library to identify additional resources for upgrade, and an incorporation module may incorporate the single input resource and the additional resources into an upgrade list. A generation module may then automatically derive a unit of change from this list, where the unit of change includes the single input resource as well as additional resources that interact with the input resource.
US07818733B2
Provided is a method for managing sets of OSGi bundles in a manner that enables a developer to control the order in which bundles are activated, both within and among OSGi start levels. Also provided is a method for eliminating multiple instances of the OSGi class loaders that are typically generated for each bundle. A bundle consolidator tool is provided that combines multiple bundles in a set of bundles into a master bundle that appears to the OSGi framework to be a single bundle. An activator method enables the developer to specify the order in which individual bundles are initiated and terminated. In addition, a single class loader thread is employed to activate the individual bundles. The bundle consolidator tool also analyzes the target bundles for name space collisions and, in the event a collision is detected, the tool is programmed to modify byte codes to eliminate the collision.
US07818729B1
Automated (e.g., compiler implemented) techniques provide safe secure software development including techniques for testing and verifying software for determining and/or certifying that the software had certain characteristics and/or complies with certain properties. In another illustrative implementation, methods are provided whereby the consumer can verify, to any desired level of certainty, that software as delivered truly has the specified properties, and that the compiler used to produce that software can be trusted to provide those assurances.
US07818726B2
The adaptation of at least a portion of an object provided by a previous script component to a subsequent script component, despite the subsequent component being incapable of recognizing a format of the at least a portion of the object as provided by the previous component. The previous component generates an object having a property. Adaptation script identifies adaptation(s) to perform on the property prior to being used by the subsequent component. The adaptation is performed, and the adapted property is then used by the subsequent component.
US07818713B2
Method, system and program product for generating requirement relationships for designing a solution
A method, system and program product for generating requirement patterns for designing a domain based solution. The method includes inputting, into a pattern tool, requirements for designing a solution based on a defined domain context, the requirements including attributes and specifications. The method further includes determining relationship requirement patterns using relationship mappings formed by mapping specifications to an attribute and defining affinities for the relationship mappings formed. Further, the method includes creating domain requirement patterns using the domain context defined, the relationship mappings formed and the affinities defined and generating domain trait requirement patterns using the domain requirement patterns created and using selected values assigned to the specifications mapped, such that the domain trait requirement patterns generated dictate a domain specific design for the solution. Furthermore, the method includes storing attributes, specifications, relationship requirement patterns, domain requirement patterns and domain trait requirement patterns in a repository.
US07818712B2
A computer system includes a controller coupled to a plurality of memory modules each of which includes a memory hub and a plurality of memory devices divided into a plurality of ranks. The memory hub is operable to configure the memory module to simultaneously address any number of ranks to operate in a high bandwidth mode, a high memory depth mode, or any combination of such modes.
US07818711B2
The present application is directed a method for determining the position of photomask patterns in a mask making process. The method comprises providing one or more mask rules defining the minimum spacing between photomask patterns. The method further comprises determining the position of a first photomask pattern relative to an adjacent second photomask pattern, the first photomask pattern having a critical edge for defining a critical dimension of a first device structure and a non-critical edge for defining a non-critical dimension. The non-critical edge is attached to the critical edge so that the positioning of the non-critical edge will affect the length of the critical edge. The non-critical edge of the first photomask pattern is positioned a distance X from an edge of the second photomask pattern, wherein the distance X is chosen to be substantially the minimum spacing allowed by the mask rules. Embodiments directed to software modules for implementing the method and patterning processes employing the method are also disclosed.
US07818705B1
A skew generator unit includes a delay chain. The delay chain is coupled to a clock line that transmits a clock signal. The delay chain generates a skewed clock signal having a unit of delay from the clock signal. The skew generator unit also includes a selector. The selector is coupled to the delay chain and the clock line and may select one of the clock signal and the skewed clock signal.
US07818702B2
Device structure embodied in a machine readable medium for designing, manufacturing, or testing a design in which the design structure includes latch-up resistant devices formed on a hybrid substrate. The hybrid substrate is characterized by first and second semiconductor regions that are formed on a bulk semiconductor region. The second semiconductor region is separated from the bulk semiconductor region by an insulating layer. The first semiconductor region is separated from the bulk semiconductor region by a conductive region of an opposite conductivity type from the bulk semiconductor region. The buried conductive region thereby the susceptibility of devices built using the first semiconductor region to latch-up.
US07818700B2
The invention relates to a method for verifying one or more exceptions in a logic circuit comprising the steps of: a first step of providing an initial representation of a logic circuit; a second step of indicating at least one exception for the logic circuit; a third step of introducing one or more potential malfunctions of the logic circuit related to the one or more exceptions into the representation of the logic circuit to produce a modified representation of the logic circuit; a fourth step of determining whether functional behavior of the modified representation of the logic circuit differs from functional behavior of the first representation of the logic circuit; and a fifth step of reporting a result relating to the difference in the functional behavior of the modified representation of the logic circuit from the functional behavior of the initial representation of the logic circuit.
US07818696B2
A method for estimating power dissipated by a processor core processing a workload-includes analyzing a reference test case to generate a reference workload characteristic, analyzing an actual workload to generate an actual workload characteristic, performing a power analysis for the reference test case to establish a reference power dissipation value and estimating an actual workload power dissipation value responsive to the actual and reference workload characteristics and the reference power dissipation value.
US07818688B2
In a display device, items of information relating to specified information, which is displayed as the largest item, via a selected relation criterion, are displayed aligned on a selection axis, and items of information relating via other relation criteria are displayed aligned on non-selection axes. An item of information selected as the specified information can be sequentially changed in response to an input from up and down direction keys. The relation criteria for items of information displayed on the selection axis and the non-selection axes can be sequentially changed in response to an input from left and right direction keys. An information selection by the user is confirmed with present specified information by an input from a circle button, and a jump is made to a process according to the present specified information.
US07818686B2
A system and method for accelerated web page navigation using keyboard accelerators in a data processing system. A navigation layer is provided within a web browser application to enable pre-processing of a markup language within a web page retrieved from a web server. Multiple sequentially and/or individually accessible pages (i.e., paged content) of the web page are detected and functionality of one or more buttons of a keyboard is associated with one or more navigation functions of the web page (i.e., keyboard accelerators are enabled). The keyboard accelerators include a right directional arrow button of the keyboard associated with a transition within the web page from a first page of the multiple individually accessible pages to a next sequential page, a left directional arrow button of the keyboard associated with a transition within the web page from a first page of the multiple individually accessible pages to a previous sequential page, and a numeric button of the keyboard associated with a corresponding page number of individual pages of the web page.
US07818676B2
A system, method and program product for creating a customized content viewer portlet from a content viewer portlet template. The system comprises a content viewer portlet template that is imported into a workbench. The content viewer portlet template includes a persistent interface component, a model component, a view component and a controller component. The persistent interface component is configured to connect to and retrieve data from a content management system, with the retrieved data being stored in the model component. The view component is configured to retrieve the data from the model component and to display the data as content items. The controller component is configured to invoke methods to be executed by the persistent interface component and the view component in response to a user request, such that the content viewer portlet template is transformed into the customized content viewer portlet that can be installed into a desired portal.
US07818675B2
In a web information processing apparatus (100), a web page information acquisition unit (106) acquires information of a web page being browsed with a web browser (103). Then, an association determination unit (202) determines whether or not that web page is stored in an associated web page information holding unit (109). If it is so stored, then a program search unit (203) searches for an associated program and notifies the existence of an associated program to a user through an associated-program notification unit (204).
US07818674B2
A method, system, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for the interactive notification of events is provided. A notification client application program executes in a background state and receives notifications from a business application server computer that an event has occurred. The notification may include a request to display a visual indication that the event has occurred, including a description of the event. In response to the request, the notification client application program displays a user interface window on the client computer including a description of the event that has occurred. The user interface window may include hyperlinks to additional Web content regarding the event, for scheduling appointments, for purchasing goods or services, or for placing a telephone call regarding the event.
US07818646B1
A computer implemented method of verifying events generated by an agent includes detecting an input signal at an input of the agent, generating an expected output signal based at least in part on the input signal, detecting an output signal at an output of the agent, wherein the output signal is a translation of the input signal generated by the agent, and comparing the output signal with the expected output signal to verify whether the agent produced the output signal correctly based on the input signal.
US07818645B2
Systems, methods, and a computer program are disclosed. One embodiment comprises a compiler for developing verification tests of an integrated circuit. The compiler comprises an interface and a built-in self-test (BIST) emulator. The interface includes an input and an output. The interface receives and forwards operator-level instructions to the BIST emulator, which is coupled to the output. The BIST emulator simulates the operation of a BIST module within the integrated circuit.
US07818639B2
A memory module comprises first memory that stores data in memory blocks; second memory that temporarily stores data from at least one of the memory blocks and third memory for storing a relationship between addresses of the at least one of the memory blocks in the first memory and corresponding addresses of the data from the at least one of the memory blocks in the second memory. Storage capacities of the second and third memories are less than a storage capacity of the first memory. A control module selectively transfers data in the at least one of the memory blocks in the first memory to the second memory and stores and retrieves data from the second memory for the at least one of the memory blocks based on the relationship during the testing.
US07818633B2
In a data processing system, in order to provide its operating system with a better mechanism to identify and track addressing errors with a high potential to cause a storage overlay, it is first determined whether or not, a program interrupt has occurred. It is next determined whether or not this interrupt involves or occurs as a result of an address translation. It is then determined whether or not, the instruction involved calls for an update of storage. If it is determined that all three of these conditions are satisfied, then a flag is set in an area of storage accessible to the operating system so that it may provide a more specific event monitoring record.
US07818630B2
A computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer usable code are provided for analyzing input/output problems. A monitoring agent collects input/output data from a plurality of levels in a multi-level input/output stack. The monitoring agent analyzes the input/output data from the plurality of levels to form an analysis. A determination is then made as to whether the analysis requires an action and an action is initiated in response to a determination that the analysis requires an action.
US07818629B2
A method to combine trace data for multiple systems within an embedded system is provided. This method involves coupling a set of trace sources within the embedded system to a trace system. A subset of trace source(s) may then be selected from the set of trace sources. The subset of trace sources may be formatted to produce a packetized trace stream. The packetized trace stream may then be provided to external interface circuitry. External circuitry coupled to the trace system allows for analysis of the packetized trace streams regarding internal operations within the embedded system. An arbitrator may determine which trace source(s) from the set of trace sources are selected to be within the subset of trace sources. The arbitrator may use several criteria to make this determination.
US07818628B1
A network switch comprises a port that includes a redirect circuit and a loopback circuit that selectively redirects an egress frame to the redirect circuit when the port is non-operational. The redirect circuit replaces a destination port identifier associated with the egress frame to create a modified frame. The loopback circuit loops back the modified frame in an ingress direction. A transfer circuit transfers the modified frame to another port identified by the destination port identifier.
US07818609B2
A method for managing data in a computer system comprises identifying a data-set that has data unit protection that is suspected of having been corrupted, suspending a data unit protection process for the data-set; deferring re-establishing the data unit protection process for the data-set until issuance of a request for an I/O operation for the data unit; and re-establishing the data unit protection process for the data-set in response to the request and before the I/O operation is conducted. The data has a data unit protection invalidity indicator for indicating that the data-set has data unit protection that is suspected of having been corrupted; and the data unit protection process is suspended in the presence of the data-set protection invalidity indicator. Meta-data protection that is suspected of having been corrupted may be used to identify a corrupted data-set.
US07818604B2
A system for increasing the data throughput of an I2C bus including a serial clock conductor (3) for conducting a serial clock signal (SCK) and a serial data conductor (2) for conducting a serial data signal (SDA) includes clock-stretching control circuitry (15) coupled to the serial clock conductor (3) for stretching the serial clock signal (SCK) by holding the serial clock conductor (3) at a predetermined level to cause a master device (10) to stop sending the serial clock signal, and circuitry (FIG. 3) in the slave device (5) for releasing stretching of the serial clock signal (SCK) in response to a determination by the slave device (5) that stretching of the serial clock signal (SCK) is unnecessary.
US07818601B2
A memory system and method according to various aspects of the present invention comprises a memory and an adaptive timing system for controlling access to the memory. The adaptive timing system captures data in a data valid window (DVW) in a data signal. In one embodiment, the adaptive timing system comprises a delay circuit for sampling the data signal at a midpoint of the DVW. The adaptive timing system may also comprise an identifying circuit for identifying whether the midpoint of the DVW corresponds to an actual midpoint of the DVW and adjusting the delay circuit accordingly.
US07818600B2
A distributed cache management system that minimizes invalid cache notification events is provided. A cache management system in a sending device processes outgoing cache notification events by adding information about the source server's clock. A cache management system in the receiving device then uses this information to adjust event information once the event is received.
US07818596B2
Briefly, a processor and a method of setting a performance state of a turbo mode enabled processor. The method includes determining an effective performance state over a predetermined time period, calculating a target performance state based on core utilization and the effective performance state over the predetermined time period and setting the turbo mode enabled processor to a turbo mode performance state.
US07818588B2
A method of sharing telematics data for a vehicle with service providers can include receiving the telematics data for the vehicle, where the telematics data dynamically changes over time, and comparing the telematics data with a privacy policy associated with the vehicle. The privacy policy can specify rules for selectively releasing items of the telematics data to one or more service providers. Data items of the telematics data can be selectively provided to the service providers according to the comparing step.
US07818587B2
A data transfer system comprising a host device and a data transfer device. The host device generates an encryption key based upon information unique to a removable data storage item onto which data are to be stored. The encryption key is then delivered by the host device to the data transfer device. Data to be stored are encrypted by the data transfer device using the encryption key.
US07818585B2
Systems, methods, and computer program products for secure license management. A host computer runs in a trusted state. A license manager is installed on the host computer. The license manager is configured to provide access to one or more software programs. The one or more software programs are accessible only through the license manager. The license manager is bound to the trusted state of the host computer, such that if the trusted state ceases to exist, then the license manager is not executable and the one or more software programs are not accessible. The host computer can be a TCPA (Trusted Computing Platform Alliance) enabled computer.
US07818583B2
The present invention relates to a personal authentication apparatus which registers biometric information unique to each individual person, captures biometric information on the person anew when authenticating the person, and checks the captured biometric information against registered biometric information, whereby the security of registration is improved. A keyhole into which a physical key is inserted and a sensor which detects biometric information such as palm vein patterns are provided. Registration of a user is permitted only if a key is inserted and turned in the keyhole and a person registered as an administrator is authenticated based on biometric information.
US07818580B2
Method, system, and program product for port based authentication protocols where addresses are dynamically assigned within a network environment, and more particularly to port based authentication in the network environment, where connection information is captured and stored. This facilitates administrator access to information created as a result of protocol exchanges involved in dynamic address assignment, authentication, and connection.
US07818579B2
An information processor has an information dispersing function, a dividing unit for dividing a first data (DT0) into n pieces of disperse information, and executing secret sharing scheme capable of restoring the first data (DT0) by using arbitrary k pieces (1
US07818577B2
A method of identifying material comprises the step of inserting an identifying code into a signal as a watermark, and deriving a signature from the material. The code and signature are stored in a database. The watermarked signal may be distributed and/or transmitted through a network. The signal may be processed in the network. A monitor derives from the received signal, the signature and the code. They are compared with the stored signature and code to check the provenance of the material.
US07818571B2
The authentication of a data receiving device prior to the transfer of data from a data storage device to the data receiving device over a wireless radiofrequency communications channel is described. One disclosed embodiment comprises conducting an authentication communication exchange in which one or more of an authentication request received from the data storage device and an authentication response sent to the data storage device is transmitted via an optical communications channel. This may allow the data storage device to ensure that a data receiving device requesting the transfer of data is a desired recipient of the data before transferring the data.
US07818566B2
An apparatus, system, and method are provided for sharing a cached security profile in a database environment. The apparatus, system, and method include a cache module for caching a security profile accessible to primary tasks and secondary tasks. An identification module is provided that distinguishes between primary tasks authorized to refresh the security profile and secondary tasks. A refresh module cooperates with the cache module and identification module to selectively refresh the security profile in response to a refresh request and expiration of the security profile such that an old version of the security profile is retained for use by secondary tasks until an execution window closes.
US07818552B2
A VLIW processor is provided with an architecture which includes fetching and executing circuitry which when combined with operation, compare, branch (OCB) instructions realizes no processing branch penalties. The OCB instructions are provided with two direct branch fields or with two indirect branch fields.
US07818549B2
The present invention relates to an event driven digital signal processor 1 comprising: a central arithmetical unit 5, a register 4, a controller 3, an instruction memory 2, and input/output devices. The instruction memory 2 is arranged to include time performance constraints and events. An event control unit 6 is arranged to recognize an event and to control processing to be carried out as a consequence of the event while fulfilling the time performance constraints. The controller 3 is arranged to suspend processing of the time performance constraints after initiating operations in the event control unit 6. The controller 3 resumes processing when advised by the event control unit 6.
US07818548B2
Methods and software are presented for processing data in a programmable processor, involving (a) decoding instructions for execution using an execution unit operable to execute instructions by partitioning data stored in registers in a register file into multiple data elements, the instructions selected from an instruction set that includes group arithmetic instructions and group data handling instructions, (b) in response to decoding different group arithmetic instructions, executing a plurality of different group floating-point and group integer arithmetic operations that each arithmetically operates on multiple data elements stored in registers in the register file to produce a catenated result that is returned to a register in the register file, wherein the catenated result comprises a plurality of individual results, and (c) in response to decoding different group data handling instructions, executing group data handling operations that re-arrange data elements in different ways.
US07818544B2
Mechanisms for placing a processor into a gradual slow down mode of operation are provided. The gradual slow down mode of operation comprises a plurality of stages of slow down operation of an issue unit in a processor in which the issuance of instructions is slowed in accordance with a staging scheme. The gradual slow down of the processor allows the processor to break out of livelock conditions. Moreover, since the slow down is gradual, the processor may flexibly avoid various degrees of livelock conditions. The mechanisms of the illustrative embodiments impact the overall processor performance based on the severity of the livelock condition by taking a small performance impact on less severe livelock conditions and only increasing the processor performance impact when the livelock condition is more severe.
US07818530B2
Data management systems, articles of manufacture, and data storage methods are described. According to one aspect, a data management system provides a data storage system configured to store data of a plurality of client protected computer systems, wherein the data storage system comprises a plurality of storage devices individually having a respective capacity, and a quantity of the data of the protected computer systems to be stored exceeds capacities of individual ones of the storage devices and storage control circuitry coupled with the data storage system and configured to assign individual ones of the individual storage devices to store data for respective ones of the protected computer systems.
US07818521B2
Certain embodiments of the invention may be found in a method for memory management for a mobile multimedia processor. The method may comprise receiving within a mobile multimedia processor chip a plurality of memory requests. The plurality of memory requests may be handled by allocating memory from at least one on-chip memory block and/or at least one off-chip memory block. The memory may be allocated based on a priority level of each of the plurality of memory requests and at least one dynamically settable memory allocation priority threshold. A new dynamically settable memory allocation priority threshold may be dynamically determined based on a new application and/or by monitoring at least one software process in at least one present application. Additionally, new memory request priority level may be dynamically determined for each memory request in at least one software process in a new application.
US07818509B2
A cache coherency technique used in a multi-node symmetric multi-processor system that reduces the number of message phases of a read request from 5 to 4, canceling the combined response phase for read requests in most cases, thereby improving system performance and reducing the overall system power consumption.
US07818506B1
Systems and methods for managing cached content are disclosed. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention may allow cached content to be updated (e.g. regenerated or replaced) based on newly added or changed content. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention may allow cached content to be regenerated, replaced or updated based on newly added or changed content associated with the cached content allowing cached content to be updated substantially immediately when pertinent new content is added or content from which the cached content was generated is altered.
US07818499B2
An information system includes a storage system having a controller in communication with a plurality of storage devices. In some embodiments, the storage devices are divided into at least a first group and a second group, with a first temperature sensor sensing a temperature condition for the first group, and a second temperature sensor for sensing a temperature condition for the second group. A heat distribution rule designates the first groups to be high temperature groups and the second groups to be low temperature groups. The heat distribution rule is implemented by designating a higher load of input/output (I/O) operations to the high temperature groups than to the low temperature groups, such as by migrating volumes having high I/O loads to the high temperature groups. In other embodiments, there are multiple storage systems, and each storage system is designated as a high temperature system or a low temperature system.
US07818494B2
A storage device includes a storage medium, a nonvolatile memory, a head, a driving unit, and a processor. The driving unit drives the storage medium. The processor controls the storage device according to a process. The process includes receiving the data transmitted from the host, storing the data received into the nonvolatile memory, estimating a period of time from a time point of the reception of the data to a time point at which a usage rate of the nonvolatile memory becomes 100%, controlling the driving unit on the basis of comparison of the estimated period of time with a period of time before the storage medium is accessible, and writing the data stored in the nonvolatile memory to the storage medium by controlling the head in accordance with the control of the driving unit.
US07818489B2
Data stored within symmetric and asymmetric memory components of main memory is integrated by identifying a first data as having access characteristics suitable for storing in an asymmetric memory component. The first data is included among a collection of data to be written to the asymmetric memory component. An amount of data is identified within the collection of data to be written to the asymmetric memory component. The amount of data is compared within the collection of data to a volume threshold to determine whether a block write to the asymmetric memory component is justified by the amount of data. If justified, the collection of data is loaded to the asymmetric memory component.
US07818488B2
Pairs of registers with reduced pins are disposed to overlap on front and back surfaces of a memory module. An input signal INS is transferred through the registers in series in a daisy chain fashion to avoid divergence of the input signal INS for preserved signal integrity. Each register buffers the input signal INS to memory banks disposed closely to sides of the register for reduced wiring area.
US07818473B2
A method of packaging locate record commands for device command word (DCW) processing is provided. A first locate record command is packaged into DCW prefix parameter data. The first locate record command includes first search and first seek arguments, a first intent count argument, a first transfer length factor argument, and a plurality of remaining arguments. A plurality of truncated locate record commands is embedded in the DCW prefix parameter data as concatenations to the first locate record command. Each of the plurality of truncated locate record commands include a unique search argument, intent count argument, and transfer length factor argument. Seek argument parameters for each of the plurality of truncated locate record commands are calculated by taking an offset from the first seek argument and the first search argument, applying the offset to each of the plurality of truncated locate record commands. The plurality of remaining arguments is shared.
US07818467B2
A method of providing connectivity between a mobile device and a desktop computing device: providing the mobile device with software that can be installed in the desktop computing device to provide configuration data to application software operating on the desktop computing device, including device identification data for addressing the mobile device; using the mobile device to detect all desktop computing devices with which the mobile device can communicate; using the mobile device to select one of the desktop computing devices on which the application software is to be installed; transmitting the software from the mobile device to the desktop computing device; and using the desktop computing device to run the software to configure the application software using configuration data such that communications from the desktop computing device to the mobile device using application software are addressed directly to the mobile device from which the software originated.
US07818466B2
The present invention provides a high definition media interface (HDMI) controller having a modular design internal bus structure, and applications thereof. The controller includes a circuit interface, an address decoder coupled to the circuit interface, a plurality of sub-circuits, wherein each sub-circuit includes registers used to configure and control the sub-circuit, and a bus that couples the registers of each sub-circuit to the address decoder. After startup of the controller, the sub-circuits are configured by using the circuit interface, address decoder, and bus to write values to the registers of the sub-circuits. The sub-circuits of the controller include a video pixel sampler, an audio sampler, a frame composer, and a power controller. The video sampler can be configured to convert one of a plurality of RGB and YCbCr signals to a common format signal used by other sub-circuits of the controller.
US07818461B2
Systems and methods for allocating assets to a plurality of devices are presented. In one embodiment, devices may be communicatively connected to one another through a device loop. Each device may be configured for determining a portion of an asset that it will use. A controller may also be communicatively connected to the communication medium and configured for determining a capacity of the asset. The controller may transfer control information to the devices so as to allocate the asset to the devices based on the capacity of that asset. In another embodiment, each of the devices may be communicatively connected directly to the controller rather than to one another.
US07818459B2
A method and apparatus relates to hardware-to-hardware data transmission in computer systems, and in particular, it relates to method and system for operating I/O adapters attaching either one or more computing devices to an I/O periphery, to a network, or to other computing devices. It is proposed to operate a memory local to the network coupling adapter as a cache memory relative to a system memory associated with the one or more computing devices for storing transmission control information.
US07818458B2
A software application can be shared by multiple users. A system clipboard of a first computing system is synchronized with a system clipboard of a second computing system when the user of the second computing system is in control of the shared software application. Information contained in the system clipboard of the first computing system is copied to a state buffer and associated with the user who copied the information. The information is returned to the system clipboard when the associated user regains control of the software application.
US07818444B2
An apparatus for multi-bitrate content streaming includes a receiving module configured to capture media content, a streamlet module configured to segment the media content and generate a plurality of streamlets, and an encoding module configured to generate a set of streamlets. The system includes the apparatus, wherein the set of streamlets comprises a plurality of streamlets having identical time indices and durations, and each streamlet of the set of streamlets having a unique bitrate, and wherein the encoding module comprises a master module configured to assign an encoding job to one of a plurality of host computing modules in response to an encoding job completion bid. A method includes receiving media content, segmenting the media content and generating a plurality of streamlets, and generating a set of streamlets.
US07818443B2
The present invention is a computer system adapted to play audio files. The computer system includes a central processing unit, a storage unit, a first operating system, an interfacing unit, and a second operating system. The first operating system can control at least the CPU. The interface unit can interface with an external digital media device that may store a plurality of compressed audio files. The second operating system is capable of controlling the computer system operating in an audio playback mode. The power of the computer system is turned on and the computer system plays the plurality of compressed audio files in the audio playback mode when the external digital media device is in communication with the interface unit.
US07818431B2
A client system registers (with a server system) a service request format indicating the service identifier and the parameters (along with the sequence), and the server system responds with a registration identifier and a service response format specifying the parameters that will be contained in a corresponding service response. Thereafter, to request the service, the client system merely needs to send the parameter values along with the registration identifier. The server system merely sends the parameter values according to the response format. In an embodiment, the formats are generated as extensions to Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).
US07818427B2
A method for automating the performance of information technology (IT) tasks within an enterprise comprising a plurality of client devices is described. The method comprises the steps of receiving an input specifying a set of commands to be executed on a client device and generating a script based theron, wherein the script is configured to be executed by an agent on the client device, and receiving an input specifying to which of the plurality of client devices the script should be made available. The script is provided to a client device based on the input by publishing the script to a user portal, and by deploying the script to the client device.
US07818424B2
A cluster of computing systems is provided with guaranteed real-time access to data storage in a storage area network. Processes issue requests for bandwidth reservation which are initially handled by a daemon on the same node as the requesting processes. The local daemon determines whether bandwidth is available and, if so, reserves the bandwidth in common hardware on the local node; then forwards requests for shared resources to a master daemon for the cluster. The master daemon makes similar determinations and reservations for resources shared by the cluster, including data storage elements in the storage area network and grants admission to the requests that don't exceed total available bandwidth.
US07818422B2
Calculating the roundtrip delay between first and second computers due to the latency of a routing server. The first computer receives an incoming message from the second computer via the routing server. The incoming message includes incoming time information indicative of processing time at the second computer and outgoing time information indicative of a time when a first outgoing message was sent by the first computer. The first computer calculates an observed roundtrip time indicating the routing server latency for a first outgoing message and the incoming message as a function of a time when the first computer received the incoming message, the outgoing time information, and the incoming time information.
US07818421B2
An autonomous handling management system performing autonomously system handling management based on handling management policies. Determination means requests execution of workflow described in a handling management policy, and execution means executing the workflow detects, based on a stop determination rule, an abnormal state based on constraint not described in the policy description. Execution means, upon detecting the abnormal state, stops execution of workflow in accordance with the request from specific determination means or request on a specific control target, to thereby partially stop autonomous control and allows a debug operation to be efficiently executed by an administrator.
US07818420B1
The present invention provides a system and method for automatic remote notification that includes eliciting and receiving, into a server, triggering information from a client, wherein the triggering information includes specifications of a first communication to be sent, a destination for the first communication, and a first triggering event for sending the first communication, receiving arming information from the client and arming the sending of the first communication to be sent based on the triggering information, and conditionally sending the first communication from the server to the first destination based on occurrence of the first triggering event. The specification of the destination for the first communication includes an electronic address of a first communications device of a person, the specification of the first triggering event includes information that defines an amount of time, and the arming includes starting a timer that triggers upon elapse of the amount of time.
US07818412B2
A system that facilitates selecting a sensor from amongst a plurality of sensors from which to request data is described. The system includes a receiver component that receives a value of information for data that corresponds to a segment of a phenomenon model that models a phenomenon. The receiver component also receives user-defined preferences regarding sharing data from at least one sensor. The system further includes a selector component that selects the at least one sensor from amongst a plurality of sensors based at least in part upon the value of information and the preferences. The determination of the value ascribed to sensors may include considerations of the utilitarian benefit of reduction of uncertainty to a population of people.
US07818405B2
A method for providing device-initiated software upgrades in a network comprising a plurality of devices is provided. The method includes identifying in the device an upgrade time window based on a set of predetermined conditions stored in the device and initiating in the device a software upgrade during the upgrade time window.
US07818404B2
A system employing a storage device and a host for configuration information exchange between the host and the storage device. In operation, the host manages host configuration information in a data management layer of a communication model, and communicates the host configuration information to the storage device by one or more data communication layers of the communication model. Likewise, the storage device manages storage device configuration information in the data management layer of the communication model, and communicates the storage device configuration information to the host by one or more data communication layers of the communication model.
US07818400B2
An interactive communications appliance for broadcasting personalized information is disclosed. The interactive communications appliance comprises a transceiver for receiving personalized information transmitted via a wireless link. A memory stores the personalized information and an audio device broadcasts the personalized information to a user.
US07818398B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for specifying Web service interfaces and for processing Web service messages using protocol multiplexing. A Web service comprised of a plurality of sub-services (or clients of the Web service) are designed in accordance with the present invention by analyzing a plurality of micro-protocols between two or more of the sub-services, the Web service, and one or more clients of the Web service. A composite message is created if a plurality of messages of the micro-protocols have the same sender and receiver and belong to compatible message sequences. The present invention ensures that the execution of two or more message handlers is based on a defined execution order, when one or more collaborations of the micro-protocols are dependent on other collaborations. A Web service according to the present invention decomposes one or more incoming messages into a plurality of micro-messages (or composes one or more outgoing messages from a plurality of micro-messages) and provides a plurality of message handlers that process (or generate) said plurality of micro-messages.
US07818396B2
Profile data from multiple networking services can be combined and queried from one networking service. A primary networking service may store user profile data for one or more secondary networking services and the primary networking service. When stored, the data from the multiple networks may be aggregated or merged. The stored data may include user profile data and relationship data for each networking service that a primary networking service has a profile account with. A graph of user-contact relationships existing over the primary networking service and one or more secondary networking services may be constructed and queried against.
US07818395B2
An apparatus (200) for interfacing with a restricted access computer (10) includes a data storage component (202), a peripheral component (204), and an interface controller (206). The interface controller (206) enables electronic communication between the peripheral component (204) and the computer (10) and between the data storage component (202) and the computer (10). The interface controller (206) communicates data to the computer (10) indicating to the computer (10) that the computer (10) is operable to interact with the peripheral component using software already installed on the computer (10). The computer (10) automatically executes a computer program stored on the data storage component (202) of the apparatus (200) that enables the computer (10) to transparently encrypt and decrypt data via a biometrically secure process.
US07818388B2
A data processing system includes a first plane including a first plurality of processing nodes, each including multiple processing units, and a second plane including a second plurality of processing nodes, each including multiple processing units. The data processing system also includes a plurality of point-to-point first tier links. Each of the first plurality and second plurality of processing nodes includes one or more first tier links among the plurality of first tier links, where the first tier link(s) within each processing node connect a pair of processing units in the same processing node for communication. The data processing system further includes a plurality of point-to-point second tier links. At least a first of the plurality of second tier links connects processing units in different ones of the first plurality of processing nodes, at least a second of the plurality of second tier links connects processing units in different ones of the second plurality of processing nodes, and at least a third of the plurality of second tier links connects a processing unit in the first plane to a processing unit in the second plane.
US07818375B2
Systems and methods for providing advanced instant messaging (IM) notification are provided. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, an event message, which is received prior sending of an initial message by a user, is used to generate a notification to a contact. The notification indicates to the contact that the user is preparing to initiate a chat session prior to opening a chat window.
US07818362B2
A mechanism for offloading the management of send queues in a split socket stack environment, including efficient split socket queue flow control and TCP/IP retransmission support. An Upper Layer Protocol (ULP) creates send work queue entries (SWQEs) for writing to the send work queue (SWQ). The Internet Protocol Suite Offload Engine (IPSOE) is notified of a new entry to the SWQ and it subsequently reads this entry that contains pointers to the data that is to be transmitted. After the data is transmitted and acknowledgments are received, the IPSOE creates a completion queue entry (CQE) that is written into the completion queue (CQ). The flow control between the ULP and the IPSOE is credit based. The passing of CQ credits is the only explicit mechanism required to manage flow control of both the SWQ and the CQ between the ULP and the IPSOE.
US07818359B2
In order to output amplitude data with the clock frequency higher than the clock frequency of phase data, the direct digital synthesizer for transmission and detection comprises: a transmitting phase for outputting a first phase data with a first clock frequency; a curtailing unit for outputting a second phase data with a second clock frequency smaller than the first clock frequency, and outputting additional data for compensating for phase information disappeared with curtailing process; an interpolating unit for outputting a third phase data with a third clock frequency larger than the first frequency by implementing interpolating process to the second phase data, and a detecting waveform for outputting amplitude data in accordance with the third phase data. The detecting signal amplitude data can be outputted with the third clock frequency higher than the second clock frequency of the second phase data transmitted.
US07818357B2
A CORDIC processor is configured to perform orthogonal or oblique CORDIC projections in order to cancel interference in a received signal. The CORDIC projection can be used to rotate an interference signal vector so that its only non-zero component is in the last Euclidean coordinate of the representative vector. A measurement vector is then subject to the same rotations as the interference vector. As a result of the rotation on the measurement vector, all components of the measurement vector parallel to the interference vector will be resolved onto the same coordinate as the rotated interference vector. The parallel components of the symbol vector can be cancelled by zeroing that coordinate, and the modified measurement vector can then be rotated back to its original coordinates, to produce an orthogonally projected version of the original measurement vector. Typically, the projection is onto a subspace that is orthogonal or oblique to an interference subspace, which may be one-dimensional.
US07818353B2
A method and apparatus for use in a computer system comprising at least two software applications sharing context, wherein a context change may be requested by a user of at least one of the at least two software applications. In response to the user requesting a change from a first context to a second context, at least one business rule is applied to at least a portion of the first context and/or to at least a portion of the second context to obtain at least one result from the application of the business rule. In response to the at least one result, at least one act is performed selected from the group consisting of: denying the request to change from the first context to the second context; requesting the user to provide information relating to the requested change; and requesting the user to affirm information relating to the requested change.
US07818351B2
There is provided a database analysis program, a database analysis apparatus, and a database analysis method capable of detecting a relation between fields in a plurality of tables. The database analysis program allows a computer to execute: a field evaluation step that calculates, for each field of the table, a field score which is a value based on the appearance frequency of each value in the field; a relation generation step that selects tables different from each other as a relation source table and relation destination table from the plurality of tables, selects a relation source field which is a field in the relation source table and a relation destination table which is a field in the relation destination table, and generates a combination of the relation source field and relation destination field as a relation; and a relation evaluation step that calculates, for each relation generated by the relation generation step, a relation score which is a value based on the appearance frequency of each value in the relation destination field counted for each relation source field, field score of the relation source field, and field score of the relation destination field.
US07818340B1
Computer-implemented method and system for enabling network communication using sponsored chat links
A computer-implemented method and system for enabling network communication using common search queries and sponsored chat links is disclosed. Various embodiments relate to a computer-implemented system and method for receiving a sponsored concept from a sponsoring company, receiving a search query from a user, determining if the sponsored concept and the user search query fit within a match criteria, and establishing a communication link between the sponsoring company and the user if the sponsored concept and the user search query fit within the match criteria.
US07818337B2
A system, method, and program product is provided that receives a client request from a client computer system over a computer network, such as the Internet. The client request includes a request method and also includes a resource identifier. The system traverses a directory structure using the resource identifier. A resource file is located based on the traversing. The name associated with the resource file also includes the name of the resource method. A database query statement is retrieved from the located resource file. The retrieved database query statement is executed. The execution of the database query statement yields one or more database results, such as records from a database table. These database results are returned to the client computer system.
US07818335B2
Systems and methods are provided for selectively determining privacy guarantees. For example, a first class of data may be guaranteed a first level of privacy, while other data classes are only guaranteed some lesser level of privacy. An amount of privacy is guaranteed by adding noise values to database query outputs. Noise distributions can be tailored to be appropriate for the particular data in a given database by calculating a “diameter” of the data. When the distribution is based on the diameter of a first class of data, and the diameter measurement does not account for additional data in the database, the result is that query outputs leak information about the additional data.
US07818323B2
A system and method for automatically discovering topical structures of databases includes a model builder adapted to compute various kinds of representations for the database based on schema information and data values of the database. A plurality of base clusterers is also provided, one for each representation. Each base clusterer is adapted to perform, for the representation, preliminary topical clustering of tables within the database to produce a plurality of clusters, such that each of the clusters corresponds to a set of tables on the same topic. A meta-clusterer aggregates results of the clusterers into a final clustering, such that the final clustering comprises a plurality of the clusters. A representative finder identifies representative tables from the clusters in the final clustering. The representative finder identifies at least one representative table for each of the clusters in the final clustering. The representative finder also arranges the representative tables by topic as a topical directory and outputs the topical directory.
US07818319B2
Various techniques are disclosed for generating markup information to be displayed on a client computer system. A document (e.g. a web page) is selected for viewing via a web browser on the client system. Selected information relating to the document is parsed and analyzed using selected keyword information. In a specific implementation, the selected keyword information is provided by an entity other than the end user. Using the selected keyword information, specific context in the document is selected to be marked up. Markup operations may be implemented on at least a portion of the selected document context and displayed at the client system.
US07818299B1
A method for backing up a computer file system is disclosed. A first snapshot of the file system is generated at a first time, the first snapshot having first pointers to data blocks of the file system at the first time. A network adapter receives storage operations to write new data to the file system. A second snapshot of the file system is generated at a second time, the second snapshot having second pointers to data blocks of the file system at the second time, the data blocks at the second time including the new data. The first pointers to the second pointers are compared. In response to the second pointers differing from the first pointers, data of the file system which have been changed between the first snapshot and the second snapshot are copied to a backup copy of the file system.
US07818298B2
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for tracking documents in an on-demand service. These mechanisms and methods for tracking documents in an on-demand service can enable embodiments to provide the sharing of documents and the tracking of whether one of the shared documents was changed. The ability of embodiments to provide the sharing of documents and the tracking can enable a safeguard that a user knows whether the document that they have in their possession is the most recent version.In an embodiment, the shared documents are stored in a document management storage. In an embodiment, each file has an ID that includes version information for checking whether the document is the most recent version. In an embodiment, an application is downloaded onto the user system that automatically upon opening a document checks whether a document is the most recent version.
US07818295B2
The methods for handling a communication request received for a former user of a communication system include sending updated address book information for the former user to an initiator's address book, redirecting the communication request to the forwarding address for the former user, redirecting the communication request to an assigned replacement of the former user, or any combination of the above. Additionally, the replacement's address book information may be sent to the initiator's address book for updating. In one embodiment, a replication of the former user's address book is retained to assist in determining how to handle the received communication request.
US07818293B2
A method and system for synchronizing versions of a document on a collaborative site and on a content management repository is disclosed. The method and system comprises determining that a document has been modified on the collaborative site by a listener/updater mechanism. The method and system further comprises providing a hidden save of a copy of the document to the content management repository by an authorized user of the collaborative site. In one embodiment, a system and method in accordance with the present invention uses the Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol. This listener/updated mechanism permits users to retain the highly-collaborative aspect of wikis, but automatically updates and retains the document in a more formal content management repository making it available for other Content Management applications.
US07818288B1
A system and method are provided for modeling functional requirements for a project. The method includes creating a first model for a first project, categorizing a portion of the first model according to an eTOM area related to the first project, storing the first model in a repository according to the eTOM category, searching the repository for a model for a project categorized by an eTOM area similar to an eTOM area associated with a second project, and when a similar model is found, using the similar model as a basis for creation of a second model for the second project.
US07818286B2
A computer-implemented dimension engine that automatically identifies the market segments represented in user-specified input data. The dimension engine creates new dimension variables based on those segments that most accurately predict the outcomes of a target variable. A data store is used to store the input data. A decision tree processing module determines a subset of the dimension variables to split the input data. The splitting of the dimension variables predicts the target variable. A multi-dimension viewer generates a report using the determined dimension variables subset and the splitting of the dimension variables.
US07818277B2
Methods and apparatus for business rules authoring and operation employing a customizable vocabulary
In one embodiment, a method comprises creating at least one individualized language resource, creating at least one individualized language rule referencing at least one of said individualized language resource, and transforming said at least one individualized language rule into computer executable format.
US07818265B2
A system and method allowing a user to quickly receive a ranked comparison of homes for sale based on default criteria or criteria of the user's choice. An interactive website is provided into which a home buyer can enter details of several properties under consideration for purchase and receive a ranked comparison list in order of best value for money. Homebuyers may change the weightings of the criteria according to their preferences. An alternate home price is calculated for the homes ranked below first such that they have the same perceived value per dollar as the top ranked home. Finally, there is an option for the homebuyer to share results with the online community.
US07818261B2
Process for enabling a content provider and its users to easily manage licenses for intended uses for selected or provided content. Licensing information for content previously provided to a user or acquired by the content provider, a digital fingerprint, and/or a digital identifier are employed to uniquely identify a particular instance of the selected/provided content and manage licenses to use this content Once the selected content is provided for processing, the invention can notify the user of at least one of four conditions: (1) a user is currently licensed for at least one type of use for the selected content; (2) if a previous license to the selected content is expired, a current license does not include the selected use, or the user doesn't have or has an expired license to use the selected content, and identify steps to obtain a current license for at least one type of use; (3) if a license to use the selected content is not available from the content provider; and (4) identify substantially similar content that is available from the content provider for a license for at least one type of the intended use for one or more of conditions (1), (2), and (3).
US07818256B1
Digital receipts for electronic data and computer-implemented methods and systems for creating such digital receipts involve, for example, generating a visual representation of the electronic data in a pre-defined format that visually represents the data without requiring that the represented data be embedded in the format, computing a mathematical representation of the electronic data and associating the mathematical representation of the electronic data with the visual representation of the electronic data, and receiving a user's digital signature on the associated visual and mathematical representations of the electronic data to evidence the user's approval of the represented electronic data.
US07818245B2
A system and method for applying an endorsement to an electronic image of a bank check. A system is described that includes: an imaging system for generating an endorsement image representing an action taken relative to processing the bank check; a halftone system for converting the endorsement image into a digitally halftoned endorsement image; and a positioning system for placing the digitally halftoned endorsement image onto the electronic image of the bank check.
US07818233B1
The present invention is a graphical user interface within the context of a financial planning and management system and method. The model consists of a user intention modeling module and an investment planning module. The graphical user interface displays a model and many of its related characteristics simultaneously and allows the user to interactively manipulate the model by selecting various function and mode icons. Furthermore, the user may accesses both a live advisor and an automated coach through the graphical user interface by selecting one of several communication icons.
US07818226B2
An insurance policy funds end-of-lifetime activities for a non-human facility at an end of a lifetime of the facility with a policy benefit whose amount is based upon growth of a premium.
US07818221B2
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for managing variable regulatory compliance in a supply chain. The process identifies a variable regulatory compliance for a production order. Variable regulatory compliance is a percentage of a given attribute of the production order in compliance with order compliance rules. The process selects a set of compliant parts based on a compliant supply-to-demand ratio. The set of compliant parts is a minimum number of compliant parts required to satisfy variable regulatory compliance. The process selects a set of non-compliant parts based on a non-compliant supply-to-demand ratio. The process generates a list of recommended parts for use in manufacturing a product specified by the production order. The list of recommended parts comprises the set of compliant parts and the set of non-compliant parts.
US07818208B1
An on-line advertising system provides advertisements to users. At least one candidate advertisement is identified in response to an advertisement trigger. At least one key is identified relating to features of the candidate advertisement, the advertisement trigger, or a combination of the candidate advertisement and the advertisement trigger. Candidate advertisement performance is estimated based on historical data relating to the key.
US07818207B1
Helping advertisers to control marketing expenditures by governing the delivery of an advertisement over a time period. Such governing may be accomplished by (a) determining an expected cost associated with delivering the advertisement, ungoverned, over the time period; and (b) governing the delivery of the advertisement based on the expected cost and a target cost. The delivery of the advertisement may be also governed based on time remaining in the time period, budget deficits from past periods, budget surpluses from past periods, a start date and an end date associated with the advertisement, time since a start date associated with the advertisement, and/or time until an end date associated with the advertisement. The target cost may be based on a predefined budget.
US07818196B2
The present invention is directed to techniques for determining a value of a cumulative datum during a selected time interval. The disclosed method and system for collecting contact center data includes a plurality of agent and work item queues and a workflow server for distributing work items to available agents; and an event processor, that, for a selected a base time interval for accumulating a cumulative datum, determines a the rolling window that is at least one of equal and greater than the base interval and being an integer multiple of the base interval, and, when the rolling window partly spans a prior base interval, the processor can determine a rolling average for the cumulative datum over the width of the rolling window and, when the roiling window partly spans a prior base interval, the processor can estimate a value for the cumulative datum in the partly spanned prior base interval.
US07818193B1
Stowage requirements are estimated either in early stage design of a ship or in evaluation of an existing ship. Initialization data includes definition of one or more stowage aid types, definition of one or more storeroom types, description of stowage requirements associated with one or more different ship types, and enumeration of “compartment utilization factors” corresponding to each defined stowage aid type (e.g., in the form of one or more data matrices, each matrix corresponding to a stowage aid type). Once the data setup is completed, the number of storerooms needed to hold a given or estimated volume of stowage is determined. Space layout rules and the corresponding “compartment utilization factors” are applied to each selected stowage aid type, thereby determining the number of stowage aids required (and the associated stowage aid weights) as to each stowage aid type, and/or the total storage area required as to each storeroom type.
US07818192B2
Computer system for controlled creation, processing, administration and display of quality information within an enterprise. Linkages may be defined among enterprise entities, process/product development attributes, strategies, goals, process improvement opportunities, etc. Visual analysis of data associated with the linkages is provided in an interactive fashion. Linkages may also be defined among online quality-related documentation throughout an enterprise such that information is automatically propagated/reconciled through the enterprise in a controlled and efficient fashion. The creation of process documentation for new products is facilitated based on a concept of content/document inheritance.
US07818185B2
The present invention relates to a system and method for assessing the impact of an ailment on a health related quality of life domain of a patient using a standardized common metric. The standardized common metric of the present invention enables the impact of various ailments to be compared.
US07818181B2
The invention is a business process embodied in a software algorithm that determines difference in practice patterns among physicians for the main cost components of given conditions.
US07818178B2
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing network support for voice-activated mobile web browsing for audio data streams. More particularly, the presently described embodiments are directed to enhancing an existing wireless network to provide hands-free web browsing to retrieve audio data. This allows wireless customers to make verbal web requests, (e.g., not requiring the use of hands), thus making it possible to request web audio programs while engaging in other activities, such as safely driving their vehicles.
US07818172B2
The method of recognizing speech in an acoustic signal comprises developing acoustic stochastic models of voice units in the form of a set of states of an acoustic signal and using the acoustic models for recognition by a comparison of the signal with predetermined acoustic models obtained via a prior learning process. While developing the acoustic models, the voice units are modeled by means of a first portion of the states independent of adjacent voice units and by means of a second portion of the states dependent on adjacent voice units. The second portion of states dependent on adjacent voice units shares common parameters with a plurality of units sharing same phonemes.
US07818168B1
A method of measuring the degree of enhancement made to a voice signal by receiving the voice signal, identifying formant regions in the voice signal, computing stationarity for each identified formant region, enhancing the voice signal, identifying formant regions in the enhanced voice signal that correspond to those identified in the received voice signal, computing stationarity for each formant region identified in the enhanced voice signal, comparing corresponding stationarity results for the received and enhanced voice signals, and calculating at least one user-definable statistic of the comparison results as the degree of enhancement made to the received voice signal.
US07818167B2
An audio information retrieval method, medium, and system that can rapidly retrieve audio information, even in noisy environments, by extracting a modulation spectrum that is robust against noise, converting features of the extracted modulation spectrum into hash bits, and using a hash table. The audio information retrieval method may include extracting a modulation spectrum from audio data of a compressed domain, converting the extracted modulation spectrum into fingerprint bits, arranging the fingerprint bits in a form of a hash table, converting a received query into an address by a hash function corresponding to the query, and retrieving the audio information by referring to the hash table.
US07818146B2
Disclosed is a method for diagnosing technical devices, especially pumps and valves, which are arranged within an installation used in the processing industry. According to said method, disturbance variables that affect the devices and influence the service life thereof are detected by means of sensory technology while the data of said disturbance variables is processed in a simulative manner in order to determine the expected service life of each device. Various maintenance instructions which are output along with the expected remaining trouble-free operating time of the industrial installation when a lower service life threshold value of one or several devices has been reached are stored in an expert unit.
US07818144B2
The invention refers to a system of recording the activities carried out by an individual person during specific time intervals. This system will normally be on an electronic device, but the initial method of recording may be paper-based. This system involves recording activity and associated attributes as a function of time on a grid, using lines to define the activity recorded in each grin interval. The invention is an intuitive data entry system, principally but not exclusively via touchscreen. The system will preferably be deployed on a handheld digital device with touchscreen entry capability. The activity recording system may also record values, attributes or files associated with specific time intervals. It may generate charts, tables, alerts and reminders. It may synchronize with other devices and applications and may import or export data from them.
US07818141B2
The invention relates to a vibration dosimeter (2) and a method for determining the daily vibrational loading of persons who are exposed to mechanical oscillations at their place of work due to the operation of a work means and in particular of a manually operated electronic tool (4, 6). What is provided is that the dosimeter (2) comprises a determination device (12, 18) for determining the effective daily operating duration of the work means (4, 6), a computer device (22) for calculating a daily work time until a specified trigger value or exposition limit value of the vibrational loading is reached from a work-means-typical vibration value and the trigger value or exposition limit value, and a comparison device (24) for comparing the determined effective daily operating duration of the work means with the calculated daily work time until the specified trigger value is reached.
US07818130B2
A method and system for setting image analysis parameters to control image analysis operations. The method and system include collecting set of digital training images including a set of states for the set of digital training images. An objective function is defined to determine a relative quality of plural different parameter sets used for digital image analysis. Values for the plural different parameter sets that maximize (or minimize) the objective function are determined. The method and system increases a usability of high content screening technologies by reducing a required level of expertise required to configure digital image processing.
US07818119B2
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus comprises a storage module, a location measuring module, a communication module, and a navigation image generating module. The storage module stores image data corresponding to respective symbols, and data of simplified diagram templates in each of which positions are set on an image showing a shape of a road, symbols being placed at the respective positions. The location measuring module measures a current location. The communication module transmits the current location to an external communication apparatus and receives navigation information on a navigation point corresponding to the current location, the navigation information including a simplified diagram template identification number, symbol identification numbers, and position specification numbers. The navigation image generating module generates the navigation image by reading the simplified diagram template and the image data of the symbols, and placing the image data at positions on the simplified diagram template.
US07818115B2
A navigation solution of a navigation system with a Terrain Navigation Module is determined by a procedure including determining a supported position solution and the relative covered path between two height measurements, ascertaining a quality of each active supported position from each active supported position by way of a first quality function, and creating a search area and predetermined positions for each position inside the search area and each relatively stored covered path. The procedure further includes ascertaining a quality of each relatively stored terrain height measurement, and a quality of each reference height, and determining the quality of the position support by a function of all minimum probabilities of all used positions in the search area and supporting the navigation solution ascertained in the Strap Down Module by the navigation filter with the aid of the determined position support and the determined quality of the position support. A navigation system with a Strap Down Module and a navigation filter and a Terrain Navigation Module for determining the navigation solution are also described.
US07818114B2
A device for determining when a virtual trip line has been crossed or traversed is provided. The device includes a memory for storing the virtual trip lines which are defined pairs of location descriptors corresponding to a geographic area. The device further includes a processor that is capable of determining the location of the device when it crosses a virtual trip line as well as its speed and direction. The processing element is further capable of sending this information to another electronic device such as a server that may determine a number of vehicles crossing a virtual trip line for a specified amount of time, the average speed of vehicles crossing the virtual trip line and the traffic density in a region near the virtual trip line. The device is capable of receiving the information that was determined by the server.
US07818111B2
This motor control apparatus is provided with: a reduced energy calculation device that calculates a reduced energy that is produced when a drive mode of a hybrid vehicle is shifted from a drive mode driven by a motor to a drive mode driven by an internal combustion engine and if the phase of the motor is changed from the present phase to the arbitrary required phase; a displacement energy calculation device that calculates a displacement energy that is produced when the present phase is changed to the arbitrary required phase; and a phase change permission device that compares the reduced energy and the displacement energy, and permits changing from the present phase to the required phase when it is determined that the reduced energy is greater than the displacement energy.
US07818110B2
A traveling control device and a traveling control program for a work vehicle in which a change in a control quantity due to an effect of vehicle body vibrations is small, fixing the desired control quantity is possible, and the control quantity can be matched with the operator's feel. A travel control program in which a first line on which the speed ratio reduces corresponding to a change in the operation stroke, a second line having hysteresis with respect to the first line and on which the speed ratio increases corresponding to a change in the operation stroke, and third lines on which the speed ratio changes corresponding to the change in the operation stroke and the change in speed ratio with respect to the change in the operation stroke is smaller than that of the first and the second line are set is installed in the control device.
US07818106B1
A power management system for a motor vehicle is disclosed. The power management system can track one or more usage parameters to insure that electrical accessories or resources do not fully drain a battery and leave enough battery life to conduct at least one cold start. In some cases, the power management system can track one or more of the following usage parameters: the amount of time of one or more hands free telephone systems are used, the number of attempts to contact a computer, and/or the amount of time used to conduct wireless communications with a computer that is physically separate from the motor vehicle.
US07818104B2
A comparator compares the total intake air amount accumulated by an accumulator with a reference value obtained via a selector. If the total intake air amount is smaller than the reference value, the CSS control is determined as being abnormal and a CSS-abnormality signal is output. If the number of times an atmospheric pressure learning value has been updated is equal to or larger than a threshold that is set large enough to determine that the accuracy of the calculated atmospheric pressure learning value is sufficiently high, a reference value is output from a characteristic storage to the comparator. Conversely, if the number of times the atmospheric pressure learning value has been updated is smaller than the threshold, an initial reference value is output from an initial reference value storage to the comparator.
US07818099B2
System and method for alerting a user of an aircraft of a possible entrance into a selected airspace
A system and method for an aircraft alerts a user of the aircraft of a possible entrance into a selected airspace. A flight path of an aircraft and locations of a plurality of selected airspaces are stored on at least one storage medium. A processor is in operable communication with the at least one storage device and configured to compare the flight path of the aircraft to the locations of the plurality of selected airspaces and provide an alert signal if the flight path calls for the aircraft to operate within a pre-selected distance of at least one of the plurality of selected airspaces.
US07818086B2
An component mounter including a warning notification apparatus, which includes a warning generating unit which generates a warning for notifying that an action involving human resource is required, by referring to warning generation information, a warning level judging unit which judges a level of the warning indicating difficulty of an action to be taken in response to the warning by referring to warning level judgment information, and a warning notification unit which specifies an operator permitted to perform the action in response to the warning by referring to execution permission authentication information, and outputs the warning notifying the specified operator of the warning.
US07818085B1
A method and system for controlling the processing of an IC chip assembly line using a central computer system and a common communication protocol. In one embodiment, a manufacturing execution system (MES) is used as the computer system and the communications protocol is the standard semi equipment communications standard/generic equipment model (SECS/GEM). One or more equipment cell controllers (CC) may be used to communicate between the MES a plurality of in-line substations which comprise the assembly line. Automated vision camera systems may also communicate information to the MES via the CCs. In one embodiment, the MES maintains a database in memory comprising processing history of a die-strip and results of automated die-strip examination from the vision camera systems. In one embodiment, the die-strip may be of a ball grid array (BGA) type.
US07818081B2
A process to control product throughput in a multi-station manufacturing system is disclosed. The process comprises the steps of: providing the manufacturing system as a plurality of discrete operating stations; separating the plurality of pathways into a plurality of independent pathways; identifying a first constraining throughput capacity corresponding to each of the plurality of independent pathways; adjusting a target rate of each of the discrete operating stations in each of the plurality of independent pathways according to the corresponding first constraining throughput capacity; reconstituting the plurality of independent pathways into an interconnected pathway comprising the discrete operating stations; reforming the plurality of pathways for the object of manufacture to pass from the first operating station to the distal operating station; combining the target rate of each of the discrete operating stations of the interconnected pathways; and, adjusting product throughput according to the combined target rates.
US07818080B2
It is one object of the present invention to provide a program writing method of numerical controller, a numerical controller and a cutting machine controlled thereby, achieving the writing of a plurality of programs relating to one axis to perform a high efficiency in a lot of productions. A next or later user-set-program controlling a duplicated axis controlled by plural user set programs identifies a virtual axis virtually controlled by one user set program. A program is written to replace the duplicated axis with the virtual axis. A control amount calculated by the user set program identifying the virtual axis is added to a control amount inputted to a correspondent axis driving program as a control amount of the duplicated axis before replacing the virtual axis.
US07818078B2
The present invention is directed to wireless analog audio systems for transmission and reception of a signal from an electric analog audio signal-generating device to an electric analog audio signal-receiving device. One example of such a signal-generating device is an electric guitar. By using a transceiver, the guitar is adapted to generate analog audio signals, convert those signals into digital signals, format the digital signals according to a digital communication protocol, and to output the formatted signals. The guitar may include a novel multi-signal guitar pickup that generates some of the analog audio signals. The interface device of the present invention is adapted to wirelessly and in real time receive digital signals, convert those signals into analog signals representing what is being played at the guitar, and output the analog signals to a standard guitar amplifier. Moreover, the system presented here does not require any modification of standard guitar equipment.
US07818073B2
A method of obtaining improved feedforward data for a feedforward control system to move a component through a setpoint profile is presented. The setpoint profile includes a plurality of target states of the component each to be substantially attained at one of a corresponding sequence of target times. The method includes moving the component with the feedforward control system according to the setpoint profile using a first set of feedforward data; measuring a state of the component at a plurality of times during the movement; comparing the measured states with corresponding target states defined by the setpoint profile to obtain a set of errors; filtering the set of errors with a non-linear filter; generating improved feedforward data based on the filtered errors, the improved feedforward data being usable by the feedforward control system to move the component more accurately through the setpoint profile.
US07818069B2
We disclose an electrode assembly comprising a ribbon electrode having a first surface and a second surface; a plurality of bosses disposed on the second surface of the ribbon electrode, wherein each boss has a third surface substantially not in contact with the second surface of the ribbon electrode and at least one boss is electrically conducting; and an insulator contacting substantially the entire second surface of the ribbon electrode and substantially the entire third surface of each boss; wherein the insulator is substantially not in contact with the first surface of the ribbon electrode. We also disclose an implantable medical device system comprising an implantable medical device for generating an electrical signal; an electrode assembly as described; and a lead wire electrically coupled to both the implantable medical device and at least one electrically conducting boss of the electrode assembly.
US07818061B1
Systems for detecting an error associated with an implantable device include a back-telemetry transmitter within the implantable device configured to transmit one or more signals to an external device having a receiver configured to receive the one or more signals. The implantable device includes circuitry configured to detect an error associated with the implantable device, generate a fault signal corresponding to the error, and turn on the back-telemetry transmitter to transmit the fault signal to the external device. Methods of detecting an error associated with an implantable device include powering up the implantable device with an external device, disabling a back-telemetry transmitter within the implanted device after the implanted device is powered up, detecting an error with the implanted device, generating a fault signal corresponding to the error with the implanted device, turning on the back-telemetry transmitter after the fault signal has been generated, and transmitting the fault signal to the external device with the back-telemetry transmitter.
US07818055B2
The present invention relates to evaluating the effect of physiological conditions on the occurrence of ventricular fibrillation, identifying strategies for treatment or prevention of ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia, and evaluating a subject for induction of ventricular fibrillation from a condition of ventricular tachycardia.
US07818054B2
An acupuncture point position evaluating apparatus in which a current generated in a current generating section is applied to measurement points of skin of a subject through current application electrodes. The applied current and a voltage generated in the skin by the current application are measured in a measuring section. In a frequency analyzing section, the measured current and the measured voltage are provided with frequency analysis, and skin impedance Z(jf) in the respective measurement points is calculated. In a characteristics amount generating section, based on the frequency response of the skin impedance Z(jf) in the measurement points, frequency response K(f)=XZ(f)/RZ(f) as a ratio between real part RZ(f) and imaginary part XZ(f) of the skin impedance Z(jf) are calculated. In a determining section, based on the difference of the frequency response K(f), an acupuncture point position is determined from among the respective measurement points.
US07818051B2
An implantable medical device such as an implantable pacemaker or implantable cardioverter/defibrillator includes a programmable sensing circuit providing for sensing of a signal approximating a surface electrocardiogram (ECG) through implanted electrodes. With various electrode configurations, signals approximating various standard surface ECG signals are acquired without the need for attaching electrodes with cables onto the skin. The various electrode configurations include, but are not limited to, various combinations of intracardiac pacing electrodes, portions of the implantable medical device contacting tissue, and electrodes incorporated onto the surface of the implantable medical device.
US07818047B2
A readout electronics scheme is under development for high resolution, compact PET (positron emission tomography) imagers based on LSO (lutetium ortho-oxysilicate, Lu2SiO5) scintillator and avalanche photodiode (APD) arrays. The key is to obtain sufficient timing and energy resolution at a low power level, less than about 30 mW per channel, including all required functions. To this end, a simple leading edge level crossing discriminator is used, in combination with a transimpedance preamplifier. The APD used has a gain of order 1,000, and an output noise current of several pA/√Hz, allowing bipolar technology to be used instead of CMOS, for increased speed and power efficiency. A prototype of the preamplifier and discriminator has been constructed, achieving timing resolution of 1.5 ns FWHM, 2.7 ns full width at one tenth maximum, relative to an LSO/PMT detector, and an energy resolution of 13.6% FWHM at 511 keV, while operating at a power level of 22 mW per channel. Work is in progress towards integration of this preamplifier and discriminator with appropriate coincidence logic and amplitude measurement circuits in an ASIC suitable for a high resolution compact PET instrument. The detector system and/or ASIC can also be used for many other applications for medical to industrial imaging.
US07818043B2
Cardiac information of a patient is displayed by obtaining a plurality of MRI cine loops of the heart of the patient at a plurality of heart rates, the plurality of cine loops including both wall motion cine loops and at least one perfusion cine loops and simultaneously displaying both the wall motion cine loops and the at least one perfusion cine loop.
US07818040B2
A method of locating a target site for delivering a therapy to a patient that includes advancing a delivery device having a steerable portion and a deflectable tip having a tapered portion to an area along a first site. A contrast media is delivered through a thru lumen and outward from a distal end of the delivery device in fluid communication with the thru lumen to position the contrast media along the first site and the delivery device is further advanced toward the first site and within the first site, or the delivery device is further advanced toward the first site and within the first site without the contrast. The contrast media is then delivered from the distal end of the delivery device within the first site to locate the target site.
US07818034B2
A holster or carry holder (100) for a mobile device (150) forms an assembly or combination (200) that includes a first housing (102) and a second housing (112) pivotably coupled to the first housing. The second housing can receive and carry the mobile device in at least a first position or closed position (FIG. 2) enabling access to a top mounted interface on the mobile device. The second housing can further pivot about a pivot point (108) to a second position substantially orthogonal to the first position enabling access to both the top interface and to a rear interface of the mobile device. The first housing can include a retention tab (104) on a top portion of the first housing for retaining the mobile device within the carry holder. The carry holder can further include a belt clip (106) coupled to the first housing.
US07818033B2
A message status synchronization scheme. In one embodiment, a method may comprise: automatically detecting arrival of a message at a messaging server for a user having a mail address thereat, the message being displayable on a computer for the user with a status indicator icon associated therewith; processing at least a portion of an instance of the message for transmission to the user's mobile data communication device over a wireless network; receiving a status signal from the mobile data communication device indicating that the message has been deleted on the mobile data communication device; and altering the status indicator icon associated with the message on the computer responsive to the status signal.
US07818032B2
A portable information communication terminal includes an operation unit composed of an integrated combination of a first operation detection device for detecting an operation in a first direction substantially parallel to a predetermined axis direction of a terminal housing and a second operation detection device for detecting an operation in a second direction substantially opposite to the first direction, a display unit provided with a screen disposed in a direction substantially parallel to the predetermined axis direction and capable of displaying a hierarchical menu structure, and a control unit for sequentially changing and displaying menu hierarchies in descending hierarchical order in the first direction on the screen of the display unit in accordance with an operation in the first direction and for sequentially changing and displaying menu hierarchies in ascending hierarchical order in the second direction on the screen in accordance with an operation in the second direction.
US07818031B2
A method for storing MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)-related information, related method for accessing MMS-related information, related storage medium, related apparatus and related software programs, wherein the information is stored on at least one storage medium connected to a mobile communication apparatus which supports MMS services or a device connected to such a mobile communication apparatus, with the at least one storage medium being disconnectable from the apparatus or the device.
US07818029B2
Handheld electronic devices are provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may have first and second transceiver circuits that operate in the same radio-frequency band using different communications protocols. The wireless communications circuitry may have a configurable radio-frequency combiner and divider circuit that is coupled between an antenna and the first and second transceiver circuits. The combiner and divider circuit can be configured to support simultaneous use of the antenna by the first and second transceiver circuits. When simultaneous use is not required, the combiner and divider circuit can be used by either the first transceiver circuit or the second transceiver circuit.
US07818026B2
The invention relates to a terminal to be used in a system, which comprises a device management server and a data transfer network for transmitting information used in association with configuration between the terminal and the device management server. The terminal comprises means for detecting change in the terminal capabilities, and means for transmitting information on the change in the terminal capabilities to the device management server. In addition, the invention relates to a system for transmitting information used in connection with the terminal configuration between the terminal and the device management server. Further, the invention relates to a method in the configuration of the terminal, to a method for providing configuration information to the terminal, as well as to a computer software product to be used in the terminal configuration.
US07818025B2
A system and method for establishing and maintaining an “always-on” data connection to a wireless network through the use of a back off timer and a service check timer is disclosed. The back off timer is initialized to a determined value when a connection is not established. When the timer expires, a connection attempt is made. As further connection attempts are made, the back off timer is set to ever-increasing values. When the data connection is established, the service check timer is initialized. The data connection status is determined at the expiry of the service check timer. When, at the expiry of the service check timer, the data connection is determined to be lost, the connection method is employed.
US07818021B2
In a PC card communication terminal that operates supplied with power from a host device, problems such as malfunctions due to a supply voltage drop at the time of high transmission output are prevented from occurring. A baseband processor (1106) selects a transmission-power upper-limit measurement mode when a PC card terminal (1103) is to be controlled for the first time. A supply voltage drop is measured by a voltage measurement circuit (1114) while a load value of a load circuit (1112) is being changed. The load value of the load circuit (1112) when the supply voltage decreases to a permissible lowest supply voltage is obtained. Using a conversion table stored in a memory (1107), the load value is converted into a transmission output and is set as a transmission-output upper limit. In a normal communication mode, a maximum transmission output is restricted based on this transmission-output upper limit.
US07818019B2
The present invention relates to technique for optimized assignment of Abis transmission resources based on dynamic statistical time division multiplexing, the method comprising the steps of: assigning a set of 64 k TS's to GPRS/EGPRS services on an Abis link, the set of 64 k TS's shared among all BTS's connected to the Abis interface; a PCU assigning sufficient Abis transmission resources to a TRX based on the load thereof if the TRX has EGPRS services; a BSC interconnecting Abis transmission resources and BSC-PCU transmission resources and informing a BTS that said Abis transmission resources have been assigned to a TRE mapped to the TRX; the PCU reassigning bandwidth of the Abis transmission resources based on changes in the load of the TRX; in each TRX, all RTS's statistical-time-division-multiplexing all transmission resources of the TRX based on flow in different periods for different RTS's. The present invention will achieve dynamic sharing of Abis transmission resources on a RTS layer so as to optimize using of Abis transmission resources, reduce waste and decrease operating cost.
US07818016B2
Method and system for providing a location-based alert service in wireless communication environment
Disclosed is a method and a system for providing a location-based alert service in a wireless communication environment, wherein, in a case where a specific user is located in a certain zone using a mobile communication terminal and a mobile communication network, the number of location inquiries is minimized using a moving distance ratio, a moving direction and a Minimum Bounding Rectangle (MBR) in providing the a location-based alert service for informing that the specific user is located in a certain zone.
US07818012B2
A method of obtaining information for use in a smart antenna system is provided. The method includes monitoring an interface between a base station controller and a base station transceiver to receive signaling information being communicated via the interface. The method further includes extracting from the signaling information a subset of the signaling information operable to be used as input for selecting one or more of a plurality of beams for wireless communications.
US07818005B2
A telecommunications system includes a wireless packet network; a cellular telephone network; at least one computing device including a wireless network interface card for communicating over the wireless packet network; at least one cellular telephone device, the cellular telephone device having a cellular telephone mode for communicating over the cellular network and a packet network mode for communicating over the packet network; a presence server on said packet network; wherein the cellular telephone device is configured to function as a wireless access point for said at least one computing device by interfacing the wireless network interface card to the wireless packet network via the cellular network; wherein a presence status of a user is set at said presence server based on whether the at least one cellular telephone device has activated said wireless access point.
US07817994B2
A method and a system for controlling a wireless sensor network from a user interface coupled to the Internet are provided. A user accesses an Internet-based portal from the user interface and establishes a secure broadband Internet connection between a remote control module coupled to the wireless sensor network and the portal. The connection is established by manually triggering a connection between the remote control module and the portal from the remote control module.
US07817982B1
The present invention provides methods and systems for determining the status and/or extent of damage caused by a disaster. More specifically, a disaster status system (DSS) is used to create a backup communication network, in the event that the primary communication network has been damaged, to locate and/or contact users that may be in or around a disaster-affected area.
US07817976B2
A method includes a foreground process and a background process. In the foreground process, an input signal is processed using a first reference signal to generate an output. A first frequency control signal is generated from the output. A frequency of the first reference signal is controlled based on the first frequency control signal. In the background process, a foreground processed signal is received from the foreground process. The foreground processed signal is processed using a second reference signal. A second frequency control signal is generated from the foreground processed signal. A frequency of the second reference signal is controlled based on the second frequency control signal so that the background processing step removes effects of the foreground controlling step.
US07817969B2
An FM receiver including an FM antenna that receives continuous wavelength signals, where the FM receiver is coupled to the FM antenna and operable to alter a center frequency of a gain profile of the FM antenna. The FM receiver includes a low noise amplifier module that is coupled to amplify the continuous wavelength signal to produce an amplified RF signal therefrom. A down conversion module is coupled to mix the amplified RF signal with a local oscillation to produce an information signal. A filter module is coupled to filter the information signal to produce a filtered information signal. A demodulation module is coupled to capture audio information from the filtered information signal. A signal monitoring module is coupled to monitor the FM signal quality of a received continuous wavelength signal. The signal monitoring module produces a signal quality indication therefrom. An antenna control module produces a signal value based upon the signal quality indication, wherein the signal value operates to alter the center frequency of a gain profile of the FM antenna.
US07817968B2
A transmitter and receiver circuit includes antennas for receiving high-frequency signals; a local oscillator for generating local oscillation signals; mixers connected to respective antennas for converting the frequency of the high-frequency signals from corresponding antennas in response to the high-frequency signals input from the local oscillator; and a switch for inputting the local oscillation signals generated by the local oscillator into a selected one of the mixers so that receiving channels are switched by the switch.
US07817967B2
Methods of forming a downlink beam in an adaptive antenna system of a communications system that may reduce inter-system and/or intra-system interference include receiving vectors of signals including signals transmitted by user terminals of the communications system and signals transmitted by transceivers of an independent communications system, obtaining spatial information for the user terminals of the communications system and the transceivers of the independent communications system, generating complex transmitting weights that form spatial nulls directed at the transceivers of the independent communications system, and transmitting a downlink communications signal using the complex transmitting weights. Related systems are also disclosed.
US07817956B2
A cleaning blade which is brought into contact with a peripheral surface of a photoreceptor drum of an image-forming apparatus to remove toner which remains on the peripheral surface of the photoreceptor drum. In a dynamic state in which the cleaning blade contacts the photoreceptor drum with a load of 2 to 60 N and a face pressure of 1.3 to 66.7 MPa being applied thereto when the photoreceptor drum is rotating, the cleaning blade contacts the peripheral surface of the photoreceptor drum in a contact width (nip width) of 3 to 10 μm. The cleaning blade has a two-layer construction composed of a matrix layer and an edge layer.
US07817953B2
A pair of registration rollers align a leading edge of a recording medium having a transparent section and a non-transparent section. A boundary sensor detects a boundary between the transparent section and the non-transparent section. The boundary sensor is provided on a downstream side of a direction of conveying the recording medium by the registration rollers.
US07817947B2
An image forming apparatus that corrects color misregistration of an image including: an image forming device having an endless image carrier for carrying an image to be formed on the recording medium, wherein the image forming device forms the image in an image area that corresponds to the recording medium on the image carrier and also forms a color misregistration correction mark in an image boundary area that is sandwiched between the image area and the next image area following the image area on the image carrier; a mark detecting section for detecting the correction mark on the image boundary area; and a control device to change an interval for feeding the recording medium based on a fluctuating period of the color misregistration corresponding to an orbiting distance of the image carrier, and to expand image boundary area of the image carrier to form the mark at a changed position.
US07817946B2
The present invention provides a developing device that allows for maintaining the conveyance amount of a toner within a certain definite range. A developing device 12 of the present invention is provided with a toner conveying unit 13 configured to convey a first toner and a controlling member 15 configured to control the thickness of a toner layer formed with the first toner conveyed by the toner conveying unit 13, wherein a second toner provided with a charged amount per unit mass that differs from a charged amount per unit mass of the first toner is applied over the surface of the controlling member 15.
US07817945B2
A developing cartridge and method of recycling a developing cartridge are provided. The developing cartridge includes a cartridge housing that is configured to accommodate developer. The cartridge housing includes a first opening for discharging the developer from the cartridge housing; and a second opening for accommodating the developer into the cartridge housing. The developing cartridge further includes a deflector that is configured to generate a swirling flow of air in the cartridge housing. The method of recycling the developing cartridge includes injecting air into the second opening such that the air is deflected by the deflector and refilling the developing cartridge with developer.
US07817943B2
A developer transport apparatus includes: a first developer-containing unit that contains a developer; a first developer transport member disposed in the first developer-containing unit, the first developer transport member transporting the developer in a first direction; a second developer transport member disposed downstream from the first developer transport member in the first direction, the second developer transport member transporting the developer in the first direction and having a lower capability of transporting the developer than that of the first developer transport member; a developer discharge unit disposed in the first developer-containing unit, the developer discharge unit discharging the developer transported by the second developer transport member from the first developer-containing unit; and a second developer-containing unit that contains the developer discharged from the developer discharge unit.
US07817942B2
An image forming apparatus includes an ink image forming section, an irradiation section, an intermediate transfer section, a transfer section, a recoding medium feed section and a discharge section. When forming an image, the ink image forming section is irradiated with light by the irradiation section according to image information transmitted from an external device to form an electrostatic latent image, and the ink image forming section feeds an ink to the obtained electrostatic latent image to form an ink image. The ink image obtained is intermediately transferred to the intermediate transfer section, and then transferred to a recording medium by the transfer section. The recording medium is fed to the transfer section by the recording medium feed section, and after the ink image is transferred, the recording medium is discharged to an outside of the image forming apparatus by the discharge section.
US07817940B2
To enable not only releasing pressurization by a pressurization mechanism for pressurizing a belt thereby preventing a deformation therein but also easily and securely releasing the pressurization mechanism held in the pressure release state, thereby facilitating the installation operation of an apparatus. A pressurization mechanism for pressurizing a belt is in a released state prior to the use of the main body of the apparatus. Prior to the initial use of the main body, the pressurization of the pressurizing mechanism for the belt is exerted in linkage with a user operation of placing a recording material in a feed tray.
US07817937B2
In this invention, the charging units are in the separate construction for the main chargers and for the ozone ducts. When installing the process units, the ozone ducts are placed on the elastic sheets of the duct cases that are fixed to the main frame. The process units are slid while slanting the ozone ducts to the duct cases by the main chargers against the bias force of the elastic sheets. Fluctuation in manufacturing accuracy is absorbed by the elastic sheets and the maintenance efficiency when installing/removing the process units is improved by sliding the process units smoothly. Further, the charging units are supported certainly by the main frame.
US07817932B2
A test pattern image stored in advance is printed on a paper sheet. When the printed test pattern image is scanned by a scanning unit, a difference between the density of the scanned test pattern image and absolute density set in advance is detected. An exposure amount of a process unit is adjusted according to the detected density difference.
US07817928B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, an intermediate transferring body and a contact type secondary transferring member transferring an image from the intermediate transferring body to a recording medium. The apparatus forms an image with respective developers for multiple colors and uses a predefined adjustment pattern to make density adjustment and position adjustment of respective color images. After execution of the density adjustment and/or the position adjustment, a stain prevention pattern is formed with a yellow developer to cover an area where the adjustment pattern is attached to the secondary transferring member.
US07817920B2
Disclosed is a short-distance communication method and an apparatus using visible light. The apparatus scans ambient light, measures optical power of visible light, among visible light included in the ambient light, having a wavelength corresponding to a transmission wavelength used for the visible light communication, compares a minimum transmission optical power of transmitted light, a real transmission optical power, and the measured optical power of the ambient light, selects a transmission wavelength of the transmitted light on which noises caused by the ambient light have little effect, and performs the visible light communication using the visible light of the selected transmission wavelength.
US07817918B2
In a wavelength division multiplex (WDM) optical communications network having a plurality of nodes, each of which comprises a wavelength selective optical cross-connect having a plurality of switching matrices, each switching matrix being provided for switching wavelength channels of a specific wavelength, a method of transmitting information from a start node to a target node includes the steps of applying to respective inputs of switching matrices of the start cross-connect, at least two wavelength channels (working an protection channels) having different wavelengths but which are modulated with the same information; transmitting the working and protection channels to the target cross-connect; and dropping the working and protection channels at outputs of different switching matrices provided for different wavelengths of the target cross-connect.
US07817916B2
A camera module includes a substrate, an image sensor, a shell, and at least two lens modules. The image sensor comprises at least two image sensor portions connecting with each other via a connecting portion. The at least two image sensor portions are mounted on the substrate. The connecting portion is separated from the substrate. The shell is mounted on the substrate and has a chamber for receiving the image sensor. The lens modules are each mounted in the shell corresponding to the image sensor portions. The lens module captures and transmits images to the image sensor portion of the image sensor.
US07817901B2
A recording and reproducing apparatus including a reproduction unit configured to reproduce information data, which is error-correcting-coded for every N tracks, from a recording medium, wherein the information data includes moving image data which is variable-length-encoded, a recording unit configured to record moving image data on the recording medium, a detection unit configured to detect additional information from the information data reproduced by the reproduction unit, wherein the additional information indicates that the editing point, which can be set up for every frame of a predetermined number, is contained in the moving image data recorded in the N tracks, and a controller configured to control the reproduction unit to reproduce the information data by transporting the recording medium at a high-speed faster than a normal reproduction speed.
US07817900B2
Video editing and video playback utilizing a render-ahead queue for storing rendered video frames. The render-ahead queue facilitates the smooth playback of video in forward and reverse timeline direction, avoiding video glitches that occur when video frames are rendered at a rate that is less than the timeline rate of the video file. Embodiments of the present invention also include the use of a graphics processing unit in conjunction with the render-ahead queue to further ensure smooth playback of video.
US07817894B2
An optical fiber cable management panel includes drawer assemblies, each including a drawer slidable within a chassis. The chassis incorporates a grounding point, and the drawer assemblies are electrically connected to the grounding point by a grounding strap. The grounding strap flexes to allow the slidable movement of the drawer relative to the chassis. The strap may be folded one or more times. The strap may be bolted, welded, or otherwise conductively and non-rotatably affixed at each end to the drawer and the chassis so as to maintain a constant position within the assembly and a constant electrical connection between the drawer and the grounding point.
US07817884B2
The strain-managed optical waveguide assemblies of the present invention utilize a large-mode-area (LMA) optical fiber that is annealed in a first bending such that the fiber in that configuration has substantially no axial strain. A fiber support member is then used to support the annealed LMA optical fiber in a second bending configuration that forms within the LMA optical fiber an axial strain profile that reduces stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) as compared to the first bending configuration, and that also preferably causes the LMA optical fiber to operate in a single mode. The LMA optical fiber may have a double-clad configuration and include a doped core that serves as a gain medium. The strain-managed optical waveguide assembly can then be used to constitute a fiber amplifier that mitigates the SBS penalty associated with high-power fiber-based optical systems. The strain-managed waveguide assembly can also provide for thermal management in high-power applications, and can be used to control SBS by controlling the temperature profile along the length of the LMA optical fiber in a manner that mitigates SBS.
US07817879B2
An optical waveguide device including a dielectric substrate and a folded waveguide formed on the substrate, including a first waveguide and a second waveguide, one part of the first waveguide being connected to one end of the second waveguide at a first coupling portion, the other end of the second waveguide connected to another part of the first waveguide at a second coupling portion, the first waveguide being straight or curved with a radius of curvature larger than or equal to a first curvature radius, and the second waveguide being straight or curved with a radius of curvature smaller than the first curvature radius. An outer groove is formed on the substrate along an outer peripheral of the folded waveguide, an input-side inner groove is formed on the substrate near a first coupling portion, and an output-side inner groove is formed on the substrate near a second coupling portion.
US07817871B2
Edges are detected in a raster image and generate parametric curves from the detected edges. The parametric curves are used to render a scaled version of the raster image. Some embodiments may allow edge locations within a raster image to retain a satisfactory level of sharpness when the raster image is scaled to a larger size.
US07817868B2
According to a picture coding method of the present invention, a coded picture identified by a picture number is stored, as a reference picture, into a storage unit; commands indicating correspondence between picture numbers and reference indices for designating reference pictures and coefficients used for generation of predictive images are generated; a reference picture being used when motion compensation is performed on a current block in a current picture to be coded is designated by a reference index; a predictive image is generated by performing linear prediction on a block being obtained by motion estimation within the designated reference picture, by use of a coefficient corresponding to the reference index; a coded image signal including a coded signal obtained by coding a prediction error being a difference between the current block in the current picture to be coded and the predictive image, the commands, the reference index and the coefficient is outputted. At that time, information indicating the maximum reference index value is coded and included into the coded image signal, and the commands indicating correspondence between at least one picture number and a plurality of reference indices are generated.
US07817866B2
Decoding a multiview video signal comprises receiving a bitstream comprising the multiview video signal encoded according to dependency relationships between respective views, and view-dependency information representing the dependency relationships in a two-dimensional data structure; extracting the two-dimensional data structure and determining the dependency relationships from the extracted data structure; and decoding the multiview video signal according to the determined dependency relationships.
US07817863B2
A receiving processing unit receives identical SD pictures transmitted a plurality of number of times, and performs addition for weighting an SD picture stored in a storage and the received SD pictures. The receiving processing unit stores the obtained values as a new SD picture in the storage. A picture-quality determining unit determines the picture quality of the new SD picture stored in the storage, and based on the determined picture quality, a request-signal transmitting unit requests class codes representing classes obtained by classifying the pixels of an HD picture in which the quality of an SD picture is increased. A receiving-control unit receives class codes which are transmitted in response to the request, and based on the SD picture and the class codes, an adaptive processing unit calculates predicted values of an HD picture corresponding to the SD picture.
US07817853B2
An image converting method includes the steps of: converting each pixel of an input image into 2-dimensional conversion chromaticity coordinate values which are obtained by projecting conversion chromaticity coordinate values obtained by converting each of said pixels by using parameters for converting in chromaticity coordinates onto a unit plane, and obtaining parameter values in which a barycenter of a color region including the 2-dimensional conversion chromaticity coordinate values are set to ⅓; and converting the input image by the obtained parameter values.
US07817847B2
A robot system having a vision sensor. The robot system includes a robot; a robot controlling section for controlling an operation of the robot; an imaging section provided on the robot and obtaining image data of a working environment of the robot; an image processing section for processing the image data obtained in the imaging section; a vision controlling section for controlling the imaging section and the image processing section to cause execution of obtaining the image data, transmitting the image data thus obtained, and processing the image data; and a communication network to which the robot controlling section, the image processing section and the vision controlling section are connected.
US07817844B2
A pattern inspection apparatus is used for inspecting a pattern, such as semiconductor integrated circuit (LSI), liquid crystal panel, and a photomask by using an image of the pattern to-be-inspected and design data for fabricating the pattern to-be-inspected. The pattern inspection apparatus includes a reference pattern generation device for generating a reference pattern represented by one or more lines from design data, an image generation device for generating the image of the pattern to-be-inspected, a detecting device for detecting an edge of the image of the pattern to-be-inspected, and an inspection device for inspecting the pattern to-be-inspected by comparing the edge of the image of the pattern to-be-inspected with the one or more lines of the reference pattern.
US07817839B2
A method for removing speckle noise from ultrasound images includes providing a plurality of digitized ultrasound (US) images, each image comprising a plurality of intensities corresponding to a domain of points on a 2-dimensional grid, initializing an initial gain associated with each of said plurality of US images, estimating a signal sub-space by averaging over each US image divided by its associated gain, and estimating an updated gain by projecting its associated image into said signal sub-space. If an absolute difference of said updated gain and said initial gain is less than a pre-determined quantity, obtaining an averaged image from said signal sub-space, estimating an optimal Wiener filter from said plurality of US images and said averaged image, and filtering said averaged image with said Wiener filter, wherein said speckle noise is substantially minimized.
US07817838B2
A method, system, and computer-readable medium are provided which perform reconstruction of an image from undersampled, multi-image k-space data. A first undersampled image dataset and a second undersampled image dataset defined in a first dimension are received. The first undersampled image dataset and the second undersampled image dataset define a multi-image dimension. An ordering for a plurality of pixels of the first dimension in the multi-image dimension is defined. The first undersampled image dataset and the second undersampled image dataset in the multi-image dimension are sorted based on the defined ordering. A first constraint is defined in the first dimension using the unsorted first and second undersampled image datasets. A second constraint is defined in the multi-image dimension using the sorted first and second undersampled image datasets. An image is reconstructed using the applied first constraint and the applied second constraint while preserving fidelity to the first undersampled image dataset and the second undersampled image dataset.
US07817833B2
A system and method for identifying objects of interest in image data is provided. The present invention utilizes principles of Iterative Transformational Divergence in which objects in images, when subjected to special transformations, will exhibit radically different responses based on the physical chemical, or numerical properties of the object or its representation (such as images), combined with machine learning capabilities. Using the system and methods of the present invention, certain objects that appear indistinguishable from other objects to the eye or computer recognition systems, or are otherwise almost identical, generate radically different and statistically significant differences in the image describers (metrics) that can be easily measured.
US07817824B2
In general, the present invention is directed to systems and methods for finding the position and shape of an animal using video. The invention includes a system with a video camera coupled to a computer in which the computer is configured to automatically provide animal segmentation and identification, animal motion tracking (for moving animals), animal feature points and segments identification, and behavior identification. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention may use background subtraction for animal identification and tracking, and a combination of decision tree classification and rule-based classification for feature points and segments and behavior identification. Thus, the present invention is capable of automatically monitoring a video image to identify, track and classify the actions of various animals and the animal's movements within the image. The image may be provided in real time or from storage. The invention is particularly useful for monitoring and classifying animal behavior for testing drugs and genetic mutations, but may be used in any of a number of other surveillance applications.
US07817822B2
The present video tracking technique outputs a Maximum A Posterior (MAP) solution for a target object based on two object templates obtained from a start and an end keyframe of a whole state sequence. The technique first minimizes the whole state space of the sequence by generating a sparse set of local two-dimensional modes in each frame of the sequence. The two-dimensional modes are converted into three-dimensional points within a three-dimensional volume. The three-dimensional points are clustered using a spectral clustering technique where each cluster corresponds to a possible trajectory segment of the target object. If there is occlusion in the sequence, occlusion segments are generated so that an optimal trajectory of the target object can be obtained.
US07817820B2
This invention is directed to a method and system for generating and using digital fingerprints in copies of an electronic document so that it is possible to determine at least one from among a group of purchasers colluding to forge a digital fingerprint. The present method and system is suitable for copyright protection and can be used to identify purchasers who illegally redistribute copies even after the document has been manipulated.
US07817817B2
A method of concealing data in images imperceptibly alters curves therein, such as through adding a value representing the data to be hidden to each of a number of B-spline control points representing the original curve. The altered control points characterize the imperceptibly altered curve, which replaces the original curve in the image. The altered control points may be later extracted from the image and compared with the original control points to determine the hidden value. Prudent selection of the values altering the control points as well as an iterative alignment-minimization algorithm in the detection process provides protection against numerous techniques for preventing the hidden values from being recovered.
US07817815B2
An armature for a receiver includes a first leg portion, a second leg portion, and a connection portion in communication with the first and second leg portions. The connection portion reduces the stiffness of the armature and minimizes magnetic reluctance of the connection between the first and second leg portions.
US07817796B1
A method and system for assigning tasks to contact center agents is disclosed, wherein an automatic call distributor (ACD) used for distributing incoming contact center calls to the agents is used to distribute other tasks to the agents. When an agent task (different from handling an incoming call) is determined, a corresponding “proxy” telephone call is generated from within the contact center to a PBX to assign an agent to the task. The ACD processes the proxy call substantially identically to any other incoming call requesting an agent's services. A proxy call has as its destination phone number the directory number of a call group used in selecting an appropriate agent for performing the task. The proxy call phone number additionally identifies the location of detailed information about the task. When a proxy call is routed by the ACD to the selected agent's worksite, the called phone number is used to fetch the detailed task information, and the selected agent is made unavailable to the ACD for further incoming calls. The agent is made available for taking contact center incoming calls when the task is completed or pre-empted.
US07817793B2
Communications are routed in a communications network based on a location of a requesting party. A communication from the requesting party is received. A location of the requesting party is determined using a geographic address which defines the smallest of two of a set of multiple geographic areas defined by multiple available geographic addresses for the location of the requesting party. A communications destination address for the communication is selected, from multiple possible communications destination addresses, based on the location of the requesting party. The communication is forwarded to the selected communications destination address.
US07817790B2
A system and method of saving and delivering a voice memo or text memo to identify incoming calls is provided. A user of the system of the invention is given the option of recording a memo on the calls he or she has received through a prompt on a telecommunication device. The user can choose to record a voice memo or text memo after each call. The memos are saved in connection with caller id information pertaining to the number from which the call was placed. When a user of the system receives a call from a number that has a memo saved in relation thereto, the user will be prompted to hear, and may listen to, the voice memo before answering the call. If the memo is in text form, the user can configure the system to provide various processing options. In one processing option, a text to speech audio presentation of the text of the memo is made available to permit the message to be heard over a telephone or networked audio capable PDA device. In other processing options, the user has the text of the message sent to the user's PC or emailed or sent by instant message to the user's PDA device.
US07817787B2
According to one embodiment, a voice mail apparatus includes a voice processor which processes voice messages by a arbitrary processing gain, a gain controller which monitors a signal level of an output signal of the voice processor, and controls the processing gain of the voice processor to change the signal level into a specified level, and a processing controller which makes the gain controller to perform gain control of a learning voice by inputting a portion of the voice message into the voice processor as the learning voice when processing of the voice message is requested or based on predetermined conditions.
US07817771B2
A shift register comprises a plurality of stages, {Sn}, n=1, 2, . . . , N, N being a positive integer. In one embodiment, each stage Sn includes a pull-up circuit having an input for receiving one of a first clock signal, CK1, and a second clock signal, XCK1, an output for responsively outputting an output signal, On, and an input node Qn, a pull-up control circuit electrically coupled to the input node Qn and configured such that when receiving a first input signal, the pull-up control circuit responsively generates a signal that is provided to the input node Qn to turn on the pull-up circuit, a pull-down circuit electrically coupled to the input node Qn and configured to provide a first voltage to one of the input node Qn and the output of the pull-up circuit, and a pull-down control circuit configured to receive one of a third clock signal, CK2, and a fourth clock signal, XCK2, and responsively generate the first voltage to turn on the pull-down circuit of the stage Sn and the pull-down circuit of one of the stage Sn−1 and the stage Sn+1.
US07817770B2
A shift register for use in an LCD is disclosed. The shift register provides better gate driving signals with the lower coupling effect. The shift register includes two switches. The control node of the first switch is electrically coupled to the control node of the second switch. One end of the first switch receives a clock signal, and the other end of the first switch is electrically coupled to one end of the second switch. The other end of the second switch outputs a gate driving signal. Both of the two switches are controlled by a control signal.
US07817768B2
A PLL frequency generator is disclosed for generating an output signal with a settable target frequency, comprising a) a voltage-controlled oscillator for generating the output signal, b) a switchable frequency divider, which is connected to the voltage-controlled oscillator and is designed to derive from the output signal a frequency-divided signal whose instantaneous frequency depends on a value of an adjustable divisor, c) a switchable delay unit, which is connected to the frequency divider and is designed to generate a delayed signal in that the frequency-divided signal is delayed by delay times that depend on a control word, and d) a controller connected to the switchable delay unit controller and designed to determine the control words. According to the invention, the controller has a sigma-delta modulator and is designed to determine the control words depending on at least one signal provided by the sigma-delta modulator.
US07817766B2
A digital control loop and a method for clock generation. A control loop includes at least one phase detector configured to detect a phase shift of a feedback signal relative to a reference clock signal and output a correction signal on the basis of the phase shift detected. At least one control loop filter is configured to output, on the basis of the correction signal, a first control signal and a second control signal, the first control signal being substantially the same as the second control signal except that oscillations are suppressed in the second control signal. At least one first phase generator is configured to output a first clock signal on the basis of the first control signal and the first phase reference signal, wherein the first clock signal is transmitted at least partially as feedback signal to the phase detector. At least one second phase generator receives the second control signal and the first phase reference signal, wherein the second phase generator is functionally substantially the same as the first phase generator and is configured to output a second clock signal on the basis of the second control signal and the first phase reference signal.
US07817760B2
Techniques for deriving sample timing for multiple signal instances received on multiple antennas for a given propagation path. In one scheme, a DLL is maintained for each path, and each DLL tracks the timing of the best signal instance for the assigned path. In another scheme, a DLL is maintained for each path, and each DLL tracks the average timing of the multiple signal instances for the assigned path. To reduce timing jitter, the SINR of a signal instance may be estimated for a number of different time offsets. The loop filter for the DLL is initially updated in the normal manner. If a change in the time offset used for the sample timing is detected, then the SINRs for the new and prior offsets are compared. The new time offset is used if the associated SINR is better. Otherwise, the prior time offset is retained and used.
US07817754B2
Performing approximate diagonalization of a correlation metric by user permutation to improve Multiuser Detector (MUD) processing. The system reorders the entries in the S-Matrix in order to move the bit decisions closer together in the decision tree. In one embodiment the reordering is a sequential pairwise correlation.
US07817740B2
Various aspects of a method for minimum mean square error soft interference cancellation (MMSE-SIC) based sub-optimal maximum likelihood (ML) detection for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless system may comprise selecting at least one constellation point in a constellation map based on at least one of a plurality of received symbols. A number of the at least one constellation point may be less than or equal to a number of previously selected constellation points in a previous constellation map. At least one of the plurality of received symbols may be decoded based on the selected at least one constellation point.
US07817739B2
An improved method for reducing an amount of precoding feedback information in a multi-carrier Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication system using precoding is disclosed. At the receiving end, the method jointly selects, while considering transmission quality for each relevant combination of sub-bands and matrices, a limited number of P codebook indices and a limited number of K′ sub-bands to be included in a subset ω (m1, . . . , mK′) of a set Ω of allowed sub-bands. K′ is here set to a value K′
US07817732B2
According to the disclosure, a system adapted to estimate and track a channel for wireless orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM) communication is disclosed. The system utilizes scattered pilot symbols being subject to channel conditions and estimates the channel value using the plurality of received pilot symbols and in accordance with correlation of the channel conditions over time.
US07817727B2
A driver circuit that consumes less current than other driver circuits combines a current-mode driver circuit with a voltage-mode driver circuit to provide impedance matching and signal equalization operations. In at least one embodiment of the invention, an apparatus includes a differential node and a driver circuit configured to generate a signal on the differential node. The driver circuit includes a first circuit portion configured to generate a first signal on the differential node based, at least in part, on a data signal. The first signal has a voltage swing based, at least in part, on a voltage on a power supply node. The driver circuit includes at least a second circuit portion configured to generate a current through the differential node based, at least in part, on a first bit-time of the data signal and an equalization operation, thereby adjusting the voltage swing of the signal.
US07817724B2
An apparatus and method for synchronizing a TS packet of a ground wave DMB. The method for synchronizing a TS packet of a ground wave DMB includes deinterleaving and decoding a demodulated TS packet; converting the decoded TS packet formed in a unit of bit into a TS packet formed in a unit of byte; detecting a synchronization point of time of the TS packet converted in a unit of byte; deinterleaving and decoding TS packets continued after the synchronization point of time; and sensing in real time whether or not the decoded TS packets in a predetermined range among the TS packets continued after the synchronized point of time are changed in synchronization due to the change of starting position of the TS packets. By sensing in real time whether or not the TS packets that are RS decoded by the external decoder are synchronized, when the TS packets are not synchronized, they are resynchronized and output so that a normal decoding operation can be performed.
US07817715B2
This invention relates to a space-time coding method for a UWB transmission system including three or four radiative elements. It also relates to a method for transmitting a plurality of data symbols belonging to a PPM modulation constellation or a PPM-PAM composite modulation constellation using this space-time coding.
US07817714B2
Provided is an integrating receiver having an adaptive decision feedback equalizer function and a system having the same. The integrating receiver can simultaneously remove an inter-symbol interference (ISI) and high frequency noises in a high speed DRAM data transmission system. The integrating receiver reduces a probability of wrong decision of data in a state in which the ISI that exists in a channel is removed so as to increase a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a receiver, so that a maximum operation speed increases even in an environment with heavy noises. There is also provided a method of obtaining an equalizer coefficient suitable for the integrating receiver and a method of obtaining a reference voltage by using an integrator in a single ended transmission method. In addition, in order to increase a decision feedback equalizer speed, a look-ahead method is used. In this method, flip flops with a high speed including multiplexers are used. Accordingly, the present invention can be applied to not only a DRAM interface system but also a serial communication between chips.
US07817712B2
In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for adjusting a signal includes applying a plurality of compensation for distortion to a signal to generate an output signal. The method also includes, using a clock signal, sampling the output signal to generate a plurality of data values and boundary values, each value comprising either a high value or a low value based on the sampling of the output signal. The method also includes detecting a transition in value between two successive data values and determining a sampled boundary value between the two successive data values. The method further includes based at least on the high or low values of the boundary value and a plurality of data values before or after the boundary value, independently adjusting each compensation applied to the signal.
US07817711B2
A circuit for the analog correlation of a 2.5 GHz signal to remove impairments such as echo, cross talk and intersymbol interference is described. Loop stability in a loop which generates an error signal and tap weights is achieved by providing a further delay from the taps of the delay line.
US07817703B2
Provided is a VCSEL that includes a first semiconductor multilayer film reflective mirror of a first conductivity type formed on a substrate and having a first impurity concentration; an active region formed thereon; a second semiconductor multilayer film reflective mirror of a second conductivity type formed on and close to the active region and having a second impurity concentration; a third semiconductor multilayer film reflective mirror of the second conductivity type formed thereon and having a third impurity concentration being higher than the second impurity concentration; and a fourth semiconductor multilayer film reflective mirror of the second conductivity type formed thereon and having a fourth impurity concentration being higher than the second impurity concentration. The reflective mirrors include a pair of a low-Al semiconductor layer and a high-Al semiconductor layer. The Al-composition of the low-Al semiconductor layer in the second reflective mirror is higher than that of the fourth mirror.
US07817702B2
Unidirectionality of lasers is enhanced by forming one or more etched gaps (78, 80) in the laser cavity. The gaps may be provided in any segment of a laser, such as any leg of a ring laser, or in one leg (62) of a V-shaped laser (60). A Brewster angle facet at the distal end of a photonic device coupled to the laser reduces back-reflection into the laser cavity. A distributed Bragg reflector is used at the output of a laser to enhance the side-mode suppression ratio of the laser.
US07817697B1
A method for generating a laser output signal includes the steps of: generating an optical pump signal that is a sequence optical pulses each having a duration of about nτf, where τf represents a flourescence lifetime of a laser dye and 3≦n≦25; directing the optical pump signal into an optical resonant cavity having a laser dye gain element that contains the laser dye for transforming the optical pump signal into an excited optical signal; resonating the excited optical signal in the optical resonant cavity; and emitting a portion of the excited optical signal from the optical resonant cavity.
US07817688B2
A controller, such as a programmable logic controller, may manipulate a phase and/or polarization module to alter and/or control the phase and polarization of input beams. Utilizing active phase and polarization control can enable the combination of any arbitrary number of input beams into a single, combined beam. Utilizing active phase and polarization control can also enable the combination of input beams having arbitrary power levels.
US07817686B2
Laser pulse shaping techniques produce tailored laser pulse spectral output. The laser pulses can be programmed to have desired pulse widths and pulse shapes (such as sub-nanosecond to 10 ns-20 ns pulse widths with 1 ns to several nanoseconds leading edge rise times). Preferred embodiments are implemented with one or more electro-optical modulators receiving drive signals that selectively change the amount of incident pulsed laser emission to form a tailored pulse output. Triggering the drive signal from the pulsed laser emission suppresses jitter associated with other stages of the link processing system and substantially removes jitter associated with pulsed laser emission build-up time.
US07817684B2
A passively mode-locked, figure-eight laser is formed of all normal dispersion fiber, eliminating the need for using anomalous dispersion fiber. The fiber is selected to be polarization maintaining, with the remaining components of the laser (couplers, isolator, gain fiber) also formed as polarization maintaining elements. In one embodiment, a section of Yb-doped fiber is used as the gain element. An external modulation component (amplitude or phase) is preferably used to initiate the passive mode locking.
US07817675B2
An apparatus and methods for handling emergency message frames (e.g., “911” call frames, etc.) sent by a station in a wireless local-area network are disclosed. The illustrative embodiment increases the probability with which an emergency message frame is accorded the singularly highest quality-of-service by modifying one or more IEEE 802.11e parameters (e.g., back-off contention window length, Arbitration Inter-Frame Space [AIFS], etc.) for a station or access point that transmits an emergency message frame.
US07817674B2
Output clock adjustment for a digital I/O between physical layer devices and media access controller. A method is disclosed for transferring data received on the input of a physical layer device from a transmission medium to an output associated with the physical layer device and to a media independent layer, the transferred data associated with transferred timing information from the physical layer device to the media independent layer. A receive clock is generated and then the data transitions in the received data are synchronized to at least one edge of the receive clock to provide synchronized receive data. The synchronized received data is then transmitted to the media independent layer. The generated receive clock is delayed by a predetermined clock delay to provide a delayed receive clock, and wherein the data transitions in the synchronized receive data is positioned relative to the rising edge of the delayed receive clock at a predetermined position therein following the rising edge thereof. The delayed receive clock transmitting with the transmitted synchronized receive data.
US07817672B2
A device and a method for providing programs to multiple end user devices. The method includes: providing to multiple end user devices, via an edge device, at least one type of media stream out of unicast media stream and a multicast media stream; wherein the at least one type of media stream convey a group of programs; receiving a request from a first end user device to view a first program that belongs to the group of programs; and selectively switching, in response to bandwidth constraints imposed on a communication path coupled to the edge device, a type of a media stream that conveys the first program to a second end user device.
US07817661B1
A dual-media network interface includes a physical layer device. A first interface module communicates with the physical layer device via a medium dependent interface. A link indicator indicates a communications link with the physical layer device via the first interface module. The physical layer device transmits a link indication signal to the link indicator and a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) interface module when the physical layer device establishes a communications link via the first interface module. The link indication signal activates the link indicator and disables the SFP interface module. The dual-media network interface is a single-port network interface and only one of the first interface module or the SFP interface module is active at a time. The first interface module is a copper media interface module. The SFP interface module is one of a copper media interface module or a fiber optic media interface module.
US07817656B1
Fiber-Channel links are carried over transport networks such as optical transport networks. In certain embodiments, available transport network capacity is over-subscribed by Fiber-Channel links. This may be accomplished by buffering Fiber-Channel traffic at the ingress of the transport network and selecting frames to inject into the transport network from the buffers. Transport network efficiency can therefore be greatly increased by use of statistical multiplexing. Ready signals from the receiving Fiber-Channel ports may be delayed before being relayed to the transmitting Fiber-Channel ports.
US07817653B2
A circuit includes a first selection module having first data input, second data input, first validation input, second validation input, selected data output, marker output, and presence output. A first validation signal received at the first validation input identifies whether or not a first data signal received at the first data input is valid; a second validation signal received at the second validation input identifies whether or not a second data signal received at the second data input is valid; a presence signal outputted at the presence output identifies whether or not at least one data signal is valid; and the first data input has an assigned selection priority higher than that assigned to the second data input. If at least one data signal is identified as valid, the valid data signal having the higher assigned priority is transferred to the selected data output.
US07817652B1
A packet switch includes a pointer table for mapping locations in an input data buffer to locations in an output data buffer. The processor generates an output data packet based on data portions in the input data buffer and based on the pointer table. The output data buffer stores data portions of the output data packet successively in a sequential order and can output the data portions of the output data packet successively in a sequential order. The pointer table may be configured to reduce the latency or reduce the power consumption of the packet switch.
US07817649B2
Session invitation method and system in a PTx communication system are disclosed. For session invitation, an inviting terminal adds first media information corresponding to session information in an invitation message and transmits it or transmits it through an RTP. Then, the first media information received by an invited terminal is checked and an invitee determines whether to accept the invitation before joining the session. When the invitation is rejected, the invited terminal adds second media information corresponding to a reason for rejection in a reject message and transmits it, or transmits it through the RTP.
US07817647B2
The claimed process and system provides a resolution process for a multi-level cache resolution protocol that involves a lookup procedure whereby the initiating node contacts each intermediate node directly using a communication link separate from any previous intermediate node. The resolution process may involve caching information from each contacted intermediate node during the resolution process to request leads on the target node in the form of a list of closer nodes known to the intermediary node.
US07817644B2
Methods and apparatus for an ATM network for implementing a fair servicing of all connections during a back-logged condition through the use of a weighted fair queuing technique. The system is particularly suited for systems where the packets/cells are of a fixed size. Although some important approximations are made in the proposed implementation, all of the properties of an ideal weighted fair queuing algorithm are preserved. The sorting methods and apparatus are advantageous in that it is possible to maintain appropriate servicing of connections without sorting all of the individual connections. This may be accomplished by pre-sorting each of the individual virtual circuit connections into a finite number of predetermined bins according to a weight associated with the connection. Thereafter, only the bins need be sorted without having to sort each of the individual connections. Further aspects of the invention include storing the bins in a matrix with an offset value dependent upon the current potential of the bin. In this manner, the overall sorting required to determine the next connection to service is substantially reduced. Accordingly, the invention is suitable for implementations having transmission speeds of multiple gigabits-per-second.
US07817638B2
A method for promptly redialing a broadband access server is disclosed. The method includes: sending a PPPoE Active Discovery Terminate (PADT) packet to a BAS from a client computer upon the condition that the client computer has been abnormally disconnected from the broadband access server (BAS), sending a responsive PADT packet to the client computer if the client computer is allowed to perform the prompt redial. The method further includes: sending a PPPoE Active Discovery Initiation (PADI) packet to the BAS from the client computer, sending a PPPoE Active Discovery Offer (PADO) packet to the client computer, sending a PPPoE Active Discovery Request (PADR) packet to the BAS from the client computer, sending a PPPoE Active Discovery Confirmation (PADS) packet to the client computer from the BAS so as to create a new connection between the client computer and the BAS.
US07817637B2
A handling address range is pre-assigned to each of switching devices consisting a network switching system. The switching device has a data receiving unit, an assigned data transport unit, an unassigned data transport unit, and a lower transport layer transport unit. The data receiving unit receives data including a destination address in a network layer and a destination identifier in a lower transport layer. If the destination identifier specifies the device itself, the assigned data transport unit and the unassigned data transport unit perform data transfer, whereas if the destination identifier specifies a device other than itself, the lower transport layer transport unit performs data transport. When the destination address is assigned address, the assigned data transport unit generates data including an identifier of a device corresponding to the destination address, and transports the generated data. When the destination address is not assigned address, the unassigned data transport unit transport the data to a switching device among the plurality of switching devices consisting the switching system to which the destination address is assigned.
US07817634B2
Remote direct memory access over a network uses a constrained usage model. In one embodiment, a method of accessing memory on a network comprises a first node of the network generating a remote direct memory access request to remotely access application-level memory on a second node of the network. The first node sends the request in a packet over the network to the second node, the sending being performed in accordance with a constrained usage model. In a further embodiment, constrained usage model comprises sending the packet in an Ethernet protocol packet over an Ethernet network, the Ethernet protocol packet having a OSI layer two header, but not a layer three header.
US07817627B2
A switching node comprises edge nodes interconnected by independent switch units. The switch units are arranged in at least one switch plane and the switch units of each switch plane are arranged in a matrix having several rows and several columns. Each edge node has a channel to a switch unit in each column in each switch plane and a channel from each switch unit in a selected column in each switch plane. Simple paths, each traversing only one switch unit in a switch plane, may be established for any directed edge-node pair. Additionally, several non-intersecting compound paths, each comprising at most two simple paths, may be established for any edge-node pair. A significant proportion of traffic may be routed through simple paths. The switching node employs distributed control scheme and scales gracefully from a capacity of a fraction of a terabit per second to thousands of terabits per second.
US07817619B1
Long distance communications service between two communications systems is established by using a wide area packet switched network, for example the Internet, to transport signaling data and digitized communication traffic. Each communications system uses an interface server to encapsulate communication traffic and signaling data into data packets suitable for transport over the wide area packet switched network. The interface server accesses a routing and administration database to determine a destination address of a destination interface server based on the area code of the called number. Upon receiving the destination address and a prescribed bandwidth from the routing and administration database, the telephony server inserts the destination address to the data packets for a destination server for a second communications system. The packets are then output to the Internet, and subsequently routed to the destination server serving as an interface for the second communications system. Routing of packets is preferably performed using reserved virtual paths to guarantee quality of service.
US07817618B2
The invention provides a method, system and devices for providing a connection of a terminal to at least two networks for providing services to the terminal. The terminal establishes only one logical connection to a support node of a network for communication between the terminal and the network. The logical connection is used for providing services to the terminal from the at least two networks. A network visited by the terminal provides visited services in addition to home services provided to the terminal from a home network of the terminal, the services being provided in parallel.
US07817614B2
Methods and apparatuses for setting, transmitting, and receiving virtual carrier sensing information in wireless network communications are provided. A receiving station in a wireless communications network receives a frame transmitted according to various modulation schemes and extracts information concerning virtual carrier sensing from a portion of the frame modulated using a basic modulation scheme, so that virtual carrier sensing is achieved using the extracted virtual carrier sensing information.
US07817613B2
An apparatus, such as a base station, transmitting signaling information in a cellular communication system whereby a plurality of shared uplink transmission resources is divided into sets of mutually exclusive transmission resources. The apparatus comprises means for granting uplink resources to a wireless subscriber communication unit via a grant message for uplink transmission; means for receiving an uplink transmission from a wireless subscriber communication unit; means for deriving an uplink code resource identifier from the uplink transmission or the grant message; means for assigning at least one downlink code sequence used to carry downlink signaling information associated with the uplink transmission and which is derived using the uplink code resource identifier; and means for transmitting a downlink transmission comprising the at least one downlink code sequence to the wireless subscriber communication unit.
US07817612B2
Communication stations select the channel which as many communication stations as possible can receive as a beacon sending channel based on interference information of each channel specified in a beacon signal. When there is a communication station which cannot receive a beacon, the beacon sending channel is changed. The communication stations can receive a beacon from all other communication stations by performing beacon receiving operation over a particular channel, avoiding the deadlock state.
US07817608B2
An apparatus, system, and method is directed to transcoding broadcast content, such as in a DVB, ATSC, and MPEG based network, to secure content suitable for an Internet Protocol (IP) based network. In one embodiment, a single multifunctional convergence appliance is employed to enable such transcoding actions as encryption, encoding, and/or encapsulation. For example, in one embodiment, an MPEG transport stream associated with the broadcast content may be transcoded to an IP-based transport stream. In addition, the transport stream may be decrypted, transrated to another rate, and re-encrypted using a different control word for re-encrypting, but a same service key to encrypt the different control word. The system is also enabled to transcode content formatted for the IP-based network to a content format suitable for the broadcast network.
US07817598B2
A transmission rate control method for controlling a transmission rate of uplink user data, includes: notifying, at a radio network controller, to a radio base station and a mobile station, an effective period to an Absolute Grant Channel which includes an absolute value for the transmission rate of the uplink user data, transmitting, at the radio network controller, the Absolute Grant Channel per Radio Network Temporary Identity based on the notified effective period; and determining, at the mobile station, the transmission rate of the uplink user data based on the notified effective period, when receiving the Absolute Grant Channel per Radio Network Temporary Identity from the radio base station.
US07817597B2
A transmission rate control method for controlling transmission rate of layer-2 control information, including: notifying, at a radio network controller, a correspondence of a transmission data block size of the layer-2 control information to a transmission power ratio between an enhanced dedicated physical data channel and a dedicated physical control channel on the layer-2 control information, to a mobile station; determining, at the mobile station, a transmission power ratio of the layer-2 control information to be transmitted based on the correspondence; and transmitting, at the mobile station, the layer-2 control information using the determined transmission power ratio.
US07817592B2
A cellular communication system and method supporting both a time division duplexing (TDD) scheme and a frequency division duplexing (FDD) scheme. The apparatus includes a plurality of mobile stations, at least three first fixed stations communicate with the mobile station based on the FDD scheme, the first fixed station defining respective macro cells that are contiguous and form a virtual cell, and a cluster including at least one second fixed station communicating with the mobile stations based on the TDD scheme, the second fixed station defining a micro cell in the virtual cell.
US07817585B2
A data capture technique for high speed signaling to allow for optimal sampling of an asynchronous data stream. This technique allows for extremely high data rates and does not require that a clock be sent with the data as is done in source synchronous systems. The present invention also provides a hardware mechanism for automatically adjusting transmission delays for optimal two-bit simultaneous bi-directional (SiBiDi) signaling.
US07817574B2
A system and method is disclosed to provide inter-packet-node paging between communication networks. The networks recognize whether inter-network paging is supported therebetween and advertise overlapping codes between networks having adjacent location areas. When the mobile station moves from the first network to the second network, the first network determines whether the second network shares an overlapping code therewith. If the networks share an overlapping code, the first network sends a paging request to the second network including link configuration information and the notification for the mobile station, wherein the notification can be delivered to mobile station in the second location area of the second communication network without the mobile station having to register in the second communication network.
US07817573B2
Embodiments disclose communication processors, processing devices, and methods of performing communications with communication devices. A communication processor, adapted to perform communications with a plurality of communication devices each of which is provided with identifying information, has an instruction transmitter configured to transmit an instruction designating a first segment number indicative of a total number of communication segments to be used to perform communications with the communication devices, a collision number identifier configured to identify a collision number indicative of how many of the communication segments detect a collision between the communication devices when the communications are performed with the communication devices under a condition that each of the communication devices is allocated to one of the communication segments, a segment number identifier configured to identify a second segment number, and a segment number updater configured to update the first segment number with the second segment number.
US07817559B2
A network node self-retirement apparatus, system, and method is provided. The system includes a first network node, a second network node, and a plurality of network nodes. The first network node is configured to monitor a power and traffic level of the first network node and determine an operational weight based thereon. The first network node is further configured to compare the operational weight to a selected operational weight to determine a relationship between the operational weight and the selected operational weight. The first network node is further configured to execute a network node self-retirement procedure when the relationship satisfies a selected condition and to send the operational weight to at least one network node when the relationship does not satisfy the selected condition. The first network node may also determine a network topology based on operational weights received from other network nodes.
US07817549B1
A flow identifier is stored in a memory to identify a network flow. The memory is capable of storing multiple flow identifiers for multiple flows. Packet statistics are collected for each of the flows. The packet statistics are compared and a flow identifier is subsequently selected and removed from the memory.
US07817546B2
In one embodiment, a router receives a real-time multimedia flow that comprises IP packets. The router then processes values included in the Identifier fields of the IP packets using resources similar to those used in the monitoring of RTP flows to identify metrics for the real-time multimedia flow. The metrics may be transferred to a remote management device for aggregation with metrics output by other routers located on the data path for the real-time multimedia flow.
US07817544B2
Methods and apparatus for distributing events among a set of traffic processor in a telecommunication network. The methods and apparatus determines a traffic processor from the set of traffic processors with the lowest traffic load, the traffic load is determined for each traffic processor of the set of traffic processors based on a weighting factor, an event queue length of a traffic processors and a current traffic load. Events are re-distributed when a change occurs in the set of traffic processors. The re-distribution is based on a determination of an allowable event queue length for each traffic processor of the set of traffic processors, which is based on the current traffic load, an optimal traffic load and a maximum event queue length.
US07817541B2
Systems and methods for redundancy in a network device are disclosed. An exemplary device comprises: a controller residing on a data forwarding element (DFE), the DFE performing data forwarding operations; and a first and a second control processor. Each of the control processors has either an active role or a standby role with respect to the DFE controller. The active-role control processor communicates with the DFE to configure the DFE forwarding operations and receives at least some communications from the DFE controller over a virtual channel. The DFE controller directs traffic on the virtual channel that is destined for the active-role control processor to either the first or the second control processor based on which of the control processors currently has the active role.
US07817538B2
Fault-tolerant Ethernet is provided through the use of special interfaces providing duplicate ports that may be alternatively enabled with the same network address. A switching between the ports, corrects for single faults in a two-way redundant system without time-consuming reconfiguration of other end devices or the need for complex middleware in the end devices.
US07817534B2
A method and apparatus for interrupting a transmission of a multicast signal includes a common channel selector (106) coupled to a receiver (102) to receive common channel information (116) therefrom. A repetition value calculator (108) receives measurement occasion information (118) from the common channel selector (106) to calculate a repetition factor (120). A system frame number comparator (110) determines if a channel measurement occasion (128) should be performed based on the repetition factor (120), a common identifier (124) and a largest common channel transmission time interval (122). The method and apparatus further includes a measurement occasion generator (112) coupled to the system frame number comparator (110), wherein if a measurement occasion is to be performed, a measurement occasion command signal (126) is provided to the measurement occasion generator (112) and the measurement occasion generator generates the channel measurement occasion (128).
US07817528B2
The length of a format modulation area in an address segment is limited to be 25% of the address-segment length or less, and the position of the format modulation area is selectable two possible positions. Subsequently, where a CLV optical-disk medium is used, wobble modulation areas in adjacent recording tracks do not overlap each other in the radius direction.
US07817526B2
An optical recording medium has a five-layer structure including five recording layers, namely an L0 layer, an L1 layer, an L2 layer, an L3 layer, and an L4 layer in this order from a side farthest away from a laser light incident surface. The materials of the respective recording layers are selected so that the rate of change in transmittance Tb/Ta as taken from the laser light incident surface satisfies 0.93
US07817522B2
There is provided an optical disc recording apparatus containing a small-area circuit that is adaptable to both of the formats of DVD-R/RW and +RW/+R standards.The apparatus is provided with a circuit (106) for converting a 32T-cycle binarized wobble signal based on the +RW/+R standard into a 186T-cycle binarized wobble signal based on the DVD-R/RW standard, and the converted 186T-cycle binarized wobble signal is selected with a selector (108) during +RW/+R recording while the 186T-cycle binarized wobble signal is selected during DVD-R/RW recording, whereby subsequent PLL circuits are shared to reduce the circuit scale.
US07817520B2
An optical disk drive capable of detecting occurrence of step-out or tooth jump in a mechanism for transferring an optical pickup. The optical pickup is transferred in a radial direction of the optical disk by means of a stepping motor. Upon receipt of a seeking operation command from a host machine, a control section drives the stepping motor by way of a controller, to thus cause the optical pickup to perform seek up to a target address. When logical contradiction has arisen in a stepper pointer showing the amount of rotation of the stepping motor, the control section determines that step-out or tooth jump has arisen. Moreover, even when a difference exists between an address indicated by the value of the stepper pointer and an actual address, step-out or tooth jump is determined to have arisen. When the step-out or tooth jump has arisen in the transfer mechanism, the rotational speed of a spindle motor or the rotational speed of the stepping motor is decreased.
US07817509B2
There is provided an optical pickup apparatus and a beam splitter which are capable of suppressing an adverse effect resulting from light reflected by a non-light-condensed layer that is different from a light-condensed layer. In respective TES light-receiving sections, interposed light-receiving elements are disposed so as to be adjacent to first sub beam-receiving elements. The interposed light-receiving elements are disposed away from both of positions where a main beam reflected by a light-condensing recording layer is condensed and where respective sub beams reflected by the light-condensing recording layer are condensed, and disposed so as to be adjacent to the first sub beam-receiving elements. The interposed light-receiving elements receive the main beam reflected by a non-light-condensing recording layer In a compensating section, results of light received by the first sub beam-receiving elements are compensated based on results of light received by the interposed light-receiving elements.
US07817508B2
An optical disk unit, for reading signals stored on an optical disk medium, is provided with an optical pickup 23 selectively irradiating light of one wavelength, from several mutually different wavelengths, to an optical disk medium by means of a single objective lens and outputting signals based on light reflected by the optical disk medium, a drive section for causing relative movement of the objective lens of the optical pickup with respect to a surface of the optical disk medium, wherein a peak level of a fake signal generated in the received light signal based on surface reflection at the optical disk surface while the objective lens is being moved relative to the optical disk medium surface by the drive section is detected, and the received light signal is compared with a threshold value that is set based on the detected peak level, to detect reflected light of a data storage layer.
US07817507B2
When a remaining number of tracks is smaller than a first threshold value, a coarse seek operation is determined to be normal, and therefore, a learning process is not executed. If the remaining number of tracks is not smaller than a second threshold value, the coarse seek operation is determined to be abnormal, and a voltage learning process id executed. If the remaining number of tracks is not smaller than the first threshold value and smaller than the second threshold value and prescribed conditions are satisfied, the operation is determined to be abnormal, and a time learning process is executed.
US07817504B2
The disk apparatus according to the present invention includes a tray which is elevationally movably disposed within a casing of apparatus integrating a disk reproducing system mechanism and holds a disk to be reproduced thereon, and the tray is provided with a disk supporting section supporting the peripheral edge of the disk such that the recording surface of the disk is floated on the tray.
