US07833537B2

The invention relates to a method of treating an excessive immune response including an aberrant/enhanced Th1 response by administering a helminthic parasite preparation in an amount sufficient to reduce the excessive immune response in an individual. This invention is generally directed to autoimmune diseases which involve an excessive immune response or an aberrant/enhanced Th1 response. More specifically, the present invention is directed to the treatment of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, both known as IBD. While the present invention discloses specific information about the treatment of IBD, the disclosure is in no way limiting. Additionally, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes mellitus, lupus erythematosis, sarcoidosis and multiple sclerosis can be treated by the methods and compositions disclosed therein.
US07833533B2

Previously, we showed that type I interferon (alpha/beta interferon [IFN-α/β]) can inhibit foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) replication in cell culture, and swine inoculated with 109 PFU of human adenovirus type 5 expressing porcine IFN-α (Ad5-pIFN-α) were protected when challenged 1 day later. In this study, we found that type II pIFN (pIFN-γ) also has antiviral activity against FMDV in cell culture and that, in combination with pIFN-α, it has a synergistic antiviral effect. We also observed that while each IFN alone induced a number of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs), the combination resulted in a synergistic induction of some ISGs. To extend these studies to susceptible animals, we inoculated groups of swine with a control Ad5, 108 PFU of Ad5-pIFN-α, low- or high-dose Ad5-pIFN-γ, or a combination of Ad5-pIFN-α and low- or high-dose Ad5-pIFN-γ and challenged all groups with FMDV 1 day later. The control group and the groups inoculated with either Ad5-pIFN-α or a low dose of Ad5-pIFN-γ developed clinical disease and viremia. However, the group that received the combination of both Ad5-IFNs with the low dose of Ad5-pIFN-γ was completely protected from challenge and had no viremia. Similarly the groups inoculated with the combination of Ad5s with the higher dose of Ad5-pIFN-γ or with only high-dose Ad5-pIFN-γ were protected. The protected animals did not develop antibodies against viral nonstructural (NS) proteins, while all infected animals were NS protein seropositive. No antiviral activity or significant levels of IFNs were detected in the protected groups, but there was an induction of some ISGs. The results indicate that the combination of type I and II IFNs act synergistically to inhibit FMDV replication in vitro and in vivo.
US07833529B1

Soluble, secreted tumor necrosis factor receptor polypeptides, polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides, and related compositions and methods are disclosed. The polypeptides comprise one cysteine-rich repeat that is homologous to other tumor necrosis factor receptors, such as transmembrane activator and CAML-interactor (TACI). The polypeptides may be used for detecting ligands, agonists and antagonists. The polypeptides may also be used in methods that modulate B cell activation.
US07833527B2

The present invention relates to IL-17 Receptor A antigen binding proteins, such as antibodies, and methods for diagnosing and treating diseases mediated by IL-17 Receptor A activation.
US07833518B2

To provide an anionic surfactant powder comprising a polyoxyalkylene ether sulfate which powder has high stability in hard water, high low-temperature solubility and is improved in powder characteristics such as caking characteristics, and a method of producing the anionic surfactant powder. An anionic surfactant powder comprising polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether sulfates in which the average addition mol number of alkylene oxides is 0.05 to 2, wherein the content of the polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether sulfates provided with alkylene oxides added thereto in an amount of 4 mol or more is 30 % by weight or less based on the total anionic surfactant, an anionic surfactant powder further comprising a water-soluble inorganic salt, a method of producing each of these anionic surfactant powders, and a detergent composition and a cement additive comprising these anionic surfactant powders.
US07833512B2

Organic matter, i.e., biomass, fibrous plant matter, organic chemicals or organic waste, or other carbon-based matter is converted to synthesis fuel gas by reactive contact with superheated steam at a temperature of about 200 to 2000 degrees C., typically 500 to 1700 degrees. A reactor has a generally tubular envelope, a rotor within the envelope, and hot reaction spaces disposed annularly within the wall of the tubular envelope. The steam and biomass particles can be heated to the required temperatures by RF induction. The product gases include H2, CO, and CO2 in ratios controlled by a programmable controller. Control of temperature, biomass feed rate and water flow preselects the output synthesis gas mix. The synthesis gas may be processed into portable liquid fuels, or can be used directly in a fuel cell.
US07833502B2

A process to efficiently remove sulfur compounds from a hydrocarbon stream in a refinery operation includes the production and recycle of hydrogen from the sulfur compounds. The sulfur compounds present in the hydrocarbon cut are converted to hydrogen sulphide which is split to hydrogen and sulfur in a non-thermal plasma reactor.
US07833494B2

An apparatus for destruction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) includes an assembly 10 for collecting VOCs from at least one source of VOCs and an assembly 12 for thermodynamically destroying collected VOCs. The apparatus also includes an assembly for transporting collected VOCs from the assembly 10 for collecting VOCs to the assembly 12 for thermodynamically destroying collected VOCs. Additionally, an assembly 14 for monitoring the assembly for thermodynamically destroying collected VOCs is provided. A device controls the feed of collected VOCs to the assembly 12 for thermodynamically destroying collected VOCs and the operation of the assembly 12 for thermodynamically destroying collected VOCs as a function of one another such that the proportion of the collected VOCs to the primary fuel in the fuel combination is below a predetermined limit which varies with respect to the combustion rate of the assembly 12 for thermodynamically destroying collected VOCs.
US07833485B2

The sample preparing apparatus comprises a smear forming means for forming a sample smear on a slide glass, a print means for printing sample identification information on a slide glass, a mode selecting means for selecting one operating mode from among a plurality of operating modes including a print mode, and a control means for selectively controlling the print means and the smear forming means. The control means operates the print means without operating the smear forming means when the print mode is selected.
US07833484B2

In order to check the hermeticity of a closed cavity of at least one micrometric component, said component includes a structure made over or in one portion of a substrate, a cap fixed to one zone of the substrate to protect the structure, and an indicator element whose optical or electrical properties change in the presence of a reactive fluid. The indicator element may be a copper layer for an optical check or a palladium resistor for an electrical check. The micrometric component is placed in a container which is then hermetically closed. This container is filled with a reactive fluid under pressure, which is oxygen for the optical check and hydrogen for the electrical check. The component in the container is subjected to a reactive fluid pressure higher than 10 bars for a determined time period, and to thermal (T>100° C.) or optical (λ<500 nm) activation. After this time period, an optical or electrical check of the indicator element determines the hermeticity of said cavity.
US07833478B2

A centrifugal-based microfluidic device (1) that comprises a hydrophilic microchannel structure (2) in which there is a A) a separation microcavity I (4) that comprises i) a liquid inlet I (5), and ii) a liquid outlet I (6) that is at a level below the level of liquid inlet I (5) and above the level of the bottom (8) of the microcavity (4) thereby defining a lower part (4b) and an upper part (4a) of the microcavity (4), and B) a microconduit I (17) that has an inlet end I (16) directly connected to liquid outlet I (6), and an outlet end I (18) that is at a lower level than inlet end I (6). A capillary valve I (24) is associated with microconduit I (17). The flow direction through liquid outlet I (6) is directed upwards and/or liquid outlet I (6) is placed in a downwardly turned part of an inner wall of the separation microcavity (4), and/or the part of microconduit I (17) next to liquid outlet I (6) is directed upwards.
US07833475B2

The present invention relates to sterilization of medical devices having hydrophilic coatings and more specific to sterilization of medical devices having a wetted hydrophilic coating using radiation. The medical devices sterilized according to the invention show, after sterilization using radiation, a prolonged water drain off time and reduced friction force.
US07833472B2

An article is prepared by furnishing a plurality of powder particle substrates made of a substrate metal, providing a nonmetallic precursor of a metallic coating material, wherein the metallic coating material comprises an alloying element that is thermophysically melt incompatible with the substrate metal, contacting the powder particle substrates with the nonmetallic precursor, chemically reducing the nonmetallic precursor to form coated powder particles comprising the powder particle substrates having a surface-enriched layer of the metallic coating material thereon without melting the powder particle substrates, and processing the coated powder particles to form the article, without melting the powder particle substrates.
US07833460B2

A plurality of molded parts are rotationally molded by providing a common mold with plurality of molding chambers, each arranged for forming a respective one of the molded parts therein. The molding chambers are joined with one another by vent gates communicating gases between the molding chambers such that some of the molding chambers are vented directly to a surrounding exterior through an exterior vent and other ones of the molding chambers are vented to the exterior via the vent gates. The molded parts can be separated from one another after being released from the molding chambers of the mold.
US07833458B2

According to one embodiment, an imprinting method includes applying a resist to a substrate, imprinting a stamper on which protruded patterns are formed against the resist applied to the substrate, forcing a distal end of a peeling wedge into a part between the substrate and the stamper, and introducing a gas between the substrate and the stamper to peel off the stamper from the substrate, in which a gap between the substrate and the stamper is made larger than a thickness of the resist at a part into which the distal end of the peeling wedge is forced.
US07833457B2

A birefringent film with excellent uniformity in in-plane retardation, retardation in the thickness direction, and alignment axis is provided. The birefringent film is produced in such a manner that, in the step of stretching a polymer film, the polymer film is stretched in a width direction while being shrunk in a longitudinal direction, and assuming that lengths in the width direction and the longitudinal direction of the polymer film before being stretched are 1, a change ratio (STD) of the length in the width direction of the polymer film resulting from the stretching and a change ratio (SMD) of the length in the longitudinal direction of the polymer film resulting from the shrinking satisfy the following formula (1). (1/STD)1/2≦SMD<1  (1)
US07833449B2

Continuous molding process and apparatus forms a hot melt of thermoplastic material against a mandrel disposed between revolving belt molds to make hollow product having surface patterns and textures of a variable configuration. The hot melt is delivered to the nip region of the revolving belt molds. The mandrel extends downstream of the nip region and provides resistance to the molding pressure to prevent the collapse of the hot molded product and to define the size and shape of the hollow in the formed product until it cools and sets.
US07833444B2

It is an object of the present invention to provide a fine particle granulation method capable of granulating fine particles in an extremely easy operation without the need for carrier particles that cannot be reliably isolated and removed or binders that remain as impurities, and of improving the handling properties of these fine particles, and of obtaining fine particles that can be rapidly broken down into primary particles during use. To achieve this object, the fine particle granulation method comprises an agitation step in which fine particles are dispersed in a supercritical fluid, and a spraying step in which the supercritical fluid with the fine particles dispersed therein is subjected to rapid adiabatic expansion.
US07833433B2

Disclosed are methods of transferring heat to or from a fluid or body comprising causing heat to be transferred to or from a composition comprising at least one trifluoro, monochloropropene.
US07833427B2

Methods and devices for selective etching in a semiconductor process are shown. Chemical species generated in a reaction chamber provide both a selective etching function and concurrently form a protective coating on other regions. An electron beam provides activation to selective chemical species. In one example, reactive species are generated from a halogen and carbon containing gas source. Addition of other gasses to the system can provide functions such as controlling a chemistry in a protective layer during a processing operation.
US07833426B2

The described embodiments relate to features in substrates and methods of forming same. One exemplary embodiment can be a microdevice that includes a substrate extending between a first substrate surface and a generally opposing second substrate surface, and at least one feature formed into the first surface along a bore axis that is not transverse to the first surface.
US07833414B2

A FOG waste treatment facility includes a slipstream loop incorporating circulation pumps, heat exchangers and anaerobic digesters for continuously circulating actively digesting sludge at a rate to preclude solid settlement accumulation warmed actively digesting sludge is pumped from the slipstream loop through a rock trap into a delivery/input loop both for aiding delivery of FOG waste to, and for partially filing, a receiving/conditioning holding tank. The actively digesting sludge softens and liquefies the FOG wastes offloaded into the holding tank for further treatment at a desired treatment temperature range. The contents of the receiving/conditioning holding tank are continuously mixed by a bottom-top recirculation chopper pump to pre-treat the FOG wastes, and decreasing solids particle size. The produced, flowable feedstock slurry can then be injected back into the actively digesting sludge slipstream loop at a controlled rate. The resultant mixture then is introduced into the input of waste treatment systems having anaerobic digesters for digestion of solids.
US07833407B2

A high solvency dispersive power (HSDP) crude oil is added to a blend of incompatible oils to proactively address the potential for fouling heat exchange equipment. The HSDP component dissolves asphaltene precipitates and maintains suspension of inorganic particulates before coking affects heat exchange surfaces. An HSDP oil is also flushed through heat exchange equipment to remove any deposits and/or precipitates on a regular maintenance schedule before coking can affect heat exchange surfaces.
US07833403B2

This invention involves the technological field of electroplating, chemical plating, specially involves a method for partially plating aluminum and aluminum copper radiators. A radiator is conducted partial chemical oxidation and enclosure before undergoing galvanization. Firstly oxidize the non-plate surface of the radiator by chemical oxidation, then utilize a sealing compound to fill up tiny holes of the porous layer to make a film thereon against the erosion of acid and alkali, and then process common chemical plating or electroplating. Only plate a weldable nickel-phosphorus alloy on the touching parts at where the aluminum radiator or the aluminums and copper radiator connect with the main frame.
US07833402B2

A porous catalyst structure with a high specific surface area comprising a porous substrate with a catalyst layer thereon is provided. The porous catalyst structure can be prepared by a process comprising depositing a metallic layer onto the surface of a porous, metallic substrate by electroplating, and optionally oxidizing the metallic layer into the metal oxide layer. Any conductive porous metallic substrate can be used as the substrate of the subject invention, and the metallic layer may comprise any suitable metal(s) and/or metal oxide(s) with desired catalytic function(s).
US07833400B2

Flow-through capacitors are provided with one or more charge barrier layers. Ions trapped in the pore volume of flow-through capacitors cause inefficiencies as these ions are expelled during the charge cycle into the purification path. A charge barrier layer holds these pore volume ions to one side of a desired flow stream, thereby increasing the efficiency with which the flow-through capacitor purifies or concentrates ions.
US07833397B2

Disclosed is a biosensor capable of measuring a total concentration of plural types of amino acids. An amino-acid biosensor (200) for measuring a total concentration of a plurality of specific amino acids, comprises a measuring electrode (202) which includes as components a mediator and an enzyme which selectively act on the plurality of specific amino acids each serving as a substrate, and a counter electrode (203). The enzyme has a substrate affinity to each of the plurality of specific amino acids. The enzyme is operable to catalyze a reaction in each of the plurality of specific amino acids as a substrate so as to form a reaction product, and the mediator is operable, during amino-acid concentration measurement, to carry electrons between the reaction product and the measuring electrode. The amino-acid biosensor is designed to apply a voltage between the measuring electrode and the counter electrode during the measurement in such a manner that, in an analytical curve representing a relationship between an applied voltage and a current value for each of the plurality of specific amino acids, the applied voltage includes a voltage allowing the variety of the current values for the amino acids at the same applied voltage to fall within a given range.
US07833379B2

An end face of an intermediate layer of a multilayer structure is stably covered by surface resin layers at a time of cutting the multilayer structure. A cutting method of the multilayer structure 10 includes the steps of: compressing and deforming the multilayer structure, while extending respective layers 11, 12, 13 of the multilayer structure to provide a thin thickness portion, so that an upper layer bites into a lower layer by pushing a push cutter 15, by a predetermined amount, into the multilayer structure supported by a cutter receiving portion 14, in a fused state of at least one of the resin layers forming the multilayer structure; and push-cutting the compressed thin thickness portion S till the push cutter abuts against the cutter receiving portion so as to converge an intermediate layer 11 and surface resin layers 12, 13 of the multilayer structure to the abutting portion A of the push cutter 15 and the cutter receiving portion 14.
US07833377B2

A process for preparing an animal incontinence device comprises: providing a base layer of tissue; applying a uniform layer of superabsorbent polymer particles to a major surface of the base layer of tissue; applying water to the base layer of tissue having the uniform layer of superabsorbent polymer particles thereon; applying a cover layer of tissue over the base layer of tissue having the uniform layer of superabsorbent polymer particles thereon, to form an absorbent layer assembly; passing the absorbent layer assembly between a heated nip roll and a laminating roll, to at least partially adhere together the cover layer of tissue, uniform layer of superabsorbent polymer particles, and base layer of tissue, to form an absorbent layer; inserting the absorbent layer intermediate a base layer of liquid-impervious polymer film and a top layer of porous, hydrophilic, woven or non-woven polymer fibers, to form an animal incontinence device assembly; and laminating together at least a portion of the animal incontinence device assembly.
US07833376B2

A method and an apparatus for manufacturing corrugated boards are disclosed. The method may include the steps of supplying a first web of medium having a first and second sides, wherein each side of the first web having a plurality of flutes, and wherein each flute having a crest, applying a wetting agent and an adhesive composition in a sequential fashion to the plurality of flutes on the first side of the first web, and securing a second web of medium is to the plurality of crests on the first side of the first web to form a single-faced corrugated board.
US07833372B2

A method for assembling insulating glass panes filled with a gas different from air, by Arranging a first glass sheet and second glass sheet, provided with a spacer, in a vertical or inclined position so one is opposite to the other, without the first glass sheet being in contact with the spacer, Forming a chamber enclosing the space between glass sheets, by providing a belt at the lower edge of the glass sheet arrangement and at least one seal beside each of the upright edges of the glass sheet arrangement, which seal extends from a point above the belt down to the belt, Introducing a gas different from air into the chamber from below, closing the insulating glass pane by approaching the glass sheets one to the other once a desired filling grade or filing level has been reached.
US07833367B2

A strip-shaped supporting adhesive tape is joined to a ring frame, and then is stuck with a cutter blade such that the cutter blade penetrates the adhesive tape. In a state where a cutting edge of the cutter blade is brought into contact with a tape joined side of the ring frame, thereafter, the adhesive tape is cut along a contour of the ring frame while electric current is fed to each of the cutter blade and the ring frame. Herein, a sensor monitors a conduction status in real time.
US07833365B2

The present invention provides a gas generating composition comprising a light rare earth compound.
US07833364B2

A method of producing bicycle ratchet bushing is provided, wherein an alloyed fundamental material is applied to the processes of a modeling process and a detailing treatment to form a product of bicycle ratchet bushing. Wherein, when the processes of drilling and tapping a hole of the modeling process are completed, the tapped hole of the workpiece is connected to a screw rod, and the screw rod is clamped by a drawing machine, so that the workpiece can be penetrated through the mold of the drawing machine to proceed with the drawing process. When the drawing process is working, it is not necessary to apply a head-hitting process to the workpiece as the conventional drawing method does, therefore the outer teeth of the ratchet of the workpiece will not be deformed by an external force, and can penetrated into the mold for further drawing process, therefore the whole manufacturing processes can be controlled efficiently.
US07833360B2

The invention provides a method of producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet of the complete solid solution nitrided type that is good in glass film formation and excellent in magnetic properties, which method comprises: C: 0.025 to 0.09%, hot-rolling the steel slab containing Si: 2.5 to 4.0% and acid-soluble Al into a hot-rolled steel strip; controlling the rate at which N contained in the hot-rolled steel strip is precipitated as AlN to a precipitation rate of 20% or less; conducting hot-rolled strip annealing and cold rolling conducting decarburization-annealing combined with primary recrystallization by during the former part of the process in an atmosphere whose PH2O/PH2 is 0.30 to 0.70 and then during the latter part thereof in an atmosphere whose PH2O/PH2 is 0.20 or less, thereby making the circular equivalent average grain diameter of the primary recrystallization grains 7 μm to less than 18 μm; nitriding the strip as it travels in a mixed gas of hydrogen, nitrogen and ammonia; controlling the steel strip oxygen concentration before secondary recrystallization annealing calculated based on strip thickness of 0.30 mm (oxygen content: So) to 450 ppm to 700 ppm inclusive; applying a coat of annealing separator; and then conducting secondary recrystallization annealing in an atmosphere that, while the temperature at the hottest coil outer periphery point is between room temperature and 950° C., is controlled to a nitrogen atmosphere containing oxygen: 25 to 75% wherein the balance is hydrogen and PH2O/PH2 is 0.01 to 0.15.
US07833354B2

Disclosed is a multiple nozzle evaporator in which a material to be evaporated in the evaporator can be deposited on a substrate with an improved efficiency of use of the material, thereby forming a large-area uniform thin film. The evaporator includes a cylindrical or rectangular post-shaped crucible 31 or 51 with an open top face; and a nozzle unit 32 having a body portion having a cylindrical or rectangular post-like shape with a height smaller than that of the crucible 31 or 51 and assembled to an upper portion of the crucible, and a plurality of evaporation tubes formed at an angle while penetrating through the body portion between top and bottom faces of the body portion. An evaporated material spouts toward peripheral areas of a substrate due to the inclined evaporation tubes, thereby improving the uniformity of a thin film to be deposited and the efficiency of use of the evaporated material, and preventing condensation of the evaporated material at a spouting portion.
US07833348B2

An object of the invention is to calibrate an upper pyrometer for indirectly measuring a substrate temperature at the time of epitaxial growth in a comparatively short time and with accuracy to thereby improve the quality of an epitaxial substrate.After calibrating an upper pyrometer by a thermocouple mounted to a temperature calibrating susceptor, a measured value of a lower pyrometer is adjusted to a calibrated value of the upper pyrometer. Then, a correlation line between substrate temperature indirectly measured by the upper pyrometer at the time of epitaxial growth onto a sample substrate and haze of a sample substrate measured immediately after epitaxial growth is set to indirectly measure a substrate temperature by the upper pyrometer at the time of epitaxial growth onto a mass-production substrate. Moreover, substrate temperature at the time of epitaxial growth onto the mass-production substrate is estimated by applying the haze of the mass-production substrate measured immediately after epitaxial growth to the correlation line and then a measured temperature of the upper pyrometer is adjusted to the estimated temperature.
US07833344B2

A slurry composition comprising an alkaline metal oxide, a chloride or phosphate salt, water, glass beads and a foaming agent. A foamed slurry comprising magnesium oxide, water, a chloride or phosphate salt, and glass beads, wherein the slurry has a density of from about 4 to about 12 pounds per gallon. A foamed slurry comprising magnesium oxide, water, a chloride or phosphate salt, and beads, wherein the slurry has a density of from about 4 to about 12 pounds per gallon and the set slurry is acid soluble.
US07833342B2

Aluminum phosphate-based microspheres and related compositions and methods of use.
US07833340B2

To provide a coating material capable of forming a film having both a sufficiently high film strength and a photocatalytic function by an easy method, there is provided a coating material comprising a particle group A, a particle group B and a solvent, wherein the number of necking particles of the particle group A is larger than the number of necking particles of the particle group B, wherein “the number of necking particles” here is referred to the total number of particles constituting all necking particles with each constituting particle being considered as the unit particle.
US07833334B2

Ink composition for continuous deviated jet printing, which is liquid at ambient temperature, comprising: a)—a solvent, representing at least 10% of the total weight of the ink composition; b)—at least one compound that can be dissociated into at least one anion and at least one cation, said compound representing at least 0.1%, preferably from 0.1% to 20%, more preferably from 0.1% to 10%, better still from 0.1% to 5% by weight of the total weight of the ink composition; c)—at least one compound that complexes said cation or said anion, representing at least 0.1% by weight of the total weight of the ink composition. Process for marking objects using this ink and substrate provided with marking obtained by drying the ink composition.
US07833331B2

Corrosion-inhibiting pigments based on cobalt are described that contain a trivalent or tetravalent cobalt/valence stabilizer complex. An inorganic or organic material is used to stabilize the trivalent or tetravalent cobalt ion to form a compound that is sparingly soluble in water. Specific stabilizers are chosen to control the release rate of trivalent or tetravalent cobalt during exposure to water and to tailor the compatibility of the powder when used as a pigment in a chosen binder system. Stabilizers may also modify the processing and handling characteristics of the formed powders. Cobalt/valence stabilizer combinations are chosen based on the well-founded principles of cobalt coordination chemistry. Many cobalt-valence stabilizer combinations are presented that can equal the performance of conventional hexavalent chromium systems.
US07833326B2

Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) assemblies with purge control systems, and hydrogen-generation assemblies and/or fuel cell systems containing the same. The PSA assemblies are operated according to a PSA cycle to produce a product hydrogen stream and a byproduct stream from a mixed gas stream. The byproduct stream may be delivered as a fuel stream to a heating assembly, which may heat the hydrogen-producing region that produces the mixed gas stream. The PSA assemblies may be adapted to regulate the flow of purge gas utilized therein, such as according to a predetermined, non-constant profile. In some embodiments, the flow of purge gas is regulated to maintain the flow rate and/or fuel value of the byproduct stream at or within a determined range of a threshold value, and/or to regulate the flow of purge gas to limit the concentration of carbon monoxide in a heated exhaust stream produced from the byproduct stream.
US07833324B2

A wet electrostatic precipitator is disclosed to include a condensation-growth chamber, a precipitation chamber connecting with the condensation-growth chamber, three dual-sleeve members mounted in the precipitation chamber, three discharge electrodes connecting with the dual-sleeve members, two insulating members covering on the inner surface of the precipitation chamber, and two ground electrodes mounted on the outside of the precipitation chamber. Thus, a uniform water film is formed on the surface of the insulating members to wash away the particles from waste gas. The condensation-growth chamber is provided for the particles to grow therein and thereby enhances the collection efficiency. The insulating member acts as a shield between the discharge electrodes and the ground electrodes and thereby avoids a short circuit or sparks.
US07833308B2

The present invention discloses a filter assembly which includes a compartmented housing structure having a plurality of inlets and an outlet. A first inlet is positioned in flow communication with a first chamber portion and a first filter member. A second inlet is positioned in flow communication with a second chamber portion and a second filter member. A third chamber portion is located between the first and second filter members and is in flow communication with the outlet such that ambient air entering the housing through the first and second inlets will flow through the first and second filter members into the third chamber portion and through the outlet.
US07833297B2

Provided is a polyurethane polishing pad. More specifically, the present invention provides a polyurethane polishing pad having an interpenetrating network structure of a vinyl polymer with a polyurethane matrix via radical polymerization and having no pores and gas bubbles. The polyurethane polishing pad having an interpenetrating network structure of a vinyl polymer exhibits uniform dispersibility and reduced changes in hardness of the urethane pad due to heat and slurry, thereby resulting in no deterioration of polishing efficiency due to abrasion heat and solubility in the slurry upon polishing, and also enables a high-temperature polishing operation. Further, according to the present invention, the interpenetrating network structure leads to an improved polishing rate and abrasion performance, thereby significantly increasing the service life of the polishing pad.
US07833296B2

A system and process for maximizing the generation of electrical power from a variety of hydrocarbon feedstocks. The hydrocarbon feedstocks are first gasified and then oxidized in a two-chamber system and process using oxygen gas rather than ambient air. Intermediate gases generated in the system and process are recirculated and recycled to the gasification and oxidation chambers in order to maximize energy production. The energy produced through the system and process is used to generate steam and produce power through conventional steam turbine technology. In addition to the release of heat energy, the hydrocarbon feedstocks are oxidized to the pure product compounds of water and carbon dioxide, which are subsequently purified and marketed. The system and process minimizes environmental emissions.
US07833291B2

The present invention provides dyes of the general formula (I) where D is the residue of a diazo component; R1 to R7 and L are each as defined in claim 1, processes for their preparation and their use.
US07833264B2

A stent, with expanded and unexpanded configurations, comprises a substantially tubular body having a proximal end region, a distal end region, and defining a first lumen therethrough. The tubular body comprises a plurality of adjacent deployable elements positioned between the proximal end region and distal end region. In the expanded configuration the deployable elements define a second lumen. The first lumen has a first longitudinal axis and the second lumen has a second longitudinal axis which is at an oblique angle relative to the first longitudinal axis. The first lumen is in fluid communication with the second lumen. The tubular body comprises a track region which further comprises at least two struts. The struts are substantially parallel to each other and the first longitudinal axis in the unexpanded configuration. The track region is comprised of at least one of the deployable elements.
US07833255B2

A bone fastener for stabilizing bone fragments includes a single or multiple components coupleable with one another and displaceable to a locked position of the bone fastener.
US07833252B2

A pivoting connector couples a vertebral member to a longitudinal member. An anchor is pivotally attached to a body by positioning a head of the anchor within a cavity in the body. A longitudinal rod is inserted into a channel also positioned within the body and axially aligned with the cavity. A retainer applies a force to maintain the longitudinal rod within the channel, however the force may be isolated from the anchor. One embodiment may include a compression member that is separate from or integral with the body. The compression member may transmit a rod securing force to the anchor to secure or limit the pivoting movement of the anchor member relative to the body. The compression member may deflect or detach under the influence of the securing force.
US07833247B2

A saddle clamp for mounting on a bone with curved surface in a bone-fixing or spinal fusion operation, for carrying a bone-fixing member. The saddle clamp has a rigid body with at least two holes for passing fixing elements to be tightened to the bone and at least one assembly element integral with the body for attaching the bone-fixing member. The rigid body has a contact surface configured to allow at least three points of contact with the curved surface of the bone when the saddle clamp is mounted thereon, at least two of the holes passing through the contact surface at least adjacent to two of the points of contact so as to provide, upon tightening of the fixing elements, at least three spaced apart, non-collinear areas of contact and thereby firm attachment of the saddle clamp to the bone.
US07833240B2

An atherectomy catheter includes an outer tube; an inner tube which is inserted into the outer tube rotatably about an axis thereof and axially movably; a removing member fixed to a distal portion of the inner tube and accommodated in the outer tube to drill and remove an occlusive material which stenoses or occludes a lumen of a blood vessel; and a guide member mounted on the inner tube in penetration therethrough so that the guide member functions as the axis of the inner tube when the inner tube rotates. The removing member has a developed state in which a distal end of the removing member unfolds when the removing member is projected from a distal portion of the outer tube and radially expands owing to an elastic restoring force thereof, and the removing member can drill said occlusive material in the developed state by rotating about the guide member functioning as an axis of said removing member and moving the removing member toward a distal end of the atherectomy catheter.
US07833239B2

A system and method for opening a lumen in an occluded blood vessel, e.g., a coronary bypass graft, of a living being's vascular system. The system introduces an infusate liquid at a first flow rate to the occluded portion of the blood vessel, and withdraws that liquid and some blood at a second and higher flow rate. This action creates a differential flow in the occluded blood vessel portion and thereby prevent particles of occlusive material from flowing into any upstream blood vessel or downstream blood vessel in said living being's vascular system.
US07833235B2

A suturing instrument including multiple needle and suture assemblies that are at least partially disposed within the suturing instrument allows a surgeon to place multiple sutures intercorporally without having to remove the instrument from a surgical site and reload the instrument between placing each suture. The suturing instrument includes an elongate body member that includes a distal portion defining an opening. The suturing instrument further includes a first needle disposed within the opening, a second needle disposed within the opening, and a needle deployment mechanism disposed at least partially within the elongate body member and connectable sequentially to the first needle and the second needle.
US07833232B2

An epilator with an improved structure is provided. The epilator may comprise a main shaft passing through epilating leaves, and a motor device that drives the main shaft. The epilating leaves may comprise a single structure and the two epilating leaves may form a gap therebetween in which hair may be trapped.
US07833229B2

A short main incision and portal incisions at portal positions strategically displaced from the main incision are provided in a patient's hip. One portal incision (acetabular portal) provides for a disposition of reamers in the patient's acetabulum to shape the acetabulum. A cannula is inserted through the portal incision to the acetabulum and the successive reamers of progressive size are inserted into the acetabulum through the main incision to progressively size and shape the acetabulum. An approximately hemispherical acetabular component is then disposed in the prepared acetabulum to provide for hip rotation relative to the femoral component. The other portal incision (femoral portal) provides for insertion into the patient's hip of a member for driving the femoral stem into a cavity in the patient's femur. The provision of the short main incision and the portal incision minimizes the patient's loss of blood, tissue trauma, length of operating time and patient recovery time.
US07833219B2

The operation apparatus controller controls a group of apparatuses including multiple medical apparatuses, which respectively can store patient IDs. Also, the operation apparatus controller has a patient ID comparing section which compares the patient ID stored in the various apparatuses within the group of apparatuses and a notifying section which notifies that the compared patient ID matches or does not match, based on the comparison results of the patient ID.
US07833218B2

A catheter includes an elongate member having a braided reinforcing layer encased within a polymeric bonding layer. The reinforcing layer comprises a plurality of continuous filaments that transform from a full complement braid configuration to a partial complement braid configuration in a least one location along the catheter. Also disclosed is a method of manufacturing a braided elongate member including providing a core, forming at least one full complement braid portion with a plurality of filaments and forming at least one partial complement braid portion with a portion of the same plurality of filaments.
US07833214B2

A method of inserting a multi-lumen catheter assembly. First, an incision is made near the area to be catheterized. The proximal portion of the multi-lumen catheter tube is then inserted into the area to be catheterized. A subcutaneous tunnel is created, and the first end of the tunnel is near the incision. The catheter tube is then routed through the subcutaneous tunnel and pulled tube through a second end of the subcutaneous tunnel. The hub body is then securely attached to the catheter tube by connecting the connection cover to the hub body by threaded engagement. In a preferred embodiment the hub body is attached to the catheter tube by backfitting the connection cover over the catheter tube. A compression sleeve is also backfit over the catheter tube. The cannulae of the hub body are inserted into the lumens of the catheter tube to create fluid communication therebetween. The connection between the cannulae and the first and the catheter tube is compressed by sliding the compression sleeve over the cannulae that have been inserted into the catheter tube.
US07833212B2

A disposable absorbent article to be worn about the lower torso of a wearer that facilitates an easy, intuitive change is provided. The disposable absorbent article includes at least one serviceable indicium that facilitates an easy change by providing alignment of the article relative to an anatomical feature of the wearer or by externally highlighting one or more components of the article thereby indicating alignment and fit about the wearer's lower torso.
US07833204B2

Intramedullary access or infusion devices that includes a tubular conduit having a distal end and a proximal end with a length sufficient to pass through the cortical region to the cancellous region of a bone; a flange circling the outside of the proximal end of the conduit; and a penetrable diaphragm positioned within the tubular conduit, are described. The devices may be placed in bone and later used, for example, as a site for administering a pharmacologically active agent.
US07833203B2

A vascular catheter which comprises a catheter shaft, said catheter defining a first surface which is of undulating shape with a plurality of curved peaks, said peaks being spaced so that a second surface in contact with the first surface is spaced from at least a substantial portion of the first surface, to reduce friction of the catheter.
US07833202B2

Disclosed is an infection preventive catheter kit for preventing the infection of the wound. A percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) catheter 20 is inserted into an infection preventive cover 10, which is provided with a socket 13 at a distal end thereof. A head portion 15a of a guide wire 15 which is inserted into the PEG catheter 20 through a top end thereof and an in-stomach remaining member 23 provided at a distal end of the PEG catheter 20 are engaged with (fixed to) the socket 13 of the infection preventive cover 10 by a pin 14 penetrating the socket 13.
US07833200B2

A surgical access assembly includes a cannula, a housing mounted to the cannula, and a seal disposed within the cannula. The cannula is adapted for insertion through tissue to permit access to an underlying tissue site. The cannula defines a longitudinal axis and has a longitudinal passageway for passage of a surgical object for positioning with respect to the tissue site. The housing is adapted for movement relative to the cannula in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis. The seal has a passage for reception of the surgical object in substantial sealed relation therewith. The access assembly may further include a support member mounted to the cannula. The support member adapted to maintain a predetermined distance between the housing and the tissue. The support member may be securely affixed to, or selectively positionable along, the cannula with respect to the longitudinal axis.
US07833199B2

A trocar comprising an alignment channel and an instrument seal comprising a bending portion and a base portion. The bending and base portions of the instrument seal are spaced relative the alignment channel such that when a surgical instrument is retracted the bending portion inverts and the lip does not enter the alignment channel.
US07833193B2

One aspect of the invention is directed to a balloon catheter with a multilayered polymeric sleeve at the rapid exchange intermediate section, having an outer layer formed of a polymer with a relatively low processing temperature (i.e., melting temperature for semi-crystalline polymers or glass transition temperature for amorphous polymers), and having an inner layer.
US07833189B2

A needle-free transdermal transport device for transferring a substance across a surface of a biological body includes a reservoir for storing the substance, a nozzle in fluid communication with the reservoir and a controllable electromagnetic actuator in communication with the reservoir. The actuator, referred to as a Lorentz force actuator, includes a stationary magnet assembly and a moving coil assembly. The coil assembly moves a piston having an end portion positioned within the reservoir. The actuator receives an electrical input and generates in response a corresponding force acting on the piston and causing a needle-free transfer of the substance between the reservoir and the biological body. The magnitude, direction and duration of the force are dynamically controlled (e.g., servo-controlled) by the electrical input and can be altered during the course of an actuation cycle. Beneficially, the actuator can be moved in different directions according to the electrical input.
US07833186B1

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for optimizing flow in an A-V dialysis graft having a selectable constricted section. Electronic pressure and flow sensors in the arterial and venous ends of the graft are electronically coupled to a monitor to detect the arterial and venous environments and change the degree of stenosis to optimize flow. The stenosis or narrowing within the graft creates resistance for the purpose of decreasing the flow rate and pressure at the outflow end. The selectable restricted section may be provided by a balloon or a thin “slit” type valve with flexible leaves to provide the required resistance. The “slit” valve allows access to wires or catheters for the purpose of any type of graft maintenance.
US07833181B2

A knee brace has push button actuatable stops, wherein the stops are biased outward into angular locking positions and inwardly directed pressure on the push buttons releases the stops and permits angular adjustment of the stops. A pair of catch plates with locking recesses facing inward, are provided, and outwardly biased locking pins engage the recesses in both catch plates. Each of the stop assemblies has an outwardly directed plate extending over the outer cover plate, and this plate is coupled to the physical stop member around the outer edge of the outer cover plate. The cover plate has angular indicia thereon, which may be viewed through windows in the outwardly extending plate portions of the stop assemblies.
US07833180B2

The present invention generally relates to a device for applying a pulsating pressure to a local region of the body and applications thereof. The device may be used to increase the blood flow in a local region of the body, and in preferred embodiments provides a device for regulating the core body temperature of a patient.
US07833175B2

An intracorporeal device includes a helically wound coil having a plurality of windings having an outer perimeter and forming a coil length and a plurality of joining elements disposed on only a portion of the outer perimeter and along the coil length. Each joining element couples two coil windings.
US07833173B2

Provided are skin incision instrument to efficiently incise minimal portions and a method for incising skin with the skin incision instrument. The skin incision instrument according to the present invention comprises a holder, a needle, a needle drive unit, two or more skin expander sets, and a reader, wherein the skin expander sets comprise a first skin expander and a second skin expander; the first skin expander and the second skin expander are capable of expanding skin at both sides of the linear incision portion away from the linear incision portion and expanding the linear incision portion in a direction to expand the linear incision portion; and, minimal portions are efficiently incised by selecting a single skin expander set from two or more of the skin expander set based on the direction of the linear incision portion, such that an angle is adjusted to 45 degrees or more and 90 degrees or less wherein the angle is formed by the direction of the linear incision portion read by the reader and the direction to expand the skin by the single skin expander set.
US07833172B2

The present invention provides a method and a device for piercing a body part and determining whether a sufficient volume of blood has been withdrawn. A lancing element is rapidly inserted into a body part in a forward phase and retracted quickly to a lesser puncturing depth. Subsequently, the lancing element is retracted slower than during the first retraction movement and the distance retracted during the second retraction is shorter than the first retraction movement. During the second retraction movement, body fluid is collected in a collection phase by a capillary structure of the lancing element. Contact between the lancing element and the body fluid is detected after the forward phase at the beginning and the end of a waiting period.
US07833162B2

An ultrasonic probe, including an ultrasonic element for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves; a sound window enclosing the ultrasonic element; and a sound propagation liquid charged in the sound window. A barrier layer capable of inhibiting the permeation of liquids and gases is provided on a wall surface of the sound window. As the barrier layer, at least one selected from a polyparaxylylene layer and a metal layer can be used.
US07833151B2

A substantially spherical in vivo imaging device may be used for imaging body lumens in the GI tract. The imaging device may include for example a ballast weight for setting a preferred orientation of the device within the body lumen. The substantially spherical shape of the in vivo imaging device may facilitate capturing steady streams of imaging data in large body lumens. A method of manufacture is presented.
US07833148B2

The present invention discloses a fistula formation-inducing material having a property of forming a fistula wherein cells are exposed on at least a portion of the fistula luminal surface. This material can be inserted into a living body, using a hollow tubular member, as desired. As a result, there is provided a fistula formation-inducing material which allows the formation of a fistula, reliably lined by host cells, in a living body.
US07833146B2

Cigarette filter rods having individual objects positioned at predetermined intervals therein are prepared by transferring the individual objects from a rotating horizontal pan to a rotating vertical wheel and then depositing the object into a web of filter tow. Each object is positioned within the moving web of tow. The web filter material and the objects positioned within the web are introduced into a rod-forming unit wherein the rod is formed. The rate of feed of the filter tow, the rate of rotation of the horizontal pan and the vertical wheel are controlled relative to one another such that objects are positioned at predetermined intervals along the rod. Cigarette filter elements having well controlled amounts of flavorant contained therein can be made from the rods.
US07833144B1

A rectangular workout bench with removable legs for use directly on the floor or raised on legs has an inflatable flexible air filled plastic material cushion work out area allowing a person to lay on for physical therapy, strength training and balance. The rectangular shape allows spine and neck support while the instability of the air filled cushion allows muscles to activate. Beginners use the workout cushion directly on the floor and advanced workouts are on the elevate elevated bench with accessible footrests.
US07833141B2

The present embodiments relate to an exercise device that can provide for a novel and versatile method of exercising. The exercise apparatus can be provided with a base, a connector, and a bar for spooling the connector on the bar. The exercise apparatus can be used for both stretching and strength training exercises.
US07833140B2

A core resistance apparatus is provided. The core resistance apparatus is comprised of a rotational adjusting element having a rotational member and a first and a second rotational cord guide. The first and second rotational cord guides pivotally contact a first and a second side portion of the rotational member along a contacting means, respectively. The core resistance apparatus is comprised a first and a second resistance cord. The resistance cords each have a first and second attachment point, wherein the first and second rotational cord guides slidingly connect with the first and second resistance cords, respectively. The core resistance apparatus is comprised of a first and a second upper body connector, and a third and a fourth lower body connector. The upper and lower body connectors attach to a user, wherein the location of the rotational adjusting element adjusts to a center of gravity relative to the user movement.
US07833133B2

An exercise apparatus for a user. The exercise apparatus includes a frame, a crank system coupled to the frame, a pivotal linkage pendulum system, a foot member and a foot member end of travel apparatus. The crank system includes one or more crank members. The pivotal linkage pendulum system comprises at least a first link member. The first link member is coupled to the crank system through at least a first pivot point. The first pivot point of the first link member is configured to move in a path during use. The foot member is coupled to the at least one first link member. The foot member end of travel apparatus provides a two-stage stiffness profile to the foot member indicating the end of travel to the user.
US07833132B2

The trampoline with inflated base includes a generally toroidal shaped inflatable tube having an open center area. A mesh rebound member extends over the open center area and is secured around its entire periphery to the tube on the upper surface of the tube member. The tube includes a singular air duct or a plurality of air ducts extending radially which allow communication of air between the space interior to the tube and the space exterior to the tube.
US07833130B1

A simulated sharp edged weapon or toy comprising a housing, an element mounted in and extending from said housing arranged such that said element has movement in relation to said housing in response to force upon said element, an electrical circuit mounted in said housing for providing an indication upon activation having a movement sensor actuator mounted in cooperation with said element to turn on at least one indicating device providing indication of movement of said element.
US07833129B2

Training apparatus for physical exercise, preventive exercise and rehabilitation of injuries and increased balance, the apparatus designed as a stationary bicycle, similar to ergometer bikes or spinning bikes. The apparatus consist of a first lower stable frame configured to be supported on a floor and a second upper frame tiltable relative to the lower frame. The upper frame has an adjustable tilt movement relative the lower frame crosswise the flywheel's revolving motion. A steering gear is guided through the upper frame where a prolonged part of the steering gear is in contact with the floor, the part having a wheel suspension like design, consisting of barlinks, dampers, springs and wheels. Stabilizing of the upper frame is done by movement of the steering gear.
US07833127B2

A method for controlling or regulating a clutch torque of a startup clutch of a motor vehicle, which first of all reliably prevents an unintentional rolling of the motor vehicle down a gradient and second enables a comfortable maneuvering mode, which requires no separate actuation of an operating element for activating a maneuvering mode, and also enables a precisely dosed speed definition during maneuvering on gradients, wherein the adjusted speed is substantially independent from the gradient of the ground and the motor vehicle load. A startup and maneuvering control device is provided according to the invention, which reads in driving resistance data, determines therefrom a driving resistance value, and determines a base value of the clutch torque of the automated startup clutch in dependence thereof, which is adjusted in dependence upon the accelerator pedal.
US07833123B2

An automatic transmission includes a first planetary gear set; a second planetary gear set; a third planetary gear set; and at least five friction elements. The at least five friction elements includes a first clutch adapted to selectively connect a first carrier with a second carrier; a first brake adapted to selectively stop a rotation of the second carrier; a second brake adapted to selectively stop a rotation of a rotating member having a first sun gear, a second ring gear, and a third carrier; a third brake adapted to selectively stop a rotation of a third sun gear; and a second clutch adapted to selectively connect the first carrier with a second sun gear. Each of at least seven forward speed-ratios and one reverse speed-ratio is achieved by engaging two friction elements selected from the first and second clutches and the first to third brakes.
US07833117B2

A striking device such as a racquet or tool has a head portion for striking an object and an elongate handgrip with an exterior shell defining an elongate ventilation chamber having a set of air holes for ventilation purposes and to create enhanced gripping ability. An air scoop section is connected to a head end of the shell and forms two air inlets on opposite sides of the handgrip. The air scoop section includes a partition separating the two air inlets, this partition having airflow directing surfaces on opposite sides thereof. These surfaces can direct outside air in a longitudinal direction into the ventilation chamber.
US07833116B2

A lacrosse head having a skeletal member and an outer skin that encapsulates the skeletal member. In an embodiment of the invention, the outer skin is made of a material that is more energy absorbing than the material of the skeletal member. Corresponding methods for making the lacrosse head are also disclosed.
US07833102B2

Disclosed are gaming machines, including related methods, apparatus, and systems, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for providing a game of chance. Peripheral devices are consolidated in a first region of the gaming machine, behind a first door of the machine. The peripheral devices include a printer having a ticket stack and a bill acceptor having a cashbox. The printer is configured to print and dispense tickets from the ticket stack. The bill acceptor is configured to receive cash and store the cash in the cashbox. The ticket stack and the bill acceptor each have an access portion situated in the first region for access when the first door is open. A second door is mounted to the cabinet in a second region of the cabinet. The second door encloses a processor coupled to output game data to a display and control play of the game of chance.
US07833093B2

A central determination gaming system wherein the same random number or game play seed is used to generate a primary or base game outcome and a secondary or bonus game outcome. The present invention includes a central computing system in communication with a plurality of gaming devices. The central computing system maintains one or more predetermined pools or sets of random number or game play seeds. In one embodiment, each game play seed is deterministic of a primary wagering game outcome and a secondary game outcome. That is, each gaming device is operable to utilize a game play seed to determine both the primary wagering game outcome and the secondary game outcome.
US07833086B2

Tip grinding of BLISK blades is performed in a static state of an incrementally rotatable BLISK, with a rotational axis (9) of a grinding wheel (4), which is traversable along an upper edge of the blade, being aligned diagonally to an orientation of the blade upper edge, and hence, in a direction of maximum resistance moment of the blades. The apparatus for the performance of the method features a locating device (7) for a BLISK which is incrementally rotatable by an auxiliary drive (8) as well as a high-speed shaft (3) driven by a main drive (2) for blade tip grinding of conventional rotor wheels fittable to the high-speed shaft (3). The grinding wheel (4) is traversable in Y-direction and rotatable about a center axis extending in X-direction, such that the blade tips in the static state can be ground in the direction of the maximum resistance moment of the blades.
US07833081B2

A toy vehicle includes a body supported by a plurality of wheels. The body also includes a roof and rear window supporting a plurality of user inputs. Within the toy vehicle body, a microprocessor controlled drive and steering mechanism is operative. The operation of the microprocessor is set by the user inputs. The body further supports a movable bumper mouth and movable eyes and eyebrows behind the windshield.
US07833074B2

A method of making a top-emitting LED device, including providing, over a substrate, a laterally spaced and optically opaque lower electrode and an upper electrode buss that is electrically insulated from the lower electrode; depositing material forming an EL medium structure over the lower electrode and the upper electrode buss; depositing, over the EL medium structure, a first light-transmissive upper electrode that protects the EL medium structure from particulate contamination; and selectively removing most of the EL medium structure over a selective portion of the upper electrode buss.
US07833070B2

An improved electrical connector for use with a glazing is disclosed. The glazing preferably comprises a ply of glazing material having a first electrically conductive component mounted thereon, and a second electrically conductive component, joined to the first by a lead-free solder. The second component has a thickness t and comprises first and second connector feet linked by a bridge portion, the bridge portion being at a height h above each of the connector feet. T and/or h are chosen to minimise the occurrence of stress faults in the glass in the region of the solder. Preferably, the glazing is an automotive glazing.
US07833064B1

A foolproof multi-card connector includes a housing having two sliding grooves bilaterally arranged on the inside, multiple sets of metal terminals, a movable partition board, which has two pivots respectively inserted into the sliding grooves and movable vertically in the sliding grooves, the movable partition board having two guide blocks bilaterally disposed at the front side each guide block having a bottom guide face and an inner guide face, a hook member mounted in the housing and hooked on the movable partition board to prohibit backward displacement of the movable partition board, and spring members supported between the bottom wall of the housing and the bottom wall of the movable partition board to hold the movable partition board in a rear up and front down position. Based on this arrangement, the foolproof multi-card connector prevents erroneous insertion of a card member and prohibits insertion of a second card member after insertion of one first card member.
US07833063B2

A card connector (10) may receive first and second cards includes a housing (11) having an insertion opening for receiving cards (51a and 51b), a plurality of first connection terminals (15a) disposed in the housing and configured to engage pads of the first card (51a) and a plurality of second connection terminals (15b) disposed in said housing and configured to engage pads of the second card (51b). A guide member (21) is movably attached to the housing (11) at a position between the second connection terminals (15b) and the insertion opening and is adapted to engage an inserted card and direct the card to one of a first path and a second path to properly position the first and second cards upon insertion into the card connector.
US07833060B2

The LED bulb assembly includes a connector, an LED including two conductive wires, and means for attaching the LED to the connector and preventing the two conductive wires from contacting each other. The means for attaching the LED to the connector and preventing the two conductive wires from contacting each other may include a plate in the connector, and each of the two conductive wires extends along different sides of the plate. Alternatively, the means for attaching the LED to the connector and preventing the two conductive wires from contacting each other may include each of the conductive wires having a thickness such that the two conductive wires supports the LED while maintaining a gap between the two conductive wires.
US07833055B2

Apparatus, systems and methods for assembling an audio plug with a cosmetic hard shell are provided. A plug may be coupled to a cable. An inner member may be molded about an end portion of the plug and an end portion of the cable. A strain relief member may be molded about a portion of the cable such that the strain relief member is adjacent to and substantially flush with the inner member. The seam between the inner member and the strain relief member may be covered by coupling a hard, smooth outer shell over a portion of the inner member and a portion of the strain relief member. Each of the inner member, the strain relief member, and the outer shell may be formed by injection molding, be of a cylindrical shape, and be formed from the same or different materials.
US07833047B2

Spring part for retaining wires inside electric terminal blocks, comprising a conductor body substantially in the form of an overturned “U”, with a vertical arm substantially parallel to the vertical direction and a second arm forming an acute angle with the vertical arm and having a free end. The two arms being connected together by a convex curved section adapted to produce a resilient reaction of the second arm with respect to the vertical arm. The vertical arm can be joined to a U-shaped base formed from a first vertical arm, connected to the vertical arm of the conductor body, a second vertical arm having a free end and a longitudinal section connecting the two vertical arms. The U-shaped base being designed for stable engagement with a conducting part of the electric terminal block.
US07833037B2

An extension cordset assembly includes a receptacle and a sealing gasket. The receptacle includes a receptacle main body, a receptacle connecting interface and first and second spade mating holes extending into the receptacle main body from the receptacle connecting interface. The receptacle is configured to mate with a plug having a standard spade configuration. The sealing gasket is positioned on the receptacle connecting interface and includes first and second spade openings aligned with the first and second spade mating holes, respectively. The sealing gasket is configured to provide a water-resistant seal between the receptacle and the plug.
US07833026B1

An electrical connector assembly includes a circuit board having vias each extending at least partially through the circuit board along parallel via axes and an electrical connector configured to be mounted on the circuit board. The electrical connector includes a plurality of variable depth signal terminals configured to extend different depths into respective vias of the circuit board. The signal terminals each have a terminal axis, and the signal terminals are arranged in pairs carrying differential pair signals. The signal terminals of each pair extend to the same depth in the respective vias of the circuit board. The terminal axes of the signal terminals of each pair are offset with respect to the corresponding via axes along a majority of the signal terminals within the vias.
US07833017B2

The invention is an instrument for cleaning and/or shaping and/or widening a channel that exists in or through a solid object. The design of the instrument the superelastic and shape memory properties of the material from which it is made, allow the inner volume enclosed by the instrument, its outer contour, or both to change as a result of the forces exerted upon it while working, thereby shaping the instrument to the three-dimensional contour of the channel. A preferred embodiment of the instrument is an endodontic file for use in the cleaning, shaping, and widening stages of a root canal procedure.
US07833000B2

There is provided an optical modeling apparatus that forms a model of a desired shape by sequentially forming hardened layers by irradiating a light-curable resin with light. The apparatus includes a first light source that emits a light beam for plotting on the resin, a scanning device that scans the light beam from the first light source over the resin, a second light source that emits light that irradiates one fixed region of the resin at a time, and a spatial light modulator that spatially modulates the light from the second light source to blanket-expose a specified region of the resin. The light beam from the scanning device and the light from the spatial light modulator form each hardened layer.
US07832998B1

An extrusion apparatus is taught that employs a die adapter that is partially submerged in a heat transfer bath on a horizontal plane such that there is no air gap between the die extrusion aperture and the heat transfer bath. A porous dam is positioned between the die and the heat transfer bath. A heat insulating plate is positioned between the porous dam and the die to prevent the heat transfer medium from flowing onto the die. The heat insulating plate also prevents excessive cooling of the die tip thereby allowing the necessary precise thermal control over the extrudate skin formation to prevent melt fracture and form a low density extrudate with a smooth solid skin and inner foamed core.
US07832994B2

A hermetic-type compressor according to the present invention has a viscous pump part by combining a spiral groove formed on the outer periphery of a main shaft with the inner periphery of a main shaft bearing, and at least one sliding section being in a sliding engagement with the main shaft bearing and at least one non-contact sliding-section having a predetermined gap with the main shaft bearing are formed on the face at the outer periphery of the main shaft opposing to the main shaft bearing where the lower end of the groove is located at the non-contact sliding-section.
US07832992B2

An air-cooled multi-stage compression system using centrifugal compressors is disclosed. It is packaged in a comparable volume to a water-cooled unit having the same driver horsepower. The performance is comparable and opportunities for use of the waste heat are available. Existing water-cooled units can be retrofit to run in an air-cooled mode. Special applications such as combined air compression and nitrogen compression useful in air separation applications are presented. The circulating cooling air can make the unit into an air filter of its surrounding space. Cooling air is drawn through the enclosure before being forced through the coolers above. This air movement can cool compressor housings, the control panel and the drive motors mounted in the enclosure.
US07832990B2

The invention provides a method for determining the angular position of a pump shaft relative to a pump body. The method comprises: providing the pump shaft with a first locating feature; providing the pump shaft with a second locating feature; providing a measurement device provided with a measurement member; engaging the measurement member with the first locating feature and determining a first distance between the first locating feature and a reference feature provided on the measurement device; engaging the measurement member with the second locating feature and determining a second distance between the second locating feature and a reference feature provided on the measurement device; and determining the difference between the first and second distances to provide an indication of the angular position of the pump shaft relative to the pump body. The invention also provides apparatus suitable for performing the above method.
US07832988B2

A turbine blade with an aerodynamically profiled blade leaf which is produced from two assembled shell elements is provided. The shell elements forming the suction-side and the pressure-side blade leaf wall have been assembled by a high-temperature and high-pressure bonding process. In the region of the blade leaf tip, a cramp is provided which hooks the two blade walls together with one another with a form fit.
US07832986B2

A dual alloy turbine rotor is provided and includes an integrally formed blade ring and a disk. The blade ring is made of a first alloy and includes a ring portion and a plurality of airfoils extending therefrom, where the ring portion includes an inner surface, and each airfoil includes an internal cavity formed therein. The disk is made of a second alloy and may have a beveled outer peripheral surface. The disk is disposed within the ring portion such that the disk outer peripheral surface contacts at least a portion of the ring portion inner surface. Methods of manufacturing the turbine rotor are also provided.
US07832979B2

An apparatus for generating electric power from water currents comprises a housing having at least one pair of channel, at least one pair of turbine assemblies and at least one pair of generator assemblies. Each channel of the pair has an axial intake, an axial discharge opening and a side intake. Each side intake extends along a length of the channel and faces in an upstream direction to receive a side inflow of water and directs the side inflow up against an interior surface of the channel to create a vortical flow structure having a low pressure core. The vortical flow structures are produced downstream of the turbine assemblies to effect an increase in a pressure drop across each of the turbine assemblies. The apparatus also has partition extending between the channels near said axial intakes.
US07832977B2

Stacker carts for stacking media, printing apparatuses, and methods of stacking media on stacker carts are disclosed. An embodiment of the stacker carts includes a stacking surface including a first end and an opposite second end, the stacking surface sloping downwardly from the first end toward the second end; and a resiliently-biased stop at the second end of the stacking surface, the stop including at least one contact surface defining a height of the stop above the second end of the stacking surface. When the contact surface is in contact with a first surface, a height of the stop (i) decreases as the stacker cart is moved toward the first surface, and (ii) increases as the stacker cart is moved away from the first surface.
US07832976B2

The method for the automatic feeding of metal section bars provides for seizing a group of metal section bars (2) from a store (3) by means of gripping tools (11) and for transferring the said group of metal section bars (2) in a lifted position. The metal section bars (2) are arranged on a transfer device (20) suited to transfer the metal section bars (2) on receiving means (30). In a suitable phase relationship, the counting of the metal section bars (2) transferred on the said receiving means (30) is carried out. Such operating cycle is repeated until a prefixed number of metal section bars (2) is reached. The whole of the metal section bars (2) is disentangled through the progressive sliding of the receiving means (30) along the longitudinal axis of the metal section bars (2).
US07832973B2

An operating device in an application, in which movement in two different devices can be created using a single operating lever (9), the device being based on the rotation of sprockets. A sprocket (11) attached to the shaft (10) of the operating lever (9) is equipped on only part of its circumference with teeth that engage with the adjacent sprockets (13, 15). The operating device is mainly intended to move the press carrier and sidenipping device of a glue-binding device (1).
US07832970B2

A friction stir nut is disclosed. The friction stir nut includes a body, a cap, and an anti-rotation feature. The body has an elongated cylindrical shank extending between a first end and a second end, the cap being disposed at the second end, and the anti-rotation feature being disposed at the cap and/or an outer surface of the body. The body and cap have a blind axial hole extending from the first end to the second end, the first end being blind and the second end being open. The outer surface of the first end has a flat surface oriented substantially perpendicular to the axis of the shank, and the body has a cylindrical wall thickness suitable for receiving internal threads. In response to a mandrel tool friction stir welding the friction stir nut to a workpiece and then being extracted, uniform internal threads result at the body. The anti-rotation feature bonds to the workpiece by metallurgical bonding and/or mechanical bonding.
US07832964B2

A turning tool including a basic body having an insert seat, an indexable turning insert having a triangular basic shape, and a tightening element fixing the turning insert in the insert seat. The insert includes an upperside and an underside between which three side surfaces extend that are situated in a first imaginary, equilateral triangle and therefore converge in pairs at an angle of 60° toward corners in which cutting edges are included. The turning insert is engaged with the insert seat via an interface that includes elongate and straight, female-like and male-like engagement members, which are in engagement with each other in order to prevent turning of the turning insert. The insert seat includes a supporting surface having a corner section against which an active corner of the turning insert is applied. The insert seat includes a single active engagement member, which is spaced-apart from the supporting corner section, and is in engagement with one of three engagement members included in the turning insert and located in a second imaginary triangle having an equilateral shape, which is smaller than the first imaginary triangle and rotated in relation to the first imaginary triangle.
US07832962B1

A sand slurry injection system and/or method can include mixing a drilling mud inhibitor with water to form a water mixture; mixing the water mixture with sand to form a sand slurry; and injecting the sand slurry into an unstable ground subsurface area to stabilize the area. The water mixture can be pumped under pressure into the bottom and/or into the middle of the hopper to help maintain the sand slurry in suspension. The water mixture can be pumped into two opposed injection ports at each of the bottom and the middle of the hopper. The two upper injection ports can be oriented at a 90 degree angle from the two bottom injection ports.
US07832958B2

A swing-out manhole cover assembly having at least one ramp to facilitate opening and closing the cover. The manhole cover assembly includes a frame, a cover, a swing assembly and at least one ramp. As the cover swings open away from the frame about the swing assembly, the ramp imparts linear translation to the cover separating the cover from the frame slightly. As the cover swings back to close the manhole cover, the ramp reverses the linear translation and the cover returns back to the frame. A spring may be included to bias the cover in the closed position.
US07832953B2

A web printer is disclosed. The web printer includes a print media cartridge carrying a wound length of print media, a platen extending away from the print media cartridge to support print media provided from the print media cartridge along a print media travel path, a stationary printhead mounted within the cabinet configured to print a pattern upon print media provided from the platen. The print media travel path from the print media cartridge to the printhead forms a straight line. Also, the printhead extends at least the width of the print media. Ink reservoirs are also provided for supplying ink to the printhead. A storage stores pattern image data. A data capture device captures an identifier carried by a web sample. The identifier is associated with one of the patterns. When an identifier of a web sample is captured, image data corresponding to the pattern on the web sample is supplied to the printhead for printing.
US07832946B2

A system transports a device into a piece of industrial equipment for the purpose of collecting data inside of the industrial equipment. In an embodiment, the industrial equipment is a furnace and the device is an IR camera. The system opens a door covering an opening on the furnace, moves the IR camera inside of the furnace for a short time, the IR camera captures images, and the system removes the camera from the furnace and closes the door.
US07832942B2

A vehicle wheel bearing apparatus has an outer member and an inner member. The inner member has a wheel hub and at least one inner ring fit onto a cylindrical portion of the wheel hub or an outer raceway surface of a constant velocity universal joint. Double row rolling element groups are freely rollably contained between said inner and outer raceway surfaces of the inner member and the outer member. A pitch circle diameter of the ball element group near to the wheel mounting flange is larger than that of the double row ball group away from the wheel mounting flange. A maximum diameter of the outer raceway surface of the smaller diameter side of the double row outer raceway surfaces of the outer member is substantially the same as an inner diameter of a shoulder portion of the outer diameter side. The size of each rolling element of the group near to the wheel mounting flange is different from that of each rolling element of the group away from the wheel mounting flange. The number of rolling elements of the group near to the wheel mounting flange is larger than the number of rolling elements of the group away from the wheel mounting flange.
US07832940B2

An inner ring is fitted on one-end side of an inner shaft and fixed to the inner shaft by caulking. During the caulking, the inner shaft is supported by a caulking receiving jig. A receiving section to which the jig is in contact is provided at a position near the one-end side of the inner shaft, for example, at a position nearer to the inner ring than a raceway section formed on the outer periphery on the other side of the inner shaft. As a result, a caulking load acting from a caulking jig on the inner shaft plastically deforms only a desired portion.
US07832936B2

A method for delashing a shaft assembly and an assembly embodying the method are disclosed. The assembly includes a housing having a bore extending therethrough, and a shaft mounted within the bore. A shoulder extends into the bore to define a constriction along the bore. A bushing is positioned on an end of the shaft such that at least a portion of the bushing is spaced apart from the shoulder to define a cavity therebetween when the shaft is in the bore. A filler material is disposed in the cavity between the bushing and the shoulder for maintaining an axial compressive load on the shaft. In another aspect, a plug formed from a fusible material is provided. The plug includes a base portion and a plurality of channels disposed along an exterior of the base portion for enabling a flow of melted plug material along the channels.
US07832923B2

A mounting and coupling assembly for a mixer for in a container having an impeller connected to a drive shaft, in an assembly, which extends through an opening into the container. The assembly includes a lip mount to stabilize and support the mixer on the lip of said container. A cover secures said lip mount with threaded fasteners engaging complementary fasteners on the container neck and clamping the plate to the container lip. A primary objective of the invention is to allow the stable mounting of a mixing unit to bulk containers and allow easy and safe coupling of a power module to the mixing assembly.
US07832906B2

A transport device used to connect to a jack-o-lantern which serves to both provide for an illumination source and an easy manner in which to transport the jack-o-lantern when it is illuminated. There are also provided related systems and methods of use of the device. The result provides for a jack-o-lantern to be easily transported as a lantern or costume prop.
US07832904B2

A system and a method for using ePaper as a light control media in lighting fixtures or other light enhanced applications to modify, dim or color-shift the light used for lighting the space. One system includes a light source, an ePaper reflector with controllable reflectivity for controlling the light reflected from the reflector and/or an ePaper baffle with controllable translucency for controlling the light through the baffle. The light incident on the ePaper media may include light from other sources such as natural light. One method compares desired lighting in a space to characteristics of the light source. Characteristics of the ePaper media are then adjusted to provide the desired amount of light to the objects under illumination. Reflectivity from walls and furniture may be controlled by applying ePaper to their surfaces. The light source and the ePaper media may be controlled simultaneously to control the lighting.
US07832903B2

A device is provided for the treatment and prophylaxis of healthy eyes, pseudoaphakic eyes and/or eyes suffering macular and retinal degeneration that comprises a yellow filter applied to a conventional illumination system to protect them from short wavelengths of the visible spectrum under 500 nm and preferably in the range of 350 nm to 500 nm. This device the difficulties and risks of existing ways of protecting eyes undergoing cataract surgery and prevents or improves the degeneration of healthy eyes and those suffering neurodegeneration by the simple application of a protective filter to any lighting system. Embodiments of the invention comprise combining a conventional light source with a conventional yellow filter that absorbs wavelengths of light shorter than 500 nm so that the filter completely covers the illumination source.
US07832899B2

An LED lamp includes a plurality of LED modules, a heat absorbing member, a heat sink and an envelope. The heat absorbing member comprises a plurality of inclined top boards oriented toward different directions and a plurality of horizontal bottom boards located below and connecting with corresponding top boards. A plurality of air passages is defined between the top board and the bottom board. Each of the LED modules is attached on a corresponding top board. The heat sink thermally contacts the heat absorbing member. The envelope is mounted on the heat sink and engages with the heat sink to enclose the heat absorbing member and LED modules therein.
US07832898B2

The present invention relates to a LED street lamp, and more particularly to environmentally friendly LED street lamp. The LED street lamp comprises a main body and a plurality of LED bulbs, wherein the main body comprises a base plate; said base plate comprises two splay flat plate, namely the 1st flat plate and the 2nd plate; the inner side of the 1st flat plate and the 2nd flat plate comprise sunk cavities where the LED bulbs are provided; and the light beams from the LED bulbs at the 1st flat plate and the 2nd plate cross in front of the main body.
US07832885B2

The present invention provides a patterned wavelength converting structure comprising a frame, a light source, a substrate, a film, a wavelength converting layer and a pattern disposed on the film. The pattern and the wavelength converting layer can be one piece. The configuration, for example, the distribution of diffusion particles, the location, the shape or the thickness, of the pattern is configured to reduce the mura or affect the desired uniformity of a lighting area.
US07832883B2

An illumination device (1) for illuminating an object comprising a light source (2) to emit light (21), an adjustable optical element (3) for adjusting the light (21) originated from the light source (2) into adjusted light (31), and a controller (4) for controlling at least one element of a group of elements comprising the adjustable optical element (3) and the light source (2) in response to an adjusting control signal (71) via at least one driving signal (75, 76).
US07832881B2

A mirror drive apparatus includes a movable unit including a mirror used to switch an optical path in an imaging apparatus, a drive mechanism capable of switching the movable unit between a first and second attitudes by pivoting the movable unit around a predetermined pivotal axis, an elastic member and a locking mechanism provided on one side of the pivotal axis, the elastic member producing an urging force for switching the movable unit from the first attitude to the second attitude, the locking mechanism capable of maintaining the first attitude of the movable unit on which the urging force acts and releasing the movable unit, and a toggle mechanism provided on the other side of the pivotal axis and capable of switching the movable unit between the first attitude and the second attitude by urging the movable unit so that the movable unit takes the first or second attitude.
US07832877B2

A mobile terminal includes an optical modulation projector. The mobile terminal also includes a control system, a projection control unit, and an optical modulation system. The control system outputs a projection control signal and image data. The projection control unit receives the image data from the control system, and generates and outputs a drive control signal depending on the image data received. The optical modulation system generates and modulates light and generates an image in response to the drive control signal and then scans the image for projecting onto a screen.
US07832875B2

A laser projector including a green diode pumped microchip laser module projecting a green laser beam, an optical sensor receiving the laser beam, a power control circuit for the green diode pumped microchip laser module receiving a signal from the optical sensor relative to the power output of the laser beam, and control electronics receiving the signal from the optical sensor connected to the power control circuit modulating the power output of the green diode pumped microchip laser module to maintain a substantially constant power output from the green diode pumped microchip laser module.
US07832869B2

In one aspect, the present invention relates to a stereoscopic projection system including a projection device with at least one filter which filters a parameter of the light in a color selective manner. The at least one filter which filters a parameter of the light in a color selective manner has a spectral characteristic for transmitting light in a first wavelength band or set of wavelength bands and for reflecting light in a second wavelength band or set of wavelength bands. The projection device includes a device, such as e.g. a rotating wheel or a sliding filter, for fast synchronized switching between light in different wavelength bands or sets of wavelength bands. In a further aspect, a stereoscopic projection system is provided in which a combination of a first and a second filter mechanism are used, the first filter mechanism being a filter which filters a parameter of the light in a color selective manner, such as a color selective filter or a color selective retarder, and the second filter mechanism preferably being a polarizer or a shutter.
US07832860B2

The invention provides tinted contact lenses that enhance or change the color of the lens wearer's iris. The lenses of the invention impart a three-dimensional appearance to the pattern by the use of alternating clear and color layers.
US07832859B2

Contact lenses and methods for preventing or slowing progression of myopia are described. The contact lenses include a vision correction area and a myopic defocus area. Various examples of the contact lenses are described. Methods include providing the present contact lenses, or applying one or more of the contact lenses to an eye or eyes of a person. The contact lenses and methods are particularly useful in children.
US07832854B2

A device for spectacles, such as a lug for the articulation of a spectacle arm or a central nasal support bridge, to a lens, the lens has a pair of holes for the locking of the mount member, has a pair of bush members rigidly connected to each other and has respective axial holes, there being provided in the mount member a pair of pin-type appendages capable of being inserted into the respective holes subject to the introduction of these latter into the corresponding lens holes, such that each bush member is interposed between an inner surface of the lens hole and a corresponding outer surface of appendage. Each pin-type appendage has localized protuberances that deform the corresponding coupling surface. The fixing device has at least one relief protruding from the outer wall of each appendage and extending on a helical course in the axial direction of the appendage.
US07832851B2

A planar metal platen opposes an ink jet recording head for ejecting solvent-based ink and is secured through supporting members formed of polyphenylene sulfide containing glass fibers to a metal frame under a state not touching the frame directly. The platen is fixed with a heater for drying ink on a recording medium on the platen quickly. Each supporting member is secured to the frame by means of a bolt penetrating an elongated hole, and a relative position of the supporting member and the platen supported by the member, and the frame and the ink jet recording head supported by the frame, can be adjusted by shifting the position of the bolt in the elongated hole. Consequently, transmission of heat from the heater to the platen is suppressed and good recording is ensured by suppressing partial temperature difference of the platen.
US07832830B2

An inkjet recording device one aspect of the invention comprises: a plurality of inkjet heads each having an ink ejection surface; a frame that has a plurality of holes formed therein and supports the plurality of inkjet heads such that the plurality of ink ejection surfaces are respectively exposed from the plurality of holes; a cap comprising a projection formed thereon to define a plurality of recessed portions; and a cap moving mechanism configured to move at least one of the cap and the frame to selectively position the projection at a first position and a second position. The projection at the first position abuts on the frame such that the plurality of ink ejection surfaces are respectively surrounded by the plurality of recessed portions. The projection at the second position is spaced from the frame.
US07832828B2

The invention relates to a maintenance station for an inkjet printhead assembly. The printhead assembly includes a carrier frame operatively supporting an ink supply manifold and a pagewidth printhead supplied with ink from said manifold. The station is moveable between a cleaning position and a printing position, and includes a drive motor, and a number of rollers of which at least one is operatively actuated by the drive motor. The station also includes a film wound in a loop around said rollers, so that actuation of the rollers by the motor produces a laminar ink flow in a cavity defined by the maintenance station and printhead assembly when in the cleaning position. This enables an ejection surface of the printhead to be cleaned without the film physically contacting said ejection surface.
US07832825B2

The nozzle error correction method is provided for adjusting information of an output image to correct an error nozzle. A position of an error nozzle firing an ink amount different from a reference value is detected from a plurality of nozzles. A determination is made from an input image as to whether a current pixel for output is an error pixel of the detected error nozzle. A channel value of the error nozzle is set to a certain value if the current pixel is the error pixel. However, if the current pixel is not the error pixel, a determination is made as to whether an error pixel exists in a certain area around the current pixel. A value of the current pixel is then adjusted based on error information. Image-processing is performed in order for the current pixel to be outputted, if the error pixel exists in the certain area. Accordingly, degradation of a print speed and a shortened life span of the head are prevented.
US07832824B1

A method for printing input digital images using an inkjet printing system having a first and second drop ejector arrays for ejecting drops of a particular ink, wherein ink paths supplying drop ejector arrays have different length projections. The method comprising printing a first combined number of ink dots using the first and second drop ejector arrays during first and third time intervals where the printhead is accelerating and decelerating; and printing a second combined number of ink dots using the first and second drop ejector arrays during a second time interval where the printhead is moving at a substantially constant velocity, wherein the percentage of ink dots that are printed by the drop ejector array having a longer length projection is less than 40% of the corresponding combined number of ink dots in at least one of the first or third time intervals.
US07832823B2

An image forming apparatus, includes an image forming unit, a driver having a driving unit as a driving source of the image forming unit, a detector which detects driving information of the driving unit, and a controller which controls the driver to operate with a delay time corresponding to a difference between the detected driving information and a reference value.
US07832813B2

A parking brake module for a pressure medium-operated brake system of a vehicle having a parking brake function enabled by at least one spring brake cylinder includes a first valve device that increases the amount of pressure medium and has an inlet that can be connected to a pressure medium reservoir, an outlet that can be connected to at least one spring-loaded part of a spring brake cylinder, and a control input connected to a control line. A second valve device encompasses at least one first connection used as a trailer control valve connection and can be connected to a trailer control valve to control a trailer brake. To provide a valve concept for different vehicle configurations, particularly including an anti jackknifing function, pressure prevailing at the first connection can be adjusted regardless of pressure prevailing in the pressure medium reservoir and at the outlet of the first valve device.
US07832809B2

In one aspect of the present invention, a degradation assembly comprises a shank with a forward end and a rearward end, the rearward end being adapted for attachment to a driving mechanism, with a shield rotatably attached to the forward end of the shank. The shield comprises an underside adapted for rotatable attachment to the shank and an impact tip disposed on an end opposing the underside. A seal is disposed intermediate the shield and the shank.
US07832806B2

A seat apparatus for a vehicle includes a seat cushion frame, a lower bracket fixed to the seat cushion frame, a seatback frame attached to the lower bracket through a reclining mechanism so as to be pivotally supported relative to the lower bracket, two fastening portions fastening the lower bracket and the seat cushion frame, and an engaging portion engaging the lower bracket and the seat cushion frame.
US07832801B2

An embodiment of the present invention discloses a highchair with adjustable seat, including a frame and support device, which are connected to the frame and which form a bearing plane for supporting the frame on a floor. The frame includes at least two substantially parallel uprights which in a position of use of the chair protrude at least partly obliquely above the bearing plane. Further, the highchair includes a part adjustable along the uprights, which is provided with an engaging device for engaging the two uprights, wherein the engaging device includes at least one receiving chamber for engaging part of the way round the upright.
US07832797B2

A foldable chair that is convertible to either a seat or a table that includes a laterally extending wedge shaped frame, a backrest, a leg, and a seat. The chair includes two chambers for respectively receiving the backrest and the leg. The backrest and the leg are pivotally connected to the seat. The chair includes a locking structure for securing the backrest and leg in either of a retracted or extended state. In the retracted state, the backrest and leg are flush with the frame.
US07832791B2

The technology described herein provides a molded trim assembly located externally at the top of a liftgate structure to provide an aerodynamic and stylish overhang above the liftgate glass. Furthermore, the technology also provides a liftgate exterior module including a plug-in module containing a motorized window wiper arm assembly, a central high mounted stop light, and a washer fluid spray nozzle.
US07832780B1

The present invention features a portable kitchen apparatus for attaching to a vehicle comprising a foldable countertop having a sink basin hole, a stove hole, a sink basin, a stove, and a flame protector. The portable kitchen apparatus may be used for outdoor cooking and/or cleaning while camping.
US07832767B2

A drop deck trailer frame includes a front section having a first upper surface, a rear section having a second upper surface lower than the first upper surface, and an improved connection between the front and rear sections which tends to reduce cracking which commonly occurs in drop deck trailer frames due to the stresses in the region of the connection. The connection preferably includes a semicircular weld. In addition, heat treated bent flanges are typically used to provide additional strength. Fasteners such as bolts are also typically used to connect various flanges.
US07832762B2

Vehicle including a crash sensor system arranged to determine a crash condition involving the vehicle which might cause injury to a vehicular occupant, at least one module each including an occupant protection device actuatable upon determination of a crash condition in order to protect the occupant from injury during the crash, and a vehicle bus to which the crash sensor system and module(s) are connected. The crash sensor system generates a signal upon a determination of a crash condition and directs the signal over the bus. Each module is arranged to actuate its occupant protection device in consideration of the signal. The signal might be directly sent to the module from the crash sensor system or sent to a control module which processes it and in turn generates a signal to be directed via the bus to the module(s).
US07832760B2

A vertical cell is formed in a forward inflation section of an airbag. The vertical cell extends in a vehicle height direction at the rear of a pillar, and communicates through a bottom end of the vertical cell with a horizontal cell. When the inflation section is deployed, the folded horizontal cell or the lower side part of the airbag is pulled back toward the passenger compartment with respect to the side window opening. Accordingly, the horizontal cell deploys to an area below a bottom edge of the side window opening or a beltline in the passenger compartment on the inner side of a front side door.
US07832756B2

A stroller comprising at least one seat assembly, a first part comprising at least one front wheel, a second part comprising at least one rear wheel, and a third part comprising at least one push rod provided with a handle, at least two of which parts are each provided with at least one toothing which is pivotable about a pivot pin. The toothings are in mesh with each other, thus pivotally interconnecting the three parts. The second part comprises an arcuate rod, which is provided with at least one rear wheel at both ends, which arcuate rod is pivotally connected to the first part and the third part between its two ends.
US07832753B2

A gear shift pertaining to a hub of a wheel with a quick lock. The hub has a gear which is supported round a shaft with an outer end and an inner end. The inner end of the shaft is suspended via a suspension device on a vehicle. The quick lock includes a rod which runs in a cylindrical hole which is concentric within and with the shaft and a catch which locks the wheel with the shaft to the suspension device. The gear shift includes the shaft, the rod and a control, all so adapted that the rod has a neutral position relative to the shaft and wherein a movement, relative to the shaft, of the rod from the neutral position in a direction from the outer end of the shaft towards the inner end of the shaft disengages the catch so that the wheel together with the shaft can be locked to and released from the suspension device. The rod is further provided with a gear selector contact configured to contact a gear selector in the gear, and, by a movement, relative to the shaft, of the rod in an axial direction from the neutral position in a direction from the inner end of the shaft to the outer end of the shaft, acts via the gear selector contact to cause the gear selector in the gear to change gear position so that the gear ratio of the wheel relative to a drive device for the wheel is changed.
US07832752B2

A suspension assembly for a front end of a vehicle to provide lateral flex for absorption of lateral forces. The suspension assembly comprises a steering shaft including two ends: an end coupled to an upper triple clamp and another end coupled to a lower triple clamp. A spring unit couples one of the two ends of the steering shaft to the associated triple clamp and absorbs forces that are transferred from a road surface up through a front wheel and the pair of forks retained by the upper and lower triple clamps. A pivot mechanism couples the other triple clamp to the other one of the two ends of the steering shaft and creates a pivoting axis. The suspension assembly permits the front end to pivot about the pivoting axis and causes the spring unit to flex laterally in response to bumps in the road surface.
US07832747B2

A pressure chamber of a gas spring damping unit is arranged within the cross section of a longitudinal beam in a motor vehicle body. For this purpose, a tubular connecting piece that is closed by a cover is welded into the longitudinal beam. A piston of the gas spring damping unit is arranged in longitudinally displaceable manner in the connecting piece. The space occupied by the gas spring damping unit is thereby kept particularly small.
US07832744B2

A stroller includes a main frame, a backrest, a backrest adjustor, and a linkage device. There is a guide rail formed inside the backrest adjustor. A positioning part of the backrest engages with the guide rail. When a handle of the linkage device is moved upward, a connecting component of the linkage device drives a pushing component of the linkage device to move upward along a supporting rod of the backrest. Accordingly, a protruding portion of the pushing component drives the backrest adjustor to rotate relative to a supporting frame of the main frame so as to release the positioning part from the guide rail.
US07832739B2

A vehicle stabilizer bar assembly having a pair of stabilizer bar members that are selectively uncoupled via a clutch. The clutch includes a moving element that can be selectively moved via an actuator to effect the uncoupling of the stabilizer bar members. The actuator is configured to apply a force to the moving element concentrically about the axis along which the moving element translates. The clutch is configured to transmit torque from one of the stabilizer bar members to the other stabilizer bar member concentrically about the axis. A method for operating a vehicle stabilizer bar assembly is also provided.
US07832736B2

A gasket commonly used for a plural kinds of objective members to be sealed, the objective members having the same outer shapes and differently figured plural bores to be sealed. The gasket comprises a metal base plate, a compound layer made of a synthetic resin or of a rubber material mixed with a fiber material, the compound layer being integrally laminated on at least one surface of the metal base plate, a plurality of openings commonly used for the differently figured bores, a plurality of bead structures of a chevron-type full-bead commonly used for the differently figured bores, the plurality of bead structures being provided around each of the opening, and a recessed groove portion formed along and opposite side to the bead structure, the recessed groove portion being formed with an auxiliary sealing portion at a crossing part or at a matching part of the recessed groove portion, into which a sealing material made of a rubber material or of a synthetic resin is to be filled, for commonly use of the gasket.
US07832735B2

A fluid seal assembly including a specialized protective filter unit which is adapted for use with a fluid seal, as well as to the combination of a protective filter unit with an associated seal unit to form a complete seal assembly. The seal provides increased reliability, particularly in those specialized seals wherein high internal pressure and the possibility of particulate contaminants are present.
US07832726B2

A sheet-convey device, includes a holder, a convey member, and a recognizer. On the holder, a first sheet having a first width and a second sheet having a second width larger than the first width are placeable. The convey member conveys a sheet placed on the holder in a predetermined direction. The recognizer recognizes a width of the sheet and includes first and second sensors for sensing whether a part of the sheet is present at respective first and second positions of the holder. The first position is located inside of the first width in the widthwise direction with the first sheet placed on the holder, while the second position is located outside of the first width and inside of the second width with the second sheet placed on the holder. The second position is located upstream of the first position in the predetermined direction.
US07832724B2

A sheet ejection mechanism including a sheet ejection roller capable of rotating along a selective direction and having an arc portion and a plane portion, the arc portion and the plane portion forming a D-shape cross-section, and a pinch member configured at a position adjacent to the sheet ejection roller, wherein a recording medium is clamped and conveyed between the pinch member and the arc portion of the sheet ejection roller, and a gap is formed between the plane portion and the pinch member for allowing the recording medium to pass. Also, the present invention provides a duplex sheet feeding system having the sheet ejection mechanism.
US07832712B1

A pulley suspension assembly for assisting a user to vertically transport a cable to an elevated location may include a base member adapted to be positioned at the elevated location. A plurality of prongs may be statically coupled the base, extended upwardly therefrom, and seated adjacent to a rear edge thereof. A rectilinear guide rail may be statically mated to the prongs and spanned therebetween. Additionally, a plurality of stabilizing brackets may be statically affixed to the top surface and front of the base member. Further, a rectilinear shaft may be connected to the brackets and spanned therebetween. A plurality of pulleys may be journaled about the rectilinear shaft and rotatable thereabout. Such pulleys may be uniformly juxtaposed side-by-side and freely reciprocated along the shaft while rotating about the fulcrum axis. Anchor cables may be included and engaged with the prongs and an existing support surface at the elevated location.
US07832711B2

A control system comprising a force measuring means (3) for measuring the magnitude of the force acting on a lower part of the rope suspending a load, which force is caused by a force imposed on the load by an operator, the mass of the load, and an acceleration of the load; a first control means (4) having a first computing unit, the first computing unit computing a rotational direction and a velocity of a servomotor to be driven, based on the measured result from the force measuring means, and outputting a signal that corresponds to the measured result to the servomotor, a length measuring means for measuring the length of a rope (2) wound down from a hoist drum; a weight measuring means for measuring the weight of the load suspended from the rope; an angle measuring means for measuring the angle of the rope relative to a vertical plane when the operator laterally pushes the load; and a second control means having a second computing unit, the second computing unit computing the operation conditions for the crane based on the measured information from the length measuring means, the weight measuring means, and the angle measuring means, and outputting a signal that corresponds to the measured result to the crane.
US07832707B2

A normally open electromagnetic valve includes a fixed core, a movable core, a coil, a valve body, a valve seat member, a return spring, a raised portion formed at one of the fixed and movable core so as to project towards the other core and a recessed portion formed at the other core so as to face the raised portion. A relationship between the raised and recessed portions is set such that while a distance therebetween is within a predetermined range, an attraction force acting between the fixed core and the movable core by virtue of an excitation force of the coil decreases as the raised portion approaches or moves into the recessed portion, and when the valve body and the valve seat surface are brought into abutment with each other by exiting the coil, the distance between the raised portion and the recessed portion stays within the predetermined range.
US07832702B2

An article hanging system includes both a hanging tool and an attachment such as a pole. The hanging tool can be used individually or as part of the system and has a handle, a hanging arm, and an article hanger. The handle, adjacent its handle attaching end, is configured for removably attaching with a pole adjacent its pole attaching end. The hanging arm attaches the handle and the article hanger attaches the hanger arm. The handle also has a wall end for remaining stationary at a wall position, and the pole has a floor end for remaining stationary at a floor position on a floor in order that a hanging article may be displayed at a wall hanging position.
US07832690B1

Disclosed is a telescoping wing locking system for use in aircraft having wings that collapse and expand in a telescoping fashion, such as aircraft designed for use on roadways. Companion wing segments are locked in place when gas is supplied to inflate a bladder located between overlapping sections of the wing segments. Wing segments are unlocked when gas is removed from the bladder so that it deflates and allows the wing segments to be moved relative to each other. The wing segments may be locked in any position relative to each other in which a section of one segment overlaps a section of the neighboring segment with the bladder between.
US07832686B2

The present application relates to a specially designed hinge mechanism (4) which makes it possible to construct an aircraft door (2) that can be fitted in a fuselage (3) so as to be displaceable and swivellable on the fuselage (3). Furthermore, the invention relates to an aircraft door (2) comprising at least one such hinge mechanism (4) designed in this way, to a fuselage (3) with at least one aircraft door (2) that is linked to at least one hinge mechanism (4), designed in this way, on the fuselage (3), as well as to the use of at least one hinge mechanism (4) for installation of an aircraft door (2) on a fuselage (3). The hinge mechanism (4) essentially comprises a displacement mechanism (5, 6) as well as a telescopic scissor-type mechanism (7-12). The displacement mechanism (5, 6) can be linked to an aircraft door (2) and is kinematically designed such that as a result of its activation the aircraft door (2) can be displaced from its home position in the direction of the fuselage (3). The scissor-type mechanism (7-12) can be linked to a fuselage (3) and is kinematically designed such that as a result of its activation the aircraft door (2) is displaceable from the fuselage (3) to a final position, on a polar axis that is aligned perpendicularly in the direction of displacement.
US07832685B2

An aircraft stowage bin assembly includes shear fittings configured to route a content load from the bucket of the bin assembly to the airframe in the event of a forward load condition, such as a crash or severe turbulence. When the forward inertial load factor on the stowage bin is greater than about 1 g, the shear fittings create an efficient load path from the bucket to the airframe which bypasses the large metallic or composite endframes required by the designs of many conventional overhead stowage bins. As a result, significant reductions in overall bulk and weight, as well as lower manufacturing costs, can be realized.
US07832683B2

A reel includes: a circular cylinder-shaped hub that includes an inner peripheral surface on which a protruding portion that protrudes in a radial direction is formed and an outer peripheral surface around which recording tape is wound; a first flange that is disposed on one end portion of the hub and includes a first extension portion that is welded to the protruding portion; and a second flange that is disposed on the other end portion of the hub and includes a second extension portion that is welded to the protruding portion. The rigidity of the hub can be improved, and the welding strength of the flanges with respect to the hub can also be improved.
US07832674B2

A tape cartridge has a tape housing, first and second reel member cooperate with each other to constitute a reel around which a tape is wound, a connecting and biasing member connecting between the first and second, and first and second engaging means. The first engaging means is provided on an inner surface of the lower wall. The second engaging means is provided on a lower surface of the second reel member. This arrangement allows that the second engaging means can engage with the first engaging means due to a biasing force caused by the connecting and biasing member to prevent a rotation of the second reel member and can disengage from the first engaging means when the drive shaft accesses the second reel member through the opening and forces the second reel member toward the first reel member against the biasing force of the connecting and biasing member.
US07832669B2

A screw adjust cone crusher with a top tramp iron relief system where the bonnet can be vertically adjusted by rotating the threaded bonnet support within the threaded lower section. The tramp iron system is disposed entirely above the bonnet, thereby creating a small footprint screw adjust cone crusher with overhead tramp iron release system.
US07832668B2

A twin-rotor impact bar crusher is provided for comminuting preferably limestone, marl, clay or similar materials. The impact bar crusher includes two rotors arranged horizontally parallel to one another and impact bars which are rigidly fastened to the circumference of the rotors in a uniformly distributed manner. The impact bars preferably extend over the entire length of the rotors. The two rotors are arranged next to one another at the same height and rotate inwards in opposition to one another.
US07832658B2

The liquid repellent structure includes a support, and a honeycomb-patterned film and a coating film on the honeycomb-patterned film or a liquid repellent film. The method of producing the structure applies a solution of an organic compound in an organic solvent onto the support, places the support in an atmosphere containing water vapor to form water droplets on a surface of the solution film, evaporates the organic solvent and the droplets to form the honeycomb-patterned film, and forms the coating film made of a fluorine-containing material on a surface of the honeycomb-patterned film or etches the honeycomb-patterned film to form a second honeycomb-patterned film. The liquid ejection head includes an ejection substrate having the liquid repellent structure. The protective film includes a support base and the liquid repellent structure.
US07832655B2

A delivery system and methods for generating droplets of liquid active materials, such as a perfume, air freshener, insecticide formulation, and volatile materials, to the atmosphere by means of a electromechanical transducer. The electromechanical transducer employs a first period of activation and a second period of deactivation to increase the distribution of volatile materials contained within the liquid active materials to the atmosphere and reduce the hedonic habituation of the user. The electromechanical transducer is configured to improve flow rate and decrease deposition of the droplets on to nearby surfaces.
US07832654B2

A spraying device for multiphase material, comprising: a cylinder, a pair of liquid-conveying pipes, a pair of material-conveying pipes, a nozzle, a pair of switches, at least one pair of storage chambers, a pair of valves, a mixing chamber, and a conveying pump; wherein the conveying pump is connected to the storage chambers via the liquid-conveying pipes, the conveying pump, the switches and the valves control material transmission of the material-conveying pipes, the conveying pump is connected to the mixing chamber via the material-conveying pipes, and the mixing chamber is disposed in front of the nozzle.
US07832642B2

A bar-code reading apparatus includes a reading section to read a bar-code a plurality of times to obtain multiple pieces of bar-code image data; a storage section to store the pieces of bar-code image data; a detection section to detect a moving state of the reading section in a three-dimensional space during a reading operation of the bar-code; a correction section to correct the pieces of bar-code image data stored in the storage section into pieces of bar-code image data which are obtained if the bar-code is read when the reading section is at a preset reference position with respect to the bar-code, based on the moving state detected by the detection section; a synthesis section to synthesize the pieces of bar-code image data corrected by the correction section to produce synthesized image data; and a decode section to decode the synthesized image data.
US07832640B2

A system for digitizing a freehand graphic. The system comprises: a base including a surface; a position-coding pattern printed on the surface and detectable by an optical sensor; a first area of the surface; and a second area of the surface. The system further comprises a drawing device including an optical sensor for detecting a position in the position-coding pattern; and a transmitter for transmitting interaction data to a processor. The interaction data identifies the detected position. The processor is adapted to determine if the detected position is in the first area or the second area. If the detected position is in the first area of the surface, then the processor interprets the position as a point in the freehand graphic. If the detected position is in the second area of the surface, then the processor interprets the position as a selection of a property for the freehand graphic.
US07832636B2

A method for facilitating the detection of misuse of an identity during an electronic transaction. The invention comprises at least five embodiments. In a first embodiment, the method comprises the step of: receiving a notification to authenticate the use of an identity at a first location, wherein the identity is associated with a first wireless terminal; determining an approximate location of the first wireless terminal based on cached position information, the approximate location of the first wireless terminal being a second location; determining whether the first and second locations match in geographical proximity; and generating an alert if the first and second locations do not match in geographical proximity. In a second embodiment, an approximate location of the first wireless terminal is determined based on cached position information stored on a GPS position database.
US07832635B2

A controller according to the present invention is a controller for controlling a digital multifunctional device which performs job process operation including at least one of image reading operation and image forming operation. The controller includes: a user information acquiring section for acquiring user information from an outside; a wireless tag information acquiring section for acquiring information stored in a wireless tag attached to a book; an owner information judging section for judging whether owner information indicating an owner of the book is included or not in the information acquired by the wireless information acquiring section; and an operation allowance section for comparing the owner information with the user information when the owner information is included, so as to allow the job process operation when the owner information is identical with the user information and so as not to allow the job process operation when the user information is not included. As a result, it is possible to prevent illegal image formation and illegal image reading.
US07832633B2

A system including a terminal; and a network configured to communicatively couple with the terminal, the network including a database configured to store information concerning the user and a wedding card, and a server configured to provide web services that include receiving personal information concerning a user, determining whether to authorize the user based on the personal information, granting a wedding card to the user based on the determination to authorize the user, wherein the wedding card is associated with an upcoming wedding of the user, and providing access to a website for the user, wherein the website provides a wedding management system assisting the user in planning the upcoming wedding.
US07832632B2

A system includes automated banking machines that operate responsive to data read from data bearing records. Transactions may also be carried out through communication with local and remote service providers. An automated banking machine (322) operative to conduct transactions including cash dispensing for users responsive to data read from user cards and through communication with a transaction host (336). The machine is also operative to provide output signals which drive external displays (328, 330). The processor in the machine is also operative to cause the machine to receive visual and/or audio content from one or more content sources (342, 343) and to store data corresponding to such content. Such content is then output through the external displays.
US07832627B2

A method of processing a check prior to electronically depositing the check includes steps of (a) attempting to print a cancellation mark on the check using an energy emitting ink, such as a luminescent ink, (b) radiating first energy, such as UV energy, toward the check, (c) determining whether second energy is emitted from the check as a result of the radiated first energy impinging upon the energy emitting ink present on the check, and (d) allowing the check to proceed to electronic deposit only if it is determined that the second energy is emitted from the check. Also, an apparatus for electronically depositing a check that implements the method.
US07832624B2

A pull type packing box comprises inner and outer containers. The outer container is a tube type box for receiving the inner container like a drawer. The outer container is provided with handles and performs the function of a shopping bag. As the outer container partially exposes a head portion of the inner container, a user can grasp the head portion to open the inner container, and information about an article can be printed on the exposed head portion. The strength of the mouth part of the outer container is increased so that the mouth part does not bend and the outer appearance of the packing box is not deteriorated. The outer container generates appropriate frictional force so that the drawer is not excessively opened and closed. The outer container includes a stopper for preventing the drawer from being separated from the outer container when opening the inner
US07832619B2

A method of making a large Mo billet or bar for a sputtering target wherein two or more bodies comprising Mo are placed adjacent one another (e.g. stacked one on the other) with Mo powder metal present at gaps or joints between the adjacent bodies. The adjacent bodies are hot isostatically pressed to form a diffusion bond at each of the metal-to-Mo powder layer-to-metal joint between adjacent bodies to form a billet or bar that can be machined or otherwise formed to provide a large sputtering target. The number and dimensions of the Mo bodies placed adjacent one another are selected to yield a desired large size the billet or bar suitable for the sputtering target. The billet or bar for the sputtering target exhibits a microstructure comprising equiaxed grains of less than 30 microns grain size and exhibits a low oxygen content of less than about 100 ppm by weight.
US07832613B2

A system, in certain embodiments, includes a backing plate, a tungsten-based member disposed along the backing plate, wherein the tungsten-based member defines a welding work surface, and the tungsten-based member comprises curved grooves configured to secure the tungsten-based member to the backing plate. The system also includes a drive. The system includes a pin tool movable by the drive to create friction along one or more workpieces disposed on the welding work surface, wherein the frictional heating and mechanical stirring is configured to create a stir weld along the one or more workpieces. The system, in some embodiments, also may include a backing plate comprising liquid passages and gas passages and a tungsten-based member disposed along the backing plate, wherein the tungsten-based member defines a welding work surface.
US07832608B1

A cargo carrier mountable to a hitch receiver of a vehicle includes a lightweight, open-air wire basket supported by a tough metal bracket. The bracket is reversible so that the carrier can be attached to different size hitch receivers. To simplify assembly, the mounting hardware for attaching the basket to the bracket is the same regardless of which size receiver is being used. The holes for the mounting hardware are positioned such that the fasteners can avoid carrying most of the cargo's weight. If the basket is evenly loaded with cargo, it is possible for the fasteners to carry substantially no weight whatsoever. When not in use, the basket is collapsible to lie generally flat against the bracket so that the cargo carrier can be readily stowed.
US07832607B2

A bicycle support rack adapted to be mounted in a hitch receiver of a vehicle including a hollow upstanding tube having a parallel rod running therethrough, both extending from a lower hitch bar upwardly to a top plate. The top plate supporting a pair of rearwardly extending arms upon which one or more bicycles may be mounted for carrying by the vehicle. The tube and internal parallel rod both being adapted to pivot rearwardly while maintaining the bicycle supporting arms in a substantially parallel orientation with the vehicle hitch receiver. The tilting movement of the rack providing improved access to the rear of the vehicle.
US07832599B2

A dosing and/or dispensing system for use with a liquid container such as an inverted. bottle or the like for dosing and/or dispensing liquid contents from the bottle. The system includes a throat plug assembly, wherein the throat plug assembly includes a normally closed, vertically movable first valve therein; a mounting ring having an inner face including threads thereon adapted to threadably receive the throat of the container; a knob having an actuator rod, wherein the actuator rod includes second and third vertically spaced valves mounted thereon for movement; and an improved venting device to ensure that the liquid is dosed or dispensed properly and accurately drains.
US07832589B2

A reclosable metal container in the style of a bottle-shaped can has a conventional can body of steel or aluminum to which a metal neck component is seamed. A sleeve of plastics fits over the neck component and a detent inside the sleeve clips it onto the seam. The upper edge of the sleeve is fixed in place by a curl on the upper edge of the neck component. By using a separate neck component and hiding the seam under a sleeve, conventional sizes and material gauges can be used for the can body. Thicker material may be used for the neck component in order to withstand necking forces. Threads for closing the container may be provided either on the sleeve or, in an embodiment where the sleeve is simply used to cover the seam, on a cylindrical part of the neck component itself.
US07832587B2

A pedal bin includes a container, a pedal and a pivotably mounted flap. The flap is locatable in a first position to facilitate opening of the flap in a first direction relative to the container. The flap is also locatable in a second position to facilitate opening of the flap in a second direction relative to the container. In either position, the pedal is operable to open the flap.
US07832584B2

A blow-molded carrying chest which includes an integrally molded frame with a top frame member slideably engaged with the left and right frame members. The frame includes a base frame member, and right and left frame members integrally molded to the base frame member. A top frame member is slideably engaged with the right and left frame members to secure the top frame member and assemble the carrying chest without requiring any fasteners. Below the top frame member is a plurality of drawers which are locked by hinged doors on the right and left frame members that prevent the plurality of drawers from sliding when the carrying chest is in transport.
US07832575B2

An articulated joint coupling (1) for rail vehicles comprises a coupling lug (3), which engages into a coupling fork (4), and a spherical bearing (2) in the coupling lug (3), with the spherical bearing (2) having an inner ring (5) with a convex surface (6) which is pivotably mounted in an outer ring (7) with a concave surface (8), and with the outer ring (7) being fastened in an opening (14) of the coupling lug (3). To fasten the outer ring (7) in the opening (14) of the coupling lug (3), both the outer ring (7) and also the coupling lug (3) have in each case one groove (15, 17), with a clamping ring (18) lying in the groove (17) of the outer ring (7) and simultaneously in the groove (15) of the coupling lug (3).
US07832573B2

A self-supporting suspension device may include vertically oriented columns. The columns may be releasably fastened to one or two feet by being inserted into slots of the respective feet and by surrounding a portion thereof. A stabilisation element may be fastened to two adjacent columns for lateral stability of the suspension device, and a locking beam or the stabilisation element may increase the torsional rigidity of the columns.
US07832567B2

A liquid supply assembly for use with a spray gun (FIG. 1) comprises a reservoir 9 provided with a drop-in filter 10 for removing solid particles from liquid added to the reservoir 9. The reservoir 9 has a lid 12 with an outlet opening 12E connectable via a spout 16 to the spray gun and a separate inlet opening 12D in which a support collar 27 of the filter 10 is located. The filter 10 comprises a tubular mesh body 10A having an open end and a closed end. The open end is connected to the support collar 27 and the mesh body 10A extends away from the inlet opening 12D within the reservoir 9. The mesh body 10A is sized to pass through the filler opening 12D and has a high flow capacity to permit rapid filling of the reservoir 9. The filter 10 may be left in place when the reservoir 9 is connected to the spray gun and the reservoir 9 may be discarded together with the filter 10 after use.
US07832566B2

An apparatus that allows for separating and collecting a fraction of a sample. The apparatus, when used with a centrifuge, allows for the creation of at least three fractions in the apparatus. It also provides for a new method of extracting the buffy coat phase from a whole blood sample and mesenchymal stem cells from bone reaming material. A buoy system that may include a first buoy portion and a second buoy member operably interconnected may be used to form at least three fractions from a sample during a substantially single centrifugation process. Therefore, the separation of various fractions may be substantially quick and efficient.
US07832553B2

A heat-shrinkable holder for securing articles, a package securing such articles using heat-shrinkable sheets, a shrinkable sleeve, and a method and device for securing such articles using heat-shrinkable sheets and sleeves are disclosed. The holder is constructed so that it is separable when desired, and may comprise the labeling or the like for an article to be packaged. Releasable fasteners such as adhesives, heat seals, and/or perforations may be employed on the sheets. If desired, articles may be individually sleeved with a heat shrinkable film blank portion, which may function as labeling.
US07832547B2

It relates to an equipment to transport and move material which transfer products in bulk into one by one; it receivers a certain amount of pieces (1) and delivers one by one to the next industrial process. This equipment transfers products from a belt conveyor (2) to a weighing system (8) of products on a constant flow; it comprises a rotating cylinder (5) with holes (9) on the cylindrical surface which suck the pieces (1) one by one discharging them in a sequence over a weighing and grading system (8).
US07832535B2

A method of controlling an activation load applied to a clutch pedal. A first load is applied to the clutch pedal that has a first reaction force in a first phase of pedal movement. A switch is activated at the end of the first phase. When the switch is activated, a second load that is greater than the first load is applied to the pedal that provides a second reaction force in a second phase of pedal movement.
US07832531B2

A bicycle component fixing band is provided with a first base part, a second base part, a hinge structure, a releasable connecting structure and a lock pin. The base parts are pivotally connected together at their pivot ends by the hinge structure. The releasable connecting structure releasably couples fastening ends of the base parts together. The lock pin is movable between a locking position and an unlocking position. The lock pin is engaged with both of the pivot ends of the base parts when the lock pin is in the locking position to prevent relative movement of the base parts. The lock pin is disengaged from one of the pivot ends of the base parts when the lock pin is in the unlocking position to permit relative movement of the base parts.
US07832530B2

The invention relates to a vibration damper, comprising a cylinder (5) that is filled with damping medium, in which a piston rod (7) is guided in an axially movable manner by a piston rod guide (3), the lateral surface of the piston rod guide lying against an inner wall of the cylinder (5) and the piston rod guide being sealed in the direction of a working area at the piston rod end, the area of contact between the lateral surface (17) and the cylinder (5) relative to the working area (11) at the piston rod end having on the other side of the sealing area (23) at least one outlet (25, 29) in the direction of an outer end face (31) of the vibration damper.
US07832529B2

A friction member for a frictional engagement device is provided in which weight is reduced, impact resistance is enhanced and sliding resistance is improved; and also provided is a method for producing the same. As a friction member (10) for a frictional engagement device, a friction member made of a carbon fiber/carbonaceous composite material is provided which is obtained by implementing a heat treatment on a precursor, the precursor comprising a matrix composed of a carbon binder and an additive and carbon fiber dispersed in the matrix, wherein a porosity of the friction member is 20-60%.
US07832527B2

In an image monitoring apparatus for an elevator, image recording means records an image in a car photographed by a camera, and monitors based on the image in the car whether or not there is a violent behavior of a passenger in the car. The image recording means makes a recording density of the image in the car higher than usual when the violent behavior of the passenger in the car is detected. The operation control means homes the car on a predetermined floor when the violent behavior of the passenger in the car is detected by the image recording means.
US07832524B2

A device (1) for the feed of air to a compressor (2) of a gas turbine plant has an air inlet duct (8) and an air inlet chamber (9) which adjoins the air inlet duct. For the purpose of damping sound emissions of the compressor (2), a first and second inner wall (10, 11) of the inlet chamber (9) is at least partially lined by means of melamine foam. The invention is characterized by the advantages in that silencing is ensured both with wetness and with chemically aggressive conditions. The silencing device is consequently functionally reliable over an extended operating period.
US07832520B2

Disclosed is a working vehicle capable of working and driving in stable condition while suppressing the adverse effect caused by the load variation such as sudden dashing from an associated ground working implement. The working vehicle comprises a controller for controlling the variator ratio of its toroidal mechanism to oppose the variation of the load when the toroidal mechanism is loaded on its output side. The controller adjusts the variator ratio appropriately when the engine starts.
US07832513B2

A vehicular electrical system for a hybrid electric vehicle provides a high voltage electrical system having a high power electrical energy storage device (HPD) and a power inverter that cooperate to provide power to a hybrid electric vehicle propulsion system; and a low voltage electrical system having a low voltage power source, at least one accessory power load, and a control switch that toggles between an opened and a closed position to control the flow of current flowing between the low voltage power source and the HPD. A method of using the vehicular electrical system provides the step of using the HPD and power inverter to provide power to the electric vehicle propulsion system; and opening a control switch to isolate the low voltage system from the high voltage system and closing a control switch to charge the HPD.
US07832512B2

When at least one of a condition under which a parking brake is activated, a condition under which a shift lever is shifted to a parking range, a condition under which a shift to the neutral range is executed, and a condition under which a drive termination operation is executed is satisfied during an EV travel mode, a carrier shaft provided coaxially with a crankshaft is rotated by a motor generator, and a cumulative value of a travel distance counter obtained when an engine is stopped is reset.
US07832505B2

A rock bit includes a shaft and a cone mounted for rotation about the shaft at a journal bearing. A seal gland for the rock bit is defined at least by the shaft and the cone. A compressible seal ring is positioned within the seal gland. A thermal insulating ring is installed within the seal gland and positioned between the compressible seal ring itself and the journal bearing to insulate the compressible seal ring from heat radiating from the journal bearing.
US07832499B2

An electric tool includes a housing; a motor that is housed in the housing; and a tip tool. A rotation transmission mechanism transmits a rotation of the motor to the tip tool. An air inlet is disposed on the housing to introduce a cooling air for cooling the motor from an outside of the housing and an air outlet is disposed to discharge the cooling air. A cover is slidable along an inner wall or an outer wall of the housing and is movable in a first position where the air inlet and the air outlet are opened and a second position where the air inlet and the air outlet are closed.
US07832496B2

A deep-hole boring machine (100) includes a base (11) to be fitted to an upper face of a floor, a pillar (14), a fixing mechanism (40), a guide member (15), a rotary tool (17), a tool rotation driving section (16), a rising/descending mechanism (50), a guide base (60) and a tool guide mechanism (30). The deep-hole boring machine 100 can be used to bore a vertical hole or an inclined hole in a concrete in a construction site.
US07832495B2

A tool assembly provided with a housing defining a chamber, and a reciprocating work tool arranged in the chamber, is disclosed. A tool retention member has an aperture through which the work tool extends. Engaging structure including mutually engaging protrusions on the housing and the tool retention member is configured to permit engagement of the tool retention member with the housing by relative rotation of the tool retention member and the housing. Retention structure on the work tool is configured to prevent removal of the work tool from the housing when the tool retention member is engaged with the housing. A locking structure is configured to lock the tool retention member and housing against relative rotation. A prestressing structure is located between the protrusions on the housing and a portion of the tool retention member and is configured to urge the tool retention member away from the housing.
US07832494B2

A tension member arrangement is disclosed that can be mounted between a central portion of an agricultural implement and a wing. The wing is configured to be raised and lowered by an actuator. The tension member is mounted to support structures on the central portion of the implement and on the wing once the wing is raised, to maintain the wing in the raised position. Stress may then be relieved from the actuator without the wing descending from the raised position. The tension member may be completely removed from the implement or may remain attached and employed only when needed to maintain the wing in the raised position.
US07832493B2

A fire suppression device including a fire suppression agent generator. The device further includes trigger mechanism adapted to begin generation of the fire suppression agent from the fire suppression agent generator. A container at least partially surrounds the fire suppression agent generator and the trigger mechanism, the container includes a discharge port that directs fire suppression agent in at least two opposed directions. In one example, the discharge port extends substantially around a perimeter of the container.
US07832482B2

A system for producing fluids from a subterranean zone comprises a tubing string disposed in a well bore, the tubing string adapted to communicate fluids from the subterranean zone to a ground surface. A downhole fluid lift system is operable to lift fluids towards the ground surface. A downhole fluid heater is disposed in the well bore and is operable to vaporize a liquid in the well bore. A seal between the downhole fluid lift system and the downhole fluid heater is operable to isolate a portion of the well bore containing the downhole fluid lift system from a portion of the well bore containing the downhole fluid heater. A method comprises: disposing a tubing string in a well bore; generating vapor in the well bore; and lifting fluids from the subterranean zone to a ground surface through the tubing string.
US07832476B2

A method of introducing friction reducing agents within a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation during a gravel packing operation is accomplished by providing a length of tubing located downhole within the wellbore for conducting fluids within the wellbore through the tubing during circulating of gravel packing fluids introduced from the surface within the wellbore. At least a portion of the tubing is surrounded by a screen for screening out particulate matter during the gravel packing operation. An annular space is defined between an interior of the screen and the exterior of the tubing. A friction reducing agent is dispensed from a dispensing apparatus that locates downhole with the tubing. The dispensing apparatus includes a housing and a chamber disposed within the housing that has one or more outlets that open into the annular space defined by the screen and tubing for dispensing the friction reducing agent. The dispensing apparatus further includes a piston and a trigger mechanism for actuating the piston. When the trigger mechanism is activated to actuate the piston, the friction reducing agent is dispensed through the one or more outlets at a position downhole remote from the surface during the circulating.
US07832467B2

An oil cooler for a motor vehicle includes a fluid inlet tank and a fluid outlet tank. A plurality of heat transfer tubes provides constant fluid communication between the inlet tank and the outlet tank. A bypass arrangement provides additional fluid communication between the fluid inlet tank and the fluid outlet tank under a first operating condition and the bypass arrangement precludes additional fluid communication between the inlet tank and the outlet tank under a second operating condition. The bypass arrangement may include a bypass tube and an element for selectively blocking the bypass tube. The element for selectively blocking the bypass tube may be automatically response to a change in oil temperature or a change in oil pressure.
US07832465B2

The present invention is directed to a multiple zone climate control system which includes a HVAC unit that supplies conditioned air to more than one zone, a zone controller in each zone, a central controller, one or more air flow rate regulating devices in each zone, and a digital wireless network connecting the air flow rate regulating devices, zone controllers and the central controller. The multiple zone climate control system is capable of energy efficiently regulating temperature in each zone independently as well as providing other air conditioning functions such as humidifying, cleaning and filtering air in each zone independently. The multiple zone climate control system can be installed in a single zone climate control system to convert it into a multiple zone climate control system.
US07832464B2

An independent mixing valve sub-assembly which includes a casing defining a cold bias inlet, a hot bias inlet and a second zone inlet and a mechanism for mechanically attaching the casing to the housing of a HVAC module with the cold bias inlet, the hot bias inlet and the second zone inlet of the mixing valve sub-assembly in sealing engagement with a cold bias outlet, a hot bias outlet, and a second zone outlet of a HVAC module, respectively. The mixing valve sub-assembly may provide one or more streams of temperature-controlled air. Accordingly, different mixing valve sub-assemblies may be attached to one universal HVAC module to provide varying numbers of temperature zones.
US07832463B2

A collecting tank for a heat exchanger pertaining to a motor vehicle cooling installation includes a tank element. The tank element includes at least two collecting regions for receiving fluid, the receiving regions being embodied together as a single component and being outwardly sealed by a sealing element, and a bottom for closing the collecting regions. A sealing arrangement is provided between the tank element and the bottom, between two adjacent collecting regions. The sealing arrangement includes exactly one sealing element which, in addition to sealing between the two collecting regions, is used to seal the arrangement towards the outside. The sealing element is preferably arranged in a plane in the collecting tank, especially in a continuous channel.
US07832458B2

A method for producing a casting mold from a composite mold material for foundry purposes that is composed of different kinds of mold materials that are heat-resistant for the casting of metals and that differ in substantive composition or have different contents of organic or inorganic binders. A solid mold body is prepared from a foundry mold material A that is completely or partially encased during its preparation with a free-flowing chemically bonded foundry mold material B. A composite mold material block is formed after the hardening of the foundry mold material B, which is then machined by a cutting method such as milling, boring, turning, or grinding. The mold cavity is introduced into the mold body consisting of the foundry mold material A, and the inflow system and the feed system are introduced into the mold material block consisting of the foundry mold material B, using CAD data.
US07832446B2

A device for manufacturing a crosslaid fiber web on the basis of two parallel longitudinal fiber webs and segments of another longitudinal fiber web comprises a fixing table on which the longitudinal fiber webs and the segments come together. Furthermore, the device comprises a pair of high-voltage bars, movably arranged with respect to the fixing table. When a segment is in a correct end position with respect to the longitudinal fiber webs on the fixing table, the pair of high-voltage bars is activated and moved with respect to the segment and the longitudinal fiber webs, wherein the segment and the longitudinal fiber webs are situated between the high-voltage bars. As a consequence, the segment is fixed with respect to the longitudinal fiber webs, before being supplied to another device in order to get definitively connected to the longitudinal fiber webs.
US07832438B2

A golf club head cover with storage includes a cover body, a closure flap and a pocket. The cover body defines an interior cavity configured to receive a club head. A first portion of the closure flap is fixed relative to the cover body and a second portion of the closure flap is movable between a closed position and an opened position. In the closed position, the closure flap covers an opening of the interior cavity of the cover body. The pocket is disposed on the closure flap.
US07832424B2

A coupler including a nozzle and a socket. The nozzle includes a nozzle body, a movable pin, and a first supporting member. The movable pin is made retractably movable in the axial direction in a nose portion to open and close the channel inside the nozzle. The socket includes a housing, a collar, a ring-like packing, a valve stem, a valve head, and a second supporting member. The valve stem is made retractably movable in the socket in the axial direction to open and close the channel inside the socket. All portions or components which contact liquid fuel in the coupler are formed solely of rubber and/or plastics.
US07832420B2

An improved saddle tee for branching a conduit from a main line is disclosed. The saddle tee includes a base unit that defines an opening for receiving a tap and interlocking jaws for securing the base unit to a main line. The tap may include a shaped portion for receiving a tool interface to rotate the tap to drive the tap into the main line. The tool interface could be secured to a power tool to enable rapid driving of the saddle tee into the main line. The saddle tee may also include offset arcuate interlocking jaws to enable the jaws to interlock around the main line with ease. Optional interface surfaces on the tap and base unit enable the tap and base unit to interlock to limit rotation of the tap relative to the base unit when the tap is fully inserted into the base unit.
US07832414B1

A method of hairstyling using a comb urged in a pivotal traverse through a patron's hair to position progressively larger-sized strands thereof in an acute angled cutting plane and after cutting removal, the hair strands remaining have a desirable layered appearance along a head-encircling hairline of the hairstyle.
US07832413B2

The present disclosure is generally directed to styling tools having a therapeutic agent distributed through the styling tool bristles or pad.
US07832408B2

A surgical instrument including a switching mechanism which allows a surgeon to selectively advance or retract a staple driver and/or cutting member within a staple cartridge. In various embodiments, the surgical instrument can include a handle, a trigger operatively coupled to the handle, a firing drive, and an end effector. The firing drive can include a first ratchet assembly configured to advance a cutting member in the end effector and a second ratchet assembly configured to retract the cutting member. The trigger can include first and second pawls pivotably mounted thereon which are configured to be selectively engaged with the first and second ratchet assemblies, respectively. In at least one embodiment, the trigger can be configured to slide between a first position in which the first pawl is engaged with the first ratchet assembly and a second position in which the second pawl is engaged with the second ratchet assembly.
US07832402B2

A device for treating breathing problems is disclosed, including a shaped part fitting onto the teeth of the lower jaw, a shaped part fitting onto the teeth of the upper jaw, and at least one adjustable connecting device between the upper and lower shaped part for forward/backward and upward/downward adjustment of the upper shaped part relative to the lower shaped part. One of the shaped parts is provided at the front with a slide mechanism including a slide element which is slidable laterally to a limited extent along a guide element. Further, the adjustable connecting devices are fixedly connected to the other shaped part on one side and to the slide element on the other, thus allowing a precise forward/backward and upward/downward adjustment with a limited freedom of movement of the lower jaw in relation to the upper jaw.
US07832400B2

A nasal cannula comprising a hollow main body having opposed first and second openings formed therein and the main body defining an internal chamber. A partition divides the internal chamber into first and second flow compartments. A flow passageway of a first nasal prong communicates with the first compartment and a flow passageway of the first mouth piece communicates with the first compartment to define a first flow passageway which communicates with both a first nostril and a mouth of the patient. A flow passageway of a second nasal prong communicates with the second compartment and a flow passageway of the second mouth piece communicates with the first compartment to define a second flow passageway which communicates with both a second nostril and the mouth of the patient.
US07832396B2

A high output, powered air purifying respirator that includes an anti-contamination suit, a filter for filtering particulates from the air, a high powered blower for delivering a cool flow of air to the body, and a stabilization mechanism. The stabilization mechanism is configurable in either head mounted or back mounted modules as desired by a worker. The head mounted configuration facilitates stream lined mobility and includes a head mounted suspension system with a circular rail and roller bearing halo around the worker's head for stabilizing the blower/filter and allowing for rotation of the worker's head inside the halo. The invention also includes additional modules, also configurable by the user, such as personal hydration and independent camera and dosimeter support.
US07832395B2

A portable breathable gas delivery device including a pressure vessel for storing the breathable gas under pressure and a valve coupled to the pressure vessel through which the breathable gas can be selectively released. The pressure vessel is enclosed in a housing having a first portion that at least partially encloses the pressure vessel and a second portion that partially encloses a chamber coupled to the pressure vessel via the valve into which the breathable gas can be released for breathing by a user. The second portion together with a user's facial structure forms a substantially closed enclosure. The chamber has an opening shaped and formed to interface with the user's facial structure.
US07832394B2

Containers for incrementally dispensing pressurized contents are described. The containers comprise a vessel suited to contain pressurized contents, a port integral with the vessel and through which pressurized contents contained in the vessel can be released from the vessel, preferably incrementally in approximately equal amounts, and a measuring device disposed in the vessel. The measuring device senses ambient conditions in the vessel and, directly or with other components, indicates, for example, the amount of pressurized contents remaining in the vessel and displaying it to an observer; methods for comparing the amount of contents actually released from the vessel compared to a theoretical constant; and methods for time logging (alone or in conjunction with the logging of other data) the actuation of the dispensing valve for comparison to a prescribed method. Devices (including metered dose inhalers) for incrementally dispensing pressurized contents from such containers are also described.
US07832393B2

A metered dosage inhaler device having a first member for receiving and dispensing inhalation medication which is hollow, and has an aerosol medication container insertion end and having a nozzle end for spraying medication into a mouth of a user, wherein the nozzle end has a defined length and has an orifice with a defined cross-sectional area outlet surfaces, inner surfaces and a defined outer perimeter at its termination. There is a second member, the second member which is a spacer fitted on the nozzle and adapted to move outwardly and inwardly relatively to the nozzle, the spacer being hollow and being located about either outer surfaces or within the inner surfaces of the nozzle, the spacer having a total length about equal to or less than the nozzle so as to preserve significant compactness when the spacer is moved inwardly relative to the nozzle. The spacer includes a plurality of movable segments such as telescopic ring segments. The first member has a tube with a reciprocal sleeve for holding a medication container and cooperates to permit full insertion of the segments into the first member.
US07832392B2

A solar air conditioning device (100) includes a solar collector assembly (30), an inlet assembly (10) at an entrance of the solar collector assembly, and an outlet assembly (50) at an exit of the solar collector assembly. The solar collector assembly includes a heat-absorbing set (31) and a transparent panel (38) being assembled to a top of the heat-absorbing set. The heat-absorbing set comprises a plurality of heat-absorbing units (32) engaged with each other. Each of the heat-absorbing units includes two adjacent supporting members (33) and a heat-absorbing plate (35) sandwiched between and buckled with the two supporting members. The heat-absorbing set defines an air channel (314) with the transparent panel and a heat-absorbing channel (315) below the air channel. The inlet and outlet assemblies are in fluidic communication with the heat-absorbing channel.
US07832390B2

A cooking grill or other cooking apparatus with heating drawers that may be slid into and out of a cabinet assembly like a drawer in a desk or dresser. There are two types of burning drawers, both of which have rectangular box-like shapes, with the same dimensions, so that either one of them can be inserted into the same slots in the cabinet assembly. The first type of drawer is designed for wood or charcoal. The second type of drawer is designed for natural gas. One drawer can be slid out, and the other drawer can be slid in. There are three type of cooking surfaces: a wok grill with a radially grating, a teriyaki plate with a solid surface, and a barbeque grill having apertures in a staggered array. The first embodiment has four drawers and two cooking areas. The second embodiment has three drawers and three cooking areas.
US07832388B1

An archery bow system incorporating a bow riser and dual limbs supporting cams or a cam and wheel mounted for rotation about respective axles. The dual limbs are independently adjustable to correct for cam lean and are individually supported in pockets that incorporate variable limb angle attachments to the bow riser. The limbs extend from the riser to flex. when at full draw, to positions that cause the respective axles to initially travel rearward toward the archer upon release of the bowstring. The limbs are adjustably attached to the riser to permit the limb angle with respect to the riser to be changed.
US07832387B1

An archery bow comprises an elongated riser, two coupling members, and two bow limbs. The riser has a pair of distal pivotable connection points, a pair of proximal pivotable connection points between the distal connection points, and a central handle portion between the proximal connection points. Each coupling member is pivotably connected at a first pivotable connection point thereof to the riser at a corresponding proximal connection point thereof. Each bow limb is pivotably connected to the riser at a corresponding distal pivotable connection point thereof and pivotably connected to a corresponding coupling member at a second pivotable connection point thereof. Each bow limb is adapted at a pulley pivotable connection point thereof to receive a pulley member pivotably connected thereto.
US07832376B2

Damping elements for a fuel injection valve insertable into a receiving conduit of a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine are disposed between a valve housing of the fuel injection valve and a wall of the receiving conduit of the cylinder head. These damping elements, inter alia, decrease acoustic transfer from the fuel injection valve to the cylinder head. It is disadvantageous that conventional damping elements require a great deal of axial installation space with respect to a valve axis and have comparatively high manufacturing costs. With the damping element according to example embodiments of the present invention, the installation space required is reduced. Provision is made, according to example embodiments of the present invention, for the damping element to be in plate-shaped fashion.
US07832374B2

The present invention relates to systems and methods for pressurization of a fuel line of an engine. In one embodiment, a fuel charging system for an engine is provided. The fuel charging system includes a first fuel pump in fluid communication with a fuel tank to generate a first fluid pressure within a first fuel line. The fuel charging system also includes a second fluid pump having a reciprocating piston including a low pressure end and a high pressure end. The low pressure end is in fluid communication with the first fuel pump through the first fuel line and the high pressure end is in fluid communication with an engine fuel rail through a second fuel line. The reciprocating piston is driven by the first fluid pressure to generate a second fluid pressure within the second fuel line, wherein the second fluid pressure is greater than the first fluid pressure.
US07832373B2

A valve control apparatus of a diesel engine (1) is provided with an EGR valve (30), which is provided in an EGR passage (26) of the engine (1) and varies the flow rate of exhaust gas flowing through a passage (26) by carrying out an opening and closing motion, and an actuator (28), which executes a sticking avoiding operation for dissolving or preventing a sticking of a valve (30) by causing the valve (30) to move to and fro so as to open and close the valve (30) by a predetermined moving amount respectively in one direction and the other direction near a full-close position of the valve (30). The apparatus inhibits the sticking avoiding operation by the actuator (28) when an ignition OFF operation is carried out without starting an operation of the engine (1) after an ignition ON operation is carried out. As a result, it is possible to prevent a useless valve opening and closing motion and achieve power saving.
US07832369B2

A device (1) for modifying the control times of an internal combustion engine having a drive wheel (13), an output element (4), and a swashplate gear mechanism (2) is provided. The torque of the crankshaft is transmitted to the drive wheel (13) via a primary drive and is transmitted on to the output element (4) via the swashplate gear mechanism (2), with the output element (4) being connected in a fixed manner to the camshaft (11). The swashplate gear mechanism (2) allows the drive wheel (13) to be rotated relative to the output element (4) allowing a continuous phase shift of the camshaft (11) relative to the crankshaft. In order carry out this function, the drive wheel (13) is rotatably supported by the output element (4). An inexpensive and easy way to supply the swashplate gear mechanism (2) and the radial bearing (28) with lubricant is provided.
US07832367B2

A furnace panel leak monitoring and control system for fluid-cooled panels in high temperature industrial furnaces such as, for example, smelting furnaces, blast furnaces and electric arc furnaces. The system performs at least two and up to four functions simultaneously. At minimum, the system includes one or more temperature sensors received within the body of the panel to monitor temperature within the metal of the panel itself, and pressure sensors installed proximate the inlet and outlet of each panel coolant fluid circuit, which circuits are preferably periodically automatically tested, to check for leaks in the coolant circuits. In addition, the system preferably includes temperature and flow sensors for monitoring the furnace panel coolant circuit(s) for temperature and flow fluctuations, respectively, which may be indicative of leaking cooling circuits. The system triggers visual and/or audible alarms to alert a human operator of an apparent coolant fluid leak situation.
US07832364B2

The present invention discloses a heat transfer unit which integrates a boiler and a gas preheater for steam generation and gas preheating. In one embodiment, the heat transfer unit of the present invention may be used in fuel processing applications. In this embodiment, the heat transfer unit may be located downstream of a combustor such as an anode tailgas oxidizer.
US07832363B1

An adjustable livestock alleyway includes an alleyway frame, a center frame and first and second panels which define two side by side alleyways within the alleyway frame. The first and second panels are pivotably mounted to the center frame to pivot between a first open position in which the panels are pivoted toward the center frame and a second constricted position in which the panel are pivoted away from the center frame. A linkage connecting between the center frame and the first and second panels is powered by an actuator in order to pivot the first and second panels between the first and second positions such that the widths of both side by side alleyways may be changed to a desired width.
US07832356B2

A feeder for feeding animals at the weanling stage has a trough with two opposed outwardly inclined front walls over which the animals can reach for taking feed from the trough and a feed hopper for discharging feed downwardly onto a shelf above the trough. Water is supplied into the trough so that the animals may take the feed dry on the shelf or wet from the trough. Water is normally supplied through a first water supply line which has a series of nipples controlled by the animals. However, while the weanlings are very young the first water supply line is closed off and water is supplied from a second supply line which is managed by a timer and water level sensor.
US07832355B2

An animal feeder and animal feeding system is provided that utilizes radio frequency identification technology to permit animals selective access to food. The animal feeder includes a universal base containing all of the necessary control electronics including a radio frequency transceiver and antenna. A given number of pre-defined codes are associated with sets of removable dishes and transponders. The transponders are arranged for attachment to an animal. All dishes and transponders in a given set are associated with the same code and can be used interchangeably. The dishes are sized and shaped to be fit into the base, and while a given dish is disposed in the base, the dish communicates or programs the control electronics with the pre-defined code associated with the dish. Therefore, when an animal wearing a transponder from the same set as that dish approaches the animal feeder, the control electronics recognize the animal and open a lid to permit access to the food contained within the dish.
US07832350B2

The present invention provides a system for supporting and releasing a twin fall lifeboat, comprising a pair of hooks releasably engaged with a corresponding pair of lifting links; and a lifeboat release assembly. The lifeboat release assembly includes a release handle, a release arm, an emergency release shaft, a weighted rack, and a pair of flexible cables attached at first ends to the rack and attached at second ends to the hooks. The release handle attaches to the release arm at a pivot point. The release arm includes a wheel disposed within a wheel encasement attached to the weighted rack. The system includes an engaged configuration in which the lifting links are secured by the hooks. The release handle is pulled to release the lifting links from the hooks substantially simultaneously. An emergency ratchet lever engages with the emergency release shaft for releasing the twin fall lifeboat under load.
US07832336B2

A method for operating a thrust-generating supercavitating projectile involves launching the projectile at a velocity above the minimum required to maintain supercavitating movement, delaying initiation of thrust until the projectile slows to a velocity that is near that minimum velocity, and then applying thrust to maintain the near-minimum velocity until a target is reached.
US07832330B1

A cooker to smoker adapter is provided, and in one embodiment the cooker to smoker adapter includes first and second walls constructed to cooperate with a wall of a cooker to provide a fuel containment zone for receipt of fuel to be used in a smoking process. In another embodiment, one of the walls includes at least one aperture to readily permit the addition of fuel to the fuel containment zone. In yet another embodiment, a second aperture is provided in one of the walls, this aperture being adapted to receive a reservoir for a liquid. In a further embodiment, a liquid holding reservoir is provided integral with one of the walls. In another embodiment, stand-alone structures are provided to define a fuel containment zone to permit the burning of fuel while avoiding direct radiant transmission of heat from the fuel containment zone to a food which is being smoked. In one embodiment, the stand-alone structure is adapted to receive a reservoir for water. In a further one of the stand-alone embodiments, a cap is provided on the cooker to smoker adapter structure. In the stand-alone cooker to smoker adapters an aperture is included in the walls to permit the addition of fuel into a fuel containment zone. In the free-standing cooker to smoker adapters, a chute may also be provided to facilitate the addition of fuel into the fuel containment zone.
US07832324B2

A method for protecting a structure or organism from the effects of fire caused by an explosion comprising covering at least a part of said structure or organism in a barrier comprising a water gel.
US07832316B2

An apparatus for slicing food products. The apparatus includes at least two cutter heads integrated with a common base construction and in which a food supply is provided for each cutting knife. The product flows from the cutter heads are combined into a single outflow conveyor.
US07832299B2

A gear-type transmission apparatus includes a first input shaft, a second input shaft provided coaxially and rotatably relative to the first input shaft, a first counter shaft and a second counter shaft arranged in parallel to the first and the second input shafts, an output shaft, a dual clutch mechanism having a first clutch and a second clutch for transmitting a rotation of a driving shaft driven by a power source to the first and the second input shafts, a first gear change mechanism, a second gear change mechanism, a reverse gear set having a reverse shift stage driving gear, a reverse shift stage intermediate gear, and a reverse shift stage driven gear, and a switching clutch having a reverse shift stage engaging member for establishing/interrupting a torque transmission from the driving shaft to the output shaft via the reverse shift set.
US07832292B2

The present disclosure provides a polar coordinate positioning system. The system can be used, for example, to sample a microtiter plate or sample tubes. In some embodiments, the system orients a sample with respect to a sampling tool using polar coordinates. In some embodiments, the sample is configured to rotate about an axis and move linearly in a direction transverse to the axis, and the sampling tool is configured to move linearly in a direction transverse to the linearly movement of the sample.
US07832283B2

Fluid flow apparatus, such as a fluid flow meter, a fluid mixing device or a fluid dispersing device, includes a fluid displacement member (40) mounted in a conduit (20) and having a sloped exterior wall (48) forming a periphery on the member for deflecting the fluid to flow through a region of progressively decreasing area defined between the periphery of the member and the interior surface of the conduit. The displacement member is a hollow frustum (42) terminating at the plane of its outer peripheral edge (46) and accommodating flow measurements at or adjacent the axis of the conduit at or adjacent the plane of the peripheral edge of the displacement member.
US07832278B2

Subject matter disclosed herein may relate to packaging for multi-chip semiconductor devices as may be used, for example, in tire pressure monitoring systems.
US07832273B2

A sensor device includes an ultrasonic sensor and a sensor cover in the form of a foil, the ultrasonic sensor having an oscillatory sensor element, which is affixed inside a housing, having an end face, of the ultrasonic sensor, the ultrasonic sensor being able to be accommodated in a recess or bore hole of an external vehicle component, and the sensor element and the housing being able to be covered by the sensor cover on the outside, the sensor cover being mountable directly on the ultrasonic sensor and forming an at least essentially planar surface whose outline is adapted to the outline of the end face of the housing and coincides in an essentially flush manner with the end face of the housing of the ultrasonic sensor, and the sensor cover reflecting light having a color spectrum in the range of chrome color and a reflection capacity in the range of polished chrome.
US07832271B2

To provide a compact and high performance gyroscope.A gyroscope (10) comprises an outer frame (11); an inner frame (12) positioned inside the outer frame and supported to be movable in one reciprocating direction; a plurality of proof masses (15) positioned inside the inner frame and supported to be movable in the direction orthogonal to the one reciprocating direction; a plurality of outer support suspensions (13) which connect the outer frame and the inner frame; a plurality of inner support suspensions (14) which connect the inner frame and each of the proof masses; actuators (16) for accelerating each of the proof masses; and detectors (17) for detecting displacement of the inner frame against the outer frame. The actuators oscillate the plurality of proof masses in-phase, and wherein Coriolis forces induced on each of the proof masses are summed up in the inner frame.
US07832265B1

A sports arena comprised of a vertical wind tunnel modular unit capable of conjoining with a multitude of vertical wind tunnel modular units joined in tandem for the purpose of levitating humans in a sports arena. The vertical wind tunnel sports arena is designed so that a single vertical wind tunnel modular unit can be utilized as a self contained sports arena or multiple vertical wind tunnel modular units can be combined together in tandem to form an expansive arena where various competitive sports can be played while the athletes are levitating in mid air. The arena contains two separate target systems, each suspended twenty feet above a trampoline safety net, disposed at polar opposite ends of the sports arena. A ball striking a button in the middle of a backboard on the target system will cause a fireball or Tesla coil report to discharge indicating a field goal.
US07832259B2

Combustion within an internal combustion engine is diagnosed and includes monitoring crankshaft angular velocity and generating a combustion phasing value for a combustion chamber based on the crankshaft angular velocity. The combustion phasing value is compared to an expected combustion phasing value based on a predetermined start of injection crank angle and combustion phasing differences greater than an allowable combustion phasing difference are identified based on the comparison.
US07832252B2

A method and apparatus for calibrating a gas chromatography instrument by forcefully shooting a measured droplet which securely passes through a confined passageway without direct intervention of human hands into the entry throat of the instrument so as to avoid contaminating the apparatus or impairing the accuracy of the instrument.
US07832249B2

A can assembly includes a can body, and a cap that is seamed to the can body, and a bag. The bag, which may be formed by a thermoforming process, includes a thickened portion as part of a peripheral flange that terminates in a bulb. A throat that receives the bulb is formed by necks on the body and cap such that the bulb is spaced apart from the seam. A constriction formed by the neck radially inboard from the bulb receives the thickened portion of the bag. The process for forming the can assembly includes forming the seam and thermoforming a billet into the bag. At least part of the flange is formed between matched portions of mold flanges.
US07832247B2

Disclosed therein are an apparatus and method for manufacturing a sprocket segment, which can manufacture the sprocket segment through a simplified process including hot precision forging, through hardening and painting, thereby reducing manufacturing period and cost and securing competitive power. The sprocket segment manufacturing method includes: a primary hot forging process of putting a heated billet in a booster die (10) mounted on a forging press to perform a distribution of volume; a secondary hot forging process of putting the hot forged material (M) in a blocker die (11) to form a rib face (4); a tertiary hot forging process of putting the secondarily hot forged material (M) in a finisher die (12) to keep right angles and planes of a toothed face (6) and the rib face (4); and a process of putting the tertiarily hot forged material (M) in a product guide die (22) of a trimming-piercing-coining die (13) to eliminate a flash and form bolt holes (7) simultaneously.
US07832244B2

A system for hydroforming a workpiece containing fluid at elevated pressure includes a die in which the workpiece is formed, a source of control pressure, a tank at low pressure, and a valve that includes a displaceable control element that alternately moves between an open state and a closed state, opening and closing, respectively, a passage that hydraulically connects the fluid in the workpiece and the tank in response to the relative magnitudes of a first force applied to the control element by the control pressure source and a second force applied to the control element by pressure of the fluid in the workpiece acting on the control element in opposition to the first force.
US07832230B2

The invention relates to a condenser for an air-conditioning system, particularly for a motor vehicle, with vertically arranged tubes, through which a coolant can flow and which are connected to an upper and a lower horizontally arranged manifold whereby permitting the flow of coolant. The inventive condenser also comprises a collector parallelly arranged underneath the lower manifold and, via an inflow opening and an outflow opening, between which a separating device is placed, is connected to the manifold in a manner that permits the flow of coolant. The collector accommodates a filtering and/or drying device. The separating device has a suction device for, in essence, liquid coolant.
US07832227B2

A refrigerator having an insulated cabinet and a door pivotally mounted to the cabinet having an exterior face including a dispenser cavity. An ice maker in the refrigerated storage space is arranged to make and harvest ice pieces. An ice delivery system on the inside of the door dispenses ice pieces into a dispenser cavity in the exterior face of the door. The ice delivery system can include an ice bin including a generally open top and having a bottom opening pivotally mounted on a horizontal axis below the ice maker. The ice can receive ice pieces harvested by the ice maker and discharge ice pieces through the bottom opening and the ice delivery system in a first position. The ice bin can tilt out to permit access to ice pieces, and can be removed from the ice delivery system, in a second position when the door is open.
US07832220B1

A direct expansion geothermal heat exchange system including certain requisite heating/cooling load calculations, certain operational refrigerant pressures, refrigerant tubing design lengths in varying soils, refrigerant tubing sizing per ton of system design capacity, refrigerant tubing sizing at varying sub-surface installation depths, lowering refrigerant tubing into a borehole via rope, encasing the lower segment of refrigerant tubing within a solid encasement, providing a bar for rope attachment, using a winch to raise and lower refrigerant tubing, certain sizing of the compressor, certain air handler sizing, certain accumulator sizing, certain sizing of metering devices in the heating mode and in the cooling mode, parameters for charging the system, certain sizing of the receiver, utilizing certain grout for corrosion protection and for enhanced heat transfer, providing a fluid filled pipe within a borehole to contain accessible refrigerant tubing, providing a certain fluid fill for the pipe, one of providing a certain time delay on the low pressure cut off switch and of eliminating the switch, providing a certain oil separator return line location, and providing a certain amount of lubricating oil.
US07832219B2

An ice barrier and an ice making machine having an ice barrier is provided in some embodiments, wherein the ice barrier is movable between a first orientation in which liquid water from an ice-forming surface is directed into the liquid receptacle, and a second orientation in which the ice barrier blocks access of ice from the ice-forming surface to locations in which ice is trapped between the ice barrier and an adjacent surface. Also, a method of producing ice in an ice making machine is provided in some embodiments, wherein a barrier diverts a flow of liquid water received from the ice-forming surface away from an ice collection bin, and wherein the barrier is moved to an orientation in which the barrier diverts ice toward the ice collection bin and also blocks access of ice to positions trapped between the barrier and an adjacent surface.
US07832216B2

Apparatus for cooling a cooled equipment, comprising: a cryogen vessel (10) housing the cooled equipment; a gaseous cryogen filling the cryogen vessel; a refrigerator (12) having a cooling surface exposed to the interior of the cryogen vessel (10) so as to cool the gaseous cryogen; and a gas current generator arranged to cause circulation of the gaseous cryogen freely within the cryogen vessel, such that the gaseous cryogen is cooled by the refrigerator, and is warmed by heat from the cooled equipment, thereby cooling the cooled equipment.
US07832208B2

A method of controlling an electro-hydraulic system having an engine driving a variable displacement pump, a hydraulic valve and a hydraulic actuator in order to achieve more efficient engine operation is disclosed. The pressures in the electro-hydraulic system are monitored and commands are received indicating the desired movement of the hydraulic actuator. Based on the pressure and the commands, the operation being performed by the machine is determined and the engine is set to an efficient setting for the particular segment of machine operation.
US07832205B2

An exhaust manifold for an engine having at least one combustion chamber and multiple exhaust valves arranged on a first plane is provided with a housing formed to provide a longitudinally extending main exhaust gas passage on a second plane terminating in an outlet at one end. A plurality of discrete, laterally spaced, inlet branch passages include a floor and a ceiling which are initially level with the exhaust valve for a distance equal to one-half the width of the inlet branch passage prior to sloping downward toward the main exhaust gas passage. One of the inlet branch passages is positioned at an end of the housing opposite the exhaust gas passage outlet. The remaining inlet branch passages include integrally formed deflector members arranged to provide an angular change of flow direction requiring exhaust gas to enter the main exhaust gas passage in the downstream direction.
US07832199B2

Art is provided for an exhaust purification system for an internal combustion engine, which decreases an amount of exhaust flowing to a storage-reduction type NOx catalyst and supplies a reducer to the NOx catalyst so as to reduce NOx stored in the NOx catalyst, wherein the manner in which the reducer is dispersed in the NOx catalyst can be controlled to achieve more reliable execution of a NOx reduction treatment. Air-fuel ratio detecting unit is disposed upstream and downstream of the storage-reduction type NOx catalyst. During a predetermined period subsequent to decreasing an amount of exhaust flowing to the NOx catalyst and adding the reducer to the exhaust, a reducer-adding timing is changed such that a difference between an air-fuel ratio detected by the air-fuel ratio detecting unit disposed upstream of the NOx catalyst and an air-fuel ratio detected by the air-fuel ratio detecting unit disposed downstream of the NOx catalyst becomes a predetermined target value.
US07832198B2

If a demanded power exceeds a predetermined threshold, where the threshold is based on a catalyst temperature, power from a power storage unit is supplied to a wheel.
US07832195B2

Super retard combustion is performed in which an ignition timing is set to be after a compression top dead center and fuel is injected before the ignition timing and after the compression top dead center, at cold start or the like which requires early warming-up of a catalyst. During an idle operation without the super retard combustion, a first ISC control is executed in which a feedback control is provided for the degree of opening of a throttle and the ignition timing so that an engine speed corresponds to a target idle speed (S14). On the other hand, during the super retard combustion, a second ISC control is executed in which the control of the degree of opening of the throttle is inhibited, but the ignition timing is advanced because a catalyst may be thermally damaged when the amount of intake air is increased in accordance with an increase in load of an auxiliary device and the like (S15).
US07832187B2

Exemplary systems and methods relating to produce wrapping are described. One implementation includes first and second conveying devices configured to conform to, and cooperatively convey a produce item over a distance and thereby cause an associated media to be snugly wrapped around the produce item.
US07832185B2

An apparatus for sterile filling of beverage containers has a first module and a second module. The first module rinses and sterilizes empty containers and delivers the sterilized containers to the second module. The second module fills and caps the containers with beverage product at ambient temperature in an active sterilization zone utilizing an e-beam sterilization unit.
US07832182B2

Methods, devices and computer program products automatically package an object in a covering material such as casing and/or netting by automatically pushing at least one object through a product chute using an automated pushing mechanism with a pushing head.
US07832175B2

A fastener device for releasably securing an object within an opening formed in a structure comprises a first fastening member and a second fastening member each having a pair of legs which are oriented at an angle relative to one another. A coupling element is movable along one of the legs of at least one of the first and second fastening members. One leg of each fastening member is inserted into a hole formed in the structure surrounding the opening allowing the other leg to pivot, preferably in a trochoidal motion, until the pivoting legs align with one another at which time the coupling element may be moved into engagement with the two pivoting legs to releasably connect the fastening members together in position to secure the object relative to the opening.
US07832170B2

An expandable and collapsible structure and an expandable and collapsible scissor assembly and module therefor are provided. The scissor assembly includes a first strut having a first end and a second end. The scissor assembly also includes a second strut upper portion having a first end and a second end, the first end of the second strut upper portion being pivotably connected to the first strut at an upper strut connection point, and a second strut lower portion having a first end and a second end, the second end of the second strut lower portion being pivotably connected to the first strut at a lower strut connection point. The lower strut connection point is between the upper strut connection point and the first end of the first strut and the scissor assembly is movable between a folded position in which the first end of the first strut and the second end of the second strut upper portion are substantially adjacent and the second end of the first strut and the first end of the second strut lower portion are substantially adjacent, and an expanded position.
US07832169B2

A joint profile (1) intended to be arranged between panels (2 and 3 respectively). The joint profile (1) comprises a first edge portion (10) and a second edge portion (11). The first edge portion (10) comprises a main body portion (101), a bridge portion (102) being at one end connected to the main body portion (101) said bridge portion (102) further being provided with a distal edge (103) and a connector means (104) arranged close to the distal edge (103). The second edge portion (11) is provided with a second main body portion (111) comprising a connector receiving means (114). The main body portion (101) is provided with an edge portion (105) having a geometry adapted for joining with a selected edge (2′, 2″, 3′ and 3″ respectively) of the panels (2 and 3 respectively). The second main body portion (111) is provided with an edge member (115) having a geometry adapted for joining with a selected edge (2′, 2″, 3′ and 3″ respectively) of the panels (2 and 3 respectively).
US07832168B2

In one embodiment, a roll-formed sheet metal tee for grid type suspended ceilings with the face of its flange integral with the stem and the layers of the stem fixed together for improved torsional strength. An upper region of the stem can have one or more of its layers folded to increase suspension wire breakout strength. A stiffening bulb is below suspension wire receiving holes so that a loop of the suspension wire through the tee has a narrow profile and thereby avoids interference with ceiling panels during their installation or removal. Other embodiments of a tee share the feature of a narrow, suspension wire receiving upper stem portion.
US07832167B2

A door and window system comprising a door, a window, a bracket, and a retainer. The door has a portal, and the window is adapted to fit within the portal. The window having a first face and a second face. The bracket has a first window support, and the retainer has a second window support. The first window support includes a surface upon which the first face of the window is supported, and the second window support includes a surface upon which the second face of the window is supported. The door includes first and second outer skins.
US07832166B2

The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus for producing fire rated doors having added strength, better finishing and low cost manufacturing flexibility. The fire rated doors are made from two panels “sandwiched” together. An optional interior layer (e.g., fire resistant material, lead sheeting, steel or Kevlar) can be added between the door panels for various purposes. Splines, stiles or sticks are inserted in longitudinal channels in the door panels to provide assistance in aligning the door panels and greater hardware holding strength. An intumescent banding material concealed by a banding material around the perimeter of the door seals the door within its frame during a fire. The door design and the automated manufacturing process provide greater design choice, reduced cost and faster fabrication.
US07832158B2

An inner area of a framing or framework is divided into a plurality of openings by metal frame bars arranged in a lattice pattern. Particular openings are closed by surface glass panes fitted therein, and the remaining openings by metal plates fitted therein. Spacers 10 softer than the surface glass panes and frame bars and capable of transmitting external forces through the frame bars and surface glass panes are mounted in the openings, between end surfaces extending along sides of the surface glass panes and the frame bars. The spacers not adhering to the surface glass panes are spaced from corners of the surface glass panes.
US07832157B2

An integrated module frame and racking system for a solar panel is disclosed. The solar panel comprises a plurality of solar modules and a plurality of splices for coupling the plurality of solar modules together. The plurality of splices provide a way to make the connected modules mechanically rigid both during transport to the roof and after mounting for the lifetime of the system, provide wiring connections between modules, provide an electrical grounding path for the modules, provide a way to add modules to the panel, and provide a way to remove or change a defective module. Connector sockets are provided on the sides of the modules to simplify the electrical assembly of modules when the modules are connected together with splices.
US07832154B2

A system for connecting modular walls includes a position retention mechanism configured to releasably retain a plurality of wall modules together. In one implementation, the position retention mechanism includes opposing front and back surfaces or walls, and one or more channels formed therebetween. The position retention mechanism is further configured with a plurality of spring tabs positioned within the one or more channels, wherein the spring tabs are configured to lock into a plurality of opposing connector interfaces corresponding to the opposing wall modules, such that the positioning retaining mechanism secures adjacent, opposing wall modules together. The position retention mechanism can further be configured with different surfaces to connect or hold a variety of components of various shapes together.
US07832153B2

A gusset connector plate for anchoring a safety line to a roof truss, a roof truss and an anchoring system incorporating the same. The plate is substantially planar and includes an attachment region and an anchor portion. Teeth extend from the attachment region and into the sides of truss members that form the peak of the roof truss. The anchor portion extends laterally beneath the peak and a hole defined therein receives the connector for the security line. The hole is disposed below the lower surfaces of the truss members and vertically beneath the peak. The plate is permanently engaged with the truss. A single plate or a pair of plates may be incorporated in the roof truss and utilized in the anchoring system.
US07832148B2

A gate (106) includes a panel (112) movable relative to a fixed member (110) between an open position and a closed position. A linkage (140) is pivotally mounted to the panel (112) about a latch pivot axis. A catch (130) is pivotally mounted to the linkage (140) about a catch pivot axis spaced from and parallel to the latch pivot axis. The catch (130) is movable between a latched position engaged with the fixed member (110) and an unlatched position disengaged from the fixed member (110). The catch (130) defines a groove for slideable receipt on the fixed member (110). When the catch (130) is in the latched position and the panel (112) is in the closed position, the catch (130) abuts against opposite sides of the fixed member (110) along an extended length such that forces are applied on each side at spaced locations to resist twisting forces.
US07832140B2

An insect killing system optimized for mosquitoes uses multiple thermal gradients to simulate the breathing of, and body heat emitted by, animals, including human beings and fowl, to attract insects for subsequent electrocution and/or trapping. Mosquitoes are attracted to a mosquito-killing device for electrocution and/or trapping. Heat is generated within the device such that a heat gradient between an outer surface of the device and the atmosphere surrounding the device is created thereby emulating emission of body heat by an animal. At least one mosquito attractant, such as an aromatic, a pheromone, or moisture, is emitted from the device. And an airflow is created that sucks mosquitoes, which have been attracted to the outside of the device, into the device for electrocution and/or trapping by the device.
US07832129B2

A lock that includes a wedge that is used to releasably secure separable components of an assembly together. The wedge can be used with a spool. The wedge and spool are threadedly coupled together to drive the wedge into and out of an opening in the assembly without hammering or prying. The direct coupling of the wedge and spool eliminates the need for bolts, washers, nuts and other hardware so as to minimize the number of parts. As a result, the lock is inexpensive to make, easy to use, and unlikely to become inoperative because of lost or broken parts or due to fines or other difficulties encountered in harsh digging environments. Further, the wedge can be driven into the assembly to provide the degree of tightness necessary for the intended operation and/or to re-tighten the assembly after incurring wear during use. A latch assembly is preferably provided to securely hold the wedge in place and avoid an undesired loss of parts during use.
US07832125B1

A plant transplanting apparatus includes a pair of hand spade assemblies each having a post with a top end and a bottom end and a blade that has a top edge and a bottom edge. The top edge is attached to the bottom end of the post and a grip is attached to the top end of the post. A coupling assembly releasably couples the hand spade assemblies together. The coupling assembly engages the posts to allow the first sides of the blades to be pivoted toward or away from each other. The coupling assembly is adjustable to allow a space between the spade assemblies to be selectively adjusted. The blades are extended into soil on either side of a plant and the blades are pivoted toward each other to lift the plant from the soil to allow the plant to be transplanted.
US07832112B2

A level including an elongate hollow frame with two sidewalls and a topwall extending therebetween, a topnotch defined by the walls which have notch-defining edges including non-vertical surfaces, and a vial within the topnotch. A vial-mounting structure includes a vial-holding member and a locking member movably secured with respect to the vial-holding member. The vial-holding member is configured for resting on the non-vertical notch-edge surfaces. The locking member includes frame-engaging portions which press upwardly against a frame inner surface to pull the vial-holding member downwardly against the non-vertical notch-edge surfaces, thereby securing the vial-holding member to the frame. A method for securing a vial-mounting structure to the level by providing the vial-mounting structure, which includes the vial-holding member, and pulling the vial-holding member downwardly against the non-vertical notch-edge surfaces by a force from inside the frame, thereby securing the vial-holding member to the frame.
US07832097B1

A method includes forming a patterned sacrificial layer on a first carrier and a patterned trace layer on the patterned sacrificial layer. The patterned sacrificial layer and the patterned trace layer are laminated to a dielectric material. The first carrier and the patterned sacrificial layer are removed creating sacrificial layer gaps above the patterned trace layer. The sacrificial layer gaps are filled with a trace layer isolation dielectric material. Shield trenches are laser-ablated within the dielectric material and on opposite sides of a signal trace of the patterned trace layer. The shield trenches are filled with an electrically conductive material to form shield walls. The electrically conductive material is patterned to form a shield top. The shield top, the shield walls, and a second carrier form a bias shield around the signal trace.
US07832096B2

A chip module heat transfer apparatus includes one or more chips electronically connected to a module substrate by controlled collapse chip connection (C4) solder joints. The module substrate, which is preferably an FR-4 laminate or other organic substrate, has cut-out channels formed thereon. A permanent solder mask is laminated over the cut-out channels to form thermal dissipation channels, which are in fluid communication with input and output ports. The C4 solder joints include solder balls that electronically connect terminals on the chips to corresponding attach pads on the substrate that are exposed through the mask. The thermal dissipation channels extend along rows of attach pads. A cooling fluid, such as inert perfluorocarbon fluid, flows through the thermal dissipation channels to remove heat and to mitigate strain on the solder balls due to coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the chips and the substrate.
US07832093B2

There are provided methods for creating energy conversion devices based on the giant flexoelectric effect in non-calamitic liquid crystals. By preparing a substance comprising at least one type of non-calamitic liquid crystal molecules and stabilizing the substance to form a mechanically flexible material, flexible conductive electrodes may be applied to the material to create an electro-mechanical energy conversion device which relies on the giant flexoelectric effect to produce electrical and/or mechanical energy that is usable in such applications as, for example, power sources, energy dissipation, sensors/transducers, and actuators.
US07832091B2

A method for manufacturing a conductive contact holder includes forming, from a conductive material, a substrate having a hollow portion to which a holder member for holding a plurality of conductive contacts can be fitted; fixing the substrate formed from the conductive material and an insulating member by fitting the substrate and the insulating member into the hollow portion of the substrate, the insulating member being a raw material of the holder member; polishing a surface of the fixed holder member and a surface of the substrate adjoining the surface so as to make the surfaces smooth; and forming a plurality of holder holes for containing the conductive contacts, respectively, the holder holes penetrating the holder member, the surface of which is polished. The fixing includes filling an insulating adhesive between the holder member and the substrate.
US07832086B2

An alignment jig including: a base jig which is used when aligning and bonding a nozzle plate which is provided with nozzle orifices ejecting liquid of a liquid-jet head with/to a fixing member holding a nozzle plate side of the plurality of liquid-jet heads, and which is provided with an optical system on a bottom plane thereof; a mask having transparency, one plane of which is bonded to a plane of the base jig opposite to the optical system, and the other plane of which is provided with a reference mark for being aligned with an alignment mark provided for the nozzle plate; and a spacer jig which is bonded to a plane of the mask where the reference mark of the mask is provided, and which holds the fixing member.
US07832084B2

A method of recording servo information includes writing servo information in a data storage medium using a compound magnetic recording head. The compound magnetic recording head has a substrate including first and second magnetically permeable substrate portions and a substantially non-magnetic member interposed between the first and second magnetically permeable substrate portions. A magnetically permeable layer is provided over the first and second magnetically permeable substrate portions of the substrate and includes first and second writing gap features associated with the first and second substrate portions. The writing gap features are formed using a patterned mask layer over the magnetically permeable layer, wherein the patterned mask layer comprises first and second patterned gap features corresponding to the first and second writing gap features.
US07832074B2

Method and apparatus is provided for monitoring the installation of a blind rivet to attach together top and bottom members. The blind rivet installation tool includes a housing having an anvil seated on the rivet head. A collet is reciprocable within the tool housing and carries jaws for gripping the mandrel of the blind rivet. Retraction of the jaws by the collet displaces the jaws and the mandrel axially and causes the mandrel head to axially collapse and radially expand the hollow shank of the blind rivet into engagement with the bottom member so that the rivet attaches the top member and the bottom member. A cut off tool is actuated by an actuator to cut off the mandrel flush with the rivet head. Transducers and a process controller monitor the installation process and actuate the cut off blade upon determining that the blind rivet is properly installed.
US07832073B2

An apparatus for repairing steering knuckle (kingpin) bearings includes a table having multiple, adjustable slides for receiving and securing the steering knuckle to the table, a boring bar and cutter, two adjustable bearing supports for receiving and positioning the boring bar along an axis coincident with the axis of the kingpin bearings, a first drive assembly for advancing the boring bar and a second drive assembly for rotating the boring bar. A method of repairing a steering knuckle comprises securing the knuckle to the slides and the slides to the table, utilizing cylindrical centering rings to align the boring bar with the axis of the kingpin bearings, supporting and securing the boring bar on the previously established axis in a pair of bearing supports and rotating and feeding the boring bar and cutter to create new surfaces in the steering knuckle adapted to receive bearing sleeves. Upon installation of both bearing sleeves, the boring bar and drive unit are reinstalled and the inside diameter of the sleeve is bored to the proper size to receive the kingpin.
US07832072B2

Provided is an apparatus for lifting a retractable lower safety-guard on a circular saw. In one representative implementation, an actuator is attached to the circular saw and an elongated arm is coupled to the actuator such that operating the actuator causes the elongated arm to lift. In addition, an engagement element is attached to the retractable lower safety-guard of the circular saw. When lifted, the elongated arm engages the engagement element, thereby retracting the retractable lower safety-guard of the circular saw. Preferably, the actuator is configured, and is located sufficiently close to a power switch for the circular saw, so that the actuator can be operated simultaneously with the power switch using a single hand. Also provided are retrofitting techniques for attaching such a device to an existing circular saw.
US07832066B2

A fastener which operates to provide retractably extendable fastener elements which allow for attachment and detachment of the fastener to fastenable materials.
US07832059B2

In a device on a spinning preparation machine, having a drafting system for drawing at least one fibre silver with drafting system rollers, forming drafting roller pairs, having power transmission means for driving the drafting system rollers and having a drive motor, the drive of the drafting system rollers is effected from different sides. In order to reduce the number of drive elements and to effect a substantial improvement in efficiency, the drive motor has two rotating drive elements, the drive of at least one roller pair being effected from one side by the first drive element and the drive of at least one other roller pair being effected from the other side by the second drive element.
US07832055B2

A hinge for use in a mobile terminal comprises a first hinge portion defining an opening and having a slot extending from the periphery of the first hinge portion to the opening, and a second hinge portion defining an opening and having a slot extending from the periphery of the second hinge portion to the opening. The first hinge portion is one body portion of the mobile terminal, and the second hinge portion is secured to the other body portion. The hinge portions are rotatably connected such that the openings are aligned. The hinge portions are relatively rotatable between a first position where the slot in the first hinge portion and the slot in the second hinge portion are aligned, and a second position where the slot in the first hinge portion and the slot in the second hinge portion are not aligned and the openings cannot be accessed from the exterior of the hinge.
US07832053B1

A hinge assembly for a wireless communication device that pivotally connects a display housing member to a keypad housing member is described. The hinge assembly comprises an upper hinge arm, a lower hinge arm, and a rotating assembly. The upper hinge arm includes an upper hinge plate that is coupled to the display housing member. The lower hinge arm includes a lower hinge plate that is coupled to the keypad housing member. The rotating assembly comprises a first fastener, a second fastener and at least one conductive spring. The first fastener couples the upper hinge arm to one end of the rotating assembly. The second fastener couples the lower hinge arm to the other end of the rotating assembly. At least one conductive spring interfaces with at least one hinge end, and provides a ground path within the hinge assembly.
US07832052B2

A drapery master carrier for a drapery electric drive system is provided having a built-in wireless transmitter and a sensor to determine whether a manual pull is being applied to the drapes. The sensor is operatively connected to or incorporated into the wireless transmitter such that sensing by the sensor of a manual pull applied to the drapes will activate the wireless transmitter to transmit a signal to a motor drive controller receiver to drive the motor.
US07832044B2

A floor mat having a base that includes a plurality of alternating fibrous strips and impervious strips and surrounded by a frame. The base is substantially continuous across its entire width and length, having no openings from its upper surface through to its lower surface. The impervious strips include a plurality of spaced apart rows of spaced apart bosses. The gaps formed between the spaced apart bosses become closed-bottom wells in which water, snow and particles of dirt scraped from the underside of shoes can accumulate
US07832041B2

A device for applying stain treatment formulation to a garment or article of clothing while it is being worn is disclosed. The device includes a reservoir with an applicator tip for containing the formulation and dispensing the formulation to a stain, spot or mark on the garment. The device also includes a shell connected to the reservoir for housing an absorbent member dispensing mechanism. After the stain removal formulation is applied, the absorbent member is pressed and/or rubbed on the stain to lift and remove the stain and to absorb or wick excess formulation thereby reducing the time needed for the resulting wet spot to dry. Effective stain removing formulations for on-the-go use are also provided.
US07832027B2

A flexible sink strainer having a cupped body completely comprised of a flexible material including a plurality of apertures to allow fluid to pass therethrough, wherein the body is capable of attaining first and second configurations, the first configuration being suitable for capturing material entrained within fluid as it passes through the apertures and the second configuration being suitable for removing material captured on the body as fluid passes through the apertures, is disclosed.
US07832026B1

A toilet actuation apparatus. An illustrative embodiment of the apparatus includes a lever support, at least one pedal lever pivotally carried by the lever support, at least one pedal carried by the at least one pedal lever on a first side of the lever support, at least one actuation lever pivotally carried by the at least one pedal lever on a second side of the lever support, at least one toothed actuation rack carried by the at least one actuation lever and at least one toothed actuation pinion engaging the at least one toothed actuation rack.
US07832025B2

A dispenser for releasing a treatment composition into the bowl of a toilet, and a fragrance into the surrounding room, comprises a solid block of a treatment composition in a housing. A block of gel material impregnated with the fragrance fills an opening in a front wall of the housing and is exposed to the housing interior.
US07832020B2

A protective glove (10) is provided for use by a firefighter or other emergency worker. The glove (10) includes an outer shell (22), at least one liner (24, 28, 30) located inside of the outer shell (22), and a dead air space (34) located inside of the outer shell (22).
US07836511B2

Enforcing rendering advertisements and other predetermined media content in connection with playback of downloaded selected media content. Playback of selected media content is made conditional on acquisition of a playback token that is generated in response to playback of the predetermined content. The playback token may be implemented as a digital rights management (DRM) license acquired in response to playback of the predetermined content. Another aspect involves a content insertion engine for inserting ads or other predetermined content into the playback of downloaded content.
US07836508B2

A process for masking data that includes providing a field of data to a masking application system and replacing the field of data with identical masked data regardless of a type of application that supplies the field of data to the masking application system. The process further including forming a meta data file that has information pertaining to a format of a piece of data and a format of the masked data as output from the masking application system.
US07836503B2

A node of a network for managing an intrusion protection system, the node comprising a memory module for storing data in machine-readable format for retrieval and execution by a central processing unit and an operating system comprising a network stack comprising a protocol driver and a media access control driver and operable to execute an intrusion protection system management application, the management application operable to receive text-file input from an input device, the text-file defining a network-exploit rule and comprising at least one field is provided. A method of distributing command and security updates in a network having an intrusion protection system comprising generating a text-file defining a network-exploit rule and specifying at least one field selected from the group consisting of an ENABLED field value and a SEVERITY level field value during generation of the text-file is provided. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions to be executed, the set of instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a computer method of reading input from an input device of the computer, compiling the input into a machine-readable signature file comprising machine-readable logic representative of the network-exploit rule and a value of at least one field selected from the group consisting of an ENABLED field and a SEVERITY field, evaluating the machine-readable signature file, and determining the value of the at least one field of the machine-readable signature file is provided.
US07836487B2

An inter-domain authentication mechanism is provided for carrying out a cross-domain authentication for a given user between an access network domain and a Multimedia domain. The authentication mechanism is applicable where a user has been authenticated by the access network and may be implemented as a dedicated Multimedia Authentication device in close co-operation with a subscriber server, or be fully integrated in the subscriber server. The authentication mechanism is arranged for re-using authentication data between different networks, or between different technological domains, and with help from other entities of a Multimedia domain according to present standards.
US07836478B2

In an Ethernet port control method and apparatus of a digital broadcasting system, a head-end is caused to physically block functions of an Ethernet port disposed in a set-top box in order to prevent an unauthenticated device from accessing a cable modem termination system (CMTS) from the head-end through the Ethernet port in the set-top box for a malicious purpose, such as hacking. The Ethernet port control apparatus includes a head-end for providing a control message, including port closing information, for preventing abuse of an Ethernet port, and a set-top box for resetting the Ethernet port according to the port closing information, thereby closing the Ethernet port when the control message is received from the head-end.
US07836477B2

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus by which image data can be downloaded simply. A video camera 11 receives thumbnail images corresponding to one or more images included in an album from a video camera image station 41 and displays the thumbnail images on an LCD unit. If one or more images to be downloaded are selected, then the video camera 11 acquires image information of the selected image or images from a video camera image station 41, analyzes the image information and discriminates it one by one image whether or not the selected image data are downloadable. Every time one image is discriminated to be downloadable, the video camera 11 accesses a corresponding URL designated for each image, downloads the image from the URL and records the image onto a recording medium. The video camera 11 successively downloads the selected images in this manner.
US07836473B2

Strategies are described for adding a mark to media content at a source location in response to the activation of a marking mechanism, and then resuming the presentation of the media content at a second location based on the mark. The source location may be the same as the destination location, or the source location may differ from the destination location. In the latter case, the source location can correspond to a first room in a home that provides a first media processing mechanism, and the destination location can correspond to a second room in the home that provides a second media processing mechanism. The marking mechanism can correspond to a mark button provided by a remote control. Various user interface displays facilitate the adding of the mark and the resuming of the presentation, including various timelines displays, mark panel displays, thumbnail displays, etc.
US07836461B2

Improved computer interface system using multiple independent hardware and virtual human-computer input devices and related enabling subroutines is disclosed. Multiple independent data input devices allow users to input data independently from multiple independent data input devices to operating system. Input device driver decodes input from multiple independent input devices. Operating system interface software interprets data from input device driver. Operating system software further generates and controls multiple cursors or control points. Input device aware program obtains and interprets input devices event message, and controls input device aware objects.
US07836459B2

A method for marshalling data from multiple middleware applications to an implementation includes receiving first data from a first middleware application, the first data having a first format of multiple available formats. A first path is selected from multiple paths based on the first format, the multiple paths corresponding to the multiple available formats. The first data is converted from the first format to a common format, which is compatible with the implementation, based on the selected first path. The method may further include receiving second data from a second middleware application, the second data have a second format of the multiple available formats; selecting a second path from the multiple paths based on the second format; and converting the second data from the second format to the common format based on the selected second path.
US07836451B2

Under the present invention, a computer work gradient matrix (hereinafter “matrix”) is developed by applying a set of background loading levels and a set of elemental work increments to a computer system, and then measuring the resource consumption of the computer system based thereon. Task work path(s) are also constructed by applying specific tasks to the computer system at a certain background loading level, and measuring the resource consumption of the computer system over time. Once the matrix and task work path(s) have been provided, they can be used to approximate the resource consumption of the computer system in response to a task applied at any background loading level.
US07836448B1

In a storage area network (SAN), different tasks may expect different types of commands for commencing execution, such as interactive or offline, and may have different formats for reporting status and completion, such as log files or message based. A framework for defining the business logic enveloped in a particular task, and providing a common manner of deploying, or enabling invocation, of the task provides consistent operator control for scheduling, monitoring, ensuring completion, and tracking errors and other events. Business logic modules are identified as commands corresponding to a task. Transactions including a set of the commands define an ordered sequence for completing the task. The operator requests a particular set of tasks, using a selection tree, and the task manager builds a corresponding execution tree to identify and map the transactions and commands of the task to the execution tree to optimize execution and mitigate redundancies.
US07836446B2

Disclosed is a conflict management program that ensures that an application can be programmed without having to consider a conflict with another application. An application manager (25) is provided with an execution list (61) for registering a currently executed application and an execution wait list (62) for registering an application on standby. In the event of an application conflict, an application management block (64) references a conflict condition table that relates to the state of the currently executed application and to the state of the application on standby, which are registered in each list (61) and (62), and determines the states (running, terminated, waiting for execution, etc.) to which the applications should switch in accordance with the priorities of the current states of the applications. An application control block (65) respectively places the applications in the states determined by the application management block (64), thereby exercising application conflict management.
US07836437B2

Methods are disclosed for providing virtual objects and associating semantic annotations with the virtual objects. A user may be enabled to take virtual photographs of the virtual objects, wherein the semantic annotations associated with the virtual objects visible in the virtual photograph are stored with the virtual photograph. The virtual objects may be included in a virtual world. The user may be enabled to query a computer-controlled character about a virtual object in the virtual photograph, or in a virtual world in realtime, wherein the computer-controlled character is enabled to respond to the query by combining the semantic annotation associated with the virtual object in the virtual photograph with additional semantic annotations tagged to the computer-controlled character or a context of the virtual world to dynamically provide a semantic output, in various embodiments.
US07836436B2

Instructions in an asynchronous transactional messaging language are transformed into instructions that are compatible with the web services. In one embodiment, the asynchronous transactional messaging language is XLANG/s, and the web service languages are the web services description language (WSDL) and the simple object access protocol (SOAP). A programmer simply writes high level declarative statements that pertain to the specific type of business transaction. During compilation, selected instructions are transformed into instructions that are compatible with web services. This transformation is transparent to the designer of the business application. The asynchronous transactional messaging language source files are compiled in an iterative compilation process. During each pass of this compilation process, different variables are parsed. The parsed results are logically organized in a tree structure. The tree structure is traversed in depth first traversal order. During this traversal, instructions are transformed into instructions compatible with web services.
US07836435B2

Checking for memory access collisions in a multiple processor architecture is described. Memory access collisions may be found by simulating an instruction to be executed by a multiple processor computing system in which the processors share memory access, extracting memory access information from the instruction, searching a virtual memory map for a memory access conflict, and reporting the conflict if a conflict is found in the search.
US07836433B2

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for analyzing binary code. Binary code is received. Code analysis rules indicative of a query related to the functionality of the binary code are received. The query is implemented in analysis code configured to determine results of the query. It is determined if valid cached results for the query are cached in a results store. If not, the analysis code is invoked to determine the results for the query and the results are cached. Accordingly, when the query is received in the future, the results can be accessed from the results store without having to invoke the analysis code to determine the results. If so, the cached results are retrieved so as to avoid further invocation of the analysis code. The results are returned.
US07836431B2

To implement pipelining, data from a first test written in a DBMS procedural language (such as PL/SQL) is automatically passed to a second test which may or may not be in the same language. A user creates a container test to identify names of the two tests, and adds one or more procedure(s) with predetermined name(s), to identify dependencies between the tests. In the first test, to supply data for the second test, the user includes one or more additional procedure(s) of predetermined name(s), to support an interface to a runtime data store. The second test reads data from the runtime data store. In certain embodiments, an adapter extracts test names from the container test and uses each name to create an object for each test, and during execution of methods in each object a database call is issued.
US07836428B2

A method and system for instructing a computer in a system of a declarative computer programming language. Unlike traditional declarative languages, the programming language may be neither relational nor functional, neither procedural nor imperative. The declarative elements may be defined as a meta-description of logic and data. The basic morphology of this meta-description may be a data construct known as a Lattice. Lattices derive declarative power from their inclusion of “Attributes” and “Sites”. Attributes are declarative properties that determine the internal behavior of a Lattice; while Sites are declarative data access points that establish the external relationship a Lattice may have with other Lattices, Lattice Containers, and Lattice Elements. Each of these data constructs are highly adaptable, recursive, and expandable, providing the entire language with a degree of flexibility that facilitates a very high level of abstraction.
US07836423B2

A method for determining kernels in a sum of coherent systems (SOCS) approximation is provided. Information for an object to be simulated in a manufacturing process is determined. For example, information based on geometries that are included in a layout or mask is determined. A set of kernels from a transmission cross coefficient (TCC) matrix are also determined. The set of kernels may be weighted by importance values in an order of importance. The kernels may then be re-ordered based on the information for the object. These kernels are then re-ordered in the SOCS series to reflect their order of importance. The SOCS series of kernels is then truncated at the number of kernels desired. Accordingly, by re-ordering the kernels that may be more relevant to the object to include higher weights, when the truncation occurs, the kernels that are most relevant may be included in the SOCS approximation.
US07836420B2

An integrated circuit system comprising: providing a substrate; forming a main feature using a first non-cross-junction assist feature over the substrate; forming the main feature using a second non-cross-junction assist feature, adjacent a location of the first non-cross-junction feature, over the substrate; and forming an integrated circuit having the substrate with the main feature thereover.
US07836416B2

Techniques and systems for analysis, diagnosis and debugging fabricated hardware designs at a Hardware Description Language (HDL) level are described. Although the hardware designs (which were designed in HDL) have been fabricated in integrated circuit products with limited input/output pins, the techniques and systems enable the hardware designs within the integrated circuit products to be analyzed, diagnosed, and debugged at the HDL level at speed. The ability to debug hardware designs at the HDL level facilitates correction or adjustment of the HDL description of the hardware designs. Moreover, various embodiments related to HDL code coverage are described.
US07836412B1

A computer program product for use with text transcribed from audio information, the computer program product residing on a computer-readable medium, includes computer-readable instructions for causing a computer to: enable defined keystroke combinations for use in editing the text transcribed from audio, the defined keystroke combinations corresponding to formatting functions identified as frequently-used functions during editing of a transcribed text; and respond to an activated keystroke combination by replacing a first format in the text document with a second format corresponding to the chosen keystroke combination.
US07836403B2

A method, user interface module, application program interface, computer program product and system that provides access to context information in a display window that remains persistent as the user navigates the application and views application data. The persistent dashboard can be populated from a communications event, such as an inbound telephone call; from data entered by the customer service agent via the user interface, such as a response to one of a series of scripted questions; from search results of a user-initiated search; or from application data displayed in a display window of the user interface. Various types of information from enterprise databases can be captured in the persistent dashboard to address the enterprise's business processes and needs. Information displayed in the persistent dashboard is configurable.
US07836400B2

Snooze support for event reminders produced on a hand held mobile device is disclosed. Snooze support in at least one example embodiment is characterized by an event reminder rescheduling method. This event reminder rescheduling method includes the step of prompting for a device user to take one of a number of actions in relation to an event reminder released from an event reminders queue. One of the number of actions is requesting, through operation of one or more input components of the mobile device, that the event reminder be generated again after a lapse of a snooze time.
US07836391B2

A search engine includes a decision component that determines whether documents that are returned in response to a user search query are likely to be very relevant to the search query. Links that refer to documents that the search engine determines to likely be very relevant may be displayed with visual cues that assist the user in browsing the links. The decision component may base its decision on a number of parameters, including: (1) the position of the document in a ranked list of search results, (2) the click through rate of the document, (3) relevance scores for the document and other documents that are returned as hits in response to the search query, and (4) whether the document is classified as a pornographic document (the search engine may refrain from showing visual cues for potentially pornographic documents).
US07836385B2

Herein described is a system and a method of detecting and correcting data bit errors using a sequence of one or more codewords transmitted through a communication channel characterized by intersymbol interference. Each of the one or more codewords incorporates one or encodes one or more parity bits. The codewords are processed by a Meta-Viterbi detector that utilizes a Meta-Viterbi algorithm. The Meta-Viterbi detector comprises an event weight processor, a computational circuitry, a parity syndrome calculator, and an error correction circuitry. The Meta-Viterbi detector receives an output generated from a Viterbi detector having 2s states and processes the received output using a trellis diagram having 2t states.
US07836382B2

This invention provides a processor for writing data contained in payload data of a data packet to memory. The processor may, in some embodiments, be a central processing unit of a memory tag. The processor does not include a write buffer. The processor may comprise a first register adapted to latch first data corresponding to a segment of the payload data; and a second register adapted to receive second data from the payload data to enable the validity of the data latched into the first register to be established before data is written to memory. A memory device, a method for writing data contained in payload data, a data packet, a method of writing data into a non-volatile memory and a memory tag may also be provided.
US07836381B1

A transceiver is designed to share memory and processing power amongst a plurality of transmitter and/or receiver latency paths, in a communications transceiver that carries or supports multiple applications. For example, the transmitter and/or receiver latency paths of the transceiver can share an interleaver/deinterleaver memory. This allocation can be done based on the data rate, latency, BER, impulse noise protection requirements of the application, data or information being transported over each latency path, or in general any parameter associated with the communications system.
US07836374B2

A computer system includes a memory controller coupled to a memory module containing several DRAMs. The memory module also includes a non-volatile memory storing row addresses identifying rows containing DRAM memory cells that are likely to lose data during normal refresh of the memory cells. Upon power-up, the data from the non-volatile memory are transferred to a comparator in the memory controller. The comparator compares the row addresses to row addresses from a refresh shadow counter that identify the rows in the DRAMs being refreshed. When a row of memory cells is being refreshed that is located one-half of the rows away from a row that is likely to loose data, the memory controller causes the row that is likely to loose data to be refreshed. The memory controller also includes error checking circuitry for identifying the rows of memory cells that are likely to lose data during refresh.
US07836373B2

A method and apparatus is provided for receiving data in a receiver of a communication system. In the receiver, a first calculator calculates a Log Likelihood Ratio (LLR) value of data transmitted from a transmitter, a decoder performs iterative decoding on the transmitted data using the LLR value calculated by the first calculator. A second calculator determines whether there is an error in the decoded data by calculating an error of the data decoded by the decoder. A storage stores an LLR value of the decoded data according to the determination result of the second calculator. An adder adds up the LLR value calculated by the first calculator and the LLR value stored in the storage. A controller performs a control operation such that if the data transmitted from the transmitter is retransmitted data, the decoder performs iterative decoding using the LLR value added by the adder, and if the data transmitted from the transmitter is not retransmitted data, the decoder performs iterative decoding using the LLR value calculated by the first calculator.
US07836370B2

A SCAN test circuit for giving a semiconductor integration circuit a scan test includes a scan enable signal generating device that generates scan enable signals based on a scan enable external input signal, a clock generator that generate launch and capture clocks for collectively detecting a delay malfunction at a practical operation speed, and a controller configured to control the clock generator based on the scan enable signals.
US07836366B2

Among the various embodiments described is a method of detecting defects in a cell of an integrated circuit that analyzes exercising conditions applied to an input of the cell during a capture phase of testing with failed test patterns that produce an indication of a fault and that analyzes the exercising conditions that are applied during a capture phase of testing with observable passing patterns that do not provide an indication of a fault. From the analysis, true failing excitation conditions and passing excitation conditions can be determined and used to identify whether a defect is in the cell or on an interconnect wire of the integrated circuit.
US07836363B2

A method of transmitting data through a link comprises encoding digital data into encoded digital data in a transition minimized differential signaling encoder, serializing the encoded digital data into encoded and serial digital data in a serializer, generating test data in a pseudo-random binary sequence generator circuit, transmitting the encoded and serial digital data through a multiplexer to a transmission medium in a normal mode of operation, and transmitting the test data through the multiplexer to the transmission medium in a test mode of operation. The encoder, the serializer, the sequence generator circuit, and the multiplexer are fabricated in a single integrated chip. The test data includes data to generate colors in a visual image, and the encoded and serial digital data is received, deserialized, decoded, and displayed in a display unit.
US07836355B2

An autonomic computing system is automatically maintained in a steady state. The system has a number of parameters, each of which has one or more threshold. The system may further have a number of influencers, adjustment of which affects values of the parameters. One or more of the parameters are determined as each reaching one of its threshold, and are referred to as to-be-affected parameters. Each to-be-affected parameter is identified and its thresholds identified. A correlation value may be determined between each influencer and each to-be-affected parameter, and/or between each to-be-affected parameter and each other to-be-affected parameter. The to-be-affected parameters are adjusted, based on the correlation values determined, so that the to-be-affected parameters return to more-normal values.
US07836345B2

A personal computer component diagnostic method is executed to recognize the status or potential problems of a computer before executing an operating system. The personal computer component diagnostic method comprising: calling a BIOS program; executing a component basic diagnostic program; and executing a component functional test after executing a predetermined step. The component functional test includes a CPU MSR/MTRR test, a hard disk S.M.A.R.T. test, a boot path test and a PCI device scanning test.
US07836337B1

A method, system, and computer program product for restoration of a mobile device to its state prior to loss of application software and data stored in standard memory storage. A core agent is deployed into the standard memory storage of the mobile device and a persistent agent is deployed into the persistent memory storage of the mobile device. The persistent agent is an installation version of the core agent. In the event of loss of application software and data stored in standard memory storage, the core agent is re-deployed into the standard memory storage of the mobile device using the deployed persistent agent. The core agent, in conjunction with a host server facilitates the re-deployment of the application software and the data into the standard memory storage of the mobile device. The mobile device is thus restored to its state prior to loss of standard memory.
US07836334B2

A system for transferring data read from a data storage medium. The system comprises a memory unit, a controller, a memory management logic, and an output interface. The memory unit stores the data. The controller compares at least one address of the data with at least one defect address and generates a defect notification signal indicating the comparison result. The memory management logic calculates the amount of the data stored in the memory unit for transfer and generates a calculation signal according to the amount of the data and the defect notification signal received from the controller. The output interface retrieves the data from the memory unit and transfers the retrieved data according to the calculation signal received from the memory management logic.
US07836331B1

A system and method protects the contents of memory during error conditions. An illustrative storage system includes a complex programmable logic device (CPLD) that interfaces with a memory controller and a basic input output system (BIOS) for ensuring that the system memory is maintained in a self refresh state in the event of an error condition. The memory controller is configured to, in response to receiving a signal from the CPLD, cause the memory to enter the self refresh state where it is maintained by a battery subsystem (or alternate power sources). Accordingly, data contained within the memory may be replayed to persistent storage upon correction of the error condition via, for example, a system re-initialization.
US07836330B2

Provided are a stream distribution system and a failure detection method capable of easily identifying the cause of quality loss in stream distribution. This stream distribution system includes a first server for communicating with a client terminal via a router and sending stream data, and a second server configured as a redundant server of the first server and connected to the first server. The first server has a communication status notification unit for sending a connection management table concerning the communication with the client terminal to the second server. The second server has a packet recording unit for acquiring a mirror packet, which is a copy of a packet sent to the first server, from the router, and a network failure monitoring unit for detecting a failure in a network between the first server and the client terminal based on the connection management table and a packet buffer.
US07836311B2

Service data or usage right information, used as purchased content or license information, is set so as to be re-acquired on condition that an acquirer is an authorized content-purchasing client. A leaf ID as a client identifier in an enabling-key-block distribution tree, and a restoring-processing requesting file including verification data for the leaf ID are used as client identifying data, whereby it is ensured that an authorized content-purchasing client is verified.
US07836302B2

There is provided a method and system for verifying a device, having components. Identification numbers of the components are read and then verified. The process of verifying comprises matching each identification number in a database to determine whether each identification number is valid. In one embodiment, the database is remote from the device, wherein verification is performed over a network connecting a database server containing the database with the device. The device transmits the identification numbers for each of the components to the database server for verification. A file allocation structure reader may be located in a basic input/output system of the device for reading and verifying data files from a persistent storage media without loading an operating system. The device may comprise a gaming machine that contains a monitor for monitoring one or more system events being processed by the gaming machine. The monitor monitors routine and non-routine events. A detector is included for detecting selected system events so that they may be recorded.
US07836301B2

A method for distributing a password protected content file without revealing the password to a recipient. An unlocking program that has access to at least one password corresponding to the password protecting the content file is distributed to the recipient's computer. A password protected content file is distributed to the recipient's computer wherein upon activation of the unlocking program, the unlocking program automatically supplies the at least one password upon loading of the password protected content file.
US07836289B2

A program execution control device which controls execution of a program by a processor having a predicate function for conditional execution of an instruction, wherein the program includes a branch instruction to control iterations in loop processing, the branch instruction is further an instruction to generate an execute-or-not condition indicating whether or not the branch instruction is to be executed at an iteration in the loop processing after a current iteration, and to reflect the execute-or-not condition on a predicate flag used for conditional execution of the branch instruction, the program execution control device comprises a processor status changing unit configured to change, before an execution cycle of the branch instruction, a status of the processor in advance for execution of an instruction following the branch instruction, the status being changed based on the execute-or-not condition reflected on the predicate flag.
US07836283B2

A method provides a data acquisition message of a data processing system to an external port thereof. Configuration information is written to a configuration register. It is determined if the configuration information identifies a data acquisition operation. If the data acquisition operation has been identified, data corresponding to the configuration information is written to a data register. The data in the data register and the configuration information in the configuration register are formatted into the data acquisition message. The data acquisition message is sent to the external port of the data processing system.
US07836282B2

The illustrative embodiments described herein provide a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for increasing a number of instructions per clock cycle associated with a processor. The illustrative embodiments fold a plurality of non-sequential instructions within the set of sequential order instructions to form a folded instruction. The folded instruction is executed to form an executed instruction. The executed instruction is placed in a reorder buffer. The instructions within the reorder buffer are written to a register based on the sequential order of execution within the set of sequential order instructions.
US07836272B1

A data storage system includes methods and apparatus that provide volumes for access by host computing devices. The volumes can have a storage size that is independently configurable from an actual amount of data storage that may or may not be associated with the volume. The volumes also have a persistent identifier. The volumes can have any amount of associated storage space allocated to the volume, including none, within the data storage system. Since the storage size and associated storage space are each independently configurable from each other, host that interface with the data storage system can perceive the volumes as being larger than they really are. A dynamic volume configuration technique is provided which allows storage space within storage devices in the data storage system to be dynamically associated and disassociated (i.e., added and removed) from the volumes on an as-needed basis, without requiring disruption of host activities with respect to the volumes. The persistent identifier of a volume allows all hosts and other data storage systems to “see” the volume. This allows a volume in one data storage system to have associated storage space from another volume in another data storage system. Using these techniques, the invention allows software applications and operating systems on hosts that interface to the data storage system to perceive that a volume is always present on the data storage system, even if storage space understood to be associated with the volume from the host's perspective is allocated elsewhere or is non-existent.
US07836267B1

A method for backing up a computer-readable data file with a computerized backup application, where the data file is open and locked for exclusive access by an owning application that is mutually independent of the backup application. The backup application by-passes the lock on the data file. Any write operations to the data file by the owning application are intercepted and delayed. The address range of any write operations directed to the data file by the owning application during the backup procedure are written to a change log file, where the change log file contains no indication of the content of the write operations. At least a portion of the data file is copied to a backup file, and any intercepted and delayed write operations are passed on to the data file after the data to be overwritten has been copied to the backup file.
US07836261B2

Embodiments include retrieving data of a web page from a remote system in response to a request for the web page. It is determined that the web page is indicated in a data structure that indicates web pages not to be cached in a cache of a web browser on a data processing system. The data structure and the cache of the web browser are distinct from each other. The web page is presented with the web browser using the data retrieved from the remote system. The data of the web page is prevented from being cached in the cache of the web browser in accordance with said determining that the web page is indicated in the data structure that indicates web pages not to be cached in the cache of the web browser on the data processing system.
US07836259B1

A prefetch unit for use with a cache subsystem. The prefetch unit includes a stream storage coupled to a prefetch unit. The stream storage may include a plurality of locations configured to store a plurality of entries each corresponding to a respective range of prefetch addresses. The prefetch control may be configured to prefetch an address in response to receiving a cache access request including an address that is within the respective range of prefetch addresses of any of the plurality of entries.
US07836251B2

The present invention controls supply of power to a storage device on the basis of an access status, moves a logical storage device between physical storage devices having different power supply modes, reduces energization time, and improves the reliability. A relocation plan creation portion creates a relocation plan by disposing a logical volume with high access frequency in a RAID group which is in a long-time energization mode, disposing a logical volume with moderate access frequency in a RAID group which is in a first short-time energization mode, and disposing a logical volume with low access frequency in a RAID group which is in a second short-time energization mode. An execution time determination portion determines an execution time for executing the relocation plan, on the basis of the access frequency to the RAID groups. The volumes with higher access frequency are disposed in the RAID group in which the power supply time is long, and the volumes with lower access frequency are disposed in the RAID group in which the power is supplied in an on-demand fashion.
US07836248B2

Techniques are disclosed for managing storage of objects of sizes smaller than a storage transfer unit in a computer system. A plurality of storage transfer units are maintained in a first storage medium (e.g., disk storage) organized by a quantity of free space in a storage transfer unit. A cache is maintained in a second storage medium (e.g., main memory), the cache including a copy of at least one of the plurality of storage transfer units. In response to a request to store an object of a size less than a storage transfer unit, the technique searches for a cached storage transfer unit with sufficient free space to store the object. If no such cached storage transfer unit can be found, the technique identifies an uncached storage transfer unit with sufficient free space to store the object and stores a copy of the identified storage transfer unit in the cache. The object is stored in the identified storage transfer unit by modifying at least one data structure in the cache and subsequently writing a cached copy of the storage transfer unit to the first storage medium.
US07836247B2

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed for permitting access to a data storage device while the device is being formatted. A format command is received within the device from the host. A command complete response is then transmitted to the host before the device has completed being formatted. The host waits for the command complete response before the host transmits any read or write command to the device. Read and write commands that are transmitted to the device from the host are executed while the device is still being formatted.
US07836230B1

Management of requests from a host to an external storage medium. An execution queue stores commands to be executed, and each command corresponds to a request from the host for data. A holding queue stores executed commands until receipt of an acknowledgment from the host that the host has, e.g., received the data corresponding to the command from the external storage medium. An outgoing queue stores acknowledged commands and has a maximum storage limit. A counter is provided, and a separate logic block increments the counter when a command is stored in the execution queue and decrements the counter when an acknowledged command is deleted from the outgoing queue. The separate logic disables execution of commands stored in the execution queue when the value of the counter equals the maximum storage limit of the outgoing queue.
US07836224B2

The invention relates to a method and to a system for transmitting data of a data type to be transmitted cyclically and of a data type which can be transmitted acyclically via a common transmission channel from a first participant unit connected to the transmission channel to at least one further participant unit connected to the transmission channel. The invention proposes to develop a method based on a protocol-specific cyclic transmission sequence of transmission messages for transmitting data of a data type to be transmitted cyclically via a transmission channel. When a particular type of impending transmission message is detected for which redundant data of the data type to be transmitted cyclically are provided without new information content, instead of these data, data of a data type which can be transmitted acyclically are inserted into the data area provided for data of this data type to be transmitted cyclically.
US07836220B2

In one embodiment, a system comprises at least a first node and a second node coupled to a network. The second node comprises a local memory and a direct memory access (DMA) controller coupled to the local memory. The first node is configured to transmit at least a first packet to the second node to access data in the local memory and at least one other packet that is not coded to access the local memory. The second node is configured to capture the packet from a data link layer of a protocol stack, and wherein the DMA controller is configured to perform one more transfers with the local memory to access the data specified by the first packet responsive to the first packet received from the data link layer. The second node is configured to process the other packet to a top of the protocol stack.
US07836219B1

An invention is provided for authenticating software associated with an embedded device on a motherboard. An embodiment includes executing an option ROM BIOS for the embedded device. If a bit pattern read from a first memory located on the host card does not match a predetermined bit pattern, the option ROM BIOS is terminated. In another embodiment, a first memory address is provided to the address lines of a memory device located on the host card and a first set of data is output from the memory device, followed by a second memory address to output a second set of data. The second memory address is equal to the first memory address plus the maximum addressable size of the memory device. The first set of data is compared to the second data, and the option ROM BIOS is terminated if the first and second sets of data do not match.
US07836217B2

A method and system are disclosed for managing Profibus device information in a distributed control system. After receiving input parameter data originating from a Profibus device message, the I/O module assembly performs steps for processing, maintaining and providing the input parameter data to a requesting control processor. The processing step includes extracting input parameter values from a received Profibus device message. The extracted input parameters are then deposited in a repository on the I/O module assembly, such that for a primary input parameter, the I/O module assembly stores at least: (1) a measured value, and (2) a status value. Furthermore, the I/O module assembly maintains a reference linking the first status parameter to the first input parameter. The I/O module assembly provides a data status value with the measured value for the first input parameter in accordance with an I/O read operation. The data status value is based on the status value for the first status parameter.
US07836216B2

Embodiments of the invention include a method and apparatus for intelligent handheld device accessory support. A method of one embodiment includes sensing the presence of an accessory plug in a jack of the handheld device, determining a type of accessory device attached to the accessory plug, including receiving electrical signals from pins of the plug and based on the determination, configuring the handheld device, including assigning particular signals to pins of the plug.
US07836210B2

In order that a loop does not occur when switching upstream terminal apparatus, to provide an information distribution system capable of preemptively detecting a distribution route loop, and avoiding the loop, a terminal apparatus and a program used in the same system, as well as a loop connection avoidance method.A terminal apparatus B which has received loop connection detection information from upstream determines whether or not a downstream terminal apparatus of a control path which is not a distribution route along which contents information is flowing, and a source of the loop connection detection information match and, in the event that they match, determines that a loop will occur. By this means, it is possible to determine in advance that a loop will occur, before switching an upstream connection destination. Also, substitute upstream terminal apparatus search information is transmitted in a downstream direction from terminal apparatus B0 and B1, which are second nodes, and a terminal apparatus B which has received the substitute upstream terminal apparatus search information, but has not received the loop connection detection information, is made a substitute upstream apparatus. By switching to the substitute upstream apparatus, it is possible to avoid the loop.
US07836208B2

The invention relates to active star coupler based network handling of redundancy in the physical layer by transmitting a message to both regular and redundant links. In an error free case, the message is forwarded by the regular interface, while the redundant link, is blocked. Each interface is equipped with link failure detection logic. If a link failure is detected, an incoming message is blocked and the affected interface controls the interface connected to the redundant link to take over message forwarding. If the link recovers, the regular interface takes over forwarding responsibility and the redundant link is disabled.
US07836203B2

A routing device comprises a port accessible by a plurality of computers, processor-executable instructions configured for acquiring a DHCP-identified network address of a computer connected to the port in response to identifying the network address during monitoring of DHCP communication, and processor-executable instructions configured for configuring the port with an address route exclusive to the DHCP-identified network address in response to acquiring the DHCP-identified network address. Configuring the port includes creating a Classless Inter Domain Routing (CIDR) network address mask corresponding to the DHCP-identified network address and assigning the CIDR network address mask to the port.
US07836197B2

A method for migrating information, and a migrator for migrating information, are disclosed. The method may include extracting organizational information from at least two service providers, accessing a first at least one of the at least two service providers upon selection of a migration selection interface by the user, receiving of a first plurality of information related to the user from one of the service providers, accessing a second at least one of the at least two service providers, and writing the first plurality of information to the second at least one of the at least two service providers. The migrator includes an importer in communicative connection with at least one migrate-from service provider, a normalizer that receives a first plurality of information from the importer and converts the first plurality to a standard format, a denormalizer that receives the standard format from the normalizer and converts the standard format to a second plurality of information, and an exporter communicatively connected to a migrate-to service provider, which exporter receives the second plurality of information from the denormalizer and sends the second plurality to the migrate-to service provider.
US07836190B2

The invention is based on the idea of managing multimedia resource reservation by a solution in which, for a first user terminal, a first media terminal is searched and reserved, and a multimedia session is started. A multimedia session request is transmitted from the first user terminal to a second user terminal via an IMS subsystem. A second media terminal is searched and reserved for the second user terminal. The information on the reserved second media terminal is transmitted via the IMS to the first user terminal, which informs the first media terminal of the reserved second media terminal. After that, real-time data traffic can be transmitted via an IP network, e.g., the Internet, between the first media terminal and the second media terminal.
US07836177B2

A network object predictive pre-download device operable on a network logically between a web client and a web server on a network is described. The pre-download device includes a prediction engine that intercepts a request from the web client to the web server for a first network object and determines a second network object most probable to be requested in the future from the web server. The pre-download device also includes a cache primer that intercepts a response to the request from the web server and sends a first message to the web client informing the web client of the second network object to be cached by the web client. The cache primer also sends the second network object to the web client such that the second network object is predicatively pre-downloaded to the web client whereby second network object latency is reduced when an actual user request occurs.
US07836174B2

A computing grid for performing scanning operations on electronic data in a networked computing environment. The data scanning operations may include scanning data for viruses or other malicious software code. The computing grid for performing data scanning operations may include one or more event detectors to detect data scanning events and one or more grid scanning elements to perform the data scanning operations. The computing grid may also include a grid coordinator to monitor the grid configuration, perform necessary updates to the grid, and to take pre-determined actions based on the results of the data scans.
US07836165B2

In general, in one aspect, the disclosure describes a method that includes maintaining statistics, at a network interface, metering operation of the network interface. The statistics are transferred by direct memory access from the network interface to a memory accessed by at least one processor.
US07836159B2

A JAVA package (1) usable by a JAVA application (26, 27) to control home network devices is provided, which comprises an adapting means (12) and a device controlling means (16), wherein said device controlling means (16), which provides device specific functionality to control said home network devices, is adaptable by said adapting means (12) to a changing home network device status resulting from home network device correlated events registrated by a managing layer (2, 3). Advantage of this lean architecture of said JAVA package (1) is an easy extendibility and low complexity.
US07836156B1

A generic analysis model is applicable to a variety of network infrastructure domains, and operable for causal analysis in a common manner independently of the corresponding underlying domain. The generic analysis model may be employed to model root cause analysis and impact analysis for different resource management systems such as enterprise networks, storage area networks, service provider networks and business process management. Such a model improves performance and scalability by simplifying analysis model for a given solution, and decouples the development from topology building and analysis implementation.
US07836150B2

A first device in a first local area network (LAN) searches for a first Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) enabled router with a first public network address. If found, the first device obtains the first public network address of the first router and configures a first mapping table of the first router to associate several ports number to the first device. These actions may be repeated by a second device in a second LAN for a second UPnP enabled router with a second public network address and several ports number. The two devices then connect through a secondary communication channel (e.g., a telephone network) to exchange networking information. The two devices then use the networking information to establish a computer network connection over a public computer network that couples the first and the second LANs for point-to-point communication.
US07836149B2

A multimedia broadcast system provides program schedule information simulcast as a Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) data stream including commands and displayable, selectable indicia associated with the commands, along with programs for display. A set top box is adapted to separate the HTML data stream and to store that data in a cache as WEB pages retrievable by a WEB browser in the set top box, whereupon the program schedule information is displayed including the displayable, selectable indicia. Selecting the indicia directs the set top box via the associated command to tune to a program associated with the displayable indicia. The indicia may be any text, icon, dynamic figurine, and the like. In a preferred embodiment program schedule WEB pages, including the commands and displayable indicia, are stored especially marked on a WEB server coupled to the Internet and to a scanner adapted to scan the WEB server for marked pages, and to upload the marked pages to a satellite broadcast system.
US07836142B2

A system and method for synchronizing a dynamic domain name system (DDNS). Updated domain name information is received at a first datastore and sent to a second datastore. Updated domain name information is also received at the second datastore and sent to the first datastore. Either datastore determines whether the other datastore is available to receive the updated domain name information. If the receiving datastore is not available, the sending datastore waits until the receiving datastore is available. The first datastore is connected to a first master DNS server and the second datastore is connected to a second master DNS server. The first and second master servers share an IP address. When a request for domain name information is received at a router, the request is sent to a master DNS server selected from the first and second master DNS servers using the shared IP address. A master DNS server is selected to respond to the DNS request only if that master server is able to respond to the request. The requested domain name information is retrieved from the datastore connected to the selected DNS server and a response to the request for domain name information is generated.
US07836129B2

A mechanism is provided for communication between host systems using a queuing system and shared memories. Memory address spaces of the host systems are initialized such that endpoints may be accessible by root complexes across host systems. These memory address spaces may then be used to allow system images, and their corresponding applications, associated with these root complexes to communicate with the endpoints using a queuing system. Such a queuing system may comprise queue structures having doorbell structures for providing information about the queue entries in the queue structures. Queue elements may be generated and added to the queue structures, and the doorbell structure may be written to, in order to thereby inform an endpoint or root complex that queue elements are available for processing. DMA operations may be performed to retrieve the queue elements and the data corresponding to the queue elements.
US07836126B2

Systems and methods for managing collaboration with one or more persons are disclosed. Presence information from the one or more persons are published to a server. One or more presence sources for each person are formed based on the present state of one or more communication channels. The presence information represents a present state of the one or more communication channels associated with each person. Selected ones of the one or more presence sources are integrated by an integrator to form a presence provider for at least one person. Presence provider data associated with the selected ones of the one or more presence sources is received at a user interface from the server.
US07836122B2

An interface for an industrial control system provides, at a server side, a set of objects for programmer use. Instances of object provider objects, linked to each of the software objects, provide a uniform interface for the software objects allowing software objects from different vendors to be used while preserving a common programmer interface.
US07836105B2

Techniques for converting file-systems used for organizing and storing data on computer readable mediums are disclosed. A first file-system is converted to a second file-system while file(s) stored on the computer readable medium remain(s) virtually undisturbed in the same location. A FAT file-system (e.g., FAT32) is converted to an HFS file-system (e.g., HFS Plus) by generating HFS data structures (Catalog, Allocation File and Extents) for file(s) already stored in the HFS file-system. The number and location of the file(s) can be determined primarily based on the FAT file-system's data structures (FAT and Directory). The conversion process can be stopped before the FAT file-system indicators (partition map and boot sector) are overwritten. After the HFS data structured have been generated and successfully verified for the file(s) already stored on the computer readable medium, the HFS file-system can effectively replace the FAT file-system by modifying the partition map and writing a volume header that may overwrite that boot sector. Similarly, A HFS file-system can be converted to a FAT. In general, any file-system used to organize and store files can be converted based on the location of the files(s) which is typically readily obtainable from the original file-system.
US07836096B2

The present invention provides a method, computer program product and article for creating and reusing a value object for data that is requested a first time and again in subsequent data requests in related result sets. Mutation directives and an associated methodology are presented in one of four different levels which permit the present invention to operate within the JDBC standard.
US07836094B2

Modular content framework and document format methods and systems are described. The described framework and format define a set of building blocks for composing, packaging, distributing, and rendering document-centered content. These building blocks define a platform-independent framework for document formats that enable software and hardware systems to generate, exchange, and display documents reliably and consistently. The framework and format have been designed in a flexible and extensible fashion. In addition to this general framework and format, a particular format, known as the reach package format, is defined using the general framework. The reach package format is a format for storing paginated documents. The contents of a reach package can be displayed or printed with full fidelity among devices and applications in a wide range of environments and across a wide range of scenarios.
US07836089B2

The invention provides a method, system, and program product for preserving data views in an information space. A first aspect of the invention provides a method of preserving data views encountered as a user browses an information space, the method comprising: creating an empty path to be taken by a user through an information space assigning a uniform resource locator (URL) to the path; presenting a data view of the information space; assigning a URL to the data view; and adding the data view to the path. A path may contain one or more data views or, when created, no data views.
US07836087B1

The components of a computer graphics scene can be organized using multiple independent graphs. Each component can include graph relationship attributes specifying its location in one or more graphs. Graph can be utilized for any purpose within the digital production pipeline. A component can include any number of graph relationship attributes. The number and type of graph relationship attributes can be different for each component. Software tools can access one or more graphs to determine structural or functional relationships between components. Software tools can enforce policies for a graph independent of other graphs. Software tools can optimize the components of a graph independent of other graphs. A graph relationship attribute of a component can include optional parameter data to specify properties of the relationship between two or more components. Layer data structures including opinions of value can specify graph relationships.
US07836086B2

A unified mechanism of scene description includes layering and cross-referencing relationships. The scene description specifies components using one or more layers. A layer includes an opinion of value for one or more attributes of one or more components. A layer can be sparsely populated with opinions of attribute values for only portions of components' attributes. Layers express opinions of value for an attribute using the semantic structure associated with the attribute. The scene description organizes layers in a layer hierarchy, which determines a layer stacking order. The layer stacking order specifies the compositing of opinions of attribute values to determine the complete authored state of the component. The layer stacking order enables attributes of components to be selectively overridden without disturbing other attribute values. Cross-referencing relationships enable encapsulation and reuse of components. Cross-referencing relationships can encapsulate components defined by one or more layers.
US07836078B2

A method, system and article of manufacture for managing access to a data abstraction model abstractly describing physical data and, more particularly, for creating a logical security model for a data abstraction model abstractly describing data in a database. One embodiment provides a computer-implemented method for creating a logical security model based on a physical security model defining user access rights to physical data. The method comprises, for each of the user access rights defined by the physical security model, creating a logical access right definition for a logical model. The logical model comprises a plurality of logical field definitions each comprising a field name and access information for accessing a field of the physical data. The logical access right definitions are applied to the logical model so that the logical model reflects the user access rights to the physical data.
US07836070B2

In one aspect, a computer-implemented method may provide evaluation of a query based on query-specific event handlers. The method may include receiving a query. Moreover, one or more objects and aspects of the objects may be determined based on the received query. The objects and aspects may be registered with event handlers to monitor the objects and aspects. The received query may be evaluated, when at least one of the event handlers indicates a change to at least one of the objects and the aspects. Other event handlers may be registered, when at least one of the event handlers indicates the change. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles are also described.
US07836068B2

An initial distribution list is dynamically modified using criteria determined from the current entries in the list. After an originator generates a distribution list and prior to submission of the message to entries on the generated list, the method of the present invention examines the entries in the created distribution list. From this list, the invention identifies features of the entries. From these features, the method generates criteria that can be used to generate additional entries that may be included in the list. In one approach, the generated criteria are presented to the user for review and approval. If the originator approves the criteria, the generated list is modified to add additional entries to the distribution based on the generated criteria. If the originator rejects the criteria, the initially generated list is submitted and the message is sent to the entries on the initial list.
US07836063B2

The method and system of the present invention provides a customizable and configurable data translation tool that transforms data from one learning format to another. The invention further provides a flexible handling of data sources by extracting source data, such as user and course data in an e-learning model, and transforming the data into a form that is compatible with a Learning Management System (LMS). The invention provides flexible data targets by transforming the data into a form that not only preserves all relevant information from the source for loading into the target LMS but also produces industry standard files including metadata that can be used to modify the course or produce a new course by using a course authoring tool. Course structure and progress data can be transferred to the new LMS by re-loading the content on the LMS and linking that content with the previous course and progress data. The present invention also generates new unique identifiers, and utilizes the capabilities of the user migration to link progress data, instructor information, and progress with previous identifiers.
US07836061B1

Techniques for classifying electronic text messages include creating a hierarchical list of message categories, composing databases of key terms and sample phrases for each of such categories, and, based on a number and features of the key terms detected in an analyzed text message, determining if the text message is associated with at least one message category of interest. Variants of the key terms or can be produced using fuzzy text objects generation algorithms. Weight factors for the key terms and similarity scores of a text message compared to previously identified sample messages for a particular message category are calculated based on properties of the key terms detected in the text message, such as a frequency of use, location, or appearance in the text message, a number of words in the respective key terms.
US07836060B1

A multi-way nested search utilizes one or more knowledge bases to allow a search engine to search through a database of target documents to find the best match for a given situation. In one node of the search, a user can input one or more search terms in an input string that can be searched against the database of target documents to select and score a resulting set of documents. In another node, a reference document can be input and search terms extracted for searching against the database of target documents to select and score a resulting set. In yet another node, a reverse search can be conducted in which the reference document is scored against the result set of target documents from the reference document search. These various search results and scores can be combined using combining functions to ultimately produce the most relevant set of target documents for the user. The user can control how much weigh is given to each search.
US07836059B2

A system or method for minimally predictive feature identification is disclosed. For information management, an information collection including a set of features is received. A set of prediction values indicating a degree to which a first feature within the set of features predicts other features in the set is generated. The first feature as a minimally predictive feature is identified if each of the prediction values is within a predetermined range of threshold values.
US07836050B2

A method and system for ranking content and providing a user interface for viewing the content is provided. The content system ranks content in a search result based on a combination of relevance of the content to a query and quality of the content. The content system may derive the quality of content by analyzing ratings provided by various content forums. The content system may use metadata provided by a content forum when searching for content that matches a query. The content system generates a rank score that combines the relevance and quality of the content and ranks the content according to the rank scores.
US07836049B2

An improved search engine, for a computing device or computer network, utilizes search strings comprising complete words and numbers representing a syllable count for each unknown word. Pattern-matching algorithms are utilized to search a document database for documents that match the input search strings. The document database is constructed by analyzing a number of documents, utilizing document-analyzing algorithms. In one embodiment, each database record comprises a document that has been analyzed into one or more groups of word sequences. Each word sequence comprises an ordered list of words in the word sequence, as well as a corresponding ordered list of the syllable count for each word in the word sequence. The syllabic search engine can be implemented in different ways, such as through a software application, operating system, network software, or a custom software module. Improved computers and computer networks for providing a syllabic search function are also described.
US07836048B2

A method and apparatus for ranking results from a search engine query is described. In one embodiment, a search engine generates a list of search results in response to a query for a search term to the search engine. A statistical computation engine determines an average frequency of first selection of each hyperlink with respect to its position in a list of hyperlinks, and determines an average frequency of first selection of each search result from the list of search results. A relevance engine compares the average frequency of first selection of a search result from the list of search results with the average frequency of first selection of a corresponding hyperlink in the respective position in the list of hyperlinks, and adjusts the position of the search result in the list of search results based on the comparison.
US07836036B2

A method and processor to determine distances between multiple index driven scan operations. A first anchor index entry is identified during a first index scan and stored. A first number of index entries between the first anchor index entry and a first index scan location being processed by a first index scan is determined based on information maintained external to an index structure. A determination is made of second number of index entries between the first anchor index entry and a second index scan location being processed by a second index scan executing concurrently with the first index scan based on information maintained external to the index structure. A distance between the first index scan location and the second index scan location is calculated as equal to a difference between the first number of index entries and the second number of index entries.
US07836028B1

A versioned relational database system (VRDBS) in which versions of data contained in a relational database system are accessed by means of workspaces. Metadata in the VRDBS permits a workspace to have multiple parents. The multi-parented VRDBS performs operations including specifying that a workspace be made an additional parent of another workspace or that an additional parent be removed as a parent of the other workspace. The fact that a workspace may have multiple parents affects the manner in which merge and refresh operations are performed and the manner in which system-enforced constraints such as primary key constraints, unique key constraints, and referential integrity constraints are handled. The metadata for the VRDBMS includes a multi-parent graph for each workspace that has multiple parents. The multi-parent graph is used in the performance of the merge and refresh operations and in determining constraint violations.
US07836025B1

A nonvolatile system memory of a server of a network file computer system temporarily stores data received from client computers prior to the data being stored on a mass storage device. A single copy of the data and pointers which corresponds to the memory addresses of the data are stored in a temporary memory storage portion, preferably partitioned from nonvolatile system memory. The pointers are used to access the data to enable the transfer and writing of the data from the temporary memory storage to the mass storage device. Writing the data occurs during the normal operation of the network file computer system or after an unclean shutdown. The use of the pointers increases the performance of the network file computer system by conserving system memory storage space and reducing system memory traffic.
US07836021B2

A system evaluates file metadata for files maintained in the secondary storage of a host system to determine whether one or more image files are to be downgraded. The image files selected for downgrading are reduced in size by one or more downgrading operations. The resulting file is stored in secondary storage so an image file remains in secondary storage that does not require the memory space of the previous image file. The downgrade operations may include lossless compression, lossy compression, bit depth reduction, resolution reduction, color palette, binary imaging, or a combination of a plurality of downgrade operations.
US07836017B1

A system includes storage configured to store file system entities, including directories and files, residing in segments of a distributed, segmented single file system, file servers configured to implement the single file system with separate ones of the file servers controlling metadata of separate ones of the segments, and a controller configured to control storage of files in the file system such that for a master file stored in a first segment, a first replica of the master file will be stored in a second segment that is physically separate from the first segment, the controller being further configured to control storage of directories in the file system such that a single directory will include identifiers for the master file and the first replica.
US07836015B1

A method and system for fast synchronization of computer databases using coverage status. First coverage information of a first database and second coverage information of a second database are accessed. Using the coverage information from the two databases, it may be determined which data elements from the second database are more recent than corresponding data elements from the first database. Data elements from the second database that are more recent than corresponding data elements of the first database may be transferred to the first database. In this novel manner, synchronization of two databases may take place without comparing corresponding data elements between the two databases in order to determine if a data element has been modified. By this exchange of coverage information, it is possible to transfer only changed records, in one direction, allowing for a consistent synchronization method that is typically faster than prior art methods.
US07836012B1

Methods and systems for information extraction are disclosed. In one such method and system, a sample of related articles is obtained, and an article is selected as a seed article. The distances between sample articles are calculated to determine a set of one or more closest articles to the seed article. The set of closest articles is used to identify information fields containing variable data within the seed article. There are a variety of techniques by which this may be performed, one of which is by using dynamic programming alignment to compute alignments between articles. The information fields are labeled, and a template is generated using the labeled fields. The template is used to extract data from a source article by comparing the source article with the template and associating the variable data of the source article with the labeled fields.
US07836009B2

The present invention relates to an advanced search engine. The advanced search engine may include a client component for monitoring an end-user's browsing activity, a remote server (may comprise one or more computers) for storing and processing data received from the client component, and a module that process web pages and serves search results to end-users. The advanced search engine may collect web pages for keywords of proven interest, fetch web pages requested by end-users, generate snippets or abstracts of the web pages, eliminate duplicate web pages, rank the importance of the web pages, and provide relevant web pages or links to web pages in response to an end-user search request for information regarding one or more keywords, for example. Particular aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings.
US07836007B2

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods for generating an entangled state of qubits. In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for preparing an entangled state of qubits comprises providing a probe and N non-interacting qubits, each qubit comprises a linear superposition of two basis states. The probe is transmitted into an interaction region that separately couples the probe to each of the qubits and produces a number of different probes. A linear superposition of states is output from the interaction region, each state in the linear superposition of states comprises a tensor product of entangled basis states and one of the different probes. The linear superposition of states is projected into one of the entangled states by measuring the state of the probe.
US07836006B2

A behavior estimation apparatus inputs a prediction period, an annual consumption expenditure, extracts, from behavioral statistical data including an occurrence probability of each of behaviors of human during each time period, the occurrence probability of each behavior within the prediction period as a prior probability distribution, obtains a consumption time ratio between replaceable behaviors, and calculates estimated occurrence probabilities of the behaviors which minimize a Kullback-Leibler divergence with respect to the prior probability distribution and satisfy a condition that a ratio between estimated occurrence probabilities of the replaceable behaviors within the prediction period equals a consumption time ratio between the replaceable behaviors, a condition that a sum of expenditures of the behaviors per unit time equals an expenditure per unit time calculated from the annual consumption expenditure, and a condition that a sum of the occurrence probabilities and a sum of the estimated occurrence probabilities are “1”.
US07836002B2

A system that can automatically narrow the search space or recognition scope within an activity-centric environment based upon a current activity or set of activities is provided. In addition, the activity and context data can also be used to rank the results of the recognition or search activity. In accordance with the domain scoping, natural language processing (NLP) as well as other types of conversion and recognition systems can dynamically adjust to the scope of the activity or group of activities thereby increasing the recognition systems accuracy and usefulness. In operation, a user context, activity context, environment context and/or device profile can be employed to effectuate the scoping. As well, the system can combine context with extrinsic data, including but not limited to, calendar, profile, historical activity data, etc. in order to define the parameters for an appropriate scoping.
US07835999B2

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for recognizing input gestures. A neural network is trained using example inputs and backpropagation to recognize specified input patterns. Input gesture data is representative of movements in contact on a multi-touch input display surface relative to one or more axes over time. Example inputs used for training the neural network to recognize a specified input pattern can be created from sampling input gesture data for example input gestures known to represent the specified input pattern. Trained neural networks can subsequently be used to recognize input gestures that are similar to known input gestures as the specified input pattern corresponding to the known input gestures.
US07835998B2

A method of selecting and presenting content on a first system based on user preferences learned on a second system is provided. The method includes receiving a user's input for identifying items of the second content system and, in response thereto, presenting a subset of items of the second content system and receiving the user's selection actions thereof. The method includes analyzing the selected items to learn the user's content preferences for the content of the second content system and determining a relationship between the content of the first and second content systems to determine preferences relevant to items of the first content system. The method includes, in response subsequent user input for items of the first content system, selecting and ordering a collection of items of the first content system based on the user's learned content preferences determined to be relevant to the items of the first content system.
US07835996B2

The security feature of a postal indicia is enhanced by recording a number in a memory of a radio frequency identification tag that is linked to a dual meter user before the tag is delivered to the user of the dual meter; processing by the dual meter the number recorded in the radio frequency identification tag memory when the dual postal indicia is being composed; storing the processed number in the radio frequency tag memory; affixing a postal indicia portion of a dual postal indicia and a radio frequency identification tag portion of a dual postal indicia to a mail piece; and uploading the number recoded in the radio frequency identification tag memory and the processed number stored in the radio frequency tag memory to a data center.
US07835990B2

A method and system for asserting control over and protecting the privacy of individuals' personal and transactional information, to prevent unauthorized use thereof, and permit limited use thereof, with compensation, to the extent permitted the individual. Privacy notices are given in printed and electronic form to other parties involved in the individuals' transactions. The individuals' own data are collected and maintained in a privacy trust database. On a voluntary basis, abstracted, anonymous profile information can be made available to advertisers, in exchange for compensation to the individuals. One use is in a content broadcasting system, where receipt of profile based viewer-specific commercial messages provide financial compensation for the cost of user-selected content received by the individual.
US07835983B2

A credit approval monitoring system comprises a database system storing credit files for consumers. A monitoring processing system monitors credit reports of subscribing consumers and transmits messages indicative of changes in a subscribers credit report. A screening processing system screens credit reports to determine if credit applicants satisfy select criteria. A watch processing system is operatively associated with the monitoring processing system and the screening processing system for periodically requesting the screening processing system to determine if the credit report of a select consumer satisfies the select criteria and sending the determination to the monitoring processing system to notify the select consumer if the screening processing system determines that the credit report of the select consumer satisfies the select criteria.
US07835966B2

A method of formation recognition in technical analysis relies on the use of pivot points. A formation of interest is defined in terms of extreme points. The extreme points can be characterized in relation to one another as a series of local or global extrema in corresponding intervals. The method numbers the pivot points in reverse chronological order and attempts to match pivot points with the extreme points of the formation of interest. The first pivot point is assigned to the first extreme point of the formation. A second pivot point is selected from the interval defined by the first pivot point and the highest numbered pivot point that is a high or a low, as required by the formation. Subsequent pivot points are selected from intervals determined based on the formation and previously determined intervals. A formation is recognized if corresponding pivot points are identified for all extreme points in the formation.
US07835964B1

A system and method are provided to visually represent and configure trading strategies used in electronic trading. The system and method may be used to visually represent, among other things, an acceptable range of prices for a trading strategy in relation to a graphical user interface. The acceptable range of prices may be input by a trader to limit when one or more orders are moved from one price to another. The acceptable range of prices can be displayed on a graphical user interface using visual indicators. Using the visual indicators, the acceptable range of prices can also be configured and modified by a trader based on the trader's preferences. Other features and advantages are described herein.
US07835956B2

A system for processing invoices including a front-end requisition and catalog system; a back-end procurement system; a scanner for scanning images of invoices; an image system and store for storing said scanned images and serving them to said workstation keyed to said invoice in connection with positive or negative confirmation processing of the invoice.
US07835954B2

An RFID edge server using an application server allows for improvements in an RFID system.
US07835951B1

A system and method for distribution channel management for devices and services in the wireless telecommunications industry are disclosed. A product ordering software module is integrated with an activation and credit scoring software module, a commissions management software module, and a coop management software module, wherein the software modules are optionally integrated with additional software modules for product and service management, and report generation. A plurality of geographically distributed dealer agents who operate retail interfaces with customers use a web-based interface with the software modules and a data link with one or more distribution centers for delivery of wireless devices from a plurality of wireless device manufacturers, and with one or more carriers providing the subscription services activated for the customers via the activation and credit scoring software module.
US07835942B1

Disclosed is a system for payment data exchange comprising a payment terminal device (10) for coupling to a point of sale device and to a mobile phone (14), an authorization center (1) for coupling to a mobile voice network (5) and to a financial information system, the mobile phone (14) for coupling to the mobile voice network (5) and to the payment terminal device (10). The payment data exchange is performed from the payment terminal device (10) via the mobile phone (14) and the mobile voice network (5) to the authorization center (1) and, vice versa, from the authorization center via the mobile voice network and the mobile phone to the payment terminal device, wherein the payment data are transferred between the payment terminal device (10) and the mobile phone (14) on voice information.
US07835938B1

A system, apparatus, and method are presented for shaping a reference signal from an advertising campaign that allocates advertisements in digital or online advertising. The method includes receiving a reference signal; providing parameters representing a volume of revenue generating events resulting from the advertising campaign; shaping the received reference signal to adjust for variations in the volume of revenue generating events; and using the shaped reference signal to determine a control signal to control the allocation of advertisements.
US07835930B2

The present invention is concerned in particular with the scheduling of maintenance actions such as washing events for a compressor of a gas turbine. An objective function including fuel/power price forecasts is evaluated/optimised in order to determine the advisability of a washing event. The cost function depends on a state vector comprising both Integer/Boolean and continuous state variables which are interconnected via a set of rules or constraints. Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) is a used for implementing the inventive procedure.
US07835926B1

An integrated home health system includes a television-based patient station, a first provider station for providing telemedicine or other healthcare services to a patient located at the patient station, a second provider station for providing caregiver services to the patient, a third provider station for providing emergency response services to the patient and a system management station coupled together by a data network. In addition to various management operations performed on behalf of the integrated home health system, the system management station is further configured to provide various home health services to the patient located at the patient station, either alone, or in conjunction with one or more of the first, second and/or third provider stations.
US07835915B2

Scalable stereo audio coding and decoding method and apparatus are provided. The scalable stereo audio coding method includes transforming a first channel and a second channel audio samples; quantizing the transformed first channel and a second channel audio samples; and coding the quantized first channel audio samples up to a predetermined transition layer and then interleavingly coding the quantized first and second channel audio samples with increasing a layer index from a layer succeeding the transition layer, until coding for a predetermined plurality of layers is finished.
US07835914B2

A dialog supporting apparatus which can support an on-going dialog so that the dialog is smoothly completed. The dialog supporting apparatus includes an utterance receiving unit receiving an utterance of a dialog participant and outputting utterance information, an utterance processing unit translating the utterance identified by the utterance information, an utterance output unit outputting the translated utterance information, a dialog history database, an utterance prediction generating a first utterance prediction information based on the first utterance prediction information and the second utterance prediction information.
US07835902B2

A computer-implemented system and method for assessing the editorial quality of a textual unit (document, paragraph or sentence) is provided. The method includes generating a plurality of training-time feature vectors by automatically extracting features from first and last versions of training documents. The method also includes training a machine-learned classifier based on the plurality of training-time feature vectors. A run-time feature vector is generated for the textual unit to be assessed by automatically extracting features from the textual unit. The run-time feature vector is evaluated using the machine-learned classifier to provide an assessment of the editorial quality of the textual unit.
US07835901B2

In a navigation system, a switching use dictionary is provided as storing an aggregation of switching commands, which are also stored in the individual language-specific dictionaries including the language 1 dictionary, language 2 dictionary, . . . , and language n dictionary. It is determined whether a switching command included in the switching use dictionary is matched with an inputted speech. When a certain switching command is determined to be matched with the inputted speech, a certain language-specific dictionary corresponding to the certain switching command is substituted for a default active language-specific dictionary. Thus, the certain language-specific dictionary is newly selected as an active language-specific dictionary used for operating the navigation system by a speech input.
US07835900B2

A controller, system, method and computer program for emulating one or more tape-based storage devices using non-tape based physical data storage media. The controller is adapted to generate a data set for indicating an available capacity of the one or more emulated tape-based storage devices, the data set includes capacity data for indicating a respective available capacity of the one or more emulated tape-based storage devices based on an available capacity of the non-tape-based physical data storage media. The controller is also adapted to provide access to data stored on the non-tape based physical data storage medium using tape-based media command and the data set, and to dynamically update the capacity data of the data set in response to a change in the available capacity of the non-tape-based physical data storage media.
US07835889B1

A method, system and apparatus for generating a variable transport delay for use in modeling a dynamic system. The variable transport delay of the present invention may be calculated using a variety of means, including the use of a lookup table generated at a variety of time steps such that an accurate variable transport delay can be calculated by interpolation.
US07835881B1

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for testing and re-testing integrated circuits. In use, a group of integrated circuits is tested. In use, before finishing the test, at least one of the integrated circuits of the group is re-tested.
US07835880B2

A method is disclosed in this invention for calibrating an offset Voffset and sensitivity Vsensitivity for an accelerometer implemented in a level gauge having a known value of an offset angle θΔ and a known value of a relative angle between top-and-bottom surface θs. The method includes a step of placing the level gauge implemented with the accelerometer on a table-top surface having a tilt angle θ1 and measuring a tilt angle θF from the level gauge and an output voltage VF from the accelerometer, then rotating the level gauge 180 degrees on the table-top surface along a perpendicular axis relative to the table top surface and measuring a tilt angle θB from the level gauge and measuring an output voltage VB from the accelerometer. Then, the method proceeds with a step of flipping the level gauge upside down on the table-top surface and measuring a tilt angle θR from the level gauge and an output voltage VR from the accelerometer for calculating a tilt angle θ1 of the table-top surface and the offset Voffset and sensitivity Vsensitivity of the accelerometer.
US07835878B2

In a travel angle detection system for a mobile object having a detector installed in the mobile object to produce angular velocity outputs successively, the detector outputs are read and one output is determined as a provisional calibration value indicative of zero-point. Integrated values of differences between the calibration value and successive outputs and output variation width are calculated. When they are within predetermined permissible ranges, the mobile object is determined to be in static condition and the calibration value is corrected by an average value of the integrated values. The travel angle of the mobile object is detected from the calibrated outputs of the detector, thereby achieving accurate calibration of detector output by enabling accurate determination of the static condition.
US07835877B2

Systems, processes and apparatus are described through which signals are received from a controller, where the signals include a power ON signal. A time measurement element is started responsive to the power ON signal to assess a current duration of operation of the system. An existing cumulative record of system operation is recalled from a non-volatile memory in the system and the existing cumulative record is combined with the current duration to provide a representation of a running elapsed time, which is recorded in the non-volatile memory and is compared to a threshold to provide an indication when the running elapsed time has traversed the threshold.
US07835876B2

In systems, computer program products, and methods for monitoring electrostatic discharge (ESD) fault conditions and controlling manufacturing processes on an assembly line, each ESD monitored station in the assembly line is provided with at least one ESD management device. Predetermined ESD fault conditions may be used to automatically stop a manufacturing process at an ESD monitored station. Upon occurrence of an ESD fault condition an ESD fault notification message may be sent identifying the ESD monitored station, the nature of the ESD fault condition, and whether the manufacturing process at the ESD monitored station is stopped. The ESD fault notification message may be sent to a mobile communications device and the manufacturing process at the ESD monitored device may be controlled based on a reply received from the mobile communications device.
US07835871B2

A technique for sequencing nucleic acids in an automated or semi-automated manner is disclosed. Sample arrays of a multitude of nucleic acid sites are processed in multiple cycles to add nucleotides to the material to be sequenced, detect the nucleotides added to sites, and to de-block the added nucleotides of blocking agents and tags used to identify the last added nucleotide. Multiple parameters of the system are monitored to enable diagnosis and correction of problems as they occur during sequencing of the samples. Quality control routines are run during sequencing to determine quality of samples, and quality of the data collected.
US07835868B2

A process for selecting shaped particles for use in a tube which is capable of being packed with shaped particles to form a packed bed in the tube. A desired value of one or more properties of the packed bed is defined. The dimensions of the shaped particles are calculated such that a packed bed in the tube of the shaped particles having the calculated dimensions meets or substantially meets the desired value(s), and shaped particles are selected in accordance with the calculated dimensions. The properties of the packed bed may be the volume fraction which is occupied by shaped particles, the packing density, and the resistivity for a gas flowing through the packed bed.
US07835866B2

Method for predicting a future position of an aircraft based on the physical characteristics of the aircraft, and by monitoring aircraft manoeuvres, the system analyzes pilot controls movements to predict future pilot control movements. The set of such future commands are fed to a 6-Degree Of Freedom (DOF) simulation to enable the determination of future aircraft position. A corresponding system is also disclosed.
US07835849B2

For operating an internal combustion engine a respective lambda adaptation value (LAM_AD) assigned to a respective temperature range is adapted as a function of at least one corrective signal proportion of a lambda controller in relation to a control parameter of the lambda controller if a predetermined condition is fulfilled. The respective lambda adaptation value (LAM_AD) is assigned a respective reference temperature If a predetermined test condition is fulfilled, a check is made as to which of the lambda adaptation values (LAM_AD) was adapted as a function of the at least one corrective signal proportion since the test condition was last fulfilled. A respective lambda adaptation value not adapted as a function of the at least one corrective signal is compared to a range of valid values. If it lies outside the predetermined diverging range of valid values, the non-adapted lambda adaptation value (LAM13 AD) is adapted in a defined manner.
US07835844B2

An automatic friction clutch in a drive train of a motor vehicle is controlled to transfer a clutch torque that includes an engine torque-dependent component and a clutch slip-dependent component.
US07835843B2

An ECU executes a program that includes a step of determining whether an output shaft rotation speed NOUT is equal to or greater than a reference rotation speed at which determining regions with all of the gear speeds in a stepped automatic transmission do not overlap, a step of determining that there is an abnormality in the gear speed by dividing the turbine rotation speed NT by the output shaft rotation speed NOUT if the output shaft rotation speed NOUT is not equal to or greater than that reference rotation speed, and a step of determining that there is an abnormality in the gear speed by subtracting a value, which is obtained by multiplying the output shaft rotation speed NOUT by the gear ratio, from the turbine rotation speed NT if the output shaft rotation speed NOUT is equal to or greater than that reference rotation speed.
US07835840B2

Transmission shift history is tracked using the current transmission state and the immediately preceding transmission state and the vehicle speed during a cycle of Neutral transmission state. Vehicular safety and convenience applications are extended to Neutral states of the transmission.
US07835829B2

Automatic take-off method and device for an airplane. The device includes a device for automatically determining, using an elevation guidance objective, a vertical piloting objective which is expressed as rate of pitch, and a device for automatically determining, using the vertical piloting objective, deflection commands for elevators of the airplane.
US07835822B2

Systems and methods are presented that enable a legged robot to maintain its balance when subjected to an unexpected force. In the reflex phase, the robot withstands the immediate effect of the force by yielding to it. In one embodiment, during the reflex phase, the control system determines an instruction that will cause the robot to perform a movement that generates a negative rate of change of the robot's angular momentum at its centroid in a magnitude large enough to compensate for the destabilizing effect of the force. In the recovery phase, the robot recovers its posture after having moved during the reflex phase. In one embodiment, the robot returns to a statically stable upright posture that maximizes the robot's potential energy. In one embodiment, during the recovery phase, the control system determines an instruction that will cause the robot to perform a movement that increases its potential energy.
US07835817B2

An integrated medication management and compliance system for enabling a care provider to remotely manage and deliver individual doses of therapeutic products to a patient, in a non-sequential fashion. The system includes delivery apparatus remotely located from the care provider, wherein the apparatus stores a plurality of sealed unit dose packages that are delivered to a patient at a scheduled dosing time. The delivery apparatus is coupled to a control facility and to a computer terminal of the care provider by way of a secure communications network. The system enables the patient's medication regimen to be remotely tailored in real-time to accommodate fluid medical conditions.
US07835809B2

An accessory for an electronic device detects manipulation of a user input of the device and alters an operating parameter of the accessory in response to the detected manipulation of the device's controls. The accessory is preferably an FM transmitter designed to be coupled to a portable media player such that an audio signal from the player is broadcast by the accessory. The user controls of the player can be used to select a transmission frequency of the accessory. The accessory can also preferably control the display of the device such that an image corresponding to the selected transmission frequency is generated by the accessory and displayed on a screen of the player.
US07835806B2

A controller can process an instruction directed to the controller itself to access data in the memory of the controller dynamically at runtime, where the data can be indirectly accessed by referencing a tag name, associated with the data and a memory space in memory, which can be included in a string tag associated with the instruction. Multiple tags, each tag associated with a respective item of data, can be located or referenced dynamically at runtime to access the respective items of data where one tag can be associated with a first structure, array, and/or scope and a disparate tag can be associated with a disparate structure, array, and/or scope, via an instruction.
US07835799B1

An adaptive place-pitch ranking procedure for use with a cochlear implant or other neural stimulation system provides a systematic method for quantifying the magnitude and direction of errors along the place-pitch continuum. The method may be conducted and completed in a relatively short period of time. In use, the implant user or listener is asked to rank the percepts obtained after a sequential presentation of monopolar stimulation pulses are applied to a selected spatially-defined electrode pair. The spatially-defined electrode pair may be a physical electrode pair or a virtual electrode pair. A virtual electrode pair includes at least one virtual electrode contact. Should the patient's judgment of pitch order be correct for all applied interrogations, then no further testing involving the tested electrode pair (two electrode contacts) is undertaken. However, should there be errors in the place-pitch ranking, which errors evidence perceptual place-confusions, then a search is undertaken for the spread of the perceptual confusion. This search for the spread of confusion continues until no errors are made in all directions. Identified channels wherein pitch confusion exists may be de-selected (not used) during normal operation of the cochlear implant or other neural stimulation system.
US07835794B2

The invention is directed to a method of bonding a hermetically sealed electronics package to an electrode or a flexible circuit and the resulting electronics package that is suitable for implantation in living tissue, such as for a retinal or cortical electrode array to enable restoration of sight to certain non-sighted individuals. The hermetically sealed electronics package is directly bonded to the flex circuit or electrode by applying conductive adhesive between electrical contacts and non-conductive underfill around the contacts. The resulting electronic device is biocompatible and is suitable for long-term implantation in living tissue.
US07835788B1

An implantable cardiac stimulation device promotes intrinsic activity of a heart during demand pacing. The device increases the time and probability of an AV delay interval extension. The device may further increase the AV delay interval from a first extended AV delay interval to a longer second extended AV delay interval. The device may further encourage intrinsic AV conduction in patients with intact AV conduction by allowing multiple cycles during a search interval and multiple search times to further encourage intrinsic conduction from the atrium to the ventricle.
US07835780B1

An invasive device having an inductive coupling element. One embodiment of the invasive device includes a plurality of receive coils inductively coupled to a communicating coil. The receive coils are selectively tuned and detuned to receive MR signals for providing coordinate information used for device tracking. A second embodiment of the invasive device includes a receive coil having a plurality of winding elements separated from each other by different distances. A method of rapidly acquiring both the invasive device orientation and position information to dynamically adapt MR scan planes to continuously follow the invasive device relative to a target is provided. The target-navigation technique automatically defines the MR scan plane and a time domain multiplexing technique is applied for MR imaging and device tracking. Using these techniques, the acquired MR images shows both the invasive device and the target tissue.
US07835771B2

The invention relates to the combining of mobile station properties. In addition the invention relates to the controlling in a desired manner of mobile station properties. The object of the invention is to give a mobile station a more stylish and youthful general appearance by enhancing the chances of the user to personalize his mobile station and by making the methods of communication between mobile stations more versatile. According to the invention it is possible to produce and present to the user various properties perceptible by the different senses, e.g. text, graphics, sound, vibration and/or illumination. These properties can be associated with each other to form effect entities. These effect entities can be transmitted to another mobile station during a conventional connection. In the receiving mobile station the effect entities are presented using different means of expression than the communication data proper.
US07835763B2

A method is disclosed displaying digital broadcasting channel information in a wireless terminal. The method for displaying digital broadcasting channel information in a folder-type wireless terminal including a main body and a sub-body installed on the main body in such a manner that the sub-body is movable between opened and closed positions with respect to the main body, the sub-body including an internal display part installed on an inside surface of the sub-body and an external display part installed on an outside surface of the sub-body, includes creating a list of current broadcast programs for channels based on digital broadcast program guide data, which are previously stored, if a predetermined key is input in a state where the sub-body is opposite to the main body, and displaying the created list of the current broadcast programs for channels on the external display part. A user utilizing a folder-type wireless terminal can easily determine channel information of a digital broadcasting service, which is currently broadcasted, through the external display part without opening a sub-body (i.e. folder) of the folder-type wireless terminal. In addition, it is possible to simply determine channel information of a digital broadcasting service, which is currently broadcasted, only by inputting a predetermined key when the folder of the folder-type wireless terminal is closed.
US07835758B2

A receiver terminal, like a mobile apparatus or a mobile phone, downloads a multimedia message from a message center via a network. An arrival notification is first transmitted from the message center to the receiver terminal. In the notification, a length of the multimedia message is identified. The receiver terminal, however, checks a portion of the multimedia message downloaded to ensure the actual size indicated by the portion of the multimedia message is consistent with the length identified by the notification. If there is problem, users are inquired for confirmation to determine whether to continue downloading the rest portion of the multimedia message.
US07835756B2

A mobile communications system of the present invention obtains in advance information on communications environments in a mobile communications system and provides users with the information on communications environments. The mobile communications system also predicts the movement of users and provides seamless services based on the predictions.A mobile communications system of the present invention includes an information acquisition unit for obtaining information regarding resources of a given object, an information memory for storing the obtained information on resources of a given object, and an information provision unit for searching the information memory in response to a request for provision of the information on resources of a given object transmitted from a mobile communications terminal, and providing the information on resources of a given object found in the search to the mobile communications terminal.
US07835755B2

Preferably, the invention comprises a system for eliciting information anonymously from a user. The system comprises a plurality of broadcasting units operable to communicate over a communication network, wherein each respective unit is provided with a unique and identifiable code that is identifiable by the user. Further, a dedicated broadcast reception component is included and operable to interface with at least one of the plurality of units. Moreover, an audio transmitter is provided each of the plurality of units and operable to receive and transmit information from a user. Further, the user uses at least one of the plurality of units to convey the information and further wherein the conveyed information may result in an incentive provided to the user.
US07835749B1

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving calibration data, computing one or more attributes of a pathloss model based on the calibration data, computing estimated locations using the received signal strength values of the calibration data points, associating location errors with the one or more calibration data points, and computing a location quality within a region based on the associated location errors.
US07835743B2

A Multi-Interface Mobility Management (MIMM) client is provided on a mobile Multi-Interface Device (MID) to support seamless network connectivity and switching of the MID. The MIMM client communicates with a MIMM Server. The MIMM Server collects information from MIMM Clients and provides information to the MIMM Clients pertaining to the network(s) to which the mobile MID has access, such as information concerning the availability of a network, the quality of network connectivity, etc. The MIMM Client is responsible for determining whether and when a handoff or roaming operation should be initiated by the mobile MID, and which network interface the mobile MID should use after the handoff/roam operation has been completed. The MIMM Client also is responsible for performing mobility-related functions that are required prior and subsequent to the handoff/roam operation. The MIMM Client uses the information received from the MIMM Server in order to make these determinations.
US07835731B2

A device and method for providing simple access to subscriber selected applications that reside in a telephone network. A programmable communication device that includes programmable push buttons operable for providing a user one button access to voice based and text based applications. A storage register is associated with each of the programmable push button and is operable for storing a directory number, such as a telephone number and a server address. The communication device includes a unique programming permission code for security purposes, such as restricting the use/reprogramming of the push buttons. A method of programming device push buttons including entering the programming permission code and selected advanced application information into the device. The method of programming may be done remotely or manually using various provisioning techniques.
US07835729B2

There is provided a method of easily inputting icons representing user emotions (emoticons). In the emoticon input method in a mobile terminal, a plurality of emoticons, formed by utilizing a plurality of typical characters and special characters in combination, are grouped and stored by groups in the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal enters an emoticon input mode, displays the stored emoticon groups, displays the emoticons of an emoticon group selected by a user, stores an emoticon selected by the user, and transmits an SMS message including at least one emoticon selected by the user.
US07835728B2

A client (10) transmits a service request signal to a Web server (20). The Web server which has received the service request signal generates an ID for each session, and transmits the ID to the client together with window information. The client then transmits input voice information to a voice processing server (30) together with the ID. The voice processing server which has received the voice information and the ID processes the voice information, and transmits the processing result to the Web server together with the ID. The Web server prepares information reflecting the voice processing result obtained by the voice processing server in correspondence with the ID from the voice processing server, and transmits the information to the client. Letting the client, Web server, and voice processing server share an ID for each session in this manner allows the server side to comprehend the relationship between the information downloaded from the Web server to the client and the voice information transmitted from the client to the voice processing server. As a consequence, even if the Web server and the voice processing server receive access from a plurality of clients, proper information reflecting the voice processing result can be downloaded.
US07835722B2

A mobile communications device includes logic means operable to generate a request that is transmitted to a first network node. The request includes a personal information number and at least one device identifier associated with the mobile communications device. The mobile communications device also includes logic means operable to receive a response from the first network node. The response includes a URL and a session ID based upon the personal information number and the at least one device identifier associated with the mobile communications device. The mobile communications device further includes logic means operable to establish a communication session with a second network node to provision at least one aspect of the mobile communications device by transmitting the URL and the session ID to the second network node.
US07835711B2

Method and apparatus to dynamically configure the signal reception selectivity of a plurality of transceivers is described. In one embodiment, a transceiver includes a receiver circuit having two or more filter circuits. Each of the filter circuits is configured to pass RF signals from a different portion of an overall receiver bandwidth. When two or more receivers in proximity to one another are simultaneously operating, the filter circuits of the respective receiver are dynamically configured to different RF frequency passbands to minimize interference and cross talk between receivers and transmitters.
US07835705B2

A bi-directional transceiver (100) having reduced circuitry and that may be formed on a non-semiconductor substrate includes impedance matching and filtering circuitry (114, 116, 122, 124, 128, 132) coupled to a non-linear diode (118) for converting a lower frequency modulated signal to a higher frequency RF transmit signal and to function as a square-law detector to envelope detect RF signals. The non-linear diode (118) includes, in one exemplary embodiment, at least two insulative layers disposed between two conductive layers, wherein a quantum well is formed between the insulators that allows only high-energy tunneling.
US07835703B2

The present invention relates to reporting cell measurement results associated with a plurality of cells of a cellular communication system. The reporting is transmitted from a station via a radio interface to receiver element of a cell serving the station. The cells are arranged in a reporting order that is to be used by the station for the reporting. The cell measurements are performed by the transceiver station for getting cell measurement results associated with a number of the cells. Relevant cell measurement results are then selected and the selected results are transmitted in the defined reporting order.
US07835700B2

Multiple antenna elements of a WTRU are used to form an adaptive antenna beam pattern for receiving signals in the downlink direction. The WTRU utilizes the formed antenna beam to form a transmission antenna beam for transmitting signals in the uplink direction. In an alternate embodiment, the multiple antenna elements are used to form a plurality of fixed, predetermined antenna beams. The WTRU then selects and switches to the one of the predetermined beams that yields the best downlink reception signals. The WTRU utilizes the selected beam pattern to transmit signals in the uplink direction. In an alternate embodiment, the WTRU receives spectral arrangement information and utilizing this information to avoid transmitting in the direction of spectrally adjacent WRTUs.
US07835696B2

A wireless multicarrier transmission method in which a multicarrier transmission uses n modulated frequency subcarriers (n is an integer number), and a fading condition of each subcarrier is detected to generate fading channel profile information. The modulation of each subcarrier includes selecting a standard modulation scheme, a lower modulation scheme, and a higher modulation scheme; selecting three integer numbers x, y, and z representing the number of subcarriers for modulation with the lower modulation scheme, with the standard modulation scheme, and with the higher modulation scheme respectively, the sum of x, y, and z is n and a resulting number of coded bits of a multicarrier symbol is constant; and modulating the x subcarriers having low fading channel profile information with the lower modulation scheme, modulating the y subcarriers having medium fading channel profile information with the standard modulation scheme, and modulating the z subcarriers having high fading channel profile information with the higher modulation scheme.
US07835690B2

For the transmission of at least one information data record between a mobile trigger apparatus (9) and at least one fixed station (7a-d), the transmission is effected via an ad hoc network, with a distance between the mobile trigger apparatus (9) and the fixed station (7a-d) being able to be greater than the latter's transmission and reception range by virtue of the transmission then being effected using at least one mobile transmission apparatus (13a/b; 15a-c; 19a/b). The information data record is transmitted to the nearest fixed station (7a-d) directly or via the at least one mobile transmission apparatus (13a/b; 15a-c; 19a/b) or via further mobile transmission apparatuses. The invention is intended to permit data transmission at low transmission and reception power as quickly as possible from a mobile apparatus to a remote fixed station.
US07835688B2

In a communication of audio signals between first and second portable-telephone devices through a first portable-telephone base station, a second portable-telephone base station and a portable-telephone line network has been connected, IP addresses are exchanged. The IP addresses are required for communicating image data by first and second terminal adapters associated with the first and second portable-telephone devices respectively through an OCN. Image data is then transmitted to the IP addresses received in the communication through the OCN.
US07835687B2

A jamming detector and jamming detecting method are disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, distribution of a received signal is compared with a reference distribution of a specific signal model. Deviation of the signal distribution from the reference distribution can be obtained according to the comparison results. The existence of jamming is determined according to the deviation. If the signal distribution significantly deviates from the reference distribution, it means that jamming exists. An anti-jamming circuit or algorithm can be activated only when jamming is detected, thereby power consumption is reduced.
US07835686B2

An image forming device comprises: an image forming unit adapted to execute image formation on a recording medium; and a writing unit adapted to be able to execute at least an information writing operation in a non-contact manner to a non-contact IC added to the recording medium. It is controlled whether or not the image forming unit should execute the image formation on the recording medium, according to a result of the information writing operation executed by the writing unit to the non-contact IC added to the recording medium.
US07835677B2

Provided is a developing device containing a two-component developer including a magnetic carrier and a toner; a developer bearing member containing a nonmagnetic developing sleeve configured to bear the two-component developer on a surface thereof while rotating; a magnetic field generating unit fixed inside of the nonmagnetic developing sleeve; and a developer amount control member configured to control an amount of the two-component developer borne on the developer bearing member. The magnetic carrier contains a core material and a coating layer coated on the core material, and the coating layer containing a binder resin and conductive particles. The magnetic carrier satisfy a ratio D/h of 1.00<[D/h]≦1.95, where D denotes an average primary particle diameter of the conductive fine particles, and h denotes a thickness of the coating layer, and a ratio Ra/D of 1.0<[Ra/D]<10.0, where Ra denotes a surface roughness of the developing sleeve.
US07835671B2

A developing device comprises a feeding and conveying path; a stirring and conveying path; and a recovering and conveying path, and capable of extending the service life of a developer and of forming an image with stable image density. In the developing device, the central position of a stirring rotary shaft that is a rotary shaft of a stirring screw and the central position of a feeding rotary shaft that is a rotary shaft of a feed screw are disposed at almost the same height. A recovering rotary shaft that is a rotary shaft of a recovering screw is so disposed that the central position thereof is higher than the central positions of the stirring rotary shaft and feeding rotary shaft, and lower than a rotation central position of the developing rotary shaft that is a rotary shaft of a developing roller.
US07835668B2

Imaging methods, imaging member charging methods, and image engines are described. According to one embodiment, an imaging method includes providing an imaging member having an outer surface comprising a plurality of portions having a plurality of different radii, rotating the portions of the outer surface of the imaging member adjacent to a charge device configured to provide an electrical charge to the imaging member which is usable for imaging, first controlling a position of the charge device with respect to one of the portions of the outer surface of the imaging member using the one of the portions of the outer surface at one moment in time, second controlling a position of the charge device with respect to an other of the portions of the outer surface of the imaging member using a positioning control system at an other moment in time, and using the charge device, providing the electrical charge to the one of the portions of the imaging member at the one moment in time.
US07835664B2

A method of sealing a toner opening port of a printer cartridge, the method comprising inserting a seal through a toner exit port, the toner exit port leading to the toner opening port, the toner exit port being configured to be covered by a toner exit port plug, the seal comprising a seal frame and a first pull tab attached to the seal frame with a first adhesive, the seal further comprising a second pull tab attached to the seal frame with a second adhesive, the second adhesive being a different type of adhesive from the first adhesive; allowing the first pull tab to cover the toner opening port; detaching the second pull tab from the seal frame; and applying pressure to the seal frame thereby allowing the second adhesive to attach the seal frame to the printer cartridge, wherein the first pull tab is configured to be detached from the seal frame without substantially adhering to the toner exit port plug.
US07835660B2

An image forming apparatus is provided and includes: an image formation unit that forms an image on a recording medium with a color material; a color material container that contains the color material; and a cooling air passage that a cooling air for cooling the color material container flows through, the color material container comprising at least a part of the cooling air passage.
US07835657B2

An image forming apparatus capable of varying a transferring force according to an amount of developer, thereby improving transfer quality, and a control method thereof. The image forming apparatus includes a plurality of photoconductive media on which electrostatic latent images are formed, a transfer unit onto which color developer images respectively developed on the plurality of photoconductive media are transferred and superimposed in sequence, and a controller to control in a manner that electric potential differences between image areas and non-image areas of the electrostatic latent images vary in an order in which the color developer images are transferred.
US07835656B2

A developing device includes: a developer carrier; a first housing chamber; a second housing chamber; a first inflow portion; a first conveying member; a second conveying member; and a concentration detecting member.
US07835652B2

An image developing method is disclosed that is able to efficiently remove degraded toner on a developing agent carrier, prevent formation of abnormal images, ensure good image quality over time, and increase the service life of the device. The developing method includes a step of calculating an amount of consumption of the developing agent during image formation and an amount of consumption of the developing agent in a compulsory toner consumption mode under different calculation conditions between the image formation and the compulsory toner consumption mode. In the compulsory toner consumption mode, a developing bias different from a developing bias used during image formation is applied for a predetermined time period to discharge residual developing agent on a developing agent carrier to a latent image carrier.
US07835642B2

An optoelectronic device that uses microcode to perform an end of life calculation for a laser in the optoelectronic device is disclosed. In particular, the optoelectronic device senses environmental and operational parameters under changing conditions during device operation. The optoelectronic device then calculates the end of life for the laser based one on or more of the sensed environmental and/or operational parameters. The calculation can be done in real time and using digital logic. The calculation can further provide a result in a format which is useful to a host system with which the device is connected.
US07835628B2

Access point pictures designated as randomly accessible positions are I pictures or P pictures. Information indicating the decoding sequence (I1, P1, B1, B2, B3, B4, P2, . . . ) of pictures functioning as access points and attribute information (picture_type) indicating whether a picture functions as an access point or is necessary for decoding of the access point following a given access point are recorded on the video information recording medium. Random access is possible even if the GOP interval is lengthened.
US07835627B2

An embodiment improves the quality of sound rendition during restitution of sound and picture originating from a source signal exhibiting temporal drift. To restore the sound and the pictures at a selected fixed picture rate, a picture sequence is calculated at the selected rate on the basis of the pictures of the source signal, and the sound of the source signal is sampled so as to obtain a sampled sound signal having a selected number of sound samples per picture of the source signal. The calculated picture sequence and the sampled sound signal are restored in a manner synchronized with the reception of the source signal. The sampled sound signal is restored without a change of pitch, with an adjustment of timing as a function of the ratio between the selected picture rate and the variable picture rate.
US07835618B2

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, a recording method, a program of the recording method, and a recording medium having the program of the recording method recorded thereon. The invention can be applied to a portable record/playback apparatus for recording video and audio data on a random access recording medium or the like in order to record a multiplexed stream in such a manner that the position of an editable boundary can be detected more quickly than previously possible. According to the invention, positional information on the editable point is recorded on the recording medium 2.
US07835617B2

According to the invention, techniques for recording data onto recording media at relatively high transfer rates for relatively long periods of time. Embodiments according to the present invention include systems and apparatus capable of an improved sustained rate of data recording onto disk type-recording media, for example. Many embodiments can remove the upper limits of both recording capacity and the number of media that can be used. Select embodiments can be used with different kinds of recording media as well. In a specific embodiment, the area on a hard disk is divided into three areas. A first area can be suitable for sequential recording of continuous data. A second area can be suitable for random recording of discontinuous data. A third area can be used for recording logical sector numbers, coupling logical sector numbers, and file information that are used for marking each of the first and second areas, so that continuous data can be recorded on the hard disk at a high data rate.
US07835609B2

An optical fiber is constituted by: a three-layer structured core which includes, a first core (having a relative refractive index difference of Δ1 in a region of a radius of R1), a second core (having a relative refractive index difference of Δ2 in a region from the radius R1 to a radius of R2), and a third core (having a relative refractive index difference of Δ3 in a region from the radius of R2 to a radius of R3), wherein the relative refractive index differences have relationships of Δ1>Δ2, Δ3>Δ2, and Δ3>Δ1, when Δ1−Δ2=X and Δ3−Δ2=Y, (X+Y)>0.4% is satisfied, and X and Y satisfy 0.25%
US07835608B2

Apparatus and method for distributed absorption of pump light over a length of delivery fiber that is, for example in some embodiments, fusion spliced to an end of a multiply clad gain fiber that has significant unused pump light at the end of the gain fiber. In some embodiments, this includes coupling a fiber amplifier to a passive-core delivery fiber that includes a distributed pump dump. In some embodiments, at an output end of the amplifying fiber there is still a significant amount of pump power. If all this pump power is dumped in one small place (e.g., at a splice between the amplifying fiber and a passive delivery fiber) a hot spot will result, leading to unreliable devices that fail (have catastrophic changes in operating performance). The present invention provides a distributed pump dump built into a delivery fiber that is passive to the signal in its core.
US07835607B2

An optical-electrical composite cable as an example of an optical-electrical composite transmission device has a flexible board as an electrical signal transmission member having an electric wiring section, and an optical fiber as an optical signal transmission member. The optical fiber is passed through a plurality of holes formed in a resin base section of the flexible board so as to thread through the resin base section. The flexible board and the optical fiber are integrated so as not to be separated from each other, so that even when the characteristics (tensile strength, thermal expansion coefficient) of the transmission lines respectively embodied by the flexible board and the optical fiber are different, the optical-electrical composite cable has stable flexibility as a whole.
US07835601B2

A device for generating a laser light beam includes a module. The module includes at least one laser light source, and a mechanical, an electrical and/or an optical interface defined towards an outside of the module.
US07835599B2

A flow cytometer type apparatus and method for analyzing a fluid, where the fluid is fed through a passageway within an optical fiber and the light is guided by the fiber across the passageway and intersects the fluid therein. The apparatus includes an optical fiber with a passageway traversing it, a channeling system to channel the fluid medium within the passageway, a light source to propagate light within the optical fiber and across the passageway, and a detection system for detecting an intensity of the light exiting the fiber. The method includes channeling the fluid medium through the passageway, propagating light within the optical fiber, and detecting an intensity of the light output. Preferably, the fluid includes small bodies, like bacteria which are analyzed by assessing the detected exiting light intensity.
US07835592B2

A method for adjusting an image projected onto a warped surface is provided. The method initiates with capturing calibration points within a calibration image projected onto the warped surface. The method includes analyzing the calibration points to determine relative locations among the calibration points. In one embodiment, the method utilizes a pseudo origin for locating beginning points for successive rows of calibration points. The calibration points are ordered according to the relative locations. The ordered calibration points may be applied to alter the image data prior to projection of the image data onto the warped surface. A system for calibrating points so that an image projected onto a warped surface does not appear as distorted is also provided.
US07835587B2

Various embodiments for image contrast enhancement are described. In one or more embodiments, adaptive contrast enhancement may be realized by performing local standard deviation (LSD) based histogram equalization. In such embodiments, luminance (Y) values of an image may be grouped into one of several luminance regions, with each luminance region defining an LSD threshold. An LSD value may be calculated for each pixel within a particular luminance region and then compared to the LSD threshold for the particular luminance region. If the calculated LSD value for a pixel is smaller that the defined LSD threshold, then the pixel is not counted as a population for histogram equalization calculation. Otherwise, the pixel is counted as one population. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US07835586B2

A method filters an input image to produce an output image. A bilateral filter is composed of a spatial filter and a range filter. Pixel intensities in the input image are multiplied by each other to produce the set of power images, which approximate the application of the range filter. The spatial filter is applied to the set of power image to determine responses, and the responses are combined on a pixel-by-pixel basis to produce a bilaterally filtered output image.
US07835585B2

A method for processing an image signal includes evaluating an edge factor based on a characteristic of an original image signal. A gain-adjusted calibration signal is generated based on the edge factor. The original image signal and the gain-adjusted calibration signal are summed to generate a transient-improved image signal. Accordingly, an image signal transient is adaptively improved depending on edge characteristic.
US07835582B2

An apparatus and method generate encoded data including lossless- and lossy-encoded data together within a unit time period while fully using the lossy encoding processing capability, by appropriately setting a threshold associated with the number of tiles. To this end, an image encoding apparatus has a lossless encoding processing unit and a lossy encoding processing unit. The lossless encoding processing unit outputs one of lossless-encoded data and non-encoded data from a selection unit to a memory based on the attribute information for each tile. Every time the total data size of non-encoded data output from the selection unit exceeds a predetermined threshold, a resolution converting unit executes processing for decreasing the resolution of the non-encoded data in the memory. Upon completion of storage of data for one page in the memory, a lossy encoding unit begins to generate lossy-encoded data from the non-encoded data.
US07835579B2

An image displaying apparatus is provided that is capable of quickly retrieving an image that a user wants to access from a number of images. An image feature quantity calculating section calculates image feature quantities of a plurality of types for each of the images acquired by an image acquiring section. A first image position coordinate calculating section calculates the position coordinate of each of the images in a first space that has coordinate axes corresponding to each of the image feature quantities based on the values of each of the feature quantities. A similarity matrix calculating section and an eigenvalues/eigenvectors calculating section calculate one or a plurality of feature directions in the first space based on the calculated position coordinates. A second image position coordinate calculating section calculates the position coordinate of each of the images in a second space that has coordinate axes corresponding to each of the feature directions. A space image displaying section displays an image showing the whole or a part of the second space that has indications corresponding to each of the images at each of the position coordinates.
US07835578B2

A method for transforming Video-To-Text is disclosed that automatically generates text descriptions of the content of a video. The present invention first segments an input video sequence according to predefined semantic classes using a Mixture-of-Experts blob segmentation algorithm. The resulting segmentation is coerced into a semantic concept graph and based on domain knowledge and a semantic concept hierarchy. Then, the initial semantic concept graph is summarized and pruned. Finally, according to the summarized semantic concept graph and its changes over time, text and/or speech descriptions are automatically generated using one of the three description schemes: key-frame, key-object and key-change descriptions.
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