US07873350B1
The present invention is a system and method for establishing a secure connection using a public a wireless telephone network. The method utilizes a proxy base station and establishes an encrypted session over the public wireless network between a wireless handset and the proxy base station. The proxy base station further establishes a connection with second communication station such as a landline phone. The proxy base station determines a most secure channel between the base station and the second communication station by consulting a database of channels and associated measures of security.
US07873346B2
The present invention relates to a method and arrangements for determining charging related to a data bit transfer session from a traffic source (209) to a client (213), said bit transfer session involving bit transfer over a wireless communications link (214f) under the control of a radio resource managing unit (204). According to the method of the present invention the radio resource managing unit (204) sends information regarding the bandwidth on the wireless link that the bit transfer session currently is allowed to use to a charging logic (212). This bandwidth information from the radio resource managing unit (204) is used by the charging logic (212) to determine the charging related to the bit transfer session. Thereby a fair charging of the session may be achieved, which is adapted to the quality of service actually obtained by the end-user for the session.
US07873343B2
Improved apparatus for a radio communication system having a multiplicity of mobile transceiver units selectively in communication with a plurality of base transceiver units which, in turn, communicate with one or more host computers for storage and manipulation of data collected by bar code scanners or other collection means associated with the mobile transceiver units. A network controller and an adapter which has a simulcast and sequential mode provide selective interface between host computers and base transceivers. A scheme for routing data through the communication system is also disclosed wherein the intermediate base stations are organized into an optimal spanning-tree network to control the routing of data to and from the RF terminals and the host computer efficiently and dynamically. Additionally, redundant network and communication protocol is disclosed wherein the network utilizes a polling communication protocol which, under heavy loaded conditions, requires that a roaming terminal wishing to initiate communication must first determine that the channel is truly clear by listing for an entire interpoll gap time. In a further embodiment, a criterion used by the roaming terminals for attaching to a given base station reduces conflicts in the overlapping RF regions of adjacent base stations.
US07873335B2
A current limiting circuit, especially for an RF power amplifier (PA) having a power control loop. The circuit is adapted to sense a representation of a bias current fed to a final stage of the PA. The sensed representation of the bias current is compared to a predetermined reference current and a signal is fed back to the power control loop upon the sensed representation of the bias current exceeding the reference current so as to limit output current of the PA. This provides a limitation of a current drawn by the PA which is generally insensitive to supply voltage and temperature variations. Optionally, a second circuit may be added to limit current drawn by the PA. The second circuit comprising a high accuracy VI converter that is adapted to compare a voltage VLIM representing a feed-back voltage of the power control loop and a predetermined reference voltage VBGAP. The circuit is operatively connected to the VI converter so as to reduce the output current lout upon the voltage VLIM representing the feed-back voltage exceeding the predetermined reference voltage VBGAP. Under antenna mismatch conditions both circuits help to limit a supply current drawn by the PA compared to prior art power control loops that are unable to detect and limit a high current draw under mismatch conditions.
US07873322B2
The testing device of the present invention includes an RF input for connecting to a subscriber network, which has been disconnected from a communication network, for receiving ingress RF signals leaked into the subscriber network from outside sources. The device includes a signal processor for scanning the RF signals for power levels at a plurality of frequencies, and generating power level signals based at least in part on the power levels. Ideally, the power levels are compared to a threshold power level representing an acceptable amount of ingress, and a pass/fail indicator is displayed based on whether the power levels exceed the threshold power level.
US07873310B2
An oblique movement preventing device for an endless belt, the inner surface of the belt supported by rollers, and at least one roller circulating the belt on the rollers, includes a contact angle changing unit. The changing unit selectively presses either side part of the outer surface of the belt at a position near to the one roller on an upstream side of the one roller in the predetermined belt circulating direction, thereby changing a contact angle of the belt on the one roller along the width direction of the belt. A measuring unit measures a direction and distance of displacement of the belt caused by the oblique movement thereof, and a control unit controls the operation of the changing unit to cease the oblique movement of the belt, based on the measured direction and distance of displacement of the belt.
US07873299B2
A conveying apparatus includes a conveying unit that includes a conveying passage for conveying a conveyed material, and a positioning and holding unit that holds the conveying unit while positioning the conveying unit. The positioning and holding unit includes a plate-shaped member having at least one protruding portion, the plate-shaped member constitutes a part of the conveying passage, and the at least one protruding portion protrudes towards the conveying passage which the conveyed material passes through.
US07873284B2
An apparatus includes an optical splitter, an optical combiner, first and second optical paths, and a digital signal generator. The optical splitter has an input port and first and second output ports. The optical combiner has first and second input ports and an output port. The first optical path couples the first output port of the splitter to the first input port of the combiner. The second optical path couples the second output port of the splitter to the second input port of the combiner. Each optical path includes an electro-optical phase shifter, and one of the optical paths includes an electro-optical attenuator. The digital signal generator is configured to apply binary-valued voltage signals to control inputs of the phase shifters and the attenuator.
US07873282B2
A polarization multiplex transmission system (10) comprises two optical signals (z1, z2) transmitted over the same optical fiber (15) at the same wavelength but with orthogonal polarizations. The system is characterized by receiving apparatus (10) which is operable to filter the two components with orthogonal polarization of the signal received in accordance with an appropriate transfer matrix which is dynamically controlled on the basis of the output signals in such a manner as to approximate the reverse transfer matrix of the fiber in the region of the spectrum occupied by the signal so as to compensate for Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) and polarization rotation introduced by the fiber and eliminating distortion and mutual interference effects for both the signals and thereby obtain a demultiplexed output corresponding to the two transmitted signals.
US07873277B2
In a PON system with WDM, at the time of initial setting, each ONU negotiates with an OLT, and automatically acquires a wavelength which can be used by the ONU. One wavelength for negotiation of assigned wavelength is fixed as a default, and a newly connected ONU first uses the wavelength. The OLT 200 includes a plurality of light sources for downstream communication. The ONU 300 includes a wavelength variable filter selectively receiving one of wavelengths of downstream communication, and a wavelength variable light source selectively emitting light of one of plural wavelengths for upstream communication. The ONU 300 uses a transmission wavelength (for example, λu32) for negotiation and transmits a wavelength assignment request 1000 to the OLT 200. The OLT 200 selects a wavelength λu1 to be assigned from unused wavelengths, and transmits wavelength information to the ONU 300. The OLT 200 and the ONU 300 communicates using the notified wavelengths.
US07873274B2
The present invention provides methods and systems to stabilize an optical network against nodal gain changes through two nested control loops for controlling node gain and node output power. The present invention includes two nested control-loops running at different update speeds including: an inner, faster, control-loop which sets the gains and losses within a node to achieve a node-gain target, and a node-gain target for the inner loop is set by an outer, slower, control loop that whose target is the node output power. Advantageously, the present invention reduces the problem of concatenated overshoot by minimizing the control-loop response to events that occur at other nodes.
US07873270B2
An interchangeable lens type camera system includes a camera body and an interchangeable lens mountable to the camera body. An error detector detects whether a communication error occurs between a communication unit of the camera body and a communication unit of the interchangeable lens. A display unit displays a first error handling message when the error detector detects the communication error at a time of activation of the interchangeable lens, and displays a second error handling message when the error detector detects the communication error after activation of the interchangeable lens.
US07873269B2
A novel micro camera module that is manually adjustable between a close-up mode and an infinite mode includes a lens assembly adjustably mounted within a sleeve that is adjustably mounted into a housing. In a particular embodiment the sleeve includes a channel (cam groove) that is engaged by a plurality of pins fixed to the housing. Further, a biasing member is disposed between the sleeve and the housing such that an upward force will enable the pins to firmly engage the lower portion of the channel. In a more particular embodiment, the channel defines two detents that secure the sleeve into predetermined positions with respect to the housing. In an even more particular embodiment, the channel is sloped such that upon rotation of the sleeve, the distance between the lens assembly and an image capture device is changed. In another particular embodiment, the camera module includes an electrical mode detecting switch that is indicative of the position of the camera module.
US07873268B2
A focus adjusting apparatus adjusts a focus of a camera imaging a moving object. The apparatus includes a calculating unit that calculates a first out-of-focus level of a portion corresponding to the moving object within a first region of an image picked up by the camera, and calculates a second out-of-focus level of a portion corresponding to the moving object within a second region of an image; and a focus adjusting unit that shifts the focus of the camera in a direction in which the camera is focused onto the portion corresponding to the moving object within the first region when the first out-of-focus level is larger than the second out-of-focus level, and that shifts the focus in a direction in which the camera is focused onto the portion corresponding to the moving object within the second region when the second out-of-focus level is larger than the first out-of-focus level.
US07873255B2
A fiber distribution hub includes a swing frame chassis pivotally mounted within an enclosure. The swing frame chassis includes a splitter mounting location at which optical splitters can be mounted and an optical termination field. The optical termination field includes multiple fiber optic adapters.
US07873250B2
A liquid crystal display having a plurality of pixels (1), comprising an lower electrode layer (21), a transparent upper electrode layer (13), a liquid crystal layer (10) arranged between the upper and lower electrode layers (13, 21) and an at least partly reflective layer (20, 30), for at least partly reflecting incident light having passed through the liquid crystal layer (10). The reflective layer (20, 30) is electrically isolated from the lower electrode layer (21) and positioned between the liquid crystal layer (10) and the lower electrode layer (21). With this arrangement the DC-component of an electric field in the liquid crystal layer can be eliminated or, at least, considerably reduced, and a flicker-free reflective or transflective LCD thereby realized. Furthermore, flicker is eliminated without having to pay the price of reduced reflectance of the reflective layer and the consequent reduction in display brightness and contrast.
US07873248B2
A ferrule includes a recess formed on an obliquely polished surface to house a protrusion formed on an obliquely polished surface of another ferrule, so as to avoid an angular change at an interface between end surfaces of the pair of obliquely polished end surfaces of the ferrules facing each other.
US07873244B2
To provide a light control device which is possible to realize a velocity matching between a microwave and an optical wave or an impedance matching of microwaves even through a signal oath having a high impedance of 70Ω or more, and is possible to reduce a driving voltage. The light control device having an electro-optical effect includes a thin plate 1 having a thickness of 10 μm or less, an optical waveguide 2 formed in the thin plate, and a controlling electrode from controlling light which passes through the optical waveguide, wherein the controlling electrode includes a first electrode and a second electrode which are disposed so as to interpose the thin plate, wherein the first electrode has a coplanar type electrode which includes at least a signal electrode 4 and a grounding electrode 5 (51), wherein the second electrode includes at least a grounding electrode 54 and is configured so as to apply an electric field to the optical waveguide in cooperation with the signal electrode of the first electrode, and wherein the signal electrode of the first electrode includes a branched signal path in which at least one signal path is branched into two or more in the middle of the path.
US07873234B2
Certain aspects can relate to obtaining at least some input compensating information at least partially based on the distortion characterizing imaging information that when applied to an imaging modality used to obtain the at least one image information can limit distortions to the at least the portion of the at least one image information resulting from at least a portion of at least one distorting feature, wherein the at least some input compensating information is characterized based at least in part on the at least one relative orientation of the at least the portion of the at least one distorting feature relative to the at least one image information.
US07873231B2
A method for determining a sharpness predictor for an input digital image includes determining one or more image metrics by analyzing the input digital image; and determining the sharpness predictor from the one or more image metrics.
US07873230B2
An image correction section in an image processing section performs a resolution-enhancing process for an input R signal from a RED photodiode array 9R1, an input G signal from a GREEN photodiode array 9G1 and an input B signal from a BLUE photodiode array 9B1, using an input K signal from a BLACK photodiode array 9K1. The image correction section outputs four signals: an Rc1 signal, a Gc1 signal and a Bc1 signal, which are subjected to the resolution-enhancing process, and the K signal that is used for the resolution-enhancing process.
US07873229B2
In visual display devices such as LCD devices with backlight illumination, the backlight typically consumes most of device battery power. In the interest of displaying a given pixel pattern at a minimized backlight level, the pattern can be transformed while maintaining image quality, with a transform determined from pixel luminance statistics. Aside from, or in addition to being used for such minimizing, a transform also can be used for image enhancement, for a displayed image better to meet a visual perception quality. In either case, the transform preferably is constrained for enforcing one or several display attributes. In a network setting, the technique can be implemented in distributed fashion, so that subtasks of the technique are performed by different, interconnected processors such as server, client and proxy processors.
US07873228B2
A method identifying a ligature within a scanned document, the ligature including two or more touching characters. The two or more touching characters of the ligature are then compared to a plurality of prototypes to identify two or more matched prototypes. A synthetic ligature is then created based on the two or more matched prototypes.
US07873218B2
A function approximation processing method comprises inputting and binarizing image data, extracting contour from the binarized image data, estimating tangent points in horizontal and vertical directions from the contour, and approximating contour between adjacent tangent points among the estimated tangent points with a predetermined function, thereby an input object such as a character or a figure can be processed at high speed, and outline data with high image quality can be generated with a reduced number of points.
US07873213B2
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for processing images for enhanced viewing by color-deficient viewers.
US07873212B2
A method for encoding an image having color components of each image pixel represented by a value of a high dynamic range, the method comprising: decomposing the image into a plurality of image blocks; separating, from the high dynamic range value of each pixel, color information and intensity information of the pixels in said image blocks; and compressing the color information of the pixels in said image blocks and the intensity information of the pixels in said image blocks independently of each other to provide compressed image data.
US07873185B2
A method for detecting and tracking a deformable object having a sequentially changing behavior, comprising: developing a temporal statistical shape model of the oscillatory behavior of the embedding function representing the object from prior motion; and then applying the model against future, sequential motion of the object in the presence of unwanted phenomena by maximizing the probability that the developed statistical shape model matches the sequential motion of the object in the presence of unwanted phenomena.
US07873184B2
A method for automarking presorted postal mail includes scanning a mail piece in a first sorting pass at a presort facility and then printing an automark code on the mail piece indicating the type of postage applied. The automark code includes a horizontal line of seven consecutive characters improved in that one character, for example the fifth character, is a redundant code for one or more other characters representing postage type paid for the mail piece. To improve machine readability of the code, the line of characters may be printed with increased spacing between the fifth and sixth and/or between the sixth and seventh characters.
US07873176B2
An electrostatic microphone has a capsule housing and a diaphragm, a rigid electrode, and an electrical circuit on a printed circuit board arranged in the capsule housing. The diaphragm is connected to a ring shoulder provided on the front side of the capsule housing. Preferably, the capsule housing is divided into a housing bottom and a capsule lid, and the ring shoulder is provided on the capsule lid.
US07873170B2
Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for maintaining keys removed from a keystore in an inactive key repository. A keystore includes active keys, wherein at least one active key in the keystore is associated with at least one storage device and available for encrypting and decrypting data with respect to the associated storage device. A request is received for an operation with respect to a specified active key that causes the specified active key to be removed as an active key from the keystore. The specified active key is indicated as inactive, wherein keys indicated as inactive are not available for use to encrypt and decrypt data. A request is received to restore one of the inactive keys to make available to decrypt and encrypt data for the at least one associated storage device associated with the requested inactive key. The requested inactive key to restore is indicated as active in the keystore, wherein the restored key and any other active key in the keystore associated with the at least one storage device with which the restored key is associated are available to be provided to use to encrypt and decrypt data with respect to the at least one storage device with which they are associated.
US07873169B2
Methods, devices and systems for generating a plurality of public keys from one private key with the same generator of a group are described. A public key cryptosystem is also disclosed for generating a plurality of anonymous public keys all of which relate to the same party used for secure communications. Those anonymous public keys are generated using the same generator from one single private key. With the invention, computation is reduced, memory can be saved and security level can be improved.
US07873168B2
In a secret information management system, a secret information management apparatus comprises a secret distribution unit which secretly distributes a data key k using a (k, n) threshold secret sharing scheme and creates n distributed keys B1, B2, . . . , Bn in the decryption of data D input from a user terminal, an encryption unit which creates n encrypted distributed keys EP1(B1), EP2(B2), . . . , EPn(Bn) using n distributed manager public keys P1, P2, . . . , Pn, and an encrypted data storage unit which stores encrypted data EK(D), an encrypted data key EPx(K) and the n encrypted distributed keys in association with each other.
US07873163B2
In a communication system (100), a method and apparatus provides for message integrity regardless of the operating version of an authentication center (198) or an interface (197) between the authentication center (198) and a mobile switching center (199). The method and apparatus include generating a cellular message encryption algorithm (CMEA) key, and generating a CMEA-key-derived integrity key (CIK) based on the CMEA key for message integrity between a mobile station and a base station. The mobile station transmits a registration message to the base station, and determines an operating version of the authentication center (198) in communication with the base station based on whether the mobile station receives a registration accepted order or some elements of an authentication vector from the base station. The CIK is generated based on the CMEA key, if the mobile station receives a valid registration accepted order from the base station.
US07873147B2
A calibration cage for use in Roentgen Stereophotogrammetric Analysis (RSA), comprising a biplanar configuration of two compartments, each with a fiducial plate at the bottom and a control plate at the top and parallel thereto, the fiducial and control plates of one compartment being oriented at approximately 90° to fiducial and control plates of the other compartment such that a region of interest is positioned on one side of the fiducial and control plates of both compartments.
US07873124B2
In a multivalue modulation type with one pilot symbol inserted for every 3 or more symbols, signal points of each one symbol immediately before and after a pilot symbol are modulated using a modulation type different from that for pilot symbols. In this way, it is possible to suppress deterioration of the accuracy in estimating the reference phase and amount of frequency offset by pilot symbols and improve the bit error rate characteristic in the signal to noise ratio in quasi-coherent detection with symbols whose symbol synchronization is not completely established.
US07873111B2
Method and system for synchronizing a receiver in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system. The method comprises transforming (105) a received signal from the time domain into the frequency domain to produce a transformed signal. The method further comprises rotating (110) each set of ranging tones of the transformed signal in the frequency domain based on a corresponding tone index to produce a set of phase-rotated frequency domain received ranging tones that is equivalent to time domain shifted ranging signals. Each ranging tone is rotated iteratively over a predefined set of delay-values and each delay-value within the predefined set of delay-values ranges from zero to a predetermined time delay. Also, the method comprises computing (115) a detection metric corresponding to each delay-value within the predefined set of delay-values based on the set of phase-rotated frequency domain received ranging tones.
US07873107B2
Presented herein are Tertiary Content Addressable Memory based motion estimator(s). In one embodiment, there is presented a method for encoding a picture. The method comprises storing a reference picture in a memory; taking samples from at least one line of a prediction block, wherein each of the samples comprises a plurality of bits, the plurality of bits comprising most significant bits and least significant bits; concatenating the samples; replacing the least significant bits of the samples with “don't cares”, thereby generating at least one data word; addressing the memory with the at least one data word; receiving one or more addresses, said one or more addresses associated with one or more blocks; replacing a portion of the “don't cares” with a portion of the least significant bits of the samples, thereby generating another one or more data words; and addressing the memory with the another one or more data words.
US07873106B2
A method for synchronized recording of audio and video signals is disclosed. The video signals are grouped into a plurality of video frames. The method includes incrementing a counter value of an audio counter when at least an audio frame associated with the audio signals is encoded, and recording the current counter value of the audio counter when a video frame is received.
US07873105B2
Hardware implementation of optimized single inverse quantization engine for a plurality of standards
Presented herein are optimized single inverse quantization engines for a plurality of standards. In one embodiment, there is presented a system for inverse quantizing quantized frequency coefficients. The system comprises an inverse quantizer for inverse quantizing video data encoded in accordance with a first encoding standard and for inverse quantizing video data encoded in accordance with a second encoding standard. In another embodiment, there is presented a decoder for decoding video data. The decoder comprises an inverse quantizer operable to inverse quantize video data encoded in accordance with a first encoding standard and for inverse quantizing video data encoded in accordance with a second encoding standard.
US07873099B2
Time is transferred from an ultra wideband (UWB) transmitter to UWB receiver by transmitting a signal structure having an associated timing reference point together with a time value for the timing reference point. The UWB receiver receives the timing signal structure by synchronizing a receiver time base to the signal structure, demodulating the time value information, and using the demodulated time value information to set a receiver clock value. Propagation delay information is used to adjust the receiver clock value by advancing the receiver clock value to account for the propagation delay. In one embodiment, propagation delay is determined from a known distance between the transmitter and receiver. In another embodiment, the transmitter and receiver are part of a two-way link wherein propagation delay is measured by round trip timing measurements.
US07873093B2
A method and apparatus for carrying out a laser operation, wherein a laser source is provided, wherein lasing gas is supplied from at least one lasing gas source to the laser source for the formation of a laser beam, wherein, with the aid of the laser beam, an operation is carried out, such as for instance a welding, a drilling, a cutting or a lighting operation, wherein the lasing gas which comes from the at least one lasing gas source is fed through at least one lasing gas filter before the gas is supplied to the laser source. The invention further relates to the use of a quick-change filter for cleaning gases consumed in laser processing apparatuses.
US07873084B2
A process and a device is described to avoid the depolarization of linear-polarized light during the transmission of light through crystals exhibiting a {111} or {100} crystal plane, respectively, and a <100> or <111> crystal axis, respectively. The device is characterized in that the linear-polarized light meets the surface of the crystals in an angle of 45-75°, whereby the surface is formed by the {111} or the {100} plane. The crystal is arranged in such a way that upon entering the crystal, the light spreads along the <100> or <111> crystal axis, respectively, as parallel as possible, and/or that the device comprises a unit for temperature equalization to avoid a thermal gradient in the crystal. Preferably the device is used in DUV lithography, in particular in steppers and excimer lasers, as well as for the production of integrated circuits, computer chips as well as electronic devices such as computers, and other devices that comprise chip-type integrated circuits, as well as for flat screens.
US07873083B2
A system, apparatus, and method may provide laser beams of two or more wavelengths from diode pumped solid-state laser sources (220, 222, 224). The beam paths of these laser beams with different wavelengths, which are generated by the laser sources (220, 222, 224), may be aligned along a common optical axis 280 by an optical configuration, to treat at least one target area. Frequency-doubled laser beams, output from a plurality of diode pumped solid state laser cavities, may be passed through fold mirrors (M2, M5, M8), and combined on a common optical axis 280, using one or more combiner mirrors (M10, M11, M12), to unify the beam paths. Selected laser beams may be delivered to a target using one or more delivery systems.
US07873082B2
A semiconductor integrated device includes a plurality of wavelength tunable lasers, provided on a semiconductor substrate, and having oscillation wavelength ranges different from each other. Each of the wavelength tunable lasers includes an optical waveguide including, alternately in an optical axis direction, a gain waveguide portion and a wavelength controlling waveguide portion, and a diffraction grating provided over both the gain waveguide portion and the wavelength controlling waveguide portion. A value obtained by dividing a width of the wavelength controlling waveguide portion by a width of the gain waveguide portion in one of the plurality of wavelength tunable lasers is larger than a value obtained by dividing a width of the wavelength controlling waveguide portion by a width of the gain waveguide portion in a different one of the wavelength tunable lasers, which oscillates on a shorter wavelength side with respect to an oscillation wavelength range of the one wavelength tunable laser.
US07873080B2
A wavelength-tunable mode-locked fiber laser system is provided and includes an optical cavity. The optical cavity outputs an output laser pulse having an adjustable principal wavelength, and includes a short-wavelength-pass filter, a polarization controller, an optical gain fiber and a fiber. The short-wavelength-pass filter produces an intracavity laser pulse. The fiber has a length, and connects the short-wavelength-pass filter, the polarization controller and the optical gain fiber in series. The optical cavity has an anomalous dispersion range and a net group-velocity dispersion being within the anomalous dispersion range due to the length of the fiber. The optical cavity causes the intracavity laser pulse to propagate therein for providing the output laser pulse, providing a first laser pulse, a second laser pulse and a third laser pulse to the short-wavelength-pass filter, the polarization controller and the optical gain fiber respectively, and adjusting the intracavity laser pulse.
US07873079B2
A CS optical pulse train generation method, which is able to change the half width of an optical pulse constituting a CS optical pulse train, and which is compact and has low power consumption. A distributed Bragg reflector semiconductor laser utilized in this method is one which is constituted comprising an optical modulation region, a gain region, a phase control region, and a distributed Bragg reflector region. Current is injected into the gain region by way of a p-side electrode and a n-side common electrode by a constant current source, forming the population inversion required for laser oscillation. Optical modulation required to manifest mode locking is carried out in the optical modulation region. A diffraction grating is formed in the distributed Bragg reflector region. A CS optical pulse train with a repetitive frequency of frep is generated by adjusting the effective indices of both the phase control region and the distributed Bragg reflector region such that, of the longitudinal modes of the mode-locked semiconductor laser diode, the two longitudinal modes close to the frequency f0, which is the Bragg wavelength of the distributed Bragg reflector region converted to a frequency, become f0+(frep/2) and f0−(frep/2).
US07873070B2
The present invention provides a method of wireless telecommunication of a message having a block size. The method includes determining a number of retransmissions of the message based upon the block size.
US07873068B2
An integrated endpoint having a virtual port coupled between an upstream fabric and an integrated device fabric that includes a multi-function logic to handle various functions for one or more intellectual property (IP) blocks coupled to the integrated device fabric. The integrated device fabric has a primary channel to communicate data and command information between the IP block and the upstream fabric and a sideband channel to communicate sideband information between the IP block and the multi-function logic.
US07873066B2
A computer-implemented method, system and computer program product for arbitrarily aligning vector operands, which are transmitted in inter-thread communication buffer packets within a highly threaded Network On a Chip (NOC) processor, are presented. A set of multiplexers in a node in the NOC realigns and extracts data word aggregations from an incoming compressed inter-thread communication buffer packet. The extracted data word aggregations are used as operands by an execution unit within the node.
US07873062B2
In conjunction with a wiring in a house carrying data network signal, a modular outlet comprising of a base module and interface module. The base module connects to the wiring and attached to a wall. The interface module provides a data unit connection. The interface module is mechanically attached to the base module and electrically connected thereto. The wiring may also carry basic service signal such as telephone, electrical power and cable television (CATV). In such a case, the outlet will provide the relevant connectivity either as part of the base module or as part of the interface module. Both proprietary and industry standard interfaces can be used to interconnect the module. Furthermore, a standard computer expansion card (such as PCI, PCMCIA and alike) may be used as interface module.
US07873057B2
In one embodiment, a connection is maintained between a pair of ethernet ports that have circuitry connected in series with the ports and receiving power-over-ethernet (PoE) from one of the ports, by providing a controllable bypass circuit coupled to the pair of ethernet ports in parallel with the circuitry receiving power-over-ethernet, sensing a preselected condition, and opening and closing the bypass circuit in response to the presence or absence of the preselected condition. Power sourcing equipment (PSE) may supply the one of the ports with power over ethernet, and the circuitry may transports data between the pair of ethernet ports. The circuitry may also supply the switch with a control signal in response to the detection of the preselected condition.
US07873055B2
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for wireless communication between a base station and at least two mobile stations in a cellular system. The method comprises sending on a forward link at least one of a first and a second command to the at least two mobile stations that the base station is serving on a reverse link. The method further comprises controlling a transmission in at least one of a first and a second transmission mode of at least one mobile station among the at least two mobile stations on the reverse link based on the at least one of the first and second commands. Each of at least two mobile stations may determine a change of transmission mode between an orthogonal or a non-orthogonal transmission mode on a reverse link based on a message on a forward link. A scheduler at a serving base station may match scheduling or transmission resources to the transmissions on the reverse link. The mobile stations being served may use orthogonal and non-orthogonal transmission modes for the transmissions in a non-overlapping fashion in any combination of time, frequency and spatial domains. By selectively assigning a set of mobile stations to the orthogonal or non-orthogonal modes of transmission, the serving base station may enable fairness across the mobile stations.
US07873053B2
An embodiment includes encoding, into a resource reservation signaling message, (i) a group identifier assigned to a group of pseudo point-to-point connections established between a root node and at least one leaf node and (ii) a sub-group identifier assigned to a sub-group of pseudo point-to-point connections out of the group of pseudo point-to-point connections. The sub-group of pseudo point-to-point connections share a common network tunnel established between a previous signaling hop and a next signaling hop. The method further includes aggregating, into the resource reservation signaling message, resource reservation signaling related to the sub-group of pseudo point-to-point connections based on the group identifier and the sub-group identifier. The resource reservation signaling message is then exchanged between the previous signaling hop and the next signaling hop.
US07873052B2
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention allow a second end-point determination (EPD) system to actively control the end-pointing of a semiconductor process chamber, by leveraging a legacy EPD system that is already integrated with the chamber. In one embodiment, the second EPD system controls a shutter that regulates the amount of light transmitted between a plasma light source and an optical emission spectroscopy (OES) sensor of the legacy OES EPD system. In this embodiment, the legacy OES EPD system is pre-configured to call end-point when an artificial end-point condition occurs, i.e. the intensity of light falls below a pre-set threshold. When the second EPD system determines an actual end-point condition has been reached, it closes the shutter which, causes the light intensity being read by the OES sensor to fall below the pre-set threshold. This in turn triggers an end-point command to the chamber from the legacy OES EPD system.
US07873050B2
In a base station of an IEEE 802.16 Wireless MAN-based portable Internet system, a forward packet scheduling method and apparatus is provided. The portable Internet system portable Internet service includes a user terminal AT for providing a portable Internet service, a base station AP for supporting an inter-user terminal wireless access and network connection, and a packet access router PAR for performing a mobility control and packet routing function of each user terminal AT. The forward packet scheduler includes a packet-based subsidiary scheduling part for considering a real-time service and a user-based scheduling part for ensuring fairness and increasing system efficiency (throughput). After finishing the 2-step scheduling, the generated frame data are transmitted though a physical layer to a wireless user terminal. Therefore, with such a structure, the forward packet scheduling method may guarantee a maximum of system efficiency and fairness according to each user's QoS requirements, and may also guarantee a delay performance for a real-time service.
US07873048B1
A switching device includes a parsing module, a classification module, a bandwidth tracking module, and a rate limitation module. The parsing module receives packets and separates layer four packets from the packets. The classification module classifies the layer four packets into control packets and data packets. The bandwidth tracking module communicates with the classification module and has a fullness level. The rate limitation module selectively performs an action on at least one of the control packets and data packets based on the fullness level. The action includes at least one of discarding, asserting flow control, and accepting the at least one of the control packets and data packets.
US07873042B2
Methods and media for multi-layered packet security control are described. In one embodiment, a header of a packet is modified to include an identifier that identifies a manner in which the packet should be subject to a particular set of a plurality of sets of rules. The particular set of rules dictates how the packet is to be handled. Further, in one embodiment, the packet is communicated to a routing component, and the routing component is configured to reference the identifier to determine which, if any, of the plurality of sets of rules to apply to the packet.
US07873037B2
An information processing apparatus, an information processing system, an information processing method, and a program for enabling an information processing apparatus to receive a packet transmitted from a server and making it possible to prevent an increase in the traffic of a communication line of the Internet, etc., are disclosed. The information processing apparatus includes a repetitive packet transmission section for transmitting a repetitive packet, a function determination section for determining whether or not the nearest communication processing apparatus has a port mapping setting function, a port mapping setting section for setting port mapping for the nearest communication processing apparatus if it is determined that the nearest communication processing apparatus has a port mapping setting function, and a transmission control section for controlling the repetitive packet transmission section so as to transmit the repetitive packet if it is not determined that the nearest communication processing apparatus has a port mapping setting function.
US07873033B2
An approach is described for providing shared trunking between a telephony gateway and an end office switch. The telephony gateway processes a packetized voice call, and interfaces a shared trunk to an end office switch (e.g., Class 5 switch) configured to switch calls over a circuit-switched telephone network. The trunk utilizes out-of-band signaling (e.g., Primary Rate Interface (PRI) signaling) in support of call establishment or teardown of the packetized voice call.
US07873025B2
A data processing apparatus in a network receives packet flows that are communicated between a first network node and a second network node, and comprises a clock and latency analysis logic configured for receiving a first data segment that has been communicated from the first node and forwarding the first data segment to the second node; storing a first time value of the clock in association with a first timestamp value obtained from the first data segment; receiving a second data segment that has been communicated from the second node and forwarding the second data segment to the first node; retrieving the first time value based on the first timestamp value; determining a second time value of the clock; and determining a first latency value by computing a difference of the second time value and the first time value. Thus end-to-end packet latency is determined by passively observing timestamp values.
US07873023B2
A method of transmitting feedback information in a wireless communication system is disclosed. More specifically, the method comprises a mobile station (MS) which determines whether to transmit feedback information to a base station (BS) without solicitation from the BS. After determining to do so, the MS transmits a request message to request the BS to allocate an uplink resource for transmitting at least one unsolicited header and thereafter receives the uplink resource allocation from the BS. Lastly, the MS transmits the at least one unsolicited header via the allocated uplink resource.
US07873021B2
The present invention is related to a method for multi-user wireless transmission of data signals in a communication system having at least one base station and at least one terminal where for a plurality of users have robustness to frequency-selective fading added to the data to be transmitted, then grouping data symbols into blocks formed by demultiplexing a serial-to-parallel operation, and spreading and scrambling a portion of the obtained blocks of data, followed by combining spread and scrambled portions of the blocks, adding transmit redundancy to the combined spread and scrambled portions which is then transmitted.
US07873020B2
A method, an apparatus, a system, and logic encoded in one or more computer-readable tangible medium to carry out a method. The method includes maintaining the state of clients of an access point controlled by a controller in the controller of the access point, including multicast group information, and updating the access point with multicast group identification for the clients, such that the controller in combination with the access point can forward packets, and such that multicast group information for a roaming client of the access point is maintained.
US07873019B2
Sytems and methods for establising gateway bandwidth sharing ad hoc networks. In a first aspect, a method includes establishing a relationship with a gateway that retrieves data from a remote location and divides the data into at least a first portion and a second portion. The method further includes establising an ad hoc network comprising at least one local lender, receiving the first portion from the gateway via the at least one local lender, receiving the second portion from the gateway, and joining the first portion and the second portion to re-create the data.
US07873017B2
A wireless access point advertises data rates that it supports. A mobile station is permitted to communicate with the access point at one or more of the lower data rates only if the mobile station satisfies one or more conditions.
US07873010B2
A method in a wireless communication network scheduling entity including allocating time-frequency radio resources in a sub-frame to a particular wireless communication device, wherein the sub-frame has a time dimension and a frequency dimension spanning a spectrum allocation, and wherein the time-frequency radio resource allocation includes a contiguous set of control channel resources extending from at least one edge of the spectrum allocation toward a medial portion of the spectrum allocation.
US07873009B2
The present invention relates to communications. More especially it relates to communications over radio links subject to fading or otherwise intermittently unreliable. Particularly it relates to high data rate communications and combinations of conventional and opportunistic communications within a communications system.
US07873005B2
A method for processing data in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes receiving a first uplink scheduling command indicating a first radio resource, receiving a second uplink scheduling command indicating a second radio resource through a random access response, and stopping a procedure associated with the second uplink scheduling command when the first radio resource and the second radio resource collide.
US07872999B2
In a method and a RS (Relay Station) for aggregating service connection identifiers in IEEE 802.16, the RS receives a 1st QoS (Quality of Service) from a 1st MS (Mobile subscriber Station), and stores a 1st SFID/CID (Service Flow Identifier)/CID (Connection Identifier) between a BS (Base Station)-RS corresponding to a 2nd SFID/CID between the RS-MS in table information. The RS receives a DSA-REQ (Dynamic Service Addition Request) including a QoS same as the 1st QoS from a 2nd MS, and sends a DSC-REQ (Dynamic Service Change REQuest) to the BS. Then, the RS receives a DSC-RSP (Dynamic Service Change ReSPonse) from the BS, assigns a 3rd SFID/CID between the RS-MS, and stores a 3rd SFID/CID corresponding to the 1st SFID/CID in the table information. The RS sends a DSA-RSP (Dynamic Service Addition ReSPonse) including 3rd SFID/CID to 2nd MS.
US07872998B2
An object of the present invention is to provide technology in which an HA is capable of efficiently maintaining registration information of an MR, and communication efficiency in registration/update processing between the HA and the MR is improved.A mobile node has a representative home address, a subsidiary home address, and a care-of address, and registers information (joint information) showing the relation between the representative home address, and all subsidiary home addresses, and the care-of address with the home agent, each time the mobile node moves to other network and is assigned a new care-of address. The home agent receives a registration request for the joint information, and stores the registered information, and if a packet destined for the representative home address, or any subsidiary home address arrives from any correspondent node, retrieves the joint information including the address from the registered information maintained thereby, and transfers the packet to the corresponding care-of address.
US07872975B2
A method of metering bandwidth allocation on a server using credits is disclosed. The method may receive a request for data from a client, respond to the request for data and determining if the request for data for the client exceeds a current data allocation credit limit for the client. Using the round trip time, the method may calculate a connection throughput for a client and may increase the current data allocation credit limit for the client if the server has resources to spare, the client is actively using the current pipeline depth allowed and network connection latency and bandwidth indicate a deeper pipeline is necessary for saturation. The method may decrease the current data allocation credit limit for the client if the server does not have resources to spare.
US07872956B2
In cases where forthcoming recording of information on a multi-layer optical disc is first time one, test signals are recorded on trial write areas in first and second recording layers before being reproduced. First-time optimum recording powers of the laser beam for the respective first and second recording layers are decided in response to the reproduced test signals. In cases where forthcoming recording is not first time one, the test signals are recorded on only the trial write area in the first recording layer before being reproduced. A new optimum recording power for the first recording layer is described in response to the reproduced test signals. Thereafter, a new optimum recording power for the second recording layer is calculated from (1) the new optimum recording power for the first recording layer and (2) the ratio between the first-time optimum recording powers for the first and second recording layers.
US07872949B2
In an ultrasonic transducer array, a plurality of vibrators arranged in an array is bonded to a base plate by bond material. The bond material bonds the bottom of the each vibrator to the base plate in a manner to surround lower part of the side face of the vibrator. A filling material is filled in between the vibrators. The filling material has a multi-layer structure of different rigidity. In a double layer structure of the filling material, it is preferable that thickness ratio of layer of filling material at the base plate side (lower side) to the other layer of the filling material is 1:1 to 1:3. Preferably, a beam is provided for connecting the side faces of the adjacent vibrators.
US07872945B2
This invention applies to the means whereby capacitance changes due to varying temperature and/or pressure in a piezoelectric transducer used for acoustic telemetry in a drilling environment is dynamically offset by modifying one or more parameters associated with the drive or control circuitry of said transducer. The object of the invention is to closely maintain the transducer in a resonant mode, thereby ensuring optimum energy consumption.
US07872942B2
A pressure wavefield and a normal velocity wavefield measured on a smoothly shaped acquisition surface by towed dual-sensor marine seismic streamers are decomposed into up-going and down-going pressure and particle velocity components on an observation level between the acquisition surface and a sea surface of undetermined shape. The up-going and down-going pressure and particle velocity components are extrapolated iteratively in steps from the observation level toward the sea surface. An image point and a reflection coefficient of the sea surface at the image point are determined from the iteratively extrapolated up-going and down-going pressure and particle velocity components.
US07872941B2
A nonvolatile memory device comprises a page buffer unit, first to kth logic combination units, and a control unit. The page buffer unit includes first to Nth page buffer blocks. N and k are natural numbers. Each of the first to Nth page buffer blocks comprises m page buffers, divided into first to kth page buffer groups, and first to kth pass/fail check units configured to output respective verification signals, each indicative of a program pass or a program fail, according to data stored in latches of the page buffers included in each of the page buffer groups. The first to kth logic combination units are each configured to output respective first to kth pass/fail determination signals.
US07872935B2
Static random access memory (SRAM) cells and methods of operation are provided which may be used to provide improved writeability and stability to support low voltage operation of memory devices. For example, in one implementation, by temporarily interrupting the connection between portions of an SRAM cell and a power source such as a reference voltage or current source, the writeability of SRAM cells can be improved. Additional read port implementations are also provided to facilitate low voltage operation. In another implementation, a power switch circuit responsive to a word line and logic signals may be used to provide such interruptions.
US07872933B2
This disclosure concerns a method of driving a memory including memory cells, bit lines, and word lines, each memory cell having a source, a drain, and a floating body, the method comprising performing a refresh operation for recovering deterioration of first logical data of the memory cells and deterioration of second logical data of the memory cells, wherein in the refresh operation, the number of the carriers injected into the floating body is larger than the number of the carriers discharged from the floating body when a potential at the floating body is larger than a critical value, and the number of the carriers injected into the floating body is smaller than the number of the carriers discharged from the floating body when the potential at the floating body is smaller than the critical value.
US07872930B2
A supply voltage is set for a memory device at a first supply voltage level. Test data is written to the memory device at the first supply voltage level in response to setting the supply voltage. The supply voltage is decreased for the memory device to a second supply voltage level below the first supply voltage level in response to writing the test data. The test data is read from the memory device at the second supply voltage level in response to decreasing the supply voltage. The supply voltage is increased for the memory device to a third supply voltage level above the second supply voltage level in response to reading the test data. The test data is read from the memory device at the third supply voltage level in response to increasing the supply voltage. The test data written to the memory device at the first supply voltage level is compared to the test data read from the memory device at the third supply voltage level in response to reading the test data from the memory device at the third supply voltage level.
US07872927B2
A voltage generator that monitors a writing margin as a control amount in order to carry out an optimum power source control when control of a SRAM cell power source is carried out at writing operation, and always keeps the writing margin constant; and a power source selector are included to switch power source voltage at writing. By switching the power source voltage at writing, a semiconductor memory device in which a stable writing operation is achieved without largely deteriorating writing time in the SRAM cell and an ultrahigh speed operation or ultralow power operation can be carried out is obtained.
US07872921B2
In a nonvolatile memory, less than a full block may be erased as one or more pages. A select voltage is applied through pass transistors to each of plural selected wordlines and an unselect voltage is applied through pass transistor to each of plural unselected wordlines of a selected block. A substrate voltage is applied to the substrate of the selected block. A common select voltage may be applied to each selected wordline and the common unselect voltage may be applied to each unselected wordline. Select and unselect voltages may be applied to any of the wordlines of a select block. A page erase verify operation may be applied to a block having plural erased pages and plural nonerased pages.
US07872920B2
A word line driver system that utilizes a voltage selection circuit to supply one of several voltages to an output node coupled to a plurality of word line control circuits. Each word line control circuit is coupled to a respective word line in an array of non-volatile memory cells. The voltage selection circuit may include selectable low pass filters for filtering the supplied voltage supplied to the word lines in the array of memory cells without significantly increasing the overall die-size of the device.
US07872917B2
Provided is a non-volatile semiconductor device. The non-volatile semiconductor memory devices including: first and second word line groups disposed in parallel; dummy word lines disposed between the first and second word line groups; a first bit line group intersecting the first word line group; and a second bit line group intersecting the second word line group, wherein the first and second word line groups, the first and second bit line groups, and the dummy word lines are disposed on a same well.
US07872914B2
A monitor structure for monitoring a change of a memory content in a memory field of a non-volatile memory comprising a reference transistor in the memory field and a monitor transistor. The monitor transistor and the reference transistor comprise a common floating gate. Moreover, the memory field is arranged in a first well, and the monitor transistor in a second well. The first well and the second well are of different doping types.
US07872901B2
A memory cell (10) includes a resistive structure (1), and at least two electrodes (2) coupled to the resistive structure (1), wherein: the resistive structure (1) includes hydrogen, and the resistive structure (1) includes a material that exhibits a hydrogen ion mobility value of at least 10−8cm2/Vs.
US07872900B2
A non-volatile resistive switching memory that includes a homogeneous material which changes between the insulative and conductive states due to correlations between electrons, particularly via a Mott transition. The material is crystallized into the conductive state and does not require electroforming.
US07872893B2
A semiconductor memory device having a hierarchical bit line structure includes memory cells and an amplification circuit for amplifying a signal read from one of the memory cells via a bit line. A cell N-well region in which the P-channel transistors of the memory cell are formed and an amplification-circuit N-well region in which the P-channel transistors of the amplification circuit are formed are formed continuously.
US07872885B2
A method and a parallel connection arrangement for equalizing the output powers of power converter units (INU11, INU12), in which power converter units is a semiconductor switch bridge controlled with pulse width modulation, andin which is a control unit arrangement (CU1, CU2) for forming control pulses, with which the semiconductor switches are controlled. The control unit arrangement delays the falling edge of the control pulses of at least one semiconductor switch of at least one power converter unit.
US07872884B2
Disclosed herein are circuits and methods for generating a compliance voltage from a battery voltage in an implantable stimulator device. In one embodiment, the battery voltage is boosted to form the compliance voltage for driving the current sources (DACs) that provide therapeutic current to the electrodes on the device. Such improved boosting circuitry is preferably cascaded and comprises two stages. The first stage is preferably a step-up converter, which is used to generate an intermediate voltage from the battery voltage. The second stage is preferably a charge pump, which is used to generate the compliance voltage from the intermediate voltage. By splitting the boosting into stages, power efficiency during generation of high voltages is improved compared to the use of step-up converters and resolution in setting the compliance voltage is improved compared to the use of charge pumps alone. Moreover, depending on the compliance voltage to be produced by the boosting circuitry, the various stages can be selectively activated.
US07872880B2
A switch mode power supply according to the invention that can improve the reliability thereof includes a series circuit connected between the positive and negative electrodes of a DC power supply 3, the series circuit including a capacitor 4, a main switching device 1, and a subsidiary switching device 2; a main control circuit 13; a subsidiary control circuit 10; control circuits 13 and 10 turning main switching device 1 and subsidiary switching device 2 alternately ON and OFF to obtain a DC output via a transformer 6; and subsidiary control circuit 10 preventing a voltage exceeding the gate breakdown voltage of subsidiary switching device 2 from being applied to the gate electrode of subsidiary switching device 2.
US07872867B2
An electronic component system cabinet includes a plurality of electronic component system bays, and a plurality of electronic component systems mounted in respective ones of the plurality of electronic component system bays. The electronic component system cabinet further includes a cooling system including a plurality of coolant reservoirs. Each of the plurality of coolant reservoirs is associated with at least one of the plurality of electronic component system bays. The cooling system further includes at least one pump fluidly connected to each of the plurality of coolant reservoirs. The at least one pump is selectively operated to circulate a supply of coolant to each of the plurality of coolant reservoirs.
US07872865B2
Provided is a disk array device or an electronic device having an enhanced cooling performance with lower noises. The disk array device has doors in the front side and in the rear side of the device, each of the doors is formed with outside openings which are louver-like or bend-like, the louver- or bend-like openings in the doors being directed in directions which are opposite to each other between the door on the suction side and the door on the exhaust side.
US07872853B2
There is disclosed a thin film capacitor and the like capable of suppressing fluctuations of a capacity, increasing a VBD, and accordingly improving a device. characteristic and reliability of a product. In electronic components 1 to 4, a capacitor 11 is formed on a flat substrate 51 as a base material including a planarization layer 52 formed on the surface thereof. The capacitor 11 has a structure in which a lower conductor 21 constituted of an underlayer conductor 21a and a conductor 21b, a dielectric film 31 made of alumina or the like, a resin layer J1 mainly formed of a novolak resin or the like, a resin layer J2 mainly formed of a polyimide resin or the like, and an upper conductor 25 constituted of an underlayer conductor 25a and a conductor 25b are formed on the planarization layer 52 of the substrate 51. The resin layer J1 has an opening K1 above the lower conductor 21, and the resin layer J2 is provided with an opening K2 opened more widely than the opening K1.
US07872842B2
An overcurrent protection device for a power supply device includes a receiving end for receiving a current sensing signal, a compensating current unit coupled to the receiving end for compensating the current sensing signal in order to generate a current sense compensation signal, a first reference voltage generator for generating a first reference voltage, a comparator coupled between the compensating current unit and the first reference voltage generator for comparing the current sense compensation signal with the first reference voltage in order to generate a comparison result, a control unit coupled to the comparator for controlling a power switch of the power supply device according to the comparison result.
US07872833B2
A head includes a transducer and a slider having an air bearing surface (ABS) and a trailing face. The slider has an overcoat layer that includes the trailing face and that overcoats the transducer. The ABS includes a trailing pad having a major surface adjacent the transducer, with the major surface lying in a primary plane. The ABS also includes a sub-ambient pressure cavity disposed upstream of the overcoat layer and being recessed from the primary plane by a cavity depth in the range 0.8 to 2 microns. The overcoat layer includes a trailing air flow dam being recessed from the primary plane by a step depth in the range 0.05 to 0.5 microns. The overcoat layer also includes a corner region recessed from the primary plane by at least the cavity depth.
US07872830B2
A magnetic medium stack assembly includes a hub, a magnetic medium, and a clamp fixing the magnetic medium to the hub. The hub and clamp include engaging flange members that enable the hub and clamp to lock together without the use of external hardware or an adhesive. The clamp applies a substantially uniform compressive force on the magnetic medium, which helps reduce circumferential acceleration.
US07872827B2
Various embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to protecting a device from damage due to an impact event at the conclusion of a free fall condition through the use of a biasing signal that maintains a retention force until the impact event is completed.
US07872822B1
A disk drive is disclosed including a first disk surface comprising a plurality of data tracks, wherein each data track comprises a first plurality of data sectors, and a second disk surface comprising a plurality of data tracks, wherein each data track comprises a second plurality of data sectors. A first head is actuated over the first disk surface and a second head is actuated over the second disk surface. The first and second data sectors are accessed in a serpentine access pattern, wherein a plurality of refresh zones are defined relative to the serpentine access pattern. When a write command is received from a host, data is written to at least one of the refresh zones, and a refresh monitor associated with the refresh zone is updated.
US07872821B2
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for determining changes in fly-height. For example, various embodiments of the present invention provide storage devices that include a storage medium, an offset frequency, a read/write head assembly, and a harmonic fly-height change detection circuit. The storage medium includes a periodic data pattern that repeats at a data frequency. The read/write head assembly disposed in relation to the storage medium such that it senses the periodic data pattern and provides a sensed periodic data pattern. The harmonic fly-height change detection circuit samples the sensed periodic data pattern at an aggregate frequency to yield a first set of samples and a second set of samples. The aggregate frequency is the data frequency adjusted by the offset frequency. The harmonic fly-height change detection circuit calculates a first magnitude of the first set of samples and a second magnitude of the second set of samples.
US07872820B2
An image pickup apparatus enabling construction of a small bending optical system with high magnification. A first lens group is movably disposed toward an object on a first optical axis. A second lens group is movably disposed radially inward of the first lens group. The second lens group comprises a drive frame drivingly controlled along the first optical axis and a lens holding frame for holding the second lens group. A prism is disposed on the first optical axis, for bending light incident on the prism to thereby guide the light along a second optical axis. The prism is retracted along the second optical axis in a non-shooting state. In the non-shooting state, the second lens group is retracted and accommodated in a space defined by the drive frame and the lens holding frame and a space occupied by the prism in a shooting state.
US07872819B2
When an external force that is equal to or greater than the urging force of a first ball spring is applied to a first lens holder, a first ball follower is dislocated from a first cam groove, and a first external force receiving groove and a first external force receiving pin are brought into engagement to receive the external force. When the external force that has been applied to the first lens holder is released, the first ball follower is restored to the first cam groove due to the urging force of the first ball spring.
US07872810B2
A light shielding structure of an optical device includes outer and inner annular members which move relative to each other in an axial direction, small and large diameter outer peripheral portions formed on the inner annular member, and a light shielding ring positioned inside the outer annular member and supported thereby. The light shielding ring does not contact the small-diameter outer peripheral portion of the inner annular member. The light shielding ring and the large-diameter outer peripheral portion of the inner annular member coincide with each other in the axial direction in an operating state of the optical device whereby a clearance between the outer annular member and the inner annular member is made light-tight. The light shielding ring and the small-diameter outer peripheral portion of the inner annular member coincide with each other in the axial direction in a non-operating state of the optical device.
US07872807B2
A zoom lens with an easily bendable optical path has high optical specification performance such as a high zoom ratio, a wide-angle arrangement, a small F-number and reduced aberrations. It includes a first lens group G1 remaining fixed during zooming, a second lens group G2 having negative refracting power and moving during zooming, a third lens group G3 having positive refracting power and moving during zooming, and a fourth lens group G4 having positive refracting power and moving during zooming and focusing. The first lens group comprises, in order from an object side thereof, a negative meniscus lens component convex on an object side thereof, a reflecting optical element for bending an optical path and a positive lens. Upon focusing on an infinite object point, the fourth lens group G4 moves in a locus opposite to that of movement of the third lens group G3 during zooming.
US07872805B2
A lenticular lens medium forms a lenticular lens which includes a plurality of semicylindrical-shaped or arc-shaped elongated convex parts. The lenticular lens medium has a volume resistivity of 1×107-1×1014 Ω·cm and a surface resistivity of 1×108-1×1015Ω/□.
US07872803B2
A lengthy grid polarizer film comprising a lengthy resin film and a plurality of grid lines provided on the surface and/or inside of the resin film and extending substantially in parallel with each other are provided, the grid lines being made of a material G being 1.0 or more in the absolute value of the difference between the real part n1 and the imaginary part κ1 of the complex refractive index (N1=n1−iκ1), said resin film having a plurality of rows of grooves formed extending substantially in parallel with each other on its surface, and said grid line being made of a thin film of the laminated material G on the bottom face of the grooves and/or on the top face of ridges located between the adjacent grooves. A lengthy optical laminated body comprises the lengthy grid polarizer film and another lengthy polarizing optical film.
US07872800B2
The invention relates to a device and method for displaying a static or moving picture, wherein the inventive device comprises a laser light source and a screen and is characterized in that said screen has a structure at which the illuminated parts simultaneously reflect or transmit light in different directions inside a beam width.
US07872797B2
A device for histological research includes at least one container with shelves for slide trays connected to a flexible drive enabling reciprocating vertical motion of the container. The drive comprises a circular drive cable, a motor and at least one pulley. The device also includes a horizontal pusher provided on the working end with a tool for gripping the slide tray and moving it into the working zone outside the container and then back into the container, as well as a slide gripper capable of moving horizontally over the working zone in the direction perpendicular to that of the horizontal pusher.
US07872792B2
Improvements in an interferometric modulator that has a cavity defined by two walls.
US07872791B2
An electrochromic device (50) includes at least the typical five layer stack (12, 14, 16, 18, 20) between two substrates (22, 24) and connections elements (42, 44, 66) to the electron conducting layers (12, 14). At least one of the connections elements (42, 44, 66) are arranged through the substrate (22, 24). In preferred embodiments the points where the connection elements (42, 44, 66) penetrate the substrates are situated at different lateral positions. The substrates (22, 24) are typically plastic substrates. In another aspect of the invention, a manufacturing method providing an electrochromic device (50) according to the above described principles is provided.
US07872785B2
Systems and methods are provided to provide image quality particularly with regard to rendering spot color objects in image forming devices. Input spot color objects are assessed based on an object type and one or more parameters associated with the object, to include, but not be limited to, a desired tint value. A plurality of spot color rendering mechanisms are available within the individual system and/or method. A determination is made automatically regarding which of the plurality of color rendering mechanism to be employed to enhance specific image quality based on sensed and/or obtained parameters regarding the object, to include, but not be limited to, type and/or desired tint values.
US07872784B2
Upon reading images of both sides of a document sheet, the color reproducibilities of identical background images read from the two faces of each document sheet over a large number of pages are adjusted. Hence, a first background color read by a first reader, and a second background color read by a second reader are respectively extracted, and color processing parameters of a first or second color processor are adjusted, so as to make the output from the first color processor for the first background color be approximately equal to the output from a second color processor for the second background color.
US07872780B2
A flexible printed wiring board arrangement of an imaging device, includes an image pickup device fixing member to which an image pickup device is fixed; a holding member which holds the image pickup device fixing member; an inclination angle adjusting mechanism for changing an inclination angle of the image pickup device fixing member relative to the holding member; a flexible printed wiring board which extends from the image pickup device; and a flexible printed wiring board support member which is fixed to the holding member at a position behind the image pickup device fixing member, a part of the flexible printed wiring board being in contact with the flexible printed wiring board support member.
US07872778B2
An image forming apparatus includes a screen processing part that performs a screen processing on image data, a correction processing part that divides the image data subjected to the screen processing into plural regions, determines a correction parameter for each of the regions in response to a characteristic of the screen processing, and performs the correction processing, and an image formation part that forms an image based on the image data subjected to correction processing.
US07872773B2
A method for ensuring reliable transmission of a DCN signal by a gateway is disclosed. When acting as a sending gateway, the gateway packs a DCN signal detected into an IFP packet and sends the IFP packet to the IP side, then, reports a fax end event to a Soft Switch after a designated delay period; and the Soft Switch issues a State Switching Command for switching the two gateways back to voice state after receiving the fax end event. When acting as a receiving gateway, the gateway modulates a DCN signal detected and sends the modulated DCN signal to a receiving facsimile machine; if a switching command issued by a Soft Switch is received during sending the DCN signal, the gateway delays the switching; if the gateway has not received a switching command after the DCN data is sent, the gateway initiatively reports a fax end event.
US07872772B2
A software system and method for monitoring and tracking print transaction event history for a pipeline users, devices, applications and documents in a network environment. The system employs a substitute print driver that comprises the original OEM Print Driver installed at each client or server PC, and at each target output device, wrapped with installed “agent” software. This agent software combined with the original OEM print driver performs the following functions: 1) monitors document origination, generation, acquisition and destination metrics to and from the network pipeline of User(s) and Device(s) connected to the print server; 2) sends data to a data store which the customer and/or dealer controls, and 3) provides content management functionality of document delivery.
US07872771B2
An information processing apparatus, system and method which obtains restrictive print information determined for each user who operates a printer driver, and customizes a printer driver by setting a print setting value, as an initial value for the printer driver, which does not conflict with a condition indicated by the restrictive print information.
US07872769B2
In a computer system including a job scheduler which divides an input job and determines a client apparatus to assign the divided job, and a task manager which transmits the divided job to the client apparatus determined by the job scheduler, the job scheduler assigns the same job to a plurality of client apparatuses when the number of client apparatuses is larger than the number of divided jobs, and when the job is finished in one of the plurality of client apparatuses assigned the same job, execution of the job in the remaining client apparatuses is canceled so that the time until all jobs are finished is shortened.
US07872760B2
A method and device for detecting the contour data and/or optical characteristics of an object, such as a tooth or a tooth restoration, based on an interference and/or autocorrelation measurement using an image sensor. To permit an exact surface detection in addition to a determination of the optical characteristics of the object, individual light beams strike the object, which are located at a distance from one another in such a way that no impact of reflected individual light beams takes place on immediately adjacent pixels of the image sensor.
US07872756B2
A gas measuring apparatus includes: an infrared detecting section that receives an infrared ray from a measurement area and outputs infrared spectrum data relating to the infrared ray; a variation detecting section that detects, by using the infrared spectrum data, a variation in intensity of the infrared ray, which is caused in the infrared ray that radiates from the measurement area and which is caused by a measuring object gas in the measurement area; a converting section that converts the infrared spectrum data to radiance temperature spectrum data which represent wavelengths in an infrared region and radiance temperatures at each wavelength; a background temperature detecting section that detects, as background temperature of the measuring object gas, a maximum radiance temperature from among radiance temperatures represented by the radiance temperature spectrum data; a gas temperature detecting section that detects the temperature of the measuring object gas by using a radiance temperature in a wavelength band included in the water vapor absorption band in the infrared region from among the radiance temperatures represented by the radiance temperature spectrum data; and a computing section that computes surface density of the measuring object gas on the basis of the variation in intensity of the infrared ray, the background temperature of the measuring object gas, and the temperature of the measuring object gas.
US07872755B2
A double-biprism electron interferometer is an optical system which dramatically increases the degree of freedom of a conventional one-stage electron interferometer. The double biprism interferometer, however, is the same as the optical system of the single electron biprism in terms of the one-dimensional shape of an electron hologram formed by filament electrodes, the direction of an interference area, and the azimuth of the interference fringes. In other words, the longitudinal direction of the interference area is determined corresponding to the direction of the filament electrodes, and the azimuth of the interference fringes only coincides with and is in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the interference area. An interferometer according to the present invention has upper-stage and lower-stage electron biprisms, and operates with an azimuth angle Φ between filament electrodes of the upper-stage and lower-stage electron biprisms to arbitrarily control an interference area and an azimuth θ of the interference fringes formed therein.
US07872751B2
A sample investigation system (ES) in functional combination with an alignment system (AS), and methodology of enabling very fast, (eg. seconds), sample height, angle-of-incidence and plane-of-incidence adjustments, with application in mapping ellipsometer or the like systems.
US07872749B2
The invention is an installment for making multi-channel spectroscopic measurements on a plurality of nanodrop samples held by surface tension between opposing optical fibers wherein a single fiber is scanned across a linear spaced array of receiving, detecting fibers.
US07872741B2
A method and an apparatus are disclosed for scatterfield microscopical measurement. The method integrates a scatterometer and a bright-field microscope for enabling the measurement precision to be better than the optical diffraction limit. With the aforesaid method and apparatus, a detection beam is generated by performing a process on a uniform light using an LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) or a DMD (digital micro-mirror device) which is to directed to image on the back focal plane of an object to be measured, and then scattered beams resulting from the detection beam on the object's surface are focused on a plane to form an optical signal which is to be detected by an array-type detection device. The detection beam can be oriented by the modulation device to illuminate on the object at a number of different angles, by which zero order or higher order diffraction intensities at different positions of the plane at different incident angles can be collected.
US07872739B2
The inner cylindrical body is mounted on the top surface of the rudder-stock; the outer cylindrical body is put on the inner cylindrical body exteriorly; the gudgeon pin provided on the top reverse surface of the outer cylindrical body is inserted into the gudgeon provided on the top surface of the inner cylindrical body; the pin protruded on the top surface of the outer cylindrical body is inserted into the chest fixated to the supports; the rotational movement checking device, that obstructs the pin to rotate, and at the same time, permits it to be displaced in the radial direction, is provided inside the chest; the scale is provided on the outer circumferential surface of the inner cylindrical body; and, the rudder angle detecting optical sensors facing the scale are mounted on the inner circumferential surface of the outer cylindrical body.
US07872738B2
A monitoring system and method may be used to monitor an optical communication system. A monitoring system and method may be used to derive loop gain data sets from optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) or coherent optical time domain reflectometry (COTDR) data. A monitoring system and method may also use differential monitoring techniques to obtain data representing gain tilt in the transmission system and to locate an anomalous loss or gain in the transmission system.
US07872725B2
A liquid crystal display device with a pair of substrates which are arranged to face each other with liquid crystal therebetween, columnar spacers having the substantially equal height formed on a liquid-crystal-side surface of one substrate, and the columnar spacers include the columnar spacer which is contact with a liquid-crystal-side surface of another substrate and the columnar spacer which is not contact with the liquid-crystal-side surface of another substrate.
US07872719B2
A liquid crystal display including a pair of substrates having a predetermined cell gap and arranged opposite to each other, vertical alignment films formed between the pair of substrates, a liquid crystal layer sealed between the vertical alignment films and having a negative dielectric anisotropy, and a cured material provided in the liquid crystal layer and including a liquid crystal skeleton, which is tilted with respect to the substrate at a first angle, for changing tilt angles of liquid crystal molecules for each of predetermined regions. The vertical alignment films have an alignment control direction that defines a second angle with respect to said substrates, wherein the second angle is different from the first angle.
US07872718B2
To provide a production method of a liquid crystal display device and a liquid crystal display device, in which generation of a joint line on a display screen is suppressed and yield can be improved even if a substrate is subjected to an alignment treatment by completing exposure for the substrate through several exposures in a liquid crystal display device including pixels each having two or more domains. The present invention is a production method of a production method of a liquid crystal display device, the liquid crystal display device including: a pair of opposed substrates; a liquid crystal layer formed between the pair of opposed substrates; and an alignment film arranged on a liquid crystal layer side surface of at least one of the pair of opposed substrates, and the liquid crystal display device having two or more regions which differ in alignment azimuth in a pixel, wherein the production method comprises an exposure step of exposing the alignment film in such a way that a substrate plane is divided into two or more exposure regions through a photomask in each exposure region, and in the exposure step, exposure is performed in such a way that adjacent two exposure regions have an overlapping exposure region where the adjacent two exposure regions partly overlap with each other, and the photomask has a halftone part corresponding to the overlapping exposure region.
US07872716B2
A liquid crystal display, which allows proper optical compensation for bend-aligned mode liquid crystal cell and exhibits high contrast, excellent viewing angle properties and a high black display fidelity, is provided. A bend-aligned mode liquid crystal cell is properly optically compensated for by properly controlling the optical properties, including wavelength dispersion, of a first optical anisotropic layer and a second optical anisotropic layer.
US07872711B2
The present invention relates to an optical sheet for a backlight unit of a TFT-LCD and a TFT-LCD including the same. The optical sheet of the present invention includes a transparent base sheet, and a light diffusion layer in which a diffusion pattern comprised of a plurality of protrusions is formed on the transparent base sheet. The diffusion pattern satisfies an aspect ratio of 0.8 or more, the aspect ratio being a ratio of a radius (l) of a unit body portion of the protrusion, which is formed on the transparent base sheet, to a thickness (d) of the protrusion.
US07872707B1
Described herein are the materials, mechanisms and procedures for optimizing various performance parameters of HPDLC optical devices in order to meet differing performance requirements. These optimization tailoring techniques include control and independent optimization of switchable HPDLC optical devices to meet the demanding requirements of anticipated applications for, inter alia, the telecommunications and display industries. These techniques include optimization of diffraction efficiency, i.e., index modulation, polarization dependence control, haze, cosmetic quality, control of response and relaxation time, voltage driving for on and off switching, and material uniformity. This control and independent optimization tailors properties of switchable HPDLC optical devices according to the specific requirements of the application of the switchable HPDLC optical device. The invention disclosed herein retains the desirable attributes of the multi-functional acrylate system for forming HPDLC optical devices, but adds new materials to the acrylate system and/or new process control to the recording to optimize performance parameters as may be needed for specific applications. This results in high optical quality switchable holograms with good diffraction efficiency and low, stable switching voltage.
US07872701B2
A method for fixing a flexible circuit board (FPC) of a display module includes providing a housing having at least a fixing pin, providing a display panel and an FPC having at least a fixing hole corresponding to the fixing pin, disposing the display panel and the FPC on the housing and folding back the FPC on another side of the housing such that the fixing pin passes through the fixing hole, and performing a hot mounting process to the fixing pin to enlarge the top end of the fixing pin to press the FPC onto the housing.
US07872699B2
A thin film transistor (TFT) array panel is provided, which includes: a plurality of gate lines transmitting gate signals; a plurality of data lines intersecting the gate lines and transmitting data signals, each data line including first and second data line branches electrically connected to each other and spaced apart from each other; a plurality of pixel electrodes electrically connected to the gate lines and the data lines through thin film transistor and covering edges of the first or the second data line branches; a passivation layer disposed between the data lines and the pixel electrodes; and a light blocking member covering gaps between the first data line branches and the second data line branches.
US07872695B2
A process of producing an optical compensation sheet is provided, which comprises applying a solution comprising a liquid crystalline compound and a photo-polymerization initiator on a transparent support, drying the solution at a drying temperature which satisfies the following formula (1) to align the liquid crystalline compound, and then fixing the liquid crystalline compound by light irradiation to form an optical anisotropic layer: T≦0.0014×Ecoh−65 (1) wherein T represents drying temperature (° C.), Ecoh represents condensation energy (J/mol) of the photo-polymerization initiator, by which an optical compensation sheet of stable optical characteristics can be obtained by using an essentially needed amount of photo-polymerization initiator for the photo-polymerization reaction. By the process of the present invention, the staining of the production facility of the optical compensation sheet derived from vaporization of photo-polymerization initiator can be reduced.
US07872685B2
A camera module includes an image sensor, a lens module and a circuit board. The lens module is disposed at an object side of the image sensor and has a plurality of electrical connection points thereon. The circuit board includes a main body and a bent portion electrically connecting with the main body. The image sensor is mounted on the main body and received between the lens module and the main body. The bent portion extends from a side surface of the main body and a plurality of electrical connection points is formed on the bent portion corresponding to the electrical connection points of the lens module. The electrical connection points of the bent portion are configured for connecting with the electrical connection points of the lens module to supply power to the lens module.
US07872684B2
A camera on which a lens apparatus is mounted is disclosed. The camera includes a controller which performs a focusing control corresponding to the mounted lens apparatus; a display unit which performs display process corresponding to an output of the controller; and a storage section which stores correction information for correcting a calculation result in the focusing control by the controller, in association with the mounted lens apparatus.
US07872679B2
An image pickup apparatus has an image pickup device, a defect-information-storing unit that stores defect information relative to a defective pixel in the image pickup element, a compensation-signal-generating unit that generates a compensation signal for each defective pixel, first and second compensation units that compensate for the pixel signal relative to the defective pixel indicated by the defect information with and without applying the compensation signal to the pixel signal, and a compensation-switching unit that switches between a first signal compensated by the first compensation unit and a second signal compensated by the second compensation unit based on a comparison result of a signal level of the compensation signal with a signal level of a predetermined compensation-switching reference signal.
US07872677B2
A solid-state imaging apparatus includes: a pixel section where a plurality of pixels for effecting photoelectric conversion are two-dimensionally arranged, having an effective pixel section consisting of pixels for receiving object light and a reference pixel section consisting of pixels shielded from light; a first scanning circuit for sequentially setting to the pixel section the pixels to be read out a signal; a noise suppressing circuit for suppressing noise components of signals from the pixels based on a first control signal associated with sampling and holding of signals from the pixels and a second control signal associated with setting of clamping potential that are applied at respective predetermined timings; a second scanning circuit for sequentially reading signals of each pixel suppressed of the noise components; and a reference signal control section for applying the first and second control signals to the noise suppressing circuit so that it is brought into one or the other of a first condition where signals of the pixels shielded from light are inputted and a second condition where inputting of signals of the pixels shielded from light is lacked without changing an order according to which a release of sampling by the first control signal and a release of setting of clamping potential by the second control signal are effected, causing a generation of a first reference signal obtained in the first condition or a second reference signal obtained in the second condition as a signal corresponding to an optical black level.
US07872673B2
An image capture system is presented where the dynamic range of photo imaging devices, such as a still or video camera, is increased by varying sensor exposure time on a pixel-by-pixel basis under digital camera processor control. The systems photo sensors are continuously illuminated without reset over the exposure interval. In addition to being interrogated at the end of the exposure interval, the pixels are also non-destructively interrogated at one or more intermediate times during the interval. At each interrogation, the image capture system determines individually whether the pixels have saturated and if not, the parameter value is recorded; if the pixel has saturated, the previously stored value from the preceding interval is maintained. To produce the final sensor value for the whole exposure interval, the data for pixels that reached the saturation level are adjusted to compensate for their shortened exposure.
US07872670B2
A camera includes a CPU. The CPU individually detects a ratio of an object which exceeds a threshold value in a moving amount to a center area of an object scene and a ratio of an object which exceeds the threshold value in the moving amount to a peripheral area of the object scene. If differences between the respective detected ratios are large, the CPU sets a photographing mode to a sports mode. When a shutter button is operated, the object scene is photographed in accordance with a set photographing mode.
US07872667B2
The present invention provides a system and method for obtaining in vivo images. The system contains an imaging system and a transmitter for transmitting signals from a camera to a receiving system located outside a patient.
US07872663B2
A light emitting device includes a plurality of light emitting elements, a first storage unit that stores first correction values corresponding to the light emitting elements, a counting unit that counts the number of pixels whose gray-scale values designated by image data are within a predetermined range included in an image, a selection unit that selects a first mode or a second mode according to the relationship between the number counted by the counting unit and a threshold value, and a driving unit that drives the light emitting elements corresponding to the predetermined number of pixels to emit amounts of light corresponding to the first correction values when the first mode is selected by the selection unit, and drives the light emitting elements corresponding to the predetermined number of pixels to emit amounts of light corresponding to the image data when the second mode is selected by the selection unit.
US07872656B2
Graphics resources are virtualized through an interface between graphics hardware and graphics clients. The interface allocates the graphics resources across multiple graphics clients, processes commands for access to the graphics resources from the graphics clients, and resolves conflicts for the graphics resources among the clients.
US07872655B2
Systems and methods for integrating graphic animation technologies with fantasy sports contest applications are provided. This invention enables a fantasy sports contest application to depict plays in various sporting events using graphic animation. The fantasy sports contest application may combine graphical representation of real-life elements such as, for example, player facial features, with default elements such as, for example, a generic player body, to create realistic graphic video. The fantasy sports contest application may provide links to animated videos for depicting plays on contest screens in which information associated with the plays may be displayed. The fantasy sports contest application may play the animated video for a user in response to the user selecting such a link. In some embodiment of the present invention, the fantasy sports contest application may also customize animated video based on user-supplied setup information. For example, the fantasy sports contest application may provide play information and other related data to allow a user to generate animated videos using the user's own graphics processing equipment and graphics animation program.
US07872651B2
Generating an error from an error metric quantifying differences between reference objects representing characters and representations of the reference objects. One embodiment includes a method which includes accessing a reference object representing a character. One or more reference object characteristics are quantified. The reference object characteristics are related to character structural and color information of at least a portion of the reference object to generate a reference object metric. A representation object of the reference object is accessed. One or more representation object characteristics are quantified to create a representation object metric. The representation object characteristics are related to character structural and color information of a portion of the representation object of the reference object corresponding to the portion of the reference object. An error is calculated based on a difference between the reference object metric and the representation object metric. The error is output to a user.
US07872650B2
Systems and methods are described for remotely viewing large tiled image datasets, such as global maps at multiple resolution levels. A voting schema immediately retrieves the image tiles in a multi-resolution image dataset that are most likely to provide temporary complete coverage of a given browser view while more numerous optimal image tiles for the current resolution level of the browser view are still downloading. Image tiles that are not locally available are assigned one vote toward immediate download while their parent and higher-order image tiles accumulate increasing multiples of the vote. This provides panning and zooming such that it is difficult for a user to outdrive the update speed of the changing view. The system can also enhance navigation to provide natural and responsive movement of the browser viewport while image tiles are being downloaded.
US07872648B2
A “Vector Graphics Encoder” encodes vector graphics in a randomly accessible format. This encoding format enables particular portions of encoded images to be directly accessed, at any desired level of zoom, without processing or otherwise decoding the entire image. This random-access format is based on a coarse image grid of partially overlapping cells wherein each cell is defined by a “texel program.” Unlike fixed-complexity cells used by conventional vector images, each cell defined by a texel program is locally specialized without requiring global constraints on the complexity of each cell. The texel program for each cell is provided as a variable-length string of tokens representing a locally specialized description of one or more of layers of graphics primitives overlapping the cell. Images are then rendered by interpreting the texel programs defining one or more cells.
US07872646B2
A power supply generating circuit, a display apparatus incorporating the same, and a portable terminal device using the display apparatus as an output display unit are provided. In a DC-DC converter having a charge pump circuit (31), a voltage dividing circuit (32), and a regulation circuit (33), p-channel MOS transistors (Qp21, Qp22, Qp31) are turned on/off based on an enable pulse enb to make the voltage dividing circuit (32) and a comparator (41) active only for a period of regulation time and inactive otherwise. This can cause a current to flow in voltage-divider resistors (R1, R2) and the comparator (41) only for a certain period of time required for the regulation operation, thus reducing the power consumption loss caused by a constant current flow in the voltage-divider resistors (R1, R2) and the comparator (41).
US07872645B2
An image sensing chip includes an active pixel sensor array including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns. A built in self test circuit is coupled to the active pixel sensor array. The built in self test circuit includes an output port adapted to be coupled to external circuitry and the built in self test circuit is operable to test the active pixel sensor array and provide the results of the test on the output port.
US07872644B2
A flat panel display device includes: a display panel; a driving circuit unit for applying a drive signal to the display panel; and a plurality of aging pads connected with the driving circuit unit and applying aging signals to the display panel, wherein each aging pad includes a plurality of sub-aging pads.
US07872643B2
A projection advertising display system which can withstand the environmental conditions of the projection site, allows for remote operation and monitoring and provides for long-term, legitimate projected advertising in or on third-party structures. The digital projection advertising display system comprises a projection surface, such as the exterior side or interior wall of a building, which is covered by a long-term agreement allowing the projection of advertising images on said projection surface, and a projection unit comprising a projector, an environmental control system, a monitoring camera, and a computer. Each of the components of the projection unit is operatively coupled to a computer which controls and monitors the function of each of the components. The computer is networked to a central computer remote from said projection unit and can remotely control and monitor the functions of the projection unit. A plurality of projection units may be networked to the central computer to allow central control and monitoring of each of the projection advertising displays. The method provides for obtaining long-term agreements for the use of the projection surfaces and the sites for mounting the projection units.
US07872633B2
An electrophoretic display having charged particles that are able to occupy, between a first and second electrode, two limit positions and intermediate positions between the two limit positions which are defined by a drive voltage. An addressing circuit generates the drive voltage waveform by successively applying between the first electrode and the second electrode, during an image update period, a reset pulse enabling particles of the display to substantially occupy one of the limit positions, and a drive pulse having a level in accordance with an optical state to be reached by one of the pixels. The addressing circuit generates a first shaking pulse having at least one preset pulse having energy sufficient to release particles present in one of the limit positions, but insufficient to enable the particles to reach the other one of the extreme limit positions.
US07872627B2
A driving circuit of the display unit includes a driving circuit including a read only memory and a rewritable nonvolatile memory. The rewritable nonvolatile memory stores display quality specifying information for specifying the display quality of a display panel connected to the driving circuit. The read only memory stores the display quality initial information used for initialization of the display quality of an optional display panel. By preferentially using the information stored in the rewritable nonvolatile memory, it is possible to drive the display panel at an optimum display quality in the normal state. Moreover, even when it is impossible to normally read data from the rewritable nonvolatile memory, it is possible to drive the display panel at an initial-state display quality by using the data in the read only memory.
US07872626B2
A display device has an array of display elements (2) each driven by an input provided on a data conductor (6). These inputs are generated by data conductor addressing circuitry (9) which has a plurality of controllable driver circuits (32,34,40), each for providing an input to an associated data conductor. The number of controllable driver circuits is at least one greater than the number required for providing data to all data conductors. A reference driver circuit (30) is used for calibrating at least one of the controllable driver circuits whilst the other controllable driver circuits provide inputs to the data conductors. This provides a reduction in the spread of driver circuit outputs by calibration of the driver circuits using a reference driver circuit.
US07872624B2
A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display element section that is initialized such that the alignment state of liquid crystal molecules is transitioned from a splay alignment to a bend alignment capable of displaying an image, and a driving circuit that applies, in the initialization, a transition voltage, which causes the alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules to be transitioned from the splay alignment to the bend alignment, to the liquid crystal display element section. In particular, the driving circuit includes a transition voltage setting unit that alternately sets the transition voltage at a first polarity and a second polarity that is opposite to the first polarity.
US07872616B2
There is provided a plasma display apparatus and a driving method thereof, and more particularly, to a plasma display apparatus which drives an electrodes and a driving method thereof. The plasma display apparatus includes a plasma display panel including an electrodes; a first voltage supply unit supplying a first voltage to the electrodes at a setup period; and a setup/scan operation unit supplying a ramp-up pulse to the electrodes at the setup period with one voltage source and supplying a second voltage to the electrodes at an address period with the one voltage source. The driving apparatus of a plasma display panel includes a plasma display panel including an electrodes; a first voltage supply unit supplying a first voltage; a first setup supply unit supplying a first ramp-up pulse rising from the first voltage to a first sum voltage corresponding to a sum of the first voltage and the second voltage to the electrodes; and a second setup supply unit supplying a second ramp-up pulse rising to a second sum voltage corresponding to a sum of the first voltage, the second voltage, and the third voltage to the electrodes after the first ramp-up pulse is applied and a second setup supply unit supplying the third voltage to the electrodes when scanning the electrodes. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the production cost by decreasing the number of components and improve a driving efficiency by raising a voltage of a setup waveform at a reset period.
US07872613B2
As described herein vascular anchoring systems are used to position an implant in a vascular area such as a bifurcated vasculature with relatively high fluid flow, for instance, in an area of a pulmonary artery with associated left and right pulmonary arteries. Implementations include an anchoring trunk member having a first anchoring trunk section and a second anchoring trunk section. Further implementations include a first anchoring branch member extending from the anchoring trunk member. Still further implementations include a second anchoring branch member extending from the anchoring trunk member.
US07872610B2
A metalized plastic antenna includes a plastic antenna body with metallization on the inside. In this arrangement metallization is used for conducting electromagnetic waves. Furthermore, metallization may be implemented as a protective coating so that chemical resistance of the plastic antenna may be ensured even in the case of corrosive environmental conditions.
US07872602B2
A TDC circuit includes: a first delay circuit, including at least one first delay stage for delaying a first input signal to generate a first output signal; a second delay circuit, including at least one second delay stage for delaying a second input signal to generate a second output signal; a first counter, for computing the first output signal to generate a first counter value; a second counter, for computing the second output signal to generate a second counter value; and a comparator, for comparing the first counter value and the second counter value to generate a comparing result signal; wherein the first delay stage has a larger delay amount than the second delay stage, the first counter starts before the second counter, and the comparator outputs the comparing result signal when the second counter value falls within a predetermined range of the first counter value.
US07872601B2
Disclosed is a designed and implemented 12-bit 70 Msps pipeline analog-to-digital converter. Two adjacent blocks operate at opposite clock phases to reduce the chip size and power consumption. Since the opposite clock phases are designed to be provided by external devices, the timing between these two clock phases must be accurate. Note that the architecture of pipeline ADC consists of four stages, divided into two groups, wherein two adjacent stages in each group share one 3-bit flash ADC, hence only two 3-bit flash ADCs are required in this scheme. Therefore, there are 6-bit signal produced from each 3-bit flash ADC within one clock phase which consists of two opposite clock phases. And within the same period, the total output of the pipeline analog-to-digital converter would be 12-bit. From the simulation results, when the sampling rate is 70 Msps, this converter consumes 155 mW (TBV) at a ±1.8 V supply.
US07872598B2
Techniques for decompressing a compressed input by determining, according to an ordering of allowable codewords, an offset for a variable length codeword detected in the input; accessing a record at the determined offset in a data structure having one record for each of the allowable codewords, each record including a portion for at least one of a literal value and a length value and a portion for a type value indicative of whether the record is for a literal or a length; and determining a decompressed output based at least in part on the accessed record.
US07872593B1
A system for creating an image file including a computer subsystem configured to identify camera systems having location coordinates within a target array of location coordinates is disclosed. The computer system is further configured to retrieve image data from the identified camera systems, the image data including images of a region of interest corresponding to the target array of location coordinates. The computer system is also configured to create an image file using the image data retrieved from the identified camera systems.
US07872592B2
A warning light assembly includes a source of electrical power, an LED light source, electrical circuitry operably coupling the source of electrical power to the light source and a lens assembly. The lens assembly encloses the LED light source such that light from the source is directed outwardly from the lens assembly. The lens assembly is triangular in shape. In certain embodiments, the electrical power source includes a rechargeable battery and the assembly further comprises a solar panel operably connected to the rechargeable battery. A triangular lens assembly may be connected at a vertex to a housing which holds the electrical power source. The solar panel may be mounted on a peripheral surface of the lens assembly opposite the vertex.
US07872589B2
A system for controlling lighting of an instrument panel has a sensor for monitoring activity near the instrument panel. A lighting control unit is coupled to the sensor and a lighting system of the instrument panel. The lighting control unit controls the light intensity of the lighting system. The lighting control unit increases the intensity of the lighting system when the sensor monitors activity near the instrument panel.
US07872583B1
A method and system for a long range Radio Frequency (RF)-based identification, tracking and locating of objects. The method and system use a narrow bandwidth ranging signal(s), including VHF of lower frequency bands, which minimizes propagation loss and loss of accuracy of the RF locating signals. The method and system includes narrow bandwidth ranging signal multi-path mitigations processor, which further improves the track-locate accuracy. The signal is sent from a Master Unit(s) to a Tag. The signal traveling time is recorded and the distance between the Master(s) and the Tag is calculated. The method and system allow achieving a longer distance of the RF narrow bandwidth ranging signal penetration and an increased accuracy by using VHF bands in conjunction with the narrow bandwidth ranging signal multi-path mitigations processor. The techniques of Digital Signal Processing and Software-Defined Radio are used. The actual waveforms transmitted and received by the radios are defined by the software. The roles of the Master Unit(s) and the Tag can be reversed.
US07872576B2
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and device for operating a circuit. In particular, embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and device that may allow an observant Jew to operate a circuit on the Sabbath or on the Jewish holidays. Embodiments of the present invention may include a combination of mitigating factors which may allow an observant Jew to operate a circuit on the Sabbath or on a Jewish holiday.
US07872563B2
A method of making a monolithic porous structure, comprises electrodepositing a material on a template; removing the template from the material to form a monolithic porous structure comprising the material; and electropolishing the monolithic porous structure.
US07872561B2
An E-shaped transformer core has a middle leg and one pair of outer legs and on opposite sides with respect to the middle leg. A first pair of coils including at least two coils are wound around the middle leg so that a power transmission transformer unit is formed. The outer leg is divided into two outer leg portions and with a space therebetween allowing coil wiring therebetween, and a second pair of coils including two coils are respectively wound around the respective two outer leg portions and so as to have mutually opposite winding directions, so that a signal transmission transformer unit is formed.
US07872557B2
The invention relates to an article of clothing (10) comprising at least one layer consisting of a flexible material and an inductive coupling device (20) for transmitting an electric current and/or data signals through the layer or layers of the flexible material. The invention also relates to an inductive interface for an article of clothing, which can inductively transmit an electric current and/or data between the interior and the exterior of an article of clothing, with which the interface is used. In addition, the invention relates to the use of an interface of this type for sending an electric current and/or data signals through a textile layer of an article of clothing.
US07872554B2
A pulser ring and a second seal ring are separately formed. When a multipolar magnetic rotor of the pulser ring is bonded to an outer circumferential face of an outer cylindrical portion of an annular core portion, the multipolar magnetic rotor is opposed to a magnetic sensor in the radial direction. Due to the above structure, the multipolar magnetic rotor can be strongly supported by an outer cylindrical portion of the annular core portion. Therefore, even when a rotary centrifugal force is given to the multipolar magnetic rotor, it can not be swung in the radial direction. Accordingly, an interval of the multipolar magnetic rotor and the magnetic sensor in the radial direction, which are opposed to each other, can be maintained constant irrespective of an intensity of the centrifugal force.
US07872549B2
A quasi-lumped resonator apparatus that makes use of an inductive portion having a plurality of spines extending therefrom along at least a portion of a length thereof, and a capacitive portion electrically and physically coupled to an end of the inductive portion. The capacitive portion has a plurality of spaced apart capacitive fringe plates extending therefrom. A housing is included for enclosing the inductive and capacitive portions. In another aspect a method is disclosed for forming a quasi-lumped resonator.
US07872547B2
A wireless communication device includes an antenna module, a transceiving module, and a switch module. The antenna module includes a first antenna and a second antenna. The transceiving module includes a first transceiver and a second transceiver. The switch module switches different connections between the antenna module and the transceiving module, and includes a first single-pole-double-throw (SPDT) switch, a second SPDT switch, a third SPDT switch, a first duplexer, a second duplexer, and a double-pole-double-throw (DPDT) switch.
US07872541B2
In various embodiments, the invention provides a clock generator and/or a timing and frequency reference comprising an LC oscillator with a frequency controller to control and provide a stable resonant frequency. Such stability is provided over variations in a selected parameter such as temperature and fabrication process variations. The various apparatus embodiments include a sensor to provide a signal in response to at least one parameter of a plurality of parameters; and a frequency controller to modify the resonant frequency in response to the second signal. In exemplary embodiments, the sensor is implemented as a current source responsive to temperature fluctuations, and the frequency controller is implemented as a plurality of controlled reactance modules which are selectively couplable to the oscillator or to one or more control voltages. The controlled reactance modules may include fixed or variable capacitances or inductances, and may be binary weighted. Arrays of resistive modules are also provided, to generate one or more control voltages.
US07872532B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a high-frequency power amplifier capable of improving the linearity at the time of high output by preventing decrease in power of bias supply transistor. The high-frequency power amplifier is a high-frequency power amplifier including high-frequency power amplifier transistors and connected in multiple stages and bias supply transistors and each of which supplies bias current to a base of a corresponding one of said high-frequency power amplifier transistors, and each of which is connected to a common power supply terminal which is further connected to a collector of the high-frequency power amplifier transistor at a first stage among said high-frequency power amplifier transistors, and a passive element connected between the common supply terminal and a collector of the corresponding one of said bias supply transistors connected to the high-frequency power amplifier transistor at the first stage.
US07872523B2
A radio frequency (RF) power generator includes a first switch-mode amplifier that generates a first RF signal in accordance with a first control signal and a second switch-mode amplifier that generates a second RF signal in accordance with a second control signal. The first and second control signals determine a phase difference between the first and second RF signals. An output signal envelope is based on the first and second RF signals and the phase difference. The first control and second control signals alternate phases of the first and second RF signals.
US07872495B1
A unit cell for a programmable termination circuit in an integrated circuit and a method for programming such termination circuit are described. In an embodiment, such unit cells may have three n-type and three p-type transistors. A first transistor is coupled to receive a first float control signal. A second transistor is coupled to receive a second float control signal. The third and fourth transistors are coupled to receive a first termination voltage control signal. The fifth and sixth transistors are coupled to receive a second termination voltage control signal. The first float control signal and the second float control signal are a pair of complementary signals.
US07872494B2
Components of a memory controller are calibrated in a select sequence to compensate for variances in skew and signal level variations. The offset bias of the receiver of the I/O cell and the termination resistance of the I/O cell are calibrated. The duty cycles of the transmit path and receive path associated with the I/O cell can be calibrated using the calibrated receiver. In one aspect, the driver of the I/O cell can be calibrated prior to calibrating the receiver. Performing the calibration processes of the memory controller in one of the particular sequences described herein improves the timing budgets for the signaling conducted by the memory controller.
US07872486B2
Example wing-shaped support members for enhancing semiconductor device probes and methods to form the same are disclosed. A disclosed example semiconductor device probe includes a finger having a first end and a second end. The example probe further includes a tip having a base and a pointed end. The base is joined to the first end of the finger and the tip tapers from the base to the pointed end. The probe also includes a support member on the tip to increase a rigidity of the tip.
US07872481B1
A measurement system with selectable feedback paths includes a DUT interface including a first and a second DUT sensor, the first sensor being connected to a first feedback path for providing a measure of a first DUT characteristic, the second sensor being connected to a second feedback path for providing a measure of a second DUT characteristic, the sensors having a shared reference path and each feedback path including a set point adjustment; a differential amplifier system including differential inputs and differential outputs, the differential outputs being applied to the DUT interface; and a multi-pole switcher for connecting the differential inputs to either the first feedback path and the reference path or to the reference path and the second feedback path, respectfully. The first feedback path is selected to produce a desired first DUT characteristic or the second feedback path is selected to produce a second desired DUT characteristic.
US07872472B2
An eddy current testing method for a turbine rotor including a disc, a plurality of turbine blades disposed along the periphery of the disc, and a plurality of pins for joining a blade fork portion formed on each of the plurality of turbine blades to a disc fork portion formed on the disc, the method including inserting a probe having an eddy current testing sensor into a hole formed through the disc fork portion and the blade fork portion by pulling out one of the plurality of pins in a state that the blade fork portion is still inserted into the disc fork portion; and performing eddy current testing for at least part of an internal surface of the hole by using the probe.
US07872470B2
A drive assembly for a vehicle door is provided. The drive assembly includes a motor having a driving member. The drive assembly further includes a housing having a shaft rotatably received therein. The drive assembly further includes an input member being rotatably received upon the shaft. The input member is operatively associated with the driving member. The drive assembly further includes a rotor fixedly secured to the shaft. The drive assembly further includes first and second Hall effect sensor modules mounted to the housing in a facing spaced relationship with respect to the plurality of teeth of the rotor that generate first and second signals, respectively. The first and second signals have a quadrature relationship with respect to one another and indicate a rotational direction of the rotor when the plurality of teeth are rotating past the first and second Hall effect sensor modules.
US07872469B2
A motherboard device (MB) interface board (DIB) configured as universal interface to a family of integrated circuit (IC) devices provides the electrical connectivity to automated test equipment (ATE) and physical mating commonality with an IC device handler for reduced time to market and enhanced economy for design validation and production verification testing. In particular, use of one or more daughter cards (DC) that mount to the MB DIB avoid redesign of the entire DIB assembly for a new IC design. Each DC can be more quickly designed at a lower cost than the entire DIB assembly, enabling replacement of any defective site. The DC increases the available surface area for mounting of support components for the device under test (DUT).
US07872465B2
A method of evaluating material volatility characteristics. A pulse of current flux is delivered through a material sample to simulate a lightning strike. A pressure produced by the sample during the pulse is measured. The measured pressure is used to measure volatility of the material. An apparatus for evaluating the volatility of materials includes a pulse power supply and a test cell through which a pulse is delivered and in which pressure produced by a sample during the pulse is measured. This apparatus and method can reduce the costs of material selection and can shorten development time for new products.
US07872464B2
A testing system includes a hand-held transmitter that plugs into a receptacle electrically coupled to a selected branch circuit. The transmitter includes a circuit effective to test an arc fault circuit interrupter electrically coupled to the branch circuit by creating a first pulse on the branch circuit that is effective to trip the arc fault circuit interrupter. The transmitter can perform at least one additional test including: determining whether the receptacle is wired properly; determining a location of a circuit interrupting device electrically coupled to the branch circuit by creating a second pulse on the branch circuit that can be sensed by a receiver located proximately to the respective circuit interrupting device and broadly tuned about a frequency of the second pulse; and testing a ground fault circuit interrupter electrically coupled to the branch circuit by creating a third pulse on the branch circuit that is effective to trip the ground fault circuit interrupter.
US07872455B2
A circuit provides a voltage reference using very low power. It can also be used as a shut regulator for a quiescent current as low as 1.5 μA. It includes a transconductance amplifier, a gain stage, and a power transistor. One embodiment of this invention utilizes a work function difference between p+ gate and n+ gate to generate a predetermined reference voltage. In another embodiment of this invention, the predetermined reference voltage can be pre-adjusted using gate materials with different work functions.
US07872439B2
A controller for a motor driving apparatus switches a direction of electricity flowing through a first coil according to a first lead angle signal obtained based on a first magnetic pole detecting signal and a second magnetic pole detecting signal. The controller switches a direction of electricity flowing through a second coil according to a second lead angle signal obtained based on the first magnetic pole detecting signal and the second magnetic pole detecting signal. Thus, a motor driving apparatus can be configured such that the angle of the rotation center of the rotor with respect to two magnetically sensitive poles can freely be selected.
US07872431B2
A digital controlled multi-light driving apparatus of the invention is for driving and controlling at least one AC-driven light and at least one DC-driven light. The digital controlled multi-light driving apparatus includes at least one first oscillation step-up circuit for driving the AC-driven light, at least one second oscillation step-up circuit for driving the DC-driven light; and a digital control circuit. The digital control circuit has a digital switching signal generating circuit and a multiplex feedback-control calculating circuit. The digital switching signal generating circuit connects to each of the first oscillation step-up circuit and the second oscillation step-up circuit and generates a first set of digital switching signals and a second digital switching signal respectively to the first oscillation step-up circuit and the second oscillation step-up circuit. The multiplex feedback-control calculating circuit has a control-calculating unit and an A/D converting unit. The control-calculating unit controls the digital switching signal generating circuit, and controls a phase and a duty cycle of one of the first set of the digital switching signals and the second digital switching signal generated by the digital switching signal generating circuit according to digital feedback signals from the A/D converting unit. The A/D converting unit converts feedback signals from the AC-driven light and the DC-driven light into the digital feedback signals, respectively. The first oscillation step-up circuit and the second oscillation step-up circuit are controlled according to the first set of digital switching signals and the second digital switching signal, respectively.
US07872425B2
A light source driving device includes a power stage circuit, a first transformer circuit, a second transformer circuit, and a feedback control circuit. The power stage circuit converts a received signal to an alternating current (AC) signal, which includes a synchronizing switching bridge arm, a first bridge arm, and a second bridge arm. The synchronizing switching bridge arm has a Soft-Switching function, and forms a first full-bridge circuit with the first bridge arm and forms a second full-bridge circuit with the second bridge arm. The first transformer circuit is connected to the first full-bridge circuit, for converting the AC signal. The second transformer circuit is connected to the second full-bridge circuit, for converting the AC signal. The feedback control circuit is connected between the light source module and the power stage circuit, for controlling output of the power stage circuit.
US07872424B2
A lighting apparatus comprises a plurality of light sources, a power conversion circuit, a plurality of load-driving coils and a feedback generation coil. The power conversion circuit generates a driving signal for the load-driving coils to generate substantially identical driving currents for driving every light source. Furthermore, the feedback generation coil generates a feedback signal based on the inductions of the currents flowing though the plurality of load driving coils.
US07872423B2
A load control device for controlling the amount of power delivered from an AC power source to an electrical load comprises a rotary actuator, such as a rotary knob or a rotary wheel. The load control device increases and decreases the amount of power delivered to the electrical load in response to rotations of the rotary knob in first and second directions, respectively. The load control device accelerates the rate of change of the amount of power delivered to the load in response to the angular velocity of the rotary actuator. The load control device generates a ratcheting sound when the rotary actuator is rotated in the first direction at a high-end intensity of the load control device. The load control device is operable to control the electrical load in response to both actuations of the rotary actuator and digital messages received via a communication link.
US07872411B2
An organic electroluminescence device including one layer or two or more layers of organic layer sandwiched between an anode and a cathode. At least one of the organic layers includes a phosphorescent compound and a polymer. The polymer has a structural unit derived from a monomer represented by formula (1) as defined herein, and a structural unit derived from a monomer having heterocycle(s) containing two or more heteroatoms.
US07872410B2
A light emitting device includes a light emitting element, a substrate with a flat mounting surface for mounting the light emitting element thereon, a sealing part for the light emitting element on the mounting surface of the substrate. The sealing part is formed of glass including a phosphor to be excited by light emitted from the light emitting element to radiate a wavelength conversion light. The sealing part is shaped like a rectangular solid wherein a lateral length is defined as a distance between a center of a bottom surface of the sealing part bonded to the mounting surface and a side face perpendicular to the mounting surface, a vertical length is defined as a distance between the mounting surface and a top surface of the sealing part, and at least one of the lateral length is longer than the vertical length. The device further includes a transparent member formed on the top surface of the sealing part. The transparent member includes the phosphor at a concentration higher than the sealing part.
US07872408B2
A field-emission-based flat light source includes the following: a light-permeable substrate; a plurality of line-shaped cathodes; an anode; a light-reflecting layer; and a fluorescent layer. The light-permeable substrate has a surface, and the line-shaped cathodes, with a plurality of carbon nanotubes formed and/or deposited thereon, are located on the surface of the light-permeable substrate. The anode faces the cathodes and is spaced from the cathodes to form a vacuum chamber. The light-reflecting layer is formed on the anode and faces the cathode. The fluorescent layer is formed on the light-reflecting layer.
US07872407B2
A field emission cathode includes a conductive substrate and a carbon nanotube film disposed on a surface of the conductive substrate. The carbon nanotube film includes a plurality of successive and oriented carbon nanotube bundles parallel to the conductive substrate, the carbon nanotubes partially extrude from the carbon nanotube film. A method for fabricating the field emission cathode includes the steps of: (a) providing a conductive substrate; (b) providing at least one carbon nanotube film, the carbon nanotube film including a plurality of successive and oriented carbon nanotube bundles joined end to end, the carbon nanotube bundles parallel to the conductive substrate, and (c) disposing the at least one carbon nanotube film to the conductive substrate to achieve the field emission cathode.
US07872380B2
An apparatus and method for generating rotary oscillation with two shafts pivotable relative to each other. An end section of a first shaft is accommodated in an end section of a second shaft so as to form an air gap. One of the two shafts has a magnetic field generator of substantially constant field strength, and the other shaft has conductors which generate a magnetic field and to which current has been variably applied to pivot the shafts relative to each other.
US07872376B2
The present invention discloses a multi-input power-switching circuit, which comprises: more than one power input terminal, more than one detection/evaluation circuit, and a switching/controlling unit. A switch is arranged in the path via which the input power is received by the power input terminal and then transferred to the power conversion unit. Each detection/evaluation circuit receives a partial voltage signal from one input power and generates a detection signal according to the partial voltage signal. The switching/controlling unit receives the detection signals from the detection/evaluation circuits, determines which power input terminal has a higher voltage level according to the detection signals, and generates a turn-on signal to turn on the switch connected with the power input terminal having a higher voltage level. Thereby, the power conversion unit can acquire a higher voltage input power and provide a stable driving power for a load.
US07872373B2
The invention relates to uninterruptible power supply devices which make it possible to supply emergency power to a load, which is to be supplied, in the event of mains failure. The invention is based on the object of providing a device for supplying uninterruptible power, which device can be operated in a more energy-saving manner and in which the emergency power can be controlled in a rapid and safe manner. To this end, the uninterruptible power supply device has a power transistor which can be rapidly switched and can be used to connect a standby power source to the output connections during emergency power operation. The output current can also be dynamically limited by driving the power transistor, which can be rapidly switched, in a corresponding manner. In addition, the input and output of the UPS device are decoupled using a field effect transistor that acts as a power transistor.
US07872372B1
A device for delivering a desired power to a load comprises a voltage detection module, a comparator module, a power regulation module, and a current source. The voltage detection module generates a voltage signal based on a voltage across the load. The comparator module compares a first value based on the voltage signal to a power reference signal. The power reference signal is based on the desired power. The power regulation module generates a digital code based on the comparison. The current source provides a current to the load. The current is based on a predetermined constant current and a second value. The second value is based on the digital code.
US07872370B2
A portable electronic device disposed in a car is provided. The portable electronic device includes a power switch, a vibration sensor and a controller. The power switch is used for providing a first power at a first state and providing a second power at a second state. The vibration sensor is used for outputting a vibration signal after sensing the vibration of the car. The vibration sensor is used for terminating the output of vibration signal when not sensing the vibration of the car. The controller is electrically connected to the vibration sensor and the power switch. When the controller receives the vibration signal, the controller controls the power switch to be at the first state and provide the first power. When the controller does not receive the vibration signal, the controller controls the power switch to be at the second state and provide the second power.
US07872366B2
A method of generating electricity including the steps of providing a system including a vertical oriented tower having an intake opening, a scoop that is moveably mounted to a base, the scoop being in fluid communication with the intake opening of the tower, a fluid-activated mechanism that is automatically oriented in response to direction of fluid flow, the fluid-activated mechanism being operatively connected to the scoop so that orientation of the fluid-activated mechanism in response to the fluid flow angles the scoop in the direction of the fluid flow, and one or more turbines that receive the fluid flow directed by the scoop to generate electricity. The fluid-activated mechanism is oriented in response to the fluid flow. The scoop is angled based on the oriented fluid-activated mechanism so that the fluid flows into the scoop. The fluid is directed through the scoop into the intake opening of the tower and through the tower towards the one or more turbines for generation of electricity.
US07872365B2
A wave powered electrical generator includes: a first floating unit that accommodates a power generator therein and adapted to float in water, a second floating unit adapted to float in the water in the vicinity of the first floating unit; and a spring line, one end of which being attached to the second floating unit and the other end of which being operatively connected to the power generator, such that a relative movement between the first floating unit and the second floating unit causes the spring line to rotate a shaft of the generator and generates electrical power.
US07872362B2
The vehicle-use power supply control apparatus includes a first battery supplying electric power to a load, an alternator driven by a vehicle engine, a second electric accumulator parallel-connected to the first battery, an electric power converter performing two-way power transmission between the first and second batteries, and a power supply control unit. The power supply control includes a function of setting a target power generation efficiency index, a function of setting a target power generation amount of the alternator on the basis of the target power generation efficiency index, while referring to a map defining relationship between a power generation efficiency index and a power generation amount of the alternator, and a function of controlling an amount and a transmission direction of transmission power of the electric power converter in order that an amount of electric power generated by the alternator becomes equal to the target power generation amount.
US07872356B2
Die stacking systems and methods are disclosed. In an embodiment, a die has a surface that includes a passivation area, at least one conductive bond pad area, and a conductive stacked die receiving area sized to receive at least a second die.
US07872353B2
A semiconductor device including at least two layers of interlayer-insulator-films stacked above a substrate and at least partially formed by a low-relative-dielectric-constant-film having a relative-dielectric-constant of 3.4 or less respectively, a plurality of wirings provided at least one within each of the interlayer-insulator-film and at least partially located within the low-relative-dielectric-constant-films, a plurality of plugs provided at least one within each of the interlayer-insulator-film and connected to a lower part of the wirings, and a plurality of reinforcement members provided at least one within each of the interlayer-insulator-film with being separated from the wirings at a predetermined interval, electrically cut from the wirings and the plugs, and at least partially located within the low-relative-dielectric-constant-films, and wherein, the interlayer-insulator-films, the wirings, the plugs, and the reinforcement members satisfy a predetermined relation for each of the interlayer-insulator-film.
US07872351B2
A multi-layered metal line of a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate; a lower metal line formed on the semiconductor substrate and recessed on a surface thereof; an insulation layer formed on the semiconductor substrate including the lower metal line and having a damascene pattern for exposing a recessed portion of the lower metal line and for delimiting an upper metal line forming region; a glue layer formed on a surface of the recessed portion of the lower metal line; a first diffusion barrier formed on the glue layer to fill the recessed portion of the lower metal line; a second diffusion barrier formed on the glue layer and the first diffusion barrier; a third diffusion barrier formed on the second diffusion barrier and a surface of the damascene pattern; and an upper metal line formed on the third diffusion barrier to fill the damascene pattern.
US07872346B1
An IC package includes an IC die mounted on a substrate that includes an ESD protection structure formed within the substrate to dissipate any charge accumulation associated with the package's no-connect pins resulting from human body model ESD and/or voltage spikes during package testing. For some embodiments, the ESD protection structure includes a resistive element formed in the substrate between the no-connect pin and a power plane. For other embodiments, the ESD protection structure includes a conductive ring formed in the substrate and laterally surrounding the land pad of the no-connect pin.
US07872337B2
One of the aspects of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device, which includes a case, and an insulating substrate provided within the case. It also includes a plurality of semiconductor chips mounted on the insulating substrate, each of which has a first chip electrode for receiving a control signal, and a flexible board supported by the case, which includes a body portion and a plurality of lead portions extending from the body portion. Each of the first chip electrodes is electrically connected with the respective one of the lead portions.
US07872336B2
A leadframe with a structure made of a base metal (105), wherein the structure has a plurality of surfaces. On each of these surfaces are metal layers in a stack adherent to the base metal. The stack comprises a nickel layer (201) in contact with the base metal, a palladium layer (202) in contact with the nickel layer, and an outermost tin layer (203) in contact with the palladium layer. In terms of preferred layer thicknesses, the nickel layer is between about 0.5 and 2.0 μm thick, the palladium layer between about 5 and 150 nm thick, and the tin layer less than about 5 nm thick, preferably about 3 nm. At this thinness, the tin has no capability of forming whiskers, but offers superb adhesion to polymeric encapsulation materials, improved characteristics for reliable stitch bonding as well as affinity to reflow metals (solders).
US07872327B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit device has: a layer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate; a fuse portion which is configured by an uppermost metal wiring layer that is formed on the layer insulating film; an inorganic insulating protective film which is formed on the metal wiring layer and the layer insulating film; and an organic insulating protective film which is formed on the inorganic insulating protective film. An opening is formed in the organic insulating protective film so that the inorganic insulating protective on the fuse portion is exposed. According to this configuration, it is not required to etch away the layer insulating film in order to form an opening above the fuse portion. Therefore, the time period required for forming the opening can be shortened and the whole production time period can be shortened. Since only the inorganic insulating protective film is formed above the fuse portion, the cutting off of the fuse portion can be performed without excessively increasing the irradiation energy of a laser beam. Therefore, high reliability and high productivity can be realized without causing the lowering of the reliability and the reduction of the production yield which are due to the cutting off of the fuse portion. Since the fuse portion is covered with the inorganic insulating protective film, the moisture resistance can be improved.
US07872325B2
Wirebonds are formed to couple an opto-electronic device chip having two or more opto-electronic devices to a signal processing chip. Two or more mutually adjacent wirebond groups, each corresponding to one of the opto-electronic devices, are formed. For example, each wirebond group can include a first wirebond coupling a P-terminal of the opto-electronic device of the wirebond group to the signal processing chip, a second wirebond coupling an N-terminal of the opto-electronic device of the wirebond group to the signal processing chip, and a third wirebond coupling the opto-electronic device chip to the signal processing chip.
US07872318B2
A sensing device includes an optical cavity having two substantially opposed reflective surfaces. At least one nanowire is operatively disposed in the optical cavity. A plurality of metal nanoparticles is established on the at least one nanowire.
US07872317B2
A semiconductor structure including at least one n-type field effect transistor (nFET) and at least one p-type field effect transistor (pFET) that both include a metal gate having nFET behavior and pFET behavior, respectively, without including an upper polysilicon gate electrode is provided. The present invention also provides a method of fabricating such a semiconductor structure.
US07872315B2
An integrated switching device has a switching IGFET connected between a pair of main terminals, a protector IGFET connected between the drain and gate electrodes of the switching IGFET, and a gate resistor connected between a main control terminal and the gate electrode of the switching IGFET. The protector IGFET has its gate electrode connected to the source electrode of the switching IGFET. The protector IGFET turns on in response to an application of a verse voltage to the switching IGFET thereby protecting the same from a reverse current flow.
US07872314B2
An N-type source region and an N-type drain region of N-channel type MISFETs are implanted with ions (containing at least one of F, Si, C, Ge, Ne, Ar and Kr) with P-channel type MISFETs being covered by a mask layer. Then, each gate electrode, source region and drain region of the N- and P-channel type MISFETs are subjected to silicidation (containing at least one of Ni, Ti, Co, Pd, Pt and Er). This can suppress a drain-to-body off-leakage current (substrate leakage current) in the N-channel type MISFETs without degrading the drain-to-body off-leakage current in the P-channel type MISFETs.
US07872310B2
A semiconductor structure and a system for fabricating an integrated circuit chip. The semiconductor structure includes: a buried oxide layer on a semiconductor wafer; a thin fin structure on the buried oxide layer, wherein the thin fin structure includes a first hard mask on a semiconductor fin, wherein the semiconductor fin is disposed between the first hard mask and a surface of the buried oxide layer; and a thick mesa structure on the buried oxide layer, and wherein the thick mesa structure includes a semiconductor mesa. The system for fabricating an integrated circuit chip enables: providing a buried oxide layer on and in direct mechanical contact with a semiconductor wafer; and concurrently forming at least one fin-type field effect transistor and at least one thick-body device on the buried oxide layer.
US07872307B2
A power metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) array structure is provided. The power MOSFET array is disposed under a gate pad, and space under the gate pad can be well used to increase device integration. When the array and the conventional power MOSFET array disposed under the source pad are connected to an array pair by using circuit connection region, the same gate pad and source pad can be shared, so as to achieve an objective of increasing device integration.
US07872293B2
A capacitance cell 21 is wired while using adjacent wiring layers Ma and Mb as a pair of electrode layers T1 and T2 orthogonally to opposed lateral end faces out of lateral end faces X1, X2, Y1, and Y2 that section the cell in a plane direction. Contact surfaces of electrode surfaces T1 and T2 with the lateral end faces are second connection terminals T12 and T22. For longitudinal pathways, first and second via contact layers V1 and V2are connected. The first via contact layer V1 interconnects the wiring layers Ma and Mb. The second via contact layer V2 is connected to a wiring layer located outside beyond an upper or lower end face Z2, Z1. The second via contact layer V2 is connected to a first connection terminal T11, T21 located on the upper or lower end faces Z2, Z1. The capacitance cells 21 are linked via the first and second connection terminals so that a capacitance element having a free shape is formed. A capacitance cell, a semiconductor device, and a capacitance element arranging method that allow to arrange capacitance elements each using wiring layers sandwiching an interlayer insulating film with less of a leak current as electrode layers according to the shapes of unused areas.
US07872290B2
A memory cell of a semiconductor device and a method for forming the same, wherein the memory cell includes a substrate having active regions and field regions, a gate layer formed over the substrate, the gate layer including a plurality of access gates formed over the active regions of the substrate and a plurality of pass gates formed over the field regions of the substrate, first self-aligned contact regions formed between adjacent pass gates and access gates, and second self-aligned contact regions formed between adjacent access gates, wherein a width of each of the first self-aligned contact regions is larger than a width of each of the second self-aligned contact regions.
US07872289B2
A semiconductor device includes MOS transistors, capacitor elements, a voltage generating circuit, a contact plug, and a memory cell. The MOS transistor and the capacitor element are formed on a first one of the element regions and a second one of the element regions, respectively. In the voltage generating circuit, current paths of the MOS transistors are series-connected and the capacitor elements are connected to the source or drain of the MOS transistors. The contact plug is formed on the source or the drain to connect the MOS transistors or one of the MOS transistors and one of the capacitor elements. A distance between the gate and the contact plug both for a first one of the MOS transistors located in the final stage in the series connection is larger than that for a second one of the MOS transistors located in the initial stage in the series connection.
US07872287B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image sensor having a high ratio of a surface area of a light receiving element to a surface area of one pixel. The above-described object is achieved by an inventive solid-state imaging device unit comprising solid-state imaging devices arranged on a substrate according to the present invention. The solid-state imaging device comprises a signal line formed on the substrate, an island shaped semiconductor placed over the signal line, and a pixel selection line connected to an upper portion of the island shaped semiconductor. The island shaped semiconductor comprises a first semiconductor layer disposed in a lower portion of the island shaped semiconductor and connected to the signal line, a second semiconductor layer disposed adjacent to an upper side of the first semiconductor layer, a gate connected to the second semiconductor layer via an insulating film, an electric charge accumulator comprising a third semiconductor layer connected to the second semiconductor layer and carrying a quantity of electric charges which varies in response to a light reception, and a fourth semiconductor layer disposed adjacent to an upper side of the second semiconductor layer and the third semiconductor layer and connected to the pixel selection line. The solid-state imaging devices are arranged on the substrate in a honeycomb configuration.
US07872283B2
In a semiconductor integrated circuit requiring a large number of pads, an internal circuit is arranged in the center portion, and a plurality of two kinds of I/O circuits for inputting and outputting signals from and to the outside and many pads are arranged along four sides of the semiconductor integrated circuit. The plurality of I/O circuits that are of one of the foregoing two kinds are one-pad I/O circuits on which one pad is arranged in a direction toward the internal circuit, whereas the plurality of I/O circuits that are of the other of the foregoing two kinds are two-pad I/O circuits on which two pads are arranged in zigzag relationship in a direction toward the internal circuit. The number of arranged pads equals to the number of pads required for the semiconductor integrated circuit. The one-pad I/O circuits and the two-pad I/O circuits are provided with power source wirings for supplying power thereto. The power source wirings extend along the arrangement direction of the one-pad I/O circuits and the second-pad I/O circuits to be ring-shaped. power source wiring migration areas for changing power source wirings between the one-pad I/O circuits and second-pad I/O circuits are disposed in four corner portions of the semiconductor integrated circuit.
US07872278B2
A light-emitting diode system (1) comprising at least one light-emitting diode component (2), in which a light-emitting diode chip is arranged in a light-emitting diode housing (21) on a heat sink (22) which can be thermally connected at the rear side (25) of the light-emitting diode housing (21). A carrier plate (3) having a front side (34) and a rear side (31) and a hole for receiving the light-emitting diode component (2) is provided. The light-emitting diode component (2) projects into the hole from the rear side (31) of the carrier plate (3). An electrically insulating thermal connection layer (5) is applied at the rear side (31) of the carrier plate (3), said thermal connection layer being thermally conductively connected to the heat sink (22). A method for producing a light-emitting diode system is also described.
US07872274B2
An object of the present invention is to obtain greater reduction in resistance between an n-electrode and an n-type layer made of a Group III nitride compound semiconductor. According to the present invention, the n-electrode is formed with a first electrode material made of at least one member selected from the group consisting of vanadium (V), titanium (Ti), zirconium (Zr) and tungsten (W), a second electrode material made of at least one member selected from the group consisting of palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), gold (Au), silver (Ag) and copper (Cu), and a third electrode material made of at least one member selected from the group consisting of aluminum (Al), silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge).
US07872270B2
A semiconductor light emitter includes a quantum well active layer which includes nitrogen and at least one other Group-V element, and barrier layers which are provided alongside the quantum well active layer, wherein the quantum well active layer and the barrier layers together constitute an active layer, wherein the barrier layers are formed of a Group-III-V mixed-crystal semiconductor that includes nitrogen and at least one other Group-V element, a nitrogen composition thereof being smaller than that of the quantum well active layer.
US07872266B2
A high-efficiency semiconductor light emitting diode and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. The semiconductor LED has high internal quantum efficiency and can reduce the bad effect caused by the crystal defect. In the semiconductor light emitting diode, a conductive substrate has a three-dimensional top surface, and a light-emitting stack structure has a three-dimensional structure and includes an n-type nitride semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a p-type nitride semiconductor layer, which are sequentially formed on the conductive substrate. A p-electrode is formed on the p-type nitride semiconductor layer, and an n-electrode is formed on a bottom surface of the conductive substrate.
US07872263B2
A method of TFT (Thin Film Transistor) manufacturing and a substrate structure are provided. The structure includes a substrate and a self-alignment mask. A self-alignment mask on a substrate is first manufactured and then the self-alignment mask may synchronously extend with the substrate during the thermal process. When an exposure light source is provided on the side without a TFT formed, the self-alignment mask can overcome the problem that when a plastic substrate extends, the positions of the source and drain to be formed on the plastic substrate are incorrect, which has a great effect on the accuracy of alignment. As the result, the positions of the source and drain can be defined accurately.
US07872254B2
An organic transistor is formed with a low material cost and low manufacturing cost while still providing high performance and a low contact resistance with an organic semiconductor of the transistor. The organic transistor has electrodes whose bodies are formed mainly of an inexpensive first metal and whose surfaces are formed of a second metal that is expensive but provides high performance properties. To obtain stability of this structure with a low cost, a property of the second metal is used in which the second metal is easily segregated on the surface of the first metal in an alloy of the first metal and the second metal.
US07872249B2
Provided is a nonvolatile memory device and method of operating and fabricating the same for higher integration and higher speed, while allowing for a lower operating current. The nonvolatile memory device may include a semiconductor substrate. Resistive layers each storing a variable resistive state may be formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate. Buried electrodes may be formed on the semiconductor substrate under the resistive layers and may connect to the resistive layers. Channel regions may be formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate and connect adjacent resistive layers to each other, but not to the buried electrodes. Gate insulating layers may be formed on the channel regions of the semiconductor substrate. Gate electrodes may be formed on the gate insulating layers and extend over the resistive layers.
US07872233B2
A surface plasmon polariton (SPP) pixel structure is provided. The SPP pixel structure includes a coupling structure that couples the probing light into the SPP mode by matching the in-plane wave vector by changing the refractive index of the coupling structure using thermo-optic effects to vary the coupling strength of the probing light into the SPP mode. An absorber layer is positioned on the coupling structure for absorbing incident infrared/thermal radiation being detected.
US07872230B2
As sample sizes have decreased to microscopic levels, it has become desirable to establish a method for thin film processing and observation with a high level of positional accuracy, especially for materials which are vulnerable to electron beam irradiation. The technological problem is to judge a point at which to end FIB processing and perform control so that the portion to be observed ends up in a central portion of the thin film. The present invention enables display of structure in cross-section by setting a strip-like processing region in an inclined portion of a sample cross-section and enlarging the display of the strip-like processing region on a processing monitor in a short-side direction. It is then possible to check the cross-sectional structure without additional use of an electron beam. Since it is possible to check the processed section without using an electron beam, electron beam-generated damage or deformation to the processed section is avoided. Further, performing the observation using a high-speed electron beam after forming the thin film enables observation with suppressed sample damage. Processing of even thinner thin films using the FIB while observing images of the sample generated using an electron beam is then possible.
US07872226B2
Method and apparatus for adjusting a sample-ion source electrode distance in a TOF mass spectrometer
In a time-of-flight mass spectrometer having an ion source with a first accelerating electrode, a distance between the surface of a sample and the first accelerating electrode is maintained at a predetermined distance which is critical for determining the mass and quantity of ions generated by the ion source. A digital image of the sample surface is obtained with a digital camera and a predetermined characteristic of the digital image is determined. The predetermined characteristic is then used to compute an adjustment amount by which the sample surface is moved to maintain the predetermined distance. Determining the predetermined characteristic can be simplified by projecting a light pattern onto the sample surface at an angle and determining the predetermined characteristic from the digital image of the pattern.
US07872220B1
The new seal monitor uses of a time dependant pseudo random number or a number from a time pad, which are lists of random numbers often used in encryption. This number changes periodically, for example, once an hour or whatever time interval is deemed timely by the particular application. It is intended that a remote monitoring station would send a request to the monitor and the monitor would respond with the random number that dependant on the time the monitor was started and how much time has elapsed. If the random number returned is correct it infers that the monitor is operating correctly and the seal has not been tampered with. If the monitor does not respond or responds with an incorrect number then the monitor or the seal has been tampered with. Light through a cable is periodically compared with historic outputs from that cable.
US07872214B2
A kitchen appliance for cooling and heating foodstuff including a housing that defines a cooling and heating cavity within the housing. A container is removably mountable within the cooling and heating cavity of the housing and the container is capable of retaining foodstuff therein. A conduction plate is disposed within the housing. The conduction plate is in thermal engagement with the container when the container is mounted within the housing. A heating element is disposed within the housing and is in thermal engagement with a conduction plate to heat the cooling and heating cavity. A cooling element is disposed within the housing and is in thermal engagement with the conduction plate to cool the cooling and heating cavity.
US07872202B2
An inputting device, used for electronic devices, for example, is disclosed. The inputting device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes a case, which has a through-hole, a center key, which is exposed externally through the through-hole and is movable to any directions on a plane, an operating member, which is fixed to the case and supports the center key and returns the center key by elastic force to a center of the through-hole if the center key is moved from the center of the through-hole, a magnet, which moves with the center key on a plane, and a sensing element, which senses a movement of the magnet. With the input method of the present invention, not only is the operation easier, but also the entire thickness of a device can be reduced.
US07872197B2
A tubular covering sleeve for joints of electric cables may include a primary tubular body and a coating sheath. The primary tubular body may include at least one annular insert of semiconductive material integrated into at least one layer of insulating material. The coating sheath may include one or more layers of semiconductive material mechanically engaged in a condition of resilient radial expansion around the primary tubular body so as to exert a centripetal tightening action on the primary tubular body. A junction for electric cables may include devices for mutual connection between the conductors of the cables and a covering sleeve applied around the devices for mutual connection and around the cables. Each cable may include at least one conductor disposed in an insulating coating and a shielding coating externally applied to the insulating coating.
US07872196B2
An electrical component box which can be provided under a maintenance opening in an engine compartment on a water vehicle, can include a box body provided with an electrical unit and a cover member. The box body can be attached to a bulkhead so that a mounting surface for an electrical unit extends generally vertically. Engaging frames can be provided on the upper face of the box body. Also, engaging clamps can be provided on the upper side of the cover member to be engaged with the engaging frames by one-touch operation. A bottom cover can be provided under the box body to cover the bottom side of the electrical unit and the upper side, both lateral sides and the front side of the electrical unit can be covered by the cover member.
US07872191B2
An electrolyte composition containing an ionic liquid and conductive particles, an electrolyte composition containing an ionic liquid and oxide semiconductor particles and optionally containing conductive particles, and an electrolyte composition containing an ionic liquid and insulating particles are provided. Furthermore, a photoelectric conversion element comprising: a working electrode, the working electrode comprising an electrode substrate and an oxide semiconductor porous film formed on the electrode substrate and sensitized with a dye; a counter electrode disposed opposing the working electrode; and an electrolyte layer made of these electrolyte compositions is provided.
US07872189B2
An electronic musical sound generator prevents a sound production sequence to be stopped from continuing to be produced even through the key is released. Even if an erroneous instruction is sent to prevent identification data from being compared, in other words, if a sound production sequence which should be stopped, continues to be produced because of failure to find the sound production sequence to be stopped, the production of the musical sound can be stopped due to the key release because a second decision block searches data in a storage block, regards a key having identification data different from the one sent as the released key, according to the sequence being produced and the key is number, and determines the sound production sequence to be stopped.
US07872182B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH951965. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH951965, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH951965 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH951965.
US07872181B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV135273. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV135273, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV135273 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV135273.
US07872175B1
According to the invention, there is provided a novel soybean variety designated XB05L09. This invention thus relates to the seeds of soybean variety XB05L09, to the plants of soybean XB05L09 to plant parts of soybean variety XB05L09 and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing plants of the soybean variety XB05L09 with another soybean plant, using XB05L09 as either the male or the female parent.
US07872174B2
The invention relates to the soybean variety designated 4647672. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety 4647672. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety 4647672 and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety 4647672 with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
US07872171B2
A method for selecting a soybean cyst nematode resistant plant by marker assisted selection of quantitative trait loci associated with soybean cyst nematode resistance. The method employs nucleic acid markers genetically linked to quantitative trait loci to select the soybean cyst nematode resistant plant. Methods for identifying quantitative trait loci associated with soybean cyst nematode resistance in a plant.
US07872161B2
A process is disclosed for making CF3CF═CH2 The process involves (i) contacting CHCl2CF2CF3 in a reaction zone in the presence of a catalytically effective amount of a dehydrofluorination catalyst to produce CCl2═CFCF3; (ii) contacting CCl2═CFCF3 with H2 formed in (i) in a reaction zone in the presence of a catalyst comprising a catalytically effective amount of palladium supported on a support selected from the group consisting of alumina fluorided alumina, aluminum fluoride and mixtures thereof, to produce a product mixture comprising CF3CF═CH2, wherein the mole ratio of H2 to CCl2═CFCF3 fed to the reaction zone is between about 1:1 and about 4:1 and (iii) recovering CF3CF═CH2 from the product mixture formed in (ii).
US07872157B2
Novel trivalent organophosphonite ligands having the structure of general formula (I): wherein R is an alkyl or aryl group containing 1 to 30 carbon atoms; Ar1 and Ar2 are aryl groups containing 4 to 30 carbon atoms; R1 to R6 are H or alkyl or aryl hydrocarbon radicals containing 1 to 40 carbon atoms; and X is a connecting group or a simple chemical bond, were developed and found to be very active for hydroformylation processes for ethylenically unsaturated substrates. Catalyst solutions prepared from these ligands with a Rh metal show an unusual “ligand acceleration effect” for simple alkenes, i.e., the hydroformylation activity increases as the concentration of ligand increases, and are capable of producing linear or branched aldehydes under typical hydroformylation conditions.
US07872152B2
The present invention is generally drawn to novel isolated therapeutic agents, termed resolving, generated from the interaction between a dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), cyclooxygenase-II (COX-2) and an analgesic, such as aspirin (ASA). Surprisingly, careful isolation of compounds generated from the combination of components in an appropriate environment provide di- and tri-hydroxy EPA or DHA compounds having unique structural and physiological properties. The present invention therefore provides for many new useful therapeutic di- or tri-hydroxy derivatives of EPA or DHA (resolvins) that diminish, prevent, or eliminate inflammation or PMN migration, for example. The present invention also provides methods of use, methods of preparation, and packaged pharmaceuticals for use as medicaments for the compounds disclosed throughout the specification.
US07872151B2
The present invention relates to a phenylalanine derivative of Formula (I) wherein X1 is a halogen atom, X2 is a halogen atom, Q is a CH2R— is a carboxyl group which may be esterified; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
US07872145B2
The present invention is directed to aziridinyl epothilone compounds as further described herein, and/or pharmaceutically-acceptable salts and/or solvates thereof having the following Formula: wherein K is —O—, —S—, or —NR7—; A is —(CR8R9)—(CH2)m—Z—wherein Z is —(CHR10)—, —C(═O)—, —C(═O)—C(═O)—, —OC(═O)—, —N(R11)C(═O)—, —SO2—, or —N(R11)SO2—; B1 is hydroxyl or cyano and R1 is hydrogen or B1 and R1 are taken together to form a double bond; R2, R3, and R5 are, independently, hydrogen, alkyl, substituted alkyl, aryl or substituted aryl; or R2 and R3 may be taken together with the carbon to which they are attached to form an optionally substituted cycloalkyl; R4 is hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, substituted alkyl, substituted alkenyl, aryl, or substituted aryl; R6 is hydrogen, alkyl or substituted alkyl; R7, R8, R9, R10, R11 and R12 are independently hydrogen, alkyl, substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, substituted cycloalkyl, aryl, substituted aryl, heterocycloalkyl, substituted heterocycloalkyl, heteroaryl, or substituted heteroaryl; and R13 is aryl, substituted aryl, heteroaryl or substituted heteroaryl.
US07872131B2
Process for preparing a solution of pure triethylenediamine (TEDA), in which TEDA is vaporized, the gaseous TEDA is passed into a liquid solvent 1 (quench) and the TEDA is crystallized from the resulting solution and separated off (solid-liquid separation), wherein the crystalline TEDA obtained is dissolved in a solvent 2 and a stripping gas is passed through the resulting solution (stripping).
US07872129B2
The present invention provides a compound of formula I: or a pharmaceutically acceptable derivative thereof. These compounds are inhibitors of protein kinases, particularly inhibitors of GSK3 mammalian protein kinase. The invention also provides pharmaceutically acceptable compositions comprising the compounds of the invention and methods of utilizing those compounds and compositions in the treatment of various protein kinase mediated disorders.
US07872127B2
The invention is directed to substituted 2-aminoacetamides represented by formula (II): and to pharmaceutically acceptable salts and prodrugs thereof, wherein the substituents are defined herein. The invention is also directed to the use of substituted 2-aminoacetamides in methods for the treatment of neuronal damage following global and focal ischemia, and for the treatment, prevention or amelioration of pain, as anticonvulsants, as antimanic depressants, as local anesthetics, as antiarrhythmics and for the treatment or prevention of diabetic neuropathy.
US07872120B2
Methods for synthesizing a collection of partially identical polynucleotides are disclosed.
US07872102B2
The present invention encompasses isolated antibodies, or antigen-binding portions thereof, that specifically bind to the p19 subunit of IL-23. These antibodies, or antigen-binding portions thereof, are high affinity, neutralizing antibodies useful for the treatment of autoimmune disease.
US07872101B1
The invention relates to the use of the interaction between the GPR78 polypeptide or the GPR26 polypeptide and their identified ligands and antagonists as the basis for screening methods for the identification of agents that modulate the activity of these receptors, and for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. The agents identified by the screening methods of the invention have use in the treatment of GPR78- and/or GPR26-mediated disorders, including, but not limited to, neurological disorders (such as anxiety disorders), metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disorders, hormone-related disorders, vascular disorders and hyperproliferative disorders (such as cancer).
US07872094B2
The present invention provides anti-inflammatory compounds, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, and methods of use thereof for treating inflammatory disorders. The present invention also provides methods of identifying anti-inflammatory compounds and methods of inhibiting NF-κB-dependent target gene expression in a cell.
US07872075B2
A method of preparing a thermoplastic vulcanizate, the method comprising continuously dynamically vulcanizing a rubber within a blend with a thermoplastic resin, where the dynamic vulcanization is effected with a cure system that includes a free-radical cure agent, and a coagent-wetted carrier where the coagent-wetted carrier includes a multi-functional acrylate coagent, a multi-functional methacrylate coagent, or both a multi-functional acrylate and multi-functional methacrylate coagent.
US07872072B2
The present invention is directed to branched reactive water-soluble polymers comprising at least two polymer arms, such as poly(ethylene glycol), attached to a central aliphatic hydrocarbon core molecule through heteroatom linkages. The branched polymers bear at least one functional group for reacting with a biologically active agent to form a biologically active conjugate. The functional group of the branched polymer can be directly attached to the aliphatic hydrocarbon core or via an intervening linkage, such as a heteroatom, -alkylene-, —O-alkylene-O—, -alkylene-O-alkylene-, -aryl-O—, —O-aryl-, (—O-alkylene-)m, or (-alkylene-O—)m linkage, wherein m is 1-10.
US07872069B2
A coated substrate comprises a substrate and a coating on at least one surface of the substrate. The coating comprises a prepolymer, polymer, or resin produced, for example, by the reaction of (i) an isocyanate (e.g., a polyisocyanate), (ii) an active hydrogen-terminated colorant, and optionally (iii) at least one reactant selected from the group consisting of chain extenders, polyols, internal surfactants, and combinations thereof. Polymer dispersions suitable for use in making such coated substrates comprise such a prepolymer, polymer, or resin.
US07872063B2
This invention provides film-forming compositions, including but not limited to polishes, coatings, adhesives and inks, comprising a at least one acrylic or vinyl acetate polymer or copolymer as a film-forming ingredient and, as the plasticizer, a blend in specified proportions of a) the benzoate of a 6-carbon monohydric alcohol, b) diethylene glycol dibenzoate and c) diethylene glycol monobenzoate.
US07872059B2
A composition for use in laser decomposition includes (A) at least one of a polymer having a nitrogen atom-containing hetero ring and a polymerizable compound having a nitrogen atom-containing hetero ring; and (B) a metal ion.
US07872055B2
A method for preparing a water blown, low density, rigid polyurethane foam which comprises contacting at least one polyisocyanate with at least one polyol, at an Isocyanate Index of 70 to 200, in the presence of a blowing agent composition comprising at least 75 wt % water and an effective amount of a catalyst composition comprising a gelling catalyst which is bis-(N,N-dimethylaminopropyl)amine and a blowing catalyst which is N,N-dimethylaminoethyl-N′-methyl-ethanolamine, the foam having a density of 6 to 16 Kg/m3.
US07872043B2
The invention relates to the use of one or several synthetic or natural furan alkyls for cosmetically treating cellulite. Said furan alkyls preferably correspond to formula (I), wherein identical or different R1, R2, R3et R4 are independently of each other a hydrogen atom, a C1-C35alkyl radical, C1-C35 alcenyl radical or a C1-C35 alcynyl radical, preferably C10-C22, wherein said alkyl, alcenyl and alcynyl radicals are substitutable and R1, R2, R3 are preferably a hydrogen atom.
US07872034B2
The invention relates to arylcycloalkyl-substituted alkanoic acid derivatives and to their physiologically acceptable salts and physiologically functional derivatives.What is described are compounds of the formula I, in which the radicals are as defined, and their physiologically acceptable salts and processes for their preparation. The compounds are suitable, for example, for the treatment and/or prevention of disorders of the fatty acid metabolism and glucose utilization disorders and also disorders in which insulin resistance is involved.
US07872033B2
The present application relates to isothiazolylidene containing compounds of Formula (I) wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, and L are as defined in the specification, compositions comprising such compounds, and methods of treating conditions and disorders using such compounds and compositions.
US07872030B2
(R/S)-(−/+)-2-[5-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-pyridylmethylaminomethyl]-chromane or a physiologically acceptable salt thereof and/or (S)-(+)-2-[5-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-pyridylmethylaminomethyl]-chromane or a physiologically acceptable salt thereof are used for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of extrapyramidal movement disorders and/or adverse effects in extrapyramidal movement disorders.
US07872025B2
Racemic norketotifen, racemic 10-hydroxy-ketotifen, racemic 10-hydroxy-nor-ketotifen and optically active isomers of ketotifen, norketotifen, 10-hydroxy-ketotifen and 10-hydroxy-norketotifen were found to have antiallergic and anti-inflammatory effects while being devoid of the severe dose-limiting sedative side effects of Ketotifen.
US07872019B2
The present invention relates to new polymorphs of S-(+)-Clopidogrel bisulfate and a process for preparing the same.
US07872017B2
The invention relates to fused bicycloheterocycle substituted azabicyclic alkane derivatives, compositions comprising such compounds, and methods of treating conditions and disorders using such compounds and compositions.
US07872006B2
The present invention relates to a pyrazole compound having potent CB1-antagonizing activity, having the following formula [I]: wherein R1 and R2 are the same or different and an optionally substituted aryl group etc., R3 is an alkyl group etc., E is one of the following groups of the formula (i) to (iv): Q1 is a single bond, an alkylene group or a group of the formula: —N(R7)—, R7 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group, Q2 is a single bond, an oxygen atom or an alkylene group, R4 is a cycloalkyl group, a group of the formula: —N(R5)(R6) etc., one of R5 and R6 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group and the other is an alkyl group, a group of the formula: —N(R8)(R9) etc., D is an oxygen atom etc., RA1 is an amino group etc., RA2 is an optionally substituted aliphatic heterocyclic group, R is an alkyl group optionally substituted by one to three halogen atom(s) etc., one of R8 and R9 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group and the other is an alkyl group etc., or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
US07872003B2
Fused pyrimidines of formula (I): wherein R1-R3, A and n have any of the values described in the specification; and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof; have activity as inhibitors of PI3K and may thus be used to treat diseases and disorders arising from abnormal cell growth, function or behavior associated with PI3 kinase such as cancer, immune disorders, cardiovascular disease, viral infection, inflammation, metabolism/endocrine disorders and neurological disorders. Processes for synthesizing the compounds are also described.
US07871983B2
Administration of a decoy, i.e. a compound which specifically antagonizes the nucleic acid domain to which NF-κB is bound, is effective in the treatment and prevention of diseases caused by the transcriptional regulatory factor NF-κB, such as ischemic diseases, inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, cancer metastasis and invasion, and cachexia.
US07871981B2
Disclosed are methods of inhibiting cell motility, for example, by inhibiting the binding between an intracellular transducer and a receptor protein tyrosine kinase, and more particularly by inhibiting hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) induced cell motility. The present invention also provides a method of inhibiting angiogenesis. The methods of the present invention employ peptides such as phosphotyrosyl mimetics. Also disclosed are methods of preventing and/or treating diseases, disorders, states, or conditions such as cancer, particularly metastatic cancer, for example, melanoma or prostate cancer, comprising administering to a mammal of interest one or more peptides of the present invention. Also disclosed are methods of blocking blocks HGF, VEGF, or bFGF-stimulated migration, cell proliferation, and formation of capillary-like structures.
US07871971B1
Rinse agents for machine dishwashing which contain alkoxylated carboxylic acid ester(s), and other optional additives, are described. Methods of rinsing tableware surfaces using the described rinsing agents during machine washing are also described.
US07871964B2
A composition for mitigating or preventing the formation of an emulsion between naphthenic acid and metal cations in a hydrocarbon body, the composition including at least one alkoxylated amine and at least one acid and/or alcohol is disclosed.
US07871960B2
The present invention relates to 1-(imidazolin-2-yl)amino-1,2-diphenylethane compounds of the formula I and their agriculturally acceptable salts, wherein A is a radical of the formula A1 or A2. The invention relates also to agricultural compositions and to seed comprising at least one compound I and/or a salt thereof, as well as a method of combating animal pests, a method for protecting crops from attack or infestation by animal pests and a method for protecting non-living materials from attack or infestation by animal pests, a method for the protection of seeds from animal pests and of the seedlings' roots and shoots from animal pests by applying a pesticidally effective amount of at least one 1-(imidazolin-2-yl)amino-1,2-diphenylethane compound I and/or a salt thereof.
US07871955B2
A carbon-supported platinum catalyst obtained by chemical reduction of in situ-formed platinum dioxide on a carbon support and a method of production thereof.
US07871954B2
The present teachings are directed toward methods of producing electrocatalyst compositions of platinum and tungsten through the thermal decomposition of carbonyl-containing complexes of the two metals.
US07871951B2
A method for producing magnesium compound represented by formula (I): Mg(OEt)2-n(OMe)n (I) where Et is an ethyl group, Me is a methyl group and n is a numerical value of from 0.001 to 1, by reacting metal magnesium, ethanol, methanol and a halogen and/or a halogen-containing compound containing at least 0.0001 gram atom of a halogen atom relative to one gram atom of the metal magnesium. A method of producing a solid catalyst component.
US07871946B2
A nonwoven fabric composed of ultra-fine continuous fibers having a mean fineness of not more than 0.5 dtex is prepared. The nonwoven fabric comprises a water-soluble thermoplastic resin in a proportion of not more than 5% by weight relative to the nonwoven fabric, has an absorbing height of not less than 30 mm as determined at 20° C. after 10 minutes based on Byreck method when the nonwoven fabric immersion-treated for 60 minutes in a water of 80° C. is used, and satisfies the following formula: (B)/(A)≧0.25, wherein the symbol (B) represents a tensile strength [N/5 cm] in the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction of the nonwoven fabric and the symbol (A) represents a fabric weight [g/m] of the nonwoven fabric. In the nonwoven fabric, not less than 30% of the surface may be coated with the water-soluble thermoplastic resin. The water-soluble thermoplastic resin may be a water-soluble thermoplastic polyvinyl alcohol, e.g., a modified polyvinyl alcohol containing an ethylene unit in a proportion of 3 to 20 mol %.The present invention provides a nonwoven fabric composed of ultra-fine continuous fibers, having a high flexibility or softness, and having a high mechanical strength even when the fiber diameter is small, and having an excellent water absorbency, as well as a production process and an application thereof.
US07871945B2
Disclosed is a woven strap, particularly for safety belts in motor vehicles, which is characterized in that said woven strap comprises a first group of warp threads and a second group of warp threads, the warp threads of the first group being provided with a greater elongation than the warp threads of the second group.
US07871944B2
A process for applying an interface coating includes the step of applying an interface coating material upon at least one surface of a fiber-based substrate. The interface coating material may be composed of a sizing agent, a ceramic powder and optionally at least one of the following agents: a dispersing agent, a deflocculating agent or a surface wetting agent.
US07871937B2
Methods and systems are provided for low pressure baking to remove impurities from a semiconductor surface prior to deposition. Advantageously, the short, low temperature processes consume only a small portion of the thermal budget, while still proving effective at removing interfacial oxygen from the semiconductor surface. The methods and systems are particularly well suited for treating semiconductor surfaces before epitaxy.
US07871933B2
A stepper is combined with hardware that deposits a layer of material in the course of forming an integrated circuit, thus performing the deposition, patterning and cleaning without exposing the wafer to a transfer between tools and combining the function of three tools in a composite tool. The pattern-defining material is removed by the application of UV light through the mask of the stepper, thereby eliminating the bake and development steps of the prior art method. Similarly, a flood exposure of UV eliminates the cleaning steps of the prior art method.
US07871930B2
A method of manufacturing a light emitting device is provided in which satisfactory image display can be performed by the investigation and repair of short circuits in defect portions of light emitting elements. A backward direction electric current flows in the defect portions if a reverse bias voltage is applied to the light emitting elements having the defect portions. Emission of light which occurred from the backward direction electric current flow is measured by using an emission microscope, specifying the position of the defect portions, and short circuit locations can be repaired by irradiating a laser to the defect portions, turning them into insulators.
US07871926B2
A method for forming a structure includes forming at least one feature across a surface of a substrate. A nitrogen-containing dielectric layer is formed over the at least one feature. A first portion of the nitrogen-containing layer on at least one sidewall of the at least one feature is removed at a first rate and a second portion of the nitrogen-containing layer over the substrate adjacent to a bottom region of the at least one feature is removed at a second rate. The first rate is greater than the second rate. A dielectric layer is formed over the nitrogen-containing dielectric layer.
US07871923B2
An integrated circuit structure comprising an air gap and methods for forming the same are provided. The integrated circuit structure includes a conductive line; a self-aligned dielectric layer on a sidewall of the conductive line; an air-gap horizontally adjoining the self-aligned dielectric layer; a low-k dielectric layer horizontally adjoining the air-gap; and a dielectric layer on the air-gap and the low-k dielectric layer.
US07871914B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a recess therein. A gate insulator is disposed on the substrate in the recess. The device further includes a gate electrode including a first portion on the gate insulator in the recess and a second reduced-width portion extending from the first portion. A source/drain region is disposed in the substrate adjacent the recess. The recess may have a curved shape, e.g., may have hemispherical or ellipsoid shape. The source/drain region may include a lighter-doped portion adjoining the recess. Relate fabrication methods are also discussed.
US07871911B2
Methods for fabricating semiconductor device structures are disclosed. In some embodiments, methods for fabricating semiconductor device structures may comprising forming at least one raised element on a surface of a substrate, the at least one raised element including sloped sides and a peak, aligning a strip comprising conductive material at least partially over the at least one raised element, and at least partially securing the strip to a surface of the at least one raised element and the surface of the substrate.
US07871906B2
In various embodiments, the present disclosure may provide a storage node. In various implementations, the storage node may include a bottom electrode having a non-planar bottom surface that conforms with and is connected to a non-planar top surface of a diode electrode of a memory device. The storage node may further include a phase change layer on top of a bottom diode and a top electrode on a top surface of a phase change layer.
US07871902B2
Structures and methods of forming crack stop trenches are disclosed. The method includes forming active regions disposed in cell regions of a substrate, the cell regions separated by dicing channels, and forming back end of line (BEOL) layers over the substrate, the BEOL layers being formed over the cell regions and the dicing channels. Crack stop trenches are then formed encircling the cell regions by etching a portion of the BEOL layers surrounding the cell regions. The wafer is diced along the dicing channels.
US07871882B2
In one embodiment, a method comprises forming an epitaxial layer over a substrate of an opposite conductivity type, the epitaxial layer being separated by a buffer layer having a doping concentration that is substantially constant in a vertical direction down to the buffer layer. A pair of spaced-apart trenches is formed in the epitaxial layer from a top surface of the epitaxial layer down at least into the buffer layer. A dielectric material is formed in the trenches over the first and second sidewall portions. Source/collector and body regions of are formed at the top of the epitaxial layer, the body region separating the source/collector region of the pillar from a drift region of the epitaxial layer that extends from the body region to the buffer layer. An insulated gate member is then formed in each of the trenches adjacent to and insulated from the body region.
US07871875B2
Provided are a FinFET and a method of manufacturing the same. A FinFET may include at least one active fin, at least one gate insulating layer pattern, a first electrode pattern, a second electrode pattern and at least one pair of source/drain expansion regions. The at least one active fin may be formed on a substrate. The at least one gate insulating layer pattern may be formed on the at least one active fin. The first electrode pattern may be formed on the at least one gate insulating layer pattern. Further, the first electrode pattern may be intersected with the at least one active fin. The second electrode pattern may be formed on the first electrode pattern. Further, the second electrode pattern may have a width greater than that of the first electrode pattern. The at least one pair of source/drain expansion regions may be formed on a surface of the at least one active fin on both sides of the first electrode pattern. Thus, the FinFET may have improved capacity and reduced GIDL current.
US07871873B2
A method of manufacturing semiconductor fins for a semiconductor device may begin by providing a bulk semiconductor substrate. The method continues by growing a layer of first epitaxial semiconductor material on the bulk semiconductor substrate, and by growing a layer of second epitaxial semiconductor material on the layer of first epitaxial semiconductor material. The method then creates a fin pattern mask on the layer of second epitaxial semiconductor material. The fin pattern mask has features corresponding to a plurality of fins. Next, the method anisotropically etches the layer of second epitaxial semiconductor material, using the fin pattern mask as an etch mask, and using the layer of first epitaxial semiconductor material as an etch stop layer. This etching step results in a plurality of fins formed from the layer of second epitaxial semiconductor material.
US07871872B2
Provided is a method of manufacturing a thin film transistor, the method comprising: forming an amorphous silicon layer on a substrate; forming a polysilicon layer by crystallizing the amorphous silicon layer; forming a mask structure that masks a portion of the polysilicon; forming a source and a drain region and a channel region interposed between the source and the drain regions in the polysilicon layer; injecting impurities having a first concentration using an ion beam implantation into one end and the other end of the polysilicon layer which are not covered by the mask structure. The ends of the polysilicon layer with the mask thereon is then subjected to ion bombardment to increase the level of impurities in the source and drain regions while at the same time shrinking the size of the masked regions.
US07871871B2
In mass production of CMIS integrated circuit devices or the like, electric characteristics, such as Vth (threshold voltage) or the like, disadvantageously vary due to variations in gate length of the MISFET. This problem has become serious because of a short channel effect. In order to solve the problem, various kinds of feed-forward techniques have been studied in which a subsequent variation factor process is regulated to be reversed with respect to variations in a previous variation factor process so as to cause these variation factors to cancel each other out. Since the feed-back technique has an effect of the cancellation process over the entire system, the technique can be relatively easily applied to a product with a single type of MISFE, but is difficult to be applied to a product equipped with a plurality of types of MISFETs. The invention is adapted to adjust the amount of halo implantation by multivariate analysis based on the result of a patterning step of the gate electrode and a film forming step of an offset spacer.
US07871869B2
An extremely-thin silicon-on-insulator transistor is provided that includes a buried oxide layer above a substrate, a silicon layer above the buried oxide layer, a gate stack on the silicon layer, a nitride liner on the silicon layer and adjacent to the gate stack, an oxide liner on and adjacent to the nitride liner, and raised source/drain regions. The gate stack includes a high-k oxide layer on the silicon layer and a metal gate on the high-k oxide layer. Each of the raised source/drain regions has a first part comprising a portion of the silicon layer, a second part adjacent to parts of the oxide liner and the nitride liner, and a third part above the second part. Also provided is a method for fabricating an extremely-thin silicon-on-insulator transistor.
US07871865B2
Various methods are described where the semiconductor die and the lead frame (or the BGA or LGA substrate) are spaced apart to reduce stress. In one scenario, an air gap is formed between the semiconductor die and the lead frame by depositing a perimeter (made, for example, using polymer) either on the semiconductor die or the lead frame. In another scenario, an anisotropic conducting film (ACF) is formed with an air gap between the semiconductor die and the lead frame (or the BGA or LGA substrate). The air gap relieves stress on the semiconductor die. Further, a lead frame-based isolator package and a BGA (or LGA) isolator package are described. A window-frame ACF-based isolation method for magnetic coupling in a lead-frame package and BGA (or LGA) package is also described.
US07871863B2
An integrated circuit package system is provided forming a lead from a padless lead frame, and encapsulating the lead for supporting an integrated circuit die with a first molding compound for encapsulation with a second molding compound.
US07871861B2
A stacked integrated circuit package system includes: mounting a first integrated circuit over a first carrier; mounting a second integrated circuit package system having a second carrier with an intra-stack interconnect attached thereto and with the intra-stack interconnect over the first carrier and the first integrated circuit; and forming an intra-stack encapsulation between the first carrier and the second carrier surrounding the intra-stack interconnect.
US07871857B1
Methods of forming multi-chip semiconductor substrates include forming a first plurality of dicing streets in a first surface of a first semiconductor wafer having a first plurality of bonding sites thereon and forming a second plurality of dicing streets in a first surface of a second semiconductor wafer having a second plurality of bonding sites thereon. The first surfaces of the first and second semiconductor wafers are bonded together so that the first plurality of dicing streets are aligned with the second plurality of dicing streets and the first plurality of bonding sites are matingly received and permanently affixed within the second plurality of bonding sites. A plurality of bonded pairs of semiconductor chips are then formed by planarizing the second surface of the second semiconductor wafer until the second plurality of dicing streets are exposed.
US07871853B2
A plasma doping method and a plasma doping apparatus, having a superior in-plane uniformity of an amorphous layer formed on a sample surface, are provided.In the plasma doping method by which plasma is generated within a vacuum chamber, and impurity ions contained in the plasma are caused to collide with the surface of the sample so as to quality-change the surface of the sample into an amorphous state thereof, a plasma irradiation time is adjusted in order to improve an in-plane uniformity. If the plasma irradiation time becomes excessively short, then a fluctuation of the plasma is transferred to depths of an amorphous layer formed on a silicon substrate, so that the in-plane uniformity is deteriorated. On the other hand, if the irradiation time becomes excessively long, then an effect for sputtering the surface of the silicon substrate by using the plasma becomes dominant, then the in-plane uniformity is deteriorated. While a proper plasma irradiation time present in an intermediate time between the long plasma irradiation time and the short plasma irradiation time is found out, during which the in-plane uniformity becomes better, a plasma doping process is carried out within the intermediate time.
US07871836B2
The invention provides a method of manufacturing a bendable solid state lighting (SSL). A first metal layer and a second metal layer with a predetermined circuit layout pattern and structure region pattern are first deposited on both sides of a flexible substrate respectively, where a plurality of bonding pads is formed on the structure regions in the structure region pattern and is used for being electrically connected to the first metal layer. A plurality of LED dies is arranged on the structure regions in an array, and the LED dies are bonded with the corresponding bonding pads, such that the LED dies are conducted with current via the circuit layout of the first metal layer on the flexible substrate, so as to form a planar light source.
US07871828B2
The present invention generally provides methods and apparatus for monitoring ion dosage during a plasma process. One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for processing a substrate comprising generating a correlation between the at least one attribute of optical emissions of the plasma and a dosage quantity. In one embodiment, the attribute of optical emissions of the plasma is optical emission intensity of an ion species in the plasma.
US07871818B2
We describe a class of polymaleic anhydride polymers capable of disrupting cell membranes. Co-delivery of these polymers with biologically active compounds increases cellular cytoplasmic delivery of the compounds.
US07871816B2
Expression vectors that can efficiently produce virion capsid protein, tumor-associated protein of human papillomavirus on a microbial surface. Bacterial strains harboring such surface display vectors, and the use of the bacterial strains or their extracts or purified products as complex vaccines, are also described. The surface display vectors contain one or more than two genes selected from among pgsB, pgsC and pgsA, encoding a poly-χ-glutamic acid synthetase complex (pgsBCA) of a Bacillus sp. strain, and genes that encode virion capsid proteins, tumor-associated proteins of human papillomavirus. Methods for preparing the foregoing vectors, vaccines and transformed microorganisms are also described.
US07871813B2
A method of separating a cell-containing sample into a substantially cell-depleted portion, and a cell-containing portion comprising at least one of a stem cell, a lymphocyte, and a leukocyte comprises a step in which the sample is received in a vessel with at least one flexible wall. In another step, an additive and particles are added to the sample, wherein the additive substantially binds to the at least one of the stem cell, lymphocyte, and leukocyte, and the particles and wherein the particles substantially bind to the at least one of the stem cell, lymphocyte, and leukocyte, and the additive, thereby producing a cell-containing network. In a further step, the network is separated from the substantially cell-depleted portion by applying a magnetic force.
US07871802B2
A process is provided to improve the specific activity of an enzyme catalyst having nitrilase activity when converting glycolonitrile to glycolic acid under aqueous reaction conditions. Inclusion of an effective amount of at least one amine protectant improves the specific activity and catalytic productivity of the enzyme catalyst.
US07871793B2
Compositions useful for inhibiting the growth of bacteria, including bacteria that can cause gastric ulcers, are provided. In addition, transgenic organism that can produce such compositions are provided. Methods of using the compositions to treat or prevent gastric ulcers in a subject, including a human subject, also are provided.
US07871790B2
Based on the observation that exposure of cells or animals to anthrax lethal toxin results in activation of the intracellular enzyme caspase-1/IL-1 converting enzyme (ICE), which, in turn, leads to production and extracellular release of the cytokine substrates of ICE: interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) and interleukin 18 (IL-18), disclosed herein are bioassays that can be used to determine the efficacy of a potential anthrax therapeutic agent and for screening test agents to identify anthrax therapeutic agents. Also disclosed herein are methods of diagnosing and treating anthrax infection.
US07871785B2
An individual at risk for necrotizing enterocolitis and related disorders can be identified by measuring the level of at least one secretor antigen in a biological sample from the individual and comparing the measured level of the at least one secretor antigen to a predetermined value or a predetermined range of values. Among the secretor antigens which can be measured are: the H-1 , H-2, Lewisb and Lewisy antigens and derivatives thereof (e.g., a sialylated form of Lewis a, Lewis x, Lewis b, Lewis y; H-1, H-2, Lewis a, Lewis x, Lewis b or Lewis y).
US07871778B2
The present invention provides biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of endometriosis. Generally, the methods of this invention find use in diagnosing or for providing a prognosis for endometriosis by detecting the expression levels of biomarkers, which are differentially expressed (up- or down-regulated) in endometrial cells from a patient with endometriosis. Similarly, these markers can be used to diagnose reduced fertility in a patient with endometriosis or to provide a prognosis for a fertility trial in a patient suffering from endometriosis. The present invention also provides methods of identifying a compound for treating or preventing endometriosis. Finally, the present invention provides kits for the diagnosis or prognosis of endometriosis.
US07871774B2
Disclosed is a diagnostic marker specific for lung cancer. Also, the present invention relates to a composition and a kit, comprising an agent measuring the presence of the marker, and a method of diagnosing lung cancer using the composition or kit.
US07871773B2
Unsymmetrical cyanine dyes that incorporate an aza-benzazolium ring moiety are described, including cyanine dyes substituted by a cationic side chain, monomeric and dimeric cyanine dyes, chemically reactive cyanine dyes, and conjugates of cyanine dyes. The subject dyes are virtually non-fluorescent when diluted in aqueous solution, but exhibit bright fluorescence when associated with nucleic acid polymers such as DNA or RNA, or when associated with detergent-complexed proteins. A variety of applications are described for detection and quantitation of nucleic acids and detergent-complexed proteins in a variety of samples, including solutions, electrophoretic gels, cells, and microorganisms.
US07871762B2
The invention provides methods for detecting the presence or absence of invasive trophoblast cells. In addition, the invention provides methods for distinguishing quiescent trophoblast diseases from invasive trophoblast diseases and methods for monitoring progression of quiescent trophoblast diseases. The invention provides methods for detecting the presence or absence of germ cell tumors.
US07871755B2
A photosensitive composition is provided, which includes a compound represented by the formula BP; and a photo-acid generator which generates an acid by the action of actinic radiation, wherein R1 is an acid-leaving group, and a part of R1 may be substituted with a hydrogen atom.
US07871754B2
A photosensitive composition is provided, which includes a compound expressed by the formula T3 and a photo-acid generator which generates an acid by an action of actinic radiation. In the formula T3, R3s are hydrogen atoms and hydrophobic groups. The hydrophobic groups are selected from the group consisting of (AD-1), (AD-2), and (AD-3) shown below, and the hydrogen atoms are partially substituted with a hydrophilic group (LA) shown below.
US07871743B2
A gray scale mask for fabricating a thin film transistor, comprising: a source mask region; a drain mask region; and a channel mask region between the source mask region and the drain mask region, wherein a plurality of light-blocking bars are arranged regularly in the channel mask region, and the light-blocking bars are perpendicular to a center line of the channel mask region.
US07871741B2
A method of producing a security document or article including a substrate (100), which is transparent at least to visible light, and a diffractive optical microstructure (112). The method includes applying an opacifying layer (102) to at least one surface of the transparent substrate (100). An area of the opacifying layer (102) is exposed to laser radiation (108) to ablate apertures (110) in selected portions of the opacifying layer (102), thereby forming a diffractive optical microstructure (112) on the surface of the substrate (100). The laser radiation may be patterned prior to exposing the opacifying layer (102), for example by passing the radiation through a mask (104). Alternatively, a focussed or collimated laser beam (206) may be directed onto the selected portions of the opacifying layer (102). Laser radiation may be directed onto the opacifying layer (102) either directly, or through the transparent substrate (100). Security documents or articles made in accordance with the method are also provided.
US07871735B2
Ceramic laminate structures, particularly laminate structures including stabilized zirconia compositions, as well as electrodes and electrochemical cells including such laminate structures. The stabilized zirconia composition preferably are selected from scandia-stabilized zirconia and yttria-stabilized zirconia. These laminate structures enhance the overall flexural strength of the electrolyte layer while preserving high electrical conductivity. Such laminate structures may be useful in electrochemical fuel cells such as solid oxide fuel cells.
US07871734B2
The present invention discloses a solid oxide fuel cell and method for fabricating solid oxide fuel cells using thin film processing techniques. The fuel cell comprises a cathode layer, an electrolyte layer, and an anode layer arranged in various configurations to optimize fuel cell performance.
US07871720B2
A battery assembly for use in an electronic device is provided. The battery assembly may include a battery cell (e.g., a rechargeable battery cell), a battery connector for providing power from the battery cell to the electronic device, and a flex circuit electrically coupling the battery cell to the electronic device. The battery connector may be located adjacent the battery cell, and may include one or more alignment mechanisms for ensuring that conductive pads of the battery connector align properly with corresponding conductive elements of the electronic device. The battery cell may be fixed to the electronic device using an adhesive layer (e.g., double sided tape) placed between the cell and the electronic device. A tab may extend beyond the periphery of the battery cell to allow a user to pull or peal the battery cell from the electronic device for replacement or repair. In some embodiments, a tool may be used to grasp the tab.
US07871715B2
A surface-coated cutting insert includes an insert body having a substrate of tungsten carbide-based cemented carbide, titanium carbonitride-based cermet or ceramics, a base layer, an intermediate layer and an outermost layer, the base layer and the outermost layer are made of a single layer or two or more layers formed of carbides, nitrides, oxides, or borides of one selected from the group consisting of Group IVa metals, Group Va metals, Group VIa metals, aluminum and silicon, or complex compounds thereof, and the intermediate layer is formed of primarily Al2O3, the outermost layer is removed on part of the insert body surface including the flank face and a flank face-side cutting edge portion of the intersecting edge line region, with the outermost layer being left on part of the rake face inside a boundary with the intersecting edge line region. The method for manufacturing this surface-coated cutting insert includes: forming a cutting edge at the intersecting edge line region; coating the surface of the insert body with a base layer, an intermediate layer and an outermost layer; and then removing the outermost layer on part of the surface of the insert body including the flank face and a flank face-side cutting edge portion of the intersecting edge line region, but excluding part of the rake face inside a boundary with the intersecting edge line region.
US07871694B2
This invention provides a prepreg which can yield printed circuit boards with excellent dimensional stability and heat resistance and the ability to be bent and housed at high density in electronic device packages, by impregnating a thin fiber base material with a resin having excellent adhesion with metal foils or fiber base materials, excellent heat resistance and high pliability, as well as a metal foil-clad laminate and printed circuit board employing it. The prepreg of the invention is obtained by impregnating a resin composition containing a resin with an imide structure and a thermosetting resin into a fiber base material with a thickness of 5-50 μm.
US07871686B2
The present invention relates to an Ag alloy film. Particularly, it is preferably used as a reflective film or semi-transmissive reflective film for an optical information recording medium having high thermal conductivity/high reflectance/high durability in the field of optical information recording media, an electromagnetic-shielding film excellent in Ag aggregation resistance, and an optical reflective film on the back of a reflection type liquid crystal display device, or the like. The Ag alloy film of the present invention comprises an Ag base alloy containing Bi and/or Sb in a total amount of 0.005 to 10% (in terms of at %). Further, the present invention relates to a sputtering target used for the deposition of such an Ag alloy film.
US07871685B2
The present invention provides a method for producing an optical recording medium having: a supporting substrate; a light transmission layer, which transmits a laser beam; and an information layer formed between the supporting substrate and the light transmission layer, which includes: applying a resin composition on the information layer by a spin coating method to form a coating film, wherein the resin composition contains, as main components: (A) a radical-curing urethane(meth)acrylate, which is obtained by reacting (a-1) a compound having three or more isocyanate groups binding to an aliphatic carbon atom per one molecule thereof and (a-2) a polycaprolacton-modified hydroxyethyl(meth)acrylate; and (B) a radical-curing monomer having a viscosity of 400 mPa.s or less at 25° C., curing the coating film by irradiating the coating film with an ultraviolet light or an electron beam to form the light transmission layer.
US07871662B2
A stimulation electrode is provided having an electrically conducting electrode base member which is partially covered with an electrically insulating ceramic layer. The ceramic layer is formed of an oxide and/or an oxynitride of at least one metal of the group of titanium, niobium. tantalum, zirconium, aluminum and silicon. Various methods are provided for production of the stimulation electrode, including methods in which the ceramic layer is formed in situ by a thermal, chemical or electrochemical oxidation or oxynitridation process. The stimulation electrode may be used as a cardiac pacemaker electrode, a neuro-stimulation electrode, or another human implant.
US07871660B2
A technique for manufacturing a device that includes a deposit of getter material on a support involves treating the support on which the getter material is formed with a caustic fluid. An aspect of the technique is that it may clean and/or chemically activate the getter material without substantial damage to the getter material. The getter material may be formed on an internal wall of the device.
US07871657B2
The present invention relates to a process for preparation of expanded finger millet, a ready-to-eat product with versatile food uses.
US07871656B2
A fat composition for use in food products is provided, which contains low levels of trans fats, and includes a non-hydrogenated fractionated palm kernel oil and a non-hydrogenated fractionated palm oil. A confectionery composition containing the fat composition also is provided. The confectionery composition can be used to coat a food product, and can be flavored and/or colored. Methods for making a confectionery composition using the fat composition also are provided.
US07871653B2
A tiered shrimp food tray including a sheet of material forming a base tray having an outer ridge, a support ridge formed concentric to and in spaced relation to the outer ridge. An inner ridge and a base surface cooperatively define a central well which supports a condiment cup. A ring of shrimp is arranged on the support ridge of the base tray. A connector plate interconnects the base tray with an upper tray. The upper tray includes an outer ridge and a support ridge spaced from one another. A second condiment cup is disposed within a well of the upper tray. A ring of shrimp is arranged on the support ridge of the upper tray.
US07871647B1
A method for treating the pain in the limbs relating to restricted blood flow to nerve endings and reduction in motor and sensory nerve conduction velocities by topically administering a composition containing a plant extract which is a vasodilator, a plant extract which is a stimulator of lymphatic activity and a mobilizer of white blood cells which is derived from snake venom or plants.
US07871633B2
The anhydrous cosmetic composition of the present invention provides a durable film after application that resists degradation over time. The anhydrous cosmetic composition includes an aminosilicone, an organosiloxane resin, a diorganopolysiloxane polymer and a volatile carrier. The anhydrous cosmetic composition can also be packaged with a topcoat product.
US07871632B2
The present invention provides compositions for delivering highly water-soluble drugs (such as vinca alkaloids) and methods of using such compositions.
US07871631B2
The present invention provides an antihuman TNF-α antibody activity lowering inhibitor comprising a protein source(s) and/or carbohydrate source(s), in the treatment of inflammatory bowel syndrome with repeated administration of anti-TNF-α antibody; and a kit preparation wherein a freeze-dried antihuman TNF-α antibody and the activity lowering inhibitor in the above repeated administration of the anti-TNF-α antibody are separately contained in a plastic container so that they can communicate with each other. According to the present invention, in the drug therapy to the patients with inflammatory bowel syndrome, therapeutic agents which inhibit the inflammation for long periods without accompanying serious side effects can be provided.
US07871630B2
The invention relates to compositions, kits, and methods for alleviating cancer (i.e., a tumor) in a human patient. The therapeutic modality effected by the invention involves inducing a type 1 inflammatory response in the tumor tissue, whereby the tumor tissue is diminished or destroyed and the patient develops immune memory that inhibits or prevents recurrence of the tumor.
US07871626B2
The immunogenicity of the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) molecule may be increased by substitutions of amino acids in the HA sequence. The substitution of specific HA residues, such as asparagine at position 223 of H5 HA, increase the sensitivity of the hemagglutinin inhibition (HI) assay by altering receptor specificity and/or antibody-antigen binding. HA molecules containing such substitutions will be useful in the development of diagnostic reference viruses and improved influenza vaccines.
US07871621B2
An anti-HBs monoclonal antibody is described herein. This antibody can bind to the following: (i) a wild type HBsAg; (ii) at least one mutant HBsAg selected from the group consisting of a first mutant HBsAg and a second mutant HBsAg; and (iii) at least one mutant HBsAg selected from the group consisting of a third mutant HBsAg and a fourth mutant HBsAg. The first mutant HBsAg has a mutation at position 120. The second mutant HBsAg has a mutation at position 141. The third mutant HBsAg has a substitution to a lysine at position 118. The fourth mutant HBsAg has only one mutation at position 144 and an amino acid at the position 144 is substituted by a glutamic acid.
US07871615B2
The invention provides improved agents and methods for treatment of diseases associated with amyloid deposits of Aβ in the brain of a patient. Preferred agents include antibodies, e.g., humanized antibodies.
US07871613B2
The present invention provides an anti-cancer agent comprising anti-glypican 3 antibody wherein the anti-cancer agent is administered after a cancer treatment, Preferably, after a cancer treatment is after a treatment for liver cancer, and the treatment for liver cancer is in particular a resection of liver cancer cells. The anti-cancer agent according to the present invention is preferably administered if glypican 3 is expressed in the resected liver cancer cells. The anti-glypican 3 antibody is preferably a monoclonal antibody. The anti-cancer agent according to the present invention is useful for preventing cancer and for preventing the recurrence of cancer.
US07871605B2
The present invention provides a fluid exchange cell culture technique and tissue repair cells (TRCs) made by these methods, as well as methods using these cells. The method includes a new wash step which increases the tissue repair properties of the TRCs of the invention. This wash step allows for the production of TRC populations with greater tissue repair and anti -inflammatory capabilities. Embodiments of the present invention include a post-culture process for cultured cells that preferably includes the steps of: a wash process for removing unwanted residual culture components, a volume reduction process, and a harvesting process to remove cultured cells. Preferably, all these steps are performed within a aseptically closed cell culture chamber by implementing a separation method that minimizes mechanical disruption of the cells and is simple to automate. The harvested cells may then be concentrated to a final volume for the intended use. In such embodiments, the final composition is a substantially purified and concentrated cell mixture suspended in a physiologic solution suitable for immediate use in humans without further washing, volume reduction, or processing. Embodiments are also applicable to harvesting (and/or washing) particles within a liquid or solution within a chamber.
US07871602B2
The use of bis-amines to enhance the antimicrobial activity of pharmaceutical compositions is described. The bis-amines are particularly useful for enhancing the antimicrobial activity of aqueous ophthalmic compositions, such as artificial tears or ocular lubricants, and solutions for disinfecting contact lenses.
US07871599B2
The invention provides a hair treatment composition such as a shampoo or conditioner suitable for topical application in style hair and in particular to lengthening the hair. The composition comprises an α-hydroxy acid and/or its salt and a xanthine preferably having the following formula.
US07871598B1
Microparticle compositions comprising metal ion-lipid complexes for drug delivery are described including methods of making the microparticle compositions and methods of treating certain conditions and disease states by administering the microparticle compositions. The metal ion-lipid complexes can be combined with various drugs or active agents for therapeutic administration. The microparticle compositions of the present invention have superior stability to other microparticle compositions resulting in a microparticle composition with longer shelf life and improved dispersability. The microparticle compositions of the present invention have a transition temperature Tm of at least 20° C. above the recommended storage temperature (Tst) for drug delivery.
US07871582B2
The system contains a molded plastic reticulated tray composed of a continuous rib that forms a tray rim and a plurality of intersecting ribs defining relatively large openings therebetween. The intersecting ribs are dished and having opposite ends connected to the continuous rib at spaced apart locations therealong. The plurality of intersecting ribs have rounded surfaces so that a fluid sterilant directed at the plurality of intersecting ribs from the outside, upon flowing through said openings, will follow and intimately contact said rounded surfaces to the tray interior so that those surfaces are cleaned thoroughly.
US07871577B2
Higher molecular weight hydrocarbon compounds or oxygenates are produced from a gas comprising methane in a process comprising the steps of generating synthesis gas (“syngas”) comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen by reaction of a gas comprising methane with steam and/or an oxidant gas comprising oxygen, producing higher molecular weight hydrocarbon compounds or oxygenates in a syngas conversion process, removing offgas comprising unreacted hydrogen and unreacted carbon monoxide from said syngas conversion process and separating cryogenically unreacted hydrogen from said offgas or from a gas derived therefrom to produce separated hydrogen product that is substantially free of unreacted carbon monoxide and a first cryogenic liquid comprising unreacted carbon monoxide. The unreacted hydrogen is preferably separated from the offgas in a liquid methane wash column. Two advantages of this process are that this cryogenic separation process is more efficient than known pressure swing absorption techniques and that the concentration of carbon monoxide in the separated hydrogen product is sufficiently small that the separated hydrogen product may be used in the hydrogenation of a wax fraction of the higher molecular weight hydrocarbon compounds without further purification or processing.
US07871575B2
A handling unit that comprises a first clamping element and a second clamping element, and an actuation mechanism adapted for driving at least one of the clamping elements. When the at least one of the clamping elements is driven to a first position, a microfluidic device may be placed between the clamping elements or taken out of the clamping elements, and when the at least one of the clamping elements is driven to a second position, the microfluidic device is gripped and fastened by the clamping elements.
US07871567B2
The present invention provides a test strip for measuring a concentration of an analyte of interest in a biological fluid, wherein the test strip may be encoded with information that can be read by a test meter into which the test strip is inserted. In one embodiment, a first test strip comprises: a first measurement electrode connectable to a test meter; a first trace loop with a first associated resistance, where the first trace loop is connectable to the test meter; and a second trace loop with a second associated resistance, where the second trace loop is connectable to the test meter. The test meter is adapted to: receive the first test strip; connect to the first measurement electrode, the first trace loop, and the second trace loop; and obtain a first resistance ratio by comparing the first and second associated resistances.
US07871566B2
A device and method for enriching and/or depleting substances in a liquid is disclosed. An exemplary device comprises a membrane module that consists essentially of concentric elements and that has a separation element in which the substance to be enriched and/or depleted is carried, and whereby the liquid is carried outside of the separation element. The exemplary device also comprises a drive module that encompasses a drive unit for driving a conveying element that conveys the liquid, the drive unit having a radial magnetic coupling for a central impeller located on the inside. The exemplary device further comprises a conveying module for conveying the liquid through the device, housing the conveying element, whereby the drive module is adapted to be inserted into and removed from the membrane module with a liquid-tight closure. The exemplary device further an oxygenator having an outside fiber bundle and an inside fiber bundle. Finally, the exemplary device comprises an electromagnetic drive unit disposed between the outside fiber bundle and the inside fiber bundle.
US07871561B2
An artificial bone which is excellent in the ability to form bone in a living body, reliably thereof, and has high mechanical strength. The process comprises the steps of: mixing granules, composed of a titanium or a titanium alloy powder and an organic binder, with a particulate pore-forming material, pressure-molding the mixture to obtain a molded body, firing the molded body at 1200° C. to obtain a porous body, bringing the porous body into contact with an aqueous alkali solution, subsequently with water of 35° C. or higher for a period longer than that of contacting with the aqueous alkali solution and then heating the porous body at 100 to 650° C., preferably 200 to 600° C.
US07871556B2
A fully curable jettable composition having a viscosity less than 30 cps at a temperature within the range of 15° C.-180° C. comprising (i) at least one low viscosity reactive resin; (ii) at least one higher viscosity resin having a viscosity greater than twice that of the low viscosity resin and a functionality of greater than or equal to 2; (iii) at least one curable toughener, (iv) at least one initiator for the polymerization of the resins, and (v) at least one stabilizer for delaying the curing of the resins of the composition. The composition can be jetted from piezo electric printing heads under the control of a computer program to form a multi-layered article, for example, a three dimensional article, in which the adjacent droplets merge and are cured homogeneously together.
US07871549B2
A polymer solution (21) is prepared by dissolving poly-.ε.-caprolactone and amphipathic polyacrylamide in an organic solvent. The polymer solution (21) is cast from a casting die (25) onto a casting belt (26) to form a casting film (40). Air (35) from a blowing and suctioning device (34) is sent to the casting film (40) to generate droplets (44). The relative speed of drying air (37) to the moving speed of the casting belt (26) is adjusted at 5 m/min in parallel flow. The water in the drying air (37) is condensed in the casting film (40) to form the droplets (44). The droplets (44) are evaporated after evaporating the organic solvent in the casting film (40), so that a honeycomb-structure film (12) can be obtained.
US07871545B2
Hybrid composites including carbon nanotubes and a carbide-derived carbon material, electron emitters including the hybrid composites, methods of preparing the electron emitters, and electron emission devices including the electron emitters are provided. Specifically, a hybrid composite includes at least one carbon nanotube and a carbide-derived carbon material. The carbide-derived carbon material is prepared by thermochemically reacting a carbide compound with a halogen-containing gas to extract substantially all of the elements except for the carbon in the carbide compound. Since the carbon nanotubes and the carbide-derived carbon material are hybridized and composited, a screen effect that may occur when large amounts of carbon nanotubes are used can be prevented, and an electron emitter including the hybrid composite has excellent electron emission capabilities, excellent uniformity, and a long lifetime.
US07871544B2
The invention relates to a paste-like mass that can be used in electrochemical structural elements, including a heterogeneous mixture of (1.) a matrix (A) containing at least one organic polymer, precursors thereof, or prepolymers thereof, or consisting of said components, (2.) an electrochemically activatable inorganic material in the form of a solid substance (B), said material not being soluble in said matrix and in water, and (3.) a material (C) which is capable of improving the transport of a liquid electrolyte into and the storage thereof within the structural element, with the proviso that said material (C) is not a material which simultaneously has conductivity improving properties, if said solid substance (B) is a material that is suitable as an electrode material. From said mass, layers (films) and electrochemical composite layers can be produced that are subsequently impregnated with an electrolyte solution preferably of electrolytes dissolved in plasticizers for said matrix (A). In this manner, electrochemically active structural elements such as batteries and accumulators are obtained.
US07871534B2
A method for dusting-preventive treatment of a dusting material using a dust-preventive treatment agent including a PTFE aqueous dispersion having lower potential for environmental concerns, which method is as effective as a known method and further has a lower possibility of environmental concerns, and the dust-preventive treated material obtained by treating the dusting material by the method. The method involves mixing a dust preventing treatment composition composed of an aqueous dispersion of polytetrafluoroethylene containing 50 ppm or less of a fluorine-containing emulsifier with the dusting material and then forming fibrils of polytetrafluoroethylene by applying a compression/shear force to the mixture above at a temperature of about 20° C. to 200° C.
US07871533B1
The present invention relates to compositions of a nanofluid, which comprises a thermal transfer fluid and carbon nanoparticles. The nanofluid may be hydrophilic nanofluids, such as a coolant, or hydrophobic nanofluids, such as nanolubricants or nanogreases. In particular, the present invention provides a homogenous hydrophilic nanofluid, which contains soluble carbon nanotubes in the hydrophilic thermal transfer fluid. The present invention also provides a nanogrease, which is a sustainable dispersion of solid carbon nanotubes in a hydrophobic thermal transfer fluid. The solid carbon nanotubes function as both as a thickener to modulate viscosity and as a solid heat transfer medium to enhance thermal conductivity and high temperature resistance.
US07871521B2
A system for regulating a reverse osmosis system to obtain zero wastewater includes a fresh water supply, a reverse osmosis apparatus, a concentrate storage tank and a permeate storage tank, a concentrate solenoid valve and a permeate solenoid valve, a permeate heater, an institutional dishmachine and a control system. The reverse osmosis apparatus filters water from the fresh water supply into a concentrate rinse stream and a permeate rinse stream. The concentrate storage tank and the permeate storage tank are downstream of the reverse osmosis apparatus and receiving the concentrate rinse stream and the permeate rinse stream, respectively. The concentrate solenoid valve and the permeate solenoid valve control the flow of the concentrate rinse stream and the permeate rinse stream, respectively, from their respective storage tank. The permeate heater heats the permeate rinse stream to a predetermined temperature. The institutional dishmachine successively receives the concentrate rinse stream and the permeate rinse stream during a rinse cycle of the institutional dishmachine. The control system is operatively connected to the concentrate solenoid valve and the permeate solenoid valve and control flow of the rinse streams into the institutional dishmachine.
US07871516B2
The invention relates to a decanter for separating a supernatant protruding from a sewage sludge in a sludge tank (1) having a withdrawal device (4) attached to a first end (E1) of a pivot-mounted discharge pipe (3), wherein for discharging the supernatant flowing through the discharge pipe (3) near a second end (E2) opposite of the withdrawal device (4) a flexible hose (14) is provided, which is connected to a connecting piece (13) that is firmly mounted to the base relative to the pivoting bearing. In order to improve the robustness of the decanter, the invention provides that the discharge pipe (3) is received at its second end (E2) pivoting around a pivoting axis (A) in a pivoting bearing (2) having two bearing blocks (17) supported on a base.
US07871514B2
Extractive distillation processes whereby water-soluble extractive distillation (ED) solvents are regenerated and recovered employ improved operations of the extractive distillation column (EDC) so that polar hydrocarbons are recovered and purified from mixtures containing polar and less polar hydrocarbons and measurable amounts of hydrocarbons that are heavier than intended feedstock and/or polymers that are generated in the ED process. The improved process can effectively remove and recover the heavy hydrocarbons and/or remove polymer contaminants from the solvent in a closed solvent circulating loop through mild operating conditions with no additional process energy being expended. With the improved process, the overhead reflux of the EDC may be eliminated to further reduce energy consumption and to enhance the loading and performance within the upper portion of the EDC, especially when two liquid phases exists therein.
US07871504B2
The invention relates to a method of forming an electrocatalytic surface on an electrode in a simple way, in particular on a lead anode used in the electrolytic recovery of metals. The catalytic coating is formed by a spraying method which does not essentially alter the characteristics of the coating powder during spraying. Transition metal oxides are used as the coating material. After the spray coating the electrode is ready for use without further treatment. The invention also relates to an electrode onto which an electrocatalytic surface is formed.
US07871499B2
A retort oven for decomposition of waste materials through pyrolysis employing a deck with a variable angle of inclination for adjusting the retention time and processing rate of waste material flowing unassisted through the oven interior. The oven includes an outer shell lined with a refractory material and houses an inner oven chamber. The deck is adjustably hinge mounted to the inner chamber supporting sidewalls extending in a decline from a waste material entrance to a charred material exit. The deck is operated in a preferred angle range of inclination between 28°-50° from the oven floor normal. A controlled heat source is positioned within the oven to heat a first outer volume whose heated gases are transferred into a second inner volume of the inner chamber using an array of heat gun tubes heating the deck and material as it descends along the declined deck. The deck can be adjusted for varying the retention time of material within the oven for varied exposure to heat and charring efficiency.
US07871495B2
A device for removing a liquid, dusty or solid substance from a moving fabric or web. A roll is placed transversely in relation to the moving fabric or web and arranged to rotate around a rotation axis. The roll includes an outer mantle through which a liquid or air flow can enter the inside of the roll. The rotating roll is placed inside a chamber. The chamber includes an opening in a direction of the rotating axis. The opening is arranged to expose at least a part of the outer mantle such that the moving fabric or web tangential to the chamber can be supported against the outer mantle. At least a spiral, screw or threaded structure is arranged inside the rotating roll at a distance from the outer mantle, and is arranged to rotate around a rotating axis and to transfer liquid or air that has entered the roll in the direction of the rotation axis.
US07871494B2
A steam distributor for applying steam to a continuously moving paper sheet employs one or more drop-out steam profiling cartridges. Each cartridge is connected to a steam distribution apparatus and includes a number of profiling zones that are covered by a contoured, smooth profiling screen from which steam is applied. The profiling screens are welded to baffles which enhances the structural integrity of the cartridge. No external clamps or other devices are employed that would otherwise disrupt the smooth, curved exterior surface of the profiling screens. The spaced-apart baffles also eliminate the spilling over of steam from one profiling zone to the next which has the effect of minimizing the response width for steam profiling control. The use of the drop-out cartridges permits quick and easy removal of the profiling screens for change-out or cleaning.
US07871489B2
The invention relates to a process for production of composite elements composed of at least one outer layer a) and of an rigid isocyanate-based foam b), where between the outer layer a) and the rigid isocyanate-based foam b) an adhesion promoter c) has been applied, and where the outer layer a) is continuously moved and the adhesion promoter c) and the starting material for the rigid isocyanate-based foam b) are applied successively to the outer layer, which comprises applying the adhesion promoter c) by means of a rotating plate which has been installed horizontally or with a deviation of up to 15° from horizontal, preferably parallel to the outer layer.
US07871488B2
Novel waterborne adhesives comprising a crosslinkable polymer, a crosslinking agent and acetaldehyde scavenger are useful in the manufacture of products exhibiting reduced acetaldehyde emission rates. Manufactured products having acetaldehyde emission rates of less than 9 μg/m3 may be manufactured using the adhesive of the invention.
US07871485B2
Easy starting rolls of perforated tissue product which have a reduced tendency to ply separate are formed with an adhesively secured doubled over tail tab folded against the roll. The strength and location of the bonds are controlled by controlling the penetration of the adhesive into the tissue. The dry tensile strength of the projecting folded over tail tab exceeds 400 g/3″ and the caliper thereof exceeds one mil The adhesive bonds are spaced away from lines of perforation joining sheets in the initial sheets of the roll.
US07871484B2
A method and a device are provided for bonding a dry fiber strip to a dry fiber strand in continuous, uninterrupted operation. A bonding agent, activatable by supplying heat, is provided on the fiber strip and the fiber strand, which has at least one flat mantle surface. The fiber strip and the fiber strand are unwound from respective supply rolls, and the flat mantle surface of the fiber strand is positioned on the fiber strip during the unwinding procedure. Heat is supplied during the unwinding procedure to cause activation of the binder and gluing of the fiber strip and the fiber strand.
US07871467B2
Disclosed is a five-color ink set for ink jet recording, which can realize good images excellent in lightfastness and waterfastness, as well as particularly in hue. The five-color ink set for ink jet recording comprises a cyan ink composition, a magenta ink composition, a yellow ink composition, a green ink composition and an orange ink composition, wherein the cyan ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Blue 15:3 or C.I. Pigment Blue 15:4, the magenta ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Red 122, C.I. Pigment Red 202, C.I. Pigment Red 209 or C.I. Pigment Violet 19, the yellow ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Yellow 213, the green ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Green 7 or C.I. Pigment Green 36, and the orange ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Orange 64, C.I. Pigment Orange 43 or C.I. Pigment Orange 71.
US07871464B2
The present invention relates to an anthrapyridone compound represented by the following formula (1): wherein, n represents an integer number of 1 to 3, R1 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group or the like, R2 represents a hydrogen atom or a methoxy group, R3 represents an anilino group having, as a substituent, at least one group selected from the group consisting of sulfo group, a carboxy group, an alkoxy group, a carbamoyl group, an cyano group, an alkyl group, an anilino group, a phenoxy group, an amino group, a hydroxy group and a mercapto group, an unsubstituted anilino group or the like, or a salt thereof, and provides a magenta coloring matter (compound) having high solubility in water and a hue and vividness which are suitable for inkjet recording and being excellent in fastnesses such as light fastness, moisture fastness and ozone gas fastness on recorded matter; and a magenta ink composition containing it.
US07871461B2
A bubble separator capable of performing efficient bubble separation with a compact and simple structure is provided. The bubble separator includes a centrifugal bubble separating mechanism and an auxiliary bubble separating mechanism. The centrifugal bubble separating mechanism has a first bubble separator body in which a first fluid introducing part, a first fluid discharging part, and a first gas discharging part are provided. The auxiliary bubble separating mechanism has a guiding portion, a second bubble separator body, a second fluid introducing part, a second fluid discharging part, and a second gas discharging part. According to the bubble separator of the present invention, in addition to minuscule bubbles it is also possible to separate large bubbles that could not be completely separated using the centrifugal bubble separating mechanism.
US07871449B2
The invention provides an improved process and apparatus for integrating the heat transfer zones of spiral-wound, plate fin, tube and finned tube exchangers thus increasing the overall effectiveness of the process.
US07871447B2
An automated system and method for manufacturing a thermal battery is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, the system comprises a press system, a stacking system, and an enclosing system to automate the manufacturing process of thermal batteries. A method of manufacturing a thermal battery using the system is also disclosed. An automated tracking, storage, and retrieval system for pellets used in the manufacturing process and a pellet pairing system are also disclosed.
US07871446B2
A dyestuff of the formula (I) wherein D is a diazo component; R1 is hydrogen, (C1-C4)-alkyl, hydroxy, —NHCOR6 or —NHSO2R6; R2 is hydrogen, halogen or (C1-C4)-alkoxy; R3 is hydrogen or methyl; R4 is hydrogen, (C1-C6)-alkyl, substituted (C1-C6)-alkyl, (C2-C6)-alkyl, which is interrupted by 1, 2 or 3 heteroatoms wherein said heteroatoms are —0—, —S— or —NR7, substituted (C2-C6)-alkyl, which is interrupted by 1, 2 or 3 heteroatoms wherein said heteroatoms are —0—, —S— or —NR7, (C2-C6)-alkenyl, substituted (C2-C6)-alkenyl, benzyl or phenethyl; R5 is hydrogen or methyl; R6 is (C1-C4)-alkyl, phenyl or substituted phenyl; R7 is (C1-C4)-alkyl, phenyl or substituted phenyl; m is 0, 1 or 2; and n is 0 or 1. The invention further relates to use of the dyestuff and the process of making the dyestuff.
US07871439B2
An auditory ossicle prosthesis (40) which replaces or bridges at least one element in the human auditory ossicle chain, whereby the auditory ossicle prosthesis (40) is made of an elastic material or a material having at least one articulated connection, is characterised in that means for frequency adjustment (=tuning) are arranged for sound transmission in the middle ear, in particular to change the lever conditions in the auditory ossicle chain. In this way sound transmission between the middle ear area and the inner ear of the human auditory canal is considerably improved, whereby, in particular, optimum adaptation to the individually differing conditions and a tailor-made solution to the problems and deficiencies in the patient in question are made possible.
US07871432B2
A valve holder for a prosthetic valve having a stent with a stent base and multiple commissure posts projecting from the stent base, the valve holder including a central base portion, a plurality of legs radially extending from the central base portion, each leg comprising a first prong portion spaced from a second prong portion by a gap distance, a plurality of commissure post engaging members, wherein one commissure post engaging member is slideably engaged with each of the plurality of legs, and a handle extending from the central base portion.
US07871431B2
An apparatus for interventional treatment of atherosclerosis at a vascular bifurcation includes structure for receiving a first guidewire and a second guidewire. An exit for the second guidewire is located in a central section of the structure. A first balloon portion is secured to the structure so a proximal end is located adjacent the exit. A second balloon portion is secured to the structure so a distal end is located adjacent the exit on a side of the exit opposite the first balloon portion. An annular gap is defined between the proximal end of the first balloon portion and the distal end of the second balloon portion. The annular gap, at a radial outermost location relative to the structure, has a width that is equal to or less than a width of the annular gap at a radially innermost location relative to the structure. The apparatus also includes an expandable stent that is mountable about the first and second balloon portions.
US07871425B2
Medical devices and methods are provided for a minimally-invasive mastoplasty procedure. In the procedure, barbed sutures are used to accomplish a nipple-lift by deploying the sutures cranially from the nipple-areolar complex to stable anatomical features higher on the chest. Additional barbed sutures may be used to accomplish a breast-lift and/or breast contouring by deploying the sutures caudally from stable anatomical features into the breast tissue.
US07871415B2
An implantation device for releasably holding implantable microstimulators can be used to guide one or more microstimulators to any site within the gastrointestinal tract for implantation. The device can further releasably hold one or more ligation clips for securing the one or more microstimulators in place within the implantation site(s) and/or for closing an incision in which a microstimulator is implanted. The device can be employed using open, laparoscopic, and endoscopic techniques.
US07871408B2
The present invention comprises methods and systems for treating a cardiac arrhythmia in a mammal by administering gated or pulsed radiofrequency current or other ablative energy to the mammal during one or more time periods of increased coronary blood flow. Preferred embodiments of the invention comprise, without limitation, the gated or pulsed administration of radiofrequency current in association with the formation of the dicrotic notch in the arterial blood pressure curve of the mammal. In accordance with the invention, the thermal effects of ablative energy application on the coronary artery are avoided or mitigated due to rapid coronary blood flow resulting in heat loss and minimization of damage to blood vessels.
US07871402B2
A system for perfusion management that monitors, maintains, diagnoses, or treats perfusion deficiencies.
US07871400B2
Described herein is a side panel for sanitary articles that can be worn as pants, such as baby diapers or sanitary towels, with a main body, which can assume a general U-shaped configuration, with end parts arranged on the front and on the back of the body of the user, and with at least one aforesaid side panel for connecting the aforesaid end parts on each side of the user. The side panel has an as a whole tapered pattern starting from a proximal edge to be fixed on the main body of the article and a distal edge carrying a connection formation for closing the article itself around the waistline of the user. The panel has, in connection with the proximal edge and distal edge, two end sides inclined with respect to the general direction of extension of the aforesaid proximal edge and distal edge. The end sides have profiles such that the side panel is juxtaposable without any solution of continuity in a position corresponding to said end sides with two homologous side panels rotated through 180° in the general plane of extension of the panel. Each connection formation is extendable in a distal direction beyond the distal edge of the panel.
US07871393B2
An injector, when dispensing its dosage, determines its location, and sends a message to a central facility, such as a rescue center or product management system, giving its unique identification number and its location. The injector is a syringe or an auto-injector. The central facility uses the unique identification number to determine the contents of the injector and thus what sort of threat may have occurred so that suitable rescue personnel may be dispatched. The unique identification number may also be associated with a likely user of the device, and the user's organization may be notified that a problem has occurred and help is on its way.
US07871391B2
A chamber is described for use in an extracorporeal fluid system. The chamber has a bottom entry port and a bottom exit port. A microporous filter at the top of the chamber allows air in the fluid to vent from the chamber. In use, the chamber is filled with saline. Blood is then introduced into the chamber. A layer of saline is above a layer of blood in the chamber. The saline stagnates as the blood flows through the chamber. The saline keeps the blood from contacting the filter and depositing protein on the filter.
US07871385B2
A urine sample collection device comprising a urine receptor having an outlet aperture, a generally elongate tubular member extending from said receptor outlet aperture to an open end, the tubular member having an opening (21) formed in the side thereof, a coupling means (5′) for releasably mounting a urine collection container, the coupling means having a passage extending therethrough which meets said opening whereby urine can flow from the tubular member into a mounted container, and a flow director (24) located at or adjacent said opening and formed to direct urine past the opening.
US07871381B2
The preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a single microprocessor-based interface that connects between a noninvasive blood pressure (NIBP) sensor and an invasive blood pressure (IBP) monitor or module. The interface effectively emulates an IBP transducer in such a way that the IBP monitor sees the interface as if it were a regular IBP transducer from a fluid-filled blood pressure monitoring line. It receives the signal from an NIBP sensor and determines the blood pressure corresponding to the signal. It accepts the excitation voltage provided by the IBP monitor. From the excitation voltage and a known transducer sensitivity which the IBP monitor is configured to work with, the interface emulates the IBP transducer output signal corresponding to the blood pressure. The interface also emulates the input and output impedances of the IBP transducer which the IBP monitor is configured to work with. Zeroing of the interface with the IBP monitor can be easily performed in a way that is similar to that for a fluid-filled system. A noninvasive system comprising a suitable NIBP sensor and this interface can be used as an alternative to the fluid-filled monitoring line.
US07871374B2
A Surgical retractor, designed in particular for minimally invasive operations, consisting essentially of an elastic plate rolled up about an axis so as to form the side wall of a substantially truncated cone shape, the narrowest cross section of the truncated cone constituting the distal part of this retractor, when the retractor is in place, and delimiting an operating field, the widest cross section of the truncated cone forming the proximal part, through which instruments can be introduced, said plate being able to be rolled up into a substantially cylindrical shape with a diameter smaller than or equal to the narrowest cross section of its truncated cone shape.
US07871370B2
An endoscope shape monitoring system that is used to grasp a shape of a flexible insertion portion is provided that includes a position detector and a determining processor. The position detector detects a plurality of positions of the insertion portion along the central axis of the insertion portion at predetermined intervals. The determining processor determines the position of at least one of the central axis or an outline of the insertion portion.
US07871367B2
A minimally invasive surgical instrument for placing an implantable article about a tubular tissue structure is disclosed. The surgical instrument is particularly useful for treating urological disorders such as incontinence. Surgical methods using the novel instrument are also described.
US07871361B2
A rotating roller imparts complex curvature onto a web of material. The roller includes a flexible outer surface and a plurality of control rings inside the rotating roller. The control rings are mounted coaxial to a central shaft and are disposed side by side along an axial length of the shaft. The outside of each ring supports a substantially circular slice of the flexible outer surface of the rotating roller. Each control ring defines a diameter that may be changed independent from the diameter of the other control rings.
US07871360B1
An adjustable weight-loaded dip-chin machine. Dip bars and chin bars with means for vertical adjustment are mounted on columns, which in turn are mounted on a base. An arm is pivotally attached to the base, and weights can be added to an arm spindle attached to the arm. A belt is attached to the arm, and weights added to the arm spindle resist upward motion of an exerciser performing dips or chins. Elastic bands may be added connecting the arm to the base, and/or the belt to the base, which serve to render the exercise more strenuous. Dip bars incorporate a plurality of dip bar legs, each a differing distance from the other dip bar. Chin bars incorporate a downwardly-sloping dogleg. An alternate embodiment adjustable dip-chin machine incorporates a weight stack which can be attached to the belt. Stack weights selected from the weight stack render exercise more strenuous.
US07871359B2
A resistance apparatus for use with exercise devices includes an axle an outer housing for rotatably mounting the axle therein. At least one inner housing includes an opening for receiving the axle therethrough so that the inner housing is fixably mounted on the axle. The inner housing is rotatably mounted inside the outer housing to permit rotation of the inner housing along with the axle within the outer housing. At least a first tensioned member is disposed within the inner housing. The first tensioned member includes a first end and a second end. The first end of the tensioned member engages an engagement area of the inner housing. The second end of the tensioned member engages an engagement area of the outer housing. The tensioned member creates a rotational restoring force between the inner housing and the outer housing.
US07871351B2
The present invention provides an eight speed automatic transmission for motor vehicles having three planetary gear sets, four friction clutches, a friction brake, a band brake and an optional overrunning clutch. The eight speed transmission according to the present invention exhibits good gear ratio progression and high efficiency due to its excellent gear mesh efficiency, low spin losses and low pinion speeds.
US07871335B2
A golf club head includes a club head having a plurality of components and a plurality of retaining members, with each retaining member positioned on one of the components. A tensioning assembly for releasably securing the components of the club head together includes a tension element coupled to the club head components by way of the retaining members, and a tensioning member for introducing tension into the tension element.
US07871329B2
A casino gambling system may comprise a plurality of casino gambling units and at least one computer that may include a biometric input apparatus capable of generating digital data representing a unique physical characteristic of a user and a controller operatively coupled to the biometric input apparatus. The controller may be programmed to control access to the computer based upon digital data generated by the biometric input apparatus. The biometric input apparatus may be a camera for generating an image of a person's face, an eye scanner, a fingerprint scanner, or a microphone and a voice digitizer. The gambling units may be programmed to play a game selected from the group of video games consisting of video poker, video blackjack, video slots, video keno and video poker.
US07871313B2
A hand-held machine tool has an electric drive motor (3), arranged in a housing (2), for driving a tool (5), wherein a dust collecting container (7) is connected to the housing and has in its wall a container connector (8), which can be pushed axially onto a blow-out connector (6) in the housing. When the connection is disconnected, the wall (11) of the dust collecting container and an assigned wall (15) on the housing are in contact by way of at least one common supporting point, wherein the supporting point is displaced in the axial direction when the dust collecting container rotates about a longitudinal axis (9) of the container connector.
US07871305B2
Disclosed in this specification is a range of push up bras. The range comprises different bra cup sizes, and offers a different amount of padding for different cup sizes in the same range. The different padding provided facilitates a better tailoring of the bra to the body type of the wearer. The padding occupies a decreasing area of the cup as the cup size increases. The centre of the padding is also gradually lowered with increasing cup size.
US07871303B2
Heavier noble gases such as xenon and argon can reduce the run-in period for vacuum tubes and in particular flame detector tubes. The tubes can be filled with a run-in gas and then run-in. The run-in gas can then be exchanged for an end gas, such as neon, and the tube sealed. A final conditioning step of running in the tube with the end gas can further smooth the tube's anode and cathode to thereby improve performance and operating life.
US07871302B2
An outboard motor for small watercraft, such as a pleasure boat, has a capability of changing between a forward shift position and a reverse shift position by causing a lower part of the unit to rotate in small increments and move along an arc formed by a ratchet plate secured above the propeller assembly.
US07871291B2
A power adapter, comprising a cord Storage assembly extendable from a housing to enable a cord to be at least partially wound thereabout, the cord storage assembly retractable within the housing to store the cord within the housing.
US07871290B2
A battery connector includes an insulating body and a conductive terminal. The conductive terminal is disposed within a receiving space of the insulating body, and includes a fixing portion, a U-shape contacting portion, an elastic portion, and a leaning portion. The fixing portion is fixed within the receiving space. The U-shape contacting portion has a slot defining two U-shape elastic arms. The U-shape elastic arms protrude from an opening of a sidewall of the insulating body. The elastic portion connects between one end of the U-shape contacting portion and the fixing portion. The leaning portion connects with the other end of the U-shape contacting portion. A width of the leaning portion is larger than that of the opening, and the leaning portion leans against the sidewall near the opening.
US07871287B2
A branching device for at least one electric line exhibits branching contacts and a housing in which at least one electrically conducting wire terminal is accommodated in a holder. The device is characterized in that contact lips with cutting edges for cutting through the insulation of the wires of the electric line are provided on the wire terminals in that the wire terminals represent the branching contacts and in that a through-channel for the uninterrupted passage of a wire is provided in each wire terminal.
US07871281B2
A connector has a base having an opening to be inserted with a tip portion of a flexible printed circuit board at a front surface, and having a first insertion hole and a second insertion hole alternately juxtaposed at a predetermined pitch at the front surface and a rear surface, respectively, a first connection terminal to be inserted to the first insertion hole from a side, and having a first movable contact that comes into pressure contact with a first joint juxtaposed at a lower surface of the tip portion of the flexible printed circuit board, a second connection terminal to be inserted to the second insertion hole from a side, and having a second movable contact that comes into pressure contact with a second joint juxtaposed at an upper surface of the tip portion of the flexible printed circuit board, and an operating lever turnably supported by a pair of elastic arms extending in parallel from both side surfaces of the base, and having a first operating portion and a second operating portion for operating the first connection terminal and the second connection terminal, respectively, alternately juxtaposed at an edge on one side.
US07871277B2
An electronic device with a retractable connector has a housing, an electronic assembly being mounted in the housing and a positioning assembly being mounted between the housing and the electronic assembly. The housing has at least one positioning detent being formed in an inner surface of the housing. The electronic assembly has a circuit board and a connector being mounted on the circuit board and through the connector hole of the housing. The positioning assembly is securely mounted on the circuit board and selectively engages in the positioning detent of the housing. Since positioning structures are formed on the housing and the circuit board, the volume of the electronic device is reduced. In addition, no additional holes are formed through the housing and an original design and an appearance of the housing are kept.
US07871271B2
A user system for detection and access of hyperlinks within a Braille document. A hyperlink table is generated and includes for each touched item on a page of the Braille document: identification of the touched item, a hyperlink associated with the touched item, and spatial coordinates of the touched item on the page of the Braille document. After the hyperlink table is generated, a proximity sensing foil placed under a Braille page senses the position of a user's fingertips and provides coordinates of the sensed position on the Braille page. A distance between the sensed position and spatial coordinates stored in the hyperlink table is determined to be less than a predetermined distance, resulting in alerting the user via a signal, identifying a hyperlink in the hyperlink table associated with the sensed position, retrieving information from a destination address associated with the identified hyperlink, and displaying the retrieved information.
US07871267B2
An orthodontic device includes a bracket having a body and the body includes external surfaces. An archwire passageway is formed in the body. An aperture extends from one of the external surfaces of the body to the passageway. A pawl is attached to the body and includes stop and cam surfaces which extend into the aperture. An extendable archwire includes an adjustment portion having a locking surface and a loop-spring therein and the adjustment portion is inserted into and through the passageway. The pawl and the locking surface form a ratchet. The cam surface of the pawl interengages the extendable archwire as the extendable archwire is extended through the bracket under the application of force to the extendable archwire. The stop surface of the pawl interengages the locking surface of the adjustment portion of the extendable archwire preventing retraction of the extendable archwire upon discontinuation of the application of force.
US07871266B2
An oven apparatus including wall members which constitute an oven wall defining internal and external regions of an oven and partition walls forming oven compartments within the oven by defining internal and external regions thereof, the wall members including an inner wall panel facing an internal side of the oven or oven compartment, an outer wall panel facing the external side of the oven or oven compartment, and thermal insulation installed between the inner and outer wall panels, wherein a sealable ventilation port is formed on the inner wall panel, a sealable suction port is formed on the outer wall panel, and a suction-generator is connected to the suction port for evacuating the atmosphere within the wall member.
US07871262B2
A method and a device for combusting gaseous fuel which contains hydrogen or consists of hydrogen, includes a burner which provides a swirl generator (1) into which liquid fuel is feedable centrally along a burner axis (A), forming a liquid fuel column which is conically formed and which is enveloped by, and mixed through with, a rotating combustion air flow which flows tangentially into the swirl generator (1). The gaseous fuel is fed inside the swirl generator (1) largely axially and/or coaxially to the burner axis (A), forming a fuel flow with a largely spatially defined flow pattern (9) which is maintained inside the burner and bursts open in the region of the burner outlet.
US07871256B2
A cable guide system and method are disclosed for a mold forming and extruding machine. The machine has a pair of spaced apart vertical members. The cable guide system includes a support shaft secured to the pair of vertical members. The support shaft retains a first stop member, a tensioning device, a spool loaded with a flexible reinforcement cable, and a second stop member. The spool cooperates with the tensioning device to prevent the cable from prematurely unraveling. The cable guide system further includes a guide member located below and forward of the spool and in horizontal alignment with a plunger. The guide member is capable of changing the direction of the flexible reinforcement cable as it is unwound from the spool. The plunger is capable of extruding a moldable substance from the machine while allowing the flexible reinforcement cable to pass through an aperture formed therein.
US07871251B2
A high-pressure pump for feeding fuel to an internal combustion engine has a pump housing; a fuel delivery duct; and a check valve, which is arranged along the delivery duct, and comprises a fuel chamber; a valve member mobile within the fuel chamber; and a biasing and guiding assembly, which has a fastening member suitable for being fastened to the pump housing and sealing the fuel chamber in a fluid-tight manner; a helical spring suitable for biasing the valve member; and a bushing arranged about the helical spring in order to prevent bending of the helical spring.
US07871249B2
Methods and systems for chemical management. In one embodiment, a blender is coupled to a processing system and configured to supply an appropriate solution or solutions to the system. Solutions provided by the blender are then reclaimed from the system and subsequently reintroduced for reuse. The blender may be operated to control the concentrations of various constituents in the solution prior to the solution being reintroduced to the system for reuse. Some chemicals introduced to the system may be temperature controlled. A back end vacuum pump subsystem separates gases from liquids as part of a waste management system.
US07871232B2
A line feed system of the invention comprises a framework having a first end and a second end. At least one conveyor is carried on the framework. The conveyor comprises a drive system and a cart configured to engage the drive system. In one embodiment, the cart has a base that engages the drive system and a carriage that is movable, e.g., extensible and retractable, with respect to the base. In another embodiment, the drive system is extensible and retractable. The cart can also include one or more lift devices that can be raised and lowered with respect to the carriage.
US07871229B2
A temporary, disposable bulkhead disposed within a refrigerated structure such as a refrigerated cargo trailer for separating frozen product from non-frozen product and maintaining the integrity of both types of product includes a pair of pivotally attached insulation members with each insulation member including a cavity containing a flexible, inflatable air bag and a measuring device for measuring the interior dimensions of the cargo trailer so that the bulkhead can be cut to fit the interior dimensions whereupon the air bags are inflated for sealing against the cargo trailers' sidewalls and a foam insulation strip extending along the upper side of both insulation members seals against the cargo trailer ceiling thereby creating two separate compartments within the cargo trailer that are airtight sealed from each other for maintaining the integrity and quality of the frozen and non-frozen product throughout the transport and shipping process.
US07871220B2
An energy absorbing system with one or more energy absorbing assemblies is provided to reduce or eliminate severity of a collision between a moving vehicle and a roadside hazard. The energy absorbing system may be installed adjacent various roadside hazards or may be installed on highway service equipment. One end of the system may face oncoming traffic. A collision by a motor vehicle with a sled assembly may result in shredding or rupturing of portions of an energy absorbing element to dissipate energy from the vehicle collision.
US07871210B2
An imaging device includes: an image pickup unit including an image pickup element and a control substrate mounted with the image pickup element; and a shutter unit including a blade for adjusting an amount of light reaching the image pickup element and a drive source for driving the blade. The shutter unit includes a terminal portion electrically connected to a coil of the drive source. The terminal portion extends outward from the shutter unit and is electrically connected to the control substrate. The terminal portion and the image pickup unit include alignment means for aligning these each other. The shutter unit is aligned with the image pickup unit via the terminal portion.
US07871201B2
In a tapered roller bearing, LWR/DW is in the range of 1.1 to 1.7 where LWR represents a roller effective length of tapered rollers and DW represents a roller mean diameter of tapered rollers. RCO/LRO is 30 to 150, and RCI/LRI is 50 to 260 where RCO represents a crowning radius of an outer ring, LRO represents a raceway length of the outer ring, RCI represents a crowning radius of an inner ring and LRI represents a raceway length of the inner ring. The following expressions are satisfied: 20°≦α≦30°, and α−0.87γ−0.334≦BK≦α−0.87γ−0.167, where α represents a raceway angle of the outer ring, γ represents a roller angle of the tapered rollers, and BK represents a rib angle of a large rib portion of the inner ring.
US07871197B2
Timepiece device for simultaneously resetting to zero two time counters, particularly for a chronograph mechanism, each of the two time counters pivoting about an arbour secured to a cam (6b, 8b), the simultaneous zero reset device (1) including a lever (4) with two hammers (6, 8), which are applied against the respective cams (6b, 8b) when the two time counters are reset to zero, at least one pin (10, 12) used to guide the lever (4) with two hammers (6, 8) being secured to said lever (4) and moving in a shaped aperture (24, 26) made in a bridge (28), characterized in that a ring (16a, 16b, 16c) is mounted to rotate freely about the pin (10, 12) and is inserted between said pin (10, 12) and the shaped aperture (24, 26) in which said pin moves.
US07871195B2
A mixing device configured to blend food. The mixing device includes a base enclosing a motor. A jar is removably mounted to the base for containing food. A collar is removably mounted between the base and the jar. A dispensing spout is removably mounted to the collar. Further, a splash guard is removably mounted to the base.
US07871193B2
A mixer having improved axial and radial mixing which retains good mixing time even during large viscosity changes, comprising a housing with at least one helical or anchor agitator located centrally in the housing in combination with at least one eccentrically arranged screw or blade agitator, preferably in mutual engagement, the combination of a helical agitator and a screw agitator enabling a much shorter mixing time as compared to a mixer having only a helical agitator without a screw agitator.
US07871186B2
A highway lighting apparatus includes a lighting fixture, and a vibration damper. The vibration damper includes a housing having a ball chamber, the chamber being of square shape. One or two vibration damping balls are mounted in the chamber for independent free rolling movement therein. If two balls are used, the ball diameter is shorter than one-half of each of the four chamber sides. If the damper is used on a pole having a side-mounted light fixture, the housing would include a downwardly open socket receiving the top end of the pole, with a center axis of the pole coinciding with respective center axes of the chamber and the socket. In the case where the damper is used on a pole having a top-mounted light fixture, the damper would be mounted below the light fixture on a side of the pole.
US07871178B1
An eye grabber flashing LED store display adaptable to a standard store display peg is a flashing LED device to be used in stores to draw attention to the products the display is intended for. It uses an LED or LEDs, an electronic circuit, and an energy source such as batteries or solar panels or both. The invention is housed or secured by paper, polymer, composite, metal or other material and may optionally double as a sign displaying any means of graphics. The invention is adaptable to many store display methods including the standard peg display for carded products. The LED is preferably positioned either directly on the housing or at the tip of the peg the products hang on where it can be easily seen by anyone within the perimeter.
US07871163B2
“Universal improvement” of vision is achieved by effectively changing the shape of the anterior refracting surface of the cornea to an ideal “turtleback” shape, on which is imposed the necessary curvature adjustment to achieve correction of distance vision. In accordance with one embodiment, the cornea is actually formed to the turtleback shape through corneal surgery, preferably laser ablation surgery. In accordance with a second embodiment, a contact lens with the desired distance corrected ideal turtleback shape on its anterior surface is positioned over the cornea.
US07871160B2
An inkjet printer includes an ink tank to store ink, an auxiliary tank having an ink chamber through which the ink circulates with the ink tank, a head having nozzles which communicate with the ink chamber and eject ink therethrough, a filter which is positioned inside the auxiliary tank and divides the ink chamber into a first ink chamber which communicates with the ink tank and a second ink chamber which communicates with the nozzles, a circulation pipe which connects the ink tank with the first ink chamber and forms a circulation flow route, and a pump which is positioned on the circulation flow route to apply a negative pressure to the auxiliary tank.
US07871156B2
An ink cartridge for an ink jet printer having a housing having at least one wall. The ink cartridge further has at least two ink chambers for containing different ink accommodated in the housing. Ink supply ports are formed in one wall of the housing within each of the ink chambers. Each of the ink supply ports has an inner opening and an outer opening. The distance from the inner opening of a first ink supply port to that of a second ink supply port adjacent to the first ink supply port is different from a second distance from the outer opening of the first ink supply opening to that of the second ink supply port.
US07871151B2
A liquid discharge head includes a discharge element including a discharge port, a liquid supply port, an electric connection terminal, and a heat transfer terminal. The discharge head also includes a supporting member including an electric connection terminal portion formed on a first surface thereof and electrically connected to the electric connection terminal, a heat transfer terminal junction portion formed on the first surface and connected to the heat transfer terminal, a plurality of through-holes extending between the first surface and a second surface of the supporting member, a partition wall portion separating the through-holes from each other, and a heat transfer path connected to the heat transfer terminal junction portion. An interval between the through-holes increases according to a direction from the first surface to the second surface. A volume of the heat transfer path increases according to the increase of the interval.
US07871133B2
In one aspect of the invention, a degradation assembly comprises an impact tip brazed to a carbide bolster. A stem protrudes from the bolster, being adapted to be retained within a bore connected to a driving mechanism. A locking fixture is disposed within the bore and locking the stem to a wall of the bore.
US07871127B2
A recliner mechanism for use with a vehicle seat having a floor striker engaging bottom and a pivotally associated seatback. A seatback is pivotally secured to a fixed support and includes an arcuate lower surface upon which are defined teeth. A pawl is pivotally secured to the support and includes an upper surface with additional inter-engaging teeth when the seatback is in an upright position. A release cam secures to the support proximate a recessed underside location of the pawl and maintains the pawl in locking engagement with the seatback sector in a first position. The release cam rotates to cause the pawl to pivot out of engagement with the seatback, allowing it to pivot to a dump position opposing the seat bottom and concurrent with the seat bottom releasing from the floor striker and tumbling to a forward rotated position. A floor latch release lever is also pivotally secured to the support and, upon being contacted by the release cam, in turn pivots so that an end feature displaces to prevent the locking pawl from pivoting in a reverse direction against the seatback. The release lever reverse pivots in response to the seat bottom reengaging the floor striker, causing the pawl to reverse pivot its teeth into reengagement with the seatback upon the latter rotating back to the upright position.
US07871122B2
A crash box consists of two U-profiles (18, 19) of sheet metal, the webs of which (21, 23 and 20, 22) overlap and are joined such that the crash box obtains a closed profile. The two joined sides (21, 23 and 20, 22) of the crash box have a number of transverse dents (26-33) with intermediate side areas (34-40) along their lengths. One web, or both webs, in one pair or in each pair of joined webs (21, 23 and 20, 22) has notches (50-54) in its edge in some of the dents (26-33) or in the intermediate areas (34-40), or both of these, as initiators of deformation.
US07871116B2
A vehicle seat assembly that elevates and rotates to enhance passenger seat access is disclosed. The vehicle seat assembly includes a seat and a plurality of links pivotally coupled to a lower surface of the seat at one end of each of the links and pivotally mounted with respect to a vehicle floor at the opposite end of each of the links. A motor may be used to drive at least one link to actuate the seat.
US07871113B2
The invention has an object to provide a door unit for a cold storage, enabling easy opening and closing operations of a door by engaging a latch with a latch receiver. The door unit includes a handle pivotally mounted on the side face of an outer door on its non-pivotal side at a predetermined height, and a latch receiver provided on the forward portion of a side surface of a main body at a height corresponding to the handle. The handle includes a grip to be grasped by fingers of a hand, and a latch detachably engageable with the latch receiver so that the latch engages a roller of the latch receiver in a state of the substantially vertical grip, and when the grip is pivotally moved in a direction away from the main body to a position where the grip intersects a horizontal plane at a predetermined angle, the pivotal movement of the handle is stopped and the latch disengages from the roller of the latch receiver.
US07871106B2
A vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle may include a plurality of attachment devices to couple the vehicle to a harness. The vehicle may include a moveable roll cage which is moveable from a raised position to a lowered position.
US07871105B2
In an air belt device which has the gas-supply portion, such as an inflator, fixed therein, a connection between an air belt and a gas supply portion is simplified. A lap anchor 13 coupled to an end of a lap bag 15 is pivotally supported by a support shaft 13p such that the lap anchor 13 can turn back and forth with respect to a seat frame 2. The inflator 12 is fixed to be disposed on a side face of the seat frame 2. A substantially tubular gas-introducing path 16 extends from the lap bag 15. The gas-introducing path 16 is connected to a pipe 17 extending from the inflator 12 in a slack state.
US07871099B2
A collapsible pushchair can be expanded into a deployed state for carrying a child and collapsed into a portable state for being carried as a piece of luggage. Transformation of the pushchair between its deployed and portable states is enabled by the use of rotationally mounted chair legs.
US07871096B2
A method and apparatus for providing a displaceable fifth-wheel hitch assembly configured to be mounted in a bed of a truck. The displaceable fifth-wheel hitch assembly includes a platform track, a displaceable platform, and an adjustment assembly. The platform track defines a track space therein and is configured to be mounted in the bed of the truck. The displaceable platform is configured to be positioned in the track space and includes a fifth-wheel hitch coupled thereto. The adjustment assembly includes a means for displacing the platform and a means for locking the platform in place with respect to the platform track and truck. The means for locking the platform includes a locking pin that is spring biased into holes in the platform track. The means for displacing the platform includes an adjustment rod and bracket to displace the locking pin from its locking position.
US07871094B2
A modular wheelchair assembly is adapted to be reconfigured between a fixed angle of tilt, a dynamically adjustable tilt-in-space configuration with the tilt axis being near the user's knees and a dynamically adjustable tilt-in-space configuration with the tilt axis being near the user's center of gravity. The reconfiguration is achieved by modifying a limited number of selectively removable components of the support assembly or the pivot assembly of the wheelchair.
US07871092B2
A motor vehicle axle system including two longitudinal arms made of molded material and a torsionally flexible cross bracing made of high strength material different from the material of the arms, each arm including a lug for assembling by structural bonding the cross bracing to the arms. Each lug has an assembling edge configured to be assembled to one end of the cross bracing by generating self-binding with a surface of the cross bracing, an adhesive layer being applied between the assembling edge and the surface of the cross bracing, and the assembling edge of each lug has a variable thickness along its periphery and in the direction of the lug axis, the thickness being selected so as to minimize stresses exerted on the adhesive in the assembling zone. A method assembles the motor vehicle axle system.
US07871090B2
A powder spraycoating cart comprising two lateral posts fitted at their upper ends with a grip system and connected to each other by a control implement bin, said posts being connected at their lower ends by a base designed to support any one of several different powder containers.
US07871088B2
Cargo cart 10 can be used independently or attached to a conventional walker 101. Cooperative attach means 40 connect cart 10 in front of walker 101 through roll leader 44, which propels and steers cart 10 in response to user's control of walker 101. In attached mode, rear wheels 34 of cart 10 are suspended above travel surface to allow cart 10 to be steered easily and predictably by roll leader 44. Cart 10 is attached and detached with one hand without tools. Handle 50 and optional cargo basket 29 fold flat for storage. Slots in peripheral rails 24 retain cargo that is wider than cargo support 28.
US07871086B2
The present invention refers to a skate with in-line rollers or ice-skating blades, comprising: a boot provided with a sole comprising a heel portion, a central portion and a toe portion; a chassis acting as a support for said sole to rest thereupon, and including a first carriage and a second carriage that are capable of moving relative to each other and adapted to support at least a front roller or blade and at least a rear roller or blade respectively; the first carriage comprises a first plate for said heel portion to rest thereupon, from which there extends towards the front portion of the skate a first arm that is adapted to support at least said front roller or blade, and the second carriage comprises a second plate for the toe portion to rest thereupon, from which there extends towards the rear portion of the skate a second arm that is adapted to support at least said rear roller or blade; the first and second carriages overlap each other approximately at the central portion of the sole.
US07871083B2
A stabilizer system, for use in a vehicle, exhibiting an appropriate rolling-restraining effect to restrain rolling of a body of the vehicle. An electronic control unit includes a control-start-timing reference-relative-rotation-position determining portion that determines a reference relative-rotation position of two stabilizer bars from which a relative-rotation amount of the two stabilizer bars is counted when a rolling-restraining control is performed. In the stabilizer system, when a lateral acceleration exceeds a reference value, the rolling-restraining control is started; and a relative-rotation position of the two stabilizer bars when the lateral acceleration exceeds the reference value is determined as the reference relative-rotation position of the two stabilizer bars. Thus, an appropriate reference relative-rotation position of the two stabilizer bars can be easily determined and accordingly an appropriate rolling-restraining effect of the two stabilizer bars can be exhibited.
US07871080B2
Several preferred embodiments are disclosed for a tool-less blade clamping apparatus for a reciprocating tool of the type which has a reciprocating plunger which has a tool attachment receiving slot for receiving a tool attachment of the type that has a shank portion. The clamping apparatus has an unclamped position and a clamped position. In the unclamped position, a tool attachment can be easily inserted and when it is in its clamped position, the tool attachment is securely retained. The preferred embodiments have at least one spring biasing the apparatus toward the clamped position, a releasable retaining mechanism for holding the apparatus in its unclamped position after being placed in that position. When the blade shank portion is inserted into the slot a predetermined distance, the shoulders of the shank portion release the retaining mechanism to move it to its clamped position. When a blade is to be removed, the clamping apparatus needs only to be moved to its unclamped position by manually rotating the outer sleeve or collar, and the blade is normally ejected from the mechanism by contact with the blade shoulders as it reaches its unclamped position.
US07871074B2
The paper carrying apparatus includes a first paper carrying mechanism (first carrying mechanism), a second paper carrying mechanism (second carrying mechanism) provided on the downstream of the first carrying mechanism in a carrying direction, an electric motor that drives the first carrying mechanism, a stepping motor that drives the second carrying mechanism, and an acceleration sensor that is a vibration detecting mechanism detecting vibration generated in the rotation shaft of the stepping motor. When the first carrying mechanism and the second carrying mechanism concurrently carry the same paper sheet, the electric motor is controlled in driving velocity based on information of vibration detected by the acceleration sensor at the timing of the rear end of the carried paper sheet passing the first paper carrying mechanism.
US07871068B2
A medium conveying apparatus for conveying a recording medium includes an apparatus body and a conveying control unit. A paper feeding unit is detachable mounted to the apparatus body and includes a record medium enclosing section and a paper feeding section. First and second conveying sections are downstream from the paper feeding section. A third conveying section is between the paper feeding section and the first conveying section. The conveying control unit controls the third conveying section to convey the record medium before the front edge of the record medium arrives at the first conveying section, controls the first and the third conveying sections to convey the record medium before the front edge of the record medium arrives at the second conveying section and stops the third conveying section from operating after the front edge of the record medium arrives at the second conveying section.
US07871066B2
A sheet post-processing unit which includes a sheet stacking portion, a sheet conveying portion, an intersectional moving device, a vertical moving device, an intersectional regulating member, and a controller. The sheet stacking portion stacks sequentially discharged sheets. The sheet conveying portion conveys each sheet stacked on the sheet stacking portion. The intersectional moving device moves the sheet conveying portion in a direction intersecting with a sheet discharging direction. The vertical moving device moves up and down the sheet conveying portion in a vertical direction. The intersectional regulating member aligns each sheet by contacting an edge of each sheet. The controller controls the intersectional moving device and the vertical moving device to move the sheeting conveying portion, and to press-contact the sheet conveying portion to an upper surface of a sheet and separate it from the sheet.
US07871065B2
A sheet folding device has a releasable clutch between a roll driving device and a pair of folding rolls for folding a sheet bunch so that when a folding blade inserts the sheet bunch to a nip position on the pair of folding rolls, the first and second folding rolls rotate following the inserted sheets. The sheet folding device includes a guide for holding the sheet bunch at a predetermined fold position. The first and second folding rolls arranged at the fold position are in pressure contact with each other. The folding blade inserts the sheet bunch supported on the guide to the nip position on the first and second folding rolls. The roll driving device rotationally drives the first and second folding rolls. The first and second folding rolls and the roll driving device are coupled together via the releasable clutch.
US07871063B2
A two phase reactor includes a source of liquid reactant and a source of gas reactant. A chamber has an inlet coupled to the source of gas reactant and a flat jet nozzle coupled to the source of the liquid reactant.
US07871062B1
Air humidification system using microwave energy to heat water to produce steam. The system may include an automatic controller.
US07871058B2
A hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material dispensing valve assembly comprises a pair of oppositely disposed electromagnetic solenoid assemblies which alternatively act upon a pair of armatures which are fixedly mounted upon a valve stem, upon which is fixedly mounted a valve member, so as to rapidly and assuredly control the reciprocal movements of the valve stem, and the valve member attached thereto, between its unseated or OPENED position and its seated or CLOSED position. A coil spring also biases the valve stem and the valve member toward the seated or CLOSED position such that when both of the electromagnetic solenoid assemblies are de-energized, the coil spring maintains the valve member at its seated or CLOSED position upon the valve seat.
US07871045B2
A method and system for bracing pipe, conduit and ductwork, which includes a mounting plate attachable to an underside of a structural flooring member, an elongated support member attachable to an underside of the mounting plate, and at least one elongated channel member. The at least one elongated channel member attaches to a side of the elongated support member, wherein the at least one elongated channel member is adapted to receive a fastener for attaching at least one conduit member to the elongated channel member.
US07871044B2
Takeoff and landing modes are added to a flight control system of a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV). The takeoff and landing modes use data available to the flight control system and the VTOL UAV's existing control surfaces and throttle control. As a result, the VTOL UAV can takeoff from and land on inclined surfaces without the use of landing gear mechanisms designed to level the UAV on the inclined surfaces.
US07871035B2
A propulsion system for an airship or hybrid aircraft includes a propeller and a pivot mechanism connected to the propeller. The pivot mechanism enables the propeller to pivot around a first pivot axis between a maneuver thruster position and an emergency ballonet fill position. Under normal conditions, when the propulsion system is disposed in the maneuver thruster position, the pivot mechanism also enables the propeller to pivot around a second pivot axis to control the attitude and thrust of the vehicle. However, in an emergency descent situation, the propeller may be rotated to the emergency ballonet fill position.
US07871034B2
A rotorcraft is equipped with a rotor hub of large diameter in order to accommodate high loads from a hingeless rotor. In preferred embodiments, a rotorcraft has a rotor disposed on a mast with blades attached to a hub by means of a feather bearing that receives a shank of a blade. The hub is attached to non-rotating structure such as a tilting nacelle by means of a hub bearing. This facilitates the transfer of moments generated on the rotor to the airframe. The hub and feather bearings can be sized and arranged such that a feather bearing on a hub is disposed within an imaginary cylinder centered at a rotational axis of the hub and having a diameter no greater 1.2 times an inner diameter of the hub bearing. This can result in a large diameter hub and hub bearing capable of withstanding very large bending moments.
US07871023B2
A flow regulator, jet regulator or backflow preventer (11) having at least two components or parts (2, 11), a first one (2) of which can be inserted into a receiving opening (12) of the second part (12). The two parts (2, 11) can be interconnected using a locking arrangement (13, 17). One part is provided with at least one locking cam while the other part (11) is provided with a locking groove which is assigned to the locking cam and is used as a counterpart. One of the parts is provided with a slot (15) or similar recess located at a distance (a) from the outer or inner circumference of the part (2) in the area of the at least one locking groove. The wall section (16) of the part which supports the locking groove or locking cam located on the inner or outer side can be resiliently deflected into and out of the slot in a locking manner due to the resiliency thereof so that a reduced amount of pressure is required to lock the parts (2, 11) together while allowing for comparatively greater tolerances for the snap-in connection. One component can be made of a transparent or semi-transparent material as a filtering sieve or attached sieve (2) while the second is embodied as a jet regulator, flow regulator and/or backflow preventer.
US07871022B1
A positionable mister assembly comprises at least one nozzle structured to disperse an amount of fluid delivered from a fluid supply in the form of a mist. The positionable mister assembly includes a primary positioning portion comprising a conduit member and being structured to interconnect to a fluid supply. A secondary positioning portion is disposed in a fluid communicating relation with the primary positioning portion wherein the secondary positioning portion includes a mister supply member to which the at least one nozzle is mounted. The positionable mister assembly also includes a support portion structured to support at least the primary positioning portion in a plurality of operative orientations. In at least one embodiment the primary positioning portion, secondary positioning portion, and support portion of the positionable mister assembly are structured to be selectively interconnected to one another, allowing for a variety of configurations of the positionable mister assembly.
US07871021B2
The invention relates to a fuel injection valve for internal combustion engines, comprising a valve body (1), with a drilling (3) embodied therein and defined at the combustion chamber end thereof by a conical valve seat (18) from which at least one injection opening (20) leads. A hollow valve needle (8) is arranged in the drilling (3) such as to be displaced longitudinally, comprising a valve sealing surface (35) at the end thereof facing the valve seat (18). A first sealing region (31; 34) and a second sealing region (32; 46; 48) are embodied on the valve sealing surface (35), whereby, on contact of the hollow valve needle (8) on the valve seat (18), the first sealing region (31; 34) provides a seal upstream of the at least one injection opening (20) and the second sealing region (32; 46; 48) downstream thereof.
US07871013B2
A transaction product includes a support member, an electrical circuit, a button and an account identifier. The support member at least partially depicts a measurement device. The electrical circuit is coupled to the support member, and the button is in communication with the electrical circuit such that user interaction with the button activates the electrical circuit causing the electrical circuit to automatically indicate a reading of the measurement device. The account identifier links the transaction product to an account or record and is machine readable. Other cards, products, assemblies and methods of using such cards, products and assemblies are also disclosed.
US07871010B2
The described embodiments relate generally to devices, methods and systems for managing access to a memory card, such as a smart card, by a plurality of accessing devices. Certain embodiments relate to a smart card reader (SCR) for managing concurrent access to a smart card by a plurality of accessing devices, the SCR comprising: a processor; a channel manager responsive to the processor for interfacing with the smart card; a communication interface responsive to the channel manager for communicating with the plurality of accessing devices; and wherein, when a session is open on a first channel between a first accessing device and the smart card and the channel manager is configured to issue an open channel command to the smart card to cause the smart card to open a second channel between the smart card and the second accessing device in response to the session request.
US07870999B2
An Internet-based shipping, tracking, and delivery network including a data collection and processing center operably connected to the infrastructure of the Internet, and including a RDBMS for storing and managing shipping information, and a plurality of pickup/delivery vehicles. Each pickup/delivery vehicle is equipped with a mobile digital image capture and processing (MICAP) system for (i) capturing and processing digital images of shipping documents, bearing embedded bar codes, at the point of pickup, (ii) automatically decoding embedded bar codes in said shipping documents, and performing optical character recognition (OCR) on text presented therein, (iii) formatting captured digital images of the shipping labels with such decoded/recognized information, and (iv) transmitting the formatted digital images to said data collection and processing center, for automatic recognition processing and population of the RDBMS maintained by said network.
US07870995B1
A foldable packaging which may include a liquid-resistant paperboard form that is foldable to provide an attractive stackable container that resists water leakage, can be assembled without fastening hardware and has concealed gussets. The packaging can be folded into overlapping flaps and wings which are folded and interlocked to define a generally trapezoidal packaging which can receive a variety of different pot sizes and types. The die cut pattern forming the packaging can be of a universal shape but formed in a variety of different sizes to accommodate different sized potted plants.
US07870989B2
A surgical apparatus has a clamp and a stapling mechanism. The clamp has a first jaw and a second jaw to clamp on a body tissue at a desired location for a stapling operation. The stapling mechanism is controlled by a trigger handle or a switch assembly. The surgical apparatus has a controller for providing a delay between clamping and actuating of the firing mechanism of the stapling mechanism. The delay provides for a desired amount of time for tissue compression producing a more uniform staple formation. The surgical apparatus also has an indicator. The indicator provides feedback about the status of the stapling mechanism and also displays a time of tissue compression by the clamp.
US07870975B2
A water-dispensing appliance is provided, in particular for dispensing drinking water, comprising a water inlet which can be connected to a water-supply device, also comprising a dispensing device with a water outlet, via which water can be dispensed from the appliance, the dispensing device being connected to the water inlet via a main line which has a downstream portion and an upstream portion, and also comprising a water heater. The water-dispensing appliance has a return line, of which the start is line-connected to the downstream portion of the main line and the end is connected to the upstream portion of the main line, and the appliance also has a delivery unit in order for water heated up by means of the water heater to be delivered through the main line from the upstream portion to the downstream portion.
US07870974B2
An ice bucket is provided that includes an ice chamber, a dispensing tube, a base, and a sliding dispenser. The ice chamber has a chamber opening in a bottom wall. The dispensing tube is fixed to the bottom wall in communication with the chamber opening. The base has a base opening and a stabilizing bar. The sliding dispenser has a front lip, a depressed tray section, and a slider opening. The sliding dispenser is positioned through the base opening on the stabilizing bar so that an appendage of the dispensing tube is received in the depressed tray section. The sliding dispenser is movable between a retracted position and an extended position. The slider opening, in the retracted position, is blocked by the stabilizing portion. However, the slider opening, in the extended position, is unblocked by the stabilizing portion.
US07870961B2
A product delivery system is device and method able to keep bag of product seal and delivering a bag product in easy and fast way. By tied up (using a fast locking strap) adjustable frame with seal cover to opened bag. Hang the bag on hook up side down (using a clip). By opening a little the caver (lid or zipper), product will drop down.
US07870957B2
A package (10) includes a plurality of articles (B) that are disposed on their sides in a matrix arrangement that includes a plurality of rows (R1, R2, R3) and columns (C1, C2, C3, C4). A lower row (R1) of articles (B) defines a dispensing position (P1) for each column (C1, C2, C3, C4) and upper rows (R2, R3) of articles (B) define descending positions (P2, P3) for each column (C1, C2, C3, C4). A carton (500) encloses the articles (B) and includes a detachable portion (1115, 1315) that can be detached along a severance line (1110, 1310) to expose the articles in the dispensing positions (P1). Inserts (400, 800, 1000) are provided to facilitate dispensing the articles, to control the rate of descent of articles moving from the descending positions (P2, P3) toward the dispensing positions (P1), and/or to provide insulation between the articles as they move toward the dispensing positions (P1).
US07870956B1
A tool storage assembly has a storing mount and a protecting cover. The storing mount has a body. The body has multiple mounting recesses, a pivotal groove and a locking protrusion. The mounting recesses are formed in two outer sides of the storing mount at intervals. The pivotal groove is formed through one end of the body. The locking protrusion is formed on and protrudes from other end of the body. The protecting cover is pivotally connected to the storing mount and has a casing. The casing is pivotally connected to and mounted around the body of the storing mount and has two holding panels and a retaining board. The holding panels are respectively formed on and protrude downward from two sidewalls of the casing to mount around the mounting recesses. The retaining board is formed on and protrudes downward from the casing to mount around the body.
US07870952B2
The packaging for extemporaneous products, particularly medicinal, pharmaceutical, cosmetic products or the like, comprises a container of a first substance featuring a mouth, a receptacle of a second substance housed in said mouth, the inner volume of the receptacle being temporarily separated from the inner volume of the container and adapted to be placed in communication with this for mixing the first and second substance to form the product, and an isolating interspace defined along at least one portion of the surface delimiting the receptacle.
US07870945B2
A method for sorting objects using a continuous loop conveyor sorting system having two or more feeders. In one embodiment, the method includes sorting a batch of objects to form a first group of objects and a second group of objects, using a first feeder to feed all of the objects from the first group onto the conveyor, using a second feeder to feed all of the objects from the second group onto the conveyor, removing the objects from the first group from the conveyor prior to the any of the objects reaching the point at which the second feeder feeds objects onto the conveyor, and removing the objects from the second group from the conveyor prior to the any of the objects reaching the point at which the first feeder feeds objects onto the conveyor.
US07870944B2
Embodiments include a method or a device for a cartoning machine for transferring a leaflet from a first transportation device to a leaflet holder in a second transportation device. Embodiments include a transferring device which is arranged to straighten up and position the leaflets in such a way that the leaflet holders can take hold of the leaflets. The transferring device has a base surface with one or more carriers placed in a line at right angels to the direction of transportation, so that the leaflet, as a result of being able to slide against the base surface, is pressed back against the carriers as a result of air resistance friction against an adjacent cover plate and/or centripetal forces. The base surface of the transferring device is preferably provided with several lines of carriers which are adjusted to match the distance between the leaflet holders on the second transportation device.
US07870937B1
This is a combination computer work station, cosmetic desk, casual/open tote and luggage set device. The device is easily transported and the area to push or pull luggage may be expanded to stow various pieces of luggage. Luggage may be partially filled yet secured by the divider device.
US07870932B2
A work machine and work machine access ladder assembly are provided. The work machine includes a work machine body having an operator platform. A hinge mechanism is coupled to the work machine body and defines a hinge axis oriented diagonally with respect to a vertical line. The ladder may be rotated about the hinge axis between a use and a stowed position.
US07870929B2
An engine assembly, an acoustical liner and an associated fabrication method are provided to address fan blade flutter and fan noise control simultaneously within the same liner area. Fan blade flutter is therefore controlled without necessarily increasing the weight of the engine, impairing the structural integrity of the engine, or increasing the noise generated by the engine. The acoustical liner may have additional acoustical degrees of freedom which permit these seemingly competing concerns to be addressed in a complementary manner. The acoustical liner may include inner and outer barrels with the inner barrel having a perforated face sheet, a perforated back skin and a core disposed between the perforated face sheet and the back skin. The fluid communication between the core and the space between the inner and outer barrels provides additional acoustical degrees of freedom which may be utilized to reduce fan blade flutter while concurrently limiting fan blade noise.
US07870928B1
A bass reflex type speaker is disclosed. The bass reflex type speaker includes an enclosure, two speakers, and a bass reflex tube. The enclosure includes a main portion and two protruding portions protruding from the main portion. The main portion defines a sound cavity therein. The protruding portion defines a sound path therein communicating with the sound cavity. The two speakers are connected to the corresponding protruding portion to close the sound path. One end of the bass reflex tube is fixed in the enclosure, and the other end of the bass reflex tube extends out of the enclosure.
US07870927B2
To realizes an easy maintenance of the load sensor.A passenger's weight measurement device 1 comprises a left and right pair of fixed lower rails 3 which are fixed on the vehicle floor, a left and right pair of movable upper rails 4 which are disposed to move in a front-and-rear direction on the fixed lower rail 3, load sensors 50 and 60 which are fixed to an upper surface of the right movable upper rail 4, load sensors 70 and 80 which are disposed on the movable upper rail 4 to be movable in a left-and-right direction with respect to the right movable upper rail 4, a sub frame 110 which is mounted on the load sensors 50, 60, 70, and 80, side frames 141 and 142 which are welded to the sub frame 110, and a pan frame 143 which is detachably disposed to the side frames 141 and 142 to cover the front of the side frames 141 and 142. A gouged section 151 is formed on the side frame 141.
US07870916B2
A power management system is disclosed. Embodiments of the power management system may be configured for use with an electric generator that produces AC or DC voltage from an energy source, which may be intermittent or fluctuating. One embodiment of the power management system includes an energy storage reservoir configured to be electrically coupled to the electric generator. The energy storage reservoir includes at least one ultracapacitor and at least one rechargeable battery. The power management system also includes an electronic controller configured to control storage in the reservoir of energy generated by the electric generator and to control power usage from the reservoir and the generator. The electronic controller is configured to control energy storage and power usage in response to one or more control signals.
US07870907B2
Sliding sleeve mechanisms including protective sheaths for debris protection are disclosed. Protective sheaths can be formed from materials such as composites, metal, foil, rubber, plastic, glass, ceramic, wire mesh, tape, etc. The protective sheaths can be substantially cylindrical shells (having one or more pieces), plugs in the flow ports, and/or tape or wire wrappings. The protective sheaths can be retained by recesses in the sliding sleeve or mechanical fasteners such as screws, pins, rivets, snap rings, bands, and buckles. The protective sheath can be outside or inside the sliding sleeve. The protective sheath can protect the sliding sleeve from debris by retaining grease that has been packed into the sliding sleeve for that purpose or positively preventing entry of debris into the sliding sleeve. The protective sheath can be cleared by permitting fluid flow through the sliding sleeve, which can act to destroy and/or wash away the protective sheath.
US07870903B2
A sealant composition comprising an inverse emulsion polymer and methods of servicing a wellbore using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of servicing a wellbore that penetrates a subterranean formation is disclosed. The method comprises placing a sealant composition comprising an inverse emulsion polymer into the wellbore to reduce a loss of fluid to the subterranean formation during placement of the fluid in the wellbore.
US07870897B2
A cleaning tool for cleaning a liner top in a well bore. The tool includes cleaning elements, typically scrapers, which are arranged eccentrically to an axial bore through the tool. The elements are biased outwardly to contact an inner surface of a polished bore receptacle (PBR) at a position with a curvature to match the PBR and to present leading edges of each element when positioned at a surface of a neighbouring casing. The tool may further provide a top dress mill and act as a packer actuator sub. This provides a tool which performs a number of functions on a single trip in a well bore.
US07870894B2
Disclosed herein relates to a single piece tubular member. The tubular member having a non-radially displaceable portion and a radially displaceable portion, the radially displaceable portion being movable to a position of similar radial displacement as that of the non-radially displaceable portion and a position of relatively large radial displacement in comparison to the non-radially displaceable portion. The tubular member also having at least one cutting arrangement disposed at the radially displaceable portion.
US07870892B2
The present invention provides a system for controlling the climate of a hybrid vehicle. The system includes a thermoelectric module, a heat exchanger, a pump, and a valve. The thermoelectric module includes thermoelectric elements powered by electric energy. The thermoelectric elements emit or absorb heat energy based on the polarity of the electrical energy provided. A tube containing coolant runs proximate the thermoelectric elements. To aid in the transfer of heat energy, a blower is provided to generate an air flow across the thermoelectric elements and the tube. The coolant is provided from the thermoelectric module to a heat exchanger that heats or cools the air flow provided to the cabin of the vehicle. The pump and valve are in fluid communication with the heat exchanger and thermoelectric module. The pump pressurizes the coolant flow through the tube and coolant lines. In a cooling mode, the valve is configured to selectively bypass the engine coolant system of the vehicle.
US07870883B2
A tire cage is disclosed for containing the debris from a tire explosion. The cage includes a lightweight energy absorbing material for protecting structural members of the cage from tire explosion damage so that the cage is reusable. The energy absorbing material may be a metallic foam or other open celled structured material that is able to absorb large amounts of kinetic energy by permanently deforming. The cage is particularly effective in containing explosions of large equipment tires 6 to 12 feet in diameter and having a stored kinetic energy in a range of approximately 900 kilojoules to 1500 kilojoules.
US07870881B2
A method for reducing tire microsliding includes defining a rotation point and rotating a cross section profile about it. A cross section of a radially-external reference profile of a tread band includes a first rectilinear segment near at least one circumferential rib of a first shoulder portion. The first rectilinear segment extends axially outward beyond a corresponding shoulder edge point. A cross section profile of the at least one circumferential rib of the first shoulder portion includes a second rectilinear segment. The rotation point is on the first rectilinear segment, either the corresponding shoulder edge point itself or axially outward of it. The cross section profile of the first rectilinear segment is rotated to define the cross section profile of the second rectilinear segment, so that an axially-inner end of the second rectilinear segment is closer to the carcass structure than an axially-inner end of the first rectilinear segment.
US07870877B2
The present invention relates to a pipe, especially an oil pipe, having a lining comprising a fluoropolymer adhered to its interior surface and a lining formed on its exterior surface. The interior and/or exterior lining may comprise a primer layer comprising a fluoropolymer, and preferably a perfluoropolymer and an overcoat or a preformed film adhered to the primer layer. Either the overcoat or the preformed liner also comprises a fluoropolymer, and preferably a perfluoropolymer. The surface of the lining facing the flowable media, such as oil, may be a pure perfluoropolymer to provide a particularly good non-stick surface for the oil.
US07870876B2
A hose having both excellent flexibility and shape retainability and advantageous in construction efficiency and cost efficiency. The hose comprises hard synthetic resin reinforcement material (2) spirally fed and having, on both sides of the top part (2D) thereof in the tube axial direction, receiving surfaces (2a) and (2b) positioned on the radial inner side toward the end part thereof and a soft synthetic resin hose body for covering the spirally fed reinforcement materials (2). The reinforcement materials (2) are spirally fed in the state of the top parts being positioned on the radial outer side thereof, a soft synthetic resin tape material (3) is fed to the fed reinforcement (2), and while covering parts (3A) projected in a generally arc shape to the center of the reinforcement materials (2) by melting the tape material or with an adhesive agent.
US07870858B2
A ventilator includes a sensor to monitor a characteristic associated with the delivery of gas to the patient, such as pressure. A sensor power supply (100, 130) is feeding a sensor in the form of a Wheatstone bridge. A first end (104) of the bridge is coupled to a first positive voltage source (112, 142) and a second end (116) is coupled to a second positive voltage source (118, 156, 180). A capacitor (120) is coupled to the second end of the bridge. A controller (50) controls the first and the second positive voltage sources so as to (a) disable the sensor by causing the first positive voltage source to provide substantially zero voltage to the first end of the Wheatstone bridge and by causing the second positive voltage source to provide a positive voltage to the second end of the capacitor, and to (b) enable the sensor by causing the first positive voltage source to provide a positive voltage to the first end of the Wheatstone bridge and by causing the second positive voltage source to provide a decreasing voltage to the second end of the capacitor.
US07870857B2
According to one aspect of the present invention, a ventilator system includes (a) a ventilator device having an inhalation port and exhalation port; (b) a patient conduit for delivering to and removing gas from the patient; (c) an exhalation conduit fluidly connected to the exhalation port and the patient conduit; (d) an inhalation conduit fluidly connected to the inhalation port and the patient conduit; and (e) a device for generating aerosolized medication, the device being fluidly connected to the inhalation conduit so that the aerosolized medication is delivered to the patient as the patient inhales. According to the present invention, at least the inhalation conduit has a variable length to position the device for generating aerosolized medication a predetermined distance from the patient conduit.
US07870851B2
A theatrical device for optically exciting and delivering objects coated with luminescent material has an enclosure with an inner reflective surface with a hollow transparent excitation passageway extending therethrough. A light source illuminates the objects in the passageway for exciting the luminescent material so that the objects glow brightly. A blower moves the objects through the passageway to an outlet where the glowing objects are projected into an audience for dramatic effect.
US07870843B2
An engine control system includes a scavenging module that generates a scavenging signal when both a driver torque request is greater than a predetermined torque threshold and a rotational speed of an engine crankshaft is less than a predetermined speed threshold. A cam phaser control module controls intake and exhaust cam phasers based on the scavenging signal such that opening times of intake and exhaust valves of a respective cylinder overlap.
US07870835B2
The present invention relates to animal waste scooper device and system. The scooper includes a base having a blade having a front edge, a back edge, a first side, a second side, a plurality of openings. The base also includes an elongated member having a top portion and a bottom portion, wherein the base is attached to or at the bottom portion of the elongated member; and the bottom portion is angled such that the blade axis has an angle in a range of between about 100 degrees and 140 degrees in relation to the top portion; and a hook mounted to the elongated member above the angle. The system further includes a pail having a handle; and a litter box having a bottom surface and four sides extending from the bottom surface, the four sides having a height between about 8 inches and about 12 inches.
US07870828B2
A device for producing thread-stitched book blocks from a stack of signatures are arranged flat one on top of the other and are stitched together by stitched seams formed at right angles to the folds by a binding thread passed repeatedly in double strands through the folds of the signatures. The device has a first stitching needle that inserts the binding thread and a second stitching needle that draws the binding thread through the fold from the inside. A punch needle, which passes through the fold from the inside edge to form a punched hole, is arranged opposite the first and second stitching needles, each of which forms a stitched seam. The section of the needle that is used to pierce a fold has a polygonal cross-sectional shape.
US07870825B2
For use in a system having a master device and slave devices (e.g., an electronic blasting system) and utilizing an automatic detection process that causes any slave devices that have not previously been identified to the master device to identify themselves to the master device, an enhancement to the detection process employs at least a second discriminator to detect superimposed responses from simultaneously responding slave devices, and a “deconvolution” algorithm in order to ascertain their identities.
US07870812B2
A fruit cutter includes a fixed seat, and a cutting device movable relative to the fixed seat. The cutting device includes a movable seat and a blade unit. The blade unit includes a plurality of cutting blades. The cutting blades have an intersection provided with a sharp tapered drilling portion. Each of the cutting blades has a mediate portion provided with a concave guide edge. Thus, the drilling portion of the cutting blades is inserted into the central portion of the fruit to pierce the fruit, while the cutting blades of the blade unit extend from the central portion toward the rim of the fruit to cut and separate the fruit by guidance of the guide edge of each of the cutting blades, so that the fruit is cut into multiple parts easily and quickly.
US07870804B2
A transmission is provided having an input member, an output member, a dual clutch assembly, a plurality of countershafts, a plurality of co-planar gear sets, a plurality of interconnecting members, and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. The torque transmitting devices include synchronizer assemblies.
US07870796B2
A detection element detects at least compression load. A first member has a surface provided with the detection element. A preload adjusting member is substantially in a column shape and has a tip end configured to apply pressure to the detection element. The first member and the second member are connected with each other and configured to transmit load to the detection element. The second member has a fitted portion, which has an inner circumferential periphery being press-fitted with the preload adjusting member. The second member causes elastic deformation in response to adjustment of press-fitting of the preload adjusting member and causes change in preload applied to the detection element.
US07870791B2
A pressure sensor includes a sensor which is arranged to couple to a process pressure. A quartz crystal is coupled to the sensor and is configured to measure pressure of fluid in the sensor body. An output from the quartz crystal is related to pressure applied to the sensor body by the process pressure.
US07870789B2
A seismic sensor includes a frame, a pendulum pivotably mounted to the frame, a mechanism for sensing angular position of the pendulum, and a monolithic flat spring oriented between the frame and the pendulum for balancing the pendulum at an equilibrium position. The monolithic flat spring includes: (i) an operating region for providing a restoring force to the pendulum proportional to an angular displacement of the pendulum; and (ii) a suspension region for transmitting a force to a portion of the operating region and applying a negligible bending moment to the portion of the operating region.
US07870776B1
A weighing scale that is calibratable without a calibration weight that is separate and distinct from the scale. The scale has a weighing mode and a self-calibration mode and includes a base that supports a load cell, which in turn supports a mass receiver. Electronic circuitry within the scale is configured so that, during the calibration mode, the sprung weight of the base when the scale is inverted and supported by the mass receiver can be used to calibrate the scale. This avoids the need to maintain a calibration weight external to the scale. A process of calibrating the scale includes inverting the scale during the self-calibration process and allowing the circuitry to acquire a calibration parameter that is based on the inverted sprung weight.
US07870767B2
A lockout device is provided for an instrument having a body and an actuating member extending from the body for operating the instrument. The lockout device includes a bottom member, a cover member, and a flexible member. The bottom member and cover member are adapted to receive a cinching portion of the flexible member between first and second cinching features. One of the first and second cinching features includes at least one pin, and the other of the first and second cinching features includes at least one corresponding recess configured to receive the at least one pin. When the flexible member is wrapped around a portion of the body and received between the first and second cinching features and the cover member is in a closed position, the first and second cinching features prevent movement of a cinching portion of the flexible member.
US07870766B2
A security storage container has a primary security feature that is adapted to be locked and unlocked with an appropriate key. A secondary security feature is activated when the security storage container is opened without first unlocking the lock with the key. In one embodiment, the secondary security feature includes prongs that are moved to an extended position when the primary security feature of the container is defeated. In the extended position, the prongs will at least damage the item of merchandise protected by the security storage container. The extended position of the prongs may also further lock the item of merchandise within the security storage container.
US07870760B2
The knitting element has a rotor capable of rotating about an axis and makes a stitch by using rotational motion of the rotor. The knitting element has a rotor having a rotating shaft which protrudes in the direction of the axis and a bearing which slidably supports the circumferential face of the rotating shaft. An engagement recess capable of engaging knitting yarn is formed in the circumferential face of the rotor.
US07870751B2
A temperature control system and a substrate processing apparatus are provided. The temperature control system for controlling temperatures of one or more members of a substrate processing apparatus includes a circulation system for circulating a first coolant to pass through the inside of each of the members, a heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between the first coolant of the circulation system and a second coolant, and a chiller for supplying the second coolant to the heat exchanger, wherein the circulation system includes a branch line for each of the members passing through the inside thereof, the branch line for each of the members is provided with a heating member for heating the first coolant supplied thereto, and the heat exchanger is installed in a room where the substrate processing apparatus is installed.
US07870746B2
Systems and methods for releasing and replacing stored energy comprise capturing inlet air from the ambient environment so the inlet air flows in a first general direction. Released liquid air flows in a second general direction, the second general direction being substantially opposite to the first general direction. The released liquid air is pumped to pressure, and the released liquid air and inlet air flow past each other such that heat exchange occurs. The inlet air warms the released liquid air such that the released liquid air is substantially vaporized, and the released liquid air cools the inlet air. Moisture and carbon dioxide are removed from the inlet air, and the inlet air is compressed and cooled such that the inlet air is substantially liquefied. The substantially liquefied air replaces a portion of the released liquid air; and the substantially vaporized released liquid air is combusted with fuel to produce electricity.
US07870743B2
A gas turbine engine includes a compressor, combustor, and high pressure turbine operatively joined together. The turbine includes a nozzle followed by a row of rotor blades. A first bleed circuit is joined in flow communication between the last stage of the compressor and a forward cooling channel in vanes of the nozzle for feeding first cooling holes therein with pressurized primary air at a first pressure. A second bleed circuit is joined in flow communication between an intermediate stage of the compressor and aft cooling channels in the nozzle vanes to feed second cooling holes with pressurized secondary air at a second pressure less than the first pressure.
