US07932205B2

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a catalyst comprising: a) The preparation of a colloidal oxide suspension of a first metal M1 that consists in the neutralization of a basic solution by an acidic mineral solution that contains the precursor of the metal M1, b) Bringing into contact the precursor of the promoter M2, either directly in its crystallized form or after dissolution in aqueous phase, with the colloidal suspension that is obtained in stage a), c) Bringing into contact the colloidal suspension that is obtained in stage b) with the substrate, d) Drying at a temperature of between 30° C. and 200° C., under a flow of air. The invention also relates to a process for the treatment of an olefinic fraction that uses the catalyst prepared [by] said preparation process.
US07932198B2

A grey glass composition employing in its colorant portion at least iron (Fe2O3/FeO), cobalt and selenium is provided. The glass allows high visible transmission, and good IR absorption, while at the same time achieving desired grey color. In certain example embodiments, the colorant portion includes, or may consist essentially of: total iron (expressed as Fe2O3)0.20 to 0.40% selenium2-20 ppm cobalt oxide0.0025 to 0.0060% titanium oxide  0 to 1.0% glass redox:<=0.30.
US07932195B2

A gypsum board which comprises a set gypsum core sandwiched between and faced with fibrous mats, wherein a free surface of one of said mats is pre-coated with a combination of a mineral pigment, optionally an inorganic adhesive binder and an organic binder, preferably a hydrophobic, UV resistant polymer latex adhesive binder applied to said surface as an aqueous coating composition, said aqueous coating composition upon drying and setting providing a pre-coated mat satisfying certain morphology requirements.
US07932193B2

Coated fibrous mats having properties particularly suited for a facer on gypsum wallboard, foam and other substrates and in laminates of various types, and the method of making the coated mat is disclosed. The mat contains a major portion of non-cellulosic fibers and a minor portion of cured resinous binder. The exposed surface coating has a smoothness of no more than about 15 microns and is comprised of one or more of a clay, a filler and a polymeric binder. The method comprises at least partially drying the coated mat while the exposed surface of the coating is in contact with a smooth surface.
US07932192B2

A substrate for artificial leathers, comprising a nonwoven fabric body made of microfine fiber bundles and an elastic polymer impregnated therein. The substrate for artificial leathers simultaneously satisfies the following requirements 1 to 4: (1) each of the microfine fiber bundles contains 6 to 150 bundled microfine long fibers in average; (2) a cross-sectional area of the microfine long fibers constituting the microfine fiber bundles is 27 μm2 or less, and 80% or more of the microfine long fibers has a cross-sectional area of from 0.9 to 25 μm2; (3) an average cross-sectional area of the microfine fiber bundles is from 15 to 150 μm2; and (4) on a cross section parallel to a thickness direction of the nonwoven fabric body, cross sections of the microfine fiber bundles exist in a density of from 1000 to 3000/mm2 in average. The raised artificial leathers and grain-finished artificial leathers made from the substrate for artificial leathers are excellent in the properties which are hitherto difficult to be combined.
US07932191B2

A composition comprising particles which comprise a core material within a polymeric shell, wherein the core material comprises a hydrophobic substance, in which the amount of the polymeric shell forms at least 8% of the total weight of the particles, wherein the polymeric shell comprises a copolymer formed from a monomer blend which comprises, A) 5 to 90% by weight of an ethylenically unsaturated water soluble monomer, B) 5 to 90% by weight of a multifunctional monomer, and C) 0 to 55% by weight other monomer, and wherein the amount of the polymeric shell and the proportions of. A, B and C are such that the particles exhibit a half height of at least 350° C. The invention includes a process for the manufacture of particles and the use of particles in articles, such as fabrics, and coating compositions, especially for textiles.
US07932188B2

Low dielectric materials and films comprising same have been identified for improved performance when used as interlevel dielectrics in integrated circuits as well as methods for making same. In one aspect of the present invention, an organosilicate glass film is exposed to an ultraviolet light source wherein the film after exposure has an at least 10% or greater improvement in its mechanical properties (i.e., material hardness and elastic modulus) compared to the as-deposited film.
US07932187B2

A semiconductor device has a first interlayer insulating film formed on a substrate, having a first interconnection buried therein, and having a depressed portion and an insulating barrier film formed on the first interlayer insulating film. A second interlayer insulating film is formed to fill in the depressed portion, cover the upper surface of the insulating barrier film, and have a second interconnection buried therein.
US07932186B2

A method for fabricating an electronic device is provided. The method for fabricating the electrical device comprises providing a substrate. A patterned first self-assembled monolayer (SAM) and an adjacent patterned second SAM are formed on the substrate, wherein the patterned first SAM has a higher affinity then that of the patterned second SAM. A conductive, semiconductor or insulating material is dissolved or suspended in a solvent to form a solution. The solution is coated on the substrate. The solvent in the solution is removed to selectively form a patterned conductive, semiconductor or insulating layer on the patterned first SAM.
US07932184B2

A method of manufacturing a solar cell module, including: forming a laminated body including a first protective member, a first sealing member having a first melting point, a plurality of solar cells, a second sealing member having a second melting point higher than the first melting point, and the second protective member; heating the first sealing member to a temperature equal to or higher than the first melting point but lower than the second melting point; and heating the second sealing member to a temperature equal to or higher than the second melting point. In forming the laminated body, the second sealing member is arranged to form a surface including a plurality of convex portions faces the first sealing member.
US07932179B2

Present embodiments relate to a semiconductor device having a backside redistribution layer and a method for forming such a layer. Specifically, one embodiment includes providing a substrate comprising a via formed therein. The substrate has a front side and a backside. The embodiment may further include forming a trench on the backside of the substrate, disposing an insulating material in the trench, and forming a trace over the insulating material in the trench.
US07932174B2

A semiconductor device and fabrication process wherein the device includes a conductive layer with a localized thick region positioned below the contact hole. In one embodiment of the invention, the thick region to which contact is made is formed by means of an opening in an underlayer of material. This embodiment of the device includes an underlayer of material having an opening therein; a layer of thin conductive material formed on the underlayer and in the opening; and overlayer of material having a contact hole therethrough formed on the layer of thin conductive material; a conductor contacting the layer of thin conductive material through the contact hole; and wherein the opening in the underlayer is positioned below the contact hole and sized and shaped to form a localized thick region in the layer of thin conductive material within the opening.
US07932168B2

A method of a fabricating a bitline in a semiconductor device, comprising: forming an interlayer insulation layer that defines a bitline contact hole on a semiconductor substrate; forming a contact layer to fill the bitline contact hole; forming a bitline contact by planarizing the contact layer; forming a bitline stack aligned with the bitline contact; forming a high aspect ratio process (HARP) layer that extends along the bitline stack and the interlayer insulation layer while covering a seam exposed in a side portion of the bitline stack by excessive planarization during formation of the bitline contact; and forming an interlayer gap-filling insulation layer on the HARP layer that gap-fills the entire bitline stack.
US07932159B2

The present invention relates to flash memory devices and a method of fabricating the same. In an aspect of the present invention, the flash memory device includes trenches formed in a semiconductor substrate and having a step at their lower portion, a tunnel insulating layer formed in an active region of the semiconductor substrate, first conductive layers formed on the tunnel insulating layer, an isolation layer gap-filling between the trenches and the first conductive layers, and a second conductive layer formed on the first conductive layer and having one side partially overlapping with the isolation layers.
US07932158B2

The present invention relates to a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate having one or more device regions. Each device region comprises at least a base semiconductor substrate layer and a semiconductor device layer with a buried insulator layer located therebetween, while the semiconductor device layer is supported by one or more vertical insulating pillars. The vertical insulating pillars each preferably has a ledge extending between the base semiconductor substrate layer and the semiconductor device layer. The SOI substrates of the present invention can be readily formed from a precursor substrate structure with a “floating” semiconductor device layer that is spaced apart from the base semiconductor substrate layer by an air gap and is supported by one or more vertical insulating pillars. The air gap is preferably formed by selective removal of a sacrificial layer located between the base semiconductor substrate layer and the semiconductor device layer.
US07932153B2

A threshold control layer of a second MIS transistor is formed under the same conditions for forming a threshold control layer of a first MIS transistor. LLD regions of the second MIS transistor are formed under the same conditions for forming LDD regions of a third transistor.
US07932152B2

A method of forming an integrated circuit structure on a substrate, the substrate includes a primary region and a secondary region. A first layer of a first material of a first thickness is formed over the substrate. A portion of the first layer is removed over the primary region to expose the substrate. The structure is exposed to an oxidizing medium. This forms a second layer, for example, of an oxide material primary region of the substrate. The second layer has a second thickness. Additionally, at least a portion of said first layer is converted to a third layer, for example, of an oxynitride material. The third layer has a third thickness.
US07932151B2

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes the following processes. A first gate trench is formed if a semiconductor substrate region. Then a first insulating film is formed to cover bottom and side surfaces of the first gate trench. Then, the first insulating film is removed to cover the bottom surface. Then, the semiconductor substrate region exposed to the first gate trench is etched by the first insulating film covering the side surfaces as a mask, to form, in the semiconductor substrate region, a second gate trench directly below the first gate trench. The second gate trench is defined by an unetched film portion of the semiconductor substrate region. The unetched film portion extends toward one of the side surfaces of the first gate trench.
US07932143B1

Methods for protecting gate stacks during fabrication of semiconductor devices and semiconductor devices fabricated from such methods are provided. Methods for fabricating a semiconductor device include providing a semiconductor substrate having an active region and a shallow trench isolation (STI) region. Epitaxial layer is formed on the active region to define a lateral overhang portion in a divot at the active region/STI region interface. A gate stack is formed having a first gate stack-forming layer overlying the semiconductor substrate. First gate stack-forming layer includes a non-conformal layer of metal gate-forming material which is directionally deposited to form a thinned break portion just below the lateral overhang portion. After the step of forming the gate stack, a first portion of the non-conformal layer is in the gate stack and a second portion is exposed. The thinned break portion at least partially isolates the first and second portions during subsequent etch chemistries.
US07932140B2

A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a pair of first diffusion layer regions provided near a top face of the semiconductor substrate; a channel region provided between the first diffusion layer regions of the semiconductor substrate; a gate insulation film provided on the channel region and on the semiconductor substrate such as to overlap with at least part of the first diffusion layer regions; a gate electrode provided on the insulation film; a pair of silicon selective growth layers provided on the semiconductor substrate at both sides of the gate electrode, each of the pair of silicon selective growth layers overlapping with at least part of the first diffusion layer regions, and being provided at a distance from the gate electrode; second diffusion layer regions provided in each of the silicon selective growth layers, peak positions of impurity concentration of the second diffusion layer regions being shallower than bottoms of the silicon selective growth layers; and third diffusion layer regions provided near side faces of the silicon selective growth layers, and electrically connecting the first diffusion layer regions to the second diffusion layer regions.
US07932135B1

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a TFT array substrate having a reduced number of mask processes. The method includes sequentially depositing a first conductive material, a gate insulating layer, a semiconductor layer, and a second conductive material on a substrate, and forming a first resist pattern having three height levels on the second conductive material. The method further includes forming a gate line, a data line that crosses the gate line and has first and second slit units, a source electrode connected to the data line and having a third slit unit, and a drain electrode positioned opposite the source electrode with a channel interposed between the source electrode and the drain electrode and having a fourth slit unit, through a plurality of etching processes using the first resist pattern.
US07932134B2

Disclosed is semiconductor structure that incorporates a field shield below a semiconductor device (e.g., a field effect transistor (FET) or a diode). The field shield is sandwiched between upper and lower isolation layers on a wafer. A local interconnect extends through the upper isolation layer and connects the field shield to a selected doped semiconductor region of the device (e.g., a source/drain region of a FET or a cathode or anode of a diode). Current that passes into the device, for example, during back-end of the line charging, is shunted by the local interconnect away from the upper isolation layer and down into the field shield. Consequently, an electric charge is not allowed to build up in the upper isolation layer but rather bleeds from the field shield into the lower isolation layer and into the substrate below. This field shield further provides a protective barrier against any electric charge that becomes trapped within the lower isolation layer or substrate.
US07932120B2

Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors (CIS) and methods of manufacturing the same are provided, the sensors include an epitaxial layer on a substrate in which a first, second, third and fourth region are defined. A photodiode may be formed at an upper portion of the epitaxial layer in the first region. A plurality of gate structures may be formed on the epitaxial layer in the second, third and fourth regions. A first blocking layer may be formed on the gate structures and the epitaxial layer in the first and second regions. A first impurity layer may be formed at an upper portion of the epitaxial layer adjacent to the gate structures in the second region, and a second impurity layer at upper portions of the epitaxial layer adjacent to the gate structures in the third and fourth regions. A color filter layer may be formed over the photodiode. A microlens may be formed on the color filter layer.
US07932118B2

A mechanical component production method of a MEMS/NEMS structure from a monocrystalline silicon substrate includes forming anchoring zones in one face of the substrate. A lower protective layer, non-silicon, obtained by epitaxy from the face of the substrate is formed on the face. A silicon layer obtained by epitaxy from the lower protective layer is formed on the lower protective layer. An upper protective layer is formed on the silicon layer. The upper protective, silicon and lower protective layers are etched according to a pattern defining the component, until the substrate is reached, providing access routes to the substrate. A protective layer is formed on the walls formed by the etching in the epitaxied silicon layer. The component is released by isotropic etching of the substrate from the access routes, wherein the isotropic etching does not attack the lower and upper protective layers and the protective layer of the walls.
US07932100B2

The present invention provides a method for detecting a target substance by detecting the presence or concentration of a target substance in a sample solution by bringing the sample solution into contact with a detecting element including a detecting part and a non-detecting part and detecting the presence or number of a magnetic label (magnetic marker) present in the vicinity of the surface of the detecting part and provides a target-substance detection kit. The surface potential ψ1 of the magnetic label in the sample solution, the surface potential ψ2 of the detecting parts and the surface potential ψ3 of the non-detecting part satisfy any one of the following relationships i) to iv): i) ψ1ψ3>0 and ψ2=0, ii) ψ1ψ2<0 and ψ3=0, iii) ψ1ψ2<0, ψ2ψ3>0, and |ψ2|>|ψ3|, and iv) ψ1ψ2<0 and ψ2ψ3<0; and the target substance borne by the magnetic label is captured by a primary capturing body borne by the detecting part, or the target substance captured by a primary capturing body borne by the detecting part is captured by a secondary capturing body borne by the magnetic label.
US07932092B2

A method for analyzing a plurality of amino acids in a fluid sample by a user is provided comprising the steps of introducing the sample into a buffer solution, passing the sample in the buffer solution through a separation column and setting a lithium ion concentration in the buffer to no more than 0.3 mols/L up to a time before β-aminoisobutyric acid (β-AiBA) is eluted.
US07932078B2

A device for the continuous dosage of frozen starter cultures into a liquid fermentation medium is provided. The device comprises a fermentation unit and a container for the thawing of the starter cultures. It further comprises means of retaining the frozen cultures inside the thawing container while allowing the culture in liquid form to feed into a circuit for continuously feeding the fermentation medium to be inoculated. Furthermore, a method of dosing a frozen inoculant into a liquid fermentation medium is also described.
US07932072B1

An acetyl xylan esterase variant having perhydrolytic activity is provided for producing peroxycarboxylic acids from carboxylic acid esters and a source of peroxygen. More specifically, a Thermotoga maritima acetyl xylan esterase gene was modified using error-prone PCR and site-directed mutagenesis to create an enzyme catalyst characterized by an increase in the ratio of peracetic acid formation to peracetic acid hydrolysis specific activities (PAAF/PAAH ratio). The variant acetyl xylan esterase may be used to produce peroxycarboxylic acids suitable for use in a variety of applications such as cleaning, disinfecting, sanitizing, bleaching, wood pulp processing, and paper pulp processing applications.
US07932067B2

The present invention provides for the identification, isolation and uses of mammalian Monoamine Oxidase C (MAO-C), also known as renalase.
US07932065B2

Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems are described that can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials, to produce ethanol and/or butanol, e.g., by fermentation.
US07932062B2

Improved vector constructs useful in the expression of double-stranded RNA are provided. The constructs are particularly useful for expression of double-stranded RNA in vitro and in vivo.
US07932059B2

Methods and compositions are provided for enhanced specificity and sensitivity of amplification reaction mixtures. Compositions in accordance with the present invention provide for reduced formation of primer-aggregates during amplification reactions. Reaction mixes include dNTPs, where a portion of the dNTPs has been replaced with an unconventional nucleotide, e.g., dUTP. Unconventional nucleotide concentrations are typically between 10% to 50% of the concentration of one of the standard dNTP. In some compositions the unconventional nucleotide is dUTP which replaces from about 10% to about 50% of the dTTP in the dNTP mix.
US07932040B2

Systems, methods, compositions and apparatus relating to genome selection are disclosed.
US07932037B2

Encoded bead multiplex assays for chromosomal gains and losses are provided that provide the benefits of complex, large template DNA sources, such as BAC DNA, as the probe material without bead networking or other assay performance problems. Reagents for assaying DNA are described herein which include a plurality of encoded particles having attached amplicons amplified from a template DNA sequence. Each individual attached amplicon includes a nucleic acid sequence identical to a random portion of the template DNA sequence, wherein the amplicons together represent substantially the entire template DNA and wherein the nucleic acid sequence identical to a random portion of the template DNA sequence of each individual amplicon is shorter than the entire template DNA.
US07932033B2

The invention provides DNA compositions that relate to transgenic insect resistant maize plants. Also provided are assays for detecting the presence of the maize DAS-59122-7 event based on the DNA sequence of the recombinant construct inserted into the maize genome and the DNA sequences flanking the insertion site. Kits and conditions useful in conducting the assays are provided.
US07932031B2

Biomarkers that are useful for identifying a mammal that will respond therapeutically or is responding therapeutically to a method of treating cancer that comprises administering a microtubule-stabilizing agent. In one aspect, the cancer is breast cancer, and the microtubule-stabilizing agent is an epothilone or analog or derivative thereof, or ixabepilone.
US07932024B2

The present invention relates to a method, a chip, a device, and a system for collection of biological particles. The method makes use of electrostatic attraction of biological particles to charged electrodes and preferably operates with gaseous samples. The method, chip, device, and system are e.g. useful for collecting pathogenic biological particles, such as bacterial spores and vira, from air samples and allow for subsequent analysis of the collected biological particles.
US07932023B2

Methods and compositions to detect the presence of csPCNA isoform by identifying one or more posttranslational modifications are disclosed. Methods to identify csPCNA isoform through posttranslational modifications including methylesterification levels are disclosed.
US07932019B2

Provided herein are gettering members that include a monitor substrate and a conditioning layer thereon. Also provided herein are methods of forming gettering layers and methods of performing immersion lithography processes using the same.
US07932014B2

A photosensitive compound has two or more structural units, in a molecule, represented by the following general formula (1): wherein R1 to R8 are selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkoxy group, an acetoxy group, a phenyl group, a naphthyl group, and an alkyl group in which some or all of the hydrogen atoms are optionally replaced by fluorine atoms; R9 is a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl group; X is a substituted or unsubstituted phenylene group or a substituted or unsubstituted naphthalene group; and Y is an oxygen atom or a single bond.
US07932012B2

A heat resistant photosensitive resin composition having excellent film properties is provided by constituting a photosensitive resin composition containing (A) a polymer having an acid functional group and/or a substituent derived therefrom, (B) a compound having at least one substituent derived from an amine functional group, (C) a photoreactive compound, and (D) a solvent. Using this composition, a pattern with high resolution can be produced, and thus an electronic part having a high quality can be produced.
US07932011B2

An electrophotographic toner comprising a resin and a colorant, wherein: (i) a toner particle comprises a domain in the toner particle, the domain comprising a polar wax having a first polar group and a non-polar wax; and (ii) the resin contains a second polar group.
US07932008B2

A hybrid toner and a method of preparing the toner are provided. The hybrid toner is of a core-shell type having improved storage characteristics and a toner blocking phenomenon. The toner prevents image contamination caused by dispersion of waxes or colorants onto the surface of the outer layer of toner particles are prevented. The hybrid toner includes particles including: a core of about 100 parts by weight of a polyester-based resin, about 1-20 parts by weight of a wax, about 0.1-10 parts by weight of a colorant and about 0.1-10 parts by weight of a charge control agent; and about 5-500 parts by weight of a vinyl-based resin, about 0.1-10 parts by weight of silica, about 0.1-5 parts by weight of a metal oxide and about 0.1-10 parts by weight of polymer beads.
US07932005B2

A negatively-chargeable electrophotographic photosensitive member, has, between a cylindrical substrate and a photoconductive layer, a first lower-part layer formed of a non-single crystal material containing silicon atoms and a second lower-part layer formed of a non-single crystal material containing silicon atoms, and on its photoconductive layer has an upper-part layer formed of a non-single crystal material containing silicon atoms. The first lower-part layer is a layer containing a periodic-table Group 13 element, and the upper-part layer has a region capable of retaining electrification charges.
US07932003B2

Some embodiments include methods of treating reticles to provide backside masking across regions of the reticle to compensate for problems occurring during photolithographic processing. The problems may be, for example, defects in the reticle, problems associated with deposition or development of photoresist, or problems associated with substrate topography. The masking may alter one or both of transmission of electromagnetic radiation through the masked regions, and polarization of electromagnetic radiation passed through the masked regions. Some embodiments include reticles having patterns along front sides for patterning electric magnetic radiation, and masks across portions of the backsides to at least partially block transmission of electromagnetic radiation through portions of the patterns.
US07932002B2

To provide a reflection-type mask having a reduced shadowing effect, capable of phase shift exposure and having a shading frame of sufficient shading performance. The mask includes a substrate 11, a multilayer reflective film 12 which is formed above the substrate 11, and which reflects exposure light, a first photoabsorber layer 15 which is formed above the multilayer reflective film 12, and which absorbs the exposure light, a circuit pattern region 16 constituted, in conformity with a predetermined circuit pattern, of an opening formed as a result of removal of the first photoabsorber layer 15 and an absorbing portion where the first photoabsorber layer remains, and a shading region 18 having a reflectance with respect to the exposure light lower than that in the absorbing portion of the circuit pattern region 16.
US07931996B2

A fuel cell (40) includes first and second catalysts (12′), (14′) secured to opposed surfaces of an electrolyte (16′); a first flow field (26′) secured in fluid communication with the first catalyst (12′) defining a plurality of flow channels (30A′, 30B′, 30C′, 30D′) between a plurality of ribs (32A′, 32B′, 32C′, 32D′, 32E′) of the first flow field (26′); and a backing layer (42) secured between the first flow field (26′) and the first catalyst (12′). The backing layer (42) includes a carbon black, a hydrophobic polymer, and randomly-dispersed carbon fibers (44). The carbon fibers (44) are at least twice as long as a width (46) of the flow channels (30A′, 30B′, 30C′, 30D′) defined in the adjacent first flow field (26′). The backing layer (42) replaces a known substrate (22) and diffusion layer (18).
US07931983B2

A lithium ion secondary battery includes a positive electrode capable of absorbing and desorbing lithium ion, a negative electrode capable of absorbing and desorbing lithium ion, a porous film interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and a non-aqueous electrolyte: the porous film being adhered to a surface of at least one of the positive electrode and the negative electrode; the porous film including a filler and a resin binder; the resin binder content in the porous film being 1.5 to 8 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the filler; and the resin binder including an acrylonitrile unit, an acrylate unit, or a methacrylate unit.
US07931952B2

A water-retainable molding is formed by mixing and hardening cement, fiber bundles and fiber masses, and includes first pores inside the fiber bundles, second pores between fiber bundles and a cement gel, third pores inside the fiber masses, fourth pores between the adjacent fiber masses, and fifth pores due to discharge of water content and air inside a platelike block. The first, second and fifth pores are employed as a capillary portion, the third pores are employed as a water-retaining portion, and the fourth pores are employed as a water communicating opening portion. When water is supplied to the surface, the water is absorbed from the fourth pores as well as the first, second and fifth pores, and is retained in the third pores. Furthermore, when the temperature rises, the water content is supplied from the third pores to the surface through the first, second and fifth pores so as to be evaporated and to control the temperature of the molding.
US07931951B2

Disclosed are a carpet for a vehicle and a method of manufacturing the same. A first material is scored to define a gap. A portion of the first material interior to the gap is compressed, and then folded out of the gap. A second material is adhered to the first material. The second material may be adhered to the compressed portion of the first material. The volume of the compressed portion may be decreased by about half. The first material may be a sound-absorbing material.
US07931950B2

Disclosed is a composition for biodegradable starch bowl consisting of unmodified starch of 20-60 wt. %, pulp fiber powder of 5-30 wt. %, solvent of 30-60 wt. %, photo catalyst of 0.1-2.0 wt. %, preservative of 0.01-1 wt. % and releasing agent of 0.5-5 wt. %. In the present invention, further disclosed is a biodegradable starch bowl being prepared by heating and pressurizing said composition for biodegradable starch bowl so as to have a desired shape. The composition for a biodegradable starch bowl and the biodegradable starch bowl using the same according to the present invention have improved sterilizing, deodorizing, preservative and releasing properties.
US07931946B2

Disclosed are a novel liquid crystal compound containing a sulfone group, a liquid crystal composition comprising the same, and an optical film using the same liquid crystal composition. More particularly, there are provided a liquid crystal material for a viewing angle compensation film with high quality characteristics, which can improve a contrast ratio measured at a tilt angle to the front and minimize variations in color with viewing angles in a black state, a liquid crystal composition comprising the same liquid crystal material, and a compensation film obtained from the same liquid crystal composition.
US07931942B2

The present invention provides a process for making a filled fluoropolymer bearing comprising providing an aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion comprising fluoropolymer particles and anionic polyelectrolyte dispersing agent in an amount sufficient for stabilization. The dispersion contains less than about 300 ppm fluorosurfactant based on the weight of the dispersion. The dispersion is coagulated to make a mush and a bearing filler is added to the dispersion prior to or after making the mush. The mush containing bearing filler is applied onto a bearing substrate to produce a coated substrate which is sintered and formed into a bearing.
US07931936B2

It is an object to provide an optical transparent member capable of maintaining a high-performance antireflection effect for a base over a long period of time, and an optical system using the same, specifically an optical transparent member including on a base a layer containing SiO2 as a main component, a layer containing Al2O3 as a main component, and a plate crystal layer formed from plate crystals containing Al2O3 as a main component, wherein the surface of the plate crystal layer has a shape of irregularities, and an optical system using the same.
US07931922B2

The inventive subject matter relates to methods for treating glioblastoma, comprising administration of a composition comprising therapeutically effective amounts of supercritical extracts of rosemary, turmeric, oregano and ginger; and therapeutically effective amounts of hydroalcoholic extracts of holy basil, ginger, turmeric, Scutellaria baicalensis, rosemary, green tea, huzhang, Chinese goldthread, and barberry. The inventive subject matter further relates to methods for modulating gene expression of genes selected from the group consisting of interleukin-1α, interleukin-1β, heme oxygenase 1, aldo-keto reductase family 1, member C2, colony stimulating factor 3, leukemia inhibitory factor, heat shock 70 kDa protein, and combinations thereof, by administration of an effective amount of said compositions.
US07931921B2

A method for substantially preventing or inhibiting summer bentgrass decline in an outdoor environment, by exposing bentgrass beds to increased amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The invention is particularly well suited for use in warm climates. It is expected to be useful in a variety of bentgrass applications, such as golf greens, pastures, lawns, athletic fields, and the like. Similar applications for other cool-season grasses are anticipated as well.
US07931916B2

Composition of biocompatible microparticles of alginic acid for the controlled release of active ingredients by intravenous administration. The invention relates to a biocompatible composition which comprises microparticles of alginic acid or its salts and an active ingredient. More particularly, the invention relates to microparticles for the encapsulation of an active ingredient to be administered intravenously to a patient who needs it. These microparticles are of a combination of size sufficient to increase the half-life or survival of the active ingredient in blood, with a low uptake in the liver and a fast cell clearance when administered intravenously.
US07931912B2

An enteral nutrition product is provided for enteral administration directly to the stomach or intestines of a patient from an external container upon the application of pressure to the external container. The enteral nutrition product is a semi-solid material having a substantially self-supporting consistency that deforms under an externally applied load without liquefying and that is capable of containing a higher concentration of a nutrient component than a fluid. The semi-solid material includes a mixture of a nutrient solution and a semi-solidifying agent that is one of agar and a whole egg. The self-supporting consistency of the semi-solid enteral nutrition product remains substantially unchanged before, during, and after being enterally administered into the patient, and is further maintained within the stomach or the intestines of the patient such that the enteral nutrition product does not liquefy due to the body temperature of the patient.
US07931901B2

Described are generally a T cell immune response cDNA 7 (TIRC7) encoding a novel T-cell transmembrane protein as well as peptides und polypeptides derived therefrom and antibodies recognizing said (poly)peptides. More particularly, peptide and polypeptide as well as antibodies being capable of inhibiting T-cell stimulation through the T-cell membrane protein (TIRC7) are provided. Furthermore, vectors comprising the aforementioned polynucleotides and host cells transformed therewith as well as their use in the production of the above-defined proteins, peptides or polypeptides are described. Additionally, pharmaceutical and diagnostic compositions are provided comprising any one of the afore described polynucleotide, vector, protein, peptide, polypeptide, or antibody. Furthermore, methods and uses for modulating immune responses through the novel TIRC7 membrane protein as well as pharmaceutical compositions comprising agents which act on the TIRC7 membrane protein or its ligand are described. Also, the use of said polynucleotide, vector, protein, peptide, polypeptide, or antibody for the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions for use in organ transplantation, for the treatment of autoimmune, allergic or infectious diseases, or for treatment of tumors is provided. Furthermore, methods for modulating (antigen-specific) T cell unresponsiveness inducing maintaining or reversing T cell unresponsiveness by inhibiting or stimulating an (unresponsive) T cell through the novel TIRC7 membrane protein are encompassed herein.
US07931897B2

An inducing agent or enhancing agent, for the expression of HM1.24 antigen in hematopoietic tumor cells, comprising interferon α, interferon γ, or the IRF-2 protein as an active ingredient, as well as an anti-tumor agent for hematopoietic tumors which comprises a combination of said inducing agent or enhancing agent and an antibody against HM1.24.
US07931893B2

The present invention provides novel pseudotyped retroviral vectors that can transduce human and other cells. Vectors are provided that are packaged efficiently in packaging cells and cell lines to generate high titer recombinant virus stocks expressing novel envelope glycoproteins. The present invention further relates to compositions for gene therapy.
US07931892B2

The invention provides compositions comprising one or more isolated LDH-deficient mutans streptococcus strains and one or more isolated S. oralis strains and/or one or more isolated S. uberis strains. Compositions of the invention are useful to maintain oral health, by for example treating and/or preventing one or more symptoms of dental caries, periodontitis and/or other oral cavity diseases or wounds.
US07931890B2

The present invention is directed to methods for treating cancer wherein more than one therapeutic agent is used, with each of the therapeutic agents having different tumor-killing capabilities, and wherein the therapeutic agents are delivered to the tumor sites using combined targeting and pre-targeting methods. The methods of the present invention achieve good tumor to non-tumor ratios of the therapeutic agents, and are effective for cancer therapy.
US07931886B2

According to the present invention there is provided a process for the agglomeration of titania slag particles comprising providing titania slag at a d50 particle size of below 106 μm; mixing the slag particles with an organic binder; and agglomerating the mixture of the slag particles and organic binder into agglomerated particles with a d50 particle size in the range from 106 μm to 1000 μm. The agglomerated particles have a (TiO2 and FeO)/C mass ratio of more than 3.4. The invention also relates to such agglomated slag particles and a chloride process for the production of TiO2 wherein such agglomerated titania slag particles are used.
US07931879B2

The invention relates to a method for the automated handling of a fluid biological sample in an analytical instrument. Furthermore, the invention provides containers as well as instruments and systems suitable for the automated handling and processing of the fluid biological sample and discloses production methods for the manufacture of the containers.
US07931875B2

Integrated Combustion Reactors (ICRs) and methods of making ICRs are described in which combustion chambers (or channels) are in direct thermal contact to reaction chambers for an endothermic reaction. Particular reactor designs are also described. Processes of conducting reactions in integrated combustion reactors are described and results presented. Some of these processes are characterized by unexpected and superior results, and/or results that can not be achieved with any prior art devices.
US07931872B2

A polymerization processor synthesizes a high quality polymer from a raw material in a molten state. Lactide sent from an apparatus for supplying lactide 1 is heated and molten in an apparatus for melting lactide 2, and a catalyst is added to the lactide in an apparatus for supplying a catalyst 3. The molten lactide is supplied through an apparatus for supplying lactide 4 to a horizontal reaction tank 5, and flows by a head difference with a polymerization reaction proceeding. A discharged reaction solution is supplied to the upper part of a vertical reaction tank 6, and flows through the vertical reaction tank 6 by gravity with the polymerization reaction proceeding. Thereafter, the reaction solution is transported to an apparatus for removing remaining lactide 7, where unreacted lactide is removed, and then the reaction solution is discharged.
US07931870B2

A controller for a reformer that: changes the supply quantity of at least either one of combustible gas and combustion oxidizing gas supplied to a combustion section; detects a change which is caused in the combustion state of the combustion section as a result of a change of the supply quantity; and checks the combustion state which arose at the combustion section before the change based on the previously detected detection result. Thus, a gone-out state of the combustion section can be reliably judged with a low cost device, and the combustion state of the combustion section in the reformer of a fuel cell system can be adjusted to an optimum combustion state.
US07931868B2

Device for manipulation of limited quantities of liquids with the following features: the device has at least one solid; the solid has surface areas in which different capillary forces act; one or more first surface areas have a microstructured and/or nanostructured surface; the microstructured and/or nanostructured surfaces have regularly arranged structure elements (A to E); the solid and the structure elements consist of one material and are connected to one another in one piece; one or more first surface areas are provided with reagents; the second surface area encompasses at least one of the first surface areas.
US07931864B2

A meter and test wand system is capable of cooperatively processing an analysis fluid and communicating results to a user. The system includes a meter case including a case front, a case front, a case front, a case bottom, a first case side member, and a second case side member. The first and second case side members connect the case front to case front. The first case side member has a longitudinal dimension between said case front and said case bottom and a latitudinal dimension between said case front and said case front. The first case side member includes a first case ridge; A test wand is capable of receiving an analysis fluid, and includes a cartridge including a cartridge ridge. The cartridge ridge is sized and shaped to matingly engage with said first case ridge to connect said test wand to said meter case.
US07931859B2

Systems and methods to reduce bioburden on at least a portion of a fluid transfer port include supplying a dose of radiation to the portion in optical communication with at least one source of radiation. In an illustrative example, a medical container, such as a vial or IV bag, receives a dose of ultraviolet (UV) energy substantially at a predetermined region of a fluid transfer site. In some examples, such a sanitization process may precede a fluid transfer operation in which a fluid is transferred into or out of the medical container by passing through the sanitized region. Such fluid transfers may be used in automated or semi-automated pharmaceutical processes, such as drug reconstitution. Various embodiments may further include one or more seal assemblies, each seal assembly having an aperture through which the radiation dose is supplied from the source to a controlled region on the fluid transfer port.
US07931858B1

A method of decontaminating a surface is provided. A surface to propagate electromagnetic surface waves is provided having a frequency in the microwave spectrum between 1 GHz and 1000 GHz. The surface includes a surface-wave medium or the surface-wave medium is laminated on the surface for confining the electromagnetic surface waves to the surface. The surface-wave medium includes a conductive ground plane. A dielectric is provided on the ground plane. A metallic pattern is provided on the dielectric for increasing an inductive reactance of the surface-wave medium. Electromagnetic surface waves are transmitted onto the surface from a surface-wave coupler coupled to the surface for destroying, removing, or neutralizing chemical or biological surface contaminants. The surface contaminants are destroyed, removed, or neutralized with a plasma created by the electromagnetic surface waves or through absorption of the electromagnetic surface waves.
US07931857B2

A mixing chamber, for the application of a disinfecting agent by vapour, exploits the combined and combined and synergistic action of the mixed product and comprises a calming zone, at least one section (15) for inletting vapour in said calming zone, at least one section (7) for outletting vapour, and for directing it to an applicator nozzle, characterized in that it comprises a spray nozzle (5) inletting a disinfecting agent under pressure in said calming zone, drawing it from a suitable tank (3).
US07931856B2

A method of forming a crankshaft bushing or similar component is provided. A compaction die is provided having an axial, generally cylindrical internal opening. An upper and a lower punch are provided with exterior surfaces corresponding to the internal opening of the compaction die. An upper core rod passes through an axial opening in the upper punch. A lower core rod passes through an axial opening in the lower punch. The upper core rod and the lower core rod each may have a generally flat external surface section. A metal powder is compacted in the compaction die by the combined action of the upper and lower punches and the upper and lower core rods.
US07931854B2

Equipment for thermochemical treatment of steels and alloys in gaseous mediums with automatic control includes a heating furnace with/without a muffle, a process gas catalyst impact block located in the furnace, a mechanism for supply, mixing, proportioning and extraction of process gases and a device of indirect monitoring and control of the nitrogen potential in the furnace atmosphere. The device of indirect monitoring and control of the nitrogen potential in the furnace atmosphere is an oxygen sensor, a secondary transducer with indication of the nitrogen potential in weight units of nitrogen content in iron and an actuator, while the process gas catalyst impact block is located in the furnace on the process gas supply line. The technical result achieved is that reliability and stability of processes are significantly increased, as well as the period of nitriding is reduced due to integrated process automation that is available.
US07931850B2

Ablation of holes having diameters as small as 82 nm and having clean walls was obtained in a poly(methyl methacrylate) on a silicon substrate by focusing pulses from a Ne-like Ar, 46.9 nm wavelength, capillary-discharge laser using a freestanding Fresnel zone plate diffracting into third order is described. Spectroscopic analysis of light from the ablation has also been performed. These results demonstrate the use of focused coherent EUV/SXR light for the direct nanoscale patterning of materials.
US07931847B2

Injection molding of a part having a nonuniform thickness is provided. One disclosed embodiment of an injection molding device includes one or more side walls, a first mold surface intersecting the side walls and being stationary with respect to the side walls, and a second mold surface intersecting the side walls so as to define with the side walls and the first mold surface a cavity configured to receive a metered amount of injected molten thermoplastic material. The second mold surface is moveable toward the first mold surface in such a manner that a first end of the second mold surface moves a larger physical travel distance toward the first mold surface than does a second end of the second mold surface during a molding process.
US07931843B2

The present invention relates to a process for producing a polyphenylene sulfide multifilament yarn, a polyphenylene sulfide multifilament yarn and the use of a polyphenylene sulfide multifilament yarn. The process for producing a polyphenylene sulfide multifilament yarn is characterized in that only after time period between 0.1 sec and 0.3 sec after leaving the spinneret the filaments of the spun yarn are subjected to an active cooling stage. The Polyphenylene sulfide multifilament yarn having a filament linear density of 5 dtex to 30 dtex, an overall linear density of 500 dtex to 2500 dtex, a breaking tenacity in the range of 50 cN/tex to 80 cN/tex and an elongation at break of 8% to 16% for a yarn with a breaking tenacity in the range of 60 cN/tex to 80 cN/tex and an elongation at break of 16% to 30% for a yarn with a breaking tenacity in the range of 50 cN/tex to 60 cN/tex.
US07931837B2

A method for controlling the injection molding process of an injection molding machine with an injection molding tool that forms at least one cavity for a molded part to be produced, wherein a melt is introduced into the cavity by an incision. The temporal progression of the temperature of the mold wall is determined and controlled in the course of the injection molding process.
US07931835B2

Within a cotton candy machine a delay-on-break delay timer is used to delay the de-energization of the spinner-head motor for a predetermined period of time after the heater elements are turned off. Thus, while the heater elements are cooling down, the motor and spinner head continue to rotate. Once the heater elements are cooled to the point where they cannot melt or burn the sugar, then the motor can be de-energized and the spinner head allowed to stop.
US07931827B2

The invention relates to a mixture and a method for imprinting textiles. The mixture used for the imprinting of textiles, includes: A) at least one pigment; B) at least one dispersing agent on the basis of oxalkylated linear or branched alkanes, fatty acids or fatty alcohols, and/or alkyl sulfates or alkyl sulfonates, and/or polyelectrolytes, and/or alkylated, and/or arylated glycosides; C) at least one water-soluble or water-dilutable, radiation-hardenable binding agent with a molecular weight above 2000 g/mol and at least two polymerizable groups for each binding agent molecule, which are cross-linked to the binding agent molecule by at least one urethane group or urea group; D) water.
US07931816B2

The invention relates to a method, apparatus and system for the treatment of organic and inorganic waste in a waste fluid. The method involves a co-current plug flow of fluid in a reactor in which ozone mass transfer conforms to the effective life of the ozone used in the treatment. Hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide can be added to the waste fluid. The combined fluids to be treated travel the reactor through a series of surfaces in a packed reactor. The apparatus includes a diffuser for ozone which assists in the co-current plug flow of fluids. The diffuser can have a porosity of about 10 microns. The invention further envisions a compact system for efficient treatment of waste fluids.
US07931813B2

A process to reduce or prevent biofouling, by destroying or deactivating microbiological content of feedwater, or other liquid, prior to its entrance into membranes or process equipment, such as heat transfer equipment. The process comprises the use of electrical discharge and/or electric fields to destroy microbes that result in the biofouling of surfaces. By destroying the microbiological content of the water the microbiology no longer is able to create a restricting biofilm upon or within said process equipment.
US07931812B2

The present invention relates to applications of TiO2-containing, macro-sized nanostructures in the fields including photocatalysis, information writing-erasing-rewriting, microfiltration, controlled drug release, and tire making. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a method of photocatalytically decomposing organic pollutants. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of mixing a solution containing organic pollutants and a plurality of TiO2-containing, macro-sized nanostructures to form a mixture and exposing the mixture to UV irradiation to decompose the organic pollutants.
US07931810B2

A water purification system and method. A closed water recirculation loop supplied at one point by a water inlet with water to be purified, and having at least one outlet point of use of the purified water. Also included is a pump and a water purifier on the loop respectively downstream of the inlet point and upstream of the at least one outlet point, in the water flow direction. The system includes two independent valves, including a first valve on the loop upstream of the pump and a second valve upstream of the at least one point of use outlet point. The first and second valves are selectively opened and closed to recirculate all the water treated by the purifier.
US07931800B2

In a method for enhancing the efficiency of bitumen recovery from oil sands ore, CaO lime (or Ca(OH)2) is mixed into an oil sands ore-water slurry prior to or during the operation of slurry-based bitumen extraction processes. The lime is introduced at dosages effective to reduce the electro-chemical attraction between clay particles and bitumen in the slurry, thereby promoting detachment of clay particles from bitumen droplets in the ore-wafer slurry. This occurs because water-soluble asphaltic acids formed at the bitumen-water interface act as surfactants which reduce or eliminate the activity of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions binding the clay particles and bitumen together. The detachment of clay particles promotes the attachment of air bubbles to the bitumen droplets, thereby forming a bitumen-rich froth which will float to the surface of the ore-water slurry, thus facilitating bitumen recovery.
US07931799B2

A process for preparing a bulk multi-metallic catalyst for hydrotreating heavy oil feeds is provided. The catalyst is particularly suitable for hydrotreating heavy oil feeds having a boiling point in the range of 343° C. (650° F.)- to 454° C. (850° F.), an average molecular weight Mn ranging from 300 to 400, and an average molecular diameter ranging from 0.9 nm to 1.7 nm. The bulk multi-metallic catalyst is prepared by sulfiding a catalyst precursor that has an essentially monomodal pore volume distribution with at least 95% of the pores being macropores, and having a total pore volume of at least 0.08 g/cc.
US07931798B2

A heavy residual petroleum feed boiling above 650° F.+ (345° C.+) is subjected to hydroconversion at elevated temperature in the presence of hydrogen at a hydrogen pressure not normally higher than 500 psig (3500 kPag) using a dispersed metal-on-carbon catalyst to produce a hydroconverted effluent which is fractionated to form a low boiling fraction and a relatively higher boiling fraction which is subjected to membrane separation to produce a permeate which is low in metals and Microcarbon Residue (MCR) as well as a retentate, containing most of the MCR and metals. The process has the advantage that the hydroconversion may be carried out in low pressure equipment with a low hydrogen consumption as saturation of aromatics is reduced.
US07931794B2

The present invention relates to a method and system for electrolytic fabrication of cells. A cell can be formed of a silicon layer (cathode) sandwiched between layers of glass. One or more holes are formed in the silicon layer. An alkali metal enriched glass material is placed in or associated with the one or more holes. Electrolysis is used to make the alkali metal ions in the alkali metal enriched glass material combine with electrons from the silicon cathode to form neutral alkali metal atoms in the one or more holes.
US07931792B2

Disclosed is a device for separating and concentrating particles suspended in a fluid stream by using dielectrophoresis (DEP) to trap and/or deflect those particles as they migrate through a fluid channel. The method uses fluid channels designed to constrain a liquid flowing through it to uniform electrokinetic flow velocities. This behavior is achieved by connecting deep and shallow sections of channels, with the channel depth varying abruptly along an interface. By careful design of abrupt changes in specific permeability at the interface, an abrupt and spatially uniform change in electrokinetic force can be selected. Because these abrupt interfaces also cause a sharp gradient in applied electric fields, a DEP force also can be established along the interface. Depending on the complex conductivity of the suspended particles and the immersion liquid, the DEP force can controllably complement or oppose the local electrokinetic force transporting the fluid through the channel allowing for manipulation of particles suspended in the transporting liquid.
US07931790B2

A microfabricated device employing a bridging membrane and methods for electrokinetic transport of a liquid phase biological or chemical material using the same are described. The bridging membrane is deployed in or adjacent to a microchannel and permits either ionic current flow or the transport of gas species, while inhibiting the bulk flow of material. The use of bridging membranes in accordance with this invention is applicable to a variety of processes, including electrokinetically induced pressure flow in a region of a microehannel that is not influenced by an electric field, sample concentration enhancement and injection, as well as improving the analysis of materials where it is desired to eliminate electrophoretic bias. Other applications of the bridging membranes according to this invention include the separation of species from a sample material, valving of fluids in a microchannel network, mixing of different materials in a microchannel, and the pumping of fluids.
US07931789B2

In a separation buffer solution filling device, a microchip is arranged such reservoirs are opened on a surface on respective ends of channels including at least a main separation channel in which analysis is performed while a solution moves inside a plate-like member, and the reservoirs face upward. The filling device fills separation buffer solution into the channels by supplying air from an air supply port which is pushed while maintaining air-tightness onto a top of the reservoir filled with the separation buffer solution on either end of said channels. The air supply port is an opening on a front end of an air cylinder, and has a seal part on that opening. The filling device is pushed onto the reservoir while maintaining air-tightness by that seal part.
US07931788B1

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for an immunoassay technique that uses amperometric measurements to rapidly analyze different pathogenic microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, toxins, and parasites. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, at least one conductive membrane is used to provide support for antibody immobilization and serve as a working electrode; it could also be independent rather than the working electrode. This conductive membrane or powder can be fabricated of a conductive material or can be a nonconductive material over which a conductive material is coated. In either case, the proposed technique is adaptable for use with different materials so as to form a membrane having a pore size that is suited to the particular application. Another aspect of the present invention relates to a compact and simple disposable element that can be easily disposed of after use. In still another aspect of the present invention, the immunoassay can be automated using microprocessor control so as to reduce the amount of human intervention in sample analysis.
US07931787B2

Previous limitations in utilizing energetic vapor deposition means are addressed through the introduction of a novel means of vapor deposition, namely, an Electron-Assisted Deposition (EAD) process and apparatus. The EAD mode of film growth disclosed herein is generally achieved by, first, forming a magnetic field that possesses field lines that intersect electrically non-grounded first and second surfaces, wherein at least one surface is a workpiece, thereby forming a magnetic trap between first and second surfaces; second, introducing a high flux of electrons axially into the magnetic field existing between the first and second surfaces, so that the electrons form an electron-saturated space-charge in the space adjacent to the substrate, wherein plasma interactions with the substrate are substantially avoided, and modification of film growth processes is provided predominantly by electron—rather than plasma—bombardment.
US07931784B2

Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials and/or starchy materials, to produce ethanol and/or butanol, e.g., by fermentation.
US07931774B2

Acrylic adhesives containing an acrylic polymer and a plasticizer are provided. The acrylic polymer includes copolymerized monomers of a first alkyl acrylate, a second alkyl acrylate, and a vinyl carboxylic acid. The alkyl group of the first alkyl acrylate has at least 4 carbon atoms, and the alkyl group of the second alkyl acrylate has 1-3 carbon atoms. The plasticizers include a di-ethoxylated tertiary amine segment.
US07931773B2

A one component bonding agent, method of using and articles produced therefrom, comprising from about 3 to 60% by weight of the total primer weight, of a first polymer, the first polymer comprising the reaction product of from about 15 to 85% by weight, based on the total weight of the first polymer, of a first oligomer, wherein the first oligomer comprises the reaction product of an epoxy functional silane and an amine functional monomer and a second oligomer including the reaction product of a monomeric isocyanate and a functionalized tri-alkoxysilane.
US07931768B2

Device and method for building a radial tire. The device includes a first drum device for building a belt package and a transfer device for transferring the belt package from the first drum device to a second drum device having arranged thereon a carcass tube from at least one airtight inner layer, a carcass play and two bead cores with core profiles. The second drum device is arranged between core clamping devices and is structured and arranged to join the carcass tube and the belt package during expansion of the second drum device. The belt package is contoured or shaped by deformation via the second drum device. This abstract is not intended to define the invention disclosed in the specification, nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.
US07931757B2

A thick-walled seamless steel pipe for line pipe which has a high strength and improved toughness and corrosion resistance in spite of the thick wall and which is suitable for use as a riser and flow line has a chemical composition comprising, in mass percent, C: 0.02-0.08%, Si: at most 0.5%, Mn: 1.5-3.0%, Al: 0.001-0.10%, Mo: greater than 0.4%-1.2%, N: 0.002-0.015%, at least one of Ca and REM in a total amount of 0.0002-0.007%, and a remainder of Fe and impurities, with the impurities having the content of P: at most 0.05%, S: at most 0.005%, and O: at most 0.005%, the chemical composition satisfying the inequality: 0.8≦[Mn]×[Mo]≦2.6, wherein [Mn] and [Mo] are the numbers equivalent to the contents of Mn and Mo, respectively, in mass percent.
US07931753B2

A method to remove deposits containing magnetite and copper from a container, particularly from a steam generator of a nuclear power plant. In a first step, the container is treated using an alkaline cleaning solution containing a complexing agent forming a soluble complex with iron ions, a reducing agent, and an alkalizing agent. In a second step a further complexing agent forming a more stable complex with iron III ions than the complexing agent used in the first step and an oxidant are added to the cleaning solution of the first step present in the container.
US07931750B2

The invention relates to a sealing lock, for an in vacuo chamber for deposition on a, preferably metallic, endless strip, characterized in that: the metal rollers are mounted on brackets, fixed to the covers and are immovable like the latter, the rollers of the same pair have the axes thereof arranged in the same vertical plane and are of different diameter, the position of the roller with the smaller diameter being alternated up and down on passing from a given pair to the next pair, the support cradles for the two rollers of the same pair have a lateral projection towards the center, the spacing of which with regard to the base for said rollers defines a second gap.
US07931736B2

A hydrocarbon adsorbent that includes a zeolite with either a H-FER structure or a MOR structure in which the pore diameter has been adjusted by ion exchange. A propane adsorbent that includes a zeolite with a MFI structure. A hydrocarbon removal unit that includes a TSA pre-purification unit having a column packed with sequential layers of activated alumina, a NaX zeolite, and the hydrocarbon adsorbent. A method of reducing the hydrocarbon content within liquid oxygen inside a cryogenic air separation unit that includes purifying feed air with the above pre-purification unit.
US07931734B2

Embodiments of a method for selecting particles, such as based on their morphology, is disclosed. In a particular example, the particles are charged and acquire different amounts of charge, or have different charge distributions, based on their morphology. The particles are then sorted based on their flow properties. In a specific example, the particles are sorted using a differential mobility analyzer, which sorts particles, at least in part, based on their electrical mobility. Given a population of particles with similar electrical mobilities, the disclosed process can be used to sort particles based on the net charge carried by the particle, and thus, given the relationship between charge and morphology, separate the particles based on their morphology.
US07931727B2

A regeneration system comprises a particulate matter (PM) filter including a microwave energy absorbing surface, and an antenna system comprising N antennas and an antenna driver module that sequentially drives the antenna system in a plurality of transverse modes of the antenna system to heat selected portions of the microwave absorbing surface to regenerate the PM filter, where N is an integer greater than one. The transverse modes may include transverse electric (TE) and/or transverse magnetic (TM) modes.
US07931726B2

Embodiments of the invention generally include a filter assembly having a media pack having a single web of pleated media having at least two mini-seated regions arranged in non-linear orientation. In one embodiment, a filter assembly includes a media pack defined by a single web of media, and an adhesive layer coupling a flat end of the media pack to a frame assembly to from a lap joint. In another embodiment, a filter assembly includes a media pack sealed to a frame assembly. A discontinuous layer of adhesive couples at least one edge of the media pack to the frame assembly.
US07931714B2

A chemical mechanical polishing composition, the polishing composition includes polishing abrasive, an oxidizing agent, an accelerating compound, an inhibitor, a co-inhibitor, and a solvent as the remaining. The composition can maintain a high removal rate through polishing, meantime it has a feature to inhibit static etch rate and lower the defect of polishing including metal dishing and erosion. Hence it needs no change of the composition for simultaneously removing a most part of a metal layer, particularly for a first stage of polishing bulk copper layer and for a second micro-polishing stage of removing the remaining less copper; the present invention has the advantage of simplifying processing and reducing waste.
US07931709B2

A process is described for generating hydrogen through the oxidation of fuels that contain chemically bound hydrogen, in particular hydrocarbons, having the following process steps: a) introducing the fuel (1) as well as the oxidation agent (2) into a reactor (3) having a porous material (4′) that is embodied in such a way that flame propagation in a direction opposite the direction of flow is prevented, and b) reacting the fuel with the oxidation agent in partial oxidation so that hydrogen is obtained in gaseous form. In addition, an apparatus for generating hydrogen that has a reactor that contains a porous material (4, 4′), and the reactor (3) is embodied as a tubular reactor that has a central chamber (5) to introduce the fuel and the oxidation agent that extends in the axial direction and is delimited radially toward the outside by a first wall that has porous material (4), and the first wall is delimited radially toward the outside by a second wall that contains the porous material (4′). Also described is an apparatus to generate hydrogen that has a reactor that contains a porous material and is characterized by the fact that its porosity in the direction of flame generation changes so that the pores are larger, that the porous material is disposed in a first zone and a second zone, which zones are adjacent to each other, and that a zone that has a porous material follows the one zone, seen in the direction of flow.
US07931708B2

A reformer burner that includes a fuel supply tube through which a fuel is supplied and a fuel supply chamber that surrounds the fuel supply tube and has a plurality of atomizing holes to atomize a fuel into a combustion chamber of a reformer.
US07931705B2

A combustible charcoal fuel package is disclosed which includes an outer wrapper, preferably formed from burlap or other similar woven material that encloses large pieces of charcoal material, medium pieces of charcoal material and smaller pieces of charcoal material coated or otherwise soaked in a vegetable wax to form an aggregate. The aggregate is disposed at or near the bottom of the burlap wrapper, with the medium-size pieces of charcoal material disposed thereon with the larger pieces of charcoal material disposed on top of the medium-sized pieces of charcoal material. Preferably, all charcoal materials are fabricated from all-natural charcoal logs fabricated from compressed charcoal particles without the use of odor causing binders.
US07931696B2

Disclosed are dyes of formula wherein D is the radical of anthraquinone, acridine, azo, azomethine, hydrazomethine, benzodifuranone, coumarine, diketopyrrolopyrrol, dioxaxine, diphenylmethane, formazane, indigoid, indophenol, naphtalimide, naphthaquinone, nitroaryl, merocyanine, methine, oxazine, perinone, perylene, pyrenequinone, phtalocyanine, phenazine, quinoneimine, quinacridone, quinophtalone, stilbene, styryl, triphenylmethane, xanthene, thiazine dye and thioxanthene dye; and Q is defined herein.
US07931685B2

A system and process for correction of regurgitation of heart valves. With mitral valves in particular, the anterior leaflet is advanced through use of a D-plasty patch and a narrow annuloplasty ring which compresses the lateral dimension of the valve. Other specifically configured annuloplasty rings can also be utilized. The sizes of the patch and ring are selected to provide a sufficient advancement of the leaflet to restore the surface of coaptation.
US07931684B2

An annuloplasty repair segment and template for heart valve annulus repair. The elongate flexible template may form a distal part of a holder that also has a proximal handle. Alternatively, the template may be releasably attached to a mandrel that slides within a delivery sheath, the template being released from the end of the sheath to enable manipulation by a surgeon. A tether connecting the template and mandrel may also be provided. The template may be elastic, temperature responsive, or multiple linked segments. The template may be aligned with the handle and form a two- or three-dimensional curve out of alignment with the handle such that the annuloplasty repair segment attached thereto conforms to the curve. The template may be actively or passively converted between its straight and curved positions. The combined holder and ring is especially suited for minimally-invasive surgeries in which the combination is delivered to an implantation site through a small access incision with or without a cannula, or through a catheter passed though the patient's vasculature.
US07931681B2

A retaining mechanism engages a bone fastener to a bone plate as the bone fastener is positioned through a retaining mechanism in a plate hole while preserving multi-axial capabilities of the fastener relative to the plate during insertion of the fastener. When the head of the fastener is positioned adjacent the plate, the head can optionally be received in the retaining mechanism and expand the retaining mechanism to fixedly engage the retaining mechanism into locking engagement with the plate and lock the bone fastener in position relative to the plate. In another form, the multi-axial capabilities of the bone screw is preserved or at least partially preserved when the bone fastener is finally positioned in the retaining mechanism.
US07931668B2

A tool, such as a medical instrument that can provide a variety of different functions. Specifically, the present invention includes a variety of heads that each can allow the medical instrument to perform a different function. Each of the heads are operatively coupled to a holding apparatus of the medical instrument such as by the use of a sliding mechanism. In a preferred embodiment, the medical instrument is a forceps with heads operatively coupled to each arm. This coupling is done in such a way that a head can fully retract into a position such that no portion of the second medical head extends beyond the holding apparatus when not in use. This means that at most one of the heads extends from the holding apparatus of the medical instrument as any one time. As such, a doctor can use a single tool to perform multiple functions, and thus reduce time spent looking for and/or retrieving the appropriate tool.
US07931662B2

A surgical marker/connector in the form of a ring made of a shape memory alloy such as NITINOL is suitable for laparoscopic installation in a patient's body. The ring preferably includes a plurality of small suture attachments in the form of loops that are disposed on the periphery of the ring and which lie in a plane that includes the ring itself. The loops are large enough to receive sutures which, in turn, can be used to connect the ring to a portion of a patient's body, or to connect separate portions of a patient's body to each other using the marker/connector as an intermediate connector. Prior to installation, the ring can be wrapped tightly about an elongate member such as a mandrel, which than can be inserted into the patient's body through a trochar or cannula. After insertion, the ring will change temperature and resume its original configuration where it can be sutured in place as desired.
US07931661B2

Methods and apparatus are provided for diagnosing and treating digestive or other organs (as well as other parts of the body) endoluminally and transluminally, via instruments passed into the GI tract per-orally and/or per-anally. The instruments may, for example, pass transluminally out of the stomach and/or the colon through a breach formed therein in order to conduct diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, such as gastroenterostomy.
US07931652B2

Systems, devices and methods are disclosed for treating fractures. The systems, devices and methods may include one or both of an implant, such as an intramedullary nail, and a fastening assembly, such as a lag screw and a compression screw assembly. The implant in some embodiments has a proximal section with a transverse aperture and a cross-section that may be shaped to more accurately conform to the anatomical shape of cortical bone and to provide additional strength and robustness in its lateral portions, preferably without requiring significant additional material. The fastening assembly may be received to slide, in a controlled way, in the transverse aperture of the implant. In some embodiments, the engaging member and the compression device are configured so that the compression device interacts with a portion of the implant and a portion of the engaging member to enable controlled movement between the first and second bone fragments. This configuration is useful for, among other things, compressing a fracture.
US07931641B2

A visceral pleura ring connector that may be utilized to anchor and seal the visceral pleura to a conduit or other device entering the lung from a non-native airway. The visceral pleura ring connector may be positioned around the visceral pleura and an insertion device and seal them together without having to make any holes in the pleura. The visceral pleura ring connector may be utilized with a pulmonary pleural stabilizer to hold the visceral pleura of the lung during surgical procedures involving accessing the lung or lungs of a patient directly through the lung and not the native airways.
US07931638B2

According to one embodiment, an absorbent article to be worn about a wearer has a front portion and a back portion. The absorbent article includes an outer layer, an inner layer that is substantially co-extensive with the outer layer, an absorbent layer and one or more fasteners, which are located on the back portion of the absorbent article. The absorbent layer is interposed between the outer layer and the inner layer to form the absorbent article. The outer layer has a central portion between two side portions. The central portion of the outer layer is treated with a chemical to substantially inhibit attachment of the one or more fasteners to the central portion of the outer layer. The one or more fasteners secure the back portion to the outer layer of the front portion. Specifically, the one or more fasteners are configured to secure the back portion to a region of the outer layer which is not treated with the chemical.
US07931629B2

The present invention is directed towards a method and apparatus for packaging or containing, handling and managing of a variety of materials or other contents from a variety of sources which encounter use under various dynamic applications, conditions and for a plurality of purposes. The invention more specifically is directed towards one or more containers or packages, suitably fitted or used for the handling or managing of materials or other contents along one or more cycles or chains of use. The one or more packages or other containers described herein is intended for and/or used in one or more interconnections or associations with not only the “initial purpose” filling, transport, storage, dispensing, pouring, using, releasing of sterile or other fluids or material contents, but also used in association with, and for carrying out, the additional delivering and receiving of said fluids or materials, and the receiving and delivering of said fluids or materials via an ingress and egress, by a variety of ways, for a variety of functions and for a plurality of purposes.
US07931619B2

A power injection catheter for high flow rate delivery of fluids. The power injection catheter may include a pressure relief mechanism for preventing overpressurizing within the lumen of the catheter. The pressure relief mechanism may be configured to prevent sudden pressure build-up inside the catheter lumen by absorbing, buffering or releasing pressure inside the lumen during pressure spikes. The power injection catheter may also take the form of a multi-lumen catheter capable of simultaneous infusions of a single fluid through two or more of the lumens in the catheter.
US07931618B2

A reloadable medicine injector and methods are described in which a barrel with a receiving cavity is adapted to slidably receive a syringe subassembly for axial movement therein. Upon removal of a safety and release of a syringe driver, the syringe driver moves forward and injects the syringe needle. A plurality of penetration controls are shown for controlling injection needle penetration depth. The penetration controls have an abutment and various lengths to provide different needle penetration depth positions. In one form of penetration control a sleeve is used against which the syringe or related parts contact. In another form the front return spring is used as a penetration control. A cushioning ring may be used to reduce syringe breakage. A load distribution and guide ring may be used to distribute loading applied to the syringe and help guide the moving syringe.
US07931617B2

A safety syringe includes a barrel, a push rod, a driving module, and a needle mount. The barrel includes a hollow passage and a barrel cover, and the push rod includes a pad disposed around a distal portion and pushed tightly along the hollow passage of the barrel, and the barrel cover includes a plunger, a driving module of a piston pump, and a needle mount having a cut surface at the piston pump, such that the distal portion of the push rod pushes the plunger to move forward, while the cut surface of the distal portion and the cut surface of the needle mount are pressed to separate with each other, and the plunger continues moving forward to offset the air pressure therein, so as to retract the needle mount into a push rod accommodating cavity to accommodate the needle safely after an injection is taken place.
US07931616B2

The present invention provides a deflectable catheter whose puller member connections are accomplished with minimal, if any, surface deformation which could otherwise accelerate breakage under tension. The catheter includes a molded member that encases an end of a puller member to enable connection of the end to a fixed or movable structure in the control handle without significant surface deformation in the puller member. The molded member is of a thermoplastic material that encases a preformed end of the puller member, which may be a puller wire or a high modulus fiber material.The molded member may be configured as desired, for example, as a screw that is fastened to a structure in the control handle. Alternatively, the preformed end of the puller member, for example, a puller wire, can be directly connected to and jointly encased in the molded member with another preformed end of a second puller member, for example, a high modulus fiber material. Such a connected puller member whose distal portion is the puller wire and whose proximal portion is the high modulus fiber material can be well suited for control handle that employs pulleys for increased throw capacity.
US07931610B2

A blood purification apparatus that can make the specific peak to be imparted to the blood more distinct, and therefore can detect blood recirculation reliably and precisely, is presented. It contains a blood circuit route, a blood pump, a dialyzer, dialysate introduction and discharge lines, a duplex pump, a pressurizing pump, a blood concentration means, and detection means that detect the specific peak imparted by the blood concentration means. The blood concentration means is configured to have an atmosphere release line, the tip of which is open to the atmosphere, that extends from between the pressurizing pump and the duplex pump in the dialysate discharge line, and to have an electromagnetic valve that can open or close the atmosphere release line. The electromagnetic valve opens the atmosphere release line to impart the specific peak by rapidly concentrating the blood flowing in the dialyzer for a short period of time.
US07931604B2

A method and system are provided for the visual display of anatomical forces, that system having: a motion capture system; a computer, receiving data from said motion capture system; and a computational pipeline disposed on said computer; that computational pipeline being configured to calculate muscle forces and joint torques in real time and visually display those forces and torques.
US07931600B2

Adventitious lung sounds indicative of lung congestion are detected using an implantable sensor. The sensor is adapted to be positioned adjacent to a pulmonary system and to output signals indicative of lung sounds in response to pulmonary system activity. A controller receives the signals and processes the signals to detect the presence of adventitious lung sounds. A respiratory cycle sensor operating in conjunction with the lung-sound sensor enables classification of an adventitious lung sound according to its time occurrence within the respiratory cycle. Posture sensing in conjunction with lung-sound sensing provides valuable additional information as to the severity of the lung congestion.
US07931596B2

A device (10) used with high frequency ultrasound provides a replaceable barrier between the ultrasound transducer and the tissues being imaged. The device (10) provides an acoustic pathway of minimal effect on the ultrasound signals, and furthermore provides for a safety barrier between a mechanical scanner and the tissues being imaged. The configuration of the device (10) allows it to function as a standoff for the ultrasound transducer to place the focus of the ultrasound beam at the desired depth of tissue for imaging. In addition, the device (10) may be sterilized and replaced as needed, providing sterile tissue contact surfaces. The device (10) has additional features, which are especially advantageous for diagnosis and surgery of the eye.
US07931595B2

The invention relates to a triggered ultrasound imaging method for imaging of the myocardium, minimizing the risk of eliciting cardiac arrhythmia. Particularly, the invention is directed to a method of assessing cardiac perfusion. Destruction pulses are triggered such that they fall within the refractory period of the heart, while imaging pulses are triggered at any given time of the ECG cycle, preferably during end-systole.
US07931593B2

A method and system for managing at least one animal is disclosed. The method can include imaging, such as ultrasound imaging, a lung of a live animal, such as a ruminant animal or bovine animal. The imaging can be performed to determine a degree of respiratory damage from past respiratory illness. After imaging, information regarding respiratory damage can be used to select at least one aspect of the treatment, care or disposition of the animal. For example, the information can be used to select the amount or type of feed provided to the animal at a feedlot. The information also can be used to select how long the animal should be housed at the feedlot prior to slaughter. If an animal is diagnosed with a respiratory illness, information about its degree of respiratory damage from past respiratory illness also can be used to select the appropriate medical treatment or lack of treatment.
US07931579B2

Apparatus and methods for stabilizing and/or positioning tissues or organs during surgical procedures. One feature of the positioners of the invention includes the use of one or more suction elements used to grip the organ or tissue. The main body of the suction element comprises body defining a polyhedral shaped chamber, an elliptical ring structure and a vacuum port. The invention further includes structures to support the suction element and hold the suction element and attached tissue in a fixed position including catheters, lockable flexible arms, and retractors.
US07931577B2

A magnetic field applicator system wherein a plurality of magnets are generally fixed within an applicator base, each of the plurality of magnets having a magnetic axis at an angle different to other magnets in the plurality of magnets. The magnetic axis may be random with respect to others within the plurality of magnets. Also disclosed is a system for making the magnetic field applicator system.
US07931573B2

An exercise assisting apparatus includes a seat supporting buttocks and a foot base supporting the bottom of the feet, and is arranged to swing the seat for contracting leg muscles. An elevator mechanism regulates a position of the seat. A display and manipulator unit has a physique designating section providing a plurality of classes classified according to the user's height, and a moving direction instructing section with pushbuttons instructing the moving direction of the elevator mechanism. The elevator mechanism is controlled by an elevator controller, and includes a position adjusting section configured to read out a position of the elevator mechanism corresponding to the physique designated at the physique designating section for rough adjustment of the position of the elevator mechanism and a position modifying section configured to make a precise adjustment of the position of the elevator mechanism while the moving direction instructing section is manipulated.
US07931571B2

An apparatus suitable for imitating one or more muscle members of a human user during physical therapy, wherein the apparatus is configured to be used in conjunction with the human user having a waist and a leg having a knee. The apparatus includes an adjustable waist belt configured to be secured around the human user's waist and a lower leg support configured to encircle the human user's leg in a vicinity of the knee. The apparatus further includes an elastic member configured to provide an adjustable tensile resistance between the waist belt and the lower leg support.
US07931570B2

A versatile exercise device comprising a level frame; a frame keyhole sequence; a track parallel to two sides of the frame; at least one resistance medium, and a platform comprising at least two wheels, placed and rolling within said track, a platform frame comprising a platform keyhole sequences, and a top panel. The resistance mediums connect the platform to the frame. Preferably, each of two resistance mediums connects one side of the platform with one side of the frame.
US07931567B2

An exercise apparatus and method for isolating an ankle during aerobic exercise on a bicycle configured to be worn on the leg of a person having an ankle injury so that the person may operate the bicycle with the leg having the ankle injury without pressure on the ankle, wherein weight and force are distributed from the pedal to the calf and thigh without implicating the ankle.
US07931561B2

A system and method for setting the slip of a torque converter for a plurality of selected engine speeds and transmission gears. The method includes populating a table off-line, typically using a dynamometer, with torque converter slips for a plurality of selected engine speeds and transmission gears. A speed sensor is used to measure vibrations transmitted through the torque converter to the driveline of the vehicle. The sensor signal is sent to an analyzing system where it is converted to the frequency domain. A separate minimum slip value for each selected engine speed and transmission gear is stored in a table so that during vehicle operation, a controller will instruct the torque converter clutch to set the desired converter slip for the current engine speed and transmission gear provided for a particular throttle position and/or engine torque.
US07931554B2

A flexible endless belt includes cords extending generally lengthwise of the belt in multiple turns. An Outer end of each cord may be located in a position that is not substantially laterally outward of other portion of the laterally outermost turn of the cord so as to prevent fraying of the cord at the outer end. When the belt is received on roller in a baler, the outer ends of the cords lead at least a part of respective transition portions. A carcass for the belt may have a first cord wound in a Z-direction along the length of the belt and comprising at least two threads wound in the Z-direction and a second cord wound in an S-direction along the length of the belt and comprising at least two threads wound in the S-direction.
US07931547B2

Provided are articles comprising targets useful in aiding persons desiring to improve their baseball pitching skills. An article according to one embodiment of the invention comprises a target area that corresponds substantially in size with the strike zone in American baseball, and the target area is divided into quadrants each of a contrasting color with respect to one another. A plurality of characters, such as numbers, are disposed about the periphery of the target area.
US07931541B2

A golf grip training tool utilized on a simulated golf club of reduced length. An abutment is angularly placed on the end of the shaft of the golf club and indicia relating to the placement of the golfer's thumbs and index fingers are attached thereto. Utilizing the abutment and the indicia, the golfer would be able to properly place his or her hands on the upper shaft or handle of the golf club to learn the proper grip.
US07931537B2

Apparatus and methods are provided for enabling a microphone module that connects to a headset jack on a game controller. The microphone may include directional or omni-directional microphone element(s) that pick up voice input from people near a peripheral, such as a game controller, but reject background sounds from the room. User controls may also be available to set the microphone gain level, either manually or automatically, and/or to mute or unmute the microphone. The microphone of the invention can be used on a wired or wireless game controller. When used with a wireless game controller, wireless microphone capabilities and freedom of movement are provided without headdress requirements imposed by headsets.
US07931512B2

A personal watercraft (10) comprises a floatation platform (12) and a separate module (14) including a water propulsor driving crank mechanism (22) and a keel (38) mounting the water propulsor. The separate module (14), when mounted to the platform (12), extends at right angles to the platform with the keel (38) and propeller (40) extending below the platform (12) and the propulsor driving crank mechanism (22) extending above the platform. The separate module (14) is readily separable from the platform (12) for ease of storage and transport.
US07931507B2

An electrical connector includes an insulative housing, a contact retaining member fixed to the insulative housing and a contact partly extending through the contact retaining member. The contact retaining member is fixed in a passageway defined in the insulative housing. The contact retaining member includes a ring and at least one elastic spring extending forwardly from the ring. The ring is closed along its circumferential direction while is central hollow. The contact includes a contact portion resided in the passageway and a fixing portion extending through the ring and the elastic spring under a condition that the fixing portion abuts against a free end of the elastic spring to limit backwardly removal of the contact.
US07931502B2

A card edge connector for electrically coupling between contact electrodes on an electric circuit board and harnesses includes: a housing with a board insertion opening; harness terminals coupling with the harnesses; and junction terminals coupling between contact electrodes and harness terminals. The contact electrodes include first and second contact electrodes on both of first and second surfaces of the board. Each first contact electrode is nearer one end of the board than each second contact electrode. The first and second contact electrodes on the first or second surface are aligned alternately along with a width direction of the board. A first or second end of the junction terminal contacting the contact electrode on the first or second surface extends from a first or second inner wall of the board insertion opening to reach a centerline of the board.
US07931500B2

An electrical connector system may include a plurality wafer assemblies that engage with a substrate. Each wafer assembly includes a housing that defines a plurality of projections extending from an edge of the housing at a mounting end of the wafer assembly. At least a portion of a projection of the plurality of projections of the housing is dimensioned to fit into a corresponding hole in a substrate when the housing is engaged with the substrate. In some implementations, the projection is positioned on the housing to block a line-of-sight between a first signal substrate engagement element of an array of electrical contacts associated with the housing and a second signal substrate engagement element of the array of electrical contacts.
US07931481B2

A balanced transmission connector includes an insulation block including a contact connecting part for connecting with another connector at a front part of the insulation block and connecting with a substrate at a bottom part of the insulation block, a first signal contact including an upper contact portion projecting from the front of the insulation block and a first lead portion projecting from the rear of the insulation block and extending toward the substrate, a second signal contact including a lower contact portion projecting from the front of the insulation block and a second lead portion projecting from the rear of the insulation block and extending toward the substrate, retaining portions formed on a rear part of the insulation block retaining the first and second lead portions from both sides. The first and second lead portions extend substantially in parallel while maintaining a shortest distance with respect to the substrate.
US07931474B2

A high speed connector includes a plurality of wafer-style components, the wafers including two columns of conductive terminals that are supported in an insulative support body by a plurality of channels. Ribs may be provided to help secure one of the terminals in one of the plurality of channels. The two columns of terminals are configured to form broadside coupled terminal pairs and an air channel is at least partially disposed in the wafer between two adjacent broadside coupled terminal pairs.
US07931470B2

An interface device and method for interfacing instruments to a medical procedure simulation system serve to interface peripherals in the form of mock medical instruments to the medical procedure simulation system computer to enable simulation of medical procedures. The interface device includes a housing having a mock bodily region of interest to facilitate insertion of a mock instrument, such as an endoscope tube, into the interface device. The mock bodily region of interest may be pivotable to simulate various patient orientations. The instrument is engaged by a capture mechanism in order to measure rotational and translational motion of the instrument. An actuator is disposed within the interface device to provide force feedback to the instrument. The measured motion is provided to the computer system to reflect instrument motion on the display during the simulation. Alternatively, the interface device may be configured to accommodate instrument assemblies having a plurality of nested instruments (e.g., sheath, catheter and wire), whereby the interface device individually grasps, measures manipulation of and provides force feedback to the nested instruments. In addition, the interface device may be configured to simultaneously accommodate a plurality of independently inserted instruments.
US07931468B2

In an all primary combustion burner, a partition plate that demarcates a mixing chamber between the partition plate and a bottom wall section of a burner main body and a distributing plate that sections a space between the partition plate and the combustion plate into a first distributing chamber and a second distributing chamber are provided in the burner main body to cause a fuel gas and a primary air to flow into the mixing chamber A pressure loss is minimized to make it possible to satisfactorily mix the fuel gas and the primary air. An outlet is formed on a downstream side of the partition plate. A guide plate section that extends to the downstream side while inclining in a normal direction, which approaches the bottom wall section of the burner main body, from an edge on the upstream side of the outlet, is provided in the partition plate.
US07931462B2

A device for manufacturing a three-dimensional object by a layerwise solidification of a building material in powder form at the positions in the respective layer that correspond to the object to be manufactured is provided. A work plane (4) is provided, in which successively layers of the building material in powder form, which are to be solidified, are applied and are partially solidified. An application device (5) for applying a layer of the building material in the work plane or onto a previously solidified layer of the building material has an application surface (53) facing the work plane (4). An adjustment device (59, 60, 54) is provided that is constructed such that an angle (α) between the application surface (53) and the work plane (4) is adjustable.
US07931458B2

Injection structure with a fiber-composite semifinished product for manufacturing a fiber-composite component, having a gate device for feeding matrix material, a distribution fabric, and a barrier layer that is impermeable to the matrix material, wherein the distribution fabric is arranged between the gate device and the fiber-composite semifinished product, and the barrier layer is arranged between the distribution fabric and the fiber-composite semifinished product, as well as device for manufacturing a fiber-composite component by this injection structure.
US07931454B2

A bearing is located with movement of an outer race in the longitudinal direction of a drive shaft being restricted, and the drive shaft is fixed to an inner race with the press fit, so that, it is possible to prevent the drive shaft from escaping. In addition, the inner race is longer than the outer race. Therefore, it is possible to obtain sufficient strength of the press fit of the drive shaft in the inner race while suppressing the size of the outer race (in other words, suppressing the size of the pump device). As a consequence, the size of the pump device can be suppressed while increasing reliability of the function for preventing the drive shaft from escaping.
US07931453B2

A capacity variable device for a rotary compressor and an operation method of an air conditioner having the same are provided. The capacity variable device includes a valve hole in which a sliding valve slidingly inserted is formed at a cylinder, and a bypass hole formed to cross the valve hole and communicating with an intake hole of the cylinder such that resistance of a refrigerant being bypassed is reduced and the operation is performed with its cooling capability lowered. Various operation modes of the air conditioner employing the same are performed and a power consumption is reduced, thus, the efficiency of the compressor is improved. In addition, a structure of the capacity variable device is simplified, thereby lowering a manufacturing cost, simplifying assembly and thusly improving productivity.
US07931443B1

A turbomachine with a row of blades in which the blades are structured such that the blades can untwist at higher rotational speeds in order to provide optimal aerodynamics at different rotational speeds. Each blade is formed with a thin slot between the pressure side wall and the suction side wall so that stresses from centrifugal forces occurring during high rotations will not pass from adjacent walls and allow for the blade to untwist more than a solid blade. Each blade is formed from a fiber laminated composite material with the fibers oriented at different directions to form different stiffness in each direction so that a desired untwist can occur based upon a given blade mass and rotational speed. A thin sheet of a slippery material can be placed within the thin slot and between the adjacent airfoil walls to allow slippage between the adjacent walls and to promote damping for the blade.
US07931433B2

A lift having a platform with a substantially level ride is described. The lift reduces the distance between the ground and the platform in the ground position. An extension plate having receiving portions for accommodating portions of the lift when the platform is in a bed level position.
US07931428B2

An aircraft payload retention system includes a cable, a brake assembly, a hollow crushable member and a hollow structural member. The hollow structural member is fixed adjacent an aircraft internal cargo bay. In response to a high-G condition, the payload may break free from a tie-down system and move forward. The brake assembly engages the hollow crushable member within the hollow structural member and begins to crush the hollow crushable member as the cable is pulled therethrough to dissipate energy of the payload into the structure of the aircraft to arrest forward movement of the payload toward the cockpit.
US07931426B2

A cutting insert for chip removing machining of workpieces, including at least one chip-removal surface that carries away chips, at least one side surface that is a clearance surface, and at least one cutting edge formed between the at least one chip-removal surface and the at least one side surface. The cutting edge includes a main-edge segment that carries out a major part of a chip-removing operation, and a wiping-edge segment that, in the chip-removing operation, wipes off and levels a machined surface of the workpiece. The wiping-edge segment forms a depression.
US07931397B2

Auxiliary fluid tanks associated with transit concrete mixing and dispensing systems are disclosed which include a hydraulic reservoir tank which is adapted to be stowed inside a mixing drum support pedestal. The hydraulic fluid reservoir tank further includes a shaped outer wall defining an enclosed inner space and includes one or more fluid discharge and return connections in the outer wall. The tank is also provided with an internal baffle shape in line with the fluid return connections such that it is addressed by returning hydraulic fluid and deflects and defuses the returning hydraulic fluid so that it thoroughly mixes with cooler reservoir fluid. An auxiliary water tank can also be nested beneath the hydraulic fluid reservoir tank under the hollow support pedestal.
US07931395B2

Provided is a headlamp assembly for vehicles. The headlamp assembly includes: a plurality of lamp modules on each of which a light-emitting device is mounted and each of which has a heat-dissipation structure for dissipating heat generated by the light-emitting device; and a support bracket which supports the lamp modules, wherein at least one of the lamp modules supported by the support bracket can be aimed individually with respect to the support bracket.
US07931392B2

A motorcycle includes a fork assembly and a headlight. The fork assembly is provided with a cavity. The headlight is at least partially disposed within the cavity in the fork assembly and is configured to selectively provide illumination ahead of the motorcycle.
US07931388B2

An adjustable illumination apparatus includes an illumination source having a housing carrying an illuminatable element. A mount is adapted to surround an imaging system lens. An extensible and retractable support has first and second ends mounts the illumination source to the mount. First and second connections movably couple the first and second ends of the support to the mount and the illumination source. The support includes one or more telescoping legs or a cross link bar assembly. In one aspect, the apparatus includes multiple illumination sources. The connections allow each illumination source to be independently positioned relative to other illumination sources. The illuminatable elements in each illumination source may be independently controlled.
US07931382B2

An illuminated bar gun, having a first housing portion; a second housing portion dimensioned to connect with the first housing portion and form a unitary body; a recess formed in one or both of the first and second housing portions; and an illumination source fitted within the recess. The present invention also provides an illuminated beverage dispensing handle, having a first portion and a second portion; cavities formed in the first portion and a recess formed in said second portion; and an illumination source fitted inside the cavity, the recess, or both.
US07931381B2

A lighting unit for use in illuminating an oven cavity is internally, asymmetrically constructed and externally, substantially symmetrically constructed. Due to the symmetrical external construction, the lighting unit can be readily mounted in an oven cavity in multiple configurations to establish varying levels of illumination depending on the selected mounting arrangement. In particular, the lighting unit can be rotated prior to insertion in a side wall opening of the oven cavity, with the illumination intensity varying depending on the selected mounting position. In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the outer shell is rectangular in shape to establish two distinct, potential mounting positions upon rotation of the lighting unit 180°, with the level of illumination varying in the order of at least 45% between the two mounting positions.
US07931378B2

A control system includes a principal light source for outputting light to a light path used for image projection, an auxiliary light source for outputting light to the light path, and a control section for controlling light intensity of the auxiliary light source, and the control section performs one of control of setting combined light intensity obtained by combining light intensity of the principal light source and the light intensity of the auxiliary light source with each other in a certain range, or control of setting the combined light intensity to be equal to or higher than a predetermined value.
US07931364B1

An optical insert carrier that may retain a left and right lens having at least two opening holes. The optical insert carrier maybe attached to the back side of a pair of sunglasses having a right and left lens, wherein the back side is the side of the sunglasses that faces the wearer. The optical insert carrier is made from thin sheet or molded material in the range of 0.010 to 0.060 thickness.
US07931360B2

A priming system for priming an inkjet printhead having an ink inlet, an ink outlet and a plurality of nozzles, the priming system comprising: an ink chamber having an outlet port connected to the ink inlet via an upstream ink line; an air pump having a pump outlet communicating with a headspace above the ink in the ink chamber; a sensor positioned for sensing ink in a downstream ink line connected to the ink outlet, the sensor cooperating with the pump such that the pump is shut off when the sensor senses any ink; and means for minimizing phantom sensing of ink caused by ink bubbles in the downstream ink line, wherein, in a priming configuration, the pump is configured to positively pressurize the headspace until the sensor senses ink.
US07931354B2

Second individual electrodes are formed and arranged in zigzag in two rows on one surface of a flexible sheet, and wirings connected to the second individual electrodes are arranged to pass between adjacent second individual electrodes of the other row. Formed on the other surface of the flexible sheet are electrode connection sections to be connected to the second individual electrodes through through-holes going through the flexible sheet. The electrode connection section has an area larger than the second individual electrode and is connected to an external electrode through solder.
US07931351B2

A printhead for an inkjet printer includes a wafer assembly defining spaced apart groups of ink supply channels; and groups of ink ejection nozzle arrangements extending from the wafer assembly and in fluid communication with respective ink supply channel groups, each group of ink ejection nozzle arrangements including a pair of rows of ink ejection nozzle arrangements. Each nozzle arrangement includes an ink ejection head from which an actuator tail extends. Each pair of rows of ink ejection nozzle arrangements are arranged such that the ink ejection heads of the ink ejection nozzle arrangements in a first row of the pair face toward and are adjacent to the ink ejection heads of the ink ejection nozzle arrangements in a second row.
US07931345B2

A motor vehicle brake system having a hydraulic cable, via which a wheel brake module can be pressurized by a brake medium using brake pressure from a brake cylinder and to which a low pressure accumulator is connected for temporarily receiving excess brake medium, wherein the low pressure accumulator is connected to the hydraulic cable via a backflow line and a return pump interposed in the return line in order to return temporarily stored brake medium, the return pump being cyclically actuated for adjusting the pump capacity such that an activation occurs within each braking cycle during a portion of pump cycles that corresponds to the pump capacity, is intended to provide particularly high operational safety while also providing a comfortable pedal sensation.
US07931342B2

An apparatus for dispensing a predetermined amount of adhesive weighted tape includes a controller adapted to receive a request for a desired amount of adhesive weighted tape and an elongated track member adapted to receive a supply of the adhesive weighted tape. A sensor is mounted adjacent a second end of the track member. The sensor in communication with the controller is operable to transmit a signal to the controller corresponding to a measured amount of weighted tape passing thereby. A motive apparatus in communication with the controller is adapted to move the weighted tape from a first end to the second end of the track member in response to the signal from the sensor. A cutting member disposed adjacent the second end of the track member is in communication with the controller and is adapted to cut the weighted tape in response to the signal from the sensor.
US07931335B1

A car seat protector for covering and protecting a car seat from becoming soiled, where the car seat has a sitting area and a back rest, where the back rest has sides and a top, and where the car seat is mounted to a chassis such that the back rest is attached to the chassis and a gap is formed between the chassis and the back rest along the sides and the top of the back rest; and where the car seat protector comprises: a seat portion, comprising fabric of sufficient size and shape to cover the sitting area of the car seat; a back portion, comprising fabric of sufficient size and shape to cover the back rest of the car seat, where the back portion has sides and a top; a back side portion, comprising fabric extending from the sides and top of the back portion, where the back side portion is of sufficient size and shape to cover the sides and top of the back rest and extend beyond the gap formed between the chassis and the back rest; and a plurality of retention parts encased within the back side portion, such that the retention parts may be inserted into the gap formed between the chassis and the back rest.
US07931327B2

A vehicle includes at least one tailgate defining a door plane, wherein the tailgate is attached to the vehicle chassis in a jointed fashion by at least one multiple hinge having at least three pivot axes offset from one another and at least two pairs of pivotally connected hinge arms, of which a first hinge arm is pivotally connected to the vehicle chassis and a second hinge arm is pivotally connected to the tailgate. The multiple hinge is associated with a drivetrain controlling the motion of the hinge arms in the pivot axes. The door plane is moved along a predetermined motion path when the tailgate travels from a closed position, in which the tailgate spans a closed plane, to an open position, in which the tailgate spans an opening plane. The motion path of the door plane includes rotary and translational components, and the closed plane forms an angle to the opening plane in the range from 70° to 110°, preferably about 90°.
US07931320B2

A method is provided for assembling a load bar assembly. The method includes providing a first linear stage having a first alignment mechanism that is configured to move the load bar assembly in a first direction. A second linear stage is provided that includes a second alignment mechanism that is configured to move the load bar in a second direction that is different from the first direction. The first alignment mechanism is positioned with respect to the second alignment mechanism such that the first alignment mechanism and the second alignment mechanism are prevented from being back-driven. The first alignment mechanism and the second alignment mechanism are configured to lock if one of the first alignment mechanism and the second alignment mechanism fails.
US07931305B2

The invention concerns a security document (1) comprising a transparent window (12) in which a first optical element (15) is arranged and a second transparent window (13) in which a second optical element (16) is arranged. The first transparent window (12) and the second transparent window (13) are arranged on a carrier (11) of the security document (1) in mutually spaced relationship in such a way that the first and the second optical elements (15, 16) can be brought into overlapping relationship with each other. The first optical element (15) has a first transmissive microlens field and the second optical element (16) has a second transmissive microlens field, wherein a first optical effect is produced upon overlap of the second microlens field with the first microlens field.
US07931302B2

A mud flap mounting assembly for vehicles providing an elongate laterally extending central support beam defining a medial channel slidably carrying similar elongate mud flap extensions extendible from each opposing end to positions laterally outward of the vehicles' rear tires. The central support beam is secured to a ball mount receiving box beam extending rearwardly from the vehicle by two medial spacedly adjacent depending fastening arms carrying two vertically spaced fasteners extending therethrough above and below the receiving box beam. A mud flap mounting arm carrying a depending mud flap is fastened to the laterally outer end portion of each mud flap extension. A collar carried at the inner end portion of each mud flap mounting arm and having a releasable fastener positionally secures and maintains the mud flap extension and mud flap mounting arm to the central support beam.
US07931298B2

An example airbag assembly includes an airbag and a duct. The duct has a duct opening for venting gas. The duct is moveable between a first position where the duct opening is outside the airbag and a second position where the duct opening is inside the airbag. Inflating the airbag moves the duct between the first position and the second position. The airbag is configured to be inflated by a first stream of gas moving from the duct opening to an interior of the airbag and by a second stream of gas moving from an airbag inflator to the interior of the airbag. The first stream of gas is separate from the second stream of gas.
US07931296B2

A steering system includes a steering column and a steering wheel gear that are offset from each other so that the torque of steering wheel is transmitted to steering column. An airbag module received in a steering wheel hub of steering wheel is independently mounted such that it is not rotated together with steering wheel by using an offset torque transmission structure interconnecting the steering wheel and steering column. Such configuration allows deployment of a cushion having an asymmetrical optimum shape configured to avoid contacting the chest of a passenger. As the airbag module is not rotated, it is possible to significantly improve the design visibility of a logo.
US07931294B2

A side airbag apparatus 23 includes an airbag 27 and a guide member 30, which guides inflation and deployment of the airbag 27. The airbag 27 is fixed to a right side wall 24a of a seat frame 24. A part of the airbag 27 protrudes further forward than a front end 24A of the right side wall 24a. The airbag 27 is supplied with gas from an inflator 26, so as to be inflated and deployed in a space between a body side portion of a vehicle and an occupant seated in a front seat 21. The guide member 30 guides the airbag 27 forward when it is inflated and deployed. The guide member 30 includes a guide portion 30c and a first bending portion 30a, which extends from the guide portion 30c. The guide portion 30c is arranged to face a surface of the airbag 27 facing the interior of the vehicle at least in an area forward of the right side wall 24a. The first bending portion 30a is flexed rightward when receiving load from the left. Also, the first bending portion 30a restricts the guide portion 30c from being flexed leftward when receiving the force of inflation and deployment of the airbag 27.
US07931293B2

An airbag is provided. The airbag is configured to extend longitudinally along a side of a vehicle and includes a first section configured to inflate in a longitudinal and vertical direction, a second section coupled to the first section and configured to inflate in a longitudinal and vertical direction, an inlet for receiving inflation gas from an inflator, tabs positioned at the top of the airbag for attaching the airbag to a ceiling of the vehicle and chambers positioned between the tabs along the top of the airbag, wherein the chambers stabilize the airbag during deployment.
US07931292B2

A flexible sole for a cross-country ski boot and a cross-country ski boot having such sole. The sole includes at least two members for connecting the boot to a binding device, the connecting members including portions anchored in the sole, the connecting members being fixed to a common anchoring element, the anchoring element being affixed to a predetermined section of the sole, the anchoring element including two anchoring zones, each connecting member being fixed to one of the anchoring zones, and the anchoring element including a central zone extending between the two anchoring zones, such central zone of the anchoring element being sufficiently flexible to enable, during the use of the boot, the bending of the predetermined section of the sole to which the anchoring element is affixed.
US07931282B2

An automatically variable vehicle ground clearance for motor vehicles with semi-elliptical spring suspensions. A drive member is placed at each wheel corner to be height adjusted, the drive member being motor driven. An operator may select a height preference by operation of a switch, or a controller may provide a range of height selections based upon an algorithm which is responsive to sensed vehicle ride conditions, as for example vehicle speed, to optimize vehicle performance.
US07931276B2

A brush seal, comprising: a bristle arrangement with a plurality of bristles; and a joint securing the bristles together; plates flanking the bristle arrangement; and a feature on the plates to receive the joint. A brush seal, comprising: a plurality of bristles, each having a first end and an opposed second end; and plates receiving the bristles therebetween, each having a first end and a second end. The first ends of the bristles extend past the first end of the plates and the second ends of the bristles reside between the first and second ends of the plates. A method of repairing a brush seal, comprising the steps of: providing a brush seal having a bristle arrangement secured between plates; removing the bristle arrangement from the plates; providing a replacement bristle arrangement; and placing said replacement bristle arrangement between the plates.
US07931271B2

A document feeding device includes: a document placing tray; a document ejection tray disposed above the document placing tray; a feeding path; a separating mechanism; and ejection rollers. A nip position of the ejection rollers is arranged in a side opposite to a side where the document placing tray is arranged with reference to a vertical plane passing through a separation position of the separating mechanism.
US07931269B2

A media path jam clearance apparatus installable in a supporting structure includes media drive mechanisms for moving flexible media through media paths and a rotatable, removable jam clearance element. Within the jam clearance element facing surfaces of guide elements define guide surfaces for media paths, with the guide elements having external surfaces capable of supporting the flexible media as it is wrapped around the external surfaces. A pivotal support element supports and enables rotational movement of the jam clearance element within the supporting structure. The jam clearance element may be partially or entirely extracted from the supporting structure.
US07931266B2

A sheet feeding device is provided. The sheet feeding device includes a sheet holder to hold a sheet in a position to be fed, a feed roller to pick up the sheet, a first lifter to move a closer portion of the sheet holder by one of a front end and a rear end thereof, a second lifter to move a further portion of the sheet holder by one of a front end and a rear end thereof, and a coordinating system to move the first lifter and the second lifter in cooperation with each other to move the overall sheet holder in a direction to be closer to the feed roller, wherein an amount of the sheet holder to be moved by the first lifter is greater according to a constant rate with respect to an amount of the sheet holder to be moved by the second lifter.
US07931265B2

A sheet feeder includes a feed roller feeding a sheet while rotating in a feeding direction, a driving gear that rotates in a predetermined direction and transmits a driving force, a first gear mechanism transmitting the force to the feed roller to rotate the feed roller in a reverse direction opposite to the feeding direction, and a second gear mechanism transmitting the force to the feed roller to rotate the feed roller in the feeding direction. The driving gear includes a first engaging member that engages with the first gear mechanism and transmits the force to the first gear mechanism at a rotational angle of the driving gear within a first range, and a second engaging member that engages with the second gear mechanism and transmits the force to the second gear mechanism at the rotational angle within a second range having no common range with the first range.
US07931250B2

A sidewall construction for casting concrete elements, said sidewall construction comprising a mold surface plate (4) defining the surface of the product to be cast and a support construction (1, 2, 3), where the mold surface plate is fixed to, whereby the support construction is formed of two horizontal aluminum profiles (1, 2) and of at least one vertical aluminum profile (3) connecting the same.
US07931247B2

An apparatus for mounting a jacking device is provided, which is fixed to a flat surface of a trunk compartment in a vehicle, and can conveniently mount the jacking device through pushing of the jacking device from the front to the rear. The mounted state of the jacking device is maintained by restraining the jacking device from being moved in all directions. The jacking device mounting apparatus includes a lower plate fixed to a flat surface in a vehicle, on which a jacking device is mounted; an upper plate placed over the lower plate and spaced apart from the lower plate to from a first space therebetween, a center portion of the upper plate being cut to form a second space; a locking pin for locking a forward of the upper plate; and locking-pin fixing brackets for fixing the locking pin.
US07931230B2

A vehicle (1) for riding on land and flying in air comprises: a cabin (2) with wheels (3, 4), the cabin (2) being designed for accommodating at least one person, a rotor (40) having a rotor axle (41), a rotor base (44) and rotor blades (45) mounted to the rotor base (44); a support bracket (30) carrying the rotor (40), the support bracket (30) having a bottom section (31) extending substantially parallel to the cabin roof, and having at least one leg section (32) extending substantially parallel to the cabin side, the leg section (32) having a free end connected to the cabin (2); wherein the rotor blades (45) are hingedly mounted to the rotor base (44); and wherein the bottom bracket (31) part with the rotor (40) is displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle (1).
US07931217B2

A coil is located radially outside of a pipe. An inner connector is located radially inside of the pipe. A moving core is located radially inside of the pipe and opposed to the inner connector. A housing surrounds both an outer circumferential periphery of the coil and one axial end of the coil. A cover surrounds an other axial end of the coil. An outer connector leads fuel into the pipe. The pipe and the cover are integrally formed and one single component as a with-cover pipe member. The inner connector and the outer connector are integrally formed and an other single component as a connector member. The connector member is partially inserted in the axial direction radially inside the pipe of the with-cover pipe member.
US07931213B2

A portable scent dispensing device includes a base having a warming element for heating scented matter situated thereon, the warming element being configured for electrical communication with a power source. The dispensing device includes a first switch for actuating the warming element with the power source. A hood is directly above the base and includes a fan configured for electrical communication with the power source, the hood being separated from the base to allow the scented matter to be positioned upon the warming element. A first wall extends upwardly from the base and a second wall extends downwardly from the hood. At least one fastener maintains the hood at respective heights directly above the base by maintaining the second wall at respective positions relative to the first wall, wherein the first wall and the second wall collectively surround at least about halfway around the scented matter.
US07931212B2

A fluid dispersion device comprises a substrate (3) having an outer section (25) and an inner section (26), said inner section (26) of the substrate (3) having an aperture (11), a dispersion element (10) positioned at said aperture (11) of said substrate (3), and an actuator (4) arranged to coaxially surround said aperture (11) of said substrate (3), wherein the outer edge of said inner section (26) of said substrate (3) is coupled to said outer section (25) of said substrate by a plurality of resilient members (81, 82, 83).
US07931209B2

Described herein is a system for controlling an air-conditioning system within an environment, in particular the passenger compartment of a vehicle, said system comprising a plurality of sensors designed to detect quantities representing the thermal comfort of the occupants and an electronic control unit (ECU), which calculates, on the basis of said quantities, a temperature indicating the thermal comfort of the occupants of the environment, on the basis of which the actuator devices of the air-conditioning system are driven.
US07931207B2

An optically variable magnetic stripe assembly includes a magnetic layer, an optically variable effect generating layer over the magnetic layer, and a reflective layer between the magnetic layer and the optically variable effect generating layer. The reflective layer includes at least one metal portion.
US07931201B2

A sample plate for supporting bar code scanning is provided, comprising first-circle sample slots distributed along the circumference of the sample plate and clear slots each communicating correspondingly with each of the sample slots, wherein an angle α is formed between the line connecting the center of the circle of each first-circle sample slot to that of the sample plate and the axis of the corresponding clear slot, and the range of α is 4°<α<8°. As an angle is formed between the direction of the axis of the clear slot and that of the diameter of the sample plate, it is able to guarantee a reasonable range of the incident angle when the bar code scanning light is projected on the surface of the bar code.
US07931197B2

Architecture that utilizes RFID technology in product manufacturing and lifecycle management to track the depletion of inventory, verify the correctness of a part, monitor the completeness of an assembled product, and check a returned product to determine warranty procedure. An RFID reader, or reader/writer, can sense information of an RFID tag associated with an item at various stages of product life. The information can be compared with data associated with the RFID-tagged item, and appropriate action can be taken based on the comparison. A machine learning and reasoning component can be utilized to generate automatic action based on the information.
US07931183B2

A surgical instrument for performing an end-to-end anastomosis of first and second luminal structures includes a housing having an actuator attached thereto and a selectively removable loading unit attached to a distal end of the housing which supports any array of surgical fasteners at a distal end thereof. The surgical fasteners are simultaneously deformable upon activation of the actuator such that a distal end of each surgical fastener secures each end of each luminal structure to complete the end-to-end anastomosis wherein the resulting eversion is exterior to the luminal structures.
US07931176B1

An easily detachable golf bag carrier for a motorcycle has a platform detachably mountable on a specialized foot peg and a cradle detachably mountable on a fastening rail, all of which are preferably chromed. The foot peg has a tongue and a frame with a slot within which a coupling end of the platform may be pinned. The tongue is adapted to mate with existing foot peg mounting brackets on the motorcycle. The fastening rail has mounting holes adapted to mate with existing fender holes in a motorcycle and the cradle has an arcuate arm for embracing a golf bag which is placed on an accessory end of the platform. The fastening rail and cradle have male and female mating members. The platform and cradle may be easily detached and stored, for example in a saddlebag, and the specialized foot peg and mounting rail left in place without detracting from the motorcycle's functionality or appearance.
US07931171B2

A tank base (12) is formed of a mount block (13) and a feed tube (16), and a first paint passage (17) is provided internally through the feed tube (16). A baggy tank (19) is composed of a support member (20) and a bag member (21) having opposite ends thereof securely fixed to the support member (20) to define a paint chamber (22) therein. A second paint passage (23) is provided in a fore end portion (20A) of the support member (20). A tank accommodating case (25) is provided to accommodate the bag member (21). The baggy tank (19) is set in position within the tank accommodating case (25) with opposite ends of the support member (20) gripped between the mount block (13) of the tank base (12) and the tank accommodating case (25), bringing the paint chamber (22) into communication with the first paint passage (17) through the second paint passage (23).
US07931158B1

A tool suspension rack includes a support board provided with two through holes, and an elongate flexible clamping strap extending through the two through holes of the support board and provided with a plurality of barb-shaped locking pieces extending through at least one of the two through holes of the support board and locked on a side of the support board. Thus, the locking pieces of the clamping strap in turn extend through the two through holes of the support board to clamp and tighten the tool between the clamping strap and the support board easily and quickly, thereby facilitating a user mounting the tool onto the tool suspension rack.
US07931153B2

The invention relates to a method of making a solid-liquid filtration cloth, a solid-liquid filtration cloth, and a filter in which the solid-liquid filtration cloth is arranged. The filter cloth (7) is provided with yarns (13b) having a highly changing length and a long free run in the weave. When the length of the yarns (13b) is allowed to shorten significantly, a filtration portion (15) on the side of a surface (14) of the cloth obtains a corrugated shape, providing the cloth with a large filtering area.
US07931149B2

A storage unit is provided for removably storing an in vivo imaging capsule. The capsule may have a housing and an optical dome. The storage unit may include a recessed space formed for accepting the capsule. A magnet for magnetically activating and deactivating the capsule may be provided in the storage unit, for example in the lid. The storage unit may also include a capsule holding unit comprising at least two protruding elements to removably hold the capsule in the storage unit, wherein the protruding elements are positioned to grip the capsule housing.
US07931146B2

The present invention relates to a photomask case structure, and more particularly to a photomask case able to firmly fix position of a photomask, which includes an upper cover, a lower cover, supporters and position fixing pieces. Accordingly, when a photomask is retained within the photomask case, then elastic holding portions of the position fixing pieces are used to elastically hold one side of the photomask, beveled edges of the position fixing pieces are used to hold another side of the photomask, and finally press portions of the elastic holding portions are used to elastically press down on the surface of the photomask, thereby firmly retaining the photomask within the photomask case, and preventing impact damage to the photomask from occurring.
US07931140B2

A cosmetic container with integrated mixing insert which serve for mixing up or thoroughly mixing an application substance contained in the cosmetic container and/or for preventing or delaying the separation of the contained application substance into the phases thereof. In that respect the mixing insert is of a configuration that an application substance is mixed up in the cosmetic container shortly prior to application by a respective mixing operation in order to guarantee homogeneity of the application substance.
US07931136B2

A shopping cart conveyor system is designed to shut the system down in the event that a shopping cart becomes jammed. The system includes a track operable to guide a shopping cart between a first location and a second location, and a drive assembly for moving a shopping cart along the track. The drive assembly includes engagement members movable relative to the track and operable to engage and move a shopping cart from the first location to the second location, and a drive motor (e.g., an electric motor) operable to provide movement to the engagement members. A force sensor detects a parameter (e.g., motor current) of the drive assembly corresponding with a force required to move the engagement members. A controller receives information regarding a frequency of change in the parameter and compares that information to a known value (e.g., a frequency of the engagement members). Preferably, the controller is programmed to stop the drive motor when the frequency of change of the parameter falls within a certain range of the parameter (e.g., frequency of the engagement members).
US07931127B2

In an elevator apparatus, a brake device is controlled by a brake control device. The brake control device is capable of performing braking force reduction control for reducing the braking force of the brake device at a time of emergency braking of a car. The brake control device monitors a running state of the car at the time of emergency braking thereof, and makes a switchover between validity and invalidity of braking force reduction control such that the car is stopped within a preset allowable stopping distance.
US07931121B2

A transfer platform for safely transferring a lineman from a helicopter to a utility pole includes a cylindrical hollow member dimensioned to closely fit over the top of the pole, the member having an open lower end and a top cap closing the upper end thereof, the top cap abutting the top of the pole when the member is positioned on the pole, a step extending sidewardly from the member, the step being substantially parallel to and lower than the top cap and an equipment support assembly extending sidewardly from the member. An aperture is formed in the member beneath the underside of the step and an adjustable shim assembly extends through the aperture into the hollow of the member.
US07931114B2

An adapter or an appliance for use with an independently operable consumer electronic device having a user interface. The adapter comprises a holding device forming a device cavity capable of admitting the consumer electronic device in a predetermined orientation. An access opening into the device cavity exposes a portion of the consumer electronic device when the consumer electronic device is in the predetermined orientation. The portion of the consumer electronic device exposed includes at least a portion of the user interface.
US07931106B1

All terrain vehicle including front wheels, rear wheels, vehicle body frame, first roof supports, second roof supports, roof members, seat, front panel, front gear case, front suspensions, vehicle body cover, radiator, and head light units. The vehicle body frame includes upper frames, lower frames, and front frames. The first and second roof supports are each provided at lateral sides of the vehicle body frame. The right roof member connects upper portions of the right first and second roof supports. The left roof member connects upper portions of the left first and second roof supports. The radiator is positioned rearward of the front frames, forward of the front suspensions, and in a transverse center of the vehicle. The head light units are positioned above and longitudinally overlapping with the radiator.
US07931105B2

A structure for mounting a battery onto an electric vehicle comprising: a body member, which is made from metal, forming a body of the electric vehicle a battery case, which is made from resin, containing the battery charging electric power for driving the electric vehicle; a framework member, which is made from metal, being embedded in the battery case; and a connecting member connecting between the framework member and the body member.
US07931102B2

In a 2-motor drive mode with connection of both motors with a driveshaft by means of a transmission, a hybrid vehicle sets torque commands of the motors based on a torque demand set at step S110, in order to minimize the sum of a loss of the motors and to ensure output of a power equivalent to a preset torque demand to the driveshaft.
US07931101B2

An input device, such as a joystick, provides proportional input signals related to a position of an actuating member along an actuation surface and also includes a switch that provides an additional signal when the actuating member is moved in a direction perpendicular to the actuation surface.
US07931098B2

A drilling system includes a steerable bottomhole assembly (BHA) having a steering unit and a control unit that provide dynamic control of drill bit orientation or tilt. Exemplary steering units can adjust bit orientation at a rate that approaches or exceeds the rotational speed of the drill string or drill bit, can include a dynamically adjustable articulated joint having a plurality of elements that deform in response to an excitation signal, can include adjustable independently rotatable rings for selectively tilting the bit, and/or can include a plurality of selectively extensible force pads. The force pads are actuated by a shape change material that deforms in response to an excitation signal. A method of directional drilling includes continuously cycling the position of the steering unit based upon the rotational speed of the drill string and/or drill bit and with reference to an external reference point.
US07931092B2

A packer system for a wellbore includes a tubular member and a packer element mounted on the tubular member. The packer element is formed of a swellable polymeric material, the packer element having a radially-outward external surface, the surface including a plurality of radially-inwardly extending recesses formed therein. The recesses provide additional surface area that can contact a swelling fluid, thereby increasing the swelling rate of the packer element.
US07931091B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for lining a wellbore. In certain aspects, the systems and methods comprise providing a fluid composition that is solidifiable or gellable on exposure to actinic radiation of a predetermined wavelength at the wall of open-hole wellbore and providing actinic radiation at the predetermined wavelength to solidify or gel the composition.
US07931071B2

A heat exchanger includes an evaporation side heat pipe in which a working fluid flowing therein is heat exchanged with a high-temperature fluid to be evaporated, a condensation side heat pipe in which the working fluid flowing therein is heat exchanged with a low-temperature fluid to be condensed, and an inner fin located at least in the evaporation side heat pipe to increase a heat transmission area of the evaporation side heat pipe with the working fluid. The evaporation side heat pipe and the condensation side heat pipe are connected to form a closed cycle, and the evaporation side heat pipe is arranged such that the working fluid flows in the evaporation side heat pipe in a direction different from a horizontal direction. Furthermore, the inner fin has a bottom end that is positioned above a top surface of the working fluid at least in a liquid state.
US07931064B2

The invention teaches a new way to make mesh bags using adhesive labels and continuous mesh tubing. Using adhesive labels on continuous mesh tubing is made possible by guiding the mesh tubing both on the outside of the tubing and the inside of the tubing so that an adhesive label does not stick to the mesh surface on the other side of the mesh tubing. As a result the invention also teaches a new type of mesh bag made with this process and a new machine used for making mesh bags.
US07931060B2

This adhesion chain for the wheel of a motor vehicle comprises an adhesion tread intended to be in contact with at least the tread of the wheel concerned, and kept in place by means of respectively external and internal tensioning cables. The adhesion tread consists of a net prepared from textile material, said net being prepared by knitting of cords themselves prepared by knitting, so as to define the meshes of said net, and in that the cords include a reinforcing core from a high-modulus material.
US07931048B2

A water conditioner includes a plate located diametrically across a pipe and a plurality of posts in lines on, or substantially parallel to, the longitudinal axis of the plane and extending from either side thereof, to be close to the periphery of a pipe with which the water conditioner is located. There may also be a plurality of ribs extending from either side of the plate and adjacent the posts for providing a plurality of discreet paths through the water conditioner.
US07931039B2

The present invention provides a foldable frame structure, which comprises a limit portion, a canopy portion and a frame body. The limit portion encloses an area with a predetermined figure. The canopy portion is connected with the limit portion. The frame body is connected with the canopy portion for lifting the canopy portion from the limit portion. The frame body further comprises a plurality of cambered areas, a plurality of first overlapping ends, a plurality of second overlapping ends and a plurality of contacting ends. The plurality of contacting ends press against the limit portion respectively. The plurality of first overlapping ends are aligned along an extended direction. Each of the cambered areas is simultaneously connected with another cambered area at the first overlapping end and connected with yet another cambered area at the second overlapping end. Thus, the foldable frame structure can be collapsed for storage by making the plurality of cambered areas come into close contact with one another successively.
US07931031B2

A hairstyling device composed of a handle (1), at least one heating part (3) cooperating with a retaining part (2), each mounted in a respective housing (6, 22; 5, 20) joined to the handle (1), at least one of the heating (3) or retaining (2) parts being float-mounted inside its housing (6, 5), hair being able to be inserted between the heating part (3) and the retaining part (2). At least one of the heating (3) or retaining (2) parts has a first permanent magnet (11) cooperating with a second, opposing permanent magnet (12) belonging to its housing (6, 22; 5, 20), the second permanent magnet being mounted in phase with the first.
US07931028B2

A hand held device generates a predetermined number of pulses of electromagnetic radiation having a predetermined electromagnetic spectrum, a predetermined duration, a predetermined inter-pulse interval, and a predetermined total energy. The pulse sequence is delivered to a skin surface to reduce or eliminate Xray or ultraviolet radiation damage to the skin surface.
US07931018B1

This specification discloses a structure of the paintball gun. It comprises a body, a pressuring set, and a triggering set. The body has an axial passage whose front end forms a paintball outlet. The triggering set and the pressuring set are disposed in sequence inside the passage. The triggering set has a bushing, a guide pillar, and a bolt. The bushing is fixed inside the passage. The bolt is mounted on the guide pillar and disposed together inside the bushing. Air after being pressurized by the pressing set enters the triggering set. A control valve controls the flow path of the air in the triggering set in order to push the guide pillar backward. The air thus pushes the bolt toward the paintball outlet of the passage for triggering.
US07931017B2

An assembly structure of an action and a gas cylinder includes a furniture which is provided with an action and an interior of the action is accommodated with a gas cylinder. A power source can be provided to the furniture by the gas cylinder. By the aforementioned structure, an issue in a conventional toy gun or training gun that when a clip is taken down, the power source is also removed is broken through. By using the present invention, when a user takes down the clip, the furniture is still provided with the power source to shoot out a last round of bullet left in the furniture, thereby enabling the present invention to be equipped with practicability and progressiveness of a realistic sparring effect.
US07931015B2

A diesel engine may be stably controlled without an exhaust gas temperature at an upstream side of a turbocharger, by a method for controlling a diesel engine that includes: detecting an engine rotation speed; detecting or estimating a lambda value; estimating an exhaust gas temperature at an upstream side of a turbocharger by using relationship between the lambda value and an exhaust temperature; determining whether the estimated exhaust gas temperature exceeds a first predetermined reference value; and limiting an engine output power and/or regeneration of a CPF when the estimated exhaust gas temperature exceeds the first predetermined reference value.
US07931014B2

An ignition control circuit and method of operation provides a very simple but highly effective prevention of engine reverse rotation upon starting by prohibiting ignition when a reverse rotation situation arises.
US07931010B2

A fuel supply system for a boat prevents deterioration in engine startability and includes a vapor separator tank arranged to contain fuel at an inner fuel level “P” at a predetermined height, an injector arranged to supply fuel to an engine, and a high-pressure fuel pump that is disposed outside the vapor separator tank and that is arranged to supply the fuel reserved in the vapor separator tank to the injector. The high-pressure fuel pump includes a negative pressure generating portion arranged to generate negative pressure when the high-pressure fuel pump draws fuel, the negative pressure generating portion being positioned lower than the fuel level “P” in the vapor separator tank.
US07931002B1

A method for improving starting of an engine that may be repeatedly stopped and started is presented. In one embodiment, the method skips combustion in at least one cylinder, according to the engine combustion order, to control engine speed when an engine is automatically restarted. The skipped combustion event may be related to a level of IMEP when combustion in a cylinder occurs under an operating condition.
US07931001B2

The invention proposes a push-rod valve train having an adjustable valve tappet (1). This has an outer part (2a, 2b), an inner part (8) and a lost-motion spring (10), which forces the inner part (8) towards a relative position, at least one retainer ring (23), which is fixed in an annular groove (21) of the outer part (2a, 2b) and which interacts with a stop face (22) of the inner part (8), being provided for fixing the relative position, said retainer ring having lugs (28) extending radially inwards and separated by a fitting gap (27). In this the free movement of the valve push rod (15) relative to the lugs (28) is assured by the provision of a torsional locking means (30a, 30b), which serves to fix the radial position of the fitting gap (27) inside the annular groove (21).
US07931000B2

A first one-way valve is provided in a first advance passage connecting a hydraulic pump to a control advance chamber. A second one-way valve is provided in a first retard passage connecting the hydraulic pump to a control retard chamber. A first control valve is provided in a second advance passage to bypass the first one-way valve for communication of the first advance passage. A second control valve is provided in a second retard passage to bypass the second one-way valve for communication of the first retard passage. The first control valve operates by the pilot pressure to close the second advance passage at advance controlling and opening it at retard controlling. The second control valve operates by the pilot pressure to close the second retard passage at retard controlling and open it at advance controlling.
US07930996B2

The present invention, in one exemplary embodiment, relates a method of manufacturing an animal chew by molding two body portions of a first material each having at least one concave surface and one or more through holes, attaching the two portions together such that the concave surfaces face one another to form a hollow body portion, injecting a second material into the hollow body portion to fill at least a portion of the hollow body and form areas of exposed regions of the second material by filling the one or more through holes. In a second exemplary embodiment, the two portions may have the concave surfaces over-molded with a second material which fills the one or more through holes. In a third exemplary embodiment, a separate shape of a second material may be molded in a configuration having dimensions complementary to the two half portion and holes when the portions are combined.
US07930989B2

Assembly for repelling birds from a selected area and method of making it. A rotor is assembled from a plurality of identical fin panels and rotatably mounted on a supporting pole within the selected area. Graphic designs comprising bird scaring holographic and/or diffractive images may be placed on the pole and/or rotor to simulate movement even when the rotor is stationary. The fin panels may be transparent and reflective to project light beams between and away from rotor surfaces. Outwardly projecting fin segments and a rotor barrel with vents are responsive to wind currents to rotate the rotor and generate bird repelling noises and visual effects.
US07930982B2

A support for a support material that is to be embroidered, comprising a strip-shaped support that in a conveying direction thereof and/or transversely to the conveying direction is provided with a plurality of window-like openings for passage of an embroidery needle, wherein the window-like openings are adapted to be covered by the support material. A conveying device is provided and has a drive mechanism for displacing the strip-shaped support. An embroidery machine or sawing machine incorporating the conveying device is also provided.
US07930977B2

Non-lethal ammunition for a riot gun assembles a bi-chambered projectile body and an impact nose, the assembly being spin-stabilized and nose-heavy such that the nose will impact first at the target. The rearward end of the assembly is mounted into the forward end of a shell casing having a high-energy gas expansion chamber, the mounting forming a low-pressure chamber at the rearward end of the projectile. A cup-shaped multi-port gas diffuser plug, spaced from the projectile body, directs burnt propellant gases from the expansion chamber into the low-pressure chamber to expel the projectile at a relatively low velocity. A sleeve interiorly of the gas diffuser plug closes the ports and is degraded by the burnt gases to provide a complete burning of the propellant.
US07930974B2

A printing stage includes a stage surface having a plurality of suction holes, and fixes an object to be printed on the stage surface by vacuum contact. A printing mask is employed for forming a predetermined electrode pattern on the object to be printed fixed to the printing stage. A squeegee applies a predetermined amount of pressure to a metal paste spread on the printing mask, to print the electrode pattern on the object to be printed. A porous body is provided between the object to be printed and the printing stage.
US07930971B2

A vane type hydraulic rotary actuator incorporates a fail-safe brake for preventing movement of the device's rotor relative to a housing in which the rotor is journaled. The brake has a spring-biased piston that is forced to a locked condition whenever applied hydraulic operating pressure acting on the vane falls below a predefined limit. The rotary actuator also incorporates an improved sealing arrangement that prevents egress of hydraulic fluid from a high pressure chamber on one side of the vane to a low pressure chamber on the opposite side of the vane.
US07930968B2

A bolt used in a self loading firearm employing a bolt carrier which in turn carries the bolt. The bolt includes a cam pin receptacle and a cam pin carried by the bolt. The cam pin includes a body having a received end and an exposed end. The received end is received in the cam pin receptacle with the exposed end extending outwardly from a surface of the bolt. A roller is rotatably coupled to the exposed end and rotatable around an axis of the body.
US07930967B2

The present invention relates to a method for antimissile protection of vehicles having a very short response time with practically no false alarms and not requiring the use of means such as decoys or conventional laser jammers, while providing the best possible protection. It is characterized in that at least one curtain of plasma filaments is created between these vehicles and the probable launch point of these missiles, this curtain being intended to blind the target-seeking device of the missiles.
US07930965B2

A dual hardness armor, comprising a first steel layer of hardness H1 and thickness D1, a second steel layer of hardness H2 lower than H1, and a thickness D2 not greater than D1. The armor further comprises an intermediate substance therebetween bonding the first steel layer to the second steel layer.
US07930959B1

A mounting system for a table saw accessory such as a power feed. A carrier is slidably mounted on a rail or flange at the rear of the saw table so that it may traverse the rear of the table. The rear of the saw fence is secured to the carrier. A mounting plate for the power feed is on either the carrier or the fence allowing the power feed to be moved between use and out-of-the-way positions. In the out-of-the-way position, the power feed allows the user to safely feed materials into the cutting blade area.
US07930953B2

A gearbox for an auxiliary power unit (APU) includes a front side defining a generator interface configured to be coupled to a generator, the front side further defining an oil pump and fuel control component interface configured to be coupled to an oil pump and fuel control component, and a starter interface configured to be coupled to a starter. The gearbox further includes a back side on an opposite side to the front side and configured to house a gear train; a bottom side defining an oil tank interface configured to be coupled to an oil tank; and a debris conduit extending from the generator interface to the oil tank interface.
US07930951B2

A steering gear assembly with a pinion shaft, rack, housing and rack bearing. A biasing assembly biases the rack bearing against the rack and into engagement with the pinion. The biasing assembly includes a gross adjustment member secured to the housing, a bearing assembly with a bearing member coupled with the rack bearing and a first adjustment member. A first biasing member is coupled with the bearing member and first adjustment member which are relatively moveable to thereby define a compliance zone to allow for dimensional variations in the meshing of the rack and pinion. An adjustment biasing assembly is operably disposed between the gross adjustment member and the bearing assembly. The adjustment biasing assembly is disposed entirely within the housing, includes a second biasing member, and urges the first adjustment member toward the rack bearing in continuously-variable axial movements while preventing movement away from the rack bearing.
US07930950B2

In a motor-driven steering assist apparatus, a gear train transmitting a rotation of an electric motor to an output shaft comprises a single unit body surrounded by housings, and an attaching boss to a vehicle body side bracket is provided in a lower surface of the housing as seen from an axial direction of the output shaft.
US07930948B2

A apparatus and process for quantifying of contaminants, wherein the apparatus comprises a container that includes a housing to support a sample, and a gel elastomer inside the enclosure. The gel elastomer is capable of absorbing the contaminants that are leached from the sample. The gel may be a PDMS gel, and is preferable coated on a, or the side wall of the apparatus. After a period of time, the gel is analyzed for the presence and amount of contaminants.
US07930930B2

The instantaneous flow of an injector for gaseous fuels is calculated by measuring the pressure and temperature of a test gas injected inside a measuring chamber connected to the external environment in a continuous manner through a given outlet section and using a calculation formula, in which the instantaneous flow of the injector is a function of on the measured pressure, of a first factor as a function of a volume of the measuring chamber and the measured temperature, and of a second factor as a function of the measured temperature and the outlet section.
US07930929B2

A method of transmitting information making it possible to monitor the operation of an internal combustion engine, includes the steps of: measuring the angular position of a crankshaft via an absolute position sensor provided with a digital output, and transmitting at a frequency f1 to an engine control unit the measured angular position information, encoded in a data string containing N1 bits, transmitting at a frequency f2 of the measured angular position information, encoded in a data string containing N2 bits, the number N2 of bits being greater than the number N1, the frequency f2 being less than or equal to the frequency f1. The encoding in N1 bits allows transmission of angular position information at low resolution, whereas the encoding in N2 bits allows the transmission of high resolution information, able to detect misfirings.
US07930927B2

Various embodiments of the present invention provide alcohol monitoring devices, and methods for using such. As one example, an alcohol monitoring device is disclosed that includes a device body, an alcohol sensor, and a liquid cartridge. The alcohol sensor is associated with the device body, and relies on a liquid supply to perform an alcohol measurement on a subject. The liquid cartridge is replaceably coupled to the device body and provides the liquid supply to the alcohol sensor.
US07930926B2

Permeability of a fluid through a saturated material is determined by measuring the dynamic response of that saturated material to shaking vibrations and/or shear wave propagation, and then mapping the dynamic response (preferably, viscoelastic stiffness and damping properties) to an invented model (called “KVMB”) that yields the property of permeability. The preferred embodiments may use shear waves, inertial effects, and/or transmission effects, but preferably not compression, to force fluids through the pores. The mapping preferably predicts two possible mappings to permeability, coupled and uncoupled. The preferred methods are both internally consistent and directly related to known laws of physics rather than dependent on empirical calibrations. In use, for example, one may use a porosity log (conventional neutron or sonic) and recordings of SH-waves to obtain damping ratio, followed by locating of the damping ratio on a KVMB map that depends on porosity, and choosing of one of the two possible permeabilities indicated by the mapping, wherein the best choice is typically the largely coupled case.
US07930923B2

A nanocrystalline ITO thin film formed on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) facilitates detection of gaseous compounds emitted from an analyte. Adsorption of gas molecules onto the nanocrystalline ITO thin film changes the resonant frequency of the quartz crystal. Parameters such as the frequency of oscillation, surface resistance, integrated frequency response, integrated surface resistance response, initial response slope, average return to baseline slope, and/or return to baseline time/initial response time ratio of the quartz crystal with the nanocrystalline ITO thin film formed thereon are determined. Using the determined parameters and principal component analysis, principal components for the gaseous compounds are also determined. These determined principal components may be compared with known principal components corresponding to known analytes. The analyte may include any distinguishable substance, in any state that emits at least one gaseous compound that can be adsorbed on the nanocrystalline ITO thin film. Nonlimiting examples of analytes include alcoholic beverages, fruits, explosive compounds, VOCs, petroleum-based fuels, alkanes, aldehydes and ketones.
US07930918B2

A fob (10) such as a key fob has a casing (11) and a resilient clip (12) abutting the casing at a first end of the clip and overhanging the casing to form a substantially J-shaped clip. The casing may be substantially rectangular in shape and may includes a recess for accommodating therein an insert such as a electronic circuit (13) and a cover mounted (16) within the recess so as to overlay the electronic circuit and form a peripheral recess (18) between a rim (19) of the casing and a peripheral edge of the cover that may be hermetically sealed to form a sealed unit. During manufacture, the fob is injection molded wherein the resilient clip abuts the casing at a first end of the clip while lying outside a boundary of the casing. Local heat is then applied to the clip and the clip is bent so that it overhangs the casing.
US07930916B2

There is disclosed a key required to have a reduced mechanical strength. When an authentic key is inserted into the keyway in a locking device, only a plunger member starts to move from a standby position toward an operative position. When the plunger member is pushed to the operative position, an operating lever located in the locked position swings to the unlocked position. The operating lever unlocks a locking mechanism that is in a locked state. When an inauthentic key is inserted in the keyway, the plunger member and sleeve member move together to the operative position. The operating lever in the locked position does not swing. Thus, the operating lever maintains the body portion of the locking mechanism locked.
US07930915B2

A valet key storage device, includes a valet key storage portion for storing a valet key having an opening, a locking bar for locking the valet key, a driving member for driving the locking bar to be inserted into the opening of the valet key, a locking pin for locking the locking bar, a driving section for driving the locking pin to lock the locking bar; and a control section for controlling the driving section to plunge or remove the locking pin into or from the locking bar.
US07930913B2

A ring-type meter lock comprising a ring, first and second ends on the ring, a lock housing on the first end, a slot in the lock housing, a latch unit in the lock housing, a lock pin on the latch unit enterable and withdrawable from the slot, a tongue on the second end enterable into the slot, an opening in the tongue receiving the lock pin, a key-receiving configuration in the latch unit, and the lock pin being rotatably supported for unlatching of the latch unit.
US07930901B2

Provided are optical glasses having a phosphate-containing composition that can materialize highly useful optical properties including high-refractivity and high-dispersion properties; an optical glass comprising P2O5, SiO2 and Li2O as essential components, comprising Na2O and K2O as optional components, having an Li2O/(Li2O+Na2O+K2O) molar ratio of from ⅓ to 1 and having an Abbe's number (νd) of 30 or less, and an optical glass comprising P2O5, SiO2 and Li2O as essential components, having the property of transmittance that when light is caused to vertically enter one of two plane and mutually parallel optically polished surfaces of a sample of the glass having a thickness of 10.0±0.1 mm and caused to exit from the other surface, the wavelength at which the transmittance represented by the ratio of transmitted light intensity to incidence light intensity (transmitted light intensity/incidence light intensity) comes to be 70% is 510 nm or less, having a refractive index (nd) of 1.80 or more and an Abbe's number (νd) of 30 or less and having a liquidus temperature of less than 1,000° C.
US07930900B2

A charm clasp having a torus shape and formed as two pivotally connected arcuate parts which are adapted to encircle and releasably attach to a segment of a necklace formed as a strand of pearls, this clasp including an eyelet for attachment of a charm thereto.
US07930899B2

An accumulator is provided which is installed between a compressor and an evaporator of a refrigeration cycle system. The accumulator includes an inlet pipe through which refrigerant is introduced from the evaporator, an outlet pipe through which the evaporated refrigerant is delivered to the compressor, and a chamber which is connected to the inlet and outlet pipes and formed with a floor surface at a lower level than connecting portions of the chamber connected to the inlet and outlet pipes. Further, the inlet and outlet pipes are horizontally connected to the chamber.
US07930898B2

An air conditioning drain device essentially comprising a tubular pipe assembly, a flapper assembly, and a service port assembly. The device automatically engages a flapper valve that prevents the reverse flow of condensate water from entering a dwelling unit that shares a common drain line with multiple units, while at the same time allowing for quick and easy flushing of blockages in the drain line without causing water damage to the interior of the dwelling unit.
US07930894B2

A cooling device that cools a heat generator generating heat in response to application or a signal based on a predetermined signal via a cooling fluid includes a cooling fluid cooling section that cools the cooling fluid, a control section that controls the cooling fluid cooling section in accordance with a signal based on the predetermined signal, and a signal processing section that supplies the heat generator with the signal based on the predetermined signal relatively late, and supplies the control section with the signal based on the predetermined signal relatively early.
US07930890B2

A method for protecting a gas turbine installation from overheating and for detecting flame extinction in the combustion chamber is described, in which air is compressed in a compressor unit and, after being admixed with fuel, is ignited in the form of a fuel/air mixture in a combustion chamber and is burnt, thus giving rise to a hot gas flow which sets a turbine stage in rotation downstream of the combustion chamber so as to perform expansion work. The pressure upstream of the turbine stage, that is the pressure pk of the compressed air in the plenum and/or the pressure within the combustion chamber pcom, is measured, in that a time change of the measured pressure, what is known as the pressure gradient ({dot over (p)}), is determined, in that at least one threshold value is selected, and in that the pressure gradient or a variable derived from the pressure gradient is compared with the at least one threshold value and, if the threshold value is overshot or undershot, a signal is generated.
US07930889B1

A power plant with an industrial gas turbine engine or a steam turbine to drives an electric generator to generate electric power. The compressor of the IGT or the condenser of the steam turbine is connected to a heat exchanger to cool the compressor inlet air or the steam passing through the condenser. The heat exchanger is located in or near an open source of water that has naturally cold water at a certain depth, and cold water is pumped from the open source and through the heat exchanger to pre-cool the air. The pre-cooled air passing through the heat exchanger will cool the compressor inlet air or cool the steam in the condenser to increase the efficiency of the IGT or steam turbine.
US07930882B2

A cogeneration system that allows an engine to be continuously operated even when there is no demand for hot feedwater. The system comprises a hot water tank for storing hot water heated from cold water by heat released by an engine that drives a generator. When the heat of the water in the hot water tank exceeds a predetermined temperature, a control is performed so that a drain valve is opened and the hot water in the tank is released.
US07930879B2

A control device has a throttle valve and fuel injection valves supplying air and fuel to an internal combustion engine, a meter detecting an actual quantity of the air supplied to the engine, a sensor detecting an actual oxygen concentration of an exhaust gas outputted from an exhaust system of the engine, and an ECU controlling the valves. To regenerate an exhaust emission purifier disposed in the exhaust system at a target temperature appropriate to the regeneration of the purifier, the ECU determines a target oxygen concentration corresponding to a target air-fuel ratio and a basic air quantity according to a torque required of the engine and controls the valves according to the actual air quantity and the actual oxygen concentration to supply a basic quantity of fuel and the basic quantity of air to the engine at the target air-fuel ratio.
US07930867B2

Low-speed inerting elements for depleting a receptacle of oxygen, include at least one hollow duct (2232), with walls (2233) of the hollow duct (2232) that are directed towards the receptacle (31) being made of a material including pores.
US07930866B2

A system and method of manufacture providing reinforced structurally functional load-bearing members, including but not limited to using thermoplastic materials, such as High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) or polypropylene (PP), reinforced such as with an aluminum alloy, glass-reinforced polyurethane (foamed or unfoamed), or carbon fiber core element. Among its possible uses, the present invention has application for provision of structural support members, such as an illustrative I-joist product having a vertical center member preferably comprising a thermoplastic material, and top and bottom flanges having structurally meaningful reinforcement. The center member and flanges preferably comprising a thermoplastic material provides a relatively hard, durable, substantially weather-resistant structure. Certain embodiments of the present invention include reinforcing members having a plurality of lobes or arms. Additional embodiments include indentations along the reinforcing members, such as the arms, to aid in bonding between the thermoplastic outer material and reinforcing member within the thermoplastic material.
US07930858B2

A housing assembly for mounting to a wall of a building is disclosed. The housing assembly includes a front plate attached to a back plate. The back plate defines an axis and has a flange extending radially away from the axis for coupling to the wall. An insert is disposed between the front plate and the back plate. The insert includes a central body having a fluid diverter extending outwardly from the central body for guiding a fluid away from the wall. The housing assembly further includes a locking device for selectively coupling and uncoupling the insert from one of the front plate and the back plate.
US07930854B1

The present invention relates to an adjustable high water capacity tree stand having a wide base and an increased water carrying capacity. In a preferred embodiment, the stand has a generally inverted conical shape. A plurality of base plates engage the bottom of the tree truck to prevent slipping. A plurality of compression assemblies are also provided. The compression assemblies can move in and out relative the tree trunk under operation of a rod. The rod can be a screw rod that drives a translator, which in turn is pivotally connected to a ram. The ram is pivotally connected to an arm and causes the arm to pivot. The arm is pivotally connected to a head, and operates to selectively move the head in and out. The head, being pivotally connected to the arm, can flushly engage the tree trunk near its bottom.
US07930848B2

Apparatus for a modular fire control assembly for a firearm. The modular fire control assembly integrates a hammer, a sear, a disconnector, and sear and disconnector springs in a single housing. The force applied by the sear spring is adjustable by a set screw, which enables the sear spring force to be dialed in. The sear spring and set screw are contained in a block in the housing. The sear spring engages a detent that applies spring force to the sear. The sear spring moves in a smooth bore that has a ledge that allows the spring to maintain a minimum force even when the set screw is removed. A self-contained disconnector spring ensures constant spring force on the disconnector regardless of adjustments to the sear spring force. The modular assembly is configured to be received in a lock cavity of the firearm and secured using conventional pins.
US07930847B2

An advertising display apparatus comprising a hollow receiving tube with an essentially closed distal end and an essentially open proximal end enclosed within a base region, means for retaining a preprinted material inserted through said base region, wherein the hollow receiving tube comprises a plurality of faces where at least one face is transparent and through which said preprinted material may be viewed. The plurality of faces comprising the hollow receiving tube are preferably of a convex shape. Included within the base region is a retention lip which extends into and partially occludes the essentially open proximal end of the hollow receiving tube. The base region may include additional fitments to allow for attachment of the display apparatus to surfaces not of a flat horizontal orientation. The base region may further include means for producing light or sound.
US07930846B2

A inspection wallet in the form of a paddle comprising a sleeve to define a front pocket and a rear pocket, the front pocket having a window and the rear pocket retaining a book of inspection insets having a status side, the inserts foldable for inserting into the front pocket across a divide in the status side and having an alternative message either side of the divide to enable each message to be shown through the window, the inserts having a counterfoil in the book consistent with a reverse side to the status side to provide a record of inspection.
US07930841B2

An article of footwear for water sports, especially canoeing, is disclosed. The article of footwear includes an upper attached to a sole forming a first live hinge and a strap system attached to the sole forming a second live hinge. The second live hinge is disposed distally from the first live hinge.
US07930836B2

A drying system for a hair removing device is capable of effectively drying the cutter head. The drying system includes a casing having a dry chamber configured to detachably receive a cutter head of the hair removing device, a heater for heating the cutter head; and a blower for generating a forced air flow and drying the cutter head. The casing is formed with an air flow channel configured to direct the forced air flow towards the cutter head. A tray is provided to define the bottom of the dry chamber and bear the cutter head. The tray is formed with a draft port through which the flow channel communicates into the dry chamber so that the forced air flow can be directed straight to the cutter head for effectively cooling or drying the cutter head.
US07930829B2

A compact utility knife includes a blade holder slidably connected to a handle. A trapezoidal utility blade detachably mounts to the blade holder via a blade lock mechanism. A slide lock mechanism selectively retains the blade holder in its extended or retracted position relative to the handle. When the blade holder is extended, the blade holder and a majority of the blade extend forwardly of a forwardmost point of the handle. Extending the blade holder significantly increases an overall length of the knife such that the knife is comfortable to use when in the extended position and longitudinally compact when in the retracted position. The knife includes a blade lock mechanism. An aperture in the front of the handle creates a gap between the blade and the handle to discourage debris on the blade from transferring to the handle when the blade is retracted.
US07930827B2

A split bearing generally includes first and second bearing halves each having complementary partial shaft receiving portions, wherein the first and second bearing halves are substantially identically configured. The split bearing further includes fasteners for releasably coupling the first and second bearing halves together, such that when coupled, the complementary partial shaft receiving portions of the first and second bearing halves define a center bearing thru-hole for receiving a shaft, and when decoupled, the first and second bearing halves can be removed from the shaft.
US07930820B2

A MCM system board uses a stiffener arrangement to enhance mechanical, thermo and electrical properties by incorporating an LGA compression connector in a computer system. The present designs of large scale computing systems (LSCS) in IBM use a MCM that is attached to a system board and held together by a stiffening frame. Due to the nature of the manufacturing of the system board, there can be significant gaps formed in the mounting area of the MCM between the board and the stiffener. A method is described that not only fills the void, it also, in addition promotes thermo conduction of excess heat away from the MCM and at the same time promotes enhanced electrical properties of the LGA connections of the MCM to the system board.
US07930819B2

It is intended to allow for readily performing a cover tape setting operation. In the present invention, a tape guide 110 for guiding a component supply tape 35 includes a front guide section 120 provided with an open surface 128 opened on one side thereof in a continuous manner in a tape feed direction, so as to allow a cover tape 37 to be taken in and out relative to the front guide section 120 through the open surface 128. This configuration makes it possible to perform the setting operation for the cover tape 37 through given operational steps, under a condition that the tape guide 110 remains fixed to a component supply unit 40.
US07930810B2

A rivet fastening air tool for rivets includes a supplying actuator, an implanting actuator, and a switching valve. The supply actuator receives a rivet row, tears off a fragile portion of a front-row rivet, and supplies it in a loaded position. The implanting actuator retains a head portion of the rivet supplied in the loaded position, and moves the rivet in a direction of being pulled out of a communicating bore of the rivet. The switching valve is provided in an air supply route which reaches the supplying actuator. When the head portion of the rivet is moved in the direction of being pulled out, the switching valve is switched by the implanting actuator so that the supplying actuator is returned.
US07930804B2

An implement handle graspable by a hand of an intended user and connectable to an implement head includes a generally elongated body defining a body longitudinal axis, a body forward end for connection to the implement head and a longitudinally opposed body rearward end. The body also defines a body top surface and a substantially opposed body bottom surface. The body is configured so as to define a longitudinal cross-sectional configuration having a substantially fusiform encirclable section tapering rearwards towards the body rearward end and forwardly towards a neck section. The neck section diverges forwardly into an abutment section. The neck and abutment sections together define a thump rest area on the body top surface and an index rest area on the body bottom surface. The abutment section tapers forwardly into a spacing section for spacing the fingers of the intended user from the implement head.
US07930801B2

A caster for providing rolling support including a spring-loaded mount. The caster may be substantially concealed in the bottom edge of a hinged, swinging door, and generally located proximate to the free vertical edge of the door. An elongated spring plate is provided as a mount for a roller, causing the roller to accommodate variations in the floor surface, maintain contact with the floor, and support the door. The spring plate has a first portion adapted to be mounted to the bottom edge of a door, and a second portion depending from the first portion. An axle is mounted to the second portion, inside a hub that is mounted to the roller. The axle may be substantially parallel to the first portion of the spring plate. Single roller and double roller caster assemblies are provided.
US07930800B1

The flange apparatus provides a positive seal for an appliance tube which enters a junction box of a travel trailer, motor home, or the like. The union of the apparatus is fitted coplanarly to the exterior wall of the junction box. The first and second segment overlap the opening in the junction box, further ensuring a complete seal. The second flat bottom of the second segment abuts the frame of the box exterior wall, further ensuring a complete seal. The orifice of the apparatus is provided in more than one size. Each size of the apparatus orifice conforms to a particular appliance tube size, further ensuring a complete seal per application. The slot of the apparatus aids in insertion of the apparatus into the exterior wall and in the insertion of the tube into the apparatus, then collapses upon itself to fully seal.
US07930799B2

A surface-treating appliance, such as a vacuum cleaner, includes a main body housing a component such as a post-motor filter. A door provides access to the filter. The door is connected to the main body by a hinge arranged to allow the door to pivot about the hinge's rotational axis and to move axially as the door is moved between closed and open positions. The provision of a hinge that can move along its rotational axis permits the door to move laterally as it opens, thereby clearing adjacent parts of the appliance, such as the spine. This allows an appliance to be manufactured that permits the user to access components housed inside of it, but is compact. Preferably, the hinge includes a cam arrangement, so that the door automatically moves away from adjacent parts of the appliance as it moves from the closed position to an open position.
US07930792B2

An oral care implement includes a head platform having a plurality of faces with bristles extending therefrom. The oral care implement can have a pair of opposite bristled faces and the bristles can extend from the faces in opposite directions. The oral care implement can be formed by affixing a first AFT-tufted carrier plate to a first face of the head platform and affixing a second AFT-tufted carrier plate to the second face of the head platform. Optionally, the oral care implement can be formed by in-mold tufting bristles in the first face and affixing an AFT-tufted carrier plate to the second face of the head platform.
US07930790B2

The present invention is directed to methods for removing unwanted materials from the surface of fabrics—such as lint, pills, fuzz, and hair—by contacting the fabric with an open-cell foam or an article of manufacturer comprising an open cell foam and a non-soiling and non-staining benefit agents and/or an auxiliary means for trapping material removed by the fabric exfoliation method.
US07930783B2

An aspect of the present invention relates to a method and system of receiving information of a user's support facility comfort requirements; using a software application to determine a proper support facility firmness configuration to match the user's requirement; selecting foam springs with the proper user required firmness as determined by the software application; and configuring the selected foam springs within the support facility to match the user's firmness requirements.
US07930781B1

According to at least one exemplary embodiment, a mat for facilitating infant development is disclosed. The mat may include a base portion, a support member, and at least one gripping member. The mat may include a texture pattern defined on the surfaces thereof. The mat may encourage development of the infant's cognitive abilities, tactile perception, fine motor skills and strengthening of the infant's core muscles.
US07930780B2

A bed frame comprises a lower support structure having a head end and a foot end and a carriage arranged for translational movement on the lower support structure. An upper support structure is mounted on the carriage. The upper support structure includes a seat and an upper body support section pivotally connected thereto. A support arm is pivotally connected between the lower support structure and the upper body support section. An actuator is connected to the lower support structure. A lever arm is connected between the actuator and the carriage. Application of force from the actuator to the lever arm moves the carriage on the lower support structure while applying a lifting moment to the upper body support section. The support arm is arranged such that movement of the carriage toward the head end of the lower support structure also produces a lifting moment on the upper body support section.
US07930769B2

A garment with fringes includes a pocket for securing a fringe, and a retraction cord terminating in a ring encircling the fringe for pulling the fringe into the pocket during a time when a freely hanging fringe is to be avoided. Preferably, an entrance to the pocket is provided with a circumferential resilient stiffening device to facilitate entry of the fringe into the pocket, and the entrance may be provided also with a closure, such as a snap, to prevent the fringe from falling out of the pocket. The entrance may be provided also with a closure, such as a snap, to prevent the fringe from falling out of the pocket. A tether may be provided attached to the ring to facilitate a pulling of the ring out of the pocket for the resumption of normal deployment of the fringe.
US07934255B1

A computing system offloads packet classification from a central processing unit to a graphics processing unit. In one implementation input data packets to be classified are represented as a first texture, classification rules are represented as a second texture, and a shading operation is performed to classify packets.
US07934251B2

Applications, systems and methods for securely and remotely operating a remote computer from a local computer over a network while providing seamless, firewall-compliant connectivity. Secure and remote operation includes authenticating at least one remote computer for connection to at least one computer over the network and/or at least one local computer for connection to at least one remote computer over the network; establishing a secure connection between the at least one local computer and the at least one remote computer over the network; and integrating a desktop of at least one remote computer on a display of at least one local computer. The connections may be made over a public network, as well as through multiple firewalls without loss of functionality.
US07934244B2

A digital broadcasting system for transmitting/receiving a digital broadcasting signal and a data processing method are disclosed. A program table information has an identifier identifying mobile service data and main service data in a broadcasting signal. The program table information is mulitiplexed with the mobile service data and main service data. Then, broadcast receiving system can receive and output the mobile service data by parsing the program table information and using the identifier.
US07934237B2

A digital television (DTV) signal for use in a DTV receiver includes an extended text table (ETT) which includes a header and a message body. The header includes a table identification extension field which serves to establish uniqueness of the ETT, and the message includes an extended text message (ETM). If the ETT is an event ETT, the table ID extension field includes an event identification which specifies an identification number of an event associated with the ETT. On the other hand, if the ETT is a channel ETT, the table identification extension field includes a source identification which specifies a programming source of a virtual channel associated with the ETT. A section-filtering unit included in the DTV receiver is able to use table identification extension fields of a plurality of ETTs for section-filtering a pertinent event or channel ETT from the ETTs.
US07934236B1

A content navigation method that may be used with a storage device that holds multiple content objects includes a controller, at least one search switch and at least one control switch. Each of the content objects has a corresponding name which includes at least one character from an alphabet. The controller determines a set of names of the stored content that corresponds to the activation of the search switch, displays at least one name the set of names and, responsive to the control switch, selects the content object corresponding to the displayed name. The search switches may include multiple search switches, each associated with a predetermined set of letters from the alphabet. Alternatively, each switch may have an corresponding display and may be associated with a dynamically determined set of letters based on their frequency of occurrence in the names.
US07934235B2

An apparatus and method for browsing and viewing television programs while viewing a television program guide. In other words, a user is able to remain inside the program guide while viewing various television programs. In another aspect, a server system operator is provided an interface with flexible options for configuring user controls for viewing television programs while inside program guides in client devices.
US07934231B2

A method includes receiving a channel change request from a set-top box (STB) coupled to a packet-based network, where the STB is located at a subscriber premises. The channel change request includes a value identifying one or more of a number of STBs and a number of display devices that are located at the subscriber premises. The method also includes allocating an overhead bandwidth to the STB based on the value.
US07934223B2

A system, method and computer program product for context-sensitive middleware service injection. A technique is described to apply desired middleware functionality to granular units of functionality in response to extra-functional requirements and context information. Context may include without limitation types of process activities, phases of execution of process activities, identities of interaction partners, system architectures and the status of a given interaction. A further technique is described to dynamically analyze processes to select middleware functionality for compatibility with declared extra-functional requirements and detected context information.
US07934218B2

A solution for managing interprocess communication is provided. A connection request that identifies another process is received from a first process on a socket. The invention determines if the identified process has a second socket that can be used without transmitting data outside a computing device. If so, then the two sockets are linked, and an in-memory communication session can be managed to implement the interprocess communication. In this manner, two processes executing on the same computing device, each of which supports network communications using sockets, can have in-memory interprocess communication without any knowledge of where the other process is executing or any customization.
US07934216B2

A load balancing method incorporates temporarily inactive machines as part of the resources capable of executing tasks during heavy process requests periods to alleviate some of the processing load on other computing resources. This method determines which computing resources are available and prioritizes these resources for access by the load balancing process. A snap shot of the resource configuration and made secured along with all data on this system such that no contamination occurs between resident data on that machine and any data placed on that machine as put of the load balancing activities. After a predetermined period of time or a predetermined event, the availability of the temporary resources for load balancing activities ends. At this point, the original configuration and data is restored to the computing resource such that no trace of use of the resource in load balancing activities is detected to the user.
US07934212B2

An apparatus, system and method for checking the version of a cached applet on a client device against version information stored on a host server is provided. By checking the version of the applet, it can be determined whether or not the applet is still usable with the host server. If an applet is not usable with the host server, the applet is either automatically updated to a current version or the user is provided with information as to how to update the applet to the current version. If an applet is usable with the host server but is not a current version of the applet, the user may be informed of this fact and given the opportunity to either update the applet or continue to execute the older version of the applet. If the user chooses to update the applet, the update is performed in substantially the same manner as that described above. If the user chose to continue with the older version of the applet, the mainline code of the older version of the applet is executed.
US07934211B2

Techniques for performing a multi-level patching operation are described. According to one such technique, before a particular patch is applied, the data containers that are targeted by the particular patch are identified. A determination is made as to whether any of these target data containers already has been targeted by any previously applied patch. A determination also is made as to whether any other data container that contains (immediately or otherwise) any of the target data containers already has been targeted by any previously applied patch. If any target data container or any other data container that contains a target data container already has been targeted by a previously applied patch, then the particular patch is not applied to the target data containers.
US07934207B2

Systems and methods that integrate data type conversion(s) into a programming language, and describe external formats within a syntax thereof. A mapping component defines a declarative mapping from an external data format to one or more of its internal data types (e.g., expressing external data types in terms of source languages.) Moreover, a rule establishing component can define value-based rules, such as invariants to the external data format, wherein the schema declaration further defines data fields that make up the schema. Accordingly, by expressing rules in form of predicate logic (instead of imperative program logic) the subject innovation increase a likelihood that compilers can reason about the data.
US07934202B2

Visualization for active execution tracing pertains to one or more tools used to capture and analyze events leading to a point-of-failure during execution of a function or at least a portion of an application, program, process, or other assemblage of programmable and executable code.
US07934198B2

A prefix matching apparatus for directing information to a destination port includes a memory configured to store a piece of data including an address and a plurality of levels each including a plurality of memory locations, the levels each representing a unique address space. A controller is coupled to the memory and to the plurality of levels, and is configured to read the data address and to direct the data to the next level associated with a unique address space associated with the data address. In one embodiment, the controller is configured to match the data address prefix to a plurality of addresses associated with the unique address spaces. Advantages of the invention include fast switch decisions and low switch latency.
US07934194B2

The present invention allows a user to graphically define a hierarchy of user-defined, executable classes of graphical objects that can be implemented in a graphical model. The present invention supports the features of inheritance, abstraction and polymorphism. Further, descendant classes of graphical objects can graphically extend the behavior and/or structure of ancestor classes of graphical objects.
US07934190B1

A method includes generating at least one matrix representing a two-port, generating gain, noise, and stability functions of a system comprising the two-port, a generator connected to one port of the two-port, the generator having a generator reflectance, and a load connected to the other port of the two-port, the load having a load reflectance, and optimizing the gain, noise, and stability functions. The two-port comprises a non-reactive multi-port modeled by an orthogonal matrix, and at least one amplifier connected to the non-reactive multi-port. The orthogonal matrix is parameterized using an exponential map of skew-symmetric matrices having components restricted to an interval from −π to π. The gain, noise, and stability functions are generated using the generated matrix, the generator reflectance, and the load reflectance, The gain, noise, and stability functions are parameterized by the skew-symmetric matrices.
US07934187B1

Method, apparatus, and computer readable medium for performing electrical rule checks (ERCs) on a circuit design are described. In one example, a hierarchy of cell instances is created from a schematic database for the circuit design. The hierarchy is traversed to produce master nets. Each of the master nets is associated with shorted nets in the circuit design. The hierarchy is traversed to produce ERC nets. Each of the ERC nets is associated with effectively shorted nets in the circuit design. At least one pair of the effectively shorted nets is effectively shorted across a transistor. At least one ERC is performed on the circuit design using the master nets and the ERC nets.
US07934182B2

A delay distribution of a partial path that passes through a node to which a plurality of signals is input and for which an estimation in a statistical MAX is predicted to be large, that is present on a critical path having large influence on a circuit delay, and that has high possibility of improving the circuit delay, among nodes in a circuit graph is calculated by the Monte Carlo simulation instead of the block based simulation, thereby increasing speed and accuracy of delay analysis.
US07934181B2

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for improving the stability of static random access memory (SRAM) cells by using boosted word lines. Specifically, a boosted word line voltage (Vdd′) is applied to the word line of a selected SRAM cell, while such a boosted word line voltage (Vdd′) is sufficiently higher than the power supply voltage (Vdd) of the SRAM cell so as to improve the cell stability to a desired level. Specifically, a specific boosted word line voltage is predetermined for each SRAM cell based on the specific cell configuration, by using a circuit simulation program, such as the BERKELEY-SPICE simulation program. A boost voltage generator is then used to apply the predetermined boosted word line voltage to the selected SRAM cell.
US07934179B2

Methods and systems for simulating logic may translate logic design into executable code for a multi-processor based parallel logic simulation device. A system may implement one or more parallel execution methods, which may include IPMD, MPMD, and/or DDMT.
US07934172B2

Previously disclosed methods and devices are extended in this application by two-dimensional analysis of optical proximity interactions and by fashioning a computationally efficient kernel for rapid calculation of adjustments to be made. The computations can be made in realtime, whereby the use of OPC assist features can be reduced, with substantial savings in file size and computational requirements. Further aspects of the invention are disclosed in the descriptions, figures, claims and documents incorporated by reference.
US07934170B2

A method and apparatus for displaying branded video tags. An advertiser provides additional content associated with broadcast advertising content to a service provider that downloads the additional content to a digital video recorder (DVR). The service provider inserts command tags into the content that are intercepted by the DVR and interpreted as commands that instruct the DVR to perform specific actions when the DVR receives the stream from a broadcaster. The DVR intercepts and translates any tags inserted into the content stream while the DVR is playing the content stream. Tags can cause the DVR to display a branded video tag to the user which is a displayed icon that requests an interaction by the user and has an advertiser's logo(s) displayed in its vicinity.
US07934164B2

The number of folders to be displayed required to restrict and display folders on a lower hierarchy of a folder expanded by the folder opening and closing module is determined based on the number of folders included in the lower hierarchy to be expanded, and the height of the window. The folders included in the lower hierarchy are displayed to have the determined number of folders to be displayed.
US07934139B2

An LDPC decoder that implements an iterative message-passing algorithm, where the improvement includes a pipeline architecture such that the decoder accumulates results for row operations during column operations, such that additional time and memory are not required to store results from the row operations beyond that required for the column operations.
US07934137B2

Techniques for remapping messages prior to encoding to improve performance are described. L designated messages among K total messages are remapped to L remapped messages, which are associated with L codewords having larger relative distance between these codewords, where L may be much less than K. The L designated messages may be more frequently used messages and/or more important messages. The remapping allows the L codewords with larger relative distance to be sent for the L designated messages, which may improve performance. A transmitter remaps an input message to a remapped message, encodes the remapped message to obtain a codeword, and sends the codeword to convey the input message. A receiver decodes a received codeword to obtain a decoded message and demaps the decoded message to obtain a demapped message, which is an estimate of the input message sent by the transmitter.
US07934136B2

Provided is a test apparatus for testing a specimen by using a test pattern and an expected value pattern. The test apparatus includes: a control unit for outputting a test pattern to the specimen; a pattern converting unit for converting the expected value pattern based on an output pattern output from the specimen upon an input of the test pattern; and a determination unit for determining the specimen as a non-defective product or a defective product by using the converted expected value pattern.
US07934133B2

The invention relates to an integrated circuit comprising at least one microprocessor [12] linked to at least one non-volatile memory [14] that can be accessed by sectors. The integrated circuit comprises a detector [20] for discovering when a threshold number of bad sectors has been exceeded in said non-volatile memory [14].
US07934126B1

A set of fault records representing faults previously detected in an enterprise computer system is received and analyzed. The analysis comprises a variety of analytical operations and results in a report provided to a user, the report particularly including a set of fault sources identified as highly important to address, with respect both to the system as a whole and to particular categories of faults.
US07934123B2

Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that prolongs a remaining useful life of a power supply in a computer system. First, performance parameters of the power supply are monitored. Next, the remaining useful life of the power supply is predicted based on the monitored performance parameters. Then, an operational regime of the power supply is adjusted based on the predicted remaining useful life to prolong the remaining useful life.
US07934120B2

A method for storing data blocks, including forming the data blocks into groups comprising N·M data blocks, where N and M are different positive integers. For every group, the N·M data blocks are assigned to correspond to elements of an array comprising N rows and M columns. A respective parity block is calculated for each of the N rows and M columns, to form (N+M) parity blocks. The resulting (N+M) parity blocks and N·M data blocks are stored in respective storage devices.
US07934103B2

A system and method for detecting and countering malicious code in an enterprise network are provided. A pattern recognition processor monitors local operations on a plurality of local machines connected through an enterprise network, to detect irregular local behavior patterns. An alert may be generated after an irregularity in behavior pattern on a local machine is detected. Irregular behavior alerts from a plurality of local machines are analyzed. If similar alerts are received from at least a threshold number of local machines over a corresponding period of time, one or more countermeasure operations are selected based on the analysis of the irregular behavior alerts. The selected countermeasure operations are communicated to the local machines and performed by the local machines.
US07934102B2

A method and system provide efficient exception handling of the production process of PIV smartcards. Specifically, an automatic personal identity verification (AutoPIV) system and process manage potential failures in identification for agencies, such as a breakdown in correct identification. The AutoPIV system and process may deny access to individuals falsely claiming to be someone with legitimate access rights. The AutoPIV system and process may also accurately identify those with legitimate access rights.
US07934099B2

For the secure creation of digital signatures and/or for the secure authentication of users with a chip card, an apparatus is plugged into a computer and the PIN is input. The computer operating system activates the autorun function of a read drive in the apparatus and loads an http responder program into the computer. A standard http protocol is used to send a signature request containing all the signature data to the http responder, which writes these data to the interface memory area of a read/write drive in the apparatus, and said interface memory area is read by the internal software in the apparatus, which interprets the data and uses configuration data to check the admissibility of the instruction. If appropriate, the signature request is then forwarded via a chip card read/write apparatus to the chip card, and the signature created by the card is written to the interface memory area, from where it is read by the http responder and is made available to the application as an http response.
US07934097B1

The disclosed embodiments are directed to a data management system, apparatus and process for uniquely identifying and protecting data. In preferred embodiments, the data management system comprises a data management server, a key generator, a source print generator and a source print detector. In some preferred embodiments, the data management system further comprises a data embedding system. Keys are created by the data management system for application to source files to create a fingerprint for the source file. The fingerprint is compared to unknown files to identify uses of the source file.
US07934096B2

Systems, methods, and technologies for configuring a conventional smart card and a client machine, and for performing a smart card authorization using the configured smart card and client. Further, the combination of methods provides for mutual authentication—authentication of the client to the user, and authentication of the user to the client. The authentication methods include presenting a specified token to the user sufficient to authenticate the client to the user and thus protect the user-provided PIN. Security is strengthened by using an integrity key based on approved client system configurations. Security is further strengthened by calculating a PIN′ value based on a user-specified PIN and a modifier and using the PIN′ value for unlocking the smart card.
US07934093B2

Security levels are assigned to a shared component. A workflow manager receives a workflow request that corresponds to a plurality of workflow steps. For each workflow step, the workflow manager determines whether the workflow step uses a shared component or an unshared component for execution. If the workflow step uses a shared component, the workflow manager invokes the step, and stores the step and its corresponding security level in a security tracking table. When the workflow manager encounters a shared component, the workflow manager uses the security tracking table entries in order to determine a security level to assign the shared component. The workflow manager assigns the determined security level to the shared component, and invokes the shared component to execute the corresponding process step.
US07934081B2

A single unified level one instruction(s) cache in which some lines may contain traces and other lines in the same congruence class may contain blocks of instruction(s) consistent with conventional cache lines. Formation of trace lines in the cache is delayed on initial operation of the system to assure quality of the trace lines stored.
US07934080B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide a processor that merges stores in an N-entry first-in-first-out (FIFO) store queue. In these embodiments, the processor starts by executing instructions before a checkpoint is generated. When executing instructions before the checkpoint is generated, the processor is configured to perform limited or no merging of stores into existing entries in the store queue. Then, upon detecting a predetermined condition, the processor is configured to generate a checkpoint. After generating the checkpoint, the processor is configured to continue to execute instructions. When executing instructions after the checkpoint is generated, the processor is configured to freely merge subsequent stores into post-checkpoint entries in the store queue.
US07934076B2

A method and apparatus for limiting the exposure of hardware failure information is described. In one embodiment, an error reporting system of a processor may log various status and error address data into registers that retain their contents through a warm reset event. But the error reporting system of the processor may then determine whether the processor is operating in a trusted or secure mode. If not, then the processor's architectural state variables may also be logged into registers. But if the processor is operating in a trusted or secure mode, then the logging of the architectural state variables may be inhibited, or flagged as invalid.
US07934072B2

A method and apparatus are disclosed for reclaiming solid state storage with limited write cycles such as flash memory. Through the use of shared storage for common data patterns, physical space may be conserved or reclaimed in a solid state device. The apparatus may use internal mappings and/or external device drivers to handle the reclamation of unused space. By enabling reclamation of physical space, the disclosed systems, apparatus, and methods may provide more efficient read and write access and improved wear leveling.
US07934070B2

A memory subsystem completes multiple read operations in parallel, utilizing the functionality of buffered memory modules in a daisy chain topology. A variable read latency is provided with each read command to enable memory modules to run independently in the memory subsystem. Busy periods of the memory device architecture are hidden by allowing data buses on multiple memory modules attached to the same data channel to run in parallel rather than in series and by issuing reads earlier than required to enable the memory devices to return from a busy state earlier. During scheduling of reads, the earliest received read whose target memory module is not busy is immediately issued at a next command cycle. The memory controller provides a delay parameter with each issued read. The number of cycles of delay is calculated to allow maximum utilization of the memory modules' data bus bandwidth without causing collisions on the memory channel.
US07934065B2

During the normal operation state of a computer system 1000, the data stored in a primary storage system 200P is copied to an intermediate storage system 200I via synchronous copying and the data stored in the intermediate storage system 200I is copied to a secondary storage system 200R via asynchronous copying. During the reverse operation state, however, the data stored in the secondary storage system 200R is copied to the intermediate storage system 200I via asynchronous copying and the data stored in the intermediate storage system 200I is copied to the primary storage system 200P via synchronous copying. In this way, practical remote copying can be carried out in a computer system in which three or more storage devices are installed at different locations and connected serially.
US07934063B2

A method of invoking power processor element (PPE) serviced C library functions on a synergistic processing element (SPE) running in isolated mode. When the SPE initiates a PPE-serviced function, an SPE stub routine allocates a parameter buffer in an open area of a local store (LS) memory within the SPE. The LS memory includes an open area accessible to the PPE, and an isolated area inaccessible to the PPE. The SPE stub routine copies function parameters corresponding to the PPE-serviced function to a buffer within the open area of the LS memory, and writes a message word, which contains an identification variable of the PPE-serviced function and a location variable of the function parameters, to the open area. When execution is temporarily suspended on the SPE, the PPE reads the message word from the open area of the LS memory and executes the PPE-serviced function.
US07934059B2

A method of preventing lockout and stalling conditions in a multi-node system having a plurality of nodes which includes initiating a processor request to a shared level of cache in a requesting node, performing a fabric coherency establishment sequence on the plurality of nodes, issuing a speculative memory fetch request to a memory, detecting a conflict on one of the plurality of nodes and communicating the conflict back to the requesting node within the system, canceling the speculative memory fetch request issued, and repeating the fabric coherency establishment sequence in the system until the point of conflict is resolved, without issuing another speculative memory fetch request. The subsequent memory fetch request is only issued after determining the state of line within the system, after the successful completion of the multi-node fabric coherency establishment sequence.
US07934056B2

Space is allocated on data storage devices in proportion to weights associated with the storage devices. The weights can be dynamically adjusted at any time in order to accommodate changes in the system and to better utilize the storage devices. The technique used to perform the allocating is independent of the weights used by the allocating. Further, the allocation technique can accommodate general purpose data streams having varying lengths and/or varying access patterns, as well as special purpose data streams, such as video streams.
US07934052B2

Disclosed is a mass storage system and method for breaking a host command into a hierarchy of data structures. Different types of data structures are designed to handle different phases of tasks required by the host command, and multiple data structures may be used to handle portions of the host command in parallel, thereby allowing increased performance. The disclosed embodiments include a flash memory controller designed to allow a high degree of pipelining and parallelism.
US07934051B2

The present invention provides a semiconductor device and a method for controlling the semiconductor device, the semiconductor device including memory regions that include nonvolatile memory cells; program prohibition information units, the program prohibition information units storing program prohibition information to be used for determining whether to prohibit or allow programming in a plurality of memory regions corresponding to the program prohibition information units; a first prohibition information control circuit that prohibits a change of the program prohibition information from a program prohibiting state to a program allowing state with respect a memory region, the memory region is one of the plurality of corresponding memory regions, based on first prohibition information to be used for determining whether to prohibit a change of the program prohibition information from a program prohibiting state to a program allowing state with respect to the corresponding memory region; and a second prohibition information control circuit that prohibits a change of the program prohibition information from a program allowing state to a program prohibiting state with respect to the corresponding memory region, based on second prohibition information to be used for determining whether to prohibit a change of the program prohibition information from a program allowing state to a program prohibiting state with respect to the corresponding memory region.
US07934044B2

A method for expediting data access of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) storage device is disclosed. In a first embodiment, a data transmission procedure without the need of sending command block wrappers (CBW) is executed if a read command for reading data of a large memory space is received, and the addresses of the read commands are continuous. In a second embodiment, several write commands of continuous addresses are stored in a buffer area and combined into a larger single request command before sending to the USB storage device, so as to reduce the number of times of sending CBW and command status wrapper (CSW) required for the data transmission. In a third embodiment, more data are read and stored in a buffer area in advance when a read command is received, such that the next command can read data from the buffer area to improve the speed of reading data.
US07934028B1

A method and system for automatically managing alarms in an environment where a period of time could pass before the cause of the alarm is addressed is explained herein. The method includes automatically increasing the maximum depth of a queue (i.e. the maximum capacity of a queue to store data) in response to an indication that the current depth of the queue exceeds a high-level alarm setting. Upon determining that the depth of the queue has fallen below the original high-level alarm setting, the maximum depth of the queue is automatically returned to the original maximum setting. In addition, a low-level alarm may be disabled in conjunction with increasing the maximum depth and reactivated upon returning the maximum queue depth to the original setting.
US07934026B2

A method to preserve a logical communication path in a data processing system, that includes a host computer, a storage controller that comprises a first logical control unit (“LCU”), and a logical communication path that is in communication with the host computer and the first LCU, comprising deleting the first LCU and setting a first status for same. The method then configures a second LCU, and establishes a second status for same, wherein the second LCU includes all or a portion of the first LCU, but is not the same as the first LCU. The deleting, setting, configuring, and establishing are performed while maintaining the logical communication path, which is in communication with the second LCU.
US07934024B2

A method for reading non-standard register of Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) devices discloses an unused input parameter of standard command setting up as an executive parameter. While receiving the standard command, a SATA host controller converts the executive parameter and the standard command into input frame information structure (FIS) that is sent to the SATA devices for the SATA devices to detect the executive parameter for reading corresponding value of non-standard register and saving the value into an output register of the SATA devices. The value of the non-standard register is converted into output frame information structure for being sent to the SATA host controller and the value of the non-standard register is saved to the output register of the SATA host controller. Then by reading the value of the output register of the SATA host controller, the value of the non-standard register is learned.
US07934021B2

Systems and methods for network interfacing may include a communication data center with a first tier, a second tier and a third tier. The first tier may include a first server with a first single integrated convergent network controller chip. The second server may include a second server with a second single integrated convergent network controller chip. The third tier may include a third server with a third single integrated convergent network controller chip. The second server may be coupled to the first server via a single fabric with a single connector. The third server may be coupled to the second server via the single fabric with the single connector. The respective first, second and third server, each processes a plurality of different traffic types concurrently via the respective first, second and third single integrated convergent network chip over the single fabric that is coupled to the single connector.
US07934016B2

In one embodiment, an intermediate network device includes a communication facility configured to receive a reservation request message that includes a flow spec object. The flow spec object specifies one or more flow parameters that describe a given traffic flow that desires to pass through the intermediate network device. A flow is configured to compare the one or more flow parameters specified in the flow spec object to one or more constants stored in a memory, to determine a type of traffic of the given traffic flow. The flow analyzer determines the type of traffic independent of any differentiated services codepoint (DSCP) values in packets of the given traffic flow. A traffic scheduler is configured to assign the given traffic flow to a particular per hop behavior (PHB) based on the determined type of traffic for the given traffic flow.
US07934012B2

The present invention provides methods and systems for automatic translation code generation. The client transmits a data object message comprising the current data model of the client to the server. The server automatically generates a new translation code based on the current data model of the client. The newly generated translation code may then be used to convert the data in the server into a data format required by the client. If the current data model of the client changes, the translation code on the server may be automatically adapted according to the changed data format and data on the server is converted with the adapted translation code.
US07934011B2

A web-based video editing system includes a communication device configured to: generate information indicative of points of interest of a video, the points of interest being indicative of one or more active data or one or more inactive data during a selected time interval; determine an identity of each of the active data, and a required amount of an identified active data during the selected time interval; and request the identified active data and the required amount of each of the identified active data. The system also includes: a web server configured to: receive the requested information, assign a unique identifier to the identified active data and transmit a redirect to the communication device. The system also includes: a custom web server configured to: receive and transmit to the communication device information indicative of the unique identifiers and the required amount of each of the identified active data.
US07934010B2

A scheme for retrieving digital multimedia content from a network node. An RTSP SET_PARAMETER message is provided to the network node by a client application executing on a digital multimedia device, wherein the message contains at least one of a playlist identifier, a media clip index and an indication of an activation time. Responsive to the message, content from a particular content source identified by the playlist identifier, the media clip index, or both, is streamed to the digital multimedia device at a time determined responsive to the activation time.
US07934009B2

A method for broadcasting over an IP multicast network an offer of multimedia services received in form of a bundle of transport streams, comprises attributing for each offer (offer 1, offer 2) a determined service provider offer localization (LN0,1, LN0,2) of the IP multicast network, and creating a file of offer information (701) describing for each offer a relation to it attributed service provider offer localization. For each offer transport stream information is extracted from its bundle, the transport stream information comprising a transport stream identification (TS1,1 ? TS1,4, TS2,1 TS2,3) for each transport stream. For each transport stream identification is attributed a determined stream localization (LN1,1 LN1,4, LN2,1 LN2,3) within the IP multicast network. For each offer is created a file of stream information (702, 703) describing for each transport stream a relation to its attributed stream localization.
US07934001B2

Techniques for network-initiated session recovery are described. A relationship is maintained between two identifiers both associated with a session between a first device and an access terminal in a wireless network. The first identifier is associated with the first device, and the second identifier is associated with a second device in communication with the first device. After a breach of the session, communications associated with the session are preserved based on the relationship between the first and second identifiers.
US07933998B2

A method and system for communicating over a controller area network (CAN) bus (14-22) enables messages to be routed from a controlling software component (46-50) to one or more processor-enabled peripheral devices (24-44) on a discrete basis over the CAN bus (14-22) to control the plurality of processor-enabled peripheral devices (24-44). By overlaying a hardware device protocol on a CAN bus protocol to realize CAN bus messaging, the controlling software components (46-50) can discretely communicate with the external processor-controlled peripheral devices (24-44) using the multiple multi-drop CAN busses (14-22). In addition, a method and system for handling registration of a processor-enabled peripheral device (24-44) with a controlling software component (46-50) includes creating a logical connection between the processor-enabled peripheral device (24-44) and the controlling software component (46-50) and breaking the logical connection between the processor-enabled peripheral device (24-44) and the controlling software component (46-50) if the processor-enabled peripheral device (24-44) is removed and re-introduced or if the controlling software component (46-50) is reset for re-registration purposes to provide plug-and-play capabilities and dynamic registration of processor-enabled peripheral devices (24-44).
US07933986B2

Embodiments described herein are based on the principle that shells execute commands as units of characters. Accordingly, embodiments herein provide for a sending side with enough intelligence to isolate each command, examine it, perform some levels of validation, and deliver a structured representation of the command to the remote processor before doing any network operations. More specifically, embodiments herein provided for a mechanism of identifying a command and encapsulating the command into a single message (e.g., a SOAP, HTTPS, or other type message), which is then sent to a remote shell for processing as an entire unit. Accordingly, embodiments herein treat the command as a single unit, rather than as a character-oriented transmission.
US07933982B2

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for presence service on inter-domain. The apparatus comprises an enhanced inter-domain presence (EIP) module and an enhanced inter-domain presence authorization document (EIPAD) module. When at least a watcher requests a presence subscription to a foreign domain, the EIP module dynamically aggregates the foreign domain presentities for all local watchers having the subscription request, and produces a foreign domain document (FDD). The EIP module also acts as a presence client having the subscription for foreign-domain, and dispatches presence status information. The enhanced inter-domain presence authorization document module resolves the FDD contents, identifies the subscribed foreign-domain presentities, then accesses a corresponding presence authorization document and notifies it to the presence server on the watcher domain.
US07933976B2

Exemplary embodiments provide a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer-usable program code for moving a software partition from an origination network file system client data processing system to a destination network file system client data processing system. Responsive to receiving a request to perform a checkpoint operation on a software partition, network file system related mount information for the software partition is gathered. Determined ports of a network are unblocked. Unwritten data on the origination network file system client data processing system is synchronized with a remote network file system server. The network is re-blocked. A checkpoint file is generated and stored. The checkpoint file is sent to the destination network file system data processing system.
US07933975B2

A continually improving method for providing information to receivers which can include the step of receiving a request from a remotely located information requestor that specifies at least one information receiver. A transaction can be initiated to handle the request. The transaction can utilize previously recorded information to determine at least one adjustable condition to be used. The previously recorded information can be specific to the information requestor and/or the information receiver. The transaction can generate at least one result for the information receiver. The generated result can be tailored for information privileges granted to the information receiver by an information controller. The result can be conveyed to the information receiver. Feedback can be received concerning the result. At least one of the adjustable conditions can be adjusted in accordance with the feedback. The recorded information can be changed to include the adjusted condition.
US07933973B2

An Obje network device service apparatus in a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network system, the apparatus including: an information providing unit which discovers an Obje device, and provides information about the discovered Obje device; and an Obje service generation unit which generates a UPnP device, a counter Obje component, and an Obje client, based on the information about the Obje device, the UPnP device controlling the Obje client to use the Obje device in a UPnP control point and corresponding to the Obje device, the counter Obje component having a data type of the Obje device, and the Obje client generating a session for data transmission between the Obje device and the counter Obje component.
US07933970B2

Different communications devices, different communications networks, and/or different users are used to generate, enable, and/or manage an API tool set for providing services through a residential communications gateway. The actual physical location of the service and the manner in which it operates are transparent to the user.
US07933959B2

Techniques and tools are described for notifications of events, such as receipt of messages, and specifically to tools and techniques related to breakthrough notification profile and status. For example, it is determining whether a profile is active and whether a contact associated with an event is identified as having a status related to the profile. If the profile is active, a notification related to the event is issued only if the sender has the status. If the profile is not active, the notification is issued whether or not the sender has the status.
US07933958B2

The present invention is a system, method and apparatus for for real-time blogging. In a preferred aspect of the invention, a real-time bi-directional blogging system can include a blog and a bi-directional syndication interface to the blog. Importantly, an instant messaging system can be coupled to the syndication interface of the blog. The instant messaging system of the present invention can include a chat server and at least one chat client. Notably, a bot can be coupled to the chat server. The bot can be programmed to communicate blog postings received in the chat server to the chat client or clients. The bot can be further programmed to communicate responses to the blog postings received from the chat client or clients to the blog through the syndication interface.
US07933943B2

Provided are a multiplierless FIR digital filter and a method of designing the same, in which a filtering operation is performed by a small addition/subtraction circuit using extracted information after analyzing the property of a given coefficient and extracting information required for design by only adding/subtracting operations. In the method of designing the multiplierless FIR digital filter, tables are created to extract and store information needed for adding and subtracting operations. An addition table is created to store values obtained by adding the input data synchronized with a clock frequency. Further, a value corresponding to multiplication is obtained by performing extraction and error correction on the added values from the tables, and an adder chain of an output terminal sums up the values and outputs the filtering results, thereby effectively implementing a logic circuit of the multipliedess FIR digital filter.
US07933942B2

An automatic test system that includes low cost and accurate circuitry for generating sinusoidal signals. Each sinusoidal signal generator produces a series of digital values approximating a sine wave. These values are computed, avoiding the need for large memories to store tables representing sine waves. Inaccuracies in the representation of the sine waves do not impact the accuracy of the resultant sine wave because circuitry used to correct for non-linearity errors in a digital-to-analog converter is programmed to also correct for errors introduced by approximating a sine wave with a computed function. A simple parabolic function may be used to compute approximations of a sine wave.
US07933940B2

Parallel prefix circuits for computing a cyclic segmented prefix operation with a mesh topology are disclosed. In one embodiment of the present invention, the elements (prefix nodes) of the mesh are arranged in row-major order. Values are accumulated toward the center of the mesh and partial results are propagated outward from the center of the mesh to complete the cyclic segmented prefix operation. This embodiment has been shown to be time-optimal. In another embodiment of the present invention, the prefix nodes are arranged such that the prefix node corresponding to the last element in the array is located at the center of the array. This alternative embodiment is not only time-optimal when accounting for wire-lengths (and therefore propagation delays), but it is also asympotically optimal in terms of minimizing the number of segmented prefix operators.
US07933937B2

A system and method for asynchronously graying and blackening objects in the marking phase of parallel garbage collection. The system and method use a matrix to control a series of linked list of work to be grayed and blackened. The threads of the garbage collector are each assigned entries within the matrix upon which they may either gray an entry in the linked list or blacken and entry on the linked list. Further restrictions upon the use of the matrix allow non-garbage collection thread to asynchronously or synchronously add objects to be processed by the garbage collector.
US07933934B2

Methods and systems for improving a data processing operation based on operator-specific quality management and/or monitoring. For example, operator-specific frequency of errors, error rates, error patterns and/or root causes may be identified. Operator-specific actions may then be taken based on these.
US07933920B2

Metadata pertaining to real data stored in at least one database (DB) are collected and managed at a single meta DB server, and metadata that match a retrieval request are extracted by search of the meta DB server. Even when a plurality of DBs and DB servers for managing DBs are present on a network, all metadata that match the retrieval request can be extracted independently of the DBs that the metadata pertain to. Hence, all data that match a retrieval request can be obtained from a single server, independently of the actual locations of the distributed DBs and DB servers.
US07933917B2

A method and system for storing information on a search result selected by a user with respect to a predetermined query, reflecting the user's preference by utilizing the information when the user inputs an identical query and requests a search, and providing a personalized search result in which user preferences are reflected. More particularly, a personalized search method and system utilizing favorites of a web browser in which a personalized search result is provided to each user by utilizing information on a website that the user bookmarked as the user's favorites is provided. According to the present invention, there is provided a personalized search service method and system which can provide a user with a personalized search service, even when user information is not stored in a search server and also, even when the user does not log in.
US07933900B2

A user can refine a search over structured data by specifying that a label or an attribute value be used to further filter the results of a query.
US07933890B2

Web pages of a Website may be processed to improve search results. For example, information likely to pertain to more than just the Web page it is directly associated with may be identified. One or more other, related, Web pages that such information is likely to pertain to is also identified. The identified information is associated with the identified other Web page(s) and this association is saved in a way to affect a search result score of the Web page(s).
US07933881B2

Concurrency control between multiple data transactions involving the same data includes comparing the version identifications which uniquely identify versions of the data during a read request and during a write request of a data transaction. An exception is thrown if the version identifications do not match, and the exception is handled within the data transaction.
US07933880B2

An application persistence system for improving wireless application resource efficiency is provided. The application persistence system comprises a persistence-point definition module for defining conditions that trigger persisting application data, a persistence-point analysis module for identifying efficient and reliable persistence points and a persistence points enforcement module for enforcing persistence points at application runtime. A method of improving wireless application resource efficiency is also provided. The method comprises the steps of defining conditions that trigger persisting application data, identifying efficient and reliable persistence points, defining a persistence mode flag in an application's profile, and enforcing persistence points at application runtime.
US07933879B2

A computer-based method and apparatus for identifying hazardous materials based on observable physical properties and signs and systems of exposure to the hazardous materials. The observable physical properties are obtained by preprocessing plain language data to obtain normalized descriptors and modifiers pertaining to a plurality of properties and signs and symptoms. The normalized descriptors and signs and symptoms are presented to a user in lists for comparison with a sample in the field. Once a material is identified, information can be obtained from the apparatus which is necessary for response to an incident involving the hazardous material. The preferred embodiments of the invention are particularly useful to responders to a hazardous waste incident.
US07933878B2

Methods and systems for automated assessment of the operational risk for an organization based on sampling the operations of the organization. These approaches can be used for automated comparison of the operational risk of two or more organizational operations.
US07933874B2

A plurality of parts for an electronic document are generated. The plurality of parts include a root relationship part that identifies one or more of the plurality of parts, a payload part that stores data for the electronic document, and a tracking information part that stores tracking information for the electronic document. All of these parts are stored in a single package.
US07933857B2

A server having a database sequentially registers a plurality of Japanese messages to be translated into the database. In parallel to the registration, the server provides a first translation terminal with Japanese messages already registered, acquires English messages translated by the first translation terminal, and sequentially registers the acquired English messages in the database in association with corresponding Japanese messages. In parallel to the processes, the server provides individual second translation terminals with English messages already registered, acquires multilingual messages translated by the second translation terminals, and sequentially registers the acquired multilingual messages in the database in association with corresponding English messages.
US07933855B2

The performance of a computer-controlled system (1) operating under the control of a first process (2), is monitored (4) by comparison (5) with a predetermined set of requirements (15, 25), to identify whether the performance of the system (1) meets the predetermined requirements. If the performance does not meet those requirements, an alternative program (22) may be selected, or generated from program elements stored in a library (60), to replace the current controller process (2).
US07933854B2

A rule based computerized method is disclosed of developing and/or implementing and/or administering rule based systems such as legislation and/or policy and/or other rule sets, the method including: -developing a computerized database containing a set of rules in accordance with which the rule based system can be developed, written in and delivered; wherein the rules are: -written in natural spoken language to express the individual grammatical units constituting the rules, constrained in being written in accordance with defined constraints to limit the number of logical formats in which the rules can be expressed, and explicit in being written in a manner to avoid implicit meanings; whereby the rules are expressed in a logical format readily understandable to both humans and computers.
US07933853B2

The scale-parameter calculating program implements a method of calculating scale parameters, each of which is for use in normalization of a distribution of values of each of explanatory variables in calculation of inter-explanatory variable distances, to predict a value of a objective variable of an unknown case by extracting one or more known cases similar to the unknown case from known cases based on inter-case distances. The inter-case distances is obtained based on the inter-explanatory distances, each of the inter-explanatory variable distances is a distance between each of the known cases and the unknown case taken for each of explanatory variables, each of the cases includes the explanatory variables each expressed by a numerical value and the objective variable expressed by a character string. Each of the known cases is a case that has a known objective variable value while the unknown case has an unknown objective variable value.
US07933852B2

System and method for developing cognitive skills in a student, utilizing a computing device to present stimuli and to record responses. A stimulus may be graphically presented to the student via the computing device, and the student may be required to respond to the stimulus. A determination may then be made as to the correctness of the student's response. The graphically presenting, requiring, and determining may be performed for each of a plurality of stimuli. Additionally, the graphically presenting, requiring, determining, and performing may be performed in an iterative manner to improve the cognitive skills of the student. Various exercises directed to different cognitive skills and learning approaches may utilize this basic framework, and may be performed in an iterative manner to build cognitive skills in the student.
US07933835B2

A method for transferring funds from a sender to a recipient includes receiving a request to transfer the funds from a sender; creating a transaction record having a transaction identifier; providing the transaction identifier to the sender; receiving the transaction identifier from a recipient; obtaining a first biometric sample from the recipient; using the biometric sample to select a MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number) from a pool of predetermined MTCNs; associating the MTCN with the first biometric sample and the transaction record; providing the MTCN to the recipient; thereafter, receiving a request from the recipient to receive the funds; obtaining the MTCN from the recipient; obtaining a second biometric sample from the recipient; using the MTCN and/or the second biometric sample to locate the transaction record; comparing the second biometric sample to the first biometric sample; and determining whether to provide the funds based on the comparison.
US07933832B2

Methods and systems provide a loan to a borrower. An identification of real property and a specification of medical and/or healthcare services is received. A total loan value for the real property and specified medical and/or healthcare services is calculated. Approval of the loan secured by the real property for the total loan value is requested. A closing is initiated on the loan at which a customer depository account is funded to provide future funds for payment of the expenses for the medical and/or healthcare services.
US07933829B2

Some of the embodiments provided herein disclose receiving a plurality of bids, each bid being submitted by a bidder, and each bid having a bid value; assigning a weighting factor to each bid, the weighting factor being based, at least in part, on the bid value; selecting a first bid from the plurality of bids, the first bid having been submitted by a first bidder; selecting a second bid from the plurality of bids, the second bid being selected in a manner that is dependent, at least in part, on the weighting factor assigned to the second bid; performing a comparison of the value of the first bid with the value of the second bid; using the results of the comparison to determine whether to vend a copy of the digital file to the first bidder; and sending a copy of the digital file to the first bidder.
US07933821B1

A method, system, and program product for managing funds for a plurality of client accounts at a first banking institution, the system comprising: one or more electronic databases, comprising: (i) client account information; (ii) aggregated transaction account information for a plurality of FDIC-insured and interest-bearing aggregated deposit accounts held in a plurality of banks in a program including the first banking institution; and (iii) subaccount information; and one or more computers configured for (a) accessing the electronic database and administering clients' deposits and withdrawals from the client accounts, comprising processing transaction data for more than six (6) withdrawals and/or transfers from each of at least two of the client accounts; (b) determining, whether the balance of funds for the respective client in the aggregated deposit account at the first bank equals or exceeds a specified amount, and if not, then designating the first bank to receive the deposit, and if it does, determining another bank in the program and designating the deposit for the other bank.
US07933818B1

An electronic catalog system includes automated processes for detecting and handling specific types of browsing events, such as non-conversion events in which users browse but fail to purchase specific items. In one embodiment, when a user engages in a threshold level of browsing activity with respect to an item without making a purchase of that item or a substitute item, and a favorable change in the item's state thereafter occurs (e.g., the price is reduced or the item becomes available), the user is automatically notified of the state change. In another embodiment, when a user transitions away from an item or item category after engaging in a threshold level of browsing activity, a determination is made whether to present to the user a time-limited purchase incentive that is tied to that item or item category.
US07933809B2

The present solution can include a method for embedding information contained within a RFID tag into a video. A RFID tag can be loaded with item information specific to a product item. The RFID tag can then be attached to a physical item corresponding to the product item. While the physical item is being recorded, the RFID tag can be simultaneously scanned to obtain the item information automatically. The item information can then be embedded within the video at the time when the physical item is present. A user can view and interact with the generated video in a manner that permits the user to selectively view and/or otherwise utilize the embedded item information. For example, a user can opt to purchase an item appearing in the interactive video.
US07933796B1

A method of estimating credit risk associated with a financial asset includes receiving data regarding the asset and corresponding to a first date; determining a parameter using received data and the amount of time between the first date and a second date, the parameter being based on a predetermined estimate of the predictive value of received data with regard to a possible adverse event associated with the asset on the second date; and determining a probability of the adverse event as a function of the parameter. A system for estimating credit risk associated with a financial asset includes memory configured to store received data regarding the asset and a processor coupled to the memory and operable to execute programmed instructions, wherein the programmed instructions are configured to determine the parameter and the probability of the adverse event as a function of the parameter.
US07933791B2

An enterprise planning and performance management system provides a variable-based modeling technique that enables users to interact with a more manageable variable-centric front-end for complex enterprise planning software. The system enables users to specify a plurality of variable definitions via a variable-based user interface. Based on the plurality of variable definitions, the system generates, and in some instances automatically generates, model data that defines an enterprise planning model. The system uses the model data during subsequent enterprise planning sessions. Because model builders typically comprise financial analysts unfamiliar with traditional complex enterprise modeling techniques but familiar with common financial variables of an enterprise, this variable-based modeling technique may facilitate easier model building by allowing these financial analysts to generate model data from the perspective of the more readily understood variables.
US07933781B2

The method is for monitoring biological data in a human body. A sensor senses biological data from a human body and sends the biological data to a control unit that sends the biological data to a communicator. The communicator compares the biological data to triggering values. The communicator only transmits the biological data when the triggering values have been exceeded by the biological data. The communicator sends an alert signal including the biological data in a dedicated bandwidth to a server. A decision rule engine analyzes the biological data and decides which message to send and to which recipient based on the biological data. A medical institution pays a fee to a service unit for accessing the system.
US07933779B2

A method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for administering the implementation of product change notices (PCN). A PCN database application server computer is utilized to provide a method for implementing a change to telecommunications products. The method includes the steps of receiving a PCN that identifies the change, determining whether the PCN satisfies the implementation requirements, and if the PCN does satisfy these requirements, implementing the change. Once the PCN is received, it is monitored for conformance to an implementation schedule and updated for progress until completion. Updates may be received from remote inventory systems or suppliers. Upon completion or rejection of the PCN, the PCN is closed.
US07933777B2

A hybrid speech recognition system uses a client-side speech recognition engine and a server-side speech recognition engine to produce speech recognition results for the same speech. An arbitration engine produces speech recognition output based on one or both of the client-side and server-side speech recognition results.
US07933774B1

A system and method is provided for rapidly generating a new spoken dialog application. In one embodiment, a user experience person labels the transcribed data (e.g., 3000 utterances) using a set of interactive tools. The labeled data is then stored in a processed data database. During the labeling process, the user experience person not only groups utterances in various call type categories, but also flags (e.g., 100-200) specific utterances as positive and negative examples for use in an annotation guide. The labeled data in the processed data database can also be used to generate an initial natural language understanding (NLU) model.
US07933770B2

A wideband audio coding concept is presented that provides good audio quality at bit rates below 3 bits per sample with an algorithmic delay of less than 10 ms. The concept is based on the principle of Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) in an analysis-by-synthesis framework. A spherical codebook is used for quantisation at bit rates which are higher in comparison to low bit rate speech coding for improved performance for audio signals. For superior audio quality, noise shaping is employed to mask the coding noise. In order to reduce the computational complexity of the encoder, the analysis-by synthesis framework has been adapted for the spherical codebook to enable a very efficient excitation vector search procedure. Furthermore, auxiliary information gathered in advance is employed to reduce a computational encoding and decoding complexity at run time significantly. This auxiliary information can be considered as the SCELP codebook. Due to the consideration of the characteristics of the apple-peeling-code construction principle, this codebook can be stored very efficiently in a read-only-memory.
US07933752B2

This invention relates to computing numerical solutions of linear systems of equations, specifically to implementing preconditioning of the coefficient matrix of such a system. The preconditioning applies to any coefficient matrix, dense or sparse, based on the solutions of a physical problem of unknown functions, commonly referred to as basis or interpolation functions, where the basis function spans more then one mesh element. Examples of such linear systems can result from, as examples, an electromagnetic analysis of printed circuit boards or field scattering in radar applications, fluid mechanics and acoustics. A method and system to compute a preconditioner for a coefficient matrix A that is compatible with the linear system of equations that provides basis function support over at least two mesh elements. Coupling of the preconditioner between partitions of a portioned mesh representation is only through basis functions at the partition boundaries.
US07933750B2

A method is disclosed, which is practiced by a reservoir simulator, for simulating a reservoir and generating a set of simulation results, the simulation results including a framework, the framework further including a plurality of grid cells, comprising: generating one or more static and dynamic regions within the grid cells of the framework of the simulation results, the static and dynamic regions each having region values, wherein the region values of the static regions cannot be allowed to change dynamically, and wherein the region values of the dynamic regions can be allowed to change dynamically.
US07933747B2

Method and system are disclosed for modeling dynamic behavior of a transistor. The method includes representing static behavior of a transistor using a lookup table, selecting an instance of the transistor from the lookup table for modeling dynamic behavior of the transistor, computing a previous state of the instance using a non-quasi static analytical model, computing a variation in channel charge of the instance according to a rate of change in time, computing a current state of the instance using the previous state and the variation in channel charge, computing a modified terminal voltage that includes a dynamic voltage across a parasitic resistance at the terminal of the transistor according to the current state and previous state of the instance, and storing the modified terminal voltage in a memory device for modeling dynamic behavior of the transistor at the current state.
US07933739B2

Systems, methods, and software for analyzing the layout of computer equipment racks in a datacenter. One embodiment involves obtaining the position relative to the computer room of each of a plurality of temperature sensors distributed among a plurality of computer components mounted between opposing intake and exhaust ends of each computer equipment rack. The layout of the computer equipment racks is automatically determined from the positions of the temperature sensors, and a representation of the layout of the computer equipment racks is electronically stored or displayed. The actual layout is compared to target layout parameters to score the layout.
US07933733B2

Methods for determining an attribute of a substance in a container in response to an access event. The methods include a method for determining an attribute of a substance including activating the sensor in response to an access event and transmitting, in response to the activating, an output of the sensor providing an indication of an attribute of the contents. The methods also include a method having the steps of associating a sensor having an identifier with the container; and receiving the identifier and an output of the sensor providing an indication of the amount of the contents.
US07933731B2

A measurement system includes a preexisting sensor, a transducer module installed in the pre-existing sensor including a memory storing information for identifying and operating the transducer, and a control device for communicating with the memory, the control device including a processor for automatically configuring the control device in response to data communicated from the memory and for collecting data from the pre-existing sensor. A method includes installing a transducer module into a preexisting sensor, and communicating between a memory of the transducer and a control device to automatically configure the control device in response to information for identifying and operating the transducer stored in the memory, and for collecting data from the pre-existing sensor.
US07933728B2

Provided is a skew measurement apparatus, including sampling sections that each sample one of a plurality of signals under measurement having a cycle T, a waveform reconfiguring section that shapes a reconfigured waveform having the cycle T by rearranging ordinal ranks of sample values of the signal under measurement sampled by each sampling section, a distribution generating section that generates a timing distribution of edges in the reconfigured waveform of the corresponding signal under measurement, and a skew calculating section that calculates skew between the signals under measurement being compared based on the timing distribution of each signal under measurement.
US07933724B2

Method of tracking the performance of an industrial appliance (E), in which an estimate (We) of the quantity representing the electrical power consumed is calculated, in real-time, using the model (M), based on the values of the set (F) of operating parameters of the industrial appliance (E), the difference between the measured value (W) of the electrical power consumed (W) and the estimated value (We) provided by the model (M) is calculated, to obtain the overconsumption value, based on a statistical test on the overconsumption variable, using the distribution of this variable, an overconsumption score is deduced from this corresponding to a probability of overconsumption (p1) and an alarm is triggered if the probability of overconsumption (p1) exceeds a given overconsumption probability threshold (sp1), so constituting an overconsumption indicator.
US07933713B2

A method for supplying two types of fuel to an engine of a vehicle is disclosed. In one embodiment, an amount of a first fuel supplied to the engine is adjusted in response to a condition of a fuel separator. The method can improve vehicle drivability at least during some conditions.
US07933710B2

A cylinder causing an abnormal air-fuel ratio is specified. Injection ratio changing control for gradually changing a ratio between command injection quantities of two injectors of the abnormal cylinder while keeping the sum of the command injection quantities of the two injectors constant is performed on the abnormal cylinder. If the injection ratio changing control is performed under the same condition, a changing behavior of the actual sum injection quantity of the two injectors varies and a changing behavior of the air-fuel ratio varies depending on which one of the two injectors is abnormal. Therefore, the abnormal injector out of the two injectors is specified using a learning value of an air-fuel ratio feedback correction value based on an output of an exhaust gas sensor.
US07933709B2

The invention relates to a method for controlling speed and/or distance in motor vehicles having distance-related longitudinal control systems, wherein during clear driving, a clear drive acceleration value is set to reach a preset speed, and while following a detected target object, a following acceleration value is set to maintain a preset distance from the target object, and wherein if the target object is lost during a following drive operation, a transition acceleration value is set. According to the invention, the transition acceleration value is set for the duration of a time interval, which is dependent on the speed at the time of the target object loss.
US07933704B2

An automatic transmission of a power train for a motor vehicle capable of producing a set operating speed and a set power train control to attain an engine speed, according to a torque applied to wheels that is adapted to wishes of the driver. The device includes: an input unit that furnishes input data; a control unit having at least two modules according to two distinct driving modes, an automatic mode and a manual mode with pulse control; a processing module for processing signals furnished by a motor vehicle speed control; a selection module that receives signals from the processing module and from the motor vehicle speed control and capable of furnishing a selection signal (mode).
US07933703B2

A control system of an open/close part for a vehicle includes an open/close part which can open or close, installed at an opening of a vehicle, a driving device supplying power for operating the open/close part, a load detection unit detecting a load of operation applied to the driving device, and a controller controlling the driving device through detecting a position of the open/close part, wherein, while the open/close part is being operated, the controller performs detection on a foreign object being trapped by determining whether the operation load applied to the driving device detected by the load detection unit is larger than a pre-determined threshold, and wherein, if the controller determines that a pre-determined condition based on a pre-determined manipulation is satisfied, the controller performs detection on a foreign object being trapped using a second threshold which is smaller than the pre-determined threshold.
US07933702B2

A method for activating a restraint system in a vehicle, in which the restraint system is activated as a function of a speed, an activation characteristic, and at least one quantity derived from an acceleration signal, and in which the at least one quantity exceeds a threshold function that is set as a function of the impact speed and a required activation time. The activation characteristic of a particular accident type runs linearly to a first impact speed value. The activation characteristic runs with a second slope between the first impact speed and a second impact speed value, the first and the second impact speed value depending on the particular vehicle type.
US07933701B2

A method of operating a motion-control system is provided. The motion-control system may include an actuator and a moveable component driven by the actuator. The method may include providing input that indicates a target value of a parameter of the motion of at least one of the actuator and the moveable component with an operator-input device that is mechanically decoupled from the moveable component. The method may also include controlling the operation of the actuator at least in part with a control signal, including generating the control signal at least in part by determining a control gain based at least in part on a control error between the target value of the parameter and an actual value of the parameter. Generating the control signal may also include multiplying the control gain by the control error or a value derived from the control error.
US07933691B2

A system for monitoring the free play in aircraft control surfaces includes one or more accelerometers secured in or on the aircraft control surfaces and a computer system connected to the one or more accelerometers and to one or more control surface actuators to selectively activated to selectively activate a control surface and send a reading from the control surface to the computer system. The computer system includes means to plot the readings from the one or more accelerometers on the control surfaces to plot a curve of the free play in the selected control surface. The method of the invention utilizes the one or more accelerometers placed in or on the aircraft control surfaces and connects them to the aircraft's flight control computer or a similar computer to receive signals originated by vibrating the control surfaces and plotting curves of the free play measured in the control surfaces.
US07933675B2

A machining apparatus in which the machining efficiency can be improved even if characters are machined in a printed circuit board. A coordinate transformation unit is provided for transforming central coordinates of each dot d of each character of a character string into coordinates in a machining coordinate system with which the holes will be machined. Prior to machining, based on a character string and position information of the character string described in a machining program, central coordinates of each dot of each character of the character string are transformed into coordinates in the machining coordinate system with which the holes will be machined. Each dot d is regarded as a hole and machined. The number of times of movement of a table can be thus minimized so that the machining efficiency can be improved.
US07933672B2

A shape detailing device includes a storage unit that stores therein an identifier of each structure in an electrical computer-aided design (CAD) system and an identifier of the structure in a mechanical CAD system associated with each other, and a converting unit that converts shape information of the structure created by the electrical CAD system into shape information for the mechanical CAD system based on the relation between the identifiers.
US07933667B2

An industrial robot including a manipulator, a control unit for controlling the manipulator, a portable operating unit for teaching and manually operating the robot, which operating unit is adapted for wireless communication with the control unit and including an operator control. The transmissions may be made wirelessly with redundant software processes for transmission and/or reception. Safety is increased by ensuring that the operator is within the specified operating area.
US07933660B2

Apparatus for detecting vulnerable plaques embedded in the wall of a patient's blood vessel includes an intravascular catheter containing a microwave antenna, an extracorporeal radiometer having a signal input, a reference input and an output, a cable for electrically connecting the antenna to the signal input, and a device for applying an indication of the patient's normal tissue temperature to the reference input so that when the catheter is moved along the vessel, the locations of the vulnerable plaques are reflected in a signal from the output as thermal anomalies due to the higher emissivity of the vulnerable plaques as compared to the normal tissue. A second embodiment of the apparatus has two coaxial antennas in the catheter serving two radiometers. One measures the temperature at locations in the vessel wall, the other measures the temperature at the surface. By subtracting the two signals, the locations of vulnerable plaque may be visualized.
US07933650B2

A cardiac rhythm management (CRM) system includes an implantable medical device that delivers anti-tachyarrhythmia therapies including ATP. When a tachyarrhythmia episode is detected, the implantable medical device analyzes the morphology of a cardiac signal to determine whether and/or when to deliver an ATP therapy. In various embodiments, the implantable medical device produces morphological parameters indicative of the likeliness of success of the ATP therapy and selects an anti-tachyarrhythmia therapy mode based on the morphological parameters. In various embodiments, the implantable medical device also controls the timing of the ATP therapy delivery using morphological features of the cardiac signal to maximize the probability that the ATP therapy is delivered into an ATP window during which a tachyarrhythmia episode can be effectively terminated by pacing.
US07933649B1

An implantable cardiac stimulation device provides measurement of intrinsic heart activity metrics while sustaining pacing of the heart. The device includes a pulse generator that delivers pacing pulses to a first chamber of corresponding chambers of a heart, and a sensing circuit that senses a conducted evoked response of a second chamber of the corresponding chambers of the heart in response to the pacing pulse to provide an electrical signal representing the conducted evoked response. The device further includes a measuring circuit that measures a metric of the electrical signal to approximate a corresponding metric of an intrinsic electrical feature of the second chamber.
US07933646B2

Apparatus and method detect a detection cluster that is associated with a neurological event, such as a seizure, of a nervous system disorder and update therapy parameters that are associated with a treatment therapy. The occurrence of the detection cluster is detected when the maximal ratio exceeds an intensity threshold. If the maximal ratio drops below the intensity threshold for a time interval that is less than a time threshold and subsequently rises above the intensity threshold, the subsequent time duration is considered as being associated with the detection cluster rather than being associated with a different detection cluster. Consequently, treatment of the nervous system disorder during the corresponding time period is in accordance with one detection cluster. Treatment therapy may be provided by providing electrical stimulation, drug infusion or a combination. Therapy parameters may be updated for each mth successive group of applications of the treatment therapy or for each nth detection cluster.
US07933645B2

The invention relates to a method of determining early onset of motion sickness by brain imaging. The method discloses an objective means of determining the onset of motion sickness by evaluating a specific region of the brain. The method can also be utilized in evaluating the predisposition toward motion sickness in workers in occupations prone to motion sickness.
US07933643B1

A surface electrocardiogram (EKG) is emulated using signals detected by the internal leads of an implanted device. In one example, the emulation is performed using a technique that concatenates portions of signals sensed using different electrodes. In another example, the emulation is performed using a technique that selectively amplifies or attenuates portions of a single cardiac signal sensed using a single pair of electrodes. The surface EKG emulation may be performed by the implanted device itself or by an external device, such as a programmer, based on cardiac signals transmitted thereto. The external device then displays the emulated surface EKG along with an intracardiac electrogram (IEGM) and set of event markers. Alternatively, the external device displays an entire set of emulated EKGs that had been generated based on the same patient input data but using different emulation techniques. The emulated EKGs are displayed along with an actual surface EKG for the patient so that a physician may easily identify the optimal emulation technique for that patient.
US07933640B2

A system for tracking the position of an instrument relative to an area of interest includes a first fixator configured to carry first and second localizing devices. A second fixator is configured to carry the first localizing device. A third localizing device communicates with the first localizing device and the second localizing device communicates with the first localizing device such that the position of the second localizing device can be determined relative to the position of the third localizing device. The second localizing device is attachable to the instrument and the first localizing device is attachable to the first fixator such that the first localizing device communicates with the second localizing device on the instrument in order that the position of the second localizing device on the instrument can be determined relative to the third localizing device.
US07933634B2

Wireless power receiving apparatus (150) is retrofitted to a portable electrical device (100) to enable the device to receive power wirelessly. The apparatus comprises a power-receiving element (200) adapted to be attached to the device, e.g. by adhesive (201), and also being adapted to receive power wirelessly from a transmitter of power when the element and transmitter are in proximity with one another. One or more power connectors (203) are connected electrically to the power-receiving element and are adapted to be connected, when the apparatus is in use, to one or more corresponding power connectors (101) of the portable electrical device to deliver power received by the element to the device. The power-receiving element may be in the form of a sticker or may be carried by or incorporated in a replacement cover portion for the portable electrical device.
US07933629B2

Provided is a low-complexity transmit/receive antenna selection method for Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) systems. The method includes the steps of generating a gain matrix of receive channel, calculating norm values of channel gains for each row (receive antennas) and column (transmit antennas) of the generated gain matrix of the receive channel, selecting an antenna with the maximum norm value among the calculated norm values of channel gains, and repeatedly performing the process of alternately selecting transmit and receive antennas having the maximum channel gain value among the channel gain values of the selected antenna until a required number of antennas is all selected.
US07933622B2

Apparatus and method for selectively enabling an early push-to-talk (PTT) call set up request in a wireless communications network. When a user activates a directory application on a wireless device, the wireless device checks for network information received from a base station. If the network information indicates that the network is of a predetermined type and can advantageously set up the PTT call, the wireless device enables the early PTT call set up request by sending a data channel set up request to the base station. If the network information does not indicate the network is of the predetermined type, the wireless device does not send any data channel request to the base station until the user has actually initiates a PTT call.
US07933613B2

In one illustrative example, a method of monitoring for pages in a wireless communication network by a mobile communication device adapted to operate with a battery power source includes the steps of repeatedly monitoring a quick paging channel of the wireless network for quick pages and, if a quick page is received on the quick paging channel, subsequently monitoring a paging channel of the wireless network for an upcoming page; identifying whether an external power source is connected to the mobile device; and if the external power source is identified as being connected to the mobile device: causing an indication to terminate use of quick paging to be sent to the wireless network and, after sending the indication, repeatedly monitoring the paging channel of the wireless network for pages.
US07933609B2

A method performed by a mobile terminal may include identifying a group of mobile terminals, generating a message that includes a link to a map showing a position each of the mobile terminals in the group and transmitting the message to each of the plurality of mobile terminals in the group.
US07933606B2

The present invention relates to a method, terminal device, network element, system and computer program product for handling measurement reports in a communication network. At least two different levels of measurements reports (15) are provided, wherein each of the at least two levels corresponds to a different amount of resource blocks on which the measurement reports are based. The level of a received measurement report (15) is detected and a compensation offset is selected based on the detection result and applied to the measurement report. Thereby, measurement errors and biases of the measurement reports can be dynamically corrected in multi-level reporting schemes.
US07933591B2

When a mobile terminal (10), having a basic identity module (12) operative according to a first security standard, initiates a service access, the home network (30) determines whether the mobile terminal has an executable program (14) configured to interact with the basic identity module for emulating an identity module according to the second security standard. If it is concluded that the mobile terminal has such an executable program, a security algorithm is executed at the home network (30) to provide security data according to the second security standard. At least part of these security data are then transferred, transparently to a visited network (20), to the mobile terminal (10). On the mobile terminal side, the executable program (14) is executed for emulating an identity module according to the second security standard using at least part of the transferred security data as input. Preferably, the first security standard corresponds to a 2G standard, basically the GSM standard and the second security standard at least in part corresponds to a 3G standard such as the UMTS standard, and/or the IP Multimedia Sub-system (IMS) standard.
US07933587B1

Provided are wireless and standalone handheld devices, such as PDAs and wireless telephones, that are configured for inputting a unique contact identifier that uniquely identifies a desired contact record, querying a central database of contact information to obtain the desired contact record, receiving the record and storing it. In various embodiments, such requests can be made directly over a wireless network or indirectly when synchronizing the handheld device with a computer connected to the Internet or to another network.
US07933578B2

A system capable of appropriately controlling an operation of an information processing device mounted on a mobile apparatus for effective use of information processing resources of the information processing device is provided. According to the device control system (10), information processing by a first information processing device (11) is restricted when the first information processing device (11) is set to receive data through a high-speed broadcast channel. Thus, the information processing resources of the first information processing device (11) are primarily allocated to reception of designated data through the high-speed broadcast channel. Further, allocation of the information processing resources to information processing other than the reception of the designated data, such as information processing requested from a second information processing device (12), is restricted. This prevents shortage of the information processing resources due to the execution of information processing other than the reception of the designated data, which would otherwise impair the reception of the designated data and the execution of the other information processing.
US07933571B2

A method and apparatus that transmits data transmission in a wireless communication device having a power supply that includes a plurality of power sources is disclosed. The method may include determining an amount of data to be transferred, determining at least one available communication mode, determining a power state of the power supply including an available amount of energy at a corresponding amount of at least one of power and current, selecting at least one communication mode based on the power state of the power supply and the amount of data to be transferred, and transferring the data using the selected at least one communication modes.
US07933565B2

Embodiments describe improved coupling of power amplifiers to antennas for the transmission of signals, such as OFDM signals. A large number of separate windings are utilized on a primary side, wherein each winding is for a different OFDM tone. Each OFDM tone may be amplified individually and combined as a results of transformer coupling. For example, the secondary side can have a single winding that combines the different OFDM tones.
US07933558B2

A radio wave propagation characteristic estimation system in a radio communication system includes: non-diffracted wave estimation device configured to estimate propagation characteristics of a radio wave reaching from a predetermined transmission point in a limited evaluation area to a plurality of reception points in the evaluation area and to estimate a component other than diffracted wave among the radio wave component reaching from the transmission point to the reception points; diffracted wave estimation device configured to estimate only a diffracted wave component among the radio components reaching from the transmission point to the respective reception points; and total radio wave component calculation device configured to calculate total radio wave propagation characteristics in the respective reception points considering the estimated result in the non-diffracted wave estimation device and the estimation result of the diffracted wave estimation device.
US07933555B2

Systems and methods that reduce phase noise are provided. In one embodiment, a method may include one or more of the following: generating a signal at a particular frequency in which the signal may be associated with a harmonic frequency signal disposed at a harmonic frequency; and selectively attenuating frequency content disposed in a region around the harmonic frequency. The signal may be associated with a second harmonic frequency signal disposed at a second harmonic frequency. Frequency content disposed in a second region around the second harmonic frequency may be selectively attenuated. One or more non-linear operations may be applied to the signal and the applied signal may be transmitted.
US07933554B2

A magnetic induction data transmission network comprising a master hub, at least one sensor node communicatively coupled to the master hub and a magnetic induction coil preferably adapted to be worn about a bodypart of a subject such as an individual's waist or neck. In at least one embodiment of the invention, the magnetic induction coil preferably includes a connector which serves as an intermediary between the coil and the hub to allow data communication.
US07933552B2

A satellite radioterminal communications system may include first and second space-based components and a return link diversity combiner. The first space-based component may be configured to communicate uni-directionally and/or bidirectionally with a first radioterminal over a first forward link using a first band of frequencies and/or over a first return link using a second band of frequencies. The second space-based component may be configured to communicate uni-directionally and/or bidirectionally with a second radioterminal over a second forward link using a third band of frequencies and/or over a second return link using a fourth band of frequencies. The second space-based component may also be configured to receive return link communications from the first radioterminal over the first return link using the second band of frequencies, and the first and third bands of frequencies may be different bands of frequencies.
US07933543B2

The image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion forming a toner image on a recording material, and a fixing portion heating and fixing the toner image formed on the recording material to the recording material, wherein the apparatus has a cleaning mode in which the fixing portion is cleaned, and when the cleaning mode is set, the image forming portion forms a predetermined toner image on the recording material, and the fixing portion then heats and fixes the predetermined toner image to the recording material to form a cleaning sheet which is heated and conveyed to clean the fixing portion. By the virtue of the present invention, it achieves high cleaning performance in which the fixing portion is cleaned by the cleaning sheet.
US07933540B2

A device for metering developer material to a predefined developer material bed height on a donor member, including a trim bar being mounted a predefined spacing from the donor member; and a magnetic member positioned adjacent and along the length of the trim bar, the magnetic member coacting with the trim bar to obtain the predefined developer material bed height on the donor member.
US07933537B2

In a xerographic printing apparatus, including a charge receptor, the charge receptor being movable in a process direction; and a charge device for applying a charge to a surface of the charge receptor, the charge device having a corona member including a pin array being oriented and extending substantially non perpendicular to the surface of the charge receptor in the process direction.
US07933535B2

A drum unit includes a photoconductor drum, a charger, a cleaning brush, and a drum unit case. The charger and the cleaning brush are disposed in such a manner as to face the circumferential surface of the photoconductor drum. The charger and the cleaning brush are fixed to a charger support portion of the drum unit case. The charger support portion has a filler protrusion. The filler protrusion is provided so as to fill the space between the charger and the cleaning brush.
US07933528B2

An image forming apparatus comprises a first image forming unit that transfers a base toner image formed on a first image carrier to an intermediate transfer member and forms an image and second image forming units that are plurally disposed downstream of the first image forming unit in a moving direction of the intermediate transfer member, transfer different color toner images formed on second image carriers to the intermediate transfer member and form images. The base toner image is formed beforehand in a single color region transferred onto the intermediate transfer member from the second image carriers of the second image forming units.
US07933523B2

A clock extracting apparatus is provided. In the clock apparatus, two frequency components are made to have an equal magnitude by adjusting a temperature and current applied to an FP LD, and a clock signal is extracted by beating the two frequency components having the equal magnitude. The clock extracting apparatus includes: a circulator for changing a direction of an inputted optical signal; an adjuster for adjusting a characteristic and wavelength of a spectrum; and a clock extractor for selecting two frequency components having different magnitudes on the spectrum of the inputted optical signal, receiving an adjusted signals in which magnitudes of the two frequency components are made equal by the adjuster, making the two frequency components have an equal magnitude, and extracting a clock signal by beating the two frequency components having the equal magnitude.
US07933519B2

An optimally-sized optical cross-connect that switches optical signal paths with a minimum number of wavelength selective switches and their interconnections. To switch optical signals of N routes (N=1, 2, . . . ), an optical cross-connect includes a 2×N (2-input, N-output) wavelength selective switch for each of N input routes and a N×2 (N-input, 2-output) wavelength selective switch for each of N output routes. One input port of each 2×N wavelength selective switch receives an optical signal from a corresponding input route, while the other input port of the same receives an optical add signal from a corresponding add route. One output port of each N×2 wavelength selective switch outputs an optical signal to a corresponding output route, while the other output port outputs an optical drop signal to a corresponding drop route.
US07933504B2

There are provided an information storage medium capable of real-time recording/playback of digital moving picture information, and a digital information recording/playback system using this medium. In a medium that records/plays back data including video data and control information, the control information (DA21 in FIG. 4; RTR_VMG in FIG. 30) includes information (VOBU entry in FIG. 31) for accessing a specific portion (VOBU) of the video data.
US07933499B2

There are provided an information storage medium capable of real-time recording/playback of digital moving picture information, and a digital information recording/playback system using this medium. In a medium that records/plays back data including video data and control information, the control information (DA21 in FIG. 4; RTR_VMG in FIG. 30) includes information (VOBU entry in FIG. 31) for accessing a specific portion (VOBU) of the video data.
US07933496B2

There are provided an information storage medium capable of real-time recording/playback of digital moving picture information, and a digital information recording/playback system using this medium. In a medium that records/plays back data including video data and control information, the control information (DA21 in FIG. 4; RTR_VMG in FIG. 30) includes information (VOBU entry in FIG. 31) for accessing a specific portion (VOBU) of the video data.
US07933495B2

There are provided an information storage medium capable of real-time recording/playback of digital moving picture information, and a digital information recording/playback system using this medium. In a medium that records/plays back data including video data and control information, the control information (DA21 in FIG. 4; RTR_VMG in FIG. 30) includes information (VOBU entry in FIG. 31) for accessing a specific portion (VOBU) of the video data.
US07933494B2

A recording apparatus for recording, when an encoded stream is provided, the encoded stream on a predetermined recording medium, the encoding stream including a plurality of groups each including a plurality of encoded unit data obtained by an encoding process performed for a plurality of unit data which form a stream, the recording apparatus including: a detection section configured to detect the structure of each of the groups which form the encoded stream; and a recording control section configured to produce, when a different group having a structure different from a prescribed structure is detected by the detection section, specification information with which the position of the different group in the encoded stream can be specified and record the specification information as metadata of the encoded stream on the predetermined recording medium.
US07933493B2

There are provided an information storage medium capable of real-time recording/playback of digital moving picture information, and a digital information recording/playback system using this medium. In a medium that records/plays back data including video data and control information, the control information (DA21 in FIG. 4; RTR_VMG in FIG. 30) includes information (VOBU entry in FIG. 31) for accessing a specific portion (VOBU) of the video data.
US07933490B2

There are provided an information storage medium capable of real-time recording/playback of digital moving picture information, and a digital information recording/playback system using this medium. In a medium that records/plays back data including video data and control information, the control information (DA21 in FIG. 4; RTR_VMG in FIG. 30) includes information (VOBU entry in FIG. 31) for accessing a specific portion (VOBU) of the video data.
US07933477B2

An optical transmission hinge apparatus includes a first hinge portion for pivotally interconnecting a first casing and a second casing about a first axis, a first optical device provided in the first casing, a second optical device provided in the second casing and an optical guide path member for interconnecting the first optical device and the second optical device to enable optical transmission therebetween. The optical guide path member includes a bent portion, a first portion formed on one side of the bent portion and a second portion formed on the other side of the bent portion. The first portion is provided in the first casing to be coaxial with the first hinge portion, with a terminal end of the first portion being in opposition to the first optical device. The second portion is provided in the second casing, with a terminal end of the second portion being in opposition to the second optical device.
US07933472B1

A system for generating digital image media volumes includes a digital image terminal for receiving, processing, and transmitting digital image data, and being adapted for processing the digital image data into one or more discrete DICOM-standard data objects. The system further includes a media volume production facility remotely located from the digital image terminal, and communicatively coupled to the digital image terminal via a server-operated computer network.
US07933462B2

A high dynamic range image can be recovered from a full-resolution lower-dynamic-range image and a reduced-resolution higher-dynamic-range image. Information regarding higher spatial frequencies may be obtained by extracting high spatial frequencies from the lower-dynamic-range image. In some embodiments an approximate impulse-response function is determined by comparing the higher- and lower-dynamic range images. A scaling image obtained by applying the impulse-response function to a high-frequency band of the lower-dynamic range image is combined with an upsampled higher-dynamic range image to yield a reconstructed image.
US07933459B2

From an MPEG image data (S11), an MPEG2 encoder circuit (51) extracts a quantum scale (Qm) of each macro block (MB) which has been used for quantization of the MPEG2 in the encoding process. An activity calculation circuit (53) calculates an activity (Nact), based on the quantum scale (Qm), A rate control circuit (54) calculates a quantization parameter (QP) for each macro block (MB), based on the activity (Nact).
US07933452B2

A visual image retrieval system is provided. The system includes an image database for storing images. The system also includes a preprocessor communicatively linked to the image database for segmenting the images and generating based upon segmented images a region-of-interest (ROI) extraction output. Additionally, the system includes an ROI feature extraction module for computing ROI feature vectors based upon the output, and a global feature extraction module for computing global feature vectors based upon the output. The system further includes an ROI feature vectors database for storing the ROI feature vectors, and a global feature vectors database for storing the global feature vectors. The system also includes a perceptually-relevant image search machine (PRISM) interface for displaying query images and retrieved images, the retrieved images being retrieved in response to a user selecting at least one displayed query image. The system also includes a search-and-retrieval module for searching and retrieving stored images for display with the PRISM interface in response to a user selecting at least one displayed query image, and a global/ROI search module for selecting between a global search or an ROI search if more than one query image is selected, and for trigging the selected search.
US07933433B2

Data on a lane marker are extracted based on a centerline position, centerline shape, and width of a lane, which are projected for the present cycle. Data on a lane centerline are generated by adjusting x-axis components of the extracted data. A centerline position and centerline shape is calculated with the Hough's transformation using the generated data on the lane centerline. A frequency distribution is calculated for opposing positions with respect to the lane centerline. A lane width of the road is calculated by calculating an auto-correlation function with respect to the frequency distribution. A centerline position, centerline shape, and lane width at the present cycle and subsequent cycles are estimated/projected with the Kalman filter.
US07933429B2

A vibrating element (1) for an electroacoustic transducer, particularly for a loudspeaker, is provided, comprising a diaphragm (2) with at least two electrically conductive areas (3a, 3b) separated from each other, and with a recess (4). In the recess (4) a coil (5) is arranged with two connecting leads (6a, 6b), which are electrically contacted with one conductive area each (3a, 3b). The contact points (8a . . . 8d) are then located in the area of the recess (4). Furthermore, a method for the manufacturing of a vibrating element (1) is provided. The recess (4), the inserting of the coil (5) into the recess (4) as well as optionally the contacting of connecting leads (6a, 6b) with the conductive areas (3a, 3b) can then take place in one process step.
US07933428B2

A microphone apparatus includes a mounting substrate, and at least two MEMS microphone elements mounted on the mounting substrate. The mounting substrate is provided with respective sound holes located directly under the MEMS microphone elements.
US07933425B2

The production of a hearing aid device suitable for wireless signal transmission is simplified by providing fastening elements connected as one piece with the housing shell. The fastening elements serve for placement and fastening of an antenna or coil in the housing shell of the appertaining hearing aid device. The production of a hearing aid device with a corresponding antenna or coil is thereby simplified. The alignment of the antenna or coil in the housing shell can also already be optimized using a computer model of the housing shell.
US07933423B2

A signal processing apparatus (100) for a hearing aid with a controllable directional characteristic is provided which comprises a directional controller (10) receiving first and second microphone signals (20, 30) and output an output signal (40), a signal analyzer (70) which detects whether at least one of said first and second microphone signals being undesired signals, and wherein said directional controller minimizes the output signal by adjusting the directional characteristic only if the signal analyzer has detected undesired signals.
US07933420B2

A method for controlling a noise cancellation system having an adaptive control portion is provided. The noise cancellation system is operable to generate a cancellation noise configured to at least partially cancel an unwanted noise in a defined environment. The adaptive control portion is operable to adjust the operation of the noise cancellation system based on a level of unwanted noise that remains when the cancellation noise and the unwanted noise are combined. The method includes receiving an error signal representing a portion of a noise not cancelled by a cancellation noise, where the cancellation noise is generated from the noise cancellation system. The method also includes determining whether the level of the error signal exceeds a first threshold value for a first predetermined period of time. The method also includes calculating a crest factor using the error signal. The method also includes determining whether the crest factor exceeds a second threshold value. The method also includes deactivating the adaptive control system and continuing to operate the noise cancellation system if the error value exceeds the first threshold value for the predetermined period of time and the crest factor exceeds the second threshold value.
US07933413B2

Key exchanges between peer-to-peer devices can be vulnerable to man in the middle attacks. Verification of the key exchanges can be made on a channel, network and/or device different from the channel, network and/or device used for the key exchange to determine whether the key exchange was secure. Verification of the key exchange can also be made through an established and trusted device and/or entity. If the key exchange was secure, the parties to a communication utilizing the key(s) exchanged can be notified, if desired. If the key exchange was not secure, the parties can be notified and the communication can be selectively disconnected.
US07933411B2

An electronic device comprising: a transport stream analyzer, the transport stream analyzer adapted to receive an encrypted MPEG transport stream and to output a program stream map stream, a conditional access table stream, a program stream directory stream, an encrypted video signal stream, one or more encrypted audio streams, an entitlement control message stream and an entitlement management message stream, all as MPEG packetized elementary stream data structures; and a packet multiplexer adapted to receive the output of the transport stream analyzer and to assemble the output of the transport stream analyzer into an encrypted MPEG compliant modified program stream comprised of packs of MPEG packetized elementary stream data structures and to output the encrypted MPEG compliant modified program stream.
US07933406B2

An encryption device which is capable of preparing an encrypted document not easily deciphered by a third person. The encryption device encrypts information formed on a recording member on the basis of a predetermined encryption code. A surface of the recording member is irradiated with light. An image of the irradiated surface of the recording member irradiated with the light is taken. The encryption code is prepared on the basis of the taken image of the irradiated surface.
US07933404B2

Techniques are disclosed to enable efficient implementation of secure hash functions and/or stream ciphers. More specifically, a family of graphs is described that has relatively large girth, large claw, and/or rapid mixing properties. The graphs are suitable for construction of cryptographic primitives such as collision resistant hash functions and stream ciphers, which allow efficient software implementation.
US07933402B2

An integrated adapter and fax device using the integrated adapter are provided. The power supply converting unit and line interface unit, each of which has a first section and a second section that are isolated from each other, are configured separately in the integrated adapter. Thus, product liability and safety standards are fundamentally satisfied, material costs of an external case of the fax device can be reduced, the external case can be more freely designed, and a power supply line and telephone line can be easily connected by a modular jack.
US07933392B1

A method for collecting data to measure market-share for a defined telecommunication market. A market of interest is defined and a random panel of numbers is created. A call set-up is initiated to the created random panels by generating signaling messages wherein the signaling messages access a Calling Name Services (CNAM) database, a Local Number Portability (LNP) database, an E-911 Automated Location Information (ALI) database and a Line Information Database (LIDB) using signaling system 7 (SS7) protocol. Generated signaling messages access ENUM (Telephone Number Mapping) database and Internet Protocol (IP) Peering database using IP. The response to the generated signaling messages are used to determine assignment status, business ownership, businesses versus residential status and the technology employed for a given number in the created panel. In one embodiment, the process is repeated over a period in order to determine changes to the market-share and derivative metrics for the telecommunication market.
US07933389B2

A system and method for generating and providing a voice-site on a linked network of voice-sites over a network. A voice call is received from a subscriber at the first voice site, the first voice site hosted on a server and the subscriber is associated with the first voice site. The subscriber is configured to create and personalize a second voice site starting from the first voice site by specifying personal preferences of the subscriber and available components on the server, and the second voice site created by the subscriber comprises a list of services offered by the subscriber, and then host the second voice site on the server.
US07933384B2

One preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a system and method for evaluating the performance of an inter-messaging network of voice mail systems. This preferred embodiment includes an evaluation test unit that connects to the inter-messaging network and requests a test data file to be retrieved from a particular voice mail system in the inter-messaging network. The requests for the test data file are generated according to a schedule of operation so that the requests are repeated within a defined time span. Accordingly, the performance of the inter-messaging network, as represented by the result of the request attempt, is evaluated according to a defined level of performance, such as a preferred time limit. Other systems and methods are also provided.
US07933382B2

An x-ray tube includes a cathode and a target assembly positioned to receive electrons emitted from the cathode. The target assembly includes a target and a spiral groove bearing (SGB) configured to support the target. The SGB includes a rotatable component having a first surface and a first material attached to the first surface, a stationary component having a second surface and a second material attached to the second surface, the stationary component positioned such that a gap is formed between the first material and the second material, and a liquid metal positioned in the gap. At least one of the first and second materials has a thickness greater than 0.1 mm.
US07933373B2

A position detector has a peak detector for detecting peak values of an A1 signal and a B1 signal serving as output signals of an analog to digital (AD) converter, an offset/amplitude correction section for generating an A2 signal and a B2 signal by correcting offsets and amplitude errors using the peak values detected by the peak detector, and a position data conversion section for converting the sinusoidal signals of an A phase and a B phase into position data.
US07933368B2

A method for detecting a digital radio signal includes the steps of receiving the digital radio signal including a series of symbols, developing a correlation waveform having a peak that corresponds to a symbol boundary, normalizing the correlation waveform, and calculating a peak value of the normalized correlation waveform, wherein the peak value represents the quality of the received digital radio signal. A receiver that performs the method is also provided.
US07933365B2

An enhanced VSB receiver includes a tuner which tunes an RF signal and converts it into an IF signal, an IF mixer which converts the IF signal into a baseband signal, and a demodulator which demodulates the baseband signal signal into a VSB signal. The enhanced VSB receiver further includes a map recovery unit which recovers VSB map information of the VSB signal, an enhanced equalizer for compensating channel distortion of the VSB signal and outputting an equalized symbol, and an enhanced Viterbit decoder for estimating whether polarity inversion occurred during a symbol period of the equalized symbol and Viterbi-decoding the equalized symbol based on the polarity estimation.
US07933362B2

A multilevel symbol timing signal detector is provided, which is used for reliably detecting the symbol timing of a multilevel QAM signal. When an oversampling I signal is inputted to I-Signal Histogram Generator 610, the signal is subjected to 1-symbol length buffering by computing absolute values. Sampling times corresponding to an oversampling frequency and amplitude data for these times are extracted from the buffered data and the amplitude data is buffered for each sampling time over predetermined intervals. Histograms of the amplitude data for each sampling time are generated based on these buffered amplitude data. Symbol timing is acquired by detecting a sampling time corresponding to the amplitude data with the highest frequency of detection based on the histograms of amplitude data.
US07933358B2

A Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying/Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK/FSK) modulation circuit implemented in a digital manner comprises a frequency divider for dividing frequency of an inputted clock signal to get a sampling signal, a buffer coupled to the frequency divider for storing inputted data, an integrator coupled to the buffer for processing integration according to the data outputted from the buffer, a first read only memory coupled to the integrator for transferring the data outputted from the integrator according to a cosine function, and a second read only memory coupled to the integrator for transferring the data outputted from the integrator according to a sine function.
US07933354B2

An encoding and/or decoding communication system comprises a framer interface, an encoder, a multiplexer, an output driver, and a clock multiplier unit (CMU). The encoder includes an input latch circuitry stage; an output latch circuitry stage; an intermediate latch circuitry stage interposed between the input latch circuitry stage and the output latch circuitry stage, the intermediate latch circuitry stage coupled to the input latch circuitry stage and the output latch circuitry stage; a plurality of encoding logic circuitry stages interposed between the input latch circuitry stage and the output latch circuitry stage, a last one of the plurality of encoding logic circuitry stages placed adjacent to the output latch circuitry stage and coupled to the output latch circuitry stage; and a feedback between the output latch circuitry stage and the last one of the plurality of encoding logic circuitry stages.
US07933352B2

A method for determining a bit pattern of a symbol in a wireless communication system using a cross modulation scheme. The method includes generating symbols with the cross modulation scheme, classifying positions of coding symbols by reliabilities of at least 3 classes according to an average bit error rate BER(ave) of symbols generated with the cross modulation scheme and a bit error rate BER based on transmission positions of the coding symbols in a modulation symbol during transmission of a packet with the cross modulation scheme, and determining a bit pattern such that higher-priority symbols are inserted into higher-reliability positions.
US07933351B2

A channel equalizer includes an overlap unit, an estimator, a calculator, a compensator, and a save unit. The overlap unit overlaps a group of data packets in a broadcast signal. The group data packets include a head, a body, and a tail, and a known data sequence is periodically included in the body. The estimator estimates a CIR of each data region the body using the known data sequence, and it further estimates CIRs of data regions in the head or tail using the CIRs obtained for the data regions in the body. The calculator calculates equalization coefficients based on the CIRs estimated by the estimator, and the compensator compensates channel distortion of the overlapped data using the equalization coefficients. The save unit saves the compensated data.
US07933349B2

An OFDM receiver may include OFDM-signal receiving means for receiving an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signal, channel-characteristic estimating means for estimating a channel characteristic, time-direction-channel estimating means used for the estimation of a channel characteristic, judging means for judging a result of the estimation of a time direction channel, switching control means for switching presence or absence of the estimation of a time direction channel in accordance with a result of the judgment on the result of the estimation of a time direction channel, and transmission-distortion compensating means for applying processing for compensating for transmission distortion to the OFDM frequency domain signal received by the OFDM-signal receiving means and subjected to the Fast Fourier Transform.
US07933341B2

Various systems and methods related to equalization precoding in a communications channel are disclosed. In one implementation preceding is performed on signals transmitted over an optical channel. In one implementation preceding and decoding operations are performed in parallel to facilitate high speed processing in relatively low cost circuits. Initialization of the precoders may be realized by transmitting information related to the characteristics of the channel between transceiver pairs.
US07933335B2

A moving picture conversion apparatus converts first moving image data encoded in accordance with a first motion compensated prediction method into second moving picture data that has a same format as data encoded in accordance with a second motion compensated prediction method. The moving picture conversion apparatus determines whether a relationship between a block in the second motion compensation method and an image used as a reference image with respect to the block confirms with a condition. When the relationship is determined to confirm with the condition, the moving picture conversion apparatus performs encoding using a motion vector or vectors of the first moving image data corresponding to the block.
US07933334B2

The present invention provides an image coding method comprising: selecting prediction modes from among prescribed plurality of prediction modes based on processed blocks, the number of selected prediction modes being less than the number of said prescribed plurality of prediction modes; predicting a pixel of a block in an input frame image based on selected prediction modes; calculating a difference between said predicted pixel value and a pixel value of a block in an input frame; determining a coding mode based on the result of said calculation process, said determined coding mode being used for said image coding method.And the present invention also provides an encoding circuit, encoding program, a mobile terminal, an encoding and decoding circuit relevant to the image encoding method above.
US07933332B2

In a method and device for determining motion vectors that are each coordinated with individual regions of an image, the image is divided into a number of first main blocks, making use of a first block raster, and a first estimation process is performed to provide each first block with a motion vector. The image is also divided into a number of second main blocks, making use of a second block raster, whose position is displaced relative to or offset from the first block raster, for example in the horizontal and vertical directions, and a second estimation process is performed to provide each second main block with a motion vector. A number of subblocks are formed, each subblock being formed by an overlap region between one of the main blocks of the first raster and certain ones of the second main blocks of the second raster. A motion vector for each subblock is generated, this motion vector depending on the motion vectors of the main blocks and being coordinated with the particular subblock.
US07933331B2

An apparatus generally having a first circuit and a second circuit is disclosed. The first circuit may be configured to (i) copy a plurality of first reference samples of a first reference image from an external memory, the first reference samples being proximate a first position within the first reference image and (ii) generate a first motion vector corresponding to a first current block of a current image by searching among the first reference samples. The second circuit may be configured to (i) copy a plurality of second reference samples of the first reference image from the external memory, the second reference samples being (a) proximate a second position within the first reference image and (b) non-adjacent the first reference samples and (ii) generate a second motion vector corresponding to the first current block by searching among the second reference samples.
US07933330B2

A weighting factor mode determination unit determines whether to code an interlaced picture in a field mode or a frame mode, based on a value of a flag “AFF” indicating whether or not to switch between the field mode and the frame mode on a block-by-block basis and notifies switches and a multiplexing unit of the determined mode. The switches select either the field mode or the frame mode according to the notified mode. A field weighting factor coding unit or a frame weighting factor coding unit performs respectively the coding of respective weighting factors when the respective modes are selected.
US07933327B2

A moving picture coding apparatus 1 includes: a quantization matrix holding unit (112) that holds a quantization matrix (WM) which has already been transmitted in a parameter set and a matrix ID for identifying the quantization matrix (WM), which are associated with each other; and a variable length coding unit (111) that obtains the matrix ID corresponding to the quantization matrix (WM) used for quantization from the quantization matrix holding unit (112) and places the matrix ID in a coded stream Str.
US07933323B2

Processing signals in a digital communication may include equalizing a signal in a timing-recovery system using a frequency domain equalizer. The frequency domain equalizer may be a frequency domain adaptive filter that adapts using a least-mean-square algorithm where at least one tap-weight that corresponds to a pre-cursor may be constrained to zero. The processing may include recovering timing information using a Mueller/Muller timing recovery algorithm that may be aided by using a pre-filter before the equalizer.
US07933315B2

A method for generating a data signal for synchronizing one or more electrically coupled digital receivers is disclosed. A data signal having a data rate is modulated with a pseudo-noise (PN) code having a data rate greater than the data rate of the data signal. The modulated data signal is demodulated by a receiver using the PN code. A correlation value is generated and is compared to a predetermined value to indicate phase synchronization. If the receiver is in phase synchronization with the transmitter, the received demodulated data signal is passed.
US07933313B2

Disclosed herein are a signal quality measuring apparatus for the WiBro system and a method thereof. The signal quality measuring apparatus for a WiBro system includes a WiBro signal reception unit, a preamble code correlation unit, a channel compensation/demodulation unit, and a control unit. The WiBro signal reception unit receives a WiBro signal from each base station. The preamble code correlation unit searches the WiBro signal for a number of preamble codes equal to the number of base stations for which measurement of signal quality measurement is required. The channel compensation/demodulation unit acquires the information of a Frame Control Header (FCH) section and a DownLink-MAP (DL-MAP) section with reference to the preamble codes found by the preamble code correlation unit, and demodulates the information of a unique number of the base station. The control unit collects and processes the information about the unique number of the base station demodulated by the channel compensation/demodulation unit, and information about signal quality of the preamble codes found by the preamble code correlation unit.
US07933307B2

A method of sending ultra-wide band signals via a plurality of sending antennas includes a phase for sending training sequences followed by a phase for sending data after which each antenna of the plurality of sending antennas sends a waveform using a Hermite pulse that is unique and orthogonal to the waveforms sent by the other antennas, and a device configured to perform the method.
US07933306B2

A transmitting device of the present invention comprises an encoder (20), a transmitting unit (100) including a pulse generator (30) and a parallel-to-serial converter (50), a transmitting control unit (40), and an antenna (90). The pulse generator (30) comprises a first pulse train generator (31), a second pulse train generator (32), . . . and an n-th pulse train generator (33). A k-bit information bit train is inputted from the information signal source (10), The encoder (20) encodes the k-bit information bit train into an n-bit encoded bit train at a coded rate of (k/n). The pulse generator (30) generates n-piece repetitive pulse trains corresponding to the n-bit encoded bit train. The antenna (90) transmits the n-piece repetitive pulse trains as UWB-IR.
US07933301B2

A resonator cavity (10A) and method are provided. The resonator cavity (10A) includes at least one gain medium (16) and end reflectors (12, 14) which define together longitudinal modes of light in the cavity, and further includes an intra-cavity beam coupler assembly (20). The beam coupler assembly (20) is configured to split light impinging thereon into a predetermined number of spatially separated light channels, and to cause phase locking and at least partial coherent combining of the light channels, having common longitudinal and transverse modes, in a double pass through the beam coupler assembly (20). The resonator cavity (10A) is configured and operable to produce at least one output combined light channel of a predetermined intensity profile.
US07933300B2

An intracavity resonant Fabry-Perot saturable absorber (R-FPSA) induces modelocking in a laser such as a fiber laser. An optical limiter such as a two photon absorber (TPA) can be used in conjunction with the R-FPSA, so that Q-switching is inhibited, resulting in laser output that is cw modelocked. By using both an R-FPSA and a TPA, the Q-switched modelocked behavior of a fiber laser is observed to evolve into cw modelocking.
US07933293B2

Disclosed herein are techniques for power management in wireless networks. Based upon receipt of an indication of the link margin of a receiving wireless device, a transmitting wireless device may adjust its transmit power commensurate with the link margin. The indication of the link margin may be transmitted from the receiving wireless device to the transmitting wireless device periodically. Alternatively, the receiving wireless station may provide the indication of the link margin in response to information received from the transmitting wireless device. In this instance, the indication of the link margin may be included in a piggyback acknowledgement (ACK) frame conventionally used to acknowledge receipt of the information transmitted by the transmitting wireless station.
US07933292B2

An apparatus and method for transmitting control information in a mobile communication system transmits uplink or downlink control information required for an E-DCH transmission between MAC layers of a transmitting side and a receiving side. The MAC layer of the transmitting side divides the MAC PDU into a MAC control PDU and a MAC data PDU and transmits data through the MAC data PDU and uplink or downlink control information through the MAC control PDU to the receiving side. The MAC control PDU includes an identifier for indicating a type of a MAC PDU and a sub-identifier for discriminating a type of the corresponding MAC control PDU.
US07933288B2

An architecture for providing high-speed access over frequency-division multiplexed (FDM) channels allows transmission of ethernet frames and/or other data across a cable transmission network or other form of FDM transport. The architecture involves downstream and upstream FDM multiplexing techniques to allow contemporaneous, parallel communications across a plurality of frequency channels. Furthermore, the architecture allows a central concentrator to support a plurality of remote devices that each have guaranteed bandwidth through connection-oriented allocations of bi-directional data flows. The upstream and downstream bandwidth allocation can support symmetrical bandwidth as well as asymmetrical bandwidth in either direction. The architecture generally can be used to support connection-oriented physical layer connectivity between a remote device and the central concentrator. Furthermore, the architecture may be integrated into other higher level devices such as, but not limited to, bridges, switches, routers, and/or gateways. The architecture generally may peacefully coexist with other services commonly-found in cable distribution networks.
US07933284B2

A method and apparatus for improving SIP server performance is disclosed. The apparatus comprises an enqueuer for determining whether a request packet entering into the server is a new request or a retransmitted request and its retransmission times and for enqueuing the request packet into different queues based on results of the determining step and a dequeuer for dequeuing the packet in the queues for processing based on a scheduling policy. The apparatus may further include a policy controller for communicating with the server, enqueuer, dequeuer, queues and user, to dynamically and automatically set, or set based on the user's instructions, the scheduling policy, number of different queues, each queue's capacity, scheduling, etc. based on the network and/or server load and/or based on different server applications.
US07933271B2

Provided is a Media Access Control (MAC) forwarding method for multi-hop routing in a communication system between vehicles. The method includes the steps of: a) receiving a frame from all nodes and checking whether there are duplicate frames; b) partly updating forwarding cache table (FCT) information, or updating SNT information and checking whether a destination address is a corresponding node; c) updating the FCT information, transmitting an Ack signal and transferring the frame to the upper layer, or searching whether the destination address is registered as “d_addr”; d) updating the FCT information and transmitting a delay ACK frame or checking whether the transmitted frame is a flooding frame; and e) updating the FCT information, checking whether the other node does not transmit the “d_ack” and inserting a flooding frame, otherwise, updating the FCT information and abandoning the frame.
US07933270B2

A method for prioritizing IP traffic in a wireless network based on a type-of-service (TOS) identifier is provided. The method includes receiving an IP datagram. The IP datagram comprises an original TOS identifier. An IP message is formed by adding an IP header to the IP datagram. The original TOS identifier is copied from the IP datagram into a duplicate TOS identifier in the IP header.
US07933265B2

Provided is a time switch capable of allowing a user to readily set up or change a schedule. For this purpose, a chassis 30 of the time switch 10 has same size (i.e., two-row-module size) as that obtained by arranging two three-module sized implanted type wiring devices in two lines along a minor width direction, and installation frame pieces 38 are protruded from both of upper and lower side walls. In addition, each installation frame piece 38 has a long hole 38a for inserting a box screw fastened to the implanted type box (not shown) implanted on the installation surface or a fastener hole combined with a fastener. Furthermore, decoration covers 33 and 34 are installed in the front side of the chassis 30, and manipulating buttons 45a to 45f of the setup manipulation unit for setting up a time schedule having a set of an address corresponding to the control target load, and a control time and a control item for the load are provided in the decoration cover 33 functioning as a manipulation face of the setup unit 10a.
US07933261B2

In a communication method for performing data communication between communication devices via a network according to a predetermined mode, an attempt to establish the data communication according to a first communication mode is made. When the attempt has failed, another attempt to establish the data communication according to a second communication mode is made.
US07933259B2

A system and method for automatically answering a call from a calling party to a called party that originates via the Internet, includes and involves a data storage system and processor that is coupled to the data storage system. The processor is operative to initiate an automated call answering service in response to an Internet telephony call from the calling party which is intended to be received by the called party, to receive a message from the calling party via the Internet in accordance with the automated call answering service, and to store the message in the data storage system for processing by the processor in accordance with the automated call answering service.
US07933257B2

A method of transmitting data from a source to a destination is described. A quality of service (QoS) tunnel is established between the source and the destination. Traffic from the source, and intended for the destination, will be sent via this tunnel. The traffic is manipulated by passing it through a performance enhancement proxy (PEP), in order to eliminate the “slow start” mechanism inherent to TCP traffic.
US07933238B2

A method and apparatus are provided for indicating to a communication unit a plurality of modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) to be utilized for communication. During a first MCS is determined for first resource blocks to be sent to a first remote unit or base station, and a second MCS is determined for a second resource block to be sent to the remote unit or base station. A message is transmitted indicating the first and the second MCS and also indicating the first resource blocks and the second resource block. Finally, a first PDU is transmitted to the remote unit or base station at a first time using the first MCS and the first resource blocks and a second PDU is transmitted to the remote unit or base station at the first time using the second MCS and the second resource block.
US07933236B2

The present invention provides a method for generating routing paths in a multi-hop network. The multi-hop network includes a base station, at least one relay station, and at least one non-relay mobile station. The routing paths are paths between the base station and the at least one non-relay mobile station via the at least one relay station. The base station broadcasts a path discovery message (PDM) including a path list with a starting point of the path list being the base station. Each of the relay stations receives the PDM and updates the PDM by adding their own respective node identifier to the path list and broadcasting the updated PDM. The PDMs eventually reach the non-relay mobile station. The non-relay mobile stations reply to the base station by sending the base station the updated path list between the base station and the non-relay mobile station. In some embodiments the base station or the at least one non-relay mobile station acting as a source node sends a dynamic service (DSx) message including an end-to-end path list to an end of path destination. The relay stations use the path list to forward the message between the source node and the end of path destination. In some implementations the multi-hop network operates in a manner that is consistent with any one of: IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.16d, and IEEE 802.16e.
US07933226B2

One embodiment of the invention is a computer controlled method for use with a communication system. The method includes a step of receiving a plurality of communications, where each one of the plurality of communications is from one of a plurality of communication sources; includes a step of mixing (that is responsive to a plurality of floor controls) the plurality of communications for a plurality of outputs associated with plurality of communication sources; and includes a step of analyzing, for a plurality of users associated with the plurality of communication sources, one or more conversational characteristics of two or more of the plurality of users. The method also includes a step of automatically adjusting the plurality of floor controls responsive to the step of analyzing. Other embodiments include systems and devices that use the method as well as program products that cause a computer to execute the method.
US07933221B1

A method and medium are provided for regulating a flow of data traffic that is communicated between a mobile device and a wireless telecommunications network. The method includes performing a data-packet-inspection process on at least a portion of the flow and applying a network policy to a specific wireless telecommunications area based on the results of the inspection. The network policy may be based on the wireless coverage area, the application, or the subscriber from which a data-packet originates. The network policy should also determine the way in which to regulate the flow of data if a policy applies to that particular flow. To enforce the policy, the value of a reverse activity bit may be set in connection with the wireless coverage area so as to regulate the flow of data as dictated by the network policy.
US07933220B2

Some aspects of the technology relate to the generation for test purposes of test packet ingredients by a microprocessor, ongoing with the generation for test purposes of test packets incorporating the test packet ingredients by a high-speed FPGA. Some aspects of the technology relate to the generation of outgoing test packets incorporating the test packet ingredients, at a programmable logic device such as an FPGA. These aspects are implemented as an apparatus, a method, computer readable medium, and a data structure.
US07933212B2

Example methods and apparatus to diagnose enhanced interior gateway routing protocol (EIGRP) problems in networks are disclosed. A disclosed example method to identify whether an EIGRP problem is present in a network comprises automatically performing one or more tests of one or more routers of the network in response to a submitted trouble ticket, processing results of the one or more tests to automatically identify whether the EIGRP problem is present in the network, and automatically assigning the trouble ticket to a work center when the EIGRP problem is present in the network.
Patent Agency Ranking