US07949951B1
Techniques are provided for text composition. In some implementations, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes receiving text to compose, the text including a plurality of paragraphs, and composing the text using paragraph composition, the paragraph composition determining a layout for the lines of each paragraph according to a line break scheme that determines line breaks for the paragraph as a whole. The method also includes, identifying limited recomposition for one or more paragraphs of the plurality of paragraphs, receiving a modification to a line of a paragraph, the paragraph having a plurality of lines and where the modified line is subsequent to a first line in the paragraph, determining whether the paragraph of the modified line is identified as having limited recomposition and, if the paragraph has limited recomposition, recomposing a portion of the paragraph using a multi-line paragraph composition process without recomposing the full paragraph.
US07949948B2
Technologies are described herein for laying out content. Constraints and rules are defined for one or more content objects. The constraints are utilized to lay out content objects on a canvas. Content is received for one of the content objects. The constraints and rules for the content object are utilized in an attempt to fit the content to the selected content object. If the content cannot be fit to the selected content object, the rules are utilized to modify the constraints for the other content objects and the layout for the canvas is regenerated. If the available content cannot be fit to the content objects on a page without overflowing, one or more additional pages are added to the canvas. Once the additional pages have been added, the content objects are laid out and content is fitted to the content objects across all of the pages.
US07949943B2
Apparatus and methods implementing a technique for creating an electronic artwork with a hot area. For a selected layer of the artwork, a non-transparent region is identified and an action is assigned to an area corresponding to the non-transparent region, the action defining a function that will be activated when the area is selected. The technique is advantageous in computer application programs that composite images from layers and for producing HTML (HyperText Markup Language) output that refers to a corresponding composited image, where the action is a URL and the area is defined by an image map.
US07949939B2
A document processing and managing system is provided and includes a document processing apparatus and a document management apparatus including: an acquisition history holding unit that holds an acquisition history, the acquisition history including information for identifying a first user and information for identifying the electronic document; an information holding unit that holds utilization permission information to determine document processing allowed for the first user and for a second user; and an information providing unit that receives from the document processing apparatus the information for identifying the user and the information for the identifying the electronic document, refers to the acquisition history to decide whether the user is the first user of the electronic document, and transmits the utilization permission information to the document processing apparatus, so as to control the instructed document processing in accordance with a result of the decision and the utilization permission information.
US07949937B2
A computer-readable medium includes a report parts viewer. The report parts viewer is configured to identify a first report object of a first plurality of report objects included in a first report. The report parts viewer is configured to facilitate display of the first report object absent each remaining report object included in the first report.
US07949936B2
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for identifying advertising for a web page. In response to receiving a universal resource locator containing identification information for selected text in the web page, the web page is retrieved to form a retrieved web page. The selected text in the web page is identified. Advertisements for the web page are identified using the selected text to form identified advertisements. The identified advertisements are placed in the web page.
US07949932B2
An LDPC parity check matrix originated using an array code provides more protection against errors for parity bits 1 through 1−p, which can, during decoding, allow faster convergence to a higher LLR value for those bits as well as higher overall reliability of other parity check bits. The present parity check matrix provides an upper triangular sub-matrix (H1) for the parity check bits, where column weights for parity bits 1 through p−1 can be greater than 1. Aspects include encoders to encode user bits using the parity check matrix, decoders to decode based on the parity check matrix, systems comprising encoders and/or decoders, encoder and decoder methods; as well as computer readable media comprising programs for implementing such methods.
US07949924B2
Provided is an apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving an HS-SCCH in a wideband wireless communication system. In a method for transmitting control information in an HARQ wireless communication system, an ACK/NACK fed back from a receiver is monitored to determine if an ACK/NACK repetition factor needs to be adjusted. If the adjustment is needed, the ACK/NACK repetition factor is determined. Control information corresponding to the ACK/NACK repetition factor is transmitted to the receiver over a predetermined control channel. A Node B capable of directly detecting the uplink channel conditions, adjusts the ACK/NACK repetition factor and the adjusted ACK/NACK repetition factor is rapidly transmitted to a UE.
US07949923B2
Test entry circuit and method for generating test entry signal including a first source signal generator configured to receive a test signal through a pad to generate a first mode source signal for a first test mode, a second source signal generator configured to count activation transitions of the test signal to generate a second mode source signal for a second test mode and an entry signal generator configured to receive the first and second mode source signals to generate a first test mode entry signal for entering the first test mode and a second test mode entry signal for entering the second test mode.
US07949922B2
A shift amount measuring apparatus for measuring a phase shift amount of a signal under measurement which is input thereto includes a PLL circuit that generates a strobe signal which is synchronized with a reference signal, a CDR circuit that inputs, into the PLL circuit, a control signal which has a level determined in accordance with a difference in phase between the signal under measurement and the strobe signal, so as to achieve a predetermined difference in phase between the signal under measurement and the strobe signal, and a measuring circuit that, before and after the signal under measurement is phase-shifted, measures a value of the control signal when the predetermined difference in phase is achieved between the signal under measurement and the strobe signal, and calculates the phase shift amount of the signal under measurement based on a difference between the measured levels of the control signal.
US07949919B2
The present invention provides a microelectronic device with a circuit core and a boundary scan test interface sharing a number of pre-selected pins. In the mode of a boundary scan test, the boundary scan test interface manipulates the input and output of the test signal through the shared pins. Pins necessary for the microelectronic device are therefore reduced.
US07949910B2
A memory system includes a nonvolatile memory including blocks as data erase units, a measuring unit which measures an erase time at which data in each block is erased, a block controller having a block table which associates a state value indicating one of a free state and a used state with the erase time for each block, a detector which detects blocks in which rewrite has collectively occurred within a short period, a first selector which selects a free block having an old erase time as a first block, a second selector which selects a block in use having an old erase time as a second block, and a leveling unit which moves data in the second block to the first block if the first block is included in the blocks detected by the detector.
US07949908B2
A self-repairing memory system includes memory including memory elements and redundant memory elements. The memory elements include a plurality of memory cells. A memory repair module identifies non-operational memory cells and selects at least one memory element including the non-operational memory cells. A first repair sub-circuit soft repairs the memory by substituting the selected memory elements with the redundant memory elements. A second repair sub-circuit hard repairs the memory based on the substitutions.
US07949902B2
A failure analysis system includes a controller A that sends a control command A, a looped interface A, the controller A being selectively connectable to the looped interface A, a node device A that is selectively connectable to the looped interface A, a node device B that is selectively connectable to the looped interface A, and an enclosure service device A that receives the control command A via the node device A. If a failure occurs, the enclosure service device A disconnects the node device B from the looped interface A, and one of: maintains the node device A connected to the looped interface A, and disconnects and subsequently re-connects the node device A to the looped interface A.
US07949897B2
A predetermined power failure recovery process is carried out when power failure recovery data is determined to be present in a flash ROM when a power supply is turned on after a power failure. However, when a tray opening and closing key is pressed before completion of this power failure recovery process, it is determined that a power failure recovery process interruption request is received, and the power failure recovery process interruption request is displayed at a power failure recovery selection screen. When interruption of the power failure recovery process is selected on the power failure recovery selection screen, it is determined whether or not reading of predetermined units of data relating to the power failure recovery process from the optical disc 1 is complete. A power failure recovery interruption process is then carried out after completion. A tray is then automatically opened when the power failure recovery interruption process is complete.
US07949895B2
According to an aspect of an embodiment, a method for controlling a controller connected to a plurality of storage units which are arranged in a redundant configuration, the controller reading data stored in the plurality of storage units in accordance with requests received from a host computer, the method comprising the steps of: receiving requests to read data successively from one of the storage units from the host computer; reading a part of requested target data from said one of the storage units; reading associated data and parity data stored in other storage units corresponding to other part of requested target data; generating other part of requested target data on the basis of the associated data and the parity data read out from the other storage units; and transmitting the part of the target data and the other part of the target data to the host computer.
US07949894B2
A novel manner of handling an error or exception caused by the unavailability of a slot or crypto hardware or communication network between server and hardware. As per this scheme, in the event of the unavailability of a particular slot in the hardware, the server may disable the SSL request processing within the server by setting a global “SSL Unavailable” flag. All the existing SSL requests within the server can be en-queued. If the error is because of unavailability of master slot, the server can establish a connection with a backup slot. If the error is because of unavailability of crypto hardware or communication network, then server may start a healer thread that will poll for the state of the hardware. If the exception is because of hardware reset, then server may cleanup earlier connection information and re-establish connection with the hardware, and enable SSL services.
US07949892B2
When a primary computer is taken over to a secondary computer in a redundancy configuration computer system where booting is performed via a storage area network (SAN), a management server delivers an information collecting/setting program to the secondary computer before the user's operating system of the secondary computer is started. This program assigns a unique ID (World Wide Name), assigned to the fiber channel port of the primary computer, to the fiber channel port of the secondary computer to allow a software image to be taken over from the primary computer to the secondary computer.
US07949888B2
Exemplary embodiments of methods and apparatuses to manage a power of a data processing system are described. A constraint parameter of a system operating at a first frequency and a first voltage is monitored. The system is, based on the monitoring of the constraint parameter, forced into an idle state while operating at a second frequency and a second voltage. The idle state prevents instructions from being executed.
US07949869B2
There are disclosed a method, computing device, and storage medium for establishing relative identity between a first agent on a first computing device and a second agent on a second computing device. An absolute key and a partial relative key may be generated for the first agent, wherein the absolute key and the partial relative key define a relative identity of the first agent, wherein the relative identity is unique for a relationship between the first agent and the second agent.
US07949868B2
A system and method are disclosed for controlling access to an access-protected unit. A location may be read from a base, such as form, using a digital pen. The system may then check if location is within a region belonging to an authorized user. If so, access may be granted to the authorized user to the access-protected unit or to specific programs or functions of the access-protected unit.
US07949860B2
A processor according to the present invention cyclically executes a plurality of threads, for each time period allocated thereto. The processor stores, for each thread, configuration information of operation cells. Each of the threads (i) causes the execution of a different predetermined number of operation cells in series, and successively reconfigures an operation cell that has completed a last operation thereof in the time period allocated to a current thread, based on a stored piece of configuration information of the operation cell that corresponds to a next thread, and (ii) causes concurrent execution of an operation cell having a configuration for the current thread and an operation cell having a configuration for the next thread.
US07949854B1
An instruction processing unit includes a trace builder circuit operable to (i) receive at least a portion of a first type of sequence of operations and to generate, based thereon, a second type of sequence of operations, where the portion includes at most one control transfer instruction that, when present, ends the portion, (ii) receive sets of at least two sequences of operations and to generate, based thereon, a plurality of third type of sequences of operations, where a sequence of operations of the third type includes one or more interior control transfer instructions and is generated from the sequence of operations of the second type and another sequence of operations of the third type, and (iii) retrieve the sequence of operations of the second type and the another sequence of operations of the third type from a cache circuit.
US07949851B2
Systems and/or methods that facilitate PBA and LBA translations associated with a memory component(s) are presented. A memory controller component facilitates determining which memory component, erase block, page, and data block contains a PBA in which a desired LBA and/or associated data is stored. The memory controller component facilitates control of performance of calculation functions, table look-up functions, and/or search functions to locate the desired LBA. The memory controller component generates a configuration sequence based in part on predefined optimization criteria to facilitate optimized performance of translations. The memory controller component and/or associated memory component(s) can be configured so that the translation attributes are determined in a desired order using the desired translation function(s) to determine a respective translation attribute based in part on the predefined optimization criteria. The LBA to PBA translations can be performed in parallel by memory components.
US07949842B2
A method for formatting a storage medium. The method includes saving management information associated with data that is to be protected from the formatting, the management information indicating where the data to be protected is stored, formatting a management information area of the storage medium where the management information is stored, and recovering the saved management information to the management information area of the storage medium such that the data to be protected is accessible.
US07949835B2
A data processing apparatus and method are provided for controlling access to memory. The data processing apparatus comprises main processing logic operable to execute a sequence of instructions in order to perform a process, and subsidiary processing logic operable to perform at least part of the process on behalf of the main processing logic. A memory is provided that is accessible by the main processing logic when performing the process, the main processing logic defining a portion of the memory to be allocated memory accessible to the subsidiary processing logic when performing part of the process on behalf of the main processing logic. Further, a memory management unit is provided that is programmable by the main processing logic and operable to control access to the allocated memory by the subsidiary processing logic. The main processing logic is arranged to program the memory management unit such that for an access request issued by the subsidiary processing logic relating to the allocated memory, the memory management unit produces a memory address and one or more associated memory attributes identifying one or more properties of the allocated memory at that memory address.
US07949829B2
In one embodiment, a cache comprises a data memory comprising a plurality of data entries, each data entry having capacity to store a cache block of data, and a cache control unit coupled to the data memory. The cache control unit is configured to dynamically allocate a given data entry in the data memory to store a cache block being cached or to store data that is not being cache but is being staged for retransmission on an interface to which the cache is coupled.
US07949823B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device transmits/receives data to/from a data input/output terminal every j bits (e.g., eight bits). Each of memory cells in a memory cell array can hold data of n bits in correspondence to 2n threshold levels. A write data conversion circuit generates write data from bit data input from the same data input/output terminal in a set of a plurality of data of j bits input at different timings.
US07949820B2
In a system for reading and writing data, the system including a controller, multiple microprocessor units accessible to the controller, and multiple memory device configurations, each having one dedicated bus connection to individual ones or multiples of the microprocessor units, a method for managing access to one or more of the memory device configurations includes the steps, (a) receiving a request at the controller requiring access of at least one of the memory device configurations, (b) determining at the controller, which microprocessor unit or units will handle the request, (c) handing the request to the selected microprocessor unit or units, (d) determining at the microprocessor unit or units, the tasks specified in the request for that microprocessor unit or units and (e) determining a memory address or addresses in one or more of the memory device configurations and accessing the memory device configuration or configurations to satisfy the request.
US07949817B1
An adaptive bus profiler is described. In embodiment(s), data traffic that is communicated on an adaptive bus can be monitored, and projected data traffic that is scheduled for communication via the adaptive bus can be determined. An adaptive bus profile can be determined based on the data traffic and the projected data traffic. The data traffic that is communicated on the adaptive bus can be suspended to reconfigure a bus width of the adaptive bus based on the adaptive bus profile.
US07949814B2
Method for ‘Cool-Swap’, ‘Warm-Swap’ and ‘Hot-Swap’ of ‘Fixed’ ‘System’ hard disk(s) in and out of the computer and for re-cycling the computer between ‘diskly’ state to ‘diskless’ state by combining the following features in one way or the other: separating the power supply of the ‘Fixed’ ‘System’ hard disk(s) from the internal power supply that is supplying power to other components of the computer, in particular the motherboard; taking the operating system, capable of being taken to run as ramdisk-based operating system, in control of the computer to run as ramdisk-based operating system; putting the computer into different power management states; and issuing commands or instructions for logical disconnection and/or re-connection of hard disk(s).
US07949808B2
An auto-execution signal processing method and an apparatus performing the method are provided. That method is particularly applied to the apparatus supporting recognition of a human interface device standard. The apparatus preferably has an activation element such as a button, and it is to execute an automatic execution process by a key-activation manually or automatically as in connection with a computer system. Therefore, a predetermined purpose is met. According to a preferred embodiment, the apparatus having the auto-execution function is firstly initialized. Next, the activation element thereon is used to launch the automatic execution process. The process includes a step of driving a Finite State Machine to transfer an executable string of code to a computer system via a connection interface. After that, the executable string is compiled by an operating system in order to launch an application, such as entering a proprietary webpage.
US07949806B2
A method to provide an operation to an information storage device is disclosed. The method supplies an information storage device and a protocol conversion device capable of receiving an operation in a first communication protocol comprising a variable attribute, and providing that operation to the information storage device in a second communication protocol, where that second communication protocol does not support the variable attribute. The method provides an operation to the protocol conversion device using said first communication protocol, and determines if the variable attribute is configured in that operation. If the method determines that the variable attribute is not configured in the operation, then the method provides the operation to the information storage device using the second communication protocol. If the method determines that the variable attribute is configured in the operation, then the method implements that variable attribute when providing the operation to the information storage device using the second communication protocol.
US07949803B2
A system and method for transmitting data packets from a memory hub to a memory controller is disclosed. The system includes an upstream reception port coupled to an upstream link. The upstream reception port receives the data packets from downstream memory hubs. The system further includes a bypass bus coupled to the upstream reception port. The bypass bus transports the data packets from the upstream reception port. The system further includes a temporary storage coupled to the upstream reception port and configured to receive the data packets from the upstream reception port. The system further includes a bypass multiplexer for selectively coupling an upstream transmission port to either one of a core logic circuit, the temporary storage, or the bypass bus. The system further includes a breakpoint logic circuit coupled to the bypass multiplexer and configured to switch the bypass multiplexer to selectively connect the upstream transmission port to either one of the core logic circuit, the bypass bus, or the temporary storage. The system further includes a local memory coupled to the core logic circuit and operable to receive and send the data packets to the core logic circuit.
US07949796B2
A device is connectable to a computer using a data string based on the SCSI standard. The device includes a mode switching section configured to switch the device to one of a first mode and a second mode in which an access to the storage device with a standard SCSI commands is permitted and prohibited, respectively. When the standard SCSI command is received and the device is in the first mode, the physical storage area of the data storage section is accessed on the basis of the SCSI command. When the standard SCSI command is received and the device is in the second mode, a pseudo response is transmitted to the computer, which indicates that no storage medium is mounted. When a particular SCSI command is received, the file is accessed through a file system provided in the device based on the particular SCSI command.
US07949789B2
A first special character encoded in a first protocol is transmitted across a first communications link. The transmitted first special character is received at a first interface between the first communications link and a second communications link. The first special character is converted to a second special character encoded in a second protocol, wherein the first special character is also defined for encoding in the second protocol. The second special character is transmitted across the second communications link. The second special character is received at a second interface between the second communications link and a third communications link. The second special character is converted back to the first special character. The first special character is transmitted across the third communications link.
US07949764B2
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a method, system, and storage medium for validating users of communications services. The method includes generating records for communications service users by at least one service provider. The records store information relating to the communications service users including legal liability information, an originator type code, and a validation code assigned to selected originator type codes. The validation code facilitates validation of the communications service users. The method also includes storing the records in a subscriber classification database. The originator type code classifies the communications service users according to nature of use, communications type, business type, geography, and age.
US07949763B2
An information processing apparatus, a session recovery method and a recording medium for storing a session recovery program are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, even if a session with a server apparatus connected via a network is invalidated, it is possible to resume the session without user's recognition of the session invalidation. The information processing apparatus includes an authentication information maintain part maintaining authentication information supplied to establish the session, a session invalidation detection part detecting that the session is invalidated, and a session recovery part, when the session invalidation detection part detects that the session has been invalidated, requesting the server apparatus to establish a session by using the authentication information in the authentication information maintain part.
US07949762B2
A communication apparatus establishes a one-way data connection and a connection to a network in which messages are transferred in two ways, and includes: a one-way data connection status detecting unit which detects a connection validating request indicating a communication apparatus on a data reception side that data transmission, utilizing the one-way data connection, is possible and a connection invalidating request indicating that the data transmission is impossible, both of which are outputted from the communication apparatus on the data reception side; an apparatus address obtaining unit which obtains an apparatus address with a message via the network when a change from the connection invalidating request to the connection validating request is detected; an address holding unit which holds the apparatus address; and a message transmission continuing unit which responds to the message received via the network based on the apparatus address held by the address holding unit regardless of whether or not the connection invalidating request is detected.
US07949759B2
A sender's degrees of separation from a recipient may be used to aid in spam filtering or to otherwise handle a communication. The “degrees of separation” represent a metric used to quantify whether/how the recipient is linked to the sender through intermediary people or other entities. A level of “trust” or “legitimacy” about a sender's communication can be inferred by looking at whether the sender is linked to an intended recipient. Typically, user contact lists (e.g., address book, buddy list, and/or white list) are evaluated to determine the number of degrees (or hops) are required to link or relate two users.
US07949754B2
The invention relates to the development of a Profinet IO compatible subscriber device having a selector switch such that the station identifier is obtained directly from the respective setting of the selector switch in combination with a firmly prescribed group identifier which is specific to a respective particular group of subscriber devices.
US07949753B2
A system is provided for disseminating resource allocation information from system resources to state-information observers comprising resource users and typically also at least one system resource manager. Each resource maintains state information about its identity and its allocation to one or more resource users. Each resource provides this information to a state-dissemination arrangement which disseminates it to each state-information observer. Each resource user uses the state information it receives from the state-dissemination arrangement to ascertain the resources allocated to it. Similarly, a system resource manager, when present, uses the state information it receives from the state-dissemination arrangement to ascertain the allocation of those resources that are of interest to the manager. A resource, resource user and resource manager for use in such a system are also provided.
US07949742B2
In a network system formed by one or a plurality of hosts having a function for accessing Internet, and a router for connecting each host and the Internet through an accessing communication path of a provider, two types of IP address including first type IP addresses and second type IP addresses are generated and selectively used by each host, according to two types of prefix including first type prefixes and second type prefixes that have shorter valid periods than the first type prefixes, which are advertised from the router periodically.
US07949739B2
A method and apparatus for determining causality mapping between causing events and detectable events among a plurality of nodes in a distributed system is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of automatically generating a causality mapping model of the dependences between causing events at the nodes of the distributed system and the detectable events in a subset of the nodes, the model suitable for representing the execution of at least one system operation. In one aspect the generation is perform by selecting nodes associated with each of the detectable events from the subset of the nodes and indicating the dependency between a causing event and at least one detectable event for each causing event at a node when the causing event node is a known distance from at least one node selected from the selected nodes. In still another aspect, the processing described herein is in the form of a computer-readable medium suitable for providing instruction to a computer or processing system for executing the processing claimed.
US07949732B1
A packet transmitted on a network is read and decoded. A network device and its operating system are identified by analyzing the decoded packet. If more than one operating system is identified from the decoded packet, the operating system is selecting by comparing confidence values assigned to the operating systems identified. A service running on the network device is identified from the decoded packet or subsequent packets that are read, decoded and analyzed. The network topology of a network is determined by reading, decoding, and analyzing a plurality of packets. A flow between two network devices is determined by reading, decoding, and analyzing a plurality of packets. Vulnerabilities are assigned to operating systems and services identified by reading, decoding, and analyzing packets. Network configuration policy is enforced on operating systems and services identified by reading, decoding, and analyzing packets.
US07949728B2
A system, method, and computer program product for processing data are described herein. The system maintains first databases of patents, and second databases of non-patent information of interest to a corporate entity. The system also maintains one or more groups. Each of the groups comprises any number of the patents from the first databases. The system, upon receiving appropriate operator commands, automatically processes the patents in one of the groups in conjunction with non-patent information from the second databases. Accordingly, the system performs patent-centric and group-oriented processing of data. A group can also include any number of non-patent documents. The groups may be product based, person based, corporate entity based, or user-defined. Other types of groups are also covered, such as temporary groups. The processing automatically performed by the system relates to (but is not limited to) patent mapping, document mapping, patent citation (both forward and backward), patent aging, patent bracketing/clustering (both forward and backward), inventor patent count, inventor employment information, patent claim tree analysis, and finance. Other functions and capabilities are also covered, including the ability to utilize hyperbolic trees to visualize data generated by the system, method, and computer program product, and to track, analyze, and report on information related to intellectual property (IP) transactions, including license and related agreements.
US07949722B1
Maintaining a file specifying a “donut” of dynamic, hierarchical, shared user-profile information. The donut contains a user profile or acts as a key to a data repository containing it, and it specifies user-profile information such as user characteristics, viewing preferences, hobbies, and spending habits. The donut is accessed by browser programs, associated web server programs, and other applications for use in routing content to the user associated with the donut.
US07949706B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for publishing an electronic document. Briefly described, in architecture, one embodiment of the system, among others, can be implemented as follows. A distribution module retrieves a distribution list identifying at least one user that is to be notified about the publication of the electronic document. As such, when a transfer module sends the electronic document to a network location, a messaging module automatically notifies the at least user from the distribution list of the publication of the electronic document and provides instructions to the at least one user for retrieving the electronic document from the network location. Other systems and methods are also provided.
US07949704B2
A broker-based publish/subscribe messaging system is administered in which a session-based network connection (such as TCP/IP) from an administrator publish/subscribe client application is established with a broker. Administration commands are received as messages from the administrator publish/subscribe client application at the broker via the session-based network connection and response messages are sent from the broker via the session-based network connection to only the administrator publish/subscribe client application.
US07949702B2
In accordance with the invention, cookies are automatically synchronized across multiple client machines on a network. A user registers all of the client machines for which he desires cookie synchronization under a single account with a cookie synchronization server. Each of the client machines is equipped with software that monitors all changes made to cookies at that machine and sends notifications of the changes to the cookie synchronization server. The cookie synchronization server stores the cookie change information in a log and sends it out to the other client machine in the account, which then update their cookies accordingly.
US07949700B2
A logic circuit computes various modal interval (MI) arithmetic values using a plurality of arithmetic function units (AFUs), each dedicated to compute a specific MI arithmetic operation. The AFUs receive first and second MI operand values each encoded in first and second operand signals. Each AFU provides a MI result value encoded in a result signal to a multiplexer. The multiplexer receives a selector signal specifying the MI arithmetic operation desired, and provides to a result register, an output signal encoding the MI result value specified by the selector signal. The result register stores the MI result value.
US07949698B2
A circuit arrangement for initializing a random number generator includes a volatile random access memory and an access device for storing and reading information in the random access memory. The information is read out from at least one area of the random access memory as a starting value or read out and transformed into a starting value. Furthermore, the circuit arrangement includes a switching device which is coupled to the access device and decouples the random access memory for a period of time from a supply voltage or a refresh signal. The random number generator is coupled to the access device and generates a random number sequence based on the starting value provided by the access device.
US07949696B2
Disclosed herein is a floating-point number arithmetic circuit for efficiently supplying data to be performed arithmetic operation. The floating-point number arithmetic circuit includes an floating-point number arithmetic unit for performing a predetermined floating-point number arithmetic operation on a floating-point number of a predetermined precision, and a converting circuit for converting data into the floating-point number of predetermined precision and supplying the floating-point number of the predetermined precision to at least either one of input terminals of the floating-point number arithmetic unit.
US07949691B1
An invention is described herein that provides methods and apparatus for collecting, distributing and storing product data. A data structure suitable for use in collecting, distributing or storing product data for use in a catalog is disclosed. More particularly, the data structure is based on a data model having one or more classes, where each of the classes has one or more associated categories. The data structure includes at least one class definition, each class definition being arranged to identify one or more associated categories. In addition, the data structure includes a plurality of category definitions, each category definition being arranged to identify an associated attribute group. The data structure further includes a plurality of attribute group definitions, where each attribute group definition is arranged to identify one or more attributes that are associated with the attribute group. In order to assist in the capture of data, each attribute has an associated possible value list that identifies values that are selectable as values for the associated attribute.
US07949687B1
In a relational database system, data is logically represented as a single table, but physically stored as a plurality of overlapping partitions. In some embodiments, the table is created by an instruction defining the table's structure and specifying a plurality of partitions in which to store duplicate copies of some data and in some embodiments, the table is accessed without referencing the overlapping partitions.
US07949686B2
A scalable fulfillment system is presented that supports business processes, manages the transport and processing of business-related messages or documents between a business entity and clients, such as customers, vendors, and business partners, and generally supports business document processing. The system intelligently manages the transportation of files from clients, through processing of files, to generating responses that return to the clients. To accommodate a heterogeneous interfacing and processing with different clients in a central system, a file normalization technique is used that captures a common meta-data format from the numerous heterogeneous file types used by numerous clients. The meta-data files, also referred to as messages, contain links to their associated data files and are processed separately. Once the messages are entered into the system, an intelligent queue scheduler (IQS) is used to schedule the processing of messages across a scalable resource of processing engines based on normalized file meta-data parameters.
US07949685B2
Modeling and implementing complex data access operations based on lower level traditional operations
A system, method and article of manufacture for data processing and, more particularly, for managing execution of complex data access operations in a data processing system. One embodiment provides a method of managing execution of query operations in a data processing system. The method comprises issuing, by a requesting entity, a request to perform a composite query operation defining an initial query operation and a subsequent query operation to be executed against a data repository of the data processing system, executing the initial query operation, determining an operation status of the initial query operation, and managing execution of the subsequent query operation on the basis of the determined operation status.
US07949680B2
An apparatus for producing program ancillary data pertinent to each scene of a picture program to be recorded includes a display control unit for demonstrating, on a display picture, an input form having, as an input item, the information pertinent to a scene as an object of preparation, and a program ancillary data generating unit for correlating the information specifying an associated scene with the information as input through the input form, and for outputting the resulting information.
US07949672B2
A system for determining the intent of query that includes a search engine that receives a first search query, a query/click log module configured to store log data associated with the first search query; and a computational module that generates metric values associated with the first search query based on the log data and that determines that the first search query is one of a regional specific query or a global query based on the metric values, where the metric values reflect a likelihood of local intent of the first search query, and where the search engine provides search results selected in part based on the metric values.
US07949664B2
An exemplary embodiment of the invention relates to a method and storage medium for providing web-based electronic research and presentation. The method includes scanning an active document on a computer to identify relevant keywords, searching a database for reference materials relating to the relevant keywords, and displaying relevant reference materials on the computer. The method also includes integrating process software for providing the web-based electronic research and presentation functions via a document creation application. The integration includes determining if the process software will execute on a server, identifying an address of the server, checking the server for operating systems, applications, and version numbers for validation with the process software, and identifying any missing applications required for integration. The integration also includes updating the server with respect to any operating system and application that is not validated, providing any missing applications for the server, and installing the process software on the server.
US07949655B2
A database system includes object relational tables having at least one complex attribute. The database system also includes an optimizer module that selects a join plan for a given query that specifies a join of multiple tables. If the query includes a function selected from the group consisting of a selection predicate applied on a complex attribute, a projection applied on a complex attribute, and a user-defined data type method, then a join path for the join query is determined based in part on a cost associated with application of the function. Application of the function is performed on one of a base table and a join table depending on which has a lower cardinality. The join table is a result of a join of the base table and another table.
US07949652B2
A method, system, and article of manufacture to process database queries are disclosed. One embodiment comprises receiving an abstract query against a database having a multiplicity of data records. The abstract query identifies a model entity that defines a focus of the abstract query. The method further comprises receiving a limitation request configured to restrict a result set for the abstract query. The limitation request specifies a limitation on data records that are returned for one or more instances of the underlying model entity. From the abstract query, an executable query capable of being executed by a query engine is generated. The executable query is modified on the basis of the limitation request. The modified executable query is executed against the database to obtain the result set, whereby the result set is restricted as requested by the limitation request.
US07949651B2
A directory assistance system includes a directory database and a search engine. The search engine is configured to search the directory database for a first set of residential listings based on at least one first search term. A second search term is received that is related to a cohabitant of the listing to be found. At least one search result is selected that satisfies the second search term.
US07949649B2
There are disclosed methods, apparatus, and storage media for building a music metadata library. Acoustic metadata for one or more music tracks may be automatically acquired from a plurality of client computing devices. Cultural metadata for the one or more music tracks may be automatically acquired by searching Internet-accessible content. The acquired acoustic and cultural metadata may be stored in the music metadata library.
US07949646B1
A website mining tool is disclosed that extracts information from, for example, a company's website and presents the extracted information in a graphical user interface (GUI). In one embodiment, web pages from a website are stored in, for example, computer memory and a structure of the web pages is identified. A plurality of blocks of information is then extracted as a function of this structure and a category is assigned to each block of information. The elements in the blocks of information are then displayed, for example to a salesperson, as a function of these categories. In another embodiment, Document Object Modeling parsing is used to identify the structure of the web pages. In yet another embodiment, a support vector machine is used to categorize each block of information.
US07949634B2
Widget synchronization architectures, methods, systems, and computer readable media are described. One exemplary embodiment includes a first software component which is configured to cause retrieval and storage of data for a first data class for one or more widgets from a first store of the data on a device, such as a first data processing system, and is configured to synchronize data for the first data class in the first store with data of the first data class in a second store on at least one of a host or another device, such as a second data processing system. The first software component is separate from a widget application software which provides a user interface to allow a user to use the data. The first software component synchronizes the structured data through a second software component which interfaces with the host and the device.
US07949633B1
In various embodiments, a computerized method includes presenting an electronic document to one user out of multiple users that have edit access to the electronic document as part of a collaborative editing of the electronic document. The computerized method may include receiving an input from the user to edit the electronic document, as well as invoking a lock to prevent edit access by the other users responsive to receiving the input from the user to edit the electronic document.
US07949626B1
A method for moving an agent with a compiled rule set from a first execution environment to a second execution environment, comprising initiating the agent move, sending the agent from the first execution environment to the second execution environment and receiving the agent at the second execution environment.
US07949621B2
An efficient, effective and at times superior object detection and/or recognition (ODR) function may be built from a set of Bayesian stumps. Bayesian stumps may be constructed for each feature and object class, and the ODR function may be constructed from the subset of Bayesian stumps that minimize Bayesian error for a particular object class. That is, Bayesian error may be utilized as a feature selection measure for the ODR function. Furthermore, Bayesian stumps may be efficiently implemented as lookup tables with entries corresponding to unequal intervals of feature histograms. Interval widths and entry values may be determined so as to minimize Bayesian error, yielding Bayesian stumps that are optimal in this respect.
US07949620B2
After initial clusters having only one component are formed, a conditional probability P(Ci|C′k) is determined for the cluster Ci being included in an order on condition that cluster C′k is included in the order. If P(Ci|C′k) is greater than a first threshold value S1, a new cluster Cn having all the components of clusters Ci, C′k is formed and the operations are repeated until no new clusters are formed.
US07949618B2
To train a machine learning system, a set of different values of one or more photoresist parameters, which characterize behavior of photoresist when the photoresist undergoes processing steps in a wafer application, is obtained. A set of diffraction signals is obtained using the set of different values of the one or more photoresist parameters. The machine learning system is trained using the set of measured diffraction signals as inputs to the machine learning system and the set of different values of the one or more photoresist parameters as expected outputs of the machine learning system.
US07949614B2
A method of printing value indicia includes feeding a roll of printing stock into a value indicia printer. The roll of printing stock includes color images pre-printed on the roll of printing stock. The method further includes using the value indicia printer to print value indicia on the roll of printing stock. The printer may be a postage stamp printer which produces custom postage stamps which include pre-printed color images.
US07949610B2
A method and system for discovering dependencies in project plans of a distributed system. Project plans are located by a project plan path. A project plan contains dependency information of a task to be performed, a resource necessary to perform the task, and a prerequisite task to perform the task. The method generates a master project plan containing all dependency information in all project plans in the distributed system, which dictates an order of tasks or task-resource maps in all project plans pursuant to the dependency information in project plans. The method utilizes project plan files in diverse formats in generating the master project plan for the distributed system.
US07949608B2
Methods, and apparatus, enabling an originating service provider to automatically obtain from a 3rd party service provider and run a software service online. Method comprising: originating service provider negotiating license with 3rd party service provider over certain software service run by 3rd party service provider; license stipulating life cycle information of software service, enabling originating service provider to automatically obtain software service; 3rd party provider delivering software service to originating service provider in response to agreements of license; and originating service provider automatically deploying software service in self-hosted environment according to stipulation of the license. Based on the method and apparatus of the present invention, the service provider can automatically and flexibly obtain a software service to reduce costs of the service provider and ensure quality of the software service, and facilitate the expansion of software service filed and software service update.
US07949602B1
A method of operating a distributed image capture proof-of-deposit system having a central processing site and a number of branches connected via a network with the central processing site comprises the steps of (a) capturing images of items at a branch without use of physical tracer items at the branch, and (b) transferring the images captured at the branch via the network to the central processing site. At least some images at the central processing site are processed using logical tracer items which have been inserted at the central processing site.
US07949598B2
A system for generating a display of at least one side of a market includes a computer system having one or more computers. The displayed side of the market includes one or more offers from one or more market participants. Each offer includes an offered price and an offered quantity. The computer system receives market data reflecting the one or more offers and generates a display of the received market data. The display includes a price axis, a quantity axis, and one or more offer bars. Each offer bar represents one or more offers including equal offered prices. Placement of an offer bar along the price axis represents the equal offered prices for the one or more offers represented by the offer bar. The height of an offer bar relative to the quantity axis represents the aggregate offered quantity for the one or more offers represented by the offer bar.
US07949596B2
An enhanced system and method for handling, matching and executing a diverse group of limit-priced orders in an electronic options environment is disclosed. Most of the order types disclosed are automatically repriced and reposted as the NBBO changes to increase their execution opportunities. Market maker entitlements are integrated with the order processing, so that the market maker is guaranteed an allocation of the trade if the market maker is at the NBBO when an order priced at or better than the NBBO is received. Once posted to the order book, the displayed price of an order may be eligible for preferential execution in a market maker entitlement process, regardless of whether the displayed price is original or has been automatically repriced.
US07949585B2
A method and system for investing in an investment fund by at least one investor are provided. The method includes defining at least two tranches of the investment fund, each tranche associated with a tranche risk profile. The method includes, for each investor, receiving an investment amount in each tranche. The method includes calculating a profit/loss for each investor based on the investment amounts, the tranche risk profiles and a performance of the investment fund.
US07949574B2
A system for personalizing interaction between a user communicating over at least one communication channel and a provider of information/products/services, the user having a communication device for communication over the channel with the provider, the system comprising a channel interface for interfacing with the channel, an information/product/service interface for interfacing with an information/product/service provider; and a knowledge management system coupled to the channel and information/product/service interface, the knowledge management system comprising a knowledge management repository storing information concerning the user, the information obtained from interaction with the user over the channel including current interactions between the user and the knowledge management system, and further storing information concerning a plurality of information/products/services to offer to the user, and a personalization engine for making a decision as to which of the plurality of information/product/services to present to the user over the communication channel based on the stored information in the knowledge management repository.
US07949572B2
An electric commerce system includes a broker that enables third parties to create their own independent shopping carts including items from multiple different merchants. An agent creates and stores a shopping cart containing a plurality items from one or more merchants. The customer can view the shopping cart displayed by the agent to determine whether to make a purchase. If the customer indicates a desire to purchase the items in the cart, the customer is transferred to a broker for the checkout and purchase process. The customer can purchase the items in the shopping cart in a single purchase transaction with the broker, rather than having to deal with each of the merchants. The broker interacts with the merchants to complete the purchase transaction by which the customer buys the items in the cart.
US07949571B2
The present invention provides a technique for establishing a new form of electronic commerce.An electronic commerce system includes a search engine, a payment system and a user terminal. The search engine crawls documents published as web pages by users at a certain time and searches for and gathers sales information in the documents. The sales information gathered is listed and posted on a web page provided by the search engine, etc. Alternatively, items that match the search criteria are presented when a search is requested by a user who wishes to purchase an item. The search engine has a similar function to an electronic commerce site, which provides sales information from a seller to an intending purchaser on behalf of the seller.
US07949569B2
Information, such as information relating to the configuration and capabilities of mobile devices, can be stored in, and accessed from, a distributed, hierarchical repository system. The repository can be based on a tree structure including a plurality of levels of nodes, wherein each level corresponds to a type or source of information. The nodes also can be distributed among various entities providing the information for that node, whereby entities can retain some level of access control over the information in that node. A party requesting information then can receive information from the distributed repository based on the access conditions for that user or party, which may grant them access to information in various nodes or levels, and/or information provided by certain entities.
US07949565B1
A database of consumer profiles is generated from multiple sources of information including demographic databases identifying demographic attributes of the consumers and transaction records for the consumers. The transaction records are processed to generate transaction attributes and interests of the consumer. The consumer profiles identify deterministic and probabilistic attributes about the consumer, but do not contain privacy violating information such as raw transaction records. The consumer profiles may be maintained in a plurality of distributed databases. Advertisers generate profiles that identify attributes of an intended target market of the advertisement. The advertisement profiles are in the form of operators that can be applied to the database of consumer profiles to determine applicability of advertisements to the subscribers. The operators may only be applied to or make measurements on certain “observables”. The operators will not be able to obtain private information from the database of consumer profiles.
US07949563B2
A system comprises users disposed in various locations within a region, each user associated with an advertisement of an associated web property, each advertisement for enabling visitors to navigate to the associated web property; pods distributed within the region, each user being associated with at least one pod located more proximate to the user than another pod and that stores account information on the advertisement associated with the user; an advertisement channel for receiving a content request from a visitor, for obtaining an advertisement of a web property based on the content request, and for presenting the advertisement to the visitor in response to the content request; and a tag-based tracking mechanism for collecting visitor events if the visitor navigates to the web property and for forwarding visitor data based on the visitor events to the pod associated with the user that is associated with the advertisement.
US07949559B2
A platform and program for enhancing the value and desirability of a credit card (or other payment product) to a card holder and encouraging increased use of the card as a payment device by rewarding the card holder based not only on qualifying purchases but on miles traveled in connection with travel ticket or travel pass purchases. The inventive program leverages qualifying transaction information and other data (e.g., Level 3 Data) which automatically flow with such transaction information. The rewards redeemed by the card holder according to the inventive platform and program are not tied to a particular provider of goods or services, and reward fulfillment is managed through the card issuer or its fulfillment agent.
US07949556B1
A lessee of an item, such as an automobile, is encouraged to either purchase the automobile at the expiration of the lease, or to initiate a new lease for the same item. If the lessee undertakes a purchase or a new lease, a manufacturer of the item, or another party, provides insurance covering the item. The methods disclosed herein may be performed over a computer network, such as the Internet.
US07949550B2
Methods and systems are described for automated processing of medical data for insurance and disability determinations. Based on medical conditions claimed by the claimant, medical evidence queries are automatically generated to provide instructions to medical providers for conducting physical exams and laboratory tests and for retrieving medical records. After medical evidence is collected according to the queries, the medical evidence and related rating codes and decisions are displayed to rating personnel in a user-friendly format to assist in making a rating decision.
US07949549B1
A method comprises analyzing the psychology of a typical consumer and defining first key stages wherein customers drop out and second key stages wherein sales could be maximized.
US07949547B2
Methods, systems, and products automatically modify patient records. A wireless signal is received at a transceiver from a patient room computer system. The transceiver is associated to a patient room number and to patient identifying information. The patient identifying information is associated to an electronic patient chart. The electronic patient chart is retrieved and sent from the transceiver. When supplemental patient chart data is available, the electronic patient chart is modified with the supplemental patient chart data. When supplanted patient chart data is available, the electronic patient chart is modified with the supplanted patient chart data.
US07949546B1
A method and system for providing family health history data includes a process for providing family health history data whereby, all, or part of, a family member's health data is obtained from, but not limited to, any of the following sources: the family member and/or agents of the family member; one or more other family members, one or more healthcare providers; one or more healthcare insurance plan providers; one or more healthcare benefit program administrators; one or more financial institutions; and/or any other source of a family member's health data. All, or part of, the family member's health data is then provided to other family members, healthcare providers for family members, state and/or private agencies, and/or any other party as designated by the family member, and on a selective access basis, as designated by the family member, for use as family health history data by the designated parties.
US07949540B2
A method that enables the USPS to be aware of the contents of mail and the identity of the party who licensed the postal meter that paid for the mailing. The foregoing is accomplished by placing human readable postal meter indicia on the mail that contains information that uniquely identifies the mail and the licensee of the meter in addition to incorporating a radio frequency identification tag on the mail that identifies the contents of the mail and the information that uniquely identifies the mail. Additional security will be obtained by knowing the identity of the mailer and the contents of the mailing. The radio frequency tags may be remotely read, enabling the USPS to be aware of the contents of the mail permitting different content mail to be handled differently.
US07949533B2
A method for assessing a performance of a speech recognition system may include determining a grade, corresponding to either recognition of instances of a word or recognition of instances of various words among a set of words, wherein the grade indicates a level of the performance of the system and the grade is based on a recognition rate and at least one recognition factor. An apparatus for assessing a performance of a speech recognition system may include a processor that determines a grade, corresponding to either recognition of instances of a word or recognition of instances of various words among a set of words, wherein the grade indicates a level of the performance of the system and wherein the grade is based on a recognition rate and at least one recognition factor.
US07949532B2
A conversation controller outputs a reply sentence according to a user utterance. The conversation controller comprises a conversation database and a conversation control unit. The conversation database stores a plurality of plans. Each plan has a reply sentence and one or more pieces of next plan designation information for designating a next candidate reply sentence to be output following the reply sentence. The conversation control unit selects one of the plans stored in the conversation database according to a user utterance and outputs a reply sentence which the selected plan has. Then, the conversation control unit selects one piece of the next plan designation information which the plan has according to a next user utterance and outputs a next candidate reply sentence on the basis of the selected piece of the next plan designation information. Some plans have a plurality of reply sentences into which one explanatory sentence is divided.
US07949530B2
A conversation controller outputs a reply sentence according to a user utterance. The conversation controller comprises a conversation database and a conversation control unit. The conversation database stores a plurality of plans. Each plan has a reply sentence and one or more pieces of next plan designation information for designating a next candidate reply sentence to be output following the reply sentence. The conversation control unit selects one of the plans stored in the conversation database according to a user utterance and outputs a reply sentence which the selected plan has. Then, the conversation control unit selects one piece of the next plan designation information which the plan has according to a next user utterance and outputs a next candidate reply sentence on the basis of the selected piece of the next plan designation information. Some plans have a series of questions as the reply sentences.
US07949529B2
A mobile system is provided that includes speech-based and non-speech-based interfaces for telematics applications. The mobile system identifies and uses context, prior information, domain knowledge, and user specific profile data to achieve a natural environment for users that submit requests and/or commands in multiple domains. The invention creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command. The invention may organize domain specific behavior and information into agents, that are distributable or updateable over a wide area network.
US07949522B2
A voice enhancement logic improves the perceptual quality of a processed signal. The voice enhancement system includes a noise detector and a noise attenuator. The noise detector detects and models the noise associated with rain. The noise attenuator dampens or reduces the rain noise from a signal to improve the intelligibility of an unvoiced, a fully voiced, or a mixed voice segment.
US07949521B2
A fixed codebook searching apparatus which slightly suppresses an increase in the operation amount, even if the filter applied to the excitation pulse has the characteristic that it cannot be represented by a lower triangular matrix and realizes a quasi-optimal fixed codebook search. This fixed codebook searching apparatus is provided with an algebraic codebook that generates a pulse excitation vector; a convolution operation section that convolutes an impulse response of auditory weighted synthesis filter into an impulse response vector that has a value at negative times, to generate a second impulse response vector that has a value at second negative times; a matrix generating section that generates a Toeplitz-type convolution matrix by means of the second impulse response vector; and a convolution operation section that convolutes the matrix generated by matrix generating section into the pulse excitation vector generated by algebraic codebook.
US07949497B2
Condition signals of machines are observed and one or more discontinuities are detected in the condition signals. The discontinuities in the condition signals are compensated for (e.g., by applying a shifting factor to models of the signals) and trends of the compensated condition signals are determined. The trends are used to predict future fault conditions in machines. Kalman filters comprising observation models and evolution models are used to determine the trends. Discontinuity in observed signals is detected using hypothesis testing.
US07949494B2
A method and system for monitoring and analyzing at least one signal are disclosed. An abstract of at least one reference signal is generated and stored in a reference database. An abstract of a query signal to be analyzed is then generated so that the abstract of the query signal can be compared to the abstracts stored in the reference database for a match. The method and system may optionally be used to record information about the query signals, the number of matches recorded, and other useful information about the query signals. Moreover, the method by which abstracts are generated can be programmable based upon selectable criteria. The system can also be programmed with error control software so as to avoid the re-occurrence of a query signal that matches more than one signal stored in the reference database.
US07949490B2
Provided is a method for determining one or more profile parameters of a structure using an optical metrology model, the optical metrology model including a profile model, an approximation diffraction model, and a fine diffraction model. A simulated approximation diffraction signal is generated based on an approximation diffraction model of the structure. A set of difference diffraction signals is obtained by subtracting the simulated approximation diffraction signal from each of simulated fine diffraction signals and paired with the corresponding profile parameters. A machine learning system is trained using the pairs of difference diffraction signal and corresponding profile parameters. A measured diffraction signal adjusted by the simulated approximation diffraction signal is input into the trained machine learning system and generates the corresponding profile parameters.
US07949479B2
A rotating machine, has a rotary component, which includes a memory device for storing data relating to the past use of the component. The data are associated with rotational speed and ambient temperature, which are detected by detectors either on or off the rotary component. The stored data may be the raw temperature and speed data as sampled over time, which are then used to derive values of low-cycle fatigue and creep damage. These fatigue and creep values are, in turn, correlated with the load profiles of the component to arrive at a value of elapsed lifespan for the component. Alternatively, the stored data may be the fatigue and creep values and/or, preferably, values of elapsed and remaining lifespan of the component. In a second embodiment the detectors are located on the machine casing along with an evaluation unit.
US07949463B2
Systems and methods for information filtering in a roadway travel data exchange network are disclosed. In one embodiment, a travel data processing system may comprise, for example, a communication network. A mobile device may be communicatively coupled to the communication network. A collection system may collect first travel data, where the first travel data may comprise second travel data that is relevant to the mobile device. A filter system may analyze the first travel data to control the flow of at least a portion of the second travel data. A filter device may be communicatively coupled to the communication network and the filter device may comprise at least a portion of the filter system. The mobile device may comprise at least a portion of the filter system.
US07949456B2
A turning control apparatus for a vehicle that improves turning ability while avoiding degradation of acceleration ability is provided.The turning control apparatus comprises: a driving torque controller (31) for adjusting driving torque between a left and right wheels (14L and 14R); a unit (62) for calculating a necessary yaw momentum value indicating degree of necessary yaw momentum for the turning of the vehicle; and a clipping unit (63) for clipping the necessary yaw momentum value as a target yaw momentum at a maximum yaw momentum value, which is defined according to difference between rotation speeds of inside and outside wheels, if the necessary yaw momentum value is over the maximum yaw momentum value.The controller adjusts driving torque of the left and right wheels to generate target yaw momentum at the vehicle corresponding to the target yaw momentum value obtained by the clipping unit.
US07949447B2
A steering system and method are capable of steering a plurality of vehicles arranged in a train with adjacent vehicles pivotally connected to each other for movement about a vertical axis. Each vehicle has a pair of steerable wheels with one pair at one end of the train being a selected leading pair having its steering angle determined by an operator. An electrical control system automatically steers all of the wheels trailing behind the leading pair. Vehicle angle sensors measure intercar angles between adjacent vehicles and provide this information to the control system. An indicator provides the controller with the current distance traveled by the train. Wheel angle sensors provide signals indicative of the current steering angle for each wheel pair. The controller adjusts the actual steering angle for each trailing pair to a desired angle by calculating adjustments based on the measurement inputs.
US07949446B2
A body-roll restraining system with high utility equipped with active stabilizer devices on a front-wheel side and a rear-wheel side of the vehicle and configured to generate roll restraining forces whose directions are opposite to each other, and maybe configured such that the roll restraining forces are changeable owing to an operation of an actuator, The system having a road-surface-unevenness-dependent-roll restraining control. The above-indicated road-surface-unevenness-dependent-roll restraining control is executable in addition to a control which was conducted in conventional stabilizer devices to restrain the roll that arises from turning of the vehicle, and thus the ride comfort of the vehicle is enhanced.
US07949441B2
Method for controlling the level of tractive efforts in a train having a first locomotive at a head end of the train, constituting a lead locomotive, and a second locomotive positioned in the train behind the lead locomotive, constituting a remote locomotive, with the remote locomotive being configured to selectively operate in either of two modes of operation, such as a first mode in which the locomotive operates at a full tractive effort level of operation and a second mode in which the locomotive operates in a partial tractive effort level of operation producing a tractive effort which is less than the full tractive effort of the locomotive. The method allows selecting (e.g., at the lead locomotive) one of the two modes of operation for producing a level of tractive effort appropriate for conditions as the train moves along a length of track. The method further allows transmitting a signal indicative of the selected mode of operation from the lead locomotive to the remote locomotive. The signal is received at the remote locomotive. The tractive effort generated at the remote locomotive is controlled so as not to exceed the selected level.
US07949440B2
The present invention provides an alternative to the auto-throttle integrated in an aircraft autopilot by restricting the conditions in which the system operates. The proposed system removes the auto-throttle function from the autopilot system and gives it directly to the Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC). A cruise control mode is available to the pilot only under stable flight conditions.
US07949438B2
A method and device for determining the width of a safety corridor for an aircraft and to a method and system for securing the automatic low-altitude flight of an aircraft. The device includes an input device which can be used by an operator in order to enter a plurality of errors which each have an impact on the automatic low-altitude flight of the aircraft; a probability determination unit for determining an excursion probability of a safety corridor that is not to be crossed; and a width determination unit for determining the width of said safety corridor form the aforementioned errors and excursion probability, taking account of at least one mathematical expression linking at least the errors, the excursion probability and the width.
US07949437B2
The present invention discloses an omnidirectional movement control system, having a move signal generator for generating a plurality of movement signals based on a plurality of first position signals and a plurality of second position signals, and an omnidirectional movement controller for generating a plurality of pulse width modulation signals and a plurality of motor direction change signals based on the movement signals and a plurality of motor encoding disc signals, and a driving circuit for driving motors to rotate a plurality of omnidirectional wheels based on the pulse width modulation signals and the motor direction change signals, such that a mobile platform can be moved in any direction and rotated in different directions, so as to provide excellent mobility and flexibility to the mobile platform.
US07949435B2
Systems and methods are described for a power aggregation system. In one implementation, a service establishes individual Internet connections to numerous electric resources intermittently connected to the power grid, such as electric vehicles. The Internet connection may be made over the same wire that connects the resource to the power grid. The service optimizes power flows to suit the needs of each resource and each resource owner, while aggregating flows across numerous resources to suit the needs of the power grid. The service can bring vast numbers of electric vehicle batteries online as a new, dynamically aggregated power resource for the power grid. Electric vehicle owners can participate in an electricity trading economy regardless of where they plug into the power grid.
US07949429B2
A command signal generated by a command generation part is commonly used among a plurality of comparator circuits. On the other hand, a threshold at each comparator circuit is configured to be able to be set individually in accordance with external setting, and thus a drive start timing of each element constituting an actuator array can be set flexibly.
US07949427B2
According to embodiments of the present invention, a method for detecting solid articles using an apparatus including a sensor system is provided. The sensor system includes a radiation detector and a radiation emitter configured to direct radiation onto the radiation detector. The radiation detector is operative to generate detector signals proportional to the radiation received thereby. The method includes moving the radiation emitter and/or the radiation detector relative to the other. According to some embodiments, the solid articles are solid pharmaceutical articles.
US07949425B2
An ion implantation apparatus, system, and method are provided for a transferring a plurality of workpieces between vacuum and atmospheric pressures, wherein an alignment mechanism is operable to align a plurality of workpieces for generally simultaneous transportation to a dual-workpiece load lock chamber. The alignment mechanism comprises a characterization device, an elevator, and two vertically-aligned workpiece supports for supporting two workpieces. First and second atmospheric robots are configured to generally simultaneously transfer two workpieces at a time between load lock modules, the alignment mechanism, and a FOUP. Third and fourth vacuum robots are configured to transfer one workpiece at a time between the load lock modules and a process module.
US07949423B2
An article storage facility includes a controller for controlling operation of a plurality of mobile bodies. The controller is constructed switchable between a total operation mode for causing all of the mobile bodies to engage in an article transporting operation for transporting articles between storage units and an article support, and a partial operation mode for causing part of the mobile bodies to engage in the article transporting operation. In the partial operation mode, a mobile body not selected as mobile body for the article transport operation is caused to travel to a retreating position clear of a traveling range of a mobile body selected as the mobile body for the article transport operation.
US07949420B2
The present invention relates to a method of displaying balance and correlation information of at least a pair of a first channel signal and a second channel signal. According to the present invention, the method of displaying balance and correlation information of at least a pair of a first channel signal and a second channel signal comprises the operations of obtaining a balance signal of the first channel signal and the second channel signal, obtaining a correlation signal of the first channel signal and the second channel signal, and displaying the balance signal and the correlation signal on a single scale. The present invention may be implemented in any number of ways including a method, a computer program product, a computer-readable medium containing a program code according to the method, a graphical user interface and a computer system.
US07949412B1
Implantable electrode leads, e.g. cochlear, spinal cord stimulation, or any type of neurostimulation leads, used in a patient's body to stimulate muscle or nerve tissue, provide enhanced stimulation for treating, e.g., hearing loss or chronic pain. One such lead includes, an implantable electrode array, adapted for insertion into a cochlea, which lead provides improved stability of electrode contact direction. In-line electrodes are spaced-apart along one side of a flexible carrier having non-conductive bumps coated with a bioresorbable material spaced apart between each electrode contact. Over time the bioresorbable material is absorbed thereby reducing chronic placement pressure caused during the insertion of the electrode array into the cochlea. The bioresorbable material may also serve as a carrier for drugs or other materials that would improve performance of the electrode for any type of lead.
US07949410B2
In one embodiment, an apparatus for securing a lead within a burr hole comprises: an annular body structure adapted to be at least partially inserted within the burr hole; a lead retainer structure mechanically coupled to the annular body structure and adapted to be rotated along an inner perimeter of the annular body structure; the lead retainer structure including a lead engaging member for capturing the lead, wherein the lead engaging member pivots relative to the lead retainer structure; and a fixation member that is adapted to lock the lead retainer structure in place after the lead has been captured by the lead engaging member.
US07949409B2
A medical electrical lead for transvascularly stimulating a nerve, muscle or other tissue from an adjacent vessel is described. The lead includes a bifurcated distal portion including a first elongate member forming a first spiral and a second elongate member forming a second spiral. The spirals can be in parallel or serial alignment with one another.
US07949406B2
Quantity and time for medical operation are measured after starting the medical operation (step S1). Parameters in a parameter protection mode and parameters in a standard mode are compared so as to determine whether or not contents in the parameters coincide and whether or not five minutes passes (step S2). If five minutes do not pass, it is detected whether or not a power supply switch is turned off (step S4). If it is not turned off, the operation returns to the step S1 so as to determine whether or not the power supply is turned off within five minutes in steps S3 and S4 while measuring the quantity and the time for the medical operation. If five minutes passes without turning off the power supply, data for the quantity and the time for the medical operation are loaded in a memory (step S5). After that, the operation is completed.
US07949399B2
An exemplary includes acquiring an electroneurogram of the right carotid sinus nerve or the left carotid sinus nerve, analyzing the electroneurogram for at least one of chemosensory information and barosensory information and calling for one or more therapeutic actions based at least in part on the analyzing. Therapeutic actions may aim to treat conditions such as sleep apnea, an increase in metabolic demand, hypoglycemia, hypertension, renal failure, and congestive heart failure. Other exemplary methods, devices, systems, etc., are also disclosed.
US07949395B2
An implantable microdevice includes at least one electrode detachably connected to electronic circuitry housed in an hermetically-sealed micro housing. The micro housing has a length no more than about 10 mm. In one embodiment, the electrode is located at a distal end of an electrode lead, and a proximal end of the electrode lead is removably inserted into a connector that forms part of the micro housing.
US07949392B2
A medical device system that includes a brain monitoring element, cardiac monitoring element and a processor. The processor is configured to receive a brain signal from the brain monitoring element and a cardiac signal from the cardiac monitoring element. The processor is further configured to compare the brain signal to the cardiac signal. A method of comparing a brain signal to a cardiac signal is also provided.
US07949390B1
Embodiments of the present invention relate to implantable systems, and methods for use therewith, for monitoring myocardial electrical stability. A patient's heart is paced for a period of time using a patterned pacing sequence that repeats every N beats, and an electrical signal is obtained that is representative of a plurality of consecutive beats of the patient's heart while it is being paced using the patterned pacing sequence that repeats every N beats. Myocardial electrical stability is then analyzed using time domain techniques that are tailored to the patterned pacing sequence used to pace the patient's heart. In other embodiments, the patient's heart need not be paced. This abstract is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention.
US07949375B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for using a proxy communication module within a vehicle telematics unit to provide external data connectivity for vehicle applications. The method comprises receiving a request from one or more vehicle applications to retrieve data from a server on an external network. In response to the request, a wireless proxy data communication channel is established between the proxy communication module in the vehicle telematics system and the server. The requested data is received from the server via the wireless proxy data communication channel and communicated from the proxy communication module to the one or more vehicle applications.
US07949374B2
A hands-free device for a mobile communications device, and method thereof, includes a user-operable input means and means for detecting user operation of the user-operable input means. The hands-free device is head-mounted and has at least one of a speaker and a microphone. A memory stores data. Means for causing a communications device coupled with the hands free device are included, to establish a communication connection indicated by data stored in the memory in response to detection of user operation of the user-operable input means, wherein the data includes at least one of a number and an address to be called. A user may store in the memory of the hands-free device the data indicating the predetermined communications connection to be established. The memory may be programmable by the user such that the data indicating the predetermined communications connection to be established can be changed in use by the user.
US07949366B2
A diversity receiver includes a first radio frequency (RF) receiver section receives a first inbound RF signal over a range of frequencies and generates a first amplified RF signal, wherein the first inbound RF signal includes a desired RF signal component and an undesired signal component. A second RF receiver section receives a second inbound RF signal over the range of frequencies and generates a second amplified RF signal, wherein the second inbound RF signal includes the desired signal component and the undesired signal component. A first RF cancellation module generates a desired RF signal from the desired RF signal component while attenuating the undesired signal component, based on the first amplified RF signal and the second amplified RF signal.
US07949362B2
A software communication device with a tunable transceiver that is capable of receipt of both satellite positioning data and a communication network with a wireless network where positioning data is used to efficiently make a connection to the communication network or communication link to a network is used to reduce the time to acquire GPS satellites and determine position.
US07949358B2
Systems and methods for enabling wireless devices to discover a number of other proximate wireless devices are disclosed. The discovery may include the discovery of network configuration parameters useful for establishing a connection between the wireless devices. The disclosed systems and methods for device discovery may operate in a number of different modes to timely discover wireless devices that receive communications continuously, as well as wireless devices that turn off their wireless receivers for intermittent periods of time. The wireless devices may, for example, communicate using the IEEE 802.11 protocol.
US07949357B2
In a first time interval TI a first frequency band FB is pseudorandomly selected from a designated spectrum, and a first analysis result is determined by sensing the first FB during the first TI and then transmitted. In a second TI a second FB is pseudorandomly selected from the designated spectrum, and a second analysis result is determined by sensing the second FB during the second TI and then transmitted. Where multiple devices do this the entire spectrum is sensed, each band by a subset of devices that changes at each TI, and so any unused or underutilized spectrum is searched by the collaborative spectrum sensing, which avoids propagation problems such as fading. Also, a central node can assure various collaborating users report different FBs in different TIs such that the subset of reporting users changes for at least one of the bands in each subsequent reporting TI. Sensing and communication can be performed in different portions of the same network defined transmission time interval.
US07949352B2
A method of controlling network re-entry of a mobile station which is an idle mode by a paging controller in a wireless communication system comprising transmitting a paging announcement to a first base station to instruct the mobile station to perform network re-entry, wherein the first base station is a serving base station at which the mobile station entered the idle mode, the first base station transmitting a paging advertisement message to the mobile station, wherein the paging advertisement message comprises a paging command action code associated with performing ranging while the mobile station is in the idle mode, and wherein the paging command action code is determined in accordance with the paging announcement action code.
US07949351B2
The present invention is a novel and improved method and apparatus for performing position location in wireless communications system. One embodiment of the invention comprises a method for performing position location on a subscriber unit in a terrestrial wireless telephone system using a set of satellites each transmitting a signal, the terrestrial wireless telephone system having base stations, including the steps of transmitting an aiding message from the base station to the subscriber unit, said aiding message containing information regarding a data boundary for each signal from the set of satellites, applying correlation codes to each signal yielding corresponding correlation data and accumulating said correlation data over an first interval preceding a corresponding data boundary yielding a first accumulation result, and a second interval following said corresponding data boundary yielding a second accumulation result.
US07949347B1
A cellular telephone or other wireless mobile user equipment (UE) can be located with greater than cell precision by monitoring for transmitted radio signals at landline telephone sites, such as offices in a building. At each site, a telephone instrument device not only performs functions characteristic of a conventional desktop or landline telephone instrument, but also detects radio signals emitted by any nearby UE. Any detected signals are transmitted from the landline telephone site to a central monitoring location. The central monitoring location receives some or all of the transmitted signal information as well as information identifying the landline telephone site at which radio signals emitted by a UE have been detected, such as a landline telephone number. The telephone number is then used to determine the location of the landline telephone site.
US07949343B2
The guard band between two carriers of the same or different operators is reduced or dynamically adjusted by initiating a dynamic change request of the guard band between the two carriers to allow for flexible spectrum use by adjusting the tolerable guard band overlap. The data is distributed or positioned in the carrier spectrum band as a function of the Quality of Service so that the lowest Quality of Service constrained data are positioned at the edges of the carrier spectrum band and the highest Quality of Service constrained data are positioned in the middle of the carrier spectrum band to minimize any impact from the increased adjacent channel interference due to the guard band overlap and narrower guard band.
US07949342B2
A method for radio resource management (RRM) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) having an access point and a station begins by obtaining a first group of parameters from a current traffic channel. Measurements from all available channels are taken for a second group of parameters. The radio resources of the WLAN are autonomously managed by selectively invoking at least one RRM algorithm that uses at least one parameter. A RRM algorithm may be invoked based upon results produced by a previously executed RRM algorithm, whereby RRM algorithms may be continuously invoked such that the radio resources are autonomously managed.
US07949336B2
Controlling use of a mobile network element is disclosed. An indication is received that a mobile station associated with a mobile network is attempting to access the mobile network via a base transceiver station that (1) the mobile station is not authorized to use and (2) is located within a geographic area from which the mobile station is authorized to access the mobile network. The mobile station is prevented from accessing the mobile network via the base transceiver station.
US07949334B2
A method and a system for determining the dependence between several device-parameter values in each case of at least one device parameter of a mobile telephone (31, 32, . . . , 3m, 3n) and at least one signal parameter of a signal transmitted and/or received by the mobile telephone (31, 32, . . . , 3m, 3n) adjusts several device-parameter values within a mobile telephone (31, 32, . . . , 3m, 3n) of at least one device parameter of the respective mobile telephone (31, 32, . . . , 3m, 3n) for a given number of frequencies of the respectively transmitted and/or received signal, and measures the associated signal parameters of a signal transmitted and/or received by the respective mobile telephone (31, 32, . . . , 3m, 3n). All of the frequencies and the device-parameter values of at least one device parameter respectively associated with every frequency are present in the respective mobile telephone (31, 32, . . . , 3m, 3n) at the start of the measurements.
US07949333B2
A system and method are provided for controlling content played by a number of media devices. In general, the system includes a mobile device and the number of media devices. The mobile device includes a wireless communication interface for communicating with the media devices, a media database, and a control system including a media client. When the mobile device enters a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) associated with a media device, the media client obtains information describing the content residing at the media device and stores the information in the media database at the mobile device. Thereafter, when the mobile device is within the WPAN associated with the media device, the media database is used to select content to be played at the media device.
US07949319B2
Receiver architectures and related methods are disclosed for high definition (HD) and digital radio FM broadcast receivers. The radio receiver architectures are configured to utilize multiple analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to handle the digital radio spectrum and can be configured to modify a target IF frequencies depending upon the mode of operation of the receiver. For example, the receiver can include an analog FM reception mode and a digital FM reception mode for which different down-conversions are used for the same analog-plus-digital audio broadcast channel. If desired, the radio broadcast receivers disclosed can be configured so that they only receive digital FM radio content, for example, if the analog FM broadcast was of no interest and/or if the broadcast was all digital.
US07949312B2
A bi-axial swivel assembly allows the rotation of a bracket around the longitudinal axis of a support shaft when the restriction cam lies inside an imaginary reference plane. The attitude of the bracket is allowed to change around the longitudinal axis of the support shaft. Only if the bracket allows the restriction cam get off a recess, the perpendicular surface serves to prevent the restriction cam from protruding outside the imaginary reference plane. The attitude of the bracket can be prevented from changing around the rotation axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The bi-axial swivel assembly allows the wire to penetrate through first and second hollow spaces. When the bracket rotates around the longitudinal axis, the wire is only forced to suffer from a slight torsion within the first hollow space. The wire can be protected from a larger flexure.
US07949311B2
An RF integrated circuit (IC) includes a first IC port for coupling a first transmit signal in a first frequency band to at least one external device and a second IC port for coupling a second transmit signal in a second frequency band to the at least one external device. A transmitter module responds to outbound data to generate the first transmit signal in a first mode of operation and to generate the second transmit signal in a second mode of operation, wherein the transmitter module generates the first transmit signal and the second transmit signal in a selected one of a plurality of wireless telephony formats based on a control signal, and wherein the plurality of wireless telephony formats includes a code divisional multiple access format and at least one non-code division multiple access format.
US07949302B2
A dynamic carrier selection method and system permit units operating on a first carrier to change to a second carrier when performance of the first carrier becomes unacceptable. Carrier quality measurements are taken in which carrier quality is a function of interference and multi-path fading and carrier-signal strength. The carriers are ranked according to measured quality in a carrier candidate list. The carrier candidate list is used to permit units to determine which carrier they should switch to when the carrier there currently operating on is determined to have unacceptable performance. Carrier measurements are retaken in response to a carrier change by unit or a predetermined time period having elapsed.
US07949301B2
A method is described for providing files to a mobile communications device from an associated personal computer over one of a plurality of potential communication paths between the mobile communications device and the computer. The method includes receiving at the computer a user request that a selected file stored on the computer be provided to the mobile communications device; selecting a communications path from among the plurality of potential communication paths; and causing a copy of the selected file to be provided to the mobile communications device over the selected communication path.
US07949299B2
A system and method for configuring the system for configuring a wireless multi-cell communication to provide multimedia broadcast services (MBMS) to a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs). The cells of the communication system are organized into a plurality of sets of one or more cells. Resource units are assigned to each set of cells in the communication system. The assigned resource units are allocated in each cell of the communication system for MBMS transmission. The WTRUs receive information indicating how to access the resource units allocated for MBMS transmission. The WTRUs receive the MBMS from one or more of the cells of the communication system.
US07949298B2
The present invention provides a teaching material having an identification unit and a teaching-material communication system. The teaching material having the identification unit comprises at least one learning unit and at least one identification unit. The teaching-material communication system comprises at least one transmitting end system and at least one receiving end system. The transmitting end system comprises an input module and a transmission module. The receiving end system comprises a receiving module, a second identification process module, and a second communication module. By the at least one transmitting end system and the at least one receiving end system of the teaching-material communication system, at least one transmitter and at least one receiver can communicate with the learning unit of the teaching material having the identification unit.
US07949293B2
An image forming system includes image forming device and bookbinding device. Image forming device has operation unit for selecting sheet and cover and control unit for control of warning. Bookbinding device stacks plural sheets, forms a bundle of sheets, and binds a book by wrapping sheets with the cover in a square-shape. Bookbinding device has measuring unit measuring thickness of the bundle of sheets. Control unit calculates difference between length of selected cover, and sum of twice a length of selected sheet and a spine width, and determines warning, based on result of comparison between the difference and a predetermined value; executes determination of warning in first warning mode, based on result obtained with spine width of a set value, and/or in second warning mode, based on result obtained with spine width according to measured thickness of the bundle of sheets; and executes first warning mode prior to bookbinding output.
US07949288B2
An image forming agent storage device includes an image forming agent storage body that is inserted into an insertion part, an opening-and-closing member, an engagement mechanism and an engagement release prevention mechanism. The image forming agent storage body is formed with a discharge port. The engagement mechanism includes an engagement part being provided in the image forming agent storage body and an engaged part being provided in the opening-and-closing member and being capable of engaging with the engagement part. The engagement release prevention mechanism prevents that a state where the engagement part and the engaged part can engage with each other is released due to an event that a front side of the opening-and-closing member moves relative to the image forming agent storage body so as to slant in a direction away from a position where the engagement part and the engaged part are provided.
US07949287B2
A developer cartridge includes an outer barrel member, an inner barrel member rotatably provided with respect to the outer barrel member, and a regulating member rotatably provided with respect to the inner barrel member. The regulating member includes a first engaging portion and a second engaging portion. The inner barrel member includes a first to-be-engaged portion that engages the first engaging portion and an operating member. The outer barrel member includes a second to-be-engaged portion that engages the second engaging portion. When the first engaging portion and the first to-be-engaged portion engage each other and engagement between the second engaging portion and the second to-be-engaged portion is released, the inner barrel member is rotatable together with the regulating member with respect to the outer barrel member. When engagement between the first engaging portion and the first to-be-engaged portion is released and engagement between the second engaging portion and the second to-be-engaged portion released, the regulating member is rotatable with respect to the inner barrel member.
US07949283B2
A photosensitive member cartridge for use with an image-forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum and a cartridge case comprising an upper wall, a bottom wall, a right side wall, and a left side wall. An outer surface of the upper wall faces upwards when the photosensitive member cartridge is installed in the image-forming apparatus. The right side wall extends upwardly from a right side of the bottom wall, and the left side wall extends upwardly from a left side of the bottom wall. The upper wall connects upper edges of the right side wall and the left side wall. A light-entrance portion is formed in the upper wall and is configured to allow a laser beam to pass through the upper wall and reach the photosensitive drum when the photosensitive member cartridge is installed in the image-forming apparatus.
US07949271B2
A development device configured to develop an electrostatic image formed on an image bearing member by applying a developing bias in a development operation includes a developer bearing member configured to bear a developer, a bias applying unit configured to apply an input waveform bias including an alternating component to the developer bearing member, a bias detection unit configured to detect information concerning an output waveform bias generated on the developer bearing member when the bias applying unit applies the input waveform bias to the developer bearing member, and a controller configured to execute a mode for controlling the developing bias to be applied to the developer bearing member based on the input waveform bias and the output waveform bias.
US07949257B2
One embodiment sets forth a technique for measuring chromatic dispersion using reference signals within the operational range of amplifiers used to refresh data signals. One red/blue laser pair in the transmission node is used for measuring dispersion and chromatic dispersion compensation is added at each line node in the system. Since reference and data signals propagate through each amplifier, the reference signals used to measure chromatic dispersion receive the same dispersion compensation (and will have the same residual dispersion) as the data signals. Therefore, any residual dispersion in the data signals will manifest itself in downstream dispersion measurements and, thus, can be corrected. The tunable dispersion compensator in each line node may be set to compensate for the measured dispersion, thereby compensating for both the chromatic dispersion of the link connecting the current node to the prior node and any uncorrected residual dispersion from prior nodes.
US07949256B2
A method is provided for increasing downstream bandwidth in an optical network that includes providing a downstream terminal comprising a digital output path and an analog output path. The method also includes receiving a signal comprising at least one wavelength at the downstream terminal. The method further includes selectively processing the signal at the downstream terminal. The signal is selectively processed at the downstream terminal by processing the signal on the analog output path if the signal comprises analog video data and processing the signal on the digital output path if the signal comprises data to be converted to a digital bit stream.
US07949252B1
Methods and apparatus for light-field capture with large depth of field. A design methodology is described in which the relationships among various plenoptic camera parameters, including inverse magnification, F-number, focal length, wavelength, and pixel size, may be analyzed to design plenoptic cameras that provide increased depth-of-field when compared to conventional plenoptic cameras. Plenoptic cameras are described, which may be implemented according to the design methodology, and in which both Keplerian telescopic and Galilean telescopic imaging can be realized at the same time while providing a larger depth of field than is realized in conventional plenoptic cameras, thus capturing light-field images that capture “both sides” in which all but a small region of the scene is in focus. In some embodiments, apertures may be added to the microlenses so that depth of field is increased.
US07949250B1
A method in a camera device having an image sensor and an electro-mechanical shutter mechanism is as follows. A constant drive current is applied to the shutter mechanism to close shutter at the end of a first exposure. Then, a decaying drive current is applied to the shutter mechanism during a readout interval for the first exposure. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US07949246B2
A control circuit responsive to a flash activating signal of a camera for the synchronous or alternate activation of at least two flash devices is disclosed. Each flash device includes a flash generator including a voltage source and at least one flash unit. An input of the control circuit is adapted to couple with the camera and receive the flash activating signal. Outputs of the control circuit are adapted to electrically couple to control inputs of the flash generators. The control circuit includes a switching device adapted to drawn a supply voltage for the control circuit from the respective voltage sources in the flash generators.
US07949238B2
An improved construction for a heating element for an appliance is disclosed. A coiled resistance wire extending coaxially along the length of an elongate sheath is surrounded by an electrically insulating, high thermally conductive material that fills the sheath around the wire. The resistance wire is secured to a terminal pin at a connection comprising a connection insert that is securely affixed to the terminal pin, intermediate the terminal pin and resistance wire. The resistance wire is then able to be welded to the connector to provide a superior mechanical connection between a terminal pin and the resistance wire, even though the terminal pin is made from copper. The disclosed construction, therefore, provides good electrical and thermal conductivity and resists the tendency to separate during manufacture.
US07949234B2
A motor speed control circuit includes: a voltage generating circuit configured to change either a reference voltage corresponding to a target rotation speed of a motor or a speed voltage corresponding to a rotation speed of the motor, according to a temperature, and output the reference voltage and the speed voltage, either one of which is changed; a comparison circuit configured to compare the speed voltage output from the voltage generating circuit with the reference voltage output from the voltage generating circuit; and a driving circuit configured to drive the motor so as to match a level of the speed voltage to a level of the reference voltage, based on a comparison result from the comparison circuit.
US07949227B2
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.
US07949225B2
A BD-ROM playback apparatus for selecting and playing back one among text subtitle streams together with a moving picture. PSR 48-61 store Decode Capability flags whose set values indicate, for each language, whether or not a decode capability is present. Procedure executing unit 20 judges whether each text subtitle stream can be displayed, by referring to each set value of flags. Stream selection unit 17 selects a text subtitle stream judged as being able to be decoded. Here, the decode capability for a language being present indicates presence of rendering capability for converting character codes of the language into bitmaps, and support capability for supporting properties of the language. The b16 to b23 in PSR 30 includes a permission flag indicating whether stream selection unit 17 is permitted to select an unsupported language for which rendering capability is present but not support capability.
US07949219B1
Systems and methods of forming an optical coupling between two optical waveguides where at least one of the optical waveguides is non-UV transmissive are disclosed. In one aspect, a self-forming waveguide (SFWG) is formed in a photosensitive material disposed between a UV transmissive optical waveguide and a non-UV transmissive component at least in part by a portion of an incident UV beam reflected from an interface between the photosensitive material and the non-UV transmissive material. In another aspect, two separate SFWG waveguides are formed in two separate photosensitive materials by UV beams passed thereto via a UV transmissive bridge waveguide.
US07949218B2
An apparatus includes a slider mounted on an arm, a first waveguide including a first core guiding layer, a second waveguide mounted on the slider and including a second core guiding layer having a thickness smaller than the thickness of the first core guiding layer, and a coupler for coupling light from the first core guiding layer to the second core guiding layer.
US07949214B2
An optical substrate guided relay (300) includes an optical substrate (302) having at least one major face (411), an output coupler (303) coupled to a major face (411,412), and an input coupler (301) coupled to a major face (411,412). The input coupler (301) is configured to reflect, via internal layers (414), portions of received light to the optical substrate 302. The input coupler (301) includes either one or more internal layers (414) or a contoured face (1040) with surfaces configured as reflectors that expand the received light and direct it into the optical substrate (302). The output coupler (303) expands a pupil of light in one direction and directs the expanded light away from the optical substrate guided relay.
US07949213B2
In various embodiments described herein, a display device includes a front illumination apparatus that comprises a first light guide disposed forward of an array of display elements, such as an array of interferometric modulators, to distribute light across the array of display elements. The light guide panel is edge illuminated by a light source positioned behind the array display elements. The light from such a light source is coupled to a second light guide disposed behind the array of display elements and positioned laterally with respect to the light source. The light in the second light guide is coupled into the first light guide using a small optical coupling element such as a turning mirror. In some embodiments the second light guide may comprise the backplate of the display device.
US07949211B1
A modular active board subassembly for coupling a waveguide array to an electrical component on a printed wiring board may include a substrate board with a sidewall extending around at least a portion of an attachment surface of the substrate board and forming a component cavity on the attachment surface. A transceiver may be disposed in the component cavity proximate an inboard edge of the substrate board. The transceiver may be electrically coupled to conductors on the attachment surface and electrically coupled to electrical contacts on an upper surface of the sidewall. A waveguide may be positioned in the component cavity and extend from the outboard edge of the substrate to the transceiver. The waveguide may be coupled to the transceiver.
US07949206B2
A scanned image management device comprises a receiving unit which receives a scanned image. A selecting unit causes a user to select a tag from among a set of pre-defined tags or newly generated tags. A first registering unit generates an image-to-tag association between a scanned image and a selected tag to register the scanned image with the image-to-tag association. A second registering unit generates a tag-to-tag association between tags independently defined for scanned images to register the tag-to-tag association. A retrieving unit retrieves a target scanned image by using the selected tag, the image-to-tag association, and the tag-to-tag association.
US07949204B2
A method for processing original images that are stored in the form of pixels and need to be output at a reduced scale, where all original pixels are weight-added, based upon area pixels. A mutual overlap (gi) of the pixels is determined, and intensity values to be assigned to output pixels are a weighted arithmetic mean of intensity values (Si) of the original pixels with their respective mutual overlaps as weighting factors.
US07949199B2
An image processing method for an image processing system for enhancing image quality after a sharpening procedure includes receiving a plurality of original image data, performing the sharpening procedure for the plurality of original image data for generating a plurality of sharpened image data, adjusting the plurality of sharpened image data according to the plurality of original image data, and outputting the plurality of sharpened image data.
US07949196B2
A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for decoding data (e.g., video data) using transforms. In one embodiment, the decoding process comprises scaling a block of coefficients using a scaling factor determined for each coefficient by computing an index for said each coefficient and indexing a look-up table (LUT) using the index. The index is based on a quantization parameter, a size of the block of coefficients, and a position of said each coefficient within the block. The method also comprises applying a transform to the block of scaled coefficients.
US07949188B2
An image processing apparatus is disclosed which processes moving images each divisible into a plurality of shots, the image processing apparatus including: a holding unit configured to hold discrimination models acquired by learning beforehand a first rule and a second rule from a moving image formed by a plurality of known shot groups which are made up of at least one shot each and from which a highlight is to be extracted in accordance with the discrimination models, the first rule governing relevance between the shots, the second rule governing relevance between frames within each of the shots; and an extraction unit configured to extract from a newly input moving image a shot group recognized as the highlight in accordance with the discrimination models held in the holding unit.
US07949181B2
The present techniques provide for the processing of color tissue images based on image segmentation. In an exemplary embodiment, the color and texture features of pixels in a tissue image are used to generate a matrix of feature vectors. A subset of feature vectors is selected from the matrix of feature vectors and a set of colors and textures are derived using the tissue image and the subset of feature vectors. An initial segmented tissue image is then generated from this set of colors and textures.
US07949178B2
In a pattern inspection apparatus for comparing images of corresponding areas of two patterns, which are formed so as to be identical, so as to judge that a non-coincident part of the images is a defect, the influence of unevenness in brightness of patterns caused by a difference of thickness or the like is reduced, whereby highly sensitive pattern inspection is realized. In addition, high-speed pattern inspection can be carried out without changing the image comparison algorithm. For this purpose, the pattern inspection apparatus operates to perform comparison processing of images in parallel in plural areas. Further, the pattern inspection apparatus operates to convert gradation of an image signal among compared images using different plural processing units such that, even in the case in which a difference of brightness occurs in an identical pattern among images, a defect can be detected correctly.
US07949173B2
A method and system for regression-based object detection in medical images is disclosed. A regression function for predicting a location of an object in a medical image based on an image patch is trained using image-based boosting ridge regression (IBRR). The trained regression function is used to determine a difference vector based on an image patch of a medical image. The difference vector represents the difference between the location of the image patch and the location of a target object. The location of the target object in the medical image is predicted based on the difference vector determined by the regression function.
US07949171B2
A method for tracing, rib posteriors includes providing an incomplete rib tracing comprising a digitized 3-dimensional representation of a rib and a digital image from which said rib tracing was extracted, initializing, a tracing direction for a remainder of said rib, detecting a plurality of ridge points in a sub-volume of said digital image about said initial tracing direction, and deforming a closed curve in a plane perpendicular to said tracing direction until a rib-edge contour is obtained, using said ridge points as constraints.
US07949169B2
A method for the automated detection of target structures shown in digital medical images, the method of comprising: (1) generating a three dimensional (3D) volumetric data set of a patient region within which the target structure resides from a plurality of segmented medical image slices; (2) grouping contiguous structures that are depicted in the 3D volumetric data set to create corresponding grouped structure data sets; (3) assigning each grouped structure data set to one of a plurality of detection algorithms, each detection algorithm being configured to detect a different type of target structure; and (4) processing each grouped structure data set according to its assigned detection algorithm to thereby detect whether any target structures are present in the medical images. Preferably, the target structures are pulmonary nodules, and a specialized detection algorithm is applied to image data classified as a candidate for depicting perivascular nodules. To segment perivascular nodule candidates from surrounding vessels, the image data is preferably correlated with a plurality of 3D morphological filters.
US07949168B2
Systems and methods for processing, storing, and viewing extremely large imagery data rapidly produced by a linear-array-based microscope slide scanner are provided. The system receives, processes, and stores imagery data produced by the linear scanner as a series of overlapping image stripes and combines the data into a seamless and contiguous baseline image. The baseline image is logically mapped into a plurality of regions that are individually addressed to facilitate viewing and manipulation of the baseline image. The system enables dynamic imagery data compression while scanning and capturing new image stripes that eliminates the overhead associated with storing uncompressed image stripes. The system also creates intermediate level images, thereby organizing the baseline image into a variable level pyramid structure referred to as a virtual slide. The system facilitates the use of virtual slides in applications such as telemedicine, telepathology, microscopy education, and analysis of high value specimens like tissue arrays.
US07949166B2
A region of interest is set by region of interest setting means in each of medical images obtained in chronological order. Similar case search means searches for a case information set including a case image having a region of similar pictorial characteristics to each of the regions of interest. When the corresponding case information set has been extracted through the search, case information display means displays test result information sets including not only the case images of similar pictorial characteristics but also all case images, test purposes, findings, and the like in the case information sets in chronological order of tests.
US07949163B2
A method of observing a consumer product is provided. The method includes placing a consumer product into an imaging machine, and then using the machine to obtain information regarding the product.
US07949162B2
A method for segmenting a solid component (SC) in a ground glass nodule (GGN) includes providing a digitized image that includes a segmented GGN, the image comprising a plurality of intensities corresponding to a 3-dimensional grid of points, computing an intensity threshold that distinguishes a high intensity solid component of the GGN from a low intensity non-solid component, and applying the intensity threshold to identify a SC of the GGN and to identify regions of interest around the GGN, detecting whether or not a region of interest is a vessel, calculating a model for a detected vessel based on a radius and orientation of the vessel, and removing from the GGN segmentation all points that belong to both the model and the SC inside the GGN, and verifying whether a structure resulting from excluding the points qualifies as an SC.
US07949157B2
Embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses relating to identifying hand gestures. In one embodiment, a hand gesture is identified by capturing an image including an image object of the hand gesture, generating a numerical signature based on the image object, and identifying the hand gesture from reference numerical signatures associated with reference hand gestures.
US07949156B2
A method for analyzing a dataset comprising biographic data and biometric data is disclosed. In one step, a biographic record is read that is normally meant for unique description of an individual. A biometric associated with the biographic record is also read. The biometric is correlated with a plurality of biometrics associated with other biographic records. The uniqueness of the biometric is assessed with respect to the plurality of biometrics, for example, to find duplicate biographic records with biometric matching.
US07949149B2
The present invention relates generally to processing video signals. One claim recites a system for processing a video signal. The system includes: an analyzer comprising an electronic processor programmed for analyzing a video signal to derive or calculate identifying data from data representing picture elements of the video signal or from data representing audible audio portions accompanying the video signal; a communications module to communicate the identifying data to electronic memory or to a remote repository to obtain advertizing information therefrom; and a controller comprising an electronic processor programmed for controlling rendering of the advertizing information in a manner such that the advertizing information is synchronized with at least a portion of the video signal when rendered. Of course, other combinations and claims are provided too.
US07949145B2
The present invention provides a method of providing input parameters for the fitting process of individually shaped or customized hearing devices by storing geometry data during the manufacturing process into data storage and selectively reading out data from this data storage during the manufacturing and/or fitting process of the hearing device. To improve the quality and to reduce the time required for the fitting process, all the data available from the manufacturing process, e.g. the geometry data, may be used during the final fitting process at the dispenser's office.
US07949142B2
A silicon condenser microphone has an additional back chamber and a sound hole in a PCB. The microphone includes a case for blocking an external sound; a substrate including a chamber case, a MEMS chip having an additional back chamber formed by the chamber case, an ASIC chip for operating the MEMS chip, a conductive pattern for a bonding to the case, and a sound hole for passing the external sound. A fixing means fixes the case to the substrate and an adhesive is applied to an entirety of a bonding surface of the case and the substrate fixed by the fixing means. When the sound hole is formed through the PCB instead of the case, the mounting space for a microphone is reduced. The chamber case forms the additional back chamber under the MEMS chip and is employed to increase back chamber space to improve sensitivity and reduce noise.
US07949140B2
A sound measuring apparatus for measuring a sound-arrival delay time from a speaker to a microphone on the basis of a result obtained by outputting a test signal from the speaker and picking up the test signal using the microphone includes the following elements. A control unit performs control so that the test signal is expanded in a time axis and is then output from the speaker. A delay time measuring unit measures an expansion-based measured delay time on the basis of a delay time that is measured on the basis of a time difference between the test signal expanded in the time axis and output from the speaker and a signal obtained from the microphone by picking up the output expanded test signal, and obtains the sound-arrival delay time as the expansion-based measured delay time.
US07949136B2
A security circuit includes an electrical fuse read only memory (ROM) including a plurality of electrical fuse units. The electrical fuse units are arranged to correspond to bit values of an initial security key before the electrical fuse ROM is programmed.
US07949135B2
A combination of stateless and state-full techniques enable reduced overall key management messages. A set of encryption keys is created based on a stateless subset cover scheme, where each user is associated with a leaf in the subset cover scheme. A state key and a corresponding state representing a subset of users that have the state key and a subset of users that do not have the state key is established, and a subset cover based on information representative of the established state is determined. Finally, a group key management message can be determined at least partly based on the calculated subset cover. The introduced state opens up for efficient subset cover calculation, reducing the size of the key management message.
US07949134B2
In one embodiment, a hybrid backplane coding scheme transmits data using lengthy sequences of scrambled data, separated by 8b/10b control character sequences that prepare the receiver for the next scrambled sequence and permit realignment if necessary. Several lanes are coded separately in this manner, and then multiplexed on a common channel. Alignment sequences in the control character sequences, as well as scrambler seeds, are set to avoid synchronization of patterns generated among all lanes, which would tend to confuse a receiving serdes and/or phase-locked loop that recovers timing from the multiplexed scrambled signals.
US07949132B2
The present disclosure relates to parsing encrypted content and sending the encrypted content to appropriate stacks of components. Encrypted video content is sent to a video stack and encrypted audio content is sent to an audio stack. Components in either stack may or may not be able to decrypt the encrypted content. A common interface is provided to the components to pass encrypted content and encryption content with one another. Components not able to perform decryption pass on the encrypted content to succeeding components in the stack until a component capable of decrypting the encrypted content receives the encrypted content. Control from a hardware lawyer in a stack may be sent back through the stack using a secure link established by the common interfaces used by the components.
US07949129B2
A shared-key encryption scheme that uses identically keyed block-cipher calls, low additional overhead, supports the encryption of arbitrary-length strings, produces a minimal-length-ciphertext, and is fully parallelizable. In one embodiment, “OCB”, a key shared between communicating parties is mapped to a key variant using the block cipher. The key variant is mapped into a sequence of basis offsets using shifts and conditional xors. To encrypt a message using a nonce, a nonce-dependent base offset is formed, and then a sequence of offsets is constructed by starting with the base offset and then xoring, for each offset, an appropriate basis offset. The message is partitioned into message blocks of the same length as the block length of the block cipher, along with a message fragment that may be shorter. Each message block is combined with a corresponding offset, enciphered, and then combined again with the offset, yielding a ciphertext block. The message fragment is xored with an appropriately computed pad to give a ciphertext fragment. A checksum is formed using the message blocks, the message fragment, and the pad. The checksum is combined with an offset and enciphered to yield a tag. The encrypted message includes the ciphertext blocks, the ciphertext fragment, and the tag.
US07949125B2
As part of a system and method for transmitting a signaling tone over a packet switched data (or other communication) network, an audio encoder may have a speech encoding unit and a tone distorter. The tone distorter may distort one or more components of a signaling tone within an audio signal and the speech encoding unit may encode speech and the distorted signaling tone within the audio signal. A control signal may be sent to a tone generator to reproduce the distorted tone.
US07949122B1
A method, apparatus and computer program product for determining wait treatment for a customer in a call center is presented. Information relating to a customer in a communication session with the call center is recorded. The information relating to a customer in a communication session with the call center is then evaluated. From the evaluation the type of wait treatment to use for the customer is determined and is provided to the customer.
US07949118B1
A system records a session on a medium, and differentiates the content of the session into a plurality of sub content sessions. The system indexes the plurality of sub content sessions associated with the session, and allows retrieval of at least one of the plurality of sub content session based on the indexing. The system provides a review of the session.
US07949112B2
A method for attributing costs for a telephone call in an SS7 network. Information associated with the telephone call is captured and retained when the telephone call is provided to a call recipient by a second carrier that is a UNE-P lessee of a first carrier. The captured information is stored when including a CNAM query. The CNAM query is associated with the second carrier and reflected in an updated record containing the total volume of CNAM queries handled by the first carrier for the second carrier.
US07949109B2
A computing device and computer-readable medium storing instructions for controlling a computing device to customize a voice in a multi-media message created by a sender for a recipient, the multi-media message comprising a text message from the sender to be delivered by an animated entity. The instructions comprise receiving from the sender inserted voice emoticons, which may be repeated, into the text message associated with parameters of a voice used by an animated entity to deliver the text message; and transmitting the text message such that a recipient device can deliver the multi-media message at a variable level associated with a number of times a respective voice emoticon is repeated.
US07949106B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed for enabling an interactive voice response (IVR) system to deliver a video stream to a telecommunications terminal and handle events related to the video stream. In particular, the illustrative embodiment overcomes two disadvantages of the prior art. First, the illustrative embodiment enables events to be generated and caught by a script of an IVR system at any time during a call. Second, the illustrative embodiment enables events to be handled in parallel with the execution of a script of the IVR system, thereby enabling the performing of actions response to a stream-related event without halting or interfering with other tasks of the IVR script.
US07949102B2
A multiple focal spot X-ray tube (100) comprising an electron source (105), which is adapted to generate an electron beam (106), an anode (110), which is arranged within the electron beam (106) and which comprises a first focal spot portion (120) and a second focal spot portion (130), whereby the second focal spot portion (130) is spatially separated from the first focal spot portion (120). The X-ray tube (100) further comprises a first electron beam manipulation unit (125), which is adapted to interact with the electron beam (106), when the electron beam (106) impinges onto the first focal spot portion (120), and a second electron beam manipulation unit (135), which is adapted to interact with the electron beam (106), when the electron beam (106) impinges onto the second focal spot portion (130). By assigning one electron beam manipulation unit (125, 135) to each of the focal spot portions (120, 130), a precise focusing of the X-ray beam can be realized individually for each focal spot of the X-ray tube (100). Preferably, the first and the second focal spot portions have a distance along the axis of a rotating anode.
US07949101B2
The present invention is directed toward an X-ray scanner that has an electron source and an anode. The anode has a target surface with a series of material areas spaced along it in a scanning direction. The material areas are formed from different materials. The electron source is arranged to direct electrons at a series of target areas of the target surface, in a predetermined order, so as to generate X-ray beams having different energy spectra.
US07949099B2
An x-ray system is disclosed that includes a bipolar x-ray tube. The bipolar x-ray tube includes two insulators that are separated by an intermediate electrode in an embodiment, wherein each insulator forms a portion of an outer wall of a vacuum envelope of the bipolar x-ray tube surrounding at least a portion of a path of an electron beam within the vacuum envelope. In further embodiments, the bipolar x-ray tube includes a first electrode at a positive high voltage potential with respect to a reference potential, a second electrode at a negative high voltage potential with respect to the reference potential, and an x-ray transmissive window that is at the positive high voltage potential.
US07949097B2
The scattered intensity of photons from the nuclear Pygmy Resonance taken in conjunction with the scattered intensity at lower energies provides a signal that is sensitive to the nature of the nuclear species doing the scattering. Highly enriched uranium and depleted uranium can be distinguished by this signal from other materials. Other nuclei can also be distinguished and identified. Methods and apparatus for employing the phenomenon to identify or assist in the identification of materials are disclosed.
US07949095B2
A device for imaging an object, such as for breast imaging, includes a gantry frame having mounted thereon an x-ray source, a source grating, a holder or other place for the object to be imaged, a phase grating, an analyzer grating, and an x-ray detector. The device images objects by differential-phase-contrast cone-beam computed tomography. A hybrid system includes sources and detectors for both conventional and differential-phase-contrast computed tomography.
US07949088B2
An X-ray CT apparatus includes an X-ray irradiation unit for applying X-rays based on a first X-ray tube voltage and X-rays based on a second X-ray tube voltage to a subject by being switched every one view, a projection data acquisition unit for acquiring projection data by which X-ray tube voltage information about the applied X-rays are identified, and an image reconstruction unit for identifying first energy projection data based on the first X-ray tube voltage, second energy projection data based on the second X-ray tube voltage, and transient energy projection data acquired upon switching between the first and second X-ray tube voltages based on the X-ray tube voltage information, the image reconstruction unit including a conversion processor that converts the transient energy projection data to another data using the transient energy projection data and performs image reconstruction using the data subsequent to the conversion process.
US07949086B2
A shift register includes a plurality of register units cascade-connected with each other. Each register unit includes a pull-up circuit, a pull-up driving circuit, a pull-down circuit, and a pull-down driving circuit. The pull-up circuit coupled to a first clock signal is used for providing an output signal. The pull-up driving circuit turns on in response to a driving pulse from a previous register unit and a second clock signal, and turns off in response to a third clock signal. The pull-down driving circuit which is coupled to an input node of the pull-down circuit, turns on in response to a first clock signal, and turns off in response to a the first clock signal or output of the pull-up driving circuit.
US07949080B2
A phase amount added to a clock signal or a plurality of data signals for adjusting a phase relationship therebetween in a reception apparatus is changed, and, a result of the phase adjusting operation is stored when the phase amount added to the clock signal or the plurality of data signals is changed.
US07949078B1
In a high-precision signal detection apparatus and method for a high-speed receiver, signal detection occurs asynchronously of the incoming data. A comparison clock is generated by an oscillator whose effective capacitance is varied by a second, lower speed oscillator connected to the capacitance. This prevents the asynchronous sampling that occurs in a zero-crossing position in the incoming data from remaining in that position in subsequent sampling cycles, so that a valid signal is not missed by the detector.
US07949068B2
Methods and systems for transmitter diversity expansion are provided. The methods and systems include steps and modules for applying a number of data streams (K) to a larger number of antennas (N). This is performed by applying each of the data streams to a single base antenna, such that K data streams are applied to K base antennas, and by shifting and combining the K data streams to produce N-K data streams to apply to N-K extension antennas.
US07949067B2
The present invention, generally speaking, provides interleavers and methods of interleaving that satisfy the need for backward compatibility while effectively addressing competing design objectives. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, data is transmitted using a number of transmit antennas greater than an expected number of receive antennas. At least one pair of transmit antennas is formed (ant1, ant_N), and multiple second data streams (311, 312) are formed from a first data stream, successive bits in said first data stream being assigned to different ones of said second data streams. Block interleaving (313, 314) of multiple respective ones of said second data streams is individually performed. During successive transmission intervals, the pair of transmit antennas is used to transmit a pair of data symbols taken from different ones of said second data streams, followed by an equivalent transformed pair of data symbols.
US07949051B2
A system and method for detecting and reducing mosquito noise are disclosed. Areas within a frame with mosquito noise are detected by calculating the variance of the luminance blocks in a macroblock, determining the minimum variance of the macroblock luminance blocks, and comparing the minimum variance to a mosquito noise threshold. If the minimum variance is greater than the mosquito noise threshold, then the macroblock is considered a high activity macroblock and the corresponding macroblock bit in the frame bitmap is set. If the minimum variance is less than or equal to the mosquito noise threshold, then the macroblock is considered a low activity macroblock, and the corresponding macroblock bit in the frame bit map is cleared. If the current macroblock bit is set in the corresponding frame bitmap or if at least one of its adjacent eight macroblock bits is set in the corresponding frame bitmap, then the current macroblock requires mosquito noise reduction. Mosquito noise in the current macroblock is reduced by reducing the original bit rate quantizer scale to achieve the target of reducing the mosquito noise.
US07949048B2
A video encoding apparatus comprises a frame memory/predictive image generator having a first predictive mode for generating a predictive image signal by selecting a combination from among a plurality combinations of a reference image number and a plurality of predictive parameters, and a second predictive mode for generating a predictive image signal according to a predictive parameter computed based on reference image numbers of reference images and an image-to-image distance, and a variable-length encoder to select one of the first and second prediction modes by the number of reference images, and encode orthogonal transformation coefficient information concerning a predictive error signal of a predictive image signal with respect to input video signal, mode information indicating an encoding mode, motion vector information and combination of selected reference image number with predictive parameter index information indicating combination of selected reference image information.
US07949045B2
A multi-scanner scans a signal according to several different patterns. A scanning pattern selector determines which scanning pattern produced the most efficient coding result, for example, for runlength coding, and outputs a coded signal, coded most efficiently, and a selection signal which identifies the scanning pattern found to be most efficient.
US07949044B2
A method for coefficient bitdepth limitation in an encoder and/or bitstream generation apparatus including the steps of (A) generating one or more residual block coefficients in response to a video signal and one or more coding parameters and (B) manipulating the one or more coding parameters such that the one or more residual block coefficients are prevented from having values greater than a bitdepth of the video signal plus a predefined number of bits.
US07949038B2
A method and a system for the acquisition and tracking of BOC(m,n) modulated codes, m/n equal to an integer, in which a correlation function is calculated of the BOC(m,n) modulated code received from a remote transmitter with a code wa locally generated at a receiver terminal according to one from the following the relationships: wa(τ)=c(τn)−a·[prn(τn+Tc/2)−prn(τn−Tc/2)] wa(τ)=c(τn)−a·[prn(τn+nTc/2m)−prn(τn−nTc/2m)] wa(τ)=c(τn)−a·[prn(τn+nTc/4m)+prn(τn−nTc/4m)] wa(τ)=c(τn)−a·[prn(τn+3nTc/4m)+prn(τn−3nTc/4m)] w(τ)=[prn(τn+nTc/4m)+prn(τn−nTc/4m)] w(τ)=[prn(τn+nTc/2m)−prn(τn−nTc/2m)] wherein c(τ) is a local replica of the BOC modulated pseudo-random noise code with delay τn, PRN(τ) is a replica of the unmodulated pseudo-random noise code, and a is a predetermined weight coefficient, and the correlation function being at the base of an acquisition test function whereby a code acquisition is recognized for a value of the test function being higher than a predetermined threshold.
US07949034B2
Provided is an apparatus and method for estimating an uplink frequency offset in a wireless communication system. In a receiving apparatus of a wireless communication system using a random access channel composed of two equivalent sequences, the apparatus includes a channel receiver which extracts samples corresponding to the two sequences from an input random access channel signal; a correlator which computes first and second correlation values by correlating preceding and trailing samples among the samples output from the channel receiver with a predetermined sequence; and a frequency offset estimator which estimates a frequency offset by using a ratio of the second correlation value to the first correlation value output from the correlator.
US07949020B2
A tunable distributed feedback semiconductor laser includes a substrate; an optical waveguide structure disposed on a main surface of the substrate and including an active layer and a diffraction grating, the optical waveguide structure being divided into a first DFB portion, a wavelength-tuning region, and a second DFB portion in that order; a first electrode for injecting carriers into the active layer in the first DFB portion; a second electrode for injecting carriers into the active layer in the second DFB portion; and a third electrode for supplying a wavelength tuning signal to the wavelength-tuning region. The diffraction grating extends over the first DFB portion, the wavelength-tuning region, and the second DFB portion. An optical confinement factor of the wavelength-tuning region is smaller than that of the first and second DFB portions.
US07949016B2
Communications from a transmission side to a reception side neither changing the format of voice code data nor requiring another transmission path or increasing the transmission quantity of control information are controlled utilizing information obtained on the reception side. A system includes a first communication equipment provided with a control information embedding unit for embedding control information that is used for a control of communications from a communication partner to the own communication equipment and that is obtained on the own communication equipment side in the communication data to be transmitted to the communication partner side and a second communication equipment provided with a communication control unit for controlling communications to the first communication equipment side using control information transmitted from the first communication equipment.
US07949012B2
A combined data packing, cipher and multiplexing engine operable to support high speed uplink packet access (HS-UPA) within user equipment (UE) is provided. This combined cipher multiplexing engine includes a master port, a radio link control (RLC) data packer, and a cipher multiplexing processing module. The master port couples to an advanced microprocessor bus architecture (AMBA) high speed buss (AHB) on which control information for the combined cipher and multiplexing engine is provided. The RLC couples to the master port and receives RLC service data units (SDUs) from the AHB. Then the RLC data packer may concatenate or segment RLC SDUs into RLC packet data units (PDUs) which are stored for use by a cipher multiplexing processing module. The cipher multiplexing processing module retrieves the RLC PDU from the RLC PDU buffer and ciphers to produce ciphered data, if cipher is enabled and multiplexes the ciphered/non-ciphered data together with the RLC header, MAC-es header, MAC-e header and enters the multiplexed results to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffer. A protocol stack executed within the UE activates and provides an array on the formation of the RLC PDU, RLC header information to the combined cipher and multiplexing engine for RLC PDU ciphering and medium access control (MAC) multiplexing of the enhanced data transport channel (E-DCH).
US07949007B1
Methods are provided for generating clusters of actions for manipulating the packets of a communication protocol. A declarative description is input specifying a hierarchical tree structure including a leaf module for each action and instance modules. One instance module is a root of the hierarchical tree structure and each module except the root is a child of an instance module. A constraint specification is input of dependent pairs of the actions. A cluster for each leaf module includes the action of the leaf module. For each instance module, one or more clusters are generated that collectively include the actions in each cluster of each child of the instance module. The actions in each cluster of each child are included in the same cluster, and each dependent pair of the actions is not included in a same cluster. A cluster specification is output for the cluster or clusters of the root.
US07948991B1
In one embodiment, a method includes scheduling acknowledgements from a plurality of receivers in a wireless network, transmitting an acknowledgement schedule to the receivers, broadcasting or multicasting data to the receivers, processing acknowledgements received from receivers, and retransmitting at least a portion of the data to one or more of the receivers if an acknowledgement is not received from the one or more receivers. An apparatus for broadcasting or multicasting data in a wireless network is also disclosed.
US07948982B2
An access control gateway (E) for controlling access to a first data network (D), which gateway includes a filter for filtering data coming from a second data network. The filter is adapted to decide whether to transmit the data to the first network as a function of information contained in the data relating to the processing of the data by active routing systems of the first network.
US07948980B2
A computer-implemented method of classifying packets of data transmitted over a data communications network includes providing a memory-storable packet classifier rule defined by a plurality of filters, each filter uniquely corresponding to a one of a plurality of actions to be taken in transmitting the data packets over the data communications network; and classifying a data packet according to the packet classifier rule by generating at least one supernode trie subject to a predetermined constraint for reducing accesses to a memory in which the packet classifier rule is stored. A system including a combination of hardware and software modules is provided for carrying out the method. A computer-readable storage medium is also provided for storing a computer program for carrying out the method.
US07948978B1
A communication network element receives a user packet in a packet flow for a user and stores the user packet in a memory. The network element retrieves the user packet from the memory, processes the user packet with a first service function, and stores the user packet in the memory. The network element transfers a memory pointer for the user packet to a second service function. The network element retrieves the user packet from the memory based on the memory pointer, processes the user packet with the second service function, and stores the user packet in the memory. The network element transfers the user packet.
US07948969B2
An Internet-capable radio has a communication port for connection to a modem, a connection function for connecting to the Internet upon user initiation while connected to the modem, sound circuitry for rendering audio data packets received over the Internet as analog audio output, and for delivering the audio output to one or more speaker ports, two or more stored hyperlinks addressing Internet broadcast servers; and a user input adapted to enable a user to select among the stored hyperlinks. Selection of one of the stored hyperlinks by the user input invokes the hyperlink and connects the radio to the server addressed by the hyperlink, initiating thereby an audio data stream as data packets from the broadcast server to the radio, and wherein the radio renders the data stream as analog audio data delivered to the one or more speaker ports. The user input in preferred embodiments has a plurality of pushbuttons associated with hyperlinks, which can be asserted by activating a pushbutton. In some embodiments a directory server is used for editing user profiles and programming connected Internet-capable radios.
US07948960B2
To obtain maximum throughput in accordance with characteristics of a propagation path, a radio transmission device having a plurality of transmitting antennas (18a, 18b) for transmitting a transmission signal in units of sub-carriers by performing spatial multiplexing or without performing spatial multiplexing is provided that includes a sub-carrier modulation part 11 modulating the input transmission signal for each sub-carrier, a transmission signal allocation part 13 allocating the transmission signal modulated for each of the sub-carriers to each of the transmitting antennas, and a transmission control part 12 that determines a multiplexing number for performing spatial multiplexing for each sub-carrier based on information received from another radio communication device as an opposite party, and outputs the determined multiplexing number to the sub-carrier modulation part and the transmission signal allocation part.
US07948958B2
The specification and drawings present a new method, system, apparatus and software product for coordinating gating of an uplink (UL) control channel, e.g., a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH), with UL reporting in regard to a downlink channel using, e.g., high speed uplink packet access (HSDPA) channel quality indicator (CQI) reporting.
US07948957B2
A receiver connected to a plurality of reception antennas includes a propagation path correlation estimation circuit. The propagation path correlation estimation circuit calculates a correlation value of each propagation path between each of the transmission antennas and each of the reception antennas and transmits the calculation result as propagation path correlation information (SCOR). A transmitter connected to a plurality of transmission antennas includes a spread code assigning circuit. According to the propagation path correlation information, the spread code assigning circuit assigns only spread codes orthogonal to each other for the transmission antenna corresponding to a correlation value exceeding a threshold value and, for a transmission antenna having no propagation path of a correlation value exceeding the threshold value, assigns a spread code without considering orthogonality to a spread code in the other transmission antenna.
US07948950B2
A mobile station is configured to transmit a sequence of data packets over a wireless network. The station includes a data sequence expander. The expander receives an indication of a pending hand-off for the mobile station from a first network access point to a second network access point and estimates an amount of time prior to occurrence of the hand-off. The expander inserts a number of delay packets into the sequence of data packets in response to receiving the indication of the pending hand-off. The number of delay packets is determined based on the estimated amount of time prior to the occurrence of the hand-off such that the insertion of the delay packets into the sequence of data packets will cause a delay that corresponds to the amount of time prior to occurrence of the hand-off.
US07948934B2
A method for facilitating coexistence of wireless technologies competing for the same bandwidth includes, with a first component (14) residing in a first wireless network (20), initializing the first wireless network (20) with a superframe period (38) based on a superframe period (28) of a second wireless network (10) and communicating information over the first wireless network (20) within the Contention Free Period period (46) of the superframe period (38) of the first wireless network (20), and, with a second component (4) residing in the second wireless network (10), communicating information over the second wireless network (10) within the Contention Access Period (44) of the superframe period (38), the Contention Free Period (46) and the Contention Access Period (44) being distinct regions of the superframe period (38) of the first wireless network (20).
US07948932B2
A radio communication apparatus (mobile station) in which analysis is performed on the transmission of data to an external apparatus. A mobile station transmitting the CQI information used for adaptive modulation control in the radio base station comprises a supervising unit operable to supervise a staying condition of data to be transmitted to an external apparatus, a CQI generating unit for generating the CQI information reflecting the result of a supervising process by the supervising unit, and a transmitting unit for transmitting the generated CQI information to the radio base station, and a mobile station for sending a re-transmission request reflecting the result of the supervising process.
US07948931B2
An apparatus and method for transmitting a file via a communications network predicts a location where a destination node will be at upon arrival of a message unit relayed via the network. An intermediate node is selected for relaying the message unit between a source node and the destination node in response to the predicted location of the destination node. The apparatus may include a location prediction processor and a relay node selector.
US07948929B1
A communication system generates a constant-envelope composite signal containing at least two signals whose power levels, bandwidths, and/or data rates are independently controllable. Binary offset carrier (BOC) modulation is applied to the signals to be combined in the composite signal. The BOC modulated signals are then combined via interplex modulation to form a constant-envelope composite signal in which the constituent signals modulate different offset carriers. For example, real BOC modulation can be used to generate a ranging signal in edge portions of the transmission band of the composite signal, while complex BOC modulation can be used to generate a frequency agile data signal in a center portion of the transmission band. Such a signal can be used for full duplex communications in satellite crosslinks. The interplex modulation allows independent control of the power levels of the two signals while maintaining a constant envelope, permitting use of saturated RF amplifiers.
US07948927B2
The present invention is to reduce consumption of band resources and delay in communication as a whole. A functional configuration of a home agent according to the present invention will be described as follows. A Mobile IP protocol process portion 902 has a function of receiving/transmitting a registration request message/registration acknowledgement message about movement of a mobile host. An explicit multicast packet process portion 903 has a function of analyzing receivers' addresses written in an explicit multicast type packet, and a function for changing the packet. In addition, the explicit multicast packet process portion 903 has a function of transferring an explicit multicast packet when the packet to be transferred is not encapsulated with an IP header addressed to CoA of a mobile host in packet transfer to a packet-undelivered host. A Mobile IP packet transfer portion 904 has a function of encapsulating an explicit multicast type packet with an IP header addressed to CoA of a mobile host and transferring the encapsulated packet to the mobile host.
US07948925B2
A communication device has a first communication section that supports a first communication mode having a low communication rate and a second communication section that supports a second communication mode having a higher communication rate than the first communication mode. The communication device includes a packet generation section and a communication control section. The packet generation section generates a first portion containing authentication information used for connection authentication for the second communication mode and a second portion other than the first portion. The communication control section performs control to cause the first communication section to transmit the first portion and to cause the second communication section to transmit the second portion after the connection authentication succeeds using the authentication information contained in the first portion.
US07948916B2
A topology or connectivity of a computer network is discovered by identifying interface addresses in an address table of a node in the network, comparing prefixes of the interface addresses with prefixes in an address prefix table of the node, and associating subnets in the network with interfaces corresponding to the interface addresses, based on the comparing.
US07948913B1
A channel capacity indication, indicating the capacity of a feedback channel and a channel quality indication, indicating the quality of a feedback channel are received. A mode of operation of the header-compression algorithm is selected, based on the received indications. Data is then communicated according to the selected mode of operation of the header-compression algorithm.
US07948912B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit is provided which includes: A signal input terminals which include control input pads, A being an integer greater than or equal to 2; an internal circuit; a clock signal input terminal to which a clock signal is input; and an input signal control block which, in a test mode, separates time-division multiplexed data having a multiplicity of X, the time-division multiplexed data being input from A/X signal input terminals among the A signal input terminals, into individual data in accordance with the clock signal, and outputs the separated individual data to the internal circuit, X being an integer greater than or equal to 2.
US07948910B2
A communication system includes multiple routers interconnected by a packet-based communication network. Each of the routers includes a monitoring application that monitors quality of one or more packet flows during each of multiple successive monitoring periods. For each of the packet flows, the monitoring application determines quality metrics based on information obtained from transport headers of packets.
US07948909B2
A system and method for collecting network performance information from network communications devices may include requesting, from a network communications device operating on a packet network, a counter value generated from counting a network performance information parameter. The request may cause the counter value to be reset prior to overflowing.
US07948906B1
A system and a method determine network conditions. The system includes a server computer and a client computer. The server computer is configured to transmit data packets comprising a data object from the server computer to the client computer. The client computer includes a transmission latency detector and a transmission bandwidth detector. The transmission latency detector uses transmission time and receipt time values to determine the changes in time it takes selected portions of the data object to be transmitted from the server computer to the client computer. The transmission bandwidth detector uses identified back-to-back data packets to determine the transmission bandwidth between the server computer and the client computer.
US07948904B1
A method for detecting data frame mode mismatch errors may include receiving a data frame that includes an overhead byte. It may be determined whether a value associated with the overhead byte indicates that a transmitting device operating mode matches a receiving device operating mode. In an additional implementation, it may be determined whether a value associated with the overhead byte indicates that a transmitting device output port matches a receiving device input port. An alarm may be generated when it is determined that the value associated with the overhead byte indicates that either the transmitting device operating mode does not match the receiving device operating mode or the transmitting device output port does not match the receiving device input port.
US07948893B2
This invention provides a mobile communication system wherein a base station device receives a MAC (Medium Access Control)-e PDU (Protocol Data Unit) from a mobile terminal using a HARQ (Hybrid Acknowledge Request) system, the base station device including: a modulating/demodulating portion that estimates the number of processes used by the mobile terminal using a TBES (Total E-DCH Buffer Status) of an E-DPCH [E-DCH (Enhanced CHannel) Dedicated Physical CHannel].
US07948889B2
A method and system for analyzing network traffic are provided. A network traffic analyzer includes a plurality of data switching devices connected to a plurality of data hubs. Each data hub may have multiple input ports and multiple output ports and may be configured to broadcast all data packets received at an input port to all output ports. Each data switching device may be configurable to forward data packets to an input port of any one of the plurality of data hubs, any subset of the plurality of data hubs, or all data hubs of the plurality of data hubs, based on a characteristic of one or more data packets. Furthermore, at least one network sensor device may be connected to an output port of a data hub of the plurality of data hubs. The network sensor device may be configured to analyze data packets in real time for, among other purposes, detecting network intrusions.
US07948888B2
A network device including at least one rate-limited-queue and multiple timer modules, the network device being operable to receive and/or transmit data flows from and/or to a communication network. Each data flow includes multiple data packets. The network device being further operable to limit the predetermined transmission rate of the respective data flow dependent on whether a data congestion in the communication network has been indicated, in such a way, that in case of an indicated congested communication network a respective timer module is associated to each of the data flows and/or each group of data flows, whereas the data packets of the respective data flows and/or group of data flows are buffered in the rate-limited-queue. Each data packet in the rate-limited-queue is transmitted with a limited transmission rate predetermined by the respectively associated timer module when the data packet is at the head of the rate-limited-queue.
US07948885B1
Multiple RSVP messages are used to separately signal components of co-routed VCAT to enable the separate components to be implemented on different physical fibers of a link bundle. To enable the PATH messages to be handled as a group, the multiple PATH messages are grouped together and sent out in a RSVP bundle message. When a RSVP bundle message containing multiple PATH messages is received at a network element, such as an ENNI, where the route for the PATH messages needs to be expanded, the route is expanded collectively rather than individually. Specifically, the route will first be expanded and this expanded route will be inserted into each individual PATH message. The modified PATH messages with the expanded route will then be passed through the RSVP finite state machine one at a time to enable resources to be reserved for the connections of the VCAT. Thus, a single LSP may be created for each channel, and the channels may be co-routed even where route expansion is required.
US07948875B2
A method for measuring a quality of an IP network of a member of a trading exchange includes finding a penultimate hop corresponding to each IP network IP network prefix in a set of IP network IP network prefixes of a member, determining a quality score for the each IP network IP network prefix based on tests performed at the penultimate hop, and creating a matrix for the member including the determined quality for the each IP network IP network prefix. The quality is used to facilitate matching the offers of the buyers and sellers.
US07948855B2
A multiple wavelength-adaptive optical pickup according to the present invention enables to obtain stable signals by suppressing displacement of optical intensity distribution at a light receiving section. When an incident angle of a central beam of a zero-dimensional beam of a beam reflected at an optical disc into a half mirror is taken as θ, if variation in transmittance of the mirror become a maximum with respect to change in the incident angle from θ to a plus side in any one of the wavelengths corresponding to the respective optical discs, a −1 dimensional beam generated on the minus side with respect to the zero-dimensional beam is received by the light receiving section, and if the variation in the transmittance of the mirror become the maximum with respect to change in the incident angle from θ to the minus side, a +1 dimensional beam generated on the plus side with respect to the zero-dimensional beam is received by the light receiving section. These received one-dimensional beams are used for detection of signals for servo control.
US07948847B2
An apparatus and method to write/reproduce data to/from an optical disc, which are capable of preventing an error from occurring at the time of examination of a writing strategy and searching for an optimum writing condition for a short period of time, by examining the writing strategy after adjusting a focus in a test region, in order to set a writing condition at the time of writing data. The apparatus to write/reproduce data to/from an optical disc includes a matrix jitter measuring unit which measures length errors and jitters of edges of a mark and a space of a written data pattern from an RF signal generated at the time of reproduction of the optical disc; and a CPU which extracts at least one of the RF signal, a jitter and an error rate, controls a focus bias, and performs an optimum power calibration (OPC) for searching for optimum power of laser.
US07948846B2
A write once disc includes a defect management area that is present in at least one of a lead-in area and a lead-out area; a temporary defect management area that is present in at least one of the lead-in area and the lead-out area; and a drive & disc information area that is present in at least one of the lead-in area and the lead-out area. Information regarding the locations of temporary defect information and temporary defect management information is recorded in the drive & disc information area, the temporary defect information and temporary defect management information, which includes drive & disc information, are recorded in the temporary defect management area, and temporary defect information and temporary defect management information, which are lastly recorded in the temporary defect management area, are recorded in the defect management area for disc finalization.
US07948844B2
An information recording/reproducing device which can record or reproduce the predetermined information quickly and properly is proposed.An information recording/reproducing device 10 detects recording condition of an area in radial direction of an optical medium 2 using the rotation angle in a layer 0 as a standard when recording given data in a layer 1 of the optical medium 2 and on the basis of the detection result, controls power of laser beam irradiated on the layer 1 to record or reproduce given recording data.
US07948842B2
A random access control method is provided, implemented in an optical disc drive for recording data to an optical disc. In the optical disc drive, a buffer stores a plurality of write commands each associated with a data block bound to a destination address. A processor controls the buffer to build a disc write task from the write commands in which addresses are organized in order. A drive unit is controlled by the processor, performing a recording operation to record the data blocks to the optical disc according to the disc write task; wherein the processor further controls the drive unit to verify the recorded data blocks after completing the recording operation.
US07948834B2
A watch that advantageously allows an athlete, such as a runner, to conveniently and instantly calculate a pace at which a distance was traveled. The watch includes a chronographic process and a pace calculation process. In order to determine a pace, the athlete enters the travel distance into the pace calculation process. The athlete then initiates a count by the chronographic process when he or she starts traveling the designated distance. When the athlete finishes traveling the designated distance, he or she stops the count, so that the chronographic process measures the total elapsed time required to travel the designated distance. The pace calculation process then obtains the total elapsed time from the chronographic process, and divides the designated travel distance by the total elapsed time to calculate the pace at which the distance was traveled.
US07948828B2
A sonar device includes a light source, a rotatable element, a motor for rotating the rotatable element, and a display. A light guide mounted on the rotatable element has an inlet end aligned with the light source and an outlet end aligned with the display. Light emitted from the light source enters the inlet end of the light guide, is directed from the inlet end to the outlet end in a beam, and is emitted out the outlet end of the light guide.
US07948825B2
A method and apparatus for acquiring seismic data. In one embodiment, the method includes: moving a first air gun array in the water at a first depth and a second air gun array in the water at a second depth greater than the first depth, in which the total volume of the first air gun array is less than the total volume of the second air gun array, in which the first air gun array is separated from the second air gun array by a distance substantially equal to a shot point interval, firing seismic energy through the first and second air gun arrays through the water into the earth, and recording seismic signals reflected from strata in the earth beneath the water.
US07948815B2
The semiconductor memory device includes a reset control circuit that monitors a reset signal at an enablement time point of the reset signal input and outputs monitoring signals corresponding to a state of the reset signal. The reset control unit also enables and outputs a reset control signal when the states of the monitoring signals are equal, and ends the monitoring of the reset signal in synchronization with the enablement of the reset control signal. An internal circuit receives the reset control signal, and the reset control signal controls the initialization of the internal circuit. When the reset signal maintains the enablement state for a predetermined period, the reset control signal is enabled, making it possible to prevent reset malfunction associated with a glitch occurring in the reset signal.
US07948814B2
A semiconductor memory device including a clock input for receiving a source clock and supplying a generated clock to a plurality of clock transmission lines; a plurality of clock amplifiers, each amplifying a respective generated clock loaded on one of the plurality of clock transmission lines in response to a column enable signal; and a data input/output for inputting/outputting a plurality of data in response to the amplified clocks output by the plurality of clock amplifiers.
US07948812B2
A memory system includes a memory controller that writes data to and reads data from a memory device. A write data strobe accompanying the write data indicates to the memory device when the write data is valid, whereas a read strobe accompanying data from the memory device indicates to the memory controller when the read data is valid. The memory controller adaptively controls the phase of the write strobe to compensate for timing drift at the memory device. The memory controller uses the read strobe as a measure of the drift.
US07948810B1
A level shifter includes a level shifter module that receives a first input signal having high and low states and at least one voltage supply signal, and that generates a latch control signal based on the high and low states of the first input signal. A latch module receives the latch control signal, a data input signal, and the at least one voltage supply signal. The latch module selectively stores data associated with the data input signal based on the latch control signal. The latch module selectively changes the at least one voltage supply signal from a first level to a second level and outputs the data according to the second level based on the latch control signal.
US07948805B2
A method of programming a multi level cell in a non-volatile memory device includes: performing a program operation on main cells and indicator cells; performing a first verifying operation on the main cells and the indicator cells based on a first verifying voltage; performing repeatedly the program operation and the first verifying operation until a threshold voltage of a first cell of the indicator cells is higher than the first verifying voltage; and performing a second verifying operation on the main cells and the indicator cells based on a second verifying voltage when the threshold voltage of the first cell is higher than the first verifying voltage.
US07948798B1
Some of the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for programming a flash memory having a plurality of memory blocks, wherein each memory block of the plurality of memory blocks is either a single-level cell (SLC) memory block or a multi-level cell (MLC) memory block, the method comprising assigning a weighting factor to each memory block of the plurality of memory blocks based on whether the memory block is an SLC memory block or an MLC memory block, tracking a number of write-erase cycles for each memory block, and selecting one or more memory blocks for writing data based at least in part on the weighting factor and the tracked number of write-erase cycles of each memory block of the plurality of memory blocks. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US07948797B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises: a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cell units each including memory cells, a plurality of bit lines, and a common source line; a sense amplifier operative to read data from a selected memory cell; a control circuit operative to control a read operation of the sense amplifier; and a cell source monitoring circuit operative to detect a voltage of the common source line, compare the detected voltage of the common source line with a reference voltage, and output a read control signal. The sense amplifier is configured to read data from the selected memory cell through at least two cycles. The control circuit is configured to perform control to determine whether the data reading is to be ended after a first reading cycle or a second reading cycle is to be carried out, based on the read control signal.
US07948796B2
The present invention provides a semiconductor memory device that can minimize the widening of the threshold voltage distribution of cell transistors during a data erasing operation. The semiconductor memory device includes: a memory cell unit that is formed with nonvolatile memory cells connected in series, is divided into at least two groups each including one or more of the nonvolatile memory cells, and has one end connected to a source line and the other end connected to a bit line, word lines being connected to the gates of the nonvolatile memory cells, the voltages of the word lines being controlled to store data from the bit line or output stored data onto the bit line; and a voltage applying circuit that applies voltages to the word lines of the nonvolatile memory cells, applying a first voltage to the word lines of the nonvolatile memory cells of the group located closer to the bit line, and applying a second voltage to the word lines of the nonvolatile memory cells of the group located closer to the source line, with respect to the two adjacent groups of the memory cell unit, when a data erasing operation is performed to erase data stored in the nonvolatile memory cells forming the memory cell unit, the second voltage being higher than the first voltage.
US07948791B1
A memory array having a plurality of memory cells is disclosed, where each memory cell comprises a first inverter having a first transistor coupled between a reference voltage and a first node for receiving input data and a second transistor coupled between the first node and ground; and a second inverter having a third transistor coupled between the reference voltage and a second node for storing inverted input data and a fourth transistor coupled between the second node and ground, the first node being coupled to control terminals of the third transistor and the fourth transistor and the second node being coupled to control the first transistor and the second transistor; wherein the third transistor is implemented with physical dimensions which make the third transistor stronger than the first transistor, or the second transistor is implemented with physical dimensions which make the second transistor stronger than the fourth transistor.
US07948785B2
A semiconductor device having sense amplifiers and an electronic system employing the same are provided. The semiconductor device includes first sense amplifier blocks arranged in a row direction on a substrate and spaced apart from each other by a first distance. A second sense amplifier block spaced apart from the first sense amplifier blocks by a second distance greater than the first distance is provided. A plurality of cell array blocks arranged in the row direction on the substrate is provided. Each of the first and second sense amplifier blocks is disposed between the cell array blocks, and each of the cell array blocks includes a plurality of memory cells.
US07948784B2
A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array region in which vertical transistors each having a lower electrode connected to a bit line is regularly arranged with a predetermined pitch, including memory cells formed using at least the vertical transistors; a peripheral circuit region arranged adjacent to the memory cell array region in a bit line extending direction; and a predetermined circuit arranged overlapping the peripheral circuit region and the memory cell array region. In the semiconductor memory device, the vertical transistors each having an upper electrode connected to the predetermined circuit are included in an end region of the memory cell array region, in which no word line is provided.
US07948775B2
A half-bridge resonant converter including a half-bridge switching circuit, a resonant circuit and a rectifier circuit is provided. The half-bridge switching circuit is controlled by two control signals for alternatively coupling two terminals of a DC power source to an input of a resonant circuit. The control signals have the same frequency and duty cycle, and one of the control signals is delayed a period by the other one, in which the frequency of the control signals is constant and the duty cycle of the control signals is variable according to a load. The rectifier circuit generates an output voltage across the load from an output of the resonant circuit. Therefore, the resonant converter of the present invention has the advantage of constant frequency operating and at least one of the two switches operated in ZVS.
US07948773B2
An electromagnetic interference shielding device includes a printed circuit board, a metal member and an elastic member. The elastic member includes a first resisting portion which contacts the printed circuit board and a second resisting portion which contacts the metal member, and the second resisting portion is saw-toothed, and is capable of piercing an oxidized layer of the metal member. Thus, the elastic member keeps contacting the metal member maximally no matter the metal member is oxidized or not, and reduces the electromagnetic interference effectively.
US07948767B2
The invention provides an integrated circuit packaging and method of making the same. The integrated circuit packaging includes a substrate, a semiconductor die, a heat-dissipating module, and a protection layer. The substrate has an inner circuit formed on a first surface, and an outer circuit formed on a second surface and electrically connected to the inner circuit. The semiconductor die is mounted on the first surface of the substrate such that the plurality of bond pads contact the inner circuit. The heat-dissipating module includes a heat-conducting device, and the heat-conducting device, via a flat end surface thereof, contacts and bonds with a back surface of the semiconductor die. The protection layer contacts a portion of the first surface of the substrate and a portion of the heat-conducting device, such that the semiconductor die is encapsulated therebetween.
US07948763B2
The FPC that is designed to have the special shape, an elastic portion, can shorten its length by elastic force after it is turned over to the reverse side of the light source unit for achieving the purposes without wasting any space of the LCD module and incurring the inconvenience of user.
US07948755B1
A cooling system includes a plurality of fans and a fan bracket accommodating the fans. Each fan comprises a fan intake and a fan outlet. The fan bracket defines a plurality of air inlets and a plurality of air outlets therein. The fan bracket is provided with a fan guard in each air outlet and a plurality of noise-reducing holes in the fan guard. The air inlets of the fan bracket communicate with the fan intakes and the air outlets of the fan bracket communicate with the fan outlets, respectively. Airflow generated by the fans through the fan outlets comprises a portion exiting through the noise-reducing holes.
US07948754B2
An external heat dissipation device includes a housing, a circuit board placed in the housing, a fan electrically connected to the circuit board, and a wire electrically connected to the circuit board to power the fan. The housing includes an installation dock defining a receiving space for receiving the fan therein, and an insertion portion extending from the installation dock. A through hole is defined in the installation dock. An air passage is defined in the insertion portion. The fan includes a casing defining a first air hole communicating with the through hole and a second air hole communicating with the air passage.
US07948752B2
An electronic device has a first cabinet and a second cabinet. The second cabinet has a locking module including a hook, an operation member and a linking mechanism. The hook is formed at a position near a top end of the second cabinet around the center in the lateral direction in opened state, and is engaged with the first cabinet to lock the second cabinet in the closed state. The operation member disengages the hook from the first cabinet in response to operation. The linking mechanism links the operation to movement of disengaging the hook. The second cabinet further has a board mounted with a camera module having an image taking lens and an imaging device and a signal processing circuit for the camera module. The board is disposed at such a position that a portion in which the signal processing circuit is mounted overlaps with the linking mechanism.
US07948738B2
The present invention provides an electrode material for an electric double layer capacitor which can provide an electric double layer capacitor having a low internal resistance and a large capacitance, a process for producing the same, and an electrode for an electric double layer capacitor and an electric double layer capacitor using the same. The electrode material of the present invention is characterized by comprising a carbonaceous material and an activated carbon, the carbonaceous material obtained by thermal-treating or activating a fullerene-containing soot or an extracted residue obtained by substantially extracting at least a part of fullerene from a fullerene-containing soot using a solvent. The electrode for an electric double layer capacitor and the electric double layer capacitor of the present invention is characterized by using the electrode material.
US07948737B2
At least one of a plurality of first internal electrodes and a second internal electrode are arranged as opposed with at least one of the dielectric layers in between. Third and fourth internal electrodes are arranged as opposed with at least one of the dielectric layers in between. The first internal electrodes are electrically connected to a first external connecting conductor through lead conductors. The second, third, and fourth internal electrodes are electrically connected to second, third, and fourth terminal conductors, respectively, through lead conductors. At last one but not all of the first internal electrodes are electrically connected to the first terminal conductor through a lead conductor.
US07948734B2
A power supply is provided for an electrostatic chuck. A signal generating circuit of the power supply is configured to generate a square wave signal. An amplifying circuit is electrically connected to the square wave circuit and configured to amplify the square wave signal. A transformer has a primary and a secondary winding. The primary winding is electrically connected to the amplifying circuit and the secondary winding is configured to be electrically connected to the electrostatic chuck. The secondary winding produces a signal for the electrostatic chuck. A voltage divider circuit is electrically connected to the secondary winding and to the amplifying circuit. The voltage divider circuit is configured to reduce the voltage of the signal for the electrostatic chuck and feed back the reduced voltage signal to the amplifying circuit. The signal from the secondary winding is a trapezoidal waveform with approximately flat tops and minimal dead-time between phase reversals.
US07948732B2
An electrostatic discharge protection device is used to protect a component from electrostatic discharge in an electronic device. The electrostatic discharge protection device comprises a metal shell, a ground conductor, and a conductive material. The metal shell is used to cover the component. The ground conductor is used to directly connect the metal shell and a first grounded end. The conductive material is used to connect the ground conductor and a second grounded end in order to achieve double grounded effect.
US07948715B2
A head positioning assembly having a first carriage assembly, a second carriage assembly, and an actuator. The second carriage assembly has a head and is coupled to the first carriage assembly by a first flexible member. The first and second carriage assemblies may be actuated to position the head when sufficient force is provided by the actuator.
US07948714B2
A transducer includes a first layer that is selectively deposited in a contact region to form a core, and selectively deposited in a transducer region to form a first element of the transducer. The transducer includes an electrically conductive magnetic deposit. The electrically conductive magnetic deposit forms a sidewall on the core. The electrically conductive magnetic deposit forms a second element of the transducer in the transducer region. The second element of the transducer has a planarized surface that is coplanar with a planarized surface of the sidewall.
US07948697B2
A color filter including: a transparent substrate; a light shielding part formed on the transparent substrate and contains at least a light shielding material and a resin; and a colored layer formed in the opening part of the light shielding part on the transparent substrate to cover a part of the light shielding part. The light shielding part has: the width of the thick film region, 85% of more of the maximum film thickness of the light shielding part and disposed in the central part of the light shielding part, in a range of 30% to 60% of the light shielding part line width; and the width of each of the thin film regions, 50% or less of the maximum film thickness of the light shielding part and disposed on the both side parts of the light shielding part, in a range of 10% to 20% of the light shielding part line width.
US07948696B2
In an objective lens actuator of an optical disk drive and the like, variations in the fixed end positions of wires serving as suspensions are reduced and tilt characteristics are improved. When wires 13 are fixed by soldering, a deformation caused by soldering on the wires 13 is minimized by providing heat absorbing members 25 and 26 which hold the wires 13 near soldering positions to absorb soldering heat.
US07948691B2
Provided is a zoom lens system including: in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit having a positive refractive power; an aperture stop; and a second lens unit, in which the first lens unit includes a first-a lens unit having a positive refractive power and a first-b lens unit having a negative refractive power which moves along an optical axis in focusing, the first-b lens unit includes at least one negative lens and at least one positive lens, and the following conditional expression is satisfied: 0.020<θgF1−0.6438+0.001682×vd1<0.100, where θgF1 denotes a partial dispersion ratio of a material of the positive lens, and vd1 denotes Abbe number of the positive lens.
US07948685B2
A zoom lens system comprising a first lens unit having negative power, a second lens unit having positive power and a third lens unit having positive power, wherein: the first lens unit comprises a first lens element having a concave surface at least on the image side and negative power and a second lens element having a convex surface at least on the object side and positive power; the second lens unit comprises a cemented lens element fabricated by two lens elements having optical power of mutually different signs and one single lens element; in zooming, all of the lens units move along an optical axis; and conditions (1): 5.0<αiW<20.0 and (I-2): n11≧1.9 (where, 3.2
US07948680B2
The present invention provides systems and methods for spectral beam combination by applying a spatial chirp to each of a plurality of input beamlets using a respective plurality of dispersive elements and combining the spatially-chirped beamlets into a single collimated output beam using a dispersive element configured to remove the spatial chirp. In an embodiment, each dispersive element is a grating combined with a lens that is confocal to the grating and also confocal to a Fourier plane upon which a transverse distribution of beam spectral components is produced. A final lens-grating pair includes a lens and a grating, where the lens is confocal to the grating and also confocal to the Fourier plane.
US07948678B1
This invention presents a four-region catadioptric tile. The four-region catadioptric tile includes a first surface, a second surface, and a filler material layer between the first and second surfaces. The four regions includes a first region wherein the first surface is convex and the second surface is convex, a second region wherein the first surface is convex and the second surface is concave, a third region wherein the first surface is concave and the second surface is convex, and a third region wherein the first surface is concave and the second surface is concave. The surface morphology of each of the four-region catadioptric tiles can be repeated across an entire tessellated projection screen or an angularly dependent retroreflector.
US07948677B2
An apparatus for the focusing of incident light includes a base assembly that is adapted to support a primary mirror. The primary mirror includes an outside circumference and an inside aperture. An upright member is attached to the base assembly at a first end thereof at a first location that is disposed inside the aperture and at a second location that is disposed outside the primary mirror. The upright member includes a second end that is distally disposed with respect to the first end. The second end is adapted to receive a turret that includes a secondary mirror and is adapted to pivot between two positions. An IMU is attached to the base assembly proximate the primary mirror.
US07948667B2
An optical scanning element includes: a movable member which has a reflection surface for reflecting light and rotatable around a rotation axis; and a transmitting member which has a first surface on the side opposite to the side facing the movable member and a second surface on the side facing the movable member, and transmits light entering the first surface and light entering the second surface from the reflection surface. The first surface is not parallel with the reflection surface when the movable member is in a neutral condition.
US07948665B2
A system for imaging a document including an imaging apparatus, which includes a camera positioned inside the imaging apparatus, the camera configured to acquire a plurality of images of a document in front of the camera. The document is place behind a glass window on a wall opposing the camera. The imaging apparatus includes an illumination system which is positioned around the glass window but outside the field of view (FOV) of the camera. The imaging apparatus further includes an opaque cover, which covers the whole glass window area. The cover includes a slit to insert a document to be imaged, a slit to remove the document and a groove that enables a user to move the document with his finger.
US07948661B2
An image reading apparatus and an image forming apparatus including the image reading apparatus. The image reading apparatus includes a photoelectric converter to convert incident light into an analog image signal, a drive unit to drive the photoelectric converter by a frequency modulated clock signal, an overlapping circuit to overlap an anti-phase analog signal to the analog image signal fluctuating according to the frequency modulated clock signal with a same amount of fluctuation as that of the analog image signal, and an analog digital converter to convert the overlapped analog image signal into a digital output.
US07948656B2
A method of controlling an image processing apparatus comprising the steps of: generating color reduced image data from the color image data; generating monochrome reduced image data from the monochrome image data; and determining the order of generation of the color or monochrome reduced image data when generating both the color reduced image data and the monochrome reduced image data for display.
US07948650B2
A printer-plotter includes a guide rail, a first head, a second head, a driving device, a first connecting mechanism and a second connecting mechanism. The guide rail extends in a longitudinal direction. The first head is supported by the guide rail and movable along the longitudinal direction. The second head is supported by the guide rail and movable independently of the first head along the longitudinal direction. The driving device includes a driving force transmitting member and a driving mechanism configured to move the driving force transmitting member. The first connecting mechanism is configured to detachably connect the first head to the driving force transmitting member. The second connecting mechanism is configured to detachably connect the second head to the driving force transmitting member.
US07948644B2
Automatically determining the cost of a printed job on a digital printing press before the job is run. A job control component in the digital front end of the printing press collects and stores the processing information from the job processing components from prior runs. A job-reporting component displays the stored and estimated processing information and automatically computes and displays the estimated cost of the job. The method includes determining a future toner cost using a toner cost, a future press usage cost, and a substrate cost based on historical toner consumption and then rasterizing the job to determine the total job cost.
US07948635B2
A system for determining positions of structures on a substrate is disclosed. The system includes a plurality of stations enclosed by a housing. At least one of the stations inside the housing is designed to be movable. The housing is provided with a filter fan unit generating an air flow in the housing. Air-directing elements are provided in the housing so that an invariable flow may be achieved irrespective of the at least one movable station.
US07948627B2
A photoelectric smoke detector may detect presence of smoke by utilizing a light emitting element and a light receiving element whose optical axes intersect with each other. The photoelectric smoke detector may include a casing for storing the light emitting element and the light receiving element. Inlet and outlet ports may be respectively provided in one and the other sides of the casing, the inlet and outlet ports bringing air flow into the casing. Rectifying light blocking means may be provided contiguously with each of the inlet and outlet ports, the rectifying light blocking means preventing entry of disturbance light into an interior space and forming a flow line of smoke extending from one or the other inlet and outlet port to the other or the one inlet and outlet port such that the flow line passes through a detection area by the light emitting element and the light receiving element.
US07948621B2
A system and method of monitoring contaminant particles in pipelines. The system can include a probe for extending into a pipeline, and sampling fluid in the pipeline to ensure that a representative amount of contaminants within the pipeline can subsequently be measured. An analyzer receives the sampled fluid from the probe, illuminates the sampled fluid with a light source, and collects scattered light from any contaminant particles in the illuminated sampled fluid. A detector receives the scattered light from the analyzer, and converts the scattered light into an electrical signal that is proportional to the contaminant particles size. A processor receives the electrical signal from the detector, converts the electrical signal into digital data pertaining to the contaminant particles, and transmits the digital data on an Ethernet connection, or wireless signal to a communication network for distribution to at least one digital data processor for display and evaluation.
US07948617B2
A foreign-particle detection system for use with an optical instrument having a transmissive window with a first side and a second side includes a radiation source to emit a radiation signal, a diffusing reflector to diffusively spread the radiation signal emitted by the radiation source over the first side of the transmissive window, a radiation detector to detect, at the second side of the transmissive window, the diffusively spread radiation signal transmitted by the transmissive window, and to generate a detected radiation signal based on the detected diffusively spread radiation signal, and a computation module communicatively coupled to the radiation detector to detect a presence of foreign particles on at least one of the first side or the second side of the transmissive window based on at least the detected radiation signal.
US07948599B1
A liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates, a black matrix on the second substrate, the black matrix including a plurality of open portions corresponding to pixel regions and a plurality of holes disposed adjacent to the plurality of open portions, color filter layers on the black matrix, and a plurality of patterned spacers corresponding to each of the plurality of holes between the first and the second substrates.
US07948598B2
Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device of dropping liquid crystals to be interposed between a first substrate and a second substrate to one of the substrates. The method includes a step of applying the sealant to one of the substrates where a region closed by the sealant is formed by a sealant on the main surface of the substrate, and, in this closed region, a liquid crystal filling region as a display region and a capturing region to the outer periphery of the liquid crystal filling region for intaking surplus liquid crystals or voids are formed.
US07948591B2
To provide a retardation film in which the retardation condition is adjusted to achieve a liquid crystal display without coloration over a wide viewing angle range and having a high contrast ratio, and a method of designing the same, as well as a polarizing film and a liquid crystal display using the same. A liquid crystal display comprising a liquid crystal cell and polarizing films in a Cross-Nicol relationship with each other on both sides of the liquid crystal cell; wherein at least one polarizing film includes a retardation film having reverse wavelength dispersion property; and the liquid crystal display further includes a retardation film having a wavelength dispersion property substantially the same as a liquid crystal layer configuring the liquid crystal cell.
US07948588B2
A thin film transistor (TFT) array panel that automatically matches the gamma curves of the reflective mode and the transmissive mode is presented. The TFT array panel includes a substrate, a switching element formed on the substrate and including an input terminal, an output terminal, and a control terminal. A transmissive electrode is connected to the output terminal, and a first reflective electrode is connected to the output terminal. A storage electrode is formed on a layer that underlies the output terminal and separated from the output terminal to form a storage capacitor with the output terminal. A second reflective electrode is formed on a layer that is above the output terminal and separated from the output terminal to form an auxiliary capacitor with the output terminal.
US07948579B2
An optical fiber of which one end is optically coupled to a laser light source propagating, from the one end to other end, a laser light emitted from the laser light source. A light-guiding plate includes a light-guiding section in which a plurality of right prisms of the same shape for extracting the laser light by contacting the optical fiber are arranged parallel to each other in the same direction at equal intervals. A planar section diffuses the laser light extracted from the light-guiding section and emits the diffused laser light from one main surface. The optical fiber is bent more than twice to form a plurality of straight line portions arranged parallel to each other at unequal intervals, and the optical fiber and the light-guiding plate are positioned such that the laser light is extracted at equal intervals from each of the plurality of straight line portions.
US07948577B2
Disclosed is a stereoscopic display device including: a first display panel displaying a main image; a second display panel disposed on the first display panel and displaying a sub-image; a first mold frame supporting the first display panel and maintaining a gap between the first display panel and the second display panel; and a second mold frame supporting the second display panel. The first mold frame may include sidewalls forming an enclosed space with the first and second display panels and having a portion that inclines into the enclosed space.
US07948565B2
A liquid crystal display device which improved brightness by preventing a wet out phenomenon caused by narrowing of a space between an upper polarizer and a touch panel is provided. The device includes a liquid crystal display panel for display images; a backlight unit for emitting light from the bottom of the liquid crystal display panel; upper and lower polarizers formed on top and bottom surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel, respectively; a light diffusion bead formed on the upper polarizer for controlling a haze of the upper polarizer; a support main for organizing the liquid crystal display panel and the backlight unit; a cover bottom for covering a lower surface and one side surface of the support main; a case top for covering and fixing the edges of the liquid crystal display panel and the cover bottom; and a touch panel, whose edges are fixed by the case top, formed on the upper polarizer formed with the light diffusion bead.
US07948564B2
The present invention relates to a programmable mask used in a photolithography process for fabricating a biomolecule array and a method of fabricating a biomolecule array using the same and, more particularly, to a programmable mask which can increase a contrast ratio of transmittance versus shielding of light incident to a liquid crystal which constitutes each pixel by irradiating parallel ultraviolet (“UV”) light generated from an external parallel light exposure device to a certain cell and using a vertically aligned liquid crystal panel or an LC panel having no spacer, and a method of fabricating a biomolecule array using the same.
US07948552B2
An image pickup apparatus which can remove a dust stuck to a surface of an optical member such as a cover glass or an optical filter without damaging the surface of the optical member, and which can take a good image without imaging shadows of the dust stuck to the surface of the optical member. An image pickup apparatus comprises an optical element, an image pickup device, and a drive unit. The drive unit applies voltage to a non-uniform electric field generating device and moving the non-uniform electric field generating device to scan an optical incidence plane of the optical element.
US07948550B2
An electro-optic imaging system includes an aberrated triplet lens, a detector subsystem and a digital image processing subsystem. The triplet lens is not fully corrected for all aberrations (typically suffering from significant spherical aberration), with the digital image processing subsystem compensating for deficiencies in the triplet lens. In this way, an increased depth of field can be realized.
US07948543B2
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging element which photoelectrically converts an image formed by an optical system, the imaging element being equipped with a color filter array (CFA) with different spectral transmittances. The apparatus includes a full color data generator which samples photoelectrically converted signals by the imaging element to obtain image signals having luminance information of each color of the CFA and sampling position information, and, when transforming a pattern of the pixel signals into full color data, generates full color data by obtaining weighting coefficients for generation of each color component of the full color data on the basis of a relative relationship between positions of a lattice pattern of the full color data to be generated and position information of the pixel signals.
US07948542B2
A fast-settling line driver circuit capable of high-speed operation. The line driver is particularly well-suited for operation in a high-resolution imaging system. The line driver circuit comprises a signal amplifier that is configured in a negative feedback loop and connected to a bus line through a switch network. The switch network is disposed inside the feedback loop while the line driver is transmitting a signal onto the bus line. This configuration reduces the settling time of the line driver by substantially eliminating the effect of the switch resistance on the RC time constant. The line driver also comprises offset cancellation and presettle circuits that improve the integrity of the output signal and reduce the power consumption of the system.
US07948528B2
A more preferable WB gain is calculated during strobe illuminated photography. When a WB gain for an image captured through strobe illuminated photography is calculated, the degree of contribution of strobe light is first estimated. When the degree of contribution is estimated, the image is first divided into a plurality of blocks, and typical brightness values and typical color values of the respective blocks are determined (S23). Subsequently, the highest-brightness block among the blocks analogous to the color of strobe light is identified as a strobe color block (S26). When there is a strobe color block, the degree of contribution of strobe light is estimated on the basis of the position of the strobe color block, a difference between the brightness of the strobe color block and the brightnesses of other blocks, and the like (S32 to S48). Meanwhile, when there is no strobe color block, the degree of contribution is estimated on the basis of the position of the highest-brightness block having the highest typical brightness value among the plurality of blocks (S28, S30).
US07948520B1
A device for capturing image data includes a first image sensor. A first interface receives the image data from the first image sensor based on a first synchronization signal. The first interface has a first mode that is associated with receiving the first synchronization signal from the first image sensor and a second mode that is associated with sending the first synchronization signal to the first image sensor.
US07948517B2
A camera is disposed on a door mirror whose operating position is changeable between a deployed position and a retracted position, so that the positional relationship of the camera with a vehicle body changes as the operating position of the door mirror changes. A region corresponding to the operating position of the door mirror is partially extracted from the entire shot area of an image taken by the camera. That is, the angular direction of the region partially extracted from the entire shot area taken by the camera when the door mirror is in the deployed position and the angular direction of the region partially extracted from the entire shot area taken by the camera when the door mirror is in the retracted position are made different from each other by an angle equal to the angle difference between the two positions of the door mirror. The camera-taken images of the extracted regions are conformed to the screen of a display. Thus, the vehicle traveling direction appearing on the display remains unchanged regardless of changes in the operating position of the door mirror.
US07948506B2
A full-color display device, comprising: a) a display having a plurality of sub-pixels formed in rows or columns in a first dimension including at least three different color sub-pixels forming a color gamut, and grouped into pixels within each row or column, each pixel including at least two of the gamut-specifying color sub-pixels and at least one additional sub-pixel having a color within the gamut and an efficiency higher than at least one of the color sub-pixels, wherein at least one pixel is defective and comprises one defective additional in-gamut sub-pixel; and b) a controller for driving the display pixels and for transforming an input signal into a compensated signal for selectively modifying the output of at least one color sub-pixel in the defective pixel, at least one other, but not all, of the color sub-pixels in a neighboring pixel in the first dimension, and additional in-gamut sub-pixels in neighboring pixels in a second dimension, the at least one other color sub-pixel including the sub-pixel in the neighboring pixel that is closest to the defective sub-pixel, to compensate for the output of the defective sub-pixel(s).
US07948503B2
Techniques for registration of multiple measurement modes of a body include receiving first and second data from different modes. Each includes measured values with coordinate values. For two mechanically aligned modes, any nonrigid registration is performed. For some modes, the nonrigid registration includes a coarse transformation and multiple fine scale transformations. The coarse transformation maximizes a coarse similarity measure. The second data is subdivided into contiguous subregions. Fine transformations are determined between the subregions and corresponding portions of the first data to maximize a fine similarity measure. Subdividing and determining fine transformations repeats until stop conditions are satisfied. Transformations between the last divided subregions are interpolated. Any of the fine similarity measure, a search region, interpolation method, sub-division location, and the use of rigid or non-rigid fine transformations are adaptive to properties of the first or second data so that the registration is automatic without human intervention.
US07948497B2
A chipset is electrically connected with an external graphic module, which generates a first graphic signal and outputs it to the chipset. The chipset includes an internal graphic module and a control module. The internal graphic module generates a second graphic signal, and the control module receives the first graphic signal and the second graphic signal. The control module divides the first graphic signal into at least two first graphic sub-signals and divides the second graphic signal into at least two second graphic sub-signals, respectively. When under a first output mode, the control module simultaneously outputs one of the first graphic sub-signals and one of the second graphic sub-signals.
US07948493B2
An apparatus for determining information about shape and location of an ellipse involves determining two coordinates of a first ellipse point representing a point of the ellipse located furthest in the first direction, and determining two coordinates of a second ellipse point representing a point of the ellipse located furthest in a direction opposite to the first direction. The apparatus determines parameters of bent line segments approximating the ellipse at ellipse points or in a surrounding of ellipse points, and determines the coordinates of ellipse points based on the parameters of the bent line segments. The apparatus involves calculating ellipse parameters of the ellipse based on the two coordinates of the first ellipse point and the two coordinates of the second ellipse point. The apparatus enables real-time-capable determination of parameters of an ellipse included in an image to be analyzed.
US07948492B2
Deviations associated with a process system are identified, such as by identifying deviations of process variables or production measurements from target values. A graphical display is generated that identifies at least some of the deviations and one or more characteristics associated with the deviations. For example, the graphical display includes a time axis, and each deviation is associated with a bar positioned in the graphical display to identify a start time and an end time of the deviation along the time axis. Also, each bar may include one or more indicators (such as patterns, colors, or shadings) that identify the one or more characteristics (such as an economic impact and/or a cause) of each deviation identified in the graphical display. In this way, a user can, among other things, identify when deviations from target values occur, durations of the deviations, and economic impacts and/or causes associated with the deviations.
US07948490B2
A hardware-accelerated process of computing radiance transfer coefficients (such as for use in image rendering based on precomputed radiance transfer (PRT) techniques) is re-ordered as compared to previously known PRT precomputations to iterate over a sampling of directions about an object. The hardware-accelerated process uses a set of textures representing positions and normals for a sampling of points over a modeled object. In iterating over the directions, the process computes the depth of the object in a shadow buffer, then computes a texture of the radiance contribution based on the normal and position textures and depth from the shadow buffer. The resulting radiance contribution textures of the iterated directions are accumulated to produce a texture representing the radiance transfer coefficients of the sampled positions. This enables the process to avoid reduction operations, ray tracing and slow read-back path limitations of graphical processing units.
US07948486B2
An image processing apparatus includes a first and second Z value calculators that calculate a polygon Z value and a block Z value, respectively. The polygon Z value is a coordinate value of a pixel located at a closest point to a viewpoint. The block Z value is a coordinate value of a pixel located at a closest point to the viewpoint in a block. The apparatus also includes a Z value selector that selects a Z value of a pixel closer to the viewpoint from the polygon Z value and the block Z value as an estimate Z value; and a hidden-surface removal unit that eliminates drawing of the polygon in the block when a pixel corresponding to the estimate Z value is located at a farther point from the viewpoint than a pixel located at a farthest point from the viewpoint.
US07948485B1
Real-time simulation of liquids is disclosed. A liquid may be modeled as a collection of particles. Particles separated from one or more nearest neighbor particles by a distance greater than a threshold distance may be separated out as droplets. An iso-surface may then be determined and rendered for the particles not separated out as droplets. The droplets may be rendered as sprites.
US07948484B2
An inverter for liquid crystal display is disclosed. The inverter for liquid crystal display includes a switching circuit, a transformer, and first and second protective circuits. The switching circuit includes first and second switches and converts a direct current power input into an alternating current power. Each of the first and second switches alternatively performs a turn-on operation and a turn-off operation. The transformer transforms an alternating current power supplied from the switching circuit into a high-voltage alternating current power. The first protective circuit is connected to both terminals of the first switch and protects the first switch during turn-on and turn-off operations of the first switch. The second protective circuit is connected to both terminals of the second switch and protects the second switch during turn-on and turn-off operations of the second switch.
US07948474B2
A computer mouse for use with a computing device is provided. The computer mouse may include a mouse body with an ulnar side digit support structure having a front concave region and a rear convex region formed proximate and behind the front concave region. The front concave region may include an overhang portion on a top side and an outwardly flared region on a bottom side. The front concave region may be sized to receive a distal end of a digit of a user, and the rear convex region may be sized to support a proximate end of a digit of a user. The mouse body may additionally include a radial side digit support structure that has a concave region with an outwardly flared region on a bottom side of the concavity.
US07948470B2
A display panel, a display apparatus and the driving method thereof are provided. The gate control signals can interactively control more number of scan lines by disposing corresponding switches between the adjacent scan lines in the display panel, wherein every two scan lines correspond to a gate control signal, so as to reduce the number of the gate driving ICs and the layout space required by the fan out area in the display panel.
US07948456B2
The invention provides a pixel circuit that can cancel the influence of the mobility of a drive transistor. A drive transistor supplies to a light-emitting element, an output current dependent upon an input voltage during a certain emission period. The light-emitting element emits light with a luminance dependent upon a video signal in response to the output current supplied from the drive transistor. The pixel circuit includes a correction unit that corrects the input voltage held by a capacitive part before the emission period or at the beginning of the emission period, in order to cancel the dependence of the output current on the carrier mobility. The correction unit operates during part of a sampling period in response to control signals supplied from scan lines. Specifically, the correction unit extracts the output current from the drive transistor while the video signal is sampled, and negatively feeds back the output current to the capacitive part to thereby correct the input voltage.
US07948455B2
The present invention is an apparatus for driving white LEDs. The apparatus includes a switchable current sink, a DC-DC converter and a reference circuit. The DC-DC converter provides a driving voltage to a plurality of LEDs. The switchable current sink regulates currents through the plurality of LEDs, and the switchable current sink further provides a first reference voltage and outputs a plurality of voltage drops. The reference circuit receives the first reference voltage and the plurality of voltage drops to provide a second reference voltage to the DC-DC converter. The DC-DC converter adjusts the driving voltage provided to the plurality of LEDs according to the second reference voltage. In this way, the driving voltage is regulated to a minimum possible value and consequently the voltage drops across the switchable current sink is minimized. Hence, the LED driving system maintains higher efficiency.
US07948449B2
In a game machine, image display not giving the player a feeling of oddness or disadvantage during game progress even if a non-display at a physical distance is present between different display screen areas. The game machine executes program for controlling image display of first and second display screens on both sides of a non-display area. To move an object from the first to the second display screen and display it there. The movement angle and movement speed are calculated at the display coordinate position of the object displayed on the first display screen, and the movement distance which the object moves through the non-display area from the movement angle is determined. Further, a preset additional distance corresponding to the object to the movement distance is added to use it as a virtual movement distance. The object on the second display screen is displayed when the time required for the object to move the virtual movement distance has elapsed.
US07948442B2
A radio wave receiving converter includes a main body portion including a first waveguide having a male thread on an outer circumference of the first waveguide, a feedhorn including a second waveguide having a female thread on an inner circumference of the second waveguide, a ring-shaped member including a circumferential wall portion and an annular step portion such that a groove portion where a portion near a tip of the second waveguide is inserted between the ring-shaped member and the outer circumference of the first waveguide is formed, and a sealing agent injected into a groove portion “b”. By this configuration, there is provided a radio wave receiving converter that has a simple structure of a connecting portion, has improved productivity of the components and assemblability of the finished components, and can achieve a reduction in size and weight.
US07948441B2
In one embodiment, a low profile antenna according to the present invention comprises a balanced transmission line, electronic circuitry, and a parasitic element. The electronic circuitry is coupled to an interconnecting end of the transmission line and operable to direct electromagnetic energy through the transmission line to a terminating end. The parasitic element has a surface that is disposed at a predetermined distance from the terminating end and normal to the central axis such that the surface of the parasitic element covers an opening formed by the terminating end.
US07948440B1
Example embodiments for antennas that can transceive signals in horizontally-polarized omni-directional manners are described. In an example embodiment, an antenna includes a tube forming a slot and a supporting structure on which one or more transmission lines and at least one ground are disposed. In another example embodiment, an antenna includes a horizontally-polarized antenna assembly including at least one slot aperture antenna and a vertically-polarized antenna part.
US07948439B2
A system includes first and second transmitters attachable to first and second vehicles. The transmitters can each transmit successive signals at predetermined time intervals. Tracking stations at different locations are configured to receive the signals transmitted by at least one of the first and second transmitters, distinguish signals transmitted by the first transmitter from signals transmitted by the second transmitter, and determine from the transmitted signals respective position information for at least one of the first and second transmitters. Each of the tracking stations is further configured to be in signal communication with at least one other of the tracking stations. The system further includes at least one processing device in signal communication with at least one of the tracking stations. The processing device is configured to determine from the position information a location of the first vehicle relative to a location of the second vehicle.
US07948430B2
A position estimating device (4) which estimates the position of an object by comparing a receiving pattern obtained from ID transmitters (2a, 2b, . . . ) and ID receivers (3a, 3b, . . . ) installed in an environment with a prestored receiving pattern. Position of an object equipped with no extra device can be estimated only with the ID transmitters and ID receivers installed in an environment even in an indoor multipath environment by utilizing a fact that a receiving pattern obtained from ID transmitters (2a, 2b, . . . ) and ID receivers (3a, 3b, . . . ) installed in an environment changes depending on the position of the object.
US07948425B2
A high frequency signal calibration target deployable in outer space includes an expandable and electrically conductive symmetric structure. The structure may mechanically expand from a stowed configuration to a deployed configuration. Scatter of high frequency signal off of a substantially symmetric signal calibration target may be measured to accurately calibrate systems using high frequency signals.
US07948421B2
An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is provided. The ADC includes a variable oscillator, a frequency divider, a clock circuit, and a counter. The variable oscillator is coupled to a sensor and configured to generate an oscillating signal based on a measurement generated by the sensor. The frequency divider is coupled to the variable oscillator and configured to divide a frequency of the oscillating signal. The clock circuit is configured to generate a clock signal at a defined frequency. The counter is coupled to the frequency divider and to the clock and is configured to generate a bit stream representative of a first number of periods of the clock signal during a second number of periods of the divided oscillating signal.
US07948420B1
A digital relay and concomitant method comprising employing an analog-to-digital converter, and via control logic providing oversampled output of the converter to determine likely digital values corresponding to the output, and wherein the control logic substantially eliminates aliasing resulting from waveform transients in input to the converter, and wherein no anti-aliasing filter is employed providing the input. Also, a digital relay and concomitant method comprising employing an analog-to-digital converter, and via control logic providing oversampled output of the converter to determine via Fourier transform likely digital values corresponding to the output, and wherein the control logic substantially eliminates aliasing resulting from waveform transients in input to the converter.
US07948415B2
A DA converter includes a first DA conversion section for obtaining an analog output signal in accordance with a digital input signal value, and a second DA conversion section for obtaining an analog gain control output signal in accordance with a digital gain control input signal value. In the DA converter, the gain control of the analog output signal generated by the first DA conversion section is performed on the basis of the gain control output signal generated by the second DA conversion section.
US07948412B2
The present invention provides a continuous-time delta-sigma modulator which is configured with an SC (SCR) feedback DA (103) for improving tolerance to jitter for a clock signal and operates stably by maintaining a certain feedback amount without being influenced by a change in a production process thereof or an operating temperature condition thereof. By adjusting a reference voltage Vref that determines an output voltage of the SC feedback DA (103), it is possible to feed back a certain amount of charge from the SC feedback DA (103) to a loop filter (101). Thereby, operation of the delta-sigma modulator is stabilized.
US07948405B2
A sample rate converter circuit receives a first signal at a first sampling frequency and for outputs a second signal, representative of the first signal, having a second sampling frequency. The sample rate converter comprises: a buffer, for storing data samples received from said first signal; a first loop circuit, for receiving a first clock signal corresponding to the first sampling frequency and a second clock signal corresponding to the second sampling frequency, and for generating an estimate of a ratio of the first sampling frequency to the second sampling frequency; and a second loop circuit, for receiving the first clock signal, the second clock signal and the estimate of the ratio of the first sampling frequency to the second sampling frequency, and for outputting a write pointer so that the data samples can be stored in the buffer, and for outputting a read pointer so that the data samples can be read from the buffer, with a first offset between the read pointer and the write pointer, such that the first offset is substantially independent of the ratio of the first sampling frequency to the second sampling frequency.
US07948397B2
Image information apparatuses, methods, and programs acquire image information of a plurality of frames of images sensed at predetermined regular time intervals. The apparatuses, methods, and programs detect a leading and trailing end of a lane mark included in a detection area defined in each frame of the image information. The apparatuses, methods, and programs detect a detected distance from one of the leading and trailing end of the lane mark to the other one as a detected distance based on the speed of the vehicle and the number of frames between a frame in which one of the leading end and the trailing end of the lane mark is detected and a frame in which the other one of the leading end and the trailing end of the lane mark is detected and determine a lane mark type of the lane mark on the basis of the detected distance.
US07948388B2
A leak detector apparatus and system for use with a drop ceiling having a grid-work of ceiling tiles. The leak detector apparatus includes an electrically non-conducting tile body that is shaped and dimensioned to rest on top of a ceiling tile. The tile body comprises multiple layers of non-conducting closed cell-foam and has a plurality of water collector cups formed or positioned therein. Spaced-apart sensor wires are provided and form an electrical grid that extends between the multiple layers of the tile body and the sensor wires generally extend through the water collector cups. The sensor wires are operative to sense the presence of water in the cups. An electronics module is provided at each tile body and is associated with the sensor wires and electrically coupled to the sensor wires for triggering an alert in response to the presence of water in one or more of the cups. A master controller is in communication with the local processors for monitoring the function and operation of each local processor. Thus, each leak detector tile has its own electronics module associated with it, thereby providing excellent location precision when installed in the room.
US07948386B2
A rodent repeller having an audio signal generator configured to generate a chattering sound that mimics a distressed rodent. The audio signal generator produces a variable sound frequency to generate the chattering sound of distressed rodents.
US07948384B1
A method of embedding an RFID device in a reusable object includes the steps of providing a placard including a plurality of layers, and providing an RFID device including an integrated circuit coupled to an antenna. In one example, the placard includes a top layer, upper intermediate layer, lower intermediate layer, bottom layer, and a plurality of adhesive layers. The method further includes the steps of embedding said RFID device in the placard between an adjacent two of said layers, and encoding the RFID device with information. The method further includes the steps of providing a pallet having a cavity extending into an interior of the pallet, inserting the RFID device into the cavity so that the RFID device is located entirely within the interior of said pallet, and non-removably securing the RFID device within the cavity. In one example, the pallet includes a support base and a top surface.
US07948366B2
A car speed alarm system is installed in a vehicle and has a modulation module and a demodulation module. The modulation module sends a car speed signal to cars behind when the car is decelerating. The cars behind use their demodulation module to read the transmitted car speed signal and notify their drivers, so that the drivers know how and when to reduce their speeds.
US07948358B2
In a vehicle anti-theft system including an immobilizer system and a keyless entry system provided adjacent to a key cylinder, an immobilizer system antenna (5) is insert molded in an annular member (3) surrounding a key opening (2) of the key cylinder and a keyless entry system antenna (9) is incorporated in a housing (6, 7) which is integrally formed with the annular member. Thereby, the immobilizer system antenna and keyless entry system antenna can be accommodated in a common unit while suitably spacing them away from each other. Therefore, without requiring any special shielding arrangement, the two antennal can perform favorably while the overall size of the system can be minimized.
US07948352B2
A wireless secondary assembly is disclosed for use in an electrical distribution network. The secondary assembly may include a wireless source electrically connected to a first electric cable and adapted to emit an electromagnetic power signal. A wireless receiver is electrically connected to a secondary device and adapted to receive the electromagnetic power signal and convert the electromagnetic power signal to electricity to power to secondary device.
US07948348B2
Core structures that may be used in transformers to improve the number of turns-ratios available. The core structures may include at least three outer legs and a center leg. In operation windings of the transformer may be wrapped around the center leg (e.g., using a bobbin) a fractional number of times, such that the turns-ratio of the transformer may be more finely selected without increasing the number of turns required. Additionally, the outer legs may have different cross-sectional areas, such that even more fractional turns-ratios are available.
US07948338B2
An electromagnetic switch is provided which is equipped with a built-in electronic control circuit working to control energization of an exciting coil. The electronic control circuit is disposed within a chamber defined by a magnetic plate to be separate from a contact chamber. In other words, the electronic control circuit is disposed between the magnetic plate and the exciting coil, thereby avoiding the adhesion of conductive dusts, as arising from the wear of contacts, to the surface of the electronic control circuit. This results in decreases in electric insulation and short-circuit of the electronic control circuit and also eliminates the need for additional special parts to electrically insulate and shield the electronic control circuit, thus permitting the electromagnetic switch to be reduced in size and produced at a decreased const.
US07948334B2
An apparatus includes a shell member having an interior width, where the shell includes a closed end and an open end, and a nut that includes a plurality of laterally extending resilient leg. The legs define an outer width of the nut, and when the legs are in a relaxed state the outer width of the nut is greater than the interior width of the shell. The nut is adapted for at least partially entering the open end of the shell member, such that the legs are placed in a tensioned state in which the legs define the outer width to be smaller than or equal to the interior width of the shell. The apparatus also includes a base plate adapted for receiving the shell member and securing the shell member to the base plate with the closed end of the shell facing away from the base plate through cooperation with the nut when the nut is at least partially within the shell member.
US07948324B2
A multistage amplifier and design method are disclosed. The multistage amplifier has a plurality of amplifier stages, each stage having an amplifier designed and biased to operate at or near the amplifier's power added efficiency (PAE) peak. The PAE peak of each of the amplifier is at or near the amplifiers linear-compression transition region, providing a multistage power amplifier that is power efficient and has desirable amplitude to amplitude and amplitude to phase power transfer characteristics. The amplifier is designed by matching the output impedance of a final stage with a load. Amplifier stages are iteratively designed from the last stage to the first. At each stage, an amplifier and drive circuit are designed. The drive circuit and amplifier are designed to provide each stage with output impedance matched to the input impedance of the following stage and to operate at or near the PAE peak of the amplifier.
US07948310B2
A system for processing an input signal, the system including: (a) a hardware memory module configured to store a lookup table; and (b) a signal processing module, configured to process the input signal to provide a second signal, and to transmit the second signal to a power amplifier that is characterized by non-linearity and which is adapted to amplify the second signal to provide an amplified signal; wherein the signal processing module is configured to process the input signal in response to at least one filtering parameter to provide the second signal so as to at least partly compensate for the non-linearity of the amplifier; wherein the at least one filtering parameter is retrieved from the lookup table using a first, a second, and a third lookup table indexes, wherein the first index is responsive to a magnitude of the input signal at a first moment, the second index is responsive to a magnitude of the input signal at a second moment, and the third index is responsive to phases of the input signal at the first and the second moments.
US07948303B2
An internal voltage generating circuit is capable of controlling an amount of charge pumping according to an external power supply voltage. The internal voltage generating circuit includes a periodic signal generating unit configured to control generation of periodic signals according to a level of an external power supply voltage, and a pumping unit driven according to the periodic signals generated by the periodic signal generating unit.
US07948302B2
A charge pump system (100) includes a charge pump (102), and a regulator (101) that includes a clock generator (120) for providing a clock signal, a control logic (130) coupled to the clock generator, and a comparator (140) coupled to an output of the charge pump. The comparator includes a plurality of interleaved latches (211, 212, 213 and 214) driven by a single differential (203) stage that compares the output voltage and a reference voltage. The control logic provides timing signals to cause each latch to perform a latch action at different points in time within each period of the clock signal, each point in time equally spaced apart. An output from each latch is coupled to an output stage (205). An output signal from the output stage regulates an output voltage from the charge pump. In one embodiment, the charge pump is coupled to a flash memory (190).
US07948287B2
A DLL circuit for a semiconductor memory apparatus includes a delay line having a coarse delay chain, which has a plurality of coarse delayers connected in series and is inputted with a reference clock signal, and a plurality of fine delayers which receive output clock signals of the respective coarse delayers, and a delay control section for comparing phases of an output clock signal of a final coarse delayer among the coarse delayers with the reference clock signal and generating coarse control signals for controlling the coarse delayers and for comparing phases of an output clock signal of a fine delayer inputted with the output clock signals of the final coarse delayer, as a fine feedback clock signal, with the reference clock signal and generating fine control signals for controlling the fine delayers.
US07948273B2
A soft-start device including a current source, a first transistor, and a second transistor is described. The first transistor is coupled to the current source, and an amount of current conducted by the first transistor is determined according to a voltage. The second transistor is also coupled to the current source, and an amount of current conducted by the second transistor is determined according to a fixed bias. An initial voltage value of the voltage is smaller than a voltage value of the fixed bias. However, after a soft start, the voltage value of the first voltage is increased gradually to be larger than the voltage value of the fixed bias, such that the soft start may be implemented smoothly.
US07948270B1
The serial interface operable, for example, to facilitate high speed differential data transfer between integrated circuits provides level shifting of an incoming data signal using a switched capacitor technique which level shifts the common mode voltage with minimal attenuation and minimal reduction of bandwidths. The serial interface also includes a DC offset correction loop of the input data receiver path. The level shifting circuit operates by sensing the incoming common mode voltage of a differential data signal with a resistor divider and sampling the difference between the measured input common mode voltage and desired input differential voltages generated by a differential DAC in the DC offset correction loop on two small capacitors. The small capacitors are switched across larger in-signal-path capacitors cyclically, so that over time a charge will build up to give the desired level shift to shift the common mode voltage of the incoming signal to the level tolerable by low voltage high speed transistors in the receiving integrated circuit.
US07948253B2
An inexpensive probe assembly is provided which is applicable to narrow pad arrangements of LSI circuit designs, while closely-arranged wiring patterns near probe terminals is distributed effectively on an inspection substrate. A probe assembly is provided which is fabricated by etching metallic foil adhering to a resin film to form a conductive pattern including probing function on the resin film, and stacking or parallel-arranging a plurality of the resin films with probing function, the probe assembly used for inspecting circuits on a semiconductor chip by making probe tips collectively contact electrode pads on the chip, characterized in that the probe assembly includes an electrical terminal which is connected to the probe via the conductive pattern and is made to contact with a connecting land of the circuit board at an opposite side in a first direction (vertical direction) on the same plane as the probe.
US07948247B2
A metal identifying device precisely identifies a metal material in a metal member having a plurality of through-hole portions penetrating through the metal member. The metal identifying device of the present invention includes a measurement unit that obtains a measurement value by measuring an electrical property and/or optical property of a test object, a threshold value determination unit that determines a threshold value with use of a reference value obtained by measuring the property of a metal member having a metal composition to be identified and information indicating a ratio of the through-hole portions to a measurement area in the test object and/or information indicating a configuration of the through-hole portion, and a comparison/identification unit that identifies a metal composition of the test object by comparing the measurement value and the threshold value.
US07948240B2
An abnormality diagnosing apparatus for a glow plug 8 provided in an engine 1. The glow plug 8 is energized by power supply from a battery 7 during a glow period from starting of the engine 1 to completion of engine starting. First, on the basis that power output edf from an alternator 12, which is driven to charge the battery 7, is within an appropriate range and that the variation Δedf of the power output edf at the end of the glow period is not more than a reference value a, it is determined if there is a possibility of an abnormality in the glow plug 8. After the determination, the plug 8 is energized temporarily. Then, on the basis that the power output edf is within a modified appropriate range, which has a greater upper limit than the previous appropriate range and that the variation Δedf while the plug 8 is energized is not more than the reference value a, it is determined that the an abnormality actually occurred. Accordingly, failure of determination of the presence of an abnormality due to deterioration of the battery 7 is prevented when an abnormally has actually occurred.
US07948237B2
An airborne time domain electromagnetic survey system is provided. The system and apparatus of the present invention are able to address the interest in exploring base metals and uranium deposits at depths approaching 1 kilometer. It encompasses a transmitter coil having a large magnetic dipole moment, flight stability, which is light weight, compatible with small helicopters, and can be transported, setup and repaired in the field. It is of a semi-rigid modular structure that can decrease the incidence of damage or breakage during take-off or landing in rough terrain.
US07948234B2
A magnetoresistive element includes, in plan view, an element section and an extension region extending from an end portion of the element section; and an insulation layer is formed on the element section and the extension region. A contact hole having a recessed shape, penetrating through the insulation layer, and extending at least to the extension region is formed; an electrode pad is formed in the contact hole; a surface of the electrode pad is exposed to outside; and the electrode pad is electrically connected to the extension region. The element section and the extension region are integrally formed so as to have an identical layer configuration employing a magnetoresistive effect in which electrical resistance varies in response to external magnetic fields.
US07948230B2
A magnetic type digital-analogic position-sensing device utilizes plural magnetic strips and plural digital sensing readers to perform position-sensing operation. One of the magnetic strips is provided with an analogic sensing reader. After being finely divided, the signal outputted from the analogic sensing reader can cooperate with the signals outputted from the digital sensing readers to obtain the displacement of the sensor. By such arrangements, the position-sensing device can both have high environment adaptability and high resolution.
US07948220B2
A method of preventing the Rdson of a III-V Nitride power switching circuit from varying over time. The method includes biasing the switch to a pre-bias voltage level just below turn ON when the switch is OFF, wherein traps are discharged when the switch is biased to the pre-bias voltage level just below turn ON and the varying of the Rdson over time due to traps is reduced. The method can be employed in DC-DC converter circuits having III-V Nitride control and synchronous switches connected at a switching node.
US07948219B2
The control circuit comprises: a detecting portion COMP1 for detecting a status transition of a first signal FR at the connecting point P which changes at a constant cycle corresponding to current flowing through the antiparallel diode D when the main switch device FET is turned OFF; and a phase difference adjusting portion 30, 40 for adjusting the phase difference by adjusting the output timing of the second signal FP corresponding to a phase difference between the phase of the first signal FR detected by the detecting portion COMP1 and the phase of the second signal FP generated based on the first signal of one cycle before and the rectification switch device FET2 is turned ON corresponding to the second signal FP whose output timing is adjusted by the phase difference adjusting portion 30, 40.
US07948214B2
A method for charging batteries, in particular lithium batteries, includes the steps of connecting a battery electrically to a battery-charging apparatus, dispensing electric power to the battery by means of the battery-charging apparatus, and regulating the electric current and voltage dispensed by the battery-charging apparatus to the battery. The regulating step includes the steps of detecting the voltage at the terminals of the battery and regulating the voltage dispensed by the battery-charging apparatus, during a phase of constant-voltage battery charging, depending on the voltage detected at the terminals of the battery, to compensate for parasitic voltage drops existing between the battery (1) and the battery-charging apparatus.
US07948212B2
In a battery pack with battery charger, a circuit derives a relatively low constant current from the charge current of the battery charger, and this relatively low constant current is used to charge the battery pack when temperature is below a threshold. Otherwise, the charge current from the battery charger is used, at least up to a high temperature threshold.
US07948195B2
A method of controlling an electromechanical actuator (ACT) comprising a motor (MOT) for maneuvering a mobile appliance (LD) of a building in a first direction (DIR1) and in a second direction (DIR2) by way of a remote-control unit (RCU) and a unit (MCU) for driving the motor that are placed respectively one upstream of the other on an electrical power line energizing the motor with an alternating voltage, a command to maneuver in the first direction comprising a half-wave rectified signal of positive polarity and a command to maneuver in the second direction comprising a half-wave rectified signal of negative polarity, wherein the maneuver commands furthermore comprise an alternating voltage signal following the half-wave rectified signal.
US07948185B2
An apparatus for producing light includes a chamber that has a plasma discharge region and that contains an ionizable medium. The apparatus also includes a magnetic core that surrounds a portion of the plasma discharge region. The apparatus also includes a pulse power system for providing at least one pulse of energy to the magnetic core for delivering power to a plasma formed in the plasma discharge region that forms a secondary circuit of a transformer. The plasma has a localized high intensity zone.
US07948184B2
A vehicle testing lamp system comprising an onboard controller unit, an off-board controller unit, and a lamp fixture. The onboard controller unit comprises a solid state relay, the solid state relay being switchable between an idle output power setting and a high output power setting; a timing circuit,; a transfer circuit; a current sensor; a current regulator; and batteries or other auxiliary power supply. The off-board controller unit comprises a power supply electrically connected to a voltage booster circuit. The lamp fixture comprises an ignitor; a shock mount; and a lamp that is electrically connected to the igniter. The off-board controller supplies power to the lamp at its idle level. The onboard transfer circuit permits the off-board power supply to be disconnected while the onboard controller unit maintains the lamp at idle, and the onboard timing circuit limits the time that the lamp remains at high output. Also disclosed is a method for using a vehicle testing lamp system.
US07948175B2
When attaching a substrate with an EL element formed thereon and a transparent sealing substrate, the periphery of a pixel portion is surrounded with a first sealing agent that maintains a gap between the two pieces of substrates, an entire surface of the pixel portion is covered with a second transparent sealing agent so that the two pieces of substrate is fixed with the first sealing agent and the second sealing agent. Consequently, the EL element can be encapsulated by curing the first sealing agent and the second sealing agent without enclosing a drying agent and doing damage to the EL element due to UV irradiation even when a sealing device only having a function of UV irradiation is used.
US07948170B2
A pixel having an organic light emitting diode (OLED) and method for fabricating the pixel is provided. A planarization dielectric layer is provided between a thin-film transistor (TFT) based backplane and OLED layers. A through via between the TFT backplane and the OLED layers forms a sidewall angle of less than 90 degrees to the TFT backplane. The via area and edges of an OLED bottom electrode pattern may be covered with a dielectric cap.
US07948167B2
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting device including a substrate, a first pixel electrode disposed on the substrate, a second pixel electrode disposed on the first pixel electrode and having a groove, a partition disposed on the second pixel electrode and having an opening exposing the groove, an organic light emitting member, and a common electrode disposed on the partition and the organic light emitting member. At least a portion of the organic light emitting member is disposed in the groove. The partition overlaps the groove to form a gap, and at least a portion of the organic light emitting member is disposed in the gap.
US07948163B2
The present invention is directed to a method for producing white light. The method includes applying a voltage to an organic light emitting device including a light emissive layer directly adjacent to a layer comprising at least one small molecule material capable of hole blocking and electron transport, the light emissive layer including at least one blue light emissive polymer, where the at least one small molecule material and the at least one blue light emissive polymer form a light emissive exciplex at or near an interface of the light emissive layer and the layer including the at least one small molecule material.
US07948162B2
A light-emissive display comprising a substrate, a first electrode layer disposed over the substrate, a light-emissive layer disposed over the first electrode layer, and a second electrode layer disposed over the light-emissive layer, wherein the light-emissive layer is patterned to provide a plurality of discrete light-emissive regions, each discrete light-emissive region being a pixel, or a sub-pixel, of the light-emissive display, and wherein the first electrode layer and/or the second electrode layer comprises a plurality of electrodes, each electrode comprising at least two sub-electrodes associated with each discrete light-emissive region.
US07948160B2
An optical device emitting light of a predetermined mixed color other than the intrinsic colors of light emitting layers from each pixel having a reduced number of drive lines (electrodes) to achieve the color. The optical device includes one or a plurality of self light emitting elements, each corresponding to one pixel and including a pair of electrodes formed on a substrate and at least a light emitting layer between the electrodes. The light emitting layer includes a first layer with a first region that emits light of a first color and a second layer with a second region that emits light of a second color that is different from the first within the same opening of each pixel. A third light emitting region is formed within the opening for emitting light of a color that is a mixture of the first color and the second color.
US07948159B2
A spark plug having a multilayer firing tip that minimizes the amount of precious metal used and a method of assembling a spark plug with a multilayer firing tip. The firing tip includes a discharge end and a weld end, with the weld end being connected to a center electrode, and more specifically to a base electrode on the center electrode. The weld end has a coefficient of thermal expansion, which is not between the values for the coefficients of thermal expansion for the discharge end and the base electrode. More specifically, the weld end has a coefficient of thermal expansion which is greater than the coefficients of thermal expansion for the discharge end and base electrode. The weld end is formed from Nickel and Chromium with a limited amount of additional elements. The spark plug is assembled by providing a first elongated material formed from the material used for the discharge end and a second elongated material formed from a material used for the weld end. The two materials are then joined to form a single joined material and are severed to create a firing tip. The firing tip is welded to the center electrode of the spark plug and more specifically, the base electrode.
US07948158B2
A plasma ignition system includes an ignition plug attached to an engine and a high-voltage supply. The plug includes a center electrode serving as a positive pole, a ground electrode serving as a negative pole, and an insulating member insulating the center electrode from the ground electrode and defining a discharge space therein. At least a part of a surface of the center electrode faces the space, and at least a part of a surface of the ground electrode faces the discharge space. The plug puts gas in the space into a plasma state and injects the gas into the engine as a result of application of high voltage and supply of a large current to the plug by the high-voltage supply. The center electrode has a recess portion opposed to the space and recessed in a direction opposite to an injection direction.
US07948157B2
A piezoelectric oscillator which can conduct fine trimming adjustment and adjust frequencies highly precisely, particularly with no use of an expensive laser trimming apparatus with a small spot diameter, and a method of the same are provided. The method includes: a first step wherein a first spot train is formed on a mass adjustment film at a pitch smaller than the diameter of a film removal spot matched with the spot diameter of laser, and a second step wherein a train space to the first spot train is adjusted in accordance with the target frequency of a tuning fork crystal vibrating piece to form a second train and after, and these steps are in turn conducted, whereby fine trimming adjustment is performed.
US07948155B2
The piezoelectric device includes a substrate, a first electrode deposited on the substrate, a piezoelectric film deposited on top of at least a part of the first electrode by vapor phase deposition, a second electrode deposited on the piezoelectric film and having a water vapor transmission rate of not more than 1 g/m2/day, and at least one protective film that covers at least peripheries of the second electrode and the piezoelectric film and which has an opening in a position corresponding to the piezoelectric film except the periphery thereof. The piezoelectric device has satisfactory moisture resistance and is capable of effectively preventing the ingress of moisture into the piezoelectric film.
US07948153B1
Embodiments of energy harvesters have a plurality of piezoelectric planform-tapered, interdigitated cantilevered beams anchored to a common frame. The plurality of beams can be arranged as two or more sets of beams with each set sharing a common sense mass affixed to their free ends. Each set thus defined being capable of motion independent of any other set of beams. Each beam can comprise a unimorph or bimorph piezoelectric configuration bonded to a conductive or non-conductive supporting layer and provided with electrical contacts to the active piezoelectric elements for collecting strain induced charge (i.e. energy). The beams are planform tapered along the entirety or a portion of their length thereby increasing the effective stress level and power output of each piezoelectric element, and are interdigitated by sets to increase the power output per unit volume of a harvester thus produced.
US07948152B2
A cladding (22) for a wall (12) includes a barrier layer (24) that can be deformed by the action of a polymer actuator (14). According to the invention, a contact surface (A) of the cladding lies completely against the wall, at least in the non-deformed state, stabilizing the intrinsically elastic wall cladding. For example, the wall cladding can be fixed to the wall (12) in the form of lamellae (22), at respective points, in such a way that the activation of the polymer actuator (14) causes the lamellae (22) to bend, thus permitting, for example, a layer (25) of ice to be detached from the cladding. Alternatively, the cladding can also be configured from a membrane actuator, which is fixed at points, or by its entire surface to the wall (12).
US07948151B1
An artificial neuromuscular unit (ANMU) comprising: an electroactive polymer (EAP) actuator layer; an EAP logic layer coupled to the actuator layer; an EAP energy layer coupled to the logic layer such that the logic layer is interposed between the energy layer and the actuator layer, wherein the logic layer is configured to control energy transfer between the energy layer and the actuator layer; and a sensor element operatively coupled to the actuator layer and the logic layer, wherein the sensor element is configured to communicate deflections of the actuator layer to the logic layer.
US07948148B2
A miniature piezoelectric transducer element is provided, comprising; (a) a cell element having a cavity; (b) a flexible piezoelectric layer attached to the cell member, the piezoelectric layer having an external surface and an internal surface, the piezoelectric layer featuring such dimensions so as to enable fluctuations thereof at its resonance frequency upon impinging of an external acoustic wave; and (c) a first electrode attached to the external surface and a second electrode attached to the internal surface of the piezoelectric layer. At least one of the electrodes may be specifically shaped so as to provide a maximal electrical output, wherein the electrical output may be current, voltage or power. A preferred shape of the electrodes includes two cores interconnected by a connecting member. The transducer element may function as a transmitter.
US07948140B2
When electric wires (joint conductors) are disposed adjacent each other in a peeled state of coatings, a gap corresponding to the total thickness of both conductors' insulating films as skin layers is formed between end joined face portions of the conductors. The gap becomes larger because the conductors are tapered. Therefore, the adhesion between both conductors is impaired, with a consequent fear of occurrence of joining imperfection. In opposed joined face portions of electric wires (joint conductors), the conductors are deformed from the tips of their axes to the joined face side in such a manner that exposed portions at the tips of the conductors and insulating film faces located in the vicinity thereof are flush with each other or the exposed portions are projected. The gap formed between the electric wires (joint conductors) can be diminished, whereby the reliability of connection is improved and it becomes easier to perform the work of joint conductors, with the result that the productivity of a stator of a rotary electric machine such as an AC generator for a vehicle could be improved.
US07948134B2
A permanent magnet (PM) rotor has a plurality of partial laminated stacks that are interspaced in the axial direction at a defined distance, thereby defining radial cooling slots. Permanent magnets are arranged in every partial laminated stack in inner pockets. The dimension of every permanent magnet in the axial direction does not or only insignificantly exceed the axial dimensions of the respective partial laminated stack. During assembly, the permanent magnets can be axially pushed through the inner pockets to the respective partial laminated stack (20). The rotor has a very high degree of efficiency.
US07948131B2
In a superconducting magnetic thrust bearing with integrated dynamotor, a first fixed core is formed to have a U-shaped cross-section in a direction of the central axis of the cylindrical shape with an opening of the U-shape being directed perpendicularly to the central axis, and a superconducting coil is arranged on the inside of the U-shaped portion of the first fixed core formed into the U-shape. A rotary core has projecting ends at positions opposite to two projecting ends of the U-shape of the first fixed core, and a magnetic flux guide path, at a position opposite to an armature core, with a shape varying at predetermined intervals in the winding direction of the superconducting coil. The rotary core is constituted such that it rotates relatively to the first fixed core and is able to move in the direction of the central axis of the first fixed core. The armature core is arranged fixedly in a magnetic flux path that introduces a magnetic flux, which is generated from the superconducting coil and led out from one of the two projecting ends of the U-shape of the first fixed core, to the projecting ends of the rotary core, and leads out the magnetic flux from the projecting ends of the rotary core.
US07948128B2
The invention relates to a connecting support (1) for holding motor electronics on a motor subassembly (2), the connecting support being located between at least two components (3, 4) arranged at a distance from each other on the motor subassembly (2), wherein the connecting support (1) has means (8, 9) by means of which said components (3, 4) are electrically connected to each other, and wherein the connecting support (1) has a supporting structure (5) to which at least individual elements (6, 7) of the motor electronics are fastened.
US07948127B2
An annular bus ring assembly for connecting main rotor windings of a generator to the exciter diodes includes a plurality of annular bus rings with tabs bent over forming plurality of pads mounted on either side of a dielectric hub. The pads of annular bus rings clocked at an angle to each other to generate a pattern of plurality of pads on a equal angle spacing on a diameter to connect to the diodes by wire rope leads and a pattern of two connection at 90° spacing to connect to main generator leads.
US07948121B2
A safety switching apparatus for the failsafe disconnection of an electrical load has a first and a second terminal for supplying a first and a second signal from a signaling device, such as an emergency-off button. The safety switching apparatus also has a first and a second switching element which together produce a redundant output switching signal for disconnecting the load. The first switching element has a first control circuit to which the first signal is supplied. The second switching element has a second control circuit to which the second signal is supplied. The safety switching apparatus further has circuitry providing a first current path, an alternative second current path and at least one further switching element. The at least one further switching element is designed to select either the first or the second current path, depending on a polarity of the second signal, in order to route the second signal to the second control circuit.
US07948120B2
A modular power distribution backplane, system, and method. The modular power distribution backplane can be configured with a plurality of dual-operation tags for placement of components in the backplane. The system and method also can automatically and electronically ensure and verify proper placement or replacement of components in the backplane.
US07948118B2
An uninterruptible power supply including at least one first input, a power supply output, a first converter which is shut down when operating in economic mode, a reversible second converter, a branching and/or selection circuit for connecting an input directly to the power supply output when operating in economic mode, and control units for use when operating with the input disconnected from the power supply output, and switching between some of the units to regulate the current at the input when operating in economic mode.
US07948117B2
A transfer switch controller is for a transfer switch, which cooperates with a plurality of loads including an air conditioner. The transfer switch controller includes a first input structured to input a thermostat start request signal for the air conditioner, a second input structured to determine power consumed by the loads, an output structured to output a start signal to the air conditioner, and a circuit. The circuit cooperates with the first input, the second input and the output. The circuit causes the start signal to be output by the output responsive to the thermostat start request signal of the first input if the determined power consumed by the loads is less than the difference between a predetermined maximum power output of a generator and a previous maximum peak start up power consumed by the air conditioner.
US07948111B2
A vertical axis wind system for use in electrical power generation. The system includes a stationary base including a generator and has an elongate shaft rotatably coupled the base. The elongate shaft extends vertically from a lower end to an upper end along a vertical central axis and engages the generator. At least two arcuate blade assemblies are attached between the lower end and the upper end of the elongate shaft such that aerodynamic forces acting on the at least two arcuate blade assemblies rotate the elongate shaft for the generation of power.
US07948109B2
A system for generating electricity including a substantially frustoconical shaped scoop having a fluid intake opening at a larger end for receiving fluid flow, and a fluid outlet opening at a smaller end for allowing the fluid flow to exit the scoop. The scoop is rotatably mounted to a tower. One or more sets of turbine blades are located within the scoop in relative proximity to the smaller end, wherein the set of turbine blades are caused to rotate by the fluid flow. One or more turbines are located within the tower, and one or more shafts operatively connect the one or more sets of turbine blades to the one or more turbines to transmit torque of the one or more sets of turbine blades to the one or more turbines to generate electricity.
US07948105B2
This invention provides a small, high efficiency, oil-free turbine-driven alternator (i.e. turboalternator) suitable for conversion of stored energy in a process gas to electrical power, facilitating recapture of energy during operation that would otherwise be wasted. The turboalternator includes a turbine and a generating device operatively connected together by a rotating shaft capable of rotating at high speeds. The rotating shaft is supported by foil gas bearings.
US07948102B2
Method for operating a wind energy plant having a doubly-fed asynchronous machine, a grid-sided converter and a generator-sided converter both being controlled by a control means, the method comprising the following steps: in a regular operating mode the converters are controlled by the control means by means of command variables, in case of fault the converters are controlled by at least one control module which controls the torque and/or the active power and the reactive current and/or the reactive power by means of command variables such that a disconnection of the asynchronous machine from the grid will be performed only if the grid voltage falls below a predetermined voltage-time-characteristic curve, wherein the shape of the voltage-time-characteristic curve is configured by a plurality of pre-selectable parameters in the at least one control module.
US07948087B2
An electronic circuit with repetitive patterns formed by shadow mask vapor deposition includes a repetitive pattern of electronic circuit elements formed on a substrate. Each electronic circuit element includes the following elements in the desired order of deposition: a first semiconductor segment, a second semiconductor segment, a first metal segment, a second metal segment, a third metal segment, a fourth metal segment, a fifth metal segment, a sixth metal segment, a first insulator segment, a second insulator segment, a third insulator segment, a seventh metal segment, an eighth metal segment, a ninth metal segment and a tenth metal segment. All of the above segments may be deposited via a shadow mask deposition process. The electronic circuit element may be an element of an array of like electronic circuit elements.
US07948079B2
Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a hybrid structure of multi-layer substrates. The method comprises steps of: separating a border district of at least one metal layer connecting with a border district of the corresponding dielectric layer from adjacent metal layers and adjacent dielectric layers for each multi-layer substrate and connecting a separated border of a metal layer of one multi-layer substrate with a separated border district of a metal layer of another multi-layer substrate to form a connection section. The hybrid structure comprises at least a first multi-layer substrate and a second multi-layer substrate. At least one first metal layer is connected with at least one second metal layer to form a connection section.
US07948072B2
A wafer-to-wafer stacking having a hermetic structure formed therein is provided. The wafer stacking includes a first wafer, including a first substrate and a first device layer having thereon at least one chip and at least one low-k material layer, a second wafer disposed above the first wafer and having a second substrate, and a closed structure disposed on the at least one chip and arranged inside a cutting edge of the at least one chip, wherein the closed structure is extended from one side of the first device layer far from the first substrate to the other side thereof adjacent to the first substrate.
US07948071B2
An apparatus and a method of manufacture for a stacked-die assembly. A first die is placed on a substrate such that the backside of the die, i.e., the side opposite the side with the bond pads, is coupled to the substrate, preferably by an adhesive. Wire leads electrically couple the bond pads of the first die to contacts on the substrate. A second die is placed on the first die, and wire leads electrically couple the bond pads of the second die to contacts on the substrate. Preferably, a spacer is placed between the first die and the second die. Additional dies may be stacked on the second die.
US07948070B2
A semiconductor package having an impedance matching device is disclosed, which is especially applicable to conventional system-in-package structures and system packaging design with high-density I/O design. The impedance matching device achieves impedance matching between a semiconductor chip and a signal transmission wiring on the substrate or between different systems integrated in the semiconductor package by employment of a vertical conductive line or combination of a vertical conductive line and a stub transmission line. The vertical conductive line is electrically connected with the signal transmission wiring on the substrate at one end thereof, and the stub transmission line may be further connected to the other end of the vertical conductive line. This impedance matching device helps to effectively reduce the wiring area of an impedance matching network of the semiconductor package and enhance the flexibility and interchangeability in layout of the wiring.
US07948061B2
A characteristic feature of the invention is to form, in a Group III nitride-based compound semiconductor device, a negative electrode on a surface other than a Ga-polar C-plane. In a Group III nitride-based compound semiconductor light-emitting device, there are formed, on an R-plane sapphire substrate, an n-contact layer, a layer for improving static breakdown voltage, an n-cladding layer made of a multi-layer structure having ten stacked sets of an undoped In0.1Ga0.9N layer, an undoped GaN layer, and a silicon (Si)-doped GaN layer, a multi-quantum well (MQW) light-emitting layer made of a combination of In0.25Ga0.75N well layers and GaN barrier layers stacked alternatingly, a p-cladding layer made of a multi-layer structure including a p-type Al0.3Ga0.7N layer and a p-In0.08Ga0.92N layer, and a p-contact layer (thickness: about 80 nm) made of a stacked structure including two p-GaN layers having different magnesium concentrations. Through etching, the n-contact layer having a thickness direction along the c-axis is provided with stripe-patterned microditches each having side walls, which assume a C-plane, whereby ohmic contact is established between a negative electrode and each C-plane side wall.
US07948057B2
A ferrite substrate, a winding-embedded ferrite resin layer, and an IC-embedded ferrite resin layer are laminated, the ferrite substrate has a ferrite first protruding part that protrudes into the ferrite resin layer from the surface thereof, the winding inside the ferrite resin layer is arranged winding around the first protruding part, and the IC overlaps the first protruding part in the resin layer. According to this configuration, high integration can be achieved, and the IC is arranged at a site where the ferrite first protruding part, the height of which fluctuates little as a result of thermal expansion, overlaps the ferrite resin layer, the thickness of which is thinned by the first protruding part and varies little as a result of thermal expansion, minimizing variations in the gap between the winding and the IC as a result of thermal expansion, and achieving greater stability of electrical characteristics.
US07948049B2
The present invention is a photodiode and/or photodiode array, having a p+ diffused area that is smaller than the area of a mounted scintillator crystal, designed and manufactured with improved device characteristics, and more particularly, has relatively low dark current, low capacitance and improved signal-to-noise ratio characteristics. More specifically, the present invention is a photodiode and/or photodiode array that includes a metal shield for reflecting light back into a scintillator crystal, thus allowing for a relatively small p+ diffused area.
US07948048B2
In a semiconductor device 10 including a structure where transfer electrodes 2a to 2c are disposed on a semiconductor substrate 1 via an insulation layer 3, a first semiconductor region 4 of a first conductivity type, a second semiconductor region 5 of a conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type, and a third semiconductor region 6 of the first conductivity type in a position that overlaps a region of the semiconductor substrate 1 directly underneath the transfer electrodes 2a to 2c. The second semiconductor region 5 is formed on the first semiconductor region 4. The third semiconductor region 6 is formed on the second semiconductor region 5 so that a position of a maximal point 8 of electric potential of the second semiconductor region 5 when being depleted is deeper than a position of the maximal point 8 in a case where the third semiconductor region 6 does not exist.
US07948042B2
A multi-level lithography processes for the fabrication of suspended structures are presented. The process is based on the differential exposure and developing conditions of several a plurality of resist layers, without harsher processes, such as etching of sacrificial layers or the use of hardmasks. These manufacturing processes are readily suited for use with systems that are chemically and/or mechanically sensitive, such as graphene. Graphene p-n-p junctions with suspended top gates formed through these processes exhibit high mobility and control of local doping density and type. This fabrication technique may be further extended to fabricate other types of suspended structures, such as local current carrying wires for inducing local magnetic fields, a point contact for local injection of current, and moving parts in microelectromechanical devices.
US07948038B2
In device isolation trenches, a first device-isolation insulator film is formed to have recesses thereon and a second device-isolation insulator film is formed in the recesses. The uppermost portions at both ends of the first device-isolation insulator film are located higher than the uppermost portions at both ends of the second device-isolation insulator film.
US07948025B2
A non-volatile memory device includes a substrate, a tunneling layer over the substrate, a charge trapping layer including a nitride layer and a silicon boron nitride layer over the tunneling layer, and a blocking layer over the charge trapping layer, and a control gate electrode arranged on the blocking layer.
US07948012B2
A restricted layout region includes a diffusion level layout that includes a number of diffusion region layout shapes to be formed within a portion of a substrate of a semiconductor device. The diffusion region layout shapes define at least one p-type diffusion region and at least one n-type diffusion region. The restricted layout region includes a gate electrode level layout defined to include rectangular-shaped layout features placed to extend in only a first parallel direction. Some of the rectangular-shaped layout features form gate electrodes of respective PMOS transistor devices, and some of the rectangular-shaped layout features form gate electrodes of respective NMOS transistor devices. A number of the PMOS transistor devices is equal to a number of the NMOS transistor devices in the restricted layout region of the semiconductor device. Additionally, the restricted layout region corresponds to an entire gate electrode level of a cell layout.
US07948010B2
Dual seed semiconductor photodetectors and methods to fabricate thereof are described. A dual seed semiconductor photodetector is formed directly on an insulating layer on a substrate. The dual seed semiconductor photodetector includes an optical layer formed on a dual seed semiconductor layer. The dual seed semiconductor layer includes a seed layer and a buffer layer. The seed layer of a first material is formed on an insulating layer over a substrate. The buffer layer is formed on the seed layer. Next, an optical layer of a second material is formed on the buffer layer. The buffer layer includes the first material and the second material. In one embodiment, the first material is silicon. In one embodiment, the second material is germanium.
US07948007B2
A power semiconductor module includes a housing, terminal elements leading to the outside of the housing, an electrically insulated substrate arranged inside the housing, with the substrate being comprised of an insulating body and having on the first main face facing away from the base plate a plurality of connecting tracks electrically insulated from each other. The terminal and connecting elements are arranged on a connecting track in with contact faces contacting connecting tracks or power semiconductor components, with the individual contact faces having a plurality of partial contact faces. In one optional embodiment, each partial contact face has a maximum area of 20 mm2. In another embodiment, partial contact faces each are arranged at a distance of approximately 5 mm with regard to each other and the connection of the partial faces to the connecting tracks or the power semiconductor components is flush.
US07948006B2
A photodetector with an improved electrostatic discharge damage threshold is disclosed, suitable for applications in telecommunication systems operating at elevated data rates. The photodetector may be a PIN or an APD fabricated in the InP compound semiconductor system. The increased ESD damage threshold is achieved by reducing the ESD induced current density in the photodetector by a suitable widening of the contact at a critical location, increasing the series resistance and promoting lateral current spreading by means of a current spreading layer.
US07948002B2
A heat radiation structure of a light emitting element has leads, each lead having a plurality of leg sections, and a light emitting chip mounted on any one of the leads. The present invention can provide a high-efficiency light emitting element, in which a thermal load is reduced by widening a connecting section through which a lead and a chip seating section of the light emitting element are connected, and the heat generated from a heat source can be more rapidly radiated to the outside. Further, the present invention can also provide a high-efficiency light emitting element, in which heat radiation fins are formed between a stopper and a molding portion of a lead of the light emitting element so that natural convection can occur between the heat radiation fins, and an area in which heat radiation can occur is widened to maximize a heat radiation effect.
US07948000B2
A system for hermetically sealing devices includes a substrate, which includes a plurality of individual chips. Each of the chips includes a plurality of devices and each of the chips are arranged in a spatial manner as a first array. The system also includes a transparent member of a predetermined thickness, which includes a plurality of recessed regions arranged in a spatial manner as a second array and each of the recessed regions are bordered by a standoff region. The substrate and the transparent member are aligned in a manner to couple each of the plurality of recessed regions to a respective one of said plurality of chips. Each of the chips within one of the respective recessed regions is hermetically sealed by contacting the standoff region of the transparent member to the plurality of first street regions and second street regions using at least a bonding process to isolate each of the chips within one of the recessed regions.
US07947999B2
A luminescent device including a die pad lead composed of an inner lead and an outer lead, a case for uniting the inner lead, a light emitting diode chip mounted on a first predetermined position of one main surface of the inner lead, and a transparent sealing material portion for sealing the light emitting diode chip and a part of the one main surface. The case seals the inner lead other than an area sealed by the transparent sealing material portion, and the inner lead of the die pad lead has bending portions at least two places including a first bending portion and a second bending portion. A rear of the first predetermined position in the inner lead of the die pad lead is exposed outside the case, and the second bending portion is formed in the case so that the outer lead extends from a side of the case.
US07947998B2
A high power LED lamp has a GaN chip placed over an AlGaInP chip. A reflector is placed between the two chips. Each of the chips has trenches diverting light for output. The chip pair can be arranged to produce white light having a spectral distribution in the red to blue region that is close to that of daylight. Also, the chip pair can be used to provide an RGB lamp or a red-amber-green traffic lamp. The active regions of both chips can be less than 50 microns away from a heat sink.
US07947989B2
A rod type light emitting device and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed, wherein rods are formed of a material capable of emitting light on a first polarity layer, and a second polarity layer is formed to wrap around each of the rods, such that a light emitting area increases and the amount of light emitted to the outside without being confined within a device also increases, thereby improving the light output of the device. Further, an active layer is formed of a nano rod structure to enhance light extraction efficiency.
US07947960B2
A portable detector panel includes an X-ray detector assembly having an X-ray detecting surface on its surface, a box-like case that houses the X-ray detector assembly therein and whose upper part that is opposite to the X-ray detecting surface is X-ray transmissive, and a spacer that supports the X-ray detector assembly housed in the case so as to be apart from the inner bottom wall of the case, wherein the spacer is arranged between the X-ray detector assembly and the inner bottom wall of the case, is made of a hard material, and has a flexible shape with respect to the movement of the X-ray detector assembly in the direction substantially parallel to the X-ray detecting surface.
US07947952B1
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for nanomachining operations. Excitation energy settings are provided to minimize machine induced scan cutting. Cut operations can be operated in a feedback mode to provide controlled cutting operations. Measurement and sweep techniques to facilitate nanomachining operations are disclosed.
US07947950B2
A distance-of-flight mass spectrometer (DOF-MS) imparts constant momentum acceleration to ions in an ion source and uses an ion mirror to enhance energy focusing. Embodiments of DOF-MS with ion mirror are shown. Further, a method of compensating for the dispersion of initial ion position and velocity in the ion source is discussed.
US07947948B2
A two-dimensional radial-ejection ion trap is constructed from four apertured electrodes having inwardly facing hyberbolic surfaces, with each electrode being spaced from the centerline by a distance r that is greater than the hyperbolic radius r0 defined by the hyperbolic surfaces. This geometry produces a balanced symmetrical trapping field that has a negligible octopole field component and a relatively large dodecapole or icosapolar field component. In one specific implementation, the ion trap is selectably operable as a quadrupole mass filter by applying a filtering DC voltage to the electrodes.
US07947946B2
The invention relates to an optical system that particularly allows an improved detection of signal light propagating from a light source (1) through a flat glass substrate (11). SC-modes of this signal light that would normally be totally internally reflected at the backside (10) of the substrate (11) are coupled out by a first diffractive optical element DOE (21). To map all signal light leaving the substrate (11) onto a single target location (51), a focusing lens (31) and a second DOE (41) are disposed in the optical path behind the substrate (11). The DOEs (21, 41) may for example be a ID sinusoidal grating or a 2D blaze grating. The optical system may particularly be applied in an investigation apparatus for detecting multiple spots of a fluorescent sample material.
US07947936B1
The invention described herein provides an apparatus and a method to cooperatively track and intercept a plurality of highly maneuvering asymmetric threats using networks of small, low-cost, lightweight, airborne vehicles that dynamically self-organize into an ad hoc network topology. This is accomplished using distributed information sharing to maintain cohesion and avoid vehicle collisions, while cooperatively pursuing multiple targets.
US07947927B2
The present invention is an apparatus for heating the contents of a vessel wherein said vessel has a conducting plate that contacts the interior vessel contents and actuates a thermostat based on the temperature of interior contents.
US07947926B2
In a heat treatment method in which a semiconductor wafer is carried into a heat treatment chamber constituted of a heat plate and a cover body covering the heat plate and processed, until the wafer is carried into the heat treatment chamber, an opening and closing operation of the cover body is performed to maintain the accumulated heat temperature of the heat treatment chamber at a prescribed processing temperature.
US07947914B2
A bicycle shift operating device is provided with a mounting part, a first operating member and a first signal generator. The first operating member is movable from a first operation start position such that the first operating member returns to the first operation start position upon completion of a shifting operation. The first signal generator generates a signal for changing a shift position of the bicycle shift operating device by one shift position in a first direction from a current shift position in response to the first operating member being moved from the first operation start position to a first position. The first signal generator generates a signal for changing the shift position by two shift positions from the current shift position in response to the first operating member being moved from the first operation start position to a second position located beyond the first position.
US07947892B2
The volume control device temporarily alters the loudness of an electric musical instrument by allowing all (or part) of the audio signal to leak through a photosensitive resistor to ground. A light source is positioned so as to affect the value of the photosensitive resistor. The user indirectly controls the audio level by manipulating the light source in various ways: a control switch turns the light on and off; a selector switch determines whether the light source is normally off and turned on by the control switch, or vice versa; the brightness of the light source is adjusted by a variable resistor; and the time taken for the light to reach maximum brightness is controlled by an RC circuit. The device is removable and compatible with any electric instrument.
US07947884B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH244084. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH244084, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH244084 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH244084.
US07947882B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH226886. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH226886, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH226886 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH226886.
US07947880B2
The invention relates to the novel cotton variety designated MX0623B2RF. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants, plant parts and derivatives of the cotton variety MX0623B2RF. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the cotton variety MX0623B2RF and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing cotton plants by crossing the cotton variety MX0623B2RF with itself or another cotton variety and plants produced by such methods.
US07947878B1
The present invention is in the field of soybean variety S07-04KL905009 breeding and development. The present invention particularly relates to the soybean variety S07-04KL905009 and its progeny, and methods of making S07-04KL905009.
US07947874B2
The present invention provides methods of modifying in vivo mutagenesis or homeologous recombination in a eukaryote. The method of modifying in vivo mutagenesis involves transforming a eukaryote with a nucleotide sequence capable of expressing a wild-type prokaryotic MutS, MutL, MutH, MutU, NLS-MutS, NLS-MutL, NLS-MutH, NLS-MutU protein, or a combination thereof, and expressing the protein. A method of modifying recombination between homeologous chromosomes in an allopolyploid eukaryotic organism comprising, expressing a nucleotide sequence encoding prokaryotic NLS-MutS in combination with one or more than one of NLS-MutL, NLS-MutH, NLS-MutU, within a germ cell of the allopolyploid eukaryotic organism is also disclosed.
US07947871B2
The invention relates to an improved method for agrobacterium transformation and regeneration of plants. The inventive method is characterized in that it consists in sequentially preparing, inoculating and co-cultivating explants. The preparation of each subsequent lot of plants is carried out after a time interval for transforming plant cells and forming an induced resistance with respect to abiotic and biotic stresses in a leaf discs, thereby making it possible to reduce a necrosis degree and the number of somaclonal variations of the transgenic plants.
US07947867B1
To achieve full development of the ripe phenotype, climacteric fruits, such as tomato, apple and banana, require synthesis, perception and signal transduction of the plant hormone ethylene. The non-ripening phenotype of the dominant Green-ripe (Gr) and Never-ripe 2 (Nr-2) mutants of tomato is the result of reduced ethylene responsiveness in fruit tissues. In addition a subset of ethylene responses associated with floral senescence, abscission and root elongation are also impacted in mutant plants but to a lesser extent. Using positional cloning we have identified an identical 334 by deletion in a gene of unknown biochemical function residing at the Gr/Nr-2 locus. Consistent with a dominant gain of function mutation, this deletion causes ectopic expression of GR/NR-2, which in turn leads to ripening inhibition. A CaMV35:GR transgene recreates the Gr/Nr-2 mutant phenotype but does not lead to a global reduction in ethylene responsiveness suggesting tissue-specific modulation of ethylene responses in tomato. GR/NR-2 encodes a novel evolutionary conserved membrane localized protein of unknown biochemical function that has not previously been associated with ethylene signaling. Because GR/NR-2 has no sequence homology with the previously described Nr (Never-ripe) ethylene receptor of tomato we now refer to this gene only as GR. Identification of GR expands the current repertoire of ethylene signaling components in plants and provides a tool for further elucidation of ethylene response mechanisms and for controlling ethylene signal specificity in crop plants.
US07947864B2
A disposable absorbent liner for use in a crotch portion of underwear. The liner includes a cover layer having a top surface and an opposite bottom surface and comprising a mixture of hydrophilic microfibers and hydrophobic microfibers. A quantity of hydrophilic microfibers and hydrophobic microfibers are located at the top surface and a larger quantity of hydrophobic microfibers are located at the top surface than are a quantity of hydrophilic microfibers located at the top surface based on a total weight of the mixture of microfibers in the cover layer. The liner also includes a removable backing layer, and a liquid impermeable baffle layer having a top surface and an opposite bottom surface with the baffle layer being disposed between the cover layer and the backing layer. The absorbent liner has a low profile and a particular Absorbent Capacity and/or Absorbent Intake Rate.
US07947863B2
Processes for preparing polyurethane hydrogels which include free-radically cross-linking: A) hydrophilic polyurethanes having one or more olefinically unsaturated groups selected from the group consisting of acrylate and methacrylate groups; in the presence of B) water; and C) a redox system including a water-soluble oxidizing agent and a water-soluble reducing agent, the oxidizing agent being capable in terms of redox potential of reacting with the water-soluble reducing agent by free-radical formation, wherein the hydrophilic polyurethanes are based on hydroxyl-functional polyalkylene oxides.
US07947839B2
Bis 1,8 naphthalimide compounds including antibody drug conjugate (ADC) are described. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising an effective amount of a 1,8 bis-naphthalimide compound for treatment of hyperproliferative disorders and other disorders are described. Methods are described for killing or inhibiting the proliferation of tumor cells or cancer cells including administering to a patient an effective amount of a 1,8 bis-naphthalimide compound.
US07947837B2
Solution-processable organic n-type semiconductor materials are provided with processes for preparing the same. Composites and electronic devices including the organic n-type semiconductor materials also are provided.
US07947826B2
An organic semiconductor having at least one compound of formula (PC-1); and a compound represented by formula (PC-1a): wherein M is a metallic atom, or two hydrogen atoms which bond respectively to a nitrogen atom of an isoindole ring and to a nitrogen atom of an isoindoline ring; R1 to R16 each independently are a hydrogen atom or a substituent, in which at least two substituents of R1 to R16 in formula (PC-1) are two or more different substituents, and in which at least one of the substituents of R1 to R16 in formula (PC-1a) is a fluorine atom, and at least one of the substituents of R1 to R16 in formula (PC-1a) is an electron-attracting group other than a fluorine atom.
US07947819B2
The invention relates to mutations in B-Raf gene products. The mutations described are identified in human tumors of natural origin. These mutations are associated with cancerous phenotypes and can be used as a basis for the diagnosis of cancer, cancerous cells or a predisposition to cancer in human subjects, and the development of anti-cancer therapeutics.
US07947818B2
Heteromolecular metal-humic organic complexes of the type: (A)n-(Metal)x-(B)m where A is one or several humic complexes which may be totally or partially sulfonated or may have been treated with an amine in order to protect the carboxylic groups from interacting with polyvalent cations, and B is a non-humic complexing (organic chelating agent) compound, the biological and chemical stability whereof allows for protection of the metal and the multitoothed or multi-valent molecule involved in the complex against degradation phenomena, both chemical and microbiological, having the beneficial effect of humic acid, as an effective plant growth and nutrition stimulant and as a metabolic and immune system activator in animals and humans.
US07947817B2
The invention provides compositions that comprise nucleotides and/or nucleosides having blocking groups at 2′-positions of sugar moieties. Methods of synthesizing these nucleic acids are also provided.
US07947810B2
The present invention relates to a kit for diagnosing a disorder comprising a reagent that detects FGF23 polypeptides and mutant FGF23 polypeptides.
US07947805B2
The present invention relates to BCMA polypeptide variants and their uses, particularly for therapeutic or prophylactic treatment in human subjects. The invention also relates to nucleic acids encoding said polypeptides, vectors comprising such nucleic acids and recombinant cells containing the same. The invention further discloses methods of producing such polypeptides, as well as methods and tools for detecting or dosing these polypeptides in any sample.
US07947788B2
The invention is directed to a process for the preparation of a catalyst component wherein a compound with formula Mg(OAlk)xCly wherein x is larger than 0 and smaller than 2, y equals 2−x and each Alk, independently represents an alkyl group, is contacted with a titanium tetraalkoxide and/or an alcohol in the presence of an inert dispersant to give an intermediate reaction product and wherein the intermediate reaction product is contacted with titanium tetrachloride in the presence of an internal donor.The invention also relates to a polymerization catalyst comprising the catalyst component and furthermore the invention relates to the polymerization of an olefin in the presence of the polymerization catalyst comprising the catalyst component.
US07947786B2
Disclosed herein are various processes, including but not limited to a continuous process for making an elastomer composition having a Mooney Viscosity (ML (1+4) @125° C.) of from 16 to 180, the composition including a first polymer and a second polymer, the process comprising: polymerizing a first monomer system that includes propylene and one or both of ethylene and propylene in a solvent using a first catalyst system in a first polymerization zone to provide a first polymer, having 60 wt % or more units derived from propylene, including isotactically-arranged propylene-derived sequences and further having a heat of fusion less than 45 J/g or a melting point less than 105° C. or both and a Mooney Viscosity (ML (1+4) @125° C.) of from 1 to 45; polymerizing a second monomer system that includes ethylene or an alpha-olefin, or both, in a solvent using a second catalyst system in a second polymerization zone to provide a second polymer which is an elastomeric polymer that is either non-crystalline or has ethylene-derived crystallinity; combining the first polymer and the second polymer in a mixture that includes solvent and unreacted monomer; and removing solvent from the mixture to provide an elastomer composition that having a Mooney Viscosity (ML (1+4) @125° C.) of from 16 to 180.
US07947779B2
Disclosed is an adhesive composition which includes (a) an epoxy resin, (b) a curing agent and (c) a polymer compound incompatible with said epoxy resin, and further optionally includes (d) a filler and/or (e) a curing accelerator. Also disclosed are a process for producing an adhesive composition, including mixing (a) the epoxy resin and (b) the curing agent with (d) the filler, followed by mixing the resultant mixture with (c) the polymer compound incompatible with the epoxy resin; an adhesive film including the above-mentioned adhesive composition formed into a film; a substrate for mounting a semiconductor including a wiring board and the above-mentioned adhesive film disposed thereon on its side where chips are to be mounted; and a semiconductor device which includes the above-mentioned adhesive film or the substrate for mounting a semiconductor.
US07947777B2
Dispersing agent for pigment concentrates, its use and masterbatches comprising the dispersing agent
The invention relates to polyesters which contain carboxy groups and which are used as dispersing agents for pigment concentrates for the colouring of thermoplastics, and to a process for their preparation. The invention further relates to the use of the polyesters as dispersing agents, and also to masterbatches which comprise pigments, thermoplastics and the polyesters.
US07947776B2
An aqueous dispersions including (A) at least one ethylene-based polyolefin forming a dispersed polymer phase; (B) at least one dispersing agent; and (C) water; wherein the dispersion has a pH of less than 12; and wherein the dispersed polymer phase has a volume average particle size of less than about 5 microns. In other aspects, an article or a substrate including a coating, wherein the coating was obtained from an aqueous dispersion comprising (A) at least one of an ethylene-based polyolefin and a propylene-based polyolefin; (B) at least one dispersing agent; and (C) water; wherein the dispersion had a pH of less than 12.
US07947775B2
Aqueous dispersions on non-melt flowable PTFE and melt-fabricable perfluoropolymer are mixed together, followed by recovery of the resultant mixture of the dispersed particles of each of these polymers, and melt mixing of the resultant mixture of particles to obtain a blend in which the PTFE particles form the disperse phase and the perfluoropolymer forms the continuous phase, the melt mixing producing advantageous melt viscosities and the blend exhibiting advantageous physical properties even at high PTFE contents of about 30 wt %.
US07947772B2
Multiphasic colorant nano-components (MPCs) having at least two phases and at least one colorant are provided. In certain aspects, the at least two phases are optically or visually distinct from one another. The MPCs can be used in various methods in various applications, such as visual, optical, and/or electronic displays, including in paints, inks, coatings, plastics, textiles, electronic display devices, pixels, or electronic paper. The MPCs are formed by methods of electrified jetting of polymers.
US07947751B2
Resin beads having an average particle size of from 0.001 mm to 10 mm and containing a continuous phase and a particulate dispersed phase are described. The continuous phase includes elastomeric polymers; the dispersed phase includes homopolymers and/or copolymers containing repeat units resulting from the polymerization of one or more aryl polymerizable monomers. The unexpanded polymer resin beads can be prepared by dispersing an organic phase containing elastomeric polymers and one or more monomers, into droplets and polymerizing the monomers in the organic droplets in a low shear flow pattern. The beads can be impregnated with blowing agents, expanded and can be used to make molded articles. Resin beads having a continuous phase comprising a nitrile rubber, and a dispersed phase comprising one or more homopolymers and/or copolymers containing repeat units resulting form the polymerization of one or more aryl polymerizable show prolonged retention of blowing agents in unexpanded form.
US07947745B1
An aqueous fluid having a viscosity greater than the viscosity of water is contacted with a water soluble material for a time and at a temperature sufficient to reduce the viscosity of the aqueous fluid to a value which is less than about 10 percent of the initial viscosity of the aqueous fluid. The water soluble material is an alkali metal peroxide or a combination of an alkali metal peroxide and a transition metal-containing compound.
US07947742B2
The present invention is directed toward particles for delivery of epinephrine to the respiratory system and methods for treating a patient in need of epinephrine. The particles and respirable compositions comprising the particles of the present invention described herein comprise the bioactive agent epinephrine, or a salt thereof, as a therapeutic agent. The particles are preferably formed by spray drying. Preferably, the particles and the respirable compositions are substantially dry and are substantially free of propellents. In a preferred embodiment, the particles have aerodynamic characteristics that permit targeted delivery of epinephrine to the site(s) of action.
US07947726B2
The invention provides non-steroidal ligands for the glucocorticoid receptor, methods for making non-steroidal ligands of the glucocorticoid receptor, compositions of non-steroidal ligands of the glucocorticoid receptor and methods of using non-steroidal ligands and compositions of non-steroidal ligands of the glucocorticoid receptor for treating or preventing diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, depression, neurodegeneration or an inflammatory disease) associated with glucocorticoid binding to the glucocorticoid receptor.
US07947721B2
A series of S-triazolyl α-mercaptoacetanilides having general structure (1) are provided, where Q is CO2H, CONR2, SO3H, or SO2NR2. The compounds inhibit several variants of the reverse transcriptase of HIV, and are useful in the treatment of HIV infections.
US07947716B2
Compounds having two reactive functional groups are described that can be used to provide a connector group between a substrate and an amine-containing material. The first reactive functional group can be used to provide attachment to a surface of a substrate. The second reactive functional group is a N-sulfonylaminocarbonyl group that can be reacted with an amine-containing material, particularly a primary aliphatic amine, to form a carbonylimino-containing connector group. The invention also provides articles and methods for immobilizing amine-containing materials to a substrate.
US07947714B2
The present invention is directed to piperidine compounds that inhibit the glycine transporter GlyT1 and which are useful in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders associated with glycinergic or glutamatergic neurotransmission dysfunction and diseases in which the glycine transporter GlyT1 is involved.
US07947709B2
Compounds of formula I, wherein R1, R2, R3, X and Ar, are as defined herein or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, inhibit HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and afford a method for prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infections and the treatment of AIDS and/or ARC. The present invention also relates to compositions containing compounds of formula I useful for the prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infections and the treatment of AIDS and/or ARC.
US07947707B2
The present invention relates to novel compounds having a xanthine oxidase inhibitory effect and an uricosuric effect and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same as an active ingredient. That is, the present invention relates nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds represented by the following general formula (I): wherein Y1 represents N or C(R4); Y2 represents N or C(R5); R4 and R5 independently represent an alkyl group, a hydrogen atom etc.; one of R1 and R2 represents an optionally substituted aryl group, an alkoxy group or an optionally substituted heterocyclic group; the other of R1 and R2 represents a haloalkyl group, a cyano group, a halogen atom etc.; and R3 represents a 5-tetrazolyl group or a carboxy group, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same as an active ingredient.
US07947703B2
Disclosed are new classes of phenanthridinium derivatives, most notably dihydro-imidazo-phenanthridinium (DIP) compounds. The compounds are prepared by the reaction of the middle b ring of a phenanthridinium core with primary amines to form the DIP compounds. This reaction can also be applied to other classes of starting compounds which comprise a 6-membered ring aromatic heterocycle having a ring nitrogen and at least one alpha hydrogen atom which can be reacted with a primary amine. Also disclosed is a method of using the DIP compounds for treatment of ovarian cancer.
US07947698B2
The invention encompasses compounds having formula I and the compositions and methods using these compounds in the treatment of conditions in which modulation of the JAK pathway or inhibition of JAK kinases, particularly JAK3, are therapeutically useful.
US07947692B2
There are presented compounds of the formula or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, which are active adenosine A2B receptor antagonists and useful in the treatment of diabetes, diabetic retinopathy, asthma and diarrhea.
US07947691B2
Acrylic n-hydroxy imides and their use in pharmaceutical compositions and in the inhibition of flap endonuclease are disclosed.
US07947690B2
The present invention provides a condensed pyrimidine compound represented by formula (I) or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof: where A represents a ring where at least one carbon atom within said ring is optionally substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of lower alkyl, —O-(lower alkyl), halogen atom, carboxyl, —CO2-(lower alkyl), and carbamoyl, R1 represents: (1) phenyl substituted with at least three halogen atoms, which may have at least one additional substituent, or (2) cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, or cycloheptyl, each of which is optionally substituted; and R2 represents a group represented by formula (II) or an optionally substituted cyclic amino: wherein R21 and R22 may be identical or different and each represents —H, lower alkyl, lower alkenyl, lower alkynyl, cycloalkyl, phenyl, heteroaryl, non-aromatic heterocyclyl, or —O-(lower alkyl), each of which is optionally substituted.
US07947682B2
Novel compounds for treatment of cancer and disorders associated with angiogenesis function. Such compounds include a compound of Formula II, wherein R is H, alkyl, or halogen; R′ is H, alkyl, or halogen; X is CH or N; and Y comprises a homocyclic or heterocyclic ring. Also disclosed are a method of preparing the compounds, pharmaceutical compositions and packaged products containing the compounds, a method of using these molecules to treat cancer (e.g., leukemia, non-small cell lung cancer, colon cancer, CNS cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, renal cancer, and prostate cancer) and disorders associated with angiogenesis function (e.g., age-related macular degeneration, macular dystrophy, and diabetes), a method of monitoring the treatment, a method of profiling gene expression, and a method of modulating gene expression.
US07947671B2
Ecteinascidin compounds with a quinone ring for ring E are active as anti-cancer agents. Related processes and compounds are provided.
US07947670B2
Provided herein, inter alia, are solid forms of geldanamycin analogs, pharmaceutical compositions comprising a geldanamycin analog and a crystallization inhibitor, methods of making and using such compositions. Additionally, provided are methods for the treatment of cancer, a neoplastic disease state and/or a hyperproliferative disorder, and methods of inhibiting Heat Shock Protein 90 (“Hsp90”).
US07947664B2
A compound having the structure wherein R is an angiotensin receptor antagonist active group, Y is selected from the group consisting of and 2) —C(R1H)OC(O)X((CR12R13)—(CHR10)m—(CH2)n—Zp—(CH2)q—(CHR11)r—(CR16R17))—R5; Z is —O— or —(CR14R15)—; m, n, p, q, and r are independently selected from the group consisting of 0 and 1; X is —O— or —(CR18R19)—; R1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C1-4 alkyl, aryl and C1-4 alkylaryl; R5 is —O—N═N(O)—NR3R4; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or hydrate thereof, which is useful for treating hypertension.
US07947660B2
RNA interference is provided for inhibition of Frizzled Related Protein-1 mRNA expression, in particular, for treating patients having glaucoma or at risk of developing glaucoma.
US07947658B2
The present invention relates to the discovery of an effective treatment for a variety of gain-of-function diseases, in particular, Huntington's disease (HD). The present invention utilizes RNA Interference technology (RNAi) against polymorphic regions in the genes encoding various gain-of-function mutant proteins resulting in an effective treatment for the gain-of-function disease.
US07947656B2
A process of producing cellooligosaccharide, comprising enzymatically decomposing, in the presence of cellulase, a water-insoluble natural cellulosic material having an average degree of polymerization not greater than 700, an average particle size not greater than 100. A process of producing cellooligosaccharide, comprising enzymatically decomposing, in the presence of cellulase, a water-insoluble natural cellulosic material having an average degree of polymerization not greater than 700, containing 10% or more by mass of a colloidal cellulose component and a diethyl ether-soluble substance content less than 1% by mass.
US07947652B2
The present invention provides methods for modulating mitochondrial function, modulating lesion formation in the brain, modulating neurite growth, modulating neuronal degeneration, and treating and preventing neurological diseases or disorders comprising modulating the expression or activity of PGC-1α. The present invention also provides an animal, e.g., transgenic mouse, in which the PGC-1α gene is misexpressed. Methods for identifying compounds which are capable of treating or preventing a neurological disease or disorder are also described.
US07947650B2
The present invention relates to a method for the treatment of a cartilage disorder, including cartilage damaged by injury or degenerative cartilagenous disorders. The method involves contacting the cartilage with an IGF-1 analog with altered affinity for IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) or an IGFBP displacer peptide that prevents the interaction of an IGF with an IGFBP and does not bind to a human IGF receptor.
US07947643B2
Laundry treatment composition comprising a substituted polysaccharide having a degree of substitution, DS, of from 0.01 to 0.99 and a specific degree of blockiness, DB, such that either DS+DB is of at least 1 or DB+2DS−DS2 is of at least 1.20, and a laundry adjunct ingredient.
US07947628B2
A method to control drilling fluid properties, including: circulating a drilling fluid through a wellbore to form a suspension of drilled solids in the drilling fluid; and separating the suspension in a separator to form a particulate fraction and an effluent, wherein the particulate fraction includes at least a portion of the drilled solids and the effluent includes the drilling fluid. The particulate fraction may include particulates having a minimum particle size of 100 microns or greater, and the effluent may include a micronized weighting agent having a particle size d90 of 10 microns or less.
US07947626B2
This invention comprises a method for generating functional neural networks using neural progenitor cells on microelectrode arrays (MEAs). The method involves dissociating neural progenitor cells from an embryo, propagating the neural progenitor cells, passaging the neural progenitor cells and seeding the neural progenitor cells on MEAs to produce a functional neural network. The neural progenitor cells may be continuously passaged to propagate an endless supply of neural progenitor cells. The resultant passaged progenitor cell derived neural network MEA may be used to detect and/or quantify various biological or chemical toxins.
US07947619B2
A porous grog with a body composition of clay and a source of Fe3+. Further, an earthenware water purification filter utilizing the porous grog in the body composition of the filter. Further, an earthenware filter utilizing Fe3+ treatment for water disinfection is disclosed. A water purification system incorporating said filter said water purification system capable of removing about 99% of all particles not less than 1.0 micron is size, and removing virtually 100% of fecal coliform indicators.
US07947611B2
A method for depositing a low dielectric constant film by flowing a oxidizing gas into a processing chamber, flowing an organosilicon compound from a bulk storage container through a digital liquid flow meter at an organosilicon flow rate to a vaporization injection valve, vaporizing the organosilicon compound and flowing the organosilicon compound and a carrier gas into the processing chamber, maintaining the organosilicon flow rate to deposit an initiation layer, flowing a porogen compound from a bulk storage container through a digital liquid flow meter at a porogen flow rate to a vaporization injection valve, vaporizing the porogen compound and flowing the porogen compound and a carrier gas into the processing chamber, increasing the organosilicon flow rate and the porogen flow rate while depositing a transition layer, and maintaining a second organosilicon flow rate and a second porogen flow rate to deposit a porogen containing organosilicate dielectric layer.
US07947609B2
A method of patterning a film stack is described. The method comprises preparing a film stack on a substrate, wherein the film stack comprises a SiCOH-containing layer formed on the substrate, a silicon oxide (SiOx) layer formed on the SiCOH-containing layer, and a mask layer formed on the silicon oxide layer. A pattern is created in the mask layer. Thereafter, the pattern in the mask layer is transferred to the silicon oxide layer using an etching process, and then the mask layer is removed. The pattern in the silicon oxide layer is transferred to the SiCOH-containing layer using a dry plasma etching process formed from a process composition comprising NF3.
US07947605B2
A method is described for use in a system that removes an implant crust that is formed as an outermost layer of photoresist in a photoresist pattern that is supported by a workpiece. The photoresist pattern defines apertures which lead to an active device region. The active device region is formed by an ion implantation which produces the implant crust. A filler material is applied such that the filler material reaches a fill depth in each aperture. The workpiece and the filler material are exposed to a treatment environment to remove the implant crust on the laterally extending surface of the photoresist as the filler material protects the active device region. Thereafter, a remaining portion of the photoresist layer is removed. An associated intermediate assembly, including the workpiece, is described.
US07947603B2
A chemical-mechanical polishing process for forming a conductive interconnect includes the steps of providing a semiconductor substrate having a first conductive line thereon, and then forming at least one dielectric layer over the substrate and the first conductive line. Next, a chemical-mechanical polishing method is used to polish the surface of the dielectric layer. Thereafter, a cap layer is formed over the polished dielectric layer. The method of forming the cap layer includes depositing silicon oxide using a chemical vapor deposition method with silicane (SiH.sub.4) or tetra-ethyl-ortho-silicate (TEOS) as the main reactive agent. Alternatively, the cap layer can be formed by depositing silicon nitride using a chemical vapor deposition method with silicane or silicon dichlorohydride (SiH.sub.2Cl.sub.2) as the main reactive agent. Finally, a via opening is formed through the dielectric layer and the cap layer, and a second conductive line that couples electrically with the first conductive line through the via opening.
US07947601B2
Semiconductor devices and methods for forming patterned radiation blocking on a semiconductor device
Several embodiments for semiconductor devices and methods for forming semiconductor devices are disclosed herein. One embodiment is directed to a method for manufacturing a microelectronic imager having a die including an image sensor, an integrated circuit electrically coupled to the image sensor, and electrical connectors electrically coupled to the integrated circuit. The method can comprise covering the electrical connectors with a radiation blocking layer and forming apertures aligned with the electrical connectors through a layer of photo-resist on the radiation blocking layer. The radiation blocking layer is not photoreactive such that it cannot be patterned using radiation. The method further includes etching openings in the radiation blocking layer through the apertures of the photo-resist layer.
US07947600B2
A micro-transformer manufacturing method is provided, which can improve throughput, prevent a crack from entering an insulating film between coils, and manufacture the micro-transformer without using a mask material having a high selection ratio. An insulating film is deposited on the whole face of a semiconductor substrate having an impurity-diffused region. This insulating film is partially removed to form a first opening and a second opening. A primary coil is formed such that a center pad contacts the impurity-diffused region through the first opening. A thin insulating film is deposited on the primary coil. An insulator material having a secondary coil formed thereon is adhered onto the insulating film on the primary coil by adhesive tape. The insulator material is sized to not cover both a pad, connected with the center pad of the primary coil through the impurity-diffused region, and an outer-end pad of the primary coil.
US07947598B2
A substrate for a semiconductor device includes: a base plate, a plurality of external terminal portions respectively arranged in a plane on the base plate and having external terminal faces respectively facing the base plate; a plurality of internal terminal portions, respectively arranged in the plane on the base plate and having internal terminal faces respectively facing an opposite side to the base plate. The internal terminal portions are connected with the external terminal portions via wiring portions, respectively. A part of the external terminal portions are located on the base plate in a predetermined arrangement area in which a semiconductor element is arranged.
US07947597B2
Some embodiments include methods of titanium deposition in which a silicon-containing surface and an electrically insulative surface are both exposed to titanium-containing material, and in which such exposure forms titanium silicide from the silicon-containing surface while not depositing titanium onto the electrically insulative surface. The embodiments may include atomic layer deposition processes, and may include a hydrogen pre-treatment of the silicon-containing surfaces to activate the surfaces for reaction with the titanium-containing material. Some embodiments include methods of titanium deposition in which a semiconductor material surface and an electrically insulative surface are both exposed to titanium-containing material, and in which a titanium-containing film is uniformly deposited across both surfaces.
US07947592B2
The present invention relates to a high power IC (Integrated Circuit) semiconductor device and process for making same. More particularly, the invention encompasses a high conductivity or low resistance metal stack to reduce the device R-on which is stable at high temperatures while in contact with a thick aluminum wire-bond that is required for high current carrying capability and is mechanically stable against vibration during use, and process thereof. The invention further discloses a thick metal interconnect with metal pad caps at selective sites, and process for making the same.
US07947590B2
The non-volatile memory device may include a semiconductor substrate having a body and a pair of fins. A bridge insulating layer may non-electrically connect upper portions of the pair of fins to define a void between the pair of fins. Outer surfaces of the pair of fins are the surfaces of the pair of fins that do not face the void and inner surfaces of the pair of fins are the surfaces of the pair of fins that do face the void. The non-volatile memory device may further include at least one control gate electrode that may cover at least a portion of outer surfaces of the pair of fins, may extend over the bridge insulating layer, and may be isolated from the semiconductor substrate. At least one pair of gate insulating layers may be between the at least one control gate electrode and the pair of fins, and at least one pair of storage nodes may be between the at least one pair of gate insulating layers and the at least one control gate electrode.
US07947575B2
A method of laser machining a feature in a substrate includes machining the substrate with a pulsed laser along a scan line so that the successive pulses 81 at the substrate do not overlap but are either contiguous or spaced apart. Pulses 82, 83, 84 in respective succeeding scans of the laser along the scan line, are offset with respect to the starting point of pulses 81, 82, 83 in a previous scan so that multiple successive laser scans provide machining to a required depth while successively smoothing edges, 91, 92, 93, 94 of the feature with each pass.
US07947573B2
The present invention provides a structure combining an IC integrated substrate and a carrier, which comprises a carrier and an IC integrated substrate formed on the carrier. The IC integrated substrate has a first dielectric layer attached to the carrier. The materials of the carrier and the first dielectric layer are selected to prevent the IC integrated substrate from peeling off the carrier during processing and to allow the IC integrated substrate to naturally separate from the carrier after being cut, through the adhesion between the carrier and the first dielectric layer. The present invention also provides a method of manufacturing the above structure and a method of manufacturing electrical devices using the above structure.
US07947572B2
A semiconductor structure and a method of manufacturing a silicon on insulator (SOI) structure having a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer interposed between the silicon and the insulator. According to one manufacturing method, a first SiGe layer, a silicon layer, and a second SiGe layer are epitaxially grown in sequence over a first substrate, and then an insulating layer is formed on the second SiGe layer. Then, impurity ions are implanted into a predetermined location of the first substrate underlying the first SiGe layer to form an impurity implantation region. A second substrate is bonded to the insulating layer on the first substrate. After the first substrate is separated along the impurity implantation region and removed, the first SiGe layer remaining on the surface of the separated region is removed so that the surface of the silicon layer may be exposed.
US07947559B2
Provided is a method of fabricating a semiconductor device having an impurity region with an impurity concentration of a first dose in a substrate. In the method, first impurity ions of a first conductivity type are implanted into the substrate, and a rapid thermal processing (RTP) is performed on the substrate to activate the first impurity ions. Second impurity ions of the first conductivity type are implanted into the substrate having the activated first impurity ions.
US07947558B2
In a memory device and a method of forming the same, in one embodiment, the memory device comprises a first word line structure on a substrate, the first word line structure extending in a first direction. A bit line is provided over the first word line structure and spaced apart from the first word line by a first gap, the bit line extending in a second direction transverse to the first direction. A second word line structure is provided over the bit line and spaced apart from the bit line by a second gap, the second word line structure extending in the first direction. The bit line is suspended between the first word line structure and the second word line structure such that the bit line deflects to be electrically coupled with a top portion of the first word line structure through the first gap in a first bent position and deflects to be electrically coupled with a bottom portion of the second word line structure through the second gap in a second bent position, and is isolated from the first word line structure and the second word line structure in a rest position.
US07947556B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor apparatus includes forming a trench in a semiconductor layer, forming a gate electrode inside the trench, forming a thermally-oxidized film on the gate electrode inside the trench, forming a silicate glass film on the thermally-oxidized film inside the trench, forming a body region inside the semiconductor layer, and forming a source region on the body region. The method provides a semiconductor apparatus having reduced fluctuation of a channel length and low ON-resistance.
US07947555B2
In a method of making a silicon carbide semiconductor device having a MOSFET, after a mask is placed on a surface of a first conductivity type drift layer of silicon carbide, ion implantation is performed by using the mask to form a lower layer of a deep layer extending in one direction. A first conductivity type current scattering layer having a higher concentration than the drift layer is formed on the surface of the drift layer. After another mask is placed on a surface of the current scattering layer, ion implantation is performed by using the other mask to form an upper layer of the deep layer at a position corresponding to the lower layer in such a manner that the lower layer and the upper layer are connected together.
US07947554B2
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a semiconductor device including a first semiconductor element formed on a semiconductor substrate and using electrons as carriers, and a second semiconductor element formed on the semiconductor substrate and using holes as carriers, a first insulating film and a second insulating film formed on source/drain regions and gate electrodes of the first element and the second element, the first insulating film having tensile stress with respect to the first element, and the second insulating film having compression stress with respect to the second element, and sidewall spacers of the gate electrodes of the first element and the second element, at least portions of the sidewall spacers being removed, wherein at least one of the first insulating film and the second insulating film does not close a spacing between the gate electrodes of the first element and the second element.
US07947553B2
A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming a first recess in a substrate, forming a plasma oxide layer over the substrate including first recess, etching the plasma oxide layer to have a portion of the plasma oxide layer remain on sidewalls of the first recess, and forming a second recess by isotropically etching a bottom portion of the first recess, wherein the second recess has a width greater than a width of the first recess.
US07947545B2
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprises forming a mask layer over a compound semiconductor substrate; and patterning a photoresist over the mask layer. The method comprises etching a portion of the mask layer beneath the photoresist; forming a hardmask over the substrate and not over the mask layer; removing the mask layer; etching to form and opening down to the substrate; and forming a gate in the opening.
US07947538B2
It is an object of the present invention to form a plurality of elements in a limited area to reduce the area occupied by the elements for integration so that further higher resolution (increase in number of pixels), reduction of each display pixel pitch with miniaturization, and integration of a driver circuit that drives a pixel portion can be advanced in semiconductor devices such as liquid crystal display devices and light-emitting devices that has EL elements. A photomask or a reticle provided with an assist pattern that is composed of a diffraction grating pattern or a semi-transparent film and has a function of reducing a light intensity is applied to a photolithography process for forming a gate electrode to form a complicated gate electrode. In addition, a top-gate TFT that has the multi-gate structure described above and a top gate TFT that has a single-gate structure can be formed on the same substrate just by changing the mask without increasing the number of processes.
US07947526B2
An exemplary method for making a backside illumination image sensor includes the follow steps. A substrate having a top surface is firstly provided. Secondly, many recesses are formed in the top surface. Thirdly, a light pervious layer is applied on the top surface. The light pervious layer has a plurality of filling portions received in the recesses. Then, an epitaxial silicon layer is applied on the light pervious layer. Next, many light sensitive regions and circuits are formed on the epitaxial silicon layer. Finally, the substrate is etched to expose the filling portions of the light pervious layer, thereby forming the backside illumination image sensor with the filling portions functioning as micro-lenses.
US07947523B2
An embrittlement layer is formed in the single crystal semiconductor substrate and a first impurity semiconductor layer, a first electrode, and an insulating layer are formed on one surface of the single crystal semiconductor substrate. After attaching the insulating layer and a supporting substrate to each other to bond the single crystal semiconductor substrate and the supporting substrate, the single crystal semiconductor substrate is separated along the embrittlement layer to form a stack including a first single crystal semiconductor layer. A first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer are formed over the first single crystal semiconductor layer. A second single crystal semiconductor layer is formed by solid phase growth. A second impurity semiconductor layer having a conductivity type opposite to that of the first impurity semiconductor layer is formed on the second single crystal semiconductor layer. A second electrode is formed on the second impurity semiconductor layer.
US07947513B2
This invention pertains to methods, kits and/or compositions for the determination of analytes by mass analysis using unique labeling reagents or sets of unique labeling reagents. The labeling reagents can be isomeric or isobaric and can be used to produce mixtures suitable for multiplex analysis of the labeled analytes.
US07947502B2
The invention is directed to a method and a kit for calibrating a photoluminescence measurement system, in particular a fluorescence measurement system. The kit includes a number of fluorescence standards i and their corrected and certified fluorescence spectra Ii(λ), whereby the fluorescence standards i are selected, so that their spectrally corrected fluorescence spectra Ii(λ) cover a broad spectral range with high intensity. The standards are characterized by large half-widths FWHMi of their bands of at least 1400 cm−1. According to the method of the invention, partial correction functions Fi(λ) are generated by forming the quotient of the measured fluorescence spectra Ji(λ) and the corresponding corrected fluorescence spectra Ii(λ), which are then combined to form a total correction function F(λ) for a broad spectral range. The combination factors αi are hereby computed by statistical averaging of consecutive partial correction functions Fi(λ) over only a predefined, limited overlap region λi/i+1±ΔλOL about the mutual crossover wavelength λi/i+1.
US07947496B2
This invention relates to the diagnosis and treatment of cancerous diseases, particularly to the mediation of cytotoxicity of tumor cells; and most particularly to the use of cancerous disease modifying antibodies (CDMAB), optionally in combination with one or more chemotherapeutic agents, as a means for initiating the cytotoxic response. The invention further relates to binding assays which utilize the CDMAB of the instant invention.
US07947486B2
A method for analyzing nucleic acid obtained from a cell sample on a platform is described. A platform having a cell selector, a nucleic acid selector, and an array of microlocations, wherein at least one microlocation has an associated capture sequence, is provided. The cell selector is contacted with a cell sample, wherein a portion of the cells remain associated with the cell selector. At least a portion of cells associated with the cell selector are lysed to release a nucleic acid sample. The nucleic acid selector is then contacted with the nucleic acid sample, such that a portion of the nucleic acid sample remains associated with the nucleic acid selector. The associated nucleic acid sample is then released from the nucleic acid selector and then is contacted with the array of microlocations, such that at least a portion of the released nucleic acid sample hybridizes with the capture sequence.
US07947478B2
The present invention provides methods and compositions for producing isoprene hydrocarbons from microalgae, cyanobacteria, and photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic bacteria.
US07947466B2
Fluorescence based screening assays are provided that allow for the for identification of agents that selectively bind to a ligand-gated ion channel (LGIC) such as a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). Also provided are methods for identifying agents that selectively bind to a neuronal-type nAChR by detecting binding of the agent to an Aplysia AChBP, which is representative of a neuronal-type nAChR. In addition, compositions and kits for performing such methods are provided.
US07947463B2
Compositions and methods that use the body's natural secretory immune system in a new way against steroid hormone responsive tumors of the breast and prostate, as well as other glandular/mucus epithelial tissues such as colon, ovary, endometrium, kidney, bladder, stomach, pancreas and secretory pituitary gland are provided. Also provided are new ways of identifying carcinogenic, or potentially carcinogenic, bacteria in a tissue or body fluid to provide better anti-cancer therapies and preventatives than have been available previously.
