US08066810B2
The present invention provides a crystalline layered zirconium phosphate, which is an ion exchanger particle excellent in heat resistance and chemical resistance, and utilizable as an impurity ion trapping agent for electronic materials, a raw material for antibacterials, a deodorant, a discoloration inhibitor, a rust preventive and the like, and which is also excellent in various processabilities.As a result of exhaustive studies to solve the problems, the present inventor has found a novel layered zirconium phosphate represented by the general formula (1) shown below: Zr1-xHfxHa(PO4)b.nH2O (1) wherein a and b are positive numbers satisfying 3b−a=4; b is a number satisfying 2
US08066805B2
Printable metal formulations, methods of making the formulations, and methods of coating or printing thin films from metal ink precursors are disclosed. The metal formulation generally includes one or more Group 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12 metal salts or metal complexes, one or more solvents adapted to facilitate coating and/or printing of the formulation, and one or more optional additives that form (only) gaseous or volatile byproducts upon reduction of the metal salt or metal complex to an elemental metal and/or alloy thereof. The formulation may be made by combining the metal salt(s) or metal complex(es) and the solvent(s), and dissolving the metal salt(s) or metal complex(es) in the solvent(s) to form the formulation. Thin films may be made by coating or printing the metal formulation on a substrate; removing the solvents to form a metal-containing precursor film; and reducing the metal-containing precursor film.
US08066787B2
A bypass flow filter includes a plurality of channels which are formed of at least one structured wall layer and a filter layer. Projecting guide vanes and passages, which are formed by the wall layer and lead to a different channel, are provided in at least a majority of the channels. The passages have a narrowing cross section and a narrowing part of the cross section is directed towards an adjacent guide vane. An exhaust system and a vehicle having a bypass flow filter, are also provided.
US08066786B2
A coated abrasive disc has a backing comprising a synthetic woven fabric having a first major surface with a presize disposed thereon and a second major surface opposite the first major surface and having a backsize disposed thereon. The presize comprises a reaction product of a curable presize precursor comprising: at least one epoxy resin prepared by reaction of epichlorohydrin with at least one of bisphenol A or bisphenol F, polyfunctional (meth)acrylate, novolac resin, imidazole epoxy cure catalyst, dicyandiamide, and a photoinitiator. A glass woven fabric permeated with an at least partially crosslinked saturant is secured to the second major surface by a thermoplastic laminating adhesive disposed between the second major surface of the synthetic woven fabric and the glass woven fabric. A method of making the same is also disclosed.
US08066783B2
A solid electrolytic capacitor of the present invention includes an anode element made of a sintered body of a valve-action metal; a dielectric coating, a solid electrolyte layer, and a cathode lead layer, sequentially formed on a surface of the anode element; and an anode lead member made of a conductive metal projecting from the anode element, the anode lead member having a base end thereof embedded in the anode element, the base end being formed such that a cross section thereof perpendicular to a direction extending inwardly of the anode element has a contour with four rounded rectangular corners.
US08066775B2
A joint implant, includes a neck and a blade extending along a longitudinal axis and connected to the neck to form a blade plane. A plurality of bores is located in the blade, each of the bores having a central axis, the axes being oriented so that none project at the same angle relative to the blade plane.
US08066774B2
An artificial disc implant and associate methods and instrumentation are provided for the artificial disc implant that includes opposite vertebral endplate members and a spacer member between the vertebral endplate members. An anchoring member extends from at least one of the vertebral endplate members toward an adjacent vertebral endplate when the implant is positioned between vertebrae. The anchoring member can be received in an anchor seat formed in the adjacent vertebral endplate without requiring the artificial disc implant to be impacted into the space between vertebrae to engage the anchoring member in the seat.
US08066772B2
A prosthesis for the replacement of multiple diseased or traumatized spinal facets comprises a portion that replaces at least a bony portion of the facets to be replaced and where the prosthesis attaches to the vertebra in a manner that does not require attachment to, or abutment against, the lamina. Multiple configurations of the prosthesis provide for replacement of the two inferior facets, the two superior facets, a superior and inferior facet, or all four facets. A method of installing the prosthesis is provided that is comprised of the steps of resecting at least a portion of the facets that carry the diseased or traumatized spinal facets and attaching the prosthesis in a manner that does not require attachment or abutment against the lamina.
US08066768B2
A multi-component intraocular lens implanted in an optical system of a human eye includes one or more removable components, each component being foldable. One component acts as a base lens, including a flange with an aperture. Another component acts as a mid lens, including a tab which engages the aperture. A third component acts as a top lens, which engages the mid lens. Because the lens components are foldable, they may be inserted into the eye using an incision smaller than the diameter of the unfolded lens. The removable components may be used to correct various medical conditions of the eye, as well as to improve and enhance vision, and for cosmetic purposes.
US08066763B2
A vascular or endoluminal stent is adapted to be implanted in a vessel, duct or tract of a human body to maintain an open lumen. The stent includes a base layer of a biologically compatible metal. An intermediate metal particle layer of substantial greater radiopacity overlies the base layer, with particles bonded to the base layer and to each other to leave interstices therebetween as a repository for retaining and dispensing drugs or other agents for time release therefrom. The particles are composed primarily of a noble metal. Exposed surfaces of the particle layer are coated with ceramic-like iridium oxide or titanium nitrate, as a biocompatible material to inhibit irritation of tissue at the inner lining of the vessel when the stent is implanted.
US08066755B2
The invention provides a stent-graft system comprising a graft member and a stent having a connection end interconnected with the graft member and a free end opposed thereto. A belt retaining structure is provided at the stent free end. A belt is releasably retained in the belt retaining structure and is configured to constrain the stent free end independent of the stent connection end. A method of securing at least one end of a stent-graft within a vessel is also provided.
US08066750B2
There is provided an orthopedic plate and port structures for the plate. The plate can be non-rigid and includes at least one hole for receiving an anchor or an anchor retaining device. The at least one hole can include a rigid port structure that prevents or resists deformation of the plate when the anchor or anchor retaining device is engaged thereto.
US08066743B2
This invention relates to interconnection assemblies for use with spinal fixation systems to treat spinal defects. The interconnection assemblies can include various spinal rod connecting members and interconnecting elements to secure the spinal rod connecting members to each other in variable orientations and lengths. The interconnection assemblies can be adjusted to minimize interference with the spinal column, bony processes, and associated neural, muscular, and ligament components of the spine all the while exhibiting a low profile. The interconnecting elements and related components can be provided as a completely assembled unit that does not inadvertently become disassembled prior to or during implantation.
US08066736B2
A fastener for insertion into pierced openings of a tissue wound has a body formed of a generally bioabsorbable polymer defining an initial capture area. The body includes a pair of arms, each with an inwardly projecting cleat operably joined at an elbow portion defining an internal elbow angle. The arms are operably joined to a backspan at a shoulder portion defining an internal shoulder angle. A durable tissue retention zone is defined between the cleat and the arm. The elbow portion and the internal elbow angle define an insertion width greater than a width of the pierced openings resulting in the pierced openings stretching over the cleat and being elastically retained within the durable tissue retention zone. The fastener captures wound tissue in the initial capture area and then dynamically reforms in response to lateral stresses without a fracture failure of the fastener until a minimum degradation period.
US08066727B2
A method of cutting breast tissue for removal may include a step of providing a tissue cutting device having an elongate cutting element, the cutting element being movable between a bowed position and a retracted position, the cutting element having a radially outer side and a radially inner side. The tissue cutting device may be introduced into a breast and the elongate cutting element may be moved to the bowed position. A power source may be coupled to the elongate cutting element; and the cutting element may be rotated after the moving step so that the cutting element cuts the breast tissue. The radially outer side of the cutting element may have a larger surface area for transmitting energy to cut the tissue than the radially inner side.
US08066724B2
A system for anastomosing a first tubular structure to a second tubular structure having an opening formed therein comprises a support device having a plurality of arms forming spaces therebetween. The support device is adapted to support the first tubular structure within an opening in the second tubular structure to facilitate anastomosing the tubular structures together. The arms can be configured to urge the first tubular structure against the portion of the second tubular structure surrounding the opening to form a seal therebetween. According to one embodiment, a plurality of discrete fasteners are provided to pass through the support device spaces and the first and second tubular structures.
US08066723B2
The invention relates to a connector (1), applicator and method for mechanically connecting hollow structures, in particular small blood vessels, in order to make an anastomosis. The connector incorporates various features to create a reliable engagement with the vessel walls to make a good connection thereof. The applicator may comprise knife members to make an arteriotomy and punch a hole in one of the vessel walls, comprises an expansion portion to cause a large expansion with a minimum profile, and comprises anvil members to reliably bring staple-like elements (5) of the connector to the joining position. The invention also includes auxiliary devices such as a punch and deforming instrument.
US08066715B2
A medical device and method for its use in the digestive system of a mammalian patient is provided. The medical device includes a stent and a retrieval device. The stent has a magnetic element connected to an end of the stent. The retrieval device includes a magnetic member, and the retrieval device is sized to be ingested by the patient. The magnetic member is capable of being magnetically coupled to the magnetic element of the stent for removal of the stent through the natural forces of the digestive system.
US08066703B2
A sphincterotome including a cutting wire may be configured such that, when activated, the cutting wire assumes a desired cutting position at or near the “12 o'clock” position or any other desired angular configuration. A sphincterotome may have controlled bending characteristics. A distally located micromachined hypotube may, in some instances, provide desired bending characteristics to a sphincterotome.
US08066692B2
Disclosed herein is a valve assembly comprising a male luer end portion and a female luer end portion and a passage for the transfer of fluids extending between the male and female luer end portions, valve means movable between a first position, in which the passage is closed, and a second position, in which the passage is open, biasing means for biasing the valve means toward the first position, and actuating means extending into the male luer end portion and coupled to the valve means to actuate the valve means when a female luer end portion of a medical accessory is engaged with the male luer end portion.
US08066689B2
Instruments, systems, implants, and methods are provided for performing submucosal medical procedures in a desired area of the digestive tract using endoscopy. Instruments include a safe access needle injection instrument, a submucosal tunneling instrument, a submucosal dissection instrument, and a mucosal resection device. A submucosal implant device for diagnosing and treating disorders of the body may be implanted. A passive submucosal implant device may take the form of a drug delivery depot in which a therapeutic agent within the depot elutes from the depot according to a predetermined elution profile. An active submucosal implant device may take the form of a drug delivery device that incorporates a self-contained diagnostic system to determine the appropriate delivery time and dosage of a therapeutic agent to be administered.
US08066682B2
An eye drops container including a container body filled with a drug solution along with a pressurized gas and including a valve mechanism discharging a fixed amount of drug solution; a nozzle member coupled with a stem for open operation of the valve mechanism and including a drug solution drop nozzle; an operating member including an operating piece and attached to the container body; a guide member contained in the operating member and guiding the nozzle member in the axial direction; and a ball contained in the guide member. The nozzle member includes an outer flange for suspending a skirt on the lower surface thereof; the guide member includes a ring-like bottom groove into which the forward end of the skirt enters; and the ball falls into the bottom groove in an upright state to block the open operation of the valve mechanism, and falls onto the outer flange in an inverted state to permit the open operation of the valve mechanism.
US08066658B2
Methods and devices for providing dialysis treatment are provided. The device includes a resin bed including zirconium phosphate, zirconium oxide, and urease.
US08066656B2
The present invention provides an orthosis for stretching tissue around a joint of a patient between first and second relatively pivotable body portions. The orthosis includes a first member affixable to the first body portion and including a first extension member extending therefrom. A second member affixable to the second body portion is also included and has a second extension member having an arcuate shape extending therefrom. The second extension member is operatively connected to the first extension member and travels through the first extension member along an arcuate path when the second arm member is moved from a first position to a second position relative to the first arm member.
US08066640B2
The Cellular GPRS system includes a cellular-based Glucometer (CBG) for blood glucose monitoring, a pedometer for exertion measurement, combined with user-entered dietary or other diabetes-relevant information. Data from all inputs is transmitted over a cellular network, using a GPRS or other wireless link. The data is preferably stored in the device prior to being transmitted wirelessly over the cellular airway to a central computer server. The remote computer server will evaluate the data received and respond with a data packet (making recommendations on further glucose measurement, exercise, diet, insulin requirements or other).
US08066638B2
A system and method assists an emergency medical dispatcher in responding to emergency calls. A computer implemented emergency medical dispatch protocol includes interrogatories for a dispatcher to ask a caller to generate an appropriate response. A diagnostic tool is provided to determine a vital sign of a patient based on a timer and caller relayed information about the patient. An intervention tool is provided to administer assistance and determine a compression rate based on a timer and caller relayed information.
US08066629B2
An apparatus is operable to communicate fluid. An exemplary apparatus comprises a housing and a fluid reservoir within the housing. An actuator is operationally engaged with the fluid reservoir. The actuator is operable to effect communication of fluid from or into the fluid reservoir. A sensor is in fluid communication with the fluid reservoir. The sensor is operable to sense a physical parameter of fluid that is in communication with the fluid reservoir as the fluid is communicated from or into the fluid reservoir. An indicator is in communication with the sensor. The indicator is operable to display the physical parameter sensed by the sensor. The apparatus may be used to inject fluid into or withdraw fluid from an implanted gastric band system or for a variety of other uses. Fluid pressure may be adjusted and sensed, and resulting data may be displayed, by a single, integrated instrument.
US08066624B1
An exercise chair includes a seat; a base having one or more base supports, the one or more base supports configured to contact a support surface; a seat support supporting the seat, pivotally connected to the base, and biased upward, the seat support including a fulcrum, and wherein downward pressure on the seat by a sitting user causes the fulcrum of the seat support to contact that support surface in addition to one or more of the one or more base supports, forcing the user to maintain a balanced posture on the seat in order to maintain the seat support in a vertical orientation.
US08066612B2
A transmission is provided having an input member, an output member, three planetary gear sets, four external gear sets, a plurality of coupling members and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. Each of the planetary gear sets includes first, second and third members. Each of the external gear sets includes first and second gears. The torque transmitting devices may include clutches and brakes.
US08066610B2
A transmission is provided having an input member, an output member, four planetary gear sets, a plurality of coupling members and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. Each of the planetary gear sets includes first, second and third members. The torque transmitting devices may include clutches and at least one brake.
US08066608B2
An automatic transmission includes a case; a speed change mechanism; a torque converter having a lock-up clutch axially arranged and freely slidably toward and away from the input shaft; a thrust bearing interposed between the flange unit and the side face of the sleeve unit on the input shaft side; a ball bearing that includes an outer race, a side face of which contacts the first step portion toward the input shaft side, and a propeller shaft connecting member capable of connecting with a propeller shaft, spline-engaging with the outer periphery of the output shaft, and contacting a side face of an inner race of the ball bearing upon being pressed axially toward the input shaft side by the propeller shaft.
US08066607B2
A locking differential includes a housing with an interior chamber in which a two-piece split-center driver is located. The split-center driver is positioned on opposite sides of a cross-pin assembly. A pair of axially spaced output shafts extend from the interior chamber and are coupled to a pair of side gears. The split-center driver gear and a centered cam member are arranged co-axially about the adjacent ends of the output shafts, and annular clutch members are operable to disconnect an overrunning output shaft.
US08066606B2
A multi-group transmission of a vehicle is arranged in a drivetrain and includes traction force support during gearshift operations. A clutch mechanism, including a frictional clutch and two shifting clutches is arranged between a drive motor with a driveshaft and a transmission input shaft, such that the driveshaft can be connected to the transmission input shaft by one shifting clutch in a first shift position in combination with the frictional clutch or in a second shift position with bridging of the frictional clutch, such that the driveshaft can be directly connected to a main transmission shaft by the other shifting clutch in a shift position in active combination with the frictional clutch. In a method for operating the transmission, the frictional clutch is controlled and operated in combination with the first shifting clutch as a starting clutch and with the second shifting clutch as an intermediate-gear clutch.
US08066602B2
A sprocket is provided having a plurality of teeth around its circumference. Adjacent teeth are separated by roots each having a root radius defined as the distance between the center of the sprocket and a point along the root closest to the sprocket center in a radial direction. In one aspect of the invention, the sprocket comprises at least two different root radii arranged in a pattern effective to redistribute tensions imparted to a chain by the sprocket at one or more predetermined sprocket orders.
US08066593B2
A customized racquet stringing system for a racquet having a plurality of main and cross string segments. The stringing system includes a stringing machine having a base and a stringing platform, and a control unit. The stringing platform is coupled to the base. The stringing platform includes a turntable and a string tensioning assembly. The string tensioning assembly is configured to receive one or more string tension control signals. The control unit is operably coupled to the string tensioning assembly and is configured to execute a string tensioning program and to provide a plurality of the string tension control signals based off of the string tensioning program to the tensioning assembly. The control unit includes a processor and a memory. The tension control signals correspond to at least three separate string tension values applied to the plurality of main string segments and/or the plurality of cross string segments.
US08066592B2
A system for storing one or more stringed-racquet vibration dampeners on an article of apparel so that they are easily accessible during game play is disclosed. In disclosed embodiments, the vibration dampener is detachably secured to an article of footwear by way of an opening in the upper of the shoe, such as at the tongue or the like. The dampening device may provide surface ornamentation thereon, such as a logo, other indicia, or a color scheme selectable by the wearer.
US08066591B2
An example portable, retractable surface protection device. The example device includes a rotatable support bar, a first support base positioned to a first end of the support bar, a second support base positioned to a second end of the support bar, and a surface cover. A plurality of wheels are positioned to the second support base such that the device is wheelable. The device additionally includes a handle connected to the support bar for wrapping and unwrapping the surface cover onto the support bar. A plurality of removable weights positioned in the surface cover at least partially restrict movement of the surface cover when in a fully or a partially deployed position.
US08066590B2
A bunt training aid is described. The bunt training aid is used by baseball, softball and other game players to improve their bunting ability. The bunt training aid teaches the player how to catch a ball with a bat.The bunt training aid includes a handle portion, a barrel portion, and a receiving member. The receiving member defines an opening sized to permit a ball to pass through the opening. The receiving member includes a first attachment member to attach the receiving member to the handle portion. The receiving member includes a second attachment member to attach the receiving member to the barrel portion. The receiving member is positioned between the handle portion and the barrel portion. A net is attached to the receiving member in order to hold the ball that has passed through the opening.
US08066587B2
A putter head includes substantially parallel plural grooves formed on a face thereof, wherein a ratio W/S of a groove width W (mm) and a space width S (mm) between the grooves is from 0.5 to 2.0.
US08066583B2
A golf club shaft having a weight distribution such that the balance point percentage is less than or equal to 44.50%. The weight distribution of the shaft allows for an increase in length and/or club head weight of a golf club while having a reduced impact on the swing weight.
US08066581B2
Embodiments of a putter-type golf club head with an increased moment of inertia about the X axis (MOIxx) and an increased moment of inertia about the Z axis (MOIzz) are disclosed. Generally, the MOIzz is increased by designing the putter such that the center of gravity (CG) of the putter head is located at or behind the geometric center of the putter head. Additionally, the mass of the putter head is concentrated at the outer edges of the putter head. To accomplish this, the ratio of the width of the front of the putter head to the width of the rear of the putter head is no greater than 0.55:1. The MOIxx is further increased by locating the CG relatively close to the bottom of the putter head.
US08066579B2
A pin setter applied to a bowling game machine in which a player rolling a ball toward a plurality of pins arranged in a standing manner on a lane thereby to knock down the plurality of pins. The pin setter that arranges the pins at predetermined positions includes a pin lifter that lifts the pin in a standing state up to the lane, a pin guide that keeps the pin lifted on the lane from falling down, and an evacuation mechanism that evacuates the pin guide from the lane.
US08066570B2
A network game system is provided in which unfairness between players playing on first and second game machines can be corrected in a network game system in which the first game machine displays a game screen of a content corresponding to an operation executed in the first game machine and makes the second game machine display a game screen of a content corresponding to an operation executed in the second game machine by exchanging data with the second game machine through a communication network. A controlling unit (an operation information acquiring unit (34) and a display controller (36)) controls a length of a time period from a time when an operation is executed in the first game machine (game machine (12a)) to a time when a game screen of a content corresponding to the operation is displayed in the first game machine, based on data exchange time information related to a time period required for exchange of data between the first game machine and the second game machine (game machine (12b)).
US08066569B2
An integrated mirror/display assembly includes a flip down display integrated with a rearview mirror. The mirror may be mounted to the display and the mirror/display is movable on a pivot between a retracted non-viewing position during normal vehicle operation and an extended viewing position when the vehicle is not in an operating mode.
US08066568B2
A service that receives feedback from players in a game playing service. The service provides an aggregation of the feedback so that a reputation score can be determined by various players in the system. The service takes into account direct feedback from other players about positive and negative experiences with a particular player and expectations about appropriate conduct and type of game being played before a player joins the game session.
US08066554B2
A dust box includes: an attachment portion configured to be attached to a dust-discharging nozzle extending from a housing of an electric tool; and a dust-collecting portion connected to the attachment portion and configured to store dust particles to be discharged from the nozzle. The dust-collecting portion mainly consists of a box which is made of synthetic resin and configured to be detachably connected to the attachment portion, and a paper bag received in the box and configured to store the dust particles to be discharged from the nozzle.
US08066553B2
A hydrostatic pad for use in holding a semiconductor wafer during grinding of the wafer by grinding wheels. The pad includes hydrostatic pockets formed in a face of the body directly opposed to the wafer. The pockets are adapted for receiving fluid through the body and into the pockets to provide a barrier between the body face and the workpiece while still applying pressure to hold the workpiece during grinding. The hydrostatic pads allow the wafer to rotate relative to the pads about their common axis. The pockets are oriented to reduce hydrostatic bending moments that are produced in the wafer when the grinding wheels shift or tilt relative to the hydrostatic pads, helping prevent nanotopology degradation of surfaces of the wafer commonly caused by shift and tilt of the grinding wheels.
US08066545B2
A vehicle track play set includes a base, a plate coupled to and extending upwardly from the base, and first and second tracks extending along the plate toward the base. The first track includes a first curved portion extending outwardly from a first surface of the plate and a second curved portion extending outwardly from an opposite second surface of the plate. The first track extends through a first opening in the plate between the first and second curved portions. The second track includes a third curved portion extending outwardly from the second surface and a fourth curved portion extending outwardly from the first surface. The second track extends through a second opening in the plate between the third and fourth curved portions.
US08066519B1
A USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector includes an insulating housing having a base portion. The base portion extends rearward to form an extending portion. Two sides of a rear surface of the extending portion define two receiving cavities, respectively. A separating wall is formed between two receiving cavities. Two side walls are formed outside the respective receiving cavities. A plurality of signal terminals fixed in the insulating housing respectively have a soldering foot received in the receiving cavity, with a distal end of the soldering foot extending beyond a bottom of the extending portion. A fixing board is inserted in bottoms of the receiving cavities. The fixing board has a base board which defines a clipping slot penetrating a front edge thereof and clipping on the separating wall and two restraining slots at two sides of the clipping slot for constraining the soldering feet of the corresponding signal terminals therein.
US08066518B2
A waterproof connector is mounted on a circuit board fixed within an enclosure. The waterproof connector is connectable with a mating connector through a connector passageway formed in the enclosure. The waterproof connector includes a contact electrically connectable with the mating connector, an insulating housing holding the contact, a first seal disposed on a circumference of the housing, and a faceplate into which the insulating housing is inserted. The having a cylindrical section and a brim section. The cylindrical section includes a first and second open end with the brim section formed at the first open end and spreading outwards. A second seal is interposed between the first open end and the insulating housing.
US08066515B2
A system provides a digital multi-bit connection between two or more graphics adapters. Each graphics adapter is manufactured as a printed circuit board including a finger-type edge connector. When two or more graphics adapters are installed in a system the edge connectors of each graphics adapter may be coupled to each other via a connection device that provides a portion of the digital multi-bit connection. The remainder of the digital multi-bit connection is provided by conductive traces coupling each finger of the edge connector to a graphics processing unit that is affixed to the graphics adapter. The connection device may be installed by an end-user as each additional graphics adapter is installed in the system.
US08066513B2
A method of producing a customized environment for a client includes the steps of identifying the psychological profile of the human client as at least one of a plurality of predetermined psychological profile types. A plurality of selectable personal environment types are determined, and a psychological profile type of the human client is correlated to one of the selectable plurality of personal environment types. An arrangement for selecting the customized environment for the human client includes an input arrangement for inputting client information into a computer, a client information memory areas for storing the client information, an environment memory area for storing information relating to a plurality of environment types, each environment type having a respectively associated memory address, and a processor coupled to the client information memory area and the environment memory area, the processor converting the client information into a memory address, such as a database address.
US08066510B2
A dental agent applicator has a barrel, a sealing plug, a delivery head and a plunger. The barrel has a proximal end, a distal end and a chamber defined through the barrel. The sealing plug is mounted in the chamber and hermetically obstructs the chamber. The delivery head is movably mounted on the distal end of the barrel and has a hub and a nozzle tip. The hub is mounted movably in the distal end and selectively moves the sealing plug to make the chamber communicate with the delivery head. The nozzle tip is mounted on the hub. The plunger is mounted slidably in the proximal end of the barrel. The delivery head is mounted permanently on the barrel. Using the dental agent applicator without having to replace any sealing cap with the delivery head is simple and convenient.
US08066501B2
An apparatus and method for molding a component onto a stretched blank. The apparatus includes a stretching assembly mounted adjacent to a first mold part. The stretching assembly includes a plurality of clamp assemblies that grasp the peripheral edge of the blank and a plurality of slide assemblies that move the clamp assemblies away from one another to apply a stretch to the fabric. The apparatus further includes a press for closing a second mold part onto the first mold part while the fabric is held in a stretched condition by the stretching assembly. In one embodiment, the stretching assembly may include a float plate that is movable with respect to the first mold part between a stretch position and a mold position. The apparatus may include a robot with tooling for moving the fabric onto the stretching assembly. The tooling may include a plurality of shot pins that push the fabric off of the tooling onto corresponding fabric pins in the stretching machine.
US08066495B2
A turbo vacuum pump is suitable for evacuating a corrosive process gas or evacuating a gas containing reaction products. The turbo vacuum pump includes a casing having an intake port, a pump section comprising rotor blades and stator blades housed in the casing, bearings for supporting the rotor blades, a motor for rotating the rotor blades; and a rotating shaft comprising a first rotating shaft to which the rotor blades are attached, and a second rotating shaft to which a motor rotor of the motor is attached.
US08066494B2
A micropump having a diaphragm portion, a valve portion of an intake-side check valve, and a valve portion of a discharge-side check valve formed in a single elastic-member sheet. A piezoelectric actuator is attached onto a back surface of the diaphragm portion. The elastic-member sheet is sandwiched between a first case member and a second case member, the elastic-member sheet providing sealing between both case members. A vibration chamber is defined between the elastic-member sheet and the first case member, the vibration chamber housing the piezoelectric actuator. A pump chamber is defined between the elastic-member sheet and the second case member.
US08066484B1
A film cooling hole for a turbine airfoil. the first embodiment is a film cooling hole aligned with the stream-wise direction of the hot gas flow over the hole and includes a metering section followed by a diffuser section. The diffuser section includes a left side wall and a right side wall both having a curvature facing outward and at about the same radius of curvature. The diffuser section also includes a top side wall and a bottom side wall which both have a curvature in the stream-wise direction, and in which the radius of curvature of the top side wall is greater than the radius of curvature of the bottom side wall. A second embodiment is a film cooling hole offset from the stream-wise direction of flow and includes the four walls with a curvature, but in which the left side wall has a greater radius of curvature than the right side wall due to the stream-wise offset of the hole.
US08066483B1
A turbine blade for use in a gas turbine engine having an internal serpentine flow cooling circuit with pin fins and trip strips to promote heat transfer for obtaining a thermally balanced blade sectional temperature distribution. The serpentine flow cooling circuit forms a 7-pass serpentine flow circuit from the leading edge, along the pressure side, through the trailing edge region, and then along the suction side. The serpentine flow circuit of the present invention is formed by a printing process without the need for a ceramic core and casting, and where the pin fins for all of the channels can be aligned perpendicular to the airfoil surface. The metallic and ceramic printing process can be used to form a single piece airfoil with all of the internal cooling passages and features as a single piece.
US08066481B2
A method of balancing a ram air turbine that has a turbine shaft with a turbine shaft axis, a rotor attached to the shaft, rotor blades attached to the rotor that move between a fine pitch and coarse pitch position, a spring-loaded governor for controlling the position of the blades that has its springing retained by a stationary outer spring seat and a movable inner yoke plate that slides on the turbine shaft and whose position determines blade pitch, comprises the steps of: pulling the yoke plate toward the spring seat to displace the yoke plate toward the spring seat sufficiently to cause the rotor blades to assume a desired degree of pitch; spinning the turbine shaft at a desired rotational speed; balancing the rotor to minimize vibration of the rotor with the desired rotor blade pitch and turbine shaft speed; and releasing the pull of the yoke plate toward the spring seat.
US08066470B2
An arrangement is described that includes a compartmentalized structure having a multiplicity of compartments defined by associated links and each having a bottom surface. The arrangement also includes a multiplicity of fiducials. The fiducials are positioned at top surfaces of the links that surround each compartment such that each compartment includes at least one associated fiducial at the top surface of an adjacent link that defines the compartment. The arrangement further includes an adhesive layer positioned on the bottom surface of each compartment. The at least one fiducial that surrounds each compartment is suitable for use by a vision system to identify the location of the associated compartment.
US08066469B2
System and apparatus for automatically stacking trays involve receiving trays on a receiving platform, detecting the arrival of the tray on the platform, and synchronously displacing the tray to a moveable tray cart located in a tray stacking area of a stacking tower. An automated tray sliding mechanism displaces the tray to the stacking area upon detection of the tray at the receiving platform. Trays displaced in the stacking area of a lower section of a stacking tower form a tray stack. A stack elevator of the tower engages and elevates the tray stack providing a space beneath the stack allowing the next incoming tray to be displaced into the stacking area and assume the provided space beneath the tray stack, the incoming tray thereby assuming the lowermost position in the tray stack. Trays are added to the lowermost position in the stack until the stack height reaches a predetermined height and is removed from the stacking area.
US08066460B2
Disclosed herein is a unique system providing for the quick and efficient movement of cargo such as pallets, containerized loads, and the like while providing enhanced safety measures to reduce or eliminate some of the injuries that are typically associated with cargo transport. By deploying a cargo transport system constructed from a fiberglass cargo loading grid with one or more cargo restraining latches, the movement of cargo within the trailer or bed of the truck can be more efficiently restrained, thereby minimizing inadvertent exposure of personnel to accidents associated with the movement of the cargo and damage to the cargo during transport. The cargo restraining latch is a spring-loaded, multi-fingered mechanism that is selectively and removably inserted into a portion of the cargo transport system, thereby restraining any undesired movement of the cargo. Additionally, certain embodiments of the cargo transport system comprise a plurality of hinged folding panels with handles, providing an apparatus that is portable and reconfigurable, allowing for maximum flexibility.
US08066459B2
A cargo loading system capable of retaining a pallet along a centerline of a cargo aircraft and outside the wingbox area of the aircraft includes a number of devices. Included among these are first and second centerline end restraints mounted on the centerline, at least one caster panel mounted on one side of the cargo hold and across the centerline from a side door of the aircraft, and a plurality of mechanical restraints mounted on a floor of the cargo hold on either side of the centerline and outside the wingbox area. The first and second centerline end restraints each have at least one retractable lockhead configured and dimensioned to engage an end of a pallet. The at least one caster panel includes at least one retractable guide formed at a first end thereof, and at least one retractable guide formed along a first side thereof. Lastly, the plurality of mechanical restraints are mounted with a portion of each mechanical restraint overlying a laterally extending floor joist in the cargo hold, such that a lateral load applied to a given mechanical restraint is transferred to at least one laterally extending floor joist.
US08066454B2
The present invention relates to an indexable cutting insert for an end mill for machining of contours in a workpiece and to a milling tool. The cutting insert is asymmetrical in respect of a line through a hole in the cutting insert. The cutting insert includes two cutting edge portions. Each cutting edge portion comprises of a substantially straight cutting edge and a curved cutting edge along respective intersecting lines between a clearance surface and a chip surface. The curved cutting edges have different lengths. The cutting insert includes recesses in a bottom side of the cutting insert. The recesses are arranged on both sides of and at different distances from the hole of the cutting insert.
US08066448B2
A composition for dust suppression including an acrylic polymer, a polyvinyl acetate polymer, glycerin, and water is herein disclosed.
US08066445B2
An apparatus for adjusting the length of a tension tie mounted on a deployable antenna based on a cable network structure includes a cable retainer provided with a retaining hole, a cable being connected to the cable retainer; a retaining case coupled to the outer periphery of the cable retainer and provided with a plurality of retaining holes; and a retainer positioned inside the cable retainer and configured to extend through the retaining hole of the cable retainer and through one of the retaining holes of the retaining case so that the cable retainer and the retaining case are prevented from moving in the longitudinal direction.
US08066444B2
A device including a base layer; a wipe layer attached to the base layer to define an interior space between the wipe and base layers; a plurality of blisters positioned within the interior space, each blister having a blister volume, wherein the sum of the blister volumes is a total blister volume; and an indication disposed on the wipe layer or the base layer corresponding to a single blister or a group of blisters indicating the ratio of the blister volume of that single blister or the sum of the blister volumes of that group of blisters to the total blister volume is disclosed.
US08066442B2
A supply of labels may be configured to facilitate folding. A label handling method involves initiating a label fold prior to a label completely exiting a label exit opening. A label apparatus includes a label obstructing member to promote label folding.
US08066435B2
A thrust sliding bearing (1) includes an upper casing (3) which is made of polyacetal resin and has an annular lower surface (2); a lower casing (5) which is made of a reinforced synthetic resin including, in addition to polyacetal resin, reinforcing fibers such as glass fibers contained in this polyacetal resin, is superposed on the upper casing (3) so as to be rotatable about an axis O of the upper casing (3) in an R direction, and has an annular upper surface (4) opposed to the annular lower surface (2) of the upper casing (3); an annular thrust sliding bearing piece (6) which is made of polyacetal resin and is interposed between the annular lower surface (2) and the annular upper surface (4); and a tubular radial sliding bearing piece (7) made of polyacetal resin.
US08066433B2
A flexible, air-tight storage bag has an entrance opening for inserting an item to be stored into said bag with a releasably-closable seal across said entrance opening. A one-way valve assembly is installed in a surface of the bag and in fluid communication with the inside of the bag to allow air inside the bag to exit the bag. The valve has an outer portion with a conical or curved exterior surface having an apex and a plurality of exit holes adjacent the apex so a vacuum cleaner nozzle can be placed over the exit holes. The outer portion has a conical or curved surface with at least one ridge thereon or groove therein extending away from the apex and beyond the exit holes to reduce the suction. A circular flange in the valve is located so air passes through the flange. A flexible diaphragm is placed in the circular flange so the diaphragm abuts an edge of the flange to vary the flow of air. The diaphragm has a non-symmetric flange formed by outwardly extending tabs so that air pressure on the tabs deforms the diaphragm and breaks the seal between the diaphragm and the flange to allow air flow through the valve.
US08066432B2
Temperature-sensitive films that undergo an irreversible change in appearance when the films are heated to a threshold temperature are provided. Also provided are methods for indicating that an object in thermal contact with a temperature-sensitive film has reached a threshold temperature.
US08066430B2
The invention provides a method and a device for determining the temperature of a semiconductor substrate. A resonance circuit (110) is provided on the semiconductor substrate and is formed by a junction capacitor (11) and an inductor (12). The substrate is placed on a holder and the resonance circuit (110) is irradiated with electromagnetic energy of an electromagnetic field (5) generated by a radiation device (200). A resonance frequency of the resonance circuit (110) is determined by detecting an effect of the resonance circuit (110) on the irradiated electromagnetic field (5), and a temperature of the semiconductor substrate is determined as a function of the resonance frequency. The method and device according to the invention provide for a more accurate determination of the temperature of the semiconductor substrate due to an increased sensitivity to the temperature of the junction capacitor (11).
US08066426B2
A mixing device, configured to blend food, including a housing, having a motor, and a jar removably mounted to the housing for containing food. The housing includes a base, a central body and a pair of side bodies that attach to the sides of the central body in an assembled configuration of the housing. Further, the housing includes a top removably mounted to the base to clamp the side bodies and the central body between the top and the base when the housing is in the assembled configuration.
US08066425B2
The invention relates to an improved homogenisation valve, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a homogenisation valve for use in homogenising emulsion explosives. The homogenisation device comprises a body having a flow passage therethrough, opposing first and second homogenisation members located in the flow passage; the homogenisation members having opposing homogenisation surfaces that form a flow restriction of the flow passage therebetween. At least one of the homogenisation surfaces has a flow resistance being suitable to cause at least part of the flow passing through the flow restriction to be diverged in a non-linear path across the homogenisation surface.
US08066423B2
An apparatus and method for melting polymer is provided. In at least one embodiment, the apparatus includes a housing, two or more rotatable members at least partially contained within the housing, where each rotatable member having a shaft coupled thereto. The apparatus also includes a motor having a drive shaft directly coupled to the shaft of the rotatable members such that the rotatable members rotate at a speed of the motor drive shaft. The rotatable members are preferably non-intermeshing and counter-rotating.
US08066419B2
The present invention relates to lighting device (10). The lighting device comprises a light guide plate (12), and at least one array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) (14), which LEDs are accommodated in holes arranged in the light guide plate, wherein each hole has: at least two side facets (18) through which light from the LEDs is to be laterally coupled into the light guide plate, and at least one corner (20) formed by two converging side facets of the at least two side facets. This promotes TIR at adjacent light sources and therefore diminishes losses due to absorption or scattering at adjacent holes.
US08066418B2
A lighting device includes a plurality of light-transmitting guide plates 1, 2, 3 laminated in at least three layers and a plurality of light emitting elements 4, 5, 6 arranged so as to oppose to respective lateral sides of the light-transmitting guide plates 1, 2, 3 to allow luminance flux in different color with respect to each light-transmitting guide plate to be incident on the corresponding light-transmitting guide plate. Each of the light-transmitting guide plates 1, 2, 3 has a plurality of reflecting surfaces 7, 8, 9 formed on the backside of the plate to change a propagation direction of the luminance flux propagated in the each light-transmitting guide plate, allowing the luminance flux, of which propagation direction has been changed by the reflecting surfaces 7, 8, 9, to be emitted from the front side of the each light-transmitting guide plates.
US08066414B2
An LED lamp has a lamp base and a support connected to the lamp base, on which at least one LED is mounted, the support including at least one hollow element, each with at least two air passage openings to permit an air flow through a cavity of at least one hollow element.
US08066412B2
A luminaire system provides for mounting and accessing a light fixture housing without tools. A universal bracket is coupled to the junction box along the ceiling and engages with a top mounting plate affixed to the housing. One or more slide hooks appended to the universal bracket allows the top mounting plate to mount to the universal bracket, and a reinforced spring and locking spring keeps the light fixture housing in place, while preventing rattling between the universal bracket and the top-mounting plate. The housing can be removed from the electrical junction box through the use of a release button affixed to the housing. The button disengages the locking spring from the top mounting plate, thereby allowing the housing to swivel away from the universal bracket and junction box by way of a hanging hook. The hanging hook supports the housing when released from the universal bracket.
US08066403B2
Apparatus, systems, architectures, and methods provide interlocked modular lighting array units to operate as a single large light source. The modular lighting array units may be connected by a network, and the modular lighting array units may communicate and send and receive control or status signals. In some embodiments, the signals may correspond to status of light sources or LEDs, lighting functions, effects routines, and various other signals of communication.
US08066398B2
A lamp and a hardscape structure illuminated by the lamp are disclosed. The lamp is formed from a plate to which a light fixture is attached. The plate may have a flange, a decorative face plate and side panels attached to direct light from the fixture along the hardscape on which the lamp is mounted. Mounting is effected by positioning the plate between discrete hardscape elements that are stacked one atop another. A portion of the plate projects out from the structure allowing the fixture to cast light on the structure surface. A light transmitting cover is also provided.
US08066392B2
A multi-function replaceable modular LED lamp includes a lamp base, a lampshade, a plurality of LED modules, a power supply control circuit board, and a detector. The lampshade is disposed on the lamp base. The plurality of LED modules is detachably disposed in the lamp base and electrically connected to the power supply control circuit board. The detector is detachably disposed on the lamp base and electrically connected to the power supply control circuit board. The detector has a specific function, such as, an earthquake detection, a human body detection, a disaster detection, an alarm detection and the like. The LED modules, the detector and the other parts of the present invention are replaceable with ease, which has the advantages of environmental protection and energy saving.
US08066387B2
A light source module and a display system comprising the light source module are provided. The light source system comprises a first light source module and a second light source module. The first light source module provides a light beam of a first color, and the second light source module provides a plurality of light beams, having colors different from the first color light beam. The light source system turns on the light beam of first color and the light beams with different colors according to a predetermined integrated timing, and transmits them to the light guiding system. The light guiding system guides the light beams provided by the light source system to the imaging system for imaging. The first light source module further comprises two light beams with the same color and switches in turn to function as one light beam. The switching is realized by using the mirror wheel.
US08066382B2
A stereoscopic digital image projecting system has a light source system providing polarized illumination having a first polarization state and a beam splitting system with a rotating segmented disk in the illumination, alternately generating first and second light beams, the rotating segmented disk having outer segments alternately transmissive and non-transmissive and inner segments radially aligned with the outer segments and alternately reflective and transmissive. A polarization rotator in a path of either the first or second light beam rotates the first polarization state to a second state orthogonal to the first. A combining system combines the first and second light beams into a combined light beam. A spatial light modulator modulates the combined light beam in a manner consistent with stereoscopic image data to form first and second modulated images having substantially orthogonal polarization states. Projection optics project the modulated images onto a display surface.
US08066379B2
A projection system that projects coherent light rays from a coherent light (e.g., laser) source onto an inner reflective surface of a three-dimensional viewing space is disclosed. A relatively compact and low-power laser light image can thereby be formed and seen by an observer from inside the viewing space. Raster scanning or simultaneous projection onto large solid angles of said viewing space are possible. Useful and entertaining information can also be displayed, optionally as dynamic and moving images, onto the projection screen as well.
US08066373B2
Aspects of the present invention provide apparatuses and methods for conducting pupil height measurements. A multifocal measurement device of the present invention can comprise a base member and first and second adjustable measurement members. The multifocal measurement device can be connected to eyeglasses worn by a patient. A first knob can be used to adjust a vertical positioning of the first adjustable measurement member and a second knob can be used to adjust a vertical positioning of the second adjustable measurement member. The adjustable measurement members can each comprise pupillary alignment reference areas—such as transparent lines, opaque lines, or prisms—that can be positioned substantially in front of the pupils of the patient by adjusting the knobs. Pupil height measurements can subsequently be made by measuring the distances between the first and second pupillary alignment reference areas and the bottom of the eyeglasses worn by the patient.
US08066372B2
This invention is a game platform for the assessment and/or treatment of disorders of binocular vision, such as amblyopia. The game content is devised to maximize the possible therapeutic effects by leveraging advanced research in ophthalmology, as well as advanced display technology to render images independently to each eye. In particular, the game content engages both eyes at different levels of difficulty, forcing an amblyopic eye to work harder to regain its performance in the visual system. The invention herein described provides a mobile device, capable of interaction with an eye care specialist, for the assessment/treatment of binocular vision using innovative mechanisms for ensuring proper use thereof.
US08066371B2
High productivity polarizing lens that is impact-resistant, and is not prone to warping or iridescent patterning and other color irregularities. Polarizing lens (1) includes a polarizing sheet (2) in which a pair of protective films (11) and (12) is laminated on both sides of a polarizing film (10), and a lens base material layer (3) integrally bonded on a rear side of the polarizing sheet (2), the lens base material layer (3) being composed of polyurethane. Manufacturable by: bending the polarizing sheet (2) at a predetermined curvature; fitting the polarizing sheet (2) in a mold recessed with a cavity contoured to correspond to the bent polarizing sheet so that its front side runs along the cavity; and filling and injection-molding thermoplastic polyurethane into the mold in which the polarizing sheet (2) has been fit, to form the lens base material layer (3) on the polarizing sheet (2) rear side.
US08066367B2
A droplet applying apparatus includes a base having a mounting surface on which a substrate is to be mounted, an arm part which is fitted to the base so as to be movable relative to the base in an arrow A direction, and a plurality of droplet ejecting sections which are fitted to the arm part so as to be movable in an arrow B direction and which eject droplets to the substrate mounted on the mounting surface. The droplet ejecting sections are fitted on a fitting surface of a first beam member of the arm part as well as on a fitting surface of a second beam member of the arm part.
US08066349B2
A printhead is provided for a printer. The printhead includes a support member defining a plurality of ink supply channels. A fluid distribution arrangement is mounted in fluid communication with the support member. A plurality of micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) integrated circuits (IC's) is mounted in fluid communication with the fluid distribution arrangement. Each IC includes ink ejection nozzles and air ejection nozzles configured to respectively eject ink and pressurized air from the fluid distribution arrangement and onto print media.
US08066348B2
An image forming apparatus includes a recording head, a water-repellent transfer belt, a pattern formation controller, a read unit, and a detection unit. The recording head has a plurality of nozzles aligned in a given direction, and ejects droplets of a liquid therefrom. The pattern formation controller directs each of the plurality of nozzles to eject the liquid to form a detection pattern on the transfer belt. The detection pattern has multiple droplets ejected from each of the plurality of nozzles sequentially arranged and spaced apart from each other both in the given direction and in a direction orthogonal to the given direction. The read unit includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and reads the detection pattern to output a read result. The detection unit detects a defective nozzle according to the read result.
US08066340B2
An organizer/storage system that mounts on top of a computer workstation for storage of office supplies, devices, or files that makes efficient use of the available space above, or on one or both sides of the computer workstation. The organizer/storage system includes a top platform and side panels, and may include back and bottom panels with interlocking closure systems, and slide-in shelves with optional drawers. Optional cutouts in the side panels allow airflow to cool the computer, and optional cutouts in the back panels permit connection of conduit or electrical wires. When adaptive fasteners are used for attachment to the computer workstation, the height of the organizer/storage system may be adjusted. Exterior side shelves may be attached to one or both of the side panels to permit storage of a greater variety of objects. The organizer/storage system may be made from a single sheet of suitable material.
US08066338B2
Each time a prescribed cycle comes to an end, an ECU estimates an average retaining amount of brake fluid in a reservoir of the current prescribed cycle on the assumption that a pump has sucked a constant amount of brake fluid in the current prescribed cycle. The ECU calculates deviation between the average retaining amount at the end of the previous prescribed cycle and the average retaining amount at the end of the current prescribed cycle. The greater the deviation is, the greater a deviation correction amount the ECU sets. The ECU performs deviation pump control in which the target suction amount of the pump is set based on the reference suction amount and the deviation correction amount.
US08066337B2
An outer ring shaft portion which is extended integrally from an end face of an outer ring of a constant velocity joint is fittingly inserted into an inside hole in a hub shaft of a wheel hub, so that the wheel hub and the constant velocity joint are coupled to each other. Internal splines and external splines are formed on an inner circumferential surface of the inside hole in the hub shaft and an outer circumferential surface of the outer ring shaft portion in such a manner as to mesh with each other. Side face splines are formed on end face of the hub shaft and an end face of the outer ring of the constant velocity joint. The wheel hub and the constant velocity joint are connected together in such a manner that torque can be transmitted therebetween.
US08066331B2
A continuously adjustable headrest mechanism 10 for a vehicle seat 12 and method of assembly thereof. The mechanism 10 includes in one aspect a pair of posts 17 that extends from vehicle seat 12. A pad 14 is moveably attached to each post 17. Positioned at least partially within the pad 14 is a locking subassembly 16 that has a disengaged and an engaged configuration that permits continuous adjustment of the pad 14 in relation to the post 17.
US08066330B2
A motor-vehicle headrest has an upright rod having upper and lower ends, a cushion support pivotal on the upper rod end about a generally horizontal axis between a use position and an stowage position, and a stop fixed on the rod upper end. A latch element is pivotal in the support between a retaining position engaging the stop and preventing pivoting of the support and a freeing position clear of the stop and permitting pivoting of the support.
US08066325B2
A seat assembly includes a seat back frame pivotally coupled to a seat cushion for movement between a plurality of reclined seating positions and a fold flat position. A linkage includes first and second links having proximal ends pivotally coupled by a link pin. The first link includes a distal end pivotally coupled to the seat back frame. A control link is coupled at a first end to the link pin and at a second end to the seat cushion. A side bolster is pivotally coupled at an upper end to the seat back frame and at a lower end to a distal end of the second link. Pivoting of the seat back frame between the seating and fold flat positions urges the side bolster between a deployed position extending away from the seat back frame and a retracted position adjacent the seat back frame.
US08066323B2
An apparatus for sitting is provided including a semi-flexible fulcrum band having an inner surface, the inner surface integrally including at least one penetration member, wherein the semi-flexible fulcrum band is configured to hold together a plurality of leg members having different varieties, permitting the plurality of leg members to spread above and below the fulcrum band into a supporting position. The apparatus further includes a flexible seat portion containing a plurality of pockets, each pocket configured to receive an upper end of one of the plurality of leg members when the plurality of leg members are in the supporting position, whereby the flexible seat portion is adapted for supporting a person sitting on said flexible seat portion. Finally, the at least one penetration members is configured to penetrate at least one of the plurality of leg members when the person sits in the flexible seat portion.
US08066322B2
A bulkhead and a bulkhead are provided in a rocker so that a portion of the rocker, which portion is subject to bending due to buckling, is positioned between the bulkheads. If the portion of the rocker is bent due to buckling, for example, at the time of vehicle collision, a bulkhead is caught between the bulkheads, and absorbs a load applied to the bulkheads. In this way, when the rocker is deformed, the load is absorbed by the bulkhead.
US08066318B2
A device for covering an object which is transported in an air stream, including a cover which at least partially traverses the object, and a differential pressure device disposed on the cover which creates a pressure differential between the air under the cover and the air passing over or around the cover, where the pressure differential causes the air under the cover to exhaust to an exterior of the cover, drawing the cover toward the object, and where the pressure differential device creates the pressure differential when the covered object is transported in a frontward position with respect to a direction of travel and in a rearward position with respect to the direction of transport.
US08066308B2
A chassis includes a cover unit, a base unit which includes a bottom panel and a cover panel fixed to the bottom panel, a through hole defined in the cover panel, and a latch mechanism assembly. The latch mechanism assembly includes a hook protruding from the cover unit, an operating apparatus mounted to the bottom panel, a supporting member mounted to the bottom panel, a latch member resiliently mounted to the supporting member, and a connecting pole connecting the latch member to the operating apparatus. The hook is capable of extending through the through hole of the cover panel. The latch member includes a latch portion capable of securing the hook. The latch member is capable of engaging the hook when the hook is located within the through hole, and the operating apparatus is capable of retracting the connecting pole and thus causing the latch member to disengage the hook.
US08066307B2
In percussion rock drilling a screw joint for a drill run or drill string including male and female screw threads (5, 9) on the elements (1, 2) are joined together to form a drill string. Within the screw joint the male thread (5) and the female thread (9) have a trapezoidal shape and a slight conical inclination.
US08066301B1
The apparatus of the present disclosure is an improvement on known wheelchairs and other known devices for transporting elderly, infirm, injured, handicapped, disabled, or otherwise mobility-impaired individuals. The present disclosure provides a seat that is adjustable in both height and tilt angle for easy loading and unloading. In some embodiments, the height adjustment is provided via a hydraulic lift cart. Further provided are adjustable horizontal leg supports. A non-confining cage of substantially vertical support bars surrounds the occupant, and straps may be attached around the support bars. This provides support without causing the occupant to feel strapped down and confined to the device. Removing the straps allows easy loading and unloading from whichever side of the apparatus is most convenient.
US08066297B2
A bicycle comprising a front triangle and a rear wheel having a rear wheel axis, a rear wheel suspension system further comprising a link further comprising a first pivotal axis for connection to said front triangle and a second pivotal axis for connection to a rear wheel swingarm, wherein the distance from said second pivotal axis to a first vertical plane decreases during a first portion of suspension compression and increases during a second portion of suspension compression; and wherein said first vertical plane is defined as a plane which is perpendicular to the ground and offset in the direction of the rear wheel with respect to the first and second pivotal axis. During the first portion of suspension compression and during the second portion of suspension compression the front triangle remains stationary with respect to the first vertical plane.
US08066296B2
A storage element and bicycle frame that work in conjunction with each other to make both the frame and storage element as aerodynamic as possible when the storage element is attached to the frame. The storage element is designed to function as an integral aerodynamic element of the frame.
US08066295B1
An improved all composite bicycle frame has three integral mating portions for the main triangle, asymmetric bottom bracket, improved composite layup, wall thickness, and tube geometry providing lighter weight and increased strength in an economical manner, an improved telescoping seat attachment fitting an integral seat mast and a fork having improved strength, weight and performance properties.
US08066290B2
A chuck includes a hollow cylindrical sleeve (3) having at least two, opposite, rotation transmitting strip-shaped webs (4a, 4b) projecting radially inward, and at least one locking member (2) radially displaceable through a radial opening formed in the receiving sleeve, with the receiving side end of the rotation transmitting webs (4a, 4b) being spaced from a receiving side edge of the radial opening (6) by a distance (X) 1.5 times greater than the guide diameter (D) of the receiving sleeve (3).
US08066284B2
According to aspects illustrated herein, there are provided systems for conveying a sheet article into an intended pathway. The multi-way gate system for diverting sheets into multiple pathways in a sheet conveying device includes at least three pathways for directing the sheet from the sheet conveying member in a particular direction. A single gate plate is between the sheet conveying member and the pathways. The single gate plate is rotatable about a single axis to direct the sheet exiting the sheet conveying member toward one of the pathways.
US08066283B2
A recording device includes a plurality of holes formed in the medium support part, a suction unit configured to suck out air via the holes, closing members configured and arranged to move in a direction away from the holes, an urging unit configured to urge the closing members toward the holes, and a sliding member configured and arranged to slide in a direction intersecting a moving direction in which the closing members move. The sliding member is configured and arranged to contact the closing members, and by sliding the sliding member, at least one hole is switched between a state in which the hole is closed by the closing member and a state in which the hole is left open by the closing member.
US08066281B2
An image forming apparatus includes a sheet feeding device that feeds a sheet, and a conveyance belt that conveys the sheet toward a printing region while attracting the sheet with electrostatic force. The printing region is disposed in a vicinity of the conveyance belt. A printing device is provided in the printing region to form an image on the sheet. A controller is provided to control the conveyance belt to stop conveying the sheet toward the printing region for a prescribed period after the tip of the sheet arrives at the conveyance belt and raised from the conveyance belt unit the tip of the sheet settles to the surface of the conveyance belt.
US08066280B2
A document processing device capable of detecting a multifeed condition is configured to determine criteria of the multifeed or condition. If a detected multifeed meets the criteria, a detection of the multifeed or condition may be ignored.
US08066275B2
A method of advancing packaging blanks disposed standing upright in a magazine, one after the other, in a file or queue resting against the bottom of the magazine and disposed to be driven forwards through the magazine towards a stop at an outlet end for individual discharge comprises the file or queue of blanks being divided into two pressure zones, a first and forward pressure zone extending from the zone limit between the pressure zones up to the stop and displaying a first mutual pressure between neighboring blanks, as well as a rear second pressure zone displaying a second mutual pressure between neighboring blanks. The first mutual pressure is higher than the second mutual pressure. Another aspect of the disclosure pertains to an apparatus for carrying out advancement of the packaging blanks.
US08066273B2
A dual-stack document storage bin comprises a substantially U-shaped container including a first bottom wall which interconnects first and second sidewalls to provide (i) the substantially U-shape, and (ii) a first document storage chamber which is defined between the first and second sidewalls and into which documents can be stacked to form a first stack of documents when the U-shaped container is in a first position. The dual-stack document storage bin further comprises a substantially L-shaped housing including a second bottom wall and a third sidewall which is disposed relative to the second bottom wall to provide (i) the substantially L-shape, and (ii) a second document storage chamber which is defined between the third side wall and the second sidewall and into which documents can be stacked to form a second stack of documents when the U-shaped container is in a second position which is different from the first position. The dual-stack document storage bin also comprises a mechanism operatively coupled between the first and second bottom walls to support substantially horizontal sliding movement of the U-shaped container between the first position in which documents can be stacked onto the first stack of documents in the first document storage chamber and the second position in which documents can be stacked onto the second stack of documents in the second document storage chamber.
US08066272B2
A sheet folding apparatus, including: sheet folder configured to fold a sheet bundle; a sheet bundle discharger configured to discharge a folded sheet bundle, folded by the sheet folder, with a folded edge of the folded sheet bundle in the lead; a folded edge support configured to support the folded edge of the folded sheet bundle discharged from the sheet bundle discharger, the folded edge support movable without rotation in a direction declined from a higher side near the sheet bundle provider to a lower side farther from the sheet bundle provider than the higher side; and an undersurface support configured to support an undersurface of the folded sheet bundle so that the folded edge is lower than a trailing edge of the folded sheet bundle, the undersurface support comprising a hill on its upper surface between the folded edge support and the sheet bundle provider, the hill comprising a slope between the folded edge support and the sheet bundle provider, the hill further comprising a valley wall declined steeper than the slope from the higher side to the lower side between the slope and the folded edge support, the undersurface support and the hill movable in the direction together with the folded edge support.
US08066267B2
A painter rack for supporting one door in a horizontal position during prepping or painting, or at least one door also in a horizontal position during drying. This painter rack comprises two support structures: a left one and a right one; each support structure comprises two vertical members traversed horizontally by a number of openings; each support structure also comprises a number of bars used to support at least one door, each bar is comprised of at least two segments, the first said segment traversing slidably and horizontally an opening, and the second segment is bent with respect the first segment. Each support structure is held in place by a base structure.
US08066265B2
A gas suspension member includes a first section and a second section. The first section includes an end wall and a side wall that at least partially form an inner chamber. An opening is formed through the end wall. A connector fitting is embedded within a cover wall that extends across the opening. The end wall has a first flexural stiffness and the cover wall has a second flexural stiffness that is greater than the first flexural stiffness of the end wall. A gas suspension assembly includes a first spring device used in combination with the gas suspension member. A method of forming a gas suspension member is also disclosed.
US08066254B2
In a mold for use in the production of a silica crucible, a cylindrical rim member is engagedly supported through hooks to an inner side of an upper opening portion of the mold corresponding to an upper part of a silica crucible and an outer diameter of the rim member is smaller than an inner diameter of the mold but larger than an inner diameter of the silica crucible.
US08066246B2
The telescopic support with an internal brake provides a telescoping tube with a selectively actuable and adjustable internal braking mechanism. At least one lower opening is formed through a lower end of a sidewall of an inner hollow tube. A mounting plate is secured within the inner tube adjacent the lower end, and at least one resilient element is secured to the mounting plate so that the resilient element projects through the lower opening. At least one brake pad is secured to the resilient element, so that the brake pad contacts an inner surface of an outer hollow tube when the internal brake is engaged. At least one cable is provided, with a lower end thereof being secured to the brake pad. An actuating mechanism linearly translates the upper end of the at least one cable to selectively disengage the brake pad from the inner surface of the outer hollow tube.
US08066243B2
A holder for a therapeutic device for treating wounds of the type having a housing equipped with a fluid mover for one of raising, compressing, or transferring fluid, and a therapeutic member operably connected to the fluid mover and actuated thereby, the therapeutic member operably disposably used on a patient in a manner to deliver therapy to the patient as a function of actuation of said fluid mover, includes a removable receiving compartment for removably receiving the device therein, and an outwardly disposed connecting surface to provide for the compartment to be suspended on an object elevated from a floor.
US08066239B2
An electronics module includes a base and a cover connected to the base. The base includes a recess adapted to receive an associated mounting rail. At least one fixed rail constraining tab is located adjacent a first edge of the recess and is adapted to engage a first flange of the associated mounting rail. First and/or second latch arms are located adjacent a second edge of the recess that is opposite the first edge of the recess. The first and second latch arms are connected to a fixed portion of the second edge and project outwardly relative to opposite lateral sides of the fixed portion. Each of the first and second latch arms includes a rail capture tab. The first and second latch arms are selectively movable resiliently to and from latched and unlatched positions, wherein the rail capture tabs of the first and second latch arms project beyond the fixed portion of the second edge and into the recess when the first and second latch arms are located in their respective latched positions, and wherein the rail capture tabs of the first and second latch arms are withdrawn relative to the fixed portion of the second edge when the first and second latch arms are located in their respective unlatched positions. The cover or other portion of the module defines first and second receiving locations that receive and retain portions of the first and second latch arms when the first and second latch arms are located in their respective latched positions.
US08066230B2
A monitoring system and method is provided for monitoring the lighting and the gate arm position at a railroad crossing.
US08066229B2
An attachable wing for an aircraft is disclosed. The attachable wing is configured to mount to the underside of the fuselage of an aircraft, such as a rotary wing aircraft (e.g., a helicopter) or a fixed wing aircraft. The attachable wing produces additional lift, which results in an increase in speed, and consequently, an increase in fuel efficiency and payload capacity. In some embodiments, the attachable wing is retractable to facilitate takeoffs and landings. Additionally, the apparatus may be made of a bulletproof or anti-ballistic material to protect the aircraft from incoming fire or crash damage. The airfoil apparatus provides additional lift, allowing for greater fuel efficiency and range of the aircraft on which it is installed.
US08066222B2
An energy absorbing system may include a structure formed of an inner face sheet and an outer face sheet and having a core positioned therebetween. The structure may have a leading edge. An impact member formed of a plastically deformable material may be positioned with the inner face sheet within an area of the leading edge. The impact member may absorb energy from an impact of a projectile with the leading edge and redistributing the energy of the impact to the structure.
US08066221B2
The invention concerns a wall (10) of vertical partitioning for a ventral cowling of an aircraft including a plurality of vertical panels (11, 12, 12′, 13, 13′), each panel being linked to an adjacent panel by a vertical post (14, 15, 16). At least one exterior panel (13, 13′) is mounted in a fixed manner on at least one associated vertical post (14, 16). The upper end of said vertical post is fitted with a means of fastening in transverse rotation intended to be fixed to the structure (8) of an aircraft, the means of fastening in transverse rotation being capable of allowing the displacement (Dy) of the structure of the aircraft with respect to the fixed partitioning wall. It is also possible for at least one intermediary panel (12, 12′) to be mounted floating on at least one associated vertical post (15, 16), in such a way as to have a deflection parallel and perpendicular to the adjacent panels.
US08066217B2
Dispensers and dispensing systems and methods having communication abilities are provided. Various embodiments include the ability to communicate reminders and other messages to users and maintenance personnel. An embodiment of the present invention has two sensors, one for detecting when to dispense a product and the other for detecting when to communicate pre-recorded messages. Another embodiment also includes the ability to record multiple messages into the dispenser for later playback upon triggering events. Still yet other embodiments provide messages upon dispensing of product.
US08066212B2
A rotor and device for the comminution of input material is provided. The rotor includes a drive shaft on which a predetermined number of rotor discs are provided and over the circumference of which grinding tools are arranged. In accordance with an embodiment, it is provided that frictional connection elements are arranged between the rotor discs forming axial ends of the rotor and the shaft for transferring a torque, and that power transmission elements are arranged in a contact surface of two adjacent rotor discs and that the rotor discs can be clamped together with axially acting clamping elements.
US08066207B1
A method for reformulating reclaimed, contaminated mixed waste plastics into useful articles wherein a plurality of batches of the mixed waste plastics are preprocessed to produce substantially homogeneous mixtures of a desired particle size range that are characterized according to at least one of their respective plastic content, densities, color and degree of contamination, and are thereafter blended to produce a mixed plastic feed material having properties predetermined to be desirable for reprocessing into at least one of such useful articles.
US08066202B2
Disclosed therein is a fluid jetting apparatus. The fluid jetting apparatus includes: a nozzle having a jetting hole adapted to jet a fluid; a nozzle opening and closing part adapted to open and close the jetting hole; at least one elastic fluid-storing part adapted to store the fluid therein and connected with the nozzle at a portion thereof in such a way as to jet the fluid by its elasticity through the jetting hole, the elastic fluid-storing part increasing elasticity accumulated by receiving the external force; and a pressurizing part adapted to increase elasticity accumulated in the elastic fluid-storing part by applying the force to the elastic fluid-storing part. The fluid jetting apparatus is applied to various devices, such as a sprayer, an atomizer, an oral cleaner, and so on, for jetting materials of a liquid, gas or gel type to thereby jet the fluid with a strong jetting force in a convenient manipulation.
US08066201B2
Apparatus for supplying a fluid comprising a pipe having at least one aperture through a wall of the pipe, each of the at least one apertures comprising a first portion in an inner surface of the wall, a second portion in an outer surface of the wall, the first portion intersecting the second portion to form an opening, the first portion having a first cross-sectional area at the inner surface that is greater than a second cross-sectional area of the opening; wherein the first cross-sectional area and the second cross-sectional area have a first ratio within a first predetermined range so as to enable fluid flowing through the pipe at a predetermined flow rate to exert a predetermined pressure to spray fluid from the at least one aperture to atmosphere and also to flush the first portion.
US08066192B2
A personal health card that includes a smartcard with an RFID device that automatically reports certain RFID response information when illuminated by an interrogation signal from an RFID reader, such as an authorized first responder interrogation device issued to police, fire, lifeguard, or EMT personnel. The RFID response information may be as minimal as a visible or audible “ping” response displayed or played on the RFID interrogator indicating that a personal health card has been interrogated. If multiple cards respond to the interrogator, the RFID interrogator can be used to select among the responding cards so that the operator can investigate one card at a time. A characteristic of the response from a selected card may change in response to the strength of the signal received from the card to help the operator locate and recover a desired card. For example, the volume of an audible “ping” at the interrogator may become louder or more frequent as the interrogation response from the card becomes stronger to provide a “homing device” for physically locating a particular card. This feature is very helpful when emergency responses are attempting to locate personal health cards at the scene of an accident or other incident.
US08066183B2
A device, such as a printer or copier, identifies the type of module being used. If the type of module requires the device to receive an unlock code, the device prompts for the unlock code (which can be a hash of the serial number of the device). Once the unlock code is received, the device can be used with modules of that type. If the unlock code is not received, the device does not operate with modules of that type.
US08066175B2
A container for food, such as used for the storage or packaging of tostadas, manufactured as a carton, which is formed with eight sections or sides that are joined by adhesive at an edge to fold the container is disclosed. The container also has edges placed on the top and bottom ends that, when interwoven towards the center of the container, permit the formation of a kind of bow with which the container is kept closed. In order to open the container, it is only necessary to pull outwards on opening projections which are part of the bow. Likewise, and as a consequence of the interweaving of the edges, an internal pulling acts as a muffling, thereby helping the food, e.g., tostadas, to be maintained in a good state, without being broken.
US08066166B2
A dissecting tip is provided for use with a surgical stapler or instrument. In one embodiment, the dissecting tip is secured to the end effector of the surgical instrument, e.g., to the cartridge assembly. The dissecting tip extends distally from the end effector and is configured to dissect or separate target tissue from certain tissue, e.g., adherent, connective, joined or other tissue.
US08066163B2
A device for moving game after the game has been slain wherein the device acts as a sled or toboggan. A combination of the device is the device in a folded condition and inserted into a container for carrying the device. The container is a fabric bag with appropriate openings and straps for inserting the device and carrying the device, respectively.
US08066160B2
A mounting member, a rotation mechanism, and a plurality of plate-shaped members are included in a folding apparatus in order to simplify the configuration thereof, to make it easy to perform maintenance and repairs, and to reduce costs. The mounting member is a plate-shaped member wherein a foldable article can be mounted on a first surface so that part of the foldable article hangs down. The rotation mechanism rotates the first surface of the mounting member around an axis included in the first surface. The plurality of plate-shaped members are capable of moving toward the mourning member so as to hold part of the foldable article after part of the foldable article has been positioned in the vicinity of the mounting member due to the mounting member being rotated by the rotation mechanism.
US08066157B2
A dosing and/or dispensing system for use with a liquid container such as a bottle or the like for dosing and/or dispensing liquid contents from the bottle. The system includes an improved venting to ensure that the liquid being dosed or dispensed properly and accurately drains. A novel throat plug assembly is provided for insertion into the throat of the bottle. The throat plug assembly is comprised entirely of a recyclable plastic material.
US08066155B2
A trigger-type pump dispenser capable of preventing deformation of a channel of a coupling part when a piston is vertically pushed down by a trigger even in a structure in which the coupling part bends and a nozzle does not vertically move. The dispenser has a base main body 1 having the cylinder part 11 inside and attachable to an opening part of a container main body. A cover body 4 detachably latched with the base main body. A piston structure 2 composed of the nozzle part 21 engaged with the base main body, the piston part 23, and a bendable coupling part coupling the nozzle part and the piston part. Many fins 22A are formed on the periphery of the coupling part 22 so that an interior channel is not deformed.
US08066152B2
A device that attaches to a bottle's neck has a base that secures to the bottle's neck and has two passages that traverse the base. The first passage leads to an enclosure located above the base that holds cooling material and optionally has a conduit that improves the heat exchange between a dispensing liquid and the cooling material retained in the enclosure. The exit passage of the enclosure has in at least one embodiment a valve. The second passage through the base forms a vent line that is located entirely below the enclosure and allows air to flow into the bottle as bottle's contents are dispensed through the first passage.
US08066151B2
A measuring fluid dispenser for dispensing fluids in measured quantities has a user input device for generating at least one user input signal. A flow regulator provides a known fluid output flow rate by regulating fluid flow between an input port and an output port of the regulator. A first electronic valve is responsive to electronic signals, wherein a first electronic signal positions the first electronic valve in a flow permissive state, and a second electronic signal positions the first electronic valve in a flow restrictive (i.e. interrupting) state. The first electronic valve has a first valve input in fluid communication with the regulator output and also has a first valve output in fluid communication with a fluid output port. A processing unit is communicable with the user input device and is responsive to the user input signal, and is also in electronic communication with the first electronic valve for transmitting the electronic signals to the first electronic valve.
US08066150B2
The apparatus and process of the present invention provides for the automated, singulated dispensing of articles, particularly solid oral medication in predetermined quantities. The apparatus of the invention is a canister which houses a screw having a channel of a certain width and depth that corresponds to the dimensions of a particular pill type. The screw is removably mounted to a cradle and the screw and cradle combination is positioned within the canister so that it is generally parallel to the base of the canister. By virtue of being removably mounted, screws having channels of various dimensions, corresponding to a particular pill to be dispensed, can be substituted into the cradle within canister. A removable shelf is mounted to at least one interior side of the cradle and is positioned near the proximal end of the screw and cradle combination.
US08066145B1
The invention is a device that is designed to keep foods placed within it cold and the bugs away. The invention has a tub made out of a double layer of plastic. The tub has a drain in the bottom so water from melting ice can be drained off. The double walled construction is design to allow the tub to sit on a flat surface but still allow liquid to be removed by the drain. The tub also contains indentions in the bottom for the placement of the top tubes of a stand. On top of the tub is placed a covering that makes a quarter circle and covers the top. The covering is attached to the tub and stays in place when the tub is in use. The covering can be rotated for use.
US08066135B2
An embodiment of the present invention discloses a transport device for transporting loose cargo and fluid, including: an elongate loading floor on which loose cargo can be placed; a fluid tank to be fixed releasably to the loading floor and in which fluid can be stored, wherein the tank can be folded in longitudinal direction over the loading floor between a collapsed state in which the tank takes up a minimum loading floor area, to enable transport of a relatively large quantity of loose cargo, and an expanded state to enable transport of a relatively large amount of fluid.
US08066134B2
A metal fitting finding particular application as a corner fitting for an ISO freight container. The corner fitting is preferably cuboidal and comprises walls formed from a first material that define an internal cavity. At least one support member is encapsulated within the walls and is formed from a different material to that of the walls and comprises a greater yield strength. A reinforced corner fitting is therefore provided comprising enhanced load bearing capacity.
US08066127B2
An apparatus and method for collecting whole blood and then separating it into components for subsequent use or storage. A self-contained bag set is used to collect the sample, which may then be placed into a device adapted to fit into a centrifuge for separation of components. Each component is then sequentially extracted according to density, with a sensor present in the device to control the operation of valves directing the collection of each component. The sensor may be reading one or more of the following characteristics: infrared, optics, density, weight, radioactive, fluorescence, color, magnetism, ultrasonic, capacitance wherein the characteristic is inherent in the blood and blood component or is an additive. Each component may then be separated into its own storage container. The preferred sensors include optics and weight. Besides blood density separation, the device may contain a solution including cells, proteins, subcellular particles or viruses which may be mixed with affinity media or antibodies prior to separation.
US08066124B2
The disposable pill counting device is a tray formed of a disposable material and includes a sidewall to define areas for holding and dispensing pills. The disposable tray may be substantially U-shaped with a folding sidewall and can be used with a disposable spatula.
US08066121B2
A package for containing tablets or like separate dispensable items is provided having so-called child-resistant and senior-friendly storage and dispensing properties. An elongate outer sleeve houses a separate blister card carrying tablets or like items. The card slides into the sleeve to a storage position in which the card is housed within the outer sleeve and slides in the reverse direction to a dispensing position in which the card at least partially extends from the open end of the sleeve. The sleeve includes an internal locking restriction secured to a wall thereof, and the card includes a tail end having an integral latch. The locking restriction and latch cooperate to form a locking engagement thereby locking the card within the sleeve when the card is in the storage position. The sleeve includes visually defined squeeze locations on opposite side edges thereof that correspond to a location of the internal locking restriction. The locking engagement of the latch to the internal locking mechanism is released when the outer sleeve is squeezed at the visually defined squeeze locations. The construction of the outer sleeve from a paperboard blank, the construction of a blister card having a latch, and a method of assembling the above referenced package are also disclosed.
US08066120B2
The present invention relates to an improved child resistant sachet construction, suitable for holding a medicinal product, especially a flavored product. The sachet is a three seal sachet, or stick pack, made from a laminate sheet, the sachet having a fin seal along a longitudinal axis and transverse fin seals at each end. The laminate sheet is tough enough to resist tearing unless a notch is provided with which to initiate a tear. A fold line extends across a corner of the sachet and through the fin seal, a notch extending through the sachet in a transverse seal area and perpendicular to the fold line such that when the sachet is folded a cut is revealed that allows the user to initiate a tear across the pack opening up a pouring spout for dispensing the medicinal product. In an alternative aspect of the invention the laminate sheet is provided with an acrylonitrile methyl acrylate copolymer resin on the sheet face which forms the inside of the sachet. This layer provides improved retention of flavor while still allowing the sachet to be readily torn once a tear has been initiated.
US08066119B2
Auxiliary golf club holder with three tubular members attached to each other by two side mounted pivot members. A top plate and bottom plate are hinged together at their front edge. The bottom plate is attached to the central tubular member. A rigid finger extends downwardly from the top plate. A locking handle is pivotably mounted to the bottom plate in a spring biased fashion. When the handle is rotated down, an extension tip at the top of the handle pushes the top plate up causing the finger to be pulled in so that it can frictionally engage the side wall of a standard golf bag and hold the auxiliary golf club holder onto the outside of the bag. The three tubes can be splayed out by the user to form a stable tripod configuration. A standard golf club can be safely and cleanly stored in each tubular member.
US08066114B2
A differential impulse conveyor (10) includes a tray (12) laterally moveable in a forward direction at a first speed and in a backward direction at a second speed greater than the first speed, thereby moving goods along the tray. A plurality of legs (18, 20) support the tray during lateral movement, and a motor (30) powers a drive pulley (30). A driven pulley (36) is powered by the drive pulley, and a flexible member (34) interconnects the driven pulley and the drive pulley. At least the driven pulley has an eccentric pulley axis, thereby imparting lateral movement to the tray. A tension mechanism (38, 40) is provided to take up slack in the flexible member.
US08066112B2
A connector device for connecting an attachment part, in particular a plough guide part, to a lateral element of a trough pan of a mining device, comprising first fittings arranged on the lateral element, comprising counter fittings arranged on the attachment part and detachably connectable to the fittings, and comprising at least one retaining piece, which in the closing position prevents detachment of the fitting and counter fitting and in the opening position permits detachment. In order to facilitate assembly and disassembly, to the retaining piece there is assigned, according to the invention, a hydraulic cylinder for moving the retaining piece between the closing and opening position.
US08066108B2
Systems for inhibiting installation of emergency escape slides behind bustles (or other covers) when removable safety pins (or similar objects) remain intact are addressed. Versions of the systems mechanically interfere with installation of the bustles as long as the safety pins remain in place. Only when all safety pins are removed can the mechanical impediment be detached (or moved sufficiently) to permit installation of the bustles.
US08066104B2
Various bicycle brake assemblies are described. In some embodiments, a bicycle brake assembly comprises a multi-lever linkage assembly comprising an input link and an output link coupled with a brake pad, wherein the multi-lever linkage assembly is configured to provide a greater mechanical advantage when the brake assembly is in a second activated position in which the brake pad is contacting a wheel than when the brake assembly is in a first unactivated position.
US08066103B2
A brake shoe for holding a brake pad of a bicycle brake assembly has opposed first brake shoe undercuts at a first end portion of the brake shoe and opposed second brake shoe undercuts at a second end portion of the brake shoe. A slot is defined between the opposed first brake shoe undercuts and a slot is defined between the opposed second brake shoe undercuts. An edge wall is connected to all of the undercuts and a sidewall is connected to the edge wall. A brake pad receiving channel extends along the length of the brake shoe between the sidewall and all of the brake shoe undercuts. A brake pad insertion passage jointly intersecting the slot defined between the opposed first brake shoe undercuts and the slot defined between the opposed second brake shoe undercuts.
US08066089B2
A cycling vehicle is provided in which a first rear wheel is powered exclusively by a bicycle pedal, and a second rear wheel is powered exclusively by an electric motor. The cycling vehicle includes bicycle suspension comprising a seat tube, a paired rear triangle with a connecting member that connects the chain stay and the seat stay, a shock absorber in connection with the seat tube and the connecting member, and a pivot arm in connection with the seat tube and the connecting member.
US08066086B2
Sleeve arrangement for a drill rig, especially adapted for damping sound and sealing to the ground, said drill rig comprising a feed beam (4) having a drill end (41) and a rear end (42), said feed beam (4) comprising a first and a second part (411, 412) near the drill end (41), the first part (411) near the drill end (41), the first part (411) being fixed in relation to the feed beam (4), and the second part (412) being movable in relation to the feed beam (4) in a longitudinal direction. The invention is characterized in that said sleeve arrangement comprises a first flexible element (100) attached to the first part (411), and a second flexible element (200) attached to the movable second part (412), such that said first and second flexible elements (100, 200) are movable in relation to each other, wherein said second flexible element (200) is capable of taking an upper and a lower position, as well as all positions therebetween.
US08066085B2
A drill bit direction system and method is disclosed that modifies or biases the stochastic movement of the drill bit and/or stochastic interactions between the drill bit and an inner-wall of a borehole being drilled by a drilling system to change the direction of drilling of the drilling system. The direction of the drill bit is monitored to determine if the direction happens to align in some way with a preferred direction. If the direction isn't close enough to a preferred direction, a biasing mechanism modifies the stochastic movement in an attempt to modify the direction closer to the preferred direction. Any of a number of biasing mechanisms can be used. Some embodiments can resort to conventional steering mechanisms to supplement the biasing mechanism.
US08066084B2
A rotary drilling apparatus and method for drilling subterranean formations, including a body being provided with at least one cutter thereon exhibiting reduced, or limited, exposure to the formation, so as to control the depth-of-cut of the at least one cutter, so as to control the volume of formation material cut per rotation of the drilling apparatus, as well as to control the amount of torque experienced by the drilling apparatus and an optionally associated bottomhole assembly regardless of the effective weight-on-bit are all disclosed. The exterior of the drilling apparatus may include a plurality of blade structures carrying at least one such cutter thereon and including a sufficient amount of bearing surface area to contact the formation so as to generally distribute an additional weight applied to the drilling apparatus against the bottom of the borehole without exceeding the compressive strength of the formation rock.
US08066083B2
A perforating apparatus (190) used to perforate a subterranean well. The perforating apparatus (190) includes a generally tubular gun carrier (106) and a charge holder (192) rotatably mounted within the gun carrier (106). At least one shaped charge (102) is mounted in the charge holder (192) and is operable to perforate the well upon detonation. A dynamically adjustable weight system (194) including a plurality malleable weight members (196) is operably associated to the charge holder (192). The dynamically adjustable weight system (194) is operable to adjust the center of gravity (120) of the charge holder (192) such that gravity will cause the charge holder (192) to rotate within the gun carrier (106) to position the at least one shaped charge (102) in a desired circumferential direction relative to the well prior to perforating.
US08066078B2
An overshot tool is provided for interconnecting and sealing between a lower tubular (C) in a well and an upper tubular (30). A tubular expander sleeve (36) and an overshot sleeve (26) are supported in a well on an upper tubular. The tool housing (60) encloses a plurality of axially stacked pistons (58, 68, 74), which generate an axial force to move the expander sleeve downward and radially expand a portion of a lower tubular to seal between an outer diameter of the lower tubular and an inner diameter of the overshot sleeve.
US08066076B2
A connection system for connecting flow interface equipment to a subsea manifold is disclosed. The connection system relates particularly to a connection apparatus adapted to land a conduit means on a subsea manifold in a first stage of the connection and to connect a conduit means of the connection apparatus to a choke body of the manifold in a second stage of the connection.
US08066070B2
Methods and apparatuses for severing a wellbore tubular, the apparatus, in certain aspects, including: a first member movable toward a tubular to be severed; a second member with a second blade disposed opposite to the first member and movable toward the tubular; a first blade on the first member having a projection projecting from a center of a blade body with point structure on the projection for puncturing the tubular and cutting surfaces on the projection for cutting the tubular; and cutting surfaces, as needed, on the blade body adjacent the projection for cutting the tubular.
US08066069B2
The present invention relates methods and apparatus for lining a wellbore. In one aspect, a drilling assembly having an earth removal member and a wellbore lining conduit is manipulated to advance into the earth. The drilling assembly includes a first fluid flow path and a second fluid flow path. Fluid is flowed through the first fluid flow path, and at least a portion of which may return through the second fluid flow path. In one embodiment, the drilling assembly is provided with a third fluid flow path. After drilling has been completed, wellbore lining conduit may be cemented in the wellbore.
US08066065B2
An expansion device for a wellbore servicing tool, comprising a wedge comprising a frusto-conical wall having a tip end, the wedge being configured coaxially along a central axis, a plurality of slip segments, each slip segment comprising an inner surface having an incline surface, and at least one bridge joining each of the incline surfaces to the frusto conical wall. A method of operating a wellbore servicing tool, comprising longitudinally compressing an expansion device along a central axis, upon sufficient compression, separating plural slip segments from a wedge, moving the wedge relative to the slip segments, upon sufficient movement of the wedge relative to the slip segments, separating at least two slip segments from each other.
US08066050B2
A roman curtain includes a curtain unit and a winding unit. The curtain unit has a covering portion, a top edge portion of which is adapted to be mounted to or in the vicinity of an upper edge of the window and which extends downwardly, an upper tube that is disposed on a rear side of the covering portion, a lower tube that is disposed on the rear side of the covering portion below and spaced apart vertically from the upper tube, and two rods that extend into the upper and lower tubes respectively. The winding unit has a winding rod that is adapted to be mounted rotatably to or in the vicinity of the upper edge of the window, and a winding piece, a top end portion of which is connected to the winding rod.
US08066048B2
A device for applying labels to a label carrier including a movable rack, which defines a plurality of magazine sites, each of the magazine sites being configured for accommodating a label magazine that is suitable for accommodating a large number of labels. The magazine rack further includes docking means with the aid of which the rack can be docked to a labeling unit prepared for applying the individual labels from a selected label magazine to the label carrier. The device further includes a supply unit through which a selected label magazine can be transferred from the magazine site within the rack to an operating position at which the labels are taken hold of by the labeling unit and applied individually to one of the label carriers.
US08066044B2
An apparatus for high speed labeling of produce including a turret which carries label depositor arms and continuously rotates so that its fully extended tangential speed matches the produce conveyor speed. The label depositor arms are reciprocated along a predetermined path by a mechanical linkage. A supply of pressurized air and vacuum are selectively delivered to the label depositor arms to pick-up a print-on-demand label and adhere it to the produce. One or more rotating turrets are included within a system for high speed labeling. The system monitors a common shaft which drives a conveyor that moves multiple lanes of produce under corresponding turrets. A conveyor offset signal in combination with a printer offset control, allows the system to independently synchronize the high-speed labeling operation at each lane.
US08066039B2
An apparatus cuts rail ends for cabinet doors. Infeed and outfeed carriages are reciprocally movable along spaced apart tracks, and a transverse carriage is reciprocally moveable between the tracks. An arbor between the tracks supports and rotates a cutter. Clamps on the carriages selectively clamp a workpiece, so a workpiece clamped to the infeed carriage is carried past the arbor to cut an end of the workpiece, transferred to the transverse carriage, carried a desired distance towards the outfeed carriage, clamped to the outfeed carriage, carried past the arbor again to cut a second end of the workpiece, and released.
US08066038B2
A device for securing a dispensing nozzle to a fill tank includes a securing mechanism and a means for connecting the securing mechanism to the fill tank's cap chain. After connected to a fuel tank cap chain and upon subsequent attachment to a dispensing nozzle, the device prevents the nozzle from dislodging from the fuel tank.
US08066029B2
A sewer backup alarm and overflow prevention device eliminates raw sewage spills by preventing pressure buildup in sewer drains. One or more sewage level sensors may be coupled to an alarm and/or to an automatic water main shut-off valve. The level sensor may detect excess fluid levels in a sewer lateral line. The sewer backup alarm and overflow prevention device may include a joggle which is a component of a non-mechanical backflow prevention device. The level sensor may detect fluid levels in the lower portion of the joggle and activate the automatic water main shut-off valve and/or the alarm. The sewer backup alarm and overflow prevention device may include at least one two-way, in-line cleanout tube which may extend vertically upwardly from the joggle. The level sensor may be mounted in the vertical cleanout tube. The components may be contained within a seamless polyethylene vault for ease of installation and protection against root intrusion.
US08066028B2
A valve arrangement has a valve unit (3) fixed in position via two mutually spaced attachment structures (27 and 28) on a mounting face (6) of a valve support (2). The first attachment structure (27) includes two mutually engaged hook sections (32 and 33). The second attachment structure (28) includes a U-like retaining clip (58), which is so able to be attached to the structural unit comprising the valve unit (58) and the valve support (2) that its clamping limbs (63 and 64) act on clip sections (54 and 55) and accordingly braces the valve unit (3) onto the valve support (2).
US08066007B2
The invention provides intrafallopian devices and non-surgical methods for their placement to prevent conception. The efficacy of the device is enhanced by forming the structure at least in part from copper or a copper alloy. The device is anchored within the fallopian tube by imposing a secondary shape on a resilient structure, the secondary shape having a larger cross-section than the fallopian tube. The resilient structure is restrained in a straight configuration and transcervically inserted within the fallopian tube, where it is released. The resilient structure is then restrained by the walls of the fallopian tube, imposing anchoring forces as it tries to resume the secondary shape.
US08066004B2
Systems and methods for providing a breathing gas are provided. In one embodiment, the method includes sensing a sensed parameter associated with delivery of the breathing gas, changing a control parameter associated with a flow/pressure control element in response to a difference between the sensed parameter and a first predetermined sensed parameter value during a first portion of a breathing cycle, determining a transition from the first portion to a second portion of the breathing cycle based at least in part on the changing control parameter, changing the control parameter to cause a first change in the sensed parameter during the second portion of the breathing cycle based at least in part on the determined transition, and changing the control parameter to cause a second change in the sensed parameter during a third portion of the breathing cycle based at least in part on the first predetermined sensed parameter value.
US08065997B2
A heating cooking appliance is provided. The heating cooking appliance includes a case, a plate, a burner system, and a warm zone guide. The plate covers the top of the case. The burner system is provided below the plate and defines a heating region on the plate. The heating region heats food. A warm zone guide defines a warm zone region on the plate through exposing at least a portion of an undersurface of the plate to combustion gas generated from the burner system during exhausting of the combustion gas.
US08065994B2
An adaptor for a device mount that is used to mount a device such as a video camera, rangefinder or a game caller is provided. In one embodiment, the adapter includes a threaded attaching portion and an engaging cylinder. The threaded screw portion is adapted to engage internal threads in a bore of a structure. The engaging cylinder is coupled to the threaded attaching portion. The surface of the engaging cylinder is adapted to engage a scope mount ring.
US08065993B2
An oil baffle, a system, and a method are disclosed for separating a gaseous component from oil in a blow-by vapor for an internal combustion engine. An example system may include a cam cover configured to be mounted on a cylinder head. The system may also include an oil baffle including a first face coupled to the cam cover and may define an oil separation chamber between the cam cover and the first face. The oil baffle may include one or more stiffening members coupled to and extending from and substantially normal to an opposite face in order to reduce noise.
US08065992B2
A valve arrangement is provided for an exhaust gas recirculation device of an internal-combustion engine. The engine has at least one inlet and at least one outlet. The recirculation device includes an inlet on the internal-combustion engine outlet side, an outlet on the internal-combustion engine inlet side, and several, particularly two flow paths extending between the inlet and the outlet and being parallel at least in areas. The valve arrangement has a first control element and a second control element for automatically regulating/controlling fluid flow flowing between the inlet and the outlet and automatically regulating/controlling the distribution of this fluid flow between the several flow paths. A common actuator is provided for operating the first control element as well as the second control element.
US08065991B2
A working gas circulation engine includes a combustion chamber that can expand a working gas, which has a specific heat ratio higher than that of the air, with the combustion between an oxidizing agent and a fuel; a circulation path that can allow the working gas to circulate from a suction side to an exhaust side of the combustion chamber and can supply the same again to the combustion chamber; a feed means that can feed the gas in a pressure-reduction target section, which is the section whose pressure is to be reduced, to the outside, and a control means that operates the feed means for feeding the gas in the pressure-reduction target section, when the pressure in the pressure-reduction target section is higher than a predetermined pressure that is set in advance.
US08065989B2
In a fuel delivery device (1) for supplying an internal combustion engine (3) of a motor vehicle with fuel from a fuel tank (2), a pressure sensor (14) is arranged within the fuel tank (2) and is connected to a section, which is guided within the fuel tank (2), of a feed line (6). In this way, the pressure sensor (14) is remote from the internal combustion engine (3) and is therefore subjected to only very low thermal and mechanical loads. The fuel delivery line (1) is therefore of particularly cost-effective design.
US08065986B2
A method is disclosed for initiating oil injection into a cylinder of an internal combustion engine prior to engine start-up, the oil injection protecting the engine from damage caused by insufficient lubrication during the start-up. The method includes processing data to modulate a lubrication initiation modifier and initiating the oil injection on the basis of the lubrication initiation modifier.
US08065976B1
An improved cattle feeding system and shelter to maintain cattle in their thermo neutral zone. The shelter has a building foundation frame extending upwardly from the ground with an awning frame extending upwardly from the foundation frame and over it. This allows for an awning to be placed over the shelter frame to at least partially enclose it. The awning has a portion which is optionally opened to the south and optionally opened to the north to selectively allow air ventilation or catching the warmth of a southern sun exposure it also defines a chimney in the roof area and draft gap in the north wall. The awning also has a portion that can extend outwardly to the south, as well as retract. Vertically extendable and retractable awning closures are over the east and west ends of the frame to form selective entrances and exits. The entire system is built on a partial cement floor and a deep bedded area on a limestone pack and is of a configuration which enhances cleanliness inside of the shelter. The Drover's Alley allows cattle to be sorted and moved inside the shelter and to be restrained on the bedding pack while concrete alley is scraped.
US08065975B2
A temperature measuring, algae cleaning and feeding system which includes a thermometer mounted on one side of a first support. At least one first magnet is mounted on an opposite side of the first support. The opposite side of the first support is adapted to engage the outer surface of a first wall of the aquarium. At least one second magnet is mounted on one side of the second support. A scrub pad for removing algae is mounted on the opposite side of the second support, the opposite side of the second support being adapted to engage the inner surface of the first wall of the aquarium opposite the first support such that the first and second magnets attract each other to thereby attach the first and second supports to the first wall of the aquarium. A fish feeding dispenser is mounted on the opposite side of the second support.
US08065970B2
A high-speed, multi-hull boat that includes at least three hulls (3, 4), and in which, with the boat being considered to be floating and stationary on a stretch of calm water (1), the cross sectional areas (Si) of the space (18) formed between two walls (19) of opposing hulls, the surface of the water (1) and the bottom face (21) of the deck (2) facing this water surface, decrease from the bow to the stern. According to the invention, with the boat being considered to be out of the water, the heights (H) of the hulls between the same horizontal reference (R) and the lowest part (B) of their bottoms, are greater for the outer hulls (4) than for the central hulls (3) in the same cross-sectional plane.
US08065953B2
Preparing device for preparing a beverage from a powdery substance and a hot liquid, the device comprising: at least one mixing chamber for mixing a quantity of the powdery substance and a quantity of the hot liquid; an inlet into the mixing chamber for the quantity of hot liquid; an inlet into the mixing chamber for the quantity of powdery substance; an extractor hood placed on the mixing chamber; an extraction duct connected to the extractor hood and provided with a suction device, such as a ventilating fan, for extracting vapor and dust particles from the mixing chamber via the extraction duct and the extractor hood; a first housing accommodating further components of the preparing device, such as electrical components and pipework, in which the extraction duct extends entirely along the exterior of the first housing.
US08065952B2
A full-automatic drip coffee maker with coffee bean grinder which is totally electronic controlled, that is, the user just needs to select whether to brew coffee after grinding the coffee bean or directly brew coffee on the control panel, accordingly the coffee maker will carry out operations automatically and preserve the coffee bean aroma as much as possible in the process of brewing. It comprises a shell body, an automatic coffee bean grinding device, a brewing device, a heater. a water reservoir. a control panel and a coffee pot; a coffee powder outlet is disposed below the automatic coffee bean grinding device, the brewing device comprises a coffee basket for holding coffee powder, the coffee basket is disposed below the coffee powder outlet, and the coffee pot is disposed below the coffee outlet of the brewing device; wherein the automatic coffee bean grinding device further comprises a partition sealing assembly, and the partition scaling assembly comprises a partition device disposed below the coffee powder outlet and a drive motor for the partition device; the partition device is connected with the shaft of the drive motor so as to rotate around the shaft of the drive motor.
US08065947B2
A hard armor composite includes a rigid facing and a ballistic fabric backing. The fabric backing is carried by the facing, and includes an array of bundled high-performance fibers. The fibers have a tensile strength greater than 7 grams per denier and a denier per filament ratio of less than 5.4.
US08065945B2
A tissue cutting device is described, a representative one of which includes: a handle part; a head unit including comprising a plurality of blades arranged so as to extend substantially parallel with a longitudinal direction of the handle part at intervals and a blade holding portion for holding the plurality of blades; and a head holding part located at the distal end of the handle part, for holding the head.
US08065944B1
A portable cutter used for cutting different widths of thin sheet material. The portable cutter includes a right angle measurement bar with scale adapted for receipt against a front side of an open top storage box. The storage box is used for holding a large roll of thin sheet material therein. At least one cutting blade tool is adjustably mounted along a length of the measurement bar. The cutting blade tool includes a cutting blade disposed between a horizontal upper blade guide arm and a horizontal lower blade guide arm. Attached to a portion of the lower blade guide arm is a magnet holder with magnet used for releasable attachment to the measurement bar.
US08065942B2
The invention comprises an armoring element (1) of a knife haft, which has a bar (10) extending in an axial direction (100) and is connected to the tang (20) of a knife blade (2) using a connecting means (11). A secure, frictional connection in an axial direction (100) between the armoring element (1) and the knife blade (2) is formed by positive locking and/or material bonding between the connecting means (11) of the armoring element (1) and a corresponding counter piece (21) on the tang (20) of the knife blade (2). In an inventive method for producing a knife, the tang (20) and the armoring element (1) are coated with haft material, e.g. haft shells in the connected state. The haft material forms the actual body of the knife haft, wherein parts of the surface of the armoring element (1) may be disposed in the outer surface of the knife haft such that they are visible.
US08065930B2
The present invention provides a three position hydraulic piston assembly for a gear ratio change mechanism for a transmission exhibiting reduced gear shift noise. The three position hydraulic piston assembly includes a master piston and motion retarding assemblies that act near both travel limits of the master piston. The master piston includes symmetrical passageways that provide hydraulic fluid flow to small chambers at each end of the piston that are closed off as the piston approaches its travel limits. Hydraulic fluid trapped in the chambers decelerates the piston and is bled off through an orifice allowing the piston to reach its travel limit and quickly and quietly engage a gear ratio.
US08065922B2
A method and apparatus for determining flow in an aspirated smoke detector system includes a plurality of sampling pipes in fluid communication with a smoke detector, a flow rate detector in at least one of the sampling pipes that senses a signal transmitted between a first and second signal transceiver, wherein the first transceiver transceives signals in at least two of the sampling pipes.
US08065920B2
A gripper and a driving method using the same are disclosed, wherein an actuator has a configuration combined with a piezoelectric operating unit and a bending structure, whereby an amount of variation of a gap between fingers are amplified more than that of the piezoelectric operating unit by generating a movement of the fingers perpendicular to a movement direction of the piezoelectric operating unit, and wherein the gripper having arms including a strain gauge sensor can precisely measure a force applied to a micro object.
US08065919B2
A MEMS device includes: a substrate having a through hole; a first film provided on a top surface of the substrate with a bottom surface of the first film exposed in the through hole; a second film provided over the first film with an air gap interposed therebetween, and having a hole grouping including holes each in communication with the air gap; and a supporting layer interposed between the first and second films and having the air gap formed therein. Outermost holes of the hole grouping are located at regular intervals along a shape of an opening of the through hole at an upper open end.
US08065918B2
An air pressure sensor that has a first conductive membrane configured for deflection in response to pressure differences between air at a reference pressure and air at a pressure to be sensed. The sensor also has a second conductive membrane configured for deflection in response to a change in temperature to which the pressure sensor is exposed. The sensor uses a circuit in electrical communication with the first and second conductive membranes, that obtains a first signal and second signal from the first and second conductive membranes respectively. The first and second signals are indicative of the deflection of the first and second conductive membranes. The circuit adjusts the first signal by the second signal to generate an output signal indicative of the air pressure.
US08065907B2
A testing apparatus comprising a chamber having an inlet and an outlet (16); a measuring device, at least a part of which is provided within the chamber; where the inlet is arranged to direct fluid onto the part of the measuring device within the chamber in order to clean the measuring device during start up. Thus the density or viscosity of drilling mud may be continuously monitored. Some exemplary embodiments include an outlet valve such as a ball valve with a bore defined therein. The bore allows fluid to flow therethrough even in a valve “closed” position and generates the preferred back pressure whilst minimizing the risk that the valve will block. A pressure activated drain valve may also be provided to substantially empty the chamber when not in use.
US08065904B1
We describe the use of coordination polymers (CP) as coatings on microcantilevers for the detection of chemical analytes. CP exhibit changes in unit cell parameters upon adsorption of analytes, which will induce a stress in a static microcantilever upon which a CP layer is deposited. We also describe fabrication methods for depositing CP layers on surfaces.
US08065901B2
A method for surface treating a mandrel bar used for hot rolling of high-alloy seamless steel pipe is provided. The method includes heat treating the mandrel bar to develop a scale, and after heat treatment, rolling ordinary steel comprising 8% or less of chromium for at least 50 passes. This achieves a mandrel bar for rolling high-alloy steel possessing both durability and superior resistance to seizure.
US08065900B2
A plug material having a prescribed shape is prepared, the prepared plug material is thermally treated in a heat treatment atmosphere that contains at least 1.0 vol. % oxygen at a heat treatment temperature of at least 950° C. and less than 1050° C. and thus a plug having an oxide scale layer 30 on the surface is manufactured. According to the manufacturing method, pores PO that extend along the surface SF of the plug material are formed under outer scale layer 20 in the oxide scale layer 30, which allows cracks to be more easily propagated in the outer scale layer 20. Therefore, the outer scale layer 20 is more easily peeled off than the conventional one.
US08065899B2
A feed device for a superplastic press-forming press has a slide that moves vertically and a base between which is held a tool having a cover and a bottom die enclosing a forming tool, which includes at least one heating shuttle to transport the bottom die, equipped with the forming tool and a cover, with the heating shuttle adapted to complete the press and constitute the base of the press during a hot-press forming operation.
US08065898B2
A method of processing an article includes mechanically working an article having a metallic layer disposed on a titanium substrate and establishing a residual stress region that extends through the metallic layer and at least partially into the titanium substrate.
US08065897B2
A lock core and key blank are disclosed. The disclosed lock core includes a core body, a core sleeve, a core plug, and a side pin assembly including a side pin, a region pin, and a spring.
US08065891B2
A multiple-layered hot-melt glass lampshade having a crystal-interwoven structure with a first hot-melt glass layer, a second hot-melt glass layer, a third hot-melt glass layer, a first crystal glass layer, a second crystal glass layer, and a curing gel layer. The order of arrangement is, from outside to inside, the first hot-melt glass layer, the second hot-melt glass layer, the third hot-melt glass layer, the first crystal glass layer, the curing gel layer, and the second crystal glass layer. The first hot-melt glass layer, the second hot-melt glass layer, and the third hot-melt glass layer are partially attached to each other. The third hot-melt glass layer is partially attached to the first crystal glass layer.
US08065886B2
A management center is configured to communicate with a refrigeration system controller for a refrigeration system at a remote location. The management center is configured to receive ambient temperature data corresponding to an ambient temperature at the remote location, to calculate a projected energy consumption value for at least one component of the refrigeration system based on the ambient temperature data, and to receive an actual energy consumption value for the at least one component from the refrigeration system controller. The management center is also configured to compare the actual energy consumption value with the projected energy consumption value and to generate an output based on the comparison.
US08065868B2
A non-invasive system, method, and apparatus for control input prediction and state verification of an aircraft's fluidic vectoring exhaust is disclosed. The control system derives a desired vector state, then predicts and sets the fluidic injection input required to produce the desired vector state. A vectored state verification routine is used to determine the resulting vector state for feedback to the control system.
US08065867B2
A bearing assembly includes an outer race and an inner race with a ball bearing element located between the inner and the outer races. The inner race has a first portion and a second portion separated from the first portion by a split. The first portion includes a first curved inner race support surface defined by a first center point and the second portion includes a second curved inner race support surface defined by a second center point that is non-coincident with the first center point.
US08065854B1
A roofing composition is formed as a shingle or from one or more separate sheets. The roofing composition includes a storage layer with an inert non-growing storage medium to absorb and detain precipitation for gradual release. The roofing composition reduces hydraulic discharge rates to avoid overloading downstream drainage systems.
US08065851B2
A composite wood panel having a first and a second longitudinal edge comprising an essentially parallel first surface and second surface, a core, a spacer integrally formed in or attached in the core on at least the longitudinal edges wherein the spacer extends from an edge a pre-determined distance whereby upon placing one panel adjacent to a second panel a spacer of the first panel will abut a spacer of or an edge of a second panel thereby forming at least a first aperture between the adjacent panels wherein an aperture is located between adjacent edges of the panels. A spacer can push into its panel upon linear expansion of a panel. The spacer can be, e.g., a tongue, edge profile, or separate spacing material. Methods for making and using panels are disclosed.
US08065846B2
A modular construction system is made of a plurality of panels having peripheral frame elements defining a top channel, a bottom channel, and side channels. An exterior planar sheet and an interior planar sheet element enclose an inner core region that is filled with an adhesive bonding material that attaches the components together.
US08065843B2
The present invention relates generally to a system for adjusting the length and tension of a cable that is used to support another structure, such as bay and bow windows and, more particularly, to such a system that is easily micro-adjustable as well as macro-adjustable.
US08065841B2
Roof panels and roof panel assemblies, comprising roof panels and ridge beams, assemblies are disclosed for use in building construction. The roof panels and ridge beams comprise components formed of composite materials, and certain aspects of the invention include designs that provide for the absorption of solar heat and the promotion of hot air flow within the roof to heat the interior building or generate electricity, among other attributes.
US08065839B2
A moisture management system for use in construction of buildings, particularly for partially covering the framework of a rough opening in a structure. The system has a body having a plurality of pathways to facilitate fluid between the system and any fixture installed adjacent to the system. The pathways allow fluid, especially water, to flow away from the installation surfaces and down along the exterior of the building.
US08065838B2
A mounting and attachment system, which mounts a continuous snow rail for snow protection above the seams of a metal roof and also attaches lower members or snow flags between the seams to stop the snow from sliding under the seam. This system reduces the requirement for holes and threaded holes in the mounting block. The mounting block has a slot which runs therethrough to fit over a raised seam. This slot can have parallel walls or can be shaped to match a particular seam. This block also has slots or linear indentations on the sides or ends in a direction perpendicular or parallel to the slot for the seam. A snow rail long enough to connect two or more of the seam-mounted blocks together. Finally, a top rail may be secured parallel to the seam and mounted on two or more seam mounted blocks.
US08065834B2
A two part plant container includes an outer tub part having a series of step indentations around its perimeter forming horizontal rest surfaces within the outer part which are located above a lower region forming a water reservoir space. The inner part has a bottom wall areas resting on the surfaces with the inner part nested within an upper region of the outer part. A drain hole is formed through a depressed area in one of the rest surface to set the maximum water level in the reservoir which is just below lower areas of the inner part bottom wall set at the same level as the drain hole. This insures that the soil in the inner part is never wet by the water in the reservoir to prevent wicking and waterlogging of the soil while leaving only a very short gap for the roots of a plant to grow across to reach the water. Handhold features are formed into the perimeter wall of the inner part allowing easy lift out. Ribs are formed into the inner part bottom wall to stiffen the same.
US08065833B2
The present invention is a hydroponics system with a grotube for drip and ebb and flow methods of plant nourishment. The present invention includes at least one main body with at least one port or grow station. Nutrient fluid is circulated from a reservoir via a pump into the main body through an inlet pipe. The inlet pipe is placed above or below a plant root ball. The fluid then exits the main body via a drain pipe and then returns to the reservoir. The height of the pipe determines the level of nutrient fluid. Plants are grown in removable strainers, contacting the nutrient fluid, with little or no solid growth medium. A removable plate atop the saddle reduces moisture loss from the main body, and inhibits rainfall from entering the main body when used outdoors.
US08065829B2
A sign assembly includes a base material, a filmic substrate imaged with a design, and a sign assembly frame that includes a sign framing member of fixed position in relation to the base material. The sign framing member includes a projecting portion terminating at an inside edge of the sign framing member. The display sign is adhered to the base material. The inside edge of the sign framing member is located within the projected area of the display sign and is spaced from the base material and the filmic substrate. The display sign is capable of being applied through an opening defined by the inside edge of the sign framing member. The space between the inside edge of the projecting portion and the display sign includes a void.
US08065813B2
An excavation device (1) and profile analysis of the excavation includes a device (1) realizing excavations of prismatic shape and having a frame (3) and a plurality of excavation wheels (2). The frame (3) includes a first upper section (3c), a second intermediate section (3b) and a third lower section (3a. The excavation wheels (2) are positioned at least within said third section (3a). Sensors (4) carry out the measurement of the section and/or the shape of said excavation; the sensors of measure (4) are directed towards the walls of said excavation and measure the profile of said excavation on at least two opposite walls. A method of analysis of a shape and/or a section of an excavation of prismatic shape in the soil includes excavation of the soil through a device (1) having a frame (3) and a plurality of excavation wheels (2). The method includes a phase of measurement of the section and/or shape of said excavation by sensors (4) positioned on the frame (3) and directed towards the walls of said excavation, measuring the profile of the excavation on at least two opposite walls.
US08065805B2
A vegetation pruning device (102) includes a pair (114, 116) of pivotably coupled handles and a motor having a rotary output drive (130) for driving an endless flexible cutting chain (108). A guard (162) is moved relative to the chain (108) by pivoting the handles (114, 116) relative to each other to grip vegetation between the guard (162) and the chain (108). The guard is provided with a pair of curved upper surfaces (164) having teeth (166). The rotary output drive (130) of the motor is arranged generally coaxially with the axis of pivotal movement of the handles (114, 116).
US08065797B2
A method of fabricating a printed circuit board is disclosed. A method of fabricating a printed circuit board that includes: stacking an insulation layer on at least one surface of a core layer, on which an inner circuit is formed, and forming an outer circuit pattern; burying the outer circuit pattern in the insulation layer; removing the outer circuit pattern to form minute grooves and curing the insulation layer; and forming an outer circuit by filling metal in the minute grooves, makes it possible to readily form high-resolution fine-line circuits, as well as to reduce fabrication costs and increase productivity.
US08065791B2
The present invention is to provide a terminal insertion apparatus to insert a terminal into a terminal receiving chamber without hitting an inner surface of the terminal receiving chamber. A terminal insertion apparatus includes a housing holder unit, an insertion unit, and a control device. The housing holder unit holds a connector housing and is movable in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. The insertion unit inserts a terminal attached with an electrical wire into a terminal receiving chamber of the connector housing. The control device controls a move unit support portion to reciprocate a housing holder by a move distance after an end portion of the terminal is inserted into the terminal receiving chamber so that the terminal can be inserted without hitting an inner surface of the terminal receiving chamber.
US08065790B2
A sensor assembly includes an insert mounted within a fixed structure and tabs that engaged the insert to secure the sensor assembly in a desired orientation. A cap is assembled over the sensor assembly and the interface between the tabs and the insert to prevent undesired removal.
US08065784B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a module and process for forming electrical connections on a solar cell substrate in a solar cell production line. The module generally provides a substrate handling system, a substrate positioning system, a cross-buss attachment assembly, and a side-buss attachment assembly. The module may provide adaptations for automatically adjusting the module to receive and process various sizes of solar cell substrates.
US08065780B2
A collapsible device includes a base, a cover, and a hinge. The hinge includes a first connecting member fixed to the base, a second connecting member defining a through hole, a sleeve member fixed to the second connecting member, a shaft movably mounted to the first connecting member, and a fastener. The sleeve member defines a spiral slide groove therein. A clamping protrusion extends from the first connecting member for slidably engaging in the slide groove. The shaft includes a fixing portion rotatably passed through the sleeve member and the through hole. The fastener is fixed to a distal end of the fixing portion. The second connecting member is fixed to the cover. During the rotation of the cover relative to the base via the hinge, the cover is synchronously moved transversely relative to the base along the axial direction of the hinge.
US08065774B2
A paint brush has a handle and a paint brush head. The paint brush head is detachable from the paint brush handle. The paint brush head may be rotatable to a number of positions relative to the paint brush handle.
US08065762B1
A hammock support is provided that includes an arched structure supported by tripod leg supports. The arched support is preferably a truss structure that provides multiple attachment points to support a hammock bed for varying the types, lengths, and heights of hammocks. In some embodiments, the arched truss structure includes multiple interlocked truss sections that can be assembled and disassembled without tools. The tripod leg supports provide stability for use in wet, uneven, or otherwise inhospitable terrain. The arched structure provides attachment locations for one or more accessories, such as mosquito netting, tents, tables, drink holders, lights, and other accessories. Additionally, the hammock support assembly of the invention is adapted to be used with one or more hammock support assemblies to create larger structures to create tents or bivouacs for camping or emergency shelter.
US08065755B2
A water jet injector for a sanitary self-cleaning toilet seat device includes a foothold having a connector to connect with an external duct; a pipe installed at the front edge of the foothold and having two chambers; and two jet pipes each installed in its corresponding chamber and having a nozzle provided at the top edge of the jet pipe with a water outlet. The jet pipes are movable to and fro to clean the contaminated parts of the user's body with the cleaning water jet. Besides, a shade is stretched out of the pipe to cover the top edges of said nozzles so as to prevent the nozzles from being dirted by the soil and the user's body from being wetted by the residual water in the pipes.
US08065754B2
The pole plunger includes a main shaft having an upper disc secured to an upper end and a lower disc secured to a lower end. The lower disc has a radius greater than that of the upper disc, allowing the user to select the appropriately sized disc which matches the radius of a drain pipe to be plunged. Additionally, a handle portion may be secured to the main shaft, extending in a direction orthogonal thereto, providing the user with a handle to grip during the plunging process. The handle portion further has a handle disc secured to its free end, with the handle disc having a radius between that of the upper and lower discs, providing the user with a third size disc for plunging of the drain pipe.
US08065752B2
A diving face mask including a pair of front lenses, a lens frame provided with an outer frame having a pair of lens holders in which the lenses are detachably mounted from front and an inner frame having a pair of annular portions adapted to be detachably snap engaged with an inner peripheral surface of the lens holders, a tubular facial skirt extending rearward from the lens frame, and a strap adapted to be put around the wearer's head. The inner frame includes a pair of the integral annular portions and is formed with a space into which a connector member prepared separately of the inner frame is detachably fitted.
US08065751B2
A moisture-absorbable hat includes: a crown made of a woven fabric including warp and weft textured charcoal fiber yarns, warp and weft non-charcoal fiber yarns which are not elastic and are not textured, and weft elastofiber yarns, the elastofiber yarns extending along a circumferential direction of the crown; and a sweatband attached to and extending along a circumferential open end of the crown and including warp and weft textured charcoal fiber yarns, and weft elastofiber yarns.
US08065747B2
An adjustable collar having a finished slot through which a fabric strip passes unimpeded. A pair of flaps is formed by an outer band of the collar and abut the finished slot. The fabric strip is secured to a free end of an elastic strip, which is secured to a shirt band at a first end of the elastic strip. A button is secured to a free end of the fabric strip and the button passes through a horizontal buttonhole defined in an end of an outer portion of a neckband of the shirt. The fabric strip is retracted and hidden when the collar is open. The button is larger than a diameter of the finished slot to prevent the fabric strip from retracting completely therethrough.
US08069489B2
A method for controlling the release of an as-rendered configuration of a digital work, comprising the steps of presenting said digital work as a composite of a plurality of layers comprising at least a first layer and a second layer; providing a rendering protocol interface which is adapted for defining said as-rendered configuration of the digital work by specifying a first rendering status of said first layer and a second rendering status of said second layer; providing a rendering protocol facility adapted for storing and controlling the release of said first and second rendering status of said first and second layers respectively in accordance with said as-rendered configuration; restricting unauthorized access to the rendering protocol interface, thereby preventing unauthorized modification of said as-rendered configuration; and releasing said digital work with said as-rendered configuration. The method has application in selling books, movies, software, music and other information products. A method of selling a preview version of an information product along with an option of purchase of the original version is described.
US08069488B2
A method and apparatus exclusively control a device in a home network. A control point requests exclusive control authority from the device. In response to the request the control point receives an identifier (RID) used to successfully authenticate the exclusive control authority. The control point then acquires the exclusive control authority and controls the device. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent other control points from interfering with the device so as not to perform an operation which is not desirable for the control point that acquires the exclusive control authority over the device.
US08069482B2
Some demonstrative embodiments of the invention relate to a method, device and system of database security. One demonstrative embodiment of the invention includes an intrusion detection sensor to scan transactions on a database, and generate an event based on a detection profile. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08069479B2
A set of one or more positional control parameters includes at least one of a geographic limit, a velocity limit, and a direction of travel limit. A control list identifies at least one feature in a mobile device. The at least one feature may be associated with at least one of the positional control parameters.
US08069475B2
A Passive Optical Network (PON) includes an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) and an Optical Line Terminal (OLT). The ONT is configured for providing controlled port operations of authenticator Port Access Entity (PAE) functionality and the OLT is configured for providing entity authentication operations of the authenticator PAE functionality. The controlled port operations of authenticator PAE functionality includes inhibiting transmission of non-authentication messages from the ONT, transmitting a supplicant authentication request to the OLT and enabling transmission of non-authentication messages from the ONT in response to receiving supplicant authentication confirmation. The entity authentication operations of the authenticator PAE functionality include facilitating authentication of an identity of the supplicant and facilitating transmission of supplicant authentication confirmation for reception by the ONT in response to the identity being authenticated.
US08069470B1
A sensor system includes a controller and sensors, the system configured to ensure unique identity for each device. Methods are provided to generate new identities for those devices having duplicate addresses, and to transmit the new identity information to those devices.
US08069465B1
Systems, devices, and methods are disclosed for managing multimedia traffic across a common wireless communication network. Embodiments may include content devices, end point devices, a network node, and a wireless dongle. The network node and the wireless dongle may have application functions transmitting and receiving application data streams including a video application. The video application may include a conversion engine to compress, expand, or convert video data. Further, both the network node and the wireless dongle may transmit downstream video streams and receive upstream video streams. In addition, the network node may have a master controller function and a node management function, and a dongle management function each managing video traffic streams and application data streams. In addition, the dongle management function controls admission of a video traffic stream originating from the wireless dongle to the wireless communication network.
US08069460B2
Screen (10) for a user interface of a television schedule system and process consists of an array (24) of irregular cells (26), which vary in length, corresponding to different television program lengths of one half hour to one-and-one half hours or more. The array is arranged as three columns (28) of one-half hour in duration, and twelve rows (30) of program listings. Some of the program listings overlap two or more of the columns (28) because of their length. Because of the widely varying length of the cells (26), if a conventional cursor used to select a cell location were to simply step from one cell to another, the result would be abrupt changes in the screen (10) as the cursor moved from a cell (26) of several hours length to an adjacent cell in the same row. An effective way of taming the motion is to assume that behind every array (24) is an underlying array of regular cells. By restricting cursor movements to the regular cells, abrupt screen changes will be avoided. With the cursor (32), the entire cell (26) is 3-D highlighted, using a conventional offset shadow (34). The offset shadow (34) is a black bar that underlines the entire cell and wraps around the right edge of the cell. To tag the underlying position—which defines where the cursor (32) is and thus, where it will move next—portions (36) of the black bar outside the current underlying position are segmented, while the current position is painted solid.
US08069459B2
A method, which comprises: receiving from a provider of a first content stream an indication of a promotional time slot to be rendered available on the first content stream; accessing a program schedule indicative of television programs scheduled to begin airing on respective content streams at respective start times; consulting said schedule to identify at least one particular television program among those of said television programs scheduled to air on content streams provided by providers different from the provider of the first content stream and whose start times fall within a time window of acceptable viewability relative to the promotional time slot; and causing conveyance of an advertisement for the at least one particular television program during the promotional time slot.
US08069457B2
An auto-balancing device, as well as a turntable device and a disc driving device equipped with the auto-balancing device are disclosed. The auto-balancing device, which includes a housing, which is coupled with a rotating body, and in which an annular insertion groove is formed; a correcting ring, rotatably inserted in the insertion groove; and multiple correcting balls, positioned between the correcting ring and an outward inwall of the insertion groove, can reduce noise and vibration for a rotating body during acceleration and deceleration and during high-speed rotations.
US08069454B2
The invention provides an emergency ejection device for a slot-in disk drive, which rotates a worm gear by a motor. A central hole of a rotating component is fixed on a housing. A sliding slot is formed on an end of the rotating component, and a buckling slot is formed on an end of the sliding slot. A first gear of a gear set fixed on the central hole of the rotating component is engaged with the worm gear. A clutching gear fixed on the other end of the rotating component is engaged with the first gear. An end of a locking component inserts inside the sliding slot, and an inclined surface protrudes from the other end of the locking component. A spring provides an elastic force for holding the sliding column inside the buckling slot so as to keep engagement of the clutching gear with a second gear.
US08069453B2
A transfer mechanism includes: a tray that includes a placement surface section on which a recording medium is placed, and retention means for keeping hold of the recording medium placed on the placement surface section, and is moved and rotated across an insertion/removal position at which the tray is faced toward the outside of a device body with the placement surface section being substantially horizontal and a recording/reproduction position at which the tray is housed in the device body with the placement surface section being substantially vertical; a clamp member that is supported inside of the device body to allow a main surface section thereof to move and rotate across a substantially-horizontal direction and a substantially-vertical direction, and clamps, with a support mechanism, the recording medium moved and rotated to the recording/reproduction position; and a movement mechanism that moves the tray.
US08069452B2
Methods and agent for correlating event notifications are provided wherein the agent comprises an interface receiving an event notification, a Peer Agent Notification Category List (PANCL) storing peer agent notification categories of event notifications that other agents are interested in receiving from the agent, and a notifications processing engine that determines if the event notification matches the peer agent notification categories of the PANCL. Upon positive determination the first event notification is sent at least to a second agent associated with the matched peer agent notification category of the PANCL. In another aspect, the agent comprises a manager notifications log storing identities of event notifications sent from the agent to the manager and a notifications processing engine that determines if a received peer agent event notification matches any event notifications of the log. Upon positive determination, the engine correlates the peer agent event notification with the event notification of the log.
US08069448B2
Provided is a computer interface controller for peripheral devices, comprising a computer interface control unit, a central control unit, a driver program memory, a virtual optical disc drive control unit, a data transmission unit and a data interruption unit. The central controller is connected to the computer interface control unit and the driver program memory is connected to the central controller. The data transmission unit and the data interruption unit are connected to the computer interface control unit. The computer interface controller selects a proper data transmission mode according to the user authorization information provided by the computer device in correspondence with the user of the peripheral in connection with the invented computer interface controller.
US08069445B2
A thread analysis tool records a set of currently-held synchronization objects and currently-acquired objects when a thread acquires one or more objects, then searches for a lock acquisition hierarchy violation that may cause program deadlock. If a violation is found, it is reported to the user. Software to implement the methods of the analysis tool, and systems using the methods, are also described and claimed.
US08069443B2
Techniques are provided for the delivery of client services and for the establishment of client processing environments. A client receives services within a processing environment which is defined by a processing container. The processing container includes one or more processing groups, and each processing group has a particular context that supports one or more applications or services which are processing within that context. The processing groups communicate with one another via connector interfaces included within the processing container. Services and processing containers can be dynamically added or removed from the processing container.
US08069441B2
To construct an operation environment for a job by deploying in a computer an operating system and various programs as a premise of operation of a job program of the job of which operation is to be started in a job system, there is selected an optimized construction procedure requiring the shortest construction time. Various application programs and patch programs for the deployment included in the saved disk images are compared with the various programs as a premise of the job operation to obtain a period of time to uninstall unnecessary programs, a period of time to install lacking programs, and a period of time to deploy the disk image on the computer. An estimated construction time is obtained by adding the periods of time to each other. By optimizing the uninstallation and installation procedure, the estimated construction time is reduced to the maximum extent.
US08069430B2
Roughly described, methods and systems for improving integrated circuit layouts and fabrication processes in order to better account for stress effects. Dummy features can be added to a layout either in order to improve uniformity, or to relax known undesirable stress, or to introduce known desirable stress. The dummy features can include dummy diffusion regions added to relax stress, and dummy trenches added either to relax or enhance stress. A trench can relax stress by filling it with a stress-neutral material or a tensile strained material. A trench can increase stress by filling it with a compressive strained material. Preferably dummy diffusion regions and stress relaxation trenches are disposed longitudinally to at least the channel regions of N-channel transistors, and transversely to at least the channel regions of both N-channel and P-channel transistors. Preferably stress enhancement trenches are disposed longitudinally to at least the channel regions of P-channel transistors.
US08069426B2
A method and mechanism is disclosed for identifying and tracking nets in an electrical design. A hierarchical design does not have to be flattened to perform the operation of identifying and tracking nets. To identify sets of connected shapes, instead of having to unfold the entire design hierarchy, only the specific instances of shapes falling within the geometric bounds of shapes identified as being part of a net needs to be unfolded to perform the search. When composing the list of nets for a hierarchical design, the unfolded shapes at other hierarchical levels of the design can be derived based upon virtual terminal structures that implicitly references nets and objects at other levels.
US08069423B2
Some embodiments provide a method for optimally decomposing patterns within particular spatial regions of interest on a particular layer of a design layout for a multi-exposure photolithographic process. Specifically, some embodiments model the spatial region using a mathematical equation in terms of two or more intensities. Some embodiments then optimize the model across a set of feasible intensities. The optimization yields a set of intensities such that the union of the patterns created/printed from each exposure intensity most closely approximates the patterns within the particular regions. Based on the set of intensities, some embodiments then determine a decomposition solution for the patterns that satisfies design constraints of a multi-exposure photolithographic printing process. In this manner, some embodiments achieve an optimal photolithographic printing of the particular regions of interest without performing geometric rule based decomposition.
US08069404B2
A method for organizing documents is hereby provided, the method comprising providing a plurality of documents, displaying the plurality of documents in a substantially linear arrangement, establishing a link between one of the plurality of documents and an expected document and displaying an identification of the expected document on the substantially linear arrangement of documents. The expected document being associated with other documents in order to represent future workflow events. A system, a user interface and a computer-readable medium providing same are also provided.
US08069388B2
Various embodiments implement distributed block coding (DBC). DBC can be used for, among other things, distributed forward error correction (DFEC) of source data in communication systems or parity backup for error correction of source data in storage systems where the source data may be corrupted by burst errors. A distributed block encoder (DBE) encodes sequential source data symbols with a plurality of sequential block encoders to produce interleaved parity codewords. The interleaved parity codewords enable decoding of error-corrected source data symbols with a distributed block decoder (DBD) that utilizes a plurality of sequential block decoders to produce the error-corrected source data symbols. A distributed register block encoder (DRBE) and a distributed register block decoder (DRBD) can each be implemented in a single block encoder and a single block decoder, respectively, by using a distributed register arrangement.
US08069384B2
An aspect of the present disclosure relates to scanning reassigned data storage locations. In one example, a reassignment table is accessed to identify a deallocated data storage location and scan the deallocated data storage location for media defects.
US08069383B2
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for bad block remapping. A bad block identifier module identifies one or more data blocks on a solid-state storage element as bad blocks. A log update module writes at least a location of each bad block identified by the bad block identifier module into each of two or more redundant bad block logs. A bad block mapping module accesses at least one bad block log during a start-up operation to create in memory a bad block map. The bad block map includes a mapping between the bad block locations in the bad block log and a corresponding location of a replacement block for each bad block location. Data is stored in each replacement block instead of the corresponding bad block. The bad block mapping module creates the bad block map using one of a replacement block location and a bad block mapping algorithm.
US08069378B2
A method and apparatus for evaluating and optimizing a signaling system is described. A pattern of test information is generated in a transmit circuit of the system and is transmitted to a receive circuit. A similar pattern of information is generated in the receive circuit and used as a reference. The receive circuit compares the patterns. Any differences between the patterns are observable. In one embodiment, a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) is implemented to produce patterns. An embodiment of the present disclosure may be practiced with various types of signaling systems, including those with single-ended signals and those with differential signals. An embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied to systems communicating a single bit of information on a single conductor at a given time and to systems communicating multiple bits of information on a single conductor simultaneously.
US08069375B2
The present invention relates to a method, device, and system for managing verification of configurable hardware and software. The solution according to the present invention solves this by applying a matrix-like method of handling test and verification parameter combinations and interacting with a user using a browser like interface for simple and fast selection of coverage.
US08069374B2
A technique for automatically detecting and correcting configuration errors in a computing system. In a learning process, recurring event sequences, including e.g., registry access events, are identified from event logs, and corresponding rules are developed. In a detecting phase, the rules are applied to detected event sequences to identify violations and to recover from failures. Event sequences across multiple hosts can be analyzed. The recurring event sequences are identified efficiently by flattening a hierarchical sequence of the events such as is obtained from the Sequitur algorithm. A trie is generated from the recurring event sequences and edges of nodes of the trie are marked as rule edges or non-rule edges. A rule is formed from a set of nodes connected by rule edges. The rules can be updated as additional event sequences are analyzed. False positive suppression policies include a violation-consistency policy and an expected event disappearance policy.
US08069373B2
A method for debugging reconfigurable hardware is described. According to this method, all necessary debug information is written in each configuration cycle into a memory, which is then analyzed by the debugger.
US08069363B2
A synchronization circuit for re-synchronizing data from an input clock to an output clock is presented. The first transparent latch receives data synchronized to an input clock. A second transparent latch receives data from the first transparent latch and outputs data dependent on a delayed output clock which is the output clock delayed by an insertion delay. An output latch receives data from the second transparent latch and synchronizes data to the output clock.
US08069359B2
A system and method for establishing and dynamically controlling energy consumption in large-scale datacenters or IT infrastructures. The system including a primary configuration server, a router coupled to the primary configuration server, and a plurality of power-managed domains/clusters coupled to the router. The primary configuration server distributes an energy target to each of the power-managed domains/clusters over a predetermined interval to enable each of the power-managed domains/clusters to manage the power consumption for each of the power-managed domains/clusters to meet the energy target.
US08069353B2
Methods and apparatus for reducing the impact of latency associated with decrypting encrypted data are provided. Rather than wait until an entire packet of encrypted data is validated (e.g., by checking for data transfer errors), the encrypted data may be pipelined to a decryption engine as it is received, thus allowing decryption to begin prior to validation. In some cases, the decryption engine may be notified of data transfer errors detected during the validation process, in order to prevent reporting false security violations.
US08069351B2
Methods, systems, devices, and memory are disclosed for remote controlling consumer electronics devices. Different orientations of a remote control device are detected. A signal is provided to a processor, and the signal indicates an orientation. The processor changes a mode of operation of the remote control device that corresponds to the orientation such that different orientations of the remote control device control different electronic devices.
US08069349B1
A method of securely transferring files from an un-trusted to a trusted network is disclosed. A file that is an archive file of many component files is separated into constituent files. Each file is stored on a server connected to an un-trusted network, and a series of initial checks, such as virus, file size, and file extension are performed. If the files pass, additional, file format specific security rules are applied. An open format transform is performed on proprietary format type files, and embedded file components are separated out. A user-definable security rule set is performed on each open format transform component. If all security tests pass, the file is reassembled and saved as a trusted file in the same format as the original file.
US08069347B2
A method of verifying a transaction over a data communication system between a first and second correspondent through the use of a certifying authority. The certifying authority has control of a certificate's validity, which is used by at least the first correspondent. The method comprises the following steps. One of the first and second correspondents advising the certifying authority that the certificate is to be validated. The certifying authority verifies the validity of the certificate attributed to the first correspondent. The certifying authority generates implicit signature components including specific authorization information. At least one of the implicit signature components is forwarded to the first correspondent for permitting the first correspondent to generate an ephemeral private key. At least one of the implicit signature components is forwarded to the second correspondent for permitting recovery of an ephemeral public key corresponding to the ephemeral private key. The first correspondent signs a message with the ephemeral private key and forwards the message to the second correspondent. The second correspondent attempts to verify the signature using the ephemeral public key and proceeds with the transaction upon verification.
US08069345B2
Methods and systems for recovering and booting a computer system using a SAN. The computer system comprises a local storage device. A request for writing data to a boot volume on the local storage device is received. The data is written to the local storage device, as well as to the SAN at substantially the same time as receiving the request. The computer system can then be booted using the data written to the SAN.
US08069339B2
A microprocessor includes an architectural register and a non-architectural register, each having a plurality of condition code flags. A first instruction of the microarchitectural instruction set of the microprocessor instructs the microprocessor to update the plurality of condition code flags based on a result of the first instruction. The first instruction includes a field for indicating whether to update the plurality of condition code flags of the architectural or non-architectural register. A second instruction of the microarchitectural instruction set instructs the microprocessor to conditionally perform an operation based on one of the plurality of condition code flags. The second instruction includes a field for indicating whether to use the one of the plurality of condition code flags of the architectural or non-architectural register to determine whether to perform the operation.
US08069330B2
A memory management system for a process formulated in the C/C++ language in a processing unit includes an allocator which processes memory blocks of predetermined size, for example 64 Kb. Large objects are defined as being objects having a size of between 256 and 64 Kb. For such objects, 64 Kb memory block is considered to be a memory region (“chunk”) able to accommodate several large objects of different sizes. When an object is no longer used by the process, the space freed can be returned to the operating system. Before this, this free space is merged with adjacent free spaces. To search for adjacent free spaces, the Bruijn sequence algorithm is used, applied to the bit field disposed in each predetermined memory region.
US08069319B2
It is not uncommon for two or more wireless-enabled devices to spend most of their time in close proximity to one another. For example, a person may routinely carry a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a portable digital audio/video player, or a cellphone and a PDA, or a smartphone and a gaming device. When it is desirable to increase the memory storage capacity of a first such device, it may be possible to use memory on one or more of the other devices to temporarily store data from the first device.
US08069306B2
Area management information is cached in a cache memory by controlling the access size when an information processor accesses the area management information in an information recording medium. When the processing content of the information processor is to retrieve a free area from the area management information, a physical management block size determined from the physical characteristics of the information recording medium is used. When the processing content is to acquire a link destination from the area management information, minimum access unit of the information recording medium is used. Consequently, overhead can be lessened when the area management information is accessed.
US08069295B2
A processing system includes a plurality of first circuit modules. A plurality of second circuit modules are coupled to an RF data bus via a 60 GHz communications. The RF data bus receives first data from at least one of the plurality of first circuit modules, and transmits the first data via 60 GHz communications to at least one of the plurality of second circuit modules.
US08069291B2
A method to detect an event between a data source and a data sink using a trigger core is described herein. The method comprises monitoring control lines and an associated data stream for a programmable pattern, wherein the pattern is one or more of a condition, state or event. The method further comprises generating an indication by updating a status register, sending an interrupt or asserting a control line upon a pattern match.
US08069275B2
A system and method for online configuration of a measurement system. The user may access a server over a network and specify a desired task, e.g., a measurement task, and receive programs and/or configuration information which are usable to configure the user's measurement system hardware (and/or software) to perform the desired task. Additionally, if the user does not have the hardware required to perform the task, the required hardware may be sent to the user, along with programs and/or configuration information. The hardware may be reconfigurable hardware, such as an FPGA or a processor/memory based device. In one embodiment, the required hardware may be pre-configured to perform the task before being sent to the user. In another embodiment, the system and method may provide a graphical program in response to receiving the user's task specification, where the graphical program may be usable by the measurement system to perform the task.
US08069271B2
A data backup system is provided that when coupled to a data source, such as a personal computer, and a media player, such an Apple Computer IPod media player, the data backup system blocks certain communications between the data source and the media player thus preventing the data source from recognizing the media player as such thereby avoiding the launching of synchronization software for the media player, the data backup system also causing the automatic launching of a backup application stored on the data backup system so that data files can be located on the data source and then backed up to the media player.
US08069267B2
Advertisements are refreshed in an interface based on one or more parameters provided over a network. The parameters can be retrieved from a web service and implemented at a client device. Advertisement refreshing is performed independently of web page content loading. The parameters may include a time period and user action count and be configured differently for different markets, geographical areas, other customer groups, sections of an application or different advertisement types. One or more of the parameters may be adjusted at a back-end server and distributed to machines in the different customer groups, allowing an efficient and centralized mechanism for managing and updating advertisement refreshing.
US08069264B2
A method and system is disclosed for processing information provided from various content providers in the form objects having states subject to periodic updates. Formatted information indicating a current state of the objects are delivered to subscribing clients in substantially real-time. An information manager module is configured to receiving raw data objects from the content providers, format the information, and broadcast current state information on various broadcast data stream. A client manager module supports multiple client communication sessions and connects to at least one broadcast data stream. Current state information received on a broadcast data stream is processed and transmitted to specific clients in accordance with processing rules specified in the client profiles.
US08069261B2
A method for realizing the multimedia message signature service includes the following steps: a user asking for opening the multimedia message signature service; the BOSS sending the related information of the user whose multimedia message signature service has been opened to MMSC; the MMSC configuring the corresponding service function for the user whose multimedia message signature service has been opened, and synchronizing the said service function into its user database; the user setting the content of his multimedia message signature. By using this method, a new service mode can be created, and meanwhile, it has the function that enables a user to edit personalized information, and this greatly promotes the development of multimedia messaging service.
US08069257B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus are disclosed for utilizing a universal serial bus (“USB”) transport as a system interface to transmit and receive IPMI commands and responses. An intelligent platform management interface (“IPMI”) transport library is provided that receives IPMI commands from IPMI client applications executing on a host. The IPMI commands are encapsulated into vendor specific small computer systems interface (“SCSI”) commands and transmitted over the USB transport to a virtual mass storage device provided by a management device. In response to receiving the vendor specific commands, IPMI firmware executing on the management device extracts the IPMI commands and executes them. A response may be returned to the host by encapsulating the IPMI response into a vendor specific SCSI response and transmitting the response to the host.
US08069247B2
An exemplary method includes detecting a request to launch an application on a device, accessing metadata associated with the application over a network, using the metadata to determine whether sufficient resources are available to launch the application on the device, and performing at least one action based on said determination. The at least one action may include launching the application on the device when sufficient resources are available or blocking a launch of the application on the device when sufficient resources are not available. In certain embodiments, the method is performed by the device. In certain embodiments, the device includes a set-top box configured to access a media service over the network. Corresponding methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08069245B2
In a method for operation of medical-technical computer applications in a computer network with a central computer and a number of peripheral computers, the central computer allocates resources among the respective peripheral computers for usage of the computer applications. For this purpose, a priority level is associated with each of the peripheral computers and/or the users of the peripheral computers. The central computer then provides the individual peripheral computers with the specific resources in an allocation that is dependent on their associated priority level. A computer network has a central computer and a number of peripheral computers and implements the foregoing.
US08069243B2
There is provided a document management server including a receiving unit that receives an access request and a first ID representing a document to be an object of the access request, an ID processing unit that issues, when an operation is performed on the document in response to the access request, a second ID corresponding to the operation, and records a derivation relationship having the second ID as a child of the first ID, an attribute recording unit that records attribute information relating to the operation by association with the first ID or the second ID, and a response data provider unit that provides, when the document is provided to the client in response to the access request, response data including attribute information associated with at least one ID appearing in a path from the received ID accompanying the access request to a root of a derivation relationship.
US08069240B1
Methods and systems are disclosed for modeling the performance of an IT service. The methods and systems take a holistic approach by treating the entire IT service instead of the individual nodes. In one implementation, the methods and systems provide a tool for mapping the performance of the IT service based on throughput and response time data. The tool may then be used to develop a mathematical model for the performance of the IT service. System parameters that may impact the performance of the IT service may be correlated to variables in the model. The model may then be used to predict the impact changes may have on the performance of the IT service. Performance maps for the same IT service may be compared over time to discern any departure from a norm. A database of performance maps may be established for a particular industry to facilitate intra-industry comparisons.
US08069232B2
Arrangements are provided which use a host computer to configure a wireless portable device's network connection parameters. The radio on the portable device may be used to help locate nearby accessible wireless networks. Once a synchronization relationship between the portable device and a media library on a host computer is established, periodically updated content, such as podcasts, may be discovered and subscribed to using software on the host computer, and the content synchronized with the host computer. A portable device may manage episodic content, such as podcasts, using the device's own wireless connection, and may further send such content to other portable devices. A central user profile may be set up on a web server to synchronize multiple wireless or wired devices.
US08069226B2
A mechanism for synchronizing data on a device communicating with a client system with data accessible from a server-hosted session is disclosed. The synchronization occurs over a network connection using a presentation-level protocol to transmit communications between the client system and the server system. Devices communicating with the client system are mapped into a user session. Once the device is mapped into the server-hosted session, data on the device in communication with the client system are synchronized with data accessible from the user-hosted session.
US08069222B2
A system to provide various content services based on a network to users includes a service provider to provide a service using the network, a user to receive the service, and a service framework to provide the service to the user through the network. The service framework includes a messenger device that manages the service transmitted between the service provider and the user. Content services, which are being provided based on a network, can be provided to various terminals including not only a PC and a mobile phone, but also a robot. Thus, extending services is easy and the user can conveniently receive desired information from a knowledge provider or website without performing repetitive operations.
US08069209B1
A system, apparatus, and method for controlling the operation of a service in a client device. The invention uses an existing protocol which is used for communications between an application resident in the device and a remote server to convey information about the service to the application. The information may be relevant to a service specific function, such as configuration or provisioning, or an activation or de-activation instruction, for example. The application receives the service related information, processes the information and then provides the information to the service via a notification channel. The service related information may be incorporated into a message sent from the remote server to the client device by using an element of the protocol, for example, by appending a text string to a header.
US08069193B2
A method and system for utilizing a column function for a relational database in a structure query language (SQL) environment is disclosed. The column function is capable of performing an operation on an indeterminate number of entries. The relational database utilizes data including a plurality of entries capable of being organized into at least one column and at least one row. The method and system include allowing a user to specify the at least one row as an argument for a generalized scalar function and simulating a column environment for the at least one row using the generalized scalar function to allow the at least one row to be provided to the column function as though the at least one row was a column. The method and system also include performing the column function on the at least one row to provide at least one output.
US08069189B2
A portable terminal, which has mail function, allows a user to input a destination address of mail by selecting the address from the address list with easy operation by displaying all of information for input operation of the destination address with other information for mail creation such as subject and message of the mail.
US08069188B2
A database system storing a data structure. The data structure includes a plurality of data nodes that each store a type and a value. None of the data nodes are linked directly to one another. The data structure also includes a plurality of context nodes that are each linked to at least two data nodes. The context nodes do not store data. Instead, each of the context nodes indicates a relationship exits between the data nodes connected to it.
US08069184B2
The present invention discloses methods and systems for hosting tenants over a network in a computer-based environment in which a provider may store a shared data structure having shared data. A tenant receives a request for a shared data structure and retrieves the shared data structure from the provider based on shared metadata identifying the locations of shared data structures stored at the provider. In addition, based on extension metadata, the tenant retrieves an extended data structure including tenant-specific elements unique to the first tenant. The tenant server then combines the shared and extended data structures into a combined data structure including the tenant-specific elements.
US08069183B2
A method of examining a data stream to detect presence of a complex string belonging to a complex dictionary is provided. The method includes associating an array of state variables and an array of reference states with the complex dictionary; detecting a simple string in the data stream, the simple string being a constituent string in the complex string in the complex dictionary; updating a state variable associated with the complex string according to all relative positions of the simple string within the complex string; and determining that the complex string is present in the data stream when the state variable attains a corresponding reference state. A corresponding system is also provided.
US08069179B2
The claimed subject matter provides a system that trains or evaluates ranking techniques by employing or obtaining relative preference judgments. The system can include mechanisms that retrieve a set of documents from a storage device, combine the set of documents with a query or judgment task received via an interface to form a comparative selection panel, and present the comparative selection panel for evaluation by an assessor. The system further requests the assessor to make a selection as to which document included in the set of documents and presented in the comparative selection panel most satisfies the query or judgment task, and thereafter produces a comparative assessment of the set of documents based on the selections elicited from the assessor and associated with the set of documents.
US08069172B2
Re-executing query objects without affecting transaction data in an application development framework (ADF) not providing for creation of multiple instances of the same query object. In an embodiment, a query associated with a query object is executed to retrieve a transaction data from a data store, which can be further modified based on user interactions. In response to an indication that the query object is to be re-executed for retrieving the transaction data, a new query object is created using the query (along with any required parameters) retrieved from the original query object. The new query object is executed to retrieve a copy of the transaction data from the data store. According to another aspect, a comparison result is generated for the modified transaction data and the copy.
US08069170B2
The events experienced are stored automatically, so that the information of higher utility for a user may be taken out with responsiveness and efficiency higher than is possible with a technique of keyword retrieval over a network. An information registration unit 10 includes an information acquisition unit 11, for acquiring the empirical information, a private information adding unit 12, for adding the private information, a data recognition processing unit 13, for recognizing the acquired information, a data definition processing unit 14, for classifying the recognized data in accordance with the preset definitions, a data storage unit 15 for storage of the classified data, and a data processing unit 22 for generating the predictive information inferable from the empirical information and the private information. The information exploitation unit 30 includes an information acquisition unit 31, for acquiring the current state, a retrieval inputting unit 32, supplied with the retrieval conditions, a data recognition processing unit 33, for recognizing the acquired information, a retrieving unit 34, for extracting the information fitted to the retrieval conditions or the analogous information from the data storage unit 15, and an information presenting unit 35 for presenting the extracted information to the user.
US08069167B2
The page ranking technique described herein employs a Markov Skeleton Mirror Process (MSMP), which is a particular case of Markov Skeleton Processes, to model and calculate page importance scores. Given a web graph and its metadata, the technique builds an MSMP model on the web graph. It first estimates the stationary distribution of a EMC and views it as transition probability. It next computes the mean staying time using the metadata. Finally, it calculates the product of transition probability and mean staying time, which is actually the stationary distribution of MSMP. This is regarded as page importance.
US08069161B2
Embodiments of systems, program products, and methods to enhance and more effectively manage media content are provided. An embodiment of a system, for example, can include a first preselected network framework defining a first network stage and a second preselected network framework responsive to the first network stage and defining a second network stage. The system can also include a code generator responsive to the second network stage to generate program code, a framework stage responsive to the code generator to establish a content management framework and defining a content search engine, a media content services core responsive to the content search engine to enhance digital file management and allow a plurality of media content management services to be performed, and a set of media content service modules each responsive to the media content services core to perform content management services to media.
US08069159B2
A more efficient search algorithm introduces a variety of new tools and strategies to more efficiently search and retrieve desired records from an electronic database. Among these are a strategy that utilizes the frequency of occurrence or similar statistical calculation relating to one or more search fields, search terms or attributes of database records to execute multiple search queries in a more efficient search sequence. In addition, a database is structured to allow for the determination of the frequency of occurrence or similar statistical calculation of any search field, search term, or search attribute, for an entire database and for any subset of a database. The invention finds potential application in any database search application, but is particularly useful in delivering directory assistance services.
US08069154B2
A content management system (CMS) includes an autonomic rule generation mechanism that autonomically analyzes existing content and generates rules according to a defined rule generation policy. Autonomically generated rules may include bursting rules, synchronization rules and linking rules. By autonomically generating rules based on the characteristics of content in the repository, the CMS can dramatically improve the ease and efficiency of managing a CMS.
US08069130B2
Methods and systems for semiconductor testing. In one embodiment, a semiconductor testing method includes one or more of the following stages: defining a rule relating to semiconductor testing, validating the rule, bundling the rule with other rules, correlating the rule with other rules, publishing the rule, actualizing the rule, and follow up relating to the rule. In one embodiment, a semiconductor testing system includes one or more of the following modules: rule creation module(s), analysis module(s), simulation module(s), real time production module(s), and offline production module(s). In one embodiment, user friendly graphical user interface(s) can be used for defining the building blocks of a rule and/or for viewing an optional hierarchy of categories to which the rule belongs.
US08069128B2
Embodiments are directed towards employing a multi-pass ad-hoc spam message filtering approach that dynamically generates a temporary classifier during a first pass based on a result of a previously applied message filter that sorts messages into various folders for a user. The first pass scans messages in a user's mail folders, and reads various information within the messages, including, but not limited to sender information, headers, including a subject, an originating network address, message contents, attachments, and the like. After creating a classification model, the classifier with its model is used in a second pass on the message folders to retrospectively inspect the messages and present to the user a list of messages that might be misclassified. The classification model is maintained within memory on a user's client device, as memory resident only, and is not stored on disk or within another persistent data store.
US08069114B2
Methods and system for processing transfer requests are described. In one embodiment, a value transfer request may be received from a value provider through a network. The value transfer request may include a value amount to be provided from a source user to a target user. A settlement account of the value provider may be reduced by the value amount. A target account of the target user may be increased by the value amount.
US08069109B2
A computer-implemented method for analyzing a risk offset associated with a portfolio including a plurality of products traded on an exchange is disclosed. The method includes analyzing, by a processor, a first product in a portfolio, wherein the first product has a first market response in response to market data, analyzing, by a processor, a second product in a portfolio, wherein the second product has a second market response in response to the market data, determining, by a processor, a diversification spread, the diversification spread representative of an offsetting effect between the first product and the second product, wherein the offsetting effect results from the first market response being substantially different than the second market response in response to similar market data, determining, by the processor, a diversification spread credit based on the diversification spread of the plurality of products, and adjusting, by the processor, a margin requirement for the portfolio based on the diversification spread credit.
US08069100B2
A system is disclosed for charging or billing for access to wireless power. The device requiring power communicates with the power provider and the billing method is determined. A consumer may be required to provide billing information, or if the billing information is already associated with an existing account, the consumer account is automatically charged for the wireless power. The account may include prepaid charging minutes that are debited as wireless power is provided, or the account may be billed for the wireless power that is provided. The charging/billing for the wireless power may be used to receive value for the power that is provided, while remaining consumer friendly.
US08069095B2
A solution is provided for a method for a user to shop online in a three dimensional (3D) virtual reality (VR) setting by receiving a request at a shopping server to view a shopping location, having at least one store, and displaying the shopping location to the user's computer in a 3D interactive simulation view via a web browser to emulate a real-life shopping experience for the user. The server then obtains a request to enter into one of the stores and displays the store website to the user in the same web browser. The store website has one or more enhanced VR features. The server then receives a request to view at least one product and the product is presented in a 3D interactive simulation view to emulate a real-life viewing of the product.
US08069094B2
An apparatus for a virtual turntable system for computer generated broadcast video streams for a multiple product sales display. The virtual turntable system collects data, including images and status information, and generates a video stream for presenting product information sequentially on a video monitor. In one embodiment, the virtual turntable system reads the data, including the turntable list, formats and updates the data, and then outputs the data in a video stream. In one embodiment, the virtual turntable system includes a data storage device for storing the data for the virtual turntable system, a computer system for accessing the data and creating item containers for the items on the current item list that are to be displayed on a monitor, and a video imager for creating a video stream for displaying a plurality of current items in a rotating or other sequential manner.
US08069093B2
A method for managing a plurality of commercial website accounts maintained by a supplier of goods or services includes receiving a structure via a first computer screen, where the structure specifies a relationship between a first one of the plurality of commercial website accounts and a second one of the plurality of commercial website accounts, so that the first one of the plurality of website accounts is configured to be a parent account of the second of the plurality of website accounts defining a child account; linking the child account and the parent account in accordance with the received structure in response to a command received via the first computer screen; receiving a rule that regulates a purchase of goods or services by a user of the child account via a second computer screen, where the received rule specifies an action associated with a user of the parent account; automatically detecting that the user of the child account has placed an order at the commercial website; and processing the order in accordance with the rule and the structure.
US08069088B1
Systems and methods for crediting a retailer for an online purchase made by a consumer while the consumer is located within or in the proximity of a store location of the retailer are provided. After browsing a retail location for a product, a consumer can purchase the product from an Internet merchant different than that of the retailer using a mobile or networked client device. The client device can include a module for determining the location of the client device at the time of purchase and include the location information with information used to complete the purchase of the product. This location information can include an actual geographic location, a store identifier, or a retailer identifier. The online merchant can match the location information with retailer information to determine whether a credit for the purchase should be given to a retailer.
US08069086B2
Methods and systems are disclosed for processing a product order. In one implementation, a method is provided that includes receiving a product order from a customer and determining, based on the received product order, at least one of a date on which the products should be available at a location and a date by which the products should be issued out of the location. The method may also include calculating, based on the determined date, a sourcing due date on which to initiate sourcing, and performing an availability check for the ordered products on the basis of the dates when the sourcing due date is earlier than a predetermined date.
US08069079B1
It is an object of this invention to provide apparatus and methods for electronically evaluating a pair of entities as candidates for co-location. The apparatus and methods may be used to define a group of entities for co-location assessment. A pairing within the group may be quantitatively evaluated based on a variety of criteria to assess suitability for co-location. The evaluations may be combined to generate a co-location score which may be displayed pictorially in a co-location matrix.
US08069077B2
An electric-power-generating-facility operation management support system includes a condition-input unit inputting costs of electric power generation in electric power generating facilities, probability distribution of predicted values of the demand for electric power, and probability distribution of predicted values of the transaction price of power on the market. An optimal-operational-condition calculating unit calculates the performance of power generation of the power generating facilities based upon the costs of power generation, the probability distribution of predicted values of the demand for power and the probability distribution of predicted values of the transaction price of power on the market, input from the condition-input unit so as to obtain the optimal operational conditions which exhibit the maximum performance of power generation A risk estimating unit calculates and estimates a risk value of damage of the optimal operation under the optimal operational conditions. A calculation-result display unit displays the optimal operational conditions and the risk-estimation results.
US08069074B2
An information processing terminal for supporting quality improvement concerning product manufacture includes a workflow arrangement part acquiring row information indicating a first arrangement location of each of a plurality of workflows being arranged in an area for arranging the plurality of workflows for verifying the quality improvement, and displaying the plurality of workflows based on the row information; a process component arrangement part acquiring matrix information indicating a second arrangement location of each of a plurality of process components being arranged in each of the plurality of workflows, and displaying the plurality of process components based on the matrix information; and a data association part performing a data association among the plurality of process components in accordance with data link lines within each of the plurality of workflows or the data link lines crossing from one workflow to another workflow with respect to the plurality of process components arranged and displayed in the plurality of workflows.
US08069070B2
A customer care architecture integrates a full range of customer care and dunning billing features in a customer care system. The customer care architecture defines and implements multiple workflows which support dunning action requests while centralizing customer account control at the customer care system in an end-to-end telecommunications system framework. The customer care architecture thereby supports interaction, communication, and synchronization with existing and established dunning accounting systems.
US08069069B2
A method for loading flight schedule modifications in an air travel computerized reservation system, wherein: the flight schedule database is updated; the reservations concerned by the flight schedule modifications are reassigned to update the reservation inventory database. The method for loading flight schedule modifications includes the following steps: receiving at least one lot of modifications containing flight schedule modification data, retrieving individual modifications contained in the lot and storing in a register in the form of records for future scheduling, simulating reassignment of the reservations concerned by the flight schedule modification, by accessing with the reservation distribution server both the records and the flight schedule database, final updating of the flight schedule databases and of the reservation inventory. The method is useful for updating databases during flight schedule modifications in computerized reservation systems.
US08069068B1
A person may store food to prepare for an emergency. An insurance policy may be issue to cover the stored food against loss, theft, spoilage, etc. In issuing the insurance policy and setting the premium, the insurer may take various factors into account, such as the type of food to be stored (e.g., canned, dried, etc.), where the food is to be stored (e.g., a cellar, a closet, a food locker, etc.), and whether the stored food is rotated with new food to prevent the stored food from spoiling due to age. During the life of the insurance policy, the insurer may issue alerts to the policyholder in order to advise the policyholder to rotate old food out of storage.
US08069066B2
A workers' compensation medical reporting system including software accessed at a provider computer, the software adapted to prompt the provider to input the data concerning a workers' compensation claim, the software adapted to send an electronic workers' compensation claim, the software adapted to send an electronic workers' compensation treatment report electronically across the Internet to a payer computer; and electronic report filtering software accessed at the payer computer, the electronic report filtering software adapted to direct the electronic report as a result of predetermined criteria, electronic workers' compensation medical treatment reports that meet a human review criteria are automatically set to a case manager for review, other electronic workers' compensation medical treatment reports are automatically directed to be processed.
US08069065B2
In order to mitigate risk of satellite investment loss, a satellite loss event or failure event for a satellite that will be operated by a satellite operator company is identified. Financial investors in the satellite operator company are identified. Actuarial data corresponding to prior satellite loss events or failure events substantially corresponding to the satellite loss event or failure event are identified. An investment loss mitigation insurance policy based at least in part on the identified actuarial data is developed. The investment loss mitigation insurance policy is offered to the identified financial investors. Premiums are received from financial investors that subscribe to the investment loss mitigation insurance policy, and the investment loss mitigation insurance policy is placed with an underwriting pool in exchange for at least a portion of the received premiums.
US08069063B2
A method for monitoring insurance, which includes steps of storing a plurality of Tax Records in a database, where each Tax Record corresponds to one or more insurance agreements, and permitting the display of at least one of the plurality of Tax Records. The method assists insurers with multinational customers in keeping track of insurance agreements, and ensuring compliance with legal, regulatory and tax requirements across different states, nations or jurisdictions.
US08069060B2
The invention facilitates the efficient administration of medical offices and patient records including visual coordination of room, patient, and task status indicators. The invention also enables improved document review and transcription management.
US08069053B2
According to some embodiments, original data is retrieved from an original data source. The original data may be automatically searched for potential personal information, such as a person's name, address, or Social Security number. An obfuscation method may be selected from a plurality of potential obfuscation methods. The potential personal information in the original data may then be automatically replaced with fictional data in accordance with the selected obfuscation method.
US08069052B2
An audio encoder and decoder use architectures and techniques that improve the efficiency of quantization (e.g., weighting) and inverse quantization (e.g., inverse weighting) in audio coding and decoding. The described strategies include various techniques and tools, which can be used in combination or independently. For example, an audio encoder quantizes audio data in multiple channels, applying multiple channel-specific quantizer step modifiers, which give the encoder more control over balancing reconstruction quality between channels. The encoder also applies multiple quantization matrices and varies the resolution of the quantization matrices, which allows the encoder to use more resolution if overall quality is good and use less resolution if overall quality is poor. Finally, the encoder compresses one or more quantization matrices using temporal prediction to reduce the bitrate associated with the quantization matrices. An audio decoder performs corresponding inverse processing and decoding.
US08069039B2
In a sound signal processing apparatus, a frame information generation section generates frame information of each frame of a sound signal. A storage stores the frame information generated by the frame information generation section. A first interval determination section determines a first utterance interval in the sound signal. A second interval determination section determines a second utterance interval based on the frame information of the first utterance interval stored in the storage such that the second utterance interval is made shorter than the first utterance interval and confined within the first utterance interval by trimming frames from either of a start point or an end point of the first utterance interval.
US08069033B2
Methods and apparatus for document based ambiguous character resolution. An application searches a document for words that do not contain ambiguous characters and adds them to a dictionary, then searches the document for words that do contain ambiguous characters. For each ambiguous word, a set of candidate solutions is created by resolving the ambiguous characters in all possible ways. The dictionary is searched for words matching members of the candidate solution set. When a single member is matched, the ambiguous characters are resolved accordingly. When no member or more than one member is matched, a user is prompted to resolve the ambiguous characters. Alternatively, when more than one member is matched, the ambiguous characters are resolved to obtain the largest word, the smallest word, the most words, or the fewest words.
US08069029B2
A method of enabling input into a handheld electronic device comprises detecting as an ambiguous input an actuation of one or more input members, employing an operative input method language to output a number of objects that are selectable and that each comprise at least a portion of a language object that corresponds with the ambiguous input, outputting at a location adjacent the number of objects an indicator representative of an operative input method language, detecting an input from a multiple-axis input device as being a selection input with respect to the indicator and, responsive thereto, enabling a selection of an alternate input method language as the operative input method language.
US08069024B1
In one embodiment, a method comprises partitioning a circuit description into simulateable partitions; sorting the simulateable partitions into classes wherein each simulateable partition included in a given class is equivalent to each other partition in the given class with a specified tolerance; associating a dynamic state machine with each class, wherein states of the dynamic state machine correspond to states reached by at least one simulateable partition in the given class during a simulation; during a simulation of the circuit description, the result of which is stored for user display: responsive to a current state in the dynamic state machine for a first simulateable partition in the given class and further responsive to input stimuli to the first simulateable partition, matching the one or more input stimuli to stimuli associated with a next state edge from the current state; and changing the current state of the first simulateable partition to a second state of the dynamic state machine indicated by the next state edge.
US08069016B2
The present invention includes a method of electronically designing an article, including accessing an electronic article design system, selecting an article type to design, and iteratively configuring a group of characteristics by selecting one or more options for each characteristic and/or iteratively modeling the article performance based on a selection of one or more performance parameters for each performance model. In the iterative configuration and modeling step, the electronic article design system automatically presents the characteristics and the performance models based on the article type selected, dynamically updates the article for each step of the iterative configuration and/or modeled performance, and automatically resolves conflicts between iteratively configured characteristics, between iteratively modeled performances, and across iteratively configured characteristics and modeled performances.
US08069008B2
A via hole depth measurement apparatus generates a light beam of white light, divides the light beam into a measurement and reference beams, focuses the measurement beam and projects it onto a sample, reflects the reference beam and advances it along the original optical path, continuously changes a relative optical path length difference between optical path lengths of the measurement and reference beams, combining reflected light from the sample and from the reflected reference beam and generates an interference beam, changes a relative distance between an objective lens which focuses the measurement beam and the sample, detects a relative position between the objective lens and the sample, receives the interference beam and outputs an interference signal, and, and outputs recessed portion depth information based on displacement information based on the interference signal and the relative position between the objective lens and the sample.
US08068997B2
A system and method of conducting a continuous performance analysis for a system includes collecting transient performance data for a first parameter of the system and a second parameter of the system. Transfer functions are applied to the transient performance data for at least one of the first and second parameters to thereby generate phase compensated performance data representative of a steady state relationship between the first and second parameter. For each phase compensated performance datum, an estimate of the first parameter is calculated at a predetermined value of the second parameter using the phase compensated performance datum and a previously stored performance characteristic curve representative of the steady state relationship between the first and second parameters in a deterioration model extrapolation method. A very efficient binning method is used for storing phase compensated performance data and converting them into steady state performance characteristic curves of any non-linear shape.
US08068994B2
Significance of biological pathway in disease state is predicted by (a) providing expression level data for a plurality of biomolecules differentially expressed in a disease state, compared with same biomolecules expressed in a non-diseased state: (b) determining presence probability of the biomolecules in disease state; (c) determining effect of each biomolecule from the plurality of biomolecules on the expression of different downstream biomolecules within pathway to provide perturbation factor for each biomolecule in the pathway; (d) combining statistical significance of differentially expressed biomolecules present in the disease state, with a sum of perturbation factors for all of the biomolecules, generating an impact factor; (e) calculating statistical significance of impact factor based upon determined probability of having statistical significant presence of differentially expressed biomolecules in step (b) and the sum of perturbation factors in step (c); and (f) outputting statistical significance of impact factor for the pathway relevant to the disease.
US08068991B2
The present disclosure relates to methods and systems that may be used for detection of one or more pathogens and determining one or more agents in response to pathogen detection.
US08068987B2
The present invention provides methods and systems for developing profiles of a biological system based on the discernment of similarities, differences, and/or correlations between biomolecular components of a plurality of biological samples. Preferably, the method comprises utilizing hierarchical multivariate analysis of spectrometric data at one or more levels of correlation.
US08068979B2
Method and arrangement for determining inattentiveness of an operator of a vehicle includes determining the position of the vehicle, analyzing the determining position of the vehicle relative to a map, monitoring motion of the vehicle relative to the map to determine whether the vehicle is deviating from the map, and providing a warning when the monitored motion of the vehicle deviates from normal motion or operation of the vehicle. The position of the vehicle may be determined using a satellite-based positioning system and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The IMU may be a MEMS-packaged IMU integrated with the satellite-based positioning systems.
US08068977B2
To provide a destination prediction apparatus which predicts a destination more accurately than before. A destination prediction apparatus which predicts a destination of a mobile object includes: a stay characteristic accumulating unit in which stay characteristic information indicating a time period when the mobile object will likely stay at a predetermined point is accumulated; a travel time calculating unit which calculates a travel time in the case where the mobile object heads from a current location obtained by a current point obtaining unit to the point; and a destination predicting unit which calculates an estimated arrival time based on a current time obtained by a current time obtaining unit and the calculated travel time and predicts the point as a destination only when a condition that the calculated estimated arrival time and a time period indicated by the stay characteristic information is satisfied.
US08068976B2
A coaxial two-wheel vehicle comprises a detection means that obtains get-on/off information indicating whether an occupant is on the vehicle or not. In the coaxial two-wheel vehicle, a control means performs attitude control by using a control gain set with respect to an occupied state is used if the control means determines that the vehicle is in the occupied state. The control means performs attitude control by using a control gain set with respect to an unoccupied state is used if the control means determines that the vehicle is in the unoccupied state.
US08068972B2
The invention is an abnormal combustion detection method for spark-ignition internal-combustion engines. For each engine cycle, a parameter characterizing a distribution of N combustion indicator values, CA10 for example, acquired over N cycles preceding the cycle in progress, is determined while ignoring extreme values. A threshold is defined from this parameter for the combustion indicator. The start of an abnormal combustion is then detected by comparing the combustion indicator with this threshold and the course of the abnormal combustion detected in the combustion chamber is controlled.
US08068966B2
A powertrain system includes a hybrid transmission coupled to an engine and an auxiliary hydraulic pump. The auxiliary hydraulic pump is commanded to operate at a predetermined speed only when enable criteria are met. An engine-off state is inhibited based upon a difference between a commanded speed and a monitored operating speed of the auxiliary hydraulic pump.
US08068959B2
An apparatus for vehicle door deflection and movement control. The apparatus includes a primary electromagnetic device disposed generally in a vehicle door frame or generally in an area of a vehicle body adjacent the vehicle door frame, and a controller for activating the primary electromagnetic device to push or pull the vehicle door frame. The apparatus may further include a sensor for measuring vehicle door deflection during vehicle movement. The controller may activate the primary electromagnetic device based on deflection measurements by the sensor to pull the vehicle door frame to generally cancel the vehicle door deflection.
US08068957B2
A vehicular backing operation assist apparatus is coupled with a movement direction demand unit for demanding a forward or backward movement of the vehicle and a change detection unit for detecting a change of a state of the vehicle taking place in association with a start-up of the vehicle. A reverse departure, which is a backing operation for exiting a parking state, is determined to be performed if a transit period from when the change of the state is detected to when the backward movement is demanded, is within a predetermined period. A reverse parking, which is a backing operation for entering a parking state, is performed, if the transit period is greater than or equal to the predetermined period. An assist control unit then provides an assist item for a backing operation relative to either the reverse departure or the reverse parking, which is determined to be performed.
US08068939B2
A method for the operation of a wind energy plant, with an operation management, which can preset a desired value for an electric variable of the wind energy plant to be generated; a wind measurement device, which can capture the wind direction and the wind velocity, and a control unit, on which the measured values for the wind velocity and the wind direction are present, and in which a maximum value for the turbulence intensity is filed, the following procedural steps proceed in the method: from a turbulence intensity depending on the wind direction, the control unit determines one or more sectors of critical wind directions, in which the turbulence intensity exceeds the maximum value for the turbulence intensity, the control unit generates a control signal for the operation management, in order to reduce the desired value of the electric variable to be generated when the measured wind direction is in a sector of the critical wind directions, and a determined characteristic value exceeds a predetermined maximum value for the characteristic value.
US08068934B2
A medication dispensing system uses a series of medication rings grouped as a rotary drum and controlled for dispensing medication on a daily basis into a divided pill box. Each medication ring includes an associated medication collar that cooperates with the medication ring to reduce the possibility of abrasion of the medication dosages held in the medication rings. The pill box is moved and rotated within the dispensing system by a carriage to dispense medication into appropriate cells of the pill box. A computer control module controls the movement of the various components and is programmable for loading and dispensing different medication regimes.
US08068932B2
A container for an access-controlled storage system having a plurality of compartments designed to contain an article where access to the article is controlled by granting access to one or more compartments at a time without moving the article, wherein control is provided by a rotary belt with a cut-out directed by deflection pulleys; and an access-controlled storage system having at least two containers and a housing wherein control of the container is actuated to grant access to one or more defined compartments within the container.
US08068928B1
Methods, apparatuses and systems that facilitate the design, production, control and/or measurement tasks associated with manufacturing and other processes. In one embodiment, the present invention provides an understanding of how the multiple characteristics of a given process output are related to each other and to process inputs. It also facilitates an understanding of the sometimes complex interrelationships between design targets, design tolerances, process inputs, process control variables, average process output and variation in the process output. In one implementation, the present invention enables or facilitates the implementation of static and dynamic control systems in connection with manufacturing or other process. For example, in one implementation, the present invention provides a dynamic control system for manufacturing processes that is responsive to the observed output of a process.
US08068924B2
A coordinative control method for adjusting the back and knee bottom sections of an adjustable bed or the like, and a computer program for implementing the method, are provided. Specifically, a method for adjusting the back and knee bottom section is provided, in which the angular positions thereof are adjusted according to a preset action pattern. The initial starting positions of the adjustable sections are taken into account, and adjusted to a position corresponding to the closest point on a curve representing angular movement of the sections during the adjustment process. Then, the sections are adjusted in a manner that prevents exertion of uncomfortable pressure upon the torso of a user, and prevents sliding of a user relative to the foot of the bed.
US08068922B2
In a method for operating a field device working according to the block model for a distributed automation system, which exchanges data via a fieldbus, a first function block application serving for process control is provided, which makes available to other system participants process data via a first virtual field device object. In addition, a second function block application is provided, which serves for plant monitoring and which makes available to other system participants plant monitoring data via a second virtual field device object, wherein the first and second function block applications are executed according to different schedules.
US08068909B2
Embodiments of the invention are related to implantable devices including movement sensors and related methods for measuring cardiac performance, amongst other things. In an embodiment, the invention includes an implantable electrical stimulation lead. The electrical stimulation lead can include a lead body having a proximal end and a distal end and a sheath defining a central lumen. The lead body can further include an electrical conductor disposed within the central lumen of the sheath. The stimulation lead can further include a stimulation electrode positioned at the distal end of the lead body, the stimulation electrode in electrical communication with the electrical conductor. The electrical stimulation lead can include an flexion sensor coupled to the lead body, the movement sensor configured to generate a signal in response to movement of the lead body. In an embodiment, the invention includes a method of monitoring the condition of a heart failure patient. In an embodiment, the invention includes a method of treating unstable arrhythmia in a patient. Other embodiments are also included herein.
US08068906B2
A method of analyzing cardiac functions in a subject using a processing system is described. The method may include applying one or more electrical signals having a plurality of frequencies to the subject and detecting a response to the applied one or more signals from the subject. A characteristic frequency can then be determined from the applied and received signals, and at least one component of the impedance (e.g., reactance, phase shift) can be measured at the characteristic frequency. Thus, the impedance or a component of impedance at a characteristic frequency can be determined for a number of sequential time instances. A new characteristic frequency may be determined within a cardiac cycle (e.g., with each sequential time instant) or the same characteristic frequency may be used throughout the cardiac cycle during which instantaneous values of impedance (or a component of impedance) are determined. These instantaneous values may be used to determine one or more indicia of cardiac function.
US08068900B2
Method and apparatus for determining alternans data of an ECG signal. The method can include determining at least one value representing at least one morphology feature of each beat of the ECG signal and generating a set of data points based on a total quantity of values and a total quantity of beats. The method can also include separating the data points into a first group of points and a second group of points and generating a feature map by plotting the first group of points and the second group of points in order to assess an alternans pattern of variation. The feature map can be analyzed by statistical tests to determine the significance difference between groups and clusters.
US08068894B2
Automated methods and systems for the detection and analysis of plaque in one or more regions of a patient's vasculature are described.
US08068886B2
An apparatus and method for providing an electronic device having adaptively responsive displaying of information is disclosed. The electronic device is adaptively responsive to display information based on in part to bending, motion, rotation, and/or any sensor based feedback.
US08068885B2
A method for calculating the power consumption of a mobile device, particularly of a mobile station of a mobile radio system, in an observation period Δt based on various possible system states sk in which the device can be in the period Δt. A value of a quantity Δk is determined system-state-dependently for the system states sk occurring in the period Δt. The power consumption in the period Δt is calculated in such a manner that the quantities Δk and state-dependent typical currents ik are taken into consideration.
US08068882B2
A system for facilitating wireless communication between an accessory and a device comprising a device capable of converting at least an audio signal into a signal transmittable by a wireless communication means; a wireless communication means associated with the device capable of transmitting the converted signal; an accessory, including a docking cradle comprising a plurality of pins, wherein at least one pin on the docking cradle is capable of receiving an audio signal; and an adaptor capable of communicatively coupling with the accessory's docking cradle, the adaptor being capable of receiving the transmission from the wireless communication means associated with the device and converting the signal into an audio signal that can be received by the accessory via the docking cradle.
US08068876B2
A method and apparatus for reducing signal interference within a cellular radio system to increase both coverage and capacity. The method and apparatus include altering the direction of beams within cell sectors is among discrete angular positions according to a predetermined, cyclic pattern. The predetermined, cyclic pattern varies in a group of adjacent cell sectors such that inter-cell interference is significantly reduced or eliminated by rotating at a different cycle the beams in adjacent cells. This discrete, angular movement of beams provides for downlink transmissions to be timed in such a way (i.e., scheduled) such that transmission to a user will occur in accordance with the beam and time slot having the best carrier to interference (C/I) ratio for that user.
US08068870B2
Enterprise location discovery in dual-mode phones. As dual-mode phones move within the enterprise Wi-Fi network, they track which cell tower they are associated with, reporting this information to an enterprise mobility controller. The enterprise mobility controller builds a list of cell tower identifiers which are associated with enterprise Wi-Fi coverage, and makes this list available to subscribing dual-mode phones. Subscribing dual-mode phones can use this list to only scan for Wi-Fi availability when they are associated with a cell tower which is on the list.
US08068869B2
Method and apparatus for processing transmit power control (TPC) commands in a wideband CDMA (WCDMA) network based on a sign metric are disclosed and may include calculating a sign metric of a downlink dedicated physical channel (DPCH) based on a plurality of TPC bits received via the downlink DPCH. A value of at least one of the plurality of TPC bits may not be known when the at least one of the plurality of TPC bits is received. The sign metric may specify an error associated with the plurality of TPC bits. Transmit power may be adjusted for a signal transmitted via at least one uplink communication channel based on the calculated sign metric. At least one reliability weight value may be calculated for at least a portion of the received TCP bits, based on the calculated sign metric.
US08068865B1
Systems and methods for allowing transmission of tones by a push-to-talk (PTT) communication station are provided. The communication station can decouple the PTT button of the PTT communication station, allowing the transmission of the tones without actuating the PTT button. The decoupling can be performed in response to receipt of an unsolicited floor grant message. The communication station can also receive an input selection and automatically transmit a floor request message, a tone corresponding to the input selection and a floor release message.
US08068855B2
A method for determining the location of a mobile unit (MU) in a wireless communication system and presenting it to a remote party. The location of a remote MU is determined by comparing a snapshot of a predefined portion of the radio-frequency (RF) spectrum taken by the MU to a reference database containing multiple snapshots taken at various locations. The result of the comparison is used to determine if the MU is at a specific location. The comparison may be made in the MU, or at some other location situated remotely from the MU. In the latter case, sufficient information regarding the captured fingerprint is transmitted from the MU to the remote location. The database may be pre-compiled or generated on-line.
US08068850B1
A method of locating a transmitter is disclosed. A communications link is established between multiple receiving stations and a control station, and used with a calibration signal to calibrate out the time delay of the communications link. A radiated signal from an unknown transmitter is received at a receiving station and sent to the control station over the communications link. The time of arrival is recorded. Upon receiving a user input, the communication link switches from transmitting the received radiated signal to transmitting the calibration signal. The start of calibration signal is timed to begin at the same time across all of the receiving stations. The communication link time delay for each link is calculated by subtracting the start time from the received time, and the communication link time delay is subtracted from the received time recorded for the radiated signal. TDOA calculations are made to locate the transmitter.
US08068844B2
In some embodiments a beamforming method is disclosed. The method can include transmitting a beam having a channel defined by a maximum ration transmission vector (MRT) and receiving a first response from a receiver, where the first response has first information such as parameters related to the transmitted beam. Using the parameters and the initial MRT another directional transmission can be made. A similar process can determine a maximum combining ratio for a receiver. Set up communications between the transmitter and the receiver can be reduced by omitting data from transmission that can be acquired by other means such as from memory or calculations. Additional embodiments are also disclosed.
US08068842B2
In a mobile wireless telecommunications system, which includes base stations (30) of a first type operating over a first air interface, and base stations (32) of a second type operating over a second air interface, a method for reselection by a mobile station (40) camped on a cell associated with a first base station (30), which is of the first type, of a second base station (32), which is of the second type. The method includes receiving signals over the second air interface from the second base station (32) and evaluating a characteristic of the signals. Responsive to the characteristic, the second base station (32) is selected in place of the first base station (30), and the mobile station (40) camps on a cell associated with the second base station (32).
US08068841B2
Methods and apparatus for implementing a multi-carrier communications system are described. Various approaches to a phased system deployment and system configurations resulting from different levels of deployment are described. In addition mobile node and methods of operating mobile nodes in communications systems that may have different levels of deployment in different cells are described.
US08068840B2
Methods and apparatus for performing proxy registration on behalf of a node with a Home Agent supporting Mobile IP are disclosed. A first registration request is composed on behalf of the node and transmitted to the Home Agent via a first Local Mobility Anchor, wherein the first Local Mobility Anchor is a regional controller via which registration is performed when the node moves within a region associated with the first Local Mobility Anchor. When the node moves within a region or between regions, the node is re-registered. Specifically, a second registration request is composed and transmitted to the first Local Mobility Anchor when the node moves within the region associated with the first Local Mobility Anchor. When the node moves into a second region associated with a second Local Mobility Anchor and outside the first region associated with the first Local Mobility Anchor, a second registration request is composed and transmitted to the Home Agent via the second Local Mobility Anchor, wherein the second Local Mobility Anchor is a regional controller via which registration is performed when the node moves within a region associated with second first Local Mobility Anchor.
US08068837B2
A method for reducing a delay in a wireless communications system resulting from a handoff while mitigating a risk of premature termination of wireless communications, the method includes comparing data indicative of actual use of the wireless communications systems to at least one predetermined criteria. If the comparing determines a sector pairing in the wireless communications system to be statistically significant for purposes of recommending at least one search window setting, at least one value related with a distance associated with the sector pairing may be used to automatically determine a corresponding signal delay. If the corresponding signal delay exceeds a prior determined signal delay, a recommended search window setting may be determined using the corresponding signal delay.
US08068836B2
A method and a system for transferring an ongoing communication in which a mobile terminal is involved between a first and a second base stations of a wireless cellular telecommunication network. One of the base stations is located in a moving conveyance. The first base station obtains information indicating that the first base station will become a neighbor of the second base station, identifies a mobile terminal which is currently under communication with a remote telecommunication device through the first base station, transfers a message to the second base station requesting the second base station to prepare resources enabling the continuation of the communication through the second base station, obtains information indicating that the first base station has become a neighbor of the second base station, and transfers the ongoing communication in which the mobile terminal is involved to the second base station.
US08068834B2
Techniques for searching neighbor cells within a fixed time duration are disclosed. In one embodiment, cells in a monitored list are ranked. A first subset of the ranked cells are searched during each cycle in a series of cycles, and a subset of the remainder of ranked cells is searched in each cycle, the subset varying from cycle to cycle. In another embodiment, the ranking and searching of a subset of the ranked list of cells is performed when the number of monitored cells is greater than a pre-determined search number. In yet another embodiment, the complete list of monitored cells is searched when the number of monitored cells is less than or equal to a pre-determined search number. In various embodiments, the searching comprises one or more of intra-frequency, inter-frequency, or inter-RAT searching. Various other embodiments are also presented. Benefits include allowing prescribed levels of intra-frequency, inter-frequency and/or inter-RAT search to be performed allowing for improved base station selection and therefore improved performance and system capacity.
US08068821B2
The invention includes a method and apparatus for providing content to user terminals. A method includes identifying a request for content from a user terminal, obtaining a network selection parameter for the content request, selecting, using the network selection parameter, a wireless network over which to propagate the requested content, and propagating the requested content toward the user terminal using the selected wireless network. The selected wireless network may be a unicast wireless network or a broadcast wireless network.
US08068816B2
In one illustrative example disclosed, a mobile communication device includes a user interface, a processor, and a wireless transmitter. The user interface includes, among other things, a visual display which is part of a graphical user interface (GUI). For configuring a voice mailbox at a remote voicemail system, the GUI visually displays a user input prompt for voice mailbox configuration information which corresponds to an audible user input prompt provided by the voicemail system. The user input prompt may be, for example, a prompt for a user password, an audible voicemail greeting, or an audible user name for the voice mailbox. Through the user interface, the voice mailbox configuration information is received by the processor in response to the user input prompt and transmitted to the voicemail system by the wireless transmitter. Advantageously, the mobile device provides a consistent user-friendly GUI for voice mailbox configuration as well as for its primary applications.
US08068815B2
A subscriber terminal for a radio system and an arrangement, a method and a computer program for presenting contact attempts to a subscriber terminal of a radio system are disclosed. The subscriber terminal includes: a transceiver configured to receive calls and messages; a control unit connected to the transceiver configured to save unanswered call data and messages relating to unanswered calls, and to constitute contact attempts from the unanswered call data and the messages relating to the unanswered calls; and a user interface connected to the control unit configured to present the contact attempts.
US08068812B2
The present invention relates to a communication system. The communication system includes a handheld communication device, a primary communication module, and a secondary communication apparatus. The primary communication module is configured for communicating with the secondary communication apparatus within a predetermined coverage area. When receiving a short message signal, the handheld communication device broadcasts a search signal. The secondary communication apparatus detects the search signal and sends a response signal to the handheld communication device according to the user's operations. The handheld communication device detects whether the response signal is received and processes accordingly. The present invention also provides a method of applying a security function for short messaging adapted for supporting the aforementioned communication system.
US08068811B2
According to an embodiment of the invention, a mobile communication terminal device comprises: an information memory unit configured to store a first information and a security information indicating whether the first information is secret; a backup request memory unit configured to store a first request for backing up identification information of the first information and the first information, or a second request for deleting a second information identified by the identification information with which the first information is stored in the backup device; a transmitting unit configured to transmit the first request or the second request based on the information stored in the backup request memory unit; and a management unit configured to store the identification information of the first information and the first request, if the first information of which the security information indicates that the first information is not secret is stored in the information memory unit.
US08068809B2
A method is performed by a device that includes a display and a communication application. The method includes identifying a reward criterion for communication activities using the communication application, receiving an indication of a communication activity, and recording the indication of the communication activity with a cumulative total of communication activities. The method also includes presenting, on the display, a graphic representation of the cumulative total of communication activities, where the cumulative total of communication activities is presented in relation to the reward criterion.
US08068807B2
A system for monitoring the contents of a closed container includes one or more sensors for monitoring the container contents, a signal receiving element positioned, and a processing system. The signal receiving element receives sensor data from the sensors. The processing system has a memory for storing predetermined conditions and a control element for analyzing received sensor data by comparing the received sensor data to stored predetermined conditions. The control element includes capabilities for declaring a security alert based on the comparison. The communications system includes a first transceiver inside the closed container for receiving signals containing sensor data from within the container and for transmitting those signals outside of the container, and a satellite transceiver, physically linked to the first transceiver and disposed outside the closed container, for receiving signals from the first transceiver and for forwarding the received signals via satellite uplink to a remote location.
US08068788B2
The present method adds uplink data to a transmission request sent to the base station from the mobile station for obtaining permission for data transmission, or to a channel establishment request sent from the mobile station to the base station for establishing a channel in order to send the transmission request therethrough. This makes it possible to suppress delay caused by negotiation prior to actual uplink data transmission as much as possible, thereby realizing efficient uplink data transmission, that is, improved throughput of uplink communication.
US08068787B2
A power supply device and a wireless communication system are provided. The power supply device includes a data input port, a power over Ethernet control module, a network port, a decoder circuit and a signal strength indicator unit. The power over Ethernet control module is configured for receiving a data signal from the data input port to generate a data signal with power. The network port is configured for transmitting the data signal with power to the main board and receiving a signal in relation to a signal receiving strength state of the wireless communication device. The decoder circuit is connected to the network port and configured for generating a signal strength indicator signal. The signal strength indicator unit is connected to the decoder circuit and configured for receiving the signal strength indicator signal to display the signal receiving strength state of the wireless communication device.
US08068777B2
An image heating apparatus includes a heating member for heating a toner image on a recording material in a heating nip, a pressing member for forming the heating nip and being in contact with the heating member, an abrading member for abrading a surface of the heating member, a contact-and-separation device for causing contact and separation of the abrading member with respect to the heating member, and a selecting device for selecting, depending on the basis weight of the recording material to be heated by the heating member, whether or not the contact-and-separation means brings the abrading member into contact with the heating member before a recording material is conveyed to the heating nip.
US08068763B2
A tandem type photosensitive unit includes a plurality of drum retaining units arrayed in line in an arraying direction, and a pair of side plates arranged on both sides of the drum retaining units in an axial direction perpendicular to the arraying direction and collectively opposed to the drum retaining units. Each drum retaining unit retains a photosensitive drum having an axis which extends in the axial direction. At least one of the side plates is provided to be slidable in the axial direction.
US08068758B2
The image heating apparatus has a plurality of heat generators which are capable of forming a plurality of heat generating distributions in the longitudinal direction for supplying heat to a heating member. Unevenness in temperature is decreased by changing the heat generating distribution when cooling by a fan for the heating member starts. The heat generating distribution is changed so that heat generating amount at an area in the longitudinal direction corresponding to the cooling area cooled by the fan is to be larger than the heat generating amount before starting the cooling.
US08068753B2
In a method or control device for controlling an electrophotographic printer or copier that has at least two developer stations, during a print operation print data is used to determine which developer stations are needed for printing of the data. In the event it is established that a developer station was not need or will not be needed for a predetermined time span, the developer station is shifted into a standby state in which at least one part of mechanical actuators of the developer station is stopped.
US08068741B2
The invention provides an apparatus and method for time delaying different polarization components of a signal relative to one another, comprising a polarization signal splitter which splits first and second polarization components of an input signal into a first component signal and a second component signal such that said first component signal propagates along a first path and the second component signal propagates along a second path, wherein said first component signal reaches a location relative to when said second component reaches said location at times differing by a delayed time, and use of the apparatus in a communication system. The apparatus may be used for quantum cryptography, to convert a sender's polarization-qubit signal into a signal appropriate for channels and receivers based on phase-encoded schemes.
US08068738B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to an electronic device configured to receive infra red (IR) signals. The electronic device comprises a first IR decoder configured to decode the IR signals when the electronic device is operating in a first power mode, and a second IR decoder configured to decode the IR signals when the video unit is operating in a second power mode.
US08068733B2
A system and method for a transparent WDM metro ring architecture in which optics enables simultaneous provisioning of dedicated wavelengths for high-end user terminals, while low-end user terminals share wavelengths on “virtual rings”. All wavelengths are sourced by the network and remotely modulated at customer “End Stations” by low cost semiconductor optical amplifiers, which also serve as transmission amplifiers. The transparent WDM metro ring architecture permits the communication of information and comprises a fiber optical feeder ring, at least one fiber optical distribution ring, a network node (NN), at least one access node (AN) said network node and said at least one access node connected via said fiber optical feeder ring and at least one end station (ES) connected via said fiber optical distribution ring to said at least one access node, wherein said user is attached to said at least one end station. A simple node that supports bi-directional propagation in transparent WDM metro architectures using “virtual rings” is also described. A method for communicating information over a WDM fiber optical ring network architecture in a metro access arena using one or more wavelengths, which can be shared by a plurality of user terminals, each user terminal coupled to an end station comprises the steps of sending downstream data packets, sending optical chalkboard packets consisting of ones and sending control signals.
US08068729B2
This G-PON network testing apparatus composes a network by connecting between an OLT, ONU or ONT by a optical fiber. This testing apparatus stores testing items and code numbers in a storing section by correlating them from each other. It obtains data receiving time and transmits the data to a delay buffer A when no test is implemented and generates testing data in which a code number is added to the data when a test is implemented. Then, this testing apparatus extracts the code number from the generated testing data to implement the testing item and obtains time when the testing item is finished. Then, it calculates a test time necessary for implementing the test from this time and the data receiving time and reads the data transmitted to the delay buffer A after an elapsed of the calculated test time.
US08068727B2
Methods and systems for evaluating the condition of a water tank having a powered anode protection system. The water heater includes a storage tank to hold water, a powered anode, and a control circuit. The control circuit includes a variable voltage supply, a voltage sensor, and a current sensor. The control circuit is configured to compare a measured parameter to a threshold. In some constructions, the threshold is indicative of a condition of the storage tank at which the powered anode is no longer able to protect the storage tank from corrosion. In other constructions, the threshold is predicative of a potential failure of the storage tank caused by corrosion. In some constructions, the control circuit is configured to estimate a time remaining until the predicted failure of the storage tank.
US08068724B2
A forced-air heater having a self-contained on-board electric-power supply that allows the forced-air heater to operate without an external electric power source; a fuel tank; a combustion chamber; a support; a housing including upper and lower housing portions; a motorized fan that during operation draws in ambient air through an air intake and forces air into the combustion chamber.
US08068720B2
A disc (1) has formed therein a header area (21) in which management information is recorded, and a data area (22) in which content information is recorded. Content information is recorded in units of an access block each including a succession of frames into the data area (22). The leading frame of the access block is taken as a base point of decoding. In the header area (21), there are recorded recording-position information for each access block and output-time information for the leading frame of each access block. At the top of the access block, there are recorded recording-position and output-time information for frames other than the leading frame. Thus, skip reproduction can be done by reading the recording-position and output-time information in the access block into a memory.
US08068717B2
A television program recording/reproducing device displays a reproduction program selection screen containing a title list image, a cursor image, frame images for initial letter selection and frame images for second letter selection. The title list image displays multiple title images sequentially in alphabetical order. One frame image for initial letter selection is displayed for multiple same titles, if any, while one frame image for second letter selection is displayed for multiple titles having the same initial letter, if any, in the title list image. The cursor image is moved on and between the title images and the both frame images. This television program recording/reproducing device allows a user to more effectively search for and find a desired television program to be reproduced, and can mitigate the burden on the user in an operation of reproducing a television program.
US08068716B2
A recording apparatus for recording audio-visual (A/V) contents directly from an A/V input source to a portable media player (PMP) is disclosed. The recorded A/V contents can be played back by the portable media player immediately upon stopping the recording. The recording apparatus does not involve the use of any intermediate computing or storage device other than the portable media player and the recording apparatus itself. The A/V contents for recording may come in the form of analog/digital signals or as digital data in compressed or uncompressed form from transmission and/or storage devices. Depending upon the nature of the input, the recording apparatus digitizes, encodes and/or transcodes the A/V contents and stores the processed A/V contents directly into the portable media player in playback ready format. The recording apparatus includes a one-button control interface for starting and stopping the recording of A/V contents to the portable media player. By clicking the button once, the process of recording the A/V contents into the portable media player is initiated. Optionally, elaborate control of the A/V recording parameters can be achieved through a configuration file. The type of encoders/decoders, bit-rates, duration of recording and other parameters can be set in the configuration file. The configuration file is stored in the portable media player or any other connected storage device. The recording apparatus provides both manual and automatic update mechanisms for play lists in the portable media player. In addition, the recording apparatus may also record and store A/V contents to storage devices other than a portable media player.
US08068694B2
An imaging apparatus displays and records any area in a synthesized image according to user's taste. The synthesized image is displayed based on the set display area and the record area is set to display the synthesized image, so that the display area is compared with the record area to enable easily confirming whether the actually acquired synthesized image satisfies the area desired by the user and assisting recording in an area where a better composition is provided even if the user is unfamiliar with the composition.
US08068693B2
A method for constructing a composite image comprises determining in an alignment between at least a first and a second image based on the content of the first and second image frames, and combining in a transform domain at least the first and second images with the determined alignment to form a composite image.
US08068692B2
Methods, apparatuses, systems, and machine readable media for pixel transformations. One exemplary method includes: determining a state of a pixel format transformation, wherein a pixel format includes a predetermined number of pixel data components and a predetermined number of bits for each of the pixel data components and wherein the state includes a source pixel format and a destination pixel format and at least one intermediate pixel format; converting pixel data in the source pixel format to pixel data in the intermediate pixel format; and converting the pixel data in the intermediate pixel format to pixel data in the destination pixel format. In certain embodiments, a method includes building and compiling a function, at run-time, for the pixel format transformation based upon the state.
US08068682B2
An image processing apparatus in which output pixels of an output image are generated from one or more input images using motion vectors having a sub-pixel accuracy. A motion vector allocator allocates motion vectors in the pixels, and compares a current output pixel with test image areas pointed to by motion vectors in the pixels to detect a most suitable motion vector for the current output pixel. A pixel generator operates in a first mode if the output pixel is within a threshold displacement from an image region having substantially different motion characteristics to those of that output pixel, and in a second mode otherwise. The pixel generator includes a spatial filter generating an output pixel value at a required pixel position to a sub-pixel accuracy.
US08068679B2
The present disclosure related generally to audio and video signal processing. Various arrangements are disclosed. One method recites: (a) obtaining data representing audible portions of audio or representing picture portions of video; (b) using a programmed electronic processor, determining identifying information from the obtained data by computing a frequency transform to produce frequency transform data, and processing the frequency transform data to derive a pattern, and using the pattern as the identifying information for the audio or video; and (c) using the identifying data to facilitate purchase or license of the audio or video. Other arrangements are disclosed as well.
US08068672B2
An image processing apparatus includes a feature value extractor configured to extract a feature value from an image; a setting unit configured to set setting information for applying a process to the image; and a recorder configured to record the setting information in association with the feature value of the image in a data recording medium.
US08068668B2
A method for estimating if an image (14) is either blurred or sharp includes the steps of (i) determining an image gradient histogram distribution (410) of at least a portion of the image (14), and (ii) comparing at least a portion of the image gradient histogram distribution (410) to a Gaussian model gradient histogram distribution (414) of at least a portion of the image (14) to estimate if the image (14) is either blurred or sharp. In most cases, a sharp image (14) has a relatively large tailed distribution when compared to the Gaussian model, while a blurred image has a relatively small tailed distribution when compared to the Gaussian model.
US08068667B2
Systems and methods are provided for reducing data size of at least one bitmap image comprising at least one block, wherein the block comprises a plurality of image components, each image component being associated with a distinct color plane. The method may include compressing the plurality of image components of the at least one block. The method may further include ranking the plurality of image components using a dominance rank, wherein the dominance rank for an image component is based on a compression ratio for the image component. The method may also include reducing the resolution of at least one image component associated with the block, based on the dominance rank of the color plane associated with the image component.
US08068661B2
Disclosed are a light emitting diode (LED) inspection apparatus, which can determine whether an LED has a defect such as leakage current, without making physical contact with the LED being inspected, and an LED inspection method thereof. The LED inspection apparatus includes an ultraviolet emission unit emitting UV light to an LED, an image generation unit generating an image of the LED to which the UV light is emitted, and a control unit obtaining color or intensity information of the LED from the image of the LED and determining, based on the color information, whether the LED is defective.
US08068660B2
System and method for characterizing vision systems. A multi-dimensional condition space is provided, each dimension representing a respective condition axis, where each point in the condition space specifies a set of conditions under which a vision system may operate. An image is provided. The condition space is sampled according to a pseudo-random sequence, e.g., a low-discrepancy sequence, to determine a plurality of test conditions usable to characterize the vision system, where each test condition corresponds to a respective set of conditions. A plurality of test images corresponding to the plurality of test conditions are generated based on the image, e.g., by applying image processing functions to the image that simulate the test conditions. A vision inspection is performed on each of the plurality of test images to generate respective test results, and the test results are analyzed to determine conditions under which the vision system operates correctly.
US08068658B2
A computer receives a plurality of two-dimensional fluoroscopy images of an examination object, capture time points and projection parameters and combines the images into image groups. Each image group contains all the images, the capture time point of which is between a minimum and a maximum time point specific to the respective image group. When the image groups are sorted by ascending minimum time points, the corresponding maximum time points form a strictly monotonously ascending order. The respective minimum and maximum time points are determined so that the computer reconstructs a three-dimensional object reconstruction of the examination object based on the images assigned to the respective image group. A respective two-dimensional reconstruction display is determined by the respective three-dimensional object reconstruction and outputted to a user in a coding specific to the respective image group by a display device.
US08068655B2
A method and system for vessel enhancement and artifact reduction in a 3D time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance (MR) angiography brain image. An intensity-based threshold is used to extract structures of interest in the brain image. Vessels are isolated in the structures of interest by filtering the structures based on a vesselness measure. The vessels are then enhanced by multiplying the filtered image by a coefficient map based on intensities of the original brain image. The scalp is detected in the enhanced image, and the scalp is removed from the enhanced image to generate a noise-reduce enhanced image.
US08068654B2
A method and system for detecting 3D objects in images is disclosed. In particular, a method and system for Ileo-Cecal Valve detection in 3D computed tomography (CT) images using incremental parameter learning and ICV specific prior learning is disclosed. First, second, and third classifiers are sequentially trained to detect candidates for position, scale, and orientation parameters of a box that bounds an object in 3D image. In the training of each sequential classifier, new training samples are generated by scanning the object's configuration parameters in the current learning projected subspace (position, scale, orientation), based on detected candidates resulting from the previous training step. This allows simultaneous detection and registration of a 3D object with full 9 degrees of freedom. ICV specific prior learning can be used to detect candidate voxels for an orifice of the ICV and to detect initial ICV box candidates using a constrained orientation alignment at each candidate voxel.
US08068644B2
The invention is a system whereby a video image can be converted into an audio signal. A portable apparatus is described which allows a visually blind person to hear the images and thus ‘see’. This does not require expensive equipment nor does it require surgery. It has applications for non-blind people such as with a pilot seeing radar information. It can be performed with an inexpensive video camera, a portable computer, and earphones. It is also readily adapted to a customized and compact system involving a micro camera, specialized computer, and ear buds.
US08068642B2
A system and method are provided for remotely monitoring images from an image capturing device. Image data from an image capturing component is received where image data represents images of a scene in a field of view of the image capturing component. The image data may be analyzed to determine that the scene has changed. A determination may be made that the scene has changed. In response to this determination being made, a communication may be transmitted to a designated device, recipient or network location. The communication may be informative that a scene change or event occurred. The communication may be in the form of a notification or an actual image or series of images of the scene after the change or event.
US08068636B2
The present claims recite various steganographic and digital watermarking methods and apparatus. One claim recites a method of watermarking a representation of a physical object. The method includes: projecting a watermark orientation component onto a physical object; and using a camera or image sensor, capturing an image or video of the physical object including the watermark orientation component as projected thereon. Another claim recites an apparatus including: a light source for projecting a registration component onto a physical object; a camera or sensor for capturing an image or video of the physical object including the registration component as projected thereon; and an electronic processor programmed for encoding a message in the image or video captured by said camera or sensor. Of course, other claims and combinations are provided as well.
US08068635B2
A multifunctional transducer diaphragm may be configured as audio speaker system for displays wherein the multifunctional transducer diaphragm is capable of polarizing light transmitted therethrough and can convert mechanical motion into acoustical energy. In a related embodiment, a display panel system may comprise a multifunctional display screen comprising a single multifunctional transducer diaphragm capable of polarizing light which converts mechanical motion into acoustical energy, simultaneously providing both display screen and audio speaker functionalities.
US08068620B2
A signal processing apparatus includes sound collecting elements, a noise detector for detecting a level of noise in a low-frequency band of audio signals output from the sound collecting elements, a noise reduction unit for reducing the noise in the audio signals in accordance with a signal output from the noise detector, a converter for converting the audio signals output from the noise reduction unit into pieces of audio data corresponding to channels including a low-frequency channel and other channels, a low-frequency channel controller for controlling a level of the audio data corresponding to the low-frequency channel in accordance with the level of the noise detected using the noise detector, and a level controller for controlling the level of the audio data of the low-frequency channel output from the low-frequency channel controller and levels of the pieces of audio data corresponding to the other channels output from the converter.
US08068614B2
A processing system may include a processing unit and nonvolatile storage responsive to the processing unit. The nonvolatile storage may include a candidate boot code module and an authentication code module. The processing unit may be configured to execute code from the authentication code module before executing code from the candidate boot code module. The authentication code module may have instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to read a processor identifier from the processing unit and determine whether the processor belongs to a predetermined set of processors associated with a specific vendor, based at least in part on the identifier, before executing any instructions from the candidate boot code module. The processing system may also test authenticity of the candidate boot code module before executing any instructions from the candidate boot code module. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08068611B2
A method is provided of playing a broadcast program content, which includes: (a) producing a combination-dependent unique key which is unique to a combination of a tuner unit and a computer unit; and (b) in response to issuance of a real-time play command or a recorded-video playback command from a user, playing a broadcast program content in real-time after transmission thereof from the tuner unit to the computer unit, or playing back recorded data after retrieval thereof from a data storage. In an illustrative embodiment, the produced combination-dependent unique key is outputted into an encryptor of the tuner unit for encryption, and the encrypted digital data is inputted into the computer unit. A decryptor of the computer unit is caused to attempt decryption of the encrypted digital data, using the produced combination-dependent unique key.
US08068589B2
Systems and methods of managing announcement messages provide for receiving a first announcement message, where the first announcement message is compatible with a first platform protocol of a first messaging server. The first announcement message is translated into a second announcement message, where the second announcement message is compatible with a second platform of a second messaging server. By enabling announcement messages such as voice mail greetings and email “out-of-office” messages to be created and updated with a single interface, more efficient messaging is achieved.
US08068585B2
Systems and methods for checking broadband network components are provided in which an automated interactive system permits a field technician to check various conditions of a communication line or other broadband network components without the assistance of a support technician. While options to request assistance from a support technician are provided, the automated interactive system permits the field technician to perform various functions on a communication line without additional assistance, especially for routine tasks. The automated interactive system, therefore, removes efficiencies that may be associated with conventional approaches for checking broadband network components.
US08068550B2
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for initiating a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication. The method and apparatus includes processing that begins by transmitting a frame formatted in accordance with a default MIMO active transmitter-receiver antenna configuration to a target receiver. The processing continues by receiving at least one response frame from the target receiver. The processing continues by determining a number of receiver antennas of the target receiver from the at least one response frame.
US08068547B2
Embodiments related to communication of data in a first and second transmission mode are depicted and described herein.
US08068546B2
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for transmitting, multicasting, or broadcasting video signals from a video source to one or more remotely located computers and/or video clients. Specifically, the disclosed method and apparatus effectively digitizes and compresses received video signals such that they may be transmitted with other digitized signals directly or via a network, such as the Internet, to a multitude of computers and/or independent video display devices. The video transmission system is also capable of receiving video signals from a non-networked computer that does not require any hardware or software modifications to be compatible with the video transmission system. The disclosed video transmission system operates independently (i.e., does not require a service provider) and is capable of recording video transmissions.
US08068542B2
When a prediction is made between fields with different parity, the predicative efficiency of a chrominance vector is improved by adaptively switching the generation of a chrominance motion vector depending on a encoding/decoding field parity (top/bottom) and a reference field parity (top/bottom), and the coding efficiency is improved accordingly.
US08068536B2
A digital radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit comprises circuitry that is adapted to select between a transmitter input signal (148) and a receiver input signal. A plurality of filters are adapted to receive either the transmitter input signal or the receiver input signal and to produce either a filtered transmitter signal or a filtered receiver signal. Circuitry alternatively receives the filtered transmitter signal or the filtered receiver signal and produces a modulated output and a demodulated output.
US08068535B2
In receiving equipment such as a mobile terminal (1) for decoding received signals coded according to a CDMA method are decoded in an intermediate processor (9). In the decoding, coefficients or elements of a vector w are calculated in a unit or module (13) by an iterative method as a solution to a system of linear equations represented by the matrix equation Rw=h, where R is a matrix of known elements and h is a known vector. For terminating the iteration, a value of the signal to interference plus noise ratio SINR for the received signals is calculated in each iteration step and then this calculated value or a quantity derived therefrom is used as a stopping criterion or generally in a stopping algorithm.
US08068534B2
Authentication of a signal, signalA, that is provided as having been received from a source at a first global location by comparing it to a signal that is received from the source at a second global location, signalB, where signalB contains an unknown signal that is unique to the source, and determining that signalA contains the same unknown signal that is contained in signalB.
US08068528B2
A quantum cascade laser includes a semiconductor substrate, and an active layer which is provided on the semiconductor substrate, and has a cascade structure in which unit laminate structures 16 having quantum well emission layers 17 and injection layers 18 are laminated in multiple stages. Further, the quantum cascade laser is configured such that the unit laminate structure 16 has an emission upper level Lup, an emission lower level Llow, and a relaxation miniband MB including an energy level lower than the emission lower level in its subband level structure, and light is generated by an intersubband transition of electrons from the upper level to the lower level, and the electrons after the intersubband transition are relaxed from the lower level Llow to the miniband MB through LO phonon scattering, to be injected from the injection layer 18 to the latter stage emission layer via the miniband MB. Thereby, the quantum cascade laser which is capable of efficiently forming an inverted population in the quantum well emission layer, to improve its laser operation performance, is realized.
US08068522B2
A grating pulse compressor configuration is introduced for increasing the optical dispersion for a given footprint and to make practical the application for chirped pulse amplification (CPA) to quasi-narrow bandwidth materials, such as Nd:YAG. The grating configurations often use cascaded pairs of gratings to increase angular dispersion an order of magnitude or more. Increased angular dispersion allows for decreased grating separation and a smaller compressor footprint.
US08068513B2
The specification and drawings present a new method, system, apparatus and software product for determining (e.g., calculating) a load measure by a network element (e.g., Node B or any other network element) for optimizing information traffic in communication networks (e.g., wireless communication systems). This load measure may represent the amount of available/excess traffic that a given network element may carry and is a relative measure, which would take into account the total amount of resources available in the system and the amount of resources that are free for carrying only “important” or “essential” traffic, using a weighed method described herein.
US08068512B2
A data center includes an individual storage unit having storage areas for respective user apparatuses, a shared storage unit having a storage area for sharing by the user apparatuses, a unit configured to store data received from an external node in one of the individual storage unit and the shared storage unit that is selected according to predetermined criteria, a unit configured to generate a data arrangement list according to statistics of the received data and predetermined cache data arrangement conditions, and a unit configured to transmit an instruction signal to at least one of the shared storage unit and the individual storage unit according to the data arrangement list to cause data stored in the at least one of the shared storage unit and the individual storage unit to be transferred to a cache server provided on a core network or on a radio access network.
US08068510B2
Disclosed is a demodulation apparatus for receiving signals by an adaptive modulation and coding method, and demodulating the signals, in an OFDMA based packet communication system, comprising: a QAM demapper for performing QAM demapping to the received signals by a modulation method using a maximum modulation ratio, until modulation methods for each of sub-channels are analyzed; a slot buffer for storing the data outputted from the QAM demapper; a channel decoder for decoding the data stored in the slot buffer and analyzing modulation methods for each sub-channels and transferring the analyzed modulation methods to the QAM demapper; and in at the same time, reading valid data from the data stored in the slot buffer, based on the analyzed modulation methods for each sub-channels, and demodulating the valid data.
US08068509B2
A digital broadcast system having storing resistance to errors generated during the transmission of mobile service data, and a data processing method are disclosed. The digital broadcast system additionally encodes mobile service data. As a result, the mobile service data has strong resistance to a channel variation and noise, and at the same time the system can quickly cope with the channel variation.
US08068501B2
System and method for correlating multiple frames of data associated with a single call into a call record. One embodiment comprises correlating data in a radio access network by capturing data passing to and from a radio network controller, identifying ATM Adaptation Layer type 5 (AAL5) frames within the data, assigning a first call identifier to the AAL5 frames, identifying ATM Adaptation Layer type 2 (AAL2) frames within the data, assigning a second call identifier to the AAL2 frames, and combining AAL2 frames and AAL5 frames having a same first call identifier and a same second call identifier into a call record. The data passing to and from the first radio network controller may be data passing over an Iub interface between a Node B and the radio network controller or data passing over an Iur interface between two radio network controllers.
US08068494B2
A method and apparatus for robust mobility management in a network having a mobile node (MN), a mobility anchor point (MAP), a correspondent node (CN1, CN2), a home agent (HA) and an access router (AR1) and operating under a hierarchical protocol. The mobile node (MN) sends the address (102, 104) of the mobility anchor point (MAP) to the correspondent node (CN1, CN2) and sends the address (106, 108) of the mobile node (MN) on the network of the access router (AR) to the home agent (HA) and to the mobility anchor point (MAP). When failure of the mobility anchor point occurs, the mobile node recovers from the failure by selecting a new mobility anchor point or operating under a non-hierarchical protocol. Failure is detected by an intermediate router or by a correspondent node when messages fail to reach the mobility anchor point. The mobile node (MN) detects failure of the mobility anchor point when messages unexpectedly arrive via the home agent.
US08068492B1
Principles of the invention are described for providing multicast virtual private networks (MVPNs) across a public network that are capable of carrying high-bandwidth multicast traffic with increased scalability. In particular, the MVPNs may transport layer three (L3) multicast traffic, such as Internet Protocol (IP) packets, between remote sites via the public network. The principles described herein may reduce the overhead of protocol independent multicast (PIM) neighbor adjacencies and customer control information maintained for MVPNs. The principles may also reduce the state and the overhead of maintaining the state in the network by removing the need to maintain at least one dedicated multicast tree per each MVPN.
US08068488B2
A method is provided for transmitting a packet including information describing a bus transaction to be executed at a remote device. A bus transaction is detected on a first bus and a network packet is generated for transmission over a network. The network packet includes an opcode describing the type of bus transaction. One or more control signals of the bus transaction map directly to one or more bits of the opcode to simplify decoding or converting of the bus transaction to the opcode. The packet is transmitted to a remote device and the bus transaction is then replayed at a second bus. In addition, the packet includes a data field having a size that is a multiple of a cache line size. The packet includes separate CRCs for the data and header. The packet also includes a transaction ID to support split transactions over the network. Also, fields in the packet header are provided in a particular order to improve switching efficiency.
US08068483B2
This invention discloses a method for migration between a permanent connection and a switched connection in a transmission network. The method comprises the steps of: the ingress node of the current connection receiving a message of connection migrating request; forwarding the message of connection migrating request node by node starting from the ingress node in the direction of the traffic signal transmission of the current connection till the egress node of the current connection; making migration between the two connection modes until the ingress node after the message of migrating request has been received. By making migration between modes of connection node by node at each node of a transmission network, this invention ensures a smooth transition between a permanent connection and a switched connection, effectively avoiding service disruption while making the implementation of network services more flexible.
US08068482B2
Method and system for a network switch element is provided. The switch element includes a plurality of megaports, each megaport uniquely identified by a unique megaport address identifier for network addressing. Each megaport includes a plurality of operational ports, each operational port identified by a unique operational port address identifier. The switch element also includes a local crossbar for communication between the plurality of operational ports, and a shared logic module configured to provide common control of the plurality of operational ports within a megaport to allow operational ports to share resource of a single megaport to route network packets there between. The switch element also includes a global crossbar configured to allow communication between the megaports.
US08068478B2
Methods, systems and devices for sharing communication resources among a plurality of clients (200-204) that are part of a common wireless community (1000). The communication resources are, for example, Internet access resources (101-104). Another example, might be a video or data delivery communication resource. As an example, clients have separate Internet access accounts. Embodiments of the invention, for example, allow client business units or residential units to share separate Internet access accounts.
US08068473B2
A method for operating an RLC entity and a MAC entity in a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), the European IMT-2000 system. A format of a MAC-has PDU is optimized in a MAC-hs entity, so that a large number of users can be supported with using less resources when a VoIP service is provided in one cell.
US08068463B2
The present invention offers systems and methods for effective multiple-hop routing, multicasting and media access control for vehicle group communications that employ directional wireless radio technology. Multi-beam optic-wireless media and streamlined operations provide low-overhead communications among vehicles. Systems and methods are provided to maintain a quasi-stationary group of neighboring vehicles, enable high-throughput on-demand switching among multiple vehicles, enable group coding in the vehicle group to achieve higher throughput, and enable dynamic adjustment of link to maintain desirable vehicle group. The proposed solution builds upon the conception of a MAC-free wireless operation and quasi-stationary vehicular switched network to achieve ultra-low-overhead and high-throughput vehicle communications.
US08068459B2
A method for managing and allocating radio resources (RRMA method) of multiple radio resource types to subscriber stations is disclosed. The RRMA method includes bandwidth partitioning, into parts comprising “slots” with a given reuse pattern, a selection rule, to select a “cell, reuse pattern” pair serving each user, and an allocation rule, for distributing to each user an appropriate number of bandwidth slots from the selected “cell, reuse pattern” pair. After an adaptation period, the method reaches a desired fairness, while simultaneously reaching a maximal mean throughput, possible under this fairness. For big networks, the method provides basically decentralized radio resource management. The RRMA method is useful to cellular networks having a single set of orthogonal sub-channels (frequency/time slots) being reused by all network cells, such as time division multiple access (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or OFDMA/TDMA cellular systems. Particularly, the method is applicable in fractional frequency reuse cellular networks.
US08068457B2
A mapping scheme between a plurality of control channel element sets and a plurality of acknowledgement channel resource sets is established. Each of the control channel element sets includes at least one control channel element, and each of the acknowledgement channel resource sets includes at least one acknowledgement channel resource. In accordance with a scheduling grant transmitted using a control channel element set selected from the plurality of control channel element sets, a data packet is transmitted via a second node to a first node. Then, an acknowledgement channel message is transmitted via the first node to the second node by using at least one acknowledgement channel resource selected from the acknowledgement channel resource set that correspond to the control channel element set used for transmitting the scheduling grant in accordance with the mapping scheme. The acknowledgement channel message may be one of a positive acknowledgement message and a negative acknowledgement message.
US08068449B2
A method and system reduce interference between overlapping first and second wireless LAN cells in a medium. Each cell includes a respective plurality of member stations and there is at least one overlapped station occupying both cells. An inter-cell contention-free period value is assigned to a first access point station in the first cell, associated with an accessing order in the medium for member stations in the first and second cells. The access point transmits a beacon packet containing the inter-cell contention-free period value, which is intercepted at the overlapped station. The overlapped station forwards the inter-cell contention-free period value to member stations in the second cell. A second access point in the second cell can then delay transmissions by member stations in the second cell until after the inter-cell contention-free period expires. The beacon packet sent by the first access point station also includes an intra-cell contention-free period value, which causes the member stations in the first cell to delay accessing the medium until polled by the first access point. After the expiration of the intra-cell contention-free period, member stations in the first cell may contend for the medium based on the quality of service (QoS) data they are to transmit, using the Tiered Contention Multiple Access (TCMA) protocol.
US08068440B2
Systems and methods for optimizing system performance of capacity and spectrum constrained, multiple-access communication systems by selectively discarding packets are provided. The systems and methods provided herein can drive changes in the communication system using control responses. One such control responses includes the optimal discard (also referred to herein as “intelligent discard”) of network packets under capacity constrained conditions. Some embodiments provide an interactive response by selectively discarding packets to enhance perceived and actual system throughput, other embodiments provide a reactive response by selectively discarding data packets based on their relative impact to service quality to mitigate oversubscription, others provide a proactive response by discarding packets based on predicted oversubscription, and others provide a combination thereof.
US08068437B2
Empirically derived models are used to relate user perception to objectively measurable characteristics, under a criterion of nearly perfect co-variance between predicted MOS values and the variations in the values of the objectively measurable characteristics. In the example context of evaluating packet switched telephony service, the present invention eliminates the need to perform subjective tests to characterize each combination of codec type and transmission protocol.
US08068434B2
A system to discover a network infrastructure capability includes one or more subsystems to establish a communication path between a first endpoint and a second endpoint. A test packet is sent from a first endpoint along the communication path and a value is associated with the test packet which relates to capabilities of the communication path. The test packet value is returned to the first endpoint.
US08068428B2
A system and method for performing topology control in a wireless network (100). The system and method operate to enable a node (102-1) to determine the link cost of a link between itself and another node (102-2), based on the number of nodes (102, 106, 107) that would be affected by message transmission by the node (102) and the other node (102-2), and the number of nodes (102, 106, 107) that would be affected by message reception by the node (102-1) and the other node (102-2). The number of nodes (102, 106, 107) affected by the message transmission and message reception at the node (102-1) and the other node (102-2) is affected by the transmit power of the control messages sent by the node (102-1) and the other node (102-2). The node (102-1) further bases routing decisions on the calculated link costs.
US08068426B2
A method, apparatus and computer program product for feedback-based online network coding is presented. In one embodiment, a transmitting node determines a linear combination of packets to transmit from a transmit queue. The transmitting node transmits the linear combination of packets. The transmitting node determines whether a packet can be removed from the transmit queue, wherein when a determination is made that a packet can be removed from the transmit queue then removing the packet from the transmit queue, and when a determination is made that a packet cannot be removed from the transmit queue then refraining from removing the packet from the transmit queue.
US08068424B2
A method for transmitting messages to alter the operating status between a mobile station and a base station in a wireless access system comprises, at the mobile station, transmitting a first message to the base station, setting a first count to a first predetermined value and enabling a first, the first message requesting a alteration in operating status between the mobile station and the base station, whereupon expiration of the first timer before receiving a second message from the base station, the count is decremented and, if the count is above a second predetermined value, the first timer is reset and the first message is retransmitted to the base station. The method also comprises, at a base station, receiving the first message, transmitting a second message to the mobile station and enabling a second timer, whereupon expiration of the second timer, the alteration in operating status is effected.
US08068423B2
A system and method for processing multiple client flows to a single outbound link is provided. Specifically, a scheduler enforces a maximum symbol rate on the aggregate output flow. Inbound client flows are scheduled for output based upon individual quality of service parameters. For each round of scheduling, packets configured for a first bandwidth range are processed in a first pass and packets configured for a second bandwidth range are processed in a second pass. The packets are placed into frames before transmission. A comparison of the actual symbol usage with the estimated symbol is made and used to determine how to schedule inbound client flows for the second pass of the round.
US08068422B2
The present invention relates to an arrangement for controlling communication of data packets through one or more communication networks or network domains. It comprises means for identifying real-time or non-bursty data packet traffic, for separating real-time data packet traffic from bursty data packet traffic, for controlling the admission of real-time data packets and it further comprises or communicates with means for keeping information about the amount of real-time data packet flows that is admissible and for keeping information about current number of admitted and/or non-admitted real-time data packet flows. Means are also provided for establishing whether a packet or packets of a real-time data packet flow is/are admitted or not, such that generally all packets of a real-time IP data packet flow either can be admitted or rejected.
US08068418B2
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus including a dividing unit configured to divide coded audio data in unit of frame when the audio data is transmitted to an external device; a generating unit configured to generate packets to be transmitted to the external device based on the divided coded audio data; a transmitting unit configured to store the generated packets and transmit the stored packets to the external device; an acquiring unit configured to acquire, from the external device, parameter information supported by the external device; a determining unit configured to determine, by comparing acquired parameter information and designated parameter information, whether the transmission of the coded audio data is acceptable, and determine whether the parameter information designated by the external device includes protection information.
US08068415B2
Network interface circuitry for a secure one-way data transfer from a sender's computer (“Send Node”) to a receiver's computer (“Receive Node”) over a data link, such as an optical fiber or shielded twisted pair copper wire communication cable, comprising send-only network interface circuitry for transmitting data from the Send Node to the data link, and receive-only network interface circuitry for receiving the data from the data link and transmitting the received data to the Receive Node, wherein the send-only network interface circuitry is configured not to receive any data from the data link, and the receive-only network interface circuitry is configured not to send any data to the data link. The network interface circuitry may use various interface means such as PCI interface, USB connection, FireWire connection, or serial port connection for coupling to the Send Node and the Receive Node.
US08068408B2
A SoftRouter architecture deconstructs routers by separating the control entities of a router from its forwarding components, enabling dynamic binding between them. In the SoftRouter architecture, control plane functions are aggregated and implemented on a few smart servers which control forwarding elements that are multiple network hops away. A dynamic binding protocol performs network-wide control plane failovers. Network stability is improved by aggregating and remotely hosting routing protocols, such as OSPF and BGP. This results in faster convergence, lower protocol messages processed, and fewer route changes following a failure. The SoftRouter architecture includes a few smart control entities that manage a large number of forwarding elements to provide greater support for network-wide control. In the SoftRouter architecture, routing protocols operate remotely at a control element and control one or more forwarding elements by downloading the forwarding tables, etc. into the forwarding elements. Intra-domain routing and inter-domain routing are also included.
US08068402B2
An optical head is provided with a light source for outputting laser light having a wavelength of 430 nm or less; an objective lens for collecting the laser light outputted from the light source to an optical disc having a plurality of information recording surfaces; a light receiving element for receiving laser light reflected on the optical disc; and a detecting lens for guiding the laser light reflected on the optical disc to the light receiving element. The detecting lens is formed of a resin material. The detecting lens is arranged so that a light collecting position of the laser light reflected on an information recording surface different from an information recording surface having a thinnest protection substrate, among the information recording surfaces, is outside the detecting lens, at the time of recording or reproducing information on or from the information recording surface having the thinnest protection substrate.
US08068401B2
There is provided an objective optical system used for information recording/reproducing for three types of optical discs. The objective optical system includes an objective lens, and a diffraction structure formed on an optical surface. The diffraction structure includes a first area for contributing to converging the third light beam. The first area includes first and second steps defined by first and second optical path difference functions, respectively. The first step is configured such that diffraction orders at which diffraction efficiencies for the first, second and third light beams are maximized are 1st order, 0-th order and 0-th order, respectively. The first step satisfies a condition: −0.36×102
US08068381B2
Disclosed is a cache memory, and more particularly to a cache memory, in which a word-line voltage control logic unit and a word-line driver are added as a logic circuit between a row decoder and a word line, so that a reinforcement voltage signal having a higher level than a basic voltage signal can be applied when accessing the word line corresponding to an access time failure, thereby decreasing an access time delay in the word line in order to minimize an access failure to the cache memory due to process variation. The cache memory including: a row decoder which decodes and outputs an input address signal; a plurality of word-line voltage control logic units which output a basic voltage signal or a reinforcement voltage signal having a higher voltage level than the basic voltage signal according to whether or not word lines involve a cell having an access time failure; and word-line drivers which are one-to-one connected to output lines of the row decoder and supply the word lines with the basic voltage signal or the reinforcement voltage signal output from the word-line voltage control logic unit only if a signal output through the output line of the row decoder is an activation signal.