US08074408B1
A storm reinforcing brace for a corrugated polycarbonate plastic hurricane shutter panel, and the combination thereof. The brace includes an elongated bar member extrusion-formed as a single one-piece unit and having a continuous, uniform generally hat-shaped section defining a central portion, leg or side portions, and mounting flange portions thereof. The central portion is preferably flat with an inwardly extending C-shaped channel sized to entrappingly slidably receive a head of a separate threaded fastener from either end of the channel, the threaded fastener being held in the channel in an outwardly extending adjustably slidable orientation along the length of the brace. Each of the mounting flange portions lie in a plane inwardly offset from the central portion and laterally extending from each corresponding leg portion, each of the mounting flange portions for receiving fasteners therethrough anchoring the brace against the upright side members of a window frame. The central portion is offset from the plane of the mounting flanges a distance sufficient for the central portion to support an inner planar surface of the shutter panel, the threaded fastener passing through the shutter panel to boltably secure the shutter panel against the central surface.
US08074390B2
A decorative display box having a picture frame lid fitting flush with its storage box base, hinges between the picture frame lid box base being of a type that is hidden when the lid is closed over the box base. A magnetic securing mechanism secures the lid in the closed position with the box base. The picture frame lid having a an inner peripheral picture slot with an edge slot opening thereinto for installing and removing the a picture stack from the frame. A door slide portion of the picture frame lid fits over picture slot adjacent one end of the picture frame and is secured in a closed position therewith by another magnetic securing mechanism.
US08074387B2
A sign system comprises one or more box-like modules having a front section and a corresponding rear section sized to fit together in sliding engagement to define an interior cavity. The sections may be joined together with fasteners which engage the side panels of each section thereby leaving the front and rear surfaces free of discontinuities. The sign modules may be affixed to a generally planar surface or supported on internal or external mounting posts. During installation, the rear section may be mounted first and the front section subsequently attached to the rear section. In this way only approximately one-half of the total weight of the sign need be lifted and manipulated at any one time thereby facilitating installation. The interior cavity defined by the front and rear sections may accommodate lighting means for internally lighting the sign.
US08074383B2
A lock for securing a wear part to earth-working equipment that is foldable between a retaining position to hold the wear part to the equipment and a release position that permits removal of the lock and release of the wear part from the equipment. The lock includes a retainer for releasably holding the lock in the retaining position. The retainer may comprise a threaded wedge received into a complementary threaded passage.
US08074379B2
The present invention concerns a shoe (10) including an upper (12), having lateral and medial sides, a midsole (14) joined to the upper (12), and an outsole (16) joined to the midsole (4). Shoe (10) is tightened around the wearer's foot using a lacing system (18) comprising a lace (20) and tightening mechanism (22). Lace (20) is threaded through shank (24) positioned under the arch and heel wrap (26) and attached at opposite ends to tightening mechanism (22). In an advantageous aspect of the present invention, lace (18) is tensioned to draw shank (24) upwards and towards the arch of the foot. In order to support the foot, shank (24) is comprised of a material having a strain rate lower than the upper (12).
US08074365B2
Lettuce can be commercially harvested by removing the bottom portion of a head of lettuce to obtain only the top portion of the head. After the top portion of the head is obtained, a center section of the top portion of the head is removed to leave a cup-shaped portion of the head. The bottom portion of the head is removed and the center section of the top portion is removed in the field in which the head is harvested.
US08074360B2
A tool for slitting an elongate sheath from about an elongate member that is disposed within a longitudinally extending lumen of the sheath includes a longitudinally extending tail portion projecting rearward of a slitting edge and a nose portion of the tool; a lower surface of the nose portion is disposed beneath the slitting edge for engaging a portion of the elongate member. The tail portion of the tool, approximately aligned with the sheath lumen when the lower surface engages the elongate member and a leading edge of the nose portion is within the sheath lumen, is sized to fit within the sheath lumen after the sheath is slit by the slitting edge. A passageway between the nose portion and the tail portion allows a proximal segment of the elongate member to bend away from the tail portion when the elongate member is engaged by the nose portion.
US08074355B1
A method for manufacturing a connecting rod for an engine contemplates creating a rough connecting rod from high carbon steel. The rough connecting rod is normalized to provide strength and toughness characteristics to the core of the connecting rod for functional operation. A first, second or both ends of the connecting rod are selectively induction hardened to create a durable martensitic structure in those ends. The connecting rod is then cracked and ground to form a final connecting rod for use in internal combustion engines.
US08074346B2
The methods described herein provide for a radio frequency micro-electromechanical systems switch having two or more resonant frequencies. The switch can be configured as a capacitive shunt switch having a deflectable member coupled between two electrodes over a transmission line. A first insulator can be located between one of the electrodes and the deflectable member to form a capacitive element. The deflectable member can be deflectable between an up-state and a down-state, the down-state capacitively coupling the deflectable member with the transmission line. The degree by which the deflectable member overlaps the first insulator can be adjusted to adjust the capacitance of the capacitive element and the resulting resonant frequency.
US08074345B1
A method of measuring a bevel angle in a write pole comprises the step of providing a mask over a wafer containing the write pole. The mask has a first opening over the write pole and a second opening over a sacrificial region of the wafer. The sacrificial region comprises a same material as the write pole. The method further comprises the steps of performing a beveling operation on the write pole and the sacrificial region to form a first bevel in the write pole and a second bevel in the sacrificial region, and measuring an angle of the second bevel in the sacrificial region to determine the bevel angle of the write pole.
US08074344B2
The manufacturing method of a rotor holder according to the present invention includes a step in which a top plate portion having a substantially discoid shape substantially centered about a central axis, and a side wall portion extending from an outer circumferential edge of the top plate portion are formed simultaneously by feeding a metal plate in a predetermined direction and pressing the metal plate by a die. Also, the present manufacturing method includes a step in which a punched portion is formed at the side wall portion.
US08074343B2
A method for the production of a supporting basket (1) for an end winding of a stator winding of an electrical machine includes preassembling the supporting basket (1), mounting electrically insulated round connectors (6) on the supporting basket (1), immersing the supporting basket (1) with the mounted round connectors (6) in an impregnation agent bath (12), evacuating the impregnation agent bath (12), and removing the supporting basket (1) with the mounted round connectors (6) from the impregnation agent bath (12), and drying, curing, or both, the impregnation.
US08074335B2
A cell manufacturing method in which a main operator, who carries out main operations that includes a plurality of steps in which parts are attached to a workpiece, is moved with the workpiece so as to transit a plurality of stations at which auxiliary steps related to the main operation are carried out. A main car on which a workpiece is mounted and on which a main operator rides and a subsidiary car on which a subsidiary operator rides, the subsidiary operator preparing at least a portion of parts and/or jigs that are necessary for the main operation. The main car automatically travels on a predetermined travel path that transits a plurality of stations, and the subsidiary car travels together with the main car so as to enable transferring parts and/or jigs between the main car and the subsidiary car.
US08074324B2
A flexible hinge including a first set of plies and a second set of plies, and a hinge area where the first set of plies and the second set of plies bend. A damping material is disposed between plies of the first set and the second set at least at the hinge area thereof to control the deployment of the hinge.
US08074320B2
An autonomous blower is described that utilizes GPS signals for blowing ground debris from a clearable area to a target area. A controller coordinates motors that propel and steer the autonomous blower. A database created in a teaching mode defines clearable, target, and no-trespassing areas with respect to GPS coordinates. An algorithm in the controller computes a serpentine trajectory for the autonomous blower so that it traverses the clearable area while transporting ground debris to the target area.
US08074310B1
A resilient base cushion has top and bottom surfaces, a peripheral side wall, upper and lower ends, an upper section, a lower section, and an intermediate section. A resilient head cushion has a middle component positioned across the top of the base cushion and side components laterally spaced from the upper section. A pair of similarly configured resilient leg cushions are partially positioned upon the intermediate and lower sections of the base cushion. Each cushion of a pair of similarly configured resilient abdominal cushions has a wedge-shaped configuration and is positioned upon the intermediate section of the base cushion above the leg cushions.
US08074303B2
The components used in this invention has never been utilized in this special type of arrangement ever before. This new “Noise Reducing Valve for Toilet Systems” does not exist and cannot be found anywhere.Once available to the public it will be very useful and will help many light sleeper to have a better change of getting a good sleep at night, as they will not have to listen to loud toilet noises at night, on whenever they take a sleep.
US08074301B2
A restraint system for limiting the range of motion of an individual's head and flexure of their neck includes an arrangement of straps extending from a head engulfing helmet to a two piece arch-shaped shoulder mounted support member. The arch-shaped shoulder mounted support member includes a front portion, a rear portion and a mechanism for adjusting the curvature of the arch to accommodate individuals of different sizes and also to accommodate different seating positions. A pair of upwardly extending restraint members extends upwardly from the rear portion of the shoulder mounted support member. An upper portion of the upwardly extending restraint member extends upwardly behind the helmet and is tethered to the helmet so that the upwardly extending restraint member limits forward and rear movement of the head.
US08079093B2
One inventive aspect is related to an atomic force microscopy probe. The probe comprises a tip configuration with two probe tips on one cantilever arm. The probe tips are electrically isolated from each other and of approximately the same height with respect to the cantilever arm. The outer surface of the tip configuration has the shape of a body with a base plane and an apex. The body is divided into two sub-parts by a gap located approximately symmetrically with respect to the apex and approximately perpendicular to the base plane. Another inventive aspect related to methods for producing such an AFM probe.
US08079082B2
Various techniques are provided for verifying the authenticity of software applications. Such techniques are particularly useful for verifying the authenticity of software applications used in online transactions involving users, payment service providers, and/or merchants. In one example, a set of application identifiers associated with a plurality of authenticated software applications are maintained and a verification request is received comprising an application identifier associated with an unverified software application. A token is generated in response to the verification request if the application identifier is in the set of application identifiers. The generated token is passed to the unverified software application. A user token is received and processed to determine whether the unverified software application is one of the authenticated software applications. A verification request is sent based on the processing. Additional methods and systems are also provided.
US08079081B1
Methods and systems for normalizing log messages. Some methods include obtaining a freeform log message from one of many disparate programs. The methods can include determining which program originated the message and, based on that, determining a signature which matches the message. Using the signature, a parsing expression may be determined with which to extract information from a portion of the message. The time from obtaining the message to extracting the information can be about the same for all messages and can be about 1/40,000th of a second. In some embodiments, a generic signature of the message may be output. A version of the message may be reconstructed based on the generic signature and information. When more than one message signatures matches the reconstructed message, one of the matching signatures can be adjusted. The parsing expression can be the first of an ordered list of expressions which successfully evaluates the log message.
US08079080B2
A method, system and computer program product detect attempts to send significant amounts of information out via HTTP tunnels to rogue Web servers from within an otherwise firewalled network. A related goal is to help detect spyware programs. Filters, based on the analysis of HTTP traffic over a training period, help detect anomalies in outbound HTTP traffic using metrics such as request regularity, bandwidth usage, inter-request delay time, and transaction size.
US08079079B2
A multimodal system that employs a plurality of sensing modalities which can be processed concurrently to increase confidence in connection with authentication. The multimodal system and/or set of various devices can provide several points of information entry in connection with authentication. Authentication can be improved, for example, by combining face recognition, biometrics, speech recognition, handwriting recognition, gait recognition, retina scan, thumb/hand prints, or subsets thereof. Additionally, portable multimodal devices (e.g., a smartphone) can be used as credit cards, and authentication in connection with such use can mitigate unauthorized transactions.
US08079072B2
A high-bandwidth direct communication path between two clients is used for voice or video calls over the Internet. An opening or a window in a firewall is made for the direct path by sending a null packet out from inside the firewall. The null packet can be a UDP packet directed to a UDP port of the other client. Initially, each client makes a TCP connection to port 80 of an external manager. Each client registers its UDP port number with the external manager. A call request from one client to the external manager results in a message from the external manager to the other client. The other client then creates the window in its firewall by transmitting the null UDP packet. Then the external manager is notified and tells the calling client to begin sending UDP packets directly to the other client through the firewall window.
US08079070B2
When a user successfully logs in to an information server such as an online banking server, an e-commerce server, or a VPN server, for greater security communication is transferred transparently to the user to an authentication server for additional authentication. The additional authentication can include comparing elements of a previously deposited cookie on the user computer to test elements, and if the elements, match, granting access and transparently transferring the user computer back to the information server. If the secondary authentication fails, however, the user may be asked questions as tertiary authentication, or a PIN code can be sent to the user's cell phone, which PIN code can then be input on the user computer to gain access.
US08079064B2
An object is to provide a service providing method capable of curbing rise of cost. A service providing method according to the present invention is one for providing services A and B, which authenticates a user of an authentication requesting terminal in order to make service A available to the user and which determines whether service B is available to the user, in a state in which the user is authenticated about service A. When service B is determined to be available, a permission message is stored and a permission response based on the permission message for utilization of service B is transmitted to the authentication requesting terminal. Then the permission message on which a utilization request message from a service utilizing terminal is based, is verified, and, if it is in an available status, the service utilizing terminal is permitted to utilize service B. The use of the authentication result on service A obviates a need for provision of a new authentication result for service B, so as to lead to reduction of cost.
US08079062B2
In accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention, a method using presence information to manage network access includes maintaining presence information for an end user. When a remote access request is received from the end user at a remote endpoint, the presence information for the end user is updated to identify the presence of the end user at one or more network endpoints associated with a private network. An access point to the private network is then automatically configured to allow any communications addressed to an IP address associated with the one or more network endpoints to pass through the access point.
US08079056B2
A media center and an audio visual (AV) unit may be remotely synchronized on the same remodulation channel. A system may include a media center connected to an audio visual (AV) unit; and a remote control unit to activate the media center. The remote control unit may receive signals from the media center to indicate a transmission channel for the AV unit, and the remote control unit may send the received signals to the AV unit to independently cause the AV unit to switch to the indicated transmission channel.
US08079051B2
A system includes one or more transmitter devices constructed and adapted to transmit wireless streaming media, the transmitter device connected to at least one video source, wherein the transmitter device is further constructed and adapted to automatically detect a type of active source signal from the at least one video source and automatically to convert that signal, if necessary, to an appropriate output signal; and one or more receiver devices constructed and adapted to receive wireless signals, the receiver connected to at least one video output device, wherein the at least one receiver device is further constructed and adapted to produce, automatically, a appropriate signal for the at least one video output device connected thereto.
US08079036B2
Disclosed is a structured model for developing DMA code and for performing DMA transactions. This model of structured DMA transactions provides a framework with default behaviors. Developers need only provide a minimal amount of configuration information and can then characterize subsequent DMA transactions in terms of a profile, thus reducing the amount of detailed and often redundant information that developers need to provide for each DMA transaction. In some embodiments, the DMA transaction model is expressed in terms of object-oriented programming constructs. In one example, a DMA enabler object captures general DMA operational parameters and manages underlying operating system objects and behavior. When device manager software receives an input/output request that involves a DMA data transfer, the device manager constructs a DMA transaction object that represents the DMA work request. During the processing of the DMA transaction, the DMA transaction object maintains state and status information.
US08079034B2
In one embodiment, a predefined behavior of a virtual machine monitor (VMM) with respect to one or more virtual machines (VMs) is identified, and processor-managed resources associated with the one or more VMs are utilized based on the predefined behavior of the VMM.
US08079024B2
Embodiments disclosed can provide a simple, singular programmatic interface for application developers to access and manipulate ASCII and non-ASCII file specifications in a cross-platform development environment regardless of operating system encoding capabilities or of the nature of the original file specification encoding. An application development environment is configured on a computer system such that a magic class file string object is instantiated when a bit string of a first encoding is received. The bit string represents a file specification of a file containing application code written by an application developer. The magic class file string object automatically determines what target operating system is being called by a function call in the application code, automatically transcodes the bit string from the first encoding into a second encoding of the target operating system, and automatically makes a correct file system API call specific to the target operating system.
US08079019B2
In an embodiment, a data processing system comprises a storage system coupled to a unit under test comprising a heap memory, a static memory and a stack; second logic operable to perform: detecting one or more changes in a first state of the heap memory and the static memory; storing, in the storage system, as a state point of the unit under test, the one or more changes in the first state of the heap memory and the static memory; third logic operable to perform: receiving a request to change the memory under test to a particular state point; in response to the request, loading the particular state point from the storage system and applying the state point to the heap memory and the static memory to result in changing the heap memory and the static memory to a second state that is substantially equivalent to the first state.
US08079015B2
A software architecture for a mobile terminal for a wireless telecommunications system and for other applications. The software architecture includes a plurality of layers arranged in order from layers providing higher level services to layers providing lower level services, at least one software module in each layer, and interface means for permitting communication among software modules pursuant to a set of defined dependency rules.
US08079012B2
In an initial stage of device design, a circuit analysis control unit of an evaluation board stores SSO noise basic characteristic data actually measured by the evaluation board in an SSO noise basic characteristic data storage unit, and an SSO noise calculation unit calculates a rough amount of SSO noise on the basis of the SSO noise basic characteristic data. After a noise check is OR, the design proceeds, and a PCB parameter is determined, a circuit analysis control unit acquires the SSO noise basic characteristic data according to actual device PCB design information, and corrects the SSO noise basic characteristic data in the SSO noise basic characteristic data storage unit. Then, the SSO noise calculation unit performs a detailed analysis of an amount of SSO noise using the corrected SSO noise basic characteristic data.
US08079003B2
In a verification support apparatus, an implementation description of a verification target is acquired and based on the implementation description, a combination of input gates is identified. A pair of output cones including gates to which input signals from the input gates reach, and a common output cone including gates common to the pair of output cones, are detected. Based on the common output cone, a degree of relation between the input gates is calculated and according to the calculation, the strength of relation is determined for the combination of input gates. The strength of relation for a combination of the input gates is set, the combination being based on a specification of the verification target and corresponding to the combination identified from the implementation description. Whether the strength of relation set and that determined for the identified combination coincide is judged and a result of the judgment is output.
US08078992B2
Form controls can be reused so that the control can be bound to large volumes of data without adverse performance issues because of a large number of controls. A maximum number of rows of data N that can appear in a form are calculated. A container in memory is created for N+2 rows. The additional two rows are used to store the row after the last displayed row and the row previous to the first displayed row. In response to a user scroll or tab operation, rows within the container are reused. Child controls are hosted by the control and are also reused when the data is scrolled out of view.
US08078991B2
An electric appliance according to an embodiment of the present comprises a graphical image generation unit generates a graphical image from frame data and pane images generated by a pane image generation unit, and allows the display unit to display the graphical image. A frame data storage unit stores the frame data used for the display on the display unit. A pane image storage unit stores the pane images used for the display on the display unit. When frame data to be used for subsequent display on the display unit is acquired, a display control unit compares this frame data with the frame data stored in the frame data storage unit to select one of pane data to be acquired from a data storage unit and pane images to be acquired by the graphical image generation unit from the pane image storage unit.
US08078989B2
An apparatus and system for transforming a web page for display on a mobile device is described. In one embodiment, a graphical representation of a document object model associated with a URL is displayed. Selections of at least one element of the document object model are stored as a content filter. A request for a resource associated with the content filter is processed by extracting portions of the resource according to the content filter. The extracted portions are provided to a client.
US08078988B2
A technology for displaying managed image information is disclosed. A schedule information item is acquired, a document is acquired as an image information item in an electronic format, the image information item and the schedule information item are registered in a data storing unit in association with each other, the schedule information item and the image information item stored in the data storing unit are acquired, and the image information item is displayed according to the schedule information item.
US08078987B2
According to an aspect of an embodiment, a display screen having multiple functions is displayed by a computer that processes a screen part for displaying the display screen and for receiving an event from the user. The computer processes a functional part provided separately from the screen part and provided per content of an input event received via the screen part, and based on the content of the event input, passes a processing result to the screen part for reflecting the processing result on the screen display.
US08078968B2
A projector including: a communication section; a storage section which stores initial projection target data, updated projection target data, layout data and others; an update request reception section which receives an update request from PC via the communication section, and sequentially writes update request data indicating details of the update request into the storage section; an update section which updates the updated projection target data based on the update request data; a web information generation section which causes the communication section to transmit web information to PC based on the updated projection target data and the layout data; an image generation section which generates an image based on the updated projection target data; and a projection section which projects the image.
US08078966B2
A computer system, including a display and a user-interface, for manipulating a plurality of music album elements and song elements is provided, a method for organizing a plurality of music album elements and song elements, at least some of the music album elements having a least one song element associated therewith, the method comprising displaying on the display a single music album elements axis illustrating a plurality of juxtaposed user-selectable music album elements, the music album elements axis being longitudinally scrollable, selecting a music album element from the displayed music album elements axis, retrieving song elements associated with the selected music album element and displaying the retrieved song elements along a song elements axis, the song elements axis being adapted to intersect the music album elements axis substantially at the selected music album element, the song element axis being adapted to be scrolled. A user graphical interface providing same and a system thereof are also provided.
US08078961B2
An SGML validation system comprises: an XML validation engine; a translator configured to convert an SGML document to a translated XML document; a set of XML schemas against which the XML validation engine validates the translated XML document, the XML schema set configured such that errors detected by the validation of the translated XML document correspond to SGML errors in the SGML document; and a report generator configured to generate an error report identifying SGML errors corresponding with errors detected by the validation and linking the identified SGML errors with corresponding locations in the SGML document.
US08078957B2
Example systems, methods, and data structures are directed at synchronizing documents. One example data structure includes receiving a request from a first client to edit a document, and sending short-term check out metadata to the first client to begin an editing session. The data structure includes a plurality of cells and a plurality of data objects defining content of the document. Each data object is associated with one of the cells and has an object identifier that uniquely identifies the data object within the associated cell, and is configured to communicate with other cells and with objects within the associated cell. In addition, each of the cells is defined so that each other cell remains unaffected by changes to data objects of the cell.
US08078946B2
The invention relates to a data live streaming system comprising at least one data live streaming broadcaster LSB and at least two live streaming recipients LSR, said at least two live streaming recipients LSR forming at least a part of a peer-to-peer streaming network and said at least two live streaming recipients LSR each comprising means for generation of peer-to peer streaming to other live streaming recipients LSR of said peer-to peer streaming network and wherein said peer-to peer streaming to other streaming recipients LSR comprises loss resilient code representations of data from said at least one live streaming broadcaster LSB.
US08078943B1
An error correction system is disclosed comprising an encoder operable to generate an encoded codeword of a polynomial code over a Galois field GF(q) comprising q elements, wherein the encoded codeword comprises an input data sequence, at least one check symbol, and redundancy symbols. A decoder decodes a received codeword into the encoded codeword by correcting at least one error in the received codeword to generate a corrected codeword, evaluating at least one symbol of the corrected codeword relative to the check symbol in order to detect a shift error, and when the shift error is detected, shift the corrected codeword to correct the shift error.
US08078936B2
An encoding method encodes by using a quasi-cyclic code having a code length of n=m n0 and an information word length of k=m k0. The method includes the steps of: creating a systematic code with as many as (n0−k0) parity bits inserted therein in units of an information word k0; making all combinations of (n0−k0) parity bit positions that may occur in units of n0 bits; describing many of m×m cyclic matrices by rearranging the sequence of columns in a parity check matrix in the combinations; subjecting the parity check matrix to elementary transformation to create a unit matrix in which (n−k)×(n−k) matrices made up of the columns corresponding to the parity bit positions; regarding the transformed matrix as a first matrix and this matrix minus the unit matrix as a second matrix; and allocating (n−k) bit positions for the parity bits in such a manner that the number of non-zero elements included in the second matrix is minimized.
US08078926B2
An improvement to an integrated circuit of a type having a test enable line for enabling an electrical test of the integrated circuit only when the test enable line is at a logical high value, and output lines that are only used during the electrical test of the integrated circuit, where the improvement is a switch circuit for disabling a state change in the output lines when the test enable line is at a logical low value. In this manner, the output lines do not switch during functional use of the integrated circuit, and cannot be aggressors on the data signals that are carried by the data lines that are used during the functional use of the integrated circuit. In addition, these non-switching output lines can act as guard traces that run between the data lines, further electrically isolating the data lines from one another. Further, because they do not switch during functional use of the integrated circuit, the overall power consumption of the integrated circuit is reduced.
US08078924B2
The present invention is directed to a system and method for a quality assurance tool generating test plans and identifying new test requirements for a new version of a product. Old versions of the product may be previously tested and test plan documents associated with previously tested versions of the product may be stored in a database. The database may store test plans, test configurations, test scopes, and the like for previously tested versions of the product. Product design requirements may be determined based on received customer desired features for the new version. The database may be updated by adding new tests for new features of the new version. A test plan document for the product may be generated based on the updated database. The generated test document may be verified through automatically generating a general test plan for the new version of the product by querying updated database with the product design requirements.
US08078923B2
This disclosure concerns a memory including: a first memory region including memory groups including a plurality of memory cells, addresses being respectively allocated for the memory groups, the memory groups respectively being units of data erase operations; a second memory region temporarily storing therein data read from the first memory region or temporarily storing therein data to be written to the first memory region; a read counter storing therein a data read count for each memory group; an error-correcting circuit calculating an error bit count of the read data; and a controller performing a refresh operation, in which the read data stored in one of the memory groups is temporarily stored in the second memory region and is written back the read data to the same memory group, when the error bit count exceeds a first threshold or when the data read count exceeds a second threshold.
US08078922B2
The present disclosure involves systems, software, and computer implemented methods for internal server error analysis. One process includes operations for identifying an internal server error associated with a particular type of error and returned by a web container. A counter of the number of internal server errors returned by the web container is incremented. The internal server error is also associated with an internal categorization of the particular type of internal server error, and the occurrence of the internal server error is added to a categorization entry generated based on the internal categorization of the error.
US08078917B2
A KVM switch includes a storing portion that stores partial data of a freeze-up screen outputted when each server freezes up, and a controlling portion that receives digital data (that is, screen data) transmitted from each server, determines whether received screen data includes a part identical to the partial data of the freeze-up screen, and controls a power supply regulator to restart the freeze-up server when it is determined that the received screen data includes the part identical to the partial data of the freeze-up screen.
US08078911B2
Error handling in the intermediation of one-way transacted messages. Rather than receiving an inbound message under a transaction, the intermediary performs a non-destructive exclusive read of the message from the source outside of a transaction. Routing logic is applied against the content of the message to determine a collection of message consumers to which a copy of the inbound message is to be sent. Then, under a transaction, the copy of the message is attempted to be sent to each destination. If a send of the copy fails, the transaction is rolled back, but the failure is recorded such that the same transmission mechanism is not, or is less likely to be, tried again in subsequent attempts. The principles may apply to a single message to be sent under the transaction, or to multiple messages to be sent under a single transaction.
US08078902B2
An exemplary method includes attempting, by a message broker subsystem, to deliver one or more messages intended for a recipient software application to the recipient software application during a predetermined fault interval, determining, by the message broker subsystem, that the recipient software application is in a fault state after failing to deliver the one or more messages to the recipient software application during the predetermined fault interval, and automatically performing, by the message broker subsystem, a fail-over process on one or more other messages intended for the recipient software application in response to the determination that the recipient software application is in the fault state. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.
US08078894B1
Power management architectures, methods and systems for programmable integrated circuit are disclosed. One embodiment of the present invention pertains to a power management software architecture which comprises power management modules each associated with a respective driver. Each driver is associated with a component of a programmable integrated circuit and displayable as a graphic image within an on-screen display of an integrated circuit design tool for programming the programmable integrated circuit. In addition, each power management module is operable to report power consumption data customized to its respective driver. The power management software architecture also comprises a power source module associated with a power source for the programmable integrated circuit for reporting power supply characteristics. Furthermore, the power management software architecture comprises a global power management module operable to control a power state of the programmable integrated circuit based on communication with the power management modules and the power source module.
US08078892B2
A processor includes a communication control unit for communicating with an external network device via a connecting unit. A power control unit switches a power mode between a normal power mode and a power saving mode. A packet processing unit includes a first determining unit that determines whether a packet processing is needed for a packet received when the power saving mode is set and a second determining unit that determines, when it is determined that the packet processing is needed, whether the packet processing is available. The power control unit switches the power mode based on a result of determination by the second determining unit.
US08078890B2
A system and method is disclosed for providing memory performance states in a computing system. The operating system power management component of the computing system establishes a set of performance states, with each performance state being defined by a number of factors, including the core frequency of memory. The operating system power management component also defines the number of memory performance states that are supported by the computing system and the number of supported memory performance states that are available for use by the computing system. Whether a supported memory performance state is available is dependent upon a measure of the power being consumed by the computing system, the thermal output of the computing system, or both measures.
US08078888B2
There is described an image forming apparatus that appropriately selects a specific image forming apparatus to be shifted to the power saving mode, to avoid the power shutdown of the system. The apparatus includes; an electric power consumption notifying section to notify other image forming apparatuses of its own electric power consumption; a priority degree determining section to determine an implementation priority degree of a job; a job implementation electric-power calculating section to calculate an estimated value of the own electric power consumption when the image forming apparatus implements an implementation scheduled job; and an arbitration controlling section to transmit an instruction for reducing electric power consumption to the specific image forming apparatus that currently implements a job whose implementation priority degree is lower than that of the implementation scheduled job, when the total electric power consumption exceeds the upper limit electric power consumption established in advance.
US08078881B1
A system and method for automatically selecting a procedure for resetting an authentication data, such as a password, a PIN, a secret key, or a private key, according to the value of the user data protected by the authentication data and/or the likelihood for the user to forget or otherwise lose the authentication data. The user's preference is also considered in selecting the procedure for resetting the authentication data.
US08078876B2
A method and apparatus for direct anonymous attestation from bilinear maps. In one embodiment, the method includes the creation of a public/private key pair for a trusted membership group defined by an issuer; and assigning a unique secret signature key to at least one member device of the trusted membership group defined by the issuer. In one embodiment, using the assigned signature key, a member may assign a message received as an authentication request to prove membership within a trusted membership group. In one embodiment, a group digital signature of the member is verified using a public key of the trusted membership group. Accordingly, a verifier of the digital signature is able to authenticate that the member is an actual member of the trusted membership group without requiring of the disclosure of a unique identification information of the member or a private member key to maintain anonymity of trusted member devices. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08078873B2
Two-way authentication between two communication endpoints using a one-way out-of-band (OOB) channel
Techniques for two-way authentication between two communication endpoints (e.g., two devices) using a one-way out-of-band (OOB) channel are presented. Here, in embodiments, both communication endpoints may be securely authenticated as long as the one-way OOB channel is tamper-proof. Embodiments of the invention do not require the one-way OOB channel to be private to ensure that both endpoints are securely authenticated. Since providing a two-way or private OOB channel adds to the cost of a platform, embodiments of the invention provide for a simple and secure method for two-way authentication that uses only a non-private one-way OOB channel and thus helping to reduce platform cost. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08078852B2
An adaptive prediction threshold scheme for dynamically adjusting prediction thresholds of entries in a Pattern History Table (PHT) by observing global tendencies of the branch or branches that index into the PHT entries. A count value of a prediction state counter representing a prediction state of a prediction state machine for a PHT entry is obtained. Count values in a set of counters allocated to the entry in the PHT are changed based on the count value of the entry's prediction state counter. The prediction threshold of the prediction state machine for the entry may then be adjusted based on the changed count values in the set of counters, wherein the prediction threshold is adjusted by changing a count value in a prediction threshold counter in the entry, and wherein adjusting the prediction threshold redefines predictions provided by the prediction state machine.
US08078851B2
A method for recovering global history shift register (GHSR) and return address stack (RAS) is provided, which is applicable to an instruction pipeline of a processor and includes the following steps. First, provide a branch recovery table (BRT) and a backup stack. Whenever a branch instruction enters a predetermined stage of the instruction pipeline, add a record in the BRT according to the branch instruction. Whenever a return address is popped from the RAS of the instruction pipeline, push the return address into the backup stack. When flushing the instruction pipeline, determine a removal range of the BRT according to the condition which triggers the pipeline flush. Recover the RAS according to the records in the removal range and the backup stack. Remove all records in the removal range. Recover the GHSR of the instruction pipeline according to the removed records.
US08078849B2
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide a programmable table which allows software to define a plurality of branching functions, each of which maps a vector of condition codes to a branch offset. This technique allows for a flexible multi-way branching functionality, using a conditional branch outcome table that can be specified by a programmer. Any instruction can specify the evaluation of arbitrary conditional expressions to compute the values for the condition codes, and can choose a particular branching function. When the processor executes the instruction, the processor's arithmetic/logical functional units evaluate the conditional expressions and then the processor performs the branch operation, according to the specified branching function.
US08078847B2
A method for performing parallel operations in a computer system when one or more memory hazards may be present, which may be implemented by a processor, is described. During operation, the processor receives instructions for detecting conflict between memory addresses in vectors when memory operations are performed in parallel using at least a portion of the vectors, and tracking positions in at least one of the vectors of any detected conflict between the memory addresses. Next, the processor executes the instructions for detecting the conflict between the memory addresses and tracking the positions.
US08078841B2
An instruction for parsing a buffer to be utilized within a data processing system including: an operation code field, the operation code field identifies the instruction; a control field, the control field controls operation of the instruction; and one or more general register, wherein a first general register stores an argument address, a second general register stores a function code, a third general register stores length of an argument-character buffer, and the fourth of which contains the address of the function-code data structure.
US08078837B2
A hardware engine control apparatus includes: a plurality of hardware engines (HWEs) connected by a control bus, each of the hardware engines executing a series of different kinds of processing; a host control device that outputs control commands for controlling operation of the HWEs to a subordinate control device; and the subordinate control device that has a register, in which the control commands from the host control device is sequentially set, and outputs the control commands set in the register to the control bus at timing based on a clock signal. The HWEs operate according to the control commands output from the subordinate control device.
US08078835B2
A processor for performing floating-point operations includes an array of processing elements arranged to enable a floating-point operation. Each processing element includes an arithmetic logic unit to receive two input values and perform integer arithmetic on the received input values. The processing elements in the array are connected together in groups of two or more processing elements to enable floating-point operation.
US08078828B1
A method and apparatus for operating a memory mapped register file. The method includes: receiving a source index input having a length of T−1 bits, the source index input identifying one of a plurality of unbanked registers; receiving a processor mode input to identify one of P processor modes, where P is greater than two; generating an encoded address having a length of T bits based on the source index input and the processor mode input; and identifying one of the plurality of unbanked registers associated with one of the P processor modes using the encoded address.
US08078827B2
A method for caching of page translations for virtual machines includes managing a number of virtual machines using a guest page table of a guest operating system, which provides a first translation from a guest-virtual memory address to a first guest-physical memory address or an invalid entry, and a host page table of a host operating system, which provides a second translation from the first guest-physical memory address to a host-physical memory address or an invalid entry, and managing a cache page table, wherein the cache page table selectively provides a third translation from the guest-virtual memory address to the host-physical memory address, a second guest-physical memory address or an invalid entry.
US08078826B2
An embodiment of the invention provides a method for effective memory clustering to minimize page faults and optimize memory utilization. More specifically, the method monitors data access requests to secondary storage and identifies data addresses in secondary storage having similar properties. Multi-dimensional clusters are created based on the monitoring to group the data addresses having similar properties. A memory page is created from a multi-dimensional cluster, wherein a cross-sectional partition is created (sliced) from the multi-dimensional cluster. The method receives a request for a data object in secondary storage and identifies a data address corresponding to the requested data object. The data address is mapped to the multi-dimensional cluster and/or the memory page; and, the memory page is transferred to a data cache in primary storage.
US08078822B2
A system comprising a performance module and an application. The performance module may be configured to (i) monitor a LUN for a predetermined amount of time, (ii) capture information relating to the LUN, and (iii) store the information. The application may be configured to (i) retrieve the information, (ii) analyze the information, (iii) generate a configuration based on the analysis of the information and (iv) send the configuration to the performance module. The performance module may reconfigure the LUN based on the configuration.
US08078816B1
A technique that provides the ability to copy or move a volume that includes one or more quota structures, by using logical replication, where the volume and any quota structures in it are immediately accessible upon completion of the copy/move operation, and where the quota structures' usage control functionality is immediately functional and reliable upon completion of the copy/move operation. A user does not have to reinitialize the quota mechanism or invoke a quota scanner at the destination.
US08078800B2
In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a processor, an internal memory, and a memory controller coupled to an external memory. The integrated circuit may support two or more modes of operation, with different operating points. To switch from one operating point to another, code executed by the processor may copy switch code from the external memory into the internal memory, and may jump to the switch code. Executing out of the internal memory, the switch code may communicate with the memory controller to cause the external memory to enter into self-refresh mode. The operating point may be altered, and the switch code may reinitialize the memory controller after the integrated circuit has stabilized at the new operating point. After the memory controller's physical interface circuit has relocked, the external memory may exit self-refresh mode.
US08078799B2
An adaptive input/output (I/O) scheduler for storage arrays is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller for deploying an optimal I/O scheduler type per a storage array configuration includes generating performance data by assessing respective performances of a plurality of I/O scheduler types on different RAID level test volumes with at least one I/O pattern generated internally within a storage subsystem which comprises the RAID controller. The method also includes storing the associativeness of the performance data with respect to a particular I/O scheduler most suited for a given I/O workload to a nonvolatile memory of the RAID controller. The method further includes deploying an optimal one of the plurality of I/O scheduler types and at least one performance parameter for at least one subsequent I/O operation associated with the storage subsystem based on the performance data.
US08078798B2
A virtual tape server (VTS) and a method for managing shared first level storage, such as a disk cache, among multiple virtual tape servers are provided. Such a system and method manage first level storage to accommodate two or more host processing systems by maintaining adequate free space in the cache for each host and by preventing one host, such as a mainframe, from taking over free space from another host, such as a Linux system.
US08078792B2
In one embodiment, a processor supports an alternate address space during execution of non-guest code (such as a minivisor or a virtual machine monitor (VMM)). The alternate address space may be the guest address space. An instruction in the minivisor/VMM may specify the alternate address space for a data access, permitting the minivisor/VMM to read guest memory state via the alternate address space. In another embodiment, a processor may implement a page table base address register dedicated for the minivisor's use. In still another embodiment, the minivisor may be implemented as a specified entry point in the VMM address space.
US08078788B2
Methods for transmitting application specific or extended commands between a host and a memory card are disclosed. Commands for an extended card protocol are embedded in messages, along with a marker, in the data or command portion of a base card transmission protocol that is used to communicate between the host and the memory card. This allows for the transmission of application specific commands that lack a corresponding command in the base card protocol. The method can be implemented on the host side at the device driver level or the file level. In order to implement a read command in the extended card protocol, a write command in the base card protocol with an encapsulated read command in the extended protocol is first sent to a logical address, followed by a read command to the same logical address. Message set identifiers associate embedded commands and data received in separate transmissions.
US08078787B2
A host device and an accessory exchange information (e.g., commands and data) via an intermediate device. The host device and accessory can each connect to the intermediate device through a direct wired path and can exchange commands and data with the intermediate device. The host device and the accessory can also “tunnel” information to each other through the intermediate device, by packaging the tunneled information as a payload of a command recognizable by the intermediate device; the intermediate device can repackage and forward the payload. In some embodiments, the tunneled information relates to configuring a wireless link (e.g., a Bluetooth pairing) between the host device and the accessory.
US08078778B2
An image processing apparatus includes a data bus provided to access a memory, a compressing unit which compresses an image data and outputs a compressed image data, a write unit which writes the compressed image data into the memory via the data bus, a read unit which reads a compressed image from the memory via the data bus, a decompression unit which decompresses the compressed data read by the read unit, and a control unit which controls operations of the write unit and the read unit, based on an amount per unit time of the compressed image data outputted from the compressing unit, an amount per unit time of the compressed image data read from the memory and a degree of congestion of the data bus.
US08078775B2
Described are memory modules that support dynamic point-to-point extensibility using fixed-width memory die. The memory modules include data-width translators that allow the modules to vary the effective width of their external memory interfaces without varying the width of the internal memory interfaces extending between the translators and associated fixed-width dies. The data-width translators use a data-mask signal to selectively prevent memory accesses to subsets of physical addresses. This data masking divides the physical address locations into two or more temporal subsets of the physical address locations, effectively increasing the number of uniquely addressable locations in a given module. Reading temporal addresses in write order can introduce undesirable read latency. Some embodiments reorder read data to reduce this latency.
US08078772B2
In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a first clocked storage device operable in a first clock domain corresponding to a first clock signal. The first clocked storage device has an input coupled to receive one or more bits transmitted on the input from a second clock domain corresponding to a second clock signal. The apparatus further comprises control circuitry configured to ensure that a change in a value of the one or more bits transmitted on the input meets setup and hold time requirements of the first clocked storage device. The control circuitry is responsive to a sample history of one of the first clock signal or the second clock signal to detect a phase relationship between the first clock signal and the second clock signal on each clock cycle to ensure the change meets the setup and hold time requirements.
US08078770B1
Technologies are described herein for combining multiple SGPIO streams to provide a single mass storage device activity indicator. Device activity data indicating whether a mass storage device is active may be received on a first interface, such as an SGPIO interface. Device activity data indicating whether the mass storage device is active may also be received on a second interface, such as a second SGPIO interface. An activity signal may also be received from the mass storage device itself. An activity indicator is provided when either data received on the first interface, data received on the second interface, or the activity signal received from the mass storage device indicates that the mass storage device is active. Status data regarding the failure, rebuild status, and location of a mass storage device received on multiple interfaces may also be combined to drive a single indicator.
US08078769B2
Systems and methodologies for automatic quality of service (QoS) management for data network devices are provided herein. As described herein, active versus inactive interaction between a user and a network device can be identified, based on which an appropriate QoS level can be applied to the device. For example, a level of input/output (I/O) activity associated with a device can be inferred by monitoring mouse movement, touch input activity, display output activity, voice I/O activity, or the like, and a QoS configuration can be automatically selected for the device based on the inferred level of activity. As further provided herein, I/O activity monitoring and a corresponding QoS assignment can be related to an activity timer, such that a high-priority QoS setting is applied to devices for which I/O activity is identified within the timer and a low-priority QoS setting is applied to devices for which such activity is not identified.
US08078761B2
A method and system for routing messages through a communications network based on the content of the message. The method of the present invention comprises providing a method for retrieving information through a telecommunications network comprising receiving, in a message data structure, a request message comprising a command; sending a query message to a content provider based on the command; receiving a query response message from the content provider comprising response information; and sending a request response message based on the response information.
US08078759B2
The invention relates to a method of more efficient data transmission, in particular transmission of structured data, such as web pages, in a system comprising a server means and a client means which are interconnected via a plurality of proxy means, including a server proxy means and a client proxy means.
US08078752B2
The invention relates to a method of managing the quantity of data transmitted by a transmission device over a telecommunication network, characterized in that the method comprises the steps, carried out by the transmission device, of: obtaining (E503), for at least a first and second data set that have to be transmitted over the telecommunication network, the quantity of data within each data set and the time constraint on each data set; determining (E504) the bitrate for transmission of the first data set in accordance with the time constraint on the first data set; determining (E504) the bitrate for transmission of the first and second data sets in accordance with the time constraint on the second data set; and selecting (E504) the maximum of the determined bitrates as a parameter for managing the quantity of data transmitted by the transmission device.
US08078746B2
Low bit rate contents data as pre-data corresponding to a series of stream data are preliminarily stored in a mobile phone. In order to reproduce certain contents, a transmission request of a high bit rate contents data block having the same contents as those of the low bit rate contents data block is transmitted to the delivery source indicated by the transfer source information added to the pre-data upon reproduction thereof. If the high bit rate contents data block is received from the delivery source, the high bit rate contents data block is reproduced. Meanwhile, if the high bit rate contents data block is unreceived from the delivery source, the low bit rate contents data block having the same contents as those of the high bit rate contents data block is detected from the pre-data so as to be reproduced in place thereof.
US08078742B2
The invention relates to a protocol for communications between networked devices. The devices are logically arranged as a hierarchy of device types including a controller device type (52) from which no other device type depends and a basic device type (54) from which a number of other device types depend. The devices implement a simple device description message of fixed length and format which includes the device type, and some devices further implement an extended device description message including additional information.
US08078732B2
A host client plug-and-play system and method capable of controlling a client at the same time that the client is connected to a host through wired/wireless communication means are provided. The host client plug-and-play method in a host client communication system where at least one client is controlled by at least one host, includes: (a) a step of performing device connection between the client and the host; (b) a step of performing communication compatible operation step between the client and the host; (c) a step where the host receives a device driver and control software for allowing the host to identify and control the client; (d) a step where the host installs the received device driver and control software; (e) a step of performing device identification and communication compatible operation between the host and the client by using the device deriver installed in the host; and (f) a step where the host controls the client by using the control software installed in the host.
US08078727B2
A seamless solution transparently addresses the characteristics of nomadic systems, and enables existing network applications to run reliably in mobile environments. The solution extends the enterprise network, letting network managers provide mobile users with easy access to the same applications as stationary users without sacrificing reliability or centralized management. The solution combines advantages of existing wire-line network standards with emerging mobile standards to create a solution that works with existing network applications. A Mobility Management Server coupled to the mobile network maintains the state of each of any number of Mobile End Systems and handles the complex session management required to maintain persistent connections to the network and to other peer processes. If a Mobile End System becomes unreachable, suspends, or changes network address (e.g., due to roaming from one network interconnect to another), the Mobility Management Server maintains the connection to the associated peer task—allowing the Mobile End System to maintain a continuous connection even though it may temporarily lose contact with its network medium. In one example, Mobility Management Server communicates with Mobile End Systems using Remote Procedure Call and Internet Mobility Protocols.
US08078724B2
Techniques to facilitate a system to capture, process, and archive a series of user interactive events and subsequently retrieve the stored user interactive events are disclosed. The captured information is indexed and stored for future access either on a terminal device or an accessible remote server device.
US08078696B2
Personal content server apparatus and associated methods that allow a user (e.g., cable or satellite network subscriber) to access content, such as a video program, from a location outside the subscriber's network. In one embodiment, a personal content server streams the content to the subscriber over a network connection from the local e.g., (subscription) network to a remote network upon authorization by a content manager process. Various access, business or operational rules are applied depending on the content and delivery mode; e.g., to live video broadcast, video-on-demand (VOD), or archived content from the subscriber's digital video recorder (DVR) or networked PVR. Secondary content (e.g., promotions, advertisements, etc.) can also be selectively replaced if desired in order to make the remotely delivered content more appropriate to the remote user's context.
US08078695B2
Particular embodiments generally relate to providing media for display to a user. In one embodiment, the media may be stored on a remote computing device. An intermediary device may be used to display the media on an output device. Even though the media may be stored on the remote computing device, the user may believe that the media is stored on the intermediary device when displaying content using the intermediary device. Representations of the media units may be received at the intermediary device. The intermediary device automatically predicts which representations of the media may be most likely to be accessed by the user. When a request to access the media units is received, if the requested media unit is stored on the intermediary device, then it can be automatically displayed using the corresponding representation of the media unit.
US08078692B2
A method is provided for loading files from a client to at least one target server. The method involves transmitting, from the client to the target server, a set of data obtained from the files to be loaded, at least some of the data of the set being encoded; requesting, from the client, an authenticity check, by the target server, on the data of the set using at least some of the encoded data; and when the authenticity of the data of the set has been checked successfully by the target server, loading the files, according to a predetermined format, from the client to the target server.
US08078686B2
A system, method, and computer program for caching a plurality of file fragments to improve file transfer performance, comprising the steps of exposing at least one file fragment of a computer file as a primary object to an application; caching said at least one file fragment at a plurality of points in a network system, wherein said at least one file fragment remains unchanged; and managing said at least one non-changing file fragment throughout said network system at a plurality of cache points and appropriate means and computer-readable instructions.
US08078684B2
One Embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for accessing web services. In this regard, one embodiment of such a method, among others, can be broadly summarized by the following steps: receiving a request for a web service, the request being in an instant messaging format; converting the request into a native format utilized by the web service; and relaying the request in the native format to the web service. Other methods and devices are also provided.
US08078682B1
A method for managing contact information among relationships. The method involves receiving a notification request comprising contact information for a registered user, identifying an associated entity with which the registered user has a relationship, retrieving a user update preference associated with the registered user and the associated entity, retrieving an entity update preference associated with the associated entity, determining that the user update preference permits sending an update message to the associated entity, and sending the update message to the associated entity, wherein the update message is created and sent based on the contact information, the entity update preference, and the determination that the user update preference permits sending the update message to the associated entity.
US08078670B2
A support system enables a support agent to assist a client to resolve a problem with a client electronic device provided with an Internet capability enabling communication between the device and a support service web application. A two-way communications link is provided between the agent and the same web application. Communication between the client and support agent is provided by a telephone link. Accessible by the device is a diagnostic and/or data harvesting engine which can diagnose and/or harvest data for transfer to the web application and which has access to a LAN software stack which enables the engine itself to establish communication with the web application without requiring user intervention and without requiring communication via a web server provided in the client's device. Thus, as long as it is still possible for the device to communicate via the Internet, the diagnostic/data harvesting engine has the ability to carry out such communication to provide the required data to the web application. The support agent has access to the collected data stored in the application to be able to diagnose and resolve problems with the device.
US08078669B2
Methods and apparatus for extending the capabilities of a client device (e.g., consumer premises equipment in a cable network) using one or more on-demand applications. In one aspect, an improved media handling extension is provided within the device with which the various application(s) can interface to facilitate on-demand interaction between the CPE and the head end or other network entity. In one exemplary embodiment, the client device comprises a digital set-top box (DSTB) having Java-enabled middleware adapted to implement the OCAP/ACAP/MHP mandated Java Media Framework (JMF) APIs. A specially configured application is downloaded to the DSTB and run, the application configuring the paths within the device to provide, inter alia, media access to the on-demand application(s) according to one or more network specific protocols. Accordingly, the network MSO can also uniquely configure the CPE within its network for on-demand capability according to its own specific protocols from the head-end. Improved client device and head-end configurations, as well as methods of operating these systems, are also disclosed.
US08078656B1
Methods and systems for decompressing data are described. The relative magnitudes of a first value and a second value are compared. The first value and the second value represent respective endpoints of a range of values. The first value and the second value each have N bits of precision. Either the first or second value is selected, based on the result of the comparison. The selected value is scaled to produce a third value having N+1 bits of precision. A specified bit value is appended as the least significant bit of the other (non-selected) value to produce a fourth value having N+1 bits of precision.
US08078644B2
A system and method for storing received real-time media streams into a multimedia container file. Media content is recorded into a file according to a file format that provides instructions for constructing the media packets. At least one received media packet is represented in the file using the instructions for constructing media packets. The at least one received media packet in the file is also associated with an indication that it may contain errors.
US08078642B1
In one embodiment, a tree traversal sequentially processes every level of two or more binary trees until reaching a leaf node for each the binary trees. Processing each level of the binary trees comprises: determining whether each traversed node of the remaining binary trees at the level is a non-leaf node or a leaf node; for the traversed leaf nodes at the level, remove the binary trees to which the leaf nodes belong from the remaining binary trees; and iteratively evaluating the traversed non-leaf nodes at the level of every n remaining binary trees until the non-leaf nodes at the level of all of the remaining binary trees are evaluated, where n≧2 and evaluating the non-leaf nodes of each n binary trees comprises concurrently evaluating the n non-leaf nodes of the n binary trees to determine to which one of the two child nodes of each of the n non-leaf nodes to traverse.
US08078640B1
A method and a system are provided for encoding and processing digital information. The digital information is encoded according to binary encoding formats corresponding to primitive data types. The primitive data types comprise scalar data types including Boolean, integer, float, decimal, time stamp, string, symbol, binary large object, and character large object data types. The primitive data types also comprise composite data types including structure, list, and S-expression data types. The binary-encoded digital information is stored in a message with a predetermined format for transmission. No metadata is included in the message.
US08078638B2
Multiple sets of data are obtained from different sources. Each data set is represented using a different format having a different syntax and organized in a multi-level nested data structure. Each data set is reformatted into a standardized table format using a depth-first recursive algorithm without relying on the syntax schema of the original format of the data set. Various operations are performed on the tables corresponding to the data sets, including but not limited to joining multiple tables, grouping selected rows of a table, ranking rows of a table, adding or deleting fields from selected rows of a table, etc. Optionally, inferred namespace and text normalization are utilized for selected table operations. One or more templates are provided for converting the data set of a table to a format that may be presented to a user.
US08078633B2
Methods and systems for improving text segmentation are disclosed. In one embodiment, at least a first segmented result and a second segmented result are determined from a string of characters, a first frequency of occurrence for the first segmented result and a second frequency of occurrence for the second segmented result are determined, and an operable segmented result is identified from the first segmented result and the second segmented result based at least in part on the first frequency of occurrence and the second frequency of occurrence.
US08078631B2
A method, computer-readable medium and system for comparing query-related objects are provided. In one embodiment, a first plurality of query-related objects for a first user is compared to a second plurality of query-related objects for a second user to determine a degree of similarity between the first and second plurality of query-related objects. A notification of the degree of similarity is issued.
US08078626B1
Unified management of time related information presents a user with a single interface by which the data in different ERP systems can be browsed and modified. Each of the ERP systems can contain data specific to a data group such as the address data group in a human resources ERP system, sales data in a sales ERP system, and project data in a project planning ERP system. A view management module obtains records from the ERP systems. The view manager also obtains journaling information that can be kept in the ERP systems or kept separately. The view manager creates a history view and data group views that can be presented to a user. The user interacts with the presentation to sort, browse, analyze, and edit the view and data. Data changed in a data group view can be forwarded to produce changes in the ERP and journaling systems.
US08078622B2
A system and method that provides users of network data storage systems with the ability to gain the advantages of a clustered storage server system, in which volumes stored on multiple server nodes are linked into a virtual global hierarchical namespace, without first having to migrate their data to the clustered storage server system. The system employs an extended virtual global hierarchical namespace that allows client systems to access, via the extended global namespace, volumes stored on the clustered storage server system and on one or more storage servers that are remote from and do not constitute a part of the clustered system. The extended global namespace can also be employed to perform migration of volume data among the multiple nodes of the clustered storage server system and the remote storage servers.
US08078620B2
A system, method, and computer program product for accessing web pages on a network are provided. In use, different users are provided access to a plurality of sections of a web page selected by the different users based on a community value for at least one community dimension assigned to each section of the web page selected by the different users. In particular, a user is conditionally provided access to a section of a web page selected by the user, based on a comparison of a user value indicating a community with which the user is associated to the community value for the at least one community dimension assigned to the section of the web page selected by the first user.
US08078615B2
A method and system for single-action personalized recommendation and display of content via the Internet. The recommendation is given by a server system and received by a client system. The content itself has been previously recommended to the server system by the users of the client system. Client system recommendations to the server system are also invoked with a single-action. Recommended content is referred to by a URL. Users can rate content to the server system using a single-action. The server system performs recommendation calculations using user-specific information such as user preferences, demographic data, content rating history, and content-specific information. The content rating history of other users may also influence these calculations. Client systems display recommended content directly to the user in response to only a single-action.
US08078614B2
A browser-based tool is provided that loads a Webpage, accesses the document object model (DOM) of the page, collects information about the page structure and parses the page, determines through the use of heuristics such factors as how much text is found on the page and the like, produces statistical breakdown of the page, and calculates a score based on performance of the page. Key to the operation of the invention is the ability to observe operation of the Webpage as it actually loads in real time, scoring the page for several of various performance factors, and producing a combined score for the various factors.
US08078612B2
Data may be provided in a language chosen by a user. A data record may be stored in a database using symbols to represent data. These symbols may be converted into various languages. A resource file for a given language defines a correspondence between the symbols in the record and the words in that language. A user indicates a choice of language in which to receive data. The user's choice is stored in the database, and conversion information from the resource file for the user's chosen language is copied to the database. When a program connects to a database and requests data records, the user's language choice is retrieved from the data, and the conversion information stored in the database is used to convert the data records into the chosen language. The requested data is then provided to the application in the user's chosen language.
US08078607B2
Generating website profiles based on queries from webistes and user activities on the search results
In a method of profiling a website, an information server receives multiple search queries from a website submitted by different users. Different search results responsive to the search queries are provided to the requesting users. The information server monitors activities of the users on the search results and generates a profile for the website using the search queries and the user activities. When the information server receives a same search query from two different websites, it identifies a plurality of information items associated with the search query. The information server uses profiles of the two websites to customize the information items into two different orders and serves the information items to the two websites in the two different orders.
US08078594B1
In some embodiments, scripts may be used to perform parcel data acquisition, conversion, and clean-up/repair in an automated manner and/or through graphical user interfaces. The scripts may be used, for example, to repair geometries of new parcel data, convert multi-part parcel geometries to single part parcel geometries (explode), eliminate duplicate parcel geometries, append columns, create feature classes, and append feature classes. These scripts may be executed in a predetermined manner to increase efficiency. In some embodiments, different combinations of attributes may be appended to stored parcel data. In some embodiments, a tracking application may be used to track information about sources of data. In some embodiments, a tracking application may be used to track which system users are assigned to specific tasks (e.g., in a data acquisition project).
US08078592B2
A method is disclosed for checking the integrity of a database through a test of database integrity information provided in the database and integrity information provided external to the database. The integrity information may be provided in a configuration file.
US08078580B2
The present invention relates to a method and a system for obtaining both online and offline backups from one application with a single toggle operation. By performing the method of the present invention it would be possible to take hybrid backup of the data automatically according to a predetermined schedule. Also, the hybrid data backup method enables the easily retrieve the data.
US08078578B2
A system for sharing presence-based time-zone information includes a database, and a controller. The database includes a plurality of presence profiles, each presence profile maintaining, for an associated network user, one or more network device identifiers and, for each network device identifier, a current presence status, indicating network availability, and current time-zone information based on geographic location. The controller is able to receive presence information, determine a matching one of the presence profiles, update the current presence status and the current time-zone information in the matching one of the presence profiles, generate shifted time-zone information, generate a presence update, identify a subscriber address for receiving the presence update, and transmit the presence update to the subscriber address.
US08078577B2
A method for bi-directional synchronization of user data files between a client and at least one server. The method comprises determining if a match exists between a local session file and a reflection session file, wherein the local session file is maintained by the client and the reflection session is maintained by the at least one server; when the local session file and the reflection session file match, performing: synchronizing contents of a user data file maintained by the client with contents of a user data file maintained by the at least one server, when the user data file in the client includes more records than the user data file in the at least one server; and synchronizing contents of a user data file maintained by the at least one server with contents of a user data file maintained by the client, when the user data file in the client includes less records than the user data file in the at least one server. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention the user data file includes a session file, an index file and a data file.
US08078570B2
A method, system, and computer program product are disclosed. Exemplary embodiments of the method, system, and computer program product may include hardware, process steps, and computer program instructions for supporting versioning in a data warehouse. The data warehouse may include a data warehouse engine for creating a data warehouse including a fact table and temporary tables. Updated or new data records may be transferred into the data warehouse and bulk loaded into the temporary tables. The updated or new data records may be evaluated for attributes matching existing data records. A version number may be assigned to data records and data records may be marked as being the most current version. Updated and new data records may be bulk loaded from the temporary tables into the fact table when a version number or a version status is calculated.
US08078569B2
In one aspect, input data for a predictive model characterizing a level of risk for a data transaction is received that includes values for categorical variables and one or more of binary variables and continuous variables the predictive model. Thereafter, one or more of the categorical variables is associated with one of a plurality of keys. Each key having corresponding coefficients for at least a subset of the binary variables and the continuous variables and the coefficients being dependent on a value for the key. A composite value based on values for each of at least a subset of the binary variables and the continuous variables as calculated using the corresponding coefficients for each key can then be generated. Scoring of the data transaction using the binary variables, the continuous variables, and the composite variables can then be initiated by the predictive model. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US08078561B2
Disclosed is a behavioral model for wide-band radio frequency transmitters. Also disclosed are various implementation of the behavioral model for purpose of baseband predistortion of dynamic nonlinear systems, such as wideband wireless transmitters and power amplifiers. In one example embodiment, a LBG behavioral model comprises two non-linear cascading modules: a dynamic weak nonlinear (DWNL) module, which models dynamic week nonlinearities of the system, and a static strong nonlinear (SSNL) module, which models static strong nonlinearities of the system. In one example embodiment, a forward LBG model includes DWNL module followed by the SSNL module. In another example embodiment, a reverse LBG model includes SSNL module followed by DWNL module.
US08078560B2
An apparatus is provided for, when the user makes an input manipulation, estimating a manipulation for which the user is likely to make an error, in accordance with the knowledge of the user, and providing a manipulation support such as, for example, automatically displaying a confirmation request for the manipulation for which the probability of the input being an error is high.A device (100) usable for an electronic apparatus (1) operating based on a manipulation of the user includes an input section (101) for receiving a manipulation of the user, a storage section (104) having a database including a plurality of manipulation error patterns stored therein, a determination section (107) for determining whether or not a manipulation confirmation request is necessary based on the manipulation error pattern corresponding to the user, which is determined by referring to the database based on manipulation information which indicates the received manipulation and correction information which indicates whether or not the manipulation needs to be corrected, and an output section (108) for outputting a signal for presenting a manipulation confirmation request message when the confirmation request is to be provided. Each manipulation error pattern is information on a manipulation error on each of functions of a manipulation target apparatus, the information being defined based on a manipulation experience of a plurality of users each having the manipulation experience with an apparatus other than the electronic apparatus (1) which is the manipulation target apparatus.
US08078557B1
A system for identifying keywords in search results includes a plurality of neurons connected as a neural network, the neurons being associated with words and documents. An activity regulator regulates a minimum and/or maximum number of neurons of the neural network that are excited at any given time. Means for displaying the neurons to a user and identifying the neurons that correspond to keywords can be provided. Means for changing positions of the neurons relative to each other based on input from the user can be provided. The change in position of one neuron changes the keywords. The input from the user can be dragging a neuron on a display device, or changing a relevance of two neurons relative to each other. The neural network can be excited by a query that comprises words selected by a user. The neural network can be a bidirectional network. The user can inhibit neurons of the neural network by indicating irrelevance of a document. The neural network can be excited by a query that identifies a document considered relevant by a user. The neural network can also include neurons that represent groups of words. The neural network can be excited by a query that identifies a plurality of documents considered relevant by a user, and can output keywords associated with the plurality of documents.
US08078541B2
In an electronic musical apparatus, a media ID (MD1, MD2, MD3, MD4, MD5) is associated with each recording media of a memory card 8, hard disk device 10, flash memory ROM 11, CD-ROM 12 and internet 15. Each media ID is encrypted to be recorded on a different position in a ROM 2. Upon reading a music content, the media ID of the corresponding recording media is decoded to decode the music content based upon the media ID and the secret key, and then, the resultant is temporarily stored in a RAM 3. Upon writing a music content, it is encrypted based upon the media ID corresponding to a recording media and the secret key, and the content in the RAM 3 is deleted. This makes cryptanalysis hard to thereby enhance a protection level of a music content in an electronic musical apparatus.
US08078539B2
An improved check sorting system capable of ordering cancelled checks for a plurality of accounts in a predetermined manner other than by account number is provided. Checks are ordered according to a priority value associated with the account number, and optionally check number, identified by each check. A database is utilized to store information indexed by institution and/or account number and optionally check number. The information includes a priority value. The check sorting system scans each check and reads the MICR code from each check. The institution and/or account number, and possibly check number, from each check are used as pointers to obtain the priority value for that check. The check is then sorted based on the priority value obtained from the database.
US08078530B2
The present disclosure generally relates to financial data processing, and in particular it relates to lender credit scoring, lender profiling, lender behavior analysis and modeling. More specifically, it relates to rating lenders based on data derived from their respective consumers. Also, the present disclosure relates to rating consumer lenders based on the predicted spend capacity of their consumers.
US08078528B1
The method according to exemplary embodiments comprises establishing an interest-free revolving amount or account, establishing a periodic payment for maintaining the interest-free revolving amount or account, and automatically revising the interest-free revolving amount or account or the periodic payment based upon at least one user performance metric over a predetermined period of time; wherein the interest-free revolving amount or account or the periodic payment for maintaining the interest-free revolving amount is determined by the user via a network.
US08078526B1
A principal first loan product that includes qualifying a borrower for a principal first loan, processing the principal first loan, and applying an entire amount of each payment from the borrower for the principal first loan to a principal of the principal first loan during a defined time period. The principal first loan may be a mortgage. The principal first loan may be re-amortized at a remaining loan principal balance and a remaining loan term after the defined time period. Each payment from the borrower received after the defined time period may be applied to the principal first loan in accordance with the re-amortization.
US08078518B2
An ATM exception balancing system is disclosed. Embodiments of the invention provide a method of resolving image ATM transaction exceptions and enabling reconcilement of ATM transactions. An exception record can be created and stored for each batch of image ATM transactions wherein the credit and the debit for the batch of image ATM transactions do not match, and the exception record can be displayed to an analyst. Input can be received from the analyst indicating a resolution of an exception. Possible resolutions can include a general ledger entry, a customer adjustment, and/or an ICA/WIP entry. The system can optionally provide for reporting and performance analysis. Image ATM cash transactions, image ATM check transactions, or both, can be included.
US08078513B1
A real-time normalized, distributed exchange and barter system that allows multiple members to exchange multiple goods and services with other members of the system over a distributed network such as the Internet. The system may develop a plurality of permutations of trading cycles that allow for indirect exchanges between its members, with the option of using cash as an exchange element. The system may also develop permutations of trading cycles for sub-classes and sub-categories of the goods, services and exchange elements within the system, and choose an optimized set of trading cycles among the many trading-cycle permutations that cover the exchange system, based on criteria defined by the system's sponsor. The system may determine all possible cyclic permutations of exchanges between its members and select the cyclic permutation that best meets the defined criteria, also the system would be able to make suggestions or impersonate a user in order to close any open chains.
US08078512B1
Quality control for determinations that documents are accurate and sufficient to support various transactions. In one aspect, a document manifest is provided in connection with quality control results and corresponding reports. The document manifest lists documents that are required for a particular transaction. The list may also be associated with document publication pursuant to the transaction. The document publication aspect allows dataset quality control procedures to be associated with documents published for a transaction. This aspect also allows confirmation that the appropriate version of the published set of documents is or was used for the transaction.
US08078503B1
Methods and system for providing real time offers to a user based on obsolescence of possessed items
In a remote communication environment, a method for real-time presentation of information to one or more users accessing one or more websites using an electronic communications device. Various aspects of the method comprise at least the following. Communication is established via the electronic communications device between the user and the website to conduct one or more primary transactions. One or more electronic identifiers associated with the user are obtained. One or more further or additional data elements related to the user are obtained from a third party using the at least one electronic identifier. Based at least on the electronic identifier and the further data element, the information is selected for presentation to the user in real time with the primary transaction. The information is presented to the user in real time with the primary transaction.
US08078501B2
A method and apparatus for facilitating a transaction in a network-based transaction facility are described. According to one embodiment, a user associated with the transaction in the network-based transaction facility is identified, and a rating is assigned to the user based on the accuracy of information submitted by the user during the transaction. If the rating exceeds a predetermined threshold, the transaction is completed.
US08078496B2
A system and method for implementation of product searches via a search engine over a networked computer system such as the Internet. In particular, a user may execute a search for product offers that are accompanied with reward components (e.g. reward points, rebates, coupons, etc.) and/or those that allow payment in whole or in part with payment components (e.g. reward points, rebates, coupons, etc.).
US08078491B1
An electrical digital computer machine and a data processing system, methods of making and for using the machine, products produced thereby, as well as data structures and articles of manufacture pertaining thereto, and all necessary intermediates of that which is discussed herein, all in the field of computerized aspects of card crediting to mortgages and the like.More particularly, there is a method for card activity-based residential expense crediting, such as that for points, an external mortgage, or the like. The method includes the steps of: associating card activity with an external residential expense; crediting an amount to the residential expense responsive to the card activity; and generating output including the card activity-based residential expense crediting; wherein at least some of the steps are carried out by computer.
US08078489B1
A computerized system and related methods of identifying an optimum set of product configurations from a plurality of possible product configurations, wherein each product configuration has a plurality of features and each feature has a plurality of options, includes the steps of representing each of the possible product configurations as an ordered set or array of at least n-dimensions, each dimension of the array representing a predetermined one of the features, identifying a subset of valid product configurations, identifying which valid configurations are captured by other configurations through upgrades, conversions, or acceptance of different options, defining and solving an optimization model to identify the optimum set of valid product configurations based on a desired objective, such as to maximize profit, minimize cost, or maximizing coverage of customer demand, and then presenting the optimum set of valid product configurations that satisfy the desired objective.
US08078485B1
A high performance capability assessment model helps a postal industry business meet the challenges of the global marketplace. As a result, the postal industry business can achieve the clarity, consistency, and well-defined execution of core processes that reduce inefficiencies and waste that result from unnecessary process complexity and exceptions. In addition, the high performance capability assessment model helps the postal industry business to identify specific areas in which improvements may be made and understand how to make the improvements, and establishes levels of capability along the way to reaching an ultimate capability goal.
US08078483B1
One embodiment of the present invention provides apparatus and methods for queuing access by large numbers of Internet or other network-based users to networked systems and resources with limited capacity. In one example embodiment, a queuing system provides user access to network resources, such as that of a ticketing system. A ticket queue queues a request received from a client system. A request processing module causes the client system to repeatedly transmit messages to the system during a first period, and in response to determining that the client system has ceased transmitting messages during the first period, the request is remove from the queue and/or cause the request goes unfulfilled.
US08078470B2
The present invention discloses means and method for indicating emotional attitudes of a speaker, either human or animal, according to voice intonation. The invention also discloses a method for advertising, marketing, educating, or lie detecting by indicating emotional attitudes of a speaker and a method of providing remote service by a group comprising at least one observer to at least one speaker. The invention also discloses a system for indicating emotional attitudes of a speaker comprising a glossary of intonations relating intonations to emotions attitudes.
US08078466B2
A method for generating animated sequences of talking heads in text-to-speech applications wherein a processor samples a plurality of frames comprising image samples. The processor reads first data comprising one or more parameters associated with noise-producing orifice images of sequences of at least three concatenated phonemes which correspond to an input stimulus. The processor reads, based on the first data, second data comprising images of a noise-producing entity. The processor generates an animated sequence of the noise-producing entity.
US08078460B2
In a noise suppression apparatus for suppressing noise contained in a speech signal, the speech signal is converted to a first vector of spectral speech components and a second vector of spectral speech components identical to the first vector. A vector of noise suppression coefficients is determined based on the first vector spectral speech components. A vector of estimated noise components is determined based on the first vector spectral speech components, and a speech section correction factor and a nonspeech section correction factor are calculated from the estimated noise components and the first-vector spectral speech components to produce a combined correction factor. The noise suppression coefficients are weighted by the combined correction factor to produce a vector of post-suppression coefficients. The second vector spectral speech components are weighted by the post-suppression coefficients to produce a vector of enhanced speech components.
US08078457B2
Method for adapting for an interoperability between short-term correlation models of digital signals
The invention relates to the code conversion of digital signals, particularly voice signals, and in particular coding according to a second format from information obtained by carrying out a coding according to a first format. These first and second formats use LPC (linear predictive coding) short-term prediction models on digital signal sample blocks while using filters represented by respective LPC coefficients. The LPC coefficients of the second format are determined from an interpolation on the representative values of the LPC coefficients of at least the first format, between at least one given block and a preceding block. According to the invention, the interpolation (43), is dynamically effected while selecting (42), for each current block, at least one interpolation factor (α) among a preselection of factors according to a predetermined criterion such as a stationarity criterion of the digital signal (41).
US08078434B2
A method (300, 400, 500, 1200) for offline/online monitoring of batch processes. The method involves (312) decomposing a time domain of a batch process run (BPR) into several blocks and (334) building multivariate statistical models (MSMs) for each of them using archived data for a batch process (ABPD). ABPD comprises stored data obtained during BPRs. The method also involves (506, 1204) retrieving recently stored data (RSD) for a recent fully performed BPR run (FPRNEW) or current BPR run. The method further involves (520, 1210) building a feature vector matrix (FVM) using RSD. FVM contains feature vectors representing statistical measures of wavelet coefficients determined for variables (v0, . . . , vJ). A projection (1100, 1150, 1190) is formed by projecting feature vectors onto at least one MSM or a combined multivariate statistical model (CMSM). CMSM is a weighted average of at least two MSMs. Subsequently, at least one estimate is generated for FPRNEW or current BPR run using information provided by the projection (528, 1220).
US08078422B2
A system is used to test whether a device works normally in a preset frequency range. The system presets a frequency range, and controls a frequency generator to send a test frequency signal to the device according to each of a predetermined number of frequencies of the frequency range, and tests whether the device and electronic parts of the device can work normally to obtain test results.
US08078414B2
A water level measuring apparatus and a water level measuring method, in which a water level L0 of a liquid is read from a water level indicator secured to a liquid tank, and a filter value FLT is calculated by applying a filter with a time constant greater than one second to the water level L0. Furthermore when the filter value FLT is less than a minimum value Min, the minimum value Min is sequentially updated with the filter value FLT. Then the minimum value Min is output as the final water level L. Accordingly, even if the surface sloshes and the water level L0 fluctuates up and down, by adopting the minimum value that utilizes the characteristic of the surface fluctuations, as the final water level L, there is little influence of the liquid sloshing, and the water level measurement accuracy can be improved.
US08078401B2
A method of error compensation for an inertial measurement unit is provided. The method comprises providing a first object including an inertial measurement unit, providing a second object proximal to the first object, and determining an initial position and orientation of the first object. A motion update is triggered for the inertial measurement unit when the second object is stationary with respect to a ground surface. At least one position vector is measured between the first object and the second object when the first object is in motion and the second object is stationary. A distance, direction, and orientation of the second object with respect to the first object are calculated using the at least one position vector. An error correction is then determined for the inertial measurement unit from the calculated distance, direction, and orientation of the second object with respect to the first object.
US08078381B2
In order to fit a driver's driving feeling, a vehicle speed control system includes a unit that calculates the instantaneous curvature and a unit that controls vehicle speed. The system reduces the vehicle speed when the instantaneous curvature tends to increase, and enhances it when the instantaneous curvature tends to decrease.
US08078367B2
A planter monitor system and method that provides an operator with near real-time data concerning yield robbing events and the economic cost associated with such yield robbing events so as to motivate the operator to take prompt corrective action.
US08078359B2
A method for configuring and personalizing a vehicle user interface is provided, the user interface utilizing a touch screen display mounted within the vehicle. User configurable aspects of the user interface include the number of zones within the touch screen display, the size of each zone, the subsystem interface assigned to each zone, the style and information contained within each subsystem interface, display brightness levels for the overall display or per zone, and the assignment and location of persistent soft buttons.
US08078358B2
A vehicle display unit for a vehicle includes a display panel, a transmitting panel, a peripheral wall member, and a sounding body. The display panel faces a vehicle interior of the vehicle and displays visual information to a vehicle occupant of the vehicle. The transmitting panel is disposed on a vehicle interior side of the display panel. The visual information is transmitted to the vehicle occupant through the transmitting panel. The peripheral wall member surrounds a space between the display panel and the transmitting panel in a circumferential direction of the display panel. The sounding body is attached on an outer circumferential surface of the peripheral wall member and is configured to provide auditory information for the vehicle occupant by generating a sound wave. The peripheral wall member has a communicating hole, which opens toward the sounding body and communicates with the space.
US08078354B2
A system and method for global product management includes an onboard microserver located on a vehicle, a plurality of subsystem microservers, and a ground mirror database configured to be located remote of the vehicle. The onboard microserver includes a computer processor, memory storage, and a web-based server enabling local and remote communications to and from the onboard microserver using standard internet protocols. The plurality of subsystem microservers are configured to communicate with the onboard microserver and each other. The ground mirror database includes a replica of data contained on the onboard microserver and the subsystem microservers, and the database and the onboard microserver are configured for two-way communications and data transfers. The ground mirror database operates as a gatekeeper for all information sent to and from the onboard microserver by monitoring, authorizing and controlling a dissemination of data to and from the onboard microserver.
US08078351B2
A system and method for estimating surface coefficient of friction in a vehicle system. The method includes providing a kinematics relationship between vehicle yaw-rate, vehicle speed, vehicle steering angle and vehicle front and rear axle side-slip angles that is accurate for all surface coefficient of frictions on which the vehicle may be traveling. The method defines a nonlinear function for the front and rear axle side-slip angles relating to front and rear lateral forces and coefficient of friction, and uses the nonlinear function in the kinematics relationship. The method also provides a linear relationship of the front and rear axle side-slip angles and the front and rear lateral forces using the kinematics relationship. The method determines that the vehicle dynamics have become nonlinear using the linear relationship and then estimates the surface coefficient of friction when the vehicle dynamics are nonlinear.
US08078348B2
An electric vehicle includes a device which determines, on the basis of the gradient of a road surface, a target acceleration of the vehicle in the case where the operational states of an accelerator (gas) pedal and a brake pedal of the vehicle are an OFF state when the vehicle is traveling on a down-slope road, a device which determines the correction amount of a regenerative torque for bringing the actual acceleration of the vehicle close to the target acceleration, a device which determines a basic target torque of an electric motor, which becomes a regenerative torque when the operational state of the accelerator (gas) pedal is the OFF state, on the basis of the operational state of the accelerator (gas) pedal, and a device which determines a target torque by correcting the basic target torque on the basis of at least the aforesaid correction amount. The output torque of the electric motor is controlled to the determined target torque. Thus, when the electric vehicle travels on the down-slope road, the regenerative operation of the electric motor is accomplished such that an acceleration suited to the gradient of the road surface can be generated in the vehicle while minimizing the influences of disturbance factors.
US08078342B2
Methods for active power management, i.e., the power management method may be activated in response to changes in the supply and demand of power in a system, are disclosed. The power management method may use dynamically collected data reporting levels of electrical power utilized by systems while matching them to the available power. One embodiment of the present invention may be applied in smaller or medium sized systems. Another embodiment of the present invention may be implemented making use of additional aircraft resources, such as an integrated modular avionics (IMA) line replaceable unit (LRU) in larger sized systems. Both of these embodiments may make use of data collected from systems utilizing or generating electrical via the bus power control unit (BPCU) LRU, the data processing taking place either locally in the BPCU (small or medium sized systems) or in the IMA (larger systems).
US08078341B2
A method of applying a “Heading Then Merge Behind” (HTMB) guidance directive sent by an air traffic control center to an aircraft comprising a flight management system, the flight management system making it possible to automatically follow the trajectory of an active flight plan. The method includes reception and validation of the directive by the flight management system, confirmation by the pilot of the aircraft of the application of the directive, creation by the flight management system of a flight plan incorporating the directive, activation by the pilot of the flight plan incorporating the directive, so that the directive is executed automatically by the flight management system while following the trajectory of the flight plan incorporating the directive.
US08078340B2
Active user interface haptic feedback and linking control system using either force or position data
A system and method are provided for supplying haptic feedback to, and for electronically linking, pilot and co-pilot user interfaces. The user interface haptic feedback and linking are implemented using either force or position data. If the force or position data become unavailable, then position or force data, respectively, are used to implement the user interface haptic feedback and linking.
US08078339B2
Removable circuits and related mounting hardware for removably connecting circuits to a vehicle's control system. Circuits and connectors form an addressable assembly which may be enclosed in a flowable material.
US08078335B2
A storage system includes a housing, a cooling unit cooling the interior of the housing, and a plurality of control units adapted to control the cooling unit. The control units each include a mount state acquisition unit acquiring a mount state of the control unit in the housing, an operation state acquisition unit acquiring an operation state of the cooling unit, and a determining unit determining a provisional main control unit, from among the plurality of control units, that is operable to control the entire cooling unit based on information acquired from the mount state acquisition unit and the operation state acquisition unit.
US08078332B2
Methods are provided for managing high or low voltage conditions from selected areas of a power system of a utility company. Rubber-banding or lassoing is used to select geographic areas. Potential low or high voltage situations are identified in the selected geographic areas. Geographic displays are overlayed with superimposed VAR reserves to create overlayed geographic displays for the selected geographic areas. The overlayed geographic displays are used to identify potential low or high voltage instances in the selected geographic areas.
US08078322B2
The invention relates to the online regulation of a batch process in a bioreactor. According to the invention, spectra of the actual charge in the bioreactor are recorded at successive points during the running batch process. A measuring vector is produced, for each spectrum, in the low-dimensional main constituent region by the main constituent analysis of the high-dimensional spectra. The deviation is calculated between the measuring vector and a corresponding vector of a nominal trajectory consisting of measuring vectors of a reference charge, which are determined in an earlier batch process, and at least one adjustment operation for the batch process is determined and carried out according to said deviation. The direction of the adjustment operation is maintained when the deviation determined from one point to the next decreases, and modified when the deviation determined from one point to the next remains the same or increases.
US08078317B2
A dispenser for dispensing restricted goods such as pharmaceuticals by an pharmacist to a purchaser with a prescription includes a cabinet containing an inventory storage system, a purchaser transaction module, a reject system and a control system. The inventory storage system includes product storage in rows and columns. The purchaser transaction module including an audio communication link from the dispenser to the pharmacist, a payment transaction system in the dispenser to verify payment for the product and an issue tray in the dispenser that is locked until the pharmacist releases the product to the purchaser. The reject system securely removes product to a reject hopper at any time after the product is held by the product selection device but prior to the pharmacist releasing the product from the issue tray. The control system includes means to enable the pharmacist to view the prescription and the purchaser. The control unit includes a product identification system that identifies and stores the location of each product by its row and column and cooperates with a product selection device that verifies that the product selected is correct and holds and carries the product from its storage location to one or more of a printing location, viewing location and issue tray all located within the dispenser. The pharmacist is able to actuate the reject system or unlock the issue tray.
US08078313B2
Systems and methods for sorting a plurality of unaddressed items may comprise receiving delivery point address data. Furthermore, systems and methods for sorting a plurality of unaddressed items may comprise sorting the plurality of unaddressed items based on the delivery point address data. The plurality of unaddressed items may be sorted in an order in which they are to be delivered within a delivery zone specified by the delivery point address data.
US08078309B1
Disclosed herein is a method of making a three dimensional mold comprising the steps of providing a mold substrate; exposing the substrate with an electromagnetic radiation source for a period of time sufficient to render the portion of the mold substrate susceptible to a developer to produce a modified mold substrate; and developing the modified mold with one or more developing reagents to remove the portion of the mold substrate rendered susceptible to the developer from the mold substrate, to produce the mold having a desired mold shape, wherein the electromagnetic radiation source has a fixed position, and wherein during the exposing step, the mold substrate is manipulated according to a manipulation algorithm in one or more dimensions relative to the electromagnetic radiation source; and wherein the manipulation algorithm is determined using stochastic optimization computations.
US08078300B2
A computer program product for causing a computer of an information processing device to execute processing for generating a sound that is generated by a mobile object with a plurality of tires, which moves on a predetermined surface within a virtual three-dimensional space, the computer being caused to execute the steps of: controlling the movement of the mobile object; calculating a load applied to at least one of the tires of the mobile object; controlling, on the basis of the load, a volume and a pitch of a squealing sound generated from the tires; and outputting the squealing sound. The computer is further caused to execute the steps of calculating a slip angle of at least one of the tires of the mobile object, and changing the tone of the squealing sound on the basis of the slip angle.
US08078283B2
Systems and methods are disclosed to enhance bone growth by stimulating bone sites for bone regrowth, fusion, or grafts. The invention uses electrical stimulation of the bone site, where vibrational energy from a source is received by an implanted device and converted to electrical energy and the converted electrical energy is used by implanted electrodes to stimulate the bone site. The vibrational energy is generated by a controller-transmitter, which could be located either externally or implanted. The vibrational energy is received by a receiver-transmitter, which could be incorporated into an orthopedic device, such as pin, cage, plate or prosthetic joint used for bone healing.
US08078264B2
A system for imaging an abnormal cell and or diseased tissue after topical application of a near infrared protease-specific probe is disclosed. The system includes a protease-specific near infrared (NIRF) imaging probe, means for topically administering the protease-specific probe to a diseased tissue and an imaging device capable of detecting the interaction between the protease-specific NIRF imaging probe and the diseased tissue. A method and surgical procedure are also disclosed.
US08078260B2
The present invention provides a fat saturation device to be used in conjunction with a magnetice resonance imaging (MRI) breast coil, which provides padding for the comfort of the patient being imaged while eliminating the skin-air interface, thereby reducing the level of artefacts in the image. The device comprises a coil surface pad that contacts the surface of the coil, the pad having apertures therein through which the patients breasts extend when the patient is positioned on the coil for imaging. Aperture sleeves that are removable or retractable extend from the bottom surface of the coil surface into the apertures of the breast coil. The device comprises a fat saturation material.
US08078246B2
A memory in a sensor is used to store multiple coefficients for a physiological parameter. In one embodiment, not only are the sensor's specific calibration coefficients stored in a memory in the sensor for the formula to determine oxygen saturation, but multiple sets of coefficients are stored. The multiple sets apply to different ranges of saturation values to provide a better fit to occur by breaking the R to SpO2 relationship up into different pieces, each described by a different function. The different functions can also be according to different formulas for determining oxygen saturation.
US08078243B2
A method of determining a measure of a tissue state (e.g., glycation end-product or disease state) in an individual. A portion of the tissue of the individual is illuminated with excitation light, then light emitted by the tissue due to fluorescence of a chemical with the tissue responsive to the excitation light is detected. The detected light can be combined with a model relating fluorescence with a measure of tissue state to determine a tissue state. The invention can comprise single wavelength excitation light, scanning of excitation light (illuminating the tissue at a plurality of wavelengths), detection at a single wavelength, scanning of detection wavelengths (detecting emitted light at a plurality of wavelengths), and combinations thereof. The invention also can comprise correction techniques that reduce determination errors due to detection of light other than that from fluorescence of a chemical in the tissue. For example, the reflectance of the tissue can lead to errors if appropriate correction is not employed. The invention can also comprise a variety of models relating fluorescence to a measure of tissue state, including a variety of methods for generating such models. Other biologic information can be used in combination with the fluorescence properties to aid in the determination of a measure of tissue state. The invention also comprises apparatuses suitable for carrying out the method, including appropriate light sources, detectors, and models (for example, implemented on computers) used to relate detected fluorescence and a measure of tissue state.
US08078241B2
A universal console for portable telephones with electrical connection points is disclosed, where the connecting part in the console is arranged to adapt to the design of the telephone connections.
US08078236B2
A rotary mechanism includes a base (10), a cover (30), a torsion spring (40) and a locking module (60). The cover is rotatably mounted to the base. Two ends of the torsion spring are fixed with the base and the cover respectively. The locking module limits the cover rotation relative to the base. When the cover overcomes the limitation of the locking module, the cover is automatically rotated relative to the base by the torsion spring.
US08078234B2
An apparatus for providing a massage function for a user of a mobile phone includes an in-call status module, a vibrating motor, and a processor. The status module is configured to sending a call making signal when the user is making a phone call via the mobile phone. The processor is coupled to the status module and the vibrating motor to receive the call making signal and to control vibration of the vibrating motor. The vibrating motor vibrates regularly to provide the massage function during a duration of the call.
US08078219B2
A mobile device for setting a signal strength value for the mobile device to receive needed radio signals. The mobile device includes a signal strength value configuring system and a radio signal receiving unit. The signal strength value configuring system is operable to set the signal strength value for the mobile device to receive needed radio signals, utilizing a number of radio station channels detected by the radio signal receiving unit of the mobile device.
US08078211B2
Techniques to allocate the total transmit power to the transmission channels in a multi-channel communication system such that higher overall system spectral efficiency and/or other benefits may be achieved. The total transmit power may be initially allocated to the transmission channels based on a particular power allocation scheme (e.g., the water-filling scheme). The initial allocation may result in more power being allocated to some transmission channels than needed to achieve the required SNR (e.g., the SNR needed to achieve the maximum allowed data rate), which would then result in these transmission channels being operated in the saturation region. In such situations, the techniques reallocate the excess transmit power of transmission channels operated in the saturation region to other transmission channels operated below the saturation region. In this way, higher data rate may be achieved for the “poorer” transmission channels without sacrificing the performance of the “better” transmission channels.
US08078187B2
A wireless communication system including a wireless relay station storing a priority table in which identifiers of the communications that are relayed with higher priority are registered, a wireless relay device relaying communications specified by the communication identifiers registered in the priority table with higher priority than other communications, a stream server receiving communication start requests from any of the wireless terminals and sends to the wireless relay station communication identifiers specifying the communications that are about to be started, and requests registration in the priority table, and a wireless relay station registering the communication identifiers whose registration has been requested in the priority table, such that a proportion S/U of a sum S of consumption bandwidths of the communications specified by communication identifiers registered in the priority table to the available bandwidth U of the wireless network does not exceed a predetermined upper limit.
US08078185B2
A novel soft fractional frequency reuse (FFR) technique is disclosed. The novel FFR technique includes reuse partition and power restriction, dynamic user grouping, channel quality indicator feedback based on reuse, and a user group-based interference aware scheduler. The FFR technique reduces co-channel interference for cell edge users.
US08078182B2
A system generates a first user interface that includes a first plurality of items respectively associated with a first plurality of selection functions. Next, the system presents the first user interface to a first user over a communications network. Next, the system receives a first plurality of selections from the first user of a second plurality of items. The second plurality of items have been selected from the first plurality of items by the first user using the first plurality of selection functions. Next, the system generates a second user interface that includes the second plurality of items. The second plurality of items are respectively associated with a second plurality of selection functions. Finally, the system presents the second user interface to the second user.
US08078180B2
A subscriber server system 200 for a cellular communication system 100 comprises a subscriber data storage 205 which stores public identities associated with subscribers of the cellular communication system. A request processor 207 receives an identity information request message, such as a SIP OPTIONS message, from a remote station 101. The identity information request message comprises a first public identity for a subscriber of the cellular communication system. A public identity processor 209 determines a first set of public identities which comprises a plurality of public identities associated with the subscriber in response to the public identity. A message generator 211 generates an identity response message, such as a SIP 200OK message, comprising the first set of public identities. The identity response message is then transmitted to the first remote station 101.
US08078175B2
A method for facilitating a handover of a communication device (202) active on a first radio access network (210) to a second radio access network (206) comprises while the communication device is active on the first radio access network (210), detecting (502) a target access node (216) in the second radio access network for communication with the communication device, deciding (540) to handover the communication device from the first radio access network to the detected target access node, in response to a decision to handover and prior to handing over, initiating (506) by the communication device an access control process to authenticate and authorize the communication device for access to the second radio access network, including sending by the communication device a handover request message via the first radio access network to an application server (222) communicably coupled to the first and second radio access networks to initiate the access control process, and after the communication device is authenticated and authorized to access the second radio access network while the communication device is still active on the first radio access network, initiating (510) communication between the communication device and the detected target access node in the second radio access network and handing over the communication device from the first radio access network to the detected target access node.
US08078152B2
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for determining venue information associated with a mobile device user. During operation, the system collects contextual information recorded by one or more sensors located on the mobile device and extracts a behavior pattern of the user as a function of time and/or an environmental indicator based on the collected contextual information. The system then compares the behavior pattern and/or the environmental indicator with known behavior patterns and/or environmental indicators associated with a number of venues stored in a database, and determines a venue associated with the user based at least on the comparison.
US08078142B2
A method and apparatus for charging against prepaid credit in a communication network. When a first terminal requests establishment of a call to a second terminal, the network ascertains whether prepaid credit is involved. If so, accounting sessions are established between an accounting server and any accounting servers that will raise costs during the call. A session identifier is generated. Once the call is established, charging update data is sent from the accounting clients to the accounting server, where it is collated on the basis of the accounting session identifier, whereby enabling updating of the prepaid credit during the call.
US08078141B2
Systems and methods for collecting and processing satellite communications network usage information
A system and method provide the ability to collect, store and transmit information statements concerning satellite communication system use. The satellite system may collect billing information, such as roaming data, network use in terms of both total time and total bandwidth and functionality utilized on a user by user basis. Further, the satellite system may collect network usage information from the totality of users of a satellite system. The billing information and network usage information may be collected and stored on-board satellite(s) in a network in a data structure including a database. This information may then be collected, organized and transmitted to a variety of users in the earth segment of the system.
US08078140B2
A system and method for the real-time management of a device, and more particularly to the allocation of electronic wallets that are associated with one or more devices and various controls that enable at least two entities to manage how the device is utilized for various activities and to pay for goods and services. Each device is associated with at least two electronic wallets, a user wallet and an administrator wallet. The administrator can establish rules that designate how and when the device can be used and which wallet will be used to pay for goods and services desired by the user, but in the event the user wallet is depleted or low on funds, the administrator wallet can serve as a backup funding source for specified types of goods and/or services. Additional wallets can also be associated with the device to authorize and pay for goods and services, under the control of the administrator wallet, such as a promotional wallet that could be designated for use with the device before a primary or administrative wallet was used, or a dynamic wallet that could be associated for use with multiple different devices as well as other wallets, but acts in conjunction with the user and administrator wallets. Additional rules can be established to perform many other functions, such as manage the movement of value between wallets and from other sources to the wallets.
US08078135B2
A method and apparatus for transmitting and processing a QuickChannelInfo block is described. A plurality of superframe indices are determined, and a QuickChannelInfo block is transmitted to an access terminal in the superframe with an odd superframe index. The contents of the QuickChannelInfo block are changed in accordance with a QuickChannelInfo Validity field of the QuickChannelInfo block. It is determined if a multi-carrier mode of a protocol is MultiCarrierOn. The QuickChannelInfo block is transmitted on each carrier of the protocol. The QuickChannelInfo block is transmitted to the access terminal over a communication link. The QuickChannelInfo block is processed after the QuickChannelInfo block is received at the access terminal over the communication link.
US08078127B2
A reception device includes: an AGC circuit adapted to control the amplitude of a receive signal; a correction circuit adapted to correct the flutter component in the output signal of the AGC circuit; a synchronization circuit adapted to establish synchronization with the signal whose flutter component has been corrected by the correction circuit; and an equalization circuit adapted to perform an equalization process based on the signal with which synchronization has been established by the synchronization circuit and output the equalized signal, wherein the correction circuit includes a detection circuit, an IIR filter, a gain circuit, a flutter component correction circuit, and a gain control circuit.
US08078108B2
The idea on which the present invention is based is that transmitting and receiving data by an antenna or an antenna array may be performed more efficiently by analyzing protocol data of a transmit protocol, which control the data flow between a transmitting and a receiving device, by a controller, and by individually setting transmission times and receiving times on the basis of this analysis, or by specifically selecting a single antenna from an antenna array.
US08078097B2
Disclosed are apparatus and method for facilitating a purchase in conjunction with media content information. The apparatus includes a receiver configured to receive a transmission of media content, information regarding the content, and information for facilitating a purchase of at least one of a copy of the content, a good, and/or a service. The content may include broadcast media content and entertainment media content. The apparatus also includes a processor configured to process the information regarding the content and the information for facilitating a purchase of the copy of the content, the good, and/or the service. The apparatus also includes a display device for displaying information.
US08078086B2
A liquid developer transport device includes a channel switching part that dispenses liquid developer to a first channel or a second channel. A filtering part filters liquid developer flowing in the first channel, and a first storage part stores the filter liquid developer. A second storage part stores liquid developer flowing in the second channel. The channel switching part switches channels when a toner particle concentration is more than a predetermined concentration.
US08078072B2
An image forming apparatus has an image forming station and a fixing unit. The fixing unit includes a coil for generating a magnetic field for induction heating the heating member. A first core made of a magnetic material is arranged fixedly around the coil. A second core made of a magnetic material is between the first core and the heating member in a generation direction of the magnetic field to form a magnetic path in cooperation with the first core and capable of changing a posture thereof. A shield made of a nonmagnetic metal is arranged along the outer surface of the second core to shield magnetism in the magnetic field and a magnetic shielding portion for changing the posture of the second core between a first posture where the shield shields the magnetism and a second posture where the shield does not shield the magnetism.
US08078068B2
Systems and methods are described hereinto to provide a notification when a predetermined event occurs that is related to a consumable. A print engine outputs hard copies based on electronically received data. One or more toner cartridges that are utilized by the print engine to place toner onto a hard copy substrate. A meter monitors and provides a level of remaining toner for each of the one or more cartridges. A yield component receives level data from each meter to compare to an expected yield and an expected grams per impression, wherein if the expected yield and/or the expected grams per impression are outside of a predetermined threshold, a signal is output.
US08078064B2
In a coherent optical receiver, a light intensity value of signal light providing an optimum reception state is determined when ideal signal light free from waveform distortion is used as the signal light in a state where local-oscillator light is turned on. A first amplitude value of an analog electrical signal corresponding to the signal light is stored in a storage section, wherein the first amplitude value is obtained at a time when the ideal signal light of the light intensity value determined is used as the signal light in a state where the local-oscillator light is turned off. Light intensity of the signal light is determined so as to make a second amplitude value equal to the first amplitude value, wherein the second amplitude value is an amplitude value of the analog electrical signal which is obtained at a time when actual signal light is used as the signal light in a state where the local-oscillator light is turned off.
US08078063B2
Monolithic single and/or dual detector structures are fabricated on the emitting surface of a VCSEL and/or on a lens or glass substrate configured to be positioned along the axis of emission of an optical light source. Each monolithic detector structure includes one or two PIN detectors fabricated from amorphous silicon germanium with carbon doping or amorphous germanium with hydrogen doping. The monolithic detectors may additionally include various metallization layers, buffer layers, and/or anti-reflective coatings. The monolithic detectors can be grown on 1550 NM VCSELs used in optical transmitters, including lasers with managed chirp and TOSA modules, to reduce power and real estate requirements of the optical transmitters, enabling the optical transmitters to be implemented in long-reach SFP+ transceivers.
US08078061B2
The present invention discloses a wavelength-division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) capable of high-bandwidth transmission for optical signals by using modulation format having high spectral efficiency. The WDM-PON according to the present invention provides a larger capacity and higher bandwidth transmission economically (at lower costs) by using a modulation format where spectral efficiency (a transmission bit number per a unit band width) is high, while using a low noise part of a light source.
US08078056B2
Generating oscillator signals with which selected signals may be mixed. Such oscillator signals may be generated by dividing a pilot tone, such as a 120 MHz pilot tone found on many cable TV systems. Oscillator signals for demodulating received selected signals may be similarly generated.
US08078048B2
An imaging device includes a photographing lens configured to focus light from a subject, a splitter configured to split the focused light to left and right in an area, in which light diffused from one point of the subject becomes parallel light, so as to respectively form different polarized lights, an imaging lens configured to respectively image the split different polarized lights, a transmission unit configured to receive the imaged different polarized lights on the same plane so as to transmit any one of the polarized lights in each area of the plane, an imaging element configured to convert the transmitted light on the plane into an image according to an electronic signal, and an image generating unit configured to extract and interpolate the converted image in each area so as to generate two different images.
US08078047B2
An imaging apparatus capable of performing phase difference detection while allowing light to enter an imaging device is provided.The imaging unit (1) includes: an imaging device (10) configured to perform photoelectric conversion on received light and allow light to pass therethrough; a package (31) holding the imaging device (10); and a phase difference detection unit (20) configured to perform phase difference detection on received light which has passed through the imaging device (10). The package (31) has openings (31c, 31c, . . . ). Light which has passed through the imaging device (10) passes through the openings (31c, 31c, . . . ). The light which has passed through the imaging device (10) passes through the package (31) via the openings (31c, 31c, . . . ), and enters the phase difference detection unit (20).
US08078046B2
An image sensing apparatus includes a focus detection unit, determination unit, and selection unit. The focus detection unit includes a plurality of focus detection regions in a frame. The determination unit determines whether the focus detection unit has captured an object during servo autofocus in which the focus detection unit repeats focus detection even after obtaining an in-focus object image so that the focus follows motion of the object. The selection unit selects a focus detection region indicating the closest distance from the plurality of focus detection regions if the determination unit determines that the object has not been captured. The selection unit selects, as a focusing target, a focus detection region indicating a focus detection result nearest to the previous focus detection result from the plurality of focus detection regions if the determination unit determines that the object has been captured.
US08078045B2
A device operable with a camera is disclosed which includes a display screen, remote from the camera, and a processor for receiving an image signal of the field of view of the camera and for displaying an image of the field of view of the camera on the display screen. The device communicates with and controls certain camera functions to allow a photographic or video image to be framed and taken from a location remote from the camera.
US08078041B2
A shake correction unit comprises a first lens unit that holds a first lens and is movable in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of the first lens during a shake correction operation and a second lens unit that holds a second lens and is attached to the first lens unit and moves in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis together with the first lens unit during the shake correction operation, at least one of a shutter and an iris diaphragm having a changeable opening diameter is disposed between the first lens unit and the second lens unit.
US08078012B2
A pattern inspection apparatus includes a stage configured to mount a target workpiece to be inspected thereon, a sensor configured to include a plurality of light receiving elements arrayed in a second direction orthogonal to a first direction which moves relatively to the stage, and to capture optical images of the target workpiece by using the plurality of light receiving elements, an accumulation unit configured to accumulate each pixel data of the optical images overlappingly captured by the sensor at positions shifted each other in the second direction by a pixel unit, for each pixel, and a comparison unit configured to compare the each pixel data accumulated for each pixel with predetermined reference data.
US08078009B2
A method for processing remotely acquired imagery includes obtaining imagery data defining a first image of a panchromatic image type, the first image having a first spatial resolution, and obtaining imagery data defining a second image of a multi-spectral image type, the second image having a second spatial resolution lower than the first spatial resolution. The method also includes obtaining a mapping function specifying a position of pixels in the first image with respect to pixels in the second image and adapting the mapping function to a high common spatial resolution higher than the second spatial resolution. The method further includes generating a third set of imagery data defining a third image of a panchromatic type based on the first set of imagery data and the adapted mapping function and having the high common spatial resolution and adjusting the mapping function based on a first difference between the first and the third images at the high common spatial resolution.
US08078008B2
Disclosed herein is a device for processing a moving image, the device including: a selection unit which selects an image group composed of a plurality of still images including a target image from the moving image, according to specified information for specifying the target image among the plurality of still images included in the moving image; an acquisition unit which performs an acquisition process of acquiring the plurality of still images included in the image group from the moving image; and a synthesis unit which performs a synthesis process of synthesizing the plurality of acquired still images and generating a high-resolution image of the target image having a pixel density higher than that of the target image, wherein the selection unit has a function for performing selection by a first mode for selecting the target image and a still image which is located behind the target image in time-series order.
US08078004B2
A method for registering a first image to a second image using a similarity transformation. The each image includes a plurality of pixels. The first image pixels are mapped to a set of first image coordinates and the second image pixels are mapped to a set of second image coordinates. The first image coordinates of two reference points in the first image are determined. The second image coordinates of these reference points in the second image are determined. A Cartesian translation of the set of second image coordinates is performed such that the second image coordinates of the first reference point match its first image coordinates. A similarity transformation of the translated set of second image coordinates is performed. This transformation scales and rotates the second image coordinates about the first reference point such that the second image coordinates of the second reference point match its first image coordinates.
US08078001B2
Methods, apparatuses and systems providing pixel correction values for a captured image, where the correction values are determined based on a piecewise-quadratic correction function in a first direction. The parameters for the piecewise-quadratic correction function in the first direction are calculated based on a plurality of piecewise-quadratic correction functions in a second direction. The correction values may be positional gain adjustment values.
US08077999B2
This invention discloses an image processing apparatus comprising a filter module, an edge detection module, and a processing module. According to where each pixel locates in an image block, the filter module is used to perform the smooth processing on each pixel to generate a second gray level corresponding to each pixel. The edge detection module is used to determine each pixel to be an edge pixel or a non-edge pixel according to the first gray level and the second gray level of each pixel. The processing module is used to calculate a third gray level of each edge pixel according to a weight, the first gray level, and the second gray level; to calculate a fourth gray level of each non-edge pixel according to the weight, the first gray level, and second gray level, and to output all of the third and fourth gray levels.
US08077998B2
Digital blurring of an image is carried out by blurring using a linear or piecewise continuous blurring function. The blurring function blurs a rectangular portion of an image so that the blurring can be embodied by vertical blurring followed by halls on pull blow. Blurring is done by getting on portion of the line of pixels, adding and dividing by the number of pixels. All the columns are blurred, followed by all of the rows being blurred. The columns and rows can be blurred at the same time to maximize the number of cache hits.
US08077992B2
A system and method for encoding dynamic image information for an image generated by a computer application executing on a processor. Various aspects of the present invention may comprise determining a first set of information describing a reference image. A second set of information may be determined for describing an image, wherein the second set of information comprises information indicative of movement between the image and the reference image. For example, a set of primary movement directions may be determined based at least in part on the computer application generating the image. Such set of primary movement directions may be utilized for analyzing the image relative to the reference images. The difference between the image and the reference image may, for example, be analyzed using at least one of the set of primary movement directions. A movement direction may, for example, be utilized to describe the image.
US08077987B2
Edge information of an input digital image is obtained. Digital image data corresponding to the input digital image is transmitted to a receiver. The edge information is also transmitted to the receiver. An output digital image is obtained at the receiver by processing the digital image data received at the receiver using the edge information received at the receiver. In this way, because the edge information is transmitted separately, as side information, and does not have to be obtained at the receiver, the computational complexity requires of the receiver is low. This enables for example real-time edge-adaptive interpolation to be carried out at the receiver.
US08077977B2
An image processing system includes an area extracting unit, an area relation extracting unit, a relation analyzing unit and an image display unit. The area extracting unit extracts areas from an input image. The area relation extracting unit extracts a relation between the areas extracted by the area extracting unit. The relation analyzing unit analyzes the relation between the areas extracted by the area relation extracting unit. The image display unit displays the image in accordance with an analysis result by the relation analyzing unit.
US08077976B2
Of the feature amounts of respective regions on an image, a region having a feature amount which is similar to that of a region of interest on a image is specified (S1307). Of the OCR results of the respective regions on the image, a region having an OCR result which matches that of the region of interest on the image is specified (S1308). Regions corresponding to respective regions on the image of the respective regions are specified based on the layout order of the specified regions (S1311). Of the regions obtained by combining neighboring regions on the image, a region corresponding to an inclusion region that includes each specified region is specified (S1314).
US08077974B2
A technique for stylus-based syllabic input that is fast and easy and does not require any additional hardware and can be deployed on a handheld device is described. In one example embodiment, this is accomplished by writing a base syllabic character consisting of a vowels or consonant in a writing area. One or more modifiers that are displayed as icons substantially around the writing area of a syllabic level user interface are then selected to form a desired syllabic character. The one or more modifiers are arranged at familiar/natural positions around the base character's writing area to facilitate entry/selection of modifiers and to reduce eye movement/cognitive load on the user. The syllabic characters are then accumulated locally until a desired word is formed, to reduce visual disconnect between the input interface and the end application, and to provide context for formation of the desired word. Further, one or more hypothesis words are then presented to speed up the formation and inputting of a desired word. The formed desired word is then cleared from the display area and sent to an application display area by tapping a space button provided in the syllabic character input user interface.
US08077968B2
An image processing method for individually processing an image of each pixel unit is provided. A red-green-blue color space signal to be input to a pixel unit is transformed into a first brightness signal. The red-green-blue color space signal includes a first red signal, a first green signal and a first blue signal. The first brightness signal is transformed into a second brightness signal to obtain a contrast factor, wherein the contrast factor is a ratio of the second brightness signal and the first brightness signal. The first red signal, the first green signal and the first blue signal are multiplied by the contrast factor to obtain a second red signal, a second green signal and a second blue signal. The second red signal, the second green signal and the second blue signal are performed by color enhancement to obtain a high contrast and colorful image.
US08077966B2
A binarizing device includes: a difference vector calculation unit that calculates a difference vector between an average color in a peripheral pixel region and a current color of a current pixel; a selection unit that selects one of the average color and the current color as a significant color; and an output unit that, in a case where predetermined conditions are satisfied, outputs one of binary values, and that, in a case where at least one of the predetermined conditions is not satisfied, outputs the other of the binary values, wherein the selection unit calculates a run length of each of the average color and the current color in a plurality of directions in the peripheral pixel region, and selects one of the average color and the current color, which has a shorter run length, as the significant color.
US08077963B2
A robotic system that includes a mobile robot and a remote input device. The input device may be a joystick that is used to move a camera and a mobile platform of the robot. The system may operate in a mode where the mobile platform moves in a camera reference coordinate system. The camera reference coordinate system is fixed to a viewing image provided by the camera so that movement of the robot corresponds to a direction viewed on a screen. This prevents disorientation during movement of the robot if the camera is panned across a viewing area.
US08077949B2
An apparatus for imaging a tooth having a light source with a first spectral range and a second spectral range. A polarizing beamsplitter (18) light having a first polarization state toward the tooth and directs light from the tooth having a second polarization state along a return path toward a sensor (68), wherein the first and second polarization states are orthogonal. A first lens (22) in the return path directs image-bearing light from the tooth, through the polarizing beamsplitter (18), toward the sensor (68), and obtains image data from the redirected portion of the light having the second polarization state. A long-pass filter (15) in the return path attenuates light in the second spectral range. Control logic enables the sensor to obtain either the reflectance image or the fluorescence image.
US08077940B2
The invention relates to a method for reconstructing a three-dimensional target volume, particularly within the human body, in realtime and displaying it, with a three-dimensional reconstruction volume being determined from a basic set comprising a minimum number of two-dimensional images obtained from an image recording device located within the target volume, wherein, when a new image is included in the basic set, locally limited updating at least of the reconstruction volume's partial areas covered by the new image will under a predefined condition be performed and the updated reconstruction volume will be displayed.
US08077936B2
A method and apparatus for treatment planning are described.
US08077922B1
An optical flow sensor for generating optical flow measurements based on a visual field is provided. The optical flow sensor comprises a binarized signal generator capable of generating binarized feature signals based on the visual field, a metafeature signal generator capable of generating metafeature signals based on the binarized feature signals, an apparatus for generating velocity reports based on the metafeature signals, and an apparatus for generating an optical flow measurement based on the velocity reports.
US08077921B2
Apparatus for determining the presence of fog using image obtained by vehicle-mounted imaging device
An apparatus that determines the presence of an element such as fog interfering with the visibility of a frontal view of an driver in an vehicle in an environmental atmosphere in ahead of the vehicle equipped with the apparatus in the daytime is provided. In this apparatus, the determination of whether the presence of the element is determined based on an image that captured by a vehicle-mounted camera and in which a picture of an obstacle located on a road over which the vehicle is traveling is masked. In the determination, a reliability of determining the presence of the element is considered by measuring the effect of masking the obstacle.
US08077910B2
Provided is a digital watermarking technology for embedding digital watermark information in text data thereby to generate a digitally watermarked image. The technology includes a digital watermarking program, a digital watermarking device and a digital watermarking method, in which digital watermark information can be embedded in document in such a way as not to be easily detected visually and be stably detected even after being printed out, copied or scanned by detecting the features of a character as data to be digitally watermarked, such as the direction and thickness of a line composing the character as the features thereof and embedding the digital watermark information in the character on the basis of the detected features.
US08077903B2
A method for reducing the radiation amplitude of material vibration modes (division vibrations) from a loudspeaker transducer diaphragm mechanically vibrated for the purpose of transforming an electrical signal into an acoustic signal. The diaphragm material may consist of formed paper or plastic sheet materials or molded paper pulp. The amplitude reduction of material vibration modes and pressure waves within the diaphragm material is accomplished by impressing small, shaped structures within the diaphragm material at critical locations determined by measurement with laser vibration analysis or position sensitive transient analysis of a loudspeaker transducer. The method is applied to the diaphragm material after it has been formed into the shape of a loudspeaker transducer diaphragm, either before or after the diaphragm has been assembled into a loudspeaker transducer.
US08077892B2
There is provided a method of operating a system for providing hearing assistance to a user (101), comprising: capturing and processing audio signals by a transmission unit (102) and transmitting the audio signals from the transmission unit (102) via a wireless audio link to a receiver unit (103); processing the received audio signals in the receiver unit (103); stimulating the user's hearing, by stimulating means (38, 136) worn at or in the user's ear, according to the audio signals from the receiver unit (103); logging data by recording the values of at least one operation parameter of the transmission unit (102) and/or the receiver unit (103) as a function of time and/or by recording data derived from the values of at least one operation parameter of the transmission unit (102) and/or the receiver unit (103) as a function of time in the transmission unit (102); and reading the logged data from the transmission unit (102).
US08077885B2
A microphone device includes an enclosure, a nontransparent supporter, a light source, an annular-shaped optical sensor, a lens and a vibrating membrane. The enclosure has a bottom portion and a sidewall extending from the bottom portion. An opening is defined in the enclosure and opposite to the bottom portion. A nontransparent supporter is enclosed in the enclosure and positioned on the bottom portion. A passage is defined in the supporter, and has a first aperture and a second aperture at two opposite ends. The first aperture is adjacent to the bottom portion. The light source is positioned on the bottom portion, received in the passage and adjacent to the first aperture. The optical sensor is positioned on the supporter. The lens is received in the optical sensor and positioned on the supporter and covers the second aperture. The vibrating membrane is supported on the sidewall.
US08077878B2
An integrated circuit within a cellular telephone has a wake mode and a sleep mode. In the wake mode, a voltage regulator supplies a regulated voltage onto a MIC BIAS terminal. This voltage biases a microphone of a headset/microphone accessory that is coupled to the cellular telephone. If the user presses a switch on the accessory, then a large current is drawn out of the MIC BIAS terminal. This switch press condition is detected by an ADC within the integrated circuit. In the sleep mode, the regulator and ADC are disabled to conserve power. A novel switch detect circuit supplies a current out of the MIC BIAS terminal at an unregulated voltage. If the user presses the switch, then the current supplied from the MIC BIAS terminal increases. This switch press condition is detected over temperature, voltage and process conditions by a special inverter in the switch detect circuit.
US08077869B2
An encryption technique that creates a unique encryption key or fingerprint based on unique physical and electrical characteristics of a target electronic assembly to be protected. The encryption key can be constructed by exploiting the manufacturing variances present in all electronic elements including active elements and passive elements. Active elements include, for example: oscillators/clocks, internal I/O controllers, external I/O controllers, memory, processors, and digital power converters. Passive elements include, for example: internal I/O interconnects, external I/O interconnects, memory buses, and power buses. The encryption key can also include one or more environmental condition thresholds.
US08077863B2
A secret sharing apparatus according to the present invention is based on a (k,n)-threshold scheme with a threshold of at least 4 but is still operational with a threshold of at least 2. The secret sharing apparatus generates a generator matrix (G) of GF(2) in which any k of n column vectors are at a full rank, divides secret information into n−1 pieces to generate divided secret data (K(1), . . . , K(n−1)), generates random data (U(0,1), . . . , U(k−2,n−1)), calculates the product of matrixes of the divided secret data, the random data, and the generator matrix (G), assigns the j×(n−1)+ith column of the calculation result to sharing partial data (D(j,i)) to calculate sharing partial data (D(j,1)), generates header information (H(j)), and individually distributes n pieces of sharing information (D(0), . . . , D(n−1)) made up of the header information (H(j)) and sharing partial data (D(j,i)) to n storage apparatuses.
US08077844B2
In a telephone conferencing system, a digital communication network such as the Internet is used to establish and control the telephone connections between multiple conferees with the telephone network being the means of exchanging verbal information. Each conferee may have a computer connected to the digital network, and each has an independent telephone instrument connected to the public switched telephone network. An in-charge conferee utilizes his computer containing appropriate software to initiate the conference and to control the participation of the conferees. The in-charge conferee sends digital control signals to a switch interface controlling a telephone switch as a gateway to the telephone network using SS7 control signals. These SS7 control signals include the commands by which the conferee telephones are rung up, brought on line, or dropped from the conference. The switch provides telephone status information back over the digital network, and the in-charge conferee, as well as other conferees provided with appropriate software, display this status information on their PC monitors.
US08077843B2
A system and method effectively implement an auction game through telephones, which utilize cellular, mobile, land, satellite, cable, and Internet telephone numbers. Due to the fact of the impossibility of having one contact number for different mobile owners, the probability of confusion regarding the identity of the first winner or winners in the auction game becomes nearly nonexistent. The cellular user sends a short message to a specific telephone number to input a number to outbid or to offer more than a selected number which consists of one digit at a predetermined time beforehand and at a price which the user finds suitable. The selected number consists of one digit which is part of an operating mobile number. The auction game is managed through a specific telecommunication network or through a number of networks in agreement between the networks and the organizer of the auction game.
US08077835B2
A speech recognition process and system are used for interactive telecommunication. A caller is prompted for input. Each of the phrases represents a destination for routing the call. The response utterance is matched by the system to one of the phrases and the call is routed to the corresponding destination. If the call thereafter has been redirected to a destination representing another of the phrases, speech recognition training data are generated for mapping the utterance to the redirected destination.
US08077829B2
An electron emitter assembly, and methods of assembly, is disclosed. The emitter assembly includes an electron emitter that is secured to a support device in a manner such that the emitter is substantially thermally isolated from the support device.
US08077820B2
In one embodiment, a frequency correction (FC) burst is detected in a complex signal received by a mobile station of a GSM/EDGE wireless communications network by applying the complex signal to one or more correlation paths of a burst detector within the mobile station. Each correlation path generates a correlation signal by multiplying a copy of the complex signal by the complex conjugate of a delayed version of the complex signal and then applies a correlation filter to the correlation signal. A combined correlation signal is formed by combining the filtered correlation signals from the one or more correlation paths. Peak detection is applied to the combined correlation signal, where a detected peak corresponds to the occurrence of the burst in the complex input signal. The correlation filters are designed such that the peak in the combined correlation signal occurs prior to the end of the burst.
US08077817B2
The present invention relates to an arrangement for adaptive bit recovery, and to an apparatus for reading from and/or writing to recording media using such arrangement. According to the invention, an arrangement for adaptive bit recovery including an adaptive equalizer and an adaptive partial response maximum likelihood detector further includes an overflow control block for the adaptive equalizer for monitoring one or more of the adaptation coefficients and/or a state violation checker for monitoring the allowed states and indicating state violations as well as and a noise detector for detecting larger deviations of the target values.
US08077815B1
A system and method for processing multi-channel audio signals is described herein. In one embodiment, the system includes a phase detector to determine, for a frequency band, a phase difference between first and second channel signals of the multi-channel digital audio signal. In one embodiment, the system also includes an attenuator to attenuate an amplitude of the frequency band if the phase difference exceeds a first predetermined threshold.
US08077810B2
An apparatus for high data throughput reception in a WLAN includes a receiving module, first and second determining modules, a generating module, and a producing module. The receiving module receives a symbol vector representing M streams of symbols transmitted via a wireless communication channel. The first determining module determines inner coded bits and extrinsic information of the inner coded bits based on the symbol vector, a channel matrix, and inner extrinsic information feedback. The second determining module determines outer coded bits and extrinsic information of the outer coded bits based on the extrinsic information of the inner coded bits, the inner coded bits, and a soft input soft output decoding process. The generating module generates the inner extrinsic information feedback based on the extrinsic information of the outer coded bits. The producing module produces decoded bits based on the outer coded bits.
US08077808B2
Disclosed is a radio wave receiver including: a receiving unit to receive a radio wave including a time code in which a plurality of types of data pulse different in pulse width from one another are arranged with a predetermined period of time; a detection circuit to detect the time code in the radio wave received by the receiving unit to obtain a detected signal; a low-pass filter to pass low-frequency components in the detected signal detected by the detection circuit, a cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter being twice a transmit frequency of the data pulse or less; and a data distinction unit to distinguish the types of data pulse based on an output of the low-pass filter for at least one specific point of time during a transmit period of data pulse.
US08077795B2
An apparatus in a wideband radio transceiver for mitigating interference between a wideband radio operating in a wide frequency band and a narrowband radio operating in a narrow frequency band within the wide frequency band. The effects of transmissions by the wideband radio on the narrowband radio are reduced by creating by the wideband radio, a transmitter notch of decreased transmit power centered at a frequency in the wide frequency band that is fixed in relation to the wideband carrier frequency. The wideband carrier frequency is then adjusted so that the transmitter notch is aligned with the second radio's narrow frequency band. The effects of transmissions by the narrowband radio on the wideband radio are reduced by creating by the wideband radio, a fixed receiver notch of decreased receiver gain in the wideband receiver, and aligning the narrowband signal with the fixed receiver notch.
US08077793B2
A base station that communicates with subscriber stations in an OFDM wireless network. The base station transmits a first data stream and a second data stream to a subscriber station using a first virtual antenna and a second virtual antenna. The base station allocates first data symbols associated with the first data stream to be transmitted from the first virtual antenna in a first selected group of subbands of OFDM subcarriers and allocates second data symbols associated with the first data stream to be transmitted from the second virtual antenna in a second selected group of subbands of OFDM subcarriers.
US08077788B2
A look-up table having distance information corresponding to a distance between a potential candidate symbol and a most proximate competing symbol for each bit of a plurality of potential candidate symbols is provided for a given modulation type. A MIMO decoder will obtain multiple candidate symbols that are provided in a maximum likelihood solution and that correspond to each of the antenna layers of a MIMO wireless communication system. A first candidate symbol is selected from the plurality of candidate symbols, wherein the first candidate symbol corresponds to a first potential candidate symbol of the candidate symbols provided in the look-up table. Distance information is obtained from the look-up table for each bit of the first potential candidate symbol. Likelihood indicium is determined for each bit of the first candidate symbol as a function of the distance information that was obtained for each bit.
US08077787B2
A receiving station apparatus controls a number of null carriers included in a transmission signal transmitted by a transmitting station apparatus in a communication system adopting a multicarrier modulation system to suppress inter-carrier interference by using the null carrier. For example, a reception-quality measuring unit measures a reception quality of a subcarrier group forming the transmission signal, and a number-of-null carriers determining unit determines the number of null carriers included in a next transmission signal based on the reception quality.
US08077782B2
[Object] To prevent communication performance capabilities from deteriorating even in the cases that the estimation error of the propagation path is significant, and that the variation speed of the propagation path characteristics is fast.[Overcoming Means] An adaptive modulation control apparatus which adaptively selects a modulation parameter from among a plurality of modulation parameters corresponding to an estimation result of a propagation path state and which has a frequency axis gradient calculating section (11) which receives propagation path estimation information indicative of an estimation result of a propagation path state, and calculates a gradient of a function of frequency corresponding to each frequency when the propagation path estimation information is set to be the function of frequency, a correcting section (12) that makes a correction to increase or decrease an upper limit or a lower limit of a numerical range of the propagation path state in one-to-one correspondence with each of the modulation parameters corresponding to the calculated gradient of the function of frequency, and a modulation parameter selecting section (13) that selects a modulation parameter corresponding to the corrected numerical range of the propagation path state including the propagation path estimation information.
US08077781B2
The value of a pilot signal extracted from the received signal is divided by the known value (sm,n) of the pilot signal to obtain a channel characteristic value (3), changes in the timing of the Fourier transform are detected (5), and on the basis of the detected result, interpolated data are generated (4) by selection or interpolation in the time direction, using the channel characteristic values as the original data. The decoding error rate after equalization when the timing of the Fourier transform changes is lowered, and receiving performance is improved.
US08077776B1
Motion estimation is described. A first portion of a predicted frame is obtained. The first portion is for a first predicted value. A first subset of a reference frame is obtained. The first subset is for a first reference value. Twice the first predicted value is subtracted from the first reference value. The outcome of the subtracting is multiplied by the first reference value to produce a partial result. The partial result is used for indication of a degree of difference between the first portion and the first subset.
US08077774B1
A system and method for detecting video stream macroblock errors and pixelation by detecting macroblock artifacts in analog television signals from a conventional set top box.
US08077771B2
A moving-image-data acquiring unit acquires, when a failure occurs in other moving-image distributing apparatus, a plurality of moving-image data transmitted from a part of the encoders to the other moving-image distributing apparatus. An imaging-target-information acquiring unit acquires location information of an imaging target from a management server that manages the location information of the imaging target. An encoder selecting unit selects the encoder to take charge in place of the other moving-image distributing apparatus, based on encoder location information included in the moving-image data and the location information of the imaging target.
US08077761B2
Disclosed is a method of adjusting a reception threshold value in data reception. The method comprises: generating a transmission signal on the basis of a clock regenerated from a reception signal, determining a worst phase at which a bit error rate becomes maximum by changing a phase of the transmission signal, and adjusting a reception threshold value in the state of the worst phase. The worst phase is determined by detecting the bit error rate by shifting the phase of the transmission signal by a predetermined interval while fixing the reception threshold value to a predetermined value.
US08077759B2
A method and an apparatus for new cell identification in a WCDMA network with a given neighbor set are described. Aspects of a system for new cell identification in a WCDMA network with a given neighbor set may include a baseband processor that enables determination of a primary synchronization position and at least one scrambling code based on received configuration information from one or more base stations. The baseband processor may also enable determination of a slot boundary in at least one signal received from the one or more base stations based on the determined primary synchronization position. The system may also include a multipath detector that enables unscrambling of the received at least one signal based on the determined slot boundary and at least a portion of the one or more scrambling codes.
US08077753B2
A semiconductor laser device capable of improving the reliability of the laser device is obtained. This semiconductor laser device (1000) includes a semiconductor element layer (20) having a light emitting layer (25), a first cavity facet (1) formed on an end portion on a light emitting side of a region of the semiconductor element layer including the light emitting layer, a first insulating film (40) in which a first nitride film (41), a first intermediate film including a first oxide film (42) and a second nitride film (43) are formed on the first cavity facet in this order from the side of the first cavity facet and a second insulating film (51), formed on the first insulating film, including a second oxide film (51).
US08077752B2
A Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) capable of providing high output of fundamental transverse mode while preventing oscillation of high-order transverse mode is provided. The VCSEL includes a semiconductor layer including an active layer and a current confinement layer, and a transverse mode adjustment section formed on the semiconductor layer. The current confinement layer has a current injection region and a current confinement region. The transverse mode adjustment section has a high reflectance area and a low reflectance area. The high reflectance area is formed in a region including a first opposed region opposing to a center point of the current injection region. A center point of the high reflectance area is arranged in a region different from the first opposed region. The low reflectance area is formed in a region where the high reflectance area is not formed, in an opposed region opposing to the current injection region.
US08077750B2
An optical transmitting module of a coaxial type is provided in which a disturbance in a waveform of light which is output from a semiconductor laser element due to a signal which is output from an optical modulator unit can be suppressed. The optical transmitting module comprises an optical transmitting package of a coaxial type and a line board (40) connected to the optical transmitting package. The optical transmitting package comprises a semiconductor laser element, an optical modulator unit, and a conductor board (21). A drive current supply line (42) and a common ground line are formed over the line board (40), and a signal attenuation circuit (60) having one end electrically connected to the common ground line and the other end electrically connected to the drive current supply line (42) is provided over the line board (40).
US08077741B2
In a multiplexing network system in which media devices are interconnected through a digital transmission path, during system startup, a device that is used as a master device holds management information for recognizing bands used by media devices connected to the digital transmission path and management information for recognizing what type of data is output/received between the media devices. During the system startup, the master device refers to the management information to set the compression rates of data streams transferred between the media devices to be variable.
US08077733B2
A vehicle gateway device is provided with a relay function unit (11) for relaying communication data to a bus line (BL2) if communication data flowing on a bus line (BL1) is relay data to be relayed to a bus line (BL2) and a (NM) function unit (21) for performing a specified network management process in accordance with (NM) data if the communication data flowing on the bus line (BL1) is (NM) data transmitted for the implementation of an (NM) function. The relay function unit (11) is constructed by an (ASIC) and the (NM) function unit (21) is constructed by a microcomputer.
US08077721B2
A system receives a packet at a first node. The packet is destined for a second node. The system identifies a full routing node from a plurality of network devices. The full routing node is capable of providing routing information for each of the nodes within the plurality of network devices. The plurality of network devices comprises a subset of nodes, and a subset of full routing nodes. The subset of nodes is not capable of providing routing information for each of the nodes within the plurality of network devices. The system transmits the packet to the full routing node for future transmission to the second node.
US08077716B2
A multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) in a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) includes a UTRAN that provides an MBMS service. The MBMS service-related information is exchanged between the UTRAN and a terminal or between nodes in the UTRAN by using an MBMS identification so that a user group receiving MBMS data or a data of a specific MBMS service can be identified.
US08077715B2
A content transmitting apparatus includes a content transmitting unit (111) that IP packetizes content to be transmitted through a communication network (101), and an encapsulating unit (112) that encapsulates the content IP packetized by the content transmitting unit (111) to generate a transmission packet to be transmitted through a broadcast network (102) for digital broadcast media. The content transmitting unit (111) and the encapsulating unit (112) transmit plural content items by IP multicast. The content transmitting unit (111) adds, to a header of the content to be IP packetized, information concerning a condition of a receiving side node of the content.
US08077707B2
A method of forming a digital packet stream, the stream including transport packets. The method can include receiving a packet ID in a transport stream, determining if the packet ID includes a video ID, determining if a coded video frame starts a transport packet, and if a coded video frame starts a transport packet, inserting an Internet protocol/user datagram protocol (IP/UDP) header ahead of a transport packet header. The received transport stream can be an MPEG-2 transport stream. A method of forming a digital packet stream can include receiving a packet ID, determining if the packet ID includes a video ID, determining if a coded video frame starts a transport packet; determining a priority of the video frame, and inserting an IP/UDP header ahead of a transport packet header.
US08077703B2
Induced answering method and system for CS-based telephony. A user terminal (5) for communication over a telecommunications network (3) includes at least a CS-telephony device (CSO) for processing CS-based telephony signals (CS1, CS2), the CS-based telephony signals being received and transmitted over a circuit switched bearer service. The user terminal is arranged for receiving an additional answer-related signal (PS1; CS3), the additional answer-related signal being associated with an incoming CS-alert signal (CS1) of an incoming call. Further, the user terminal is arranged for transmitting a response signal or CS-answer signal (CS2) over the circuit switched bearer service in response to information included in, or derived from, the additional answer-related signal.
US08077701B2
Systems, methods and apparatus are disclosed to prioritize communications in Internet protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks. An example method disclosed herein includes receiving a telephone number (TN), locating an ENUM database record for the TN specifying at least one non-IMS destination, receiving a plurality of current call parameters, and accessing a prioritization profile comprising a plurality of selection parameters. The example method further discloses evaluating at least one of the plurality of current call parameters based on the prioritization profile to select at least one of a plurality of non-SIP and non-TN URIs as a destination for the TN, and routing a communication session between the calling device and the selected URI. The plurality of non-SIP and non-TN URIs including at least one of an e-mail URI, an instant message URI, a fax URI, or a web URI.
US08077699B2
Multiple independent MTAs transmit messages such that if one of the MTAs fails, the other MTAs may continue to transmit messages. Multiple independent message stores are provided such that if one of the message stores fails, messages on the other message stores may continue to be transmitted. Multiple notification agents monitor the message stores for new messages and notify one of the MTAs when a new message is available for transmission.
US08077697B2
This invention addresses the need to transport high bit-rate data to multiple users, or between users, over wired and wireless means. Specifically, this disclosure describes a new method of enabling communication from mobile phone to mobile phone when no network services are available as long as radio contact between the mobile handsets is possible by reserving un-assigned timeslots in the medium access control protocol super frame structure.
US08077695B2
MIP Home Agent (HA) architectures are described that decompose, e.g., split, packet forwarding control functionality from actual data packet forwarding operations performed by a conventional MIP HA. This places MIP routing control in a node which is distinct from the tunnel end-points which perform packet forwarding operations to direct packets including a mobile's Home Address. Tunneling establishment and control functionality is implemented by what is referred to herein as decomposed HA (DHA) while data packet forwarding and redirection is performed, under the control of the DHA, by a tunneling agent (TA) node. The tunneling agent node serves as the data packet redirection node for a mobile as it moves from one location to another and may be located outside of a firewall used to protect the DHA. Tunnel endpoint nodes (Mobile Nodes and/or Access Nodes) send tunnel packets to the tunnel agent whilst directing control signaling packets to the DHA.
US08077687B2
A method and device for providing a broadcast/multicast service are discussed. According to an embodiment, the invention provides a method comprising: receiving, by a client module, a service guide including contents information with respect to one or more contents from a broadcast/multicast server; transmitting, by the client module, a broadcast/multicast request message with respect to contents selected by a user of a specific terminal among the contents information included in the received service guide to the broadcast/multicast server; transmitting, by the client module, a location tracking request message with respect to the specific terminal to a network entity; receiving a response message with respect to the location tracking request message, the response message including a location tracking result from the network entity; transmitting, by the client module, location information of the specific terminal to the broadcast/multicast server.
US08077686B2
A media access gateway comprises a wireless network interface, an authorization module, a filter information module, and a proxy mobility agent module. The wireless network interface selectively establishes a wireless link with a first interface of a wireless terminal that has a plurality of wireless interfaces. The authorization module determines a home agent corresponding to the wireless terminal. The filter information module receives filter information from one of the wireless terminal and a server and generates output filter information. The proxy mobility agent module transmits a binding update to the home agent. The binding update includes the output filter information.
US08077675B2
Techniques are provided herein to improve the manageability of handover performance of multi-mode wireless client devices when roaming between a wireless local area network (WLAN) and at least one other network. Signals are received at a plurality of WLAN access points from multi-mode wireless client devices. The WLAN access points generate handover data associated with handover events of wireless Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication sessions for the multi-mode wireless client devices between the wireless local area network and at least one other network. The WLAN access points also generate link quality data representing status and quality of a wireless link with multi-mode wireless client devices during a VoIP communication session. A controller that is provided that is configured to receive the handover data and link quality data for multi-mode wireless client devices from the plurality of access points. The controller aggregates the handover data and link quality data for a VoIP communication session for a multi-mode wireless client device into a mobility detail record and stores the mobility detail record together with an identifier of an associated call detail record.
US08077660B2
A communication control system capable of reducing the traffic amount, CPU's processing load and channel bands related to a location registering process. In this system, a transmitting/receiving part (301) of a base station apparatus (300) receives a call request message transmitted from an access gateway apparatus (200) and addressed to a wireless terminal apparatus, and a location registration determining part (306) determines whether a wireless link to the wireless terminal apparatus to be called can be established. If the wireless link has been established, a position registering part (307) registers an IP address established at the transmitting source of the call request message, and the transmitting/receiving part (301) transmits, to the access gateway apparatus (200), a call response message indicative of accommodating the wireless terminal apparatus in response to the call request message.
US08077636B2
Transcoders and mixers having reduced algorithmic delay and processing complexity. An improved mixer for signals having encoded speech parameters wherein the parameters obtained through decoding are used by a parameter estimator to improve the encoding by providing a parameter estimate for the mixed signal. In the case of pitch parameters, the mixer uses the principle of strong-pitch-domination. The mixing of wideband signals is simplified by performing mixing of individual lower and upper sub-bands. A transcoder and a mixer that converts a wideband signal into a narrowband signal relies upon high frequency suppression. A transcoder and a mixer that converts a narrowband signal into a wideband signal relies upon filter combination.
US08077635B2
A method for reserving conference resources includes communicating a conference notification to each of a plurality of conference invitees. The conference notification is associated with a multipoint conference. The method includes receiving, from each of a first number of the plurality of conference invitees, a response to the conference notification indicating that the invitee will participate on the multipoint conference. The first number of the plurality of invitees comprises participating invitees. The method includes automatically determining, based on the responses to the conference notifications, a sufficient amount of resources to allow the participating invitees to communicate on the multipoint conference. The method also includes automatically reserving the determined sufficient amount of resources and hosting the multipoint conference between the participating invitees using the reserved resources.
US08077634B2
A system and method for providing group communication services. Each of a plurality of communication devices coverts information signals into data packets suitable for transmission over a data network, such as the Internet. The data packets are transmitted through the data network to a communications manager. The communications manager acts as a configurable switch, allowing communications from any communication device to be routed to the plurality of communication devices. The communications manager further allows users of other communication systems and devices to participate in group communications with each other.
US08077631B2
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method for transmitting uplink Ethernet data in a coaxial network, a Coaxial Network Unit (CNU) and a Coaxial Line Terminal (CLT) applying the method. In the method, the CNU determines a transmission path loss between the CNU and the CLT, determines a transmission level for transmitting uplink data according to the transmission path loss, and transmits the uplink data by using the determined transmission level. The present invention ensures the security of data uplink transmission in an Ethernet Passive Coaxial Network (EPCN) system in essence and dramatically increases service quality.
US08077628B2
Performing local peer volume polling by a mobile device is provided. In response to determining that a polling function is enabled in a mobile device, a request is transmitted to each of the peer mobile devices using the polling function. The polling function requests audible operation level setting data from peer mobile devices within a predetermined distance of the mobile device. A map is computed of the peer mobile devices, along with their associated audible operation level settings, based on responses to the request for the audible operation level setting data. The map and audible operation level settings for the peer mobile devices are analyzed using rules to detect an inappropriate volume setting for the mobile device. In response to determining that a current audible operation level setting for the mobile device is inappropriate using the rules, a new audible operation level setting is applied to the mobile device.
US08077617B2
Aspects of a system for proxy A/V bridging on an Ethernet switch may include an AV switch enables reception of incoming PDUs from a legacy device via an AV block network, wherein each incoming PDU contains an AV stream identifier (which consists of a destination address and may also consist of a traffic class designation and/or higher level protocol identifiers). The destination address may identify a destination AV device within the AV block network. The AV switch may enable generation of outgoing PDUs by inserting or modifying a corresponding traffic class designation within each of the incoming PDUs. The AV switch may enable transmission using a specific traffic shaping process of each of the outgoing PDUs to a destination AV device within the AV block network based on the AV stream identifier and corresponding QoS parameters.
US08077613B2
A device may assign a virtual local area network (VLAN) to one or more specific links in a link aggregation group (LAG), and send traffic from the VLAN on the assigned one or more specific LAG links. Traffic from the same VLAN may be sent on one link in the LAG by selecting a hashing criterion or by pinning the VLAN to a primary link in the LAG and another link for redundancy purposes.
US08077612B2
A radio link service profile is defined as a set of parameters for upper layer transport of an IP packet, and may be associated with a logical channel flow identifier. A data packet is sent over a wireless logical channel that is identified by the LCID between a base station and a user equipment. The association of RLSP, whether created or invoked form a memory, is coordinated among the BS and the UE without the need to involve the radio network controller, and if the RLSP does not have a diffserv field on the uplink, the BS adds it prior to forwarding the data packet. A method, device (both BS and UE), computer program product, and system are described in multiple embodiments.
US08077607B2
In one embodiment, a node receives traffic sent from one or more sources toward one or more destinations (e.g., Multipoint-to-Point, MP2P traffic). The node may detect a burst of received traffic based on one or more characteristics of the burst traffic, and, in response, may dynamically apply traffic shaping to the burst traffic. The traffic shaping is adapted to forward burst traffic received below a configurable threshold at a configurable pace and to drop burst traffic received above the configurable threshold. In addition, the node may also store the burst traffic dropped by traffic shaping, and forwards the stored burst traffic toward its destination after a configurable delay.
US08077606B1
A method and system for correcting a congestion condition within a network, the method including notifying the sender and receiver of a multimedia data flow or flows that the multimedia data flows have been dropped due to the presence of the congestion condition. The method including the steps of determining at least one multimedia data flow that will be dropped to relieve the congestion condition; constructing notification messages for the source and destination of the dropped flows; and sending the notification message to the source and destination of the dropped multimedia data flows.
US08077605B2
A failed link is detected between a first SAS expander and a device. A data transfer of the first SAS expander connected to the device via the failed link is re-routed to a second SAS expander connected to the device via a functional link. The first SAS expander is connected to the SAS expander via the phys of the first SAS expander and the phys of the second SAS expander for inter-expander communications.
US08077603B2
In one embodiment, a node comprises a plurality of IEEE 1394 subnet interfaces for communicating over a plurality of IEEE 1394 buses. Each of the plurality of IEEE 1394 subnet interfaces comprises a respective IEEE 1394 physical layer and IEEE 1394 link layer for communicating over a respective one of the plurality of IEEE 1394 buses. At least the IEEE 1394 physical layers for the plurality of subnet interfaces do not share hardware. The node further comprises at least one programmable processor that executes software that comprises common network layer functionality that interacts with all of the plurality of IEEE 1394 subnet interfaces and routes IEEE 1394 data packets among the plurality of IEEE 1394 buses.
US08077595B2
Techniques for efficiently sending data in a wireless communication system are described. Code division multiplexing (CDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) may be selected for each traffic segment, which may correspond to specific time frequency resources. An output waveform comprised of traffic and overhead segments may be generated. Each traffic segment may carry CDM data at a chip rate if CDM is selected or OFDM data if OFDM is selected. OFDM symbols may be generated at a sample rate that may be an integer ratio of the chip rate and may have a duration that may be determined based on the traffic segment duration. The output waveform may carry CDM data and/or OFDM data on subcarriers corresponding to at least one carrier in a spectral allocation and may further carry OFDM data on remaining usable subcarriers in the spectral allocation.
US08077593B2
Provided is a radio communication base station device which can suppress a use amount of an SRS communication resource. In this device, a correlation rule setting unit (102) sets a rule for correlating a preamble with an SRS transmission time interval so that the preamble transmission time band and the SRS transmission time band are in the same transmission time band. An SRS transmission band decision unit (103) decides a time interval of a transmission time band which can transmit the SRS according to the preamble transmission time interval inputted from a preamble transmission band decision unit (101) and the correlation rule setting unit (102).
US08077591B2
A wireless signal processor for use in identifying a maximum Carrier to Noise Interference Ratio (CINR) associated with a plurality of received OFDMA subcarriers has a candidate generator for forming a plurality of candidate values from a particular set of received subcarriers by forming candidate values based on the received subcarriers in combination with possible integer preamble offsets and possible preamble values. A candidate evaluator selects which of the possible preamble values and integer frequency offset values have the maximum CINR, and provides the maximum CINR with IFO and preamble index as outputs.
US08077586B2
According to one embodiment, an optical recording head device includes a light source which outputs such a relaxation oscillation optical pulse that a full width at half maximum of a single pulse is 820 ps or less, a driving unit for driving the light source, an objective lens which converges emission light from the light source on a recording layer of a recording medium, and captures reflective light which is reflected by the recording layer of the recording medium, a distribution unit, placed between the light source and the objective lens, for distributing incident light, and a photodetection unit for receiving via the distribution unit the reflective light which is reflected by the recording layer of the recording medium, wherein a resonator length of the light source is 6560 μm or less.
US08077578B2
According to one aspect of the embodiment, a recording apparatus includes: a recording medium unit having a metal face; a control circuit configured to operate the recording medium unit; a connector electrically connected to the control circuit and configured to transfer data between an external apparatus and the recording medium unit; and a metal portion disposed in a vicinity of the connector and electrically connected to the metal face.
US08077577B2
An information recording device can record a plurality of pieces of recording information, for instance, at different times, in an information recording medium provided by stacking first and second recording layers. A writing control element controls a writing element so that each piece of the information can be written over the first recording layer to the second recording layer. Furthermore, a boundary control member controls the writing element so that first boundary information is written in a recording area which is to be a boundary between the pieces of information in the first recording layer, and that second boundary information is written or ensured, in a recording area of a second recording layer which overlaps the recording area wherein the first boundary information of the first recording layer is written, as a recording area to be a boundary between the pieces of information in the second recording layer.
US08077565B2
With an optical disc apparatus of the present invention, the number of tracks of an optical disc crossed by a light spot when the tracking control is inactive is measured and stored in a memory for each passage of a predetermined rotation angle. When the tracking control is active, a lens tilt driving signal is generated by multiplying the value of a memory section corresponding to the disc rotation angle by a gain according to the disc rotation speed, thereby correcting the AC tilt occurring due to a lens shift.
US08077558B1
A plasmon generator has an outer surface including a plasmon exciting part that faces an evanescent light generating surface of a waveguide. The outer surface further includes first and second inclined surfaces that increase in distance from each other with increasing distance from the plasmon exciting part, and a front end face. The front end face has first and second portions that are connected to each other into a V-shape. The first portion includes a first side lying at an end of the first inclined surface. The second portion includes a second side lying at an end of the second inclined surface. An angle formed between a lower part of the first side and a lower part of the second side is smaller than that formed between an upper part of the first side and an upper part of the second side.
US08077553B2
A timing device for indicating a passage of a duration of time is disclosed. The timing device in accordance with the embodiments of the invention has a grid array architecture. The grid array architecture includes an electrode structure with an anode layer, a cathode layer and a thermistor layer. The anode layer and the thermistor layer are electrically coupled through a plurality of cathode line structures. In operation the timing device is actuated through a suitable mechanism to initiate depletion of the anode layer and, thereby, indicate a passage of a duration time. As the anode layer depletes, sequential cathode line structures are exposed and the thermistor layer acts as a variable resistor through a plurality of exposed cathode line structures.
US08077543B2
A method and apparatus implementing a technique for mitigating noise in seismic data are presented. The technique includes estimating a noise component in a set of multicomponent seismic data representing a recorded wavefield from the relationship at the free surface of an upgoing component and a downgoing component decomposed from the recorded wavefield; and removing the estimated noise component from the seismic data. The noise component can be estimated by decomposing a recorded wavefield into an upgoing component and a downgoing component and isolating a noise component in the recorded wavefield from the relationship of the decomposed upgoing and downgoing components at the free surface.
US08077537B2
Provided is a memory device in which the decrease of the effective bandwidth caused by the refresh operation of the memory device has been solved, a memory controller of the memory device, and a memory system thereof. A memory device that is operated in response to a command from a memory controller has a plurality of banks that respectively have memory cores including memory cell arrays and decoders and are selected by bank addresses; and a control circuit, which, in response to a background refresh command, causes the memory cores within refresh target banks set by the memory controller to successively execute refresh operation a number of times corresponding to refresh burst length that is set by the memory controller, and, in response to a normal operation command, further causes the memory cores within banks other than the refresh target banks and selected by the bank addresses to execute normal memory operation corresponding to the normal operation command, during the refresh operation executed by the memory cores within the refresh target banks.
US08077531B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a semiconductor chip having an edge area and a bank area located an inner portion of the edge area, and a column redundancy fuse block disposed in the edge area.
US08077519B2
Methods for programming a memory array, memory devices, and memory systems are disclosed. In one such method, the target reliability of the data to be programmed is determined. The relative reliability of different groups of memory cells of the memory array is determined. The data is programmed into the group of memory cells of the array having a relative reliability corresponding to the target reliability.
US08077517B2
An integrated circuit structure includes a memory. The memory includes a first memory macro and a second memory macro identical to the first memory macro. A first power block is connected to the first memory macro and is configured to provide a regulated voltage to the first memory macro. The first power block has a first input and a first output. A second power block substantially identical to the first power block is connected to the second memory macro and is configured to provide the regulated voltage to the second memory macro. The second power block has a second input and a second output. The first input and the second input are interconnected. The first output and the second output are interconnected.
US08077506B2
A method of programming a phase change device includes selecting a desired threshold voltage (Vth) and applying a programming pulse to a phase change material in the phase change device. The applying of the programming pulse includes applying a quantity of energy to the phase change material to drive at least a portion of this material above a melting energy level. A portion of the energy applied to the phase change material is allowed to dissipate below the melting energy level. The shape of the energy dissipation from the phase change material is controlled until the energy applied to the phase change material is less than a quenched energy level, to cause the phase change device to have the desired Vth. A remaining portion of the energy applied to the phase change material is allowed to dissipate to an environmental level.
US08077504B2
A method of forming a phase-change random access memory (PRAM) cell and PRAM arrangement, and embodiments of phase-change random access memory (PRAM) cells and PRAM arrangements are disclosed. A phase-change random access memory (PRAM) cell includes a bottom electrode, a heater resistor coupled to the bottom electrode, a phase change material (PCM) coupled to the heater resistor, and a top electrode coupled to the phase change material. An active region between the heater resistor and the phase change material is defined by a thickness of the heater resistor.
US08077503B2
Electronic devices that include (i) a magnetization controlling structure; (ii) a tunnel barrier structure; and (iii) a magnetization controllable structure including: a first polarizing layer; and a first stabilizing layer, wherein the tunnel barrier structure is between the magnetization controlling structure and the magnetization controlling structure and the first polarizing layer is between the first stabilizing layer and the tunnel barrier structure, wherein the electronic device has two stable overall magnetic configurations, and wherein a first unipolar current applied to the electronic device will cause the orientation of the magnetization controlling structure to reverse its orientation and a second unipolar current applied to the electronic device will cause the magnetization controllable structure to switch its magnetization in order to obtain one of the two stable overall magnetic configurations, wherein the second unipolar current has an amplitude that is less than the first unipolar current.
US08077499B2
A latch circuit includes first and second inverters connected in a cross-coupling manner at a first node and a second node. A voltage application circuit applies a hot carrier generation voltage for generating hot carrier at a transistor included in the first inverter or the second inverter. An inverting circuit generates an inversion signal as an inverted signal of an amplified signal provided from the latch circuit to the bit line pair to provide the inversion signal to the first node and the second node.
US08077492B2
A CAM (Content Addressable Memory) cell includes first and second data storage portions storing data, horizontal port write gates for storing data applied through a match line pair in the data storage portions in a data write through a horizontal port, and search/read gates for driving the match lines of the match line pair in accordance with the data stored in the data storage portions in a search operation and in a data read through the horizontal port. The match lines are used as horizontal bit line pair, or signal lines for accessing the horizontal port. As the first and second data storage portions are used, it becomes possible to store ternary data, and accordingly, a write mask function of inhibiting a data write at a destination of data transfer is realized. Further, as the CAM cell is used, an arithmetic/logic operation following a search process can be executed selectively, and high speed data writing/reading becomes possible.
US08077491B2
A PWM operation unit includes a modulation-mode selecting unit selecting a two-phase modulation mode signal and a carrier-wave-synchronous-mode select command, a modulation-wave generating unit generating a modulation wave in response to the two-phase modulation mode signal, a carrier-wave generating unit generating a carrier wave in response to the carrier-wave-synchronous-mode select command, and a comparing unit comparing the modulation wave with the carrier wave. In a two-phase modulation mode, the PWM operation unit controls the carrier-wave generating unit such that a carrier wave frequency is set to an integral multiple of a modulation wave frequency.
US08077465B2
A heat sink includes a cooling member to dissipate heat, and a fixing member for mounting fasteners. The cooling member includes a base and a number of fins extending from the base. The cooling member and the fixing member are independently formed, and the fixing member is fixed to a bottom of the base of the cooling member via fixing means.
US08077463B2
A heat dissipating system includes an electronic device, a refrigeration device, a thermal connector, a cold plate, and a pipe. The cold plate is located in the electronic device for absorbing the heat. The refrigeration device is capable of refrigerating a coolant. The thermal connector is in contact with the cold plate. The pipe connects the thermal connector to the refrigeration device so that the coolant is capable of flowing out of the refrigeration device to the thermal connector and back to the refrigeration device.
US08077442B2
A pair of electrodes sandwiches a serial unit that includes a nonlinear voltage resistor block and a compression spring, which is coupled by a plurality of insulating rods. Each of the electrodes has a plurality of insulating-rod inserting holes and a plurality of fastening-member mounting holes each perpendicular to a corresponding insulating-rod inserting hole. Both ends of each of the insulating rods have a fastening-member through hole such that the insulating rods and the electrodes are fastened by inserting a plurality of fastening members through the fastening-member and mounting the fastening members on the fastening-member mounting holes.
US08077438B2
The present disclosure is related to a peak current limiting apparatus of the present disclosure comprising a trigger element serially connected between a power supply source and the load, diverting a fault current to other paths connected in parallel when the fault current exceeding a threshold is generated, a main contact switch serially connected between the trigger element and a load, a driving coil connected in parallel with the trigger element, and generating a repulsive force in response to the fault current to detach a contact point of the main contact switch, and a peak limiting impedance element serially connected between a connection node between the trigger element and the main contact switch and the driving coil, and limiting a first peak level of the fault current flowing through the driving coil to a predetermined level.
US08077437B2
We describe a semiconductor-on-insulator integrated circuit die comprising a substrate bearing a power conditioning circuit, the power conditioning circuit comprising at least two power devices, a lateral power device and a vertical power device. The power conditioning circuit comprises: a DC input to receive DC power, an AC output for connection to AC mains; a DC-to-DC converter having an input coupled to said DC input; a DC-to-AC converter having a DC input and an AC output to convert DC power to AC power for mains output; and a DC voltage regulator coupled between the output of said DC-to-DC converter and the input of said DC-to-AC converter to regulate said DC voltage input to said DC-to-AC converter. The regulator is configured to control an AC output current of said circuit by controlling said DC voltage input to the DC-to-AC converter.
US08077436B2
A magnetoresistance effect element comprises: a magnetoresistive stack including: first, second and third magnetic layers whose magnetization directions change in accordance with an external magnetic field, said second magnetic layer being located between said first magnetic layer and the third magnetic layer; a first non-magnetic intermediate layer sandwiched between said first and second magnetic layers; and a second non-magnetic intermediate layer sandwiched between said second and third magnetic layers; wherein sense current is adapted to flow in a direction perpendicular to a film plane; a bias magnetic layer provided on an opposite side of said magnetoresistive stack from an air bearing surface.
US08077430B2
A system and apparatus for reducing flutter in disk drive spoilers positions the center of mass of the mean aerodynamic section of the spoiler at or ahead of the quarter-chord location nearest the leading edge of the spoiler. A balance weight may be formed in or attached to the spoiler. The center of gravity is located no farther back from the leading edge than one quarter-chord in a direction of the flow field. Alternatively, the spoiler trailing edge is lightened by making the trailing edge more porous or thinner than other sections of the spoiler.
US08077428B1
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of servo sectors that define a plurality of servo tracks. A position error signal (PES) is generated in response to the servo sectors, and a head velocity is estimated relative to the servo tracks. A correction value is generated as a function of the head velocity and the PES, and the PES is adjusted using the correction value to generate an adjusted PES. The head is positioned over the disk in response to the adjusted PES.
US08077427B2
In one embodiment, a hard-disk drive system performs fly-height control using a read-back mode and a loop-back mode. The read-back mode measures first and second harmonics pre-recorded on the medium and divides the first measurement by the second to obtain a read-back mode harmonic ratio. The loop-back mode measures the same first and second harmonics; however, the harmonics are provided by a write precompensation circuit rather than the medium. Further, the loop-back mode measurements are performed using asynchronous sampling to address aliasing and quantization errors. The first measurement is divided by the second to generate a loop-back harmonic ratio. In logarithm domain, the loop-back ratio is subtracted from the read-back mode ratio to remove environment-induced variations in the read path electronic circuits. The resulting harmonic ratio is subtracted from an initial harmonic ratio determined, for example, during manufacturing, to determine how much the harmonic ratio has changed.
US08077425B2
A magnetic disk apparatus includes a magnetic disk that includes a plurality of zones in which a plurality of tracks are arranged for each of circumferences of a spiral, and gaps that are arranged between the zones to have a width a predetermined number of times larger than a track width and that are regions without providing recording bits; and a reproducing element that simultaneously makes an access to the recording bits contained in the tracks, reading information stored in the recording bits, wherein the number of the tracks is one or larger and a sum of one and the predetermined number or smaller in one of the zones.
US08077418B1
Reducing thermal protrusion of a near field transducer in an energy assisted magnetic recording head
Methods of fabricating an energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) head to compensate for a heat-induced protrusion of a near field transducer formed therein are disclosed. The methods can include applying optical power to the near field transducer to generate heat therein. The near field transducer protrudes beyond an air bearing surface of the EAMR head by the generated heat. The methods can further include removing a protruded portion of the near field transducer.
US08077416B2
A magnetic recording medium has a RAM region and a ROM region. The RAM region includes a plurality of first tracks each having a first magnetic portion. The first magnetic portions in adjacent tracks are separated from each other. The ROM region includes a plurality of second tracks each having a second magnetic portion. A width of the second magnetic portions in a direction perpendicular to a track direction of the first tracks is larger than that of the first magnetic portions in the perpendicular direction.
US08077407B2
A lens array unit mounting structure mounts a lens array unit in a recess provided in a housing of an image reading device. The structure includes a right projection and a left projection provided on the lens array unit and includes a right groove and a left groove provided in the recess of the housing. The lens array unit is secured in the recess of the housing by engaging the right projection with the right groove and engaging the left projection with the left groove.
US08077406B2
An on-vehicle camera lens glass material satisfies at least one of conditions in which a measurement result in water resistance based on a powder method prescribed by Japanese Optical Glass Industrial Standard is 1st Class, a measurement result in Knoop hardness based on a measurement method prescribed by Japanese Optical Glass Industrial Standard is 6th Class or higher, a measurement result in solarization based on a measurement method prescribed by Japanese Optical Glass Industrial Standard is 2% or less, and a measurement result in average linear expansion coefficient based on a measurement method prescribed by Japanese Optical Glass Industrial Standard is 100×10−7° C.−1 or less.
US08077393B2
A film material utilizing a regular two-dimensional array of non-cylindrical lenses to enlarge micro-images, called icons, to form a synthetically magnified image through the united performance of a multiplicity of individual lens/icon image systems. The synthetic magnification micro-optic system includes one or more optical spacers (5), a micro-image formed of a periodic planar array of a plurality of image icons (4) having an axis of symmetry about at least one of its planar axes and positioned on or next to the optical spacer (5), and a periodic planar array of image icon focusing elements (1) having an axis of symmetry about at least one of its planar axes, the axis of symmetry being the same planar axis as that of the micro-image planar array (4). A number of distinctive visual effects, such as three-dimensional and motion effects, can be provided by the present system.
US08077391B2
A wavefront aberration measuring device includes a mask placed in an object plane of a to-be-tested optical system and having a pattern including a pinhole producing a spherical wave and adjoining diffraction gratings each ruled with lines oriented in a direction different from the other; an illumination optical system that illuminates an area of the mask with light emitted from a light source; a light splitter that splits the light from the pattern transmitted through the to-be-tested optical system; an image pickup unit that takes an image of interference fringes produced by the split light, the image being used in measuring wavefront aberration of the to-be-tested optical system; a detector that detects respective light quantities of respective diffracted beams from the respective illuminated diffraction gratings; and a control unit that controls alignment of the illuminated area of the mask and the pattern in accordance with a detection result.
US08077384B2
An optical amplifier provided in a repeater station of an optical transmission system is proposed. The optical amplifier amplifies an signal light and performs ALC of output power by means of a variable optical attenuator (VOA). The optical amplifier receives a difference between a target output value and measured output value of an upstream optical amplifier as an expected control volume, and updates a target attenuation value for the VOA in accordance with a current target attenuation value set to the VOA for ALC, a difference between its own target output value and measured output value, and the expected control volume. The target attenuation value is updated at intervals of time exceeding output convergence time by ALC. The difference between the target output value and measured output value of the optical amplifier is adopted as the expected control volume for a downstream optical amplifier. As a result, the waiting time taken for ALC to be stabilized at the time of increment or decrement of the number of wavelengths and signal startup in the optical transmission system where each station performs ALC, can be shortened, and the variation in the level of the signal light power during transition from AGC to ALC is suppressed.
US08077372B2
A microshutter array has a frame having a light transmissive portion. Linear microshutter elements extend across the light transmissive portion and in parallel to each other. Each microshutter element has a flat blade extended in a length direction and first and second torsion arms extending outwards from each side of the blade in the length direction, the blade extending across the light transmissive portion. There is at least one electrode associated with each linear microshutter element and extended in the length direction parallel to the microshutter element.
US08077362B2
An image scanning device includes a main body casing, a scanning unit which is movably disposed within the main body casing, and a position indicating unit to generate position information of the scanning unit, and to wirelessly receive and display the position information.
US08077356B2
As provided herein, there are supplied teachings to systems and methods for resizing a halftone image using halftone tile parameters. One approach entails receiving into a digital imaging system, a digital halftone image and a desired resizing factor for that digital halftone image. The system will then define cells within the digital halftone image and determine from those cells, a number of halftone tile seams to suitable for manipulation. The orientation of these halftone tile seams is dictated by the received desired resizing factor. The seam energy of these halftone tile seams is then determined according to an energy metric so as to provide indication of a number of low energy determined halftone tile seams. The number of low energy seams identified is sufficient to achieve the desired resizing factor. A resizing of the halftone image is then performing by iteratively deleting the low energy determined halftone tile seams within the halftone image. The resized halftone image may then be printed on a printer.
US08077349B2
An image processing apparatus includes an image data input unit, a density variation detection unit and a position/size detection unit. The image data input unit inputs image data containing original image data obtained by reading an original. The density variation detection unit detects density variation from the image data input through the image data input unit. The position/size detection unit detects a position or a size of the original image data in the image data based on the density variation detected by the density variation detection unit.
US08077339B2
This invention allows the user to select files to be printed from arbitrary folders, easily designate a folder selected in the past, and confirm data files in the folder, thereby improving the operability of selecting a file to be printed. For this purpose, the display window has a folder view display area for displaying the tree structure of folders, and a file view display area for displaying a list of image data files stored in a folder selected in the folder view display area. When a new folder is selected in the folder view display area, a path representing the location position of the folder is added to the folder list. When a file having a print count of “1” or more exists in the file view display area, the file name and print count of the file are added to a file list associated with a folder list. When a selected-folder view display button is clicked, a list of folders registered in the folder list is displayed. If one of the registered folders is selected, a corresponding folder in the folder view display area is selected, and the file view display area is also updated.
US08077337B2
A method and apparatus for processing return fax document deliveries is disclosed. The method may include receiving fax data for transmission to a first party, storing the received fax data, encoding a digital mark, creating fax image using the stored fax data and the encoded digital mark, transmitting the generated fax image to the first party, receiving a return fax image from the first party, the return fax image including the fax data and the encoded digital mark, decoding the digital mark, extracting any information on the return fax image that was added by the first party, and routing the return fax image with the stored fax data, the decoded digital mark, and the extracted additional information to at least one workflow recipient.
US08077332B2
Writing a decompressed bit-map cell in accordance with a pixel count and a fill order pattern based on half-tone threshold values of a half-toned bit-map compression cell that was used to determine the pixel count.
US08077330B2
A method and system is provided for splitting a print job into its preamble and at least one chunk. The splitter maintains a collection of RIP node addresses to which chunks of the job currently being split have already been sent. When a new chunk is about to be sent, the splitter checks whether each RIP node address has already received a chunk. If the RIP node has not already received a chunk, the splitter sends the preamble as well as the chunk to an available RIP associated with the RIP node. If, however, the RIP node address has already received a chunk, only the portion of the chunk after the preamble is sent to an available RIP associated with the RIP node and communicate the location of the preamble to the available RIP node. The preamble may contain common content for each job.
US08077314B2
To measure a characteristic of a multimode optical fiber, a light pulse source produces a light pulse for transmission into the multimode optical fiber. A spatial filter passes a portion of Brillouin backscattered light from the multimode optical fiber that is responsive to the light pulse. Optical detection equipment detects the portion of the Brillouin backscattered light passed by the spatial filter.
US08077313B2
Disclosed herein is an optical measuring device, including: a plurality of microfluidic channels extending in parallel to each other; and a scanning section configured to scan a plurality of measuring light beams in a scanning direction in which the microfluidic channels are juxtaposed to optically measure fine particles introduced into the microfluidic channels.
US08077306B2
A high speed defect inspection apparatus has a high-speed detector that includes a plurality of image sensors. The image sensors are arranged with gaps between them in the pixel direction to form two lines. The image sensors are arranged in a zigzag pattern so that they are not contiguous to each other in the scanning direction. The development cost is reduced by using an arrangement of a plurality of small-area image sensors. When an image sensor is installed, it is necessary to furnish a region required for installation. Since individual image sensors need to be arranged at fixed intervals, void regions result. A plurality of image sensors are arranged in a zigzag pattern to solve the void region problem.
US08077301B2
A sensor may simultaneously sense the angular position of a first rotatable member relative to a frame of reference and the angular position of a second rotatable member relative to the first rotatable member. The sensor may include a first and a second disk, each of which have an annular pattern which alternates between two different levels of optical transparency. The first disk may be coupled to the first rotatable member; and the second disk may be coupled to the second rotatable member. The first and the second disks may each have an integral annular race configured to support ball bearings.
US08077290B2
An apparatus includes a stage configured to hold a substrate and to be moved, a measurement station including a measurement device configured to measure, with respect to each of a plurality of measurement points in a surface of the substrate held by the stage, a position of the surface, and an exposure station configured to expose the substrate to radiation while the stage is scanned, the stage being moved to the exposure station from the measurement station after the position of the surface is measured, and being scanned in the exposure station in accordance with the measured position of the surface, wherein the apparatus is configured to calculate a status concerning an error of a measurement value of the measurement device with respect to each of the plurality of measurement points based on outputs of the measurement device obtained with respect to the plurality of measurement points, and to set arrangement of the plurality of measurement points based on the calculated statuses.
US08077281B2
A liquid crystal device includes a liquid crystal layer between a pair of substrates. One substrate includes pixel electrodes, an insulating layer and a common electrode having a plurality of slits. An electric field between the pixel and common electrodes turns liquid crystal molecules in a predetermined direction in regions corresponding to the slits. Each slit includes a first straight portion extending from a center of the pixel electrode toward both sides of the pixel electrode and second straight portions extending from the ends of the first straight portion to the outside of the pixel electrode. The first and second portions each form an acute angle with an initial orientation of the liquid crystal molecules in a direction opposite to the predetermined direction. The acute angle between the second portions and the initial orientation is larger than the acute angle between the first portion and the initial orientation.
US08077271B2
A backlight unit and a liquid crystal display using the backlight unit are disclosed. The backlight unit includes a plurality of lamps, a lower cover whose an upper portion has an opening, a lamp guide, and an optical member on the lamps. The lamps are positioned in an inside space of the lower cover. The lamp guide includes a first support unit on a surface of the inside space of the lower cover, holder units that are positioned on an upper surface of the first support unit to hold the lamps, a second support unit that is positioned on the upper surface of the first support unit to support the optical member, and a fastening unit fastening the first support unit to the lower cover. The first support unit includes a projection for increasing a reflective area.
US08077269B2
An array substrate includes; a thin-film transistor layer including; a gate line, a data line disposed substantially perpendicular to the gate line, and a switching element connected to the gate line and the data line, a gate insulation layer disposed on the gate line, a passivation layer disposed on the thin-film transistor layer, a shielding electrode disposed on the passivation layer, an insulation layer disposed on the shielding electrode; and a pixel electrode including a micro-slit pattern, the pixel electrode being disposed on the insulation layer and electrically connected to the switching element, wherein the shielding electrode is vertically aligned with the data line and the shielding electrode blocks an electromagnetic fringe field of the data line from effecting the pixel electrode.
US08077268B2
A thin film transistor array substrate comprising a base substrate, a first wire on the base substrate, a first insulating layer on the base substrate to cover the first wire, a semiconductor layer on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer on the first insulating layer on which the semiconductor layer is formed, and a second wire on the second insulating layer on the second insulating layer is provided, and a portion of the second wire makes contact with the semiconductor layer through the contact hole.
US08077267B2
Provided are a thin film transistor liquid crystal array substrate and a method of manufacturing the same. The thin film transistor liquid crystal display array substrate includes: a substrate, a gate scanning line and a signal scanning line formed on the substrate and intersecting each other, an insulating layer and an active layer formed between the gate scanning line and the signal scanning line, wherein an air gap is formed between the insulating layer and the active layer at the intersection of the gate scanning line and the signal scanning line.
US08077266B2
An active matrix includes (i) a thin film transistor including a semiconductor layer formed above a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode, the source electrode and the drain electrode formed to overlap with the semiconductor layer; and (ii) a pixel electrode connected to the drain electrode, a pixel electrode connected to the drain electrode, the drain electrode extended from the pixel electrode into a drain electrode formation region located to be kept within a semiconductor layer formation region, the drain electrode formation region sandwiched between two portions of the source electrode. With this arrangement, even when the semiconductor layers in the TFTs (thin film transistors) have unevenness in sizes, shapes, and/or formation positions thereof, it is possible to prevent occurrence of unevenness (changes) in gate-drain capacitances cgd among the TFTs. Thereby, it is possible to provide an active matrix substrate having a high display characteristic.
US08077264B2
A touch input function-equipped protection panel for an electronic device display window which can suppress deterioration of electric properties and appearance quality in a lead wire connection part, includes a touch panel having a flexible upper electrode plate and an inflexible lower electrode plate arranged face-to-face at a prescribed gap in a manner that the electrode surfaces are directed to inside and being formed by sticking the outer circumferential parts of the respective electrode plates with an insulating adhesive layer interposed therebetween; a decorative film having a transparent window part and stuck to the surface of the upper electrode plate; and a pin-equipped lead wire for extracting an electric signal from an electrode terminal of the electrode plate through respective metal pins inserted into a plurality of through holes formed on the lower electrode plate, wherein an elastomeric binder-containing conductive adhesive layer is formed on the electrode terminal of at least one of the upper electrode plate and the lower electrode plate as an underlayer of a conductive adhesive to be injected into the respective through holes.
US08077263B2
A method of processing remote control commands at a control device consistent with certain embodiments involves at the control device, receiving commands directed to the control device; at the control device, receiving a command directed to a source device, the source device being operative to provide video content to a display; and at the control device, interpreting the command directed to the source device in order to track a state of operation of the source device. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
US08077262B2
An analog video receiver implemented in an integrated circuit device. The analog video receiver includes a mixing circuit to mix an analog video signal with a sinusoid to generate a frequency-shifted analog video signal, and an offset cancellation circuit to obtain a sample of the frequency-shifted analog video signal during a first time interval and, based on the sample, generate an offset cancellation signal that, when summed with the frequency-shifted analog video signal, reduces a substantially time-invariant offset in the frequency-shifted analog video signal.
US08077260B2
A receiver processes a received signal for determining the presence of a co-channel interfering signal by (a) measuring a power level of a first signal in a first narrowband frequency region of a wideband frequency channel; (b) measuring power levels of signals in narrowband frequency regions adjacent to the first narrowband frequency region; and (c) determining if the first signal is an interfering signal in the wideband frequency channel as a function of the measured power levels.
US08077255B2
An imaging apparatus capable of performing phase difference detection while allowing light to enter an imaging device is provided. An imaging unit (1) includes an imaging device (10) including light receiving sections (11b, 11b, . . . ) and a substrate (11a) on which the light receiving sections (11b, 11b, . . . ) are provided and which has through holes (18a, 18a, . . . ). The imaging device (10) is configured to perform photoelectric conversion on received light. The imaging unit (1) further includes a phase difference detection unit (2) configured to perform phase difference detection on received light which has passed through the imaging device (10) via the through holes (18a, 18a, . . . ).
US08077254B2
A portable camera having a lens assembly switching mechanism is provided. The portable camera includes a camera main body, a camera module, a slab module and a coupling structure. The camera main body has a camera opening formed in a first surface thereof. The camera module is disposed within the camera main body and includes a lens assembly exposed through the camera opening. The slab module is used for carrying one or more selective lens assemblies with different shooting angles. The coupling structure is disposed between the first surface of camera main body and the camera module. The slab module is movable with respect to the coupling structure while the slab module is parallel with the first surface of the camera main body, so that one of the selective lens assemblies is aligned with the camera opening for providing an adjustable shooting angle.
US08077245B2
An imaging system/camera consisting of multiple nano-sized optical elements arranged in an array format with more than one pixel per optical element will have a higher resolution than each element would be capable of individually, since each element being at a different point gathers slightly different overlapping information. Hence by processing such information one can obtain a clear image. Furthermore multiple information from sectors of an array of sensors can be processed to obtain 3-D, stereotypic and panoramic imaging and may be connected to each other allowing seeing around obstacles as well as enabling full 3-D tracking and/or metric determination of an unknown object. Color/spectroscopic imaging can be achieved by utilizing equally sized lenses and multi-wavelength sensing layers below the lenses. However, color/spectroscopic imaging and/or spectroscopy can be achieved by taking advantage of unique optical properties of nano-scaled lenses accepting various wavelengths below their diffraction limits.
US08077241B2
A signal change differential value detector detects a signal change differential value between two digital signals obtained when the analog imaging signal is converted into the digital value for each pixel using two phase adjustment sampling pulses. An analog imaging signal waveform estimator estimates a waveform of the analog imaging signal based on the signal change differential value. A timing adjuster calculates an optimal phase of the imaging pulse based on the waveform of the analog imaging signal estimated by the analog imaging signal waveform estimator.
US08077240B2
The image quality of an image frame from a CMOS image sensor array operated in global shutter mode may be enhanced by dispersing or randomizing the noise introduced by leakage currents from floating drains among the rows of the image frame. Further, the image quality may be improved by accounting for time dependent changes in the output of dark pixels in dark pixel rows or dark pixel columns. In addition, voltage and time dependent changes in the output of dark pixels may also be measured to provide an accurate estimate of the noise introduced to the charge held in the floating drains. Such methods may be employed individually or in combination to improve the quality of the image.
US08077239B2
A solid-state image pickup device which has means of adding signals from plural pixels, which achieves a high S/N and a pickup device suitable for both static and moving image pickup. The device has a pixel unit having plural pixels arranged two-dimensionally and outputting pixel signals derived by photoelectric conversion, and has a first mode reading a pixel signal every pixel, and a second mode adding and reading a plurality of pixel signals, having a variable gain column amplifier for performing readout at different gains in the first mode and second mode. The device has plural output lines where signals from plural pixels arranged in one line are outputted respectively, and at least one amplifier is connected to each of the plurality of output lines. Gain at time of second mode readout is higher than gain at time of first mode readout.
US08077232B2
An imaging device includes a plurality of photoelectric converting units arrayed in the horizontal and vertical directions, and an adder for adding signals including the same color component from the a plurality of photoelectric converting units such that the centers of gravity of the signals after addition are at the same pitch for respective signals.
US08077230B2
A film is used on the surface of a color filter array to keep tiny particles that remain on the surface so that they do not interfere during subsequent processing steps. The particles may be the result of forming the color filter array or other structures. The film can prevent the formation of particle clusters in an imager.
US08077222B2
An image processing apparatus includes a moving image generating unit configured to generate moving image data, an instructions providing unit configured to set a frame rate of the moving image data and provide instructions to change a frame rate to the set frame rate, a control unit configured to control the moving image generating unit to generate moving image data of the frame rate set by the instructions providing unit, an additional information generating unit configured to generate additional information indicating a change of the frame rate of the moving image data in response to the instructions to change the frame rate, and a transmitting unit configured to transmit the moving image data generated by the moving image generating unit and the additional information. The transmitting unit transmits the additional information before a frame rate change point in the moving image data.
US08077220B2
An image display apparatus includes an image readout unit which reads an image from a recording medium, a display unit which displays the image, a user interface unit which turns on an jump mode, and a control unit which changes an image displayed on the display unit. If the jump mode is on, the control unit can change an image displayed on the display unit to an image existing in a folder N folders ahead or behind of a currently selected folder, wherein N is an integer equal to or greater than 1.
US08077215B2
A state-of-eye distinguishing means calculates a feature value that represents a state of an eye, for an eye-area based on pixel data of pixels that constitute the eye-area. A threshold value setting means calculates a first threshold value representing a feature value at a first transition point from an open state to a closed state and a second threshold value representing a feature value at a second transition point from the closed state to the open state, based on a feature value calculated for a targeted eye when the targeted eye is open. A blinking state detection means detects the blinking state of the eye corresponding to the eye-area, by sequentially comparing feature values which are sequentially calculated for a series of frame images by the state-of-eye distinguishing means with one of the first threshold value and the second threshold value.
US08077206B2
In an image pickup apparatus having a communication function through a predetermined communication interface and being equipped with a plurality of connectors adapted for the communication interface, the image pickup apparatus includes a connection state determining unit configured to detect respective connection states of the connectors, and when a state of two or more connectors being connected is detected, to hold communication on standby until a state of only one connector being connected is detected.
US08077201B2
A camera system for a motor vehicle is described. Incident radiation is guided to a radiation receiving unit by means of one or more deflecting mirrors, where at least one deflecting mirror is configured to swivel. The swivelable deflecting mirror has a first mirror side, which is suitable for deflecting incident radiation, and a second mirror side, which is also suitable for deflecting incident radiation. The second mirror side exhibits a curvature shape that is different from that of the first mirror side. The swivelable deflecting mirror can be oriented in such a manner that incident radiation can be guided to the receiving unit by selecting one of the first or the second mirror side as an effective mirror surface.
US08077191B2
An imaging device includes an input for supplying an erasable medium to the imaging device, the erasable medium comprising at least one of an imaged and a non-imaged erasable medium. The imaging device further includes an erase subsystem comprising active and inactive states, the erase subsystem erasing an imaged erasable medium in an active state, a cooling subsystem for selectively cooling an erased medium, and a write subsystem for imaging a received medium. The device further includes a user interface for configuring the imaging device and a sensor for detecting the type of input medium.
US08077187B2
When editing an image (160.2) with a computer system, a command may be issued to display a reference image (160.0 or 160.1) to allow a human user to visually compare the current image (160.2) with the reference image. In response, some embodiments display the entire reference image in the position of the current image. In some embodiments, if the current image was rotated, trimmed, or otherwise modified in respect to its geometry, the reference image is also rotated, trimmed, and/or otherwise modified in respect to its geometry when displayed for comparison. If another image (“third image”) (610) was incorporated into the current image during editing, then the reference image may or may not be combined with the third image when displayed for comparison with the current image. Some embodiments allow the user to specify whether or not the reference image should be combined with the third image.
US08077182B2
A computer-implemented method includes displaying a content item having at least one attribute that is changeable in value, maintaining a history of image states, each image state in the history corresponding to a change in at least one attribute value relative to another image state, and based on the maintained history of image states, generating multiple modified image states such that a quantity of modified image states is different from a quantity of image states in the maintained history.
US08077179B2
Described herein are systems and methods for cartoonizing an image and incorporating the image into an animated video based upon a predefined animated story. In alternate embodiments of the invention, multiple images may be incorporated into the animated video. In further embodiments, the animated video may be output from the system in printed, hard copy.
US08077178B2
A multi-ownership tree-map visualization system can include a tree-map configured to visualize a set of interrelated nodes in which at least one individual node in the set is related to at least two parent nodes in the set. The system further can include an event handler programmed to process a proximity event associated with a specific portion of the tree-map by highlighting multiple portions of the tree-map in which the portions represent a single node in the set. In this regard, the proximity event can include a mouse-over event, a mouse-click event, or a keyboard selection event, to name a few. The system yet further can include logic for displaying a call-out box for each portion of the tree-map associated with the single node in the set.
US08077176B2
A method of modeling of the visible world using full-surround image data includes steps for selecting a view point within a p-surface, selecting a direction of view within the p-surface, texture mapping full-surround image data onto the p-surface such that the resultant texture map is substantially equivalent to projecting full-surround image data onto the p-surface from the view point to thereby generate a texture mapped p-surface, and displaying a predetermined portion of the texture mapped p-surface. An apparatus for implementing the method is also described.
US08077165B2
An operation device includes: an operated body; an operation signal producing part that produces an operation signal based on an operation on the operated body; and a tactile information presenting part that presents tactile information through the operated body. The operation device may be applied to an electronic book device for flipping of pages.
US08077164B2
A drawing apparatus includes a CPU. Target image data is written to a drawing area of an SDRAM, and the CPU performs resolution changing processing in a descending direction on the image data of the drawing area. The result of the resolution changing processing is written to a displaying area of the SDRAM, and an LCD monitor displays a low-resolution image on the basis of the image data of the displaying area on a display surface. On the display surface, a detection surface of a touch panel is laminated. When a touch operation is performed on the touch panel in order to draw and write an image and a character on the image of the display surface, the CPU repetitively detects a position of a touched point via the detection surface, and performs drawing processing dot by dot on the image data of the drawing area on the basis of the detection result. Furthermore, every time that a plurality of executions of the drawing processing are performed, the resolution changing processing is performed on the image data of the drawing area, so that the image on the display surface is periodically updated.
US08077160B2
Pre-stored no-touch or no-hover (no-event) sensor output values can initially be used when a sensor panel subsystem is first booted up to establish an initial baseline of sensor output values unaffected by fingers or other objects touching or hovering over the sensor panel during boot-up. This initial baseline can then be normalized so that each sensor generates the same output value for a given amount of touch or hover, providing a uniform response across the sensor panel and enabling subsequent touch or hover events to be more easily detected. After the initial normalization process is complete, the pre-stored baseline can be discarded in favor of a newly captured no-event baseline that may be more accurate than the pre-stored baseline due to temperature or other variations.
US08077158B2
The present invention relates to a communications system for distributing information to and from local and regional distribution centers as well as individual dial-up servers. The communications system contains an interactive, configurable interface. The first aspect of the invention employs a method and device for communicating information between computers, where a first computer unit, comprising a touch sensitive screen for displaying images, a processing unit and a communications port, connects to a telephone line. The second computer unit pushes data and images to be displayed on the first computer unit's touch sensitive screen with identifying codes associated with a definition of active areas. When an active area is selected, the first computer unit returns the code associated with the active area. In this way pushed data and interactive communications between the points are achieved. The first computer is a specially designed device that facilitates the multifaceted communication between the two computers and presents a highly functional interface using a number of input and output devices.
US08077143B2
A display manager is configured to handle the drawing of windows on one or more displays for an application differently based on detected motion information that is associated with a device. The display manager may not display windows for some applications while motion is detected, while the display manager may display windows for other applications even when motion is detected. Motion enabled applications may interact with the display manager and motion information to determine how to display windows while motion is detected.
US08077142B2
Reflective, low-cost display pixels and displays incorporating magneto-optical elements wherein an externally applied magnetic field is perpendicular to an axis of rotation of the magneto-optical elements and parallel to a viewing plane of a display made from these elements. The display elements have a restricted rotation about their long axis which can be actuated by an external magnetic field to produce a bistable, electronically writable image. In addition, architectural modifications to this arrangement can be made such that the power required to write the image to such a display is decreased, overall display efficiency is increased and cross-talk between pixels is nearly eliminated.
US08077140B2
A liquid crystal panel module of a liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel on its front side and an EEFL backlight on its back side within a metal frame. A metal chassis is arranged at the center of the metal frame on the back surface of the liquid crystal panel module. A power supply circuit board and a video signal processing board are mounted on the metal chassis. An inverter board is arranged on the metal frame near one side of the metal frame on the back surface. The power supply circuit board includes a noise filter, an active filter and an isolation transformer. The inverter board includes a step-up transformer.
US08077139B2
A driving circuit of a backlight module is provided. The driving circuit has a dimming unit used for transmitting signals, wherein the dimming unit can adjust a current flowing through a light-emitting diode (LED) according a pulse width modulation signal and an enable signal, so as to adjust a light-emitting intensity of the LED. In the present invention, fewer devices are used to implement the dimming unit, and a transmission gate is replaced by a N-type transistor and a P-type transistor, such that a chip area and a circuit cost of the driving circuit are reduced.
US08077129B2
A pixel structure and a method for generating drive voltages in the pixel structure are disclosed. The pixel structure comprises a first sub-pixel electrode, a first com-line, and second com-line. The first sub-pixel electrode is applied with a first drive voltage. The first com-line transmits a first com-voltage signal. The second com-line transmits a second com-voltage signal. The first drive voltage is derived by combining the first com-voltage signal and the second com-voltage signal.
US08077120B2
A plasma display panel driving method and a plasma display device capable of reducing initializing spots generated immediately after the start of driving the plasma display panel, and improving the quality of images to be displayed. A plurality of subfields, each including an initializing period, an address period, and a sustain period, are provided in one field. The one field includes at least one of the subfields in which a gently increasing ramp waveform voltage is applied to the scan electrodes in the initializing period thereof. The ramp waveform voltage to be applied to the scan electrodes for the first time after the start of driving the plasma display panel is generated so as to have a gentler slope than the other ramp waveform voltages have.
US08077102B2
A deployable lens is provided for an antenna. The lens comprises an array of metallic lens elements formed on a plurality of planar sections of a dielectric substrate, each lens element comprising a first end-fire element directed towards a feed side of the lens, a second end-fire element directed towards a non-feed side of the lens and a section of transmission line for coupling signals between the first and second end-fire elements. The section of transmission line, preferably in the form of a slot-line transmission line, is integrated with the end-fire elements and is of a length determined according to the position of the lens element within the aperture of the lens as deployed. An antenna is also provided comprising a deployable lens according to the present invention.
US08077087B2
Methods and apparatus according to various aspects of the present invention operate in conjunction with a phased array system. The phased array system may include an array structural frame defining an array of module-receiving mounting locations. The phased array system may further include multiple array modules. Each array module may be adapted to be mounted in one of the mounting locations, and may include an antenna and a power source. The power source may supply power to the array module during an array transmit operation.
US08077083B2
A rapidly deployable HF surface wave radar phased array antenna system is provided, including a plurality of separate antenna elements that are relatively movable to desired spaced apart positions, each antenna element including a respective receiver for receiving HF radio signals, wherein, in order to determine and control properties of the radar system, each element includes a GPS receiver for determining the location of each element and for timing and frequency synchronization.
US08077081B2
Radar return processing systems and methods are operable to process radar information when an installation vehicle is operating in proximity to a surface area of interest. An exemplary embodiment reduces energy of an output pulse emitted from a radar system; receives a plurality of radar returns from a plurality of objects that reflect the reduced energy output pulses emitted from the radar system; determines a surface area of interest based upon at least a current location of the installation vehicle; and filters the radar returns generated by objects that are located outside of the surface area of interest. Optionally, some systems and methods may reduce a sweep range of an antenna from which the reduced energy output pulses are emitted.
US08077080B2
A method of calibrating antenna-position detection associated with a radar system, the radar system including a first gimbal and a first angle sensor configured to detect an angular position of the first gimbal, includes mounting a second angle sensor to the first gimbal configured to detect an angular position of the first gimbal. The first gimbal is rotated through each angular position of a set of the angular positions. A first set of data is generated with the first angle sensor that characterizes a detected angular position of the first gimbal. A second set of data is generated with the second angle sensor that characterizes a detected angular position of the first gimbal. A third data set is determined comprising differences, between the first and second data sets, in detected angular position at each first-gimbal angular position. The third data set is stored in a memory device.
US08077076B2
An FMCW radar sensor having a plurality of antenna elements and a supply circuit for supplying transmission signals having ramp-shaped modulated frequencies to the antenna elements, including a switchover device for switching over the supply circuit between a near-field mode, in which the transmission signals supplied to the individual antenna elements have a certain frequency offset, and a far-field mode, in which the frequencies of the transmission signals are identical.
US08077066B2
Disclosed herein is a ΔΣ modulator including: at least one integrator; a quantizer for quantizing a signal output by the integrator and outputting the quantized signal as a digital signal; and a compensation section configured to compensate the ΔΣ modulator for a non-ideal characteristic caused by an internal loop delay, wherein the compensation section is a feedback path formed to start at the output node of the quantizer and end at the input node of the integrator immediately preceding the quantizer, and the feedback path formed to start at the output node of the quantizer and end at the input node of the integrator realizes a frequency-independent part in combination with the integrator and an internal DA converter which adopts the NRZ technique to suppress the signal amplitude at the quantizer input.
US08077063B2
An input bit stream is received and zone statistics such as zones count, zones center bit positions, and zones lengths are determined, where a zone is a set of non-transitioning bits in the input bit stream. Beginning and ending bit positions for each zone are determined simultaneously, and each beginning bit position is associated with an ending bit position. Zone statistics are calculated using the determined beginning and appropriate ending bit positions.
US08077062B2
ASCII input data to be packed into memory is obtained. The ASCII input data includes a plurality of blocks of ASCII data. wherein each block of ASCII data includes a plurality of ASCII characters. A block of ASCII data to he packed is selected. The selected block is chosen from the plurality of blocks of ASCII data and includes a plurality of bytes of data. One or more operations are performed on the selected block of ASCII data to obtain a plurality of bytes of packed data. The selecting and the performing are repeated one or more times for a next selected block to obtain a packed array for the input data.
US08077054B1
A garage door opener and parking guide combination includes a housing that includes a drive assembly mechanically coupled to a garage door to selectively open or close the garage door when the drive assembly is activated. The housing is attached to a ceiling of a garage containing the garage door. A light bulb socket is in electrical communication with a control of the drive assembly and receiving electricity while the drive assembly is activated. A male connector is removably extended in and electrically coupled to the light bulb socket. A light bulb is electrically coupled to the male connector and emits light when electricity is supplied to the light bulb socket. A laser light assembly is electrically coupled to the male connector and emits laser light when the male connector receives electricity from the light bulb socket.
US08077053B2
An apparatus and method are disclosed for sensing a characteristic of a borehole. An exemplary apparatus includes a conductive pipe; an inlet, connected to the conductive pipe, for applying pulse to the conductive pipe; a resonant network device connected with the conductive pipe; and a transducer which is in operative communication with the resonant network device to measure a borehole characteristic, the transducer being configured to sense a modulated vibration frequency induced in the resonant network device when a pulse is applied to the inlet.
US08077047B2
The use of quantum-mechanically entangled photons for monitoring the integrity of a physical border or a communication link is described. The no-cloning principle of quantum information science is used as protection against an intruder's ability to spoof a sensor receiver using a ‘classical’ intercept-resend attack. Correlated measurement outcomes from polarization-entangled photons are used to protect against quantum intercept-resend attacks, i.e., attacks using quantum teleportation.
US08077045B2
The invention relates to a merchandise securing device (1) comprising at least one merchandise securing element (4, 5, 15) and a closing mechanism (6) with a fastening element (8) that can be inserted into a clamping element (18, 19, 20) of the closing mechanism (6) similar to a needle. Such a merchandise securing device (1) is provided with a housing contour that is essentially flat in the attachment area (14) in which the merchandise securing device (1) is fixed to the merchandise. The merchandise securing device (1) comprises a recessed closing mechanism (6) while the at least one merchandise securing element (4, 5, 15) located in or on the merchandise securing device (1) uses acoustomagnetic (AM) technology and/or radio frequency (RF) technology and/or radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
US08077044B2
Spatial antenna diversity is used with RFID tags to reduce sensitivity to multi-path fading. RFID tags can use a single multi-port chip or multiple multi-port chips. The ports of the chip or chips are coupled to separated feedpoints on one or more antennas.
US08077041B2
The present disclosure describes a system for tracking store-items placed in a storage space. The system includes a plurality of wireless RFID readers distributed within the storage space such that at least one store-item, having an RFID tag attached, is within an interrogation range of at least one of the wireless RFID reader. The system further includes a monitoring server operative to communicate wirelessly with the a plurality of wireless RFID readers to obtain information collected by the plurality of wireless RFID readers from the RFID tag attached to the at least one store-item.
US08077035B2
A lighting control system for a space equipped with lamps for illuminating the space comprises a power circuit for supplying power to the lamps, a controllable switch in the power circuit for turning the lamps on and off, an occupancy sensor for detecting motion within the space and generating a motion-detected control signal in response to the detection of such motion, and a timer for measuring a time-out interval following the generation of the motion-detected control signal by the occupancy sensor and producing a time-out control signal in response to completion of the measurement of the time-out interval. A processor receives the control signals from the occupancy sensor and the timer and produces a switch-off control signal for the controllable switch to turn the lamps off in response to the time-out control signal, modifies the time-out interval by a time-out offset value in response to preselected events, counts the number of times the switch-off control signal is produced, without the receipt of the motion-detected control signal, within a predetermined time following the end of the time-out interval, and decrements the time-out interval by the offset value in response to the count reaching a predetermined value.
US08077030B2
A separated tracking device includes a first portion including a location determining device operative to receive signals from a positioning system, a wireless communication device operative to communicate the location data from the first portion to a second portion of the tracking device, the second portion including a wireless data transceiver operable to transmit the location data to a remote server. In a particular embodiment, the first portion of the tracking device is attached to a first shoe and the second portion of the tracking device is incorporated in a second shoe. In another embodiment, the second portion of the tracking device is incorporated in a hand-held device. A method for manufacturing a separated tracking device and a method of operating a separated tracking device are also disclosed.
US08077023B2
A visual signal system including a signal display carried prominently on a paving machine, where it can be seen clearly by an operator of a dump truck or shuttle vehicle delivering paving material to the paving machine, as well as by other nearby personnel. Control circuits provide that a paving machine operator may separately control the display of certain signals, while other signals are automatically presented on the signal display in response to operation of paving machine functional controls.
US08077022B2
A system and method for activating electromechanical systems of a vehicle may include at least one antenna coupled to a vehicle and configured to receive wireless communications signals. At least one microphone may be coupled to the vehicle and configured to receive sounds external to the vehicle. A control unit may be in communication with the antenna(s) and be configured to receive the wireless communications signals. A voice recognition system may be in communication with the microphone(s). A transponder/keyfob may be utilized to determine when a user is locally external to the vehicle and, in response to determining that the user is locally external to the vehicle, the microphones may be polled to receive a voice command from the user to activate an electromechanical system.
US08077021B2
A method and system for exciting a dynamic tactile interface having a plurality of electrodes includes identifying an area within an image that is capable of tactile feedback and identifying a first subset of the plurality of electrodes in the dynamic tactile interface that correspond to the plurality of areas. A voltage is applied to each of the electrodes of to the plurality of electrodes to create a desired state for each electrode corresponding to the areas capable of tactile feedback. The dynamic tactile interface can be implemented as part of a viewable display type of device, or as a device without any viewable display.
US08077018B2
To enable an air velocity of sampling air to be precisely measured, a smoke detector (S) includes: a smoke detection part (22) connected to a sampling pipe (11); a fan (12) that sucks sampling air (SA) into the sampling pipe; and an air velocity sensor (15) that measures an air velocity of the sampling air within the sampling pipe. The air velocity sensor (15) is disposed at a primary side of the fan (12), and a straightening vane (25) is disposed between the air velocity sensor (15) and a suction port (12a) of the fan (12).
US08077014B2
Obscured radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are indirectly read by an RFID reader. Other tags operate to relay the information associated with the obscured tags from one tag to another, until the associated information is ultimately received by the RFID reader from a tag in direct communication with the RFID reader. The tags may be adapted to store the received information associated with the obscured tags and then to encode this associated information and resident information in return signal(s) transmitted to the RFID reader and/or to other tag(s). The RFID reader is adapted to decode the received return signals to obtain the information encoded therein, and to process the decoded information to identify irrelevant tags and obscured tags.
US08077013B2
RFID tag responses are detected by an RFID reader system. The tag response may be detected based on a reference measurement during a tag silent period and another one during the tag response. This helps determine whether a slot is empty or occupied, in a slotted aloha algorithm. The result is reported to the Q-algorithm for a better decision.
US08077011B2
An apparatus for automatically initiating a plurality of vehicle functions is disclosed. The apparatus includes a mobile unit and a detection device operable to automatically detect whether the mobile unit is within a first zone. The detection device is further operable to automatically detect whether the mobile unit is within a second zone. The first zone and the second zone are outside the vehicle, and the first zone encompasses the second zone. The apparatus further includes a controller that is operable to initiate a first vehicle function when the detection device detects that the mobile unit is within the first zone. The controller is also operable to initiate a second vehicle function when the detection device detects that the mobile unit is within the second zone.
US08077010B2
RFID interrogator device carries out an automatic gain control when an RF signal from RFID tag with a backscatter radio-communication is received. To carry out the automatic gain control, amplitude of the reception signal is measured within a prescribed time corresponding to a length of preamble added to the head of data of the RF signal. An AGC value is determined based on the measured amplitude value.
US08077009B1
An all-trinary rolling code method and system which allow a barrier opener to generate and transmit trinary rolling codes without entering or storing any rolling code values as binary words includes obtaining a stored trinary counter value upon a transmitter being actuated to remotely control a barrier. A trinary function void of trinary to binary or binary to trinary conversions is used to transform the trinary counter value to a trinary rolling code output such that the trinary rolling code output represents a trinary value that would be produced if the trinary counter value were converted to binary, mirrored, had its highest ordered bit set to zero after being mirrored, and converted back to trinary. The trinary rolling code output is combined with a stored trinary transmitter identification value to generate a trinary word. The transmitter transmits the trinary word for receipt by a receiver associated with the barrier.
US08077008B2
A varistor has a disc of ceramic material having opposed faces with face edges. There is an electrode on each face with a gap between each electrode and the edge of the face. Glass passivation is on at least one face in the gap, the passivation not extending from one electrode to the other electrode around the surface of the disc. Because the passivation is only on the planar opposed disc faces, it may be applied in a simple operation such as screen printing. Indeed, the screen printing may be performed while the discs are in the same nest plates as are used for printing of electrode paste. Even though the passivation does not extend from one electrode to the other, it nevertheless breaks a potentially conductive path between the electrodes caused by interaction between the ceramic and encapsulant materials.
US08077003B2
A coil component includes a first coil winding wound around a first axis, a second coil winding wound around a second axis and juxtaposed to the first coil winding, a connecting member for electrically connecting second terminals that are one end of the first coil winding and one end of the second coil winding, and a heat conductive member mounted on the connecting member and having electrical insulation properties and heat conductivity. The first and second coil windings are each wound such that magnetic flux is generated by a current flowing through the first and second coil windings to pass through an opening of the first coil winding and through an opening of the second coil winding in an opposite direction to the direction passing the opening of the first coil winding. Accordingly, heat generated in the first and second coil windings is dissipated from the heat conductive member.
US08077002B2
A magnet primarily for use in MRI applications comprises a pair of poles oriented about a plane of symmetry parallel to each therebetween defining an air gap region, magnetic field sources secured on the surfaces of the poles opposite the air gap that have yokes disposed on them, the yokes connected to each other by returns so that the entire magnet assembly can form a closed magnetic flux circuit to substantially confine the magnetic fields generated by the apparatus in the air gap where an imaging region is formed to place subjects for the purposes of examination. The main assembly being cylindrical in geometry has permanent magnets for magnetic field sources that are composed of two regions, a central disk-like portion magnetized substantially along the axial direction and an outer ring-like region magnetized substantially along the radial direction extending axially to form part of the pole together producing a very efficient and even flux distribution throughout the entire magnet assembly with minimal flux leakage. A further means of reducing flux leakage is incorporated in the yokes which have two sections, a disk-like region and an ring-like section to enclose the permanent magnets. The poles are made of multiple sections with a central disk-like region and an outer ring-like region that is a combination of permanent magnets and high permeability materials. This magnet assembly can achieve 1.0 Tesla or greater magnetic fields for whole-body scanning without saturating the magnet pole and other structures.
US08077001B2
A persistent current switch in a superconducting magnet, includes: a winding part in which a superconducting wire is noninductively wound; a winding-heating heater provided around the winding part; a vessel provided around the winding part with a space; and an anti-convective material provided in the space between the vessel and the winding part.
US08076999B2
An electroacoustic resonator includes a resonator area for propagating an acoustic wave and a resonator surface area configured so that, when an input signal power of 0 dBm is applied at a resonant frequency fr, power density in the resonator area does not exceed 40 dBm/m2. An electroacoustic resonator includes a resonator surface area configured so that a critical input signal power PIIPn at an nth-order intercept point IPn is at least 80 dBm for n=2 and/or 80 dBm for n=3.
US08076983B2
A constant-temperature type crystal oscillator includes: a crystal unit including a case main body, in which two crystal terminals and two dummy terminals are provided on an outer bottom face thereof, and a crystal element housed in the case main body; an oscillator output circuit including an oscillating stage and a buffering stage; a temperature control circuit for keeping an operational temperature of the crystal unit; and a circuit substrate, on which circuit elements of the crystal unit, the oscillator output circuit and the temperature control circuit are installed. The temperature control circuit includes: heating chip resistors; a power transistor; and a temperature sensing element. Each of the dummy terminals is connected to a respective one of circuit terminals on the circuit substrate. At least one of the circuit terminals is connected to an electrically-conducting path, to which one terminal of the heating chip resistors is electrically connected, on the circuit substrate.
US08076981B2
An oscillator that increases the accuracy of an output frequency, without using a charge pump, has an oscillation circuit, first and second voltage supply circuits, and a calibration value generation circuit. The first voltage supply circuit includes a resistor and a capacitor, the resistance and capacitance of which are determined so that a first voltage reaches a reference voltage within a reference time. The second voltage supply circuit includes first and second switching means, which perform switching when receiving pulse signals corresponding to the frequency of the oscillation circuit to raise the second voltage. A calibration value generation circuit provides the oscillation circuit with a calibration value that lowers the frequency when the second voltage reaches the reference voltage before the first voltage and raises the frequency when the second voltage reaches the reference voltage after the first voltage.
US08076980B2
A temperature-compensated ring oscillator includes a control signal generator and a voltage controlled oscillator. The control signal generator is configured to generate at least one control signal, and includes at least one first resistor and second resistor. A first temperature coefficient of the first resistor is negative, and a second temperature coefficient of the second resistor is positive. The voltage controlled oscillator receives the control signal, outputs an oscillation signal, and has (2k+1) cascaded inverter units, where k≧1. Each of the inverter units includes a first transistor, a second transistor and an inverter. The first transistor has a drain coupled to a first supply voltage and a gate to receive the control signal. The second transistor has a source to receive a second supply voltage and a gate to receive the control signal. The inverter is coupled between the first and the second transistors.
US08076973B2
A fully differential amplifier circuit according to one embodiment includes a first section for generating first and second output signals on first and second outputs from first and second input signals; a first feedback loop coupled to the first section, the first feedback loop including a second section for adjusting the first output signal towards a common mode voltage level, and for reducing an offset voltage of the first output signal; a second feedback loop coupled to the first section, the second feedback loop including a third section for adjusting the second output signal towards the common mode voltage level, and for reducing an offset voltage of the second output signal; and a filter section positioned on the first and second feedback loops between outputs of the second and third sections and the first section.
US08076969B1
A high pass filter has a cutoff frequency. The high pass filter includes a first amplifier to receive an input signal. The high pass filter attenuates low frequency signals of the input signal that are below the cutoff frequency. A second amplifier provides an output signal. The output signal comprising only high frequency signals of the input signal that are above the cutoff frequency. A capacitive element is coupled in between the first amplifier and the second amplifier. A variable frequency module controls a plurality of resistive paths of the high pass filter. Each resistive path corresponds to a different cutoff frequency for the high pass filter. The variable frequency module is configured to prevent any leakage current from draining the capacitive element.
US08076966B2
An analog switch circuit that includes a first field-effect transistor, a source of which is coupled to a first switch terminal, and a drain of which is coupled to a second switch terminal; a first capacitance storing electric charge; a second capacitance storing electric charge; a first switch circuit that couples the first capacitance between a direct current voltage node and a reference potential node; a second switch circuit that couples the first capacitance and the second capacitance in parallel; and a third switch circuit that couples the second capacitance between a gate and the source of the first field-effect transistor.
US08076965B2
A disclosed embodiment is a low leakage data retention flip flop comprising a master circuit for retaining data during sleep mode, wherein the master circuit is configured to receive a reduced supply voltage during the sleep mode. The flip flop includes a slave circuit having low threshold voltage transistors, where the slave circuit is turned off during the sleep mode. In various embodiments, the master circuit might utilize high threshold voltage, standard threshold voltage, or low threshold voltage transistors. Similarly, the slave circuit might utilize high threshold voltage, standard threshold voltage, or low threshold voltage transistors. To begin the sleep mode, the master circuit receives a reduced supply voltage and the slave circuit is coupled to ground and is thus turned off. During the sleep mode, the slave circuit experiences virtually no leakage current, and the master circuit experiences a reduced leakage current.
US08076961B2
A monitoring apparatus monitors a system including an oscillator with a variable oscillation frequency. The monitoring apparatus has a transmitting unit to transmit an information collecting instruction for collecting state information of the system to the system at an arbitrary monitoring timing, and a control unit to perform a control operation that includes transmitting to the system control information for controlling the oscillation frequency to become a reference value or less if the oscillation frequency exceeds the reference value, and computing a changing amount of the oscillation frequency at least due to aging and a next monitoring timing.
US08076959B2
A circuit for detecting an input voltage includes a voltage-to-current converter and a current comparator. The voltage-to-current converter is operable for generating a monitoring current that varies in accordance with the input voltage. The current comparator coupled to the voltage-to-current converter is operable for comparing the monitoring current to a threshold current proportional to the temperature of the circuit, and for generating a detection signal indicating a condition of the input voltage based on a result of the comparison.
US08076957B2
The present invention is directed to reduce the chip area of a semiconductor integrated circuit. A semiconductor integrated circuit of the invention includes a first transistor, a second transistor disposed adjacent to the first transistor along a Y axis, and a third transistor disposed adjacent to the second transistor along an X axis. The semiconductor integrated circuit further includes a fourth transistor disposed adjacent to the third transistor along the Y axis and disposed adjacent to the first transistor along the X axis. The first to fourth transistors share a well, and an output signal of the first transistor and an output signal of the second transistor have phases opposite to each other. An output signal of the second transistor and an output signal of the third transistor have phases opposite to each other. An output of the third transistor and an output signal of the fourth transistor have phases opposite to each other. The outputs of the transistors act so as to cancel out fluctuations in well potential.
US08076950B2
A method for determining the water conductivity and water volume fraction of a multi-component mixture of water and at least one additional liquid or gas in a pipe, the method comprising the following steps: a. electromagnetic phase measurements at least two measurement frequencies are performed between two receiving antennas located at different distances from a sending antenna, b. based on empirically determined constant(s) and the above measurements, the real and imaginary dielectric constants are determined, c. the temperature and pressure are determined d. based on the knowledge of the real and imaginary dielectric constants of the components of the fluid mixture and the result from the above steps a-c, the conductivity of the water and/or the volume fraction of water are determined. An apparatus for performing the method is also disclosed.
US08076949B1
An embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method for rejecting sensor information when a switch is being pressed in a system having sensors over switches. A switch in the process of being pressed may be determined based on an increase in pressure which may be determined by measuring the increase in capacitance at a plurality of capacitive sensors. The rejection of sensor information when the switch is being pressed allows the user interface to more accurately thus facilitates smooth and jitterless interface operation.
US08076948B2
Circuits and methods to read out capacitive sensors for distance measurement used by a position control system having a high accuracy and low noise have been disclosed. The ratio or difference of the capacitances of two sensor capacitors is used to determine the distance of an object from a target position. A sense amplifier is using auto-zero methods to achieve a long term stability. A sample-and-hold circuit using double correlated sampling methods minimizes noise. Low cost capacitors can be used with the sample-and-hold circuit because not the absolute value of capacitances but only the ratio of capacitances are relevant. A high resolution is ensured also by significant over-sampling of the control loop.
US08076938B2
A method for generating a magnetic resonance (MR) image includes acquiring calibration data from each of a plurality of RF source coils. Calibration data for a virtual coil is generated based on the calibration data from the plurality of RF source coils and a set of synthesis weights is generated based on the calibration data from the plurality of RF source coils and the calibration data for the virtual coil. Accelerated MR data is acquired from each of the plurality of RF source coils. An image can be reconstructed based on an application of the set of synthesis weights to the accelerated MR data from the plurality of RF source coils.
US08076928B2
An operational monitoring system for use in communications, and a method thereof, for operational, systems or integrity management of pipeline infrastructures which operates by broadcasting wireless signals through gas distribution networks and analyzing the traversed signals to assess the operational, systems or integrity of the natural gas pipelines. The operational monitoring system includes a transmitter located at a first location arranged to transmit a wireless signal through natural gas contained within a pipeline infrastructure; a receiver located at a second location structured to receive the wireless signal transmitted through the natural gas contained within the pipeline infrastructure; and a device to analyze the received wireless signal indications of operational changes in the natural gas pipeline infrastructure.
US08076922B2
An embodiment of an inductor assembly includes a core, a first conductor, and a second conductor. The core includes first and second members, a first group of one or more forms extending between the members, a second group of one or more forms extending between the members, and an isolating region that magnetically isolates the first group of forms from the second group of forms. The first conductor is wound about a first one of the forms in the first group, and the second conductor is wound about a second one of the forms in the second group. Such an inductor assembly may allow both coupled and uncoupled inductors to be disposed on a common core, thus potentially reducing the cost and size of the inductors as compared to the coupled inductors being disposed on one core and the uncoupled inductors being disposed on another core.
US08076910B2
Automated power factor correction analysis methods based on an automatically determined hierarchy representing how IEDs and transformers are linked together in an electrical system for reducing a utility bill, releasing capacity to the electrical system, reducing losses, and/or improving voltages. The automatically determined hierarchy places the system elements in spatial context and is exploited by the power factor correction analysis methods to identify power factor correction opportunities. Recommendations are made as to sizing and location of capacitors within the hierarchy where power factor improvements can be achieved. Harmonic distortion levels can be checked first to determine whether safe levels exist for capacitor banks. Recommendations are also checked to avoid leading power factors anywhere in the system due to the addition of capacitor banks. Capacitor bank location is tailored to the end-user's goal for power factor correction. Cost savings and payback periods associated with any ameliorative power factor correction activities are also determined.
US08076895B2
A method wherein the signals (SW1, Sw2, Sw3) controlling the power supply (10) of the phase windings (4) of the motor consist of signals (So1, So2, So3) that are out-of-phase by a phase angle (f) which is continuously variable in relation to synchronization signals (Si1, Si2, Si3) generated by sensors (1) detecting the position of the rotor. According to the method, a processing unit (5) comprises inlets (8) for receiving the synchronization signals and outlets (6, 7) for transmitting the out-of-phase signals. The synchronization signals are binary signals presenting synchronization fronts and the rising and falling fronts of the out-of-phase signals are generated, following a level switching time depending at least on the phase angle, from at least one reference front selected from the synchronization fronts such that the switching time is minimum.
US08076887B2
A wiper controller which detects the raindrops adhered onto the windshield glass G of the vehicle to control the wiper based on the detected result is provided with a wiped water measurement unit for calculating an amount of water wiped by the wiper, a wiper operation time counter for counting the actual wiper operation time based on the ON/OFF signal of the wiper motor for driving the wiper, a delay time calculation unit which obtains the wiper operation delay time by comparing the actual wiper operation time with the reference wiper operation time, and an operation change determination unit for determining with respect to the need for changing the wiper operation based on the wiper operation delay time and the amount of water wiped by the wiper. The change in the rainfall state is derived from the wiper operation delay time and the amount of water wiped by the wiper to appropriately control the wiper in response to the change in the rainfall state.
US08076884B2
A motor control apparatus for an electric vehicle has an AC motor system including a power conversion unit and a motor/generator. The power conversion unit performs conversion between DC power and AC power to drive the motor/generator. The motor control apparatus further includes a decoupling control section configured to perform decoupling control, which restricts interference between system voltage control and motor torque control, by correcting a control state amount of one of the system voltage control and the motor torque control by a control state amount of the other of the system voltage control and the motor torque control.
US08076880B2
A motor control device has a three-phase bridge circuit, a driving circuit, and a microcomputer. The three-phase bridge circuit has three pairs of MOSFETs for U, V, and W phases of a three-phase AC motor as a control target. The microcomputer has a dead time set value storage unit and a PWM signal generation unit. The PWM signal generation unit generates a PWM signal with a dead time including a response characteristics of the pair of MOSFETs for each of U, V, and W phases of the AC motor based on a three-phase voltage instruction value supplied from an outside device and the dead time set value stored in the dead time set value storage unit. The PWM signal generation unit outputs the PWM signal for each phase to the driving circuit. This independently adjusts the dead time for the MOSFETs for each phase.
US08076873B1
Hybrid power equipment comprising a user-selectable power selection switch for switching between DC or AC power, a boost and conserve feature for increasing speed of the working elements as necessary, and a motor or a plurality of motors for moving working elements. Running the OPE at the conserve setting prolongs battery pack duration per charge. The motor may comprise a dual coil commutator configuration. Power supply and control systems allow the user to select operation of the plurality motors or dual coil commutators in either series or parallel configuration depending on the power source.
US08076872B2
Disclosed are light emitting diode circuits employing first sub-circuits including first light emitting diodes and connected in parallel with second sub-circuits including second light emitting diodes and switches for, in conducting states, switching on the second light emitting diodes and switching off the first light emitting diodes and for, in non-conducting states, switching off the second light emitting diodes and switching on the first light emitting diodes. The first sub-circuits and the second sub-circuits have different signal characteristics such as different minimum threshold voltages to be realized by using different kinds of light emitting diodes, by using different total numbers of serial light emitting diodes, or by adding threshold voltage elements to the first sub-circuits.
US08076865B2
A high frequency ballast for a metal halide lamp comprises a controller, a switch, and an oscillator. The controller selectively enables and disables the oscillator via the switch to ignite the lamp. The switch is in a power supply loop of the oscillator and selectively open circuits and close circuits the power supply loop. When the switch close circuits the power supply loop, the oscillator oscillates and provides power to the lamp. When the switch open circuits the power supply loop, the oscillator does not oscillate and does not provide power to the lamp.
US08076835B2
A multi-chip lighting emitting device (LED) lamp for providing white light includes a submount including first and second die mounting regions thereon. A first LED chip is mounted on the first die mounting region, and a second LED chip is mounted on the second die mounting region. The LED lamp is configured to emit light having a spectral distribution including at least four different color peaks to provide the white light. For example, a first conversion material may at least partially cover the first LED chip, and may be configured to absorb at least some of the light of the first color and re-emit light of a third color. In addition, a second conversion material may at least partially cover the first and/or second LED chips, and may be configured to absorb at least some of the light of the first and/or second colors and re-emit light of a fourth color. Related light fixtures and methods are also discussed.
US08076828B2
A piezoelectric ceramic includes a main constituent represented by the general formula {(1−x) (K1-a-bNaaLib)(Nb1-cTac)O3}−xM2M4O3}, and as accessory constituents, 2α mol of Na, (α+β) mole of an M4′ element, and γ mol of Mn with respect to 100 mol of the main constituent, where 0.1≦α≦β, 1≦α+β≦10, and 0≦γ≦10, M2 is Ca, Ba, and/or Sr, the M4 element and the M4′ element are Zr, Sn, and/or Hf, 0≦x≦0.06, 0≦a≦0.9, 0≦b≦0.1, and 0≦c≦0.3. Even in the case of using Ni as the main constituent in an internal electrode material of a piezoelectric element and carrying out co-firing, favorable piezoelectric properties can be obtained without defective polarization.
US08076824B2
An electronic radial ultrasonic probe comprising an electronic radial array which comprises a plurality of ultrasonic transducers being continuously arrayed circularly around an insertion axis as center and also for which a transmission/reception of an ultrasonic wave is controlled by electronically selecting the plurality of ultrasonic transducer, comprises: a support member equipped on the electronic radial array; a lock member featured with a cavity in which the support member is inserted and with a lock groove for locking a balloon which is mounted in a manner to cover the electronic radial array and in which an ultrasonic medium is filled; and a filler member which is constituted by an adhesive material converting from a fluid state to a solid state, and is filled in the cavity.
US08076819B2
According to one embodiment, a rotary machine stator includes a cylindrical stator core, an insulating film, and a ring-shaped insulator. The stator core includes a slot and a slot opening. The insulating film is formed cylindrical to be in close contact with the inner surface of the slot. The insulating film includes a gate on both ends that is bent to form a film opening as wide as or wider than the slot openings. The insulating film is inserted in the slot such that a film axial direction end of the insulating film protrudes from an axial direction end of the stator core. The insulator is attached to both ends of the stator core. The insulator includes an insulator slot and an insulator opening in substantially the same shape as the slot and the slot opening, respectively, and a lock to lock the film axial direction end.
US08076818B2
Winding guide portions of an insulator are received in slots, respectively, of a core. Each of windings is electrically insulated from the core by a winding guide wall of a corresponding one of the winding guide portions in each of corresponding two of slots of the core. The winding guide wall of at least one of the winding guide portions is configured differently from the winding guide wall of each of the rest of the winding guide portions and includes a radial bottom wall section, which is radially outwardly spaced from a radial bottom wall section of a corresponding one of the slots by a predetermined distance and contacts a corresponding one of the windings.
US08076815B2
Electrical machines having pole teeth which can be equipped with a permanent magnet are intended to be capable of being assembled more easily. Provision is made for this purpose for two pole tooth halves (1,2) to be provided for each pole tooth, each of which two pole tooth halves has two opposing end sides. At least one end-side plate (3), which connects in each case one end side of the two pole tooth halves (1,2) to one another, is used for forming a pocket (5) between the two pole tooth halves (1,2), into which pocket a permanent magnet can be inserted. A space for the permanent magnet can therefore be kept free during assembly of the pole tooth or during winding thereof. Since the permanent magnet only needs to be inserted into the pocket (5) relatively late, the entire assembly process can be simplified.
US08076803B2
A controlled motion system with movers mounted on a hybrid track system comprised of at least one smart section and at least one dumb section. The smart sections control each mover independently, while the dumb sections drive all movers at the same speed. The transition between these sections is characterized by positive control of the movers at all points in the transition. A soft magnetic composite core for the smart sections is disclosed. Also, a single-sided mover for smart sections that is constrained against loads in all direction, except for the direction of motion, is disclosed.
US08076800B2
The electromagnetic energy transfer device includes a first resonator structure receiving energy from an external power supply. The first resonator structure has a first Q-factor. A second resonator structure is positioned distal from the first resonator structure, and supplies useful working power to an external load. The second resonator structure has a second Q-factor. The distance between the two resonators can be larger than the characteristic size of each resonator. Non-radiative energy transfer between the first resonator structure and the second resonator structure is mediated through coupling of their resonant-field evanescent tails.
US08076799B2
A UPS system includes one or more UPS units with identical or different capacities. A control circuit, used to control a DC/AC inverter of the UPS unit, includes a voltage feedback control circuit and a current feedforward control circuit. The voltage feedback control circuit is used to control the amplitude and the waveform of load voltage. The current feedforward control circuit is used to operate the DC/AC inverter of the UPS unit as a virtual fundamental resistor and a virtual harmonic resistor which are serially connected to an output terminal of the DC/AC inverter such that each UPS unit can be distributed to provide an output current according to the capacity ratio of the UPS system.
US08076783B2
Annular, linear, and point contact structures are described which exhibit a greatly reduced susceptibility to process deviations caused by lithographic and deposition variations than does a conventional circular contact plug. In one embodiment, a standard conductive material such as carbon or titanium nitride is used to form the contact. In an alternative embodiment, a memory material itself is used to form the contact. These contact structures may be made by various processes, including chemical mechanical planarization and facet etching.
US08076781B2
A conventional semiconductor device has a problem that reduction of a connection resistance value between wiring layers is difficult because of an oxide film formed between the wiring layers. In a semiconductor device of this invention, a first metal layer is embeded in opening regions which connect a first wiring layer and a second wiring layer and an opening is formed in a spin coated resin film formed on the first metal layer. In the opening, a Cr layer forming a plating metal layer and a Cu plated layer are connected to each other. With this structure, the spaces among crystal grains in portions in the Cr layer on the first metal layer are wide, which causes the portions to be coarse. In the coarse portions in the Cr layer, an alloy layer formed of the second metal layer and the Cu plated layer is formed, and thus, the connection resistance value is reduced.
US08076778B2
A semiconductor device and related method for fabricating the same include providing a stacked structure including an insulating base layer and lower and upper barrier layers with a conductive layer in between, etching the stacked structure to provide a plurality of conductive columns that each extend from the lower barrier layer, each of the conductive columns having an overlying upper barrier layer cap formed from the etched upper barrier layer, wherein the lower barrier layer is partially etched to provide a land region between each of the conductive lines, forming a liner layer over the etched stacked structure exposing the land region, and etching the liner layer and removing the exposed land region to form a plurality of conductive lines.
US08076776B2
An integrated circuit package comprises a package substrate (210, 410), an electrically insulating material (220, 420) adjacent to the package substrate, and a mark (230, 420) on the electrically insulating material. The mark is such that a visual contrast between the mark and the electrically insulating material is maximized when the mark and the electrically insulating material are exposed to coaxial illumination. In one embodiment the electrically insulating material over the package substrate has a first surface roughness and a mark on the solder resist material has a second surface roughness that is no more than approximately twenty times greater than the first surface roughness.
US08076772B2
A printed circuit board, a memory module having the same, and a fabrication method thereof. The printed circuit board includes an interconnection substrate on which electronic components are mounted and in which a plurality of signal lines are arranged. The signal lines are electrically coupled to the electronic components. A heat sink is disposed on one surface of the interconnection substrate to dissipate heat of the electronic components, and in which no signal lines are arranged. The printed circuit board includes a bending substrate coupling the interconnection substrate to the heat sink, and formed of a flexible material configured to be bent.
US08076771B2
In order to reduce a thermal stress applied by a metal cap to a semiconductor chip: a semiconductor chip (2) is bonded to a flat portion (11) of a metal cap (1); side wall portions of the metal cap (1) serve as external connection terminals (13); and a slit (7) is formed in the metal cap (1) so as to cross the semiconductor chip (2), so a bonding region between the semiconductor chip (2) and the metal cap (1) is divided into small bonding regions to reduce thermal stresses applied to the respective bonding regions. Therefore, peeling can be prevented in respective bonding regions, whereby a small-size semiconductor device in which the semiconductor chip is bonded to the metal cap with improved bonding reliability is obtained.
US08076768B2
A multi-tiered IC device contains a first die including a substrate with a first and second set of vias. The first set of vias extends from one side of the substrate, and the second set of vias extend from an opposite side of the substrate. Both sets of vias are coupled together. The first set of vias are physically smaller than the second set of vias. A second die having a set of interconnects is stacked relative to the first die in which the interconnects couple to the first set of vias.
US08076761B1
The present invention is directed a novel method and apparatus for reducing crosstalk in a lead frame based electrical device package. One cause of the crosstalk in the lead frame package is the mutual inductance between adjacent lead fingers. A conductive sheet or mesh is introduced into the lead frame package such that one edge of the conductive sheet is below the die attach pad and electrically connected to the die and another edge is below the lead fingers and electrically connected to the ground lead of the package. Such arrangement significantly reduces the inductive coupling between adjacent lead fingers by coupling the lead fingers with the conductive sheet. The conductive sheet includes an array of through holes allowing the encapsulant material from the two sides of the sheet to flow smoothly together into one body.
US08076754B2
A silicide-interface polysilicon resistor is disclosed. The silicide-interface polysilicon resistor includes a substrate, an oxide layer located on top of the substrate, and a polysilicon layer located on top of the oxide layer. The polysilicon layer includes multiple semiconductor junctions. The silicide-interface polysilicon resistor also includes a layer of silicide sheets, and at least one of the silicon sheets is in contact with one of the semiconductor junctions located within the polysilicon layer.
US08076752B2
Capacitors configured in a switched-capacitor circuit on a semiconductor device may comprise very accurately matched, high capacitance density metal-to-metal capacitors, using top-plate-to-bottom-plate fringe-capacitance for obtaining the desired capacitance values. A polysilicon plate may be inserted below the bottom metal layer as a shield, and bootstrapped to the top plate of each capacitor in order to minimize and/or eliminate the parasitic top-plate-to-substrate capacitance. This may free up the bottom metal layer to be used in forming additional fringe-capacitance, thereby increasing capacitance density. By forming each capacitance solely based on fringe-capacitance from the top plate to the bottom plate, no parallel-plate-capacitance is used, which may reduce capacitor mismatch. Parasitic bottom plate capacitance to the substrate may also be eliminated, with only a small capacitance to the bootstrapped polysilicon plate remaining. The capacitors may be bootstrapped by coupling the top plate of each capacitor to a respective one of the differential inputs of an amplifier comprised in the switched-capacitor circuit.
US08076742B2
An image sensor according to embodiments may include a semiconductor substrate, photodiodes disposed over the semiconductor substrate, a dielectric layer formed over the photodiodes, a color filter layer formed over the dielectric layer, a planarization layer formed over the color filter layer, a phase change material formed over the planarization layer, and a plurality of microlenses formed over the planarization layer, wherein the phase change material is positioned in the microlens. Further, a method for manufacturing an image sensor according to embodiments may include forming a dielectric layer over a semiconductor substrate with a plurality of photodiodes, sequentially forming a color filter layer and a planarization layer over the dielectric layer, forming a phase change material over the planarization layer, forming a patterned phase change material by partially etching the phase change material, and forming microlenses over the planarization layer and the phase change material.
US08076739B2
A micromechanical component includes a substrate that has a front side and a backside, the front side having a functional pattern, which functional pattern is electrically contacted to the backside in a contact region. The substrate has at least one contact hole in the contact region, which extends into the substrate, starting from the backside.
US08076738B2
Embodiments of the invention are related to micromachine structures. In one embodiment, a micromachine structure comprises a first electrode, a second electrode, and a sensing element. The sensing element is mechanically movable and is disposed intermediate the first and second electrodes and adapted to oscillate between the first and second electrodes. Further, the sensing element comprises a FinFET structure having a height and a width, the height being greater than the width.
US08076733B2
Provided are an organic TFT that reduces contact resistance between a source and drain electrode and an organic semiconductor layer and that can be easily manufactured, a flat panel display device having the organic TFT, and methods of manufacturing the organic TFT and the flat panel display device having the same. The organic TFT includes; a substrate; a gate electrode and a blocking layer formed on the substrate; a gate insulating film covering the gate electrode and the blocking layer; a source electrode and a drain electrode located on the gate insulating film; an auxiliary source electrode and an auxiliary drain electrode respectively located on the source electrode and the drain electrode; and an organic semiconductor layer contacting the auxiliary source electrode and the auxiliary drain electrode.
US08076731B2
A semiconductor device 1 according to one embodiment of the invention includes: a semiconductor substrate 10; a convex region 12 provided on the semiconductor substrate 10; a gate insulating film 100 provided on the convex region 12; a channel region 101 located in the convex region 12 under the gate insulating film 100; source/drain regions 115 provided on both sides of the convex region 12 and having extensions 115a on both sides of the channel region 101; and a halo layer 110 provided between the convex region 12 and the source/drain region 115 so as to contact with the convex region 12.
US08076724B2
A semiconductor device is formed having lower gate-to-drain capacitance. The semiconductor device having an active region (1300) and a dielectric platform region (1310). A trench (80) is formed adjacent to a drain (20) of the semiconductor device to a first depth. The etch process for forming trench (80) etches the dielectric platform region (1310) to a first depth. A second trench (210) is etched in trench (80) to further isolate areas in the active region (1300). The etch process for forming the second trench (210) etches the dielectric platform region (1310) to form a support structure for the dielectric platform in the substrate. The dielectric platform, the trench (80), and the second trench (210) is capped and sealed. The dielectric platform is made approximately planar to the major surface of the substrate by forming the support structure from the first depth to the second depth.
US08076719B2
Improved highly reliable power RFP structures and fabrication and operation processes. The structure includes plurality of localized dopant concentrated zones beneath the trenches of RFPs, either floating or extending and merging with the body layer of the MOSFET or connecting with the source layer through a region of vertical doped region. This local dopant zone decreases the minority carrier injection efficiency of the body diode of the device and alters the electric field distribution during the body diode reverse recovery.
US08076716B2
An electronic device can include a transistor. In an embodiment, the transistor can include a semiconductor layer having a primary surface and a conductive structure. The conductive structure can include a horizontally-oriented doped region lying adjacent to the primary surface, an underlying doped region spaced apart from the primary surface and the horizontally-oriented doped region, and a vertically-oriented conductive region extending through a majority of the thickness of the semiconductor layer and electrically connecting the doped horizontal region and the underlying doped region. In another embodiment, the transistor can include a gate dielectric layer, wherein the field-effect transistor is designed to have a maximum gate voltage of approximately 20 V, a maximum drain voltage of approximately 30 V, and a figure of merit no greater than approximately 30 mΩ*nC.
US08076715B2
A dual-bit memory device is provided which includes trench isolation material disposed below a bit line that is shared by adjacent memory cells. The dual-bit memory device comprises a substrate, a first memory cell designed to store two bits of information, a second memory cell designed to store two bits of information, and an insulator region. The first memory cell is adjacent to the second memory cell. The first memory cell includes a first buried bit line and a second buried bit line. The first memory cell and the second memory cell share the second buried bit line. The insulator region is disposed in the substrate below the second buried bit line to prevent electrons from flowing between the first memory cell and the second memory cell.
US08076712B2
A dual charge storage node memory device and methods for its fabrication are provided. In one embodiment a dielectric plug is formed comprising a first portion recessed into a semiconductor substrate and a second portion extending above the substrate. A layer of semiconductor material is formed overlying the second portion. A first layered structure is formed overlying a first side of the second portion of the dielectric plug, and a second layered structure is formed overlying a second side, each of the layered structures overlying the layer of semiconductor material and comprising a charge storage layer between first and second dielectric layers. Ions are implanted into the substrate to form a first bit line and second bit line, and a layer of conductive material is deposited and patterned to form a control gate overlying the dielectric plug and the first and second layered structures.
US08076705B2
A capacitor device includes a dielectric layer configured to have a composition represented as (Ba1−x, Srx)Ti1−zScyO3+δ (0
US08076700B2
This disclosure describes a semiconductor device that can be used as a mixer at RF frequencies extending from a few tens of GHz into the THz frequency range. The device is composed of narrow bandgap semiconductors grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy. The device can comprise a GaSb substrate, a AlSb layer on the GaSb substrate, a In0.69Al0.31As0.41Sb0.59 layer, on the AlSb layer and wherein the In0.69Al0.31As0.41Sb0.59 comprises varying levels of Te doping, a In0.27Ga0.73Sb layer on the In0.69Al0.31As0.41 Sb0.59 layer, wherein the In0.27Ga0.73Sb layer is Be doped, wherein the first section of the In0.69Al0.31As0.41Sb0.59 layer has is Te doped, wherein the second section of the In0.69Al0.31As0.41Sb0.59 layer has a grade in Te concentration, and wherein the third section of the In0.69Al0.31As0.41Sb0.59 layer is Te doped.
US08076693B2
A heat spreader for an LED can include a thermally conductive and optically transparent member. The bottom side of the heat spreader can be configured to attach to a light emitting side of the LED. The top and/or bottom surface of the heat spreader can have a phosphor layer formed thereon. The heat spreader can be configured to conduct heat from the LED to a package. The heat spreader can be configured to conduct heat from the phosphors to the package. By facilitating the removal of heat from the LED and phosphors, more current can be used to drive the LED. The use of more current facilitates the construction of a brighter LED, which can be used in applications such as flashlights, displays, and general illumination. By facilitating the removal of heat from the phosphors, desired colors can be better provided.
US08076687B2
A light emitting device includes: a light emitting element which includes a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer, and a light emitting function layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode; a reflection layer which reflects light emitted from the light emitting function layer toward the light emitting function layer; and a translucent transflective layer which is disposed opposite the reflection layer with the light emitting function layer interposed therebetween to reflect some of the light emitted from the light emitting function layer toward the light emitting function layer and to transmit the remainder of the light. The translucent transflective layer is centered between a first layer having a refractive index n1 and being disposed on a side of the reflection layer and a second layer having a refractive index n2 (where n2
US08076686B2
A light-emitting diode and the manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. The manufacturing method includes the steps of: sequentially forming a bonding layer, a geometric pattern layer, a reflection layer, an epitaxial structure and a first electrode on a permanent substrate, wherein the geometric pattern layer has a periodic structure; and forming a second electrode on one side of the permanent substrate.
US08076677B2
A semiconductor light emitting device includes a semiconductor light emitting element, a lead electrically connected to the semiconductor light emitting element, and a resin package covering the semiconductor light emitting element and part of the lead. The resin package includes a lens facing the semiconductor light emitting element. The lead includes an exposed portion that is not covered by the resin package. The exposed portion includes a first portion and a second portion, where the first portion has a first mount surface oriented backward along the optical axis of the lens, and the second portion has a second mount surface oriented perpendicularly to the optical axis of the lens.
US08076673B2
A recessed dielectric antifuse device includes a substrate and laterally spaced source and drain regions formed in the substrate. A recess is formed between the source and drain regions. A gate and gate oxide are formed in the recess and lightly doped source and drain extension regions contiguous with the laterally spaced source and drain regions are optionally formed adjacent the recess. Programming of the recessed dielectric antifuse is performed by application of power to the gate and at least one of the source region and the drain region to breakdown the dielectric, which minimizes resistance between the gate and the channel.
US08076646B2
A partitioned pipeline read-out circuit architecture eliminates real-time constraints from off-chip read-out control electronics in a solid-state radiation detector system, so that an efficient decoupled architecture is possible. The front-end electronics includes a multi-channel ASIC with independently triggered charge sensitive pre-amplifiers, shaper circuits, and switched sample-and-hold capacitor circuits for each photodiode or pixel of the detector module. With this structure, individual photodiodes of the photodetector array can detect and store scintillation events independently and randomly. The ASIC is interfaced to an external successive approximation A/D converter for conversion and subsequent input to a data processing apparatus.
US08076643B2
A technique and apparatus for detection of infrared radiation emitted from a taggant material sample following the excitation of the sample are described. The decay time of the radiation is a function of the particular taggant being used and so, if the decay characteristic or signature is accurately measured, the particular taggant can be accurately identified. The apparatus comprises an electronic controller (10), a pair (12) of illuminating light-emitting diodes, a photo-detector (14), a first amplifier (16), a three-way sampling switch (18), filter/stores (20)(a-c), second amplifiers (22)(a-c) and an output display (26). The infrared emission is excited by repeatedly illuminating the material for a period of microseconds every few milliseconds using a very intense source of infrared light. This light is supplied by the pair of 940 nm, light-emitting diodes (12). Once this light source has been turned off, the sample continues radiating infrared light for a few milliseconds. The emission is detected by photo-detector (14) that is only sensitive to infrared light in the 800 to 1000 nm waveband. This helps to reject interference from visible light sources.
US08076640B2
The invention relates to a method and a device for measuring electron diffraction of a sample, including the steps of illuminating the sample with an incident electron beam which is deflected from a sample axis to hit the sample at an angle of incidence relative to the sample axis, at least partially subjecting the incident electron beam to diffraction by the sample, subjecting the diffracted and undiffracted electron beams transmitted through the sample to a partial deflection compensation, detecting the intensity of the diffracted and undiffracted electron beams transmitted through the sample in dependency on the angle of incidence and a scattering angle of the diffracted beam. The invention also relates to a computer program for controlling a transmission electron microscope for carrying out the inventive method.
US08076639B2
A desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (DAPCI) system delivers a primary ion beam composed of an inert, high velocity gas and solvent ions to a surface to effect desorption and ionization of both volatile and non-volatile species present on surfaces. A electrode having a tapered tip is connected to a high voltage power supply. The tapered tip projects outward from a capillary carrying a high-speed flow of gas. A vapor of a solvent is mixed into the annular gas flow surrounding the needle. The gaseous solvent vapor is ionized in close proximity to the tapered tip by virtue of the high voltage applied to the electrode. The high-speed flow of gas and solvent vapor ions extending outward from the capillary is directed toward a substrate on which an analyte of interest may have been deposited. The solvent vapor ions can blanket the surface of the analyte causing a static charge build up that facilitates ion desorption and additionally can provide positive ion adducts of the analyte freed from the substrate surface that can be directed toward an atmospheric intake of a mass spectrometer or other instrument capable of studying the analyte.
US08076635B2
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to apparatus and methods for performing mass spectrometry. Data pair information is subjected to an ion audit process in which data pair information that relates to scored compounds is subtracted from the data pair information. The depleted information more readily reveals data pair information for compounds present with smaller signals.
US08076627B2
An image intensifier tube includes a microchannel plate (MCP) having conductive input and output surfaces disposed in a housing. A conductive lower support is in electrical contact with the output surface of the MCP, and a conductive upper support is disposed above the input surface of the MCP. A shape memory alloy (SMA) lockdown is disposed between the input surface of the MCP and the upper support. The SMA lockdown is configured to provide a lockdown for the MCP in the housing. An SMA upper surface is configured to provide an axial force against the upper support, and an SMA lower surface is in contact with the input surface of the MCP.
US08076625B2
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for improving the total power output from a field of solar energy systems. The invention provides a field level tracker controller which calculates an improved positioning of individual solar energy systems and communicates those configurations to trackers in the field. An algorithm stored in the controller calculates the improved configuration for the solar energy systems based on factors such as solar movement, shade patterns generated by surrounding structures, and measured output of the energy systems. Improved positioning may include individual energy systems being directed to a stowed position to maximize the power output of the field as a whole.
US08076624B1
A system and method forming near diffraction limited size beacon for adaptive optical system using a temporally partially coherent laser source. Comprises projection of laser beams through turbulent medium having non-cooperative target using combination of adaptive optical system and short temporal coherence length laser source forming controllable focused laser target beacon. Combines adaptive optical system technology using any wavefront sensing technique making complex field measurements with short coherence length and associated broad spectral bandwidth. The partially coherent laser source forms narrow (near diffraction limited) size region of coherent laser light at target. The coherent region of return dominates signal for any measurement technique computing average of field over wavelength bandpass and can be used to pre-compensate either the partially coherent laser beam, a long coherence length beam of different wavelength or wavelength in bandpass, or both. Pre-compensation of the partially coherent laser beam can lead to signal-to-noise ratio enhancements.
US08076623B2
A spin-stabilized projectile is steered by taking air from an air intake at the front of the projectile, and expelling the air along an outer surface of the projectile to alter its trajectory toward the desired impact location. Air taken in through the air intake is directed toward a rotor that is able to rotate relative to the rest of the projectile. The rotor has an outlet that may direct the air taken in at the air inlet out in a direction having both radial and circumferential components. The force produced in the radial direction provides a steering force substantially normal to the projectile axis, used to steer the projectile. The force produced in the circumferential direction is used to provide impetus to spin the rotor. A brake is used to control the rotational speed of the rotor, to control the direction that the air is expelled from the projectile.
US08076622B1
The present invention is a device which includes an antenna and circuitry. The antenna may receive a circularly-polarized signal as first and second linearly-polarized signals. The circuitry is connected to the antenna and is configured for combining the first and second linearly-polarized signals to produce at least two reception patterns. The reception patterns are created by summing the first and second linearly-polarized signals via phase shifting. The reception patterns are optimized for at least two substantially different directional orientations. Further, the antenna may simultaneously allow/provide spec-compliant Global Positioning System operation and spec compliant Height of Burst operation.
US08076620B2
An anti-oxidation food preparation device includes a food preparation vessel having an electrically conductive body and a separate power supplying base. The base generates high frequency AC power that is transferred by a primary coil to as secondary coil maintained by the vessel. A rectification circuit converts the high frequency AC power into a rippled, rectified AC current that is supplied to the electrically conductive body of the vessel so as to create a reducing environment of available electrons for absorption by the food as it is prepared.
US08076617B2
Provided is a tunable radiation emitting structure comprising: a nanoamorphous carbon structure having a plurality of relief features provided in a periodic spatial configuration, wherein the relief features are separated from each other by adjacent recessed features, and wherein the nanoamorphous carbon comprises a total of from 0 to 60 atomic percent of one or more dopants of the dopant group consisting of: transition metals, lanthanoids, electro-conductive carbides, silicides and nitrides. In one embodiment, a dopant is selected from the group consisting of: Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Cd, La and other lanthanides, Hf, Ta, W, Rh, Os, Ir, Pt, Au, and Hg. In one embodiment, a dopant is selected from the group consisting of: electro-conductive carbides (like Mo2C), silicides (like MoSi2) and nitrides (like TiN).
US08076614B2
A cooking system for cooking foods using a combination of magnetic induction, convection and radiant heat, including a magnetic induction stage proximate the inlet end of a cooking chamber in which food is cooked by convention and radiant heating. A conveyor system, either continuous or configured in stages, passes food from the magnetic induction heating stage to and through the radiant and convention heating stages.
US08076610B2
Punching machine for the execution of holes on metal plates comprising a laser cutting head slidably supported by a pair of slides movable along a pair of Cartesian axes in a relatively restricted space with high velocities and accelerations. Movable balancing masses are operatively associated to the first and to the second slide.
US08076607B2
An improved apparatus and method for applying a plurality of raised features at select locations on a metallic substrate using a high-powered radiant energy source, such as a laser, in combination with powder metallurgy such that the resultant substrate surface exhibits increased slip-resistance resulting from the presence of the raised features on the substrate.
US08076604B2
A plurality linkages, preferably a robot holding either a spot welder with welding guns or the workpiece. The plurality of linkages move a spot welder with open tongs toward a first spot weld position. The welding guns are then closed on the workpiece and welding is performed at the first spot weld position. While the welding is being performed, parts of the plurality of linkages are advanced toward a second weld position while the welding guns remained closed at the first spot weld position. When the welding at the first position is finished, parts of the linkages are already advanced towards the second position, and the remaining linkages are then advanced to the second position. This allows the linkages or robot to move faster from one spot weld position to another.
US08076592B2
An electromagnetic interference preventing module is provided. The module includes a metal pad that is disposed on a circuit board. The metal pad includes a soldering portion and a grounding portion that are connected to each other. At least one fixing lug of a connector is soldered to the soldering portion. At least one protrusion of a grounding housing is in contact with the grounding portion, so as to electrically connect the connector with the grounding housing.
US08076586B2
This publication discloses a circuit-board construction and a method for manufacturing an electronic module, in which method at least one component (6) is embedded inside an insulating-material layer (1) and contacts (14) are made to connect the component (6) electrically to the conductor structures (14, 19) contained in the electronic module. According to the invention, at least one thermal via (22), which boosts the conducting of heat away from the component (6) is manufactured in the insulating-material layer (1) in the vicinity of the component (6).
US08076585B2
A printed circuit board includes a ground layer and a signal layer. The ground layer has a grid formed by grid lines. A pair of signal traces is laid on the signal layer. The pair of signal traces is symmetrical about one grid line or one central line of the grid.
US08076582B2
A terminal for an engaging type connector includes a punched Cu alloy strip as a base material, a coating formed on the Cu alloy strip by postplating processes and including a Sn layer, and a Cu—Sn alloy layer sandwiched between the base material and the Sn layer. The Sn layer is smoothed by a reflowing process. The terminal has an engaging part and a solder-bonding part, and the surface of a part of the base material corresponding to the engaging part has a surface roughness higher than that of the surface of the base material corresponding to the solder-bonding part. The engaging part has a low frictional property and the solder-bonding part has improved solder wettability.
US08076573B1
A system for the adjustable suspension of electrical outlet, junction boxes or the like including in combination an elongated wire for attachment to an existing fixed overhead member, a wire gripper including a passageway therethrough, and a knockout engagement device that engages an opening in an electrical junction or outlet box and further includes an engagement mechanism for engaging the elongated wire as it passes from a fixed overhead member through the passageway to the engagement member and returns thereto through the passageway where it is secured by an appropriate screw, bolt or the like.
US08076567B2
A music piece reproducing apparatus has: a sound collecting unit collecting noise data of an ambient environment; an analyzing unit performing a frequency analysis to the noise data collected by the sound collecting unit and extracting a feature amount showing a feature of the noise data; a noise parameter database classifying the noise data every environment; and a reproducing unit reproducing music piece data which has been recorded in a recording medium and classified every category, wherein the analyzing unit classifies the noise data with reference to the noise parameter database on the basis of the extracted feature amount of the noise data, selects the previously-corresponded category of music pieces in accordance with a classification result of the noise data, and selects predetermined music piece data from music piece data classified into the selected category.
US08076565B1
An electronic entertainment system provides an entertainment environment wherein music in the form of a storable music sequence is processed to determine, in advance or in real-time, a set of musical events of interest, and associating elements of the entertainment system with portions of the storable music sequence, wherein an association is represented by a data structure and indicates a mapping between at least one musical event and at least one element of the entertainment environment, wherein the at least one element can be independent of the at least one musical event.
US08076563B2
A keyboard device configured such that, when L represents a distance in a horizontal direction from a rotation support of a hammer member 3 to a contact point where a key 2 comes into contact with an elastic section 23 of the hammer member 3, I represents a moment of inertia around the rotation support, and K represents an elastic modulus in a vertical direction of the elastic section 23 coming into contact with the key 2, the relationship of L, I and K is set to (2/π)2·K·10−4≦(I/L2)≦4·(2/π)2·K·10−4. Accordingly, when the key 2 is depressed, a timing at which an action load applied to the key 2 by the hammer member 3 reaches its maximum is delayed by 10-20 milliseconds from the start of the depression, whereby the maximum action load can be applied at a timing that gives a key-touch feel close to that of an acoustic piano.
US08076557B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH388736. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH388736, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH388736 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH388736.
US08076553B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH866785. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH866785, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH866785 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH866785.
US08076552B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH088316. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH088316, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH088316 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH088316.
US08076549B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV724812. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV724812, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV724812 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV724812 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV724812.
US08076547B2
It is intended to provide a polynucleotide encoding a gene capable of regulating tillering and leaf morphology in a plant and a method of regulating the phenotype of a plant by using this polynucleotide. The above-described polynucleotide can regulate the number of leaves or roots per individual or leaf morphology (including the length, width and thickness of leaves). In an embodiment, the plant usable in the regulation of tillering and leaf morphology is a monocotyledon. In a preferred embodiment, the monocotyledon is a gramineae plant. In a still preferred embodiment, the gramineae plant is rice.
US08076545B2
A soybean cultivar designated 1000681 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar 1000681, to the plants of soybean 1000681, to plant parts of soybean cultivar 1000681, and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybean cultivar 1000681 with itself or with another soybean variety. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to soybean cultivars, or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from soybean variety 1000681, to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 1000681, and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing the cultivar 1000681 with another soybean cultivar.
US08076544B2
A soybean cultivar designated S080202 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar S080202, to the plants of soybean S080202, to plant parts of soybean cultivar S080202, and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybean cultivar S080202 with itself or with another soybean variety. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to soybean cultivars, or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from soybean variety S080202, to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar S080202, and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing the cultivar S080202 with another soybean cultivar.
US08076531B2
The present invention relates to a transgenic animal, which comprises in its genome a recombinant polynucleotide encoding one or more reporter proteins and a monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) promoter, wherein the one or more reporter proteins are expressed under the control of the MCP-1 promoter. A method for monitoring endogenous expression of MCP-1 in vivo is also provided, which is useful for identifying a regulator of the expression of MCP-1 or an anti-inflammatory agent.
US08076528B2
Accordingly, the present invention relates to a pressure sensitive adhesive composition consisting of a continuous phase comprising cross-linked polyalkyleneoxide polymer and a discontinuous phase comprising water absorbent hydrophilic agents wherein a) the water absorbent hydrophilic agent(s) is present in an amount between 1 and 40% w/w of the total adhesive composition; and b) the continuous phase comprises the reaction product (X) of: (i) a polyalkyleneoxide polymer having one or more unsaturated end groups, and where more than 90% w/w of the polyalkylene oxide polymer consist of polymerised alkyleneoxide moities having three or more carbon atoms, and (ii) an organosiloxane comprising one or more Si—H groups, carried out in the presence of an addition reaction catalyst. The present invention also relates to medical devices comprising such pressure sensitive adhesives.
US08076523B2
This invention relates to a process for the oligomerization of at least one olefinic compound in the form of an olefin or a compound including art olefinic moiety by contacting the at least one olefinic compound with at least two different catalysis, namely a tetramerization catalyst and a further oligomerization catalyst. The tetramerization catalyst comprises a combination of a source of a transition metal and a ligating compound of the formula (R1)mX1(Y)X2(R2)n. The invention also relates to an oligomerization catalyst comprising the combination of (i) source of transition metal for both a tetramerization catalyst and a trimerization catalyst; (ii) a ligating compound for a tetramerization catalyst: (iii) a different ligating compound for a trimerization catalyst: and (iv) optionally an activator.
US08076522B2
A fuel composition exhibiting a reduced acceleration time, the fuel composition comprising a blend comprising a non-Fischer-Tropsch derived diesel base fuel and from about 0.2 v/v % to 3 v/v % Fischer-Tropsch derived kerosene fuel product, the blend exhibiting a reduced acceleration time that is at least 0.20% less than a theoretical acceleration time.
US08076520B2
In order to form liposomes with a longer half-life in blood, use is made of defined compounds with the general formula (A)
US08076519B2
The present invention relates to the masking of the odor of organic sulphides and more particularly that of alkyl sulphides or of dialkyl sulphides, especially dimethyl sulphide, and also of oxides thereof, and especially of dimethyl sulphoxide, by addition, to said organic sulphides, of at least one odor-masking agent comprising at least one monoester, at least one di- or triester, at least one alcohol, at least one ketone and, optionally, at least one terpene.
US08076515B2
A process for obtaining therapeutically active 2-[4-(3- and 2-(fluorobenzyloxy)benzylamino]propanamides and their salts with pharmaceutically acceptable acids with high purity degree, in particular, with a content of dibenzyl derivatives impurities lower than 0.03%, preferably lower than 0.01% by weight.The process is carried out by submitting the Schiff bases intermediates 2-[4-(3- and 2-fluorobenzyloxy)benzylideneamino]propanamides to catalytic hydrogenation in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst in a protic organic solvent.
US08076512B2
A method for reducing aldehydes in an acetic acid production process is disclosed. The acetic acid is produced by reacting methanol and carbon monoxide in the presence of a carbonylation catalyst. The method comprises reacting an aldehyde-containing stream with an alcohol to form an acetal-containing stream. An acetal-enriched stream is separated from the acetal-containing stream and then hydrolyzed to form a hydrolysis mixture comprising the alcohol and the aldehydes. The alcohol is isolated from the hydrolysis mixture and used to react with the aldehyde-containing stream to form the acetal-containing stream. The invention reduces aldehydes in the acetic acid produced.
US08076510B2
A process for starting-up a heterogeneously catalyzed partial gas phase oxidation of acrolein to acrylic acid or of methacrolein to methacrylic acid over a fixed catalyst bed disposed in a tube bundle reactor cooled by a heat exchange medium, wherein the temperature of the heat exchange medium is ≧290° C. and the temperature of that reactor plate surface which faces the reaction gas entry mixture and the temperature of the reaction gas entry mixture itself are ≦285° C.
US08076507B2
An improvement of the methanol carbonylation process for manufacturing acetic acid is disclosed. Specifically disclosed is a method for reducing the formation of alkyl iodides and C3-8 carboxylic acids by removing permanganate reducing compounds (“PRC's”) from the light phase of the condensed light ends overhead stream, including (a) distilling the light phase to yield a PRC enriched overhead stream; and (b) extracting the third overhead stream with water in at least two consecutive stages and separating therefrom one or more aqueous streams containing PRC″s.
US08076502B2
A drug effective for the treatment and prevention of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, anxiety and related ailments thereof, depression, bipolar disorder and epilepsy. The drug antagonizes the action of group II metabotropic glutamate receptors and shows high activity in oral administrationA 2-amino-bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane-2,6-dicarboxylic ester derivative represented by formula [I] [wherein R1 and R2 are identical or different, and each represents a hydrogen atom, a C1-10alkyl group or the like; X represents a hydrogen atom or a fluorine atom; Y represents —OCHR3R4 or the like (wherein R3 and R4 are identical or different, and each represents a hydrogen atom, a C1-10alkyl group or the like; and n represents integer 1 or 2)], a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or a hydrate thereof.
