US08078869B2
A system and method of protecting data on a communication device are provided. Data received when the communication device is in a first operational state is encrypted using a first cryptographic key and algorithm. When the communication device is in a second operational state, received data is encrypted using a second cryptographic key and algorithm. Received data is stored on the communication device in encrypted form.
US08078868B2
A cryptographic communication system and method having a first plurality of stations, each of the first plurality of stations having at least one encryption key Kj, were j is a number greater than 2, a data packet D to be viewed by each of the first plurality of stations, means for encrypting the data packet by each of the first plurality of stations to form an encrypted data packet Ej for transmission to a central processor, and means for combining each of the encrypted data packets, wherein the means for encrypting is applied in parallel to allow each of the first plurality of stations to view the contents of the data packet D prior to encrypting the data packet D.
US08078861B1
Disclosed are exemplary remote programming systems, software and methods for use in remotely programming field devices, such as engines, power generators, controllers, and data sensors, and the like. A (wired or wireless) communications link interconnects a processor and a remotely located server. The processor comprises a program memory and firmware that is loaded into the program memory. The processor is coupled to a nonvolatile memory device and apparatus for communicating over the communications link. The remotely located server contains a source code file comprising updated firmware for the processor. Software or a method is provided that initiates a process wherein the updated firmware is transferred from the server to the processor and the updated firmware is stored in the nonvolatile memory. Once transfer is complete, a checksum is calculated for the transferred file, and if it matches a known checksum value, the updated firmware is transferred from the nonvolatile memory device into program memory and the processor is rebooted.
US08078850B2
Methods, apparatus, and products for branch prediction in a computer processor are disclosed that include: recording for a sequence of occurrences of a branch, in an algorithm in which the branch occurs more than once, each result of the branch, including maintaining a pointer to a location of a most recently recorded result; resetting the pointer to a location of the first recorded result upon completion of the algorithm; and predicting subsequent results of the branch, in subsequent occurrences of the branch, in dependence upon the recorded results.
US08078843B2
An extended DRAIN instruction is used to stall processing within a computing environment. The instruction includes an indication of the one or more processing stages at which processing is to be stalled. It also includes a control that allows processing to be stalled for additional cycles, as desired. The enhanced DRAIN instruction enables its use to be more granular and to have minimal impact with respect to each individual use.
US08078836B2
In-lane vector shuffle operations are described. In one embodiment a shuffle instruction specifies a field of per-lane control bits, a source operand and a destination operand, these operands having corresponding lanes, each lane divided into corresponding portions of multiple data elements. Sets of data elements are selected from corresponding portions of every lane of the source operand according to per-lane control bits. Elements of these sets are copied to specified fields in corresponding portions of every lane of the destination operand. Another embodiment of the shuffle instruction also specifies a second source operand, all operands having corresponding lanes divided into multiple data elements. A set selected according to per-lane control bits contains data elements from every lane portion of a first source operand and data elements from every corresponding lane portion of the second source operand. Set elements are copied to specified fields in every lane of the destination operand.
US08078833B2
The invention resides in a flexible data pipeline structure for accommodating software computational instructions for varying application programs and having a programmable embedded processor with internal pipeline stages the order and length of which varies as fast as every clock cycle based on the instruction sequence in an application program preloaded into the processor, and wherein the processor includes a data switch matrix selectively and flexibly interconnecting pluralities of mathematical execution units and memory units in response to said instructions, and wherein the execution units are configurable to perform operations at different precisions of multi-bit arithmetic and logic operations and in a multi-level hierarchical architecture structure.
US08078820B2
A method, and corresponding system and software, is described for writing data to a plurality of queues, each portion of the data being written to a corresponding one of the queues. The method includes, without requiring concurrent locking of more than one queue, determining if a space is available in each queue for writing a corresponding portion of the data, and if available, reserving the spaces in the queues. The method includes writing each portion of the data to a corresponding one of the queues.
US08078815B2
A storage subsystem includes: a controller; a first logical storage area corresponding to a RAID group configured by a plurality of storage devices; and a second logical storage area corresponding to a plurality of the RAID groups each configured by the plurality of storage devices, and storing a copy of data stored in the first logical storage area. In the storage subsystem, the first and second logical storage areas form a copy group, and for starting copying from the first to second logical storage area, the controller performs a mode change, from a power saving mode to a ready mode, to the plurality of storage devices configuring the plurality of RAID groups corresponding to the second logical storage area. With such a storage subsystem, the time can be reduced for activating copy-destination storage devices to which a power saving function is applied, and the copy time is thus favorably reduced.
US08078812B2
Information terminal and information sharing method are provided which consider survival time of contents at a transmission destination and propagate the contents widely so as to be suitable for contents sharing. In the information terminal and information sharing method, contents allotted with survival time is received, the survival time allotted to the contents is changed, contents allotted with the changed survival time is transmitted to a different information terminal, and the contents is deleted after the changed survival time has expired.
US08078808B2
A data block to be transmitted to a receiver is subjected to channel coding and puncturing in a transmitter. For the purpose of managing data block versions obtained from repeat transmissions of this data block in the receiver, a memory area is provided for storing received data block versions in punctured form. A decision is made regarding whether or not a received data block version for a data block whose decoding in the receiver has failed to date is stored in the memory area.
US08078807B2
A method and apparatus for accelerating lookups in an address based table is herein described. When an address and value pair is added to an address based table, the value is privately stored in the address to allow for quick and efficient local access to the value. In response to the private store, a cache line holding the value is transitioned to a private state, to ensure the value is not made globally visible. Upon eviction of the privately held cache line, the information is not written-back to ensure locality of the value. In one embodiment, the address based table includes a transactional write buffer to hold addresses, which correspond to tentatively updated values during a transaction. Accesses to the tentative values during the transaction may be accelerated through use of annotation bits and private stores as discussed herein. Upon commit of the transaction, the values are copied to the location to make the updates globally visible.
US08078805B1
A caching filter driver which is adapted for communicating with a universal serial bus (USB) mass storage device, the caching filter driver is adapted to: (a) receive a first reading request for a first size data from a USB mass storage driver; (b) determine if requested data which is requested in the first reading request is included in a prefetched read data cache; (c) issue a second reading request for a second size data to the USB mass storage device; and store the second size data in the prefetched read data cache, if the requested data is not included in the prefetched read data cache; and to (d) provide the requested data from the prefetched read data cache; wherein the second size is larger than the first size and the second size data includes the first size data; wherein the caching filter driver resides below the USB mass storage driver.
US08078801B2
For each memory location in a set of memory locations associated with a thread, setting an indication associated with the memory location to request a signal if data from the memory location is evicted from a cache; and in response to the signal, reloading the set of memory locations into the cache.
US08078795B2
A method for writing bytes to flash memory is disclosed herein whereby the method comprising includes counting bytes from a data source, the bytes associated with a first value and a second value and comparing a number of bytes associated with the first value with a number of bytes associated with the second value. The method may further include inverting the bytes in the case where the number of bytes associated with the first value is greater than the number of bytes associated with the second value and transferring the bytes not associated with the second value to the flash memory.
US08078784B2
There is provided a system for comprising a plurality of blocks, each block comprising any hardware element and a plurality of segments for providing interconnection of the plurality of blocks. A segment comprises a connector between multiple blocks and other segments and segments are connected via the ports of blocks or other segments. Communications between blocks is packet based, each packet including at least a destination block. The packet includes at least one of data, packet/message identification and padding. Blocks have an associated address. A block has one or more input ports and one or more output ports. Segments include means for routing packets to destinations. Each block and segment includes properties. Properties include one or more of clocks, bandwidth, bit widths, and latencies. The plurality of segments for multiple packets to be active on different segments. A single segment includes a plurality of ports for multiple packets to be active on different ports of the segment.
US08078779B2
A data transmission method for use with a wireless mouse includes the following steps. Firstly, a mouse displacement data including a horizontal displacement and a vertical displacement is periodically transmitted from a wireless signal emitter to a wireless signal receiver in every wireless transmission time interval T1. Then, the horizontal displacement and the vertical displacement of the mouse displacement data are partitioned to acquire plural horizontal sub-displacements and plural vertical sub-displacements, respectively. Afterwards, one of the plural horizontal sub-displacements and one of the plural vertical sub-displacements are periodically transmitted from the wireless signal receiver to the computer system in every wired transmission time interval T2. By the data transmission method, the wired report rate is increased without largely increasing power consumption, and the moving trajectory of the wireless becomes smoother.
US08078773B2
Herein described are at least a method and a system for prioritizing the transmission of one or more types of signals through a serial port. Various aspects of the present invention may be implemented using a serial port interface module that facilitates communication between any two devices. In a representative embodiment, the two devices comprise a disk drive controller and a disk drive motor controller used in a hard disk drive. In a representative embodiment, the method and the system are used in the hard disk drive for prioritizing the transmission of multirate voice coil motor (VCM) updates and other asynchronous data signals between the disk drive controller and disk drive motor controller through the serial port.
US08078765B2
A hypervisor acquires an I/O command that has been issued from a virtual computer. The hypervisor judges whether or not a target of an I/O that complies with the I/O command is an unassigned port associated device that is a device associated with an I/O port that is coupled to an I/O controller that is not assigned to a virtual computer that is an issuing source of the I/O command. In the case in which the result of the judgment is positive, the hypervisor does no execute an I/O to the unassigned port associated device, and returns a virtual execution result to the virtual computer that is an issuing source of the I/O command.
US08078747B2
The present invention provides several methods and apparatuses for transmitting multimedia data using streaming media protocols such as real-time transfer protocols (RTP) and real-time streaming protocols (RTSP) in a computer network environment. In one exemplary embodiment, a request for RTP data and its associated extension is sent from the caching proxy server to the server. The request may be for one specific type of data or multiple unrelated types of data. The server responds to the request indicating its support for the requested RTP extension data. The caching proxy server determines whether to proceed or terminate the data transmission process based on the response provided by the server. If it is determined to proceed with the data transmission process, the caching proxy informs the server to send the requested and supported RTP data. The server sends the requested data in a variable and extendible header format.
US08078743B2
A computer system such as a server pipelines RNIC interface (RI) management/control operations such as memory registration operations to hide from network applications the latency in performing RDMA work requests caused in part by delays in processing the memory registration operations and the time required to execute the registration operations themselves. A separate QP-like structure, called a control QP (CQP), interfaces with a control processor (CP) to form a control path pipeline, separate from the transaction pipeline, which is designated to handle all control path traffic associated with the processing of RI control operations. This includes memory registration operations (MR OPs), as well as the creation and destruction of traditional QPs for processing RDMA transactions. Once the MR OP has been queued in the control path pipeline of the adapter, a pending bit is set which is associated with the MR OP. Processing of an RDMA work request in the transaction pipeline that has engendered the enqueued MR OP is permitted to proceed as if the processing of the MR OP has already been completed. If the work request gets ahead of the MR OP, the associated pending bit being set will notify the adapter's work request transaction pipeline to stall (and possibly reschedule) completion of the work request until the processing of the MR OP for that memory region is complete. When the memory registration process for the memory region is complete, the associated pending bit is reset and the adapter transaction pipeline is permitted to continue processing the work request using the newly registered memory region.
US08078733B2
An IMS-enabled control channel for an IPTV service is provided by receiving at a Serving Call/State Control Function (S-CSCF) a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) REGISTER message, the SIP REGISTER message identifying the originating user, receiving at the originating user a response from the S-CSCF indicating that the originating user has been authorized, and sending a SIP INVITE message from the S-CSCF to establish an open channel connection with a selected IPTV Application Server (AS). This open channel connection can then be used for the transmission of control messages, such as for starting play, starting recording, stopping play, etc., between the STB and the IPTV applications server, as well as for the delivery of personalized content, such as advertisements, voting responses, personalized voting triggers and targeted interactive events. By maintaining an open control channel with the IPTV AS, this offers a substantial reduction in the setup delay times for different applications.
US08078723B2
A dispatching method, a dispatching apparatus and a dispatching system are disclosed according to embodiments of the present invention. The dispatching method includes receiving a request initiated by a user terminal, where the request carries address information of the user terminal; obtaining the address information carried in the request and obtaining key information of an access server associated with the address information; searching for a corresponding node based on the key information of the access server and treating the node as a redirected serving node. A dispatching apparatus and a dispatching system are also disclosed according to embodiments of the present invention. The technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention may well solve the dispatching issue and has a more flexible application.
US08078722B2
Characteristics about one or more wireless access devices in a wireless network, whether known or unknown entities, can be determined using a system and method according to the present invention. An observation is made of the activity over a Wireless Area Network (WLAN). Based on this activity, changes in state of wireless access devices within the WLAN can be observed and monitored. These changes in state could be indicative of normal operation of the WLAN, or they may indicate the presence of an unauthorized user. In the latter case, an alert can be sent so that appropriate action may be taken. Additionally, ad hoc networks can be detected that may be connected to a wireless access point.
US08078721B2
Disclosed are, inter alia, methods, apparatus, computer-storage media, mechanisms, and means associated with loss of network layer connectivity triggering Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) initialization. According to one embodiment, a network device connected to a network initializes one or more network communication values of the network device using DHCP. The network device monitors Network Layer (Layer 3) connectivity with a remote network device; and in response to detecting a loss of said monitored Network Layer connectivity, DHCP initialization of the network device is performed.
US08078719B2
A method and apparatus are shown for changing a first device into a second device during a session. In the method according to the embodiments, information on the session is transmitted from the first device to the second device (102, 203, 206). Based on the received information, the second device is connected to the session (103, 208) and the first device is disconnected from the session (104, 204) such that the session is maintained.
US08078717B1
A system, method and computer program product for controlling virtual servers includes a plurality of virtual servers running on a host computer. An address and a unique identifier can be associated with each virtual server. A control procedure(s) is within each corresponding virtual server, and can be used to control that virtual server in response to control commands. A control interface is outside the virtual servers and can be used for control of the virtual servers in response to control commands. The virtual server can be a Virtual server. The control command can be executable by both the control procedure(s) and the control interface, or can be executable by the control interface if the control procedure(s) is unreachable, or can be executable by the control interface if the virtual server has failed, or can be executable even if the virtual server is inaccessible. The control interface can be accessible by using multiple addresses and identifiers.
US08078716B2
An improved distributed operating system over a network of computer systems is described. Existing distributed operating systems have transmission performance limitations dictated by their inability to (1) reliably handle transient communication failures and rapid node reboots, (2) provide a transmission protocol that adapts to link reliability, and (3) allow transmissions to occur over an arbitrary combinations of communication links. The systems and methods described herein solve these problems by providing a reliable node-to-node session protocol that offers high performance message delivery and multi-interface management and support. This is done by transmitting all data between two nodes of the operating system over a single connection that may dynamically exploit multiple interfaces between the nodes.
US08078714B2
The present disclosure described herein relates to a device and method for managing access to a server. The method comprises: receiving a request from the device for access to servers in a network; generating and sending access requests to servers from an interface entity, where the access requests are produced from analyzing at least one capability of the device; monitoring for responses from the servers to the access requests; extracting access information from the responses; and generating and sending a response to the request for access to the device, the response including the access information from the responses from the servers.
US08078706B1
Method and system for faster device learning are provided. The invention provides a method of sending multiple object identifiers in a single Get Next Request, enabling the learning of the management information of more than one variable simultaneously, and reducing the time required for learning the management information of the network. Multiple OIDs are generated from an OID, and they are sent in a single request packet, to learn their management information. The invention also provides a network comprising a Network Management System (NMS), at least one device, and a set of variables residing in each device. The NMS is capable of sending at least one OID in a single request to the device.
US08078700B2
A transcoder includes transcoder modules 12 and 13 which convert the formats of contents stored in servers 2 and 3 into formats which can be supported by a renderer 4, respectively, and an internal controller 11 for comparing the format of each content stored in the servers 2 and 3 with the conversion functions of the transcoder modules 12 and 13 to create a transcoder content list in which contents which can be supported are described, and for transferring a content acquisition request to acquire a content to the servers 2 and 3, the content acquisition request being transmitted thereto on the basis of the created transcoder content list.
US08078699B2
An information processing apparatus includes a search unit which searches for a network device having a function of communication by the first communication protocol and a network device having a function of communication by the second communication protocol, and a setting unit which, when a network device detected by the search unit is compliant with both the first and second communication protocols, sets a network address for communicating with the network device by selecting the network address from a network address in the format of the first communication protocol and a network address in the format of the second communication protocol in installing a device control program for the network device.
US08078698B2
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for producing a virtual host. The virtual host is generated. A demographic trait of a user, interacting with the virtual host, is acquired. The virtual host is endowed with the demographic trait, thereby enriching the virtual host to appeal the user.
US08078694B2
A system, method and computer program product for executing at least one client computer software application by embedding a web browser in a proxy server, thereby forming a proxy browser. The proxy browser is used to execute the application inside the proxy server. In one embodiment of the invention, each client browser that connects to the proxy server is assigned an instance of the proxy browser and session information is maintained for the client browser. When the client browser makes a request to the proxy server, the request is linked to the instance of the proxy browser.
US08078688B2
A system for providing and managing file sharing services of one or more endpoint devices comprise a first interface for enabling bi-directional communications with one or more of the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device, and a second interface for enabling bi-directional communications via a wide-area network, for the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device. A processor is coupled to the interfaces and is configured to manage file sharing through presence and networking messaging communication between the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device and at least another endpoint device (associated with the gateway device or not), to access a file to share received from the one or more end-point devices associated with the gateway device or from endpoint devices not associated with the gateway device. The processor selectively makes the accessed file available to the one or more endpoint devices.
US08078680B2
A method and computer program product which allows both phone-based and IP-based clients to participate in a single audio conference. The method enables at least two multi-point control units (MCUs) (i.e., conferencing servers) to connect via a standard data linkage (i.e., full-duplex dial-up or IP link). The method and computer program product enables the phone-based MCU to handle the phone clients and the IP-based MCU to handle the IP-based clients, while connecting the two to allow each participating client to hear all other participating clients.
US08078679B2
In one embodiment of the invention, a method for automating collateral configuration in a network is provided. A service is configured on a network device (termed as service providing device). The service providing device sends a Collateral Configuration Request Protocol (CCRP) message to other network devices (termed as service accessing devices). The service accessing devices process the CCRP message for their automatic collateral configuration in order to access the configured service on the service providing device.
US08078676B2
An educational and training system allows organization and management of computers and course material used in teaching and administering classes of computer based information. Remote users access computers in laboratories or virtual classrooms as if they were actually using the computers within the laboratory or classroom. The system also allows management and tracking of the remote users and of other various course details.
US08078675B2
A display-operation setting database for defining key arrangements on the input unit (soft keyboard) of a client according to the type of an application which runs on a server is stored in the server beforehand. When the application running on the server is changed according to an input event from the client, definition information on the key arrangement corresponding to the operation application is read from the stored database and transmitted to the client. The key arrangement displayed on the input unit (soft keyboard) of the client is changed to a key arrangement corresponding to the operation application on the basis of the definition information received from the server. Then, a key signal corresponding to the user operation on the basis of the key arrangement is transmuted to the server, thereby specifying the processing of the operation application.
US08078674B2
A server device, methods and a computer program product operating in response to a request received from a client. A request storage device in system memory space with a request storage region stores a request received from a client in association with identification information. An identification information storage region contains a request that is waiting to be processed. An identification information storage unit retrieves at least one request waiting to be processed from the request storage region if the number of identification information pieces stored in the identification information storage region has declined to a reference number or below, and then stores retrieved request identification information in the identification information storage region Multiple request processors operate in parallel, each acquiring identification information from the identification information storage region, a request identified by the acquired identification information from the request storage region, and performing processing in response to the acquired request.
US08078673B2
A web server in a server network with a centralized administrative and/or content (CAC) server executes a modified “404: Not Found” Handler. When a requested file is present within the web server's temporary storage, the file is retrieved from the temporary directory and provided in response to the request from the requesting client (browser). Also, the web server automatically initiates retrieval of a more current copy of the file from the CAC server. However, when the requested file is not present within the server's temporary directory, the modified handler checks whether the requested file is available for download from the CAC server and retrieves the requested file from the CAC server, rather than issuing the standard 404: Not Found error response. The 404: Not Found error response is only issued when the requested file is not available at both the temporary directory and the CAC server.
US08078660B2
A bridge fused multiply-adder is disclosed. The fused multiply-adder is for the single instruction execution of (A×B)+C. The bridge fused multiply-add unit adds this functionality to existing floating-point co-processor units by including a fused multiply-add hardware “bridge” between an existing floating-point adder and a floating-point multiplier unit. This fused multiply-add functionality is added to existing two-operand architecture designs without degrading the performance or parallel pipe execution of floating-point adder and floating-point multiplier instructions.
US08078648B2
A data structure is formatted that supports a single access operation while enabling data structure verification, data integrity verification, and data extensibility. The data format utilizes error identifier fields to enable the verification of data integrity and bracket pairs to verify data structure integrity and to support data structure extensibility. The data structure is utilized to perform a single access operation. In performing a single access operation, the data structure is read, the data format is verified, and the data integrity is verified. In addition, in instances where the data structure includes complex data, a new feature, or a prior program version, support for the complex data, new feature, or prior program version is provided.
US08078639B2
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to file system filters and transactions. In aspects, a filter may enlist to receive notification of events associated with a transaction. Afterwards, the filter may receive notification of a transaction event for which it has enlisted. In response to receiving notification of the transaction the filter may perform an action as appropriate. Aspects of the subject matter described herein may be applied to stacked and managed filters.
US08078634B2
A computer automated method and system of presenting data. The method may include the steps of inputting a set of user-defined instructions into a remotely located computer database system via a local network connection, inputting a user query into the computer database system via the local network connection, mining the computer database system for data relevant to the user query, creating a data set comprising the data relevant to the user query, and aggregating data in the data set using domain metrics selected based on any of predefined and configurable rules and past user usage. The aggregation may further include tagging all data attributes in the data set based on database metadata and inputs from a user, wherein the data attributes comprise any of data identifications (IDs), data grouping attributes, and data measure attributes.
US08078623B2
Systems and methods for generating a summary of photos from a plurality of received photos are described. The received photos are classified according to predefined attributes. Two or more of the categories are selected, and a ratio value is received from a user relating to the two or more of the categories. Photos are selected from among the photos in the two or more categories based on the specified ratio and based on sorting the received photos according to time information. The selected photos comprising the summary of photos are displayed.
US08078618B2
A method for selecting a method for categorizing a collection of content data files from among a plurality of categorization methods, the method comprising the steps of identifying a collection of content data files, each content data file comprising image or audio data, determining a number of groups (G1) of content data files that will be generated when a first categorization method is applied to the collection of content data files; and designating a range of representations (R) that can be presented on the display, each representing a group of content data files. A first categorization method is selected when the number of groups G is within the range of representations (R); and a different categorization method is selected when the number of groups (G1) is not within range (R).
US08078616B2
A method for the analysis, benchmarking, and finally improvement of communications pertaining to the field of public relations is described. The methodology is based on a massively quantitative approach suitable for numerical processing. Furthermore, it takes into account data outside the realm of communications and the press, such as a company's commercial and financial market performance to normalise the quantitative results and facilitate comparisons between competitors. Taking into account proprietary data such as the communication budget of a client the performance of the communications effort can be benchmarked objectively. Finally, the method offers the resulting key performance indicators to a wide audience within the client company in a “cock-pit” style manner.
US08078610B2
A method for determining when a database system query optimizer should employ join skew avoidance steps. The method includes dynamically calculating the worst-case anticipated frequency distribution for a particular relation along a particular set of join column(s) at query execution time. The calculated frequency distribution value is compared to a skew threshold, the skew threshold representing the number of rows on the same distinct value that would lead to avoidable processing inefficiencies. It is then determined that the database system query optimizer should employ join skew avoidance steps if the calculated frequency distribution value exceeds the skew threshold.
US08078606B2
A method includes submitting a query to multiple search engines. The method also includes receiving a ranked list of search results from each search engine based on the query. The method includes determining a search engine weighting value for each search engine, where each search engine weighting value indicates a degree of relevance of a category of specialization of a particular search engine to a category of the query.
US08078605B2
An apparatus and method are disclosed for detecting online activity by a user and contacting the user in conjunction with a preferred response plan.
US08078602B2
In one embodiment, client-side programs are employed to observe the navigation of consumers to various websites. Addresses of web pages viewed by consumers may be used to fetch the web pages. A fetched web page may be parsed for one or more keywords. The relevance of the web page to a keyword may be ranked according to consumer preferences, which may relate to consumer interaction with the web page. Web pages and their ranking information may be stored in an index. The index may be consulted to find links to web pages relevant to a keyword employed in a search request.
US08078600B2
An information processing apparatus that can alleviate the stress of a user by clearly showing the acquisition status of contents data that is held by a peripheral device in a situation in which a plurality of devices are connected by a network. Contents data including metadata and image data that are held in the peripheral devices is acquired. A list of at least one of device data that represent the peripheral devices, the metadata, and the image data is displayed on the display unit in accordance with a stage of acquisition of the contents data by the contents data acquiring unit.
US08078597B2
A communities framework is disclosed which contains resources in a repository. The repository contains data stored in nodes wherein each node has data associated with a collaboration resource and each resource has a set of properties or attributes. A server can provide a content object for wrapping the node wherein the content object defines the type of resource contained by the data in the node. An extensible control is provided that performs operations on the node thereby providing an interface to manipulating the node's data. The extensible controls can allow developers to easily create new resources. A generic control can further wrap the extensible control and be adapted to provide an abstracted interface to the content object. An extensible portlet can implement the extensible controls in order to provide users with the ability to add new properties and edit existing properties of the resource.
US08078588B2
Systems and methods for providing a one-step API that executes a series of atomic transactions in a database system. In one implementation, each atomic transaction is associated with a forward block of code that effects changes, an undo block of code that reverses the changes made by the forward block, and a state block of code that mimics successful execution of the forward block by setting internal states. In the event of a failure, the forward blocks, undo blocks, and state blocks can be used to roll forward or roll back changes as a whole. In one implementation, a one-step API for replicating data in a database is provided.
US08078586B2
File data for an operating system may be stored in a compressed format in a re-programmable semiconductor memory. The memory may be provided with a header and data for one or more file systems all stored in a compressed format. A device driver also stored in the memory may be utilized to decompress the data and to convert it to a format suitable for a particular file system or operating system.
US08078585B2
A method and system for restoring a version of the data object from a continuous data protection (CDP) engine without being required to access the CDP engine via a separate CDP-specific interface. A data access request includes a data identifier and a metadata portion and is sent to a system layer, where the data identifier identifies a current version of a data object, and the metadata portion identifies a prior version of the data object to be retrieved specifically from the CDP engine. The prior version of the data object is retrieved from the CDP engine and returned for efficiently restoring the prior version of the data object.
US08078567B1
Provided are a system and method for condition based maintenance of electrical devices. In one example, the method includes receiving test data that represents an attribute of a tested electrical device. The received test data is classified as belonging to a client and added to a control set representing an aggregate of information from many clients. The received test data is processed using a sparse data process if the attribute is represented by two sets of test data, and is processed using an autoregressive process if the attribute is represented by three or more sets of test data. Both the sparse data process and the autoregressive process may use information from the client and the control set. A future value of the attribute is predicted based on the processing, and at least a representation of the future value is output.
US08078566B2
Methods and systems are described for simplifying a causal influence model that describes influence of parent nodes Xi (i=1, . . . , n) on possible states of the child node Y. The child node Y and each one of the parent nodes Xi (i=1, . . . , n) are assumed to be either a discrete Boolean node having states true and false, a discrete Ordinal node having a plurality of ordered states; and a Categorical node having a plurality of unordered states. The influence of each parent node Xi on the child node Y is assumed to be a promoting influence and an inhibiting influence. User interfaces are described that incorporate these specific node types.
US08078554B2
Knowledge-based interpretable predictive modeling is provided. Expert knowledge is used to seed training of a model by a machine. The expert knowledge may be incorporated as diagram information, which relates known causal relationships between predictive variables. A predictive model is trained. In one embodiment, the model operates even with a missing value for one or more variables by using the relationship between variables. For application, the model outputs a prediction, such as the likelihood of survival for two years of a lung cancer patient. A graphical representation of the model is also output. The graphical representation shows the variables and relationships between variables used to determine the prediction. The graphical representation is interpretable by a physician or other to assist in understanding.
US08078550B2
Methods and systems for maintaining objects using computer self-learning to determine which user interface (UI) screen to navigate to for correcting an inconsistent property of an object are presented. In an embodiment, a data class module is used by the computer system for accessing an object's properties. When the data class is called to store/update an object's properties, the data class determines which UI screen is active, and which of the properties of the data class is being stored/updated. The data class uses the UI screen and property to maintain a screen relationship table between an object's properties and which UI screen writes the object's properties. In an embodiment, the data class module contains a method for performing a consistency check by applying consistency rules to an object.
US08078549B2
A label and a method for providing a label to a user is described. The label may be a mailing label to be placed on letters or parcels. The label includes information such as postage, delivery address, return address, and a barcode for tracking delivery information. A user may request both a label and postage in what, to the user, appears to be a single computerized connection on a single internet web-page. A postage indicia is provided through a postage provider with whom the user has a deposit or credit. The label itself may be generated through a label-generating application hosted or generated by an entity separate from the postage provider.
US08078546B2
A method, system, and computer program product for assembling a project team is provided. In one embodiment potential team members, such as, for example, retirees from a company, with appropriate qualifications are notified of a project for which team members are needed. The potential team members are identified based on information contained in a database of potential team members. Along with the notification of the project, the potential team members receive a request for bids. The entity then receives a bid from a responding potential team member and compares the bid to bid acceptance criteria. If the bid meets bid acceptance criteria, a bid acceptance is sent to the responding potential team member and the responding potential team member is notified of other members of the project team.
US08078543B2
A method and system for preparing and managing real estate transfers and financing, including a system for preparation, production and storage of relevant documentation and the data contained therein; a system for coordinating, reconciling and transferring funds; and a system of analyzing and tracking the progress of numerous real estate transactions. The invention uses a database to minimize the redundancy involved in the preparation of all documentation needed for real estate closings. Information input into the database is used to generate the documentation necessary to complete real estate transfers, including all forms required by relevant financial institutions and government agencies. Such documentation includes handwritten signatures, which are digitally scanned and incorporated into the documents. Also, ancillary documentation can be scanned into the system and combined with other customer data and documentation. Thus a “closing package” can be compiled which contains electronic versions of virtually any document needed for closing a real estate transaction. Further included are scheduling features for coordinating one or many real estate transactions and management reporting for keeping track of a plurality of real estate transaction.
US08078542B2
A method, system and device for transferring rights adapted to be associated with items from a rights supplier to a rights consumer, including obtaining a set of rights associated with an item, the set of rights including meta-rights specifying derivable rights that can be derived from the meta-; determining whether the rights consumer is entitled to the derivable rights specified by the meta-rights; and deriving at least one right from the derivable rights, if the rights consumer is entitled to the derivable rights specified by the meta-rights, wherein the derived right includes at least one state variable based on the set of rights and used for determining a state of the derived right.
US08078538B1
A system for remotely authenticating credit card transactions of a consumer comprises at least one subsystem that alerts the consumer via a communication device of the consumer when a credit card transaction that meets certain criteria is being attempted on the consumer's credit card account. Also, a system for remotely authenticating credit card transactions of a consumer may comprise at least one subsystem that receives an authorization request from a merchant for completing the credit card transaction and at least one subsystem that disallows the transaction to complete if a response is received from the consumer rejecting the transaction. The communication device may be a cell phone, computer, PDA, land line telephone, or any other communication device.
US08078531B2
This document describes tools capable of auditing and/or determining reductions to card-issuer interchange fees charged for credit-card transactions. The tools may do so automatically and with user interaction for thousands or even millions of transactions.
US08078520B2
An educational tuition securities system is provided. An educational institution can securitize tuition or course credits into tuition shares. Tuition shares in an educational institution can be purchased for a student and redeemed for payment of tuition credits or education costs at the educational institution. Tuition shares for an educational institution can be traded for tuition shares of another institution. Redeemed tuition shares can be used to pay for undergraduate and graduate education costs, or could be redeemed for cash. The invention provides a mechanism for paying future education costs, as well as for investing in educational institutions.
US08078516B1
A method for managing financial data involves parsing a digital file to obtain metadata describing the digital file, where the digital file includes financial data. The method further involves importing the digital file to a financial management application, identifying a record in the financial management application that is associated with the digital file, based on metadata describing the digital file, and linking the digital file to the record in the financial management application.
US08078514B2
An information marketplace is provided in which information items are received from various sources. Each item and the item providers carry descriptors that identify various attributes of the information being provided and by whom it is being provided. Requests for information are received from information consumers that are also tagged with attributes describing the consumer and the information being requested. A subset of the information available in the marketplace is provided to the consumer based on a degree of match among the characteristics describing the information, the attributes associated with the provider of the information, and the attributes associated with the consumer without identifying the actionable investment opportunity to the information consumer or identifying the information consumer to the information provider.
US08078507B1
A method and a system for real time mobile electronic commerce transactions, utilizing smart wireless RF tags, a mobile communication device, and a central server. The method describes utilization of a ubiquitous mobile communication device such as cell phone, PDA, laptop computer and other stationary and mobile devices for enabling execution of electronic commerce transactions in conjunction with items, products and services that are identified by either embedded or attached smart wireless RF tags. The system describes the means for the individual mobile device user and or the store to conduct transactions seamlessly with a mobile device, a central server, a multi-channel multiplexing transmitter/receiver and smart wireless RF tags. The system provides information about prices and transactions involving products and services in real time over a wireless link and enables the user and the vendor to track transactions in real time for customer utility such as price comparison, real time execution of transactions utilizing the mobile device as a point of sale terminal; and further enables the vendor to manage inventory, supply chains, automated checkout, payment, loss prevention and security. The system further teaches a method for mobile commerce transaction in one or more languages utilizing smart wireless RF tagged items. Additionally, a method and system for enhancing the information contained within the smart wireless RF tags is described.
US08078506B1
A method for having a mobile price transaction system including comparisons. The system obtains information about prices and transactions involving products and services in real time over a wireless link. The actions include making a price comparison inquiry to a central server for the product, service, or price information. The inquiry is formatted in the central server for transmission to sources of the information such as vendors or their web sites. After receiving a response from the sources, the response is suitably formatted and is displayed on the mobile unit. The information will often be available locally on the central server, but the present invention includes commanding remote sources to provide an action such as a response, including a response at a desired time or for desired conditions.
US08078504B2
A method and system for providing order status information using an update status flag to receive status information pertaining to an order placed by a customer with a merchant. It is determined whether the received status information is new relative to further status information pertaining to the order stored within a status record. The status record is updated to include the received status information if the received status information is new. The updated message indicating the received status information is then composed and sent to the customer.
US08078492B2
A method, system, and program for providing consumer healthy habits incentives are provided. A consumable item, consumed by an individual, is detected. A health factor is detected for the consumable item. An electronic incentive is selected for the individual according to the health factor, such that the individual is encouraged to consume a healthy selection of consumable items. An electronic incentive may be further specified according to the individual health history, exercise history and consumption history of an individual.
US08078481B2
An automated benefit administration system and methods of use and doing business. The full system includes a wide range of features including application of business rules to enrollment, eligibility, and maintenance data input, making of business decisions based on the specific data entered, and issuing of notices based on business rule discrepancies including notices to third parties when deemed appropriate. The full system also is secure while providing remote access, including through the Internet, limits access based on user hierarchy, allows user customization of various features including communications vehicles (e-mail, letter correspondence, or facsimile) and of the format of certain communications, provides automatic enrollment in Cobra without re-entry of beneficiary data, accomplishes various types of financial reconciliation, accommodates differing organizational structures and groupings of entities, provides business rule over-ride capability for certain users, and provides robust information about carriers and their services.
US08078478B2
Various aspects of one or more methods, apparatuses and data processor program products capable of enabling management of data associated with an athleticism development program are disclosed herein. These various aspects include maintaining a database including subscriber performance data for a plurality of athleticism development program subscribers and facilitating preparation of a subscriber performance report for a specified one of the plurality of athleticism development program subscribers. The subscriber performance data is capable of enabling an attained standardized athleticism level to be determined for each one of the athleticism development program subscribers. The implementation of standardized athleticism levels is advantageous as it supports a measurable plan of progress for motivating a subscriber and trainer to meet their individual and mutual goals.
US08078474B2
In one embodiment, a method of signal processing including includes encoding a low-frequency portion of a speech signal into at least an encoded narrowband excitation signal and a plurality of narrowband filter parameters; and generating a highband excitation signal based on a narrowband excitation signal. The encoded narrowband excitation signal includes a time warping, and the method includes applying a time shift to a high-frequency portion of the speech signal based on the information related to the time warping. The method also includes encoding the time-shifted high-frequency portion of the speech signal into at least one (A) a plurality of highband filter parameters and (B) a plurality of high band gain factors.
US08078472B2
A method of remotely controlling operation of a controlled device involves receiving a telephone call from an owner via a telephone network; authenticating the telephone call to establish that the owner is authorized to control the controlled device; interpreting a voice command from the owner that issues instructions to the controlled device based on a list of available commands stored in a database along with an Internet Protocol address or URL registry that associates the controlled device with the owner; identifying the controlled device based upon the authentication and identification by the owner of the controlled device; converting the voice command to one or more data packets capable of interpretation by the controlled device to execute the command; and delivering the one or more data packets to the controlled device via the Internet.
US08078464B2
A method and system for determining the gender of a communicant in a communication is provided. According to the method, at least one aural segment corresponding to at least one word spoken by a communicant is identified. The aural segment is then analyzed by applying a gender detection model to the aural segment, and gender detection data is generated based on the application of the gender detection model.
US08078459B2
A method and device for updating statuses of synthesis filters are provided. The method includes: exciting a synthesis filter corresponding to a first encoding rate by using an excitation signal of the first encoding rate, outputting reconstructed signal information, and updating status information of the synthesis filter and a synthesis filter corresponding to a second encoding rate. In the present disclosure, the status of the synthesis filter corresponding to the current rate and the statuses of the synthesis filters at other rates are updated. Thus, synchronization between the statuses of the synthesis filters corresponding to different rates at the encoding terminal may be realized, thereby facilitating the consistency of the reconstructed signals of the encoding and decoding terminals when the encoding rate is switched, and improving the quality of the reconstructed signal of the decoding terminal.
US08078455B2
An apparatus, method, and medium for distinguishing a vocal sound. The apparatus includes: a framing unit dividing an input signal into frames, each frame having a predetermined length; a pitch extracting unit determining whether each frame is a voiced frame or an unvoiced frame and extracting a pitch contour from the voiced and unvoiced frames; a zero-cross rate calculator respectively calculating a zero-cross rate for each frame; a parameter calculator calculating parameters including a time length ratio of the voiced frame and the unvoiced frame determined by the pitch extracting unit, statistical information of the pitch contour, and spectral characteristics; and a classifier inputting the zero-cross rates and the parameters output from the parameter calculator and determining whether the input signal is a vocal sound.
US08078454B2
Data compression and key word recognition may be provided. A first pass may walk a text string, generate terms, and calculate a hash value for each generated term. For each hash value, a hash bucket may be created where an associated occurrence count may be maintained. The hash buckets may be sorted by occurrence count and a few top buckets may be kept. Once those top buckets are known, a second pass may walk the text string, generate terms, and calculate a hash value for each term. If the hash values of terms match hash values of one of the kept buckets, then the term may be considered a frequent term. Consequently, the term may be added to a dictionary along with a corresponding frequency count. Then, the dictionary may be examined to remove terms that may not be frequent, but appeared due to hash collisions.
US08078451B2
A method for providing aligned editorial corrections to a database is discussed. The method includes receiving a first text in a language and organizing the first text into one or more sentences. The method further includes editing a copy of the first text to create a second text. The second text is in the language of the first text. The method further includes aligning the sentences of the first text with corresponding sentences of the second text storing the aligned sentences on a computer readable medium. A system for providing a data structure having aligned editorial corrections is also discussed. The system includes an alignment component for receiving a first text and organizing the first text into sentences. The system also includes a user interface configured to provide a second text, wherein the second text is an edited version of the first text in the language of the first text.
US08078450B2
A method and computer system for analyzing sentences of various languages and constructing a language-independent semantic structure are provided. On the basis of comprehensive knowledge about languages and semantics, exhaustive linguistic descriptions are created, and lexical, morphological, syntactic, and semantic analyses for one or more sentences of a natural or artificial language are performed. A computer system is also provided to implement, analyze and store various linguistic structures and to perform lexical, morphological, syntactic, and semantic analyses. As result, a generalized data structure, such as a semantic structure, is generated and used to describe the meaning of one or more sentences in language-independent form, applicable to automated abstracting, machine translation, control systems, Internet information retrieval, etc.
US08078448B1
Systems and methods for automated testing are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving an input during testing of an application on a first emulated device. The method further includes automatically creating from the input a test module configured to be executed on a second emulated device for testing of the application, wherein the first emulated device is different from the second emulated device. In one embodiment, the system includes a receiver configured to receive an input during testing of an application on a first emulated device. The system further includes a creation module in communication with the receiver and configured to automatically create from the input a test module configured to be executed on a second emulated device for testing of the application, wherein the first emulated device is different from the second emulated device.
US08078447B2
A method of estimating a Miller coefficient for an aggressor network and a victim network coupled by a coupling capacitor includes synthesizing a reduced order system from the aggressor network and the victim network, estimating an active area across the coupling capacitor for an aggressor induced noise signal based on the reduced order system, calculating an estimate of the Miller coefficient based on the active area of the aggressor induced noise signal, and outputting the calculated estimate of the Miller coefficient.
US08078443B2
A bill of material and a design layout are aligned to generate a configuration for a virtual vehicle. The bill of material includes a part number and usage associated with a part. The design layout includes a CAD model of the part. CAD models in vehicle position are generated from the design layout. Logical positions are identified based on the usage and the CAD models in vehicle position are associated with the logical positions. Feature conditions are applied to the CAD models in vehicle position representing content and position configuration.
US08078438B2
A method for simulating a thermal resistance value of a thermal test die is provided to estimate a relationship between the thermal resistance value of a heating block and the thermal resistance value of the thermal test die, and to find out a size of the heating block that matches an actual thermal situation of the thermal test die. In addition, after being tested by the heating block, the reliability of the testing result may be improved by verifying whether the relationship of a transient response of thermal resistance of the heating block and a steady-state response of thermal resistance of the thermal test die is within a range of a setting variation.
US08078437B2
Method is provided for simulating a physical process such as fluid flow in porous media by performing a fine-grid calculation of the process in a medium and re-using the fine grid solution in subsequent coarse-grid calculations. For fluid flow in subsurface formations, the method may be applied to optimize upscaled calculation grids formed from geologic models. The method decreases the cost of optimizing a grid to simulate a physical process that is mathematically described by the diffusion equation.
US08078430B2
A measurement device. The measurement device comprises a note control component, adapted to obtain and record a note that is input with respect to a measuring event of the measurement device; and a Central Processing Unit (CPU), adapted to link the note with the measuring event.
US08078429B2
The present invention discloses a plant diagnostic system for diagnosing a problem with the plant. The plant diagnostic system can include an agent-based plant diagnostic network that has an adaptive global agent located in a central facility, a plant expert agent located at the plant and a plurality of subsystem resident agents. Each of the subsystem resident agents can be assigned to a subsystem of the plant. A diagnosis agent can also be included, the diagnosis agent operable to be instructed by the adaptive global agent, transmitted to the plant expert agent, be received by the plant expert agent, transmitted by the plant expert agent back to the adaptive global agent and be received by the adaptive global agent.
US08078427B2
A data analysis method includes automatically generating a set of curve fits for a data set from a mass spectrometer. The set of curve fits includes a plurality of suggested curve fits, each associated with a curve fit equation type. For each suggested curve fit, a fit metric is generated that indicates how well the curve fit matches the data set. Thereafter, a user interface is displayed that includes a table of user selectable suggested curve fits for display. A default suggested curve fit having a highest fit metric is displayed. A user override selection may be received for displaying at least one of the suggested curve fits in the table. The set of suggested curve fits under consideration can be filtered to conform with user requirements.
US08078425B2
A device for detecting the angular position of a rotor of a polyphase rotary electrical machine contains a stator and a plurality of magnetic field sensors (200) delivering first signals (2001-2003) representing a magnetic field. The device includes means (201) for generating, from linear combinations of the first signals, first (2010) and second (2011) sinusoidal signals, phase-shifted by a determined value φ representing an angular position of the rotor, referred to as real. The device includes means for detecting a value for an angular position of the rotor referred to as estimated (221) by locking between the real and the estimated angular positions using a feedback loop known as a “tracking” loop (214-216, 215-207). The device may relate to a polyphase rotary electrical machine containing such a device.
US08078423B2
A computer terminal retrieves pin data related to respective pins of a plurality of Field Programmable Gate Array that are mounted on a board. The computer terminal retrieves setting data related to a connection check. Upon retrieving the pin data and the setting data, the computer terminal assigns, as data for the connection check to all the pins that can output data, unique data that is unique to each pin. The computer terminal generates input pin data and output pin data containing the unique data, stores therein the input pin data and the output pin data, and generates checking circuits that check connections between output pins and input pins. The computer terminal generates checking data based on the checking circuits.
US08078419B2
A method monitors a change in film thickness during polishing using an eddy current sensor. This method includes acquiring an output signal of the eddy current sensor as a correction signal value during water-polishing of a substrate, during dressing of the polishing pad, or during replacement of the polishing pad, calculating a correcting amount from a difference between the correction signal value and a predetermined correction reference value, calculating an actual measurement signal value by subtracting the correction amount from the output signal of the eddy current sensor when polishing a substrate having a conductive film, and monitoring a change in thickness of the conductive film during polishing by monitoring a change in the actual measurement signal value.
US08078413B2
A system for evaluating the leak tightness of a connector, or multiple connectors. The system uses an administrative server having a library of pressure and temperature information on various connectors, as well as the ability to report pressure and temperature data to a network as uncorrected and corrected responses. The system uses a data logger for recording pressure and temperature readings and also reporting corrected and uncorrected responses using one or more equations to shorten the test time by at least 50 percent or to about 5 minutes or less. The system uses a test pump for applying pressure to a connector to generate a corrected pressure which indicates leaks when the corrected pressure changes.
US08078410B2
Provided herein are systems and methods capable of detecting and discriminating and/or classifying hazardous biological agents or other hazardous agents. In one aspect, a system measures electromagnetic energy scattered by a material at the different polarizations states and wavelengths. The system then combines the measured electromagnetic wavelengths at the different polarization states and wavelengths into different combinations to produce input parameters for a classifier. The input parameters include both depolarization and wavelength-dependent elastic backscatter measurements of the material illuminated by transmitted electromagnetic energy. The combination of wavelength dependent depolarization measurements and wavelength dependent backscatter measurements provides a unique capability to classify (or discriminate) based on size, shape, and refractive index. The combined measurements provided in the input parameters increases the information available to the classifier to classify materials, enabling the classifier to classify a wider range of materials.
US08078407B1
The present invention describes a system and method of using individuals' behavioral and physiologic information to identify disease-influencing genes.
US08078403B2
A method, system and computer program product for determining permeability of an earth formation of a reservoir are disclosed. A method may include: providing formation testing data of the earth formation; defining layering of the earth formation; determining a geological model for each layer; modeling pressure transient in the earth formation by representing pressure transient within a layer using an analytical solution and representing pressure transient between two layers using a numerical solution, the analytical solution selected based on at least one of the respective geological model and data regarding a drilled well of the reservoir, and a parameter of the analytical solution and a parameter of the numerical solution being determined based on the formation testing data; and determining the permeability of the earth formation based on the pressure transient model.
US08078400B2
A navigation system is provided that includes a storage unit, a processing unit, and an optical output unit. The storage unit includes a first storage portion for storing type definition data for a plurality of object types, the type definition data defining a graphical representation of an object type in terms of at least one basic geometrical shape. A second storage portion includes object data for a plurality of objects, the object data for an object comprising object type data specifying an object type of the object and object position data specifying an object position of the object. To display an object having a specific object type, the processing unit reads the type definition data of the corresponding object type from the first storage portion and generates graphical representations of the basic geometrical shapes that constitute the object type on the optical output unit.
US08078386B2
A method of controlling fuel supplied to an engine is provided. In one example, a cylinder includes port and direct fuel injection. The method includes supplying a second fuel type from a second tank to the direct injector and supplying a first fuel type from a first tank to the port injector; and responsive to mis-fueling, supplying the first fuel type from the first tank to the direct injector. In response to receiving an indication of a mis-fuel, the direct fuel injector may be supplied with the second type of fuel from the second fuel storage tank. By supplying at least some fuel to the direct injector from a different source, fuel may be supplied to the DI fuel injector at various conditions to cool the DI fuel injector. In this way, overheating of the DI fuel injector may be reduced.
US08078382B2
The vehicle is kept at a standstill even when an operation for ending adaptive cruise control is performed while the adaptive cruise control is on and the vehicle stop-maintenance control is on. When a vehicle comes to a stop while the adaptive cruise control is on, vehicle stop-maintenance control, preferably using electronic brake control, is carried out. When an operation for ending the adaptive cruise control is performed by the driver during this state, only the adaptive cruise control ends while the vehicle stop-maintenance control remains active.
US08078380B2
An electronic throttle control system has a throttle valve to be operated by an electric motor, and an electronic control unit for calculating a target opening degree of the throttle valve depending on a first preset vehicle speed desired by a vehicle driver, so that a vehicle is controlled to automatically run at the preset vehicle speed. When an external module, for example, an ACC module, is added to the electronic throttle control system, and a second preset vehicle speed is inputted from the external module to the electronic control unit the electronic, the electronic control unit selects one of the first and second preset vehicle speeds, which is lower than the other. Then, the target opening degree of the throttle valve is calculated based on the selected preset vehicle speed.
US08078370B2
A hydraulic or pneumatic control device for an automated shift transmission including actuating devices with actuating cylinders (15, 16) having pressure spaces (19a, 19b; 20a, 20b). The pressure spaces (19a, 19b; 20a, 20b) of the actuating cylinders (15, 16) can be connected by a respective control valve (22a, 22b; 32a, 32b) to a pressure line (26), which can be selectively connected to or cut off from a main pressure line (8) by a main shut-off valve (45a). At least one additional main shut-off valve (45b) is arranged in parallel with the first main shut-off valve (45a) between the main pressure line (8) and the pressure line (26) to improve the control characteristics and increase the operational reliability.
US08078369B2
The invention relates to a method and a device for controlling a standstill circuit of an automatic transmission of the vehicle, comprising a decision unit for selection of the target gear, a low-speed monitoring unit and a standstill circuit, which, when the vehicle is standing still or when its speed falls below a predetermined limit speed, brings about or prepares the activation of a starting gear.The method and the device are intended to enable a vehicle to start up safely even under the influence of considerable tractive resistance. Furthermore, they should be characterized by solutions which are as simple, inexpensive and easy to implement as possible by way of available methods and devices. To this end, the low-speed monitoring unit reads data concerning at least one state of the vehicle and, if necessary, additional data, and, on the basis thereof, as a function of decision rules, renders the standstill circuit ineffective.
US08078364B2
A vehicle seat apparatus includes: a vehicle seat; a swiveling drive unit that swivels the vehicle seat between the frontward-oriented position in which the vehicle seat faces the front of a vehicle and at least one of the outward-oriented position in which the vehicle seat is oriented in the outward direction of the vehicle and the inward-oriented position in which the vehicle seat is oriented in the inward direction of the vehicle; a traveling route information obtainment unit that obtains information on a traveling route along which the vehicle travels; and a control unit that controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit based on the information obtained by the traveling route information obtainment unit.
US08078352B2
An electronic control unit (ECU) for a vehicle is disclosed. The subject ECU stores: vehicle ID; and first cross-check information different from the vehicle ID. The subject ECU acquires second cross-check information different from the vehicle ID. The second cross-check information is stored in an external ECU that is mounted in a same vehicle as the subject ECU is mounted. The subject ECU determines whether the first cross-check information matches the second cross-check information. Upon receiving an instruction for changing the vehicle ID, the subject ECU prohibits a change the vehicle ID if the first cross-check information matches the second cross-check information, and the subject ECU changes the vehicle ID if the first cross-check information does not match the second cross-check information.
US08078344B2
A display system and method for an aircraft displays, in real-time, the protected airspace associated with a CTL maneuver. The system processes aircraft approach category data and determines the protected airspace based at least in part on the processed aircraft approach category. An image representative of the determined protected airspace is displayed on the aircraft flight deck display system.
US08078330B2
Automatic energy management is provided, in even the most complex multi-building system. The necessity of a human operator for managing energy in a complex, multi-building system is reduced and even eliminated. Computer-based monitoring and computer-based recognition of adverse energy events (such as the approach of a new energy peak) is highly advantageous in energy management. Immediate automatic querying of energy users within a system of buildings for energy curtailment possibilities is provided. Such immediate, automatic querying may be answered by the energy users through artificial intelligence and/or neural network technology provided to or programmed into the energy users, and the queried energy users may respond in real-time. Those real-time computerized responses with energy curtailment possibilities may be received automatically by a data processing facility, and processed in real-time. Advantageously, the responses from queried energy users with energy curtailment possibilities may be automatically processed into a round-robin curtailment rotation which may be implemented by a computer-based control system. Thus, impact on occupants is minimized, and energy use and energy cost may be beneficially reduced in an intelligent, real-time manner. The invention also provides for early-recognition of impending adverse energy events, optimal response to a particular energy situation, real-time analysis of energy-related data, etc.
US08078327B2
An energy-saving or speed-increase control method for a hydraulic machine is disclosed in this invention, the characteristics of which includes a control plan to adjust pressure or flow amount of the machine for energy-saving or production efficiency increase; setting up working conditions as in input to said machine; inspection of working conditions and operational processes of the machine; updating demands in control plan based on the inspected working conditions and operational processes of a hydraulic machine; incorporating specific characteristics of individual elements in different working conditions and operational processes to coordinate with the control plan.
US08078318B2
An appliance control apparatus acquires, at intervals of predetermined time, a state data including values of operation states of respective appliances, stores the state data as one record in a memory, to store time-series records, classifies the records in the memory into a plurality of living situation groups by clustering the records, and calculates, for each living situation group, a barycenter of each operation state, determines, for a target state data, one of the living situation groups to which the target state data belongs, determines one of the operation states whose value in the target state data is larger than corresponding barycenter in the one of the living situation groups, and determines the barycenter as a recommended value, and controls the one of operation state to the recommended value when obtaining an acceptance instruction for the recommended value.
US08078310B2
A component crimping apparatus control method which enables a measuring tool to directly measure a temperature of a part pressed by a pressing head. The component crimping apparatus control method is applied to a component crimping apparatus which crimps a component onto a plate-shaped workpiece, and causes a measuring tool shaped identically as the workpiece to measure a temperature or a pressure of a pressed part in a pressing process of pressing a component onto the workpiece using a heated pressing head. The method includes acquiring information indicating whether or not the measuring tool is held in the component crimping apparatus, and, in the case where the information indicating that the measuring tool is held is acquired, positioning the measuring tool identically as the workpiece, and executing the pressing process on the component to be attached to the measuring tool after the positioning.
US08078306B2
An apparatus polishes an object material such as a film on a substrate. This apparatus includes a polishing table for holding a polishing pad having a polishing surface, a motor configured to drive the polishing table, a holding mechanism configured to hold a substrate having an object material to be polished and to press the substrate against the polishing surface, a dresser configured to dress the polishing surface, and a monitoring unit configured to monitor a removal amount of the object material. The monitoring unit is operable to calculate the removal amount of the object material using a model equation containing a variable representing an integrated value of a torque current of the motor when polishing the object material and a variable representing a cumulative operating time of the dresser.
US08078303B2
Electronic supervision may be provided. First, a stock number may be sent to a database server. The stock number may correspond to a product comprising, for example, an electrical cable. In response to sending the database server the stock number, specification information corresponding to the product may be received from a database stored on the database server. The specification information may comprise, for an electrical cable, a number of wires, a weight per thousand feet, and a diameter. Next, product production may be monitored to determine faults occurring during production. Monitoring the production may comprise displaying a data monitoring screen to production personnel. The data monitoring screen may provide data regarding the product and product comparison against a standard maintained within the database for the product. Fault data corresponding to the determined faults occurring during the production may be saved to the database.
US08078299B2
When a break in data is detected by a detection unit, an audio output stoppage command unit commands a digital audio processing device connected to an audio output unit to stop output of audio. A sampling frequency checking unit checks whether or not the sampling frequency of the audio data before the break, and the sampling frequency of the audio data after the break, are the same. When the sampling frequency checking unit detects that these sampling frequencies are the same, an audio output stoppage elimination command unit waits until a fixed time period has elapsed, and then returns the reading position upon the optical disk at which the reading unit reads in data to a position directly after the break, and also commands the digital audio processing device to eliminate the stoppage of output of audio.
US08078290B2
Systems and methods for controlling ambiance devices, or an embedded device, using a device style sheet are disclosed. Ambiance devices include devices used to control an environment in a room or area, such as a lighting device or a heating/cooling system. A device style sheet declaration is received, in one embodiment, at an ambiance device controller. The declaration comprises a scope selector that identifies a scope of a style to be applied, a property identifier that identifies a style property to be altered, and a property value that identifies a style property value to be applied. At least one ambiance device, within the scope identified by the scope selector, that is in electronic communication with the ambiance device controller is identified. A control signal for the ambiance device is formulated based on the property identifier and property value. The control signal is then transmitted to the ambiance device.
US08078288B2
A physiological power source is coupled to a signal coupler/decoupler through a conductive line. The signal coupler/decoupler includes a proximal signal port, connected to the physiological power source through the first conductive line, and separate distal signal ports. The signal coupler/decoupler combines signals flowing to the physiological power source through the distal signal ports and separates a signal flowing away from it through the proximal signal port.
US08078286B2
Methods and systems are provided for wirelessly powering a medical device in a living subject using external radiofrequency energy. A radiofrequency driving unit outside the subject irradiates the medical device. A passive antenna is positioned outside the subject, generally opposing the driving unit to redirect the field generally toward the device. The reradiating element increases uniformity of the electromagnetic field produced by the driving unit, which reduces local tissue heating in the subject and in personnel attending the subject.
US08078282B2
An implantable tissue growth stimulator is disclosed. The implantable tissue growth stimulator includes electronic circuitry to alter the voltage output by the stimulator. The implantable tissue growth stimulator may be controlled from an external device via wireless communication. The implantable tissue growth stimulator may be configured for use with an implant. In particular, the implantable tissue growth stimulator may be incorporated into an orthopaedic device such as a hip prosthesis. The implantable tissue growth stimulator may be used to stimulate bone growth.
US08078272B2
Detecting or validating signals such as cardiac beats can be performed in the presence of myopotential or other noise. An amplitude peak, which can be a candidate for a detected beat, can be used in a normalized or other weighted average, along with a preceding and subsequent sample. The weighted average is compared to a noise threshold. Based on the result, the amplitude peak is either deemed an actual beat (e.g., depolarization or repolarization), or noise. The described systems, devices, and methods can improve the accuracy of detecting an actual beat in the presence of noise, during normal sinus rhythm or during an arrhythmia such as ventricular fibrillation. This, in turn, improves the accuracy with which therapy is delivered or withheld by an implantable device.
US08078269B2
A sleep state measuring apparatus includes an autonomic nerve index obtaining unit that obtains a user's autonomic nerve index; and a sleep periodicity index calculating unit that calculates a sleep periodicity index based on a temporal change of the autonomic nerve index and a change in a user's sleeping cycle, wherein the sleep periodicity index indicates whether the user is sleeping or not according to a user's ideal sleeping cycle as an index, or a dominance index calculating unit that calculates a parasympathetic nerve dominance index which shows dominance of a parasympathetic nerve index included in the autonomic nerve index with respect to a sympathetic nerve index included in the autonomic nerve index for a user during sleep.
US08078266B2
Flow reduction hood systems are described which facilitate the visualization of tissue regions through a clear fluid. Such a system may include an imaging hood having one or more layers covering the distal opening and defines one or more apertures which control the infusion and controlled retention of the clearing fluid into the hood. In this manner, the amount of clearing fluid may be limited and the clarity of the imaging of the underlying tissue through the fluid within the hood may be maintained for relatively longer periods of time by inhibiting, delaying, or preventing the infusion of surrounding blood into the viewing field. The aperture size may be controlled to decrease or increase through selective inflation of the membrane or other mechanisms.
US08078262B2
The present invention relates to methods of passive infrared imaging and dynamic infrared imaging of a tumor or lesion (“DIR”) where multiple images are taken before, during and after heating or cooling the tumor or lesion. Patterns of intensity of infrared emission in the infrared image(s) are related to the level of vascularity or metabolic activity of the tumor or lesion, and are used to identify size and shape of the tumor or lesion. The patterns can also be used to determine whether Kaposi's sarcoma lesions, skin cancer lesions and melanomas are active or inactive. Changes in the patterns of infrared emission determined by comparing images taken before, during and after the onset of drug or radiation therapy, are used to assess efficacy of the therapy. The methods can also be used to study tissue affected by angiogenic diseases.
US08078245B2
A method and apparatus for measuring an apparent depth of a section of an animal body are disclosed. Light is focused concurrently to an extended focal region comprising a plurality or continuum of measurement locations. Light reflected by a refractive index interface coincident with one of the plurality of measurement locations is detected. Detected light signals are generated from light reflected from first and second interfaces respectively defining the section under investigation, so that the apparent positions of the interfaces may be derived. A confocal arrangement and an axicon element may be employed. Preferably, the section is the aqueous humor of an eye. From changes in its refractive index corresponding changes in glucose concentration in the aqueous humor and, in turn, in the bloodstream of a patient may be derived, offering a non-invasive monitoring means for diabetic patients. Other compounds and structures of the body may alternatively be investigated.
US08078237B2
A mobile phone holder with lateral connectors, especially for a mechanical vehicle, provided with a base (1) and a cover (4) and a slide (3), which is mounted slideably in the base and into which a mobile phone is inserted, the holder is provided with an unlocking module (2) with lateral buttons (15), which are connected to an eccentric wheel (17) and which, when pressed, unlock the mobile phone, wherein its slide (3) is provided with a power plug (9), mounted slideably in it, and having a casing (39) and pins (34), which are concurrently guided both along the guides (8) of the base (1) and the cover (4), the guides inclined towards the axis of the holder and along the guide (30) of the flat protrusion (29) of the holder (3), that is perpendicular to the holder axis, thus making the power plug (9) move perpendicularly to the A-A axis of the holder.
US08078221B2
A wireless, multi-modal access device and system adapted to integrate a number of communications networks operating in differing communication modes to facilitate transfer of communication links during a communication session to promote efficient use of the communication networks. The system includes a plurality of Universal Multi-Modal Access Devices UMMAD that are capable of operating at different frequencies and different protocols (TDMA, AMPS, CDMA, GSM, PCS etc) to communicate with any one of a number of Wide Bandwidth Gateways (WBG), which are each capable of communication using one or more of the protocols. The communication links may be switched from one WBG to another or from one protocol to another during a communication session to continue the session under the control of a Universal System Traffic Controller. Numerous other applications of the UMMADs for unique identification and e-commerce are disclosed.
US08078218B2
A method for identifying receipt of a message at a mobile terminal comprising a first body and a second body positionable between open and closed states includes receiving a message via a wireless communication, determining an open state of the mobile terminal, and selectively providing a notification indicating the receiving of the message based upon the open state of the mobile terminal.
US08078215B2
The design and use of a simplified, highly efficient, waveguide-based wireless distribution system are provided. A low-loss waveguide is used to transport wireless signals from a signal source or sources to one or more receiver locations. One or more adjustable signal coupling devices partially insert into the waveguide at predetermined locations along the length of the system to provide variable, controlled extraction of one or more wireless signals. Low-loss impedance matching circuitry is provided between the waveguide coupling devices and output connectors to maintain high system efficiency. The system offers the capability of supplying signals of high strength and high quality to a large number of receivers in a wide wireless coverage area via a plurality of signal radiators. Some embodiments of the system are readily adaptable for wireless distribution service in HVAC plenum spaces. A system that combines the functions of fire extinguishing and waveguide wireless distribution is also disclosed.
US08078209B2
A repeater receives and repeats, on a multi-site channel, a sequence of control and media transmissions included in a session, wherein the session has a plurality of participants. While repeating these transmissions, the repeater further detects, from at least one of the transmissions, a start of the session and a type of the session. Based on the type of the session, the repeater determines whether to perform an arbitration during the session to control access to the multi-site channel, and restricts each performed arbitration to only transmissions received from the participants to the session. In addition, after repeating at least one of the control transmissions, the repeater sets a hang time having a duration that is determined based on a type of the transmission preceding the setting of the hang time.
US08078208B2
An invention is disclosed whereby a wireless network node, equipped with two or more radio transceivers statically tuned to non-interfering frequency channels, can make decisions regarding which channel to use when communicating with a neighboring wireless node. A multi-radio unification protocol implemented in a wireless node coordinates the use of multiple wireless network interface cards and provides a virtual layer that hides the multiple physical network interfaces from higher layers of a node's network protocol stack. The invention is applicable to wireless networks generally, including those in which some nodes do not have multiple radios or do not recognize the multi-radio unification protocol. The invention makes possible simultaneous transmissions using available channels, thereby reducing interference and delay while increasing the overall capacity of the network.
US08078207B2
One exemplary embodiment is directed to a method of automatically maintaining a line-of-sight communication channel. The method comprises determining information about each communication resource that is accessible in a region through which a mobile system is moving. The method further comprises determining information about the mobile system. The method further comprises performing a line-of-sight (LOS) analysis for each of the communication resources based at least in part on a respective location and a respective elevation for the respective communication resource and the current location of the mobile system and a current elevation for the mobile system. The method further comprises determining if a new communication link should be established with at least one of the communication resources based at least on the LOS analyses that were performed and establishing the new communication link if it is determined that the new communication link should be established.
US08078203B2
A method, information processing system, and wireless communication system, that provide wireless messaging services to wireless devices. A wireless messaging request is received from a user of at least one wireless device (104). The wireless messaging request is associated with at least one recipient device. The wireless messaging request is analyzed in response to receiving the request. The wireless messaging request is determined to include at least one of recipient filtering criteria (206) and delivery criteria (208) in response to the analyzing. A wireless message associated with the wireless messaging request is transmitted to the at least one wireless device based on the at least one of recipient filtering criteria (206) and delivery criteria (208).
US08078202B1
A wireless handset is configured to send and receive messages and comprises a handset memory, a first user interface, a second user interface and a processor. A method to send and receive messages is disclosed. The method comprises storing a plurality of messages on the wireless handset, and receiving instructions that select at least two of the plurality of messages that have been stored on the wireless handset. The method then proceeds to identify a phone number associated with a particular recipient, and sends each of the selected plurality of messages stored on the wireless handset to the identified phone number associated with the particular recipient.
US08078197B2
In one embodiment, a mobile communication device is adapted to provide geography-enhanced blog search results. In response to a blog-search query entered by a user, the mobile communication device is adapted to determine a current geographical location for the mobile communication device and a home location for the user. The mobile communication device is further adapted to provide the current location and home location information along with the search query parameters to a search engine. The search engine is adapted to provide results corresponding to blog posts that satisfy the parameters of the search query, wherein the search results are ranked based on at least one of (a) the geographic proximity of a blog post subject to the current location and (b) the geographic proximity of a blog post author's home location to the user's home location.
US08078196B2
Methods, systems and computer program products for updating information for an identified location on a mobile device are provided. A broadcast advertising message is provided to a mobile device. The advertising message identifies a location and includes a dynamic field configured to provide updated information about the identified location. When the advertising message is activated by the mobile device, a current position of the mobile device is determined. The dynamic field of the advertising message is automatically populated based on the current position of the mobile device to provide updated information about the identified location.
US08078195B2
Techniques for use in a mobile device for obtaining location information with use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) involve receiving, through a user interface of the mobile device, a voice call request for establishing a voice call; and in response to receiving the voice call request: comparing a selected telephone number of the voice call request with one or more predetermined telephone numbers stored in memory of the mobile device; if the selected telephone number matches one of the predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory: prior to initiating the voice call, performing a GPS fix with the GPS system for obtaining the location information of the mobile device; if the selected telephone number fails to match one of the predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory: refraining from performing the GPS fix for obtaining the location information of the mobile device prior to establishing the voice call; and initiating the voice call from the mobile device via a wireless network.
US08078191B2
A network node provides presence updates to mobile users. The node reduces the amount of network traffic by eliminating the need for explicit messaging used to inform a user of presence updates. Additionally, the node reduces network traffic by consolidating presence updates, and sending the user only changed portions of the presence information.
US08078188B2
This disclosure describes audio mixing techniques that allow a user to select between two different audio signals for output in a perceptual foreground of a combined output. As an example, the two different signals may comprise a music audio and a phone call audio. In this case, the music audio and phone call audio may be initially combined such that the phone call is delivered in the perceptual foreground and the music audio is delivered in a perceptual background. However, a user is able to switch the music to the foreground and the phone call to the background by actuating a user input device. In this way, after receiving a telephone call, if a user wants to move the phone call into a perceptual background in favor of music in the foreground, the user is able to achieve this result, e.g., at the press of a button.
US08078184B2
A method, in a wireless communications device, for transitioning between communication states, the wireless communications device compliant for use in a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), the method comprising: checking for radio bearer mapping information for the communication state being transitioned to prior to sending an update message, where the transition between communication states is not a transition from a paging state to a bidirectional communication state using shared channels; and transitioning to the state to be transitioned to using the checked radio bearer mapping information for that state and sending the update message.
US08078166B2
The invention concerns a device (D) dedicated to controlling access of a terminal (UE), connected to a CS domain of a mobile network comprising a MSC center (VMSC) running CS communications, to a IMS network services of which its user is a subscriber. Said device (D) comprises: i) a GMSC module managing setup of communications to a terminal (UE) connected to the CS domain, ii) a MGCF module converting messages from the CS domain in accordance with a ISUP protocol into messages in accordance with a SIP protocol addressed to a S-CSCF module and inversely, iii) an I-CSCF initiating registration of terminals connected to the CS domain, with a S-CSCF module, and iv) a P-CSCF emulator (P1) and a user agent (UA1) responsible a) for co-operating together on behalf of the terminal (UE) to instruct an I-CSCF module to initiate the registration of a terminal with a S-CSCF module of the IMS network of which its user is a subscriber, b) when the user attempts via the terminal (UE) to set up a call, for sending said call, via the MGCF module, to the S-CSCF module with which it is registered, and c) upon reception of a request for setting up communication to the terminal, from the S-CSCF module of the TMS network of which its user is a subscriber, for instructing the GMSC module, via the MGCF module, to manage said setting up on the CS domain side.
US08078165B2
Information is received identifying a geographic location of an access point in a radio access network. Access information is assigned and communicated to the access point, and the access information and the geographic location information is communicated to an access terminal. The access terminal identifies the access point as a preferred access point, including its geographic location. The access terminal receives information identifying its own geographic location, and when the access terminal is near the access point, the access point is used to access the network. The access point receives information identifying its geographic location and communicates the geographic location information to a configuration server. The access point receives access information from the configuration server and provides access terminals access to the network using the access information.
US08078155B2
A group call conferencing system and method is disclosed wherein a call to a Virtual Home Phone (VHP) number is processed by a Virtual Home Phone Session Control Function (VHPSCF) to ring all family or group member mobile phones. Any family member can answer the call through a conference bridge set up by the VHPSCF and other family members can participate in the call before the call ends by connecting to the conference bridge.
US08078154B2
A caller information providing system and caller information transmitting method in a mobile radio communication network is disclosed. When a call comes in, the present invention provides a user at the terminating mobile station a picture information of a caller or caller information including a picture information, audio information, and/or character information of the caller.
US08078150B2
A system and method for using a wireless browser to send local information from a wireless handset to a Web server. A service request received from a handset user includes the type of local information needed to carry out the request as well as the URL address of the server. The handset confirms that the input is not a telephone number to be dialed. If the input is a telephone number, the browser is terminated and the number is dialed. Otherwise, the browser acquires the local information needed to carry out the request from the handset. The local information is appended to the URL address, which is extracted from the user input, and the browser is instructed to navigate to the URL address to provide the local information to the server.
US08078149B2
An advertising information display method obtains the terminal location information, which is transmitted from a mobile telephone device, a terminal, retail store location information, which is transmitted from a plurality of retail stores, and advertising information, selects the neighborhood advertising information, which should be transmitted to the mobile telephone device, based on the terminal location information and a plurality of retail store location information, associates the terminal ID with the neighborhood advertising information, transmits the neighborhood advertising information to the mobile telephone device, and displays, on the display of the mobile telephone device, the neighborhood advertising information.
US08078148B1
A method of accommodating legacy devices in which application memory is not able to operate fast enough to reliably receive data from a relay or other external device is disclosed. An application queue memory space is provided, either as a separate memory chip or as an area created and maintained by program code, to act as an intermediary between the slower application memory and the external device. This application queue memory space is preferably a transport stack.
US08078137B2
A telecommunications device includes a laptop computer having a telephony soft client that may run, for example, in a browser window. The telephony soft client includes a utility to allow it to determine the laptop's local external IP address and from it, the local country. The telephony soft client then performs a lookup of the local country's emergency telephone number, either from a local table or from a specially maintained remote database. The local emergency telephone number can then be displayed, or programmed to a “quick dial” key.
US08078134B2
A mobile terminal is provided including a display module, an acceleration sensor, and a controller. The display module is for displaying first content and second content. The acceleration sensor is for providing measurement data on a direction of gravitational acceleration. The controller is configured to display the first content and the second content in line vertically and to rotate the first content and the second content when the measurement data indicate that the mobile terminal has been rotated to a first position while uniformly maintaining a display direction of the display module. The controller is further configured to display the first content and the second content in line horizontally and to rotate the first content and the second content when the measurement data indicate that the mobile terminal has been rotated to a second position while uniformly maintaining the display direction of the display module.
US08078129B2
A method and apparatus for a tuner for adjusting the receiver bandwidth based on adjacent channel interference and group delay distortion.
US08078119B2
A front end circuit for coupling an antenna to a first radio frequency (RF) transceiver and a second RF transceiver is contemplated. The RF transceivers have a signal input, a signal output, a receive enable line and a transmit enable line. In addition to an antenna port, the front end circuit has a first power amplifier and a first low noise amplifier both coupled to first RF transceiver, and a second power amplifier and a second low noise amplifier both coupled to the second RF transceiver. The front end circuit includes a matching network that couples the power amplifiers and the low noise amplifiers, the various outputs and inputs thereof being common.
US08078109B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, for operation of concurrently coordinated microwave paths in coordinated frequency bands are described. In one aspect, a system includes a plurality of primary sites, each primary site including a transceiver portion configured to transmit to or receive from the transceiver portion of another primary site on a coordinated microwave path on a first frequency; a secondary site, the secondary site located in an optimized area, the secondary site including a transceiver portion, the transceiver portion of the secondary site configured to transmit to the transceiver portion of a primary site on a concurrently coordinated microwave path on the first frequency, where the optimized area is an area where interference caused by the secondary site to other transceivers that operate on a different coordinated microwave path on the first frequency is less than interference caused by a primary site to the other transceivers.
US08078102B2
Cable system with active RF device powered by RF energy converted to DC power, and associated method
A cable system comprises a main line carrying first RF signals for a plurality of subscribers, and a subscriber line coupled with the main line and carrying the first RF signals between the subscriber's facility and the main line and also carrying second RF signals that are different in frequency from the first RF signals. The system further comprises a rectifier/voltage multiplier connected to the subscriber line for converting AC energy in the second RF signals into DC current, and an active RF device powered by the DC current from the rectifier/voltage multiplier, the RF device being located along the subscriber line. The system can include a filter connected between the subscriber line and the rectifier/voltage multiplier for filtering the second RF signals. The rectifier/voltage multiplier can be located either inside or outside the subscriber's facility.
US08078101B2
A space-based component, such as a satellite, is configured to receive wireless communications from radiotelephones in a satellite footprint over an uplink satellite radiotelephone frequency, and to transmit wireless communications to the radiotelephones over a downlink radiotelephone frequency. An ancillary terrestrial network, that may include one or more ancillary terrestrial components, is configured to transmit wireless communications to, and receive wireless communications from, the radiotelephones over the uplink satellite radiotelephone frequency in a time-division duplex mode. An interference reducer is configured to reduce interference from the wireless communications that are received by the space-based component from the second radiotelephone and/or from the ancillary terrestrial network over the uplink satellite radiotelephone frequency, using the wireless communications that are transmitted by the ancillary terrestrial to, and/or received by the ancillary terrestrial network from, the second radiotelephone over the uplink satellite radiotelephone frequency.
US08078098B2
A multi-path data dissemination method for a magnetic diffusion wireless network and a system thereof overcome environmental interferences in wireless data transmissions. Each node of the network is provided for figuring out its good neighbors by broadcasting a good-neighbor exploratory message in a bootstrap process. Each node keeps a good-neighbor table containing nodes with a RSSI higher than a threshold of the good-neighbor table. A magnetic field of a magnetic diffusion (MD) dissemination method capable of determining a data dissemination path is created according to the good-neighbor tables to ensure that the data can be forwarded to a data sink successfully.
US08078095B2
A data communication system and a data communication method are provided. The data communication system comprises a bidirectional cable, an antenna, a receiving and a function circuit block. The bidirectional cable transfers data through a high and a low frequency band. The antenna is to receive and transfer the analog data signal through the high frequency band of the bidirectional cable. The receiving circuit block comprises a receiving module to receive the analog data signal from the high frequency band and converts the analog data signal into a digital data to a host and a first control signal processing module to couple a control signal to the low frequency band. The function circuit block comprises a second control signal processing module to decouple the control signal from the low frequency band and a function module to perform an adjustment on the data communication system according to the control signal.
US08078092B2
An apparatus (100) and method (400, 500) that controls the rate of movement of a fusing belt in a printing apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus can include a fusing belt (120) and at least one fusing belt support roller (131), where the fusing belt can be entrained on the fusing belt support roller. The fusing belt support roller can have an axis of rotation (135). The apparatus can include a pressure roller (132) that contacts the fusing belt to form a fusing nip (137). The pressure roller and the fusing belt can be configured to fuse an image on a media sheet (112) in the fusing nip. The apparatus can include a belt position changing mechanism (150) coupled to the fusing belt. The belt position changing mechanism can be configured to move the fusing belt axially relative to the fusing belt support roller axis of rotation. The apparatus can include a belt position changing control module (152) coupled to the belt position changing mechanism. The belt position changing control module can be configured to adaptively control a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt.
US08078091B2
An apparatus (100) and method (700) that controls fuser nip balance is disclosed. The apparatus can include a first fuser member (110) rotationally supported in the apparatus, a second fuser member (120) rotationally supported in the apparatus, and a rotatable cam mechanism (130) coupled to the second fuser member. The rotatable cam mechanism can be configured to provide variable pressure between the first fuser member and the second fuser member, The rotatable cam mechanism can include a cam rotational axis (135), a first cam end (131) at one end of the cam rotational axis, the first cam end including a first cam member (141) having a first cam profile perpendicular to the cam rotational axis, and a second cam end (132) at another end of the cam rotational axis, the second cam end including a second cam member (142) having a second cam profile perpendicular to the cam rotational axis, the second cam profile different from the first cam profile.
US08078090B2
A transfer device includes: a first transfer belt; a first and second roller on which the first transfer belt is wound; a second transfer belt which makes contact with the first transfer belt; a third roller on which the second transfer belt is wound, and which makes contact with the first roller via the first transfer belt and the second transfer belt; a fourth roller on which the second transfer belt is wound, and which makes contact with the second roller via the first transfer belt and the second transfer belt; a first drive force transmission mechanism which transmits a drive force to the first roller; and a second drive force transmission mechanism which transmits a drive force to the third roller.
US08078082B2
A method and apparatus for a modular printing system having individual units comprising input modules, transporter modules, marking engine modules, fuser modules and exit modules each with its own support structure and cabinet. The modular units have common matching interface configurations for paper feed and electrical connections so as to permit numerous combinations and variations of printing systems capable of monochrome, color, duplex, hybrid and simplex printing by modular interconnection as opposed to built-up systems.
US08078081B2
The present invention provides an image-forming device having a developer-carrying member, an image-carrying member, a belt, and a cleaning unit. The developer-carrying member has an outer surface including a thin layer forming region for carrying a thin layer of developer. The thin layer forming region has a first width in a widthwise direction. The thin layer forming region includes an effective image forming region used for forming an image on a recording medium. The image-carrying member has a surface on which an electrostatic latent image based on the image is formed and developed into a developer image by the developer carried on the effective image forming region. The belt is configured to circulate in a moving direction orthogonal to the widthwise direction and transfer the developer image onto the recording medium. The belt has an outer surface including a cleanable region having a second width in the widthwise direction. The cleaning unit cleans the developer on the cleanable region. The second width is greater than the first width. The cleanable region is placed with respect to the thin layer forming region so that each widthwise end of the second width is positioned outside of each widthwise end of the first width in the widthwise direction.
US08078079B2
A cartridge for containing toner material used in an image-forming device according to one example embodiment includes a developer roll, two J-seals that provide interfaces with the developer roll at the ends thereof, and an air duct that conducts airflow across the interfaces to cool the developer roll and seals. The air duct includes an elongated hollow body and a pair of nozzles in fluid communication with the hollow body. One of the nozzles is disposed at a distal end of the developer roll near one J-seal, and the other of the nozzles is disposed at a proximal end of the developer roll near the second J-seal.
US08078078B2
Based on whether image formation is to be performed on an one side or both sides of record paper, and on whether image data concerning image formation is image data of an one-sided document or image data of a double-sided document, it is judged whether a blank page or a blank sheet whose both sides are blank pages is included, and image formation is performed excluding said blank page or both sides of the blank sheet based on said judgment result.
US08078070B2
An image forming apparatus is provided that uses a table generated in advance to correct a gradation characteristic of an image to be formed when carrying out image forming using an image carrier. A patch is formed in an area where the image is not formed on the image carrier. A density of the patch formed on the image carrier is measured. The table is modified based on the density of the patch that has been measured. The patch is formed concurrently with image forming of the image on the image carrier.
US08078066B2
The present invention discloses an optical coherent receiver, and a frequency offset estimating apparatus and a frequency offset estimating method for use in the optical coherent receiver. The optical coherent receiver includes a front end processing section for changing an optical signal into a base band digital electric signal. The frequency offset estimating apparatus comprises a phase offset calculating section, for calculating a phase offset in said base band digital electric signal; a phase offset change calculating section, for calculating a change of said phase offset, namely a phase offset change, in accordance with the phase offset calculated by said phase offset calculating section; an ambiguity deciding section, for deciding whether there is ambiguity in said phase offset change calculated by said phase offset change calculating section, and outputting the phase offset change having no ambiguity; and a loop filtering section, for acquiring a weighted average of the phase offset change outputted by said ambiguity deciding section.
US08078057B2
In one aspect, a method for congestion avoidance in a passive optical network having an optical line terminal communicatively connected to a plurality of optical network termination devices is provided. A dynamic bandwidth allocation information is periodically requested from the optical network termination device and the optical line terminator receives the response to the request. An adjusted bandwidth allocation for the optical network termination device is determined by the optical line terminator. The optical line terminator determines a packet-drop command to be taken at the optical network termination device. The adjusted bandwidth allocation and the packet-drop command are sent to the optical network termination device.
US08078055B1
The present disclosure is directed to a passive optical avionics network system and method.A passive avionics network may comprise: (a) an optical line terminal (OLT); (b) at least one optical network unit (ONU); (c) a fiber optic bus operably coupling the OLT and the ONU; and (d) an avionics module operably coupled to the ONU.An integrated modular avionics (IMA) system may comprise: (a) a line-replaceable unit (LRU), the LRU comprising: (i) a processing unit; and (ii) an optical line terminal (OLT); (b) at least one optical network unit (ONU); (c) a fiber optic bus operably coupling the LRU and the ONU; and (d) an avionics module operably coupled to the ONU.A method for avionics network communication may comprise: (a) providing avionics data; (b) transmitting the avionics data via a fiber optic network; (c) receiving the avionics data; and (d) controlling functionality of an avionics module according to the avionics data.
US08078040B2
A heatable hose (1), in particular a respiration hose, having a flexible hose wall (4), shall guarantee through its design that a contact of the electric conductors or heating wires (14, 16) accommodated in the hose (1) and, thus, a short circuit, is excluded. For this purpose, the hose (1) is equipped with a plurality of reinforcing ribs (8, 12, 20, 22), each of which winds around the hose wall (4) in the manner of a helical line and which form together a multiple-threaded helical line, at least two reinforcing ribs (8, 12) being provided, each of which encloses a heating wire (14, 16) designed for heating the hose. Each heating wire (14, 16) is preferably a single-conductor wire.
US08078037B2
An information reproducing apparatus is provided with: a video operating device to set a video reproduction effect; a music operating device to set a music reproduction effect; an adding device for adding the video reproduction effect to the video image in accordance with an operation of the video operating device, and for adding the music reproduction effect to the music in accordance with an operation of the music operating device; a change operating device for changing a condition of the music operating device between a condition to set the music reproduction effect and a condition. to set the music reproduction effect and to set the video reproduction effect in linkage of the operation of the music operating device; and a controlling device for controlling the adding device to add the video reproduction effect to the video image in accordance with the operation of the music operating device.
US08078036B2
Digital marks are used to define segments that are sequenced in a custom content compilation that provides a virtual program. A system is configured to receive definitions of digital marks that locate segments within program content. The segments are scenes or other portions of programs that constitute less than the entirety of the program content. A series of digital marks are associated as being within a content compilation sequence. Playback of the virtual program entails sequential output of the segments corresponding to the digital marks. Alternative content includes user photos, video clips and audio clips. The virtual program may also be automatically built through access to user profile or related information.
US08078032B1
In an information processor having a function to check out a content to a portable device (6) such as a portable disc player, a content is recorded to a content data base (114) under the control of a content management program (111), and it is set under the control of a display/operation instruction program (112) whether the recorded content has to be checked out to the portable device (6). If a content is recorded in case it has been set that the content has to be checked out, the content having been recorded in the content data base (114) is checked out to the portable device (6).
US08078030B2
An optical fiber cable management panel is provided with slideable drawers and structure within the drawers for cable management and/or connection to other devices. Tray inserts drop into the drawers to provide the appropriate management and connection devices. A movable take-up mechanism manages the cable entering and exiting the drawers at side openings. Stackable pivoting storage trays on the tray insert include a detent arrangement for holding each tray in a pivoted access position. The tray inserts further include a front key, and a back tab mounting arrangement for mounting the tray inserts to the drawers, and side radius limiters including notches for extending over raised portions of the drawer. The take-up mechanism includes a U-shaped trough section and cable retention tabs. A control mechanism is provided for controlling movement of the take-up mechanism relative to the drawer.
US08078029B2
An optical fiber cable management panel includes drawer assemblies, each including a drawer slidable within a chassis. The drawer assemblies are secured together by a bracket that includes an interlock arrangement with the chassis. Such an interlock arrangement includes a non-threaded stud engaging a hole. Radius limiters may be part of the drawer assembly and include a cable entry aperture have a closed perimeter and a flared cable guide surface around most of, and preferably all of, the closed perimeter to allow for the entry of cables from all directions. A control mechanism controls movement of the radius limiter relative to the drawer assembly. The control mechanism includes a rotating member that has an axis of rotation transverse to the slidable motion of the radius limiter and normal to the radius limiter.
US08078028B2
Various embodiments of patch panel devices are enclosed. In some embodiments, signals received are in an electrical or optical form and converted to the other form. The converted signal is provided as an output signal. A version of the original input may also be provided as an input. A signal injector can inject a optical or electrical signal that is selectively injected into the output signals. Various embodiments also include sensor to detecting the connecting of an electrical or optical line.
US08078021B2
A waveguide connecting structure includes a light branching element (111) for branching light from an input optical waveguide (201) including one core into two branched light components having the same optical power and the same phase, and a twin-arm waveguide (113) including a pair of arm waveguides (113A, 113B) for outputting the light components branched by the light branching element to a slot waveguide (202) including two cores arranged in parallel at a narrow spacing. The pair of arm waveguides have cores formed in a cladding on a substrate and having a refractive index higher than that of the cladding, and are formed such that the spacing between them gradually narrows and becomes equal to the core spacing of the slot waveguide from the core input ends into which the branched light components enter toward the core output ends from which the light components are output to the slot waveguide.
US08078020B2
An apparatus comprising an optical-mode-converter structure. The optical-mode-converter structure includes a tapered optical core on a planar substrate, an optical cladding layer covering the tapered optical core and a mode-expanding layer. The mode-expanding layer covers the tapered optical core and is located in-between the tapered optical core and the optical cladding layer. The mode-expanding layer has a refractive index that is in-between a refractive index of the tapered optical core and a refractive index of the optical cladding layer.
US08078003B2
The present invention provides an image processing apparatus which acquires an image of quality desired for an object located in a biological body; sets up exposure values of a plurality of stages for an image pickup means; extracts the contour of an object in image signals output from the image pickup means; for the respective stages, generates first histograms for image signals before extraction and second histograms for image signals after extraction with a criterion representing the broadening of the distribution in the histograms set constant; calculates the amount of the kurtosis change between the first histograms and the second histograms; and selects, of the image signals after the extraction corresponding to the respective stages, an image signal after the extraction corresponding to one of the stages in which the amount of change is larger than a predetermined amount as an optimum image for an object.
US08077995B1
Systems and methods provide infrared camera techniques that may improve image quality or infrared camera performance over a range of varying conditions. For example, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a system is disclosed that transforms data provided by an infrared camera based upon environmental conditions at the time the data was obtained. As an example, the image quality provided by the infrared camera may be improved over a range of environmental conditions by the proper transformation of the data based upon the data and/or sensor information.
US08077994B2
Systems and methods to compress MQDF data are disclosed herein. A plurality of eigenvectors is identified. Each eigenvector in the plurality of eigenvectors can correspond to a pattern to be recognized. Each eigenvector in the plurality of eigenvectors can be split into sub-vectors. The sub-vectors can then be grouped into one or more groups according to a location of the sub-vectors within each of the eigenvectors. Each group can be associated with location data of the sub-vectors in the group. At least one group can be compressed according to a codebook. The codebook can be identifiable via the location data.
US08077990B2
A content compression/compression system and method are disclosed in which a pre-processing step is performed before any compression and a post-processing step is performed once a compressed piece of content is decompressed.
US08077989B1
An apparatus for encoding an image. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a hash function module for determining changes to a plurality of scan blocks of an image; an encoder module, coupled to the hash function module, for encoding each scan block in the plurality of scan blocks as layers of increasing quality; and selecting specific scan blocks having a specific quality layer for transmission in response to the hash function module change determination.
US08077975B2
Described is a bimodal data input technology by which handwriting recognition results are combined with speech recognition results to improve overall recognition accuracy. Handwriting data and speech data corresponding to mathematical symbols are received and processed (including being recognized) into respective graphs. A fusion mechanism uses the speech graph to enhance the handwriting graph, e.g., to better distinguish between similar handwritten symbols that are often misrecognized. The graphs include nodes representing symbols, and arcs between the nodes representing probability scores. When arcs in the first and second graphs are determined to match one another, such as aligned in time and associated with corresponding symbols, the probability score in the second graph for that arc is used to adjust the matching probability score in the first graph. Normalization and smoothing may be performed to correspond the graphs to one another and to control the influence of one graph on the other.
US08077973B2
A method of recognizing a handwritten word of cursive script includes providing a template of previously classified words, and optically reading a handwritten word so as to form an image representation thereof comprising a bit map of pixels. The external pixel contour of the bit map is extracted and the vertical peak and minima pixel extrema on upper and lower zones respectively of this external contour are detected. Feature vectors of the vertical peak and minima pixel extrema are determined and compared to the template so as to generate a match between the handwritten word and a previously classified word. A method for classifying an image representation of a handwritten word of cursive script is also provided. Also provided is an apparatus for recognizing a handwritten word of cursive script.
US08077971B2
This invention generates a digital document by applying character recognition to character images in a document image, and rendering the character recognition result on the document image in a transparent color. This digital document allows to specify a part corresponding to a search keyword on the document image upon conducting a search. When this digital document is generated, it includes a description required to use glyph data (font data) of a simple character shape commonly to a plurality of character types as font data used upon rendering the character recognition result. Therefore, even when the digital document needs to save font data, an increase in file size can be minimized. Also, by rendering using a simple character shape, the data size of the font data itself can be reduced.
US08077960B2
Methods for altering one or more parameters of a measurement system are provided. One method includes analyzing a sample using the system to generate values from classification channels of the system for a population of particles in the sample. The method also includes identifying a region in a classification space in which the values for the populations are located. In addition, the method includes determining an optimized classification region for the population using one or more properties of the region. The optimized classification region contains a predetermined percentage of the values for the population. The optimized classification region is used for classification of particles in additional samples.
US08077958B2
The present invention is a computer-aided pathological diagnosis method for the classification of cancer cells in a tissue specimen based on a digital cellular image of the tissue specimen. The method of the present invention includes the steps of, extracting the histological characteristic features of the cellular image using preprocessing algorithms having adaptive strategies to enhance the cellular image, declustering the extracted histological characteristic features of the cellular image to isolate the individual cells and the nuclei inside the cells, segmenting the declustered cellular image, labeling the segmented cellular image and classifying the cells in the labeled cellular image as cancer cells or non-cancer cells.
US08077957B2
The present invention is an image processing apparatus that reconstructs one frame of image data using block-level image data, including a unit that receives the block-level image data to which position information has been added, a unit that determines whether or not there was an error in the transmission of the received position information, a first storage area used for storing the block-level image data corresponding to the position information for which a transmission error did not occur, a second storage area used for storing the block-level image data corresponding to the position information for which a transmission error occurred, a unit that infers correct position information for the block-level image data stored in the second storage area based on the first storage area and the second storage area, and a unit that reconstructs the one frame of image data using the inferred position information.
US08077954B2
The present invention relates to a system and a method for processing an initial image of coronary arteries. In accordance with the proposed method, a healthy region and a stenosed region of said arteries are first demarcated in the initial image. A first intermediate image is obtained by generating a contour of said healthy region of said arteries by segmentation of said healthy region using a level set function. A second intermediate image obtained by performing edge detection on said stenosed region. The first and second intermediate images are then combined to obtain a composite image of a single connected component represented by a plane curve on said composite image.
US08077951B2
A method and system for employing signal-intensity data contained within areas of a scanned image of a chemical array corresponding to features and feature backgrounds in order to determine whether or not the features or feature backgrounds have non-uniform signal intensities and are thus outlier features and outlier feature backgrounds. A signal intensity variance model is provided to dynamically adjust to the signals read from the scanned image of the array. Calculated variance from measured values of the signal intensities and pixel distributions within a feature or feature background is compared to a maximum allowable variance calculated for the feature or feature background based on the dynamically adjusting signal intensity variance model. When the calculated variance (from the measured values) is less than or equal to the maximum allowable variance, the feature or feature background is considered to have acceptable signal-intensity uniformity. Otherwise, the feature or feature background is flagged as an outlier feature or outlier feature background.
US08077950B2
The present invention relates to methods for determining meniscal size and shape for use in designing therapies for the treatment of various joint diseases. The invention uses an image of a joint that is processed for analysis. Analysis can include, for example, generating a thickness map, a cartilage curve, or a point cloud. This information is used to determine the extent of the cartilage defect or damage and to design an appropriate therapy, including, for example, an implant. Adjustments to the designed therapy are made to account for the materials used.
US08077944B2
The invention relates to a device, a method and a computer program for evaluating images of the heart that have been captured by means of a medical imaging method. According to said method, at least two data records containing functional values, which describe the ventricular wall activity, are produced in a random format, are converted into a uniform format and the data records in the uniform format are compared with one another or calculated.
US08077939B2
Methods and apparatus for coding a visual representation of one or more plaque regions in a vessel are provided. The method includes segmenting the visual representation of the vessel to identify structures associated with the vessel, classifying at least one region in the vessel as a plaque region, displaying the at least one plaque region using a visual highlight selectively associated with the classification for the at least one plaque region, and shading the visual highlight based on a probability that the classification is correct.
US08077938B2
A computer implemented method for diffusion tensor visualization includes receiving diffusion weighted image slice data, segmenting a diffusion tensor field from the diffusion weighted image slice data to determine a three-dimensional triangular mesh, and determining a fractional anisotropy field and a principle diffusion direction field of the diffusion tensor field. The method includes determining a streamline through each surface point on a segmented surface of the diffusion tensor field according to the principle diffusion direction field, determining an oriented texture intensity for the surface points from corresponding streamlines, determining a surface color for the surface points by combining the oriented texture intensity, a color determined from the principle diffusion direction field, and a value of fractional anisotropy field at the surface points, and visualizing the surface points by rendering the surface points having the corresponding surface colors.
US08077918B2
The present invention pertains to geographical image processing of time-dependent imagery. Various assets acquired at different times are stored and processing according to acquisition date in order to generate one or more image tiles for a geographical region of interest. The different image tiles are sorted based on asset acquisition date. Multiple image tiles for the same region of interest may be available. In response to a user request for imagery as of a certain date, one or more image tiles associated with assets from prior to that date are used to generate a time-based geographical image for the user.
US08077913B2
In order to determine the actual position (A) of a geodetic measuring instrument (1) inside a dead range (T) wherein signals originating from a positioning system are shadowed, two reference structures (5) are detected from at least two known positions and the distances associated with the reference structures (5) are measured. Image information linked to said distance measurements is captured. Said information contains data on the arrangement of the reference structures (5). The actual position (1) can be derived from subsequent capture of the reference structures (5) from a position inside the dead range (T). Image processing methods are used advantageously to identify and measure the reference structures (5).
US08077909B2
An apparatus for testing infrared cameras includes: a cover plate which has a plurality of holes formed therethrough and arranged in line in a horizontal direction at a regular interval, the cover plate being adapted to emit an amount of infrared light; and an emission source which is disposed in parallel to and behind the cover plate as viewed from infrared cameras to be tested, the emission source being adapted to emit a different amount of infrared light when compared with the cover plate.
US08077908B2
The present invention relates to an image analysis method for analyzing an image. By inputting starting point coordinates and ending point coordinates of individual image blocks contained in the image, an image block arrangement table is created. The image is analyzed according to the image block arrangement table.
US08077899B2
An electronic device includes a housing, a uni-directional microphone, and a cover. The housing has a first acoustic opening and a second acoustic opening. The uni-directional microphone is disposed in the housing to receive external sound via the first acoustic opening and the second acoustic opening. The cover is disposed in the housing to cover the first acoustic opening, the second acoustic opening, and the unidirectional microphone. A process for mounting a microphone includes providing a first acoustic opening and a second acoustic opening on a housing, fixing a uni-directional microphone in the housing beside the first acoustic opening, and covering the first acoustic opening, the second acoustic opening, and the uni-directional microphone with a cover.
US08077893B2
The aim of the invention is to provide inter-channel level differences ICLD related to audio signals for hearing aids. This aim is achieved by a method for computing ICLD from a first and second audio source signals, the first source signal being wired with a first processing module and the second source signal being wired with a second processing module, the second processing module receiving wirelessly information from the first processing module, this method comprising the steps of: acquiring first samples of the first sound signal by the first processing module, defining a first time frame, converting the first time frame into first frequency bands and grouping them into two first frequency sub-bands, calculating a first power estimate of each first frequency sub-bands, encoding and transmitting same to the second processing module, acquiring second samples of the second sound signal by the second processing module,defining a second time frame comprising acquired samples, converting same into second frequency bands, grouping them into two second frequency sub-bands,calculating a second power estimate of each second frequency sub-bands, receiving and decoding the encoded first power estimates, computing for each frequency sub-band, an ICLD by subtracting the first decoded power estimates and the second power estimates.
US08077889B2
The present invention relates to a method for recording information in a hearing device and/or in a recording unit at least temporally operationally connected to the hearing device. The method consists in that a point in time of the recording and/or a recording frequency as well as the information to be recorded, as data and/or parameters and/or adjustments of the hearing device are adjusted freely or are programmable, respectively. Furthermore, a hearing device is described that is suitable to use the method. By the present invention, a multitude of the parameters being adjustable in a hearing device can be checked or surveyed all together or selectively in real, i.e. actually existing acoustic environments in order to optimally adjust or adapt the hearing device afterwards, that means after the analysis by the fitter, for example.
US08077887B2
There is provided an electrical connector especially suitable for a condenser microphone, which connector is, though being small in size, provided with an electromagnetic wave shielding unit that is capable of easily being installed in the connector and is equivalent to an EMI core. The electrical connector includes a cylindrical connector housing 10; a connector element 20; and a connection cable 30, and is configured so that the connector element 20 is supported on one end side of the connector housing 10, and the connection cable is drawn into the connector housing 10 through a cable insertion part 10b on the other end side of the connector housing 10 and thereby connected electrically to the connector element 20. In this electrical connector, a magnetic fluid 62, and a permanent magnet 61 for magnetically attracting the magnetic fluid 62 are housed in an excess space between the connector element 20 and the cable insertion part 10b in the connector housing 10.
US08077880B2
A combined multirate-based Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter equalization technique combines a low-order FIR equalization filter operating at a lower rate for equalization of a loudspeaker-room response at low frequencies, and a complementary low-order minimum-phase FIR equalization filter operating at a higher rate for equalization of the loudspeaker-room response at higher frequencies. The design of two complementary band filters for separately performing low and high frequency equalization, keeps the system delay at a minimum while maintaining excellent equalization performance. Splicing between the two equalization filters, for maintaining a flat magnitude response in the transition region of the two complementary filters, is done automatically through level adjustment of one equalization filter relative to the other. The present invention achieves excellent equalization at low filter orders and hence reduced computational complexity.
US08077875B2
An audio device includes a jack, a switch, an amplifier, an internal sound producer, and a determining circuit. The jack establishes a connection with an external sound producer. The switch is in an opened state when the connection is established, and in a closed state when the connection is open. The amplifier amplifies audio signals to amplified audio signals and sends the amplified audio signals to the switch. The determining circuit receives the amplified audio signals from the switch, and generates a high voltage to control the amplifier not to output the amplified audio signals to the internal sound producer when the switch is in the closed state, and generates a low voltage to control the amplifier to output the amplified audio signals to the internal sound producer. The determined circuit further filters out the amplified audio signals when the switch is in the opened state.
US08077872B2
A visual feedback system that activates a visual display when the sound pressure level from a headset attached to the system exceeds a preset level is provided, along with a method of using the same. The visual feedback system is interposed between the audio source and the headset and is either integral to a specific headset or coupleable to any of a variety of headsets. If a non-integral headset is used with the visual feedback system, the system is matched to the characteristics of the selected headset, for example using a selector switch or via a calibration process. During operation, the visual feedback system illuminates a display (e.g., an LED) whenever the sound pressure level from the attached headset exceeds the preset level. The visual feedback system can be implemented using analog or digital circuitry.
US08077868B2
In one embodiment, a mechanism for transport-safe codings for cryptographic use is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for transport-safe coding for cryptographic use includes converting an input data stream into index values associated with “n” printable characters, wherein “n” is a radix associated with a base-“n” coding scheme and a prime power less than 94, performing a cryptographic operation on the index values to encrypt the index values, and translating the encrypted values directly into an output data stream of printable characters associated with the encrypted values in a base-“n” coding scheme.
US08077866B2
A communication device having a private key and configured to implement an elliptic curve security mechanism for successful operation of which it: (a) receives a first value from another device, (b) computes a second value as the scalar multiplication of the first value with its private key and (c) returns that second value for use by the other device; the mechanism being such that the first value defines a pair of coordinates representing a first point and the second value defines a pair of coordinates representing a second point and being such that the first value is valid only if it lies on an elliptic curve of predefined form; the device being configured to implement the mechanism by the steps of: receiving data as the first value; making a first evaluation as to whether the first value is a singular point with respect to the elliptic curve; computing the second value as the scalar multiplication of the first value with the private key; making a second evaluation as to whether the second value lies on the elliptic curve; and returning the second value only if the first evaluation is false and the second evaluation is true.
US08077865B2
To play back a content while managing the right of use of the content, such as a total time of playback of the content, an electronic device stores right information in a right temporary storage unit 59 and judges whether or not use of the content is permitted, in a process of decoding a frame. Also, the electronic device updates the right information stored in the right temporary storage unit 59. When the frame to be played back is the one at a predetermined position in order, the electronic device stores the right information stored in the right temporary storage unit 59 into a storage area 20.
US08077859B1
A physical layer (PHY) device including i) an input configured to receive a first transmit signal transmitted from a remote device, and ii) an output configured to transmit a second transmit signal from the PHY device to the remote device. The second transmit signal causes interference in a receive signal at the input of the PHY device. The PHY device further including a selection module configured to select a first control signal to cancel the interference in the receive signal when the receive signal does not include the first transmit signal and a second control signal to cancel the interference in the receive signal when the receive signal includes the first transmit signal. The interference includes (i) an echo due to the second transmit signal or (ii) crosstalk due to a third transmit signal output by a local PHY device proximate to the PHY device.
US08077857B1
Disclosed herein are portable teleconferencing products that implement a doubletalk detector in a low frequency range or in a frequency range commensurate with the frequencies through which sound may be efficiently transferred between a speaker and a microphone through an enclosure. Also disclosed herein are teleconferencing systems that implement a secondary doubletalk detector, a non-presumptive doubletalk detector, a confirmatory doubletalk detector, and/or a false doubletalk detector, whereby echo cancellation coefficients may be better adapted after echo path changing events through the use of accelerated coefficient adaptation or half-duplex operation until adaptation is restored. Further disclosed herein are teleconferencing products that include more than one port for communicating with distant parties or a single party and a local source of audio material, whereby one distant party is prevented from being transmitted to it private audio from another party or another audio signal while permitting a local participant to hear the private audio. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims.
US08077855B2
A rich, robust fax addressing experience is provided for users. In some embodiments, multiple different ways of addressing a fax and related functionality are exposed to a user and work seamlessly together to give a compelling addressing experience. In some embodiments, a fax application can resolve recipient names and/or numbers. Additionally, a user can type in a fax number and have that number resolved as a valid number. Further, some embodiments can provide a user interface that is designed to help a user compose a fax number, thus ensuring that the number is in the proper format. In some embodiments, the fax application can allow the user to choose from among a number of different address books and then employ the chosen address book in the fax addressing experience.
US08077847B2
A method for converting a first time and a first date in a first format to a second time in a second format includes determining a number of seconds that have elapsed between a predetermined date and a beginning of a current year of the first date. The method further includes adding to the determined number of seconds, a calculated number of seconds calculated from the beginning of the current year to a current month and a current day of the first date to obtain a first sum. The first sum varies based on whether the current month is within a leap year and is subsequent to a leap day of the leap year. A number of seconds that have elapsed between a beginning of the current day of the first date and the first time is added to the first sum. Lastly, a predetermined number of seconds is added to the first sum when Daylight Savings Time is in effect to obtain the second time in the second format.
US08077842B2
A method for providing communication service includes determining that a call was not answered by an intended recipient of the call and determining a due date associated with the call. The method also includes communicating the due date to the intended recipient.
US08077832B2
Wireless telecommunications systems, methods and devices for processing voice data in connection with a wireless telecommunications system that includes a wireless remote device and a wireless recording device that are configured for communication with a network server. Methods include obtaining varying levels of consent from users of recording devices and/or remote devices. The recording device can access recording rules that cross-reference the consent information to determine whether to record the conversation if the recording statute indicates that such recording is lawful.
US08077828B2
When the same subject is to be imaged consecutively plural times, a radiation imaging device is controlled so as to change an imaging time interval between respective imagings according to a set imaging region of the subject. When a chest portion of a subject is to be imaged, a control section designates an image obtained at a second imaging as an image for diagnosis, image quality correction processing is not performed at a first imaging, and an imaging time interval is greatly reduced compared to when other regions are imaged, thereby reducing motion artifacts of an energy subtraction image. When regions other than a chest region are imaged, the control section designates an image obtained at a first imaging as an image for diagnosis, performs image quality correction processing at the first imaging, and an imaging time interval is increased compared to when the chest region is imaged.
US08077826B2
A CT scanner with scatter correction device and a method for scatter correction are provided. The method of correcting CT images from artifacts caused by scattered radiation comprises affixing to the non-rotating frame of the CT gantry a plurality of shields for shielding some of the CT detector elements from direct X ray radiation, while allowing scattered radiation to arrive at said shielded elements; measuring scatter signals from said shielded elements, indicative of scattered radiation intensity; and correcting for scatter by subtracting scatter intensity values estimated from said measured scatter signals from signals measured by unshielded detector elements.
US08077824B2
A nuclear reactor includes a reactor pressure vessel 12 and a core barrel 14, contained within the reactor pressure vessel 12. The reactor 10 further includes a single vertical support 16, for transmitting vertical load from the core barrel to the reactor pressure vessel. Further, lateral support means is provided at an elevation which is above that of the support 16 to provide lateral support to the core barrel 14. This arrangement will result in reduced stress arising from the temperature fluctuations.
US08077821B2
In accordance with a method and apparatus of the present invention, a timing recovery device is disclosed to include a timing correction module responsive to a sampled input signal and adapted to generate a time-corrected signal and to further include a linear predictor coupled to the timing correction module for filtering the time-corrected signal to generate a whitened output signal and to further include a timing update module responsive to the whitened output signal for updating at least one parameter in the timing correction module.
US08077819B2
A search engine selects initial coefficients for a receive equalizer. The search engine may be incorporated into a communication receiver that includes a decision feedback equalizer and clock and data recovery circuit. Here, the search engine may initialize various adaptation loops that may control the operation of, for example, a decision feedback equalizer, a clock and data recovery circuit and a continuous time filter. The receiver may include an analog-to-digital converter that is used to generate soft decision data for some of the adaptation loops.
US08077818B2
A radio receiver including a reception processing system that uses discrete-time frequency conversion to acquire a signal having a sampling rate corresponding to a local frequency, wherein the reception characteristic is improved when the reception processing system is applied to a system having a wide reception channel band. The radio receiver comprises an A/D converting part that quantizes a discrete-time analog signal to a digital value to output a received digital signal; a channel selection filtering part that uses a tap coefficient value to perform a digital filtering process of the received digital signal; and a frequency response characteristic correcting part that generates the tap coefficient in accordance with the sampling rate.
US08077816B2
A method of fast predictive automatic gain control is disclosed including estimating channel gain applied to a received signal, predicting channel gain at a subsequent time by applying temporal correlation statistics to the estimated channel gain, determining a predicted receiver gain which reduces variance between the predicted channel gain and a predetermined target power level, and applying the predicted receiver gain to the received signal. The method may include applying linear minimum mean-squared error prediction to the estimated channel gain. The method may include predicting error variance at the subsequent time by applying the temporal correlation statistics to the estimated channel gain and combining the predicted channel gain and the predicted error variance. The method may include estimating channel gain of known pilot symbols, estimating a temporal correlation function using the estimated channel gain, and determining predicted channel gain using the estimated channel gain and the estimated temporal correlation function.
US08077813B2
A decoding device may include a sequential convolutional code decoder, and a parallel convolutional code decoder. The decoding device may further include a controller for selectively processing a convolutionally encoded input signal via at least one of the sequential convolutional code decoder and the parallel convolutional code decoder. The selection of decoder may be based upon a signal-to-noise ratio or the passage of time, for example.
US08077811B2
For each of a plurality of control channels, a likelihood indicated by a state metric of each state at the last point which is obtained at the time of Viterbi decoding is obtained. This Viterbi decoding is not cut off and performed to convolutionally coded data of the corresponding control channel. The ranking of the likelihood is obtained as a possibility ranking SM0RANK indicating the possibility of the control channel to be a control channel for a particular receiving apparatus. From the plurality of control channels, the control channels with the possibility ranking SM0RANK more or equal to a predetermined threshold are selected as candidate channels. An output likelihood of each candidate channel which is obtained in the Viterbi decoding is normalized with a receiving intensity of the corresponding candidate channel to detect a candidate channel having the highest normalized output likelihood as the control channel for the receiving apparatus.
US08077805B1
A training signal is received, and a channel estimate matrix is determined based on the received training signal. The channel estimate matrix is partitioned into a plurality of block matrices, wherein at least one of the block matrices has at least one dimension greater than one. Additionally, a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) equalizer is calculated based on a block matrix inverse or pseudo-inverse of the partitioned channel estimate matrix, and the MIMO equalizer is applied to data signals.
US08077802B2
Device, system, and method of resource allocation in a wireless network. Embodiments include optimal space-frequency architectures for very high peak rates in wireless systems. For example, an apparatus for wireless communication in a power-limited, very wideband system includes a wireless communication device having a media access controller (MAC) and a physical layer (PHY) that are adapted for a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) communication scheme; a plurality of antennas, operationally coupled to said device, to send and receive wireless communication signals according to the MIMO-OFDMA communication scheme; and a resource allocator, to allocate transmission resources of the device into desired MIMO channels optimized according to at least one of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), bandwidth, number of users, and signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR).
US08077799B2
An apparatus comprising at least two controllers each providing control information for controlling phase or frequency of a digital signal, a combiner for combining control information from the at least two controllers to combined control information and a phase rotator for adjusting, by using phase rotation, one or more of the phase and the frequency of the digital signal on the basis of the combined control information.
US08077794B2
A reception device for use in a mobile communication system having a mobile station and a radio base station to which transmission diversity for transmitting transmission signals using a plurality of antennas is applied in a downlink to the mobile station, is disclosed. The reception device includes a presumed probability control unit that sets a presumed probability for use in an antenna verification process of estimating a phase of the transmission signals from the plurality of antennas according to information about a channel of signals transmitted in an uplink from the mobile station to the radio base station when a closed loop transmission diversity control is performed by controlling the phase of the transmission signals from the plurality of antennas according to feedback information noticed by the mobile station to transmit the transmission signals.
US08077783B2
Provided are a method and apparatus for detecting a transmission symbol using a lattice-reduction matrix in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system. The transmission symbol detection method includes: restoring an original transmission symbol from a reception signal received through the plurality of antennas; and obtaining at least one noise component included in the reception signal from a constellation changed due to applying the lattice-reduction matrix, exchanging a position of the at least one noise component under a predetermined condition which depends on a state of the restored transmission symbol, and processing the at least one noise component whose position is changed, together with the restored transmission symbol, thereby providing a soft output. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a performance gain in channel decoding.
US08077777B2
A video compressor has a real-time compression with a constant frame rate. The complexity in the compression of each frame is controlled to be smaller than a maximum value according to power management or compression time requirement. Delay jitter is eliminated. The present invention can be applied to MPEG-like video coding systems, such as H.264, MPEG4 and H.263.
US08077773B2
Systems and methods are presented for compressing digital video signals in a manner that prevents the creation of block artifacts and improves compression efficiency by the selective removal of data representing visually imperceptible or irrelevant detail. Bandwidth control is improved through prioritized removal of data exceeding permissible bandwidth limits. This provides a process by which a coupled compressor and de-compressor system can effect the transmission or storage of video at low bitrates with high perceptual quality of the decompressed video. In one embodiment, the low frequency components are removed from a video stream and either stored or transmitted in compressed format separate from the storage or transmission of the high frequency components of the video stream. Certain high frequency video stream details can be suppressed to further reduce bitrate.
US08077770B2
Methods and apparatus for reducing the bandwidth of modulation signals in a phase path of a polar modulation transmitter. An exemplary method includes generating a phase difference modulation signal for a phase path of a polar modulation transmitter, and filtering the phase difference modulation signal using a linear-phase filter. Filtering the phase difference modulation signal may be performed by first detecting samples in the phase difference modulation signal that have phase difference values in excess of a phase difference threshold and then filtering samples in the vicinity of the threshold-violating samples to remove the threshold-violating events. Alternatively, all samples may be filtered, i.e., without regard as to whether any given sample exceeds a phase difference threshold, to remove large phase difference changes in the phase difference modulation signal, or a combination of linear-phase and nonlinear filters may be used to remove the large phase difference changes.
US08077758B2
A spread spectrum communications system includes an antenna array for receiving different summations of desired and undesired signals, and receivers are coupled to the antenna array. Each receiver operates based upon a respective channel code for de-spreading the desired and undesired signals for determining at least one desired signal associated with the respective channel code, and for combining the at least one desired signal and the undesired signals after the de-spreading. A processor is coupled to the receivers for forming a mixing matrix based upon the combined signals from each receiver, with entries on a diagonal of the mixing matrix corresponding to the desired signals and entries adjacent the diagonal corresponding to the undesired signals. The processor also processes the mixing matrix so that a level of the desired signals increases and a level of the undesired signals decreases. A demodulator is coupled to the processor for demodulating at least one desired signal.
US08077757B2
Method for decoding a signal sent over a bandwidth-expanding communication system, where both channel estimation and signal detection are carried out on a set of samples generated by sampling the received signal at a sub-Nyquist rate, thus allowing for a significant reduction of the complexity of the sampling device of receivers using said method, as well as a significant reduction of their computational requirements.
US08077756B2
A disclosed signal transmitting method includes the steps of a) categorizing plural digital signals, obtained by performing A/D conversion on plural analog signals consecutively arranged in a time direction, into plural signal groups in an order starting from lower bits of the plural digital signals, b) performing code spreading on the plural digital signals by using a different spread frequency for each signal group and using different spread codes for each bit, c) multiplexing the spread digital signals, and d) transmitting the multiplexed plural digital signals.
US08077754B1
An apparatus for and method of controlling a remelting furnace comprising adjusting current supplied to an electrode based upon a predetermined pool power reference value and adjusting the electrode drive speed based upon the predetermined pool power reference value.
US08077747B2
An optical device includes an optical fiber having a core including multicomponent phosphate glasses, and a cladding surrounding the core, and a first fiber Bragg grating formed in a first portion of the core of the optical fiber and having an index modulation amplitude greater than 2×10−5.
US08077732B2
Techniques for inserting a network service in an Ethernet access network operated by an access service provider include sending routing data to customer premises equipment. The access network is between a physical layer link with customer premises equipment and a remote packet switched network. The routing data indicates a logical network address for an access gateway for access to the remote packet switched network, and a logical network address for an ancillary gateway for an ancillary service different from access to the remote packet-switched network. A data packet is received from customer premises equipment and it is determined whether a layer 2 destination address indicates the ancillary gateway. If so the data packet is directed to the ancillary gateway instead of the access gateway. Thus, the ancillary service is provided topologically closer to the customer premises equipment.
US08077712B2
In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining traffic that is to be forwarded to a neighboring device, and determining if the neighboring device is in a state that enables the neighboring device to receive the traffic. The method also includes automatically sending a first packet to the neighboring device if the neighboring device is not in the state that enables the neighboring device to receive the traffic. The first packet includes a bit sequence arranged to cause the neighboring device to awaken itself if the neighboring device is asleep.
US08077711B2
In a gateway, a packet received from a first network contains first address data conforming to the first network in the packet header and second address data conforming to a second network in an auxiliary header. The first address data of the packet is then rewritten with the second address data of the packet and transmitted from the gateway to the second network.
US08077705B2
Embodiments of the disclosed invention include a system and method for providing end to end quality of service for cellular voice traffic over a data network. For example, in one embodiment, the method includes tagging outgoing cellular traffic at a network interface device with a prioritization marking to produce prioritized data and transmitting the prioritized data directly to an access carrier network associated with providing an access line to the cellular network interface device. The method maintains, at the access carrier network, the prioritization marking of the outgoing cellular traffic for routing the outgoing cellular traffic through the access carrier network. The method hands off the prioritized data directly to a cellular service provider network associated with the cellular device via a directly connected network to network interface.
US08077704B2
A system and method enables Voice over IP (VoIP) session peering via Internet. A converged enterprise web server can receive a request from a caller to initiate a session, associate a Service Level Agreement (SLA) and address information of the caller with the request, and then provide the request to a receiver using a first communication protocol. After accepting from the receiver a response to the request if the caller is an allowed partner of the receiver based on the SLA, wherein the response is associated with address information of the receiver, the converged enterprise web server can establish the session between the caller and the receiver using a second communication protocol.
US08077702B2
By the present invention are disclosed a method for providing and a method for obtaining voice call related information from a first party device (100) to a second party device (200), prior to establishing a voice call between the first party device (100) and the second party device (200). Portable communication devices (100, 200, 500) for providing and obtaining of voice call related information also disclosed. The methods comprises sending/obtaining in real time the voice call related information (steps 304, 402) from the first party device (100) to the second party device (200) over a packet switched network, and sending/obtaining a call setup message (steps 308, 410) over a circuit switched network, of the voice call from the first party device (100), so that the voice call related information can be presented to a user of the second party device (200) before responding to the call setup message.
US08077700B2
Techniques for dynamically adjusting volume during a call are provided. A gateway is provided that allows a call between a first device and a second device. The call may be routed through a first network and a second network. The first network may be PSTN network and the second network may be a VOIP network. An indication may be received at the gateway that indicates a call characteristic should be adjusted for the call. For example, the indication may indicate the volume or echo should be adjusted. The gateway may then adjust the volume or eliminate echo during the call based on the indication. The adjustment is affected during the call at the first device and the second device. For example, the gateway may dynamically adjust the gain for the call resulting in a change in the call characteristic.
US08077694B2
A wireless communication system (100), method, and site controller (112) schedule at least one of transmission and reception of wireless data by at least one wireless communication device. A distance is determined between at least one wireless communication device (104) and a base station (108) in a wireless communication cell (402). At least one of a downlink subframe (610) and an uplink subframe (614) of a time division duplexing frame (602) is segmented into a plurality of segments. The at least one wireless communication device (104) is scheduled into at least one of the plurality of segments of the downlink subframe (610) and the uplink subframe (614) based on the distance determined between the at least one wireless communication device (104) and the base station (108).
US08077690B2
A method for assigning resources to frequency selective (FS) and frequency non-selective (FNS) users, for example, in an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless communication system, including assigning a first frequency resource to at least one FS user during a time interval, wherein the first frequency resource includes at least two near contiguous sub-carriers, and assigning a second frequency resource to at least one FNS user during the same time interval, the second frequency resource includes for each FNS user at least two non-contiguous sub-carriers, wherein the first and second frequency resources are part of a common frequency channel.
US08077670B2
Disclosed herein are methods, computer program instructions and apparatus for performing random access procedures in a wireless communication system. A method includes receiving at a network access node, in different time and frequency resources that are allocated for preamble transmission, and in different ones of a plurality of component carriers, a plurality of random access requests from individual ones of a plurality of user equipments; and transmitting a corresponding plurality of random access responses in a time and frequency resource of a single component carrier.
US08077669B2
A method for communicating information is disclosed and includes, in a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication system utilizing a plurality of modulation types and a plurality of spatial streams, determining an aggregate noise characteristic based upon a noise characteristic of each of the plurality of spatial streams. A receiver may be configured to receive subsequent data based on one or both of: a current modulation type for modulating a current spatial stream and at least one subsequent modulation type for modulating at least one subsequent spatial stream. The current modulation type and the at least one subsequent modulation type may be based on the determined aggregate noise characteristic. A constellation field may be encoded to uniquely identify a combination comprising the current modulation type, and the at least one subsequent modulation type.
US08077665B2
A contention window for allocating bandwidth in a wireless network is determined. A plurality of nodes includes at least a first and a second router and at least one client connected to each of the first and second routers. Information is received at the first router from the other nodes, the information relating to the condition of the other nodes. A contention window is calculated for the first router based on the received information and the delay is set for a retransmission of data by the first router to the calculated contention window following an unsuccessful transmission of the data.
US08077658B2
A packet forwarding technique is presented that forwards data packets through a multi-hop wireless network employing multi-radio nodes. In each multi-radio node, an output buffer is shared among the radios. Outgoing packets are stored in this buffer. Whenever there is a transmission opportunity on the radios sharing the output buffer, the node examines the buffer and searches for packets that are scheduled to be transmitted to a neighboring node having an open communication link with the transmitting node. The packet in the discovered group that has the highest transmission priority is then transmitted to its next scheduled node.
US08077655B2
In a data communication system capable of variable rate transmission, high rate packet data transmission improves utilization of the forward link and decreases the transmission delay. Data transmission on the forward link is time multiplexed and the base station transmits at the highest data rate supported by the forward link at each time slot to one mobile station. The data rate is determined by the largest C/I measurement of the forward link signals as measured at the mobile station. Upon determination of a data packet received in error, the mobile station transmits a NACK message back to the base station. The NACK message results in retransmission of the data packet received in error. The data packets can be transmitted out of sequence by the use of sequence number to identify each data unit within the data packets.
US08077650B2
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for announcing a call to an access terminal in a wireless communications system. Receiving, at an access network, a request to call a given access terminal and determining whether a cluster to which the given access terminal belongs is known at the access network by querying a location database. The location database includes a list of access terminals and clusters, which themselves include sectors of the wireless communications system. Thereafter, transmitting an announce message announcing the requested call to the given access terminal based on the determination of whether the cluster is known to the access network.
US08077649B2
A method for indicating a structure of control information for a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) is provided. The method comprises separating a multicast control channel (MCCH) of an MBMS transmission into a first portion and a second portion and arranging the separated MCCH into either a first structure wherein the first portion includes at least one pointer to a location of the second structure, or a second structure wherein the first portion directly includes the second portion. The method further includes including in a downlink transmission an indicator to indicate which of the first structure and the second structure is used.
US08077643B2
A method for synchronizing audio signals of a communication device includes determining whether a downlink thread or a uplink thread is running, pausing the downlink thread or the uplink thread, and executing the downlink thread or the uplink thread by directing a scheduler. A system and storage medium with instructions for performance of the system also provided.
US08077641B2
After an initial training session, a “Dynamic Echo Canceller” (DEC) provides echo cancellation where only access to an input signal and a composite output signal are available, and the input signal is subjected to an unknown variable gain function. In one embodiment, the DEC uses echo cancellation to provide a “clean” copy of a second input signal where only a first input signal and a composite of the first and second input signal is available. An example is a “black box” amplifier coupled to a microphone and a phone line, with access to only the microphone input and a combined output signal where it is desired to retrieve a clean copy of a remote caller signal from the combined output. The DEC is applicable to many fields, including: signal separation; cancellation of echoes caused by impedance mismatches, periodic electrical noise, acoustic echoes caused by acoustic coupling, etc.
US08077639B2
A signal routing assembly accepts a first transmission signal at an input and outputs a substantial portion of the signal at a common port of the signal routing assembly. A second transmission signal is received at the common port and is routed through the signal routing assembly delivered to output of the signal routing assembly. Leakage signals from routing devices leaking the first transmission signal are terminated inside the signal routing assembly. Leakage signal from a divider/combiner are cancelled by reflect signal from at least one reflector device. A transmitter produces the first transmission signal and the signal routing assembly delivers this signal to the common port of the signal routing assembly. In full duplex operation, second transmission signals received at the common port are routed to the output to be applied to a receiver.
US08077619B2
A method and nodes for aggregating data traffic over an access domain between service providers and user domains. An access edge node is introduced in the access domain between service providers and user domains. The access edge node hosts service agents, each service agent controlling a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) over the access domain for one of the service providers. The access edge node verifies whether a service agent, corresponding to the service provider identified in a received service request, exists. If so, the user domain is added to the VLAN corresponding to the requested service provider by creating a service binding at the access edge node. An access node providing access to the access domain to the user domain is informed of the service binding. Data traffic between the user domain and the identified service provider is aggregated over the access domain according to the created service binding.
US08077618B2
Schedules may use burst tolerance values to adjust the scheduling in a time-based schedule, such as, but not limited to, adjusting for accumulated but not used bandwidth, and/or adjusting eligibility of schedule entries. A best schedule item associated with an eligible schedule entry of a schedule is identified. Whether or not a particular schedule entry is eligible is typically determined based on the relationship of an associated timestamp with a current scheduling time, such as its timestamp being less than or equal to the current time. A burst tolerance time bound might also be used to allow certain priorities and/or types of items to be considered eligible if even its timestamp exceeds the current time by an amount, but less than or equal to the burst tolerance time bound. When a schedule entry which has been dormant becomes active, its one or more timestamps are typically initialized, which may include setting at least one of these timestamps behind current time by a wakeup burst tolerance value to guarantee its immediate eligibility for one or more consecutive scheduling iterations.
US08077604B1
Methods and apparatus for providing a device for forwarding packets in a network are disclosed. A first router and a second router having a shared set of interfaces are provided, enabling the first router and the second router to share forwarding data for forwarding packets on the shared set of interfaces.
US08077588B2
A driving apparatus is provided with: a stage structure on which a medium having a small recording domain is mounted; and a facing structure which is provided with at least one small action structure, which faces the medium, for performing a predetermined action to the medium, and which is displaced relatively on a predetermined flat surface with respect to the stage structure, the facing structure comprising a facing-side position detecting unit for detecting a relative reference position of the facing structure with respect to the stage structure, the stage structure comprising a stage-side position detecting unit for detecting a relative reference position of the facing structure with respect to the stage structure.
US08077583B2
An optical system for use in an optical pickup apparatus comprises a first optical surface having a superposition type diffractive structure including a plurality of ring-shaped zones which are formed concentrically around an optical axis, wherein each ring-shaped zone is composed of a plurality of stepped sections stepwise, and a second optical surface having a diffractive structure including a plurality of ring-shaped zones which are formed concentrically around an optical axis, wherein each of the plurality of ring-shaped zones are divided by a stepped section to generate a diffractive light ray of diffractive order whose absolute value is not small than 1 for the light flux.
US08077576B2
A recording/reproducing apparatus is disclosed that includes a spindle motor unit including a spindle on which a flexible recording disk is placed, a stabilizer plate disposed so as to face the recording disk, a torque detection unit configured to detect a drive torque applied to the spindle motor unit, an adjustment unit configured to adjust a gap between the recording disk and the stabilizer plate, and a determination unit configured to determine an optimal gap to be set to the gap based on the drive torque detected by the torque detection unit, in which the adjustment unit sets the optimum gap determined by the determination unit to the gap.
US08077556B2
A thermally assisted magnetic head has a medium-facing surface facing a magnetic recording medium; a near-field light generator disposed on a light exit face in the medium-facing surface; a magnetic recording element located adjacent to the near-field light generator; and a light emitting element disposed so that emitted light thereof reaches the near-field light generator; the near-field light generator is comprised of a cusp portion and a base portion; when λin represents a wavelength of the emitted light from the light emitting element immediately before the emitted light reaches the near-field light generator, an intensity of near-field light generated when the material forming the cusp portion is irradiated with the light of the wavelength λin is stronger than an intensity of near-field light generated when the material forming the base portion is irradiated with the light of the wavelength λin.
US08077551B2
A time adjustment device having a time information generating unit that produces time information and outputs the generated time information; a reception unit that receives satellite signals transmitted sequentially from a positioning information satellite in subframe information units where a plurality of subframe information units each containing satellite-time-related information and at least one subframe information unit containing satellite health information is a unit, the satellite-time-related information is the time-related information of the positioning information satellite, and the satellite health information denotes an operating condition of the positioning information satellite; an external input unit that outputs command information instructing the reception unit to receive in response to external input; a reception timing configuration unit that sets the start time of reception by the reception unit so that the satellite signal is received immediately or at a predetermined timing based on command information from the external input unit; and a time adjustment information storage unit that stores the satellite-time-related information of the satellite signal received by the reception unit as time adjustment information. The generated time information is corrected based on the time adjustment information, and reception by the reception unit starts when the start timing comes.
US08077549B2
Frontal sonar for observing the seafloor, characterized in that it includes: elements for insonifying a seafloor area divided into M sectors, able to perform a characteristic insonification of each sector of the area during an operation recurrence of the sonar; and receiving elements including a physical antenna consisting of an array of K transducers, the antenna being lacunar and thus ambiguous, so that it defines N image lobes, and in that each of the characteristically insonified sector is associated with a single image lobe defined by the antenna, so that the antenna ambiguity is removed.
US08077545B2
A method for identifying gas in a wellbore includes imparting acoustic energy into the wellbore at a first selected position and detecting the acoustic energy at a second position in the wellbore spaced apart from the first position. Acoustic velocity of fluid in the wellbore from the detected acoustic energy. Presence of gas in the fluid is determined from the velocity.
US08077541B2
To test a seismic sensor, an output of the seismic sensor in response to a test signal applied by a signal generator is measured. According to a first function that corresponds to a reference response of the seismic sensor and according to a second function that corresponds to a signal containing noise in an environment of the seismic sensor, a filter is created to perform attenuation of the noise. The filter is applied to attenuate noise during testing of the seismic sensor.
US08077538B2
Address decoders and access line drivers are provided. One such row decoder and access line driver receives power supply voltages in a manner that prevents CHC damage and avoids GIDL currents in transistors in the decoder and driver. The row decoder and a latch in the driver are powered by a first supply voltage, and an output stage in the access line driver is powered by a second supply voltage. The first and second supply voltages are maintained at a relatively low level during standby before an address is decoded. Only after an address is decoded to set the latch are the supply voltages increased to levels needed to drive the access line. Further, before resetting the latch, the first and power supply voltages are decreased to their standby levels. By maintaining the first and second voltages relatively low until after the latch is set and reset, GIDL currents may be avoided and CHC damage may be prevented.
US08077535B2
A system and method are provided. The system and method simulate a DRAM memory circuit using an interface circuit connected to a plurality of other DRAM memory circuits. In response to the receipt of a refresh control signal, a first refresh control signal is sent to a first subset of the plurality of other DRAM memory circuits and a second refresh control signal is sent to a second subset of the plurality of other DRAM memory circuits.
US08077533B2
In a memory (100), a local data line pair (116, 118) is precharged to a first logic state and a global data line pair (101, 104) is precharged to a second logic state. A selected memory cell is coupled to the local data line pair (116, 118) to develop a differential local data line voltage. The differential local data line voltage is subsequently amplified to form an amplified differential local data line voltage. A selected one of the global data line pair (101, 104) is driven to the first logic state in response to the amplified differential local data line voltage to form a differential global data line voltage.
US08077526B1
An integrated circuit device having configurable resources is configured as a memory controller that includes a plurality of bi-directional pins, an input buffer circuit that is operable to receive SSTL-compliant input and an output buffer that is operable to generate SSTL-compliant output. The input buffer circuit includes a first single-ended buffer coupled to a first voltage source and to a ground voltage. The first single-ended buffer has an input coupled to one of the bi-directional pins and has an output coupled to the control logic of the memory controller.
US08077524B2
A non-volatile storage system corrects over programed memory cells by selectively performing one or more erase operations on a subset of non-volatile storage elements that are connected to a common word line (or other type of control line).
US08077521B2
A bitline current generator, for a non-volatile memory array which comprises a plurality of memory bitcells and bitlines, comprises a switching means for each bitline for coupling a bitline to a program voltage supply when the bitline is selected for programming and a variable current source for providing a programming current to said selected bitlines. The variable current source is adapted to select a level of said programming current such that the programming of the selected memory bitcells does not disturb the programed state of the unselected memory bitcells on unselected bitlines.
US08077514B2
In a memory cell array, a plurality of memory cells connected to word lines and bit lines are arranged in a matrix. A data storage circuit is connected to the bit lines and stores write data. The data storage circuit includes at least one static latch circuit and a plurality of dynamic latch circuits when setting 2k threshold voltages (k is a natural number equal to 3 or more) in each memory cell in the memory cell array. A control circuit refreshes data by moving the data in one of the plurality of dynamic latch circuits to the static latch circuit and further moving the data in the static latch circuit to one of the plurality of dynamic latch circuits.
US08077513B2
A method of programming a memory device comprising a plurality of memory cells may include verifying a first memory cell targeted to a first level with a first preliminary voltage of a first program phase (PPV1′), programming the first memory cell targeted to the first level in the first program phase, and verifying the first memory cell with a first post program-verify voltage of the first program phase (PV1′) in which the first post program-verify voltage is different from the first preliminary voltage. A corresponding apparatus is also provided.
US08077511B2
A non-volatile memory (NVM) circuit includes at least two types of NVM sub-circuits that share common support circuitry. Different types of NVM sub-circuits include ordinary NVM circuits that provide a logic output upon being addressed, programmable fuses that provide an output upon transitioning to a power-on state, NVM circuits that provide an ON/OFF state output, and the like. Some of the outputs are used to calibrate circuits within a device following power-on. Other outputs are used to store information to be employed by various circuits.
US08077509B2
A magnetic memory is provided with a memory cell. The memory cell includes a magnetic recording element, an interconnection to generate a radio-frequency current-induced magnetic field and a ground line. The magnetic recording element is provided with a first magnetic layer whose magnetization direction is substantially fixed, a magnetic recording layer whose magnetization direction is substantially reversed by spin-polarized electrons passing through the magnetic recording layer and a first nonmagnetic layer provided between the first magnetic layer and the magnetic recording layer. The interconnection is provided above the magnetic recording element to generate a radio-frequency current-induced magnetic field acting in a direction substantially perpendicular to a magnetization easy axis of the magnetic recording layer. The ground line is provided on a side opposite to the magnetic recording element with respect to the interconnection.
US08077508B1
A circuit includes, in part, a multitude of magnetic random access memory cells, one or more column decoders, one or more row decoders, and a write driver circuit. The write driver circuit is responsive to data signal as well as to read/write signals. During writing of a first data to a selected magnetic random access memory cell, the write driver circuit causes the first signal line to be at a second voltage and the second signal line to be at the first voltage. The second voltage is greater than the first voltage. During writing of a second data to the selected magnetic random access memory cell, the write driver circuit cause the first signal line to be at a third voltage and the second signal line to be at the second voltage. The third voltage is smaller than the first voltage.
US08077495B2
A method of programming and erasing a memory device is provided. The memory device includes first and second electrodes and a switching layer therebetween. A first on-state resistance characteristic of the memory device is provided in programming the memory device by application of a first voltage to the gate of a transistor in series with the memory device. Other on-state resistance characteristics of the memory device, different from the first on-state resistance characteristic, may be provided by application of other voltages, different from the first voltage, to the gate of the transistor.
US08077489B2
A switch-mode power converter comprises a converter circuit and an auxiliary switching circuit. The converter circuit comprises a storage component configured to temporarily store input energy; and at least one switch configured to control release of the stored energy from the storage component. The auxiliary switching circuit is coupled to the storage component, the auxiliary switching circuit comprising an auxiliary switch having a duty cycle that is approximately 180 degrees out of phase with the duty cycle of the at least one switch in the converter circuit such that the auxiliary switching circuit produces compensating noise which substantially cancels noise radiated from the converter circuit.
US08077487B2
In a first aspect, in a Primary Side Regulation (PSR) power supply, some primary current pulses are used to forward bias an output diode such that an auxiliary winding voltage can be properly sampled after each pulse. The samples are used to regulate the power supply output voltage (VOUT). Other primary current pulses, however, are of a smaller peak amplitude. These pulses are not used for VOUT regulation, but rather are used to determine whether the VOUT has dropped. In a second aspect, a transient current detector circuit within the PSR controller integrated circuit detects whether an optocoupler current has dropped in a predetermined way. If the TRS current detector detects that the optocoupler current has dropped, then the power supply stops operating in a sleep mode and is made to operate in another higher power operating mode in which the power supply switches.
US08077484B2
A controller for use in a power converter to detect changes in output voltage. An example controller includes a drive circuit to generate a switching signal. The switching signal is coupled to be received by a power switch to be coupled to an energy transfer element and an input of the power converter to control a transfer of energy from the input of the power converter to an output of the power converter. An output voltage sensor is coupled to the drive circuit and coupled to receive a feedback signal representative of the output of the power converter. The output voltage sensor includes first and second pulse sampler circuits. The first pulse sampler circuit is coupled to capture a first peak voltage representative of a second peak of a ringing voltage of the feedback signal at a first time in the feedback signal. The second pulse sampler circuit is coupled to capture a second peak voltage representative of the second peak of the ringing voltage of the feedback signal at a second time in the feedback signal. The output voltage sensor is coupled to output a change signal to the drive circuit in response to the first and second peak voltages.
US08077483B2
An example controller for a power converter according to aspects of the present invention includes a switching control that switches a power switch to regulate an output of a power converter. The controller also includes a sensor coupled to receive a signal from a single terminal of the controller. The signal from the single terminal is representative of a line input voltage of the power converter during at least a portion of an on time of the power switch. The signal from the single terminal is also representative of an output voltage of the power converter during at least a portion of an off time of the power switch. The switching control is responsive to the sensor.
US08077481B2
A primary winding current controlled synchronous rectifying drive circuit including a current sampling circuit that detects a current signal in a primary winding of a transformer and forwards it to a signal shaping and reset circuit, and a current compensation signal circuit that compensates a magnetizing current in the primary winding of the transformer, wherein the signal shaping and reset circuit converts a sample of the current signal into a voltage signal and shapes it into a pulse signal, and then forwards the current signal to a logic control and power drive circuit that converts the pulse signal into one or more drive signal(s) through logic control, then the drive signal(s) are amplified to drive a corresponding synchronous rectifier.
US08077480B2
A camera includes an electrically conductive housing defined by exterior walls and an interior cavity. The exterior walls of the housing have a lens opening and a connector opening formed therein. An imaging device is disposed within the interior cavity of the housing and communicates with the lens opening. A printed wiring board (PWB) is disposed within the interior cavity of the housing separating the imaging device from the connector opening. The PWB has an electrically conductive chassis plane operatively connected to the exterior walls of the housing so that the chassis plane and the housing form at least a partial Faraday cage around the imaging device.
US08077478B2
A module board has a configuration in which a first circuit board, a first composite sheet, a second circuit board, a second composite sheet, and a third circuit board are laminated in this order. Inspection terminals are arranged in a matrix shape in a predetermined region on an upper surface of the third circuit board. Electronic components are mounted on the first and second circuit boards. The inspection terminals are electrically connected to the electronic components mounted on the first and second circuit boards through vias and wiring patterns.
US08077476B2
An electronic device mounting structure includes a thermally conductive base, a busbar located on the base, an electronic device mounted on the busbar, a thermally conductive wall standing on the base and having first and second portions located opposite each other across the electronic device, and a plate spring supported by the first and second portions of the wall. The plate spring presses the electronic device against the base so that thermal resistance between the electronic device and the base is reduced. The plate spring has a thermal conductivity so that heat in the electronic device is transferred to the wall through the plate spring.
US08077466B2
A heat sink 109 is configured by a plate component having a combined structure composed of a recess and a projection formed thereon, wherein the recess is formed by allowing a part of the plate component to be set back from the surface level of the residual region, and the projection is formed on one surface of the plate component with the progress of formation of the recess, so as to be built up above the level of the residual region of the one surface.
US08077461B2
A portable electronic device includes a circuit board and at least one treatment element mounted adjacent to the circuit board and storing volatile maintaining matters therein. The circuit board generates heat when the portable electronic device is working to heat the treatment element, and then the maintaining matters volatilize to maintain the portable electronic device.
US08077460B1
A heat exchanger fluid distribution manifold includes a manifold body defining a coolant fluid chamber, a single fluid inlet, and a plurality of fluid outlets. The single fluid inlet is configured to introduce a coolant fluid into the coolant fluid chamber. The plurality of fluid outlets are configured to remove the coolant fluid from the coolant fluid chamber. At least two of the plurality of fluid outlets are separated from the single fluid inlet by an unequal distance, and a coolant fluid flow rate at each fluid outlet is substantially uniform. The heat exchanger fluid distribution manifold may further include a plurality of serpentine walls along the coolant fluid chamber. Each serpentine wall comprises a spline feature located proximate to an individual fluid outlet. The spline features are optimized such that the coolant fluid flow rate is substantially uniform and a total pressure drop is less than about 2 kPa.
US08077455B2
A server cabinet includes a rack and a common power supply received in the rack. The rack defines an interior space configured for accommodating a plurality of servers therein. Each server has an electrical plug at an outer side thereof. The common power supply includes a power input socket and a plurality of power output sockets. The power output sockets are configured to electrically connect to the server electrical plugs, respectively. The common power supply is configured for receiving AC power from an external power source via the power input socket, and converting the AC power to DC power and outputting the DC power to the servers via the power output sockets.
US08077448B2
An improved structure of a plasma display apparatus is provided. At least one of an integrated circuit and a driving board is formed over an edge potion of a frame for supporting a plasma display panel. Thus, the plasma display apparatus is manufactured to be thin and light, and also its manufacturing cost decreases.
US08077445B2
A method for manufacturing a monolithic ceramic electronic component includes a plating substep of depositing precipitates primarily composed of a specific metal on an end of each of internal electrodes exposed at a predetermined surface of a laminate and growing the precipitates to coalesce into a continuous plated layer, wherein the specific metal is different from that of the internal electrodes, and the same or substantially the same metal that defines the internal electrodes is distributed throughout the plated layer.
US08077439B2
Aspects of a method and system for mitigating risk of electrostatic discharge in a system on chip are provided. In this regard, for an IC comprising a plurality of portions electrically isolated from one another within the IC, ESD current may be routed via one or more paths within and/or on a package to which the IC is bonded. The one or more paths may electrically couple two or more of the portions of the IC. The one or more paths may have low impedance at DC and high impedance at one or more frequencies utilized in the integrated circuit. One of the portions of the IC may be a ground plane for RF circuitry. One of the portions of the IC may be a ground plane for digital circuitry. The one or more paths may be fabricated in one or more metal layers of said package.
US08077435B1
Disclosed is a read head for reading data from a magnetic media. The read head includes a bottom magnetic shield layer, a top magnetic shield layer, and a read sensor disposed between the bottom and top magnetic shield layers. The read sensor is configured for sensing changes in a magnetic field of the magnetic media positioned under the read sensor. The read sensor has a front end adjacent to an air bearing surface (ABS) and a back end opposite the front end. The read head also includes a back magnetic shield layer positioned between the bottom and top magnetic shield layers and behind the back end of the read sensor distal to the ABS.
US08077434B1
A method and system for providing a magnetic transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) are described. The magnetic transducer includes a base layer, a perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) pole on the base layer, an additional pole, a write shield, a write gap between the PMR pole and a portion of the write shield, and coil(s) that energize at least the additional pole. The base layer includes a first portion proximate to the ABS and a second portion recessed from the ABS. The first portion is nonmagnetic, while the second portion is magnetic. The PMR pole has a first front portion proximate to the ABS. The additional pole has a second front portion recessed from the ABS. At least a portion of the additional pole resides between the PMR pole and write shield. At least a portion of the write gap resides on the front portion of the PMR pole.
US08077433B2
Thin-film magnetic head, method of manufacturing the same, head gimbal assembly, and hard disk drive
A thin-film magnetic head is constructed such that a main magnetic pole layer having a magnetic pole end face on a side of a medium-opposing surface opposing a recording medium, a write shield layer opposing the main magnetic pole layer on the medium-opposing surface side, a gap layer formed between the main magnetic pole layer and write shield layer, and a thin-film coil wound about the write shield layer or main magnetic pole layer are laminated on a substrate. This thin-film magnetic head has an equidistant two-stage structure in which a first turn part of a first conductor layer and a second turn part of a second conductor layer overlap vertically along the medium-opposing surface while having the same front distance from respective front side faces closer to the medium-opposing surface to the medium-opposing surface.
US08077421B1
A system including an error signal generating module to generate an error signal based on (i) back electromotive force sensed from a motor and (ii) a predetermined speed of the motor. The error signal includes noise due to mismatched poles of the motor. A noise elimination module eliminates components of the noise having frequencies N times a frequency of rotation of the motor from the error signal and generates a corrected error signal, where N is an integer greater than or equal to zero. A control module generates a first control signal based on components of the corrected error signal, generates a second control signal based on components of the error signal, and rotates the motor at the predetermined speed based on (i) the first control signal and (ii) the second control signal. The components of the corrected error signal have higher frequencies than the components of the error signal.
US08077413B2
An adjustable pinhole, in particular for a beam path for illumination and/or detection in a laser-scanning microscope. The pinhole consists of at least two planar basic modules, which have frame-like joints, on which at least one blade is arranged in a displaceable manner in one direction, whereby the basic component advantageously contains at least one integrated, preferably optical or electromagnetic actuator. A device is provided at the blade, or connected with it, for preferably optical or electromagnetic detection of the position, and is provided, advantageously, with two asymmetric apertures, with mutually opposite orientation, for optical detection of the position, whereby in front of or behind the apertures, a slit is provided, oriented preferably at a right angle to the direction of displacement, and the quantity of light passing through the slit is detected separately for each aperture.
US08077410B2
Provided is an optical apparatus including: two magnets which are constituent components of drive member for moving a lens holder (21); three balls (25); and two bias members (23) for applying biases such that hook portions disposed in one and the other ends of each of the two bias members are engaged with a base member (28) and the lens holder, respectively, and the three balls are held between the base member and the lens holder. Two magnets (22A and 22B), the three balls, and the two bias members are arranged so that a center of gravity within a plane of the base member, a lens, and the two magnets is positioned in a triangle formed by the three balls, and a line segment within a plane formed by the two bias members steps over two sides of the triangle.
US08077405B2
An optical article includes: an optical substrate, and a functional layer laminated on the surface of the optical substrate, the functional layer having a thickness T μm that satisfies the following condition: 6.5dn+4.0≦T≦100 wherein the thickness T is larger than 5 μm, and dn is the refractive index difference at the boundary of the optical substrate and the functional layer and satisfies the following condition: 0.06≦dn≦0.4.
US08077400B2
An optical lens system for taking image comprises three lens elements with refractive power, from the object side to the image side: a first lens element with positive refractive power, a second lens element with negative refractive power having at least one aspheric surface, a third lens element with negative refractive power having at least one aspheric surface, and an aperture stop located between the first lens element and the second lens element. By such arrangements, it can effectively reduce the volume and the sensitivity of the lens system.
US08077398B2
A lens driving device includes a lens holder including a tubular portion for holding a lens assembly, a driving coil fixed to the lens holder so as to position around the tubular portion, and a yoke including a permanent magnet opposite to the driving coil. The yoke includes an outer hollow cylindrical portion having a rectangular cylindrical shape, the permanent magnet includes at least four permanent magnet pieces each having a rectangular cross section. Four magnetic circuit auxiliary members are disposed between four corners of the outer hollow cylindrical portion of the yoke and four ones of the permanent magnet pieces that are disposed at the four corners of the outer hollow cylindrical portion of the yoke.
US08077396B2
A display unit for mounting in a vehicle is provided. The display unit includes an image generator. The display unit further includes a semi-reflective member. The semi-reflective member is configured to move from a non-operational position to an operation position. The semi-reflective member is positioned to reflect light from the image generator in an operational position.
US08077390B2
A method of producing an optical element that has spatial variation in refractive index includes providing a curable liquid crystal composition; applying a spatially varying electric field to the liquid crystal composition to induce a desired spatial variation in refractive index; and curing the liquid crystal composition while the electric field is still applied to fix the spatial variation in refractive index when the electric field is removed.
US08077381B2
A front plane laminate useful in the manufacture of electro-optic displays comprises, in order, a light-transmissive electrically-conductive layer, a layer of an electro-optic medium in electrical contact with the electrically-conductive layer, an adhesive layer and a release sheet. This front plane laminate can be prepared as a continuous web, cut to size, the release sheet removed and the laminate laminated to a backplane to form a display. Methods for providing conductive vias through the electro-optic medium and for testing the front plane laminate are also described.
US08077380B2
Method and apparatus for providing brightness control in an interferometric modulator (IMOD) display
Methods and systems for providing brightness control in an interferometric modulator (IMOD) display are provided. In one embodiment, an interferometric modulator display pixel is provided that includes a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) interferometric modulator having an associated first color spectrum, and a color absorber located substantially in front of the interferometric modulator display pixel, in which the color absorber has an associated second color spectrum. The microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) interferometric modulator is operable to shift the first color spectrum relative to the second color spectrum to control a visual brightness of the interferometric modulator display pixel independent of a color of the interferometric modulator display pixel.
US08077377B2
The invention relates to methods to improve SLMs, in particular to reflecting micromechanical SLMs, for applications with simple system architecture, high precision, high power handling capability, high throughput, and/or high optical processing capability. Applications include optical data processing, image projection, lithography, image enhancement, holography, optical metrology, coherence and wavefront control, and adaptive optics. A particular aspect of the invention is the achromatization of diffractive SLMs so they can be used with multiple wavelengths sequentially, simultaneously or as a result of spectral broadening in very short pulses.
US08077367B2
Particular embodiments relate generally to laser projection systems and, more particularly, to systems and methods of reducing the appearance of speckle in laser projection images. According to one embodiment, a laser projection system comprising a light source and scanning optics is provided. The scanning optics include a plurality of frame generating optics configured to scan the output beam across a given projection surface to generate an image frame. The frame generating actuators are spatially separated such that output beams scanned by the frame generating actuators illuminate each common pixel portion of the image frames at a different incidence angle. The scanning optics also include an actuator selector positioned in an optical path of the output beam and configured to direct the output beam towards a selected one of the plurality of frame generating actuators.
US08077365B2
This invention relates to holographic image display systems, and to related methods and processor control code. We describe a method of displaying an image holographically, the method including: inputting display image data defining said image for display; processing said image data to determine first image data representing a first spatial frequency portion of said image data and second image data representing a second spatial frequency portion of said image data, wherein said second spatial frequency is higher than said first spatial frequency; displaying a hologram of said first image data on a spatial light modulator (SLM) to form a holographically-generated intermediate real image; modulating said intermediate real image using said second image data to display said image.
US08077363B2
Scanning image data and target image data are respectively stored in a first storage area and a second storage area. In one case, (J−M+1)×(K−N+1)×M×N pieces of pixel data are stored as comparison image data relating to all comparison areas, and M×N pieces of pixel data are stored as target image data. In contrast, the present invention requires the storage only of J×K pieces of pixel data as scanning image data, and M×N pieces of pixel data as target image data. This means the number of pieces of pixel data to be stored is reduced. In the case discussed above, one piece of target image data and (J−M+1)×(K−N+1) pieces of pixel data relating to all comparison areas and corresponding to this target image data are stored. As compared to this case, the number of times pixel data are retrieved is reduced to 1/(M×N), thereby shortening processing speed.
US08077359B2
A novel image processing system includes a pixel position indicator and a pixel inserting unit. The pixel position indicator is configured to indicate insertion positions in the image data. The pixel inserting unit is configured to enlarge a size of the image data by inserting an additional pixel at each of the insertion positions and accordingly shifting the original pixels in a given direction. The additional pixel has a value lower than a given threshold. Each insertion position is at an approximate center of an area formed of pixels having values higher than the given threshold. A novel image forming apparatus incorporates such an image processing system and an electrophotographic system. The electrophotographic system is configured to form an image by irradiating a photoconductive surface with a laser beam according to the processed image data.
US08077355B2
The present invention discloses a digital halftoning method. The method comprises steps of: (a1) dividing an original image into non-overlapping blocks; (a2) obtaining a Least-Mean-Square trained (LMS-trained) filter by comparing at least a training image and a halftone result corresponding to the training image (a3) optimizing a class matrix with the LMS-trained filter, which involves the diffused area and the diffused weightings; and (a4) processing the non-overlapping blocks by performing a dot diffusion procedure with the optimized class matrix and the diffused weightings to generate a halftone image corresponding to the original image. A detailed class matrix optimizing method as in the above-mentioned step (a3) is also disclosed.
US08077353B2
There is provided a color conversion method. The method includes: a black correction step of converting the first black corresponding to the first color data having a tone value of 0 to the second black corresponding to the second color data having a tone value of 0 so that when the first black corresponding to the first color data having a tone value other than 0 is converted to a value smaller than a quantization threshold of tone values 0 and 1 of the second color data, a conversion destination becomes greater than or equal to the quantization threshold; a recording agent limit quantity calculating step of setting an upper limit of the sum of tone values for each pixel of the second color data with respect to a predetermined print medium; and a chromatic color correcting step of converting the second chromatic color so that the second color data after conversion in the black correction step does not exceed the upper limit.
US08077348B2
There is known a technique of inputting the contents of image data and the use purpose of a print material and automatically selecting a combination of color materials appropriate for them. However, it cannot be confirmed before printing whether improvement of image quality commensurate with the cost and labor to input contents information can be obtained. To solve this problem, the ratio of the amount of the color material of a spot color used to that of the color materials of process colors used in input image data is calculated. The recommendation grade of printing using the spot color is determined on the basis of the ratio. Further, display of the recommendation grade is controlled.
US08077343B1
Systems, apparatuses, and methods for determining an end of printing operation in a handheld image translation device are described herein. The determining of the end of the printing operation may include generation and maintenance of a processed image by an image processing module and a print module, respectively. The print module may rewrite print data of the processed image as the printing operation progresses. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08077340B2
In the present invention, in a color copy machine, original modes of copy job units, and setting changes of sharpness adjustment, whose updates are permitted beforehand, are totaled, change of default is judged, when this accumulated result is larger than a threshold value, and the original mode whose accumulated result is larger than the threshold value, and the sharpness adjustment are set to change a default state of an image processing unit.
US08077335B2
An image processing apparatus includes a display unit adapted to display an image processing object corresponding to a predetermined image processing, a designation unit adapted to designate data specified by a terminal device when the image processing object displayed on the display unit is selected, a reception unit adapted to receive the data designated by the designation unit, and a control unit adapted to perform image processing corresponding to the selected image processing object.
US08077326B1
An environmental sensing device includes an interferometric modulator which permanently actuates, in a visually-detectable manner, in response to being exposed to a predetermined environmental threshold or condition. The device can include a reactive layer, coating, or proof mass disposed on a movable member of the interferometric modulator. The reactive layer, coating, or proof mass can expand, contract, bend, or otherwise move when exposed to a predefined chemical, level of humidity, temperature threshold, type of radiation, and/or level of mechanical shock, causing the interferometric modulator to collapse and permanently indicate such exposure.
US08077324B2
Light from the first and second different wavelength light sources is combined and supplied to a director that directs zeroth order light to a reference surface and other order, generally first order diffracted light to on a location of the sample surface which is dependent upon wavelength. Light reflected by the sample and reference surfaces interfere. A characteristic of a sample surface is determined from interference light of the first wavelength. Interference light of the second wavelength is used to enable phase-locking by adjusting the path length difference by moving the reference surface or changing the refractive index of a path portion to compensate for phase variation due to environmental effects. Non-mechanical scanning is used to scan the sample surface by using a variable wavelength source and a director providing different first order diffraction angles for different wavelengths or an acousto-optical device that provides a variable pitch acoustic diffraction grating.
US08077322B2
Signal conditioning to provide optimum gain and noise reduction for resonator fiber optic gyroscopes
A resonator fiber optic gyroscope includes a first light source configured to generate a light signal. A resonator element is configured to generate an optical signal based on the light signal. A photodetector is configured to generate a first electrical signal based on the optical signal. The first electrical signal includes an oscillating signal, a direct-current (DC) signal, an even-harmonic signal including components at even harmonics of the oscillating signal, and an odd-harmonic signal including components at odd harmonics of the oscillating signal. A filtering element is configured to attenuate the DC signal, at least one even-harmonic component, and an odd-harmonic component to produce a second electrical signal. An amplifier is configured to amplify the second electrical signal. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is configured to digitize the amplified second electrical signal.
US08077315B2
A device to measure the amount of light able to transmit through a test liquid sample. A single lamp is used to illuminate a liquid sample cell containing the test water. A light detector is fixed relative to the lamp and is used to detect the amount of light from the lamp able to transmit through the liquid sample cell. The liquid sample cell is shaped in such a way as to provide at least two sets of opposed side walls that are able to transmit the light emitted from the lamp, where each set of opposed side walls defines a different path length through the liquid sample in the liquid sample cell. A rotation mechanism is used to provide relative rotation between the liquid sample cell and the lamp/light detector assembly. A microprocessor connected to the light detector calculates the light transmitted through at least two different path lengths through the liquid sample. Using these calculated transmittances the microprocessor then calculates the overall transmittance of the test water.
US08077305B2
The invention consists of a camera, light sources, lenses and software algorithms that are used to image and inspect semiconductor structures, including through infrared radiation. The use of various configurations of solid state lighting and software algorithms enhances the imaging and inspection.
US08077304B2
A light amount measuring apparatus including a light amount measuring circuit and a power supply for supplying power to the light amount measuring circuit; wherein the light amount measuring circuit includes a light receiving device for receiving light and outputting an electric signal corresponding to light amount of the received light; a first switch for switching between electrical connection and disconnection between the light receiving device and the power supply; and a drive controller for controlling the first switch so that the first switch electrically connects the light receiving device to the power supply when the light receiving device is set to an activated state and electrically disconnects the light receiving device from the power supply when the light receiving device is set to a deactivated state.
US08077293B2
The present invention provides a surveying device, which comprises rotators 53, 56 and 61 for deflecting a distance measuring light in horizontal direction and for projecting the distance measuring light in rotary irradiation, at least one extension member 62 for increasing a spreading angle in vertical direction of the distance measuring light, and a means for attaching or detaching the extension member so that the extension member can be inserted and removed to or from a distance measuring optical axis.
US08077289B2
The disclosure relates to a device and a method for influencing the polarization distribution in an optical system, in particular in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. A device according to the disclosure includes a plurality of polarization-influencing optical elements which are arranged in a common plane in such a way that they can be moved independently of each other.
US08077287B2
A method of preparing components for use in a vacuum chamber of a lithographic apparatus is disclosed. The method includes coating the component with a non-metallic material. The method may further include treating the coating so as to harden the coating. Preferably, the coating material is a hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ), which may be applied via spraying, brushing, or spinning and can be treated by heating or by irradiation with an electron beam. The resulting components strongly reduce outgassing of water and hydrocarbons when subjected to a vacuum environment.
US08077286B2
On an opposite substrate, such a protrusion that is not contact with an array substrate is disposed. Alternatively, on the array substrate, such a protrusion that is not contact with the opposite substrate is formed of the same material as a spacer. Still alternatively, a large wall-like spacer is disposed on the array substrate. This reduces an amount of liquid crystal sandwiched by the substrates, and thus suppresses generation of low-temperature bubbles in the liquid crystal.
US08077285B2
A liquid crystal display includes an upper substrate, a lower substrate and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate. The lower substrate includes a pixel array divided into a plurality of columns of pixel areas and a plurality of rows of pixel areas. Each pixel area includes a upper sub-pixel electrode, a lower sub-pixel electrode insulated to the upper sub-pixel electrode and a TFT switch electrically connected to the lower sub-pixel electrode. The upper sub-pixel electrode is electrically connected to a lower sub-pixel electrode of a previous column, and the lower sub-pixel electrode is electrically connected to a upper sub-pixel electrode of a next column.
US08077280B2
A thin film transistor substrate of horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display device includes: a gate line and a common line arranged in parallel on a substrate and formed from a first conductive layer; a data line formed from a second conductive layer, the data line crossing the gate line and the common line having a gate insulating film therebetween such that the data line, the gate line and the common line define a pixel area; a thin film transistor having a gate connected to the gate line and a source electrode connected to the data line; a common electrode extending from the common line into the pixel area and formed from the first conductive layer; a protective film for covering a plurality of signal lines and electrodes and the thin film transistor; a pixel hole in the protective film having an elongated shape that parallels the common electrode; and a pixel electrode connected to a side surface of a drain electrode of the thin film transistor and formed from a third conductive layer within the pixel hole.
US08077277B2
A liquid crystal display device comprising a first optical compensating member disposed without a birefringent medium sandwiched between a liquid-crystal layer and the first optical compensating member. The first optical compensating member is constructed so that when a refractive index thereof in a slow-axis direction in a plane parallel to the substrate is taken as n1, a refractive index in a fast-axis direction in the plane parallel to the substrate is taken as n2, and a refractive index in a thickness direction is taken as n3, the first optical compensating member satisfies n1˜n3>n2 and a slow axis thereof in the plane parallel to the substrate is substantially vertical to an optical axis of the liquid-crystal layer.
US08077275B2
A display substrate includes a transistor layer, a plurality of color filters, a first blocking member, a supporting member, a circuit part, a second blocking member and a protruding member. The first blocking member is disposed between different color filters. The supporting member maintains a distance between a base substrate and a substrate facing the base substrate. A circuit part is disposed in a peripheral area surrounding a display area, and the circuit part includes a metal pattern and a contact electrode in contact with the metal pattern. The second blocking member includes substantially the same material as the first blocking member and the second blocking member covers the circuit part. The protruding member includes substantially the same material as the second blocking member, and is integrally formed with the second blocking member.
US08077273B2
A liquid crystal display module includes a liquid crystal display panel, a backlight device arranged on a back surface of the liquid crystal display panel, the backlight device being constituted of a light guide plate and a reflection sheet arranged on a back surface of the light guide plate, an insulation sheet arranged on a back surface of the light guide plate, a flexible printed circuit board having one end thereof mounted on the liquid crystal display panel and another end thereof disposed at a back surface side of the insulating sheet, and at least one LED formed on the flexible printed circuit board and faced to the light guide plate. The reflection sheet, the insulation sheet, and the flexible printed circuit board extend over different distances from the at least one LED in this order.
US08077272B2
A planar light-emitting device has a plurality of light-emitting units each having a lightguide plate having an upper surface as a light-exiting surface, a lower surface opposite to the light-exiting surface, a peripheral side surface extending between the respective peripheral edges of the upper surface and the lower surface, and a light entrance surface defined by a part of the peripheral side surface. Each light-emitting unit further has a light-emitting set adjacent to the light entrance surface to emit light into the lightguide plate through the light entrance surface, and a support member that fixedly supports the light source and the lightguide plate. The light-emitting units are arranged side by side so that the light-exiting or upper surfaces of their respective lightguide plates are substantially flush with each other.
US08077256B1
A scene-aware auto-exposure control process stabilizes changes in a camera's auto-exposure settings so as to reduce lighting and color flicker during image capture operations. A metric, referred to as the Modified Adjusted Luminance (MAL) metric, is defined to remain relatively constant as long as the lighting of the scene being captured remains relatively constant. Thus, scene changes such as an object moving into, out of, or around in a scene do not significantly affect the MAL metric's value and do not, therefore, trigger an exposure adjustment. Once the MAL metric indicates a scene's lighting is stable, the camera's auto-exposure operation may be suppressed. As long as incoming frames indicate a stable lighting condition (based on the MAL metric), auto-exposure operation may remain suppressed. When incoming frames result in a substantially different MAL over a specified number of frames, auto-exposure operation may be restored.
US08077247B2
An imaging system is provided and includes an imaging lens and an imaging device such that the maximum diameter of an effective region of a point image covers three or more pixels of light receiving pixels, the point image being projected onto a light receiving surface through the imaging lens from an intended position. A signal processing unit executes restoration processing on first image data output from the imaging device, and the restoration processing is executed to generate second image data equivalent to the first image data output from the imaging device when the resolving power of the imaging lens is higher. The imaging lens has a first lens group having a positive power, a second lens group having a negative power, and a third lens group in which a lens positioned closest to an image side has a positive power, in order from the object side.
US08077244B2
A camera, including a camera main body; a first monitor which is openable and closable on the camera main body; and a second monitor which is openable and closable on the camera main body; wherein the first monitor and the second monitor are configured so that the second monitor is closed when the first monitor is opened, and the first monitor is closed when the second monitor is opened.
US08077238B2
A pixel cell has controlled photosensor anti-blooming leakage by having dual pinned voltage regions, one of which is used to set the anti-blooming characteristics of the photosensor. Additional exemplary embodiments also employ an anti-blooming transistor in conjunction with the dual pinned photosensor. Other exemplary embodiments provide a pixel with two pinned voltage regions and two anti-blooming transistors. Methods of fabricating the exemplary pixel cells are also disclosed.
US08077237B2
A image-sensing device includes an array of light-sensing pixels arranged in rows, a readout circuit, and a control logic coupled to the rows of pixels. Each of the pixels has a respective conversion gain that changes to a respective second value from a respective first value within a settling time when a control signal is applied to the pixel. The readout circuit is coupled to the array of pixels and samples the rows of pixels once in an array sampling process. The control logic applies the control signal to the pixels of at least one row after sampling of the pixels in at least one other row of the array has begun but at least the settling time before the at least one row is sampled.
US08077233B2
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) configured to perform photoelectric conversion on received light and allow light to pass therethrough and a phase difference detection section (20) configured to perform phase difference detection on received light which has passed through the imaging device (10). The imaging device (10) includes a color-purpose light receiving section (11b, 11b, . . . ) including color filters (15r, 15g, 15b) and configured to obtain color information and an brightness-purpose light receiving section (11b, 11b, . . . ) configured to obtain brightness information and receive a larger amount of light than the color-purpose light receiving section (11b, 11b, . . . ). The phase difference detection section (20) performs phase difference detection on received light which has passed through at least the brightness-purpose light receiving section (11b, 11b, . . . ).
US08077219B2
A method of providing intensity correction for a video is disclosed. The method may comprise evaluating a portion of a frame of the video; determining a difference in intensity of a current block of the frame with the corresponding block of the previous frame; correcting all blocks of the frame with local intensity correction if a first set of parameters is met; and correcting the current block of the frame with both global intensity correction and local intensity correction if the first set of parameters is not met. An integrated circuit having a circuit for providing intensity correction for a video is also disclosed.
US08077214B2
A signal processing apparatus includes: an input unit receiving a first image generated by a first camera and higher-resolution second images generated by a plurality of second cameras; a similar portion detecting unit detecting a similar portion between part of a subject included in the first image and a subject included in each of the second images; an image synthesizing unit pasting the second images at positions corresponding to the detected similar portions within the first image to generate a synthesized image; an imaging area detecting unit detecting an area, for which image information is insufficient in the first image and is difficult to complement by the second cameras, as a non-imageable area from the synthesized image; and a camera parameter calculation unit changing a camera parameter for controlling the second camera that captures the second image by which the image information insufficient in the first image is complemented.
US08077213B2
A sequence of images is captured by an imaging device and stored in a digital format. After having captured and stored at least one image, a user is guided to move the device so that an image that can be stitched to the stored image can be captured. Positional information indicating the current orientation of the device is provided; positional information indicating the orientation of the device at the time of capturing each captured image is stored; and the current positional information and the positional information stored for the stored image is utilized for guiding the user to move the device to an orientation where an image that can be stitched to the stored image can be captured.
US08077210B2
An image capturing apparatus includes a motion vector detection unit which detects a motion vector on the basis of the correlation between image signals continuously captured by an image capturing unit, a reliability evaluation value calculation unit which calculates the reliability evaluation value of the motion vector detected by the motion vector detection unit, a blurring correction amount determination unit which determines the image blurring correction amount on the basis of the motion vector detected by the motion vector detection unit, a correction amount reduction unit which reduces the image blurring correction amount on the basis of the reliability evaluation value calculated by the reliability evaluation value calculation unit, and a blurring correction unit which corrects image blurring on the basis of the image blurring correction amount reduced by the correction amount reduction unit.
US08077200B2
An image capture system is provided. The image capture system for capturing an image of an object includes a light emitting module, a lens, a base unit and a filter unit. The light emitting module provides a plurality of light beams to form a reference area. The base unit includes a light sensor corresponding to the lens. The filter unit includes at least one visible light passing portion and at least one invisible light passing portion. The filter unit is driven to position one of the visible light passing portion and the invisible light passing portion between the lens and the light sensor. The actual size of the object can be estimated via the reference area.
US08077199B2
A target position identifying apparatus includes a color difference converting section for processing pixel values of an image of a target comprised of combination of a first color and a second color obtained from the target under influence of ambient light, thus generating a color component value of the first color, a color component value of the second color and a luminance value, a color region determining section for determining region of the first color and region of the second color, based on the first color component value and the second color component value, with using a determination condition based on either luminance of the captured image or the luminance value, a border detecting section for detecting border between the first color and the second color in the target based on result of the determination by the color region determining section and a target position calculating section for calculating the position of the target on the image based on result of the border detection by the border detecting section.
US08077198B2
The present invention discloses a fast object position detection device and a method thereof, particularly to a detection device and a method thereof which can directly apply to various image systems. The device of the present invention mainly comprises an image capturing system that captures images within the regions defined by the user, and an image processing unit determining the position of an object and obtaining related information. In the method of the present invention, a captured image is converted into 1-D distance-axis signal information; a differential value of the 1-D distance-axis signal information is used to determine a position of an object; and a difference of the 1-D distance-axis signal information of at least two adjacent time points is used to determine an approaching status of an object.
US08077196B2
A stereo projection optical system, includes a first polarizing beam splitter configured for separating a light input into a first polarized light component and a second polarized light component; a first transmission-type spatial light modulator configured for receiving the first polarized light component; a second transmission-type spatial light modulator configured for receiving the second polarized light component; a second polarizing beam splitter positioned to receive the light outputs of the first, second spatial light modulators. The first and second transmission-type spatial light modulators respectively generate two images formed by the first polarized light component and the second polarized light component with spatial information. When a viewer wears glasses that have two polarizing lenses whose polarization directions are perpendicular to each other, the viewer can perceive projected images as being three-dimensional.
US08077192B2
The input energies provided to a print head of a thermal printer are adjusted based on the temperature of a platen in the thermal printer. The platen temperature may be measured by a sensor or predicted by a platen temperature model. Such a model may derive the predicted platen temperature from an observed temperature of a heat sink in the thermal printer. A thermal history control algorithm may use the platen temperature, whether actual or predicted, to compensate for the platen temperature by adjusting the input energies.
US08077189B2
A drive circuit of the present invention is a drive circuit for driving a display element in accordance with grayscale information, which circuit outputs a drive waveform controlled through (i) plural-stepped voltage amplitude modulation and (ii) a pulse width modulation which is settable for each voltage amplitude of the plural-stepped voltage amplitude modulation, the drive circuit including an output control section for (A) latching a pulse width corresponding to a maximum voltage amplitude, according to the grayscale information, which amplitude is one of plural steps of amplitudes of the drive waveform, and which amplitude is to be outputted, so as to control a pulse width of the maximum voltage amplitude, and (B) outputting a maximum pulse width for a voltage amplitude smaller than the maximum voltage amplitude. With this drive circuit, it is possible to realize a drive circuit, whose circuit scale is smaller, for driving a display device including luminescent elements arranged in a matrix manner, the drive circuit generating a drive signal having been controlled by a voltage amplitude modulation (AM) and a pulse width modulation (PWM).
US08077186B2
A terminal device having a correction function for natural color and a method thereof are provided for creating an image closest in color to the natural color. A priority storing unit stores at a reference color data area a range of natural colors which are colors of objects existing in the natural world. A color editing unit corrects natural color image data corresponding to the natural color area, based on a command for correcting the natural area existing in a predetermined image from the user. A controlling unit decides whether the natural color image data corrected by the color editing unit is included in the reference color data area.
US08077183B1
A stepmode animation visualization emphasizes authored values of computer graphics variables. Users select all or a portion of the computer graphics variables associated with objects in a scene to be included in the stepmode animation visualization. When users activate the stepmode animation visualization, the generated values of the selected computer graphics variables are overridden with authored values of the selected computer graphics variables. For example, the stepmode animation visualization overrides each generated value of a computer graphics variable with the nearest preceding authored value of that computer graphics variable. Users may repeatedly activate and deactivate the stepmode animation visualization without reselecting computer graphics variables. The selection of computer graphics variables affected by the stepmode animation visualization is maintained. All or a portion of the animation may be looped or repeated while the stepmode animation visualization is active.
US08077177B2
Method, computer executable program and apparatus for displaying massive amounts of potentially non-uniform gridded data through the use of view dependant refinement. An initial minimal representation is created. A view dependant refinement criterion is then used to ascertain the perceived quality. If necessary, refinements and decimations to the current representation are performed. The representation is then provided to graphics hardware for display.
US08077175B2
A system and computer-implemented method for rendering images on a two-dimensional display, such as a computer, handheld device, or television screen, so that the images appear to be positioned in a three-dimensional space is disclosed. The images may be graphics files or standard files with an associated thumbnail image. Numerous layouts of the images on the display are disclosed.
US08077173B2
A driving device that drives a display device using a subfield driving method eliminates the need to use an expensive 1-frame delay memory. A compensated sustain pulse data generator enables displaying the same frame information on the display panel even when the 1-frame delay memory is eliminated. The drive data is generated so that the data that is delayed one frame and is included in the data output from the subfield processing unit and the data that is delayed one frame and is included in the data output from the compensated sustain pulse data generator are mutually cancelling.
US08077168B2
A scan driver that selectively performs progressive scanning and interlaced scanning and a display using the same. The scan driver includes a shift register having a plurality of flip-flops arranged in series, an odd line selection unit having a plurality of NAND gates, and an even line selection unit having a plurality of NAND gates. In response to an odd line control signal and an even line control signal input to the odd line selection unit and the even line selection unit, respectively, the scan driver performs progressive scanning or interlaced scanning. The scan driver may also include a mode selection unit to selectively perform progressive scanning or interlaced scanning in response to a mode selection signal.
US08077163B2
A mobile device has a housing having first and second display areas. A mic-array is integrated into the housing and has microphones operable to sense sound signals at multiple locations on the housing from a sound pen when handwriting an alphanumeric symbol on a surface separate from and in proximity to the housing. A handwriting-to-text converter is operable to graphically represent, for display on the first display area, simulated handwritten traces of the alphanumeric symbol and to convert the alphanumeric symbol into a computer-readable interchange code, representative of the alphanumeric symbol, for display in the second display area.
US08077162B2
A touch panel includes: a transparent substrate on which surface acoustic wave is propagated; a transmission/reception unit that is formed in peripheral regions on the transparent substrate, each two of the peripheral regions facing each other, and transmit and receive the surface acoustic wave; a detecting unit that detects the location of an object touching a predetermined operation area; and a sheet member that faces the transparent substrate, with a space layer being interposed in between, and has first protrusions formed on a substrate-facing surface that faces the transparent substrate. In this touch panel, the substrate-facing surface of the sheet member is not brought into contact with the transparent substrate when an object does not touch the operation area, and the substrate-facing surface of the sheet member is brought into contact with the transparent substrate when the object touches the operation area.
US08077155B2
A notebook computer is upgraded by providing stylus-cooperating indicia near the keyboard and an optical stylus that can recognize the indicia. The indicia includes a sketch pad area that cooperates with the optical stylus to transmit movement data to the computer. The movement data is relative in position and absolute in orientation, providing .DELTA.X and .DELTA.Y in the sketch pad's coordinate plane rather than the stylus's. Other indicia represents tool buttons recognized by both humans and the stylus. A stylus and stickers kit is used to upgraded existing notebook computers. New ones can be manufactured with the stylus-cooperating indicia in place or the indicia may be provided on a substrate that may be attached to any notebook computer, as selected and positioned by the end user. The stickers or substrate is thin enough to permit the notebook computer to be closed as usual. In an alternative embodiment, the indicia is printed on a mouse pad or other surface to provide tablet and stylus functionality to other kinds of personal computers as well.
US08077153B2
A unique system and method is provided that facilitates pixel-accurate targeting with respect to multi-touch sensitive displays when selecting or viewing content with a cursor. In particular, the system and method can track dual inputs from a primary finger and a secondary finger, for example. The primary finger can control movement of the cursor while the secondary finger can adjust a control-display ratio of the screen. As a result, cursor steering and selection of an assistance mode can be performed at about the same time or concurrently. In addition, the system and method can stabilize a cursor position at a top middle point of a user's finger in order to mitigate clicking errors when making a selection.
US08077145B2
A method and apparatus for controlling and providing force feedback using an interface device manipulated by a user. A microprocessor is provided local to the interface device and reads sensor data from sensors that describes the position and/or other information about a user object moved by the user, such as a joystick. The microprocessor controls actuators to provide forces on the user object and provides the sensor data to a host computer that is coupled to the interface device. The host computer sends high level host commands to the local microprocessor, and the microprocessor independently implements a local reflex process based on the high level command to provide force values to the actuators using sensor data and other parameters. A provided host command protocol includes a variety of different types of host commands and associated command parameters. By providing a relatively small set of high level host commands and parameters which are translated into a panoply of forces, the protocol further shifts the computational burden from the host computer to the local microprocessor and allows a software developer to easily create force feedback applications.
US08077144B2
Provided is an image display apparatus which includes a display unit that displays a series of images obtained by imaging an inside of a subject in time sequence, and displays a specific area with a predetermined size; and an input unit having an input button group for performing a display operation of the images. The apparatus also includes a control unit that performs a control so that an operation mode is set to a button operation mode for performing the display operation of the images with a button operation of the input unit when a cursor on a display screen is in the specific area, and the operation mode is set to a cursor operation mode for performing the display operation of the images corresponding to at least a position on the display screen and a position of the cursor when the cursor is out of the specific area.
US08077138B2
In certain medical systems, such as modalities, it is not desirable to install a program for adjusting an image reproduction characteristic curve with respect to a reference characteristic curve. An arrangement which comprises a mobile telephone, an LCD display module and a look-up table to facilitate said adjustment is provided.
US08077132B2
An object of the present invention is to provide a flat display device which achieves an excellent and stable display even when the periodicity of voltage polarity is switched at the beginning of a frame at the time of driving a signal line while providing a periodicity of every M scanning lines to the voltage polarity of signal lines in each frame. A control circuit 22 controls so as to provide a voltage polarity of the final line in the periodicity of every four scanning lines to a signal line prior to driving a signal line corresponding to the first scanning line Y(1) at the beginning of a frame.
US08077131B2
In a liquid crystal display or panel and a method of driving the same, in response to the receipt of a plurality of image control signals each intended for one of the data lines, the image control signals are modified in accordance with different characteristics of the data lines. The modified image control signals are outputted to the respective data lines to drive the liquid crystal display or panel.
US08077130B2
A method for driving an LCD device having a plurality of sets of gate lines is disclosed. The method includes sequentially enabling odd gate lines of a first set of gate lines in ascending order for writing first-polarity data into corresponding pixels based on a first common voltage during a first interval, sequentially enabling even gate lines of the first set of gate lines in ascending order for writing second-polarity data into corresponding pixels based on a second common voltage during a second interval, sequentially enabling even gate lines of a second set of gate lines in descending order for writing second-polarity data into corresponding pixels based on the second common voltage during a third interval, and sequentially enabling odd gate lines of the second set of gate lines in descending order for writing first-polarity data into corresponding pixels based on the first common voltage during a fourth interval.
US08077126B2
In a pixel of a display device, a first transistor of which an second terminal is connected to a first terminal of a light emitting element supplies a driving current that corresponds to a voltage between a control terminal and the second terminal to the light emitting element, and a second terminal of the light emitting element is connected to a driving voltage. At least one second transistor transmits a black voltage that corresponds to a black gray to the control terminal of the first transistor in a first period and a second period, and transmits a gray voltage that corresponds to an input image signal to the control terminal of the first transistor in a third period. A third transistor is connected between the first terminal of the light emitting element and a voltage supply line to transmit a reference voltage, and the third transistor is turned on in the first period and turned off in the second period. A capacitor is connected between the control terminal and the source of the first transistor, stores a control voltage based on a threshold voltage of the first transistor in the second period, and stores a voltage based on the control voltage and the gray voltage in the third period.
US08077124B2
An image display device includes a display portion formed by disposing pixel circuits in a matrix, and a signal line driving circuit and a scanning line driving circuit for driving the pixel circuits through signal lines and scanning lines of the display portion. The pixel circuit includes at least: a light emitting element; a drive transistor for current-driving the light emitting element by a drive current corresponding to a gate-to-source voltage thereof; a hold capacitor composed of either one capacitor or a plurality of coupling capacitors for holding therein the gate-to-source voltage; and a write transistor adapted to be turned ON/OFF in accordance with a write signal outputted from the scanning line driving circuit, thereby setting a voltage developed across terminals of the hold capacitor at a voltage of corresponding one of the signal line.
US08077123B2
Compensation needed to be made for reduced light efficiency in aged sub-pixels of an active matrix organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display are determined using a current ratio or a voltage ratio pertaining to an aged sub-pixel relative to un-aged, reference sub-pixels. When the current through the sub-pixels or the voltage across the sub-pixels are measured to determine the age of the sub-pixels, correction is made to the measured current or voltage to account for variations in the ambient temperature in which the OLED display is placed.
US08077118B2
A display apparatus for displaying image information according to display data, including: display pixels, each having a light emitting element; and a drive circuit for making each of the light emitting elements emit a light having brightness according to the display data, wherein the drive circuit includes: a plurality of power source circuits each generating a first voltage used as a light emission drive voltage to be supplied to the display pixels to flow a drive current according to the display data to each of the light emitting elements, wherein the power source circuits generates voltages of different values, respectively, as the first voltage; and a selecting circuit for switching the plurality of power source circuits so that any one of the power source circuits is selected according to a display state set to the display pixels and for causing the selected power source circuit to generate the first voltage.
US08077117B2
An electronic image device and a driving method thereof. An image of one frame is displayed in a frame period divided into at least two periods including first and second periods. A barrier layer includes a first barrier driven during the first period and a second barrier driven during the second period. The same plane image is repeatedly displayed during the first and second periods in an area for displaying the plane image on the display unit, and a first image displayed during the first period and a second image displayed during the second period are respectively images combined in different sequences in an area for displaying a stereoscopic image on the display unit.
US08077110B2
This invention refers to an antenna structure for a wireless device comprising a ground plane and an antenna element, wherein the ground plane has the shape of an open loop. The invention further refers to an antenna structure for a wireless device, such as alight switch or a wristsensor or wristwatch, comprising an open loop ground plane having a first end portion and a second end portion, the open loop ground plane defining an opening between the first end portion and the second end portion; and an antenna component positioned within the opening defined between the first end portion and the second end portion and overlapping at least one of the first end portion or the second end portion. Further the invention refers to a corresponding wireless device and to a method for integrating such an antenna structure in a wireless device.
US08077108B2
A digital TV antenna has first and second conductive members with surfaces of two minimum orthogonal dimensions and a nonconductive substrate connected to the surfaces of the conductive members for supporting them at a spaced location from each other of not more than ½ inch. Wires electrically connect the conducive members to a plug for being plugged to an input of a digital TV and at least one of the two minimum orthogonal dimensions is at least eight inches.
US08077098B2
A method and system are provided for testing antenna systems using position determination, orientation determination, test pattern analysis using a variety of factors and equipment including positions and orientation of antenna(s) under test at specific points and signal processing systems.
US08077094B2
A plasma device having low thermal noise, which results in a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the plasma device. The plasma device includes devices with a plasma that is responsive to electromagnetic radiation and/or electrical signals. In various configurations, the plasma device has a plasma in which the temperature, resistance, pressure, and/or collision frequency are at a level sufficiently low to produce an acceptable level of noise. In another configuration, the operating frequency of the plasma device is at a level sufficiently high to produce an acceptable level of noise. Decreasing the noise level results in increasing the signal-to-noise ratio and increasing the data rate. The plasma temperature is reduced by operating the plasma device in the afterglow state. The plasma electron temperature is reduced by confining high energy electrons in a potential well and by using an electron emitting filament.
US08077093B2
A patch radiator for use in beamformed or steerable antenna systems which maximizes upper frequency limit and simultaneously minimizes the lower frequency limit, by providing an annular patch configuration in which a central region of the patch element is devoid of material, whereby this central region is of a different shape from the shape of the exterior perimeter of the patch element. One possible configuration of such a patch radiator comprises a square exterior shape, enclosing a central circular region of removed material. In this manner, the upper frequency limit threshold tends to rise as the interior annular perimeter is reduced. Preferably, the exterior and interior perimeters have no interior angles of more than 180°.
US08077090B1
The simultaneous localization and RF modeling technique pertains to a method of providing simultaneous localization and radio frequency (RF) modeling. In one embodiment, the technique operates in a space with wireless local area network coverage (or other RF transmitters). Users carrying Wi-Fi-enabled devices traverse this space while the mobile devices record the Received Signal Strength (RSS) measurements corresponding to access points (APs) in view at various unknown locations and report these RSS measurements, as well as nay other available location fix to a localization server. A RF modeling algorithm runs on the server and is used to estimate the location of the APs using the recorded RSSI measurements and any other available location information. All of the observations are constrained by the physics of wireless propagation. The technique models these constraints and uses a genetic algorithm to solve them, thereby providing an absolute location of the mobile device.
US08077077B2
In a recognition system for a vehicle, forward vehicle information and infrastructural information are checked together and with respect to information that can be considered to pertain to one and the same vehicle. Pieces of information on position and speed are averaged to acquire the information of the vehicle. Pieces of information that can be considered to pertain to one and the same vehicle are searched for and integrated into one. Further, estimated values of speed and position in the future are corrected using traveling information and outputted to a drive assisting device.
US08077065B2
In AD conversion of a voltage under measurement, data continuity is ensured between the result of conversion after amplification by using an amplifier circuit and the result of direct conversion without using the amplifier circuit. In AD conversion operation using a DA converter circuit, an amplifier circuit, and an AD converter circuit under the direction of a control circuit, an analog signal output from the DA converter circuit is directly converted by the AD converter circuit, and also the analog signal is converted therein after amplified by the amplifier circuit with an expected gain of 2n (“n” represents a positive integer). Based on resultant data thus obtained, a gain of the amplifier circuit and an offset thereof are calculated. An analog signal under measurement to be enhanced in bit precision is subjected to amplification by the amplifier circuit and conversion by the AD converter circuit, the offset calculated as mentioned above is subtracted from the result of the conversion, and the result of the subtraction thus performed is multiplied by a ratio of the expected gain to the gain calculated as mentioned above so as to cancel a gain error. Then, based on data with the gain error canceled, acquisition of bit-extended conversion result data is performed to ensure continuity between data having different degrees of bit precision.
US08077057B2
A capacitive input pad is provided at a position near input keys constituting a keyboard input unit. A left palm detecting unit and a right palm detecting unit are provided both sides of this input pad. When the left palm detecting unit and the right palm detecting unit detect both palms, an input operation, corresponding to a space key input area, an L-key input portion, or an R-key input portion, is performed through an operation of the input pad. When the left palm detecting unit and the right palm detecting unit do not detect both palms, a coordinate input operation is performed using the input pad.
US08077049B2
A system, device, and method of providing information for a power distribution system is provided. In one embodiment, a method of using a device that receives power from the low voltage power of the power distribution system and experiences a power loss during a local power outage may perform the processes of monitoring a voltage of the low voltage power line, detecting a voltage reduction below a threshold voltage for a predetermined time period, storing information of the voltage reduction in a non-volatile memory prior to the power outage, and transmitting a notification to a remote computer system prior to the outage. The monitoring may comprise making a plurality of measurements of the voltage during a time interval and averaging the plurality of voltage measurements. In addition, the method may include transmitting an alert message upon power up after the outage to indicate a power restoration local to the device.
US08077048B2
Systems and methods for a smoke monitor are described. In one aspect, a smoke monitor includes a detector to sense when a user lights a smoking device such as a cigarette, pipe, etc. In one implementation, for example, such detection is made by detecting the audible sound of a lighter, via a smoke detector, and/or so on. In one implementation, the smoke monitor includes a counter that counts the number of smoking devices lit by a user, for example, over a predetermined amount of time. Exceeding a threshold number of smoking devices (e.g., lighting one or more smoking devices) over that period of time may cause the smoke monitor to implement one or more configurable events such as audio alarms, vibrations, etc. In one implementation, and responsive to the smoke monitor detecting smoke, a particle generator coupled to the smoke monitor generates particles to freshen surrounding air.
US08077031B2
Objects are located within at least one mapped field region. Environments for location tracking are mapped through a configuration setup flexibly supporting multiple objects with precision and speed. Host and Repeater devices are located at vertices of polyhedra defining spaces. Polyhedra edge lengths are defined as the modified physical distance between two devices. This morphing employs parameters measured by or input to the system. Morphed three dimensional subzones are defined within the volume of the polyhedra defined by the devices at the vertices.
US08077006B2
A transmission line impedance transformer may include a printed circuit board (PCB) having a dielectric layer and an electrically conductive layer thereon defining a medial interconnection portion, and first and second lateral loop portions extending laterally outwardly from opposing first and second sides of the medial interconnection portion. The PCB also may have first ferrite body receiving openings therein adjacent the first lateral loop portion and second ferrite body receiving openings therein adjacent the second lateral loop portion. The transmission line impedance transformer may also include a first ferromagnetic body extending through the first ferrite body receiving openings to surround the first lateral loop portion, and a second ferromagnetic body extending through the second ferrite body receiving openings to surround the second lateral loop portion.
US08077005B2
The invention provides an aligned multilayer wound coil that is compact in size and excellent in productivity, an apparatus for manufacturing the same, an electrical equipment and a non-inductive resistance to which the aligned multilayer wound coil is applied. The aligned multilayer-wound coil comprises two or more winding layers, the winding layers being provided with insulated electric wires, respectively, wound in one direction in alignment with each other, wherein a lead wire is guided out from respective ends of the coil, on a layer-by-layer basis, and wherein the lead wire guided out from one end of the coil on a layer-by-layer basis is connected to one terminal while the lead wire guided out from the other end of the coil on a layer-by-layer basis is connected to the other terminal, and winding layer coils on a layer-by-layer basis are connected in parallel with each other in a circuit.
US08076998B2
An electromagnetic bandgap structure is disclosed. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the electromagnetic bandgap structure that blocks a noise of a certain frequency band can include 4 or more conductive plates, a first stitching via, which electrically connects any two of the conductive plates with each other by having a part of the first stitching via pass through a planar surface that is different from a planar surface of the conductive plates, a second stitching via, which electrically connects another two of the conductive plates with each other by having a part of the second stitching via pass through a planar surface that is different from a planar surface of the conductive plates, and a stitching via chain, which electrically connects the first stitching via and the second stitching via with each other.
US08076997B2
A tunable delay line for radiofrequency applications includes a waveguide and a dielectric perturbing member that is displaceable relative to the waveguide for varying the delay imparted by the line. The waveguide is a ridge waveguide and the perturbing member is arranged parallel to a longitudinal end surface of the ridge and is movable in the ridge plane, toward and away from the ridge end surface, or in a direction transversal to the ridge.
US08076992B2
A method for fabrication of an inaccessible RF microwave waveguide structure is provided. The method includes providing an RF microwave waveguide network including an array of waveguide components that have one or more apertures in a wall. The method also includes providing one or more dummy load elements made of a ceramic material having high-temperature stable properties. The dummy load elements are mounted in a predetermined place on the wall in the vicinity of the aperture. The method also includes providing a blocking assembly configured for covering RF microwave waveguide network. The blocking assembly is connected to the RF microwave waveguide network by using dip brazing.
US08076991B2
A digitally-tunable filter includes a tunable filter circuit (110) for generating an output signal by processing an input signal based at least on a plurality of filter control signals (114). The filter also includes an input power sampler (118) for sampling an input power of the input signal, an output power sampler (120) for sampling an output power of the output signal, and a tuning processor (112) for generating the plurality of filter control signals based on at least one channel control signal (116) associated with a current communications channel and a comparison of the input and the output powers. In the filter, the plurality of control signals configure the tunable filter circuit to attenuate at least a portion of the input signal if a difference between the input power and the output power is less than a threshold value.
US08076990B2
According to one exemplary embodiment, a connector for coupling a communications medium to an electronic device includes a common-mode suppression block coupled to a number of connector pins. The common-mode suppression block is configured to reduce common-mode noise coupling between the communications medium and the connector pins in the connector. The common-mode suppression block is further configured to provide substantially no attenuation to a differential-mode signal. In one embodiment, the communications medium is an Ethernet cable and the connector is an Ethernet plug. In one embodiment, the common-mode suppression block comprises common-mode chokes. In one embodiment, the connector is an RJ45 plug.
US08076985B2
Provided is a voltage-controlled oscillator that can hold an oscillation frequency at a desired value when an oscillation frequency changes due to the temperature, without narrowing a variable range of the oscillation frequency, and a PLL circuit, an FLL circuit, and a wireless communication device, which use the voltage-controlled oscillator. A control voltage Vt is applied to a connection point Y between variable capacitors 121 and 122 included in a variable capacitance circuit 120. A control signal Fse1 is applied to a switching element 132 included in a capacitance switching circuit 130. A power-supply voltage Vdd is applied by a control section 170 to a connection point X between inductors 111 and 112 included in an inductor circuit 110. A voltage value of the power-supply voltage Vdd is controlled such that the oscillation frequency of the local oscillation signal is held at a constant regardless of a temperature change.
US08076976B2
The present invention provides a technology capable of achieving an improvement in the characteristic of a power amplifier when a power amplifier mounted onto mobile communication equipment such as a cellular phone is comprised of the balance amplifier. One feature of an embodiment resides in that each of passive parts disposed in a low-band signal negative path and each of passive parts disposed in a low-band signal positive path are placed in positions where they are symmetric with respect to a center line of a semiconductor chip. Thus, the symmetry between the low-band signal negative path and the low-band signal positive path is enhanced. As a result, a loss in matching due to the difference between the low-band signal negative path and the low-band signal positive path can be enough reduced, and the characteristic of a low-band signal balance amplifier can be enhanced.
US08076971B2
The present invention is directed toward providing a system and method of reducing RF interference in switching amplifiers without degrading performance. In one embodiment, the sampling rate of coarse high voltage modulated pulsewidths are decreased relative to the sampling rate of fine lower voltage modulated pulsewidths. This reduction in the sampling rate of coarse high voltage modulated pulsewidths results in a reduction in EMI. In addition, the higher sampling rate of the fine lower voltage modulated pulsewidths mitigates the distortion caused by the reduced sampling rate of the coarse pulsewidths.
US08076970B2
An adaptive demodulator for a contactless device, including a rectifier configured to rectify a voltage which is dependent on a signal received by the contactless device, and a voltage regulator coupled to the rectifier and configured to adjust the voltage to be within a voltage window.
US08076945B2
This disclosure relates to an autosensitive detector and an autosensitive measurement system with a self-adjustable set-off value, and more specifically, to a probe for adaptation to an environmental parameter such as liquids adapted to reset its measured sensitivity each time the probe is enabled or turned on, which can be further desensitized by adjusting a sensitivity correction factor by a factor (F) within the range of 0.05
US08076940B2
The invention concerns the methods for determining, relative to a point Po, the location of a fixing point Pf of a rod T located in an environment Mi wherein prevails a permanent magnetic field Ch. The inventive method is characterized in that it consists in studying the variations of the magnetic flux which passes through the windows F when the rod is and is not subjected to a torque about its axis A, said windows having substantially the same area and being connected to the rod T respectively in different points Px, Px+1, . . . located on the portion of the rod delimited by the assumed site of the fixing point Pf, and including the point Po, and having each a given position relative to the magnetic field lines of force when the rod is not subjected to the torque. The invention also concerns a device for implementing said method. The invention is advantageously applicable to determining the location of the sticking point of a string of hollow drill rods in an oil well.
US08076924B2
This invention relates to a method and system for remote detection of a targeted substance by the appropriate application of a probing signal that induces molecular resonance in the target substance to create an identifiable signature or response. In the preferred embodiment, signals transmitted are an Infrared laser beam, amplitude modulated in the range of 100 kHz frequency. The probing signal stimulates molecular resonance of the target substance which produces characteristic electron signal responses that are detected by IR detectors. A software program is used to process the electrical response signals and to compare them with electrical response signals stored in a database of known substances, thus allowing the target substance to be identified. The system may also be used to locate targeted substances. Also disclosed is an artificial ground device that provides a positive ground that provides consistent responses.
US08076917B2
The present invention discloses a buck switching regulator with improved mode transition, and a method for controlling a buck switching regulator. The method comprises: providing a switching regulator including: an output power stage for converting an input voltage to an output voltage, the output power stage being controlled by a first PWM signal during a fixed-frequency PWM mode (FPWM mode), and being controlled by a first voltage signal during a pulse skipping mode (PSK mode), wherein the first PWM signal is generated according to the first voltage signal; and in a transition from the PSK mode to the FPWM mode, proving a second voltage signal as a starting point of the first voltage signal, the second voltage signal being substantially close to a target of the first voltage signal in the FPWM mode.
US08076915B2
To improve conversion efficiency at a DC-DC conversion time by providing driving units respectively for a plurality of switches and controlling the switches corresponding to a load current, an input voltage, an output voltage and an input/output voltage difference. When synchronously rectifying a plurality of first switches and a plurality of second switches by setting the first switches and the second switches alternately in an ON-state, the plurality of first switches are driven repeatedly in the ON- or OFF-state corresponding to a required output, the plurality of second switches are driven in the ON- or OFF-state in synchronization with the first switches, the driving of part of the plurality of first switches and part or all of the plurality of second switches is stopped corresponding to a load current value, an input voltage value, an output voltage value or an input/output voltage difference value.
US08076911B2
A voltage regulator includes a voltage regulator unit configured to output a step voltage and a damping resistance switching unit coupled between a load and an output node of the voltage regulator and configured to select an optimal damping resistance value based on a required load capacity.
US08076908B2
A method for controlling the electrical system of a motor vehicle with a generator, a battery to supply the electrical system, at least one load and a storage capacitor for brief supply of electrical power on demand, during which the battery is charged when the generator produces excess electrical power is provided. The load is supplied and the battery and the storage capacitor are charged by the generator in load operation or fuel cutoff. The load is additionally supplied by the battery and/or the storage capacitor when the instantaneous generator power is not sufficient. An instantaneously required electrical load power in load operation or fuel cutoff is recorded the load power is compared with an idle power of the generator, and the storage capacitor is charged by the generator when the idle power of the generator is less than the load power in load operation or fuel cutoff.
US08076903B2
An electrical energy storage and delivery system for supplying electrical energy to a system load and method of operation. The system including an energy storage module comprising a charger coupled to a high power battery module and a high energy battery module; a first matrix switch coupled to the charger and a second matrix switch; and an energy shuttle coupled to a status signal of at least the energy storage module and the system load. The second matrix switch coupled to the first matrix switch, the high power battery module, the high energy battery module and a system load connection. The energy shuttle configured to transmit a plurality of control signals to set an interconnection state of the first matrix switch, the charger and the second matrix switch.
US08076901B2
A charging system and method for an electronic device controlled by audio output are used for controlling an external charging power supply to charge the electronic device. An electric quantity detection software runs on the electronic device, for detecting an electric quantity of the electronic device and generating audio signals indicating a message of performing a charging operation or a message of stopping the charging operation. An audio output interface is disposed on the electronic device for outputting the audio signals. A decoding device is connected to the audio output interface for receiving the audio signal and controlling the external charging power supply to perform the charging operation or to stop the charging operation on the electronic device. The charging system and method for the electronic device can effectively control the electric quantity of the electronic device, without requiring any charging control circuits.
US08076899B2
An electric power supply driver executes duty control of turning on and off of a selected switching element to supply electric power to a corresponding stator coil in a case where an actual rotational direction and a target rotational direction of a motor shaft coincide with each other. Furthermore, the driver sets an on-duty ratio of the selected switching element below a lower limit value, which is at least required to rotate the motor shaft through the power supply to each corresponding stator coil in a case where the actual rotational direction and the target rotational direction do not coincide with each other.
US08076893B2
An electrostatic drive includes a first electrode and a second electrode responsive to a drive signal. The drive signal includes an actuation signal constituent and a sensing signal constituent. The sensing signal constituent is at a frequency higher than a natural mechanical resonant frequency of the electrostatic drive. In response to the actuation signal constituent, displacement between the first electrode and the second electrode changes, which is evaluated by detecting a change in an electrical characteristic of the drive as a function of the sensing signal constituent.
US08076892B2
A stator position adjustment method for a motor drive device that includes a motor case, a rotor shaft supported by the motor case in order to rotate a rotor inside the motor case, and a stator disposed at an outer circumference of the rotor concentrically with the rotor and having a configuration in which the stator is tightened and secured to the motor case by a tightening unit that tightens the stator along a rotor axis. The method includes the steps of setting a first tolerance range as a maximum tolerance range of a stator axis in which a first gap is formed between an outer circumference surface of the stator and an inner circumference surface of the motor case; measuring a position of the stator axis; and adjusting the position of the stator axis within the first tolerance range based on a measured position of the stator axis.
US08076871B2
A driver apparatus (100) for driving a gas discharge lamp (L) comprises a commutator circuit (5) having a bridge topology with four switches (T1-T4) controlled by a controller (6), with an inductor (L2) arranged in series with the lamp and a capacitor (C3) arranged in parallel with the lamp, the inductor (L2) and the capacitor (C3) having a parallel resonance frequency fR. In a steady-state mode, the controller drives the four switches (T1-T4) at a relatively low commutation frequency of the order of 100 Hz. For igniting the lamp when it is still hot, the controller drives the four switches (T1-T4) at a first ignition frequency fP1=fR/n1, n1 being an odd integer. For igniting the lamp when it is cold, the controller drives the four switches (T1-T4) at a second ignition frequency fP2=fR/n2, n2 being an odd integer larger than n1.
US08076869B2
In one method of and apparatus for varying the luminosity of illumination, each of a plurality of light sources has an on state in which it emits light and an off state in which it does not emit light. Each of the plurality of light sources is switched cyclically between the on state and the off state in a sequence over a cycle period. The switching sequence is selected such that the number of said light sources that are on is uniform over the cycle. The luminosity of the illumination is varied by varying the proportion of each cycle for which each light source is switched on.
US08076868B2
The present invention relates to an LED driver, power control circuit and display panel using the same. The LED driver has the function of spread spectrum frequency modulation (SSFM). The circuit topology of the driver includes a power converter, an error amplifier, a feedback circuit, a saw-tooth generator and a driving circuit. The present invention adds the SSFM circuit in the saw-tooth generator to generate a time variant current according to time variant function, so that the saw-tooth wave could be changed by the time variant current as mentioned above. Therefore, the frequency of the driving pulse generated by the LED driver will be varied as time. As the result, the reduction of the electro-magnetic interference (EMI) can be achieved.
US08076864B2
A circuit arrangement for starting and operating at least one discharge lamp is provided.
US08076858B2
A light sensing apparatus and method for luminaire calibration are provided. Since the lighting frequencies of LEDs are modulated in sequence and a light sensing unit is activated and deactivated periodically, the light intensity received from each LED channel can be measured in sequence. In particular, only the light signals from one channel at one time can be sensed. Further, the received light signals for each channel are compared with the ideal value, and the result can be used for LEDs' calibration. According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the sensing apparatus includes a plurality of LEDs, regulators, and single light sensing unit for retrieving the light intensities without any switching circuit should be installed. After that, the signals will be transmitted into a driving controller that can switch the light sensing unit, and the light sensing unit can measure the light intensities in a specific period.
US08076847B2
To provide a phosphor containing a comparatively much red component and having high light emitting efficiency, high brightness and further high durability, the nitride phosphor is represented by the general formula LXMYN((2/3)X+(4/3)Y):R or LXMYOZN((2/3)X+(4/3)Y−(2/3)Z):R (wherein L is at least one or more selected from the Group II Elements consisting of Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba and Zn, M is at least one or more selected from the Group IV Elements in which Si is essential among C, Si and Ge, and R is at least one or more selected from the rare earth elements in which Eu is essential among Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and Lu.); contains the another elements.
US08076846B2
An optical material is provided. The optical material includes a nanoparticle-resin composite material in which metal oxide nanoparticles are dispersed in a polymer, wherein the metal oxide nanoparticles are crystalline and have a particle diameter of 1×10−8 m or less, wherein surfaces of the metal oxide nanoparticles are coated with a surfactant, and wherein the metal oxide nanoparticles are crystallized at a temperature greater than or equal to 200° C. and less than or equal to 400° C. A light assembly including the nanoparticle-resin composite material is also provided.
US08076832B2
A method of forming an electron emitter structure for use in a field emission display, or as a field emission backlight for an LCD display is provided. The electron emitter structure is formed by depositing mask elements onto an laminar Al substrate, and etching the Al substrate chemically through gaps between the mask elements, such that a spikes are formed on the substrate. These spikes are then covered with an electron emitter material. The spikes can be formed with a desired pitch/height ratio.
US08076831B2
An integrated multi-layer apparatus and method of producing the same is disclosed. The apparatus comprises an LED, a beam shaping layer, and a refracting layer between the beam shaping layer from the LED. The refracting layer may have an index of refraction lower than the index of refraction of the LED and the beam shaping layer.
US08076822B2
A drive device for a piezoelectric element includes a transformer, a driver circuit, and a control circuit. The transformer has a primary side and a secondary side. The drive circuit causes the secondary side to generate a drive signal whose frequency varies in accordance with a control signal input to the primary side and to supply the generated drive signal to the piezoelectric element. The control circuit changes a frequency of the control signal in a predetermined frequency range multiple times, detects an impedance change in the piezoelectric element each time the control-signal frequency is changed, determines a resonant frequency of the piezoelectric element on the basis of a transition of the impedance change, and controls the control-signal frequency so that the determined resonant frequency is obtained.
US08076820B2
An electro-osmotic pump includes a pump chamber having a wall fabricated of an electric double layer material, the surface area of the electric double layer material being high relative to the volume of the chamber. An electric potential applied across the material causes a fluid in the chamber to be transported through the wall.A nastic actuator includes the electro-osmotic pump and an actuator chamber, having a variable volume, coupled to the pump chamber. A superabsorbent polymer is disposed in the pump and actuator chambers, such that transport of the fluid into the pump chamber results in absorption of the fluid by the superabsorbent polymer, causing the actuator chamber to increase in volume. When the electric potential is applied across the superabsorbent polymer, the superabsorbent polymer expands, further causing the actuator chamber to increase in volume.
US08076809B2
An electric submersible motor is provided that includes a plurality of rotors and bearings mounted on a shaft, and a stator external to said rotors. A running clearance is located between an inner diameter of the stator and external diameter of the rotors, and includes a lubricating oil that includes a base hydrocarbon oil and a plurality of nanoparticles. Also provided is an improved lubricant oil and method of preparation thereof are provided. The lubricant oil includes a hydrocarbon containing base oil and a plurality of nanoparticles. The nanoparticles may be present in an amount up to 30% by volume.
US08076808B2
Disclosed herein is a flat type vibration motor. The motor includes a bracket having a shaft mounted to the central portion of the bracket, with a lower substrate and a magnet being adhered to the upper surface of the bracket. A casing covers the upper portion of the bracket, and defines an internal space. An upper substrate has on a lower surface thereof a commutator. A coil and a weight are adhered to the upper surface of the upper substrate. A resin member is provided on some portion of the upper substrate and has a bearing holding hole. A bearing is held in the bearing holding hole and rotatably supported by the shaft. A brush is secured at a first end thereof to the lower substrate and contacts at a second end thereof to the commutator to form a contact part.
US08076805B2
A rotor of a rotating electric machine includes a cylindrical rotor core, a plurality of coil slots provided on an outer periphery of the rotor core along a rotor axis direction, rotor coils disposed in the coil slots by laminating a plurality of field conductors through an insulation material, a rotor wedge disposed at an opening end portion of the coil slot so as to support the rotor coil, a coil ventilation duct formed in the coil slot so as to pass through the rotor coils, the rotor wedge and the insulation material, and sub-slots provided at bottom portions of the coil slots so as to be communicated with rotor core ends and the coil ventilation ducts. In such a rotor of a rotating electric machine, the coil slot, the sub-slots and the coil ventilation duct constitute a cooling gas channel for distributing a cooling gas to thereby cool the rotor coils. A depth in a diameter direction of each sub-slot from the rotor coil end to a nearest coil ventilation duct is larger than a depth of the sub-slot at a portion near a center of the rotor core.
US08076790B2
To shorten a startup interval to reach a synchronizing condition, a phase difference and an amplitude difference between the grid voltage and the stator voltage of one phase of a winding are obtained. The difference in amplitude is decreased prior to or in parallel to synchronizing the stator voltage with the grid voltage. The calculated compensation phase compensation value is used as an initial value for synchronizing at the next synchronizing operation.
US08076787B2
Semiconductor device, manufacturing method thereof, and manufacturing method of semiconductor module
An improvement is achieved in the mounting reliability of a semiconductor device. A semiconductor chip is mounted over an upper surface of a wiring substrate. A plurality of solder balls are disposed individually over a plurality of lands formed on a lower surface of the wiring substrate. The plural lands include a first land group arranged in a plurality of rows and arranged along a peripheral edge portion of the lower surface of the wiring substrate, and a second land group arranged inside the first land group in the lower surface of the wiring substrate. The lands in the first land group are arranged with a first pitch, and the lands in the second land group are arranged with a second pitch higher than the first pitch.
US08076782B2
An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate for mounting an IC chip which is a component for optical communication having an IC chip and an optical component integrally provided thereon, which can ensure a short distance between the IC chip and the optical component, which is excellent in electric signal transmission reliability and which can transmit optical signal through an optical path for transmitting optical signal.The substrate for mounting an IC chip of the present invention is a substrate for mounting an IC chip comprising: a substrate and, as serially built up on both faces thereof, a conductor circuit and an interlaminar insulating layer in an alternate fashion and in repetition; a solder resist layer formed as an outermost layer; and an optical element mounted thereto, wherein an optical path for transmitting optical signal, which penetrates the substrate for mounting an IC chip, is disposed.
US08076766B2
A stacked semiconductor memory device includes an interface chip and a plurality of core chips, in which the interface chip and the plurality of core chips are stacked. The core chips are mutually connected by a plurality of data through electrodes. The core chips each include a plurality of memory arrays. In response to an access request, the plurality of memory arrays corresponding to a predetermined data through electrode are activated, and the plurality of activated memory arrays and the predetermined data through electrode are sequentially connected. Thereby, even though it requires approximately ten-odd ns for transferring the first data, similarly to the conventional case, it is possible to transfer the subsequent data at high speed determined by the reaction rate (1 to 2 ns) of the through electrode. As a result, it becomes possible to increase a bandwidth while suppressing the number of through electrodes.
US08076757B2
A semiconductor device has an IPD structure formed over a substrate. First and second electrical devices are mounted to a first surface of the IPD structure. An encapsulant is deposited over the first and second electrical devices and IPD structure. A shielding layer is formed over the encapsulant and electrically connected to a conductive channel in the IPD structure. The conductive channel is connected to ground potential to isolate the first and second electrical devices from external interference. A recess can be formed in the encapsulant material between the first and second electrical devices. The shielding layer extends into the recess. An interconnect structure is formed on a second surface of the IPD structure. The interconnect structure is electrically connected to the first and second electrical devices and IPD structure. A shielding cage can be formed over the first electrical device prior to depositing encapsulant.
US08076756B2
Structure for inhibiting back end of line damage from dicing and chip packaging interaction failures
A semiconductor product comprises a semiconductor substrate having a top surface and a bottom surface including a semiconductor chip. The semiconductor substrate has a top surface and a perimeter. A barrier is formed in the chip within the perimeter. An Ultra Deep Isolation Trench (UDIT) is cut in the top surface of the chip extending down therein between the perimeter and the barrier. A ILD structure with low-k pSICOH dielectric and hard mask layers is formed over the substrate prior to forming the barrier and the UDIT. The ILD structure interconnection structures can be recessed down to the substrate aside from the UDIT.
US08076753B2
In the semiconductor device composing MOS transistor on which impurities are added from the surface of a P-type substrate, the region of immediate below a gate layer is the P-type substrate on which the impurities are not added, and first and second MOS devices, having an N-type diffusion layer are provided on the surface region of the P-type substrate circumscribing the gate layer. The gate layer of the first MOS device, and the N-type diffusion layer of the second MOS device are connected, and the N-type diffusion layer of the first MOS device and the gate layer of the second MOS device are connected, and thereby a first capacitive element is composed.
US08076748B2
A semiconductor device is provided having a high performance resistance element. In an N-type well isolated by an insulating film, two higher concentration N-type regions are formed. An interlayer insulating film is also formed. In a plurality of openings in the interlayer insulating film, one electrode group having a plurality of electrodes is formed on one N-type region, while a second electrode group having a plurality of electrodes is formed on the other N-type region. The relationship between the two N-type regions is between an island region and an annular region surrounding the island. The annular region of the N-type well between the island region and the annular region serves as a resistor R. Thus, discharge channels for charges applied excessively because of ESD or the like evenly exist in the periphery (four regions) of the one N-type region.
US08076735B2
A semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same are described. A polysilicon layer is formed on a substrate. The polysilicon layer is doped with an N-type dopant. A portion of the polysilicon layer is then removed to form a plurality of dummy patterns. Each dummy pattern has a top, a bottom, and a neck arranged between the top and the bottom, where the width of the neck is narrower than that of the top. A dielectric layer is formed on the substrate to cover the substrate disposed between adjacent dummy patterns, and the top of each dummy pattern is exposed. Thereafter, the dummy patterns are removed to form a plurality of trenches in the dielectric layer. A plurality of gate structures is formed in the trenches, respectively.
US08076729B2
Disclosed is a method for forming a dual gate electrode of a semiconductor device, which may improve manufacturing productivity by simplifying a process of forming gate electrodes in PMOS and NMOS regions, respectively, and may provide improvement in performance by making the two gate electrodes have a different thickness and material state in a manner that one of the two gate electrodes has a single-layer structure and the other one has a two-layer structure.
US08076725B2
An impurity buried layer constructed by two buried regions formed by impurities of identical type exist, a buried region formed by an impurity having a slow diffusion speed is provided on the entire surface of a transistor formation region, and a buried region formed by an impurity having a fast diffusion speed is provided inwardly from beneath the inside end of an isolation insulating film serving as a region on which an electric field concentrates partially.
US08076714B2
A memory cell transistor includes a high dielectric constant tunnel insulator, a metal floating gate, and a high dielectric constant inter-gate insulator comprising a metal oxide formed over a substrate. The tunnel insulator and inter-gate insulator have dielectric constants that are greater than silicon dioxide. Each memory cell has a plurality of doped source/drain regions in a substrate. A pair of transistors in a row are separated by an oxide isolation region comprising a low dielectric constant oxide material. A control gate is formed over the inter-gate insulator.
US08076711B2
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a semiconductor device including a plurality of memory cells, comprising a plurality of floating gate electrodes which are formed on a tunnel insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate and have an upper portion which is narrower in a channel width direction than a lower portion, an interelectrode insulating film formed on the floating gate electrodes, and a control gate electrode which is formed on the interelectrode insulating film formed on the floating gate electrodes and partially buried between the floating gate electrodes opposing each other.
US08076707B1
A semiconductor device is provided that uses a floating gate to store analog- and digital-valued information for periods of time measured in milliseconds to hours. Charge is added to and/or removed from the floating gate by means of direct electron tunneling through the surrounding insulator, with the insulator typically being thin enough such that appreciable tunneling occurs with an insulator voltage smaller than the difference in electron affinities between the semiconductor and the insulator and/or between the floating gate and the insulator. The stored information is refreshed or updated as needed. In many applications, the stored information can be refreshed without interrupting normal circuit operation. Adding and removing charge to or from the floating gate may be performed using separate circuit inputs, to tailor the performance and response of the floating-gate device. There is no need to use a control gate in the floating-gate structures disclosed herein.
US08076703B2
A semiconductor device is provided which includes a substrate including an inactive region and an active region, a gate electrode structure having portions overlying the active region, a compressive layer overlying the active region, and a tensile layer overlying the inactive region and located outside the active region. The active region has a lateral edge which defines a width of the active region, and a transverse edge which defines a length of the active region. The gate electrode structure includes: a common portion spaced apart from the active region; a plurality of gate electrode finger portions integral with the common portion, and a plurality of fillet portions integral with the common portion and the gate electrode finger portions. A portion of each gate electrode finger portion overlies the active region. The fillet portions are disposed between the common portion and the gate electrode finger portions, and do not overlie the active region. The compressive layer also overlies the gate electrode finger portions, and the tensile layer is disposed adjacent the transverse edge of the active region.
US08076695B2
A semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor substrate having a first semiconductor region of a first semiconductor type, a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type extended in the first semiconductor region, and a mesa area forming a slope along an outer circumference of the semiconductor substrate; a first electrode provided on a first principal surface of the semiconductor substrate; and a second electrode provided on a second principal surface of the semiconductor substrate that is opposed to the first principal surface; wherein the second semiconductor region comprises a main region provided in the semiconductor substrate while being brought into contact with the first electrode, the main region including an annular portion and diffused portions arranged in a spread manner in an area surrounded by the annular portion; and wherein a portion of the first semiconductor region is interposed between the diffused portions and between the diffused portions and the annular portion; and the diffused portions are composed of a small pitch region and a large pitch region having a larger pitch than that of the small pitch region.
US08076691B2
There are provided a light emitting device package and a method for manufacturing the same. The light emitting device includes: a plurality of barriers provided above a metal circuit board; a plurality of light emitting devices placed in a space between the barriers; and a lens unit provided at an upper side of the barrier. Accordingly, the plurality of light emitting devices can be conveniently seated as a module format, and a luminance can be increased. Also, an efficiency of heat sink can be increase.
US08076689B2
A light emitting diode includes an epitaxial layer, an electrode, electrically conductive members, a light incident layer, a light reflecting layer, an adhesive, and an electrically conductive permanent substrate. The epitaxial layer has first and second surfaces. The electrode is disposed on the second surface of the epitaxial layer. The electrically conductive members are formed on the first surface of the epitaxial layer and are spaced apart from each other. The light incident layer is formed on the first surface of the epitaxial layer at regions where none of the electrically conductive members are formed. The light reflecting layer is formed on the light incident layer and the electrically conductive members, and has indented parts and non-indented parts. The adhesive is disposed in the indented parts of the light reflecting layer. The permanent substrate is bonded to the light reflecting layer through the adhesive and through wafer bonding.
US08076688B2
Disclosed is a light emitting diode having extensions of electrodes for improving current spreading. The light emitting diode includes a lower semiconductor layer, an upper semiconductor layer and an active layer, which are formed on a substrate. The upper semiconductor layer is located above the lower semiconductor layer such that edge regions of the lower semiconductor layer are exposed, and has indents indented in parallel with diagonal directions from positions in the edge regions adjacent to corners of the substrate in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction to expose the lower semiconductor layer. The indents have distal ends spaced apart from each other. Meanwhile, a lower electrode is formed on the exposed region of the lower semiconductor layer corresponding to the first corner of the substrate, and an upper electrode is formed on a transparent electrode layer on the semiconductor layer. Lower extensions extending from the lower electrode are formed on the exposed edge regions of the lower semiconductor layer and on the regions of the lower semiconductor layer exposed through the indents. An upper extension extending from the upper electrode are formed on the transparent electrode layer. The lower and upper extensions improve current spreading, particularly, in a light emitting diode with a large area.
US08076683B2
Surface-textured encapsulations for use with light emitting diodes. In an aspect, a light emitting diode apparatus is provided that includes a light emitting diode, and an encapsulation formed upon the light emitting diode and having a surface texture configured to extract light. In an aspect, a method includes encapsulating a light emitting diode with an encapsulation having a surface texture configured to extract light. In an aspect, a light emitting diode lamp is provided that includes a package, at least one light emitting diode disposed within the package, and an encapsulation formed upon the at least one light emitting diode having a surface texture configured to extract light. In another aspect, a method includes determining one or more regions of an encapsulation, the encapsulation configured to cover a light emitting diode, and surface-texturing each region of the encapsulation with one or more geometric features that are configured to extract light.
US08076679B2
A plurality of semiconductor layers including a light-emitting layer (14) are formed on the main surface of a substrate (10) which is composed of a group III-V nitride semiconductor. A first n-type semiconductor layer (12) containing indium is formed between the light-emitting layer (14) and the substrate (10), thereby reducing the affect of damage in the substrate surface. By having such a structure, there is realized a semiconductor light-emitting device having uniform characteristics.
US08076678B2
A package for a photoelectric wiring in which a pair of light emitting and receiving devices are mounted as optical devices on a lead frame having an optical waveguide in which an optical waveguide having a plurality of core portions disposed in parallel and surrounded by a cladding is mounted on a support plate of a lead frame having a mirror section including the support plate for supporting the optical waveguide, mirror sections having a mirror surface portion formed by bending both edges of the support plate at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to a planar direction of the support plate in a side direction, and lead portions to be electrically connected to the optical devices, the support plate, the mirror sections and the lead sections being formed by pressing a metallic material, wherein the light emitting device and the light receiving device are mounted in alignment with an optical path of a light reflected by the mirror surface portion and transmitted through the core portions at one of sides and the other side which interpose the optical waveguide of the package for an optical waveguide wiring therebetween.
US08076676B2
The present invention provides a light-emitting element including an electron-transporting layer and a hole-transporting layer between a first electrode and a second electrode; and a first layer and a second layer between the electron-transporting layer and the hole-transporting layer, wherein the first layer includes a first organic compound and an organic compound having a hole-transporting property, the second layer includes a second organic compound and an organic compound having an electron-transporting property, the first layer is formed in contact with the first electrode side of the second layer, the first organic compound and the second organic compound are the same compound, and a voltage is applied to the first electrode and the second electrode, so that both of the first organic compound and the second organic compound emit light.
US08076672B2
A semiconductor device which includes a passivation structure formed with a conductive strip of resistive material that crosses itself once around the active region of the device to form a first closed loop, a continuous strip that loops around the first closed loop without crossing itself which crosses itself a second time to form a second closed loop.
US08076668B2
An atomic scale electroconductivity device with electrostatic regulation is provided that includes a perturbing species having a localized electronic charge ol a dangling bond. A sensing species having an electronic conductivity is placed in proximity to the perturbing species at a distance sufficient to induce a change in the electronic conductivity associated with the localized electronic charge. Electronics are provided to measure the conductivity via the sensing species. The dangling bond functions as a single atom gate electrode.
US08076665B2
A semiconductor device is comprised of a semiconductor substrate, conductive layers stacked above the semiconductor substrate, which is comprised of a conductive polysilicon, and a metal layer provided above the conductive layers. Both ends of the conductive layers have stairsteps respectively. The conductive layers are connected in series by a metal layer which is provided on the stairsteps. The conductive layers connected in series comprise a resistance element.
US08076663B2
Methods, devices, and systems associated with phase change memory structures are described herein. One or more embodiments of the present disclosure can reduce thermal crosstalk associated with phase change memory cells, which can provide various benefits including improved data reliability and retention and decreased read and/or write times, among various other benefits. One or more embodiments can reduce the number of processing steps associated with providing local interconnects to phase change memory arrays.
US08076649B2
A charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a stage on which a target object is placed; an emitting unit configured to emit a charged particle beam to the stage side; a blocking unit arranged between the emitting unit and the stage and configured to block the charged particle beam emitted; a deflector having electrodes through which a current flows by applying a voltage and configured to deflect the charged particle beam passing between the electrodes onto the blocking unit by applying a predetermined voltage across the electrodes; an optical axis adjusting unit configured to correct optical axis deviation of the charged particle beam generated by continuously repeating irradiation (beam-ON) of the charged particle beam on a target object and blocking (beam-OFF) of the beam by applying a two-step voltage to the deflector; and a control unit configured to control the optical axis adjusting unit such that an amount of the optical axis deviation is corrected.
US08076648B2
Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for measuring partial discharge using a UV sensor array. The apparatus includes a UV sensor array including plural sensors detecting UV rays from an analyzing target of a power facility at a location separated a predetermined distance from the target and converting the UV rays into discharge current, an image measurement unit measuring the distance between the sensor array and the target and supplying an actual image of the target, a UV intensity detection unit measuring intensity of the discharge current converted from the UV rays detected by the sensor array, and a UV location detection unit analyzing and outputting a UV emitting location obtained by matching the discharge current intensity measured by the UV intensity detection unit to combined data of the actual image of the target supplied from the image measurement unit and sensor locations of the sensor array.
US08076641B2
The invention relates to a method and to a device (1) for producing an image of an object (5) by means of a particle beam. According to the method and in the device (1), the particle beam is scanned by the object (5). The aim of the invention is to provide a method and a device for producing an image of an object (5) by means of a particle beam that can be used with a cold field emitter (2) in such a manner that a good image quality is constantly ensured. Said aim is achieved by virtue of the fact that, according to the invention, when a radiation parameter is altered, the object (5) is rescanned preferably with the corrected parameter. The inventive device (1) comprises the corresponding means (4, 6, 7) therefor.
US08076636B2
A mass spectrometer is disclosed comprising a first chamber (10) and a second chamber (5). The second chamber (5) is located downstream of the first chamber 10 and an inter-chamber aperture (12) is provided between the two chambers (5,10). An ion guide (13) is located in the first chamber (10) and an ion mobility spectrometer (6) is located in the second chamber (5). Helium gas is provided to the first chamber (10). As ions are accelerated towards the ion mobility spectrometer 6 from a relatively low pressure region they pass initially into the first chamber (10). The helium gas provided in the first chamber (10) minimises ion fragmentation and ion discrimination effects as ions are accelerated into a relatively high pressure region. The ions are then transmitted by the ion guide (13) and are subsequently transmitted to the ion mobility spectrometer (6) located in the second chamber (5).
US08076631B2
Two unshielded photosensors to determine the outside-light illuminance and two shielded photosensors are placed alternating both in the longitudinal direction and in the lateral direction. Then, the difference between the output of the unshielded photosensors and the output of the shielded photosensors is obtained. Accordingly, even when the thermoelectric currents differ from each other due to a variation in characteristics between the elements and a difference in the thermal distribution between the elements, the sensor currents can be corrected, so that a photodetector circuit which stably determines the outside-light illuminance can be provided.
US08076628B2
Systems and methods are provided for detecting ambient light with reduced sensitivity to infrared sources. An electronic device may include an infrared sensor, an ambient light sensor, a decoder, and a processor. The infrared sensor may detect an intensity of infrared light. The ambient light sensor may be configured to detect incident light and to generate an electronic signal indicative of an intensity of visible light. The decoder may be configured to receive the intensity of infrared light and to generate an intensity of decoded infrared light. The processor, which may be coupled to the decoder and the ambient light sensor, may be configured to substitute an alternate electronic signal for the electronic signal if the intensity of infrared light exceeds a threshold amount.
US08076615B2
A substrate processing apparatus comprises: an outer tube; a manifold connected to the outer tube and made of a non-metal material; an inner tube disposed in the manifold at a more inner side than the outer tube and configured to process a substrate therein; a heating device installed at a more outer side than the outer tube and configured to heat the inside of the outer tube; a lid configured to open and close an opening of the manifold, with a seal member intervened therebetween; and a heat absorption member installed in the manifold, with a bottom end of the inner tube intervened therebetween, and configured to absorb heat from the heating device, the heat absorption member being made of a non-metal material.
US08076613B2
The invention depicts and describes a panel heating device (1) for placing in the area of floors, walls or ceilings, comprising an electrically conductive layer (2), another first layer (3), and electrical supply lines (5, 6). The invention provides that the first layer (3) is made of an electrically insulating and liquid-tight material.
US08076594B2
The invention provides a protection device for protecting a flat cable in an optical disk drive. The protection device includes a casing, whereon a main board is fixed inside the casing, and an opening is formed at a front edge of the casing. The protection device further includes a tray disposed inside the casing in a slidable manner, a circuit board disposed on a bottom of the tray, the flat cable connected to the main board and the circuit board, a cover disposed on the bottom of the tray, and a support frame connected to the cover and protruding towards a rear of the casing. The support frame is disposed on the bottom of the tray and adjacent to a position, where the flat cable is connected to the circuit board, for holding the flat cable and preventing the flat cable from dropping.
US08076593B2
A receptacle for supporting a transponder on a support structure includes a housing having a first housing portion securable to the transponder and a second housing portion securable to the support structure. The first housing portion is pivotally secured to the second housing portion. The first housing portion and second housing portion include a shield for attenuating the transmission of electromagnetic signals. The first housing portion has a first position wherein the first housing portion and second housing portion form a chamber for enclosing the transponder and restricting the transmission of electromagnetic signals from the chamber. The first housing portion has a second position wherein the first housing portion and the transponder are displaced from the second housing portion thereby opening the chamber and exposing the transponder to permit the transmission of electromagnetic signals to and from the transponder.
US08076587B2
A printed circuit board (PCB 22) capable of withstanding ultra high G forces and ultra high temperature as in a gas turbine (11). The PCB includes a substrate having a plurality of cavities (30A, 36A) formed therein for receiving components of a circuit, and conductors embedded in the PCB for electrically connecting the components together to complete the circuit. Each of the cavities has a wall (36A′) upstream of the G-forces which supports the respective component in direct contact in order to prevent the development of tensile loads in a bonding layer (37A). When the component is an integrated circuit (50), titanium conductors (63) are coupled between exposed ends of the embedded conductors and contact pads on the integrated circuit. A gold paste (51) may be inserted into interstitial gaps between the integrated circuit and the upstream wall.
US08076583B2
Disclosed herein is a light-transmitting electric conductor including, on a surface of a light-transmitting support, a conductive material in which a multiplicity of carbon nanolinear structures are accumulated in two dimensions while making partial contact with each other, wherein the conductive material is a light-transmitting conductive material composed only of the carbon nanolinear structures, and direct bonds are formed between the surface of the light-transmitting support and the carbon nanolinear structures making contact with the surface, and between the carbon nanolinear structures making contact with each other.
US08076570B2
Formulations and methods of making solar cells are disclosed. In general, the invention provides a solar cell comprising a contact made from a mixture wherein, prior to firing, the mixture comprises at least one aluminum source, at least one boron source, and about 0.1 to about 10 wt % of a glass component. Within the mixture, the overall content of aluminum is about 50 wt % to about 85 wt % of the mixture, and the overall content of boron is about 0.05 to about 20 wt % of the mixture.
US08076561B2
Improved methods and apparatus of producing vibrato on keyboard percussion/tone bar instruments such as the vibraphone and marimba are provided. Means are disclosed for real time control of the expressive qualities of both the speed and strength of the vibrato of such instruments, while eliminating the need for an electrical motor. According to certain embodiments, methods and apparatus are disclosed to easily produce a change of dynamic level (crescendo and diminuendo) after a single strike of a tone bar or chord.
US08076556B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH929723. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH929723, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH929723 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 CH929723.
US08076554B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH345220. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH345220, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH345220 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 CH345220.
US08076543B2
A soybean cultivar designated S080172 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar S080172, to the plants of soybean S080172, to plant parts of soybean cultivar S080172, and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybean cultivar S080172 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 S080172, to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar S080172, 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 S080172 with another soybean cultivar.
US08076541B2
A soybean cultivar designated 84460075 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar 84460075, to the plants of soybean 84460075, to plant parts of soybean cultivar 84460075 and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybean cultivar 84460075 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 84460075, to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 84460075 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 84460075 with another soybean cultivar.
US08076537B2
Methods of breeding germinable transgenic broadleaved tree species are disclosed which include the following steps: (1) the main stem of a tree is cutoff at the height of 50-160 cm above the ground; (2) the transection is dipped with 0.3-0.5 OD600 of a suspension of recombinant Agrobacterium containing exogenous target genes for 3 minutes to 24 hours; (3) selective breeding is performed on the third day after infection by dipping the transection infected by recombinant Agrobacterium in step 2 with antibiotics having lethal effect on the Agrobacterium every other 1-2 days to obtain transgenic regeneration plants. In the practical application, the method will have the following active effects: (1) it accelerates the transfer of good exogenous genes to germinable tree species, particularly poplar and facilitates the improvement of varieties thereof; (2) it provides a new way of asexual propagation of germinable broadleaved tree species and increases the productivity and the level of intensive cultivation of germinable broadleaved tree species, so it can be used to solve the ecological problems such as vegetation restoration and to meet the requirement of the market for wood.
US08076534B2
Chlamydomonas glucan dikinase gene, enzyme and modified starch, uses, methods for production thereof
The present invention relates the nucleotide sequence from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii encoding a glucan dikinase enzyme and to methods of use; to modified starch, as well as production and uses thereof. The starch has modified properties of viscosity and a modified phosphate content.
US08076526B2
A process for isolating a conjugated diene from a hydrocarbon mixture is disclosed. The process comprises distilling the hydrocarbon mixture in the presence of an extraction solvent comprising an N,N-dialkyl aliphatic amide and from 12 to 50 weight percent furfural to separate a distillate and a conjugated diene-rich extract; and recovering the conjugated diene from the extract.
US08076505B2
Compounds represented by formula (I): may be conveniently prepared by a process in which a Suzuki reaction is performed as an early step.
US08076503B2
The present invention is a process for producing optically active aminophosphinylbutanoic acids represented by the formula (2), comprising asymmetrically hydrogenating a compound represented by the formula (1) in the presence of a ruthenium-optically active phosphine complex, a process for the production thereof, and a compound useful in a herbicide such as L-AHPB that can be produced with good efficiency and high asymmetric yield.
US08076501B2
This invention describes reagent precursors and methods for chemical and biochemical reactions. These reagent precursors that can be activated in solution upon irradiation to generate reagents required for the subsequent chemical reactions. Specifically, photogenerated reagents (PGR) are useful for controlling parallel combinatorial synthesis and various chemical and biochemical reactions.
US08076497B2
The present invention relates to the production of oil and fat containing acylglycerol esters including diacylglycerols, medium-chain and long-chain fatty acid triacyglycerols comprising esterification reaction between an acyl group donor and an acyl group acceptor in the presence of a heterogeneous chemical catalyst consisting of an ion-exchange resin preparation to obtain a reaction fluid that is further subjected to dehydration and at least one separation method, thus producing diacylglycerols and/or medium-chain and long-chain fatty acid triacyglycerols at a high yield in a short period of time.
US08076496B2
The present invention features a chemoselective ligation reaction that can be carried out under physiological conditions. In general, the invention involves condensation of a specifically engineered phosphine, which can provide for formation of an amide bond between the two reactive partners resulting in a final product comprising a phosphine moiety, or which can be engineered to comprise a cleavable linker so that a substituent of the phosphine is transferred to the azide, releasing an oxidized phosphine byproduct and producing a native amide bond in the final product. The selectivity of the reaction and its compatibility with aqueous environments provides for its application in vivo (e.g., on the cell surface or intracellularly) and in vitro (e.g., synthesis of peptides and other polymers, production of modified (e.g., labeled) amino acids).
US08076495B2
A process for the preparation of aromatic N-glycidylamines is described, wherein an amine which contains at least one aromatic aminehydrogen atom is heated with at least 0.7 equivalent of epichlorohydrin per aminehydrogen equivalent of the aromatic amine, using a divalent or polyvalent metal salt of nitric acid, as a catalyst, dissolved in propylene carbonate, and the product is then dehydrochiorinated.
US08076491B2
The present invention relates to the discovery that specific human taste receptors in the T2R taste receptor family respond to particular bitter compounds present in, e.g., coffee. Also, the invention relates to the discovery of specific compounds and compositions containing that function as bitter taste blockers and the use thereof as bitter taste blockers or flavor modulators in, e.g., coffee and coffee flavored foods, beverages and medicaments. Also, the present invention relates to the discovery of a compound that antagonizes numerous different human T2Rs and the use thereof in assays and as a bitter taste blocker in compositions for ingestion by humans and animals.
US08076482B2
There are provided compounds of the formula or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or ester thereof wherein X, Y, W, W′, V, V′, V″, R1, R2 and R3 are as herein described. The compounds have utility as antiproliferative agents, especially, as anticancer agents.
US08076478B2
A novel polyamine derivative, or polyol derivative, having a piperidylaminotriazine skeleton; salts of such compounds; a process for producing them; an organic material stabilizer comprising any of such compounds; a method of stabilizing an organic material; and a stabilized organic material. Compounds of the general formula: (1) (wherein X is N(R4) or an oxygen atom; R1 is an n-valent hydrocarbon group; R2 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl; R3 is a hydrogen atom, an alkyl, an alkoxy or an acyl; R4 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl; and n is an integer of 3 to 16) are effective in the stabilization of an organic material against deterioration by light, heat, oxygen, ozone and electromagnetic waves, such as X-rays and γ-rays.
US08076475B2
The present invention generally relates to a novel process for preparing vitronectin receptor antagonist compounds having a benzodiazepinyl core structure. This invention relates to the preparation of pharmaceutically active compounds which inhibit the vitronectin receptor and are useful for treatment of inflammation, cancer and cardiovascular disorders, such as atherosclerosis and restenosis, and diseases wherein bone resorption is a factor, such as osteoporosis. In particular, the present invention relates to a novel process for preparing (±)-3-oxo-8-{[3-(pyridin-2-ylamino)propyl]oxy}-2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-2-benzazepine-4-acetic acid, (R)-3-oxo-8-{[3-(pyridin-2-ylamino)propyl]oxy}-2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-2-benzazepine-4-acetic acid and (S)-3-oxo-8-{[3-(pyridin-2-ylamino)propyl]oxy}-2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-2-benzazepine-4-acetic acid or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
US08076469B2
The present invention is based on the identification and characterization of a number of novel M. tuberculosis derived proteins and protein fragments. The invention is directed to the polypeptides and immunologically active fragments thereof, the genes encoding them, immunological compositions such as diagnostic reagents containing the polypeptides.
US08076464B2
Methods and reagents for synthesizing carbon-isotope labeled ketones and amines by carbonylation via Suzuki coupling reaction using carbon-isotope labeled carbon monoxide are provided. The resultant carbon-isotope labeled ketones and amines are useful as radiopharmaceuticals, especially for use in Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Associated kits for PET studies are also provided.
US08076456B2
The present invention discloses a canine TSLP protein and a nucleic acid that encodes that protein. Peptide fragments of the protein that comprise specific epitopes of the canine TSLP protein are also disclosed. The canine TSLP protein and related peptide fragments may be used as an antigen for immunological assays, as well as for vaccines that induce anti-TSLP antibodies. The present invention further discloses methods of making and using the canine TSLP gene, the canine TSLP protein, and the related peptide fragments.
US08076444B2
The invention relates to silane cross-linking curable compositions, comprising a polymer P with at least two terminal groups of the following formulae (I) and (II) -Am-K1—SiXYZ (I), -Am-K2—SiXYZ (II), and/or two polymers P1 and P2, the polymer P1 having terminal groups of the following formula (I) -Am-K1—SiXYZ (I), and the polymer P2 having terminal groups of the following formula (II) -Am-K2—SiXYZ (II). In said formulae, A represents a bivalent binding group K1 and K2 independently of one another represent a bivalent aliphatic hydrocarbon group with a main chain of between 1 and 6 carbon atoms, the hydrocarbon groups K1, K2 being different, X, Y and Z independently of one another represent a hydroxy group of a hydrolysable group and m stands for 0 or 1.
US08076440B2
The invention relates to polysiloxane block copolymers of the formula A[LB(S)Q]m, where A is a polysiloxane block, L is a divalent organic linker, B is a polymer block composed of radically polymerizable monomers, S is a sulfur atom and Q is a monovalent organic radical and m is an integer from 1 to 50, to a method for their production, and to their use in cosmetics or personal care.
US08076434B1
The present invention has an object to provide an amphoteric polymer having high anti-soil redeposition ability and solubility with surfactants, and a process for producing the same. The amphoteric polymer includes: a structure unit (a) derived from a cationic group-containing monomer (A); and a structure unit (b) derived from a carboxyl group-containing monomer (B). The structure unit (a) is present at a level of 1 to 99% by mass based on 100% by mass of all structure units derived from all monomers in the amphoteric polymer, and the structure unit (b) is present at a level of 1 to 99% by mass based on 100% by mass of all the structure units derived from all the monomers in the amphoteric polymer.
US08076424B2
The present invention relates to compositions which contain at least one epoxide adduct A having on average more than one epoxide group per molecule, at least one polymer B of the formula (I), at least one thixotropic agent C, based on a urea derivative in a nondiffusing carrier material, and at least one curing agent D for epoxy resins, which is activated by elevated temperature. This composition serves in particular as an adhesive and has an extremely high dynamic resistance to cleavage, in particular at low temperatures.The invention furthermore relates to impact strength modifiers terminated with epoxide groups and of the formula (I). It has been found that these novel impact strength modifiers result in a significant increase in impact strength in epoxy resin compositions, in particular in two-component epoxy resin compositions.
US08076422B2
A hot-melt adhesive for resealable packaging, containing 30 to 90 wt. % of at least one copolymer based on ethylene and/or propylene together with C4 to C12-α-olefins, which is obtainable by metallocene-catalyzed polymerization, with a melt index of 5 to 100 g/10 min (DIN ISO 1133), 5 to 50 wt. % of tackifier resins with a softening point of 80 to 140° C., 0 to 15 wt. % of waxes with a melting point of 120 to 170° C., 0.1 to 20 wt. % of additives and auxiliaries, the adhesive having a viscosity of 25,000 mPa·s to 250,000 mPa·s, measured at a temperature of 170 to 190° C.
US08076421B2
Film layers made from formulated polymer compositions are disclosed. Film layers made from such formulated compositions have surprisingly good (for example, low) water vapor transmission rates and are particularly useful for packaging dry goods such as cereal. The polymer compositions preferably have at least one homogeneous ethylene homopolymer and at least one heterogeneously branched ethylene polymer. The homogeneous ethylene homopolymer has a molecular weight much higher than that of the heterogeneously branched ethylene polymer, although the density of each is preferably higher than about 0.95 g/cm3.
US08076415B2
A molding material and a molded article for laser welding are provided, which comprise a thermoplastic resin (A) comprising a rubber-reinforced resin (A1) obtained by polymerizing a vinyl monomer in a presence of a rubber-like polymer (a), or a composition (A2) of the rubber-reinforced resin (A1) and a (co)polymer (b) of a vinyl monomer, and which have a light transmittance at a wavelength of 808 nm in a range of 5% or higher when molded into a 4 mm-thick sample piece. The rubber-like polymer (a) dispersed in the thermoplastic resin (A) preferably has a weight average particle size of 50 to 220 nm, and preferably comprises particles of 300 nm or larger in diameter in an amount of 0 to 20 wt % relative to 100 wt % of the component (a). A laser light can transmit the molding material and the molded article, and allow the molding material and the molded article to be laser-welded with various resin moldings.
US08076408B2
A radiation resistant composition includes 100 parts by weight of a polymer, 5 to 80 parts by weight of an aromatic series process oil that a polycyclic aromatic (PCA) extract by an IP 346 method (DMSO extraction) is not more than 3% and an aromatic compound content is not less than 20% by a Kurtz analysis, and a radiation resistance imparting agent. The polymer is cross-linked or vulcanized. A wire or a cable includes an insulation and/or a sheath material including the radiation resistant composition.
US08076406B2
The present invention relates to a composite having improved impact resistance. According to the invention, this composite is obtained from a composition comprising the following polymers: polylactic acid (PLA) which forms the matrix; at least one polyamide forming a dispersed phase within the PLA matrix; at least one functionalized polyolefin (A) comprising alpha-olefin units and epoxy, carboxylic acid or carboxylic acid anhydride units; and, optionally, at least one unfunctionnalized polyolefin (B).
US08076403B2
The process of the present invention produces an aqueous dispersion of mineral materials, suitable for use in pigments and other coatings, by introducing a fully neutralized dispersing agent to an aqueous dispersion of coarse mineral materials, grinding the aqueous dispersion and, during grinding, adding a partially neutralized dispersing agent to the aqueous dispersion. The process of the present invention produces aqueous dispersions of very fine particles, having a solids content of at least 75% by weight, based on the total weight of the aqueous dispersion, and wherein 95% or more of the particles are below 2 microns.
US08076401B2
Room temperature, moisture curable, transparent, and non-yellowing polymer blends contain at least one alkoxysilyl-terminated polymer bearing an end group -A-(CH2)m—SiR1a—(OR2)3-a where A is a divalent linker group, contain a silica filler of high surface area as the sole filler, and is catalyzed by a catalyst which is free or substantially free of amine groups.
US08076397B2
The invention is a water-based base material for printing inks, as well as a method for making the same, where the printing inks are primarily for use in flexographic or rotogravure printing, where the base material comprises blend vehicle and a dextrin. Additional components may be added, including but not limited to a drying retarder, a defoamer, a coalescing agent, a dispersant, water, one or more pigments or dyes, inert materials, and other materials known by those of ordinary skill in the art.
US08076393B2
An ink composition includes (A) at least one polymerizable compound selected from the group consisting of a monofunctional radically polymerizable monomer having an aliphatic cyclic structure, an N-vinyllactam, and an aromatic monofunctional radically polymerizable monomer, (B) a radical polymerization initiator, (C) a pigment, and (D) a graft copolymer having a repeating unit represented by the formula below in a graft chain: wherein R denotes a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, X denotes a single bond, —O—, —CO—, —COO—, —CONR1—, —OCO—, or a phenylene group, R1 denotes a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, or an aralkyl group, L denotes a single bond or a divalent linking group, Z denotes —NR2R3, R2 and R3 independently denote a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, or an aralkyl group, and R2 and R3 may be bonded to each other to form a ring.
US08076388B2
Self-setting, absorbable bioactive polycyanoacrylate-based composites include at least one inorganic phosphate salt or a combination of at least one inorganic phosphate salt and calcium silicate in a cyanoacrylate matrix. The composites can be reinforced with single- or multicomponent absorbable, warp-knitted mesh, thus producing a broad range of absorbable, bioactive biomaterials suitable for use not only as preferred absorbable alternatives to the commercial non-absorbable polymethyl methacrylate bone cements, but also for repairing or replacing cranial and maxillofacial bone defects and other complex defects through guided bone regeneration.
US08076385B2
A flame retardant aqueous liquid composition containing water, guanidine sulfamate, a citric acid compound including a metal salt of citric acid, and a water soluble polymer. A flame retardant polyurethane foam is produced by a process including the steps of providing a mixture of the above flame retardant aqueous liquid composition with a polyol and an isocyanate, and reacting the mixture in the presence of a catalyst.
US08076384B2
A post-crosslinked adsorbent comprises: monomer units of (a) at least 55 wt % at least one polyvinylaromatic monomer and (b) up to 45 wt % at least one monovinylaromatic monomer; and 0.5-2.5 mmol/g pendent vinyl groups; wherein the dry adsorbent has BET specific surface area in the range of about 650-1000 m2/g, BET average pore diameter 7.2-10 nm, BET porosity 1.29-2.45 mL/g, BJH adsorption micropore volume was less than 20% of total BJH adsorption pore volume, and HK micropore volume was less than 21% of total BJH adsorption pore volume. The invention is also directed to a preparation method for the polymeric adsorbent.
US08076382B2
Porous polymers, tribenzohexazatriphenylene, poly-9,9′-spirobifluorene, poly-tetraphenyl methane and their derivatives for storage of H2 prepared through a chemical synthesis method. The porous polymers have high specific surface area and narrow pore size distribution. Hydrogen uptake measurements conducted for these polymers determined a higher hydrogen storage capacity at the ambient temperature over that of the benchmark materials. The method of preparing such polymers, includes oxidatively activating solids by CO2/steam oxidation and supercritical water treatment.
US08076380B2
The present invention relates to a particulate expandable polystyrene (EPS) that can be processed into a foam with a fine cell structure and a low density and contains a material for increasing the thermal insulation value, to improve the thermal insulation value hereof. The present invention also relates to a method for the production of a particulate expandable polystyrene (EPS) and to a foam material based on polystyrene.
US08076377B2
Disclosed herein are a novel dicarboxylic acid salt of N,N-dimethylimidodicarbonimidic diamide, a preparation method thereof and a pharmaceutical composition comprising the same. More specifically, disclosed herein are a novel dicarboxylic acid salt of N,N-dimethylimidodicarbonimidic diamide, a crystalline acid addition salt prepared by allowing N,N-dimethylimidodicarbonimidic diamide to react with a specific dicarboxylic acid, which has improved physical and chemical properties including solubility, stability, non-hygroscopicity and anti-adhesive properties, and low toxicity, and thus is very effective in the prevention and treatment of not only diabetes and its complications in patients with so-called metabolic syndromes, in which diabetes, obesity, hyperlipidemia, fatty liver, coronary artery disease, osteoporosis, polycystic ovary syndromes, etc. appear in combination, but also p53 gene-deficient cancers, muscular pain, muscle cytotoxicity and rhabdomyolysis, as well as a preparation method thereof and a pharmaceutical composition comprising the same.
US08076374B2
The present invention discloses novel compounds of Formula (I), or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, which have glucagon receptor antagonist or inverse agonist activity, as well as methods for preparing such compounds. In another embodiment, the invention discloses pharmaceutical compositions comprising compounds of Formula (I) as well as methods of using them to treat diabetic and other glucagon related metabolic disorders, and the like.
US08076362B2
The invention relates to dosage forms and formulations comprising the novel crystal modification A of the compound I-(2,6-difluorobenzyl)-I H-I,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamide, wherein crystal modification A is characterized by characteristic lines with interplanar spacings (d values) of 10.5 Å, 5.14 Å, 4.84 Å, 4.55 Å, 4.34 Å, 4.07 Å, 3.51 Å, 3.48 Å, 3.25 Å, 3.19 Å, 3.15 Å, 3.07 Å, and 2.81 Å, determined by means of an X-ray powder pattern. Dosage forms of crystal modification A of the compound I-(2,6-difluorobenzyl)-I H-I,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamide may be for oral or parenteral administration, in the form of a solid or liquid, and in a dosage range of 20 mg to less than 500 mg. Solid dosage forms comprise a tablet or capsule, and further comprise a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier and film-coat.
US08076350B2
The invention relates to compounds that are spirocyclic azaadamantane derivatives derivatives, particularly spirocyclic azaadamantanyl ether or amine derivatives, compositions comprising such compounds, methods of using such compounds and compositions, processes for preparing such compounds, and intermediates obtained during such processes.
