US08104219B1
The lighted tip fishing pole apparatus provides a lighted tip pole with intensity adjustment of the lighted tip as well as on/off control. The apparatus is electrically efficient in order to extend battery life, thereby enabling extended use. The apparatus ensures against electrical failure of the lighted tip and related electrical connections by virtue of rod insulation, coiled wiring, straight wiring where needed, and positive, sealed connections and circuitry. The pole offers the same flexibility, threaded reel attachments, cushioned handle, eyelets, and cushioned grip fishermen require. The apparatus enables a fisherman to notice rod dip when a bite occurs, and thereby react, as opposed to an inability to do so in no light and low light conditions. With only the tip lighted, visibility of rod tip action is magnified. The further advantage of tip light intensity adjustment allows a fisherman to adjust to various light conditions.
US08104216B2
The present invention relates to a system and method for controlling the aimed shooting of a sniper and the observation of a spotter. At the same time that a sniper directly checks the shape of the target using a sighting telescope, a spotter observes the surroundings of the target using an observatory telescope. The sniper deflects images of the target using a prism, focuses the images, and converts the focused images into digital moving image signals. The spotter deflects images of the target using a prism, focuses the images, and converts the focused images into digital moving image signals. Two types of images can be selectively transmitted, or can be combined with each other using a multiplexer and transmitted to a shooting controller in a multi-screen division form. A commanding office can identify a precise target and make a decision pertaining to shooting.
US08104195B2
A sports shoe which comprises a rigid sole from which a shell protrudes, starting from a forefoot region and up to a heel region, a quarter being rotatably associated with the shell. An insole is slidingly associated within the shell, at a bottom thereof, is provided with a tip and interacts with elements for adjusting and guiding its axial position with respect to the shell.
US08104191B2
A laundry dryer includes a rotatable drum, an air delivery system selectively operable to provide air into the drum at a first flow rate and a second flow rate that is less than the first flow rate, and a moisture delivery system operable to provide moisture (e.g., water mist or steam) into the drum while air is being provided at the lower second flow rate, and during drum rotation (tumbling), to thus enhance dispersion of the moisture into the fabrics of the load, and the attendant dewrinkling/refresh benefits. The air delivery system can include a reversible blower that provides air at the first flow rate when operated in a first direction and provides air at the second flow rate when operated in an opposite second direction. The drum can be a reversibly rotatable drum that is rotatable in a first and an opposite second direction, and the dryer can include a drive motor that both rotates the drum and operates the blower. The moisture delivery system can include a nozzle to provide moisture directly into the drum.
US08104188B1
Devices for aiding installation of control lines in suspended ceiling systems; each comprising a flat base portion, a squared side having a paralleled horizontal groove formed therein to receive a portion of wall angle molding used with grids at 90° angles in relation to walls, an angled side having a paralleled horizontal groove formed therein to receive a portion of wall angle molding used with grids at 45° angles in relation to walls, threaded holes formed through top portion, first and second means for temporarily attaching devices onto wall angle moldings, means for restricting movement of main tees and cross tees which together allow a control line be wrapped around horizontal grooves, pulled taut, and wrapped around first or second means for temporarily attaching said devices onto wall angle moldings to lock said control line taut.
US08104187B2
A portable device for measuring deflection of a surface, comprising an elongate frame having a first end and a second end and a first datum surface, a first removable reference assembly adjacent the first end, a second removable reference adjacent the second end, a deflection gauge attached to the elongate frame between the first removable reference assembly and the second removable reference assembly, and wherein the deflection gauge engages and measures a deflection of the surface relative to the first removable reference assembly and the second removable reference assembly.
US08104184B2
A shaving cartridge includes a cartridge housing having a front edge and a rear edge. One or more shaving blades are positioned between the front and rear edges of the housing. A connecting member is pivotally connected to the cartridge housing, the connecting member having a load-bearing surface arranged and configured to contact the housing only when the housing is pivoted beyond a limit angle that is greater than the normal pivot angle.
US08104183B2
A portable cutting device capable of changing and adjusting a cutting depth of a circular saw blade relative to a base with lesser labor. A saw cover is pivoted on the base to change the cutting depth. An adjustment guide extends from the base in a pivotally moving direction of the saw cover in a superposed relation to the saw cover. A tightening unit is disposed to the saw cover at a position superposed with the adjustment guide and the saw cover for providing a selective tightening between the saw cover and the adjustment guide. The tightening unit includes a shaft part extending through the saw cover and the adjustment guide, a pivot operation part pivotally movable about an axis of the shaft part, and an urging part disposed over the shaft part and movable by the pivot operation part in the axial direction of the shaft part.
US08104181B2
Provided are an outer blade for a reciprocation-type electric shaver and a method of producing the outer blade, the outer blade being capable of suppressing a deformation such as wrinkles or an undulation, without adding a new component, to thereby keep a good appearance thereof. A sheet material for forming the outer blade is bent into a shape projecting upward when viewed in the lateral directions. The sheet material has hair introduction holes, the peripheral edge of each hair introduction hole forming a projection section projecting inward beyond the other portion of the sheet material, the end surfaces of a part of the projection sections make contact with a reciprocating inner blade. The sheet material is formed with a deformation suppression section in a specific region not including the projection sections which make contact with the inner blade but including the projection sections which make no contact with the inner blade. The deformation suppression section extends in a direction, the projection sections included in the deformation suppression section being crushed by pressing from the inside of the sheet material.
US08104177B2
A method of avoiding hammer rod-hole deformation in a hammer mill. Conventional hammers are fitted with a bearing structure that reduces wear while permitting the hammer to pivot about multiple axes. An optional, integral spacer provides spacing between adjacent hammers.
US08104167B2
A method of manufacturing a resistance film heating apparatus comprising: acid washing and cleaning the surface of a base material; heating and activating the base material; spraying a liquid resistance material on the surface; testing by the four-point method the actual heating power of the surface high-density resistance film on the cooled down base material in accord with a designed heating power, and correcting the characteristics of the designed conductive electrodes, thereby ensuring that the heating power is with the designed heating power; printing the corrected value of conductive silver slurry in a predetermined manner on the base material; sintering and solidifying the conductive silver slurry in a baking process so as to form electrodes; testing again after the electrodes cooling down naturally, and mending the electrodes using the conductive silver slurry and adjusting the baking temperature in accord with the designed heating power, and forming an eligible finished product.
US08104163B2
A cookware handle with a soft non-slip surface is formed by molding elastomeric composition around a core or elongated member that connects a flange portion and the terminal end or hanging portion of the handle. The core or elongated member has a relatively narrow cross-section to minimize heat transfer from the pot so that the gripping portion remains cool during cooking.
US08104153B2
Process methods of interring remains non-horizontally into earth, sand, snow or other receiving materials on dry or wet land or under water in a much less labor intensive manner while using far less land area than currently practiced.
US08104152B2
A tray comprising a hollow body for placement within or beneath a coffin for collecting and/or treating decomposition fluids from a corpse within said hollow body, wherein said tray comprises an upper wall and a lower wall defining at least one closed chamber therebetween, said upper wall being provided with at least one drainage aperture in an upper surface through which fluid collected on said outer surface of the upper wall can pass into said at least one closed chamber to be retained and/or treated therein.
US08104140B2
A decelerating device intended to intercept an end-of-stroke part of a closing path of a mobile member, such as a furniture drawer or door, including: a body fastenable in use to an abutting surface for the mobile member and internally defining a sealed chamber filled in use with a viscous fluid; a pushrod at least in part overhanging from the body and being adapted to cooperate in use with the mobile member, the pushrod being integral with a stem slidingly accommodated in the body against the bias of elastic means between an extracted position of the pushrod and a retracted position; and a piston accommodated in the sealed chamber so as to divide it into two portions hydraulically connected to each other and mechanically connected to the stem; wherein the stem presents a first end integrally connected to the pushrod and a second end opposite to the first, both slidingly accommodated in the body outside the sealed chamber and fluid-tightly towards the sealed chamber itself; the piston is provided with a mobile sealing member to choke the hydraulic communication between the two portions of the sealed chamber only during the stroke of the stem towards the retracted position.
US08104135B2
A swing lever is fixed to a pivot shaft to pivot the pivot shaft about a pivot axis thereof. A wiper arm is directly connected to a distal end portion of the pivot shaft and is pivoted together with the pivot shaft about the pivot axis of the pivot shaft when the pivot shaft is driven by the swing lever. The wiper arm is pivotable about a pivot axis thereof, which is generally perpendicular to or is tilted relative to the pivot axis of the pivot shaft, toward or away from a wiping surface. A coil spring is directly or indirectly connected between the wiper arm and the swing lever to exert an urging force to urge the wiper arm toward the wiping surface in a wiping operational position of the wiper arm for wiping the wiping surface.
US08104133B2
An apparatus for removing accumulated leaves and other debris from an overhead gutter of a building or the like, said apparatus including a blade adapted to skim a substantial portion of the internal skirt of said gutter to which leaves and debris are accumulated therein, and an elongated handle having one end adapted to be held by a user at a remote end substantially perpendicular to said blade.
US08104131B2
A rollover wash unit for a vehicle wash system includes interspaced lateral parts (2, 2′) fitted with guides (12, 12′), and a treatment device (7) that is received in the guide elements (8, 8′) via bearings (9, 9′), the guide elements being displaceable in the guides (12, 12′). In order to achieve an adaptation to the washing height, the guide elements (8, 8′) are configured to enable the bearings (9, 9′) to project beyond the guides (12, 12′) in a final position of the guide elements (8, 8′) in the guides (12, 12′), where the treatment device (7) projects upward beyond the lateral parts, (2, 2′) and/or an upper edge of a traverse (5) connecting the lateral parts (2, 2′), in an uppermost position of the guide elements (8, 8′).
US08104129B2
An open and close apparatus for a shelter of a boarding bridge includes at least one extension arm means provided on the portal frame, each extension arm means comprising: an upper arm having one end pivotally coupled with a column of the portal frame; a lower arm having one end pivotally coupled with the other end of the upper arm and the other end pivotally coupled with an upper end of the flexible frame; a propeller controlled by a control system and including an extension rod and a main body for accommodating the extension rod, wherein one end of the extension rod is pivotally coupled with the lower arm, and one end of the main body is pivotally coupled with the upper arm; and overpressure protection means for buffering an acting force between the shelter and the aircraft shell, and the overpressure protection means is connected to the control system such that when the acting force exceeds a predetermined value, the control system controls the propeller to stop protruding and/or contracting the extension rod. The open and close apparatus in the present invention can perfectly seal with an entrance of an aircraft with a large profile curve variety and is simple in configuration, and can prevent the aircraft shell from distortion or damage when the aircraft shell squeezes or collides with the shelter.
US08104122B2
A patient support having a deck with an adjustable length. The patient support includes a portion configured to extend the length of the deck. The hospital bed is configured to support a bariatric, large, or obese patient.
US08104120B2
A bed includes a base frame 14 having a head end and a foot end, an elevatable frame 16 also having a head end and a foot end, a lift assembly 76 or 78 comprising an actuation system connected to one of the frames, a push chain 106 having an actuator end 124 driven by a lead screw 86 and a distal end 126 connected to the other of the frames. Rotary motion of the lead screw changes elevation of the elevating frame relative to the base frame.
US08104113B2
A faucet arrangement includes a sensing device for sensing a presence of a user of a spout. The sensing device includes an infrared emitter installed such that a direction of emission of the emitter is oriented an angle of approximately between 5 and 15 degrees relative to a vertical direction. A receiver receives a diffused infrared energy from the emitter. A control device is in communication with the receiver and controls a flow of liquid through the spout dependent upon an angle at which the diffused infrared energy is received by the receiver.
US08104110B2
A water circulating system, such as a spa system, is disclosed having a flow control feature. In one embodiment, the spa system includes a tub, a pump assembly and a controller. The pump assembly includes a BLDC motor and circulates water from the tub's outlet port to its inlet port. The controller sets the speed of the BLDC motor to any speed within the speed range of the BLDC motor in response to a user input to adjust the flow rate of the water to the inlet port of the tub. The spa system may also produce at least one jetting mode in response to a user input. The jetting mode may be a pulse mode, a sinusoidal mode, a ramp mode, or a saw-tooth mode. In another spa system, a first pump operates at a first speed to heat the circulating water when a heater is activated, and at a second speed when the heater is not activated. In other embodiments, the spa system includes a jetting pump assembly that includes a BLDC motor and a circulating pump assembly that operates at two speeds. In another embodiment, the spa system includes a circulating pump assembly that circulates water from an outlet port to an inlet port during standby. Where the circulating pump assembly operates at a first speed when a heater is activated to heat the circulating water, and at a second speed when the heater is not activated.
US08104107B2
A nozzle structure of a bidet with swirling water current is provided, in which a user controls water spraying angle of water current sprayed from an outlet of a cleaning nozzle, and the water current with swirling force is sprayed in a circular pattern without causing an eccentricity, thereby increasing cleaning power and reducing water consumption. The nozzle structure of a bidet includes a water channel unit with two internal water channels classified as a wide flow channel and a linear flow channel; a cleaning nozzle tip where water current passed through the wide flow channel and water current passed through the linear flow channel are combined and spouted, wherein the cleaning nozzle tip is connected to an end of the water channel unit; and a fluid mixing unit arranged in an upper portion of an interior of the cleaning nozzle tip such that the fluid mixing unit applies a torque to the water current flowing upward after passing through the wide flow channel and the linear flow channel so as to thereby generate swirling forces of water current. It is possible to prevent an eccentricity of water current and control the water spray angle to be maintained at a constant level, while generating swirling water current with varying swirling forces of water current spouting from the outlet of the cleaning nozzle tip. This enables a user to change his or her body parts contacting the water current even without moving his or her body, and increases in cleaning power.
US08104105B1
A toilet fill valve, toilet, and associated methods are provided with an adjustable bowl fill flow. In one embodiment, a toilet fill valve includes a water inlet and a first water outlet configured to supply water to a toilet tank. A bowl fill outlet port extends from a portion of a body of the toilet fill valve, the bowl fill outlet port being operatively coupled to the water inlet. The toilet fill valve includes a bowl fill valve having a bowl fill valve inlet port and a bowl fill valve outlet port, wherein the bowl fill valve inlet port is compatible with the bowl fill outlet port and the bowl fill valve inlet port being coupled to the bowl fill outlet port, the bowl fill valve radially extending from a portion of a body of the toilet fill valve. The bowl fill valve is configured to supply an adjustable flow of water out the bowl fill outlet port for filling a toilet bowl during a flush cycle of a toilet.
US08104102B2
A toilet unclogging device rests on top of a toilet bowl rim and a user actuating a diaphragm or expandable central portion generates a temporary vacuum that repositions or reshapes an obstruction located below a water line to unclog the toilet without submerging any items beneath the water line of the toilet bowl.
US08104097B2
Multilayer elastomeric articles and methods of making the same are disclosed in which the outside or outer distal surface of the article is a different color or otherwise visually distinct in appearance from the inside or wearer contacting surface of the article so that the user of the article can readily identify the article as a multilayer elastomeric article. In one aspect, elastomer emulsions, solvent solutions, or plastisols used to form each layer may be modified with the addition of base color and/or colorant components in order to form a colored or patterned layer. In another aspect, one or both of the surfaces of the elastomeric articles (or layers of the articles) may be coated with such a colorant component to sufficiently visually distinguish the layers from each other.
US08104096B1
A swimming garment is formed with a tunnel having an aperture. An inflation assembly includes an inflatable bladder within the tunnel, a tube having an intermediate extent extending through the aperture and having a lower end coupled to the bladder and having an upper end positionable in the mouth of a wearer for inflation. The majority of the intermediate extent is positionable in the tunnel while not inflating and outside of the tunnel with the upper end in the mouth of the wearer while inflating. A wearer controlled clamp on the tube adjacent to the upper end is opened for inflation and deflation purposes and closed for precluding inflation and deflation.
US08104094B2
This invention defines a welding helmet that encloses a welders head on five sides and with an optional skirt covers their neck. The helmet contains a fan, filter and cooling module to provide clean cool air that reduces welding fume levels in the breathing zone below suggested maximums. By providing cool air to the welders head and neck area their whole body will feel cooler. It suggests the use of an external power source to provide the energy required to have a fan of sufficient capacity to draw air thorough a quality filter so potentially hazardous constituents of welding fumes are captured. This externally supplied power allows the required cooling capacity thermal electric cooling modules to be used to significantly lower the ambient air temperature. This helmet allows the welding operator to have sufficient cooling to improve their overall work environment for one of the most objectionable welding issues, excess heat.
US08108943B2
There is provided in one embodiment of the invention a method for analyzing a sample material using surface enhanced spectroscopy. The method comprises the steps of imaging the sample material with an atomic force microscope (AFM) to select an area of interest for analysis, depositing nanoparticles onto the area of interest with an AFM tip, illuminating the deposited nanoparticles with a spectrometer excitation beam, and disengaging the AFM tip and acquiring a localized surface enhanced spectrum. The method may further comprise the step of using the AFM tip to modulate the spectrometer excitation beam above the deposited nanoparticles to obtain improved sensitivity data and higher spatial resolution data from the sample material. The invention further comprises in one embodiment a system for analyzing a sample material using surface enhanced spectroscopy.
US08108937B1
A registry access manager (101) regulates access to executable class registry entities (103). A registry access manager (101) intercepts system calls (107) that access a registry (113). The registry access manager (101) detects attempts by processes (115) to access executable path entities (103) in the registry (113). The registry access manager (101) determines whether a robust, multifaceted security policy permits the attempted access, and blocks or permits the access accordingly.
US08108934B2
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus that processes an encrypted content. The apparatus includes a control section configured to control the following processes, such as a generation process, a moving range determination process, a holding process, a copying process, and an inactivation process. Such processes are to be performed independently in a specified order as a process for achieving moving out of at least a part of the encrypted content from a moving source to a moving destination.
US08108933B2
The present invention is a system and method for detecting and preventing attacks and malware on mobile devices such as a cell phones, smartphones or PDAs, which are significantly limited in power consumption, computational power, and memory. The invention enables mobile devices to analyze network data, executable data files, and non-executable data files in order to detect and prevent both known and unknown attacks and malware over vectors that are not typically protected by desktop and server security systems. Security analysis is performed by a combination of “known good,” “known bad,” and decision components. The invention identifies known good executables and/or known characteristics of network data or data files that must be present in order for the data to be considered good. Furthermore, known good and known bad identifier databases may be stored on a server which may be queried by a mobile device.
US08108932B2
A solution for computing password strength based upon layout positions of input mechanisms of an input device that entered a password. A password including an ordered sequence of at least two characters can be identified. A position of each of the characters of the sequence can be determined relative to a layout of an input device used for password entry. Each position can correspond to an input region (key) of the input device (keyboard). A proximity algorithm can generate a proximately score for the determined positions based upon a pattern produced by the positions given the layout of the input device. A password strength score can be computed based at least in part upon the proximity score.
US08108918B2
Some embodiments of zero knowledge attribute storage and retrieval have been presented. In one embodiment, the content of a piece of data is encrypted at a client machine. Further, an identifier of the piece of data is hashed at the client machine. The encrypted content and the hashed identifier may be stored in a database maintained by a server without disclosing the content of the data to the server.
US08108907B2
A database system and method combines the ability to concurrently utilize LDAP based authentication and operating system-based authentication. The database authentication tries both methods of authentication, both at the database layer and at the application layer. Security authentication of the user then occurs by whichever mechanism is first to return a successful result. Database administrators can, if desired, configure the system to prefer one mechanism (LDAP or operating system) over the other. With the present invention, a large end user population can be managed using standard LDAP tools, in an automated, administered, or “self-service” manner, as preferred. Thus, system accounts, such as the database owner, can remain within the operating system, easing installation and maintenance of the database product itself.
US08108902B2
A method and system for locking down a local machine zone associated with a network browser is provided. Placing the local machine zone in a lockdown mode provides stricter security settings that are applied to active content attempting to publish within a local page open in the network browser. The stricter setting are provided in a new set of registry keys that correspond to the lockdown mode of the local machine zone. The original security settings remain unchanged so that other systems and applications functionality that depends on the original security settings remains unaffected for the local machine zone. A user may also selectively allow active content to render despite the local machine zone being locked down.
US08108901B2
A system and method for managing access to high definition (HD) content includes a master customer premises equipment (CPE) device enabled for prioritizing conflicting requests for HD content based on predefined priority settings associated with a plurality of client CPE devices. Access to HD content by the client CPE devices may be associated with a token and conflicting requests may be resolved in favor of the client CPE device that holds the token. Disclosed systems permit administrators to control the use of limited resources within a location by limiting access to the limited resources by secondary users.
US08108897B2
Method and apparatus for displaying entertainment system data upon selection of a video data display
A graphical user interface (GUI) includes a first window that displays video data of a first entertainment selection. A first area of the first window displays entertainment system data that corresponds to the first entertainment selection. The GUI includes a second window that displays video data of a second entertainment selection. A second area of the second window, displays entertainment system data that corresponds to the second entertainment selection. Upon selection by a user of the respective window, entertainment system data regarding the entertainment selection corresponding to the respective window is displayed.
US08108894B2
A cable network content delivery system providing advertising information via a cable network and an advertising content interface are described. An advertiser submits advertising content over an internet which is then adapted for a cable network. A data gateway stores the advertising information. The system processes a user command received via the cable network, including an advertising information search command, and provides advertising information retrieved via the cable network.
US08108892B1
The present invention is directed to content searching of various databases in an interactive television network; caching programming for rebroadcasting to interactive television network subscribers; and interactively offering goods and services referred to in broadcast programming to interactive television network subscribers.
US08108885B2
A disk cartridge includes: a pair of disk housing portions, housing a disk entirely when put together; a supporting base member with a disk housing rotating and supporting portion for rotating and supporting the housing portions to open or shut a window to the disk such that the disk gets chucked externally, and a head can access the disk and read and write information from/on the storage layer thereof, though the window; and a locking unit including a pair of locking lever portions to keep the housing portions closed from rotating and a locking lever supporting portion supporting the lever portions rotatably and attached to the base member, wherein the pair of disk housing portions open the window wide enough to remove the disk while the lock unit is not inserted into the supporting base member, and contact with the lock unit and have their angle of rotation limited while the lock unit is inserted into the supporting base member, thereby controlling the size of the window such that the disk is unremovable.
US08108879B1
A processor having multiple independent engines can concurrently support a number of independent processes or operation contexts. The processor can independently schedule instructions for execution by the engines. The processor can independently switch the operation context that an engine supports. The processor can maintain the integrity of the operations performed and data processed by each engine during a context switch by controlling the manner in which the engine transitions from one operation context to the next. The processor can wait for the engine to complete processing of pipelined instructions of a first context before switching to another context, or the processor can halt the operation of the engine in the midst of one or more instructions to allow the engine to execute instructions corresponding to another context. The processor can affirmatively verify completion of tasks for a specific operation context.
US08108878B1
Method and apparatus for detecting indeterminate dependencies in a distributed computing environment
Method and system for detecting indeterminate dependencies in a distributed computing grid. A determination is made whether a deadlock situation exists within a workflow of the distributed computing grid and a user of the computing grid is notified of the deadlock situation, e.g., where in the workflow deadlock occurs. A deadlock situation can be determined based on direct and indirect dependencies, such as loops and dependencies involving a first work element and a lower level second work element. A deadlock situation can also be determined based on the relationships between a job and a task, which is executable by a processor in the distributed computing grid.
US08108877B2
A system for distributing a plurality of tasks over a plurality of nodes in a network includes: a plurality of processors for executing tasks; a plurality of nodes comprising processors; a task dispatcher; and a load balancer. The task dispatcher receives as input the plurality of tasks; calculates a task processor consumption value for the tasks; calculates a node processor consumption value for the nodes; calculates a target node processor consumption value for the nodes; and then calculates a load index value as a difference between the calculated node processor consumption for a node i and the target node processor consumption value for the node i. The balancer distributes the tasks among the nodes to balance the processor workload among the nodes according to the calculated load index value of each node, such that the calculated load index value of each node is substantially zero.
US08108873B1
A method and system provides a requested memory to a requesting process. The memory is requested by a consumer process residing in application space. The consumer process requests the requested memory from a Very Large Memory (VLM) driver in the operating system. The size of the requested memory may be larger than the maximum size per process supported by the operating system. The VLM driver creates one or more donor processes residing in application space dependent on the size of the requested memory. Each donor process requests an allocation of a portion of memory less than the maximum size per process supported by the operating system. Having received the requested memory, the donor process transfers ownership of the portion of memory to the VLM driver. The VLM driver provides the requested memory provided by the donor processes to the consumer process.
US08108869B2
The invention relates to a system, method and computer-reliable medium, as well as grids and clusters managed according to the method described herein. An example embodiment relates to a method of processing a request for resources within a compute environment. The method is practiced by a system that contains modules configured or programmed to carry out the steps of the invention. The system receives a request for resources, generates a credential map for each credential associated with the request, the credential map comprising a first type of resource mapping and a second type of resource mapping. The system generates a resource availability map, generates a first composite intersecting map that intersects the resource availability map with a first type of resource mapping of all generated credential maps and generates a second composite intersecting map that intersects the resource availability map and a second type of resource mapping of all the generated credential maps. With the first and second composite intersecting maps, the system can allocate resources within the compute environment for the request based on at least one of the first composite intersecting map and the second composite intersecting map. The allocations or reservation for the request can then be made in an optimal way for parameters such as the earliest time possible based on available resources and also that maintains the constraints on the requestor.
US08108867B2
A method, device, system, and computer readable medium are disclosed. In one embodiment the method includes managing one or more threads attempting to steal task work from one or more other threads. The method will block a thread from stealing a mailed task that is also residing in another thread's task pool. The blocking occurs when the mailed task was mailed to an idle third thread. Additionally, some tasks are deferred instead of immediately spawned.
US08108866B2
A mechanism is provided for determining whether to use cache affinity as a criterion for software thread dispatching in a shared processor logical partitioning data processing system. The server firmware may store data about when and/or how often logical processors are dispatched. Given these data, the operating system may collect metrics. Using the logical processor metrics, the operating system may determine whether cache affinity is likely to provide a significant performance benefit relative to the cost of dispatching a particular logical processor to the operating system.
US08108860B2
In one form, a method for managing message flow includes processing messages concurrently by processing nodes in a computer software application. The processing nodes include at least one set of lock acquisition, system resource access and lock release nodes interconnected in a flow path. In such a set, the nodes are interconnected in a flow path and process a respective one of the messages in a sequence defined by the flow path. The processing includes granting access to a system resource exclusively for the set's respective message responsive to the lock acquisition node processing its respective message. The system resource is accessed for the message responsive to the set's system resource node processing the message. The accessing of the resource for the message includes changing a certain system state. The exclusive accessing of the system resource is released responsive to the set's lock release node processing the message.
US08108853B2
A method includes receiving a request to install a software release, where the software release is to be installed on a first device and/or a second device. The method also includes initiating installation of the software release on the second device and determining whether or not a user wishes to continue with the installation of the software release. The method further includes initiating installation of the software release on the first device if the user wishes to continue. In addition, the method includes restoring a second software release on the second device if the user does not wish to continue. The first and second devices may represent redundant devices, such as a redundant set of controllers in a process control system or a redundant set of I/O modules that facilitate communication between one or more controllers and one or more process elements in the process control system.
US08108846B2
A mechanism is provided for performing scalar operations using a SIMD data parallel execution unit. With the mechanisms of the illustrative embodiments, scalar operations in application code are identified that may be executed using vector operations in a SIMD data parallel execution unit. The scalar operations are converted, such as by a static or dynamic compiler, into one or more vector load instructions and one or more vector computation instructions. In addition, control words may be generated to adjust the alignment of the scalar values for the scalar operation within the vector registers to which these scalar values are loaded using the vector load instructions. The alignment amounts for adjusting the scalar values within the vector registers may be statically or dynamically determined.
US08108833B2
A system and method for automatically generating a graphical data flow program from a statechart are disclosed. The statechart may be created in a graphical manner in response to user input, e.g., in response to the user arranging state icons on a display and creating interconnections representing transitions among the respective states. The statechart may include at least one hierarchical state, where each hierarchical state includes one or more sub-states. A graphical data flow program may be automatically generated from the statechart. The graphical data flow program may include a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the graphical data flow program, where connections among the nodes visually indicate data flow among the nodes. The graphical data flow program may be executable to implement the functionality of the statechart.
US08108827B2
Video, stills, panorama, sound and all forms of media as Rich Media in a Multimedia Vehicle Repository (MVR) file editable with a Rich Media Content description file. The Rich Media Content description file enables users to specify a vocabulary that defines the media elements and relations among the media elements thereby permitting the users to easily create and edit the Rich Media Content and compose various raw or compressed Rich Media components using any text editor. A multimedia authoring server side processor accepts the raw formatted Rich Media Content along with description text file in XML format and outputs the Rich Media, text and graphic components as an edited MVR file in accordance with user's design for execution on a multimedia player.
US08108820B2
A method, program product and apparatus include extending lengths that project from a microchip trace into dielectric material. The extending lengths may not connect to another trace. Placement of the extending lengths may be optimized to increase the dissipation of heat from the trace, while maintaining an acceptable level of capacitance.
US08108818B2
The present disclosure is directed to a method for estimating an interconnect delay for a source-to-sink path of a net within a Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) circuit, the source-to-sink path connecting a source and a sink in the net. The method may comprise estimating a total wire capacitance; calculating a delay contribution based on delay of the source-to-sink path and delay of a plurality of off-path sinks; and estimating the interconnect delay for the source-to-sink path based on the delay contribution.
US08108806B2
A contrast-based resolution enhancing technology (RET) determines a distribution of contrast values for edge fragments in a design layout or portion thereof. Resolution enhancement is applied to the edge fragments in a way that increases the number of edge fragments having a contrast value that exceeds a predetermined threshold.
US08108797B2
A integrated content guide for multiple sources is provided with hyper-text type links to allow for the selection of various programs. The hyper-text links are provided for a transmitted and then stored digital bit stream. This allows for the embedding within the content guide what could be additional commercial information. The embedding may also be as to additional information for other related television or radio shows or the like. Information can be additional television shows, related information or activities on on-line services or automatic telephone ordering of products or services being displayed.
US08108794B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for supporting text-based context links for application programs. An embodiment includes a first computer to maintain a database of data objects and a second computer to execute an application program that operates on a file having text elements. In an embodiment, the second computer is to execute a link program to access a data object on the first computer based on a user of the application program having used the application program to select a text element that is related to that data object.
US08108792B2
An automatic scrolling mechanism converts an information repository into media that can actively present and “push” information to the users/viewers while retaining existing “pull” and interactivity functions. Automatic scrolling can be controlled by placing a cursor on control icons, such as boxes, lines, and arrow clusters. While the cursor is on an icon, automatic scrolling brings into view content that extends beyond the field of view. The scrolled content is moved into the field of view of the display window in a predetermined direction designated by the icon. Sub-windows are also designed to be independently and automatically scrolled or floated with respect the main window. Links created in an information repository may be automatically activated to retrieve the linked information, and to automatically present and scroll the information. As the content is automatically scrolled, the repository is pushed and the user is allured to further navigate through the repository.
US08108774B2
Methods, articles of manufacture, systems, articles and programmable devices are provided for configuring a chameleon avatar in response to data associated with a target avatar within a virtual universe. In response to determining that an engagement of a chameleon avatar with a target avatar is indicated, it is determined whether the chameleon avatar should maintain an initial appearance or be auto-morphed for engagement with the target avatar. Auto-morphing may be accomplished by reading an attribute from metadata associated with the target avatar, selecting a baseline avatar template and auto-morphing the baseline template to incorporate the read attribute. Target avatar attributes include gender, interests, outfits attribute, ethnic data, language and preferences, as well as others. The chameleon may mimic an appearance of the target avatar.
US08108771B2
Methods, apparatuses, and systems directed to facilitating secure, structured interactions between code modules executing within the context of a document processed by a user agent, such as a browser client, that implements a domain security model. In a particular implementation, a module connector script or object loaded into a base document discovers listener modules and sender modules corresponding to different origins or domains, and passes information between them. In this manner, a listener module may consume and use information from a sender module located on the same page simply by having an end-user add both modules to a web page without having to explicitly define any form of interconnection. For example, a photo module may access a user account at a remote photo sharing site, and provide one or more photos to a module that renders the photographs in a slide show.
US08108770B2
Methods, apparatuses, and systems directed to facilitating secure, structured interactions between code modules executing within the context of a document processed by a user agent, such as a browser client, that implements a domain security model. In a particular implementation, a module connector script or object loaded into a base document discovers listener modules and sender modules corresponding to different origins or domains, and passes information between them. In this manner, a listener module may consume and use information from a sender module located on the same page simply by having an end-user add both modules to a web page without having to explicitly define any form of interconnection. For example, a photo module may access a user account at a remote photo sharing site, and provide one or more photos to a module that renders the photographs in a slide show.
US08108765B2
Disclosed are a method, information processing system, and a computer readable medium for managing documents. The method includes analyzing a plurality of hierarchical markup documents, wherein each hierarchical markup document is representable by a hierarchical tree structure. A shared hierarchical markup document associated with the plurality of hierarchical markup documents is generated based on the analyzing. Each hierarchical markup document in the plurality of hierarchical markup documents is compared with the shared hierarchical document. A plurality of difference hierarchical markup documents is generated based on the comparing.
US08108761B2
Systems, methods, and apparatuses for optimizing the size of memory devices used for error correction code storage. An apparatus (such as a memory module) may include a number of memory devices to store data and a memory device to store error correction (ECC) bits. The memory devices to store data may have a density of N and the memory device to store ECC bits has a density of ½ N.
US08108758B2
The present invention relates to a decoding method and system for stochastic decoding of LDPC codes. Each encoded sample of a set of encoded samples is first scaled by a scaling factor proportional to a noise level of the set of encoded samples. Each of the scaled encoded samples is then converted into a corresponding probability. For each probability a corresponding probability message is the generated by encoding each probability as a sequence of digital bits. Each probability message is then provided to a respective node of a logic circuitry for stochastic decoding. The logic circuitry represents a factor graph of the parity check matrix of the LDPC code. Using the logic circuitry each probability message is processed for determining an estimated sequence of information bits. If an equality node is in a hold state a chosen bit is provided from a corresponding edge memory which is updated by storing output bits from the equality node when the same is in a state other than a hold state.
US08108742B2
The disclosure describes novel methods and apparatuses for controlling a device's TCA circuit when the device exists in a JTAG daisy-chain arrangement with other devices. The methods and apparatuses allow the TCA test pattern set used during device manufacturing to be reused when the device is placed in a JTAG daisy-chain arrangement with other devices, such as in a customers system using the device. Additional embodiments are also provided and described in the disclosure.
US08108739B2
A method for allowing high-speed testability of a memory device having a core with memory cells for storing data, comprising: enabling a data signal having a first logical state or a second logical state from the core to reach an output port of the memory device within an evaluate cycle during a functional operating mode and pass an array built in self test during LBIST mode; enabling the data signal to change from the first logical state to the second logical state during LBIST mode at a time that coincides with the latest possible time the data signal from the core can reach the read output port within the evaluate cycle during the functional operating mode and pass the array built in self test; and executing a logic built-in self test configured to test a logic block located downstream of a transmission path of the memory device.
US08108734B2
Various method, system, and computer program product embodiments for facilitating upgrades in a computing storage environment are provided. In one such embodiment, one of an available plurality of rolling upgrade policies registering at least one selectable upgrade parameter for an upgrade window is selected. A node down tolerance factor is set for at least one node in the computing storage environment. The node down tolerance factor specifies a percentage of elements of the at least one node taken offline to apply the selected one of the available plurality of rolling upgrade policies during the upgrade window.
US08108726B2
Thus, methods and apparatus for providing adaptive diagnostics for ATM fault conditions are provided. Such methods and apparatus may include one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor on a computer system, perform a method for diagnosing an electronic self-service device fault condition. The method may include receiving an input from a self-service device. The input may include information regarding a fault-related event. The method may also include assessing a plurality of system-level ramifications of the fault-related event. In response to the assessing, the method may further include determining continued viability of a plurality of ATM services. The method may also include electronically providing a notification of a list of remaining viable self-service device services.
US08108725B2
Processes in a cluster maintain a historical record of problem events as those events occur in the cluster. The record may describe (a) attributes of each event and (b) the resolution action that was performed to resolve each event. Whenever a new event occurs, a process determines whether any entries in the record reflect occurrences of an event with attributes like those of the new event. If a “matching” entry exists, then the process increments that entry's counter. If the historical record indicates that similar events have previously occurred more than a specified number of times, then the process may select and perform a resolution action that differs from the resolution action that is indicated in the entry. Additionally, patterns in the attributes of a recurring problem may be used to predict when the problem is likely to recur. Preventative actions may be taken to avoid recurrence of the problem.
US08108712B1
A method, and a corresponding apparatus, implemented on a suitably programmed processor, selects an ideal computer to remove from a computer cluster observing a failure condition. The computer cluster includes multiple computers. The method includes the steps of recording, at each of the computers, health data for each of the computers, computing, at a health timeout, a first health score for each of the computers based on the health data, computing, at a fatal timeout, and based on the first health score, a second health score for each of the computers, and at each of the computers, selecting a computer having the highest health score for removal from the cluster.
US08108711B2
Communication symmetry is leveraged to facilitate testing of network services. To identify, isolate, understand, and resolve problems a test client is employed. In accordance with one aspect, a service can be provided for execution on a service consumer while the test client resides on a service provider. Roles are reversed to provide more testing freedom on the provider side and less intrusion on the consumer side. Additionally or alternatively, a service and/or test client can be shipped to consumers to aid testing in a real execution environment.
US08108707B2
A recording medium, method and apparatus for managing data are discussed. According to an embodiment, the present invention provides a method of reproducing main data and additional data. The method includes receiving the additional data associated with the main data, the additional data being divided into a plurality of segment units; and reproducing the additional data in a synchronous manner with the main data using time information if indication information indicates a presence of the time information. The time information indicates a presentation time of the additional data with respect to the main data. The main data and the additional data are reproduced according to management data, the management data including link information for linking the main data and the additional data.
US08108703B2
A power management server and method for managing power consumption is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a power management server data processing system is provided, where the power management server data processing system comprises a power management communication port to communicatively couple the power management server data processing system to a power-managed server data processing system and a system management processor coupled to the power management communication port. In the described embodiment, the system management processor comprises power management logic configured to receive power management data from the power-managed server data processing system, to generate a power management command utilizing the power management data, and to transmit the power management command to the power-managed server data processing system utilizing the power management communication port. Moreover, the power management data of the described embodiment comprises power management capability data.
US08108702B2
This is a disk array device comprising means for operating a plurality of controller modules or disks, means for determining the a future operating state, based on operation history of the controller module or the disk and setting means for setting an operating state of the controller module or disk in such a way as to reduce its power consumption, based on the future operating state of the controller module or disk.
US08108701B2
A power supply circuit arranged in a circuit board to supply a determined voltage to an element is disclosed. The power supply circuit includes two voltage receiving terminals to receive voltage signals, a window comparator, and an electrical switch. The comparator drives the electrical switch to be turned on, therefore a terminal of the electrical switch stably output the determined voltage to the element.
US08108700B2
Method, system and apparatus enabling a computing system to automatically identify the capabilities of a power supply coupled to the computing system. The power supply includes a controller that sends an identification code to a computing system prior to sending a power good signal to the computing system. The identification code and the power good signal are preferably sent over a single conductor, such as a power supply connector pin. The computing system receives the identification code for cross-referencing against a list of power supply identification codes and associated capabilities. Optionally, instructions from the computer system to an output device may be controlled as a function of the identified power supply capabilities.
US08108699B2
A system and method for power over Ethernet (PoE) configuration for a power sourcing equipment using a network profile. Various types of PSE profile information can be stored in a network database. Upon startup or other configuration setting state, a PSE can retrieve the profile information from the network database and configure its operation based upon such retrieval. Remote configuration of the PSE is thereby enabled.
US08108683B2
The invention includes a method for key creation and recovery based on solutions to puzzles solvable by humans and not computers. In some exemplary embodiments, the key is created and recovered based on the solution(s) in conjunction with the password entered by the user. The puzzle(s) is selected based on the password used by the user from a puzzle database containing multiple puzzles that is greater in number to the number of puzzles used in conjunction with a particular password.
US08108676B2
According to one embodiment, a method is disclosed. The method includes generating a link key at a secure component within a first personal area network device and injecting the link key into a protocol stack component database within the first device. The link key may further be transmitted to a second device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08108669B2
An image forming apparatus for attaching an electronic signature to image data read from a paper document is disclosed. Validity of a first public key certificate that certifies a first signature key is determined. A first electronic signature-for the image data is generated by using the first signature key. The first electronic signature is prevented from being generated in response to an event that it is determined that the first public key certificate is invalid.
US08108667B2
A method of configuring an information handling system includes operating a management controller to obtain device configuration data from a management server, storing the device configuration data in the information handling system, booting the information handling system, and accessing the device configuration data to configure a device. Machine-executable code for an information handling system includes instructions for carrying out a method including obtaining configuration data for a device from a management server, storing the configuration data in a management controller, booting the information handling system, detecting the device, and accessing the configuration data to configure the device. An information handling system includes a processor, a device, and a management controller. The management controller obtains configuration data for the device from a management server, stores the configuration data, boots the information handling system, and accesses the configuration data to configure the device.
US08108666B2
A system and method for customizing a device includes identifying a user of a device and determining a profile for the user of the device from a network. The profile includes a record of at least one user preference for a type of the device. The profile is translated to a configuration of the device. The device is modified according to the configuration to permit use of the device with the at least one user preference.
US08108664B2
A bussed system with a fast and compact majority voter in the circuitry responsible for the bus inversion decision. The majority voter is implemented in analog circuitry having two branches. One branch sums the advantage of transmitting the bits without inversion, the other sums the advantage of transmitting the bits with inversion. The majority voter computes the bus inversion decision in slightly more than one gate delay by simultaneously comparing current drive in each branch.
US08108657B2
A computing system capable of handling floating point operations during program code conversion is described, comprising a processor including a floating point unit and an integer unit. The computing system further comprises a translator unit arranged to receive subject code instructions including at least one instruction relating to a floating point operation and in response to generate corresponding target code for execution on said processor. To handle floating point operations a floating point status unit and a floating point control unit are provided within the translator. These units are cause the translator unit to generate either: target code for performing the floating point operations directly on the floating point unit; or target code for performing the floating point operations indirectly, for example using a combination of the integer unit and the floating point unit. In this way the efficiency of the computing system is improved.
US08108651B2
A programmable signal processing circuit is used to (de-)interleave a data stream. Data from the signal stream is stored in a data memory (28) and read in a different sequence. The programmable signal processing circuit is used for computing addresses, for use in said storing and/or reading. The programmable signal processing circuit has an instruction set that contains an instruction to compute the addresses from preceding addresses that have been used for said storing and/or reading. In response to the instruction the programmable signal processing circuit permutes positions of a plurality of bits from the old address operand and forms of a bit of the new address result as a logic function of a combination of bits from the old address operand. Successive addresses are formed by means of repeated execution of a program loop that contains an address update instruction for computing the addresses.
US08108650B2
In an embodiment, a TLB is partitioned into regions. The TLB may be set associative, and each section may include a portion of the locations in each way of the set associative memory. The TLB may reserve at least one of the sections for access by a subset of the request sources that use the TLB. For requests from the subset, the reserved section may be used and a location in the reserved section may be allocated to store a translation for a request from the subset that misses in the TLB. For requests for other request sources, the non-reserved section or sections may be used. In one embodiment, each way of the reserved section may be assigned to a different one of the request sources in the subset.
US08108642B1
A method and system for play-only media player is disclosed. The player includes a controller, a recording interface, and a non-removable storage. In recording content onto the media player, media signals are received through the recording interface. The media signals are stored in a media file on non-removable storage. When a controller receives a disable recording indication, it permanently disables the recording capabilities of the media player. The media file now is not accessible except for the purpose of playing the media file. To play the media file, a play indication is received by the controller. The controller then retrieves the content from the media file and sends the content to an output interface. In this manner, the media player only plays pre-loaded media content. The digital right for the content is protected against unauthorized copying while maintaining user friendliness of the media player.
US08108632B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a mechanism for an operating system and applications to cooperate in memory management. Applications register with the operating system for cooperative memory management. The operating system monitors the memory and determines a memory “pressure” related to the amount of demand for the memory. As the memory pressure increases, the operating system provides a memory pressure signal as feedback to the registered applications. The operating system may send this signal to indicate it is about to commence evicting pages from the memory or when it has commenced swapping out application data. In response to the signal, the registered applications may evaluate the memory pressure, determine which data should be freed, if any, and provide this information back to the operating system. The operating system may then free those portions of memory relinquished by the applications. By releasing data the system may thus avoid swapping and increase its performance.
US08108626B2
An apparatus and method of time keeping for a non-real-time OS is provided. The apparatus includes a processor and a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The processor requests performance of a Dual-Port Random Access Memory (DPRAM) read/write (R/W) operation in a DPRAM R/W time interval in a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) scheme using a system clock. Upon receipt of the DPRAM R/W operation performance request from the processor, the FPGA compares the operation performance request time with an access time table defining a DPRAM R/W time interval for each processor, generated in the TDMA scheme using the system clock. The FPGA performs the operation requested by the processor when the operation performance request has been made in the DPRAM R/W time interval of the processor.
US08108614B2
A method and apparatus for efficiently caching streaming and non-streaming data is described herein. Software, such as a compiler, identifies last use streaming instructions/operations that are the last instruction/operation to access streaming data for a number of instructions or an amount of time. As a result of performing an access to a cache line for a last use instruction/operation, the cache line is updated to a streaming data no longer needed (SDN) state. When control logic is to determine a cache line to be replaced, a modified Least Recently Used (LRU) algorithm is biased to select SDN state lines first to replace no longer needed streaming data.
US08108608B2
A device that implements a method for performing integrated caching in a data communication network. The device is configured to receive a packet from a client over the data communication network, wherein the packet includes a request for an object. At the operating system/kernel level of the device, one or more of decryption processing of the packet, authentication and/or authorization of the client, and decompression of the request occurs prior to and integrated with caching operations. The caching operations include determining if the object resides within a cache, serving the request from the cache in response to a determination that the object is stored within the cache, and sending the request to a server in response to a determination that the object is not stored within the cache.
US08108601B2
Embodiments provide systems and methods for storing data on two or more removable disk drives. The two or more removable disk drives are inserted into a modular drive bay having two or more drive ports. Embodiments of the modular drive bay include a switch to redirect operations to a drive port. By arraying the drive ports, the removable disk drives may be replaced without needing to readdress the removable disk drives when new removable disk drives are inserted. Thus, the modular drive bay does not require configuration changes when new removable disk drives are inserted.
US08108600B2
A data storage apparatus, including a controller that formats a rewritable recording medium in the background, interrupts the background formatting when a host computer requests to store data in the rewritable recording medium, stores the data in the rewritable recording medium after interrupting the background formatting, revises control information stored in a predetermined region of the rewritable recording medium after storing the data, and resumes the background formatting after revising the control information. The data storage apparatus according can revise control information indicating the address up to which the background formatting has been performed and the address of an unformatted recording region in which user data have been recorded, for example, at an appropriate timing during the background formatting.
US08108599B2
Disclosed is a method and apparatus relating generally to erasure techniques for emulating a streamed data format for non tape media capable of being used with a data storage arrangement to generate replenished user data space. The data storage arrangement comprises a host computer and a storage system in communication with the host computer, the storage system comprising at least one random access storage medium. The random access storage medium is capable of receiving data by streaming protocol and storing the data emulated in a contiguous format. The data comprises at least one data file which further comprise a plurality of records wherein each of the records comprise user data and meta data. A deletion algorithm is adapted to issue at least one deletion command capable of deleting at least one portion of the data stored on the medium up to at least a last segment of the data to create replenished storage space. The replenished storage space is capable for storage of new data in an order following the last segment of data upon receiving the new data in the streaming protocol by the storage medium.
US08108592B2
A memory system includes a variable resistance memory configured to input and output data by a first unit and a translation layer for managing the degree of wear of the variable resistance memory by a second unit, different from the first unit.
US08108591B2
A semiconductor device includes first and second interfaces, and a control unit. The first interface is capable of being connected to a memory card and communicating with the memory card. The memory card has a nonvolatile semiconductor memory and has an unlock state and a lock state. The memory card in the unlock state permits an access to the nonvolatile semiconductor memory. The memory card in the lock state prohibits the access. The second interface is capable of being connected to a host device and communicating with the host device. The host device generates an access command to access the memory card. The control unit operates based on the access command sent from the host device through the second interface so as to release the lock state of the memory card, when the memory card is connected to the first interface.
US08108587B2
A computing system stores a database comprising pages. Each of the pages is the same size. When a page is requested, a block of virtual memory addresses is associated with the page and a set of physical data storage locations is committed to the block of virtual memory addresses. A copy of the page is then stored into the set of physical data storage locations. Physical data storage locations committed to the virtual memory addresses associated with available free space in the copy of the page are deallocated, thereby allowing reuse of these physical data storage locations. A reference to the copy of the page is then returned.
US08108583B2
A data transfer system comprising a first bus interface, a second bus interface, a first-in-first-out memory, a controller and a message unit. The message unit is operable to queue a plurality of data transfer request messages from the first bus interface and the second bus interface. The controller is operable to process each data transfer request message and transfer data between the first bus interface, the first-in-first-out memory and the second bus interface. The controller is configured to calculate error detection codes (EDCs) and chain EDC values.
US08108570B2
A state of an input/output (I/O) operation in an I/O processing system is determined. A request for performing the I/O operation is received from an I/O operating system at a channel subsystem and forwarded to a control unit controlling an I/O device for executing the I/O operation. After a predetermined amount of time passes without receiving indication from the control unit that the I/O operation is completed, an interrogation request is received at the channel subsystem from the I/O operating system for determining the state of the I/O operation. An interrogation command is sent from the channel subsystem to the control unit. A response is received from the control unit, the response indicates a state of the I/O device executing the I/O operation, a state of the control unit controlling the I/O device executing the I/O operation, and the state of the I/O operation being executed.
US08108565B2
A host apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus, a remote configuration system including the same, and a remote configuration method using the host apparatus. The method of remotely configuring a host apparatus connectable to at least one image forming apparatus includes selecting the at least one image forming apparatus; configuring at least one configuration item of the at least one image forming apparatus; and displaying the at least one configured configuration item on a work list window. With this, a work list window displaying configured configuration item is prepared and it is thus convenient for a user to grasp the configured configuration item at a glance.
US08108564B2
A flexible input/output controller logic interfaces with existing input/output controllers (IOC's) in order to configure the amount of data sent to and received from the IOC's. The flexible I/O interface receives data from a component at a rate determined by the particular component. The flexible I/O interface then feeds the received data to a traditional I/O controller at a rate suitable for the I/O controller. Thus, the interface to the individual I/O controllers is maintained. The flexible I/O logic balances bandwidth between a plurality of individual I/O controllers in order to better utilize the overall system I/O bandwidth. In one embodiment, the I/O configuration managed by the flexible I/O logic is determined during system-build, while in another embodiment, the I/O configuration is set during system initialization.
US08108552B2
A first information-processing device for communication source performing tunnel communication with a device at communication destination, equipped with: tunnel communication part performing tunnel communication with communication target data encapsulated; identifier acceptor for accepting a communication destination device identifier for identifying a device for communication destination; identifier storage part for storing a communication source device identifier for identifying first information-processing device; and address determination part for determining an address used for communication target data, according to a communication destination device identifier and a communication source device identifier. Such a makeup provides an information-processing device capable of determining an address used for communication target data encapsulated in tunnel communication.
US08108549B2
In a computer system divided into multiple separate workload partitions, wherein at least one of the partitions contains multiple applications, and a loopback interface is made available to each partition, a method is provided for routing packets from one application to another application. In one embodiment of the invention, each packet to be routed from one application to another application in the same home partition comprises a first packet, and all other packets comprise second packets. The method comprises the steps of assigning the same pre-specified IP address to each of the first packets, and routing each of the first packets from its home partition to a loopback interface at the IP network processing layer. The method further includes marking the first packets to identify the home partition of each first packet, and directing the marked first packets to a mechanism configured to deliver each first packet only to its home partition, in response to the markings. Each second packet is assigned the IP address of its intended destination, and routed thereto over the loopback interface.
US08108547B1
A method for re-routing a request in a distributed system, that includes sending the request for an originating object, receiving the request at a root node of the originating object, determining whether the root node comprises a first forwarding pointer associated with the originating object, determining a first target object using the first forwarding pointer, if the first forwarding pointer is associated with the originating object, and re-routing the request to the first target object, wherein the distributed system implements an overlay network for message delivery.
US08108544B2
A method of obtaining content includes receiving a playfile. The playfile includes a chunk ID corresponding to a chunk of the content, a packet ID corresponding to a packet of the chunk, and a hash of the packet. The method further includes obtaining the chunk from a peer, determining a calculated hash for the packet, and discarding the chunk when the calculated hash does not match the hash in the playfile.
US08108537B2
A system and method for improving content diversification in data driven streaming includes computing a weight factor and a qualification factor for each of at least two nodes among a plurality of nodes, based upon a bandwidth of each node. Content is pushed to a node based on the qualification factor and the weight factor of each node. The qualification factor is updated for the node which received pushed content.
US08108535B1
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for selecting images from media. As a media stream is processed for display, thumbnail images are extracted at a periodic rate from the media stream. The media stream and the thumbnail images are concurrently processed for display.
US08108526B2
A communication method and device for preventing the media stream circuitry. The method includes the following steps: a signaling layer control function entity at the calling party side obtains the called party side information; the signaling layer control function entity routes the session signaling and controls the establishment of the media stream path, and when the signaling layer control function entity determines that the network where it is located can be inter-connected directly with the network where the called party is located according to the called party side information, the signaling layer control function entity gives up the interaction with the media layer gateway function entity for the network address port translation. A network device for guaranteeing that the communication between media layers of the calling and called party communication entities can be performed in the shortest path is also provided.
US08108521B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for dynamic parallel processing of a plurality of subprocesses of a process initiated by a parallel processing framework. The plurality of subprocesses may include processing of one or more data objects in a computer system including a plurality of servers for processing the plurality of data objects by the plurality of subprocesses. The method may include building work packages from the plurality of data objects according to a process-specific scheme, and dynamically distributing the work packages of the plurality of data objects among the plurality of servers according to a process-specific execution order.
US08108518B2
Providing prioritization of user online access to an online commerce site. Third party applications using API function calls to access an online commerce site are restricted to specific services by an access rule. An access rule defines which API server on the online commerce site a specific third party application may access when using a specific API function call. In this way, the operator of the online commerce site may prioritize server access per service level agreements based on a specific third party application and API function call.
US08108516B2
The present invention is directed to a presence and availability system including: (a) an input (e.g., an interface) operable to receive an agent report from a context sensing agent in a host entity associated with a person, the agent report comprising presence information and the person having an address in an associated name space; (b) a tracking agent 154 operable to tag at least some of the presence information with at least one classification tag; and (c) a policy agent 158 operable to determine presence information to be provided to a requester based on the at least one classification tag.
US08108515B2
A system and method are directed towards enabling a user to access a client service such as a client game program that interacts with an online service such as a multiplayer game. A client probe detects execution of the client service on a first client device, and sends an instant message with address information to a second client device. A messaging service on the second client device, displays a presence of the first client and provides a selectable button to initiate the client service. If not already installed, the messaging service requests the client service from a remote online service such as a portal that may be independent from the online game service. The remote online service may provide options to freely try, rent, or buy the client service. The second client device downloads the client service and uses the address to connect to the same online multiplayer game.
US08108512B2
Systems and methods form and control a supercomputer based upon a parallel processing architecture such as a Howard cascade. A graphical user interface allows a user to interact with one or more virtual power centers of the supercomputer facility. A plurality of processing nodes self-organize into one or more virtual power centers. The processing nodes utilize overlapped input and output for improved communication.
US08108508B1
A network device includes a web server chip that is connectable to a computer network. The web server chip includes an embedded processor that is programmable to function as a manageability web server, obtain manageability information about the network device and send the manageability to a network manager. The web server chip further includes an interface for communicating with an I2C bus in the network device. The embedded processor is programmable to obtain manageability information about devices connected to the I2C bus. The embedded processor is also programmable to control fan controllers, power supply controllers and other controllers connected to the I2C bus. This, in turn, allows a network manager to command the web server chip to remotely power up and power down the network device. Thus, the web server chip can perform network management functions without burdening the host processor of the network device. If network communications are performed via HTTP, the embedded processor can be programmed to implement an HTTP server, and the network manger can use a web browser and HTML files to run network management software.
US08108478B2
An electronic mail sending system that includes: a sending terminal that sends an electronic mail; a maintenance unit to maintain a mail address of a mailing list; a difference determination unit comprising: a determination unit that determines a difference between a first mail address provided from the maintenance unit on the basis of a mailing list and a second mail address of a same mailing list as the mailing list used at previous sending time when the electronic mail is sent from the sending terminal with the mailing list being specified as an address of the electronic mail; and a display controller that displays a determination result by the determination unit on the sending terminal; and a sending controller that controls sending of the electronic mail on the basis of an instruction given based on the determination result displayed on the sending terminal.
US08108475B2
Techniques for classifying failure messages received from email messages that are sent are provided. A plurality of rules are created that are used to classify a plurality of failure types for email messages. Email messages are sent to an email address associated with an Internet service provider. When an email message fails, a failure message is determined. A rule that applies to the failure message is then determined and based on the rule, a failure type associated with the rule is determined. Once a failure type is determined, an action may be performed based on the failure type. For example, the email address associated with the email message may be marked as invalid.
US08108474B2
A method and computer program product for processing a tracking request from a first user of an instant messaging system concerning the online status of a second user of the instant messaging system. The online status of the second user is monitored. A tracking notice is provided to the second user. The tracking notice informs the second user that the first user is monitoring the online status of the second user.
US08108473B2
An audio/video electronic mail system which is stored in a computer readable or access-able storage media comprises an address book providers to access to directory information; an audio/video e-mail generator coupled to the address and provided to generate an audio/video e-mail; a spooler coupled to the audio/video e-mail generator and responsible for sending messages to and receiving message from a messaging system; and a transport providers coupled to audio/video e-mail generator to handle message transmission and reception.
US08108462B2
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus capable of exchanging information with another apparatus. The apparatus includes: a unit for carrying out a communication with the other apparatus; a unit for acquiring information on a state of a communication with the other apparatus carried out by the communication unit; and a unit for determining image information for a user owning the other apparatus based on the information acquired by the communication-state information acquisition unit and determining an array including the image information. The apparatus further includes: a unit for generating a display image including the image information based on the array; and a unit for displaying the display image.
US08108456B2
The present invention provides an effective method for migrating the system services on which applications depend, rather than all of the system services, from a source OS platform to a target platform, in order to provide a suitable and consistent environment for the applications, while reducing the cost of the migration. The migration method further classifies the configurations of system services on different platforms into common configurations and specific configurations to accelerate the determination of the source of a migration error.
US08108450B2
A method and a processing device are provided for sequentially aggregating data to a write log included in a volume of a random-access medium. When data of a received write request is determined to be suitable for sequentially aggregating to a write log, the data may be written to the write log and a remapping tree, for mapping originally intended destinations on the random-access medium to one or more corresponding entries in the write log, may be maintained and updated. At time periods, a checkpoint may be written to the write log. The checkpoint may include information describing entries of the write log. One or more of the checkpoints may be used to recover the write log, at least partially, after a dirty shutdown. Entries of the write log may be drained to respective originally intended destinations upon an occurrence of one of a number of conditions.
US08108449B2
An information storage medium for storing metadata supporting multiple languages and a method of processing the metadata are provided. The information storage medium is provided to store contents, and at least one metadata file in which information regarding the contents is recorded in at least one language. The metadata file comprises a plurality of language files in which a plurality of versions of the information regarding the contents written in a plurality of languages are provided, and the languages are identified by the names of the respective language files. The names of the language files may include a language identifier according to an ISO 639-2 standard. The information may also include download information regarding a plurality of downloadable metadata files that are downloadable from other storage media.
US08108448B2
A garbage collection algorithm that achieves hierarchical copy order with parallel garbage collection threads. More specifically, the present invention provides a garbage collection method and system for copying objects from a from-space to a to-space. The method comprises the steps of (a) having multiple threads that simultaneously perform work for garbage collection (GC), (b) examining the placement of objects on blocks, and (c) changing the placement of objects on blocks based on step (b). Preferably, the method includes the additional step of calculating a placement of object(s) based on step (b), and using the result of the calculation for step (c). For example, the calculation may be used to increase the frequency of intra-block pointers and/or to increase the frequency of siblings on the same block.
US08108430B2
A property tree user interface permits user assignment of values to metadata properties and user navigation of data, within a system that includes a data storage subsystem in which data items are organized and queried by way of properties. The property tree includes nodes that expose properties of data items. A user may interact with the property tree in order to effect an assignment of a property, in which case the value associated with the property in the data storage subsystem is modified. The property tree may also display nodes that represent folders within a hierarchical file system, nodes that represent properties with inherent hierarchy, and nodes that represent user-defined hierarchical properties, and the property tree may display such nodes in a carousel control.
US08108426B2
Generally described, the present invention is directed to a network operating system that provides more effective ways of leveraging the connectivity of computer networks. In one embodiment, an XML virtual machine is implemented that accepts high-level application code written in an XML programming language as input. Functionality is provided to interpret or translate the application code written in an XML programming language into code that is suitable for execution across computer platforms. Moreover, the XML virtual machine supports the Model View Controller (MVC) design paradigm that facilitates true data abstraction from applications to a common data model. Multi-instance applications, with each instance potentially supporting multiple views, may be created and executed.
US08108417B2
A computer-implemented system and method for extracting Human Generated Lists from an electronic database is described. The system searches for objects of the same class within a context window to identify Human Generated Lists and stores them to an archive. The archive may be used to generate a relationship network. The system generates variable length data vectors to represent the relationships between the objects within each Human Generated List. This relationship network can then be queried to discover relationships between the objects in the Human Generated Lists and to provide related objects as recommendations.
US08108402B2
Techniques for measuring the relevancy of content contributions are provided. Relevancy measurements for components of a collection of content are obtained. The relevancy measurements, the components to which they relate, and the collection of content as a whole are organized into a graphical presentation for subsequent analysis of the components vis-à-vis the collect of content as a whole.
US08108378B2
Systems and methods are provided for subscribing to podcast feeds from a single location. A server-based search engine is provided that identifies podcasts located throughout a network that are available to a user's rendering device and presents the user with a user interface from which the user can search for podcasts, subscribe to an identified podcast, listen to an identified podcast, or obtain additional information related to an identified podcast.
US08108377B2
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a request for a target structured document. In a first response phase, the method includes accessing a data structure comprising an entry for the target structured document and one or more first resources associated with the target structured document, generating a first response portion including a first portion of the target structured document including one or more of the first resources or references for one or more of the first resources, and transmitting the first response portion to the client. The method further includes, in a second response phase, generating a second response portion that includes a second portion of the target structured document including one or more of: one or more second resources, or references for the one or more second resources, associated with the target structured document; and structured document language code, and transmitting the second response portion to the client.
US08108376B2
A document set, and history documents including documents, etc., browsed by a user are input. The document set and the history documents are each analyzed to obtain characteristic vectors. A plurality of topic clusters and a plurality of sub-topic clusters are obtained by clustering the document set. A transition structure showing transitions of topics among the sub-topic clusters is generated, and a characteristic attribute is extracted from each topic cluster and each sub-topic cluster. An cluster-of-interest is extracted in comparison among characteristic vectors of the history documents and a characteristic vector of each document included in the document set, a sub-topic cluster having transition relations with the cluster-of-interest is obtained on the basis of a transition structure owned by the cluster-of-interest, and a document included in the sub-topic cluster is extracted as a recommended document to be presented together with the characteristic attribute.
US08108374B2
Disclosed are apparatus and methods for facilitating the ranking of web objects. The method includes automatically adjusting a plurality of weight values for a plurality of parameters for inputting into a ranking engine that is adapted to rank a plurality of web objects based on such weight values and their corresponding parameters. The adjusted weight values are provided to the ranking engine so as to generate a ranked set of web objects based on such adjusted weight values and their corresponding parameters, as well as a particular query. A relevance metric (e.g., that quantifies or qualifies how relevant the generated ranked set of web objects are for the particular query) is determined. The method includes automatically repeating the operations of adjusting the weight values, providing the adjusted weight values to the ranking engine, and determining a relevance metric until the relevance metric reaches an optimized level, which corresponds to an optimized set of weight values. The repeated operations utilize one or more sets of weight values including at least one set that results in a worst relevance metric value, as compared to a previous set of weight values, according to a certain probability in order to escape local optimal solution to reach the global optimal solution.
US08108367B2
In an embodiment, a constraint is created for a database table. The constraint specifies a condition for a first column in the database table and an action. The action specifies whether data that violates the condition is allowed to be stored in the first column. A value and a specification of a second column in the database table are received from a data source. If the second column is identical to the first column, the value violates the condition, and the action specifies that data that violates the condition is allowed to be stored, the value is stored in a row in the database, the row is marked as hidden, and an identification of the constraint that was violated is stored in the row. A query does not return the row that is marked as hidden.
US08108355B2
To provide an index for a table in a database system, the index is partially sorted in an initial phase of building the index. Subsequently, in response to accessing portions of the index to process a database query, further sorting of the accessed portions of the index is performed.
US08108354B2
When a sub-archive device is newly added, a policy related to an archive method is set in the sub-archive device according to information of addition from the sub-archive devices. The sub-archive device added is linked to a main archive device. Uniform management of a location of each data file archived in the main archive device and the sub-archive device added is performed based on the information of addition. When a retrieval request for a data file is received from an external unit, a location of the data file is retrieved, and a retrieval result is informed to the external device.
US08108352B1
A scalable data store framework is provided to migrate data across partitions in a data store without compromising data availability for customers. The scalable data store framework includes one or more partitions configured to manage a set of “entities” for a network-based service. When a new-partition event is detected, a target partition is identified for bifurcation and various additional partitions are added to the data store. After the target partition is replicated into the additional partitions, some entities associated with the target partition are migrated to the additional partitions in order to maintain good load balance in the data store.
US08108350B2
Techniques for end-to-end tracing of database operations in source code for database applications are provided. Source code on the client side is instrumented to measure time spent on selected database operation statements (e.g., queries). The selected database operation statements can be uniquely tagged or identified. Tracing is enabled on the database application on the server side so that a log is produced, where the log includes performance (e.g., time spent) information on database operation statements that are executed. The performance information in the log is correlated to the selected database operation statements so that, among other things, the time spent on the client side and the time spent on the server side can be presented for analysis.
US08108348B2
The invention discloses a multi-version control method for data documents, and a device thereof. The method comprises generating data-block fingerprints for all data blocks of a benchmark version; determining common data contents common between a newer version and the benchmark version according to the data-block fingerprints, and indexing the common data contents; determining the data contents peculiar to the newer version, i.e. not contained in the benchmark version according to the indexes, and indexing these particular data contents; determining positions of these data contents in the newer version according to the indexes; determining the data blocks with identical data contents between the two versions through the comparisons of data-block fingerprints and data contents; extracting the data contents common between the two versions, the data contents peculiar to the newer version, as well as the positions of the data contents in the newer version.
US08108347B2
This invention relates to managing multiple web servers, and more particularly to a web service system and method that allows a system operator to distribute content to each web server in the web service system. In one embodiment, a method for replicating changes in a source file set on a destination file system includes identifying changes in a source file set, storing the identified changes in a modification list, and transmitting the modification list to an agent having access to a destination file system. In another embodiment, a method for replicating changes in a source file set on a destination file system includes identifying changes in a source file set, storing the identified changes in a modification list, and transmitting the modification list to a plurality of web servers. In another embodiment, a web service system includes a manager for managing the web service system, a host comprising a web server for receiving web page requests and an agent in communication with the manager, and a content distributor for providing content changes to the host. In another embodiment, a content distributor includes an identification module for identifying changes in a source file set, a modification list for storing identified changes, and a transmitter for transmitting the modification list to an agent having access to a destination file system.
US08108340B2
A search engine is operated to handle a plurality of queries. In particular, in response to each of the plurality of queries presented to the search engine, the search engine provides an indication of at least one document responsive to that query. An indication is determined of an amount of resources of the search engine to handle a subset of the plurality of queries. Based on the determined indication, the search engine is selected to operate in one of a synchronous mode and an asynchronous mode, and the search engine is operated in accordance with the selected mode.
US08108337B2
Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for controlling a first storage system receiving commands from a first and second managers to create a consistency group with a second storage system. Host writes are received at the first storage system, wherein the first storage system includes a first storage system primary site and a first storage system secondary site. The first storage system sends the host writes from the first storage system primary site to the first storage system secondary site. Host write operations are quiesced at the first storage system in response to a first command from a first manager. Host write operations are resumed at the first storage system in response to receiving a second command from the first manager. The first storage system receives a run command with a marker, wherein the marker indicates a cycle number to control the cycles of the first and second storage systems. The first storage system sends the marker from the first storage system primary site to the first storage system secondary site. The first storage system sends the marker to a second manager. The first storage system applies the host writes to the first storage system secondary site. The first storage system sends a first message to the first storage system primary site from the first storage system secondary site after completing the applying of the host writes. The first storage system sends a second message to the first manager indicating whether conformation was received from the first storage system secondary site that the host writes were applied.
US08108336B2
Provided here is a copy protection method and apparatus to confuse currently available personal computer software (and other content) copying packages by use of unexpected (“illegal”) special characters in the volume (or directory) name for the software or other content or data subject to being copied. This method can be used alone or with a broad range of other known copy protection technologies such as RipGuard (available from Macrovision Corp.). Also provided here is a method and apparatus to defeat the confusion method, thereby allowing copying of such copy protected software.
US08108331B2
A method, a machine-readable storage medium and a system are provided for enhancing computer rules in a computer application. In an embodiment, a rule is accessed from a set of computer rules provided by a computer application. The rule includes a number of fields, e.g., an attribute field and an enhancement type field. In response to receiving an input attribute and an input enhancement type, the rule is updated in the set of computer rules. The updated rule is implemented and operation of the updated rule in the computer application is altered based on the inputs.
US08108325B2
Embodiments of the invention describe a method for classifying data in a system with limited memory. The method applies exemplar learning (EL) procedures to a training data set to produce an exemplar data set adapted to the size of the memory. The EL procedure is selected form a group consisting of an entropy based exemplar learning (EBEL) procedure and an AUC-based exemplar learning (ABEL) procedure. The exemplar data set is used to classify acquired by the system data.
US08108320B2
A method for matching an object with a set of qualifications to an object with a set of requirements includes determining whether one or more predetermined blocks of qualifications are wholly or partially fulfilled by the set of qualifications and matching the object with the set of qualifications to the object with the set of requirements based on the one or more predetermined blocks of qualifications that have been determined to be wholly or partially fulfilled.
US08108319B2
An invention is provided for controlling access to computer readable media is disclosed. The method includes receiving a digital authentication ticket, which includes a digital code, from a client device using a computer system that includes particular computer readable content. A determination is made as to whether the digital authentication ticket corresponds to the particular computer readable content. Access is provided to the particular computer readable content when the digital authentication ticket corresponds to the particular computer readable content. Conversely, access to the particular computer readable content is prevented when the digital authentication ticket does not correspond to the particular computer readable content.
US08108317B2
A method for authenticating data comprising the steps of: providing data to a first device having at least two initial cryptographic keys; generating authentication information required to authenticate the data utilizing the at least two initial cryptographic keys; sending the data and authentication data to a second device having paired cryptographic keys wherein each paired cryptographic key is associated to one of the at least two initial cryptographic keys; and authenticating the data in the second device utilizing the paired cryptographic keys.
US08108314B2
A collective content consisting of a plurality of partial contents holding license information including a use condition can be appropriately used according to the use condition contained in the license information in each of the partial contents. A content use control device includes an input/output I/F, license generation unit, output control unit, content reproduction unit, and use control unit. The partial content holding the license information including the use condition is inputted via the input/output I/F. License information is assigned to each of the partial contents inputted and constituting a collective content. Single license information collecting the assigned license information and its collective content are outputted to a recording medium. The content use control device reproduces a partial content contained in the collective content recorded on the recording medium and controls the use of the reproduced partial content according to its use condition.
US08108306B2
A micro-payment system has buyers, sellers, and a broker. The buyers establish accounts with the broker and provide payment information allowing the broker to invoice the buyers. The sellers establish accounts with the brokers and specify terms for accessing items, including electronic content, available from the sellers. The sellers also provide payment information that allows the broker to credit the sellers for sales of the items. The broker aggregates the buyers' micro-payment purchases and invoices the buyers. The broker also aggregates the sellers' micro-payment sales and credits the sellers.
US08108301B2
The present invention relates to application processing and decisioning systems and processes. One embodiment of the invention includes a method for automating decisioning for a credit request associated with an applicant. The method includes providing a user computer interface adapted to receive information associated with an applicant, and further adapted to display and receive information associated with at least one decision rule. The method also includes receiving information associated with an applicant through the user computer interface; receiving information associated with the applicant from at least one data source; and receiving a selection of information associated with a plurality of decision rules through the user computer interface. Furthermore, the method includes receiving a selection of rule flow information associated with the plurality of decision rules through the user computer interface; generating a plurality of decision rules based at least in part on the information associated with the applicant, based at least in part on the information associated with the applicant from at least one data source, and based at least in part on the selection of information associated with a plurality of decision rules, wherein an outcome associated with the at least one decision rule can be obtained; and based in part on at least the rule flow information, displaying at least a portion of the plurality of decision rules through the user computer interface.
US08108295B2
A computer-implemented system and method for executing trades of financial securities according to a combination passive/aggressive trading strategy that reliably executes trades of lists of securities or blocks of a single security within a desired time frame while taking advantage of dynamic market movement to realize price improvement for the trade within the desired time frame. A passive trading agent executes trades at advantageous prices by floating portions of the order at the bid or ask to maximize exposure to the inside market and attract market orders. An aggressive agent opportunistically takes liquidity as it arises, setting discretionary prices in accordance with historical trading data of the specified security.
US08108294B2
Scheduling execution of orders is provided. An order system can enable users to define and modify buy/sell order schedules. The order system can use the order schedules and associated evaluation heuristics to evaluate and update order characteristics such as price and quantity based on user-specified criteria. An order manager, utilizing a schedule supervisor server, can maintain a database containing order schedules and order status information, and execute variable evaluations based on the order schedules and associated evaluation heuristics. A transaction supervisor server can monitor the status of order fills and to update the database periodically.
US08108289B2
Networks, systems and methods for recovering data messages from a market data stream and for building a book for a financial instrument are disclosed. An out-of-band data stream related to an as-of state of the market for one or more financial instruments is distributed parallel to a stream of market data for the financial instrument. The as-of data stream is referenced to the financial according to a unique identifier of the messages of the market data stream. The as-of data for a financial instrument may be provided at periodic rate that may be varied according to one or more factors.
US08108287B2
The present disclosure is directed towards apparatuses, systems and methods to facilitate the pricing, sales and delivery of a commodity fuel to a Customer. In one embodiment, the disclosure teaches a Fuel Offer Generator that facilitates the purchase and management of fuel offerings. The Fuel Offer Generator allows Customers interested in securing fuel to obtain an offer for fuel at lock-in prices for various tenors. Fuel Customers can buy these fuel offers such that they may later exercise the fuel offers so their fuel costs are locked-in at desired levels (e.g., they may be set to strike prices). The Fuel Offer Generator also can establish a Premium Price that will be part of the fuel offer. The Fuel Offer Generator may generate hedges to counteract fuel related risks stemming from fuel offer purchases. Ultimately, a customer that purchases a fuel offering can exercise their fuel offering order at a specified price and redeem any difference between the market price for their purchased fuel and the price specified in their fuel offering order. While the Fuel Offer Generator may place various constraints on redemption, it will employ various consumer behavior metrics to establish the pricing of fuel offerings.
US08108280B2
A computer based system and method for processing financial accounts. Each account is defined by multiple daily account balance records. Each daily account balance record is defined by a daily account balance record posting state that defines the types of transactions that may be posted to the daily account record balance at any one time. The various daily account balance records defining a single account may have different daily account balance record posting states, thereby allowing different types of transactions for different account days to be posted to the same account simultaneously. The resulting account processing system and method provides customers greater flexibility in transferring money between accounts and provides banking entities greater flexibility in account processing timing and reducing operational costs.
US08108279B2
Managing access to a line of credit, for example, can include a financial institution computer determining eligibility for a line of credit program responsive to a consumer's prior enrollment in a prepaid card program and one or more of the following: the consumer's historical direct deposit data, and data associated with the consumer's historical behavior in the prepaid card program. The financial institution computer can extend an amount of available credit to the consumer through the line of credit program so that a consumer credit limit is capped through underwriting criteria to ensure that no more than a predetermined percentage of a consumer's historic direct deposit amount is required for minimum repayments. The financial institution computer can farther receive loan repayments over one or more predetermined direct deposit periods and change the consumer credit limit by preselected increments responsive to a change in the consumer's direct deposit amount.
US08108278B2
Methods and system for non-reversible payment processing are described. In one embodiment, a request for non-reversible payment for a sender may be received. The request for non-reversible payment may include a payment amount and a payment receiver identifier. The payment receiver identifier may be associated with a payment receiver. A sender account of the sender may be decreased by the payment amount. A payment receiver account of the payment receiver may be increased by the payment amount. A notification of non-reversible payment may be provided to a payment receiver that the increasing of the payment receiver account by the payment amount is non-reversible based on the receiving of the request for non-reversible payment.
US08108275B2
A system and method to provide financial products throughout the life of a customer. The present invention determines the life status of a customer. The life status is determined by analyzing the customer information from a variety of sources. This information is filtered or inputted into an algorithmic model to identify appropriate financial products to offer to the customer. In addition, the customer's creditworthiness is used to determine or optimize the financial product offered to the customer.
US08108270B2
A system, method and program product are provided for determining a product layout for a group of stores. An assortment is defined as a group of stores. An assortment version is defined by assigning a first product to the assortment for a time period, thereby determining the time period during which the first product is in the assortment. A layout module is defined and the layout module is assigned to the assortment, the layout module representing a display area of the store. A layout module version is defined that represents a product layout for the group of stores for a time period based on the corresponding assortment version. The layout module information is provided to a shelf optimization or ranging program. The optimized layout module information is received and the optimized layout module information is inputted to the layout module version.
US08108266B2
A method of facilitating an eCommerce transaction between a consumer and an eCommerce merchant via a third party entity is provided. The eCommerce merchant receives a selection of goods for purchase and a first code from the consumer. The eCommerce merchant transmits at least a second code to the third party entity to request confirmation of the eCommerce transaction. The second code is at least partially derived from the first code. The eCommerce merchant receives the confirmation from the third party entity. The eCommerce merchant ships the goods only if the confirmation indicates that the consumer has approved, via the third party entity, the eCommerce transaction. The merchant is unaware of financial information belonging to the consumer and at least one of identity of the consumer and a shipping data that is specific to the consumer. The eCommerce merchant receives payment for the eCommerce transaction from the third party entity.
US08108257B2
A method for achieving uninterrupted interactivity for user watching a video yet clicking on an advertisement is provided. A method for delayed interactivity is provided herein. Delayed interactivity is implemented in the form of delayed insertions. When a user clicks on an object in hypervideo, presentation of or any action on the related information is deferred rather than played immediately. Delayed interactivity also is implemented in the form of video bookmarks. When a user clicks on an actual advertisement, related information is stored, i.e., bookmarked, along with video content. In this way, the user can pursue the related information at a later time and at the user's convenience.
US08108253B2
The present disclosure includes a system and method for identifying advertising specialist. In some implementations, a method includes receiving information associated with a plurality of advertising specialist. One or more profiles associated with each advertising specialist is generated. The specialist profiles are filtered based, at least in part, on criteria received from a user.
US08108251B2
A system for managing promotions over a network includes a promotion server system having a computer processor and associated datastore, the datastore containing data representative of terms and statistics of one or more item promotions, and a commercial server system including a computer processor, the commercial server system being selectively coupleable to the promotion server system over the network. The promotion server system includes promotion code for transferring, to the commercial server system, the data representative of the terms and statistics of the promotions.
US08108243B2
Methods, systems and computer readable code for forecasting commodity consumption and for forecasting time series are provided. According to some embodiments, the forecasting includes deriving at least one population commodity consumption forecasting model from population historical consumption data, deriving an individual commodity consumption forecasting model for at least one individual of the population from at least one population commodity consumption forecasting model and from individual historical consumption data, and forecasting future individual commodity consumption for the individual using individual commodity consumption forecasting model. According to some embodiments, the presently disclosed forecasting includes forecasting future values of an individual time series within a population of time series, where each time series on the same domain. Thus, according to some embodiments, the forecasting includes deriving at least one population forecasting model from past values of the population of time series, deriving an individual time series for at least one individual time series forecasting model from past individual time series values and from at least one population forecasting model and forecasting future values of said individual time series using the individual time series forecasting model.
US08108238B1
A computer implemented method is provided for flexible project governance based on predictive analysis. Project complexity factors are analyzed to determine a project complexity index. Initial development gates are selected for a project based on the project complexity index. Project governance factors are periodically analyzed to determine a project governance index. Actions for project reporting and for the initial development gates are selected based on the project governance index.
US08108234B2
Embodiments of the present invention improve derivation of business processes. In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method of deriving business processes, the method comprising accessing a plurality of event logs, accessing predefined domain rules, associating the event logs with one or more business processes using a first plurality of the domain rules, and deriving a specification for one or more business processes based on a second plurality of the domain rules.
US08108232B1
A computer-implemented system for managing contracts for projects is provided. The system consists of a data store and an analysis component. The data store can maintain information related to a project including an original contract defining at least some aspects of the project. The data store can also maintain information for a plurality of interim contracts that include a change to the original contract. The information for the plurality of interim contracts can include resource information, date information, financial information, and variance information. The variance information is related to the change between one of the interim contracts and the original contract. The analysis component identifies the variance between the original contract and one or more of the interim contracts.
US08108230B2
The computer implemented method and system disclosed herein automates business processes of a health plan organization using a plurality of portals. The portals comprise a sales portal, a member portal, an employer portal, an administration portal, and a provider portal. Health plans are listed using the sales portal. A sales agent proposes at least one of the health plans to a consumer using the sales portal. The administration portal generates insurance quotes for the proposed health plans. The consumer enrolls for the proposed health plans using one of the member portal and the employer portal. The consumer is billed for the enrolled health plans based on the insurance quotes using the administration portal. The consumer pays a premium amount online for the enrolled health plans using the member portal or the employer portal. The administration portal then generates commissions for the sales agent for the enrolled health plans.
US08108223B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for obtaining shipping services information over a network (110) by a telephone call center (130) receiving orders for merchandise. Instructions are received at the telephone call center (130), which permits the telephone call center (130) to access the shipping services information residing on a server (140). The telephone call center (130) generates a request for the shipping services information for shipment of the merchandise. The telephone call center (130) sends the request over the network (110) to the server (140) for the shipping services information. Thereafter, the server (140) sends the requested shipping services information to the telephone call center (130). The shipping service information may be in the format of a label, which may be attached to a package for shipment of the merchandise.
US08108222B2
An encoding device (200) includes an MDCT unit (202) that transforms an input signal in a time domain into a frequency spectrum including a lower frequency spectrum, a BWE encoding unit (204) that generates extension data which specifies a higher frequency spectrum at a higher frequency than the lower frequency spectrum, and an encoded data stream generating unit (205) that encodes to output the lower frequency spectrum obtained by the MDCT unit (202) and the extension data obtained by the BWE encoding unit (204). The BWE encoding unit (204) generates as the extension data (i) a first parameter which specifies a lower subband which is to be copied as the higher frequency spectrum from among a plurality of the lower subbands which form the lower frequency spectrum obtained by the MDCT unit (202) and (ii) a second parameter which specifies a gain of the lower subband after being copied.
US08108206B2
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for providing an auto-generated to-do list are described. Text is received in an instant messenger conversation, wherein the text comprises a task sender, a task body, and a task date, and an input is received selecting a selection of the text, wherein the selection comprises the task body. The text is analyzed to identify the task sender, the task body, and the task date. The task is then entered into the to-do list, wherein the task comprises the task sender, the task body, and the task date, thereby providing an auto-generated to-do list.
US08108198B2
A system and method are disclosed to trace memory in a hardware emulator. In one aspect, a first Random Access Memory is used to store data associated with a user design during emulation. At any desired point in time, the contents of the first Random Access Memory are captured in a second Random Access Memory. After the capturing, the contents of the second Random Access Memory are copied to a visibility system. During the copying, the user design may modify the data in the first Random Access Memory while the captured contents within the second Random Access Memory remain unmodifiable so that the captured contents are not compromised. In another aspect, different size memories are in the emulator to emulate the user model. Larger memories have their ports monitored to reconstruct the contents of the memories, while smaller memories are captured in a snapshot RAM. Together the two different modes of tracing memory are used to provide visibility to the user of the entire user memory.
US08108195B2
A method uses a SAT solver operating to cycle k to find bugs in a model having finite computation paths therein, wherein said bugs are on computation paths of less than length k. Another method includes adding an additional state variable to a model to be checked, where a governing state machine of the additional variable has a “sink” state. The method includes having a translation using the additional variable whenever a state indicates a bad state and performing satisfiability solving with the model and the translation.
US08108193B2
A modeling solution, which enables various users to create, use, and evaluate models, such as scientific models, in various scenarios is provided. To this extent, the modeling solution can define a model using one or more model components, each of which is configured to implement a modeling function using a set of standard execution rules. Additionally, the modeling solution can manage attribute data for each model/model component, which can include evaluation data for the corresponding model/model component. A user can review the attribute data and decide on a model/model component to use in a scenario. Subsequently, the user can provide initialization data for the scenario. The scenario can be executed, and result data for the scenario can be stored together with the initialization data. Users also can evaluate the scenario. In an embodiment, multiple users are classified into multiple tiers, and evaluation data is managed for each tier, thereby allowing users to effectively evaluate the model/model component among groups of users with similar concerns.
US08108182B2
A system for remote maintenance for a machine. The system includes a database having information for a plurality of machines. A customer accesses the database in order to receive an illustration of at least one of said plurality of machines. Thereafter, the customer identifies a position of the machine illustration and is provided with ordering data for that portion of the machine (e.g., a machine component, sub-component or part). Using this ordering data the customer can order parts of its machine. Additionally, using an imaging device, such as a digital camera, the customer can transmit images of the machine to an off-site expert and receive real-time information related to the assembly, installation, repair or maintenance of the machine.
US08108180B2
Disclosed are a method, electronic device, and computer readable medium for determining an end-of-life stage of the flash memory. The method includes detecting at least one life cycle event associated with a flash memory residing on an electronic device. A counter that is associated with the life cycle event is then incremented. Based on the counter, a total number of occurrences for the one life cycle event is determined. The total number of occurrences for the at least one given threshold is also determined. A current life cycle stage of the flash memory is identified based at least in part on determining if the total number of occurrences exceeds at least one given threshold. The life cycle stage is associated with the at least one given threshold. A user is then notified of the life cycle state of the flash memory.
US08108172B2
A review apparatus for reviewing a specimen by moving the specimen to pre-calculated coordinate includes: a function to measure a deviation amount between the pre-calculated coordinates and coordinates of an actual position of the specimen; a function to optimize a coordinate correcting expression to minimize the measured deviation amount; and a function to determine that the deviation amounts have converged. When the deviation amounts have converged, the measurement for the coordinate-correcting-expression optimization is terminated, and a field of view necessary for the specimen to be within the field of view is set according to a convergence value of the calculated deviation amount.
US08108169B2
In one embodiment, the present invention is a method and apparatus for matching translucent coatings of absorbent substrates. In one embodiment, a method for matching a color of a sample includes generating a plurality of recipes, each of the recipes representing a mixture of one colorant and a clear vehicle and defining a concentration of the one colorant and a concentration of the clear vehicle, applying each of the recipes to one or more absorbent substrates, determining an absorption value and a scattering value for each of the recipes as applied to the absorbent substrates, storing the recipes in a database, where each of the recipes is stored with an associated absorption value and an associated scattering value, selecting a first recipe from among the recipes stored in the database, and evaluating a quality of the first recipe as a match to the color of the sample.
US08108168B2
A method, apparatus and program product manage non-destructive evaluation (“NDE”) data. NDE data and inspection information for at least a portion of an asset are received and at least one alignment algorithm to align the NDE data to a simulated model of the at least a portion of the asset is determined based upon at least one of the NDE data and the inspection information. The NDE data is automatically aligned to the simulated model with the at least one alignment algorithm and a display representation that visually represents the aligned NDE data on the simulated model is generated.
US08108167B2
A method includes ascertaining harmonic components of a periodic analog signal at a fundamental frequency which changes over time. The signal is digitized and fast Fourier transformed. A target signal is produced by modulating the signal using a first carrier frequency to form two frequency sidebands, the first carrier frequency being greater than the fundamental frequency of the signal. One of the two frequency sidebands of the modulated signal is filtered. The filtered frequency sideband is modulated using a second carrier frequency forming two frequency sidebands. The second carrier frequency is greater than the fundamental frequency of the signal. The difference between the second and first carrier frequencies is the same as the difference between the fundamental frequency and the target fundamental frequency. One of these two frequency sidebands is output as the target signal to calculate the fast Fourier transformation.
US08108166B2
Log chirp testing where a log chirp may be provided to a device under test and a first time domain response from the device under test may be received. The first time domain response may be in the time domain. The first time domain response may be converted to the angular domain to create an angular domain response. Converting to the angular domain response may include resampling the time domain response from the time domain to the angular domain. The angular domain response may be filtered and/or analyzed. The angular domain response may be converted to a second time domain response. Similar to above, the conversion may include resampling the angular domain response from the angular domain to the time domain. The first time domain response and the second time domain response may be analyzed. Testing results of the device under test may be generated and stored based on said analyzing.
US08108159B2
A method of detecting a degradation of a semiconductor device including calculating a first number of first traps accumulated in a gate insulation layer of the semiconductor device over an operation time of the semiconductor device; calculating the second number of second traps accumulated at an interface between the gate insulation layer and a substrate over the operation time; and calculating the degradation of the semiconductor device relative to the operation time using the first number of the first traps and the second number of the second traps.
US08108157B2
The present invention generally relates to methods to provide electrospun polymer/nanoparticle composite-fiber structures for use as lightweight, compliant, porous strain sensors for non-cyclic strain sensing. In one embodiment, the fibers in the nanocomposites comprise, for example, poly(∈-caprolactone) (PCL) dielectric polymer matrix with embedded electrically conductive carbon black (CB) nanoparticles. In another embodiment, the composite-fiber structures of the present invention contain at least about 7 weight percent or more of CB and are electrically conducting in the as-spun, un-deformed state, and are thus called conductive polymer composites (CPC). In still another embodiment, the electrical resistance of a nanocomposite structure according to the invention increases with strain, and at sufficiently high strains the structure is rendered non-conductive.
US08108152B2
A computer-assisted method for identifying functionalities to add to an organism-specific metabolic network to enable a desired biotransformation in a host includes accessing reactions from a universal database to provide stoichiometric balance, identifying at least one stoichiometrically balanced pathway at least partially based on the reactions and a substrate to minimize a number of non-native functionalities in the production host, and incorporating the at least one stoichiometrically balanced pathway into the host to provide the desired biotransformation. A representation of the metabolic network as modified can be stored.
US08108141B2
A method of assigning routes to a plurality of users includes determining a cost for each of a plurality of roadway segments. The cost of a roadway segment is commensurate with the roadway segment's inclusion in one or more existing routes from a start location to a destination location. The method further includes generating a plurality of new routes. Each generated route includes one or more roadway segments. The generated routes are assigned to each of the plurality of users.
US08108139B1
A method is provided, which optimizes a represented route of a traveling object. The method herein provides route representation compatible with various sampling protocols and accounts for high velocity states and near stand still states. In addition, route representation can be optimized for a given number of waypoints, accommodating a maximum waypoint storage file size. Waypoints are captured and significance scores are calculated and compared. The least significant waypoint is discarded in favor of a subsequently captured waypoint and the significance of waypoints surrounding the discarded waypoint are recalculated. By quantified waypoint selection the user can obtain an optimized route representation with quantified errors from a manageable number of waypoints.
US08108132B2
A method of changing an active cylinder count of an engine may include determining a vehicle vibration limit and a vehicle vibration level. The cylinder count may be modified (increased or decreased) based upon the vehicle vibration limit and the vehicle vibration level. The vehicle vibration limit may be based upon a vehicle speed, and a coolant temperature of the engine. The vehicle vibration level may be based upon at least one of a desired torque of the engine and a number of active cylinders of the engine. According to other features, the vehicle vibration level may be based upon a measured vibration level of a vehicle component.
US08108130B2
In the calibration of a lambda sensor (26), inaccuracies occur during a fuel cut-off overrun phase depending on the temperature. A method is proposed for correcting an output signal of a lambda sensor (16) of an internal combustion engine (1), having the following steps: detection of a fuel cut-off overrun phase of the internal combustion engine (1), sensing of an exhaust-gas composition by the lambda sensor (16) during the fuel cut-off overrun phase, sensing of a temperature which represents a measure of the intake air of the internal combustion engine (1), calibration of the lambda sensor (16) based on the second temperature.
US08108129B2
A technique is provided which, in an exhaust gas recirculation apparatus for an internal combustion engine, can calculate a low-pressure EGR rate and a high-pressure EGR rate in an accurate manner, and control the flow rates of both a low pressure EGR passage and a high pressure EGR passage in a closed-loop control manner, thereby to make the temperature of intake air and a supercharging pressure stable and to suppress the deterioration of exhaust emissions as well as the deterioration of power performance. The low pressure EGR rate, representative of the proportion of an amount of low pressure EGR gas to an amount of intake air sucked into the internal combustion engine, and the high pressure EGR rate, representative of the proportion of an amount of high pressure EGR gas to the amount of intake air, are calculated by using a CO2 concentration in an intake passage at a location downstream of a connection portion of the low pressure EGR passage and upstream of a connection portion of the high pressure EGR passage, a CO2 concentration in the intake passage at a location downstream the connection portion of the high pressure EGR passage, and a CO2 concentration of an exhaust gas discharged from the internal combustion engine (S103). The low pressure EGR rate and the high pressure EGR rate to be calculated are controlled to individual target values, respectively (S104).
US08108127B2
A robust method, an accordingly designed control device, and an internal combustion engine, enables the proper performance of a tank ventilation device during the operation of the internal combustion engine. For this purpose, the position of a pressure switch of the tank ventilation device is detected, which indicates the pressure present in the tank ventilation device, a controllable tank ventilation valve, which is disposed in a connecting line between a fuel vapor accumulator and an intake pipe of the internal combustion engine, is opened at least partially during the operation of the internal combustion engine, the position of the pressure switch is again detected after opening of the tank ventilation valve, the proper performance of the tank ventilation device; is analyzed based on a comparison of the position of the pressure switch before opening the tank ventilation valve to the position of the pressure switch after opening the tank ventilation valve.
US08108126B2
A method and apparatus for controlling fuel injection in an engine is described. The apparatus comprises at least one fuel injector which is connected in an injector drive circuit powered by a power source. The method comprises determining an injection event sequence of the at least one fuel injector based on at least one engine operating parameter, determining a magnitude of a load parameter of the power source, comparing the magnitude to a predetermined threshold level for the load parameter, and determining a modified injection event sequence in the event that the magnitude is substantially equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold level.
US08108122B2
A six-cylinder engine includes a stop-cylinder-setting section. The stop-cylinder-setting section sets to-be-stopped cylinders such that cylinders operated in a four-cylinder operation mode (two cylinders stopped) are stopped in a two-cylinder operation mode (four cylinders stopped), and the cylinders operated in the two-cylinder operation mode are stopped in the four-cylinder operation mode. The stop-cylinder-setting section stops operations of intake valves corresponding to stopped cylinders in each operation mode.
US08108121B2
In a method for correcting the fuel concentration in a regeneration gas flow of a tank venting device, the fuel concentration is determined, and a defined regeneration gas flow rate is set and supplied to the engine to use the regeneration gas in the combustion process. Then, a reference composition is determined and the flow rate is varied. Then, a first injection amount correction value is determined based on the fuel concentration and the flow rate adjustment amount. A pre-specified quantity of fuel is corrected by the first correction value and the exhaust gas composition is determined again after the corrected fuel quantity has been supplied. A second correction value is determined by which the corrected fuel quantity is further corrected to set the exhaust gas composition to the reference composition. The fuel concentration of the regeneration gas flow is corrected by the first and the second correction values.
US08108120B2
Disclosed is a system including a fuel conversion device for use with a conventional internal combustion engine having an engine control unit and electronic fuel injectors allowing a conventional vehicle to operate using more than one type of fuel. The system intercepts the ECU's command signals being transmitted to the injectors before they reach the injectors and modifies the signals for optimizing the combustion cycle depending upon the type of fuel used. The conversion device enables a conventional gasoline engine to run on an alternative fuel such as alcohol, gasoline, or any combination of the two.
US08108116B2
A controller includes a target fluid amount calculation module 31 which obtains target fluid amounts for wheel brakes based on target hydraulic pressures which are set in a target wheel brake pressure setting module 30, an actual fluid amount calculation module 32 which obtains actual fluid amounts for the wheel brakes based on hydraulic pressures brake hydraulic pressure detectors, and a target flow rate calculation unit 34 which obtains target flow rates for the wheel brakes based on the actual fluid amounts obtained in the actual fluid amount calculation module 32 and controls the operation of a hydraulic pressure control unit based on the target flow rates obtained in the target flow rate calculation unit 34.
US08108114B2
A clutch controller that improves riding comfort when a clutch is engaged. A target torque obtaining section obtains torque that is supposed to be transmitted from a drive-side member of the clutch to a downstream mechanism in a torque transmission path as target transmission torque, the downstream mechanism including a driven-side member of the clutch. An clutch actuator control section actuates a clutch actuator based on the target transmission torque. The target torque obtaining section estimates torque to be transmitted from the drive-side member to the downstream mechanism after the drive-side member and the driven-side member are completely engaged, and obtains the estimated torque as the target transmission torque.
US08108113B2
A method (42) for preventing incorrect gear shifts in automatic transmissions (14) of motor vehicles comprising the following steps: determining a current output torque (Mis) of a source gear (GSOURCE); generating a history of output torques by storing the current output torque in the source gear (GSOURCE) for a time interval having a predetermined duration; determining an absolute value of a minimal output torque (Mmin) and an absolute value of a maximum output torque (Mmax) from the history (60) of output torques, comparing the two values and determining the greater absolute value; determining (S3) an absolute value of a target torque (MTARGET) of a target gear (GTARGET), if an instruction for a gear change exists; comparing (S4) the absolute value of the target torque (MTARGET) with the greater absolute value; and shifting (S5) the transmission (14) from the source gear (GSOURCE) to the target gear (GTARGET), if the absolute value of the target torque (MTARGET) is less than or equal to the greater absolute value (FIG. 2).
US08108103B2
A system and method for facilitating ride and stability control of a vehicle. The system includes a plurality of suspension displacement sensors, with each of the plurality of suspension displacement sensors positioned proximate to a suspension element of the vehicle. The system further includes a nonlinear filter for filtering out a wheel hop frequency from the suspension velocity corresponding to at least one of the plurality of suspension displacement sensors to obtain a resultant suspension velocity. The resultant suspension velocity is used by a control unit to determine the pitch velocity, roll velocity and the heave velocity of the vehicle.
US08108091B2
An apparatus uses a guide toy vehicle and has a smart floor environment. The smart floor environment is filled with location tags. Data can be found in a back-end database for location tags of an exhibit unit through a wireless network. The data comprise multimedia information to improve learning. Thus, with the present invention students can have better learning for achieving a default teaching goal.
US08108089B2
When the engine being in an idling operation and it is in a running state (S410, S420), a value 1 is set to a learning-determination flag F1 (step S460) and the learning of the idling control value is performed when the transmission is in the state of Lo gear and it is not immediately after a Hi-Lo shifting has been performed (S430 to S450).
US08108082B2
A cooling system and method for an outdoor electronics enclosure includes an air conditioner controlled to operate during off-peak hours, so as to pre-cool batteries. The cooled batteries keep the enclosure cool during peak hours so that it is not necessary to run the air conditioner when electricity prices are at their peak. A clock or light sensor determines the time of day. A controller has stored data indicating the peak hours when electricity costs more.
US08108080B2
It is an object to reduce influence on a utility grid by reducing a rapid change in active power, and to extend the life of a wind power plant while controlling active power output in response to a request from the utility grid. A monitoring and control apparatus applied to a wind power plant including a plurality of wind turbine generators includes an electric power control unit that controls the wind turbine generators so as to reduce output of the wind power plant in a stepwise manner, when an active power reduction request from a utility grid side is output.
US08108060B2
System and method for implementing wafer acceptance test (“WAT”) advanced process control (“APC”) are described. In one embodiment, the method comprises performing a key process on a sample number of wafers of a lot of wafers; performing a key inline measurement related to the key process to produce metrology data for the wafers; predicting WAT data from the metrology data using an inline-to-WAT model; and using the predicted WAT data to tune a WAT APC process for controlling a tuning process or a process APC process.
US08108059B2
A design change range determining apparatus assigns a link between the one and another elements to generate link information table regarding the assigned link, and when the element is specified through an input unit, retrieves link information table to obtain the parent node associated with the specified element, obtains a child node associated with the parent node, and further obtains a child node which is a parent node of the obtain child node; and display the obtained parent nodes and child nodes on a display.
US08108058B2
A method is provided for generating a data product that allows for enhanced design, analysis and manufacture of a composite structure comprising a plurality of plies. The method comprises the steps of obtaining geometric ply definitions, inputting the geometric ply definitions into a computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software program to generate a numerically coded tool path definition containing centerline data for each tape or tow comprising a ply, programming tape or tow course shape definitions of a plurality of plies in CAM to produce actual ply definitions, using CAM to generate an accumulated dataset of actual ply definitions, using a customized software program to analyze the dataset to obtain a data product containing results relating to manufacturing implementation of the actual ply definitions, and using the customized software program to evaluate and visualize potential impact of the data product and to interrogate the data product.
US08108053B2
Implantable medical leads have reduced diameter while providing for optimized mechanical and electrical properties, by reducing the diameters of the conducting cables used within the leads for sensing and delivery of therapeutic electrical stimulation. In an embodiment, conducting filaments within a cable have oval cross-sectional areas. Suitably orienting the oval filaments increases the contact surface between adjacent filaments, broadly distributing the pressure between filaments and reducing fretting fatigue, while the oval cross-sectional area also increases conductivity. In an embodiment, non-conducting coatings around filaments within a cable, or around groups of filaments organized into cable-layers, reduce fretting fatigue. In an embodiment, the cross-sectional area of filaments decreases as the filaments are positioned at increasing radial distances from the center of the cable. In an embodiment, the relative composition of various filament metals and/or alloys is varied in filaments at different radial distances from the center of the cable.
US08108048B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to optimizing telemetry communication involving one or more medical devices and one or more electrical devices. The telemetry communication is optimized by implementing software and/or one or more additional circuits within at least one medical device and at least one electrical device to provide one or more modes or functions of optimizing transfer of data between the medical device and the at least one electrical device, minimizing interference of the data transfer, and reducing data transfer time and/or preserving electrical energy sources of one or more of the medical device and the at least one electrical device.
US08108047B2
An electronic pain treatment device delivering electrical energy to the tissue of a patient in pain is provided which includes a variable wave generator, an impedance measurement circuit, and at least one electrode probe. Associated methods for treating pain are also disclosed.
US08108044B2
A low power method and apparatus for detecting wake-up signals in sniff processing performed in an implantable medical device (IMD) using a staged detection of RF energy in signals received in order to conserve current consumption. Incoming signals are monitored in a plurality of detection stages which each incrementally increase the accuracy of detecting whether the received signal is a wake-up communication signal. A desired number of stages of signal quantity measurements are performed such that a combined signal quantity is calculated by updating the signal quantity measurements performed in prior stages with signal quantity measurements performed at each stage. The combined signal quantity of the received communication signal is compared at each detection stage against a corresponding threshold value for that stage. The staged detection process aborts sniff processing if the combined signal quantity fails to meet the corresponding threshold value for that stage.
US08108039B2
The present invention, herein is a method and apparatus that significantly limits the effect of high frequency (“HF”) interferences on acquired electro-physiological signals, such as the EEG and EMG. Preferably, this method comprises of two separate electronic circuitries and steps or electronics for processing the signals. One circuit is used to block the transmission of HF interferences to the instrumentation amplifiers. It is comprised of a front-end active filter, a low frequency electromagnetic interference (“EMI”) shield, and an isolation barrier interface which isolates the patient from earth ground. The second circuit is used to measure the difference in potential between the two isolated sides of the isolation barrier. This so-called “cross-barrier” voltage is directly representative of the interference level that the instrumentation amplifier is subjected to. This circuit is used to confirm that the acquired signals are not corrupted by the interference.
US08108033B2
Methods and apparatus for storing data records associated with a medical monitoring event in a data structure. Upon detection of a possible occurrence of a physiological event by one group of monitoring elements, an implanted device records data received from another group of monitoring elements. The implanted device obtains and stores the data in the data record in a first data structure that is age-based. Before an oldest data record is lost, the oldest data record may be stored in a second data structure that is priority index-based. The priority index may be determined by a severity level and may be further determined by associated factors. The implanted device may organize, off-load, report, and/or display a plurality of data records based on an associated priority index. Additionally, the implanted device may select a subset or composite of physiologic channels from the available physiologic channels based on a selection criterion.
US08108031B2
The present invention provides methods and systems for performing in-vivo flow cytometry to obtain desired information regarding one or more cell types of interest flowing through a subject's circulatory system. In one embodiment of the invention, a portion of the subject's circulating blood is illuminated with radiation having multiple wavelength components, and the backscattered radiation generated in response to the excitation radiation is detected at a plurality of scattering angles and analyzed to derive the desired information.
US08108027B2
A combined positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging apparatus including a positron emission tomography apparatus having at least one radiation detector, and a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus having at least one gradient coil and a radio-frequency antenna device. At least one embodiment of the combined position emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is developed further in that a first molding is provided, whose surface coincides with the inner shell of the at least one gradient coil, and a second molding is provided, whose surface coincides with the outer shell of the radiation detector, the distance between the two shells being virtually constant over the circumference of the shells, and a vacuum seal being arranged in each case along at least a first and a second circumferential line such that a closed cavity is formed between the vacuum seals.
US08108014B2
A portable communication device is configured to include a display and an auxiliary portion. In conventional operating modes, such as with the display closed or slid open to access the keypad, the auxiliary portion is concealed by the display. When the display is slid downward relative to the base, the auxiliary portion is revealed and a lift assembly raises the auxiliary portion relative to the base to a position that is generally coplanar with the display.
US08108012B1
Methods and systems are provided for increasing and decreasing a power level of a forward-link overhead channel. In an embodiment, a BTS (i) receives from at least one mobile station an increase request, each increase request requesting that the BTS increase a power level of a forward-link overhead channel, (ii) makes a first determination that at least a first threshold number of mobile stations have sent an increase request within a first request window, wherein the first request window is a period of time, and (iii) in response to making the first determination, increases the power level of the forward-link overhead channel.
US08108010B2
An in-vehicle handsfree apparatus performs a dialing control with a first dialing phone number, which is a phone number included in historical data of outgoing or incoming calls of a cellular phone. If the destination of the dialing with the first phone number does not answer, the handsfree apparatus performs a dialing control by using a different second phone number, if it is available from the cellular phone. The second phone number, e.g., a number of a home telephone, is registered in phone book data of the cellular phone by using the same registration name as that of the first phone number; further, the second phone number is transmitted from the cellular phone to the handsfree apparatus.
US08108003B2
A wireless communication system (20) allows for using base station router devices (30, 32) for in building communications using a mobile station (22). Automatically configuring a definition code such as primary scrambling codes or pseudo random noise offsets of the base station router devices (30, 32) facilitates minimizing or avoiding false handovers between a macrocell base station (24) and one of the base station router devices (30, 32). In a disclosed example, a controller (26) such as a radio network controller communicates with at least one of the base station router devices (30, 32) for automatically changing a definition code used by such a device to avoid correspondence between definition codes within a selected range.
US08107993B2
An apparatus includes a unit receiving a first-radio signal indicating a state in which transmission by a SDMA scheme is allowed, a unit determining whether a transmission state is a first state (the SDMA scheme is available), or a second state (the SDMA scheme is unavailable), a unit transmitting a radio signal using the SDMA scheme, when it is determined that the first state continues for the first-time period, and a unit setting a third-time period, when the first state fails to continue for the first-time period, the third-time period being obtained by subtracting, from the first-time period, a second-time period ranging from when carrier sense is started to when the transmission state is determined to be the second state, wherein when the first-radio signal is received after the third-time period is set, it is determined whether the first state continues for the third-time period.
US08107989B2
A method includes repeatedly transmitting messages from a first wireless node at a transmit power. The method also includes receiving feedback from a second wireless node, where the feedback is based on a quality of reception of at least some of the messages at the second wireless node. The method further includes adjusting the transmit power of the first wireless node based on the feedback to maintain the quality of reception proximate to a setpoint. The feedback could be received from multiple second wireless nodes. The feedback could include quantized values. The quality of reception could include a bit error rate, a packet error rate, and/or a receive signal strength. The quality of reception can be determined for a sliding window associated with a subset of the transmitted messages.
US08107988B1
Methods and systems are provided for conducting power control based on reverse-link RF conditions. In an embodiment, a base station periodically calculates a reverse noise rise (RNR), periodically calculates a collective reverse-link frame error rate (RFER), and periodically checks whether a new call-origination message has been received. If a call origination has not been received, the base station checks whether the RNR is less than a threshold. If the RNR is less than the threshold, the base station sends power-up commands to each of mobile stations. If the RNR is not less than the threshold, the base station sends power-down commands to each of the mobile stations so long as the collective RFER is less than a maximum RFER. If a call origination has been received, the base station sends power-down commands to each of the mobile stations until the collective RFER reaches the maximum RFER.
US08107987B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate employing periodic closed loop power control corrections in a wireless communication environment. A periodic power control command can be sent over a downlink to control and/or correct an uplink power level employed by an access terminal. Each periodic power control command can be generated based upon an uplink periodic transmission sent from the access terminal. The periodic power control commands can be communicated via a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or in-band signaling. Moreover, access terminals can be grouped to enhance efficiency of downlink transfer of the periodic power control commands. The periodic power control commands can be halted upon access terminal uplink resources being deallocated. For instance, these resources can be deallocated after an inactivity period of the access terminal. Thereafter, the access terminal can initiate random access (e.g., leveraging open loop mechanisms) to resume periodic power control command transmission.
US08107986B2
A method for controlling power in a communication system. The power control method in a base station includes receiving channel information from a plurality of mobile stations, and generating power control information of the mobile stations according to the received channel information; mapping the generated power control information to transmission fields of corresponding mobile stations according to allocation information of channels allocated to receive the channel information; and broadcasting to the mobile stations a message including the power control information mapped to the transmission fields of the corresponding mobile stations.
US08107977B2
Systems and methods are provided for displaying a short message service (SMS) message on user media equipment, in which the user media equipment includes a set-top box and a display. In some embodiments, the set-top box receives an SMS message, wherein the SMS message includes information identifying a triggering event for displaying the SMS message. The SMS message is stored until the occurrence and detection of the identified triggering event. In response to detecting the occurrence of the identified triggering event, the SMS message is displayed on at least a portion of the display of the user media equipment.
US08107974B2
A probabilistic prediction is made of the location of a wireless-enabled mobile station in a wireless local area network. The prediction includes calculating a vector representing movement of the mobile station through a space in which two or more access points of the network are located, and determining a region surrounding the vector in which the mobile station has at least a given probability to be located within a certain period of time.
US08107973B1
A system for providing class structured location based services can include a memory and a processor. The memory can store instructions for execution by a processor, and rules. The processor can use location information provided by a location component, and the rules stored in the memory to analyze an attempted use of location based services. The system can determine whether the attempted use should be allowed based upon classification of the location based service and comparison of the classified service to classes defined by rules. Many classes can be included, and override conditions can be defined. Some methods for providing class structured location based services are also disclosed.
US08107968B2
A system for managing the simultaneous operation of a plurality of radio modems in a single wireless communication device (WCD). The multiradio control may be integrated into the WCD as a subsystem responsible for scheduling wireless communications by temporarily enabling or disabling the plurality of radio modems within the device. The multiradio control system may comprise a multiradio controller (MRC) and a plurality dedicated radio interfaces. The radio interfaces are dedicated to quickly conveying delay sensitive information to and from the radio modems. The modems may further include control features that take information from the MRC as an input in determining the priority of messages to be sent out to a receiving device. Uplink and/or downlink operations might, for instance, be performed. Instruction that operation can commence prior to an assigned time period might, for example, be provided. Channel contention might, for instance, be initiated in response to the instruction.
US08107962B2
A method of processing a handover request from a base station controller (BSC) of a GSM (Global System for Mobile communication)-type network. The method comprises the steps of passing a handover request with GSM-type parameters from a base station controller (BSC) through a Master Switching Center (MSC) of the GSM-type network to a UMTS core network (CN) and to a Radio Network Controller (RNC) of the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) network, translating the GSM-type parameters to UTRAN parameters in the Radio Network Controller (RNC), and allocating UTRAN resources in response to the translated parameters.
US08107956B2
A method is provided for enabling an over the top (OTT) service over a broadband network. The method includes receiving a registration request from a mobile User Equipment (UE) over a femto cell to register with a cellular operator of a cellular network. The registration request is forwarded to an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server associated with the cellular operator to register the mobile UE therewith. A rendition of the registration request is forwarded to an AAA server associated with a broadband operator of a broadband network to register the mobile UE therewith.
US08107949B1
A method and mobile diagnostic measurement tool is described for collecting cellular network performance data. The method includes determining a current data rate for transmission of data between the measurement tool and a network node in a cellular network. The measurement tool includes a controller adaptively controlling the collection of network performance data by one or more data collection units in the measurement tool in accordance with variations in the current data rate. The collection of data is controlled so as to keep the total rate of collection of data to be less than or equal to the rate at which the data is transmitted to the network node. A memory in the tool may stored log mask tables which indicate which types of performance data can eliminated in the collection process depending on the transmit data rate.
US08107945B2
Disclosed techniques enable wireless remote recovery for a wireless device that has encountered a potentially unrecoverable programming error during execution of a primary program controlling operations of the wireless device, e.g. an error that might otherwise prevent network communications. In response to the error, program execution changes over from the primary program to execution of a backup program. Under control of the backup program, the wireless device initiates a communication with a recovery server, over the air through a wireless network serving the wireless device. The communication utilizing the backup program enables the wireless device to receive programming from the recovery server, including a replacement version for at least a portion of the primary program. The primary program can then be corrected by replacing the portion thereof with the received replacement version. The wireless device then resumes normal operation, by resuming execution using the corrected primary program.
US08107934B1
A system and method for a hospitality entity to communicate goods and services to a guest based on events occurring at a facility of the hospitality entity is disclosed herein. The method includes establishing a unique identifier with a mobile phone of a guest and then sending executable offers to the guest which upon acceptance triggers another offer based on the first offer acceptance and events occurring at the time and location of the guest.
US08107929B2
There are provided methods and systems for responding to information requests from users of personal communication devices, such as mobile telephones and more particularly cellular telephones. In one embodiment, information requests issued from a plurality of user's cellular telephones are received and processed at a central host site. Processing comprises parsing the user requests to determine the content and category type of the request and retrieving relevant content configured as a sequence of images (frames), referred to as a “video strip”. When a user plays back a video strip on his or her personal communication device, the sequence of images appear on the user's display as a sequence of still images, played back at a slow rate, unlike conventional movie playback frame rates. When viewing a video strip, a viewer may stop, start, and pause the video strip. Pausing playback of a video strip enables the user to easily peruse the contents of each video strip frame.
US08107927B2
A system and method that allows a mobile device to be shared between multiple users by establishing dedicated memory partitions for each user of the mobile device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the mobile device establishes a memory partition for a user of the mobile device when the user first uses the mobile device. Users are permitted to read and/or write digital data in their respective memory partitions, and are prevented from accessing digital data in other memory partitions. In some instances, a current user of a mobile device can authorize other users to access digital data stored in the current user's memory partition. In one embodiment, a user of the mobile device can also backup and/or synchronize digital data stored in the user's memory partition using a network synchronization service.
US08107925B2
This invention provides a mobile base station device which allows tamper resistance to be adequately secured even when the housing is opened illicitly. In a mobile base station device 1, when a housing 2 is opened illicitly, a user ID or similar is transmitted to a service management server 20, and the user attempting an illicit operation is identified. By registering the identified user on a blacklist, subsequent use of the mobile base station device 1 by this user can be prohibited. Also, in the mobile base station device 1, together with transmission of the user ID, a communication control program 7 is deleted from a communication control module 6, so that the interior of the housing 2 is rendered a “black box”, and modification and illicit use of the communication control program can be deterred. As a result, even when the housing 2 of the mobile base station device 1 is opened illicitly, tamper resistance can be adequately secured.
US08107911B2
A signal processing device and signal processing method is provided that includes a detection unit for detecting a signal strength of a signal, whereby the detection unit is configured to output a detection value that represents the signal strength of the signal; a settable digital filter connected upstream of the detection unit, whereby filter coefficients for setting a transfer characteristic of the filter are assigned to an amplification or attenuation of the signal by the filter; a digital multiplication unit, which is connected upstream of the detection unit for amplification or attenuation of the signal, whereby the multiplication unit is configured to compensate partially for the amplification or attenuation of the filter, whereby the compensation is encumbered with a residual error; and a correction unit to apply to the detection value a correction value at least partially compensating for the residual error.
US08107906B2
Methods and apparatus for implementing a wireless communication transceiver having receive path performance diversity. The transceiver implements a plurality of signal paths that can be configured as space diversity receive paths. Each of the plurality of signal paths includes a distinct RF filter. Each RF filter can be configured to provide a distinct frequency response, and in particular, a distinct jammer rejection profile. One of the RF filters can be configured to provide substantially no in-band jammer rejection. Each additional distinct RF filter can be configured to reject at least one distinct in-band jammer frequency or band of frequencies. A diversity receiver coherently combines the path performance diverse signals from each filter output. A transmitter can time division duplex transmit communications over at least a subset of the signal paths and their associated RF filters.
US08107897B2
A wireless transmitter includes: a plurality of transmission antennas; a phase rotating unit which adds phase rotation to signals which are respectively input to the plurality of transmission antennas, and a reception unit which receives information on phase control of arbitrary antennas among the plurality of transmission antennas from another party of communication, wherein the phase rotating units adds first phase rotation for controlling the maximum delay time between the plurality of transmission antennas and second phase rotation for controlling the phases of the arbitrary antennas among the plurality of transmission antennas based on the information.
US08107890B2
A device includes a transcevier and a processing module. The transceiver is operable to receive a wireless communication request from a requesting wireless communication device and to convert the wireless communication request into a baseband or near baseband request signal. The processing module is operable to determine multiple frequency band multiple standard (MFBMS) capabilities of the requesting and the target wireless communication devices based on the baseband or near baseband request signal. When the devices have at least two frequency band standards in common, the processing module allocates a communication resource of one of the two frequency band standards for a first communication path from the requesting wireless communication device to the target wireless communication device and allocates a communication resource of another one of the two frequency band standards for a second communication path from the target wireless communication device to the requesting wireless communication device.
US08107884B2
A base station (BS), a subordinated station (SS) and the transmission methods thereof for use in a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) network are provided. The BS stores resource allocation information about the MIMO network and an SS list, and generate a super frame according to the resource allocation information and the SS list. The super frame comprises a pilot pattern which comprises a plurality of pilots and data. The BS and SS both considers the pilot pattern as an identifier of the SS. When there are communications occurred between the BS and the SS, the BS/SS will confirm whether the pilot pattern of the super frame matches the identifier of the SS to reduce interference from other stations in the MIMO network.
US08107883B2
In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, a method is disclosed that comprises collecting a set of neighbor cellular user equipment (UE) interferences from at least one neighbor cellular UE at a device-to-device (D2D) UE at least in part based on a decoded first uplink radio resource management (RRM) message and computing a first set of average neighbor UE interferences based on the set of collected neighbor cellular UE interferences. The method also comprises predicting at least one interference scenario at least in part based on the first set of average neighbor cellular UE interferences and a decoded second uplink RRM message. The method also comprises selecting a resource for data transmission to a pairing D2D UE at least in part based on the first set of average neighbor cellular UE interferences, and transmitting data over the selected resource to the pairing D2D UE.
US08107881B2
A translator for translating wireless communications. The translator includes a first antenna configured to carry signals between the wireless translator and a contactless payment reader, and a second antenna configured to carry signals between the wireless translator and a Bluetooth-enabled device. Circuitry operably coupled to both antennas establishes wireless communication with the contactless payment reader via the first antenna and receives from the contactless payment reader a signal comprising a request for information. The circuitry establishes wireless communication with the Bluetooth-enabled device via the second antenna, and requests the information from the Bluetooth-enabled device. The circuitry receives the information from the Bluetooth-enabled device, and relays the information to the contactless payment reader.
US08107880B2
A system for managing the operation of a plurality of radio modules integrated within the same wireless communication device. In at least one embodiment of the present invention, time may be allocated for use in communicating over one or more wireless communication mediums. The allocated time may take the form of timeslots. The timeslots may be dedicated or shared timeslots, the type of timeslot affecting the behavior of each wireless communication medium. Use of shared timeslots may, for example, be determined locally to the radio modules based on a relative priority between the wireless communication mediums sharing the timeslot.
US08107879B2
Device, system, and method of establishing multiple wireless connections. For example, a system includes: a tag to store wireless connection information readable by a mobile device, the wireless connection information including: a first connection information item including data to support establishment of a first wireless communication link between the mobile device and a first wireless device; and a second connection information item including data to support establishment of a second wireless communication link between the mobile device and a second wireless device.
US08107877B2
Exemplary embodiments are directed to a reconfigurable system for the analogue processing of radio frequency signals in a satellite communications system. The system receives a pre-selected first intermediate frequency and selects one or more first frequency channels from the input signal, to amplify and provide automatic gain control of the selected first channel signals and to translate the selected first channels to one or more second frequency channel signals within a pre-selected second intermediate frequency band. The first and second intermediate frequencies are selected to minimize conversion of the uplink and downlink signals. The system provides a generic flexible communications satellite payload architecture based on single channel agile conversion and provides adjustable frequency conversion and bandwidth to individual satellite channels, allowing in-orbit flexible reconfiguration of payload frequency plan and operation.
US08107875B2
A method and system are presented for operating a multibeam satellite system involving positioning a plurality of service beams associated with a plurality of service beam coverage areas and positioning a feeder beam associated with a feeder beam coverage area. The feeder beam coverage area is at a proximity to at least one service beam coverage area. The feeder beam coverage area includes at least one gateway. Each of the plurality of service beam coverage areas uses a color. The at least near service beam coverage area uses at least one color from the plurality of colors. The feeder beam uses at least one color, excluding the at least one color used by the at least one near service beam coverage area.
US08107870B2
A fusing unit is comprised of a pair of rollers, a fusing roller and a pressing roller, having an elastic layer on their outer peripheral surface and a pressing spring for pressing the fusing roller against the pressing roller, and causes a sheet of paper with an unfixed toner image to pass through the nip portion where the fusing roller and pressing roller are put in press-contact with each other so as to fuse the toner image and fix it to the paper. This fusing device further includes a roller member regulator for regulating the press-contact state when the fusing roller and pressing roller are put in press-contact with each other by the pressing spring.
US08107866B2
A fixing apparatus is described. This fixing apparatus may include a heating member, a pressure member opposed to the heating member, a first holding member holding the pressure member and an urging mechanism position-changeably supporting the pressure member through the first holding member and urging the pressure member toward the heating member through the first holding member. The first holding member is electrically connected with the urging mechanism. The first holding member and the urging mechanism are both formed of a conductive member, and the first holding member is grounded through the urging mechanism.
US08107855B2
An image forming device includes a main casing, a photosensitive drum unit and a developing device unit. The photosensitive drum unit includes a plurality of photosensitive drums juxtaposed in a first direction orthogonal to an axis of each photosensitive drum. The developing device unit includes a plurality of developing devices disposed in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of photosensitive drums and a supporting member. Each developing device includes a developing roller having a shaft extending in a second direction parallel to the axis of each photosensitive drum. The supporting member supports the developing devices to be movable between a first position for supplying toner to corresponding photosensitive drums and a second position retracted from the first position. The developing device unit is detachable from the main casing by moving the developing devices to the second position and drawing the supporting member.
US08107853B2
An image forming apparatus is described. The image forming apparatus may include: a main body provided with an accommodation chamber partitioned by an inner side surface; a photosensitive unit configured to slid between an accommodated position and a drawn position; a first electrode disposed on a first outer side surface on the photosensitive unit; a second electrode disposed on a second outer side surface on the photosensitive unit to protrude toward the inner side surface beyond the first outer side surface; a third electrode disposed on a first inner side surface on the inner side surface; and a fourth electrode disposed on a second inner side surface on the inner side surface to protrude toward the photosensitive unit beyond the first inner side surface.
US08107848B2
In a printer, three toner patches are primary-transferred successively to an intermediate transfer belt. Here, after the first toner patch passes through a belt cleaner and before the second toner patch reaches the belt cleaner, and after the second toner patch passes through the belt cleaner and before the third patch reaches the belt cleaner, the belt cleaner is operated to change the state of contact to the intermediate transfer belt to a different state. A density sensor detects density of the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt, and presence/absence of the toner patch is detected. When presence/absence of the first to third patches is detected alternately, it is determined that the belt cleaner is performing the operation described above.
US08107844B2
The subject innovation relates to an image forming apparatus that includes a control panel capable of displaying a menu screen, and enabling users to set a plurality of image forming conditions. Furthermore, an image forming unit can execute image forming processing according to the conditions set via the control panel. A first control unit can be configured to control a reader and writer to write setting information into a storage medium, and to read the setting information stored in the storage medium. In, addition, a second control unit can be configured to control content of the menu screen in accordance with the setting information read from the storage medium when the control panel is operated to set an image forming condition, and to display setting items for condition setting on the menu screen in a predetermined order.
US08107841B2
An image forming apparatus capable of suppressing occurrences of image defects and maintaining the image density constant while improving the development ability. The image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum on which an electrostatic latent image is carried, a developing sleeve on which developer is carried, an AC high-voltage drive circuit, an AC transformer, a DC high-voltage circuit, a p-p voltage detection circuit, and a CPU. The p-p voltage detection circuit converts a peak-to-peak voltage across a capacitor into a DC voltage which is taken out as a capacity detection signal. Based on the capacity detection signal output from the p-p voltage detection circuit, the CPU changes an image formation condition, e.g., a set value of a developing bias voltage.
US08107839B2
A bias corrector conducts a first bias correction calculation by performing first through third calculations. The first calculation compares a stored target charging current value to a first charging current value detected when a first charging bias was applied by a bias applying device. The second calculation is performed repeatedly to calculate a second charging bias based on the comparison result and then to compare the target charging current value to a second charging current value detected by the current detector when the second charging bias was applied by the bias applying device. The third charging bias is calculated based on the comparison result. A second bias correction calculation then is conducted to correct the charging bias obtained as a result of the first bias correction calculation based on photoconductor information detected by a photoconductor information detector.
US08107825B2
A method and system for visible light communication (VLC) for use in a dimmable lighting environment is provided. The method includes transmitting data using light from at least one light source, a brightness of the light reduced below a maximum level. The method also includes compensating or accommodating for the reduced brightness of the light at a VLC circuitry to maintain communication. The method further includes transmitting data to at least one VLC receiver using the light from the at least one light source.
US08107815B2
In one embodiment, a method for providing wireless communications utilizing a passive optical network (PON) is disclosed. The method includes receiving, at a PON, downstream packets from a base station destined for a mobile station, and transmitting the downstream packets to wireless transceivers associated with PON. The method also includes receiving, at the first wireless transceiver communicatively coupled to a first optical network terminal (ONT), the downstream packets from the first ONT and transmitting a first wireless signal comprising the downstream packets to a first cell. The method also includes receiving, at a second wireless transceiver communicatively coupled to a second ONT, the downstream packets from the second ONT and transmitting a second wireless signal comprising the downstream packets to a second cell.
US08107813B2
A drive circuit includes a first transistor that is controlled to be in on or off state in response to a control signal, and outputs, in on state, a positive current which is input from a first operational amplifier connected with a drain of the first transistor to a semiconductor optical amplifier; and a second transistor that is connected with a source of the first transistor, and is in inverse on or off state to the state of the first transistor. The drive circuit also includes a negative voltage circuit that is connected to a source of the second transistor, and outputs, when the second transistor is in on state, a negative current to the semiconductor optical amplifier.
US08107809B2
A new camera bellows of a rotating-mirror framing camera, without principle errors such as defocusing error of imaging points, non-uniform photographic frequency and each axial chief ray of exit-pupil and the corresponding relay lens being different with a corresponding reflective optical axis, is provided. This kind of camera bellows is carried out through centers of the exit-pupil diaphragms being disposed on a cylindrical surface aligned with a first Pascal spiral line, and principal points of the relay lenses of the relay lens array and the image recording surface being disposed on cylindrical surfaces aligned with second and third Pascal spiral lines respectively. The bellows is mainly composed of a box, and an aperture diaphragm, a field lens, a rotating mirror, a relay lens array, an exit-pupil diaphragm array and a record image surface.
US08107805B2
An image is obtained using a photographing unit including an optical system provided with an aperture and focus adjusting mechanism. Two or more types of subjects are detected from the image. When the two or more types of subjects are detected from the image, one priority subject is determined among the two or more types of subjects. The aperture and the optical system are adjusted so that the priority subject is focused and the subject other than the priority subject is within a depth of field of the photographing unit.
US08107804B2
An energy accumulator system for accumulating heat from a heat source for subsequent supply to a heat demand, comprises an energy accumulator having a storage material in a heat-exchange relation with the heat source so as to store heat produced by the heat source. A controller is connected to the energy accumulator to obtain temperature data with respect to the storage material, and to the heat source so as to selectively actuate the heat source. An energy level calculator is associated with the controller to determine a storage capacity in the energy accumulator as a function of temperature data of the storage material. An operation identifier determines when to store energy in the energy accumulator as a function of the storage capacity and of condition data pertaining to the heat source. The controller actuates the energy accumulator and the heat source to store heat in the energy accumulator.
US08107802B2
A tankless electric water heater is disclosed that optimizes energy efficiency while minimizing cost and size. A flow-through container surrounds an electric heating element having a surface that is everwhere in direct, unobstructed relationship with the container walls, forming therebetween a passage through which all of the water must pass in a laminar flow while in close proximity to the heater surface, preferably within one-quarter inch and more preferably within one-eighth inch. The entire heater surface is surrounded by water, and all emanated heat must pass into the water. Tubular embodiments can be straight, coiled, U-shaped, and/or S-shaped. Cup-shaped embodiments can direct the water in a counter-flow past inner and outer heating element surfaces. Electrical connectors can be positioned near to each other. Protruding fins can be included that increase heat contact with the water, and the fins can be aligned with the water flow to minimize turbulence.
US08107797B2
The present invention discloses a reflection heating fan comprising at least one fan rotating over a main axle, at least one heating element and at least one reflector, said heating element and reflector are continuing from said main axle, wherein said heating element indirectly heats an air stream by reflecting heat produced by a heating element into the air stream produced by said fan. The present invention also discloses a method of indirectly heating a stream of air, comprising applying energy to a heat emitting element incorporated into a bi-functional rotation axle, reflecting said energy by means of a reflective surface into an air stream produced by applying rotation to a bladed fan structure, achieved by transferring the power from a motor through the bi-functional axle to at least one bladed fan structure.
US08107790B2
A digital broadcasting system and a method of processing data are disclosed, which are robust to error when mobile service data are transmitted. To this end, additional encoding is performed for the mobile service data, whereby it is possible to strongly cope with fast channel change while giving robustness to the mobile service data.
US08107787B2
A recording and reproducing device including sound collecting means for collecting external sound, and outputting sound information corresponding to a result of sound collection, photographing means for photographing an outside, and outputting image information corresponding to a result of photographing, recording means for converting the sound information to files in message units and recording the files on a predetermined recording medium, and recording the image information on the recording medium in association with a corresponding file of sound information in response to a predetermined first external operation, display means for displaying images based on image information associated with respective files of sound information, and reproducing means for reproducing a file of sound information associated with an image selected by a predetermined second external operation among the images displayed by the display means. The recording means sets, for each file of sound information, one of images based on image information associated with the file as a representative image of the file.
US08107784B2
An optical fiber that is relatively insensitive to bend loss and alleviates the problem of catastrophic bend loss comprises a core region and a cladding region configured to support and guide the propagation of light in a fundamental transverse mode. The cladding region includes (i) an outer cladding region, (ii) an annular pedestal (or ring) region, (iii) an annular inner trench region, and (iv) an annular outer trench region. The pedestal region and the outer cladding region each have a refractive index relatively close to that of the outer cladding region. In order to suppress HOMs the pedestal region is configured to resonantly couple at least one (unwanted) transverse mode of the core region (other than the fundamental mode) to at least one transverse mode of the pedestal region. In a preferred embodiment, the fiber is configured so that, at a signal wavelength of approximately 1550 nm, its bend loss is no more than about 0.1 dB/turn at bend radius of 5 mm and is no more than about 0.02 dB/turn at a bend radius of 10 mm. In addition, in one embodiment, the core region also includes an inner core region and an annular outer core (or shelf) region surrounding the inner core region. The outer core region extends radially a distance of less than 9 μm from the fiber axis. In another embodiment, the inner trench region includes an annular inner portion and an annular outer (or step) portion surrounding said inner portion. The refractive index of the step portion is greater than that of the inner portion. In a preferred embodiment, both of the foregoing features of the core region and the inner trench region are incorporated in the fiber. Also described are multi-tube fabrication techniques for making such fibers.
US08107775B2
An image processing apparatus obtains color image data by performing an interpolation processing for an image signal output from a color image pickup element having color filters arranged like a mosaic, by using a filter. The apparatus includes an interpolation processing unit which selectively modifies an interpolation processing according to a kind of layout pattern of a spatial center position of gravity of each color component signal included the image signal in an image area to be interpolated, so that the spatial center position of gravity of each color component signal after the interpolation processing becomes identical in any layout pattern, if there are a plurality of kinds of layout pattern of a spatial center position of gravity of each color component signal included the image signal in an image area to be interpolated.
US08107772B2
Disclosed is an image processing apparatus including a tone converting section to convert a tone level of a target pixel in multi-level image data based on a threshold value of the tone level so that the number of tone levels is reduced; a resolution converting section to output a pixel block according to the tone level, to generate image data with higher resolution; and an error diffusing section to diffuse an error; and wherein when the converted tone level is a predetermined value or lower, the resolution converting section refers to an output sequence category of a black pixel in a pixel block of a surrounding pixel, selects an output sequence pattern belonging to an output sequence category which allows a black pixel in a pixel block of the target pixel and the surrounding pixel to be concentrated, and outputs a pixel block corresponding to the selected pattern.
US08107771B2
Disclosed herein is an image-processing apparatus. The apparatus includes: a taken-image acquisition section configured to acquire a taken image; and a to-be-processed area setting section configured to carry out an analysis on a taken image acquired by the taken-image acquisition section and configured to use the pixel area of a photographed-subject image of a specific type in the taken image as a to-be-processed area of an image conversion process in accordance with the size of the photographed-subject image if a result of the analysis indicates that the photographed-subject image exists in the taken image. The apparatus further includes an image conversion section configured to carry out the image conversion process on the photographed-subject image with the pixel area thereof used as the to-be-processed area in order to generate a post-conversion image obtained as a result of the image conversion process.
US08107766B2
In one embodiment, a method for correcting distortions in a scanned image of a page is disclosed. The method comprises identifying at least one set of collinear elements in the scanned image; and generating a corrected image based on the scanned image including for at least some of the collinear elements in each set applying a spatial location correction to position all collinear elements in the set on a common horizontal rectilinear base line in the corrected image.
US08107763B2
An image brightness adjusting method is provided. The brightness values of all pixels of the image are firstly increased in various increasing degrees. Next, the increased brightness values are decreased in various decreasing degrees according to the original brightness values, thereby avoiding over-increasing the brightness values of the image. Moreover, the use of the color saturation values to adjust the brightness values can avoid the unnatural image appearance.
US08107742B2
An encoder encoding an Nth pixel data of 2×M pixel data and a decoder decoding an Nth encoded pixel data of 2×M encoded pixel data are provided. A first to an Mth pixel data are belonged to an (i−1)th data block. An (M+1)th to a (2×M)th pixel data are belonged to an ith data block. i>1. M
US08107729B2
A method aligns a character to a sampling grid of an image, where an outline of the character is specified by input pen commands. Points and contours of the input pen commands are determined. An orientation of each contour is determined. A first directed acyclic graph (DAG) is constructed indicating a hierarchical relationship of related contours. Radicals are determined using the first DAG. Simple segments of the contours are determined and merged independently for each radical. Segment pairs and their hinted coordinates are determined. The segment pairs are sorted and a second DAG is constructed for the sorted segment pairs. Collisions between the segment pairs are resolved using the second DAG. The segments pairs, x-free points, and y-free points are fitted to the sampling grid independently for each radical and a result of the fitting is stored in output pen commands.
US08107720B2
Detection system for detecting appearances of many electronic elements and methods of using the same
A detection system for detecting appearances of many electronic elements includes a rotary module, a feeding module and a detection module. The rotary module has a base structure and a hollow transparent rotary structure disposed on the base structure. The feeding module is disposed beside one side of the hollow transparent rotary structure in order to sequentially guide the electronic elements to the top surface of the hollow transparent rotary structure. The detection module has a plurality of detection units sequentially disposed around the hollow transparent rotary structure. Each detection unit is composed of an image-sensing element for sensing the electronic elements, an image-capturing element for capturing surface images of the electronic elements and a classifying element for classifying the electronic elements.
US08107718B2
A method, system, and apparatus use in locating a structure in an integrated circuit are provided. Electrical activities are induced in the IC for producing respective unique electromagnetic radiation patterns that collectively contain information on the location of the structure. The electromagnetic radiation patterns are detected, and an area of interest for locating the structure is determined from correlations in the electromagnetic radiation patterns. Once the area of interest is identified a user can more easily locate the structure on the integrated circuit by focusing on the area of interest.
US08107716B2
A front side surface of a cover glass of a solid state imaging device is focused, and a front side image is captured. Next, a rear side surface of the cover glass is focused, and a rear side image is captured. The front side image and the rear side image are combined with each other to create a composite image. A first threshold value is set for each pixel in the composite image by dynamic thresholding. An image composed of pixels whose gray values exceed the first threshold value is identified as a defect candidate image. The maximum gray value of the defect candidate image is multiplied by a constant rate to set a second threshold value. An image composed of pixels whose gray value is less than the second threshold value is eliminated as a blurred image from the defect candidate image.
US08107711B2
A user interface method and system for controlling automated image processing operations of HCS and/or HTS systems includes a graphical interface to enable user designation of an image naming convention, image sources and destinations, image processing channels, processing parameter values, and processing spatial designations.
US08107709B2
The present invention relates to a radiation image processing apparatus and a processing method. A processing condition selector selects from a processing condition memory a processing condition for extraction or removal of a specific object in radiation image information. The processing condition includes two different image capturing conditions which are provided to a radiation source controller. The radiation source controller controls a radiation source with each image capturing condition to apply radiation to a subject and a solid-state radiation detector stores radiation image information of the subject. An image processor performs a weighted subtraction using stored radiation image information in accordance with the processing condition to achieve extraction or removal of the specific object. The resultant radiation image information is displayed on a display unit.
US08107708B2
The invention relates to a method for correcting truncation artifacts in a reconstruction method for computed tomography recordings. The projection images are recorded by an x-ray image detector being extended by determining the attenuation of the radiation outside the projection image for pixels. Non-horizontal filter lines are extended by transaxial and axial artificial extension of the x-ray image detector for the purposes of truncation correction. The truncation correction for non-horizontal filter lines being carried out according to a method from at least one of the following groups: truncation correction takes place regardless of the specific location and orientation of the filter lines; truncation correction takes place as a function of the specific position and orientation of the filter lines, with the filter lines themselves being retained; and truncation correction takes place by introducing new modified filter lines, with filtering taking place along offset artificially extended filter lines.
US08107704B2
An image processing device for processing time-series intraluminal images captured by an imaging device moving in an in-vivo lumen. The image processing device includes a structural area extracting unit that extracts a structural area from the intraluminal image; a corresponding area extracting unit that extracts a corresponding area corresponding to the structural area from the intraluminal image at a second time point different from a first time point at which the structural area is extracted; a lumen deep portion extracting unit that extracts a lumen deep portion, on which a deep portion in the lumen is captured, from the intraluminal image; and a movement amount estimating unit that estimates a movement amount of the imaging device based on positions of the structural area, the corresponding area and the lumen deep portion.
US08107694B2
In a first preferred embodiment, the invention includes a method of tracking displacements between ultrasound images by calculating a coarse displacement estimate, and calculating a fine displacement estimate using images and coarse displacement estimate. In a second preferred embodiment, the invention includes a method of calculating a coarse displacement estimate from images by reducing the resolution of the images, correlating the reduced resolution images, and calculating the location of the peak of the correlation function. In a third preferred embodiment, the invention includes a method of calculating a finer displacement estimate from images by using a coarse displacement estimate with correlation processing of the images and calculating the location of the peak value of the correlation function.
US08107687B2
A system, method and computer readable medium are disclosed for tracking motion of an object image, comprising receiving an input image; correlating the input image with a reference image by computing differences between the input image and the reference image; generating a motion vector for a subimage of the input image using a subimage metric surface; and outputting a tracking assessment of object image motion based on the motion vector.
US08107685B2
A method of displaying sensed displacement is such as to collect single dimension light distribution data using a single dimensional imaging device; transmit the light distribution data to a processor; and display the light distribution data as a line bright wave form on a display using software implemented by the processor.
US08107679B2
The purpose of the present invention is, in a horse race or a motorboat race, to display the progress of the race (trail) of each horse, by obtaining analysis data of a plural number of patrol images provided around the race course, by acquiring position information of each horse at the moment and by tracking the specific horse through judging similarity between consecutive pictures of said patrol image. The position information analyzing and displaying method for each horse or boat or the like of the present invention, for continuously captured race images, identifies each horse or boat or the like by similarity analysis and tracks continuously the trail of each horse or boat or the like in said racing images, and also analyzes said position information of each horse or boat or the like by using the positional relationship with the fixed position information in said images, in order to display the trail of each horse or boat or the like. A template of which size matches the image size of each horse or boat is used for said identification, and each horse or boat or the like is identified within said template. Here, said template is hexagonal and the size of said template is variable according to the size of each horse or boat on the picture.
US08107677B2
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for identifying positional data for an object moving in an area of interest. Positional data for each camera in a set of cameras associated with the object is retrieved. The positional data identifies a location of each camera in the set of cameras within the area of interest. The object is within an image capture range of each camera in the set of cameras. Metadata describing video data captured by the set of cameras is analyzed using triangulation analytics and the positional data for the set of cameras to identify a location of the object. The metadata is generated in real time as the video data is captured by the set of cameras. The positional data for the object is identified based on locations of the object over a given time interval. The positional data describes motion of the object.
US08107665B2
Certain embodiments of the invention may be found in an insert earphone assembly. The insert earphone assembly may comprise a housing and a transducer located in the housing. The transducer may be for converting electrical signals received into sound energy. The insert earphone apparatus may further comprise an insert element. The insert element may be at, least partially integrated within the housing. The insert element may also comprise a main sound channel for communicating the sound energy from the transducer to a user. In certain embodiments, one or more of the body and the insert element may comprise one or more auxiliary ducts and one or more auxiliary volume spaces. The one or more auxiliary ducts and one or more auxiliary volume spaces may be separated by one or more auxiliary dampers. In certain embodiments, a diameter, length and/or shape of the one or more auxiliary ducts or one or more auxiliary volume spaces may be adjusted so as to modify an insertion response characteristic of the insert earphone assembly.
US08107656B2
A method for noise reduction in a hearing aid device is described, with a signal, which comprises a useful and an interference signal part, being processed in the hearing aid device and with the interference signal part being reduced to the benefit of the useful signal part and with the reduction of the interference signal part being carried out as a function of the input level of the signal, with the interference signal part being more heavily attenuated with a high input level than with a low input level.
US08107655B1
Provided herein is a system for adjusting parameters for binaural hearing assistance devices. A graphical user interface (GUI) control is provided for adjusting at least one parameter for at least one hearing assistance device. In various embodiments, the control is indicative of status of at least one parameter for at least one device. When a pointer, controlled by a mouse or other selecting device, is placed over the control, the control expands. In various applications the control expands to display options for adjusting at least one parameter for at least one device. In some applications, the control provides options to adjust at least one parameter of a left and a right device individually.
US08107652B2
An omnidirectional electret condenser microphone element with improved low frequency background ambient acoustical noise rejection is provided. The omnidirectional electret condenser microphone element includes a plurality of passageways in acoustic series that couple at least one acoustic aperture of the microphone element to an acoustic cavity formed within the microphone element. At least one of said plurality of passageways is of a predefined size that is determined to provide the desired response roll-off within a predefined frequency range. In at least one preferred configuration, the roll-off resulting from the plurality of passageways is greater than 2.0 dB between 300 and 100 Hz. In at least one alternate preferred configuration, the roll-off resulting from the plurality of passageways is greater than 3.0 dB between 300 and 100 Hz.
US08107651B2
A speaker structure including a single electret vibrating film structure, a single metal electrode with a plurality of holes and a frame supporting member is provided. In an example, the electret vibrating film structure is formed by an electret film layer, an ultra-thin metal thin film electrode and an isolation layer stacked together, in which the ultra-thin metal thin film electrode is located between the electret film layer and the isolation layer. In another example, the electret vibrating film structure is formed by the electret film layer and a conductive electrode layer having oxide conductive materials. The frame supporting member is located between the electret vibrating film structure and the metal electrode for forming a space for the vibration of the electret vibrating film structure, so as to generate sounds.
US08107644B2
An amplifier integrated circuit element or J-FET is used for impedance conversion and amplification of ECM. The amplifier integrated circuit element has advantages of allowing an appropriate gain to be set by adjusting a circuit constant, and of producing a higher gain than the J-FET; but also has a problem of having a complicated circuit configuration and requiring high costs. Using only the J-FET has also problems of outputting a voltage insufficiently amplified and producing a low gain. Against this background, provided is a discrete element in which: a J-FET and a bipolar transistor are integrated on one chip; a source region of the J-FET is connected to a base region of the bipolar transistor; and a drain region of the J-FET is connected to a collector region of the bipolar transistor. Accordingly, an ECM amplifying element with high input impedance and low output impedance can be achieved.
US08107643B2
An apparatus and method of automatically compensating audio volume in response to a channel change. The method includes generating a gain value to adjust a level of an input audio signal by comparing an average level of the input audio signal with a predetermined input/output level curve, adjusting an audio volume of the input audio signal by applying the generated gain value to the level of the input audio signal, and adjusting a dynamic range of the audio signal having the adjusted audio volume.
US08107639B2
A sound masking system and method for providing sound masking in networked workstations or offices. The sound masking system comprises a communication network, a plurality of sound masking devices adapted to emit a sound masking signal, and a remote controller. One or more of the sound masking devices includes a controller, and the controller includes an interface for receiving information from the communication network and a component for controlling or adjusting output characteristics associated with the sound masking signal, such as volume. The controller includes a component responsive to a user input for setting or varying output characteristics associated with the sound masking signal.
US08107629B2
A method of providing security of a relay station is disclosed, by which the security can he provided for the relay station in a broadband wireless access system having the relay station. In a mobile communication system to relay a signal transfer between a base station and a mobile station, the present invention includes the steps of performing a relay station authentication from an authentication server using an authentication protocol, receiving a master key from the authentication server, deriving an authentication key from the received master key, deriving a message authentication code (MAC) key using the derived authentication key, and relaying a signal exchanged between the mobile station and the base station using the derived message authentication code key.
US08107625B2
A voice communications terminal is provided having a microphone to receive an audio stream and a voice activity detector to determine whether the audio stream comprises voice signals and when the audio stream comprises voice signals, notify a communications server and/or provide at least a portion of the audio stream to the communications server.
US08107622B2
A data hashing system operative to hash an incoming string of message words is an object of the present invention. The system generates a hash value tag comprising a deterministic random number string which uniquely identifies the incoming string. The system comprises at least first and second register arrays, at least one 1-way functionality in at least pseudo-randomizing function; and a set of at least first and second orthogonal feedback word stream generators operative to generate a set of at least first and second orthogonal feedback streams of message words respectively, including applying respective permutations to the incoming string. Wherein the first and second feedback streams are combined into the first and second register arrays respectively, the at least pseudo-randomizing functionality accepts input from the register arrays and generates at least pseudo-random output which, in combination with a present word in the incoming string, is provided to the stream generators, and the first feedback stream is a first function of a present word in the incoming stream and the second feedback stream is a second function of a present and previous words, in the incoming stream.
US08107614B2
Methods and systems for enhanced Colorful Ring-Back Tone (eCRBT) services by mixing multiple digital content streams in real time are provided, including audio, video, data, text-based message, and hypermedia object streams. One or more properties of the content streams, such as volume or pitch of an audio stream, or brightness and layout of a video stream, are gradually altered such that a prominence of the an individual content stream is dynamically and seamlessly changed relative to other content streams with time. An eCRBT controller controls mixing and playing of digital content either based on an internal algorithm in an application server, or selections received from subscribers through provisioning interfaces. Personalized content streams can be mixed and played in real time based on interactive response received from a calling subscriber. Content may also be personalized based on caller by service provider. Subscriber-chosen content, subscriber's current availability information, and promotional or informational content from a service provider or a third party may be mixed seamlessly on top of each other.
US08107610B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and devices for processing a call to a call distribution point. In this regard, one embodiment of such a method, among others, can be broadly summarized by the following steps: receiving a request from a caller to the call distribution point; parsing the request for information included in the request indicating the nature of the request; assigning a call recipient to service the request based on the information obtained in the parsing step; and acknowledging receipt of the request to the caller and providing an estimate of time before the assigned call recipient will be able to service the call. Other methods and devices are also provided.
US08107607B2
Phone systems for an integrated chat client service are provided. A representative phone system includes a call processing system operable to check a chat server for accessibility of a calling party chat client associated with a calling party and coupled to the internet, the call processing system being further operable to prompt a called party to select to talk or chat. Methods to connect telephone calls and answer telephone calls are also provided.
US08107598B2
Systems and methods for voicemail filtering and transcription are described herein. According to various embodiments, an integrated communication system performs filtering and transcription of voicemail messages (“voicemails”) and forwards the voicemails via email to a user's email-capable device. Filtering includes generating a priority flag based on a word search of the voicemail. The integrated communication system further performs a rough transcription of the voicemail, either automatically or on demand as specified by the user. According to embodiments, the rough transcription is entered as text in an email that is sent to the user. In an embodiment, a user may request a refined transcription of the voicemail by pressing a button on the user's device. In an embodiment, the rough transcription is replaced by the refined transcription in the original email and the original is marked “unread” in the user's email inbox on the user's device.
US08107596B1
A method and apparatus for providing on-hold information to a telecommunication terminal that has been placed on-hold during a telecommunication call by receiving a message designating that the telecommunication terminal is to be placed on-hold from a far-end of the telecommunication call, and transmitting an on-hold message to the user of the telecommunication terminal where the on-hold message is selected by the user and generated at a near-end of the telecommunication call.
US08107595B2
The present invention generally discloses a supervised paging, messaging background music and emergency voice evacuation system. In one embodiment, the system comprises at least one telephone zone controller and at least one telephone zone paging speaker splitter or addressable paging splitter. Specifically, telephone zone controller acts as a controlling authority for the routing and playback of audio in selectable zones. In cooperation with the telephone zone controller, the telephone zone paging speaker splitter is an addressable device that is capable of splitting an audio signal in different manners, e.g., in Class A mode or in Class B mode. The present system provides addressable functions that are not found in existing supervised paging, messaging background music and emergency voice evacuation system.
US08107591B2
An x-ray tube has a cathode and a anode, and a catching device that captures backscattered electrons from the anode in the operating state of the x-ray tube. The catching device minimizes unwanted energy generation by the backscattered electrons in the catching device and the anode while maintaining a high quality of the focus by the catching device being electrically insulated with respect to the anode and the cathode and being placed at an electrical potential having a value between the value of the electrical potential of the anode and the value of the electrical potential of the cathode, and the amount of the difference between the potential of the catching device and the potential of the anode is in the range from 1% to 40% of the amount of the difference between the potential of the cathode and the potential of the anode.
US08107589B2
A detector having a collimator in a position at a specific angle with respect to a therapeutic X-ray beam is mounted to selectively detect only scattering radiation in the direction. To three-dimensionally obtain a distribution of places where scattering occurs in a patient body, a detector is rotated during irradiation and scattering radiation is measured from all of directions. After that, a reconstructing process is performed, and a distribution of occurrence of scattering radiation in the subject is three-dimensionally imaged. Since angles and amounts of X-rays scattered by Compton scattering are known theoretically, if scattering radiation at a certain angle can be detected, the number of scattering radiation at other angles can be also estimated. On the basis of the theory, images of distribution of scattering radiation sources are converted to images of distribution of absorption of radiation.
US08107586B2
A shift register comprises stages connected to each other, in which each stage generates an output signal in response to any one of clock signals and an output from each of two different stages. Each clock signal has a duty ratio of less than 50% and a different phase from each of the other clock signals. A display device includes pixels, signal lines, and first and second shift registers each having stages connected to each other and generating output signals to signal lines. Each stage includes a set terminal, a reset terminal, a clock terminal, and first and second output terminals.
US08107585B2
The nuclear reactor comprises a lower stopper sealingly fixed to a lower end of a tubular casing of the pencil that comprises a part which is internal to the casing successively comprising a first cylindrical section having a diameter which is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the tubular casing; a second cylindrical section whose diameter is smaller than the inner diameter of the tubular casing and a third cylindrical section whose inner diameter is smaller than the inner diameter of the tubular casing and greater than the diameter of the second cylindrical section such that 1-2 tenths of a millimetre radial play is created in the gas passable between the outer surface of the third section and the inner surface of the casing.
US08107569B2
A system is provided that enhances the throughput and reliability of wireless communications by providing multi-beam user terminals that exhibit directional discrimination. Multiple wireless communication channels are matched with multiple beams created from an array antenna by a beam-forming processor. The multiple wireless communication channels are bonded into a single virtual channel, thereby increasing data bandwidth while reducing interference and multi-path effects that can degrade communications. The beam-forming function may be performed in a dedicated beam-forming processor or may reside within a general-purpose microprocessor located in the user terminal.
US08107568B2
A coupling channel noise canceling circuit includes a signal detecting unit, a gain setting unit, a cancel signal generating unit, and a noise canceling unit. The signal detecting unit detects a phase difference and a voltage difference between a broadcast RX signal and a noise cancel signal in a set mode. The gain setting unit outputs compensation gain values corresponding to the phase difference and the voltage difference from the signal detecting unit in the set mode. The cancel signal generating unit sets the compensation gain values from the gain setting unit as an amplification gain for amplification of a communication TX signal in the set mode, and amplifies the communication TX signal by a predetermined gain to generate the noise cancel signal in the set mode and an operation mode. The noise canceling unit cancels an interference noise from the broadcast RX signal by using the noise cancel signal from the cancel signal generating unit in the operation mode.
US08107567B2
Aspects of a system for SFBC and/or STBC in a diversity transmission system using a plurality of Alamouti codes may include a transmitting station that enables reception of signals via a wireless communication medium. The transmitting station may enable determination of a plurality of channel estimate values that are based on signal propagation characteristics of the wireless communication medium. A plurality of N weighting factor phase angles may be computed based on the plurality of channel estimate values, where N is an integer that is greater than 1. The transmitting station may enable transmission of a plurality of 2·N signals based on the plurality of N weighting factors. The plurality of 2·N signals may be encoded utilizing Alamouti coding.
US08107565B2
Techniques for performing automatic gain control (AGC) at a receiver are described. The receiver may receive an OFDM-based symbol composed of a cyclic prefix and a useful portion. The receiver may scale the OFDM-based symbol with an initial receiver gain, adjust the initial receiver gain based on the cyclic prefix, apply the adjusted receiver gain prior to the useful portion, and process the useful portion to recover at least one signal sent by at least one transmitter. The receiver may select the initial receiver gain, e.g., based on a predicted received power level for the at least one transmitter, a pattern of different receiver gains, etc. The receiver may apply the initial receiver gain at the start of the OFDM-based symbol. The receiver may measure the power of a set of samples in the cyclic prefix and may adjust the receiver gain based on the measured power and a target power.
US08107564B2
A device detects a frequency offset by a frequency converter arranged to convert a received signal into a sideband and comprises a calculator arranged to calculate a characteristic quantity of the sideband which is a measure of the frequency offset.
US08107560B2
A method and apparatus blindly detects a received signal's modulation type characterizing an impairment component of the received signal for each postulated modulation type by determining spatial correlations between In-phase and Quadrature components of the received signal. The blind detection circuit then detects the modulation type based on the characterized impairment component. A metric generator generates a postulation metric for each postulated modulation type based on the characterized impairment component. After evaluating the postulation metrics, an evaluation circuit identifies the postulated modulation type having the best postulation metric as the modulation type of the received signal. According to an exemplary embodiment, the blind detection circuit determines a whitened noise estimate for each postulated modulation type and generates the postulation metrics based on the whitened noise estimate to reduce interference effects in the postulation metrics.
US08107551B2
Certain embodiments provide a system for recovering data from at least one signal. The system can include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and in-phase/quadrature (IQ) generator component that can sample a signal recovered from a communication medium to generate a first signal sample and a second signal sample. A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) component can process the first signal sample to generate a first signal phase and process the second signal sample to generate a second signal phase. A phase difference calculation component can determine a phase difference between the first signal phase and the second signal phase, determine a bit value represented by the signal based on the phase difference, and output the bit value to an end device coupled to the phase difference calculation component.
US08107545B2
A method and system phase tracking in a wireless communication system is provided. Phase tracking involves receiving a first Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol and a second OFDM symbol which is a repetition of the first symbol, over a wireless channel, the symbols representing an incoming signal. A phase of the incoming signal is extracted by performing phase tracking across all subcarrier data tones and pilot tones of the symbols.
US08107538B2
A moving image distribution system is capable of making phase adjustment of video data and audio data while preventing the cost of a display apparatus from increasing, by adjusting time information with a moving image distribution server. The moving image distribution server stores moving image data, reads the moving image data, changes information included therein as to decoding times or reproducing times of video data or audio data included in the moving image data based on a predetermined phase adjustment variable, and then distributes the moving image data. A reproducing apparatus receives the moving image data distributed from the moving image distribution server, decodes the moving image data according to the information included therein as to the decoding times and the reproducing times, and reproduces the moving image data.
US08107533B2
According to the present invention, a moving picture coding apparatus (70) for performing inter-picture predictive coding for pictures constituting a moving picture is provided with a coding unit (103) for performing predictive error coding for image data; a decoding unit (105) for performing predictive error decoding for an output from the coding unit (103); a reference picture memory (117) for holding output data from the decoding unit (105); and a motion vector detection unit (108) for detecting motion vectors on the basis of the decoded image data stored in the memory. When coding a B picture as a target picture, information indicating whether or not the target picture should be used as a reference picture when coding another picture is added as header information. Therefore, in a decoding apparatus for decoding a bit stream Bs outputted from the moving picture coding apparatus (70), management of a memory for holding the reference picture can be facilitated on the basis of the header information.
US08107530B2
Provided is an apparatus for and a method of transcoding video, in which, in the transmission of a compressed video, the compressed video is transcoded into multiple descriptions in an error prone environment and is transcoded into a single description in an lower error or errorless environment. Video transcoder includes a decoding unit, a single description/multiple description determining unit, and a transcoding unit. The decoding unit decodes a compressed video to generate video header, a motion vector, and a DCT (discrete cosine transform) coefficient for each frame. The single description/multiple description determining unit determines whether to perform transcoding into a single description or multiple descriptions based on the possibility of errors occurring in a transmission channel of the compressed video. The transcoding unit performs transcoding into the single description by coding the DCT coefficient together with the video header and the motion vector when the single description/multiple description determining unit determines to perform transcoding into the single description and performs transcoding into the multiple descriptions by dividing the DCT coefficient into a plurality of DCT coefficients and coding each of the DCT coefficients together with the video header and the motion vector when the single description/multiple description determining unit determines to perform transcoding into the multiple descriptions.
US08107529B2
A coding device makes a GOP setting to input image data, and applies a coding process to the input image data on a macroblock basis successively by intra and inter prediction to output coded data. The device includes an orthogonal transform section; a quantization section; a coding section; and a rate control section. The rate control section includes an activity detection section; and a prediction residual detection section. The rate control section calculates, in pictures configuring a GOP, a target code amount of any picture that has not yet been subjected to the coding process, another target code amount for a macroblock of any of the pictures relating to the coding process from the target code amount of the picture not yet subjected to the coding process, and the quantization scale of the quantization section in which a generated code amount serves as the target code amount.
US08107527B1
The present invention provides a method of progressively encoding and transmitting visual data. First image information updates are acquired for a region of visual data. The region of visual data is defined by a plurality of blocks of pixel data, and individual blocks of the plurality are associated with individual change histories for their respective pixel data. Stored region information including a recent encoded state for each block in the plurality is retrieved. Available network bandwidth is determined, and then encoding parameters for each block in the region of visual data are determined from the retrieved region information and the available network bandwidth. The plurality of blocks is then encoded, the retrieved region information is updated in accordance with the determined encoding parameters; and the encoded blocks are transmitted across a computer network.
US08107521B2
An equalizer device which enables tap coefficient correction accuracy to be improved to enable high-quality adaptive equalization. A tap coefficient filter corrects tap coefficients thereof in accordance with a control signal and equalizes a received signal in which a data signal is multiplexed with a pilot signal, which is a known signal for compensating for variation in reception of the data signal. A training signal setter sets both of the data signal and the pilot signal as a training signal, which indicates an ideal value of equalized output. A tap coefficient corrector obtains an error signal indicative of a differential value between the training signal and a filter output signal which is output from the tap coefficient filter after being equalized, performs an adaptive algorithm operation so as to decrease the error signal, and generates the control signal for correcting the tap coefficients.
US08107516B2
Apparatus and system for communicating data via a power line. The apparatus comprises a transmitter comprising a modulator for generating a second digital signal based on input data; a digital buffer for amplifying the second digital signal to generate a third digital signal; a filter for filtering the third digital signal to generate an analog output waveform; and a coupler for coupling the analog output waveform to the power line.
US08107498B2
Disclosed is a technique in which, when a plurality of packet routing paths exist, a sender of the packet selects an optimum packet length so as to use network resources effectively. According to the technique, when a plurality of routing paths like a network A (104) and a network B (105) exist for a packet transmitted from a data transmitting apparatus (103) to a data receiving apparatus (102) via a network relay apparatus (101), the network relay apparatus or the data receiving apparatus searches path MTU information of each path, and notifies the data transmitting apparatus of multipath MTU information including each search result. The data transmitting apparatus refers to this multipath MTU information to compare the plurality of paths about their path MTU information to decide a packet length suitable for the packet transmitted to the data receiving apparatus.
US08107497B2
A bandwidth negotiation system including a first network, a plurality of end user devices in communication with the network, a multiplexing unit communicatively coupled to the network, a second network, and an analyzing unit in communication with a second network. In addition, one of the plurality of end user devices is configured to send a data message to the multiplexing unit via the first network, and the analyzing unit is configured to receive the data message from the multiplexing unit via the second network and to extract a first identifier and a second identifier from the data message.
US08107495B2
A system, method, and apparatus are directed towards providing integrated access to call information to an end-user using any of a variety of client applications, including an Instant Messaging (IM), a web-browser, and/or a VOIP client. An end-user may employ any of the above client applications to establish a communication session and enable an integrated access display for use in managing such call information as audio messages, call histories, and instant messaging conversations. The integrated access display may be managed through an intelligent integration client that may reside on a client device, such as a personal computer, a mobile device, a VOIP phone, and the like. Through the intelligent integration client, the end-user may search, retrieve, and/or view the call information. For example, using the VOIP phone, the end-user may search for and access a stored audio message, such as a voice mail message, or the like.
US08107486B1
A device and method of allocating pointers in a network switch includes allocating the first predetermined number of free pointers from a free list to a first in first out memory, allocating the second predetermined number of pointers to a linked list after the first predetermined number of pointers for the first in first out memory has been allocated, receiving a frame in the network switch, forwarding at least one pointer from the first in first out memory to an ingress module to buffer the frame, and forwarding pointers from the linked list to the first in first out memory to an ingress module to buffer the frame.
US08107484B2
The present disclosure discloses a method and device for advertising routing information and a method and system for implementing packet routing. The method for advertising routing information includes a routing information advertising device that obtains its address information; the routing information advertising device adds the address information to routing information to advertise; and the routing information advertising device advertises the routing information that carries the address information. With the technical solution of the present disclosure, the number of routing tables in a backbone network may be greatly reduced. This minimizes the rise of router costs and effectively avoids slower route convergence. In addition, a router in the backbone network can dynamically obtain address information of a core router that advertises an aggregate prefix, such that it may be easier to implement registration, update and query the mapping between a more detailed address prefix and a border router.
US08107483B2
A front end of an IPv6 communication network includes a network entry point device and a plurality of tunnel servers which facilitate the communication of user information between a host computer of an IPv4 communication network and an IPv6 wireless communication device. The network entry point device is configured to direct a tunnel request from the host computer to a selected tunnel server, which establishes a tunnel connection with the host computer. The tunnel server facilitates the communication of user information between the host and the wireless device through the tunnel connection. The tunnel server also performs a dynamic routing protocol (DRP). In accordance with the DRP, the tunnel server updates a local routing table to reflect the newly established tunnel connection and broadcasts updated routing table information to the other tunnel servers. In another related technical aspect, a back end of the IPv6 communication network facilitates communication with the IPv6 wireless device when it operates in an IPv4 wireless communication network.
US08107471B2
Disclosed herewith is a communication system, which can solve the following conventional problem that if packets exchanged between a terminal and an HA are encapsulated with use of the mobile IPv6 protocol, the PDSN cannot identify any IP flows in the mobile IPv6 tunnel. Consequently, there is no QoS usable appropriately to the services in the EV-D0 RAN. To solve such a problem, the PCRF notifies the HA of the filter information used to specify each IP flow and the flow label assigned to each IP flow. The HA then sets the flow label in the outer IPv6 header of the packet matching with the filter information and transfers the packet to the object unit. The PDSN then refers to the flow label set in the outer IPv6 header to identify the object IP flow in the mobile IPv6 tunnel. Consequently, a proper QoS can be usable for the services respectively in the EV-D0 RAN.
US08107468B2
A conventional technology does not show that the number of middle stage switches is minimized on a non-blocking condition of a multisource and possible multicast Clos type network, and it becomes a high cost system. Further, no addition or deletion of a connection can be done without a data loss. It is an object to provide, as a means for solving the problems, a multisource and multicast possible Clos type network based on such a technology that the number of middle stage switches is minimized on a non-blocking condition and that addition/deletion of a connection to a existing multicast tree can be carried out without a data loss, so that the network can be operated at low cost without a data loss.
US08107464B2
One embodiment is directed to an enterprise mobile network for providing wireless service within a coverage area associated with an enterprise using licensed radio frequency spectrum. The enterprise mobile network is configured to have local subscribers thereof. At least one local subscriber has assigned thereto a local mobile phone number and one or more other numbers (such as a PBX extension number, a public mobile phone number, and a Unified Communications end point). The enterprise mobile network is configured so that the local mobile phone number and one or more of the other numbers ring in response to incoming calls made to the local mobile phone number or the other numbers.
US08107463B2
A system, method and computer program product for communicating Web-Services (WS) messages. First there is allocated an identical amount of a cache history storage at each sender and receiver device for storing a history of communicated WS message strings. At the sender, there is generated an intermediate data representations of each message being built, the corresponding message string stored in the cache history storage. The message is communicated as a serialized data string according to the built data representation. For each subsequent message to be communicated, the method comprises identifying identical portions in intermediate data representations of a current message being built and replacing each identified portion in message strings with a reference indicator to a location in the cache history storage corresponding to an identical character string portion associated with a prior message that has been communicated. At the receiver device, the references are identified in received message strings and one or more intermediate data representations locally stored at the receiver device are substituted in the message to complete a build of the received message.
US08107455B2
A method of sending data in a multiple antenna system according to an aspect of the present invention includes performing precoding on received symbols based on a second codebook generated from a first codebook for a plurality of transmission antennas and sending the precoded symbols. The second codebook is a codebook for transmission antennas which are a multiple of an integer of the plurality of transmission antennas, and a precoding matrix included in the second codebook is generated by a combination of precoding matrices included in the first codebook.
US08107449B2
A communication terminal for Internet telephony is provided that handles and control communication of data in accordance with a standardized network protocol and exchanges data with a connecting unit connected to the Internet where the resulting data exchanged between the terminal and a connecting unit consist of packets in a standardized protocol data packet format embedded in a wireless format. This provides a communications terminal which uses a network or the Internet for the transfer of digitized speech, etc., thereby achieving great economic savings. Also, the flexibility is increased with respect to wireless communication with the network or the Internet without any need for specialized equipment and functionality.
US08107448B2
A technology is disclosed for reducing the burst of DAD messages which may be triggered due to the change of the network prefix when using the technique of the neighbor discovery proxy. According to this technology, in roaming from the access network link 101 to the access network link 102, MR 121 receives advertisement of a new prefix 172 from AR 112. MR 121 selects and informs, for example only MR 122, that it is necessary to change the prefix. Thus, MR 122 and VMN 132 configure new addresses, respectively. When address configuration is completed at the mobile network of MR 122, MR 121 informs another MR 123 that it is necessary to change the prefix, and then MR 123 and VMN 133 configure new addresses, respectively. This can prevent DAD messages generated along with the address configuration from flocking in a short period.
US08107439B2
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus of physical resource allocation as well as a method of data receiving and a receiving end in a wireless communication system. The method of physical resource allocation includes: detecting a pilot signal sent by each user within a designated range; obtaining received power of the pilot signal sent by each user; scheduling each user within the designated range to obtain a user group including at least one user according to the received power; and allocating a same physical resource to each user of the user group. According to the method and the apparatus, it is possible to reuse a physical resource and sequentially decode data packets corresponding to users in a user group occupying the same physical resource according to the Capture Effect and interference cancellation technology, thereby improving the spectrum efficiency and throughput of uplink or downlink greatly.
US08107434B2
A connection control system and method for Wireless Broadband (WiBro) communication system are provided. The connection control method for a mobile communication system, which includes at least one radio access station for providing communication service to a portable subscriber station, and at least one access control router for controlling the radio access station, includes relaying, at a radio access station, an initial ranging request message from the portable subscriber station to an access control router; transmitting, at the access control router received the initial ranging request message, an initial ranging response message to the radio access station and neighbor radio access stations; and relaying, at a radio access station currently synchronized with the portable subscriber station and received the initial ranging response message, the initial ranging response message to the portable subscriber station.
US08107432B2
A dual-mode mobile terminal and method for performing PS call between different communication networks. In the mobile terminal, a second communication module which communicates with a second communication network, prepares for its operation and enters into a low power mode when it is requested for the PS call through a first communication module communicating with a first communication network. When the mobile terminal moves from the first communication network to the second communication network, the second communication module performs an initialization for the PS call to the second communication network. When the initialization is complete, the second communication module interrupts the PS call through the first communication network and performs a packet service communication through the first communication network.
US08107420B2
A wireless communication system (10). The system comprises transmitter circuitry (BST1) comprising circuitry for transmitting a plurality of frames to a receiver in a first cell (Cell 1). Each of the plurality of frames comprises a bit group (22), and the bit group uniquely distinguishes the first cell from a second cell (Cell 2) adjacent the first cell. The transmitter circuitry further comprises circuitry (54) for inserting a bit sequence into the bit group. The bit sequence is selected from a plurality of bit sequences (S1-SK) such that successive transmissions by the transmitter circuitry comprise a cycle of successive ones of the plurality of bit sequences.
US08107419B2
Bandwidth utilization over bearers in a fixed cellular network is improved by reducing the amount of data required to be transported. At each side of the bearer, data blocks (such as Iub blocks) are received and, prior to transmitting them across the bearer, they are analyzed to determine if they can be modified in such a manner to decrease the amount of data. On the other end of the bearer, received blocks are analyzed to determine if they have been modified, and if so, the blocks are reconstructed to a format that may not be identical to the original format but, that is operationally equivalent from a user perspective. The modifications to the blocks can be based on the type of data being transmitted. For instance, if the data is for a video session or and audio session, the modifications can be different. Information regarding the reconstruction of the blocks can be sent to the other end of the bearer as a part of the data or through other channels.
US08107408B2
Connection ID (CID) assignment in multi-hop relay system can be used to perform routing. Using CID assignment as routing information in a multi-hop wireless relay system to maintain the routing structure is disclosed. In a CID cache scheme, a base station builds a CID cache based on the upstream packet and broadcasts the CID cache to a relay station. The CID cache comprises CIDs along with routing information. Based on CID cache the spanning tree of the routing can be reconstructed. A hierarchical CID assignment is disclosed wherein a base station assigns a range of CIDs to a relay station. A relay station can recognize its data packets and forward them to corresponding mobile stations. Maintaining routing automatically along with CID assignment is also disclosed.
US08107400B2
A system and method that uses wireless-capable desktop computers in a vicinity such as to enable one to securely determine the location of an untrusted user with office level granularity.
US08107397B1
A protocol for optimizing the energy for code upload to sensors in a wireless sensor network and speeding up the dissemination if multiple sources of code are available. Energy optimization is achieved by equipping each node with limited non-local topology information, which it uses to determine the time when it can go to sleep since code is not being distributed in its vicinity. Another aspect of the invention is a protocol that facilitates secure upload of code in the wireless sensor network. The secure communication protocol divides the sensor field into control groups each with a control node, and manages data exchange between nodes within a control group through the mediation of a control head which provides the common key. The keys are refreshed periodically and the control nodes are changed periodically to enhance security. The protocol facilitates secure communication between sensor nodes despite the compromise of any number of other nodes in the network.
US08107396B1
A method and an apparatus to detect end host machines in a layer 2 Ethernet network are provided. The knowledge of the detected hosts may then be utilized by various security applications operating on layer 2 devices at the access and the distribution layers of the network for host session monitoring. Hosts that are no longer connected or do not respond to a layer 2 query may have their access privileges revoked.
US08107390B2
A method includes obtaining a data message having data associated with a process system and mapping the data message to one of multiple classifications. The method also includes wirelessly transmitting the data message, where a Quality of Service (QoS) associated with the transmission is based on the mapping. Mapping the data message could include identifying a type associated with the data message and mapping the data message based on the identified type. The type may include a publish message type, an alert message type, or a management message type. The publish message type could be mapped to an Unsolicited Grant Service (UGS) class, the alert message type could be mapped to a real-time Polling Service (rtPS) class, and the management message type could be mapped to a Best Effort (BE) or non-real-time Polling Service (nrtPS) class. A WiMAX standard could be used to transmit the message, and a WiMAX or WiFi standard could be used to obtain the message.
US08107387B2
A method for operating a wireless network having a predicable and stable network performance. The method includes controlling output distribution of nodes in the network to adapt to traffic changes in the network, distributing power control to adapt to environmental changes in the network, and providing traffic sensitive routing to adapt to topology changes in the network. The method also includes converging to set points based on the controlling of output distribution, the distributing of power control, and the providing of traffic sensitive routing.
US08107382B2
A first node includes ports and a controller to receive a test packet at a first one of the ports. The first node determines whether the received test packet has a destination address that matches one or more predefined addresses associated with a second node. Presence of a loop in a communications network in which the first and second nodes are located is indicated in response to detecting receipt of the test packet containing the matching destination address.
US08107357B2
We disclose an optimal hardware implementation of the FFT/IFFT operation that minimizes the number of clock cycles required to compute the FFT/IFFT while at the same time minimizing the number of complex multipliers needed. An input module combines a plurality of inputs after applying a multiplication factor to each of the inputs. At least one multiplicand generator generates multiplicands. At least two complex multiplier modules perform complex multiplications with at least one of the complex multiplier modules receiving an output from the input module. A map module receives outputs of the at least two complex multiplier modules, the map module selecting and applying a multiplication factor to each of the outputs received to generate multiple outputs. Finally, an accumulation module receives and performs an accumulation task on each of the multiple outputs of the map module thereby generating a corresponding number of multiple outputs.
US08107344B2
A spatial light modulator (SLM) having a phase mask that is provided as an internal component thereof. The phase mask can be provided as a multilevel surface of relatively higher index of refraction material on an inner surface of a transmissive cover window or as a separate transmissive window between the cover window and the pixels of the SLM. If the phase mask is to be used with a liquid crystal SLM, then it may be desirable to planarize the surface of the cover window contacting the liquid crystal by providing a layer of relatively lower index of refraction material adjacent the multilevel surface. The phase mask can also be provided on the transmissive cover window by patterned ion deposition, exposing patterned light to a photopolymeric material, or in some other suitable fashion. Arranging for the pixel electrodes to be at one of multiple levels rather than lying in an exactly planar relationship can also effectively create the phase mask.
US08107343B2
An optical information storage medium includes a light transmitting layer, a first information storage layer, an intermediate layer mainly made of resin, a second information storage layer, and a substrate. The light transmitting layer, the first information storage layer, the intermediate layer, the second information storage layer, and the substrate are layered in this order from a reproduction light incident side. Each of the first information storage layer and the second information storage layer includes: a light absorbing film that absorbs reproduction light to generate heat; and a reproduction film that is heated by the heat generated by the light absorbing film so as to reproduce a signal shorter in mark length than a resolution limit of an optical system of a reproducing apparatus.
US08107336B2
A write once optical recording medium and a method and apparatus for storing and recovering defect management information to and from the write once optical recording medium are provided. The recording medium includes at least one recording layer, and a data area on the recording layer. The data area includes at least one spare area and a user data area. The spare area contains at least one replacement cluster, each of the replacement clusters storing therein address information of a corresponding defective cluster.
US08107334B2
Control powers of a first definition group corresponding to pulse trains to form recording marks, and levels of second definition groups corresponding to the control powers of the first definition group for respective states on a recording medium are set. The laser is driven with drive values corresponding to the control powers selected from the first definition group in the selected level of the second definition group, and emission power detection values are detected. The detection values are stored for respective levels of the second definition groups, and an occurrence of obtaining the detection value is counted for each level of the second definition groups. When any of counter values exceeds a predetermined value, using the detection values stored for one level of the second definition groups corresponding to the counter value, corrected drive values are determined collectively for all the levels of the second definition groups.
US08107327B2
A player device uses playlists having names of contents. Users can update the playlists via network. The player device includes a storage device for storing digital data of the contents, a reception/reception circuit for downloading playlists, a display for displaying the titles of contents included in the playlists, a pointing device for specifying displayed titles, a circuit for retrieving digital data from the storage device in the event that digital data of a content specified by the pointing device is stored within the storage device, and an output circuit for outputting the retrieved digital data.
US08107326B1
A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) slider has an integrated TAR head and an integrated laser diode. The laser diode may be an external-cavity VCSEL that includes a semiconductor substrate with the VCSEL formed on one surface, an external cavity on the opposite surface, and an output third mirror on the output surface of the external cavity. The TAR head is integrated with the slider at the trailing end and includes an optical waveguide having a grating coupler oriented in a plane generally parallel to the slider trailing end, and a near-field transducer (NFT) at the slider air-bearing surface (ABS) and coupled to the waveguide. A carrier is attached to the slider and has a base portion that supports the external-cavity VCSEL so that the linear path of its output laser beam is aligned with and oriented orthogonal to the plane of the grating coupler. The grating coupler receives the laser radiation and turns it 90 degrees into the waveguide, which directs the laser radiation to the NFT at the ABS.
US08107325B2
Provided is a near-field light generating element in which reduced is the propagation loss of excited surface plasmon that propagates to the near-field light generating end. The element comprises: a waveguide through which light for exciting surface plasmon propagates; and a plasmon antenna comprising a near-field light generating end and a propagation surface or edge. The propagation surface or edge extends to the near-field light generating end, and causes surface plasmon excited by the light to propagate thereon. Further, a portion of the side surface on the near-field light generating end side is opposed to the propagation surface or edge with a predetermined distance so as for the light to be coupled with the plasmon antenna in a surface plasmon mode. In this configuration, surface plasmon can propagates without significantly changing its wavenumber, which leads to a less propagation loss, and to an improved light use efficiency.
US08107320B2
An autonomous sonar system and method provide an arrangement capable of beamforming in three dimensions, detecting loud targets, adaptively beamforming in three dimensions to avoid the loud targets, detecting quiet targets, localizing the loud or quiet targets in range, bearing, and depth, detecting modulation of noise associated with propellers of the loud or quiet targets, generating three dimensional tracks of the loud or quiet targets in bearing, range and depth, making classification of the loud or quiet targets, assigning probabilities to the classifications, and generating classification reports according to the classifications for communication to a receiving station, all without human assistance.
US08107318B2
Detecting an object using sound waves includes outputting a sound wave from a transducer, receiving an echo after outputting the sound wave, obtaining a threshold value based on the echo and plural other echoes that are within a predetermined range of the echo, and determining if the echo is a result of the sound wave based on the threshold value.
US08107302B2
A semiconductor IC device includes a command decoder that provides internal read and internal write command signals in response to external command signals, and a delay control unit that is connected with the command decoder and provides an internal read command delay signal by controlling an activation timing of the internal read command signal in response to a test mode signal in a read mode.
US08107300B2
According to an one aspect of the present invention, it is provided a non-volatile semiconductor memory device comprising: a first N type well; a plurality of P type non-volatile memory cells arranged in matrix and formed in the N type well; a plurality of sub-bit lines, each of the sub-bit lines being connected to drains of the P type non-volatile memory cells in a respective one of columns of the matrix; a first P type well; and a plurality of N type selection transistors, each of the selection transistors selectively connecting a respective one of sub-bit lines to a corresponding one of main bit lines.
US08107291B2
A method of programming data in a flash memory device is disclosed. The memory device includes a memory cell array which in turn includes at least one block, and the block in turn includes a plurality of pages. A program command to program a plurality of pages in the block is received. The plurality of pages is programmed in a predefined order. An address corresponding to a page that was programmed last amongst the plurality of pages is stored.
US08107288B2
A semiconductor memory device includes n-wells (22) and p-wells (24) used to make up a plurality of memory cell elements (40). The n-wells (22) and p-5 wells (24) can be back-biased to improve reading and writing performance. One of the n-wells and p-wells can be globally biased while the other one of the n-wells and p-wells can be biased by groups, such as blocks, rows or columns. Error reduction and/or correction can be performed by adjusting the well bias.
US08107284B2
A nonvolatile memory device includes a plurality of memory banks, each including a plurality of nonvolatile memory cells, write global bit lines shared by the plurality of memory banks, read global bit lines shared by the plurality of memory banks, and a dummy global bit line arranged between the write global bit lines and the read global bit lines, wherein the dummy global bit line is configured and operable to reduce noise affecting a write bit line involved in a write operation or noise affecting a read global bit line involved in a read operation.
US08107279B2
High manufacturing yield is realized and variations in threshold voltage of each MOS transistor in a CMOS.SRAM is compensated. Body bias voltages are applied to wells for MOS transistors of each SRAM memory cell in any active mode of an information holding operation, a write operation and a read operation of an SRAM. The threshold voltages of PMOS and NMOS transistors of the SRAM are first measured. Control information is respectively programmed into control memories according to the results of determination. The levels of the body bias voltages are adjusted based on the programs so that variations in the threshold voltages of the MOS transistors of the CMOS.SRAM are controlled to a predetermined error span. A body bias voltage corresponding to a reverse body bias or an extremely shallow forward body bias is applied to a substrate for the MOS transistors with an operating voltage applied to the source of each MOS transistor.
US08107277B2
A resistance-changing memory device has a cell array having memory cells, each of which stores as data a reversibly settable resistance value, a sense amplifier for reading data from a selected memory cell in the cell array, and a voltage generator circuit which generates, after having read data of the selected memory cell, a voltage pulse for convergence of a resistive state of this selected memory cell in accordance with the read data.
US08107276B2
Resistive memories having a not-and (NAND) structure including a resistive memory cell. The resistive memory cell includes a resistive memory element for storing a resistance value and a memory element access device for controlling access to the resistive memory element. The memory element access device is connected in parallel to the resistive memory element.
US08107275B2
A nonvolatile memory device using a variable resistive element is provided. The nonvolatile memory device includes first and second nonvolatile memory cells. Word lines are coupled to the first and second nonvolatile memory cells. First and second bit lines are coupled to the first and second nonvolatile memory cells, respectively. A read circuit reads resistance levels of the first and second nonvolatile memory cells by providing first and second read bias currents of different levels to the first and second bit lines, respectively.
US08107273B1
An integrated circuit may include multiple programmable metallization cells (PMCs) and a multiple bit lines. Each bit line may be connected to a anodes of a different set of PMCs, and provide a read data path from a selected one of the set of PMCs. Access devices may each provide a controllable impedance path between at least one cathode and a common source node.
US08107272B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device including a memory cell including a resistance memory element which changes from a low resistance state into a high resistance state by application of a voltage which is higher than a reset voltage and lower than a set voltage and changes from the high resistance state into the low resistance state by application of a voltage higher than the set voltage; a first transistor including a first source/drain diffused layer, and having one end of the first source/drain diffused layer coupled to one end of the resistance memory element; and a second transistor including a second source/drain diffused layer, and having one end of the second source/drain diffused layer coupled to said one end of the resistance memory element and the other end of the second source/drain diffused layer coupled to the other end of the resistance memory element.
US08107265B2
This inverter circuit includes two switching elements which are turned alternately ON and OFF, and a first primary winding connected in series between these switching elements, and also includes an output transformer having a secondary winding for obtaining an output voltage. This inverter circuit also includes a first voltage source and a second voltage source. The first voltage source applies a voltage to the first switching element via the first primary winding. And the second voltage source applies a voltage to the second switching element via the second primary winding. This inverter circuit also includes a regeneration snubber circuit for regenerating charge accumulated in a snubber capacitor. The regeneration snubber circuit includes a regeneration circuit including a voltage boost section which converts the primary side voltage of the output transformer to a predetermined voltage, which it outputs.
US08107263B2
A series resonant converter circuit that reduces power loss is provided that includes an inverter circuit having at least a pair of first and second switching elements that is connected between DC input terminals, a transformer connected to this inverter circuit, a resonant inductance means that are connected in series to a primary winding wire or a secondary winding wire of the transformer, a primary-side resonant capacitor that is connected in series to the resonant inductance means through the first or second switching element, first and second secondary-side resonant capacitors that are connected to each other in series between the DC input terminals, first and second unidirectional elements that are connected to each other in series between the DC output terminals, and a resonant inductance means that cooperates with resonant capacitance from the primary-side resonant capacitor and the first and second secondary-side resonant capacitors to resonate in series.
US08107259B2
Provided is a portable electronic device wherein breakage due to stress concentration at a portion of a housing in a connecting part side is suppressed. A second housing 5 of a mobile phone 1 has a front case 29 and a rear case 37 which face each other in a direction that faces a first housing 3 in a closed state. The front case 29 and the rear case 37 are connected to each other at a plurality of hole parts 41 arranged at a plurality of positions within a facing surface. The front case 29 has a resin part 55 formed of a resin, and a sheet metal part 57 which is formed of a metal and is at least partially embedded in the resin part 55. The sheet metal part 57 has a main body part 59 surrounded by the hole parts 41; and an extending part 61 extending from the main body part 59 up to a position closer to the connecting part 7 than a hole part 41A, 41B arranged closer to the connecting part 7 than the main body part 59 and embedded in the resin part 55.
US08107251B2
An electronic device includes a wiring board, a connector, a case, and a sealing member. The connector includes a housing and a plurality of terminals held by the housing and arranged in a longitudinal direction of the housing. The case has an opening for exposing a part of the connector. An inner space of the case is a waterproof space due to the sealing member. The sealing member includes a parallel part approximately parallel to a surface of the wiring board and an inclined part extending in a direction approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the housing of the connector.
US08107249B2
A display panel apparatus includes a panel, a fixed frame, a circuit board and one or more flexible printed circuits (FPC). The fixed frame may be a back bezel or a frame, and is placed at the rear of the panel. The fixed frame includes two fixed portions extending outwards from a side thereof. The circuit board is connected to the two fixed portions and disposed at the side of the fixed frame, and extends away from the fixed frame. The maximum plane of the circuit board and the maximum plane of the fixed frame are disposed at a same (common) plane. More specifically, the maximum plane of the circuit board and the maximum plane of the fixed frame are not overlapping in a vertical direction, and are on a same horizontal plane.
US08107240B2
An electronic gaming machine interface system including a first circuit board, a bracket coupled to the first circuit board, a fan coupled to the bracket and disposed over the first circuit board, a second circuit board coupled to the bracket, a first cable coupled between a connector of the first circuit board and a connector of the second circuit board; and a second cable coupled between a connector of the first circuit board and a connector of the second circuit board.
US08107236B2
A locking base for Anti-theft lock includes a socket, a locking member and two sliding portions. The socket is disposed in a main body and extends a portion out of the main body. The locking member has a locking hole, and the locking member can extend out of the portion of the socket. The two sliding portions are disposed on the socket and the locking member respectively. The two sliding portions are matched structurally to make the socket and locking member slide correspondingly.
US08107230B2
A display device includes a panel assembly on which an image is formed, a cover member which comprises a front portion having a display window exposing at least a portion of a front side of the panel assembly and a side portion which is bent from the front portion, the cover member having one or more joining regions where a pair of end portions engage with and are joined to each other, the cover member comprising a first joining part and a second joining part which are formed at the pair of end portions, respectively, wherein at least one of the first joining part and the second joining part include a region stepped from a surface of the cover member, and at least a portion of the first joining part and the second joining part overlap each other, and an accommodating member which accommodates the panel assembly and is joined to the cover member.
US08107224B2
In a thin solid electrolytic capacitor including a solid electrolytic capacitor element disposed on a substrate, the solid electrolytic capacitor element has an upper surface largely extending along the substrate as compared with a height dimension thereof from the substrate. A casing portion is at least partly made of a resin and surrounds the solid electrolytic capacitor element jointly with the substrate. The casing portion includes a non-adhesive member that is in contact with an upper surface of the solid electrolytic capacitor element, but is not adhesive to the solid electrolytic capacitor element.
US08107223B2
The disclosure relates to asymmetric supercapacitors containing: a positive electrode comprising a current collector and a first active material selected from a layered double hydroxide of formula [M2+1−xMx3+(OH)2]An−x/n·mH2O where M2+ is at least one divalent metal, M3+ is at least one trivalent metal and A is an anion of charge n−, where x is greater than zero and less than 1, n is 1, 2, 3 or 4 and m is 0 to 10; LiCoO2; LiCoxNiyO2 where x and y are greater than zero and less than 1; LiCoxNiyMn(1−x−y)O2 where x and y are greater than zero and less than 1; CoSx where x is from 1 to 1.5; MoS; Zn; activated carbon and graphite; a negative electrode containing a material selected from a carbonaceous active material, MoO3 and Li1xMoO6−x/2; an aqueous electrolyte solution or a non-aqueous ionic conducting electrolyte solution containing a salt and a salt and a non-aqueous solution; and a separator plate. Alternatively, the electrolyte can be a solid electrolyte.
US08107222B2
A supercapacitor and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. With manufacturing method of Supercapacitor including: arranging a plurality of filters to be spaced at a designated interval apart, forming a first plating layer connecting one end of the filter, forming a second plating layer lengthened along the filter from the first plating layer, polymerizing to form a conductive polymer layer between the second plating layer, and removing the filter, capacitance (C), power (kw) and energy (E) can be increased as the space for absorbing electrons is widened, by making the surface area of an electrode wider than the a general film.
US08107219B2
The invention relates to a dielectric ceramic including crystal grains mainly composed of barium titanate. The dielectric ceramic contains 0.01 to 0.06 mole of magnesium in terms of MgO, 0.0007 to 0.03 mole of yttrium in terms of Y2O3 and 0.0002-0.03 mole of manganese in terms of MnO per 1 mole of barium constituting the barium titanate. The dielectric ceramic also contains 4.2 to 33.3 parts by mass of niobium in terms of Nb2O5 per 100 parts by mass of the barium titanate. Crystal grains of the dielectric ceramic have an average particle size of 0.05 to 0.25 μm. The invention also relates to a capacitor composed of a laminate having dielectric layer made of the dielectric ceramic and a conductive layer.
US08107216B2
A multilayer capacitor comprises a capacitor element body constituted by a plurality of laminated dielectric layers; first and second signal terminal electrodes and a ground terminal electrode which are arranged on an outer surface of the capacitor element body; and a ground electrode, first and second signal electrodes, and an intermediate internal electrode which are arranged within the capacitor element body. The first signal electrode is connected to the first signal terminal electrode, while the second signal electrode is connected to the second signal terminal electrode. The ground electrode is connected to the ground terminal electrode and has a first region overlapping the first signal electrode in a first direction in which the plurality of dielectric layers are laminated and a second region overlapping the second signal electrode in the first direction. The intermediate internal electrode is arranged such as to be separated from the first and second signal terminal electrodes and the ground terminal electrode and positioned between the first signal electrode and the ground electrode and between the second signal electrode and the ground electrode. The intermediate internal electrode has a region overlapping the first region in the first direction and a region overlapping the second region in the first direction.
US08107215B2
A capacitor includes a first terminal having a first polarity, a second terminal having a second polarity opposed to the first polarity, and a plurality of columnar portions for connecting the first terminal to the second terminal. Each of the plurality of columnar portions includes a first conductor bar electrically connected to the first terminal, a second conductor bar electrically connected to the second terminal, and a dielectric layer between the first and second conductor bars.
US08107213B2
A cartridge for a system that uses a stimulus signal for immobilizing a human or animal target includes a propellant and a projectile propelled away from about the cartridge by the propellant. The projectile includes a power supply, a waveform generator, and several electrodes. The waveform generator is powered by the power supply. The waveform generator includes a processor. The electrodes complete a stimulus delivery circuit to conduct a current through the target. The waveform generator generates the current to include a first series of pulses and a second series of pulses. The second series begins after the first series is completed. The first series has a first pulse repetition rate determined by the processor. Each pulse of the first series has a first pulse width of from about 10 to about 1000 microseconds. Each pulse of the first series delivers through the target a first charge per pulse of from about 50 to about 500 microcoulombs. The second series has a second pulse repetition rate determined by the processor to be less than the first pulse repetition rate. Each pulse of the second series delivers through the target a charge greater than a minimum charge per pulse. A product of the second pulse repetition rate and the minimum charge per pulse is greater than 250.
US08107204B2
An apparatus includes a first optocoupler and a control module. The first optocoupler selectively allows a first current to flow from a first one of a first pair of N power supply lines to a second one of the first pair. N is an integer greater than two. The N power supply lines each provide a phase signal. The control module controls the first optocoupler and determines an occurrence of a phase failure of the phase signals based on a first signal, which is based on the first current.
US08107198B1
In a disk drive suspension, a gimbal is longitudinally moment-balanced about the dimple to improve shock performance by adding weight to one side of the gimbal and/or by removing weight from the other side of the gimbal, such that when the suspension experiences an operational shock the gimbal the gimbal tends to stay level with the disk surface and not pitch relative to the disk surface. The gimbal may be moment balanced by leaving or depositing on the suspension's limiter tab the same insulative material as is used to form the flexible circuit, by increasing the mass of the limiter tab, and/or by reducing the size of the detabs or the trailing edge, or by other means.
US08107192B2
A heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a slider, an edge-emitting laser diode fixed to the slider, and an external mirror fixed to the laser diode. The laser diode has: an emitting end face that includes an emission part for emitting laser light; a mounting surface that lies at an end in a direction perpendicular to the plane of an active layer and faces the slider; and a rear surface opposite to the mounting surface. The external mirror includes: a first to-be-fixed part disposed along the emitting end face; a second to-be-fixed part disposed along the rear surface; and a coupling part that couples the first and second to-be-fixed parts to each other. The first to-be-fixed part has a reflecting surface that reflects the laser light emitted from the emission part toward the waveguide.
US08107179B2
A servo writer includes a servo data generation module that generates servo data corresponding to a plurality of servo wedges and a plurality of tracks of a disk, the servo data including track identification data that is repetition coded. A servo write module writes the servo data on the disk.
US08107170B2
An objective optical system includes, in sequence from the object side, a first group having positive refractive power and including a plano-convex lens with the convex surface facing the image side; a second group having positive refractive power and including a lens whose extreme-object-side lens surface is convex facing the object side; a third group having negative refractive power and including a lens whose extreme-image-side lens surface is concave facing the image side; a fourth group having positive refractive power and including a lens disposed on the extreme object side, whose image-side lens surface is convex facing the image side and a lens disposed on the extreme image side, whose object-side lens surface is convex facing the object side; and a fifth group having positive refractive power and including a combined lens by joining a convex lens and a concave lens, the joined surface having negative refractive power.
US08107169B2
A programmable spectrum light source is disclosed. In one embodiment, the programmable light source comprises a light source, a spectrum separation system that splits the light into its constituent spectral components, a light modulator that modulates the spectral components according to a required spectral envelope and a light recombination system that recombines the shaped spectral components to produce light with a required spectrum.
US08107156B2
Embodiments of the invention are directed to a new type of phase screen, i.e., an opto-electronic device that can convert a distorted incoming optical wavefront into a plane wave or, conversely, transform a plane wave into a prescribed varying output wavefront. The basic concept involves novel binary all-digital MEMS interferometer configurations that can be used to create controlled and arbitrary optical wavefront using only 0,1 amplitude changes followed by differential propagation distances to convert these amplitude variations into controllable and/or continuous phase variations. Clustered pixel notions, such as Floyd-Steinberg, Stucki or other algorithms useful in digital half-tone printing, are simultaneously employed to create controllable grey-level variations as well as continuous phase variations. Desired grey-levels can be obtained wherein each pixel is formed by, e.g., a 3×3 or 5×5 cluster of mirrors. Both the filling-in of the outputs of the binary mirror (0,1) and the grey-levels are accomplished simply by spatial averaging over a short propagation distance.
US08107143B2
Increased is the variety of changes of an image in accordance with observation conditions displayed on an optical device including a solidified liquid crystal material. An optical device includes a layered structure including a recess-forming layer with light-transmitting property, a main surface of which includes one or more recess-forming regions each provided with first grooves equal in longitudinal directions to one another and adjacent to one another in a direction crossing the longitudinal directions, and a liquid crystal layer supported by the main surface and made of a solidified liquid crystal material, and a reflection layer facing the layered structure.
US08107140B2
A color processing apparatus includes a storage section, a normalizing section and a tone correction section. The storage section stores tone correction information used in tone correction for a color signal to be corrected. The normalizing section reads the tone correction information from the storage section and normalizes the read tone correction information in accordance with the color signal to be corrected to generate normalized tone correction information. The tone correction section converts the color signal to be corrected into a corrected color signal using the normalized tone correction information.
US08107135B2
A document scanner, such as a check scanner, is disclosed. The document scanner includes a document bed having a document positioning surface, the document positioning surface arranged to receive a document placed thereon. The document scanner further includes a scanning module slidably movable across the document positioning surface, the scanning module including one or more data capture devices arranged to contact a document during a scanning process. The document scanner also includes a motor operatively connected to the scanning module, the motor configured to move the scanning module across the document positioning surface during the scanning process.
US08107127B2
An image forming apparatus has a calibration mode in which a calibration image is formed on a print medium to correct image forming conditions. The image forming apparatus detects print medium information to determine, on the basis of the print medium information, whether the print medium is a sheet recommended as a print medium for use in the calibration mode. The image forming apparatus sets calibration conditions corresponding to the determined recommended sheet. The image forming apparatus corrects the image forming conditions on the basis of the set calibration conditions.
US08107125B2
The invention relates to a method of generating a printing color profile for printing a printing image with a digital color printing machine, in particular a multi-color printing machine, preferably an electrophotographically operating printing machine. A transparent layer on top of a multi colorant printed image is taken into consideration during the generation of the printing color profile such that a differential clear printing color profile for the clear material effect is determined, said clear printing color profile being added, as needed, to the printing ink color profile of the remaining printing colors for defined substrate classes and specific clear material and coverage levels.
US08107122B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for submitting an electronic document to a printing system that includes a print controller having an input port and a print queue. Methods in accordance with this invention include coupling a portable media device to the input port, the portable media device including an electronic document and automatically copying the electronic document to the print queue. Apparatus in accordance with this invention include a portable media device that includes an electronic document. The portable media device is adapted to be coupled to the input port of the print controller, and the print controller is adapted to automatically copy the electronic document to the print queue.
US08107121B2
In a data processing device, an additional information acquiring unit is configured to acquire, from a plurality of input image data items, respective items of additional information relevant to the plurality of input image data items. A log management unit is configured to manage a log of output image data, wherein, when the plurality of input image data items are integrated into an output image data, the log management unit manages respective items of additional information acquired from the plurality of input image data items contained in the output image data, as a log of the output image data.
US08107109B2
An image processing apparatus includes an accepting unit, a selecting unit, a first forming instruction generating unit and a second forming instruction generating unit. The accepting unit accepts a forming instruction for forming an image. The selecting unit selects a first image forming apparatus and a second image forming apparatus which form an image on recording media based on the accepted image forming instruction and have a different performance from each other. The first forming instruction generating unit that generates a first forming instruction for causing the first image forming apparatus to form a page that can be formed by the first image forming apparatus. The second forming instruction generating unit generates a second forming instruction for causing the second image forming apparatus to form another page that cannot be formed by the first image forming apparatus.
US08107103B2
An approach is provided for printing policy-enabled electronic documents using locked printing. A client device includes a user interface, an application program and a print driver. The application program allows a user to generate an electronic document. The print driver corresponds to a particular printing device and is configured to cause a graphical user interface to be displayed on the user interface. The graphical user interface allows a user to specify one or more access policies to be applied to the electronic document. The print driver is configured to generate print data that includes a plurality of print commands which, when processed by the particular printing device, cause a printed version of the electronic document to be generated at the printing device. The print data includes data that indicates the one or more attributes of the one or more access policies that are to be applied to the electronic document.
US08107102B2
A printer controller includes: a selecting unit that selects authentication information from among a plurality of authentication information; a first transmitting unit that transmits the authentication information selected by the selecting unit to a printer connected to the printer controller via a network; and a second transmitting unit that transmits print data to be printed to the printer. The authentication information selected by the selecting unit is used for authentication for allowing the printer to print an image based on the print data.
US08107101B2
The present disclosure relates to a printing system or method for evaluating the programming of an identifier, such as an RFID tag. The method may be implemented in a printing device which is capable of programming an identifier and reading data from the identifier and comparing such information to evaluate the programming operation.
US08107093B2
A computer-implemented graphics program that correctly adapts images being printed to the physical capabilities of a printer. A published virtual paper is scaled to a physical paper, taking into account the virtual paper's size, geometry bounds for an image from the virtual paper being printed, balanced geometry bounds calculated from the geometry bounds, the physical paper's size and a printable area of the physical paper, so that the image being printed fits within a printable area of the physical paper.
US08107091B2
An image forming apparatus and an image forming method thereof store font information about a font of which a width of a dot line is less than a predetermined value; determine whether the width of the dot line of a text included in printing data is less than the predetermined value on the basis of the font information; and form an image by enlarging the width of the dot line that is less than the predetermined value among the dot lines of the text.
US08107090B2
An image forming apparatus management server, a Service Continuity Score (SCS) calculating method of the management server, and an image forming apparatus management system. A setup manager sets a priority with respect to items required to calculate an SCS indicative of a normal operation time of an image forming apparatus, an incident manager registers and manages an incident related to the image forming apparatus, and an SCS manager calculates the SCS using the registered incident and the priority set for the items.
US08107082B1
An apparatus may include a flow cell for a surface plasmon resonance test apparatus and a fluid delivery system operatively coupled to the flow cell and configured to deliver a plurality of fluids to the flow cell substantially continuously. The fluid delivery system may include two pumps for pumping the fluids.
US08107075B2
An optical characteristic measuring apparatus includes an optical system 10 including first and second carrier retarders 24 and 32 having the retardations being known and differing from each other. The optical characteristic measuring apparatus performs: a spectrum extraction process of extracting a plurality of spectral peaks from a frequency spectrum obtained by analyzing a light intensity signal detected by light-receiving/spectroscopic means; and an optical characteristic element calculation process of calculating an optical characteristic element representing optical characteristics of a measurement target based on the spectral peaks and the retardations of the first and second carrier retarders.
US08107074B2
An electric field spatially-regularly arranged is applied to particles movably dispersed in a medium to migrate particles. The resulting density distribution of the particles generates a diffraction grating. In the annihilation process of the diffraction grating through the stop or modulation of the application of the electric field, intensity of diffracted light from the diffraction grating is measured to obtain the size of particles. In the above measurement method, the square root or natural logarithm of the measured value of the diffracted light intensity is used for the analysis to evaluate with high convergence the dispersiveness of the particle size with using the least squares method even in the case of particles of dispersive diameter or the case where particles to be measured include particles of different sizes.
US08107068B2
The present invention relates to a Raman spectroscopy system that includes a detection center. The detection center includes at least one light source for outputting exciting light which excites a detected object to generate Raman scattered light, and an analysis device for obtaining the Raman spectroscopy of the detected object. The Raman spectroscopy system further includes at least one detection terminal, each of which includes at least one Raman probe that each introduces the exciting light to the detected object, collects the Raman scattered light generated by the detected object, and returns said Raman scattered light to the detection center. The present invention also relates to a method for detecting Raman spectroscopy.
US08107058B2
A sensor device having a sensor arrangement for detecting moving objects that includes a sensor and an electronic unit. The sensor arrangement is designed to detect an object and to subsequently investigate whether there are present within the surface of the object regions that move at a different speed and/or acceleration. The sensor arrangement can also investigate whether the object is accelerating.
US08107052B2
An exposure apparatus is configured to expose a substrate to light while the substrate is scanned. The apparatus comprises a stage configured to hold the substrate and to move, a measuring device configured to measure a position of a surface of the substrate held by the stage, a controller configured to define an arrangement of measurement points with respect to each of a plurality of shot regions arranged along a straight line, and to cause the measuring device to sequentially measure positions of the surface with respect to the defined measurement points in the plurality of shot regions while causing the stage to move to scan the substrate along the straight line. The controller is configured to define the arrangement such that the plurality of shot regions have the arrangement in common with each other.
US08107049B2
In a liquid crystal substrate in which a matrix of reflecting electrodes is formed on a substrate, a transistor is formed corresponding to each reflective electrode and a voltage is applied to the reflective electrode through the transistor. A silicon oxide film having a thickness of 500 to 2,000 angstroms is used as the passivation film and the thickness is set to a value in response to the wavelength of the incident light to maintain a substantially constant reflectance.
US08107046B2
A liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates facing and spaced apart from each other; a gate line on an inner surface of the first substrate; a data line crossing the gate line to define a plurality of first sub-pixel regions for displaying color, and a second sub-pixel region for adjusting a viewing angle; a thin film transistor connected to the data line and the gate line; a plurality of first pixel electrodes in each of the plurality of first sub-pixel regions; a plurality of first common electrodes alternating with the plurality of first pixel electrodes in each of the plurality of first sub-pixel regions; a second pixel electrode in the second sub-pixel region; a second common electrode in the second sub-pixel region, the second common electrode facing the second pixel electrode; and a liquid crystal layer between the first and second substrates, wherein a first common voltage is applied to the plurality of first common electrodes, and a second common voltage different from the first common voltage is applied to the second common electrode.
US08107045B2
A large screen display suitable for displaying moving images has a high operational property and is realized at low cost. A vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display comprises a scan wiring, a video signal wiring, a pixel electrode, an alignment directional control electrode, and a thin film transistor element formed in a position where a scan wiring and a video signal wiring intersect with each other, and a common electrode formed in a color filter substrate side. An electric field distribution formed with three electrodes comprising an alignment directional control electrode, a pixel electrode, and a common electrode formed in an countering substrate side controls motion directions of vertically aligned anisotropic liquid crystal molecules having a negative dielectric constant.
US08107041B2
An LCD apparatus includes a first polarizer, a half-wavelength retardation plate, a liquid crystal unit and a second polarizer. The LCD apparatus further has a backlight module for generating first polarized light. The first polarizer is disposed downstream of the backlight module, and the first polarizer has a transmission axis. The half-wavelength retardation plate is disposed between the backlight module and the first polarizer. Second polarized light parallel to the transmission axis is generated from the first polarized light passing through the half-wavelength retardation plate. The second polarizer is disposed downstream of the first polarizer. The liquid crystal unit is disposed between the first polarizer and the second polarizer, and the second polarized light emits out of the LCD apparatus through the first polarizer, the liquid crystal unit and the second polarizer.
US08107026B2
A multi-domain vertical alignment liquid crystal display that does not require physical features on the substrate (such as protrusions and ITO slits) is disclosed. Each pixel of the MVA LCD is subdivided into color components, which are further divided into color dots. The drive component areas, i.e. where switching elements and storage capacitors are located, are converted to associated dots by adding an electrode that can be electrically biased. The voltage polarity of the color dots and associated dots are arranged so that fringe fields in each color dot causes multiple liquid crystal domains in each color dot. Specifically, the color dots and associated dots of a pixel are arranged so that associated dots have opposite polarity as compared to neighboring color dots.
US08107022B2
An LCD having pixels arrayed along a first direction and a second direction crossing the first direction includes: opposite first and second substrates having facing first and second surfaces, respectively; a first light shielding layer formed along the second direction between the pixels adjacent in the first direction on the first surface; a first electrode formed within each pixel on the second surface and having a first electrode portion; a second electrode positioned between the pixels adjacent in the first direction on the second surface to at least partially overlap the first light shielding layer in plan view and having a second electrode portion extending along the first electrode portion; a third electrode having a third electrode portion formed along the first direction between the pixels adjacent in the second direction on the second surface.
US08107014B2
A digital receiver includes an analog front-end circuit, an automatic-gain controller, a compensation circuit, and a demodulator. The analog front-end circuit receives an input signal, adjusts an average amplitude of the input signal, and converts the adjusted input signal to generate a digital signal according to a control signal. The automatic-gain controller is coupled to the analog front-end circuit for generating the control signal feedback to the analog front-end circuit according to the digital signal. The compensation circuit is coupled to the analog front-end circuit for detecting an average amplitude of the digital signal to generate a detecting result and for determining whether to compensate the average amplitude of the digital signal to generate a compensated digital signal according to the detecting result. The demodulator is coupled to the compensation circuit for demodulating the compensated digital signal to generate an output signal.
US08107002B2
The invention is provided to perform exposure control that uses a diagram for monitor-through in a shooting waiting state in which the output frame rate of an image sensor is set into 30 fps and that for high-speed movie recording is performed during move images shooting with the high-speed movie mode in which the output frame rate is set into 300 fps. Upon shifting to exposure control at the high-speed movie mode, the aperture value to be first set is determined uniquely from the current LV value by using a program diagram for preparing to start high-speed movie recording in which the space scale of the program diagram for monitor-through is converted into a space scale similar to that of the diagram for high-speed movie recording. Then, the exposure adjustment that sets the determined aperture value, and the shutter speed and the gain corresponding to thereof as exposure control values.
US08107001B2
An image forming optical system includes in order from an object side to an image surface, a first lens group having a positive refracting power, a second lens group having a negative refracting power, and a third lens group having a positive refracting power. At the time of zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end, a distance between the first lens group and the second lens group increases, and a distance between the second lens group and the third lens group decreases. The first lens group has a cemented lens which includes a first lens element E1, a second lens element E2, and a third lens element E3. In the cemented lens, the first lens element E1 is cemented to a surface on one side of the second lens element E2, and the third lens element E3 is cemented to another surface of the second lens element E2. The first lens element E1 is a negative lens, and the second lens element E2 is a positive lens. The image forming optical system satisfies predetermined conditional expressions.
US08106997B2
In an image pickup apparatus, a light receiving unit produces a first signal at a first timing and a second signal at a second timing later than the first timing. First and second parameters for detecting a scene change are acquired based on the first and second signals, respectively. The presence or the absence of a scene change is determined based on both the parameters. The apparatus further includes a selecting unit configured to select a focusing target AF area from among a plurality of AF areas, and a focusing control unit configured to execute focusing control by using focusing information with respect to the AF area selected by the selecting unit. When the determining unit determines that the scene change is not present, the selecting unit selects the AF area having been selected at the first timing, as the focusing target AF area, at the second timing continuously.
US08106995B2
There is provided an image-taking method and apparatus capable of quickly taking an image in which a human face is in focus. When an instruction to take an image is input, multiple images are taken with different focus positions. A human face in each of the images is detected, an area enclosing a detected human face is set as a focus evaluation area, and a focus evaluation value is calculated. Once focus evaluation values for all the images taken have been calculated, the image with the highest focus evaluation value among the images is chosen and recorded. Thus, an image in which the human face is in focus can be readily taken without having to perform cumbersome operations such as an image choosing operation.
US08106991B2
There is provided an image processing apparatus including: a display screen displaying a first image included in a continuously taken image group, a friction position detector detecting a friction position on the display screen rubbed by a user, and an image synthesizing unit synthesizing a pixel area of the first image corresponding to the friction position, and a pixel area of a second image included in the image group, wherein the image synthesizing unit switches the second image to be synthesized with the first image so as to increase an imaging time difference between the first image and the second image along with an increase in the amount of friction rubbed by the user.
US08106986B2
An image sensor includes: a pixel array block configured to get image data by photoelectrically converting light; a register group configured to store information associated with processing of the image sensor; and a parallel interface configured to output the image data to outside in parallel output; wherein the parallel interface further outputs a register value group stored in the register group to outside when the image data is not being outputted to outside.
US08106956B2
An digital camera device is disclosed having a digital zoom function in order to form an output image, which device includes a sensor and optics to produce an primary image, a display in which the primary image is arranged to be cropped in connection with the digital zoom function in order to form the said output image, user interface means to set one or more settings relating to the digital zoom function and a image processor which is arranged to put a size for the said output image based on the cropping of the primary image at least in part of an digital zoom range. In the user interface is arranged to be set as the said setting one or more size limit for the said output image and based on the one or more size limit and the size of the cropped primary image, the image processor is arranged to perform scaling operations for the cropped primary image at least in part of the digital zoom range defined by the said one or more size limit. In addition the invention also relates to corresponding methods and program products.
US08106951B2
A method for adjusting a shooting condition of a digital camera through motion detection is applied to determine a shooting parameter of the digital camera. The adjusting method includes the following steps. At least two consecutive images, namely a first pre-capture image and a second pre-capture image, are selected. The first pre-capture image and the second pre-capture image are divided into a plurality of selection blocks. A motion vector of each selection block is calculated. The motion vector of each selection block is used to generate a background dominant motion vector of the camera sloshing and a self-movement vector of the shot object. The background dominant motion vector is subtracted from the self-movement vector of the shot object, so as to obtain a corrected foreground motion vector. According to the size of the corrected foreground motion vector, the corresponding shooting parameter is determined.
US08106947B2
An image recording and reproducing apparatus includes a group management information file creation circuit for, in recording, grouping recorded images at predetermined time intervals and creating, for each group, a group management information file storing group management information including a start time indicating the time when a first recorded image in a group is recorded, an end time indicating the time when a last recorded image in the group is recorded, an address at which index information about the first recorded image in the group is stored, and channel distance information indicating, for each channel, a group interval from a group including a last recorded image of a channel to the current group.
US08106945B2
An intelligent fishing tackle comprises a fishing line, a sinker module, a microprocessor system module and a hook module, in which the sinker module is connected on the fishing line and includes a camera module used for capturing a underwater image, the microprocessor system module judges a fishing object according to the underwater image and determines whether a control signal is generated, and the hook module is connected on the fishing line and switched to a fishing processing state according to the control signal. Whether to capture the fishing object can be judged directly under the water or the water image is transmitted to the shore for a rodster to decide whether to capture the fishing object.
US08106944B2
Described are a method and an apparatus for color-corrected underwater imaging. A range to an underwater object to be imaged is determined and control values are selected according to the range. Control values are predetermined for a number of ranges according to an optimization of a color quality factor for each range based on the spectra of the optical sources used for illumination and the wavelength-dependent optical transmission of the water for the range. The optical power of each optical source is controlled according to a respective one of the selected control values. Advantageously, an acquired image requires no color correction as the adaptive illumination compensates for the wavelength-dependent losses in the light propagation path from the optical sources to the object and from the object to the imaging device.
US08106942B2
An image acquiring apparatus is made up of a macro image acquiring unit 20 used to acquire a macro image of each of a plurality of samples S, and a control unit 60 including a macro image acquisition control unit used to control a macro image acquiring operation and an image pickup condition setting unit used to set an image pickup condition for a micro image of the sample S with reference to the macro image. The control unit 60 includes a session managing unit used to define a session in accordance with a sample group consisting of the samples S and to manage a data group including data of the macro image and the image pickup condition as session data associated with the sample group for each session. According to this structure, it is possible to realize an image acquiring apparatus, an image acquiring method, and an image acquiring program capable of suitably managing image acquisition processing performed to acquire an image of each of a plurality of samples.
US08106940B2
A stereoscopic image display apparatus includes a two-dimensional display device having a display surface formed of a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix form, and an optical plate which is provided in front of the display surface of the two-dimensional display device, which includes a plurality of lenses arranged so as to be respectively associated with elemental images each including a plurality of pixels, and which controls light rays illuminated from the pixels. When at least two and less than three elemental images are illuminated in one parallax direction in the case where a position of a part or whole of a stereoscopic image is located on a side nearer a viewer than a position indicating a near-side limit value Zno or on a side farther from the viewer than a position indicating a far-side limit value Zfo, the two-dimensional display device displays black in an elemental image of one parallax in elemental images of every two parallaxes.
US08106939B2
An image processing method is provided. The method includes a process carried out by a pair of imagers to extract a parallax caused by a distance to an object of photographing as a positional shift between mutually corresponding pixels included in said imagers or between mutually corresponding image blocks included in the imagers as blocks conforming to the mutually corresponding pixels. The parallax is assigned to image data as a distance coefficient found on the basis of the positional shift between the mutually corresponding pixels or the mutually corresponding image blocks in the imagers.
US08106938B2
The invention relates to arrangements and methods for spatially displaying images of a scene or object, in which several viewers can get a spatial impression without the use of aids. Arrangements according to the invention comprise an image display device and at least one filter array with a great number of filter elements; characteristically, it is not in all rows (j) and columns (i) that partial image information from different views is alternatingly displayed by the pixels of the image display device in such a way that, from at least two monocular viewing positions, exclusively or almost exclusively partial image information from a single view is visible to one of the viewer's eyes, and that, from a great number of viewing positions, essentially bits of partial image information from different views are visible monocularly to both eyes of the viewer, and that the viewer has a spatial view of the scene or object displayed.
US08106930B2
Image display techniques for eliminating mura defects, which collects reference data and adjusts the gray levels. The image display systems comprising a plurality of pixels, a memory, and an ASIC. Each of the pixels relates to a mura compensation coefficient set. The mura compensation coefficient sets of the pixels are generated by a coefficient generator. The memory stores the mura compensation coefficient sets of the pixels. The ASIC reads the mura compensation coefficient sets from the memory. With different mura compensation coefficient sets, the ASIC serves as different mura compensation function sets. Each mura compensation function set relates to one of the aforementioned pixels and is used for transforming an original gray level to a mura-eliminated gray level to drive the corresponding pixel.
US08106927B2
A method for generating a presentation of a region-of-interest in an original image for display on a display screen, comprising: establishing a lens for the region-of-interest, the lens having a magnified focal region for the region-of-interest at least partially surrounded by a shoulder region having diminishing magnification, the focal region having a perimeter defined by a radius r from a line segment; receiving one or more signals to adjust at least one of the radius r and a length len of the line segment to thereby adjust the perimeter; and, applying the lens to the original image to produce the presentation.
US08106924B2
A method of rendering video frames starting from source frames of a scene acquired using a multi-viewpoint camera system including a Free Viewpoint Video (FVV) synthesizing process.
US08106922B2
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems, methods and devices for imaging device display standardization.
US08106919B2
The present invention relates to the compression of color image data. A combination of hard decision pixel mapping and soft decision pixel mapping is used to jointly address both quantization distortion and compression rate while maintaining low computational complexity and compatibility with standard decoders, such as, for example, the GIF/PNG decoder.
US08106917B2
Methods and systems for mosaic mode display of video are disclosed. Aspects of one method may include generating video data for a plurality of video windows using a single video feeder module comprising a single video scaler and a single video capture module. The video data for the video windows may be generated in a single frame time. Register DMA may be used to transfer register update data (RUD) to a plurality of registers to configure video processing for generating video data for a video window. The plurality of RUDs may be generated in response to a single interrupt to a processor, and may be configured as a linked list or stored sequentially in memory. The configuring may occur prior to generating video data for the corresponding video window. Video processing for a subsequent video window may be configured automatically after generating video data for the present video window.
US08106913B1
Circuits, methods, and apparatus for graphically displaying performance metrics of processors such as graphics processing units in multiple processor systems. Embodiments of the present invention may provide metric information regarding operations in alternate-frame rendering, split-frame rendering, or other modes of operation. One embodiment of the present invention provides data in split-frame rendering mode including load balancing, graphics processing unit utilization, frame rate, and other types of system information in a graphical manner. Another exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides graphical information regarding graphics processing unit utilization, frame rate, and other system information while operating in the alternate-frame rendering mode.
US08106910B2
A method for correct reproduction of moving three-dimensional (3D) scenes observed by a viewer on displays showing moving three-dimensional scenes relating to video games, animated cartoons, simulators for drivers or pilots, etc. The main concept of the invention is the reproduction of a moving scene that rotates around a selected center, which is the point of the viewer's gaze fixation. Thus, all objects that are stationary with respect to each other on the illustrated scene rotate at the same angular speed but move on the screen at different linear speeds, which are inversely proportional to preselected distances from the viewer to the respective objects. Movements of objects relative to each other are presented in a coordinate system rotating with the scene. For reproduction on the display, distances to the objects, number of objects, and other selected data are entered into a conventional 3D-animation computer program.
US08106909B2
Common key frames are provided to a client during initialization to provide more efficient remoting of user interface graphical information. By storing the common key frames at the client, the common key frames may be loaded quicker and more efficiently at the client without having to resend graphical information for each common key frame each time a common key frame is used to provide a new frame. Differences between a selected common key frame and the new frame are encoded as delta commands. A payload containing a common key frame command, which identifies a common key frame at the client, and delta commands which encode differences between the selected common key frame and new frame is sent to the client. The client receives the payload, sets a cached common key frame as the current frame, applies the delta commands to the selected common key frame, and renders the new frame.
US08106899B2
A horizontal scanning period is divided into n parts (n is a natural number), so that horizontal scanning can be performed (n×y) times in one frame period. That is, n signals can be outputted from each pixel, and storage times of the n signals are different from one another. Then, since a signal suited to the intensity of light irradiated to each pixel can be selected, information of an object can be accurately read.
US08106880B2
An apparatus and method are disclosed that enable the sharing, between a telephone and a computer, of input peripherals such as a keyboard and mouse and of output peripherals such as a video display. Historically, a telephone and a computer have possessed different interfaces with their user and with peripheral devices. Therefore, except where the telephone functionality is in the form of a softphone implemented on a computer, the telephone in the prior art is often incapable of sharing certain peripherals with a physically-adjacent computer. The telephone device of the illustrative embodiment enables sharing between the telephone and a computer, in contrast to sharing peripherals between computers in the prior art. The telephone device is able to determine which user inputs from a shared keyboard or mouse are intended for which data-processing device (i.e., the telephone device itself or the computer), and to transmit displayable signals from both the telephone device and computer to a shared video display device.
US08106864B2
An LCD device is disclosed.The LCD device includes dual gate transistors provided to an output portion for outputting a gate voltage. As such, the charge/discharge time of the output portion is reduced so the response time of liquid crystal is improved.
US08106861B2
An electro-wetting display device includes a first substrate; a second substrate opposite to the first substrate; a plurality of side walls interposed between the first and second substrates, the side walls being arranged in a matrix and cooperating with the first and second substrates to form a plurality of spaces; a first polar liquid disposed in each of the spaces; a second, colored, non-polar liquid disposed in each of the spaces. The second liquid is immiscible with the first liquid. The second substrate includes a reflective electrode and a hydrophobic insulating layer disposed on the reflective electrode. The reflective electrode includes a first metal layer and a transparent protective layer, and the transparent protective layer is interposed between the metal layer and the hydrophobic insulating layer.
US08106860B2
A composite display may include a paddle configured to sweep out an area and a plurality of pixel elements mounted on the paddle. Selectively activating one or more of the plurality of pixel elements while the paddle sweeps the area may cause at least a portion of an image to be rendered. A characteristic of at least one pixel element of the plurality of pixel elements that is associated with balancing luminance across the composite display associated with the paddle may be based, at least in part, on a radial distance of the one pixel element from an axis of rotation of the paddle.
US08106856B2
A portable electronic device with a touch screen display for photo management is disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a computer-implemented method in which the portable electronic device displays an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images. The device replaces the displayed array of thumbnail images with a user-selected photographic image upon detecting a user contact with a corresponding thumbnail image in the array. The user-selected photographic image is displayed at a larger scale than the corresponding thumbnail image. The portable device displays a different photographic image in replacement of the user-selected photographic image in accordance with a scrolling gesture. The scrolling gesture comprises a substantially horizontal movement of user contact with the touch screen display.
US08106840B2
A window glass of a vehicle having a roof antenna mounted on an upper rear portion of a roof of the vehicle, has a defogger formed, on the rear window glass, by a plurality of horizontal heating lines which are connected with each other at the respective both ends by busbars; a noise shield pattern provided at a head space of the defogger on the rear window glass and having at least three horizontal lines and at least one vertical line that cross each other; and at least three connecting lines that connect the noise shield pattern and the defogger. The noise shield pattern is formed in a symmetrical shape, and the connecting lines connect the noise shield pattern and the defogger symmetrically at center position and symmetrical positions about the center position in right-and-left direction of the noise shield pattern and the defogger.
US08106838B2
A mobile wireless communications device has a portable handheld housing. A circuit board is carried by the portable handheld housing. RP circuitry is carried by the circuit board. A diversity antenna and main antenna are carried by the portable handheld housing and coupled to the RF circuitry and operative together. The RF circuitry tunes the diversity antenna into a diversity communications frequency band to achieve a diversity mode of operation with the main antenna and tunes the diversity antenna into a non-diversity communications frequency band when cross-coupling has occurred from the diversity antenna to the main antenna when operating in the diversity communications frequency band. A switch is carried by the portable handheld housing and connected to the RF circuitry and coupled between the diversity and main antennae and disconnects the diversity antenna when operating in the non-diversity band to prevent cross-coupling from the diversity antenna to the main antenna.
US08106835B2
A dual-band antenna is disposed on a substrate having an antenna-mounted surface. The dual-band antenna includes a first radiating unit, a second radiating unit, and a feeding terminal. The first radiating unit is disposed opposite to the antenna-mounted surface of the substrate, and at least has a first side, a second side and, a third side. The first side is opposite to the third side, and the length of the first side is not equal to that of the third side. The second side is connected to the first side and the third side. The second radiating unit is connected to the first side of the first radiating unit. The feeding terminal is connected to the third side of the first radiating unit and the antenna-mounted surface of the substrate.
US08106833B2
The present invention discloses a miniature antenna that has a simple structure, compact dimension and high efficiency. The miniature antenna is comprised of a dielectric element made of a dielectric material, having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, a first electrode layer being laid on the first surface, and a second electrode layer being laid on the second surface. The first electrode layer connected to a signal feeding line and the second electrode layer, connected to a ground plane, are partially overlapped to form a region that functions as a capacitor. Thereby, the miniature antenna can transmit and receive signals. The capacitance and resonant frequency of the miniature antenna can be adjusted via varying the pattern of the electrode layers, varying the thickness or permittivity of the dielectric element or via varying the size of the overlapping areas of the two electrode layers.
US08106819B1
Requests for location fix for a mobile device are received from one or more Location Based Service (LBS) applications. The received requests are queued in a First In First Out (FIFO) queue in the mobile device. Based on information in a first request out of the FIFO queue, the mobile device runs a location engine in a first fix mode to obtain a fix on the location of the mobile device for a response to the first request. While the location engine is running to obtain the fix for the response to the first request, the mobile device analyzes information in a second request in the FIFO queue, to determine a second fix mode for response to the second request. Based on a comparison of the second fix mode to the first fix mode, the mobile device may change the information in the second request to correspond to the first fix mode, before output of the second request from the FIFO queue to the location engine.
US08106814B2
The present invention relates to a method enabling precise determination of the elevation of a projectile following a ballistic trajectory by use of a conventional Doppler surveillance radar. The method includes calculating first the estimate {circumflex over (Γ)}ρ of the value of the radial component Γρ of the acceleration of the projectile from the quantities {dot over (d)} and {umlaut over (d)}, respectively representing the first derivative and the second derivative with respect to time of the Doppler velocity d of the projectile, then calculating the estimate {circumflex over (V)} of the speed V of the projectile from d, {dot over (d)} and {circumflex over (Γ)}ρ, and finally calculating the estimate Ê of its angle of elevation E from d and {circumflex over (V)}. The method according to the invention may apply to the protection of sensitive areas against the firing of ballistic projectiles.
US08106803B2
A digital-to-analog conversion circuit operates by selectively discharging members of a plurality of capacitors. Charging of the capacitors occurs during a reset period while digital-to-analog conversion occurs as the capacitors are discharged. Those capacitors that are discharged are selected from the plurality of capacitors based on a digital input. The analog output includes the charge discharged from the capacitors. The capacitors are optionally divided into separate capacitor banks.
US08106796B2
A floor mat suitable for a vehicle is shown in FIG. 1 includes a circuit for operating remotely controllable devices both inside a vehicle or outside a vehicle. In another embodiment of the invention, a floor mat receives email from a wireless email device such as a BLACKBERRY, performs a text-to-voice recognition process on the contents of the email, and outputs a voice signal to a speaker such that the email is read to the user. This allows a user to review email messages without taking his or her eyes away from the road.
US08106791B2
Exemplary systems and methods are directed to transmission of electromagnetic (EM) pulses in a downhole environment, which is located below a surface of a landform. A sequence of EM energy pulses is generated from a signal generator located at the surface of the landform. The energy pulses are reflected at a ring frequency by one or more downhole transducers. The reflected energy pulse is received at a receiver, which is located at the surface, during a predetermined time interval. The receiver detects the received energy pulses through a time domain or frequency domain technique. The detected ring frequency is correlated to a parameter or condition of the downhole environment.
US08106775B2
A checkout system performs checkout of articles. The checkout system includes an LCD touch screen 11 for specifying a second article different from a first article having data on the article registered as first article data, a barcode scanner 12 for recognizing a presented article which is the first article presented, and a control unit 314 that determines whether the presented article specified as the second article by the LCD touch screen 11 is not the second article.
US08106767B2
An antenna outputs query signals to a wireless tag, and receives response signals output from the wireless tag. An intensity detection circuit detects the signal intensity of the response signals. A control portion judges the type of toner housed in a cartridge, or whether the toner is a certified product or a non-certified product, from the detected signal intensity. Further, the control portion outputs to an output setting circuit an instruction signal to change the signal intensity of the query signals, such that normal wireless communication can be performed with the wireless tag.
US08106763B2
A sensor has a transmitter module for transferring data via a line, the sensor receiving power via the line. At a point in time in which the sensor receives a first power level, it transmits the data for a first time interval. A second sensor which is connected to the line in parallel to the first sensor then transmits its data for a second time interval after the first time interval. A timing sequence control system in the two sensors which is triggered by the point in time of reception of the power ensures the subsequent transmission by the first and second sensor.
US08106747B2
Vehicle occupant identification and safety systems and methods include an RFID equipped vehicle having a computer system for controlling operating functions of the vehicle, an RFID emitter for use by a passenger of the vehicle, and processing logic associated with the computer system for determining when a vehicle operator has discontinued vehicle operation and for detecting a signal from the passenger RFID emitter so that the computer system may be activated to send a distress signal when the passenger has remained in the vehicle after a predetermined time from when the operator discontinued operation of the vehicle.
US08106734B2
A magnetic latching solenoid comprises a housing, a moveable magnetically permeable member, a stationary magnetic assembly, a counter flux generator; and, a spring. A substantially equal extent of the moveable magnetically permeable member and stationary magnetic assembly along results in an air gap interface being essentially mid-way between the opposite axial extremities of the moveable magnetically permeable member and stationary magnetic assembly, thereby enhancing an attracting force of a permanent magnet that comprises the stationary magnetic assembly. In an example embodiment, the stationary magnetic assembly comprises a pole member which is adjustably positionable to minimize air gaps.
US08106731B2
There is provided an electromagnetic switch, for a starter, that is capable of preventing a defect caused by the formation of a leakage circuit between the battery terminal and the motor terminal, even in the case where the electromagnetic switch is flooded with water. On the outer surface of a switch cap, there is provided a diaphragm disposed between the battery terminal and the motor terminal that are arranged in such a way as to be exposed outside the switch cap; the diaphragm is formed in such a way that a wall face thereof that faces one terminal, out of the battery terminal and the motor terminal, which is disposed upper than the other terminal has a protrusive shape.
US08106727B2
A variable resonator that comprises a loop line (902) to which two or more switches (903) are connected and N variable reactance means (102) (N≧3), in which switches (903) are severally connected to different positions on the loop line (902), the other ends of the switches are severally connected to a ground conductor, and the switches are capable of switching electrical connection/non-connection between the ground conductor and the loop line (902), the variable reactance blocks (102) are severally settable to the same reactance value, and the variable reactance blocks (102) are electrically connected to the loop line (902) as branching circuits along the circumference direction of the loop line (902) at equal electrical length intervals.
US08106726B2
A surface acoustic wave device includes a pair of reflectors and an interdigital transducer having a cross electrode having a interdigitated portion and a dummy portion and a dummy electrode. The dummy electrode has a length different from the length of the dummy portion of the cross electrode arranged adjacent to the dummy electrode.
US08106724B1
Micro-electromechanical acoustic resonators include a substrate having a cavity therein and a resonator body suspended over the cavity. The resonator body is anchored on opposing sides thereof (by support beams) to first and second portions of the substrate. These first and second portions of the substrate, which extend over the cavity as first and second ledges, respectively, each have at least one perforation therein disposed over the cavity. These perforations may be open or filled. The first and second ledges are formed of a first material (e.g., silicon) and the first and second ledges are filled with a second material having a relatively high acoustic impedance relative to the first material. This second material may include a material selected from a group consisting of tungsten (W), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo).
US08106723B2
A resonant circuit includes a substrate; a MEMS resonator including a fixed electrode and a movable electrode formed above the substrate and having a first terminal and a second terminal, the movable electrode having a movable portion opposing at least a part of the fixed electrode; a first input-output terminal connected to the first terminal connected to one of the fixed electrode and the movable electrode of the MEMS resonator; a second input-output terminal connected to the second terminal connected to an other one of the fixed electrode and the movable electrode of the MEMS resonator; a voltage applying unit supplying a potential to at least the first terminal to apply a bias voltage between the first and the second terminals; and a variable capacitance connected between the first terminal and the first input-output terminal to allow a capacitance value to be changed by a change in a potential difference between opposite ends of the variable capacitance.
US08106720B2
The present invention relates to a polar modulation apparatus and method, in which a polar-modulated signal is generated based on separately processed phase modulation (PM) and amplitude modulation (AM) components of an input signal. An amplified polar modulated output signal is generated in accordance with the phase modulation and amplitude modulation components by using a differential power amplifier circuitry and supplying an amplified phase modulation component to a differential input of the differential power amplifier circuitry. A bias input of the differential power amplifier circuitry is controlled based on the amplitude modulation component, so as to modulate a common-mode current of the differential power amplifier circuitry. Thereby, a new concept of a polar modulator with static DC-DC converter and power and/or efficiency and/or linearity controlled output power amplifier can be achieved.
US08106718B2
A voltage controlled oscillator outputting a differential signal includes: an inductor connected to a first power supply supplying first voltage; first and second transistors for differential switching; first and second variable capacitors connected to the inductor in parallel; a third transistor of which a gate electrode is connected to a first node; and a fourth transistor of which a gate electrode is connected to a second node. When bias voltage is applied to the gate electrode of the first transistor to be turned on, negative resistance is generated by voltage applied to the first capacitor and the second capacitor through the first transistor. When voltage outputted through the first node is applied to the gate electrode of the third transistor to be turned on, the voltage is additionally applied to the first capacitor and the second capacitor by the third transistor to increase the negative resistance.
US08106716B2
One embodiment of the oscillator includes a first starved inverter and a second starved inverter. An inner inverter of the second starved inverter is cross-coupled to an inner inverter of the first starved inverter. The oscillator further includes a first inverter connected to output of the inner inverter of the first starved inverter, and a second inverter connected to output of the inner inverter of the second starved inverter.
US08106715B1
In order to decrease the temperature sensitivity of an oscillator output, and obtain a frequency of oscillation that remains stable over variations in temperature, two oscillators may be configured with identical comparators and logic circuitry, but having different oscillation frequencies. The different oscillation frequencies may be achieved by configuring each oscillator with a respective resistor divider circuit configured to adjust the reference voltage at the reference input of the respective comparator. The difference between the respective periods of oscillation of the two oscillators may therefore become independent of the comparator delay, and may only depend on temperature sensitivity of the resistor. The output of one oscillator may be used to calibrate/adjust the output of the other oscillator based on the difference between the respective periods of oscillation of the two oscillators, due to the difference between the respective periods of oscillation of the two oscillators remaining substantially independent of variations in temperature.
US08106711B2
A stacked pre-driver stage and a power amplifier including the stacked pre-driver stage are described. The stacked pre-driver stage comprises stacked pre-drivers arranged in series between a supply voltage and a reference voltage. Each pre-driver includes a pre-driving amplifier, together with MOS transistors. Each pre-driver is subject, in operation, to a voltage difference which is inferior to a maximum allowed use voltage of the MOS transistors with a largely reduced voltage drop across the regulator included in the power amplifier.
US08106697B2
A duty cycle correction circuit comprises a duty cycle detector, a filter, an amplifier, a charge pump, a control circuit, and a duty cycle corrector. The duty cycle detector is configured to generate a first pair of control signals according to a pair of internal clock signals. The filter is configured to obtain average voltages of the first pair of control signals. The amplifier is configured to compare output voltages of the filter for generating an enable signal, and the control circuit is configured to generate a selection signal according to the enable signal. The charge pump is configured to generate a second pair of control signals according to the enable signal and the selection signal, and the duty cycle corrector is configured to receive a pair of external clock signals, the first pair of control signals, and the second pair of control signals for generating the pair of internal clock signals with a corrected duty cycle.
US08106691B2
In a phase adjustment circuit that divides the frequency of a double-frequency clock to obtain a 50% duty-cycle clock, a first ½ frequency division circuit having a phase inversion function generates an intermediate reference clock apart in phase from both a phase reference clock and a phase-adjusted clock. A first phase control circuit controls the phase of the intermediate reference clock to be in a desired phase state with respect to the phase reference clock. A second phase control circuit controls the phase of the phase-adjusted clock to be in a desired phase state with respect to the intermediate reference clock. Thus, when the phase-adjusted clock is adjusted to be close in phase to the phase reference clock, the phase difference between these clocks can be determined correctly and stably even if it varies due to clock jitter.
US08106682B2
In one embodiment, the integrated circuit has a L-level permutable switching network (L-PSN) comprising L levels of intermediate conductors. The integrated circuit can be used in electronic devices, such as switching networks, routers, and programmable logic circuits, etc.
US08106681B2
In a method of programming a differential programming semiconductor device, first identification data corresponding to first program data is outputted from an ID register of a program circuit in the device to a host. The first program data is programmed in a plurality of interconnections. The first program data is read from a storage unit based on the first identification data. Write data is generated based on the first program data and a second program data, which is to be newly programmed in the plurality of interconnections. The write data is transferred from the host to the device. The write data is written in the plurality of interconnections by the program circuit so as to program the second program data in the plurality of interconnections.
US08106675B2
A test system may include a test device, a switching unit and/or a test board. The test device may be configured to generate a first test signal swinging between a first voltage level and a second voltage level, and the first voltage level may be lower than the second voltage level. The switching unit may be coupled to the test device, and configured to switch the first test signal to provide a second test signal swinging between a third voltage level and a fourth voltage level. The third voltage level may be lower than the fourth voltage level. A plurality of devices under test (DUTs) may be mounted on the test board. Each of the plurality of DUTs may be connected in parallel with respect to one another to the switching unit through a transmission line.
US08106670B2
An apparatus for monitoring line voltage in a circuit breakor includes a controller configured to calculate a voltage difference between the neutral voltage and the AC line voltage of positive polarity based on a first signal and a second signal and assign, using a polarity signal, the voltage difference value to the AC line voltage of positive polarity and the second signal to the AC line voltage of negative polarity. Because the AC line voltage of positive polarity can be calculated based on the first signal and the second signal, the number of signals requiring A/D conversion is reduced, and the number of circuit components needed to measure the AC line voltage is reduced.
US08106653B2
System and methods are provided for optical-magnetic Kerr effect signal analysis. In one aspect, a test fixture is supplied having parallel conductive lines, with an input of a first line adjacent a resistively loaded output of a second line and a resistively loaded output of the first line adjacent an input of the second line. An optically transparent test region is interposed between the conductive lines, and a metallic reflector underlies the test region. A signal reference is supplied to the input of the first line and a signal under test is supplied to the input of the second line. A light beam having a first angle of polarization is focused through the test region onto the reflector. The intensity of the reflected light is measured and the similarity between the signal under test and the reference signal can be determined in response to the measured light intensity.
US08106642B2
A current mode buck converter is disclosed. The buck converter operates in a pulse width modulation (PWM) mode or a pulse frequency modulation (PFM) mode. To prevent an output inductor with various probable magnitudes from varying a decision boundary between the PWM mode and the PFM mode, the buck converter adaptively adjusts a triggering condition for the pulse frequency modulation mode according to an average value of an inductor current of the output inductor or AC components of the inductor current and a slope compensation current.
US08106641B2
System and method for providing stable control for power systems. According to an embodiment, the present invention provides an apparatus for providing one or more control signals for a power system. The apparatus includes an input terminal for receiving an electrical energy, which can be characterized by a first input voltage. The apparatus includes a control component that is configured to generate a first control signal based on at least information associated with the first input voltage. The apparatus additionally includes an output terminal for sending the first control signal. Moreover, the apparatus includes a timing component that is coupled to the control component. The control component is configured to process at least information associated with a first value of the first input voltage at a first time and a first reference voltage and to generate a second control signal.
US08106639B1
The invention relates to a switching regulator with an error amplifier circuit and a feed-forward circuit. The error amplifier circuit provides an error signal by amplifying the difference between a feedback signal and a reference signal. The feed-forward circuit level-shifts the output of the error amplifier based on the feed-forward input signal and a scaling factor. The resulting adjusted error signal includes both feed-back and feed-forward signal components. A PWM comparator is employed to compare the adjusted error signal to a ramp signal. Switched-mode regulation is performed based on the PWM comparator output. In addition, buck-boost mode transition smoothing circuitry may also be employed to smooth the buck-mode/boost-mode transition in a buck-boost switching regulator.
US08106637B2
A system includes a controllable voltage generator to generate a power supply voltage. The system also includes a system controller to determine a voltage level associated with the power supply voltage, and prompt the controllable voltage generator to generate the power supply voltage. The system includes a floating gate reference device to generate an absolute voltage reference based, at least in part, on the voltage level associated with the power supply voltage. The system can also include analog circuitry to perform one or more electrical operations responsive to the absolute voltage reference from the floating gate reference device.
US08106623B2
The present disclosure is an energy-efficient rapid battery charger, using inductive windings rather than transformer to charge a battery. The apparatus operates with an AC power source rectifying a high voltage DC output or AC source transformed to a low DC voltage output. The control driver frequencies vary from several hundred Hz to thousand of Hz. A capacitor, inductor, and power line are arranged in a series parallel combination tank circuit that operates over the on and off time of a complete cycle. During on-time, the inductor is charged with electro-magnetic power. During off-time, the electro-magnetic power in the inductor discharges into the battery.
US08106607B2
A system involves a plurality of RF-enabled occupancy detectors. Each occupancy detector communicates with and controls an associated plurality of RF-enabled fluorescent lamp starter units. A network master has an RF transceiver used to communicate with the occupancy detectors using a first protocol, thereby retrieving status information from the starter units. The network master also has a second RF transceiver for communicating directly with a cellular telephone using a second protocol. A user can use the cellular telephone to control and interact with the lighting system through the network master, and/or to retrieve status information from the network master. The network master automatically generates and sends email alerts to the user by sending the alerts to an email server. The email server forwards the emails to the cellular telephone via a cellular telephone network. Alerts may, for example, indicate a low battery voltage condition or that a lamp needs replacement.
US08106605B2
An exemplary backlight control circuit includes a pulse width modulation integrated circuit (PWM IC) having a power input terminal, a power source capable of outputting an operation voltage, and a switching circuit connected between the power source and the PWM IC to control if the operation voltage is provided to the power input terminal.
US08106604B2
A light emitting diode (LED) system implements a LED driver to drive a set of one or more LED strings. The LED driver includes a voltage source to provide an adjustable output voltage to a head end of each LED string of the set for a first duration and a second duration following the first duration. The LED driver further includes a feedback controller to control the voltage source to adjust the output voltage for the second duration based on a digital code value generated from a minimum tail voltage of one or more tail voltages of the set at a sample point of the first duration. The LED driver further includes a power controller to temporarily enable one or more components of the feedback controller for a sample period of the first duration, the sample period comprising the sample point.
US08106601B2
An LED illuminant driving circuit and an automatic brightness compensation method thereof are provided herein. The automatic brightness compensation method includes: providing a target value; detecting an operation period of a pulse of an output of the LED illuminant driving circuit, the pulse is adapted to an LED illuminant for making the light emitting; deciding a peak value according to the target value and the operation period; and setting a peak level of the pulse according to the peak value. The LED illuminant driving circuit and the automatic brightness compensation method thereof provides a stable average current/voltage to the LED illuminant and avoids brightness variations of the light emitting.
US08106600B1
A light-weight, portable photocuring device possesses a single multi-wavelength light emitting diode (LED). The single LED backed with a heat sink is driven by a driving circuit and controlled by a timing circuit. A temperature monitor can be included in a closed loop to feed back and control the driver. A multi-plexing device regulates the current to individual ports on the LED effecting the dies allowing the overall wavelength and intensity of the emitted light by the apparatus to be controlled. Lenses and/or light guides in the device act to further direct the light.
US08106598B1
Method and apparatus for assuring use of a fluorescent or similar high efficiency lamp in a screw base socket, the invention provides a circuit containing a screw base socket and an associated thermal sensing unit capable of interrupting power to the circuit on sensing of heat such as is generated by an incandescent or similar low efficiency lamp when mounted in the screw base socket. Practice of the method permits use of only fluorescent or similar lamping such as is incapable of sufficient heat generation to interrupt power to the circuit, the methodology of the invention preventing use of incandescent or similar energy inefficient lamping. The method and apparatus are particularly useful in the lamping of recessed downlighting fixtures.
US08106589B2
A direct-current high-voltage discharge bulb includes a ceramic arc tube body having a discharge emission chamber at a middle portion in a longitudinal direction thereof, a light-emitting substance which is sealed inside the discharge emission chamber together with a starting rare gas, and an anode and a cathode which are disposed so as to face each other inside the discharge emission chamber. An inside diameter of the ceramic arc tube body where the discharge emission chamber is defined is made to gradually decrease from the anode side to the cathode side.
US08106585B2
A manufacturing method of a high-pressure mercury lamp includes an electric field application step in which an electric field is applied to at least a light emission part (4) with the high-pressure mercury lamp being kept at a high temperature. This can reduce impurities such as hydrogen and alkali metals in a discharge space (8) and glass forming the light emission part (4). As a consequence, blackening and devitrification of the high-pressure mercury lamp while the lamp is lit can be reduced.
US08106580B2
The invention teaches electrospun light-emitting fibers made from ionic transition metal complexes (“iTMCs”) such as [Ru(bpy)3]2+(PF6.)2]/PEO mixtures with dimensions in the 10.0 nm to 5.0 micron range and capable of highly localized light emission at low operating voltages such as 3-4 V with turn-on voltages approaching the band-gap limit of the organic semiconductor that may be used as point source light emitters on a chip.
US08106579B2
A semiconductor light emitting device includes: a semiconductor light emitting element; a first phosphor which absorbs light emitted from the semiconductor light emitting element and emits first wavelength-converted light; and a second phosphor which absorbs light emitted from the semiconductor light emitting element and emits second wavelength-converted light. The first phosphor has a first excitation spectrum region where excitation intensity increases with increasing wavelength around a peak wavelength of the semiconductor light emitting element. The second phosphor has a second excitation spectrum region where excitation intensity is flat or decreases with respect to increasing wavelength around the peak wavelength of the semiconductor light emitting element.
US08106575B2
An electron emission device in an electron beam apparatus includes an insulating member having a recess on a surface thereof, a gate, and a cathode opposed to the gate via the recess. The recess has a depression formed in a surface of the recess.
US08106567B2
A switched mode power supply is provided. The switched mode power supply includes a transformer, which includes at least one primary winding connected to a DC voltage via a switching element and a secondary winding connected to a load via a rectifier circuit including at least one diode, and at least one piezoelectric fan which generates an air flow at the transformer and/or at the switching element and/or at the diode. The air flow produced can be guided in a targeted manner onto the components to be cooled, with the air flow remaining low and therefore, no contamination by air particles arises.
US08106561B2
A laminated core 10 including a plurality of segment core sheets 13 spirally wound and laminated in layers while connecting portions 12 connecting the adjacent segment core sheets 13 are bent, ends of the segment core sheets 13 are aligned with each other and the connecting portions 12 in the adjacent layers are circumferentially displaced relative to each other, the connecting portions 12 located in outer peripheral areas 11 of the segment core sheets 13, the laminated core 10 comprising: a concave cutout 22 formed on a radially outward side of the connecting portion 12, the concave cutout 22 accommodating a radially expanded part 21 within an outer circle of the laminated core 10, the radially expanded part 21 formed in the connecting portion 12 radially outward at the bending of the connecting portion 12; an interior cutout 23 formed on a radially inward side of the connecting portion 12, the interior cutout 23 defining a bent position of the connecting portion 12; and depressed receptacles 16, 17 respectively formed on a top side and a bottom side of a radially outward area of the segment core sheet 13 except for the connecting portions 12, the depressed receptacles 16, 17 each receiving a thickness-direction expanded part 15 formed in the connecting portion 12 in a thickness direction thereof at the bending of the connecting portion 12.
US08106543B2
A solar generator distributively performing maximum power point tracking (MPPT) has a plurality of solar cell modules formed by electrically connecting multiple solar cells, and a power conversion and transmission unit electrically connected with two power output terminals of the solar cell module. Each of the solar cells has a solar chip having two DC power output terminals and an MPPT unit having two power input terminals electrically connected with the two DC power output terminals, and two power output terminals. The solar generator performs MPPT associated with each solar cell, thereby ensuring the output power of the entire system a maximum power. When performing MPPT in a conventional inverter, maximum power of each solar cell is effectively acquired.
US08106541B1
An electrical power strip with multiple outlets capable of being controlled by a wireless remote controller is herein disclosed. The handheld wireless controller is used to control the operation of the power strip via a radio frequency (RF). As such, the power strip is particularly advantageous for use under desks, behind shelves and in otherwise inaccessible locations, as the user can turn the entire power strip on and off without reaching it. Additionally, individual bypass switches are provided for each receptacle to turn it on permanently.
US08106528B2
A horizontal axis wind turbine with rotatable tower including nacelle and blades. The tower, the blades, and the nacelle are rotatable by following the shift of wind direction so as to align the blades to be facing with the wind direction for enhancing performances thereof. Also can eliminate the gearbox, as compared to the conventional horizontal axis wind turbine that the nacelle is not completely fixed with tower, the present invention is easy to manufacture with reduced costs.
US08106505B2
An assembly includes a chip including an integrated circuit, a casing including an integrated circuit and having an upper portion formed on a side of the chip and lower portion formed on another side of the chip, plural through-wafer vias (TWVs) for electrically connecting the integrated circuit of the chip and the integrated circuit of the casing, and a card connected to the casing for electrically connecting the casing to a system board.
US08106500B2
A stackable integrated circuit package system includes: a substrate having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the substrate having a cavity provided therein; a first integrated circuit die in the cavity with a first interconnect extending out from the cavity without connection and a second interconnect connected to the first side; a first mold compound to cover the first integrated circuit die, the second interconnect, and a portion of the first interconnect; a second integrated circuit die mounted to the first integrated circuit die with a third interconnect connected to the second side; a second mold compound to cover the second integrated circuit die and the third interconnect; and external interconnects, not encapsulated by the second encapsulant, mounted on the second side.
US08106493B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the use of stamping to form features on a lead frame of a semiconductor device package. In one embodiment, portions of the lead frame such as pins are moved out of the horizontal plane of a diepad by stamping. In certain embodiments, indentations or a complex cross-sectional profile, such as chamfered, may be imparted to portions of the pins and/or diepad by stamping. The complexity offered by such a stamped cross-sectional profile serves to enhance mechanical interlocking of the lead frame within the plastic molding of the package body. Other techniques such as selective electroplating and/or formation of a brown oxide guard band to limit spreading of adhesive material during die attach, may be employed alone or in combination to facilitate fabrication of a package having such stamped features.
