US08225630B1
A dual-function padlock includes a lock body, a numeral detent unit, a U-shaped hook, a hook member, a numeral unlocking member, and a lock core unit, providing a simple configuration. By an operation portion of a numeral unlocking member, the padlock can be unlocked by using numerals and can be conveniently locked without the need to match correct numerals.
US08225629B2
A lock assembly including a body and at least one locking member. An actuator mechanism within the body is moveable between locked and unlocked positions. The actuator mechanism may be actuated by either a key lock cylinder or an electronic actuator. The lock assembly may also include a memory configured to store user identification information.
US08225627B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new method for reducing the diameter of a bubble existing in a glass plate. Specifically, the present invention provides a method for reducing the diameter of a bubble existing in a glass plate, which comprises irradiating the vicinity of the bubble existing in the glass plate with a light beam emitted from a light source, to raise the temperature of the glass in the vicinity of the bubble to at least the melting point of the glass to reduce the maximum diameter of the bubble.
US08225625B2
Charm (1) for a chain (3) and/or ribbon and/or belt in the form of a necklace, a bracelet or the like, characterized in that this charm (1) is provided with a time-rendering device (2).
US08225624B2
A compressor (20) is provided with compression mechanisms (61, 62) to have four compression chambers (61, 62, 63, 64) in total. In the compressor (20), the first compression chamber (61) and the second compression chamber (62) differ in the phase of capacity changing cycle from each other by 180° and the third compression chamber (63) and the fourth compression chamber (64) also differ in the phase of capacity changing cycle from each other by 180°. In a cylinder nonoperating mode, refrigerant is compressed in a single stage in each of the first compression chamber (61) and the second compression chamber (62) while the refrigerant compression operation is halted in the third compression chamber (63) and the fourth compression chamber (64). In a two-stage compression mode, refrigerant compressed in a single stage in each of the first compression chamber (61) and the second compression chamber (62) is further compressed in the third compression chamber (63) and the fourth compression chamber (64).
US08225623B2
To obtain an air conditioner having a lower-noise centrifugal fan capable of improving product reliability during transportation and execution properties of installation, with reduced packaging materials in favor of environment. The shape of a blade is formed so that when a blade edge positioned on the downstream side of the blowing direction is designated as a blade rear-edge, the centrifugal fan has a relationship of the outer diameter of the side plate>the outer diameter of the blade rear-edge on the side of a side plate>the outer diameter of the blade rear-edge on the side of a main plate≧the outer diameter of the main plate, and the blade rear-edge is located inside of a straight line connecting a connection point between the blade rear-edge and the main plate to a connection point between the blade rear-edge and the side plate relative to the rotation axis of the fan, and the distance between the blade rear edge and the rotation axis increases toward the side plate from the main plate.
US08225618B2
A method and apparatus for recovering fluids in various states from a system includes a motor that is configured to engage a compressor in a first direction and engage a compressor in a second direction depending on the fluids contained therein.
US08225609B2
A system [500] for producing solar energy at a desired temperature and pressure range includes a primary energy source [501] that is used in a Clausius Rankine cycle, with the primary energy source connected to and proximate to a plurality of solar collectors [520]. More particularly, at least one steam storage tank [501] feeds the expansion step of the Clausius Rankine cycle. This enables the system [500] to reliably supply energy during times when the solar collectors receive little or no radiation. According to one aspect of the invention, the solar collectors [520] reside on an artificial island [510a, 510b, 510c], preferably sea-based, or offshore, so that the steam storage tank [501a, 501b, 501c] can be located well below sea level. This enables the use of compressive forces from the sea water to counteract the outwardly directed pressure caused by the steam contained in the steam storage tank [501a, 501b, 501c]. Moreover, this storage tank [501c] may have a dual-walled structure [501d, 501e], for insulation purposes, and may be operatively connected to a sea level condenser [501i] to produce sweet water. Still further, steam from the steam storage tank [501] can be used to drive one or more absorption chiller devices housed within an absorption chiller unit [530a] that is operatively connected to an air conditioning system [530b]. And these structures can be located on the roof of a building [530] so as to supply air conditioning to the building [530].
US08225602B2
A urea solution injection system and an injector with which urea solution or other exhaust treatment liquid from a source tank can be injected as an atomized spray into an exhaust pipe. A metering pump with integrated injection nozzle are contained in a common housing mounted directly to the exhaust pipe, thereby eliminating the separate electric motor driven pump, line between pump, and injector in conventional systems.
US08225596B2
In an internal combustion engine, a urea adsorption type selective reduction catalyst is arranged in an engine exhaust passage. By feeding urea from a urea feed valve into the exhaust gas flowing into this selective reduction catalyst, the NOx included in the exhaust gas is reduced in the selective reduction catalyst. TO suppress the generation of hydrogen cyanide, an HC adsorption catalyst for adsorption of the HC in the exhaust gas is arranged in the engine exhaust passage upstream of the selective reduction catalyst.
US08225592B1
A jet engine noise suppression system uses a plurality of microjets that are located on a frame downstream of the exhaust port of a jet engine. Each microjet issues a microjet flow, either liquid or gas, directed at the main jet flow issued by the engine. The mass of the combined microjet flow is substantially smaller than the mass of the jet engine flow. The angle of at which each microjet issues its flow may be variable. The microjets may be located on a pop-up head of a blast deflector or on a upstanding rack.
US08225590B2
A harvesting machine includes a harvesting header with a header frame, a flexible cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame along the length thereof and configured to cut a crop, a plurality of laterally spaced apart support arms, and a conveyor assembly positioned behind the cutterbar assembly and operable to receive severed crop material from the cutterbar assembly. The support arms are pivotally coupled to the frame for swinging movement about a laterally extending axis so that the flexible cutterbar assembly is operable to flex along the length thereof in response to changes in terrain as the header is advanced. The cutterbar drive includes a forward gearbox drivingly connected to the cutterbar assembly and supported on an outer support arm.
US08225589B2
A crop harvesting header includes a cutter bar mounted on a frame carrying a plurality of generally horizontal cutter disks. The cutter bar includes a first longitudinally extending hollow gear case and a second longitudinally extending hollow gear case divided at a position along the length of the cutter bar so as to form first and second separate sections. Each gear case includes a gear train of spur gears to drive the cutter disks. On each section the outermost disk is connected to an upstanding drive shaft with a right angle gear box connected to an upper end with a drive transfer shaft connecting the first and second gear boxes, an input hydraulic drive motor to the first gear box and an output shaft and the second gear box for driving the conditioner.
US08225586B2
A packaging machine includes a clamping arrangement, composed of a series of clamps designed to grip and release a web of flexible material, and which are coupled to a belt that is advanced along a predetermined path to advance the web of flexible through the machine. The belt is made up of side-by-side belt portions that are spliced together in axially spaced locations by the clamps, to withstand the forces and stresses placed thereon as the web material is advanced. Each clamp is formed of an upper jaw member and a lower jaw member that are pivotably interconnected together, in combination with a guide member the guides movement of the belt through the machine. The belts are independently driven by operation of a pair of motors, which are synchronously operated in order to advance the opposite edges of the web material at the same rate of speed through the machine.
US08225584B2
Provided are films wherein at least one layer of the film comprises a first polymer component and a second polymer component. The first polymer component comprises propylene-derived units and ethylene-derived units and/or a C4 to C20 alpha-olefin. The second polymer component comprises ethylene-derived units and a units derived from a co-polymerizable ethylenically unsaturated ester. The films are particularly useful in stretch hood applications.
US08225582B2
An automated pharmaceutical product packaging machine simultaneously fills a plurality of product package templates in parallel with desired pharmaceutical dosing requirements. The templates are subsequently positioned over a temporary storage template having cavities for receiving solid pharmaceutical doses. A collector member is subsequently placed beneath the temporary storage template for receiving the pharmaceuticals which in turn is positioned over a solid pharmaceutical product package having a plurality of cavities which correspond to openings on the templates and wherein each of the templates fills a pharmaceutical package.
US08225572B2
The present invention is a wall panel assembly for securing a protective and/or decorative panel to a wall, such as the exterior wall of a building. The panel includes a rail and channel arrangement along each edge of the panel designed to slideably engage panel clips having a cooperative guide rail and channel. The clips are used to secure the panel to a wall using common fasteners, such as screws.
US08225571B2
A device for fastening first and second structural members, typically decking joists and planks has a generally planar base plate with first and second ends and a thickness. A first vertical tab is integral with, and bent upwardly along a first bend line from an interior portion of the base plate. The bend occurs in a first direction to form a first interior angle between the first vertical tab and the second end of the base plate. A first fastener-receiving hole is positioned in the first vertical tab. A second fastener-receiving hole is positioned in the base plate between the first bend line and the second end. The first interior angle is in the range of about 85 to 90° along the first bend line. The base plate is generally trapezoidal, with a width that decreases from the first end to the second end.
US08225569B2
A foam filling member that can hold a foam sheet in a looped shape stably, without increasing the number of components, to provide improved vibration suppression and sound insulation. The strip-like foam sheet is formed in a looped shape by bending round it, so that both end portions of the foam sheet are overlapped with each other in a thickness direction thereof to form an overlapped portion therein. Then, insertion shafts of a clip are inserted through the overlapped portion, so that the overlapped portion is held in sandwich relation between a base portion and a head portion to form a foam filling member. Then, a supporting portion of the fixing portion of the clip is inserted in a fixing hole of an inner panel and fixed to the inner panel. After the inner panel and an outer panel are welded, the foam filling member is foamed, cross-linked, and cured by heating in a drying line process at the baking finish, to thereby produce the foam, whereby the interior space of the pillar is filled up with the foam, leaving no space therein.
US08225567B1
A siding-plus-backer paneling unit that may provide a valley in the backer for improved adhesion strength, a ridge on another side of the backer for enabling ventilation, and a recess in an end of the backer for improved mating of adjacent paneling units.
US08225560B2
The present invention provides a skylight frame design that is adapted to receive at least two panels of glass. The skylight frame comprises a stepped frame section that includes a lower step surface and an upper step surface. The lower step surface is adapted to receive a first glass panel so that a section of the first glass panel lies flush against the lower step surface. Similarly, the upper step surface is adapted to receive a second glass panel so that the second glass panel lies flush against the upper step surface. The skylight frame design of the invention is either incorporated into a skylight frame that may be attached to a curb unit on a roof or it may be an integral part of a skylight frame-curb assembly that also contains a curb section. In another embodiment of the invention, a skylight frame design which directly incorporates one or more panels of glass during molding is provided.
US08225552B2
A sliding door slides along the side of a vehicle. An electric drive unit is disposed on a floor of the vehicle and a lower guide rail is disposed under the floor. A lower roller bracket coupled to the sliding door moves along the lower guide rail back and forth. A door-opening outer tube mounted to the sliding door extends from the electric drive unit to a rear wire guide at the rear end of the lower guide rail. A door-closing outer tube extends from the electric drive unit to a front wire guide at the front end of the lower guide rail. A door-opening wire extends through the door-opening outer tube from the electric drive unit to the lower roller bracket. A door-closing wire extends through the door-closing outer tube from the electric drive unit to the lower roller bracket.
US08225547B2
Vine plants are layered along a row of vine plants supported in growing media in a vine crop by a vine planet supporting system suspended from an overhead building structure locating the vine crop therein. The system includes a track extending in a longitudinal direction along the row of vine plants spaced above the growing media. A spool body supporting a string wound thereon is associated with each vine plant to support the vine plant extending along the string. A carrier body slidable along the track supports each spool body on the track. The spool bodies are coupled to the track such that the spool bodies are each arranged to unwind the string therefrom responsive to displacement of the spool body with the respective carrier body in the direction of the row of vine plants.
US08225546B2
To realize a root-preventing sheet with outstanding shape maintaining properties while being thin and light that even when affixed has no wrinkles, is difficult to tear, has excellent applicability, durability and adhesiveness and demonstrates definite root-preventing effects at low cost. The above problem is resolved by realizing a root-preventing layer structure set up on the construction surface of the soil layer that the plant is planted in and which prevents extrusion into the outer part of the soil layer of the plant root comprising: a resin film having the strength to be able to prevent extrusion of the plant root affixed to the construction surface; and an adhesive layer formed on the back face of the resin film, wherein a cover tape, which has an adhesive layer on the back face and has enough strength to be able to prevent extrusion of the plant root, is affixed to mutually abutting or overlapping resin film parts of the root-preventing layer to prevent extrusion of the plant root, and the thickness of the adhesive layer of the cover tape is formed to be smaller than the diameter of the extruding tip of the plant root.
US08225543B2
Devices, systems and methods of canting firearms such as rifles relative to fore grip having extendable and expanded legs. One version allows for a rocking and canting of the firearm by pivotally attaching an upper portion of the expanded legs. Another version allows for a separate canting member to be clamped to both the upper portion of a vertical fore grip and to the lower mounting rail of the firearm. The canting member has portions that cant (move to the left or to the right) relative to one another. An operator can cant the firearm in a free-state or to fixed positions as desired.
US08225540B2
A wristband that can be attached comfortably to wrists or ankles of various sizes by adjusting a band length. The wristband includes: a display portion, a band portion in a first end portion of the wristband as an extension from one side of the display portion; the first end portion includes band holes, and is wrapped around a wrist or the like; a setting portion formed in the other end portion as an extension from the other side of the display portion, includes a setting hole, and is overlapped with the band portion to attach the wristband in loop form. Band hole displays are printed beside the band holes in positions corresponding to the respective band holes. Band hole displays constituted by the same sequence of numbers as the band hole displays are provided beside the band holes, and boundary marks indicating the application range of the corresponding band hole display are provided in a length measurement portion at identical intervals to the band holes.
US08225537B2
Apparatus by which screw-in and self digging burial containers may be picked up, maneuvered into a desired position and pressed, rotated and or agitated for the purpose of interring such burial containers at nearly any angle into earth, sand, snow or other receiving material on dry land, wet land or under water.
US08225536B2
A removable cleat for footwear. The cleat includes a disc with opposing faces. A shoe coupling element is attached to one face of the disc. The other disc face supports a cushioning layer. Traction elements are supported by the cushioning layer. When a user steps on a surface wearing a shoe outfitted with these cleats, the resilience of the cushioning layer at once both lessens the impact of the traction elements on the ground surface and lessens the reaction force on the user's foot transmitted through the shoe's outsole. The user's comfort is thereby enhanced.
US08225534B2
An article of footwear is disclosed that includes an upper and a sole structure secured to the upper. The sole structure may include a flexible arch support adapted to provide support for a user's arch while permitting the arch to flex away from the user's foot. The flexible arch support may include a plurality of articulatable segments that, from a resting position, can rotate with respect to each other away from the user's foot, while resisting articulation in an opposite direction. The upper may include articulatable straps that secure the article of footwear to the user's foot while providing flexibility for foot bends or other movements.
US08225532B2
A shoe insert for adjusting the fit of a shoe on a person's foot, and the combination of such insert and a shoe with elements providing for removable securement of the insert within the shoe. The shoe insert may be formed from a stable, resilient, and biodegradable material such as a molded mixture of polyurethane and cork, and may be removably secured within the shoe via a cooperating slot and rail system to prevent slippage of the insert within the shoe. The shoe or insert or both may be contoured to provide a custom anatomical fit to the person's foot.
US08225515B2
A chainsaw guide bar adapted for carving and shaping a workpiece. In one embodiment, a guide bar includes a mounting end, a distal cutting end, and an intermediate portion offset from the longitudinal axis defined the mounting end. The guide bar may further include an idler sprocket mechanism operable to keep the saw chain engaged with the outer peripheral edge of the guide bar. In other embodiments, the guide bar includes an axially elongated recess providing an unsupported span of chain which is movable between undeflected and deflected positions when carving a workpiece.
US08225509B2
A method for making a robot pivot arm assembly includes forming from a rigid, machinable material a circular disk, and forming a circular aperture through the center of the disk. An outer bearing track is formed integrally in the inside surface which defines the aperture, and the apertured disk is positioned in a machining device with a fixturing portion that engages the outer bearing track. An integral outer race, an arm and a gear segment with teeth are then machined into the disk to form the outer portion of the pivot arm assembly. An inner race with an inner bearing track is positioned inside the integral outer race, and rolling bearing elements are inserted into the first and second bearing tracks.
US08225500B2
A process to make a connector is enclosed. The claimed embodiment comprises the following steps. First, design an insulating substrate using a customer specification. Second, program a Computer Numerical Control machine tool to form holes in the insulating substrate according to the design made in step one. Third, program a computer controlled dispensing machine tool to dispense conductive polymer into each hole formed in step 2. Fourth, form holes in the insulating substrate using the programmed Computer Numerical Control machine tool. Fifth, place a pin in each hole. Sixth, using a computer controlled automated dispensing machine, dispense electrically conductive polymer into each hole around the pin. And, finally, cure the polymer to hold the pin in place.
US08225495B2
A localizing unit for an X-ray diagnostic system covered with a sterile drape is provided. In one embodiment, the localizing unit can be sterilized and has an adapter, which includes a mechanism for puncturing the sterile drape and a mechanism for temporarily securing the sterile drape on a housing of the X-ray diagnostic system. The adapter may be detachably held in predetermined holders on the housing of the X-ray diagnostic system and may be positioned on the housing in a reproducible manner. In some embodiments, the mechanism for temporarily securing the sterile drape on the housing includes an elastically deformable, surrounding seal, which upon positioning the adapter, produces a force on the sterile drape in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the housing.
US08225491B2
A coil manufacturing method for manufacturing a wave wound coil in a substantially cylindrical shape by shaping a linear conductor with a cross-sectional shape having directionality, includes: transferring a linear wave conductor shaped in a substantially rectangular waveform, and having straight side portions extending in a wave width direction, one-side connecting portions sequentially connecting every other pair of adjacent side portions at ends on a one wave width direction side, and other-side connecting portions sequentially connecting pairs of adjacent side portions that are not connected by the one-side connecting portions at ends on an other wave width direction side; first bending the one-side and second bending the other-side connection portions so that the side portions are arranged along a coil circumferential direction, and directions of cross-sectional shapes of the side portions are in a constant direction with respect to a coil radial direction; and winding the bent wave conductor on a bobbin.
US08225481B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for forming a diffusion bonded composite structure. The composite structure includes at least one internal void or feature. Surfaces to be bonded are cleaned and prepared for bonding. The exposed joints of the composite structure where the surfaces interface are sealed. The composite structure is placed in hot isostatic process furnace. The furnace is pressurized to a low pressure below 1500 pounds per square inch that forces the surfaces to be bonded in intimate contact with one another. The composite structure is heated to promote diffusion bonding at the interface of surfaces in contact with one another.
US08225477B2
A fairing removal tool and a method of using the tool provide for an improved method of removing a fairing from an engine inlet case. The fairing removal tool employs a hook and notch to engage the fairing and release the bonds joining the fairing to an inner structural element of the inlet case.
US08225474B2
A crimping fixture for crimping a stent onto a balloon of a catheter is disclosed. The crimping fixture includes a flexible elastomeric body having a crimping lumen and one or more inflation lumens extending through the flexible elastomeric body. The flexible elastomeric body is elastically stretched such that a pre-crimped stent may be placed in the crimping lumen. The inflation lumens are then pressurized with a fluid to impart an inward crimping force onto the stent to crimp the stent to a balloon.
US08225462B2
An apparatus for temporarily repairing a separated sheet of a sailing vessel, including a first inner sleeve being formed by a first pair of thin bands and having a plurality of teeth facing a first direction, a second inner sleeve being formed by a second pair of thin bands and having a plurality of teeth facing a second direction, and an outer sleeve bonded to the first and second inner sleeves, wherein the sleeves have the ability to expand when placed under a compression force in the lateral direction and contract when placed under a tension force in the lateral direction, thereby causing the teeth to bite into ends of the separated sheet when under tension.
US08225448B2
Disclosed is a lint roller having a handle, and first roll of tape and a second roll of tape. The handle has a support having a first portion and a second portion. The first roll of tape has an outwardly facing surface with adhesive and rotatable about the first portion of the support. The second roll of tape has an outwardly facing surface with adhesive and rotatable about the second portion of the support.
US08225447B2
An apparatus for treating a dovetail in a dynamoelectric machine is provided. The apparatus includes a housing, at least two pads for treating, cleaning or polishing a dovetail surface, at least a pair of guide wheels for aligning the apparatus within the dovetail, and at least one motor connected to the pads. The motor is operatively configured to rotate the pads. The dovetail surface is treated, cleaned or polished by sliding the apparatus along the dovetail and activating the motor to rotate the pads.
US08225444B2
The invention relates to an inflatable device comprising an electromechanical device and a self-sealing valve, and in particular, to any inflatable device that includes the assembly. In some embodiments, at least a portion of a fluid controller is coupled to and supported by an inflatable bladder of an inflatable device. The fluid controller may be located in a compartment, and the compartment may be within the profile of the bladder. The inflatable device may be a single bladder mattress or a dual bladder mattress. The inflatable device may include a heater or an articulation device. The inflatable device may be multi-positional device or have a storage compartment. The inflatable device may be configurable using one or more members such as a membrane or fasteners.
US08225428B2
A protective hood for use by a firefighter or other emergency worker. The hood includes a crown portion to cover the top of a wearer's head, the crown portion being made from a material having a primary stretch direction oriented to extend in a transverse, ear-to-ear, direction across the top of a wearer's head; and a lower portion that extends downward from the crown portion, the lower portion being made from a material having a primary stretch direction oriented to extend in a circumferential direction around a wearer's head.
US08225425B2
A noisemaking device comprising a first and second holders in the form of, for example, a pair of gloves, the palm region of each glove is provided with a domed shaped hollow member formed of a rigid, sound transmitting material and which extends upwardly from the surface of the holder so that when the hollow members are caused to be impacted against each other during hand clapping, a distinct sound is generated.
US08225424B2
A high visibility safety vest for use with an air/oxygen bottle such as used with a SCBA. The vest includes a torso covering portion of high visibility material. The torso covering portion includes a back panel with an air/oxygen bottle receiving cover of the high visibility material formed in the back panel to extend therefrom and cover an air/oxygen bottle of a SCBA worn by a wearer of the vest.
US08225422B1
Clothing adapted for a child to wear while traveling in a car seat. The clothing includes sleeves, legs, and a hood connected to a back panel to form an always-open area over the child's chest. The always-open area avoids trapping material of the clothing between seat belt straps and the child's chest. Certain embodiments include a blanket that is sized to form a covering over the always-open area. Desirably, the blanket is optionally removable, to permit its use for other functions. When present, it is currently preferred for an edge of the blanket to be affixed to a visor of the hood. The distal ends of sleeves and legs in certain embodiments are permanently closed. In other cases, the ends may be optionally closed, or structured to remain open-ended. The clothing may include a plurality of layers to provide variable insulation.
US08225420B2
A helmet heat shield affixed over the top of a helmet of the type worn by riders of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, bicycles, and other similar open-air vehicles. The inner surface of the heat shield conforms to the contour and shape of the upper portion of the helmet and further, provides an air gap between the helmet and the heat shield. A radiant barrier attached to the inner surface of the heat shield assists in dissipating heat away from the helmet surface. The air gap also permits air to circulate through freely, thereby significantly reducing the heat transfer to the exterior surface and interior of the helmet. The heat shield may be manufactured as an integral part of the helmet.
US08230517B2
A system includes a server equipped to generate a split encryption key having at least a first key portion and a second key portion, that is used by the server to encrypt at least a portion of a message. Additionally, the first key portion of the split encryption key is retained by the server, while the second key portion of the split encryption key is delivered to a sending client and is discarded from the server. The sending client in turn provides the second key portion to one or more recipients of the message to facilitate recipient access to the message.
US08230511B2
Described herein are techniques and apparatuses for scanning a computing device for malware and/or viruses. In various embodiments, a trusted operating environment, which may include a trusted operating system and/or a trusted antivirus tool, may be utilized with respect to a computing device. More particularly, the trusted operating system may be used to boot the computing device. Moreover, the trusted antivirus tool may search the computing device for malware definition updates (e.g., virus signature updates) and use the trusted operating system to scan the computing device for malware. In other embodiments, the trusted antivirus tool may scan the computing device and remove any viruses detected by the trusted antivirus tool. The trusted operating system may then reboot the computing device into a clean environment once any detected viruses are removed.
US08230510B1
Scanning of files for malicious codes may be performed by calculating a first hash value of a file in a client computer and providing the first hash value of the file to a remotely located server computer. The server computer may compare the first hash value of the file to first hash values of malicious code patterns to determine if the file is possibly infected with malicious code. A malicious code pattern having a first hash value that matches that of the file may be forwarded from the server computer to the client computer. In the client computer, a second hash value of the file may be calculated and compared against a second hash value of the malicious code pattern to determine if the file is infected with the malicious code.
US08230500B1
A computer-implemented method for detecting rootkits. The method may include identifying, from a control platform, a first directory listing. The first directory listing may be associated with a file system. The method may include identifying, from a target platform, a second directory listing. The second directory listing may be associated with the file system. The target platform and the control platform may be running concurrently on a computing device. The method may also include detecting a discrepancy between the first directory listing and the second directory listing and determining that the discrepancy is a result of the target platform being infected with a rootkit. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08230490B2
A system and method of authenticating a user in a secure computer system in which a client computer transmits to the secure computer system a request for a sign-on page, the computer system transmits to the client computer a prompt for a first user identifier, and in response to the prompt, the client computer transmits to the computer system a request including a first identifier, a second identifier stored in an object stored at the client computer and a plurality of request header attributes. The computer system includes a server software module that authenticates the first user identifier and the second user identifier, and compares the transmitted plurality of request header attributes with a plurality of request header attributes stored at the computer system and associated with the first and second user identifiers. If the first and second user identifiers are authenticated, and if the transmitted request header attributes match stored request header attributes, the server software module transmits a success message to the client computer to be viewed by the user, and the user is allowed to access the secure computer system. In one embodiment, each transmitted request header attribute is given a numerical weighted value and the comparison of request header attributes includes adding the assigned numerical values of matching attributes to arrive at a total value, then transmitting the success message to the client computer only if the total value of matching request header attributes is at least a certain predetermined numerical total.
US08230489B2
Systems and methods are provided for authentication by combining a Reverse Turing Test (RTT) with password-based user authentication protocols to provide improved resistance to brute force attacks. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for user authentication, the method including receiving a username/password pair associated with a user; requesting one or more responses to a first Reverse Turing Test (RTT); and granting access to the user if a valid response to the first RTT is received and the username/password pair is valid.
US08230483B2
According to an aspect of the invention, a management of each authentication subprocess assures the each authentication subprocess, and assurance contents can be verified by verification side, so that trustworthiness of the whole authentication process can be improved. An authentication system includes authentication entity devices which separately execute authentication subprocesses P1 and P2 and a verification device which verifies the executed contents of each of the authentication subprocesses P1 and P2. The entity device includes a confidential information management unit which manages confidential information, an authenticator generating unit which generates an authenticator using the confidential information, and a context generating unit which generates a specific context pursuant to a specific format from the authenticator and the executed contents.
US08230479B2
To address security that can arise in information systems, the present invention uses novel methods and/or systems to enhance security in information systems, using a new way to deploy selected security policies. Instead of trying to modify a whole binary file all at once to add in code to implement additional security policies, the current invention modifies the code in memory in a piecemeal, as-needed fashion.
US08230477B2
The present invention relates to methodologies for combining policy analysis and static analysis of code and thereafter determining whether the permissions granted by the policy to the code and to the subjects executing it are appropriate. In particular, this involves the verification that too many permissions have not been granted (wherein this would be a violation of the Principle of Least Privilege), and that the permissions being granted are sufficient to execute the code without run-time authorization failures, thus resulting in the failure of the program to execute.
US08230475B2
A content provider inserts at least one begin tag and at least one end tag into a broadcast program. The at least one begin tag and at least one end tag defines a video clip segment for the broadcast program. The content provider transmits the broadcast program including the at least one begin tag and the at least one end tag over a network to a digital video recorder (DVR). Upon the broadcast program ending, the content provider transmits a wrapper over the network to the DVR. The wrapper includes wrapper information comprising at least one of a sponsor advertisement, a trailer broadcast, a header broadcast, or a summary of one or more video clip segments.
US08230473B2
An apparatus and a method for reproducing a digital content using a network capable of accessing a remote digital programming via the network such as Internet are disclosed. In accordance with the apparatus and the method, a remote digital programming such as a video/audio stream and a menu data is downloaded via the network to provide a user with contents that is not included in a storage medium at a time of manufacturing thereof.
US08230470B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for a full duplex wideband communications system for a local (e.g. in-home) coaxial network. The system employs a Frequency-division duplex (FDD) scheme that allows identical wideband modems to communicate with each other. To achieve this, the wideband modems contain a duplexer and a switch that allows reversing the connection of the wideband transmitter and receiver to the duplexer. Each wideband modem includes a control modem that is used to control access to the wideband channels. A wideband transmitter, which may be included in a modem associated with a server set-top terminal (STT), transmits a video presentation to a wideband receiver, which may be included in a modem associated with a client STT.
US08230458B2
A method of providing video content commentary is disclosed that includes sending video content to a first set-top box device at a first time, where the first set-top box device is associated with a first subscriber. The method also includes receiving data corresponding to a comment submitted by the first subscriber. The comment relates to a particular portion of the video content. Further, the method includes sending the video content to a second set-top box device at a second time, where the second set-top box device is associated with a second subscriber. The video content sent to the second set-top box device includes a graphical representation of the comment.
US08230456B2
The present invention provides messaging capabilities in conjunction with functionality for viewing and interacting with a plurality of content items t in a television environment. According to one embodiment, a method for providing one or more content items to a user comprises setting a context for a client device operated by the user and retrieving one or more representations of the context of one or more buddies associated with the user as indicated in a user profile, the one or more buddies in a social network of the user. The one or more representations of the context of the one or more buddies are displayed on the client device in conjunction with the context of the client device. A representation of a context of a given buddy is selected from the one or more representations and the context of the user is changed to the context of the given buddy.
US08230451B2
A compliance interface is disclosed that takes in queries from applications which may want to know if they are compliant with associated polices stored on a computing system. The interface can then interpret these queries and provide notifications and instructions to the applications. Notifications may give notice of how a policy may impact an application, and instructions may tell an application how to behave in order to stay compliant with the policies. In one aspect, the interface exposes policies set forth by parents. Via a management control panel, parents can set or alter various policies, stored in a settings store, to protect children from contact with undesirable content. The interface interprets these policies to ensure that applications, such as those provided by third party vendors, are compliant with the wishes set forth in the parents' policies.
US08230450B2
A method for executing a software routine identified in a task object is provided. The method includes accessing a list of software routine identifiers associated with software routines that are executable on a computer server. The method further includes generating a task object generation command having at least a first software routine identifier, parameter data, and link task information and generating a second task object in response to the task object generation command. The second task object includes the first software routine identifier, the parameter data, and the link task information. The method further includes adding the second task object to a task execution queue on the computer server and executing the first software routine identified by the first software routine identifier in the second task object on the computer server to obtain at least a first result value, when the first flag value is a first predetermined value and the result parameter associated with the first task object corresponds to a second predetermined value.
US08230438B2
An optimization problem models the dynamic placement of applications on servers under two types of simultaneous resource requirements, those that are dependent on the loads placed on the applications and those that are independent. The demand (load) for applications changes over time and the goal is to satisfy all the demand while changing the solution (assignment of applications to servers) as little as possible.
US08230436B2
Coalescing schedules that use a resource to extend battery life. Each of the schedules is defined to execute at a recurrent activation time within a defined tolerance. After receiving notification of an event, the schedules are accessed to identify the schedules that may be executed early based on their activation time and tolerance. The identified schedules are aggregated for execution.
US08230435B2
Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for authenticating a processing system accessing a resource. An association of processing system identifiers with resources, including a first and second resources, is maintained. A request from a requesting processing system in a host is received for use of a first resource that provides access to a second resource, wherein the request is generated by processing system software and wherein the request further includes a submitted processing system identifier included in the request by host hardware in the host. A determination is made as to whether the submitted processing system identifier is one of the processing system identifiers associated with the first and second resources. The requesting processing system is provided access to the first resource that the processing system uses to access the second resource.
US08230425B2
Methods and arrangements of assigning tasks to processors are discussed. Embodiments include transformations, code, state machines or other logic to detect an attempt to execute an instruction of a task on a processor not supporting the instruction (non-supporting processor). The method may involve selecting a processor supporting the instruction (supporting physical processor). In many embodiments, the method may include storing data about the attempt to execute the instruction and, based upon the data, making another assignment of the task to a physical processor supporting the instruction. In some embodiments, the method may include representing the instruction set of a virtual processor as the union of the instruction sets of the physical processors comprising the virtual processor and assigning a task to the virtual processor based upon the representing.
US08230419B2
The present invention allows CPU utilization for a virtual machine (VM) to be captured from a perspective of a host. Specifically, under the present invention, a work request having a set (e.g., one or more) of jobs is received by a host and allocated to a virtual machine on a node. The work request is typically accompanied by an account identifier such as a multi-value billing code. Once the work request is allocated to a particular VM on the node, a “startacct” script is issued, and a first account record is created. Thereafter, the work request is processed and the CPU utilization needed to complete the set of jobs is monitored. Once the set of jobs is completed, an “endacct” script is issued and a second account record is created. Among other things, the second account record includes the monitored CPU utilization and the account identifier.
US08230414B1
A system, apparatus and a method are described for providing efficient software distribution and cache management on a plurality of client machines in a network. In one embodiment of the invention, a cache management software agent is installed on one or more client machines to monitor a status of software versions stored locally on the machines. The cache management software agent performs a check before uploading a matching version of a large software application from a network element in order to determine whether the upload is appropriate. In particular, the agent identifies whether a matching version of the application is already present on the client machine to see if the upload is necessary. If a matching version of the application is not resident on the machine, then the latest version of the large software application is uploaded to the client machine from the network element.
US08230407B2
An apparatus and method for accelerating Java translation are provided. The apparatus includes a lookup table which stores an lookup table having arrangements of bytecodes and native codes corresponding to the bytecodes, a decoder which generates pointer to the native code corresponding to the feed bytecode in the lookup table, a parameterized bytecode processing unit which detects parameterized bytecode among the feed bytecode, and generating pointer to native code required for constant embedding in the lookup table, a constant embedding unit which embeds constants into the native code with the pointer generated by the parameterized bytecode processing unit, and a native code buffer which stores the native code generated by the decoder or the constant embedding unit.
US08230401B2
A method for performing a regression test on a software application is proposed. The regression test involves the execution of a subset of selected test cases on the software application (among all the ones being available). In the proposed solution, the selection of the test cases to be regressed is performed according to an effectiveness-based criterion. For this purpose, an effectiveness index of each test case is calculated according to its results being obtained during previous executions of the test case; preferably, the effectiveness index is based on the frequency of negative results of the test case (and secondarily on their variability and recency). The test cases whose effectiveness indexes reach a predefined threshold are then selected for running the regression test (on the assumption that they should be more effective in detecting errors of the software application).
US08230398B2
Monitoring a software system based on a service oriented architecture (SOA). The method may involve system components communicating with each other via sending messages. The method may include receiving a monitoring message by a monitoring component where the monitoring message may be sent from a system component of the software system. The method may further include providing an ontology including at least one interpretation rule for the message by the monitoring component. The method may also include reacting of the monitoring component in accordance with the at least one interpretation rule.
US08230394B2
Data settings in a computer operating system are managed. The operating system includes sets of specific instructions (30-33), such as plugins, for managing configurations of software components (35) intended to run on the computer entity. A modification of settings required by an external program (20,21) involves a modification of configuration of the software components (35), through related plugins (30-33). The operating system is architected so as to include a repository (40,41) storing data of settings, and a main program (10) having access to the repository in read and write modes. Upon request from an external program for modifying settings, the main program (10) is adapted for transmitting the request to the plugins, receiving from at least one plugin a response including an information of modification of settings required by the external program, and, upon verification of the information, validating the modification of settings and updating related data in said repository.
US08230380B2
A mixed-height cell library for designing integrated circuits is provided. The mixed-height cell library includes a first plurality of cells having a first track height and a second plurality of cells having a second track height that are configured to be coupled to the first plurality of cells at respective power and ground rail lines. A method for mixed-height cell placement and optimization is also provided. The method comprises abutting cells of different track heights to form a plurality of rows of cells by coupling power and ground rails of the cells at a secondary layer that is different from a primary layer that includes active material and determining whether re-ordering cells within rows allows for further compaction of adjacent rows. The method further comprises re-ordering cells within rows so to allow for further compaction of adjacent rows. The method also includes the steps of splitting rows vertically to minimize the distance between the split rows.
US08230379B2
A design layout generating method for generating a design pattern of a semiconductor integrated circuit is disclosed. This method comprises modifying a first modification area extracted from a design layout by a first modifying method, and modifying a second modification area extracted from the design layout so as to include the first modification area by a second modifying method on the basis of a pattern modifying guideline calculated from at least a partial design layout in the second modification area.
US08230377B1
A computer-implemented method of globally placing a circuit design on a programmable integrated circuit (IC) includes dividing, by a placement system, the programmable IC into a grid comprising a plurality of cells, assigning each component of a selected component type of the circuit design to one of a plurality of control set groups according to a control set of the component, and calculating a force including a control set force that depends upon overlap of control sets within the plurality of cells. The method further can include applying the force to at least one selected component of the circuit design and assigning components of the circuit design to locations on the programmable IC by solving a set of linear equations that depend upon application of the force to the at least one selected component to create a global placement. The circuit design including the global placement can be output.
US08230375B2
An integrated circuit fabricated by a mask set including a mask to generate a metal pattern defined by CAD software, the metal pattern generation method including: reading a binary data set, the data points in the set uniquely matched to a plurality of fixed metal tabs; and selecting a metal tab from a first set of selectable metal tabs for a first data value, or a second set of selectable metal tabs for a second data value for each of the fixed metal tabs; wherein a first set metal tab and a second set metal tab couples each said fixed metal tab to first and second voltages respectively.
US08230372B2
A mechanism is provided for electrical yield enhancement retargeting of photolithographic layouts. Optical proximity correction is performed on a set of target patterns in order to produce a set of optical proximity correction mask shapes. A set of lithographic contours is generated for each of the set of optical proximity correction mask shapes. A determination is made of electrical yield sensitivities for at least one shape in a set of shapes in the set of target patterns. A determination is also made as to an amount and a direction of retargeting for each of the at least one shape in the set of shapes based on the electrical yield sensitivity of the shape. A new set of target patterns with retargeted edges is generated for each shape in the at least one shape based on the amount and the direction of retargeting.
US08230365B2
There is provided a technique which can contribute to the improvement of management efficiency of a document file. Metadata relating to a document as a management object are acquired, and the plural metadata are hierarchically displayed in a tree form based on respective attributes of the acquired plural metadata.
US08230363B2
Systems and methods are provided to facilitate corporate entity management. According to some embodiments, a user interface is provided including an entity selection area allowing selection of at least one corporate entity from a plurality of corporate entities, and a plurality of selectable elements, each of the selectable elements being selectable to cause presentation of an associated area, wherein an area associated with each of the plurality of selectable elements presents information relating to the at least one corporate entity and to the associated selectable element.
US08230361B2
A content feed aggregator displays an ordered list of content items, including a selected item and a set of other items. The selected item is displayed in an expanded format while the other items are simultaneously displayed in a compact format. At least one respective item in compact format is displayed above the selected item and at least one respective item in compact format displayed below the selected item. In response to a user action for selecting a second item in the displayed list, the ordered list of content items is redisplayed with the second item displayed in the expanded format and the other items, including the first item, displayed in the compact format.
US08230359B2
The system described herein facilitates multi-tasking in a computing environment. A focus area component defines a focus area within a display space—the focus area occupying a subset area of the display space area. A scaling component scales display objects as a function of proximity to the focus area, and a behavior modification component modifies respective behavior of the display objects as a function their location of the display space. Thus, and more particularly the subject invention provides for interaction technique(s) and user interface(s) in connection with managing display objects on a display surface.
US08230358B1
Some embodiments of the invention provide a method that defines movement in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a computer system. This method detects an interaction between a cursor and a first object in the GUI. Based on this interaction, the method moves a second object in the GUI. In some embodiments, the movement of the second object is a rotational movement within the GUI. In other embodiments, the second object's movement is a translation movement, such as a rectilinear translation movement or a curvilinear translation movement. Also, in some embodiments, the second object relates to a special effect that is applied to another object in the GUI. For instance, in some embodiments, the second object is a shadow of a third object in the GUI.
US08230357B2
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for visually processing instance data. A visual placeholder for a data instance is provided as part of the design experience. A runtime configurable metadata store is provided to maintain the mappings between types and designers. Thus, configurations can be altered at the runtime of the control, rather than a fixed set of potential templates being provided at design time. Item presenters render contained data instances of a type using a designer specified in the metadata store. Item presenters can be used when a data instance is exposed as a property on the containing type. As such, property values can be visually moved to and from other properties, potentially within multiple owning objects.
US08230349B2
The inventive system and method for enabling interactive collaboration among video surveillance operators is presented. The device has a message including an incident or meta data having a source identifier, a meta data composer, a transport layer, and a display device, such that the message is packaged using the meta data composer and transmitted using the transport layer to the display device. One embodiment facilitates sharing using a common console, and the other facilitates sharing to one or more operators; both embodiments use a common Meta Data messaging mechanism. Meta data refers to any surveillance related data that is worthy of sharing between operators. It includes, but is not necessarily limited to, salvo information, camera, incident related data, video device location details, etc.
US08230343B2
A system for utilizing metadata created either at a central location for shared use by connected users, or at each individual user's location, to enhance user's enjoyment of available broadcast programming content. A variety of mechanisms are employed for automatically and manually identifying and designating programming segments, associating descriptive metadata which the identified segments, distributing the metadata for use at client locations, and using the supplied metadata to selectively record and playback desired programming.
US08230340B2
A method and apparatus for displaying a content list are provided, which can display various content lists based on information on content being currently played through a user's simple manipulation. The method of displaying a content list includes receiving a user command, and displaying a content list belonging to a category set on the basis of information on content being currently played, in accordance with the received user command.
US08230334B2
A webpage presentation method for a mobile phone having a limited screen size is provided for efficiently presenting webpages. A webpage presentation of the present invention includes presenting a preset number of webpages including a current and previously visited webpages on a display screen in response to a zoom-out command input during a web browsing session, thereby facilitating search for interested information and improving usability of web browsing function of a handheld device.
US08230318B2
Methods, apparatus, computer program products and systems are provided for editing an image. One method includes receiving transformation data at a server including a uniform resource locator (URL) that includes an identification of an image and information defining a transformation to be applied to the image, and transmitting from the server to a client device a modified image after receiving the transformation data, the modified image having the uniform resource locator (URL) and being transformed in accordance with the information defining the transformation.
US08230317B2
An enhanced mechanism for providing data protection for variable length records utilizes high performance block storage metadata. In an embodiment, an emulated record that emulates a variable length record, such as a Count-Key-Data (CKD) record or an Extended-Count-Key-Data (ECKD) record, is generated by a Host Bus Adapter (HBA) of a mainframe system. The emulated record comprises a sequence of extended fixed-length blocks, each of which includes a data block and a footer. A confluence of the footers defines a high performance block storage metadata unit associated with the emulated record and includes a checksum that covers all data blocks and all footers of the entire emulated record. In one embodiment, the checksum is checked during transit of the emulated record between a HBA and a storage subsystem (e.g., by the HBA when the emulated record is received from the storage subsystem, and/or by a switch in the data transfer path), during a hardening step when writing the emulated record to a disk, and/or during a verification step when reading the emulated record from the disk.
US08230316B2
This invention relates generally to a packet recovery algorithm for real-time (live) multi-media communication over packet-switched networks, such as the Internet. Such multi-media communication includes video, audio, data or any combination thereof. More specifically, the invention comprises a forward error correction (FEC) algorithm that addresses both random and burst packet loss and errors, and that can be adjusted to tradeoff the recoverability of missing packets and the latency incurred. The transmitter calculates parity packets for the rows, columns and diagonals of a block of multi-media data packets using the exclusive or (XOR) operation and communicates the parity packets along with the multi-media data packets to the receiver. The receiver uses the parity packets to recover missing multi-media data packets in the block. The FEC algorithm is designed to be able to recover long bursts of consecutive missing data packets. If some parity packets are missing, they too can be recovered using an extra single parity packet, so that they can be used to recover other missing data packets. The invention applies to both one-way real-time streaming applications and two-way real-time interactive applications, and to both wired and wireless networks. The invention retains backwards compatibility with existing standards governing FEC for professional video over IP networks.
US08230313B2
In at least some disclosed embodiments, a system includes a Viterbi decoder and predecoding logic coupled to the Viterbi decoder. The predecoding logic decodes encoded data. The system further includes detection logic coupled to the predecoding logic. The detection logic tests decoded data, and the detection logic produces a binary result. The Viterbi decoder is enabled if the binary result is a first value, and the Viterbi decoder is disabled if the binary result is a second value.
US08230312B1
The present disclosure includes apparatus, systems and techniques relating to iterative decoder memory arrangement. In some implementations, an apparatus includes a memory module to communicate with an iterative code decoder. The memory module includes a single R memory component to store R data associated with a current codeword, and R data associated with a previous codeword. The memory module includes a Q memory component to store Q data associated with the current codeword, and Q data associated with the previous codeword. The memory module includes a channel detector memory component to store channel extrinsic information.
US08230308B2
The decoding apparatus includes an ACS unit to execute an add-compare-select operation on encoded received data, and an error detector to detect whether there is an error in decoded data calculated based on the executed add-compare-select operation, and if there is an error in the decoded data, the ACS unit additionally executes the add-compare-select operation on the received data.
US08230306B2
The present invention relates to channel decoding and provides ways and means for improved channel decoding of data frames. The frame has been channel encoded and transmitted to a receiver (3a). The frame includes a part (51, 53) with information that is unknown to the receiver and another part (54, 55) with information for which the receiver generates at least one data hypothesis predicting its information content. The receiver performs a hypothesis-based decoding (149) of the received encoded frame, wherein the at least one data hypothesis is used to improve a probability of successful decoding. The invention may advantageously be used to improve decoding of frames containing short control messages with fill bits, e.g. acknowledgement messages (17).
US08230277B2
Data storage control circuitry for controlling storage and retrieval of data in a data store in which data is stored in data blocks. A group data store stores data by grouping together blocks that have at least one faulty bit into groups of at least two blocks. For each group of blocks at least one of the blocks has a non-faulty bit for each of the bit locations in the blocks. A selector data store stores indicators for each group indicating which bits of the blocks within a group are the non-faulty bits. When storing data to a data block within a group, the data is stored in each of the blocks within the group. When retrieving data from a data block within a group, the data is read from respective bits of the blocks within the group as indicated by the indicators.
US08230269B2
Architecture for aggregating health alerts from a number of related components into a single aggregated health state that can be analyzed to isolate the component responsible for the fault condition. In a hierarchy of related components within various component groups in a computer system, a number of health indicators can indicate alerts occurring in one or more of the related components whereas the fault condition occurs in only one component upon which the other components depend. The health indicators of related components are aggregated into an aggregated health state for each component group. These aggregated health states are analyzed to identify the related component associated with a root cause of the alert condition for an affected component group.
US08230262B2
A method and apparatus are provided for determining the probability that one or more problems have occurred within a complex multi-host system. A probabilistic model representing the cause/effect relationships among potential system problems identifies the probability that a problem occurred in the system based at least on system measure states that are input into the probabilistic model. System measure states may be determined based on an aggregation of system measurement values taken periodically. Aggregating system measurement values may be performed over system measurement values that were taken during a recent time interval. A rolling count aggregation function may be used for this purpose. A rolling count function counts the number of system measurement values taken within the recent time interval that lie within a particular range of values. A system measure state may be determined based on whether the rolling count exceeds a threshold associated with the system measure.
US08230260B2
A method and system for performing parallel tasks in a computer system includes invoking a single-threaded operating environment in a computer, invoking under the single-threaded operating environment a first task to be performed by a first processor, invoking under the single-threaded operating environment a second task to be performed by a second processor, while the first task is still being performed, and receiving results from the first and second tasks.
US08230258B2
A system monitoring device retains hardware state information of a computer system and OS software state information of a hardware control instruction given by OS software and monitors and controls the entire computer system. When state change of the hardware state information and OS software state information is recognized, save information is stored in a non-volatile memory. When re-activation accompanying active replacement of the system monitoring device, which has failed, is recognized, the save information is read from the non-volatile memory, and the corresponding hardware state information and OS software state information before device failure is restored. The operating hardware is recognized according to save information, and the hardware state information generated for the recognized hardware during active replacement is restored. The operating OS software is recognized according to the save information, and the OS software state information generated for the recognized OS software during active replacement is restored.
US08230246B1
In general, this disclosure describes techniques for managing power consumption states of a computing device. In one example, a method includes detecting, using at least one sensor of a computing device comprising a plurality of components, at least one indication of user contact with at least one surface of the computing device, wherein the at least one indication of user contact conforms with a touch pattern. The method further includes in response to detecting the at least one indication of user contact with at least one surface of the computing device, modifying a power consumption state of the computing device, wherein which components of the computing device receive power is based on the power consumption state.
US08230235B2
In an automated data storage library, selective encryption for data stored or to be stored on removable media is provided. One or more encryption policies are established, each policy including a level of encryption one or more encryption keys and the identity of one or more data cartridges. The encryption policies are stored in a policy table and the encryption keys are stored in a secure key server. A host requests access to a specified data cartridge and the cartridge is transported from a storage shelf in the library to a storage drive. Based on the identity of the specified cartridge the corresponding encryption policy is selected from the table and the appropriate encryption key is obtained from the key server. The storage drive encrypts data in accordance with the key and stores the data on the media within the specified data cartridge.
US08230234B2
A semiconductor memory device according to some embodiments includes a random converter that receives data and address information including a start address value and an end address value of the address from a central processing unit (CPU), generates and stores at least one random number for each address value from the start address value to the end address value, performs a logical operation on the random number and the data corresponding to the address, and responsively generates randomized data to be stored in memory. Accordingly, the semiconductor memory device randomizes a power consumption signature that can occur when data is stored, thereby writing and reading data in a manner that is resistant to a power attack.
US08230233B2
An information processing terminal includes: a first IC card chip constituted by a first control unit, a first storage unit configured to store applications to be processed by the first control unit, a first encryption unit configured to encrypt data created by any of the applications in the first storage unit before outputting the created data outside the chip, and a wireless control unit configured to permit noncontact wireless communication with a reader/writer; a second IC card chip constituted by a second control unit, a second storage unit configured to store applications to be processed by the second control unit, and a second encryption unit configured to encrypt data created by any of the applications in the second storage unit before outputting the created data outside the chip; and a terminal control unit configured to control data communication between the first IC card chip and the second IC card chip.
US08230222B2
A software distribution method (300) with security add-on is proposed. Particularly, any software package to be deployed to selected target endpoints is encrypted (312-315) with a symmetric key (generated dynamically). The symmetric key is in turn encrypted (318-321) with a public key of each target endpoint. A multi-segment software package (embedding the encrypted software package and the encrypted symmetric keys) is then deployed (324-336, 360) to all the target endpoints. In this way, each target endpoint can decrypt (343-348) the encrypted symmetric key with a corresponding private key; it is then possible to decrypt (363-366) the encrypted software package with the symmetric key so obtained. As a result, the endpoint is able to apply (369) the decrypted software package. Therefore, the application of the software package can be restricted to the desired target endpoints only.
US08230221B2
A method and a Mobile Node are provided for authenticating an Advertisement message received from an Access Router through an Access Point. The Advertisement message comprises a Hashed Nonce Value and a Nonce Index corresponding to a Nonce Value held in the Access Router. Upon receiving the Advertisement message from the Access Point, the Mobile Node initiates a process for configuring an IP address, by use of information received in the Advertisement, for having a session with the Access Point and the Access Router. In parallel, either the Access Point or the Mobile Node sends the Nonce Index directly to the Access Router. The Access Router replies with the Nonce Value sent to the Mobile Node. The Mobile Node hashes the Nonce Value received from the Access Router and compares a Result of the hashing with the Hashed Nonce Value. If the Result matches the Hashed Nonce Value, the Advertisement is considered authenticated and the IP address configured according to the Advertisement is kept in the Mobile Node.
US08230211B2
A BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) setting method is disclosed, which is applicable to a computer equipped with a MEMORY a CMOS RAM (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Random Access Memory), and a BIOS-ROM (Basic Input/Output System Read-Only Memory) storing a first setting document. The BIOS setting method includes: providing a setting interface to allow a user to perform settings so as to form a second setting document; storing the second setting document in the BIOS-ROM; and loading the first and second setting documents to the MEMORY during a POST (Power On Self Test) process of the computer; saving the first setting document, or alternatively revising the first setting document and/or combining the first setting document with the second setting document according to the second setting document if loaded, so as to form a third setting document; and loading the third setting document to the CMOS RAM to perform a system initialization according to the third setting document.
US08230210B1
Firmware is interactively recoverable prior to loading an operating system on a computer. Rather than proceeding through a recovery without user input, user input about a recovery is solicited after determining that an update is needed. Prior to recovering the firmware, users may be able to, for example, specify configuration options about the recovery, cancel the update altogether, and specify a firmware image location. Once input is received, the firmware recovery proceeds.
US08230201B2
A wake-and-go mechanism is provided for a data processing system. The wake-and-go mechanism detects a thread running on a first processing unit within a plurality of processing units that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address. The wake-and-go mechanism creates a wake-and-go instance for the thread by populating a wake-and-go storage array with the target address. The operating system places the thread in a sleep state. Responsive to detecting the event that modifies the data value associated with the target address, the wake-and-go mechanism assigns the wake-and-go instance to a second processing unit within the plurality of processing units. The operating system on the second processing unit places the thread in a non-sleep state.
US08230197B1
Imaging devices incorporating semi-volatile memory are described herein. According to various embodiments, a communication interface may receive image data that is stored in a NAND flash memory device divided into three regions. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08230195B2
Systems and methods for protecting data in a tiered storage system are provided. The storage system comprises a management server, a media management component connected to the management server, a plurality of storage media connected to the media management component, and a data source connected to the media management component. Source data is copied from a source to a buffer to produce intermediate data. The intermediate data is copied to both a first and second medium to produce a primary and auxiliary copy, respectively. An auxiliary copy may be made from another auxiliary copy. An auxiliary copy may also be made from a primary copy right before the primary copy is pruned.
US08230194B2
A storage device is provided with a file I/O interface control device and a plurality of disk pools. The file I/O interface control device sets one of a plurality of storage hierarchies defining storage classes, respectively, for each of LUs within the disk pools, thereby forming a file system in each of the LUs. The file I/O interface control device migrates at least one of the files from one of the LUs to another one of the LUs of an optimal storage class, based on static properties and dynamic properties of each file.
US08230189B1
A computer-implemented method for off-host backups of striped volumes may include identifying a striped volume of data on which to perform an off-host backup operation. The computer-implemented method may also include identifying a plurality of storage devices underlying the striped volume of data. The computer-implemented method may further include identifying stripe-aware extent metadata for the off-host backup operation. The computer-implemented method may additionally include reading data for the off-host backup operation from the plurality of storage devices in parallel using the stripe-aware extent metadata. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08230188B2
A storage management apparatus controls the storage device such that data is redundantly stored in each of an opened area and a closed area. The storage management apparatus includes an area laying-open unit and a re-redundancy unit. The area laying-open unit deletes or compresses data stored in the at least two closed areas, converts one of the closed areas into the opened area and writes data corresponding to a write request to the opened area and to at least the other of the closed areas, if a capacity of the storage device reaches a given value. The re-redundancy unit converts memory area of an add-on storage device into the closed area and copies data in an opened area, placed in a redundant-storing relationship with the data deleted or compressed by the area laying-open unit, to the closed area, if the storage device is added on.
US08230186B2
A hybrid recording device having a non-volatile semiconductor memory and a recording magnetic disk includes a mapping unit that maps a first recording area in the recording magnetic disk and a second recording area in the non-volatile semiconductor memory, and a controller that controls an access to the second recording area mapped by the mapping unit when there is an access instruction to the first recording area.
US08230180B2
A method and apparatus are provided for sharing multipath-accessible memory between a plurality of processors, the method including connecting the plurality of processors in read/write communication to a same shared memory region; connecting the plurality of processors in read communication to a same semaphore area; selectably connecting one of the plurality of processors in write communication to the same semaphore area; exchanging shared memory access command messages between two processors for negotiating access to the same shared memory region; and storing protected variables indicative of the currently negotiated access to the same shared memory region in the same semaphore area, wherein the shared memory region has a channel relative to each processor, each channel having at least one buffer disposed for transferring a plurality of data packets in a burst mode.
US08230173B2
A cache memory system includes a plurality of first storage hierarchical units provided individually to a plurality of processors. A second storage hierarchical unit is provided commonly to the plurality of processors. A control unit controls data transfer between the plurality of first storage hierarchical units and the second storage hierarchical unit. Each of the plurality of processors is capable of executing a no-data transfer store command as a store command that does not require data transfer from the second storage hierarchical unit to the corresponding first storage hierarchical unit, and each of the plurality of first storage hierarchical units outputs a transfer-control signal in response to occurrence of a cache miss hit when executing the no-data transfer store command by the corresponding processor.
US08230170B2
The invention discloses a data storage system and a control method thereof. The data storage system according to the invention includes N groups of storage devices, where N is an integer larger than 1. The invention is to judge if the use information of one of the batches of data satisfies the set of condition thresholds relative to the group of storage devices where said one batch of data is stored, and if NO, to re-allocate said one batch of data to one of the group of storage devices whose condition thresholds are satisfied by the use information of said one batch of data and to update the virtual drive locations of said one batch of data mapping the logical locations of the storage devices.
US08230168B2
Improved memory management is provided according to a Hierarchical Immutable Content Addressable Memory Processor (HICAMP) architecture. In HICAMP, physical memory is organized as two or more physical memory blocks, each physical memory block having a fixed storage capacity. An indication of which of the physical memory blocks is active at any point in time is provided. A memory controller provides a non-duplicating write capability, where data to be written to the physical memory is compared to contents of all active physical memory blocks at the time of writing, to ensure that no two active memory blocks have the same data after completion of the non-duplicating write.
US08230158B2
Apparatus and methods are disclosed, such as those involving a flash memory device. One such apparatus includes a memory block including a plurality of memory cells; and a data randomizer configured to randomly or pseudo-randomly change original data to be stored in the memory block to changed data. The original data is changed such that a pattern of data as stored in the memory block is different than what it would have been if the original data had been stored in the memory block during a write operation. This configuration can reduce or eliminate data pattern-dependent errors in data digits stored in memory cells.
US08230150B2
A wireless protocol may be implemented in a smart transceiver device that contains the physical (PHY) and media access control (MAC) layers of the wireless protocol stack. In various embodiments, a serial peripheral interface (SPI) based design may be used. Disclosed is an embodiment of a protocol which may be used to provide control and data transfer to and from the smart transceiver. In particular, an exemplary format of the protocol, the commands, and responses is disclosed. In a further embodiment, an application programming interface (API) is disclosed. The API may provide hardware independent services that can be used to establish, maintain, and transport data to and from the system and the smart transceiver device. In particular, an exemplary and non-limiting set of services, function calls, configuration methods, events, and parameters is disclosed.
US08230143B2
An apparatus comprising a control circuit, a buffer circuit and a memory. The control circuit may be configured to present a plurality of pairs of signals in response to (i) one or more input signals operating at a first data rate and (ii) an input clock signal operating at a second data rate. The second signal in each of the pairs comprises a clock signal operating at the second data rate. The buffer circuit may be configured to generate a buffered signal in response to each of the pairs of signals. Each of the buffered signals operates at the second data rate. The memory may be configured to read and write data at the second data rate in response to the buffered signals.
US08230142B1
In one embodiment, a device is disclosed. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, the device comprises a memory core having a shared buffer, and an arbitration logic module for receiving a destination ready signal from a processing source of a plurality of processing sources. The device also comprises at least one pipeline stage for storing at least one piece of data read from the shared buffer, and at least one matching pipeline stage storing at least one valid signal associated with the at least one piece of data read from the shared buffer. The device also comprises a counter for storing a value, wherein the value represents a number of pieces of data read from the shared buffer, but have not been delivered to the processing source.
US08230138B2
After reading data from a memory in response to a read request received from a bus master and burst transferring the read data, a memory interface 100 continues to read and store (i.e., continuously reads and stores) data starting from an address that follows all of addresses of the read data. Upon receiving a new read request from the bus master within a predetermined time, the memory interface 100 determines whether a difference between an address specified by a previous read request and an address specified by a new read request falls within a predetermined range. If it is determined positively, the memory interface 100 successively transfers the stored data in response to the new read request. If it is determined negatively, or if the reception of the new read request is not performed within the predetermined time, the memory interface 100 terminates the continuous data read.
US08230135B2
A technique for user notification involves modifying a title associated with a process to include information about an event that calls for user notification. A method according to the technique may include running a process, processing an event, generating a string of characters that includes information associated with the event, and displaying the string of characters as a title associated with the process. A system constructed according to the technique may include a client, a title array, an event processing engine, and a title provisioning engine.
US08230131B2
Methods, controllers for data storage, data storage systems, and computer program products are directed to migrating data after the initial placement of the data in data storage entities having higher speed and in other data storage. Steps of a method to migrate data to the higher speed data storage are (1) identifying at least one group of data having had at least one I/O activity in each of a plurality of intervals of time, occurring over a string of multiple intervals of time, wherein the I/O activity is with respect to the other data storage from which data is to be migrated. The time for each of the multiple intervals is selected such that bursts of the I/O activity are likely to be contained in one interval. (2) The identified group of data is classified to the higher speed data storage and migrated.
US08230128B2
A method of using a device, including monitoring host activity in an autonomous manner, without the host reporting to the device about its activity. The method also including initiating communications from the device and using resources of the host for such communications, thereby enabling the device to function as a proactive device.
US08230127B2
Disclosed is a method of protecting an input/output packet of a USB device. The method includes: a) registering a filter driver to a USB host controller within a system, and loading the filter driver; b) generating a first filter driver object (filter device object; FiDO), monitoring input/output packets of all USB devices by attaching the first filter driver object (FiDO) to a device object (functional device object; FDO) for the USB host controller; c) determining if there is an identifier in the input/output packet; d) when it is determined that there is the identifier in the input/output packet, registering a data protection routine in the input/output packet; e) copying the input/output packet from the data protection routine to a predetermined region, and exchanging the input/output packet with a predetermined value.
US08230125B2
A method for reserving memory space for storing chunk sizes during Audio Video Interleave (AVI) recording, wherein an AVI file contains a plurality of interleaved audio-video (A/V) chunks, includes: recording the AVI file sizes to the second storage; when the second storage reaches capacity, moving at least a first A/V chunk size to the first storage; and after the recording has finished, reading stored A/V chunks from the first storage to the second storage to create an index chunk.
US08230119B2
A method and apparatus for enhancing/extending a serial point-to-point interconnect architecture, such as Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) is herein described. Temporal and locality caching hints and prefetching hints are provided to improve system wide caching and prefetching. Message codes for atomic operations to arbitrate ownership between system devices/resources are included to allow efficient access/ownership of shared data. Loose transaction ordering provided for while maintaining corresponding transaction priority to memory locations to ensure data integrity and efficient memory access. Active power sub-states and setting thereof is included to allow for more efficient power management. And, caching of device local memory in a host address space, as well as caching of system memory in a device local memory address space is provided for to improve bandwidth and latency for memory accesses.
US08230115B2
Aspects of the invention provide apparatuses, systems, and methods for supporting cable redundancy in a network connecting a network controller (101) and an I/O device (109) (an adapter). An adapter includes a first port (407) and a second port (409) for receiving the same messages from a scanner (301) over a first and second transmission media (353, 355), respectively. A connection manager module (423) instructs a switching module (419) to direct the output data contained in the first message to a data structure (421) when the first transmission medium is operational and to direct the output data contained in the second message to the data structure when the first transmission medium is non-operational. Also, the adapter formats a message from input data. The connection manager instructs a switch (411) to direct the message to a primary port (407) when a primary transmission medium (655) is operational and to direct the message to a secondary port (409) when the primary transmission medium (753) is non-operational.
US08230114B2
A system and method are disclosed for supporting 10 Gigabit digital serial communications. Many of the functional components and sublayers of a 10 Gigabit digital serial communications transceiver module are integrated into a single IC chip using the same CMOS technology throughout the single chip. The single chip includes a PMD transmit/receive CMOS sublayer, a PMD PCS CMOS sublayer, a XGXS PCS CMOS sublayer, and a XAUI transmit/receive CMOS sublayer. The single chip supports both 10 Gigabit Ethernet operation and 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel operation. The single chip interfaces to a MAC, an optical PMD, and non-volatile memory.
US08230110B2
In general, techniques are described for performing work conserving packet scheduling in network devices. For example, a network device comprising queues that store packets and a control unit may implement these techniques. The control unit stores data defining hierarchically-ordered nodes, which include leaf nodes from which one or more of the queues depend. The control unit executes first and second dequeue operations concurrently to traverse the hierarchically-ordered nodes and schedule processing of packets stored to the queues. During execution, the first dequeue operation masks at least one of the selected ones of the leaf nodes from which one of the queues depends based on scheduling data stored by the control unit. The scheduling data indicates valid child node counts in some instances. The masking occurs to exclude the node from consideration by the second dequeue operation concurrently executing with the first dequeue operation, which may preserve work in certain instances.
US08230109B2
A method and apparatus for handling a Session Initiation Protocol message in a communications network. When a network node receives a Session Initiation Protocol message, which comprises Request-URI header, the node rewrites the Request-URI header in the SIP message, and adds information to the SIP message useable by a remote node to determine the current target address of the message. The SIP message is then sent to a further node. In this way, the remote node that receives the message can determine the current target in the SIP message, even if the target has been re-written in the Request-URI as the result of, for example, a translation or re-routing operation.
US08230102B1
Systems and methods provide for dynamic generation of media content at the point that content is served. The system and method work within the bounds of simple, existing, open protocols and the media files served are playable by standard media playback clients. The method is driven by a request for media content from a client specifying an edit list. The server opens one or more source files and selects portions of one or more files to transmit based on edit list instructions, and sequentially writes those portions to an output for serving to the client. The server sorts the selected portions of one or more source media files, combines the selected portions to form a combined media shot, and serves the combined media shot to the client. The method allows for various modifications of the content before serving.
US08230098B2
A method and system for streaming media objects. A streaming system includes a group of end nodes and at least one core node connected via an overlay network. The end nodes cache segments of media objects and stream the media objects to a client segment by segment. Each end node stores segment indices for locating segments cached on end nodes or a core node in the system. The core node is a dedicated proxy which fetches media objects from a remote media server and streams the media objects to a client when the media objects are unavailable from the end nodes.
US08230096B2
Methods and systems for generating playback instructions for playback of a recorded computer session
A protocol engine executing on a first device receives a recorded stream comprising a plurality of packets representing display data generated by an application program executed on a second device. The protocol engine determines for a packet in the recorded stream, to render the contents of the packet in a human-perceptible manner. The protocol engine stores the determination in a playback data structure.
US08230095B2
The present invention discloses a system and a method for integrated on-demand delivery of operating system and applications, where operating system images are separate and distinct from application images. Integration of operating system streaming and application streaming services makes streaming delivery possible to a wide range of client devices, including those without any local disk space such as thin-clients and diskless workstations. In addition, by integrating the centralized management of operating system delivery and application delivery, the present invention provides a complete solution to server-centric application management, thereby further reducing the total cost of ownership of network-based computing approach. Implementing the operating management functions at the client machine level of specificity and application management functions at the user level of specificity combined with providing separate and distinct operating system images and application images provides an inherently canonical architecture that allows proper scaling and affords appropriate security management functions. The result is a complete, scalable, robust, and reliable server-centric application and operating system management system with a lower total cost of ownership than existing products.
US08230093B2
The invention is embodied in a technique for broadcasting content data from a broadcaster (including a multicaster) to a plurality of clients. After a client receives content data from the broadcaster, a plurality of available proxy servers may be contacted for post-processing after the content data broadcast is determined. The client subsequently randomly selects one of the available proxy servers to contact for post-processing after the content data broadcast. The client may further randomly select a delay time within a contact interval for the selected proxy server, at which time the client contacts the selected proxy server at the delay time to initiate post-processing.
US08230089B2
An on-site dynamic personalization system and method having a browser interacting through an internet connection with web pages of members in a cooperative network is described. The system includes a processor coupled through the internet connection to the browser. In addition, the system includes a memory with a cooperative membership database that stores data collected as the browser navigates web pages in the cooperative network. The memory also includes a software module with program code that the processor executes to cause the system to perform certain operations. These operations include: collecting data in the form of universal resource locators as the browser navigates web pages, storing the collected data and assimilating the data by aggregating the stored data, analyzing the assimilated data to determine user preferences based on identification of particular web pages with content viewed by the browser, and dynamically inserting personalized content from a particular member in the cooperative network into a web page associated with the particular member to create a personalized web page. This personalized content is based on the determined user preferences for the browser.
US08230078B2
A server issues an enhanced accept and receive call to a client computer. The enhanced accept and receive call requires the server to subsequently receive a block of data from the client computer in order to establish a session connection between the client computer and a server resource. In response to the block of data from the client computer failing to be received by the server, the server prevents the session connection from being pushed onto an accept queue on the server until the server executes a corrective process.
US08230073B1
The present invention provides a call/session control function for an Internet Protocol multimedia subsystem where a service template may be invoked in lieu of a single multimedia service. The service template identifies a number of multimedia services and associated logic for invoking the multimedia services, once the service template is invoked. In operation, a signaling message is received and appropriate filtering criteria are retrieved for the signaling message. Filtering criteria define a set of rules identifying any multimedia services that need to be invoked in light of receiving the signaling message. The filtering criteria will identify a service template, and perhaps other multimedia services to invoke directly. If a service template is invoked, the service template is obtained and the logic controlling invocation of the associated multimedia services is applied to effect invocation of the multimedia services.
US08230069B2
A method and system selecting a target physical machine for a virtual machine (VM) migration is provided. Selecting a target physical machine for a VM migration involves determining storage volume connectivity and spare path capacity of one or more candidate physical machines, and preferentially selecting among the candidate physical machines a migration target with storage volume connectivity and spare path capacity to satisfy storage volume access requirements of the VM.
US08230068B2
A method for dynamically allocating a plurality of command processing resources is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) allocating the command processing resources from a first protocol layer to a first pool of a second protocol layer below the first protocol layer, (B) allocating at least some of the command processing resources from the first pool to a plurality of second pools and (C) sending a particular one of the command processing resources from one of the second pools to the first protocol layer for processing an operation.
US08230058B2
A method of monitoring the stability of a network includes polling an inter-network gateway to collect data related to the inter-network gateway. In one example, the data is related to one or more of a flowcache, a virtual private routed network, or an internet key exchange security association. The data can then be processed to generate a number of parameters and a health report can be generated based on the parameters.
US08230047B2
An interface system and method for creation and configuration of a connection between routers is provided. The interface comprises facility for entry of physical connection information, and entry of protocols selection and configuration information. Information for selection and configuring routing instances, network interfaces, and protocols for the connection is only requested from the user interface once before it is forwarded to an NMS to carry out the steps for actually setting-up the connection. Transport and protocol profiles for re-use with various physical connections are also provided.
US08230040B2
An open mobile business supporting method and system are disclosed for effectively supporting various business models desired by a contents/service provider by providing single interface that can integrally use various resources of a mobile communication system. Low-level functions, which can be grouped as a unit function and performed in a mobile communication system, are selected among service logics of a CP/SP and defined as biz logic. The biz logic is performed according to a request of CP/SP by cooperating with a mobile communication system and various legacy systems. The result of performing the biz logic is returned to the CP/SP.
US08230036B2
The server of a communication system determines a communication growth level that is the level of growth of communication between one user and another user based on the cumulative count of mail send/receive events, and stores the determined growth level in the communication growth level Data Base. When the server receives a profile view request to view the profile of user A from the terminal of user B, the server determines the range of profile information to be opened for user B out of the profile of user A, based on the communication growth level of the pair of user A and user B stored in the communication growth level Data Base.
US08230024B2
The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates redirecting an instant messaging session or an instant messaging communication. An interface component can receive a portion of data related to an instant messaging session, wherein the portion of data is associated with an instant messaging communication. A delegation component can automatically route the instant messaging session to a delegate for receipt of the instant messaging communication based upon a rule.
US08230020B2
A method for filtering an incoming electronic message sent by a sender and addressed to a user. The method includes providing a first temporary identifier, receiving the incoming electronic message from the sender, processing the incoming electronic message to detect the presence of the first temporary identifier therein, and upon detection of the first temporary identifier, allowing a delivery of the incoming electronic message to the user.
US08230012B2
Techniques for auto provisioning and publication of applications are described. The auto provisioning process enables automatic installation of applications having their respective file packages pre-stored in the server. Subsequently, publication of these applications is conducted automatically. By employing such an automatic process, the latency involved in provisioning and publication of remote applications is reduced, thereby making the process more efficient.
US08230004B2
A configuration is provided in which a device in a home network receives content from a server outside the home network and plays the content. A home IMS gateway maps an external server outside the home network as a virtual home network device, and provides mapped server information in response to reception of a device discovery request from a content playing apparatus (DMP) in the home network. Furthermore, a content obtaining request is transferred from the content playing apparatus to the external server so that the external server sends content to the content playing apparatus. Authentication and key exchange defined in DLNA are executed between the content playing apparatus and the home IMS gateway, and a key generated is sent from the home IMS gateway to a content providing server. The external server sends encrypted content based on the received key.
US08230003B2
A method for indirectly creating an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) document in an XDMS (XML Document Management Server) by using a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), which indicates the position of an XCAP (XML Configuration Access Protocol) document, in an XDM (XML Document Management) system including an XDMC (XDM Client) and an XDMS. The method includes transmitting an XCAP PUT request message, which contains an XCAP URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) and a storage position of an XML document to be created, to a corresponding XDMS by the XDMC; and receiving the XCAP PUT request message by the XDMS, retrieving an XML document corresponding to the XCAP URI contained in the XCAP PUT request message, and storing the XML document in the storage position.
US08229991B2
The present invention provides processing systems, apparatuses, and methods that support both general processing processor (GPP) and digital signal processor (DSP) features, such as vector and single value multiplication. In an embodiment, fractional arithmetic, integer arithmetic, saturation, and single instruction multiple data (SIMD) operations such as vector multiply, multiply accumulate, dot-product accumulate, and multiply-subtract accumulate are supported. In an embodiment, the process core and/or multiplier multiplies vector values or single values by creating partial products for each desired product. These partial products are added to produce intermediate results, which are combined in different ways to support various GPP and DSP operations.
US08229985B2
Each data file of a distributed file system is identified by a corresponding globally-unique object identifier that is independent of any attribute of the data file. A node in the distributed file system has a file system that includes a plurality of directory entries, where each directory entry has a file name field, an attributes field, and an object identifier field configured for specifying a globally-unique object identifier. The globally-unique object identifier is universally reachable by any node of the distributed file system and uniquely identifies the data file, enabling the data file to be universally identifiable by any node based on the corresponding object identifier. The data file can be stored independently of a device file system based on providing a resolution between the data file name and its object identifier, followed by a resolution between the object identifier and a selected location for the data file.
US08229984B2
A computer system is used to create an application. A multi-platform application intended for two or more target platforms is created using an authoring environment. The application is converted into a multi-platform master application template by creating an application representation and creating associated metadata that define at least one allowable modification that may be made to the application representation. For each target platform, an application is created from the multi-platform master application template suitable for the target platform, and the application and multi-platform master application template are submitted to a certification body for certification on the target platform. The certification process affirms that the application, with any modification to the application specified by the multi-platform master application template metadata, meets all requirements for certification. The certified multi-platform master application template is used to create a certified application for each target platform.
US08229974B2
Mechanisms to support fine-grain namespacing are provided. When an object is to be loaded within a processing environment, a specific namespace for that object is dynamically resolved during the load. That namespace can be dynamically resolved via object inheritance, via specific object-attribute declaration, and/or via consultation with a namespace object.
US08229967B2
A method of visually representing pedigree data is provided. A root individual in a genealogical dataset is identified. A first parent and a second parent of the identified root individual are identified from the genealogical dataset. A third parent and a fourth parent of the identified first parent are identified from the genealogical dataset. A pedigree visualization relative to the identified root individual is presented which includes a root indicator, a first parent indicator, a second parent indicator, a third parent indicator, and a fourth parent indicator. The first parent indicator is presented in a first direction relative to the root indicator, the second parent indicator is presented in a second direction relative to the root indicator, wherein the second direction is opposite the first direction, the third parent indicator is presented in a third direction relative to the first parent indicator, wherein the third direction is perpendicular to the first direction, and the fourth parent indicator is presented in a fourth direction relative to the first parent indicator, wherein the fourth direction is opposite the third direction.
US08229964B2
A collaboration system providing a guided procedure framework for handling business workflows which include non-persistent data. Data is copied from a business object linked to a database to a temporary business object that is independent from the database. Fields of a form are populated with data from the temporary business object. A workflow object including the populated form and guided procedures is provided to the user who initiated the workflow. After the user makes changes to the workflow and the data, the workflow object is relayed to a next recipient specified as having a task for the workflow. When all of the tasks necessary for the workflow are complete, data from the workflow object is integrated into the database.
US08229959B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for search labels. In one aspect, a method includes receiving an association by a first user of a first label to a first search result in a plurality of first search results that were provided to the first user in response to a query submitted by the first user, and wherein a second user is unable to view the association. Permission is granted on behalf of the first user to allow the second user to share the first label. And, subsequent to granting permission, an association of the first label by the second user to a third search result in a plurality of third search results that were provided to the second user in response to a query submitted by the second user is received.
US08229958B2
A data processing system and method are provided to index, search and present information about defined, “fuzzy” concepts across language, chemical and product identity, composition, biological classification and legal reference. The database system and method permits the use of combinations of concepts, such as labeling, health claims and/or nutritional claims, across linguistic, scientific and legal usages. The user is able to search for concepts in a defined way across any language or means of reference. The definition of the concepts used in the database is accepted as a standard by the database system (user(s). Such standardization then permits one user to pass the results of a search to another user with common meaning, and permits value-added services, such as the capability to provide news services about changes in worldwide regulation of goods and services, i.e., changes in information applicable to the concepts of interest to specific users.
US08229945B2
A distributed database system has multiple compute nodes each running an instance of a database management system (DBMS) program that accesses database records in a local buffer cache. Records are persistently stored in distributed flash memory on multiple storage nodes. A Sharing Data Fabric (SDF) is a middleware layer between the DBMS programs and the storage nodes and has API functions called by the DBMS programs when a requested record is not present in the local buffer cache. The SDF fetches the requested record from flash memory and loads a copy into the local buffer cache. The SDF has threads on a home storage node that locate database records using a node map. A global cache directory locks and pins records to local buffer caches for updating by a node's DBMS program. DBMS operations are grouped into transactions that are committed or aborted together as a unit.
US08229944B2
In one embodiment, a method is illustrated including receiving a search query, parsing the search query to identify first and second search terms, determining a relationship between the first and second search terms based on their respective domain assignments, conducting a search based on the respective domain assignments, and displaying a result of the search based on the respective domain assignments, and the relationship between the first and second search terms, as at least one rephrasing of the search query.
US08229938B2
Systems and methods for correlating meta-data model representations and asset-logic model representations in a system model. The system model may be deployed in conjunction with a production allocation application, whereby data pertaining to allocation changes to a production system might be more readily identified for different purposes such as, for example, technical and/or fiscal allocation.
US08229934B2
Methods, apparatus and systems, including computer program products for creating an index for search in a search system by collecting and analyzing documents to be searched. A first storage section stores system configuration information of the search system. A second storage section stores attribute information of a collected document and the system configuration information at the time of document collection for each document. A comparison section compares the attribute information of the documents to be collected and the system configuration information stored in the first storage section with the attribute information and the system configuration information stored in the second storage section, respectively, if forced re-collection of the documents is performed. A document collection section collects the documents according to a predetermined schedule under normal conditions and re-collects only documents for which a mismatch is detected by the comparison section in the case of forced re-collection.
US08229933B2
An item of inventory is described as a Boolean expression, which is converted into a multi-level, alternating AND/OR impression tree representation with leaf nodes representing conjuncts. Processing the conjuncts of the tree through a contract index results in retrieving a set of candidate contracts that match at least some but not necessarily all impression tree leaf node predicates. Next, an AND/OR contract tree representation is constructed with each contract tree leaf node having a label representing a projection onto a discrete set of ordered symbols. Contracts with projections that cover the entire range of discrete set of ordered symbols are deemed to satisfy the item of inventory. Implementation of the contract index includes retrieval techniques to support multi-valued predicates as well as confidence threshold functions using a multi-level tree representation of multi-valued predicates.
US08229931B2
Methods and apparatus for managing, finding and displaying objects such as digital images. Objects are tagged (“associated”) with descriptive textual and numeric data (“metadata”), and stored in a relational database from which they can be selected, sorted, and found. Tags can be defined by name, tag type, and associated attributes. Objects can be tagged by dropping a tag onto the object, or relating a database record for the tag to a database record for the object. Tagged objects can be searched for and displayed according to the degree to which their metadata matches the search criteria. Visual cues can indicate whether displayed objects match all, some but not all, or none of the search criteria. Database object distributions can be displayed as histograms or scatter plots, including timelines, calendars or maps. Object distributions can be used to search for objects or to limit search results for a previous search.
US08229929B2
A system and associated method for evaluating cross-domain clusterability upon a target domain and a source domain. The cross-domain clusterability is calculated as a linear combination of a target clusterability and a source-target pair matchability, by use of a trade-off parameter that determines relative contribution of the target clusterability and the source-target pair matchability. The target clusterability quantifies how clusterable the target domain is. The source-target pair matchability is calculated as an average of a target-side matchability and a source-side matchability, which quantifies how well target centroids of the target domain are aligned with the source centroids and how well source centroids of the source domain are aligned with the target centroids, respectively.
US08229928B2
Techniques for matching a 3D object are provided. In some embodiments, a 3D object retrieval apparatus includes an input unit configured to receive as input at least one sample view of a 3D query object to be inputted, and an object descriptor determining unit configured to generate at least one object representative image of the 3D query object from the at least one sample view and to determine a query object descriptor of the 3D query object from the at least one object representative image.
US08229921B2
An information retrieval system stores and retrieves documents using particles and a particle-based language model. A set of particles for a collection of documents in a particular language is constructed from training documents such that a perplexity of the particle-based language model is substantially lower than the perplexity of a word-based language model constructed from the same training documents. The documents can then be converted to document particle graphs from which particle-based keys are extracted to form an index to the documents. Users can then retrieve relevant documents using queries also in the form of particle graphs.
US08229917B1
A method and system for optimizing a database query. A database table populated with data is received and scanned. Statistics and single column histograms associated with single columns of the table are determined. Cardinality based on the statistics and histograms is estimated. All possible correlations among multiple columns are determined by performing clustering data mining that partitions data in the table into clusters. Top ranked columns based on the correlations are determined. The difference between the estimated cardinality and a support count of a cluster is determined to exceed a threshold, and in response, multiple column histograms based on the top ranked columns are determined. An optimal query plan based on the multiple column histograms is generated.
US08229908B2
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates dividing financial data to facilitate simultaneous modifications by multiple users. During operation, the system receives division-criteria, which facilitates dividing financial-data into a first subset and a second subset. Next, the system creates a copy of the financial-data which includes the division-criteria. The system then allows a first user to modify the first subset of the financial-data. The system also sends the copy of the financial-data to a second user, thereby enabling the second user to modify the second subset of the financial-data in the copy of the financial-data to create a change file. Subsequently, the system receives the change file from the second user, wherein the change file comprises modifications to the financial-data. Finally, the system merges the change file into the financial-data.
US08229907B2
Hardware assisted transactional memory system with open nested transactions. Embodiments include a system whereby hardware acceleration of transactions can be accomplished by implementing open nested transaction in hardware which respect software locks such that a top level transaction can be implemented in software, and thus not be limited by hardware constraints typical when using hardware transactional memory systems.
US08229902B2
A method for managing data includes receiving individually accessible data units, each identified by a key value; storing a plurality of blocks of data, each of at least some of the blocks being generated by combining a plurality of the data units; and providing an index that includes an entry for each of the blocks. One or more of the entries enable location, based on a provided key value, of a block that includes data units corresponding to a range of key values that includes the provided key value.
US08229901B2
A method, a system, and a computer program product are provided for data management. The method may comprise identifying a predefined set of data storage parameters and a predefined set of data scrubbing parameters. The method further may comprise determining the predefined set of data scrubbing parameters for first data in a first data storage based on the predefined set of data storage parameters for the first data and performing data scrubbing for the first data using the determined predefined set of data scrubbing parameters. Furthermore, the method may comprise comparing first data in the first data storage and corresponding second data in a second data storage. If a mismatch is determined between the first data and the second data, the method further may comprise synchronizing the first data with the second data as a result of the comparison.
US08229900B2
A computer system for generating data structures for information retrieval of documents stored in a database. The computer system includes: a neighborhood patch generation system for defining patch of nodes having predetermined similarities in a hierarchy structure. The neighborhood patch generation subsystem includes a hierarchy generation subsystem for generating a hierarchy structure upon the document-keyword vectors and a patch definition subsystem. The computer system also comprises a cluster estimation subsystem for generating cluster data of the document-keyword vectors using the similarities of the patches.
US08229895B2
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for configuring a life-cycle for preservation of digital content. Metadata associated with a digital object that is to be stored in a repository is examined. One or more preservation rules for the digital object are identified, based on the metadata for the digital object. The preservation rules describe a set of future actions to be taken on the digital object to ensure preservation of the digital object throughout the digital object's life-cycle. The identified preservation rules are applied to the digital object. The digital object is stored in the repository.
US08229892B2
A storage apparatus includes a processor to control the apparatus according to a process including creating, in each of the management areas in response to the restore execution instruction from the host, update information that indicating whether the data in each of the management areas is updated from restore generation to be restored to the latest generation, on the basis of the backup information in each generation, extracting the data before update stored in the backup volume of the oldest generation as the data of the restore generation on the basis of the update information for the oldest generation in each of the management areas, and updating the current data stored in the same management areas as the management areas in which the data before update was stored, by the data before update extracted by the extracting process.
US08229891B2
There is disclosed a method, apparatus and computer program for parsing a message using a message model. A message is received comprising one or more message fields. This message is stored as a reference bitstream. The message model is used to compare a message field in one or more subsequently received messages with the equivalent field in the reference bitstream. Finally, responsive to determining that a message field in said one or more subsequently received messages matches a field in the reference bitstream a predetermined number of times, storing parser outputs for the matching field for future reuse.
US08229889B2
Systems and methods for managing data, such as metadata. In one exemplary method, metadata from files created by several different software applications are captured, and the captured metadata is searched. The type of information in metadata for one type of file differs from the type of information in metadata for another type of file. Other methods are described and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.
US08229881B2
A method for creating and searching medical ontologies includes providing a semi-structured information source comprising a plurality of articles linked to each other, each article having one or more sections and each article is associated with a concept, creating a directed unlabeled graph representative of the information source, providing a plurality of labels, labeling a subset of edges, and assigning each unlabeled edge an equal probability of being assigned one of the labels. For each node, the probability of each outgoing edge is updated by smoothing each probability by an overall probability distribution of labels over all outgoing edges of each node, and the probability of each incoming edge is updated the same way. A label with a maximum probability is assigned to an edge if said maximum probability is greater than a predetermined threshold to create a labeled graph.
US08229872B2
The present invention relates generally to methods of modeling and handling of nonlinearities for application of automatic control to systems with high inter-process variance and nonlinearities. The variance and nonlinearities make these systems difficult to control. Variance is accounted for by replacing the mathematical model of the system with a more representative model from a modelset that may or may not be chosen based on characteristics of the system under test, and then adapting using recursive estimation techniques. Nonlinearities defined by threshold to response and maximal responses are incorporated into linear models relating accumulated inputs to response. Example implementations in relation to automated drug delivery for neuromuscular blocking drugs through warning, advisory and closed-loop control systems are discussed.
US08229871B2
Methods and systems are provided for a systematic approach to computer aided inventing. In a modeling environment, a model representing any item, composition or process can be defined and configured using the lexicon and specification of an innovation database. In the model, objects can be identified, defined, and configured to provide the model with constituent products, components, features and materials. An innovation engine automatically applies one or more morphs from the innovation database to the objects of the model to generate morphed versions of the model that may provide innovations of or invention to the item, composition or process represented by the model.
US08229867B2
Selecting bits in a string-based genetic algorithm is provided. A type of genetic operation to perform is determined. Responsive to a determination to perform a crossover operation, an input comprising a pair of strings is received. The strings in the pair of strings are compared to identify a set of non-matching points. A set of points from the set of non-matching points is randomly selected, forming a set of randomly selected non-matching points. A new string for the pair of strings is generated using the set of randomly selected non-matching points.
US08229865B2
A computer program product and embodiments of systems are provided for annotating multimedia documents. The computer program product and embodiments of the systems provide for performing manual and automatic annotation.
US08229862B2
Systems and methods for rating associated members in a social network are set forth. According to one embodiment a method comprising outputting a ratings interface for rating at least one member of a social network associated with a user, wherein the rating interface provides the user with the ability to rate the member in one or more categories, receiving ratings for the member from the user, associating the ratings with the member, and connecting the ratings for the member with the user is set forth.
US08229860B2
Disclosed is a payment system and method for supporting user verification in VoIP configuration by receiving secret number or VoIP phone number of a user as payment information on Internet and completing the payment by user verification and occupancy verification. The payment system includes a user terminal for inputting secret number or VoIP phone number as payment information, a payment gateway server for receiving the payment information from the user terminal to intermediate user verification and approving payment by occupancy verification, and a central communication company server for receiving the payment information from the payment gateway server to verify the user and receiving a final payment approval to add a payment amount to communication charges of the user terminal and bill the charges. The payment system prevents illegal payment by fraudulent use of the user information.
US08229854B2
A transaction processing system for the real time authorization of payment transactions, The system comprises a verification system (4) connected to an issuer card management system (3). A cardholder can access the system via an interface (2) which can be for example the Internet, a wireless device, telephone, or a branch visit. The interface allows the cardholder to input rules governing how their credit card transactions are to be authorized. When the cardholder initiates a purchase transaction with their credit card, an authorization request is passed from the card network to the verification system which executes the rules created by the cardholder in order to approve or deny the transaction.
US08229853B2
A method and system for preventing unauthorized card transactions via dynamic itinerary-driven profiling. Authorization record(s) including authorized geographic locations and authorized periods of time are received from a travel reservation system (TRS). The authorization record(s) identify an itinerary specified by a travel booking(s) purchased via the TRS using a debit or credit card. The itinerary specifies that the cardholder is scheduled to be in the authorized geographic locations for the authorized periods of time. In response to receiving a request for an authorization of a card transaction, a location and date associated with the card transaction are retrieved from the request. The card transaction is rejected based on a determination that the retrieved location is not within the authorized geographic locations and/or the retrieved date is not within the authorized periods of time. A notification of the retrieved location and retrieved date is logged and displayed.
US08229847B2
Tax refunds are provided via a money transfer service. Merely by way of example, a taxpayer (or a tax preparer) might provide to the IRS an account number at a bank, as a target for a direct deposit refund related to a tax return. In an aspect, the account number might have a specific format that informs the bank that the refund is to be processed by the money transfer service, and in another aspect, the account number might include data that identifies the taxpayer to the money transfer service.
US08229844B2
A method of effecting a sale over a computer network in which it is determined whether a user passes fraud control before effecting a sale over a computer network. Information associated with a method of payment, such as credit card information, debit card information, checking account information, a telephone service account, a cable television account, a utility service account, or an Internet service provider account, is requested from the user after the user passes the fraud control. Information associated with the method of payment is received from the user in real time. Method-of-payment information is communicated to a payment authorization database, which can be located locally or remotely. The method-of-payment information includes the received information associated with the method of payment. Payment authorization information associated with the method of payment is received from the payment authorization database. A sale transaction is completed when the payment authorization information is affirmative. Sale charge information associated with the sale effected over the computer network is transmitted to the payment authorization database when the sale transaction is complete. The sale charge information includes information for charging the method of payment an amount representing a charge for the sale.
US08229841B2
A method and system for reserving future purchases of goods or services or events including plural electronic options with associated option fees for the goods or services or events. The plural electronic options include electronic option terms established by one or more suppliers who can supply the goods or services or events. The purchase of the electronic option is accepted according to electronic option terms established by the desired supplier. The option terms may vary greatly among the individual suppliers and no two suppliers may use the same option terms. Demographic information is collected from purchasers of electronic options and used to allow other suppliers of goods or services or events to target such purchasers. Various fees are generated for display, purchase, exercise or non-exercise of electronic options.
US08229827B2
Participants purchase into a given system for a given period of time. Those with investment gains, by definition, are without loss and need no compensation from the system. Those with investment losses are reimbursed by the system according to previously agreed upon terms. Total loss of a given system's participants is calculated, with that figure compared to the previously agreed upon amount of funds available for loss compensation (total revenue generated by participant premiums minus previously agreed upon detracted percentage for firm or a sum set forward by the company that is independent of a given system's generated revenue).
US08229826B2
A computer implemented method and system is provided for managing counterparty risks associated with collaterals held by counterparties and minimizing systemic risk. A collateral trust management system (CTMS) is provided. Trust accounts are created for holding assets associated with a fund counterparty or collaterals from a derivative counterparty. A central collateral trust is created for providing funding to the trust accounts for the assets and for exposing the assets in the CTMS. The trust accounts are assigned to the counterparties. Leverage is determined for the trust accounts. Risk of assets in the trust accounts, assets' funding requirements, and amount of collaterals to be posted for external funding provided to the trust accounts are calculated. Collaterals, equity, and/or assets are pooled into the central collateral trust and assets are rehypothecated based on the calculation, for obtaining financing for the trust accounts. The CTMS securitizes risk of default of the trust accounts.
US08229825B2
Methods for a data processor implemented system monitor for enabling persons to turn over the allocation their investment assets, and/or receive assistance concerning how to receive disbursements from investments, in a manner that is free from or ameliorates the traditional conflicts of interest in previous systems. The methods are adapted to ameliorate the tension between other functions where the compensation may be affected by asset allocation. The systems and methods collect, monitor, and direct information from persons who hold indicative data, e.g., employers, to provide professional asset allocation services including automatic allocation, rebalancing, and reallocation of investment assets, on a regular basis; as well as assistance in determining how much to save or how to receive disbursements in a manner that ameliorates conflicts of interest, which, in the case of employee benefit plans, is consistent with the regulatory restraints of ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act).
US08229819B2
Systems and methods for providing online promotions integrated with social network-based platforms are disclosed. Promotion details such as rules, offered prizes, incentives and descriptions, survey questions, display banners, terms and conditions, privacy policy, and social networks to integrate the promotion with, are provided by the sponsoring organization to a server. The server generates a custom promotion application or widget for integrating with the organization's social network webpage external to social networks. A participant enters the promotion through these webpages or other links and lists friends in the social network to receive an invitation to enter the promotion. Viral features such as friend invite features, newsfeeds, minifeeds, other features that display online activities of users and people in the users' social network, notifications, requests, and other social media-based platform features to deliver messages to members of the one or more social networks further spread the word about the organization's promotion.
US08229815B1
Systems and methods for determining the likelihood that a group of transactions may be structured to avoid a limit or reporting requirement, such as a government reporting requirement, are disclosed. The frequency distributions of a customer's transactions for different value ranges are compared to determine whether transactions within a target range occur randomly or at an unexpected level. In another embodiment, the frequency distribution of a customer's transactions is compared to a frequency distribution created by randomly sampling a distribution of similar transactions to determine whether the customer's transactions occur randomly.
US08229812B2
Systems and methods comprise an end-user device, including one or more processors configured to execute a payment component, the payment component configured to transmit, by the end-user device to a transaction server, an indication of a user desire to use a data service, the data service being outside a current service plan of the end-user device or available at a lower cost within a different service plan; receive a billing request from a transaction server in response to the indication of the user desire, the billing request including a service plan offer associated with the data service; and transmit a response to the billing request; wherein the end-user device is in secure network communication with the transaction server via a first network.
US08229805B2
Information recorded to a tag device can be used effectively. A terminal device 30 has an input receiving unit (interface unit 40h) that accepts input of information recorded on a tag device 50, a query unit (CPU 40f) that sends input information to the server device and requests verification of the validity of the product, and a presentation unit (display unit 40g) that presents information that is transmitted when the validity of the product is verified. The server device has a recording unit (hard disk drive 10b) that records information related to the product, a verification unit (CPU 10e) that determines validity when the terminal device requests verification of product validity, and a transmission unit (10g) that acquires and sends the corresponding information recorded in the recording unit to the terminal device when validity is verified.
US08229797B2
A system comprises a web server for posting matters of clients for bidding by contingency professionals, e.g., contingency lawyers and/or judgment collectors; a client matter engine for enabling a particular client to post a particular matter and to select a particular contingency professional bidding on the particular matter to handle the particular matter; a professional bidding engine for enabling the particular contingency professional to review at least a portion of the posted matters and to bid on the particular matter; and a bidding exchange engine for enabling the particular client and the particular contingency professional to communicate without exchanging direct contact information.
US08229794B2
In various example embodiments, a system and method for providing listing assistance to a user is provided. In example embodiments, a selection of a category is received from a device of the user. A plurality of publications that match the selection of the category is retrieved. Statistic data is generated using information from the plurality of publications. The statistic data is provided to the device of the user for display on a user interface.
US08229793B2
A selection set evaluation device comprises selection item storage means (201) where information concerning selection items are stored, selection item presenting means (202) for presenting selection items to a user, selection item selection means (203) for allowing the user to select one or more of the presented selection items, evaluation criterion storage means (207) where evaluation criterion used for evaluating a selection set constituting of the one or more selection items selected by the user; and selection set evaluating means (209) for evaluating the selection set on the basis of the evaluation criterion stored. Thus a selection set evaluation device for evaluating a selection set which is a combination of selection items selected by the user on the basis of predetermined evaluation criteria.
US08229781B2
Methods and apparatus to determine shopper traffic in retail environments are disclosed herein. In a disclosed example method of generating shopper traffic data, in-person-based count data and sensor-based count data are obtained. The in-person-based count data is indicative of a first quantity of shoppers within a first zone of a monitored establishment is obtained. The sensor-based count data is indicative of a second quantity of shoppers within the first zone of the monitored establishment. The example method also involves determining a relationship value indicative of a relationship between the in-person-based count data, the sensor-based count data, and first sales data associated with the first zone of the monitored establishment.
US08229779B2
A method and system for workflow management in a business process environment is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes determining respective attributes of a plurality of business documents received via an input device of the computing device, and receiving a set of business rules associated with the plurality of business documents. The set of business rules are based on the attributes of the plurality of business documents. The method also includes forming a plurality of queue filters for segregating a set of transactions associated with the plurality of business documents based on the set of business rules, and forming a plurality of queues based on the plurality of queue filters and at least one activity associated with the set of transactions. Further, the method includes generating on a display of the computing device, a list of agents assigned for each of the plurality of queues.
US08229776B1
The present invention represents a unique methodology for evaluating subsystem technology in a system-of-subsystems environment. According to typical inventive practice, the technology to be evaluated and the requirements for effecting the technology are defined, the requirements relating to both a subsystem encompassing the technology and a system overarching the subsystem. The technology and the requirements are modeled, the modeling including establishing plural submodels of the subsystem wherein the submodels are considered as characterized by plural linkages between them and as constituting a model of the overarching system. Sensitivity analysis and trade space exploration are performed, the performance including determination of plural design variables of the submodels, plural relationships between the design variables, and respective sensitivities of response variables to the design variables. Optimal designs of the technology are found, the finding including comparing relative optimizations of the optimal designs. Some inventive embodiments are iterative in furtherance of design optimization.
US08229773B2
An unspecified-time airline ticket representing a purchased seat on a flight to be selected later, by the airlines, for a traveler-specified itinerary (e.g., NY to LA on March 3rd) is disclosed. Various methods and systems for matching an unspecified-time ticket with a flight are also disclosed. An exemplary method includes: (1) making available an unspecified-time ticket; (2) examining a plurality of flights which would fulfill the terms of the unspecified-time ticket to determine which flight to select; and (3) providing notification of the selected flight prior to departure. The disclosed embodiments provide travelers with reduced airfare in return for flight-time flexibility and, in turn, permits airlines to fill seats that would have otherwise gone unbooked. Because of the flexibilities required of the unspecified-time traveler, unspecified-time tickets are likely to attract leisure travelers unwilling to purchase tickets at the available published fares and, at the same time, are likely to “fence out” business travelers unwilling to risk losing a full day at either end of their trip. Moreover, the flexibilities required of the unspecified-time traveler need not be limited to a departure time; the flexibilities may also include the airline, the departing airport, the destination airport, or any other restriction that increases the flexibility afforded the airline in placing the traveler aboard a flight. The disclosed embodiments thus permit airlines to fill otherwise empty seats in a manner that stimulates latent and unfulfilled leisure travel demand while leaving their underlying fare structures intact.
US08229770B2
A method for controlling healthcare claim payment losses including accessing information about a claim after a payer is prepared to pay, but prior to payment, evaluating the information including at least one of determining indications of fraud, validating service coding and editing as indicated, identifying possible payment discounts, and developing analytics indicative of risk for future claims, and providing loss control recommendations based at least partially on the evaluation, prior to paying the claim. Also a loss control system for healthcare claims with a loss control engine and a database in communication with the loss control engine, wherein the loss control engine accesses information about healthcare claims from the database after the claims have been processed for payment and wherein the loss control engine further analyses the claims for potential cost savings and returns a loss control recommendation for each claim to the database before payment of the respective claim.
US08229765B2
A drug interaction utility can retrieve the patient's current medications from a medication information card on the smart card by interacting with an identity selector on the provider's computer. The identity selector can transmit the current medications to the drug interaction utility without disclosing any information about the current medications to the provider and without disclosing any information identifying the patient to the drug interaction utility.
US08229763B2
Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a system for medication management including an order entry component and a pharmacy component. The order entry component is capable of writing an advanced order. The advanced order includes one or more related at least one of sub-orders and additives. The pharmacy component is capable of automatically processing the advanced order. The processing occurs without the intervention of a user.
US08229756B2
A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: receiving a request for one or more personalized plans designed to facilitate an end user to achieve one or more target outcomes when one or more emulatable aspects indicated by the one or more personalized plans are emulated, the request identifying the one or more target outcomes; seeking one or more reported aspects that are relevant to achieving the one or more target outcomes in response to receiving the request; and developing the one or more personalized plans based, at least in part, on the seeking. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.
US08229754B1
Systems, methods, and computer program products for graphically displaying audio data are provided. In some implementations, a method is provided. The method includes displaying a graphical visual representation of digital audio data, the representation displaying a feature of the audio data on a feature axis with respect to time on a time axis. The method also includes receiving an input in the graphical visual representation selecting a range with respect to the feature and automatically extending the selected range with respect to time to define a selected region of the visual representation, where the extended range with respect to time is predefined and ignoring any component of the received input with respect to time.
US08229753B2
Web server controls are provided for generating client side markups with recognition and/or audible prompting. Three approaches are disclosed for implementation of the controls.
US08229738B2
A method for differentiated digital voice and music processing, noise filtering and the creation of special effects. The method can be used to make the most of digital audio technologies, by performing a pre-encoding audio signal analysis, assuming that any sound signal during one frame interval is the sum of sines having a fixed amplitude and a frequency which is linearly modulated as a function of time, the sum being temporally modulated by the signal envelope and the noise being added to the signal prior to the sum.
US08229736B2
A method, apparatus and software is disclosed for transforming a natural language request for modifying a set of subscriptions for a publish/subscribe topic string in which a predetermined element in the request is transformed into a publish/subscribe symbol in the topic string.
US08229733B2
There are provided methods and apparatus for linguistic independent parsing and for dynamic learning in natural language systems. A parsing method for a natural language system includes the step of parsing an input phrase to identify at least one source phrase within the input phrase for which replacement phrase synonyms exist. The method further includes the step of substituting the replacement phrase synonyms in place of the identified at source phrase, in descending order by text length, to provide a modified input phrase. The method also includes the step of repeating the parsing and substituting steps until no more source phrases exist or a pre-specified number of times.
US08229730B2
Methods, systems and computer readable media for finding documents in a data store that match a natural language query submitted by a user are provided. The documents and queries are matched by determining that words within the query have the same relationship to each other as the same words in the document. Documents are semantically analyzed and words in the document are indexed along with the role the word plays in a sentence. The initial semantic role may be generalized using a role hierarchy and stored in the index along with the original role. A similar analysis may be used with the search query to find words used in the same role in both the query and the document.
US08229729B2
A system and method for training a statistical machine translation model and decoding or translating using the same is disclosed. A source word versus target word co-occurrence matrix is created to define word pairs. Dimensionality of the matrix may be reduced. Word pairs are mapped as vectors into continuous space where the word pairs are vectors of continuous real numbers and not discrete entities in the continuous space. A machine translation parametric model is trained using an acoustic model training method based on word pair vectors in the continuous space.
US08229725B1
Method and apparatus for modeling processor-based circuit models are described. Some examples relate to designing a circuit model having a processor system and custom logic. A bus adapter coupled to a bus of the processor system is generated. A shared memory interface between the custom logic and the bus adapter is generated. The shared memory interface includes a memory map for the processor system. A clock wrapper having a first clock input and a second clock input is generated. The first clock input drives the custom logic and first shared memory of the shared memory interface. The second clock input drives the processor system.
US08229721B1
The invention provides methods and apparatus for analyzing a protein structure by A) receiving a reference structure (A) forming a three dimensional representation of a protein; B) substituting into the structure of (A) a pattern with amino-acids different from the one of the protein; C) optimizing the conformation of (A) substituted by pattern of (B); D) assessing the energetic compatibility (EC) of the pattern of (B) within the context of the structure of (A) being structurally optimized in (C) with respect to the pattern, by comparing the global energy of the substituted and optimized protein structure with the global energy of the non-substituted reference structure; and E) storing a value reflecting the EC of the pattern together with information related to the structure of the pattern in the form of an energetic compatibility object (ECO).
US08229715B1
A computer-implemented system for coordinating the design and implementation of a structure is disclosed. The system includes a design workspace, a design engine which receives various inputs and produces a structure design for display in the design workspace, first and second interfaces permitting first and second users, respectively, to view and manipulate a design, either independently or concurrently, and a library of design elements and editing tools accessible to the first and second users. One or more users may be provided with controls limiting the manipulations that other user(s) may make to the design. Change tracking and error and conflict checking are provided to assist with merging design manipulations originating from separate users.
US08229713B2
Techniques for using air flow analysis to model thermal zones are provided. In one aspect, a method for modeling thermal zones in a space, e.g., in a data center, includes the following steps. A graphical representation of the space is provided. At least one domain is defined in the space for modeling. A mesh is created in the domain by sub-dividing the domain into a set of discrete sub-domains that interconnect a plurality of nodes. Air flow sources and sinks are identified in the domain. Air flow measurements are obtained from one or more of the air flow sources and sinks. An air flow velocity vector at a center of each sub-domain is determined using the air flow measurements obtained from the air flow sources and sinks. Each velocity vector is traced to one of the air flow sources, wherein a combination of the traces to a given one of the air flow sources represents a thermal zone in the space.
US08229704B1
A method for measuring efficiency improvement in a heating system. The method includes the following steps: temperature sensors sense an outflow temperature. A controller records the temperature and a call time at a thermostat burner call. Software calculates a percentage of the reduction of fuel consumption, that the efficiency improvement saves. A display displays the percentage saved.
US08229702B2
An apparatus for weighing a stent includes a buffer for storing a stent support with a stent mounted thereon, a stent mounting and dismounting assembly that mounts and dismounts the stent from the stent support, a robotic arm for moving the stent support with the stent between the buffer and the stent mounting and dismounting assembly, and a scale assembly for weighing the stent. The stent mounting and dismounting assembly moves the stent into the scale assembly after the stent has been dismount from the stent support.
US08229695B2
Meter electronics for geometric thermal compensation in a flow meter is provided according to the invention. The meter electronics includes an interface configured to receive sensor signals and a temperature signal (T) of the flow meter. The meter electronics further includes a processing system coupled with the interface and configured to receive the sensor signals and the temperature signal (T) and compute a geometric thermal compensation factor (TFe) for one or more flow conduits of the flow meter using the temperature signal (T). The geometric thermal compensation factor (TFe) is used to process the first and second sensor signals.
US08229692B2
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for facility integrity testing. According to embodiments, a method for populating a watch list with circuits of a communications network to be monitored for repeat failures is provided. According to the method, a trouble ticket associated with one of the circuits and a trouble code and analysis code (TC/AC) combination associated with the trouble ticket is retrieved. Whether the trouble ticket meets a watch list criterion is determined. In response to determining that the trouble ticket meets the watch list criterion, the trouble ticket and the TC/AC combination are added to the watch list.
US08229691B2
A method includes passing a lot through a production process and evaluating a statistical quality of the production process. Additionally, the method includes calculating an advanced process control (APC) recipe parameter adjustment (RPA) distribution value and determining if sampling is indicated. Furthermore, the method includes, if sampling is indicated, performing a measurement process of the lot.
US08229689B2
The remaining capacity of a battery may be monitored with a microprocessor by integrating a voltage measured across a current sense resistor coupled in series with the battery. The microprocessor may measure electrons passing through the battery by sampling the integrator and summing the values recorded from the integrator. Each time the integrator is sampled, the microprocessor may reset the integrator to prevent the integrator from saturating. The remaining capacity of the battery may be calculated based on calibration values and the sum of electrons measured by the integrator. The remaining capacity may be communicating to remote users through a network and displayed in an executive dashboard.
US08229684B2
The detection system of the first preferred embodiment includes a detector, having a wide dynamic range, that receives photonic inputs from an interrogation zone and produces an analog signal; and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), having a high bit resolution, that is coupled to the detector and converts an analog signal to a digital signal. The digital signal includes an initial data set of the full dynamic range of the input signals from the flow cytometer sample. The method of extracting and analyzing data from a flow cytometer system of the first preferred embodiment preferably includes the steps of: collecting a full dynamic range of input signals from a flow cytometer sample; recognizing and annotating aggregate particle events; and storing an initial data set and an annotated data set of the full dynamic range of the input signals from the flow cytometer sample.
US08229680B2
Methods and apparatuses for detecting fastener loosening. Sensors query a structure at a baseline value of an environment variable, such as temperature, and this baseline signal is stored for later use. Subsequently, users can query the structure remotely and at any time, and the signals from these queries are compared to the stored baseline signal. In some embodiments, an index is calculated, and the system determines that one or more fasteners have come loose if the calculated index exceeds a predetermined threshold value. It is desirable to select a time window within which the query signal is most sensitive to fastener loosening but least sensitive to variations in the environment variable. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses for determining an optimal time window for use in calculating the above described index.
US08229670B2
A fluids lifting tool and analysis system. The present invention comprises a fluid lifting system for a gas well. The system comprises a lifting tool positioned in the well and a docking station at the well surface. The tool includes a processor, pressure sensors, temperature sensors, an accelerometer, and a proximity sensor. A battery in the tool is adapted to be charged by inductive coupling using coils in the docking station and the tool. The tool is released from the docking station and descends the well. During descent the tool measures elapsed time, velocity of the tool, calculates distance traveled, measures pressure and temperature, determines volumes or oil and water in the well, and senses when the tool reaches the bottom of the well. The FLT chooses to ascend the well when appropriate and transfers measured and calculated data to the docking station.
US08229667B2
A method of displaying a background sky in a navigation system, the method including: storing and maintaining map data and background sky image data with respect to one or more directions of the map data in a database; detecting a driving direction angle of a vehicle; computing a position of a background sky image corresponding to the detected driving direction angle; extracting background sky image data corresponding to the computed position of the background sky image from the database; and displaying the extracted background sky image data as a background sky with respect to the map data.
US08229664B2
The present invention provides parking curb detection devices and methods for alerting a motor vehicle driver when a predetermined distance from a parking curb has been reached to prevent vehicle damage. An audio and/or a visible signal device alerts the vehicle driver when the correct stopping point has been reached. The present invention utilizes a triangulation led infrared sensor, a control box with digital algorithm filtering, long wave length and bandpass optical filters, and also electronic filters to largely prevent false alerts during bright sunshine conditions.
US08229663B2
A vehicle awareness system for monitoring remote vehicles relative to a host vehicle. The vehicle awareness system includes at least one object sensing device and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication device. A data collection module is provided for obtaining a sensor object data map and vehicle-to-vehicle object data map. A fusion module merges the sensor object data map and vehicle-to-vehicle object data map for generating a cumulative object data map. A tracking module estimates the relative position of the remote vehicles to the host vehicle.
US08229660B2
An image forming apparatus is provided with a first communication portion that obtains route information from a server, a second communication portion that obtains, from the server, additional information relating to the route information, a synthesis portion that incorporates an image included in the additional information into an area that is contained in an image included in the route information and that excludes the route and generates composite information, and a printer that prints an image based on the composite information generated by the synthesis portion onto a recording medium.
US08229657B2
Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for providing traffic information of public transportation means, such as a bus, and utilizing the provided information. A method of encoding public traffic information according to the present invention creates an identifier of bus information system, an ID of bus route, and travel time on each section wherein the section is link between neighboring two stops among bus stops pertaining to the bus route. The created information is organized to status information that is in turn incorporated into a transfer message. A sequence of transfer messages, each being constructed as described above, is wirelessly transmitted.
US08229656B2
An engine starting device for controlling an engine start of a vehicle by driving a starter relay of the vehicle with a battery of the vehicle as a power supply has a control processing unit and a step-up circuit for stepping up the output of the battery and outputting a drive voltage for driving the control processing unit and the starter relay. The control processing unit has a function of performing an engine start control of applying the drive voltage to the starter relay to activate the starter relay in time of the engine start at which an engine starting condition is satisfied The control processing unit performs a control function on the step-up circuit to activate the step-up circuit so that the drive voltage does not become lower than a minimum operation voltage of the starter relay in a predetermined period necessary to start the engine in time of the engine start, and activate the step-up circuit so that the drive voltage does not become lower than a first voltage value higher than a minimum operation voltage of the control processing unit and lower than the minimum operation voltage of the starter relay when not in the predetermined period.
US08229653B2
A power output apparatus for outputting power to a drive shaft includes a control unit that controls an internal combustion engine to perform an idle operation at a predetermined rotation speed, executes idle control amount learning, in which an idle control amount serving as a control amount obtained during the control is learned in accordance with establishment of a predetermined learning condition, within a range in which a rotation speed of the drive shaft is lower than a first speed, when the idle control amount learning is incomplete, and executes again the idle control amount learning within a range in which the rotation speed of the drive shaft is lower than a second speed, which is lower than the first speed, when the idle control amount learning is complete.
US08229651B2
A fuel control system for a vehicle comprises a fuel delivery module, a torque ratio determination module, and a correction factor module. The fuel delivery module supplies first and second amounts of diesel fuel to a cylinder of an engine during first and second combustion cycles for the cylinder, respectively. The second combustion cycle occurs after the first combustion cycle. The torque ratio determination module determines a torque ratio based on torque output by the engine during the first combustion cycle and a torque requested for the first combustion cycle. The correction factor module determines a fuel correction factor based on the torque ratio and adjusts the second amount based on the fuel correction factor.
US08229649B2
In an internal combustion engine, a variable compression ratio mechanism (A) able to change a mechanical compression ratio and a variable valve timing mechanism (B) able to change a closing timing of an intake valve (7) are provided. When an amount of intake air supplied to a combustion chamber (5) is small, the closing timing of the intake valve (7) is held at a limit closing timing, and usually, when the amount of intake air supplied to the combustion chamber (5) increases by a certain extent, the action of advancing the closing timing of the intake valve (7) is started. As opposed to this, when the amount of intake air supplied to the combustion chamber (5) is small, if the rapid acceleration operation is performed, the action of advancing the closing timing of the intake valve (7) is started immediately.
US08229643B2
An acceleration control system stores a target acceleration calculation equation acquired by transforming an equation that expresses that a product of the differentiation of the square power of the speed and the environmental factor αenv represents a sensed value ε of acceleration. A surrounding environment monitor device detects surrounding bodies present in the forward periphery of the vehicle, and an environmental factor calculation unit calculates the environmental factor αenv by using the detected positions of the surrounding bodies. A target acceleration setting unit successively sets target accelerations aref in compliance with the target acceleration calculation equation by using the environmental factor αenv. The acceleration is executed to match the driver's feeling.
US08229629B2
A vehicle steering control system that controls the operation of an electric vehicle steering device, which applies a steering assist force to a steering mechanism via a gear mechanism and includes: a temperature estimating section for estimating the temperature of or around the gear mechanism; and a correcting section for correcting the steering assist force according to the estimated gear temperature.
US08229626B2
The multi-function control device for a motor vehicle has a plurality of operating elements, function groups and/or functions subordinate to the function groups being operable via the operating elements, the function groups having one or more menu levels, which are displayable via a display device, and one or more function groups being active, and a selected function group from among the group of the active function groups, and/or at least one function subordinate to the selected function group is displayable using the display device, it being possible to access non-selected, active function groups and/or at least one function subordinate to the non-selected function group, within the selected function group without leaving the context of the selected function group.
US08229623B2
A car-mounted image recording apparatus comprises an imager operable to take a moving image of outside scene of a vehicle, an image quality controller operable to determine importance of present position of the vehicle, and controlling image quality of the moving image on the basis of the importance, and an image recorder operable to compress the taken moving image so as to obtain image quality controlled by the image quality controller, and record the compressed image in a recording medium.
US08229621B2
Provided is a method of storing accident data for a vehicle, in which image data taken by a camera during driving is stored in real time, a weight value is set according to a measured impulse value to calculate a priority index and data is stored in a memory based on the priority index, thereby preventing initial accident-cause data from being deleted over time. The method includes acquiring driving data including image data, setting a weight value corresponding to an average impulse value and calculating a priority index, selecting a block having a lowest priority index and storing the driving data in the selected block if the capacity of the volatile memory is full, determining whether a timer starts, and reading out all data stored in the volatile memory and storing the read data in the non-volatile memory if the predetermined amount of time has elapsed.
US08229617B2
A guide toy vehicle is used for obtaining related knowledge of exhibit in a pleasant and interactive way. Guidance materials are transferred between different guidance systems through a wireless network. Thus, a user can have a wide, easy and effective learning.
US08229614B2
During use of a secondary battery, a concentration change ratio estimating unit estimates a ratio of change in electrolytic solution concentration based on a charging/discharging current. According to the estimated ratio of change, a concentration estimated value calculating unit sequentially calculates an electrolytic solution concentration estimated value during the use of the secondary battery. Based on the estimated electrolytic solution concentration estimated value, a determining unit determines whether or not the electrolytic solution concentration is within a normal range. When the electrolytic solution concentration is outside the normal range, a charging/discharging condition modifying unit modifies a charging/discharging condition of the secondary battery to bring the electrolytic solution concentration back to the normal range, thus avoiding a tendency of overcharge or a tendency of overdischarge.
US08229607B2
A system is provided for determining a mismatch between a model for a powered system and the actual behavior of the powered system. The system includes a coupler positioned between adjacent cars of the powered system. The coupler is positioned in a stretched slack state or a bunched slack state based upon the separation of the adjacent cars. The system further includes a controller positioned within the powered system. The controller is configured to determine a mismatch of the model. A method is also provided for determining a mismatch between a model for a powered system and the actual behavior of the powered system.
US08229597B2
Systems and methods of controlling a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system are provided that operate according to signals returned from return air temperature sensors as well as the supply air temperature sensors. Using predetermined temperature setpoints, return temperature information, and supply temperature information, the HVAC system is configured to maintain the temperature of a room first, by the use of its cooling valve, and second and only when the capacity of the cooling valve has peaked, by use of the fan. The presently disclosed improved HVAC system operates more efficiently by avoiding unit loading hopping and minimizing power consumption.
US08229595B2
The present application provides a system for enabling instrument placement from distances on the order of five meters, for example, and increases accuracy of the instrument placement relative to visually-specified targets. The system provides precision control of a mobile base of a rover and onboard manipulators (e.g., robotic arms) relative to a visually-specified target using one or more sets of cameras. The system automatically compensates for wheel slippage and kinematic inaccuracy ensuring accurate placement (on the order of 2 mm, for example) of the instrument relative to the target. The system provides the ability for autonomous instrument placement by controlling both the base of the rover and the onboard manipulator using a single set of cameras. To extend the distance from which the placement can be completed to nearly five meters, target information may be transferred from navigation cameras (used for long-range) to front hazard cameras (used for positioning the manipulator).
US08229593B2
A computer implemented method for object destruction. An object is detected in a receptacle and identified. Based on the type of object identified, the object may be destroyed in a shredder and a confirmation of the destruction of the object is recorded for reference. The object may also be directed to a secure bin where it will not be destroyed.
US08229592B2
The present invention uses a high-gain observer which contains the discrete-time arithmetic expressions derived from a mathematical model of an injection and pressure application mechanism in an electric-motor driven injection molding machine consisting of state equations and outputs an estimate of injection pressure, which is one of the state variables of the above state equations, by using a screw position signal and a servomotor current demand signal or actual motor current signal as inputs. The high-gain observer obtains the exact injection pressure estimate with very small time-lag without using a pressure detector. Thus the estimate of injection pressure fed by the high-gain observer can be adopted as a feedback signal of actual injection pressure for controlling injection pressure.
US08229589B2
A method and apparatus for fabricating a foam container by using a laser cutting apparatus to precisely cut and remove portions of foam in order to form custom and predetermined text, indentations and protective compartments in the foam, and more particularly a method of controlling the laser relative to high density foam to create precise cuts completely through the foam without subsequently adjusting the focal point of the laser, the cuts being made according to exterior dimensions of an object to be supported and protected in the high density foam.
US08229588B2
A method of advanced process control (APC) for semiconductor fabrication is provided. The method includes providing a present wafer to be processed by a semiconductor processing tool, providing first data of previous wafers that have been processed by the semiconductor processing tool, decoupling noise from the first data to generate second data, evaluating an APC performance based on proximity of the second data to a target data, determining a control parameter based on the APC performance, and controlling the semiconductor processing tool with the control parameter to process the present wafer.
US08229575B2
An industrial control configuration can be a dynamic entity where different controllers are added, are subtracted, fail, etc. When dynamic functions occur, bindings of the configuration can benefit from a modification. Therefore, automatic adjustment of bindings can occur to facilitate improved operation. Automatic adjustment can be practiced when the industrial control configuration is a distributed control configuration without reliance upon a central database.
US08229568B2
An implantable medical device (IMD) communication system and associated method for controlling the telemetry link status between an IMD and associated programmer during a telemetry session are provided. The system includes control circuitry for detecting conditions during predetermined time intervals for determining if a telemetry session is active or inactive. If a telemetry session is determined to be inactive for a specified interval of time, the telemetry link may be terminated or converted to a low-output, stand-by mode. Patient or device identity verification may be required prior to allowing programmer-IMD communication. A patient alert signal may be generated in response to programmer-IMD communication occurring after a predetermined time of telemetry session inactivity.
US08229564B2
A method for treating asthma in a subject includes inserting a therapy delivery device into a vessel of a subject. The therapy delivery device is advanced to a point substantially adjacent an intraluminal target site of the autonomic nervous system. Next, the therapy delivery device is activated to deliver a therapy signal to the intraluminal target site to treat the asthma. The intraluminal target site is in electrical communication with nervous tissue selected from the group consisting of a spinal nerve, pre- or post-ganglionic autonomic fibers, a sympathetic chain ganglion, a thoracic sympathetic chain ganglion, a cervical ganglion, a lower cervical ganglion, an inferior cervical ganglion, an intramural ganglion, a splanchnic nerve, an esophageal plexus, a cardiac plexus, a pulmonary plexus, an anterior pulmonary plexus, a posterior pulmonary plexus, a celiac plexus, a hypogastric plexus, an inferior mesenteric ganglion, a celiac ganglion, and a superior mesenteric ganglion.
US08229559B2
A system includes an episode classification module and a data retrieval module. The episode classification module receives electrograms (EGMs) from N implantable medical devices (IMDs) and determines whether the EGMs are associated with deliveries of therapy by the N IMDs. The episode classification module analyzes at least some of the EGMs and determines whether the deliveries or non-deliveries of therapy by the IMDs were appropriate. The data retrieval module receives a request from a computing device, via a network, that indicates at least two groups of the N IMDs. The data retrieval module provides to the computing device via the network, in response to the request, data for presentation to a user that indicates for each of the groups, at least one of how many of the one or more deliveries or non-deliveries were appropriate, or how many of the one or more deliveries or non-deliveries were inappropriate.
US08229557B2
Systolic timing intervals are measured in response to delivering pacing energy to a pacing site of a patient's heart. An estimate of a patient's acute response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) for the pacing site is determined using the measured systolic timing intervals. The estimate is compared to a threshold. The threshold preferably distinguishes between acute responsiveness and non-responsiveness to CRT for a patient population. An indication of acute responsiveness to CRT for the pacing site may be produced in response to the comparison.
US08229553B2
Devices and methods are provided for securely affixing a medical instrument to desired tissue in a patient's body, using a fixation agent. Such medical instruments may comprise localization wires or tissue acquisition instruments, such as biopsy instruments, for example. In the case of tissue acquisition instruments, the inventors have discovered significant advantages for securely affixing the distal end of the tissue acquisition instrument to a particular tissue target area. For example, such an approach permits the imaging environment to be uncoupled from the procedural environment so that expensive and often unavailable imaging equipment, such as stereotactic imaging equipment, need not be used. In a preferred embodiment, a bonding agent, such as adhesive, surgical glue, or a solvent, is used as the fixation agent.
US08229552B2
A method and system for discrimination of supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular tachycardia events. Morphological features points are extracted from normal sinus rhythm (NSR) complexes and used to generate a NSR template. A numerical convolution is performed using the NSR template and the feature points for each sensed NSR to give a NSR filter output. Using a plurality of NSR complexes, a median NSR filter output template is determined, where the median NSR filter output template has a median value for each value in the NSR filter output. The median NSR filter output template is then used during a tachycardia event to distinguish tachycardia events as either ventricular tachycardia events or supraventricular tachycardia events.
US08229549B2
A surgical imaging device includes at least one light source for illuminating an object, at least two image sensors configured to generate image data corresponding to the object in the form of an image frame, and a video processor configured to receive from each image sensor the image data corresponding to the image frames and to process the image data so as to generate a composite image. The video processor may be configured to normalize, stabilize, orient and/or stitch the image data received from each image sensor so as to generate the composite image. Preferably, the video processor stitches the image data received from each image sensor by processing a portion of image data received from one image sensor that overlaps with a portion of image data received from another image sensor. Alternatively, the surgical device may be, e.g., a circular stapler, that includes a first part, e.g., a DLU portion, having an image sensor a second part, e.g., an anvil portion, that is moveable relative to the first part. The second part includes an arrangement, e.g., a bore extending therethrough, for conveying the image to the image sensor. The arrangement enables the image to be received by the image sensor without removing the surgical device from the surgical site.
US08229541B2
A measuring container is provided, which can be used for biomagnetic measurements, in particular for magnetocardiological measurements. The measuring container comprises an outer screen against electromagnetic high frequency fields and an inner screen against low frequency electromagnetic fields. The measuring container is constructed as a two-chamber system with an outer container comprising the outer screen. A measuring chamber with the inner screen is introduced into the outer container. An antechamber which can be walked into from outside is formed between the inner wall of the outer container and the measuring chamber.
US08229540B2
The present invention relates to a novel manner of measuring DC fields using a multi-channel MEG or MKG measuring instrument; and on the other hand, to a manner of eliminating from the measurement result the interference signals caused by the DC currents. The invention combines the monitoring system of a testee's movement and the method for motion correction of the measured signals so that the signals produced by the DC currents of a moving testee's are visible in the final measurement result as a static signal component in a conventional MEG or MKG measurement. In that case, in the measurement, it is not necessary to beforehand prepare oneself for measuring the DC fields.
US08229536B2
Systems and methods for minimizing or eliminating transient non-glucose related signal noise due to non-glucose rate limiting phenomenon such as ischemia, pH changes, temperatures changes, and the like. The system monitors a data stream from a glucose sensor and detects signal artifacts that have higher amplitude than electronic or diffusion-related system noise. The system replaces some or the entire data stream continually or intermittently including signal estimation methods that particularly address transient signal artifacts. The system is also capable of detecting the severity of the signal artifacts and selectively applying one or more signal estimation algorithm factors responsive to the severity of the signal artifacts, which includes selectively applying distinct sets of parameters to a signal estimation algorithm or selectively applying distinct signal estimation algorithms.
US08229530B2
In accordance with an embodiment of the present technique, there is provided methods and systems for detecting the presence of venous pulsation by adjusting the sensitivity of a detection algorithm based on a sensor characteristic and/or notifying a caregiver of the presence of venous pulsation by ceasing display of physiological parameters. An exemplary embodiment includes receiving one or more signals from a sensor, the one or more signals corresponding to absorption of light in a patient's tissue; calculating one or more physiological parameters of the patient based on the one or more signals; displaying the patient's physiological parameters; enabling detection of venous pulsation with variable sensitivity based on a location of the sensor; and suspending or terminating the display of the one or more of the patient's physiological parameters when venous pulsation is detected.
US08229528B2
A superconducting coil comprises a plurality of windings. Each winding comprises at least one superconducting segment having an exposed area containing a granular superconducting substance. A junction electrically connects at least one superconducting segment of one winding to at least one superconducting segment of another winding. The junction is formed by coupling the granular superconducting substance of the exposed area of the at least one superconducting segment of the one winding to the granular superconducting substance of the exposed area of the at least one superconducting segment of the other winding. In an embodiment, the exposed areas are positioned to face each other.
US08229522B2
A portable communication device includes a main housing, a folding housing coupled to the main housing by a hinge unit to rotate about a hinge axis, and a flexible display unit that is drawn out from the main housing to open its display screen when the folding housing unfolds.
US08229517B2
A method for receiving data from a radio network by a terminal includes: receiving downlink data while the terminal operates according to a first discontinuous period; transmitting a response message with respect to the downlink data; and operating according to a second discontinuous period after transmitting the response message.
US08229515B2
A wireless communication device has a docking cavity, a short-range transceiver, and a long-range transceiver for long-range wireless communication with a wireless network. A wireless communication module includes a speaker and a microphone, and a short-range transceiver for short-range wireless communication with the device's short-range transceiver. The module is configured to operate in first and second modes. In the first mode, the module is separated from the communication device. In the second mode, the module is mounted in the cavity. In both modes, communication between a user and the network is conducted through the module's microphone and speaker, both short-range transceivers and the long-range transceiver.
US08229511B2
An electronic device includes a housing, a touch-sensitive display exposed by the housing, a support tray disposed between the touch-sensitive display and a base within the housing and supporting the touch-sensitive display on a first side thereof, the support tray including at least one pivot projecting from a second side of support tray, on which the support tray is pivotable, and an actuator disposed between the base and the support tray and actuatable by pivoting the support tray.
US08229508B2
An electronic device comprising: a display; a housing enclosing the display and defining an exterior surface region adjacent to the display, the exterior surface region having a plurality of surface zones indicated thereon, the surface zones being capable of being written on by a user to save a written marking thereon; a memory; and user input apparatus; the device having: a first mode in which the device performs a function in respect of a subject entity and in which in response to operation of the user input apparatus to indicate one of the zones the device stores the entity in the memory in association with that zone; and a second mode in which in response to selection of a zone by means of the user input apparatus the device performs a function in respect of an entity stored in association with the selected zone.
US08229503B1
Systems, apparatuses, and methods for a scanning device for use with a mobile device are described herein. The scanning device may include an image capture module to capture surface images of a medium to be scanned and a positioning module to determine positioning information based at least in part on navigational images and the captured surface images. A mobile device may include one or more features of the scanning device including the image capture module and the positioning module. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08229500B2
A mobile terminal includes a terminal body having a display and a wireless communication module, a camera body disposed adjacent to the terminal body in a longitudinal direction, and coupled to the terminal body so as to rotate at a certain angle in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction such that an optical axis of a lens formed on the camera body is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction; and a display mode controller for controlling the display such that a first available set of modes is outputted on the display if the camera body is rotated in a first direction, and a second available set of modes is outputted on the display if the camera body is rotated in a second direction.
US08229499B2
A mobile device or access terminal of a wireless wide area network (WWAN) communication system is provisioned for Multi-Mode System Selection (MMSS) wherein an MMSS System Priority List (MSPL) is used with respect to the underlying system selection priority list (e.g., Private Land Mobile Network (PLMN) list). Relating a current location to one or more entries in an MMSS Location Associated Priority List (MLPLs) enables scaling a range of entries in the PLMN list, indicating whether the MSPL apply to the entire list of PLMNs stored in an access terminal or to some subset of the PLMN List. Similarly, the present innovation addresses whether the MSPL applies to the entire Preferred Roaming List (PRL) or some subset of a geo-spatial location (GEO) area.
US08229494B1
There is provided a mechanism for uplink transmission power control in a communication network. An uplink transmission power for a transmission from a communication network element to a communication network control element is calculated. When a transmission power control command from the communication network control element is received instructing an increase or a decrease of the uplink transmission power, it is checked whether the calculated uplink transmission power is above a maximum transmission power or below a minimum transmission power of the communication network element. If so, and the transmission power control command instructs a change in the opposite direction, power control adjustment is conducted by determining and conducting a correction for immediately compensating for a difference between the calculated uplink transmission power and the maximum/minimum transmission power, wherein an actual transmission power is set based on the correction parameter considering the received transmission power control command.
US08229493B1
Systems and methods for dynamically adjusting a metric that influences power management of an access terminal are provided. Initially, an access node is configured to distribute reverse-activity bits (RAB's) to the access terminal, which conveys data, at a particular rate, to the access node. Adjusting the dynamic metric involves establishing a number of slots allocated for a filtered reverse-activity bit (FRAB) window and a hybrid reverse-activity bit (HRAB) window, wherein each of the slots are allocated to accept a RAB. The RAB's accepted to the slots of the FRAB window and the HRAB window are recursively averaged to derive a FRAB parameter and an HRAB parameter, respectively. The dynamic metric is adjusted by incorporating either the FRAB parameter or an HRAB parameter therein based on whether ramping conditions are satisfied. The rate of data conveyed from the access terminal is controlled based on the adjusted dynamic metric.
US08229492B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate throttling transmit power of a WWAN module based upon thermal input. For instance, the thermal input can be a detected temperature, a signal from a computing device associated with the WWAN module, a signal from an alternate technology module (e.g., WiFi module, WiMax module, . . . ) associated with the WWAN module, or the like. A target transmit power of the WWAN module can be reduced (e.g., by a predetermined amount, . . . ) upon occurrence of a condition (e.g., the detected temperature exceeding a threshold, the computing device or the alternate technology module requesting a decrease in thermal power, . . . ), for example. Moreover, negotiation between the WWAN module and a base station can be effectuated to select an appropriate class (power class or Multi Slot Class) and/or operating mode when the target transmit power of the WWAN module is altered.
US08229487B2
A PoC communication system suitable for a broadcast use or the like is provided. In a communication system including a PoC server 30 and terminals 10 and terminals MS1 to MSn connectable to the PoC server 30, the PoC server 30 classifies the terminals into a terminal of first kind 10 having authority to assign a transmission right and terminals of second kind MS1 to MSn not having the authority to assign the transmission right and registers and manages each terminal joining in a group. The PoC server 30 assigns the transmission right to another terminal belonging to the group on the basis of designation from the terminal of first kind 10, and transmission data from the terminal assigned the transmission right is broadcast at a time via a packet communication network.
US08229477B1
What is disclosed is a method of operating a wireless access node in a communication system. The method includes, in the wireless access node, exchanging first wireless communications with a first set of user devices using a first communication mode that has a first paging channel, and exchanging second wireless communication with a second set of user devices using a second communication mode that has a second paging channel. The method also includes, in the wireless access node, transmitting a first bit sequence to indicate the presence of first pages on the first paging channel, and transmitting a second bit sequence to indicate the presence of second pages on the second paging channel.
US08229464B1
A system and method identifies correlations between locations. A server may receive information identifying an action and a location from a plurality of users. The server may assign a weighted value to each action and store the weighted value and location in a database. The database may be used to generate vector data for each location identifying the weighted values for a number of users. In response to receiving a location from a particular user device, the server may identify a vector associated with the received location. The location vector may be compared to other location vectors to determine if there is any correlation between the vectors. Where the server identifies a correlated vector, the server may send the identification of the corresponding location or information associated with the corresponding location to the particular user device.
US08229463B2
Context-based limitation of mobile device operation. An embodiment of a method includes receiving a request for a function of a mobile device. The method further includes obtaining data regarding a context of the mobile device, and determining a current context for the mobile device based on the obtained data. The method includes determining whether the function of the mobile device should be limited at least in part the current context of the mobile device; and responding to the request for the function based on the determination regarding the limitation of the function.
US08229462B2
A user, either in a vehicle with a telematics device, at a home having a computer device, using a handheld wireless device, or other type of communication device, can request services such as to repair a flat tire, unlock a locked door, repair cable television service, etc. using the communication device. The user's communication device sends a request message over the communication network to a second server. The second server creates a request for service record and forwards the message to a first server that determines a resource to dispatch to the user's location. The first server sends resource information, including location information, to the user's device, and either the device, or a device coupled to the user's communication device, displays the current location of the service resource on a map as the resource makes its way toward the user's location.
US08229455B2
Methods and systems of gathering and caching WLAN packet information to improve position estimates of a WLAN positioning device. A device estimates the position of itself. The device includes a WLAN radio module for receiving WLAN signals transmitted by WLAN APs in range of said device, extraction logic for extracting information from said received WLAN signals to identify the WLAN APs, and logic to cooperate with a WLAN-based positioning system to estimate the position of the device based at least in part on the extracted information identifying the WLAN APs in the range of said device. The extraction logic includes logic for caching the extracted identities and logic for caching information indicating the time of reception of the signals transmitted by the corresponding WLAN AP. And, the logic to cooperate considers the cached time information when providing extracted and cached information to said WLAN-based positioning system.
US08229451B2
The present invention relates to a method in a base station (110a, 110b, 210a, 210b, 210c, 410a, 410b) for managing inter-cell interference in a communications network, comprising a scheduler in each cell which controls a set of shared radio resources, said radio resources being at least near orthogonal to each other. The method comprises the steps of: obtaining (601) data representing path gain measurements, obtaining (602) data representing a cell specific resource price from one or several interfered base stations, combining (603) said information into a user specific resource price value for each radio resource, calculating (604) a user specific weighted channel quality indication value for each radio resource by combining a channel quality indication (CQI) information available for each given user with at least a product of said user specific resource price and the required transmit power for each user, and making (605) a scheduling decision based on said user specific weighted CQI values.
US08229442B1
Systems and methods for estimating the minimum geographic coverage of a wireless base station. In an embodiment, the present invention estimates coverage by (1) receiving real-time wireless base station information from the mobile device; (2) extracting a set of location points and system specific information based on the real-time wireless base station information; (3) determining a coverage area based on the set of location points and the system specific information; (4) adjusting for errors based on various factors (5) storing the determined coverage area.
US08229439B2
A handoff access method and device based on a random access channel is provided, and includes a source BS that sends a handoff request message to a target BS; and the target BS sends a handoff response message to the source BS. The source BS then forwards a handoff command with the content of the handoff response message to the mobile terminal, wherein a sequence number of a reserved character code allocated by the target BS to the mobile terminal and a random access sub-channel that the reserved character code is located in are contained in the handoff command message. After receiving the handoff command message, the mobile terminal selects the reserved character code and the random access sub-channel that the reserved character code is located in; and a handoff access procedure is initialized on the random access sub-channel by the target BS and the mobile terminal.
US08229435B2
A base station is capable of performing a method for scheduling in a wireless communication system. In the method, a downlink channel measurement value received from a terminal is compared with a threshold. When the downlink channel measurement value is smaller than the threshold, an activation set for a handover of the terminal is determined. When the number of base stations inside the activation set is two or more, a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level is allocated to the terminal with consideration of the downlink channel measurement value. A wireless resource is allocated to the terminal with consideration of the allocated MCS level and a headroom of the terminal.
US08229430B1
Embodiments disclosed herein provide methods and systems for adjusting the signal strength of a pilot signal based on the distribution of wireless communication devices. In an embodiment, a method of operating a wireless communication system to control a pilot signal is disclosed. The method comprises receiving registration information transmitted from a plurality of wireless communication devices, processing the registration information to determine device type information for the wireless communication devices, processing the device type information to determine a power level to transmit the pilot signal, transferring an instruction indicating the power level for the pilot signal for delivery to a base station, and transmitting the pilot signal from the base station at the indicated power level.
US08229426B2
A mobile communications terminal divides a plurality of multipath signals associated with radio signals transmitted from a plurality of base stations using an S-CCPCH into groups by base station, i.e., by transmit source, maximum-ratio-combines a plurality of multipath signals associated with each same base station which is a transmit source into a composite signal, decodes the composite signal, and selects a composite signal having a good decoded result from among decoded composite signals.
US08229425B2
In a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), roaming from one access point to another by a mobile station without interruption to network service may be facilitated by frequently performing background scans to find neighboring access points while the mobile station is associated to the WLAN. Frequent background scanning, however, depletes battery life. By dynamically adjusting the background scanning interval during the mobile station's association to the WLAN, the mobile station's immediate need for network connectivity performance may be met, while simultaneously prolonging battery life. For example, by using a shorter background scanning interval during a telephone conversation, network connectivity performance may be maintained throughout the call. Longer background scanning intervals may be used during periods when interruptions to network connectivity may be better tolerated.
US08229422B2
A first network element determines (11) that a given mobile node using mobile Internet Protocol should receive subsequent broadcast packets as may be sourced by a corresponding Home Agent. This first network element can then determine (12) whether to support such subsequent broadcast packets using a first broadcast packet handling approach or a second broadcast packet handling approach.
US08229421B2
A computer-implemented mobile device locating method is provided. The method includes determining a current cell sector of a mobile device and comparing the current cell sector with a cell sector list of previously determined cell sectors. A current location of the mobile device is determined if the current cell sector is not listed in the cell sector list. The current location is compared with a last determined location. The current cell sector is added to the cell sector list if the current location is substantially the same as the last determined location. The cell sector list is cleared if the current location is not substantially the same as the last determined location.
US08229420B2
Disclosed is a location information system based upon a SUPL (Secure User Plane Location) architecture, and more particularly, to a location positioning method and terminal based on an area event in handover between networks. The method according to one embodiment includes: if a network is changed or if a terminal is outside of the coverage area of a serving network while an area event is ongoing, requesting, by the terminal, new event trigger parameters to a home network through a first message; determining, by the home network, a serving network of the terminal by using location identifier included in the first message; receiving, the home network, the location identifier of a target area for which the positioning is requested from the determined serving network; and transmitting, the home network, the new event trigger parameters including the area identifier to the terminal through a second message.
US08229417B2
A method for determining tentative locations for areas with poor radio coverage in a cellular communication system comprises the step of keeping position-related data of connected user equipment's updated in a network part of the communications system. The method further comprises detection of an accidental loss of connection to a user equipment. The position-related data of such a dropped user equipment is logged as a response to a detection of such accidental loss of connection. The logged position-related data for a multitude of accidental loss events are compiled as a quantity based on the number of accidental losses of connection as a function of the position-related parameter. The method further comprises identification of a tentative location for an area with poor radio coverage by statistical evaluation of that quantity. An arrangement for determining tentative locations for areas with poor radio coverage is also presented.
US08229416B2
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for stress testing mobile network equipment using CPRI are disclosed. According to one method, a plurality of messages is generated for simulating a plurality of user equipment (UE) devices. The plurality of messages is transmitted over a common public radio interface (CPRI) link to a radio equipment controller (REC) in order to stress test the REC component.
US08229408B2
A subsystem selection entity and method of controlling a subsystem selection entity is described. The subsystem selection entity is arranged to conduct a subsystem selection-procedure and a control procedure which comprises at least one control operation for controlling how one or more subsystems conduct a subscriber-not-reachable service.
US08229401B2
A user may utilize a communication device, e.g., a wireless phone, mobile device or personal digital assistant (PDA), to contact an information/call center where an operator provides personalized information and communications services to the user in accordance with the invention. Such services include, e.g., providing listing information, contacts information, appointments information, etc. To provide effective connectivity, for example, when a user locates a phone number in his/her private directory using a web browser, the user may utilize a direct connect feature of the invention to initiate a phone call to the desired number over the Internet. In addition, the invention allows for delivery of the appointments information to the user not only via voice connection, but also SMS, email, facsimile, PDA, etc. It also allows for rendering a calendaring service in combination with such services as a TeleConcierge® service which helps the user to plan a future event, e.g., making a restaurant reservation. An appointment record concerning the future event is automatically incorporated into the user's calendar once it is successfully planned. To personalize the services, at least one profile associated with the user is used which specifies the subscribed services and the preferred ways of receiving them. For example, the profile may specify use of a special skilled operator, methods of delivery of information to the user, etc.
US08229387B2
Provided is an even harmonic mixer which is reduced in cost and size. The even harmonic mixer includes: a transducer in which a conductor of a microstrip line is connected to a ground plane of a waveguide, for transducing an RF signal transmitted in a waveguide mode into a transmission mode of the microstrip line; an anti-parallel diode pair which is cascade-connected to a microstrip line side of the transducer, and formed on a semiconductor substrate; a branching circuit for branching an LO signal and an IF signal; an open-end stub which is disposed between the transducer and the anti-parallel diode pair, and has a line length of about ½ wavelength at an RF signal frequency; and an open-end stub which is disposed between the anti-parallel diode pair and the branching circuit, and has a line length of about ¼ wavelength at the RF signal frequency.
US08229386B1
A receiver includes a radio frequency metal-oxide-semiconductor amplifier, a mixer, and an intermediate frequency amplifier. The radio frequency metal-oxide-semiconductor amplifier is used for receiving amplifying a signal of a first band and a signal of a second band of a satellite microwave band from an external antenna circuit according to a control signal. The mixer is coupled to the radio frequency metal-oxide-semiconductor amplifier for reducing the signal of the first band to a signal of a first intermediate frequency band according to a first oscillation frequency of a local oscillator, or reducing the signal of the second band to a signal of a second intermediate frequency band according to a second oscillation frequency of the local oscillator. The intermediate frequency amplifier is coupled to the mixer for amplifying and outputting the signal of the first intermediate frequency band and the signal of the second intermediate frequency band.
US08229383B2
Systems and devices for controlling frequency drift in satellite broadcast systems. A receiver antenna system for a direct broadcast satellite signal communications system in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention comprises an oscillator, a mixer, coupled to the oscillator, for converting satellite signals at a first frequency to signals at an intermediate frequency, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, coupled to the mixer, for receiving the signals at the intermediate frequency and for converting the signals at the intermediate frequency at near-real-time to a digital data stream, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), coupled to the A/D converter, for processing the digital data stream, and a drift estimator, coupled to the DSP, the drift estimator determining a frequency drift of the oscillator, wherein the receiver antenna system corrects the frequency drift of the oscillator using the determined frequency drift.
US08229381B2
A wireless communication receiver includes a multitude of look-up tables each storing a multitude of DC offset values associated with the gains of an amplification stage disposed in the wireless communication receiver. The entries for each look-up table are estimated during a stage of the calibration phase. During such a calibration stage, for each selected gain of an amplification stage, a search logic estimates a current DC offset number and compares it to a previous DC offset estimate that is fed back to the search logic. If the difference between the current and previous estimates is less than a predefined threshold value, the current estimate is treated as being associated with the DC offset of the selected gain of the amplification stage and is stored in the look-up table. This process is repeated for each selected gain of each amplification stage of interest until the look-up tables are populated.
US08229365B2
A method for use in a cellular system comprising a plurality of base stations with corresponding cells, in which system the communication between users in a cell and the base station is divided into an up link period and a down link period, the method comprising letting a controlling node instruct the base stations regarding: a first point in time when the base station should start transmitting a control signal; a second point in time when the base station should start to listen for control signals from other base stations and measure their time of arrival and signal strength; a third point in time when the base station should cease listening for control signal; and a fourth point in time when the base station should transmit the measurements results to a receiving node in the system.
US08229364B2
A method for avoiding signal interference between a first RF device and a second RF device is provided. The first and second RF devices are co-located and the first RF device is configured to operate in a first frequency range. The second RF device is configured to operate in a second frequency range, where the first frequency range overlaps, at least in part, the first frequency range. The method initiates with a communication interface being provided between the first RF device and the second RF device. Then, the second RF device is configured to avoid RF signal collisions with the first RF device when the first RF device is active. An apparatus where two RF devices are co-located without causing interference for each other is also provided.
US08229358B2
Identification, authentication, and coverage control method implemented in a system including a central entity, a network of beacons, and a set of terminals, where each terminal is a device adhered to a beacon. The method includes defining a profile for each terminal, the profile including a coverage control service and a service connection authentication service, each service having an exclusive identifier. The coverage control service is connected when a beacon detects a device and the device is indentified as a terminal of the system. A service connection of the device is authenticated based on messages exchanged between the device and the beacon. If the authentication is positive, the device is allowed to adhere to the beacon and if the authentication is negative, the device is indentified as belonging to the system by not adhered to the beacon.
US08229355B2
A physical object (10) comprises a store (72) for storing at least one Content Reference Identifier (CRID) and a communications interface (71) for conveying the CRID to a receiver (20). Upon receiving the CRID, the receiver (20) can resolve the CRID to locate content for consuming (e.g. for presentation or scheduling for recording or later presentation) and can use the CRID to retrieve metadata relating to the content. Appropriate content can be selected by bringing the associated object (10) within range of the receiver (20), thus obviating the need to use a remote control or electronic programmed guide. The CRID can be pre-programmed in store (72) of object (10) or can be selected by a user by a replaceable card or input device.
US08229354B2
In a portable electronic device (100) having a plurality of near field communication applications stored within a plurality of execution environments, automatic selection of one of the near field communication applications is performed by a protocol discovery manager (319) and an application discovery manager (316). The application discovery manager (316) is disposed within a default execution environment. The protocol discovery manager (319), which operates in a near field communication circuit controller (301), performs application discovery at the mode switch level (321), the collision detection level (322), and the protocol level (323). The application discovery manager (316) performs application discovery at the application level. Where the protocol discovery manager (319) selects an application, it can configure a routing switch (219) to route data to the appropriate execution environment and launches the selected application, where only protocol level of identification is required. Where other levels are required, the protocol discovery manager (319) selects and routes data to the default execution environment containing application discovery manager (316). The application discovery manager (316), upon selecting an application, can either launch the application or forward a message to the appropriate execution environment for further execution as required by the selected application.
US08229350B2
Method and apparatus related to on-board message repeating for vehicle consist communications system
A communications method for a vehicle consist (10) comprising a lead vehicle (14) having a first (29A) and second (29B) antenna associated with a respective first (28A) and second (28B) transceiver and a remote vehicle (12A/12B/12C) having a third (29A) and fourth (29B) antenna associated with a respective third (28A) and fourth (28B) transceiver. The method further comprises transmitting an outbound message from the first transceiver (28A) via the first antenna (29A) or from the second transceiver (28B) via the second antenna (29B), the outbound message comprising a plurality of message bytes, receiving the outbound message at the third (29A) and fourth (29B) antennas and associated third (28A) and fourth (28B) transceivers, determining correct bytes and error bytes in the outbound message as received at the third transceiver (28A), determining correct bytes and error bytes in the outbound message as received at the fourth transceiver (28B), and assembling a reconstructed message using correct bytes from the message received at the third transceiver (28A) and the fourth transceiver (28B).
US08229342B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section for transferring a toner image onto a sheet; a fixing section for fixing the toner image on the sheet; and a reversing section for reversing the sheet front and back. A first pair of rollers conveys a sheet to which a fix processing is applied to the reversing section; a second pair of rollers feeds the sheet from the reversing section by reverse rotation; and a third pair of rollers transfers the sheet back to the image forming section so that an image forming is performed with respect to the back side of the sheet. One roller of the second pair of rollers has on its outer peripheral surface an arc-shaped surface and a non-arc-shaped surface receding inwardly from a circle drawn continuously from the arc-shaped surface.
US08229339B2
A fixing device includes a heating member, a pressing member, a coil, a magnetic core, a path switching member switching a magnetic path between a first path and a second path, and a magnetism adjustment member. The magnetism adjustment member allows a passage of a magnetic flux from the magnetic core towards the heating member within the magnetic field range when the magnetic field path is switched to the first path, and shields the magnetic flux without allowing the passage of the magnetic flux within the magnetic field range when the magnetic path is switched to the second path. Further, the magnetism adjustment member has a plurality of ring-shaped portions formed of a single wire material having an endless shape. Each of the ring-shaped portions extends in a longitudinal direction of the magnetic core according to a size of the sheet.
US08229332B2
A cartridge, an auger, and an image forming apparatus are provided. The cartridge includes a housing including supporting members and a conveying member, at least a portion of the conveying member rotating in an eccentric manner, the conveying member including a main body portion; a pair of supported portions provided at both ends of the main body portion and rotatably supported by the supporting members; and a spiral blade portion that conveys developer. The image forming apparatus includes an image forming apparatus main body including the cartridge. The auger includes a cylindrical main body comprising a spiral blade portion that conveys developer and shaft portions having rotational centers that coincide with each other, one of the shaft portions provided at each end of the main body, a center of gravity of the main body being displaced from the rotational centers of the shaft portions.
US08229331B2
An image forming agent storage unit includes a body portion, grip portion, a movement preventing member. The body portion exists to extend in a direction in which the image forming agent storage unit is mounted in an image forming apparatus. The grip portion is disposed on an operator's side of the body portion in the direction in which the image forming agent storage unit is mounted in the image forming apparatus, so that the grip portion can be gripped by a hand. The movement preventing member is disposed in a top portion of the grip portion. The movement preventing member is caught on the image forming apparatus. And, the movement preventing member prevents the image forming agent storage unit mounted in the image forming apparatus from moving in a direction in which the image forming agent storage unit is pulled out.
US08229327B2
An image forming apparatus is configured to reduce a velocity fluctuation of a rotating body by reducing the AC velocity component of the rotating body. The image forming apparatus may include an image bearing body with a surface on which a toner image is formed; a driving motor configured to drive the image bearing body according to an input signal; and a controller configured to control the driving motor to output a motor output velocity at a period equal to that of an AC velocity component of the image bearing body. A velocity control method for the rotating body includes sampling a continuous motor input signal at a period equal to that of an AC velocity component of a rotating velocity of the rotating body. The sampled signal is transmitted to a driving motor that drives the rotating body, which is driven based upon the discrete motor input signal.
US08229320B2
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which a cartridge is detachably mountable to form an image on a recording medium, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus including: a mounting portion to which the cartridge is detachably mountable; a cartridge holding member which holds the cartridge to move the cartridge to the mounting portion; a lock member which releasably locks the cartridge to the cartridge holding member; and a lock releasing member which releases the lock of the cartridge to the cartridge holding member by the lock member after the cartridge holding member moves the cartridge to the mounting portion.
US08229317B2
A developing unit is provided, which includes: a developer carrier; a housing; and a side sealing member disposed between an end part of the developer carrier and a portion of the housing adjacent to a supply port. The side sealing member includes an elastic member having an integral base part attached to the portion of the housing and plural integral projections protruding from the base part toward the developer carrier in a protruding direction. A distal end part of each of the projection has an inclination face inclined so that a part of the inclination face is closer to the supply port as the part of the inclination face is farther from the base part in the protruding direction.
US08229309B2
An image forming device includes an image holding member and a charging unit. In a case in which an AC current, while being increased, is supplied to the charging unit in a state in which a DC voltage value and an AC voltage value applied to the charging unit are maintained, or a case in which a DC voltage, while being increased, is supplied to the charging unit in a state in which the AC voltage value applied to the charging unit is maintained, a current detection unit detects DC current values. An inflection point derivation unit derives an inflection point of a correlation line representing an correlation between the detected DC current values and the supply amounts. An execution unit executes pre-specified processing when a characteristic value of the derived inflection point reaches a pre-specified value.
US08229308B2
An image forming apparatus includes a density detector to detect a density of an image to be printed, and an image density controller to adjust a toner supply amount and a developing bias based on a detection result of the density detector to thereby adjust a density of the image.
US08229305B2
An image forming apparatus which predicts VL fluctuates of a photosensitive drum, taking a rotation speed of the photosensitive drum during image formation into consideration, and controls the image formation based on the prediction, for always obtaining an image of a stable density. The image forming apparatus performs appropriate image formation control by controlling image forming conditions based on a photosensitive member rotation time, a photosensitive member stop time, a temperature of the environment, an absolute humidity of the environment, and the rotation speed of the photosensitive member.
US08229304B1
A coherent laser receiver for receiving encoded light which may have propagated over an aberrated path, situated between a source of the encoded light and the coherent receiver. The coherent laser receiver comprises a bundle of optical fibers arranged in an array to receive light, as encoded from a distant optical transmitter or reflective surface, the encoded light from the distant optical transmitter or reflective surface is received by at least a majority of the fibers in the array. A plurality of light amplifiers is provided for amplifying the received encoded light. A control apparatus coherently combines a composite output of the bundle of optical fibers, the control apparatus includes at least one detector for detecting the a portion of the received encoded light, an output of the at least one detector being utilized to control the plurality of light amplifiers so that differential phases among individual fibers associated with said at least one detector in the bundle are minimized by said light amplifiers. A coherent detector is responsive to the composite output of the bundle for providing an output signal representative of the encoded information from the source.
US08229297B2
A method of processing data for computing alternative paths in an optical network (10, 40) including making a list of groups (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26) that comprise links wherein the links in a group share a risk of being affected by the same fault, comparing each group (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26) with other groups (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26) in the list to determine whether each group includes the same links as another group, and deleting the groups (16, 26, 20, 22) that comprise links which are a subset of the links in another group.
US08229286B2
A method of scrolling or fast-forwarding/rewind includes enabling a fast forwarding/rewind mode of a device to review a file, activating an input device to change a fast forwarding/rewind speed at a first rate, and activating the input device at least one subsequent time to change the fast forwarding/rewind speed at a second rate that is different from the first.
US08229282B2
A plurality of video-recording devices are connected via a network. A video-recording reservation processing unit registers video-recording reservation information in a video-recording reservation management table of a storage unit and notifies the other devices of the video-recording reservation registration via the network when a video-recording reservation is made with respect to the video-recording function thereof. When a registration notification of a video-recording reservation of the other devices is received from the network, the substitutional video-recording reservation processing unit acquires registered video-recording reservation information from the other device so as to register substitutional video-recording reservation information in the substitutional video-recording reservation management table of the storage unit, and executes a substitutional video-recording reservation by using the video-recording function of the apparatus per se when a video-recording reservation execution notification of the other devices corresponding to the substitutional video-recording reservation information is not received.
US08229280B2
A method of performing a time-shift function and a television receiver using the same facilitates a selective playback of a specific one among a plurality of broadcast programs stored for the time-shift function. The television receiver includes a personal video recorder for enabling a time-shift function by storing in a time-shift storage area at least one broadcast signal received in real time; a system memory for storing broadcast program information extracted from the at least one broadcast signal stored in the personal video recorder; and a display module for displaying a time shift guide for the stored at least one broadcast signal to enable a user selection of one broadcast signal stored in the time-shift storage area. The broadcast program information is stored in the system memory in a table format, and the stored broadcast program information is updated in the system memory according to a system program execution, so that the time shift guide is displayed according to the updated broadcast program information. The television receiver also includes a controller for controlling the personal video recorder to reproduce the selected broadcast signal from a user-specified position in response to the user selection of the one broadcast signal; a user interface for inputting to the controller a command signal according to the user selection; and an OSD generator for generating OSD data for forming the time shift guide under control of the controller according to the command signal from the user interface.
US08229279B2
A recording control unit records program data for a second time period, from the time point the second time period before the lapse of a first time period from the start of recording, not only under a first title but also at a start portion of a second title. A combining unit identifies identical CM portions in the program data recorded redundantly under the first and second titles, connects the portion immediately preceding the start of the identified CM portion of the first title to the portion immediately succeeding the end of the identified CM portion of the second title, to form one title. An editing unit edits the program data to make shorter the length of the combined title, when the time of program data recorded under the combined title exceeds the first time period.
US08229276B2
An optical article for playback in a player includes at least one sector comprising a first control logic configured to set the value of a first register, the first register having a default value before it is set, and a non-default value after it is set, and a first command to be read sequentially after the sector. The first command is configured to direct the player to play a first content on the article if the first register is set to the default value and to direct the player to play a second content on the article if the first register is set to the non-default value. The optical article includes a mark containing an optical state change material disposed on the sector, wherein the mark is in one of a first optical state or a second optical state, and wherein the first control logic can be read only when the mark is in the second optical state.
US08229275B2
A method and apparatus for controlling a video camera recorder or the like, capable of flexibly meeting user demands for image quality, recording time, etc. When recording information on a rewritable optical recording medium, the recording mode for the optical recording medium is selected at least from between write-once and rewritable based on a set recording rate. Before recording, the recording status of the optical recording medium is also determined at least between an unrecorded area and a recorded area.
US08229274B2
A method of decoding a video signal is disclosed. The method includes decoding a bit stream of a base layer, obtaining flag information, obtaining information indicating an obtaining position of parameters. The parameters includes at least one of information on a phase shift of a chrominance signal and offset information. The method further includes obtaining the information on the phase shift of the chrominance signal based on the flag information and the information indicating the obtaining position of the parameters, and obtaining the offset information based on the flag information and the information indicating the obtaining position of the parameters. The method further includes up-sampling the picture of the base layer, and decoding a bit stream of an enhanced layer based on the reference picture up-sampled from the picture of the base layer, the information on the phase shift of the chrominance signal and the offset information.
US08229268B2
A cable management panel including a chassis, a drawer, and a rear latch arrangement. The rear latch arrangement including a latch having a free tab end. The free tab end engaging the front edge of a top wall of the chassis to prevent inadvertent closing movement of the drawer relative to the chassis.
US08229265B2
A fiber distribution hub (FDH) includes an enclosure and brackets with provisions to be mountable in multiple configurations. More particularly, the FDH is mountable in multiple configurations to a pole. The FDH includes provisions to be reconfigurable within the enclosure. More particularly, a hinged storage panel is reconfigurable between a horizontal hinging configuration and a vertical hinging configuration. A door is provided on the enclosure with features to stop and hold the door in one or more open positions. A ladder bracket is provided that is configurable as a ladder support or as an FDH mounting bracket.
US08229256B2
An opto-electric hybrid module capable of achieving the reduction in distance between an optical element and a core end portion to improve the efficiency of light coupling therebetween, and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The opto-electric hybrid module includes an optical waveguide section, an electric circuit section, and a light-emitting element (7) and a light-receiving element (8) both mounted on the electric circuit section. The optical waveguide section includes an under cladding layer (1), a linear core (2) for an optical path, the core being formed on a surface of the under cladding layer (1), and an over cladding layer (3) formed on the surface of the under cladding layer (1) and covering the core (2). An electric circuit (4) is formed on a surface portion of the under cladding layer (1) except where the core (2) is formed.
US08229240B1
Systems, methods, and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for changing the look of an image. In some implementations a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes decomposing a first image using a first plurality of wavelet transforms, each first wavelet transform creating a first transformation resolution, each first transformation resolution having respective first data, and decomposing a second image using a second plurality of wavelet transforms, each second wavelet transform creating a second transformation resolution, each second transformation resolution having respective second data. The method also includes determining a first measure of texture for each first transformation resolution's respective data, applying each first transformation resolution's first measure of texture to each corresponding second transformation resolution's data, and recomposing the second image based on the modified second transformation resolutions.
US08229231B2
An apparatus and method for encoding and decoding an image are provided. The image decoding method includes (a) decoding luma blocks according to a predetermined decoding mode of each of the luma blocks, and (b) decoding chroma blocks according to the predetermined decoding mode of each of the luma blocks.
US08229227B2
Scaleable video sequence processing with various filtering rules is applied to extract dominant features, and generate unique set of signatures based on video content. Video sequence structuring and subsequent video sequence characterization is performed by tracking statistical changes in the content of a succession of video frames and selecting suitable frames for further treatment by region based intra-frame segmentation and contour tracing and description. Compact representative signatures are generated on the video sequence structural level as well as on the selected video frame level, resulting in an efficient video database formation and search.
US08229221B2
Image processing using masked restricted Boltzmann machines is described. In an embodiment restricted Boltzmann machines based on beta distributions are described which are implemented in an image processing system. In an embodiment a plurality of fields of masked RBMs are connected in series. An image is input into a masked appearance RBM and decomposed into superpixel elements. The superpixel elements output from one appearance RBM are used as input to a further appearance RBM. The outputs from each of the series of fields of RBMs are used in an intelligent image processing system. Embodiments describe training a plurality of RBMs. Embodiments describe using the image processing system for applications such as object recognition and image editing.
US08229218B2
A processor generating a histogram of a set of data values receives a data value, and sets a corresponding register in each of two sets of registers based respectively on a decoded value represented by bits in a first and second set of positions in the received data value. The processor then simultaneously increments/updates each of multiple frequency counters (specifying frequency of occurrence of respective data values/ranges) by a value of a corresponding register in one of the two sets of registers if a value of a corresponding register in the other one of the two sets of registers is set. As a result, histogram generation is made efficient and fast. In an embodiment, 32 frequency counters are updated in 16 operations.
US08229215B2
An image sensor apparatus is disclosed. The image sensor apparatus includes an image sensor for generating pixel data corresponding to a scene under a scene illuminant and a processor. The processor includes an illuminant estimation module for receiving a subset of the pixel data associated with a subset of a color space and finding a chromaticity trend in the pixel data subset to estimate the scene illuminant. A white balance and color correction module in the processor applies white balance and color correction coefficients to the pixel data according to the estimated scene illuminant.
US08229207B2
The present invention provides a mask inspection apparatus and method capable of eliminating distortion of each optical image, which is caused by distortions of mirrors and flexure of a mask, and performing a mask inspection with satisfactory accuracy. A stage with the mask held thereon is moved in X and Y directions and an optical image of each pattern written onto the mask is acquired while using the results of measurement by laser interferometers (Step S100). A positional displacement of the acquired optical image is corrected using polynomial equations in which pre-measured amounts of positional displacement of optical images have been fitted (Step S102). Each positional displacement that remains after the polynomial correction is corrected using a map descriptive of pre-measured amounts of positional displacements (S104). Each optical image subsequent to the map correction and a reference image are compared (Step S108).
US08229204B2
Techniques are described for determining cleanliness of various surfaces by processing images of the surfaces. The surfaces may comprise, for example, drinking glasses, dishes, fabric swatch arrays, Tosi plates, ceramic tiles, or stainless steel coupons. In one example, a system includes a camera to capture a digital image of a surface, a light source to illuminate the surface, a housing to enclose the surface, the camera, and the light source in a light-tight environment, and an analysis computer to receive the digital image, calculate a luminosity value for the surface from the digital image, and determine a cleanliness value for the surface from the calculated luminosity value. The analysis computer may automatically configure an environment in which to capture the digital image such that the environment is suited for the particular surface to be analyzed. The analysis computer may also cause the camera to automatically capture the digital image.
US08229203B2
A plurality of PCS values are determined for a document having an area of interest containing critical data and a background image. Reflectance values distributed across the document are obtained and PCS threshold values corresponding to a plurality of locations on the document are stored in memory. Respective PCS values of a plurality of target portions of the surface are determined, each respective PCS value based on a reflectance value of the corresponding target portion and a reflectance value of a corresponding region located adjacent to the target portion, each of the regions being different for each target portion, each PCS value assigned a location representative of the location of the target portion, the size of the region being greater than the size of the target portion. The stored PCS threshold values are compared with the calculated PCS values to determine the acceptability of the background image.
US08229186B2
A method of centerline determination for a tubular tissue in a medical image data set defined in a data space, comprising receiving at least one start point and one end point inside a tubular tissue volume; automatically determining a path between said points that remains inside said volume; automatically segmenting said tubular tissue using said path; and automatically determining a centerline for said tubular tissue from said segmentation, wherein said receiving, said determining a path and said segmenting, said determining a centerline are all performed on a same data space of said medical image data set.
US08229183B2
An imaging apparatus includes at least two living-body detecting units, a imaging unit, and a drive unit. The living-body detecting units are provided at a imaging position where a part of a living body is laid, in conformity with the shape of the part of the living body. The imaging unit images the part of the living body, which is laid at the imaging position. The drive unit drives the imaging unit when all of the at least two living-body detecting units detect the living body.
US08229180B2
A method for detecting anatomical features in 3D ear impressions includes receiving a 3D digital image of a 3D ear impression, obtaining a surface of the ear impression from the 3D image, analyzing the surface with one or more feature detectors, the detectors adapted to detecting generic features, including peak features, concavity features, elbow features, ridge features, and bump features, and derived features that depend on generic features or other derived features, and forming a canonical ear signature from results of the detectors, where the canonical ear signature characterizes the 3D ear impression.
US08229174B2
A method and apparatus for estimating motion and occlusion is disclosed. In one aspect, a method of estimating motion and occlusion between three or more frames in a video stream includes identifying a plurality of motion vector candidates for each of a forward direction and a backward direction, generating a plurality of candidate pairs, determining an energy for at least some of the plurality of candidate pairs using a processor by jointly evaluating the forward motion vector and the backward motion vector of at least some of the plurality of candidate pairs based on interframe difference, spatial motion correlation, temporal motion correlation, and spatial occlusion correlation, and estimating motion and occlusion between the three or more frames by selecting a candidate vector from the plurality of candidate vectors based on the determined energies.
US08229173B2
A parallax calculator sets a plurality of target points in each standard image and calculates parallaxes of the individual target points. An optical flow calculator calculates two-dimensional optical flows of the individual target points by searching for points corresponding to the target points set in the standard image captured in a frame immediately preceding a current frame. A movement calculation block calculates a forward moving speed of the moving body and angular velocities thereof in both a pitch direction and a pan direction.
US08229164B2
The pedestrian tracking device comprises: an image receiving unit for receiving, in time series, images continuously in time by an image capturing device; a pedestrian region selecting unit for sampling candidate pedestrian regions from an image received by the image receiving unit and for selecting a certain pedestrian region; a tracking unit provided in time series with the pedestrian region selected by the pedestrian region selecting unit for predicting motion of the pedestrian region and associating it with time direction by use of a skeleton model obtained by modeling a pedestrian, a distance-transformed image obtained from the pedestrian region and a Monte Carlo filter so as to track the pedestrian region; and a pedestrian trajectory display for displaying, in time series, the pedestrian region tracked by the tracking unit.
US08229153B2
In one aspect, a boot located inside a mobile device holds a microphone. The boot has a straight, front chamber section whose mouth is aligned (vertically and horizontally) with a microphone-associated, acoustic case opening in a sidewall of the outer housing of the device. In another aspect, the front chamber section is defined by a front sidewall on whose outer surface a circumferential rib is formed. This portion of the boot sidewall is disposed within a tube section (which may be formed in the sidewall of the device's outer case), to form an acoustic seal around the mouth of the boot. Other embodiments are also described.
US08229145B2
A method and apparatus configure a handheld audio device to communicate audio information by identifying an ear being used with the handheld audio device and by configuring the handheld audio device in response to the ear identification to communicate audio information to the ear. The identification may use sonic or visual techniques to identify the ear.
US08229135B2
A method for transforming an audio signal and a system employing that method is disclosed. The method proceeds by extracting from the signal components that fall within a stop band, for example, using one or more low-pass filters. Then, a set of one or more harmonics of the extracted components is generated by down-sampling to create an intermediate signal, which is then repeated. Each harmonic is then weighted by controlling its gain by application to it of a respective weighting factor, the factors being determined by the psychoacoustic properties of a system that will reproduce the signal. Then, the weighted harmonics are added to the audio signal (which may have been subject to a delay to ensure synchronization) to create an output signal.
US08229134B2
Spherical microphone arrays provide an ability to compute the acoustical intensity corresponding to different spatial directions in a given frame of audio data. These intensities may be exhibited as an image and these images are generated at a high frame rate to achieve a video image if the data capture and intensity computations can be performed sufficiently quickly, thereby creating a frame-rate audio camera. A description is provided herein regarding how such a camera is built and the processing done sufficiently quickly using graphics processors. The joint processing of and captured frame-rate audio and video images enables applications such as visual identification of noise sources, beamforming and noise-suppression in video conferencing and others, by accounting for the spatial differences in the location of the audio and the video cameras. Based on the recognition that the spherical array can be viewed as a central projection camera, such joint analysis can be performed.
US08229132B2
A microphone apparatus is obtained capable of preventing howling effectively, while having no time difference between a timing of voice utterance to a microphone and a timing of sound emission from a speaker and having simple and low-cost physical and electrical configurations. There are provided microphone units or microphones disposed at locations with the same acoustic conditions, and switching units disposed corresponding to the microphone units or microphones, respectively, for switching sequentially an audio signal transformed in each of the microphone units or microphones to generate an output signal. The switching units may switch sequentially the audio signal transformed in the microphone unit or microphone at an shorter time interval than a time period from a time point the microphone unit or microphone is turned on to a time point an output thereof grows to reach a maximum level by howling.
US08229124B2
A method of adjusting a loudness of an audio signal may include receiving an electronic audio signal and using one or more processors to process at least one channel of the audio signal to determine a loudness of a portion of the audio signal. This processing may include processing the channel with a plurality of approximation filters that can approximate a plurality of auditory filters that further approximate a human hearing system. In addition, the method may include computing at least one gain based at least in part on the determined loudness to cause a loudness of the audio signal to remain substantially constant for a period of time. Moreover, the method may include applying the gain to the electronic audio signal.
US08229117B2
A process for the distribution of digital audiovisual sequences. An analysis is made prior to transmission to a dynamic group of receivers to generate a first modified main stream and complementary information. A synthesis of a stream in the original format is calculated on the receiver as a function of the modified main stream and the complementary information. Generation of the complementary information is constituted of the following steps: extraction of at least one original piece of data of the original stream, storage of the original data in the complementary information, formatting the complementary information in segments with each segment corresponding to at least one entire audiovisual element of the modified main stream, and encapsulation of at least one segment with at least one piece of access information in at least one data block to generate at least one access ticket for the corresponding audiovisual elements.
US08229111B2
A security circuit using at least two finite state machine units for storing data to and reading data from a multiport memory in a pipelined manner and an intermediate memory, for facilitating transfer of data between the at least two finite state machines. The security circuit may be used to perform key setup and/or data ciphering faster. The security circuit may operate in any environment where the key is changed every frame, for example, a wireless LAN application and the security circuit may operate in conjunction with, or as part of, a MAC controller.
US08229099B2
A method comprises receiving a plurality of voice sessions and creating a unique identifier for each of the plurality of voice sessions, wherein each identifier is unique for the duration of its associated voice session. The method also includes assigning the unique identifiers to the associated voice session, and creating a unique data session for each voice session. The method further includes assigning the unique identifier of each voice session to the data session associated with its voice session. The method also includes receiving a plurality of voice sessions and a plurality of data sessions at a manager, and matching one of the plurality of received voice sessions with its associated data session based at least in part on the unique identifier. The method further includes communicating the matched voice session and data session to one of a plurality of agents.
US08229091B2
A method is disclosed that includes receiving a selection of an interactive voice response (IVR) option. The method also includes receiving, at an IVR system, a first spoken message. The first spoken message is translated, at a translator, into a short message service (SMS) text message.
US08229087B2
A relay apparatus for relaying communication between a plurality of wireless terminals and a wired network includes a priority data recording part for recording communication identification data and required bandwidth data, a priority control part for relaying, by priority, the communication recorded in the priority data recording part, a request receiving part for receiving communication identification data and multimedia type data, a selecting part for selecting a multimedia type to be relayed by priority, an updating part for additionally recording data that represents a bandwidth required for relaying a stream of the selected multimedia type and the communication identification data, and a responding part for transmitting a response. The selecting part selects the multimedia type so that a sum of bandwidths represented by the required bandwidth data does not exceed a predetermined upper limit value. With the above configuration, the relay apparatus can perform bandwidth control of communication to be relayed, considering the multimedia type included in the communication by a wireless terminal.
US08229080B2
A system receives a condition for a multimodal application, automatically tests the multimodal application based on the received condition, and generates a test result based on the automatic testing of the multimodal application.
US08229078B2
Mechanisms are disclosed that allow for the use of a false background, or background tone, in voice input in a telephonic call. A voice input may have both voice from a user talking and a background noise input which may be every other noise received at the user's phone. A trigger to use a background tone is received, the background tone is selected and the associated background tone file is retrieved. Then, a combiner combines the voice input with the background tone file. A filter may be used to filter the actual background noise from the voice input. Additionally, background tones may be used in various telephonic networks, including traditional land-line and wireless cellular networks.
US08229075B2
In particular embodiments, the present disclosure provides targets including a metal layer and defining a hollow inner surface. The hollow inner surface has an internal apex. The distance between at least two opposing points of the internal apex is less than about 15 μm. In particular examples, the distance is less than about 1 μm. Particular implementations of the targets are free standing. The targets have a number of disclosed shaped, including cones, pyramids, hemispheres, and capped structures. The present disclosure also provides arrays of such targets. Also provided are methods of forming targets, such as the disclosed targets, using lithographic techniques, such as photolithographic techniques. In particular examples, a target mold is formed from a silicon wafer and then one or more sides of the mold are coated with a target material, such as one or more metals.
US08229071B2
Some aspects include a system, apparatus, and method for obtaining a burst mode treatment plan to be administered by a radiotherapy device, the burst mode treatment plan prescribing parameters for one or more dynamic axes, parameters for one or more static axes, and position parameters for the one or more dynamic axes corresponding to a prescribed delivery period of burst mode irradiation; receiving an indication of occurrences of a substantially periodic treatment opportunity for a target volume of a patient from a gating device, the treatment opportunity being a period of time the target volume is in a position to be irradiated according to the burst mode treatment plan; synchronizing the treatment opportunity and the prescribed delivery period of burst mode irradiation; and irradiating the target volume during the synchronization of the treatment opportunity and the prescribed delivery period of burst mode irradiation.
US08229068B2
A system and method of detecting a breathing phase of a patient receiving radiation therapy is disclosed. The method, in one implementation, includes the acts of obtaining a plurality of patient images representing phases of a breathing cycle, delivering radiation to the patient, collecting transmission data of the patient during the delivering radiation, and comparing the transmission data to the plurality of patient images.
US08229054B2
A conduction cooled neutron absorber may include a metal matrix composite that comprises a metal having a thermal neutron cross-section of at least about 50 barns and a metal having a thermal conductivity of at least about 1 W/cm·K. Apparatus for providing a neutron flux having a high fast-to-thermal neutron ratio may include a source of neutrons that produces fast neutrons and thermal neutrons. A neutron absorber positioned adjacent the neutron source absorbs at least some of the thermal neutrons so that a region adjacent the neutron absorber has a fast-to-thermal neutron ratio of at least about 15. A coolant in thermal contact with the neutron absorber removes heat from the neutron absorber.
US08229049B1
In one embodiment, a monitor circuit is disclosed. For example, the monitor circuit includes a first delay line circuit having a plurality of delay taps for receiving data from a data channel, and a second delay line circuit having a plurality of points for sampling the data received from the first delay line circuit, where the plurality of points comprises an input point, a middle point and an output point. The monitor circuit further includes a voltage control circuit for providing a control voltage to the second delay line circuit, and a data compare circuit for comparing a data value of the input point and a data value of the middle point to produce a first out-of-bounds signal, and for comparing the data value of the middle point and a data value of the output point to produce a second out-of-bounds signal.
US08229047B2
An analog complex filter combines an in-phase signal and a quadrature signal to output first and second analog signals. An analog-to-digital converter converts the first and second analog signals into first and second digital signals. A first digital complex filter attenuates a component corresponding to the quadrature signal of the first digital signal and outputs the resultant signal as a third digital signal, and attenuates a component corresponding to the in-phase signal of the second digital signal and outputs the resultant signal as a fourth digital signal. An IQ imbalance correction circuit corrects a quadrature error and an amplitude error between the third and fourth digital signals.
US08229023B2
Frequency translation and applications of the same are described herein, including RF modem and wireless local area network (WLAN) applications. In embodiments, the WLAN invention includes an antenna, an LNA/PA module, a receiver, a transmitter, a control signal generator, a demodulation/modulation facilitation module, and a MAC interface. The WLAN receiver includes at least one universal frequency translation module that frequency down-converts a received EM signal. In embodiments, the UFT based receiver is configured in a multi-phase embodiment to reduce or eliminate re-radiation that is caused by DC offset. The WLAN transmitter includes at least one universal frequency translation module that frequency up-converts a baseband signal in preparation for transmission over the wireless LAN. In embodiments, the UFT based transmitter is configured in a differential and multi-phase embodiment to reduce carrier insertion and spectral growth.
US08229013B2
A “post-squaring” detection algorithm, and related devices, that may reduce the complexity of maximum likelihood detection (MLD) schemes while preserving their performance is provided. Rather than search for optimum metrics (such as minimum distance metrics) based on squared norm values, a search may be based on un-squared norm metrics, and the squaring may be postponed, for example, until subsequent log-likelihood ratio (LLR) computation. For certain embodiments, approximations of un-squared norm values may significantly reduce computation complexity.
US08229010B2
An OFDM signal is demodulated to generate a frequency domain signal in each of a plurality of branches. A diversity combining unit combines the demodulated signals respectively obtained in each of the branches. A clock recovery unit recovers the clock for the OFDM signal. A guard correlation unit detects the phase error of the OFDM signal. A decision unit identifies a branch having high reliability. A clock error correction unit generates a correction instruction, in accordance with the average value of the phase errors in the branch having high reliability. The clock recovery unit in each of the branches respectively corrects the error of the clock in accordance with the correction instruction.
US08229007B2
The present invention provides for a methods, system, and apparatus relating to data transmission. One method of the present invention includes representing data using at least one ultra wideband pulse, sending the at least one ultra wideband pulse over an electrically conductive guided media, and recovering the data from the at least one ultra wideband pulse. The present invention can be used in conjunction with telephony applications, cable TV applications, power line applications, fiber optic applications, and data bus applications.
US08229003B2
Transmission of a digital television signal conveys data parameters along with the encoder data that are utilized by the receiver in equalization and in decoding the encoded data. Leveraging the existing digital television standard data formatting, parameters are split between the two fields of a frame of the interlaced signal. Spread spectrum techniques are employed to robustly convey the parameters in encoded form to the receiver.
US08228989B2
A method and apparatus for encoding and decoding based on inter prediction are provided. In the encoding method, a current block is encoded by respectively performing intra prediction on the current block and a reference block in a reference picture which corresponds to the current block, and performing inter prediction on the current block based on the results of performing intra prediction. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the size of data regarding the current block, which is generated as a result of performing inter prediction, thereby improving the compression rate of video data.
US08228980B2
A network media gateway is disclosed with a processor configured to include a plurality of decoder channels, a plurality of overlay channels, an overlay renderer, a video mixer, and an encoder channel. A digital signal processor embedded in a network media gateway is also disclosed, and a mixing method implemented on a digital signal processor is also disclosed.
US08228974B2
A device that detects an effect which distorts a communication signal in a serial communication channel comprises an input, a detector connected to the input, a demultiplexer having a data input connected to the output of the detector, and an evaluator at each output of the demultiplexer. The input receives the distorted communication signal from the communication channel. The detector detects a feature in a symbol of the distorted communication signal and outputs the detected feature. The demultiplexer outputs the detected feature and has a plurality of control inputs. A differently delayed symbol (i−1, 1, i+1) of the communication signal is applied to each input to switch the detected feature present at the input of the demultiplexer to an output of the demultiplexer specified by the symbols present at the control inputs.
US08228967B2
A light emitting device includes first and second cladding layers and an active layer therebetween including first and second side surfaces and first and second gain regions, a second side reflectance is higher than a first side reflectance, a first end surface part of the first gain region overlaps a second end surface part of the second gain region in an overlapping plane, the first gain region obliquely extends from the first end surface to a third end surface, the second gain region obliquely extends from the second end surface to a fourth end surface, a first center line connecting the centers of the first and third end surfaces and a second center line connecting the centers of the second and fourth end surfaces intersect, and the overlapping plane is shifted from the intersection point toward the first side surface.
US08228964B2
To provide a surface emitting laser having a structure that can suppress the oscillation of a high-order transverse mode. In the surface emitting laser, a plurality of semiconductor layers including a lower DBR, an upper DBR, an active layer interposed therebetween, and a current confinement layer for confining a current injected to the active layer are stacked on a substrate, and a barrier structure limits the migration of a majority carrier, that has passed through a current unconfining portion, in an electric field application direction; the barrier structure is provided between the current confinement layer and the active layer so that an oscillation of a high-order transverse mode is suppressed by the barrier structure promoting the diffusion of the majority carrier in an in-plane direction of the barrier structure.
US08228961B2
A feedback control module for stabilizing a carrier-envelope phase of an output of a laser oscillator system comprises a first photodetector, a second photodetector, a phase stabilizer, an optical modulator, and a thermal control element. The first photodetector may generate a first feedback signal corresponding to a first portion of a laser beam from an oscillator. The second photodetector may generate a second feedback signal corresponding to a second portion of the laser beam filtered by a low-pass filter. The phase stabilizer may divide the frequency of the first feedback signal by a factor and generate an error signal corresponding to the difference between the frequency-divided first feedback signal and the second feedback signal. The optical modulator may modulate the laser beam within the oscillator corresponding to the error signal. The thermal control unit may change the temperature of the oscillator corresponding to a signal operable to control the optical modulator.
US08228959B2
A system generates FIR laser radiation. An electron source generates an electron beam. A grating horn interacts with the electron beam to produce the FIR laser radiation. The grating horn may comprise a flat base and a pair of grating elements attached to the base, each of the grating elements being ruled with a grating period, the grating elements oriented in phase and in substantial symmetry about a normal to the flat base.
US08228957B1
A communication system comprises a mobile switching center configured to determine a first delay metric for first traffic on a first path from the mobile switching center to a first node, and determine a first delay differential based on the first delay metric and a second delay metric for second traffic on a second path from the mobile switching center to a second node. The communication system also comprises the second node having a delay buffer configured to delay the second traffic based on the first delay differential.
US08228953B2
In order to provide a bus guardian (30) for monitoring communication between and among a number of nodes (100), in particular between and among a number of electronic control units, the bus guardian (30) being designed for monitoring at least one cyclic time-triggered communication media access schedule for transmitting messages between and among the nodes (100) across at least one communication media (10), in particular across at least one channel (12) and across at least one optional further channel (14), and being assigned to at least one communication controller (40), the communication controller (40) comprising the communication media access schedule, wherein the bus guardian (30) as well as a corresponding method require neither any a priori knowledge of the communication schedule nor any configuration parameter and monitor the communication media access schedule of the communication controller (40) even during start-up of the communication, it is proposed that that the bus guardian (30) is able to learn, in particular within the first cycle, about said communication media access schedule, and that the bus guardian (30) makes use of the learned knowledge with respect to at least one possible schedule violation (SV1, SV2, SV3), in particular with respect to at least one deviation from said communication media access schedule, for example during start-up of the communication.
US08228951B2
A method and system are provided for preventing data loss in a VoIP system. In particular, during a VoIP call, it is determined whether incoming ringing on a POTS line causes an unacceptable level of signal loss or errors. If so, for subsequent VoIP calls, the CO handling calls to the POTS line is instructed to either answer each call with a busy signal or automatically forward calls to the POTS line to the VoIP line or other selected telephone. Calling returns to normal upon ending of the VoIP call. In this manner, incoming ringing on the POTS line does not result in call dropping or lengthy retraining processes.
US08228948B2
A computing system includes a communication mechanism and a data packet dividing mechanism. The communication mechanism is communicatively coupled to a network to send first data packet fragments over the network. The data packet dividing mechanism is to segment first data packets into the first packet fragments at a dynamically adjustable fragment boundary, such that the dynamically adjustable fragment boundary changes every time n-bit identifiers of the first data packets roll over.
US08228941B2
Random access operation is performed under a communication environment in which a plurality of communication modes having different transmission rate coexist with small overhead. A high-grade communication station spoofs information of a packet length and a rate in a decoding portion so that a value of (packet length)/(rate) corresponds to a duration where the communication is hoped to be stopped. The other station receiving the spoofed information receives the rest of the packet with the designated rate during the interval designated by the value of (packet length)/(rate). In this case, the packet length and the rate are not those of actually transmitted packet so that this packet is discarded.
US08228938B2
A terminal is configured to perform a method capable of preventing the miss detection of duplicated unacknowledged mode data (UMD) protocol data units (PDU) and out-of-sequence delivery in unacknowledged mode (UM) operations. The terminal includes a receiver configured to not make a slot with a sequence number (SN) of k available to receive in new UMD PDU unless a time has passed such that no more retransmissions of a previous UMD PDU with the SN of k is possible. The terminal also includes a transmitter configured to determine a transmission window size for transmitting UMD PDUs.
US08228933B2
A base station detects that an end-user has turned on an on/off switch on the base station, and in response, the base station transfers a registration request to a service node over an IP network. The service node processes the registration request to register the base station. The base station exchanges wireless telephony signals with a plurality of end-user communication devices, wherein the wireless telephony signals transport end-user communications. The base station and the service node exchange IP packets over the IP network, wherein the IP packets transport the end-user communications. The service node processes the end-user communications to provide a telephony service to the end-user communication devices, but the service node does not provide the telephony service to end-user communication devices through the base station until the base station registration is complete.
US08228918B2
In one aspect, a method for establishing communication in a packet-oriented communications network between a calling (EG1) and a called terminal is provided. In the method, before a call-accepted signal by the called terminal, triggered by a message within the framework of call set-up signaling, a direct, first payload connection is established and maintained between the calling and the called terminal. As a direct result of the call-accepted signal of the called terminal communication is triggered between the calling and called terminal by means of the established first payload connection.
US08228917B2
Techniques for performing ciphering and re-ordering using a single full sequence number are described. A transmitter ciphers input packets to obtain ciphered packets, with each input packet being ciphered with a full sequence number. The transmitter generates output packets for the ciphered packets, with each output packet including a partial sequence number used for re-ordering and derived from the full sequence number. The full sequence number may be incremented for each input packet or each byte of each packet. The partial sequence number may be used as a sequence number for RLC and may be used for re-ordering, duplicate detection, error correction, and/or other functions. A receiver performs the complementary processing, re-orders received packets based on the partial sequence number included in each packet, and deciphers the received packets using the partial sequence number included in each received packet.
US08228915B2
The invention relates to techniques for handling residual space occurring in packet-based data transmissions, wherein according to one embodiment of a method for controlling a packet-based data transmission, in case an amount of residual space in the packet (300) is below a predefined threshold value, a last one of one or more sub-headers (304) in the header (302) of the packet (300) is constructed by setting a length indicator (LF) to a value indicating to a receiver that no further sub-header follows.
US08228911B2
A method to reduce latency in a data link communication is provided. The method includes compressing a data packet to be uplinked from a ground station to an aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS) in an aircraft and determining a packet size of the data packet. The aircraft communications addressing and reporting system is configured to receive packets having a packet size less than or equal to a first threshold packet size. An Iridium router based unrestricted digital inter-working connectivity solution data service is implemented to uplink the compressed data packet if the packet size exceeds a second threshold packet size. A short burst data service is implemented to uplink the compressed data packet if the packet size is less than or equal to the second threshold packet size.
US08228910B2
A node for transmitting digital data over a network receives a plurality of packet data units and identifies at least two of the packet data units that have the same aggregation identifier. The node then forms an aggregate packet from the packet data units that have the same aggregation identifier and transmits the aggregate packet to a common destination node or nodes.
US08228909B2
A method of compressing and restoring an Internet Protocol (IP) packet which is transmitted through a broadcast network is provided. According to the method, by using a characteristic of a transmission structure of a broadcast network, that is unlike ordinary packet switching communication networks, a field value that can be removed from a header part of an IP packet is determined. Then, the determined field value is removed from the header, and an IP packet having a header formed with the remaining field values is generated, thereby compressing the header of the IP packet more effectively compared to the header of the conventional static IP packet. In addition, by transmitting a compressed IP packet instead of a static IP packet which is periodically transmitted according to the conventional method, compatibility that the compression method can be used together with conventional compression methods is guaranteed.
US08228907B2
A VOIP service and method is provided which comprises an redirecting dialer device (RDD), which connects a telephone to a POTS circuit. Responsive to DTMF signals from the telephone representative of a long telephone distance number, the RDD intercept the DTMF signals and transits alternative DTMF signals representative of an alternative telephone number of a PSTN/VOIP gateway server. Once connected to the PSTN/VOIP gateway server, the RDD then transmits the DTMF signals associated with the original long distance number. The VOIP gateway server is operative to convert the analog signals from the telephone into digital and packetized VOIP data which is transmitted through a public or private IP-based network to a remote telecommunication device associated with the original long distance telephone number. If the DTMF signals from the telephone are representative of a local telephone number, the RDD is operative to forgo transmitting the alternative DTMF signals.
US08228900B2
A system, method, and node for routing a SIP message within an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) from an IMS/SIP client attached to a visited network to a destination address that contains a TEL URI including a local telephone number. The IMS/SIP client places a phone-context within the TEL URI, which specifies whether the local telephone number belongs to the visited network or to the client's home network. The message is delivered to the client's home network, which routes the message according to the phone-context contained within the TEL URI.
US08228899B2
A method for synchronizing a searching period for a mobile communication terminal with a wireless communication module includes: determining a common searching period of the mobile communication terminal and the wireless communication module using searching periods of the mobile communication terminal and the wireless communication module; determining an offset value of the mobile communication terminal and the wireless communication module using searching points of the mobile communication terminal and the wireless communication module; and synchronizing the searching period of the mobile communication terminal with the searching period of the wireless communication module using the common searching period and the offset value, resulting in reduction of the amount of current consumption for the searching operations.
US08228896B2
At least part of the information in a packet's header may be verified so that a network element may rely on the information, e.g. to provide enhanced QoS and/or to identify the source. The information may be verified by a verifying agent (VA) or a transmitting network element. Where a VA is used, the VA may sign the header information issuing its private key of a private/public key pair. The signature may take the form of a digest, certificate, or other form. Once the header information has been signed, the client may transmit packets using headers that include the signed information and may include the VA's signature as an option in the header or in another area of the packet. The VA may also transmit packets directly. The signature may be decrypted by other NEs to extract the signed information, which can then be compared with the normal header information.
US08228891B2
In one embodiment, an enterprise network is provided that includes a mobility module 150 associated with a first or second switch/server 100 or 104, respectively. On the second switch/server, the mobility agent manages a pool of mobility user station records 168a-j and creates visitor application records 172a-i associated with a external subscriber communication devices 136a-n. Each visitor application record is associated with a subscriber whose communication device is controlled by the first switch/server 100. In response to a selected stimulus, outgoing call processing for selected communication devices on the first switch/server is moved to the second switch/server 104 by associating, for each such device, a selected record 168 with a corresponding record 172.
US08228883B2
A wireless network master node periodically broadcasts beacons that specify a structure of a following fixed length superframe. Slave nodes determine a channel condition between each slave and the master. Then, the set of slaves is partitioned into subsets of slaves according to the channel conditions. The master assigns, to each slave, a transmission rate in a low to high order according to the channel conditions, and the slaves transmit data to the master in the low to high order between two consecutive beacons, wherein the subsets of slaves with a higher transmission rate also receive the data from the subsets of slaves with a lower transmission rate, and wherein a slave with a higher transmission rate includes a part of or all the data from a slave with a lower transmission rate.
US08228879B2
A packet-based, hierarchical communication system, arranged in a spanning tree configuration, is described in which wired and wireless communication networks exhibiting substantially different characteristics are employed in an overall scheme to link portable or mobile computing devices. The network accommodates real time voice transmission both through dedicated, scheduled bandwidth and through a packet-based routing within the confines and constraints of a data network. Conversion and call processing circuitry is also disclosed which enables access devices and personal computers to adapt voice information between analog voice stream and digital voice packet formats as proves necessary. Routing pathways include wireless spanning tree networks, wide area networks, telephone switching networks, internet, etc., in a manner virtually transparent to the user. A voice session and associate call setup simulates that of conventional telephone switching network, providing well-understood functionality common to any mobile, remote or stationary terminal, phone, computer, etc.
US08228877B2
A multi-user detector (200) and method (300) for use in a cellular CDMA system (100) based on: estimating (210) spare code resource available in a first cell of the system; selecting (220) at least a second cell neighbouring the first cell; selecting (230) from codes associated with the second cell at least one additional code; and performing (240) multi-user detection processing in the first cell with the at least one additional code. On the downlink, codes from other users in the same cell may be treated with the same level of priority as those of users from neighbour cells, codes allocated to the UE having the highest priority; on the uplink, codes of all users in the same cell may have the same priority which is higher than that of neighbour cell users. This provides the advantage(s) that multi-user detector capacity arising from operating under high interference conditions is employed to accommodate users from neighbour cells, with the result that both intracell and intercell interference may be mitigated.
US08228874B1
A wireless network includes a current coordinator, at least one device which is currently associated with the wireless network, and a device selected as a new coordinator among the at least one device by the current coordinator. The current coordinator transmits a handover request message to the new coordinator; receives a handover response message in response to the handover request message from the new coordinator, the handover response message including a reason code field that is set to “success”; and broadcasts one or more beacons, each beacon including identification information which identifies the new coordinator and number information which indicates a number of remaining beacons that the current coordinator will broadcast before a handover occurs. The number information included in a last beacon among the one or more beacons is set to “0,” and the new coordinator broadcasts a beacon after receiving the last beacon from the current coordinator.
US08228868B2
A method of supporting handover at a user equipment in a mobile communication system is disclosed according to the present invention. The method comprises receiving, from a source network node, first identification information identifying at least one data block transferred from the source network node to a target network node during handover, transmitting, to a target network node, second identification information identifying at least one data block to be received from the target network node during the handover, and receiving a data block from the target network node, the data block being transmitted by the target network node based on the second identification information.
US08228865B2
Techniques to efficiently search for a WLAN are described. A terminal receives country information from a wireless wide area network (WWAN), which may be a cellular network or a broadcast network. This country information may be a Mobile Country Code (MCC) that is broadcast by the WWAN. The MCC identifies the country in which the WWAN is deployed. The terminal then performs active scan for a WLAN based on the country information received from the WWAN. For the active scan, the terminal determines a frequency channel and a transmit power level based on the country information. The terminal then transmits a probe request on the frequency channel and at the transmit power level determined based on the country information. The terminal may perform passive scan and/or active scan in accordance with a scan setting.
US08228858B2
Embodiments of the invention describe a method for antenna selection (AS) in a wireless communication network, the network comprising user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a plurality of subsets of antennas including a selected subset of antennas and an unselected subset of antennas, wherein only the selected subset of antennas is used for transmitting user data, and wherein the UE is configured to transmit only from a subset of antennas at a time. The method transmits the user data from the selected subset of antennas within a set of subframes, and transmits a sounding reference signal (SRS) from the unselected subset of antennas within at least one subframe in the set of subframes to enable antenna selection for user data transmission.
US08228852B2
A method and apparatus is provided for transmitting a single counting end message to reject RRC connection requests of a plurality of terminals and for providing a quick response to terminals that transmitted a connection request. RRC connection request messages are sent by a plurality of terminals to a network in response to an RRC connection-required message received on a first channel. Each terminal monitors a second channel for an RRC connection setup message. The network establishes connections with a predetermined number of terminals by transmitting an RRC connection setup message on the second channel and transmits a single RRC connection-not-required message to the plurality of terminals on the first channel. Each terminal not receiving an RRC connection setup message after a predetermined period of time then terminates the network connection procedure and does not re-transmit an RRC connection request message after receiving the RRC connection-not-required message.
US08228842B2
The present invention relates to a system, a method and a terminal for multimedia broadcast/multicast service data transmission. The system includes: a radio network controller (RNC), a service general packet radio service supporting node (SGSN), gateway general packet radio service supporting node (GGSN), a broadcast/multicast service center, an UE type inquiry module, a database, and a processing module. The network resource waste is avoided, and the effectiveness of media resource transmission is guaranteed through the present invention.
US08228841B2
A method and system for transmitting and receiving resource allocation information in a communication system are disclosed, in which an Relay Station (RS) receives a resource allocation information message from a Base Station (BS), detects a first resource allocation information from the resource allocation information message, and detects a second resource allocation information intended only for the RS using the first resource allocation information.
US08228832B2
An USSD transporting method (200) and mobile computing device (410) are described. The method (200) can include the steps of: providing a data pushing operation (210) over a universal supplementary services data (USSD) channel from the application server to the mobile device client; and initiating a data pulling operation (220) over an internet protocol (IP) channel by the mobile device client, in response to the pushing operation. Advantageously, for short data transfers, such as application server push notifications, USSD messages require lower power drain than packet data, due to the longer time to transition to an RRC idle state after the data transfer is completed. Also, push notifications can be sent over USSD without an open IP session, thereby saving the client from having to maintain a persistent IP session, while employing alternate pulling transport means such as wireless LAN which require lower power drain than a wide area network.
US08228827B2
A method and apparatus for detecting contention in an RA procedure in a mobile communication system is provided in which an L2/L3 message is received from a UE in uplink resources allocated to the UE by an RA preamble response message that was transmitted for an RA procedure initiated by the UE, a CR message associated the RA procedure is transmitted to the UE, if the L2/L3 message is an initial access message, and predetermined control information is transmitted to the UE on a downlink control channel without transmitting the CR message, if the L2/L3 message is not an initial access message.
US08228826B2
A method for call setup in an asynchronous frequency hopping digital two-way communication system includes transmitting in adjacent time slots, by a caller device, a preamble slot over a first unique fixed frequency selected from a frequency hopset and a synchronization slot over a second unique fixed frequency selected from the frequency hopset. Further, the method includes one or more target devices transmitting an acknowledgement signal upon receiving the preamble slot over the first unique fixed frequency and the synchronization slot over the second unique fixed frequency, and followed by the caller device establishing the data communication link between the caller device and the one or more target devices over at least one random frequency selected from the frequency hopset, in response to receiving the acknowledgement signal from the one or more target devices.
US08228820B2
An port expander Fibre Channel switch presents F_ports to form a first Fibre Channel fabric and N_ports to a second Fibre Channel fabric to appear as node devices. The port expander may be used to connect a plurality of blade servers to a Fibre Channel fabric. Fabric events engendered by the insertion or removal of hot-pluggable devices are handled by the port expander and “event storms” on the Fibre Channel fabric are avoided. The port expander presents the blade servers to the FC fabric as a virtualized N_port.
US08228819B1
Site location information is received for a first list of sites. Eligible remote information is received for the first list of sites. Hub scores are generated for the sites. A first hub is selected based the hub scores. Remote sites are assigned the first hub. A system for generating a backhaul design is disclosed. A hub score generator that generates hub scores for a list of sites. A hub selector selects hubs based on the hub scores. A remote selector assigns remotes to the hubs.
US08228795B2
Aspects of a method and system for an extended range copper transceiver are provided. Reducing the communication rate provided by multi-rate physical (PHY) layer operations in an Ethernet transceiver may extend the range of the Ethernet transceiver over twisted-pair copper cabling from a standard connection length. The Ethernet transceiver may support up to 1 Gbps or up to 10 Gbps transmission rate over copper cabling. The multi-rate PHY layer architecture in the Ethernet transceiver may support signal-processing operations, such as echo cancellation and/or equalization, which may be applied to the reduced communication rate to enable range extension. The reduced communication rate may be achieved by reducing the symbol rate provided by the multi-rate PHY layer operations. Reducing the communication rate may also enable utilizing greater insertion loss cabling for a standard connection length.
US08228794B2
In a method for minimizing pathological flooding of a network using a destination node, a packet is received from a source node at the destination node. The packet is transmitted from the source node to the destination node along a path. A determination is made by a node whether the packet indicates a possibility of pathological flooding. In response to a determination that the packet indicates a possibility of pathological flooding, a dummy packet is forwarded along the path to the source node.
US08228790B2
Briefly, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, an access point may preemptively broadcast an alternate channel to switch to, along with an indication of the beacon timing for the alternate channel, prior to any catastrophic interference. The access point may switch to the alternate channel in the event of interference on the original channel without attempting to broadcast the alternate channel during the interference event. A mobile user may then know in advance of the interference event which alternate channel the access point switched to and may switch to the alternate channel.
US08228788B2
A network connection device for performing a process of transmitting and receiving a SONET/SDH frame includes a first protocol processor which processes a first network management protocol; a second protocol processor which processes a second network management protocol; a frame header extractor which extracts a header from the received SONET/SDH frame; and a protocol identifier which identifies a network management protocol based on the extracted frame header. The network connection device selects one of a control signal outputted from the first protocol processor and a control signal outputted from the second protocol processor based on a result of the identification, and outputs the control signal.
US08228784B2
In an apparatus and method for generating a SC-FDMA signal having a sequence of symbols, a signal is generated by spreading blocks of symbols using a spreading code, then applying an inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) to the symbols, followed by rotating the phase of each symbol, and applying a guard interval in the form of a cyclic prefix (CP), such that the spreading code is selected from sequences having a DFT matrix and Hadamard-Walsh sequence, and whereby the difference between the amounts for rotating the phase of adjacent symbols is constant. The spreading may be changed so as to change the data rate for each transmitter.
US08228780B2
Proposed is an optical disk device capable of optimally adjusting a current value of a direct current and a high frequency superimposed current for driving a laser diode. This optical disk device includes a laser driver for superimposing a high frequency current on a direct current to obtain a drive current and supplying the drive current to the laser beam source and driving the laser beam source, and a control unit for adjusting a current value of the direct current and/or the high frequency superimposed current supplied by the laser driver to the laser beam source based on the servo signal or the reproduction signal. The control unit adjusts the current value of the direct current and/or the high frequency superimposed current so that a value representing a waveform fluctuation of the servo signal or the reproduction signal satisfies a specified value of the waveform fluctuation, a value representing a reproduction performance of the reproduction signal satisfies a specified value of the reproduction performance, and a value representing a durability performance of the optical disk in relation to the laser beam satisfies a specified value of the durability performance.
US08228777B2
An objective lens has a numerical aperture of 0.8 or more and focusing a light beam of a wavelength λ of at least 450 nm or less on an optical information recording medium. In this objective lens, a wavefront-aberration deterioration level TOR, accumulative value of aberration deterioration, satisfies the equation (1): TOR=√{square root over (2.52(DCm32+DCm52)+(TSA32+TSA52))}{square root over (2.52(DCm32+DCm52)+(TSA32+TSA52))}≦0.07[λrms] (1) In the equation (1), TSA3 [λrms/μm] and TSA5 [λrms/μm] refer to a third-order thickness sensitivity level and a fifth-order thickness sensitivity level, which are generated when a thickness error from a predetermined thickness is +1 μm, respectively. DCm3 and DCm5 refer to a third-order decentering sensitivity level and a fifth-order decentering sensitivity level, which are generated when a decentering error of each of lens surfaces is 1 μm, respectively.
US08228773B2
A laser driving device includes a storage unit that stores signal patterns for recording-waveform control representing level information of each divided driving signal to drive a laser device on a space and a mark based on the divided driving signals. Also, it includes a pulse generator that generates the reference pulse and the switching pulse based on a first transmission signal and a second transmission signal. The first transmission signal contains timing information for acquiring a reference pulse that represents a timing of repetitively switching between the space and the mark. The second transmission signal contains timing information for acquiring a switch pulse that represents a timing of switching the signals. Among level information for each of the signals in the storage, reference level information is read together with the reference pulse. Other level information after the reference level information is sequentially read for each switching pulse.
US08228765B2
An optical disc includes an electromagnetic coupling module mounted therein. The electromagnetic coupling module includes a wireless IC chip and a feeder circuit substrate in which a feeder circuit including a resonant circuit having a predetermined resonant frequency is disposed. The electromagnetic coupling module is electromagnetically coupled to a reflective film defining a metal thin film of the optical disc, and the reflective film defines an antenna or radiation pattern of the electromagnetic coupling module.
US08228761B2
A marine seismic exploration method and system comprised of continuous recording, self-contained ocean bottom pods characterized by low profile casings, An external bumper is provided to promote ocean bottom coupling and prevent fishing net entrapment. Pods are tethered together with flexible, non-rigid, non-conducting cable used to control pod deployment. Pods are deployed and retrieved from a boat deck configured to have a storage system and a handling system to attach pods to cable on-the-fly. The storage system is a juke box configuration of slots wherein individual pods are randomly stored in the slots to permit data extraction, charging, testing and synchronizing without opening the pods. A pod may include an inertial navigation system to determine ocean floor location and a rubidium clock for timing. The system includes mathematical gimballing. The cable may include shear couplings designed to automatically shear apart if a certain level of cable tension is reached.
US08228748B2
A semiconductor memory device comprises a latency delay unit that toggles a delay clock signal on during a first interval between a time point where read burst signal is activated and a time point where a latency signal is activated, and subsequently toggling the delay clock signal on during a second interval between a time point where the read burst signal is inactivated and a time point where the latency signal is inactivated.
US08228737B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory comprising: a first semiconductor layer having a first stripe-shaped region and a second stripe-shaped region which is adjacent to the first stripe-shaped region; a first NAND string formed on the first stripe-shaped region, the first NAND string having a plurality of first memory cell transistors connected in series; a first insulating film formed above the second stripe-shaped region; a second semiconductor layer formed on the first insulating film; and a second NAND string formed on the second semiconductor layer, the second NAND string having a plurality of second memory cell transistors connected in series.
US08228736B2
A mobile System on Chip (SoC) comprises a microprocessor and a first memory controller configured to control a refresh of a first memory. A temperature sensor detects a temperature in the first memory. When first temperature information received from the temperature sensor indicates that the detected temperature deviates from a predetermined temperature range, the first memory controller controls the first memory so as not to perform a self refresh. When second temperature information received from the temperature sensor indicates that the detected temperature is in the predetermined temperature range, the first memory controller outputs a self refresh command to the first memory.
US08228735B2
Memories and their memory arrays are disclosed. One such memory array has a string of series-coupled memory cells, a non-programmable select gate coupled in series to a first end of the string of series-coupled memory cells, and a programmable select gate coupled in series to a second end of the string of series-coupled memory cells.
US08228724B2
For example, one memory cell is configured using two memory cell transistors and one phase change element by disposing a plurality of diffusion layers in parallel to a bit-line, disposing gates between the diffusion layers so as to cross the bit-line, disposing bit-line contacts and source contacts alternately to the plurality of diffusion layers arranged in a bit-line direction for each diffusion layer, and providing a phase change element on the source contact. Also, the phase change element can be provided on the bit-line contact instead of the source contact. By this means, for example, increase in drivability of the memory cell transistors and reduction in area can be realized.
US08228721B2
A memory device as described herein includes a reference array of phase change memory cells and a memory array of phase change memory cells, where a difference between a current data set stored in the reference array and an expected data set is used to determine when to refresh the memory array. The high resistance state for the reference array is a “partial reset” state having a minimum resistance less than that of the high resistance state for the memory array. Sense circuitry is adapted to read the memory cells of the reference array and to generate a refresh command signal if there is a difference between a current data set stored in the reference array and an expected data set, and control circuitry responsive to the refresh command signal to perform a refresh operation on the memory cells of the memory array.
US08228719B2
Input/Output circuitry employs thin-film switching devices to drive output signals from an integrated circuit to an external device and to receive input signals from an external device. Three terminal ovonic threshold switches (3T OTS) may be employed to drive input and output signals.
US08228718B2
Featured is a magnetic ring structure including at least a vortex magnetic state such as symmetrically and asymmetrically shaped nanorings (FIG. 7C), having small diameters (e.g., on the order of 100 nm). In particular embodiments, the width and thickness of the maxima and minima thereof are located on opposite sides of the nanoring. Also featured are methods for fabricating such symmetrically and asymmetrically shaped nanorings (FIG. 1). Also featured are methods for controlling the reversal process so as to thereby create vortex states in such asymmetric nanorings by controlling the field angle (FIG. 9).
US08228712B2
A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array configured as an arrangement of memory cells each arranged between a first line and a second line and each including a variable resistor. A control circuit controls a voltage applied to the first line or the second line. A current limiting circuit limits a current flowing through the first line or the second line to a certain upper limit or lower. In a case where a writing operation or an erasing operation to a memory cell is implemented a plural number of times repeatedly, the current limiting circuit sets the upper limit in the writing operation or erasing operation of the p-th time higher than the upper limit in the writing operation or erasing operation of the q-th time (q
US08228711B2
A bi-directional resistive memory device includes a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells and an input/output (I/O) circuit. The I/O circuit is configured to generate a first voltage having a positive polarity and a second voltage having a negative polarity, provide one of the first voltage and the second voltage to the memory cell array through a bitline responsive to a logic state of input data, and adjust magnitudes of the first and second voltage when data written in the memory cell array has an offset. Related memory systems and methods are also provided.
US08228707B2
A memory cell array includes a memory cell comprising a ferroelectric capacitor and a transistor arranged therein. A plate line applies a drive voltage to one end of the ferroelectric capacitor. A bit line reads data stored in the memory cell from the other end of the ferroelectric capacitor. A sense amplifier circuit detects and amplifies a signal read to the bit line from the ferroelectric capacitor. A bit line voltage control circuit performs control of changing a voltage of the bit line to which the signal is read, thereby pulling up a potential difference between the plate line and the bit line, prior to operation of the sense amplifier circuit for data read. The bit line voltage control circuit varies a range of variation of the voltage of the bit line depending on ambient temperature.
US08228706B2
In one embodiment, the invention is a magnetic shift register memory device. One embodiment of a memory cell includes a magnetic column including a plurality of magnetic domains, a reader coupled to the magnetic column, for reading data from the magnetic domains, a temporary memory for storing data read from the magnetic domains, and a writer coupled to the magnetic column, for writing data in the temporary memory to the magnetic domains.
US08228704B2
A semiconductor chip package and a semiconductor chip fabricating method are provided. A semiconductor chip package comprises at least two semiconductor chips having a stacked configuration, the semiconductor chips at least one of: sharing DC signals of DC generating circuits provided by one of the semiconductor chips; and sharing a DLL clock signal of a DLL circuit provided by the semiconductor chip having the DC generating circuits or provided by another semiconductor chip. Power consumption can be reduced, and sharing a DLL clock is valid. In addition, a stabilized DC supply can be guaranteed and an increase for level trimming range and productivity can be improved.
US08228697B2
Embodiments of the invention can provide systems, methods, and apparatus for operating a power converter. According to one embodiment, a system for operating a power converter can be provided. The system can include a direct current (DC) power source with an output electrically coupled to an input of the power converter. The system can also include a controller operable to modify the performance of the DC power source through the power converter. As part of this modification, the controller can determine whether a low voltage ride (LVRT) event exists in a load and can adjust the DC power source when a LVRT event occurs.
US08228695B2
A method of operating a neutral point clamped (NPC) three level converter is provided. The NPC converter includes at least two legs, each leg comprising first and second top switches connected in series at a first mid point. The converter further includes first and second bottom switches connected in series at a second mid point, and first and second middle switches connected in series at a third mid point therebetween. The first top and second bottom switches are connected in series at a DC link and the first and the second middle switches are connected between the first and the second mid points. Each of the top, bottom and middle switches has an antiparallel diode thereacross. The method includes alternately switching the first and second top switches to ON state when the first middle switch is in ON state and the second middle switch is in OFF state. The method also includes alternately switching the first and the second bottom switches to ON state when the first middle switch is in OFF state and the second middle switch is in ON state.
US08228690B2
A DC-DC converter has a first-voltage-side port, a second-voltage-side port, and a third-voltage-side port, and performs, at different timings, an operation of boosting a first voltage to a third voltage and an operation of bucking a second voltage to the third voltage. A power supplying system includes a fuel cell, a secondary battery, an accessory system, the DC-DC converter, and another DC-DC converter connected between the fuel cell and a motor, and boosting the first voltage of the fuel cell to a fourth voltage to supply power to the motor through an inverter. The former DC-DC converter has the first-voltage-side port connected to the fuel cell, has the second-voltage-side port connected to the secondary battery, and has the third-voltage-side port connected to the accessory system.
US08228688B2
A device is at least partially contained within a shielded enclosure formed by a first material that has a high thermal conductivity and plated with a second material that is superconductive below a critical temperature. An exterior of the shielded enclosure is at least partially wound by a compensation coil that is coupled to a current source. One or more measurement devices are responsive to magnetic fields in close proximity to the device, allowing compensation by controlling current to the compensation coil. Thus, magnetic shielding may be provided by compensation fields that may be trapped within the shielded enclosure when the system is cooled below the critical temperature of the second material. Radiation shielding may be provided by cooling the shielded enclosure to a temperature that is approximately equal to the temperature of the device.
US08228681B2
Disclosed herein are a printed circuit board (PCB) and a probe including the same. The probe includes a transducer, a PCB having a pattern part contacting the transducer via face-to-face contact, and a bonding member bonding the transducer to the pattern part of the PCB. The bonding part of the PCB is provided with the pattern part to increase a bonding area of the bonding part and to allow the bonding member to contact not only a metal layer of the bonding part but also an electrical insulation part thereof, thereby improving a bonding force between the transducer and the PCB. As a result, the transducer can be reliably bonded to the PCB, so that performance of the transducer can be prevented from being deteriorated due to defective connection between the PCB and the transducer.
US08228673B2
An electronic device includes a main body, a lid, and a connecting component. The lid is rotatably connected to the main body. The connecting component includes at least one interface. The at least one interface can be hidden by the lid when the lid covers the main body, and exposed when the lid rotates away from the main body.
US08228665B2
The object is to provide ring-bus-type gas insulated switchgear that ensures maintenance and inspection performance, reduces the installation space, and further reduces costs. Each of a plurality of breaker units is formed by connecting an instrument current transformer and a disconnector to each of the upper and lower branch ports drawn horizontally from the side surface of a vertical breaker in the same direction, and the breaker units are arranged in parallel. Adjacent disconnectors are connected to each other by a connection bus, so that the bus route runs alternately at upper and lower levels. Furthermore, the breaker units positioned at the two ends are connected linearly to each other by a communication bus. In addition, the line-side devices are arranged to face the corresponding breaker units across the disconnectors.
US08228660B2
In a case-molded capacitor, an electrode of a capacitor element is connected with a busbar having an electrode terminal for external connection. The capacitor element and the busbar are placed in a metal case having an upper surface opening and are resin molded. A thermally-conductive insulator layer is provided between the capacitor element and a bottom surface of the metal case, hence providing the case-molded capacitor with a heat resistance.
US08228658B2
A method for clamping a workpiece involves placing the workpiece on a clamping surface of an electrostatic clamp. A clamping voltage is applied to the electrostatic clamp at a first frequency, therein providing a first clamping force between the workpiece and the electrostatic clamp. The application of clamping voltage at the first frequency is halted and another clamping voltage at a second frequency is applied to the electrostatic clamp, therein providing a second clamping force between the workpiece and the electrostatic clamp. The second frequency is greater than the first frequency, wherein the second clamping force is less than the first clamping force. The application of the clamping voltage at the second frequency is then halted, and the workpiece is removed from the electrostatic clamp. The clamping voltage can be controlled based on a set of performance criteria, such as a desired minimum clamping force and a maximum de-clamp time.
US08228644B2
A CPP spin-valve magnetic head, according to one embodiment includes a ferromagnetic free layer having a bias-point magnetization nominally oriented in a first direction; a ferromagnetic reference layer film having a bias-point magnetization nominally oriented in a second direction that is not orthogonal to the said first direction; and a tunnel barrier layer between the free and reference layers.
US08228642B1
A dual stage actuator (DSA) suspension has a single microactuator such as a PZT element on one side of central longitudinal axis of the suspension, and a pseudo symmetry structure formed or affixed on the other side of the central longitudinal axis opposite the PZT. The pseudo symmetry structure has mass and stiffness that mirrors the PZT, thus keeping the suspension mechanically balanced and symmetric about the longitudinal axis for improved suspension performance especially in a shock environment.
US08228640B2
A tolerance ring has a band (16) with outwardly extending corrugated protrusions forming waves (2) which engage a surface (8) of the bore (4) in a housing (5). At one end of the tolerance ring is an outwardly flared guide surface (15) extending axially from the band (16). The guide surface (15) acts as an enlarged entrance to the band (16) for a shaft (3) to be mounted in the bore (4) by insertion into the tolerance ring. The use of the guide surface (15) assists assembly and reduces or eliminates particle production. It is also possible for the corrugated portions to extend inwardly, for the guide surface to be inwardly flared, and for the tolerance ring to be mounted on the shaft prior to insertion in the bore.
US08228636B2
An apparatus, system and method for magnetic recording are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the apparatus includes a first portion of a first magnetic medium having a first cross-sectional area, and a second portion of a second magnetic medium having a second cross-sectional area. The first and second portions are joined by way of a junction that allows for at least some ferromagnetic coupling therebetween. Additionally, the first and second cross-sectional areas are of differing extent in a first dimension so that a first ledge portion of one of the first and second portions extends past a first edge of the other of the first and second portions.
US08228625B2
An optical apparatus includes a lens barrel, an optical apparatus body, a body-side mounting unit, a lens-side mounting unit and a position determination mechanism. A plurality of projection pins protrude from an outer circumferential surface of a cylindrical part of the body-side mounting unit. A groove is formed in an inner circumferential surface of the lens-side mounting unit. Cutout regions that are in communication with the groove are formed in a surface of the lens-side mounting unit that faces toward a flange part of the body-side mounting unit at positions that respectively correspond to positions of the projection pins. The position determination mechanism determines a position of the lens-side mounting unit around the optical axis of the optical apparatus body.
US08228624B2
A drive unit includes an ultrasonic actuator, which has an actuator body formed using a piezoelectric element and outputs a driving force by vibration of the actuator body, and a control section which induces vibration in the actuator body by supplying a plurality of AC voltages to the piezoelectric element. The control section provides, in combination, phase control, which controls the driving force by adjusting a phase difference between a first and a second AC voltages, and wave-number control, which controls the driving force by adjusting the wave number included in a predetermined burst period in each AC voltage.
US08228620B2
Disclosed herein is a variable focal length lens system including a first lens group, a second lens group, a third lens group, a fourth lens group, and a fifth lens group. The first to the fifth lens groups are arranged in order from an object side. The variable focal length lens system satisfies following conditional expressions (1) to (3): 0.95
US08228608B2
A display apparatus includes a light source which emits a beam including visible light forming an image and infrared rays, and a transmissive deflection unit including a first surface facing the eyes of a user and a second surface which is a rear surface of the first surface. The transmissive deflection unit has transmissive characteristics for transmitting the visible light from the second surface side to the first surface side, deflection characteristics for deflecting, toward the eyes of the user, the visible light projected from the light source to the first surface side, and infrared absorption characteristics for absorbing the infrared rays projected from the light source to the first surface side.
US08228601B2
Apparatus for imaging a surface, including an acousto-optic (AO) system. The AO system includes an AO element having a radiation input surface and a radiation output surface. The element is configured to receive radio-frequency (RF) pulses and a radiation input at the radiation input surface and to generate traveling beams from the radiation output surface. The AO system also includes an inhomogeneous polarization generator, positioned relative to the AO element so that the AO system outputs traveling inhomogeneously polarized beams. The apparatus includes objective optics which are configured to focus the inhomogeneously polarized beams onto the surface so as to form respective traveling spots thereon; collection optics, which are configured to collect scattered radiation from the traveling spots and to focus the scattered radiation to form respective image spots; and a detector which is arranged to receive the respective image spots and to generate a signal in response thereto.
US08228598B2
An optical amplification mechanism that introduces optical pump(s) into one port of an optical circulator. The optical circulator directs the optical pumps from that port into another port that is coupled to the output of a gain stage. The optical pump(s) then pass from the output to the input of the gain stage while amplifying an optical signal passing from the input to the output of the gain stage. A residual amount of optical pump(s) that exits the input of the gain stage is reflected back into the input of the gain stage. The reflected optical pump(s) then further assists in the amplification of the optical signal. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US08228594B2
The present invention provides image projection system implemented with a spatial light modulator, for modulating an illumination light projected from a light source wherein said spatial light modulator comprising an image projection system implemented with a spatial light modulator for modulating an illumination light projected from a light source wherein said spatial light modulator comprising: at least two electrically conductive layers functioning as two different electrical wirings and said conductive layers having respectively a first and a second longitudinal directions overlapping and crossing each other; and a fixed electric potential layer electrically connected to a fixed electric potential, wherein the two different conductive layers and fixed electric potential layer overlapping one another and disposed at a location along a light path of the illumination light emitted from the light source to block said illumination light.
US08228587B2
An electrochromic device includes a first electrochromic region interconnected with a second electrochromic region by a plurality of conductive links disposed between sides of a substrate on which the material layers of the electrochromic device are formed. The plurality of conductive links interconnects a first isolated conductive region of the first electrochromic region with a first isolated conductive region of the second electrochromic region. A sequence of a counter electrode layer, an ion conductor layer and an electrochromic layer is sandwiched between the first conductive regions of the first and second electrochromic regions and respective second isolated conductive regions of the first and second electrochromic regions. The second conductive regions of the first and second electrochromic regions are connected to respective first and second bus bars which are for connection to a low voltage electrical source.
US08228584B2
The invention relates to a passive optical limiter having a nonlinear material capable of switching in a predetermined optical band from a transparent state to an opaque state as a function of the power of an incident laser beam. The nonlinear material is an organic dye which comprises molecules derived from 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene into which a nitrogen atom is inserted at the meso position, referred to as aza-bodipy molecules, and which have conjugated π chains functionalized so as to exhibit absorption for two photons around an incident beam wavelength lying between 1.45 μm and 1.6 μm.
US08228579B2
An optical device is provided for projecting a light beam. The device comprises a first planar reflector movable about a first axis is disposed in a path of a focused light beam for deflecting the incident light beam; a concave reflective surface fixed in position located in the path of the deflected light beam, has a circular shape extending along at least one of its axis and is spaced apart from the planar reflector by a distance which is approximately equal to the radius of that circular shape; and a second planar reflector moveable about a second axis located in a plane substantially vertical to a plane comprising the first axis and wherein the second planar reflector is positioned in the path of the light reflected by the concave reflective surface such that the light beam is projected onto a target plane with a substantially flat field of focus.
US08228565B2
An image reader includes a platen, a display section and a reading section. The platen holds a document thereon. The display section displays a display image and is located on the platen. The reading section reads a document image of the document placed on the platen and is provided in opposition to the platen.
US08228563B2
The present invention provides methods and systems for steganographically encoding a file which is in a page description language (PDL) such as PostScript. Aspects of the present invention can be used to: i) encode a PDL file and generate an encoded PDL file; and ii) provide an “interpreter” which generates raster images from a PDL file. Portions of the raster images can be steganographically encoded. Encoded raster images can be printed or the raster images can be combined into a new PDL file.
US08228560B2
A method for contrast enhancement for digital images, including filtering an original image having original color values, to generate a filtered image, receiving parameters for a response curve, the response curve being a function of color value that is user-adjustable, deriving local multipliers by applying the response curve to the filtered image, multiplying the original color values by the local multipliers, thereby generating a contrast-enhanced image from the original image. A system and a computer-readable storage medium are also described.
US08228557B2
An image processing apparatus includes an allowable-amount-of-special-toner determining unit for determining an allowable amount of special toner from a total adhesion amount of toner of four colors including cyan, magenta, yellow, and black on an input image, a normal print-out unit for performing a normal print-out process, a two-path print-out unit for performing a two-path print-out process, a grouping unit for grouping pixels for which printing with the special toner is set into a first pixel group and a second pixel group based on the allowable amount of special toner; and a print-out-method selecting unit for selecting the normal print-out unit or the two-path print-out unit based on a percentage of the number of first-group pixels to the number of pixels for which printing with the special toner is set.
US08228556B2
A computerized system, method, and software apparatus is presented which reduces the black level of the printing process in order to substantially remove stray black dots from the finished product of a printing output. Black levels are reduced by updating the print engine regions for the colors W, C, M, Y, MY, CM, CY, and neutral and by assigning a weights each color. The values are used to compute CMKY values. These values are then placed in a gain matrix and stored in a computer memory.
US08228555B2
Methods for performing rasterization on a display list are presented, wherein the display list can include bands associated with a virtual page object belonging to a first class of virtual page objects in the display list. In some embodiments, the method comprises: parsing the virtual page object to identify at least one geometric band; identifying at least one available rasterization process to rasterize the at least one geometric band; creating a second virtual page object including the geometric band, wherein the second virtual page object belongs to a second class of virtual page objects derived from the first class of virtual page objects; sending the second virtual page object including the geometric band to an available rasterization process; and rasterizing the one geometric band using the available rasterization process, wherein the rasterization process operates on the geometric band in the second virtual page object.
US08228554B2
An ink jet printing apparatus which inhibits possible bleeding by thinning color data adjacent to black data and enables printing free from image quality degradation such as gradation skip is provided. Specifically, when only one pixel has color data and pixels located vertically and horizontally adjacent to that pixel have no color data, an isolated point pixel containing a color dot is detected only in that pixel. Then, the dots other than the isolated point are thinned-out. This makes it possible to inhibit possible bleeding at the boundary between a color area and a black area and to achieve proper printing with the appropriate gradation of the entire image maintained.
US08228553B2
An image processing apparatus including an image retrieving unit that retrieves image information of a revision document, which includes revision information having area definitions and position numbers corresponding to each of the area definitions. The apparatus also includes a re-positioning instruction image retrieving unit that retrieves image information of a re-position instruction sheet, which includes the position numbers in locations different from the locations of the area definitions corresponding to each of the position numbers of the revision document. A position number recognizing unit is also provided, which recognizes the position numbers in the re-positioning instruction image as re-positioning instructions. A re-positioning unit of the image processing apparatus then re-position each of the area definitions of the revision document based on the repositioning instructions recognized by the position number recognizing unit.
US08228542B2
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for storing electronic documents. In particular, various embodiments provide systems and methods that use profiles defining one or more attributes to generate file names and folders for storing the electronic documents. Further embodiments provide systems and methods for storing one or more records related to the electronic documents in one or more tables based on the profiles. In various embodiments, these records are used to manage the storage of the documents in the system and to help in locating and retrieving the documents from the system.
US08228539B2
An image forming apparatus, which includes a plurality of image forming portions transferring a yellow image, a magenta image, a cyan image, and a black image formed on a plurality of photoconductor drums to a sheet conveyed on a conveying belt, a marking unit forming marks on the conveying belt, a detecting unit detecting the marks with three or more sensors aligned in a direction normal to a direction in which the sheet is conveyed, a calculating unit calculating an amount of color misalignment in accordance with results detected by the detecting unit, and a correcting unit correcting the color misalignment in accordance with the calculated amount of color misalignment, wherein the calculating unit calculates an amount of skew difference in accordance with results detected by two sensors among the three or more sensors, wherein one sensor of the two sensors is disposed on one end of the three or more sensors and the other sensor of the two sensors is disposed on the other end of the three or more sensors, wherein the correcting unit corrects the skew difference in accordance with the calculated amount of skew difference.
US08228534B2
An image formation apparatus includes a reception section, a function section, an image formation section and a power output device. The reception section is configured to be connected to a communication line over which image information and power are transmitted. The reception section receives the image information and the power transmitted over the communication line. The function section receives supply of the power received by the reception section, to function. The image formation section forms an image on a medium based on the image information received by the reception section or the function section. The power output device receives power supply from a commercial power supply. The power output device outputs power of a predetermined voltage to the image formation section.
US08228532B2
A computer implemented method and data processing system for providing a hardware controlled one-time write for fiscal printers. A signal from a fiscal printer is received at a memory controller in an electronic journal or fiscal memory card. The signal comprises transaction data and an address in a memory space in the electronic journal or fiscal memory card. The memory controller checks a marker bit corresponding to the address to determine if the marker bit is in a written state. Responsive to a determination that the marker bit is not in a written state, the memory controller sets the marker bit to the written state. The memory controller then writes the transaction data to the address in the memory space.
US08228518B2
An image determining unit determines a type of each of a plurality of images to be combined. A character identifying unit identifies a black character area in each of the images. A color-conversion processing unit performs a color conversion or a monochrome conversion on the images and a monochrome conversion on the black character area. When the images include a color image, a control unit controls the color-conversion processing unit to perform the color conversion on the images based on the type of the image and a current image processing mode. An image output unit combines color-conversion processed images on a single page and outputs combined images.
US08228514B2
An information processing apparatus includes: a storage unit storing a maximum acceptable number of sheets of recording paper that can be processed by a post processing apparatus; a post process setting unit setting a predetermined post process to be performed by using the post processing apparatus; a generating unit generating bitmap data in units of physical pages based on logical page data; a transmitting unit transmitting the generated bitmap data to an image forming apparatus; a determining unit determining whether the post process can be performed based on the number of physical pages generated from the logical page data and the maximum acceptable number if setting has been done so as to perform the predetermined post process on the logical page data; and a control unit controlling a bitmap data generating process performed by the generating unit and a bitmap data transmitting process performed by the transmitting unit based on the determination made by the determining unit.
US08228511B2
The one embodiment of present invention provides an image forming apparatus including a memory unit that stores image data, a main control block that causes an image forming section to output an output image onto an output medium on the basis of the image data generated by an image reading section and stored in the memory unit, case members that houses any one of the memory unit and the main control block or both, respectively, and a cooling mechanism that is located in a predetermined position of the case members and guides an air flow that has passes through one case member to the other case member.
US08228508B2
An apparatus includes a light source, a scale which is configured to have first and second diffraction grating portions which differ from each other in a grating pitch, a light receiving portion configured to receive first and second interference light fluxes generated from interference of a plurality of diffraction light fluxes, at the first and second diffraction grating portions, respectively, a light flux emitted from the light source and have different orders of diffraction, and to output first and second periodic signals based on an intensity of the first and second interference light fluxes, respectively, and a computing unit configured to output, based on the first and second periodic signals a signal representing an origin of displacement of the scale.
US08228504B2
An optoelectronic device for measuring the water content in a plant element and an apparatus designed to evaluate and monitor in real time the state of hydration of the plant covers. The device includes an optoelectronic probe connected to a measurement module, the probe including: i) a first light source emitting at a wavelength corresponding to a strong water absorption band; ii) optionally, a second light source emitting at a wavelength close to the first source and weakly absorbed by water; and iii) a photo receiver having a spectral response that corresponds to the emission bands of the first light source or of the first and second light sources, the device including elements for modulating the average optical power emitted by the light source or sources at a defined frequency, and elements for synchronously detecting the light received by the photoreceiver.
US08228502B2
Provided is a measurement device. The measurement device includes a sensor, a wavelength-tunable light source, an additional light source, a coupler, and an optical power measurer. The sensor accepts a sample. The wavelength-tunable light source irradiates wavelength-tunable light to detect a reaction of the sensor. The additional light source irradiates wavelength-fixed light to detect an initial time of the reaction. The coupler combines the wavelength-tunable light source and the additional light source and irradiates the combined input light on the sensor. The optical power measurer detects the reaction of the sensor from an output light transmitted through or reflected by the sensor.
US08228496B2
Provided are a defect inspection apparatus having a large range for receiving light scattering from fine defects while securing a sufficiently large signal strength; and a defect inspection method for the same. The defect inspection apparatus includes: a stage part capable of traveling relative to optical systems with a substrate to be inspected mounted on the stage part; an illumination optical system for illuminating an inspection area on the substrate; a detection optical system for detecting light coming from the inspection area on the substrate; an image sensor for converting, to a signal, an image which is formed on the image sensor by the detection optical system; a signal processor for detecting defects by processing the signal from the image sensor; and a plane reflecting mirror, arranged between the detection optical system and the substrate, for transmitting the light, which comes from the substrate, to the detection optical system.
US08228490B2
A system for measuring deflection in a structure. The novel system includes a detector array for measuring a position of a spot of light and a light source configured to form a spot of light at a position that is dependent on a deflection in the structure. In an illustrative embodiment, the system includes a corner reflector adapted to reflect a beam of light from the light source to the detector array such that a vertical position of the reflected beam is dependent on a total bending in the structure. In an alternate embodiment, the system includes a mirror for reflecting a beam of light from the light source to the detector array such that a vertical position of the reflected beam at the detector array is dependent on a deflection angle between two adjacent panels in the structure.
US08228488B2
The material strength of extensive objects can be determined efficiently by using two distance measurers, wherein a first distance measurer determines the distance to a first main surface of the object and a second distance measurer determines the distance to a second main surface object opposing the first main surface. If potential measurement errors due to the extensive geometry are avoided by determining a reference distance between the first distance measurer and the second distance measurer by a reference unit via X-radiation, the thickness of the object between the first main surface and the second main surface can be determined with high accuracy and velocity.
US08228485B2
A projection illumination system with a plurality of optical components (29, 32) includes an interferometer arrangement (37) whose components are arranged outside a projection beam path (17) of the projection illumination system. Measurement radiation of the interferometer arrangement strikes a surface (35) of the optical component (29) to be measured under a large angle of incidence (α). Actuators (83, 87) of the projection illumination system can be actuated as a function of a measurement radiation intensity distribution detected using the interferometer arrangement in order to change imaging characteristics of the projection illumination system and to keep them stable in particular also with respect to drifting.
US08228474B2
A liquid crystal display device comprises an array substrate having first and second pixel electrodes arranged adjacent each other and a counter substrate having a counter electrode opposing to the first and second pixel electrodes. First and second slits are formed on the counter electrode opposing to the first and second pixel electrode so as to cross the first and second pixel electrode, respectively. The counter electrode is separated into a first counter electrode portion and a second counter electrode portion by the first and second slits. A connecting counter electrode portion is arranged between the first and second slits to connect the first and second counter electrode portions. A columnar spacer is arranged between the first and second slits opposing to the connecting counter electrode portion to form a cell gap between the array substrate and the counter substrate.
US08228462B2
An optical element laminate is provided and includes a first optical element and a second optical element superimposed with the first optical element. The first optical element and the second optical element are each a rectangular film or sheet. The first optical element has at least two side walls at two opposing sides among four sides of the first optical element and the second optical element has at least two side walls at two opposing sides among four sides of the second optical element.
US08228453B2
As a wiring becomes thicker, discontinuity of an insulating film covering the wiring has become a problem. It is difficult to form a wiring with width thin enough for a thin film transistor used for a current high definition display device. As a wiring is made thinner, signal delay due to wiring resistance has become a problem. In view of the above problems, the invention provides a structure in which a conductive film is formed in a hole of an insulating film, and the surfaces of the conductive film and the insulating film are flat. As a result, discontinuity of thin films covering a conductive film and an insulating film can be prevented. A wiring can be made thinner by controlling the width of the hole. Further, a wiring can be made thicker by controlling the depth of the hole.
US08228451B2
A liquid crystal display is provided. A pixel of the liquid crystal display includes a first pixel capacitor, a second pixel capacitor, a first transistor, and a second transistor. A first terminal and a second terminal of the first pixel capacitor are respectively coupled to the first transistor and a common voltage. A first terminal and a second terminal of the second pixel capacitor are respectively coupled to the second transistor and the common voltage. A voltage between the first and the second terminals of the first capacitor is differentiated from a voltage between the first and the second terminals of the second capacitor by modulating the common voltage. A coupling voltage of the first pixel capacitor is differentiated from a coupling voltage of the second pixel capacitor by modulating the common voltage. Thereby, the phenomenon of color wash-out is reduced.
US08228438B2
An image processing method is provided. An image signal is received and correspondingly converted to an original luminance value, an original first chroma value and an original second chroma value. The original luminance value is adjusted to a modulated luminance value. The modulated luminance value is larger than the original luminance value as the original luminance value is larger than a threshold. The modulated luminance value is less than the original luminance value as the original luminance value is less than the threshold. The original first and second chroma values are linearly adjusted to a modulated first chroma value and a modulated second chroma value according to an original vector between the original first and second chroma values and a white point in a color gamut. The modulated luminance value, the modulated first chroma value and the modulated second chroma value are reconverted to a modulated image signal.
US08228435B2
When a user hovers a screen cursor over a TV channel icon on a cross-media bar (XMB) user interface (UI) for a threshold period, enhanced metadata from PSIP/XDS/EPG that pertains to the program currently available on the associated TV channel is presented in a pop-up window on the XMB UI.
US08228434B2
A method (300) for controlling a display function of an apparatus such as a television signal receiver is capable of remedying a display locked in an extinguished state to thereby ensure that a usable display is provided. According to an exemplary embodiment, the method (300) includes steps of detecting a power on condition of the apparatus (330), determining whether at least one predetermined display parameter associated with the display function exhibits at least one predetermined value responsive to the power on condition (340), and adjusting the at least one predetermined display parameter if the at least one predetermined display parameter exhibits the at least one predetermined value (360).
US08228427B2
It is an object to prevent the image quality deterioration of a moving image likely to include a plurality of the same consecutive images such as a movie video image or a CG video image due to the motion-compensated frame rate conversion (FRC) processing. An image displaying device is provided with an FRC portion (10) for converting the number of frames in an input image signal by interpolating an image signal to which a motion compensation processing has been given between the frames in the input image signal, a controlling portion (14) for controlling each portion according to an image tone mode selected by a user. The FRC portion (10) includes a motion vector detecting portion (11e) for detecting a motion vector between the frames of the input image signal, an interpolating vector evaluating portion (11f) for allocating an interpolating vector between the frames based on the motion vector information, and an interpolating frame generating portion (12d) for generating an interpolating frame from the interpolating vector. In the case that the image tone mode selected by the user is a predetermined image tone mode, the controlling portion (14) set the motion vector detected by the motion vector detecting portion (11e) to zero-vector to make the motion compensation processing of the FRC portion (10) ineffective.
US08228425B2
The invention relates to an image sensor for electronic cameras, comprising a plurality of light-sensitive pixels for the generation of signals proportional to exposure and at least one read-out circuit coupled to the pixels and having a first section and a second section disposed downstream of the first section in a signal read-out direction, wherein the first section and the second section of the read-out circuit are each connected to at least one bond pad provided for the supply of an operating voltage and/or to at least one bond pad provided for the supply of a reference potential. At least some of the bond pads provided for the supply of the operating voltage and/or of the reference potential to the read-out circuit are arranged between the first section and the second sections of the read-out circuit.
US08228424B2
An electronic device of the present invention includes a casing with an opening, and a cover member for covering the opening. The cover member includes: a cover part for covering the opening; a shank projecting from a rear surface of the cover part; and a protrusion sticking out of the shank. The shank passes through a hole defined in the casing. The protrusion extends in a direction crossing an axis of the shank, at a position opposite to the cover part with respect to the hole. The cover member is capable of moving back and forth along the axis of the shank, between a depressed position where the cover part covers the opening and a pulled-out position where the cover part is apart from the opening. The casing has a first receiving part for receiving the protrusion to prevent the pivotal movement of the cover member about the shank when the cover member moves back and forth between the depressed position and the pulled-out position, and receiving the protrusion to prevent the pressing-in of the cover member after having moved pivotally about the shank while enabling the pivotal movement of the cover member about the shank when the cover member is in the pulled-out position.
US08228422B2
Disclosed are an auto exposure system and a method thereof. The auto exposure system may check whether an exposure target value is correct using brightness information of an input image. When the exposure target value is not proper, the auto exposure system may readjust the exposure target value through analyzing the brightness information of the input image. Also, the auto exposure system may correct exposure of the input image based on an exposure correction value according to the adjusted exposure target value, thereby adjusting the exposure of the input image to be proper. Also, exposure information of the input image may be easily obtained from a final exposure target value.
US08228421B2
An EFP lens 12 is mounted on an ENG camera 14 through a lens supporter 16. Normally, a connector 30 of the EFP lens 12 is joined to a connector 32 of the lens supporter 16, and signal lines from pins of the connector 30 of the EFP lens 12 are connected to corresponding pins of a parallel connector 38 and corresponding pins of a serial connector 62 in the lens supporter 16. When the parallel connector 38 is connected to the connector 34 of the ENG camera 14, it is possible to perform the parallel communication between the EFP lens 12 and the ENG camera 14. When the serial connector 62 is connected to the connector 34 of the ENG camera 14, it is possible to perform the serial communication.
US08228420B2
A lens driver includes: an imaging lens; a housing accommodating the lens; a spring member provided between the lens and the housing and holding the lens in the housing movably in the optical axis direction; a coil moving the lens in the optical axis direction; a magnet spaced apart from the coil and moving the lens in the optical axis direction; and a yoke fixed to the magnet and having an L-shaped cross-section when taken along a plane including the optical axis, wherein the yoke is disposed in such a way that an L-shaped corner side is located on the opposite side to the position of the lens where the reaction force of the spring member resulting from the movement of the lens is maximized.
US08228419B2
Provided is a method of controlling a digital photographing apparatus that displays an image of a photograph region on a display panel, generates an image signal of the photograph region in response to signals generated by a shutter release button, and stores image data of the image signal in a storage medium. In an out-focusing mode, the method includes amplifying the blurriness of an out-focusing region by low-pass-filtering image data of regions excluding a setting region within the photograph region.
US08228418B2
A sensor module for an image capture device including an image sensor and a filter system, the image capture device having a high resolution mode of operation and one or more lower resolution modes of operation; the filter system includes an adjustable spatial filter associated with the optical path of the image capture device having an adjustable optical structure which in response to a first signal causes the adjustable spatial filter to be effective in a high resolution mode of operation and in response to a second signal causes the adjustable spatial filter to be effective in a lower resolution mode of operation.
US08228411B2
A method of operation of a backside illuminated (BSI) pixel array includes acquiring an image signal with a first photosensitive region of a first pixel within the BSI pixel array. The image signal is generated in response to light incident upon a backside of the first pixel. The image signal acquired by the first photosensitive region is transferred to pixel circuitry of the first pixel disposed on a frontside of the first pixel opposite the backside. The pixel circuitry at least partially overlaps the first photosensitive region of the first pixel and extends over die real estate above a second photosensitive region of a second pixel adjacent to the first pixel such that the second pixel donates die real estate unused by the second pixel to the first pixel to accommodate larger pixel circuitry than would fit within the first pixel.
US08228409B2
Disclosed are an image sensor and a method for manufacturing the same. The image sensor includes readout circuitry and an inter-layer dielectric layer on a first substrate, a metal line in the inter-layer dielectric layer and electrically connected with the readout circuitry, a plurality of contact plugs on the metal line, and an image sensing device on the contact plugs. The image sensing device is electrically connected to the metal line through the plurality of contact plugs. The method for manufacturing an image sensor includes forming a readout circuitry on a first substrate, forming an inter-layer dielectric layer on the first substrate, forming a metal line in the inter-layer dielectric layer such that the metal line is electrically connected with the readout circuitry, forming a plurality of contact plugs on the metal line per unit pixel, and forming an image sensing device on the plurality of contact plugs.
US08228403B2
An image sensor includes multiple photoactive pixels and multiple dark reference pixels arranged in rows and columns to form a pixel array. A dark signal is read out of one or more dark reference pixels in each column and used to determine a column offset for one or more columns in the pixel array. Each time an image or frame of an image is read out, the column offset for the one or more columns is updated using dark signals read out from a given number of dark reference pixels. The column offset for the one or more columns is scaled when a gain level is changed for a captured image.
US08228396B2
An image processing apparatus for correcting image distortion includes a storage which stores before-correction coordinates in a coordinate system of a before-correction image, corresponding to each pixel in a coordinate system of a corrected image; a coordinate output section which reads from the storage and outputs the before-correction coordinates corresponding to coordinates input to select each pixel of the corrected image; a pixel data output section which outputs the data of the before-correction image, corresponding to the before-correction coordinates, as the data of the pixel of the corrected image, corresponding to the before-correction coordinates; and a pixel data calculator which calculates, when the before-correction coordinates include a value after the decimal point, a weighted average based on the data of a plurality of pixels close to the before-correction coordinates in the before-correction image to output the weighted average as the data of the pixel of the corrected image.
US08228394B2
An image capture device includes an image detection unit, a display unit, and a control system. The image detection unit captures images of an object of which orientations can be detected. The display displays the captured images. The control system acquires the captured images, extracts features of the object, recognizes the orientations of the object, identifies an angle between the orientations and physical direction of the display unit, implements a corresponding command stored therein associated with the angle, and executes the corresponding command to adjust display direction of the display unit.
US08228393B2
An imaging apparatus capable of recording a moving image and a still image includes a recording unit for recording image data of the moving image or the still image generated by an imaging unit in a recording medium, and a display unit for displaying first capacity information related to recordable time of the moving image to the recording medium when recording the moving image and displaying second capacity information related to number of still images recordable in the recording medium when recording the still image. Even after the recording of the moving image is completed, the display unit continuously displays the first capacity information until a predetermined time passes. Even after the recording of the still images is completed, the display unit continuously displays the second capacity information until the predetermined time passes. After the predetermined time passes, the display unit displays either one of the first capacity information and the second capacity information.
US08228392B2
An embodiment of the invention relates to a method for High Dynamic Range (HDR) image creation by generating a mean difference curve for use in aligning the images of a sequence of images taken with different exposures, wherein the difference in exposure might derive from a difference in exposure time or a difference in aperture size. A further embodiment of the invention relates to a method for HDR image creation by generating images with different exposures from a single image. A further embodiment of the invention relates to a method for HDR video creation by generating frames with different exposures from a single frame.
US08228390B2
In an image taking apparatus, an imaging unit senses an image of a subject, and a face detection unit detects a face in the image sensed by the imaging unit. A motion detection unit detects an amount of face motion indicating an amount of shake of an area of the face detected by the face detection unit in the image sensed by the imaging unit and also detects an amount of background motion indicating an amount of shake of an area other than the face area. A shake correction unit corrects the shake of the image sensed by the imaging unit according to the amount of face motion and the amount of background motion detected by the motion detection unit.
US08228388B2
An optical device with an imaging device for forming an image of a subject with a lens device includes a lens unit, a movable member making the lens unit movable within a plane orthogonal to the optical axis of the lens unit, an image pickup device imaging the subject image formed by the lens device, a fixed member limiting the movement of the movable member in the optical axis direction, at least three balls rolling between the movable and fixed member, a vibration detecting unit, and a pitch and yaw direction drive units for driving the movable member in the pitch and yaw directions within the optical axis orthogonal plane, respectively. The pitch and yaw direction drive units press the movable member toward the fixed member side by means of magnetic pressing forces caused by magnetic attractive action between drive magnets and yokes.
