US08267808B2
A hollow golf club is provided having an outer shell and an inner frame. The outer shell comprises one or more lightweight members, such as the crown or the skirt, and preferably fits within an envelope of about 5 inches×5 inches×2.8 inches. The inner frame fits within a smaller envelope and sits on the sole of the club head. One or more weights are located either on or within the inner frame to optimize the moment of inertia of the club head about both the vertical axis running through the center of gravity or geometric center of the club head, hereinafter referred to as the “y-axis,” and the axis running through the center of the shaft of the golf club, hereinafter referred to as the “hosel axis.” The weights can be attached to the inner frame or can be distributed within the inner frame. In another embodiment, the hitting face and a portion of the skirt proximate the toe form a curved blade in the shape of a sickle or battle ax and an inner support bridges the toe end of the curved blade to the hosel for structural support. The ratio of moment of inertia of the club head about the y-axis to moment of inertia of the club head about the hosel axis is preferably 0.55. More preferably, this ratio is 0.75.
US08267805B2
A “THREE IN ONE—HBC(HAND, BELLY, CHEST) PUTTER” is comprised of three putters that can be assembled from the individual parts in the putter package. A combination putter can be used in any of the three forms, hand, belly or chest for the next round of practice or golf. After each round of golf the golfer may change the configuration to any of the other putter forms for the next round of practice or golf.
US08267802B2
A fixed type constant velocity universal joint is capable of securing a ball groove depth larger than conventional products and enhancing performance without an increase in a “force of pushing out balls in an axial direction”, the force having an influence on joint efficiency. In the fixed type constant velocity universal joint, a center of each of a plurality of guide grooves of an outer joint member and a center of each of a plurality of guide grooves of an inner joint member are offset with respect to a spherical surface center of an inner surface and a spherical surface center of an outer surface. A ratio (F/PCR) of an offset amount F to a length of a segment (PCR) ranges from 0.045 to 0.065. A ratio (αt/α) when an angle α is the total of an angle αt and an angle αc ranges from 0.45 to 0.65.
US08267792B2
Systems and methods manage the presentation of wagering games on a portable wagering game machine. The systems and methods determine if an authorized user is in possession of the portable wagering game machine, and further determine if the portable wagering game machine is in a location where wagering games are authorized to be presented.
US08267789B2
A method and apparatus for tracking and determining a location of a gaming machine or other item within a casino or hotel is disclosed. In one embodiment the method and apparatus utilizes a transmitter or emitter to provide a tracking signal that may be tracked by one or more receivers or detectors. It is contemplated that the transmitter or emitter connect to a gaming machine. As the gaming machine is relocated within the casino its location is monitored. The one or more receivers may communicate with a host computer or other data processing system to generate location data regarding the gaming machine in relation to other aspects of the casino. Based on the location information generated by the location monitoring and tracking system, other aspects of machine operation may be controlled and additional features dependant on the machine location information may be enabled.
US08267785B2
First, operation data including at least acceleration data and angular velocity data is obtained from an input device including at least an acceleration sensor and a gyrosensor. Next, based on the acceleration data and the angular velocity data, a moving velocity of the input device itself and/or a relative positional relationship between the input device and a center of a rotation motion applied on the input device itself is estimated. Then, predetermined game processing is executed based on the estimated moving velocity and/or relative positional relationship.
US08267782B2
A game device includes a shape data storage which stores data of an object disposed in a three-dimensional space, a first rendering unit which sets a point of view and a line of sight and renders the object by referencing data stored in the shape data storage, a viewpoint changing unit which receives a change instruction indicating a change of the point of view or line of sight and changes the point of view or line of sight. The viewpoint changing unit changes the point of view or line of sight to outside a predetermined range when the point of view or line of sight enters within the predetermined range.
US08267781B2
A method of tracking a target includes receiving an observed depth image of the target from a source and obtaining a posed model of the target. The model is rasterized into a synthesized depth image, and the pose of the model is adjusted based, at least in part, on differences between the observed depth image and the synthesized depth image.
US08267777B2
A gaming system for conducting a wagering game includes a wager input device, a first display, and a second display. The wager input device receives a wager. The first display displays an array of symbols that indicates a randomly selected outcome. The second display displays an amount of at least one progressive award in at least one display window. The progressive award has an integer value. At least a first incrementing marker moves about the display window in response to changes in value of the progressive award.
US08267773B2
A method and system for conducting a wagering game with a changed expected value for a special event based on the achievement of a wagering-game enhancement parameter award. The wagering game includes a base game and a special event. The wagering game has a first expected value attributable to the base game and a second expected value attributable to the special event. The special event occurs in response to a triggering event. The first expected value attributable to the base game is decreased. The second expected value attributable to the special event is subsequently increased to compensate for decreasing the first expected value attributable to the base game.
US08267769B2
A gaming system of the present invention includes a plurality of slot machines. Each of the slot machines includes a display that displays a symbol and a controller that rearranges a symbol arranged on the display. The respective displays provided to the plurality of slot machines display symbols that are located on the displays respectively when a plurality of symbols are scrolled on one continuous display band obtained by virtually connecting the displays.
US08267768B2
A gaming machine is described wherein one or more moving indicators travel around or among slot machine reels granting awards, bonuses or special characteristics to associated symbols on the reels.
US08267764B1
A gaming system for playing a wagering game includes a wager input device configured to receive a wager to play the wagering game, at least one display configured to display the wagering game and at least one controller operatively configured to verify receipt of a wager and an extra wager, randomly generate an outcome of the wagering game, randomly generate an award modifier, determine if the outcome is a winning outcome, determine an award associated with the outcome if the outcome is a winning outcome, modify the award via the award modifier to yield a modified award, award the modified award to the player, and, separately, store the modified award in a stored award field accessible through a secondary game.
US08267763B2
A method for playing a casino gaming device including a select and drag feature. In one embodiment, a player selects values for multiple positions or spots on a game of chance, such as a lottery style game. The player initially selects a value in one of the game positions. The player touches a touch-screen display or other input device located above the game position displaying the initially selected value, and then touches any other game position to copy the initially selected value into the other game positions. In one method, the player touches the touch-screen display located above the touch-screen display, and then drags the initially selected value across the remaining game positions with his finger to set the values for the remaining game positions to the initially selected value. This select and drag feature increases the rate of play for players selecting the same value for multiple game positions.
US08267755B2
An elastic coin moving disk assembly (23) for moving coins across a coin sorting and coin collection member (13) in a coin handling machine (10), in which the coin sorting and coin collection member (13) has openings (28) of varying size to receive coins (14) of respective denominations, the coin moving disk assembly (23) having an annular disk body with a groove (32) and an outer rim (35) having a cavity (33) in a bottom surface; and a fin ring (39) molded into the cavity (33) in the bottom surface, the fin ring (39) comprising planar fingers (42) extending downward and substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface of the rim (35) when first manufactured, and later taking on an angular “set” after an initial break-in period, which is compensated for by a user-removable shim (43).
US08267754B2
A skinning knife, comprising a handle, a slitting blade disposed at a forward portion of the handle and having an upwardly- and forwardly-directed cutting edge, a first spreading member disposed at the forward most position of the knife so as to spread apart two portions of animal hide that have been separated by the slitting blade, and a retractable punch blade disposed in the handle beneath slitting blade for opening a hole in the hide, the first spreading member having a slot therein for receiving the punch blade. A punch blade actuation mechanism is provided for moving the punch blade through the slot in the first spreading member. Preferably, a second spreading member disposed below and forward of the first spreading member is provided for facilitating entry into a small slit.
US08267746B2
A substrate holding apparatus prevents a substrate from slipping out and allows the substrate to be polished stably. The substrate holding apparatus has a top ring body for holding and pressing a substrate against a polishing surface, and a retainer ring for pressing the polishing surface, the retainer ring being disposed on an outer circumferential portion of the top ring body. The retainer ring includes a first member made of a magnetic material and a second member having a magnet disposed on a surface thereof which is held in abutment against the first member.
US08267743B2
A polishing head for use in a polishing machine for optical surfaces, having an axis of rotation and a base body having a holding structure intended to be arranged at a polishing spindle and having a transport element intended to be held at a tool change arm, the transport element being positionable against a holding element of the tool change arm in order to perform a tool change, wherein at least one locking element is provided which can be positioned against the tool change arm such that a positive and/or non-positive joint results.
US08267740B1
An anomaly-correcting brassiere of assumed positions of asymmetrical bosoms using interconnecting patches of Velcro loops and hooks for shoulder straps constituted as closed loops and non-elastic construction material to maintain symmetrical and obviate asymmetrical bosom conditions.
US08267738B2
A track set is disclosed herein, the track set having: a first track segment pivotally mounted to the track set for movement between a first position and a second position, the first track segment having a first end and a second end; a perforated vessel secured to the first end of the first track segment, wherein a predetermined amount of water in the perforated vessel will maintain the first track segment in the first position; a second track segment mounted to the track set, the second end of the first track segment being spaced from a receiving end of the second track segment and the second end of the first track segment being elevated from the receiving end of the second track segment when the first track segment is in the first position, wherein at least one toy vehicle positioned proximate to the first end of the first track segment will be held there until an amount of water in the perforated vessel is less than the predetermined amount and the first track segment moves from the first position to the second position, wherein the least one toy vehicle travels away from the first end of the first track segment to the second track segment by traversing a gap between the second end of the first track segment and the receiving end of the second track segment.
US08267730B2
The invention relates to a device for connecting two electrical conductors (4, 5), comprising a metallic clamp (1) that is designed as a pipe section and that comprises in the wall thereof at least two through holes provided with a thread for receiving clamping screws (2) provided with an external thread. In the pipe section of the clamp (1), at least one central through hole provided with a thread is furnished between the two through holes in order to receive a fixing screw (3) provided with an external thread, wherein the fixing screw has a tapered, approximately wedge-shaped tip (11), which, in the assembled position, lies rigidly against the end faces of the two conductors (4, 5) inserted into the pipe section. The tip (11) provided with an external thread is screwed into a hole (10) of the fixing screw (3) provided with an internal thread, and the external thread of the tip (1) runs opposite to the external thread of the fixing screw (3).
US08267714B2
A telecommunications connector including a connector housing; a plurality of connector contacts in the connector housing; a substrate having first plated through holes for receiving termination ends of the connector contacts, the first plated through holes arranged in an area on the substrate; a plurality of termination contacts, the plurality of termination contacts positioned in second plated through holes in the substrate; the second plated through holes intersecting the area on the substrate.
US08267698B2
A connector unit which is capable of suppressing lowering of a clicking feeling, even if the fitting and removing of connectors to and from each other is repeated. A spring portion that receives a contact portion of each of plug contacts of a plug connector when a receptacle connector and the plug connector are fitted to each other is formed on each of receptacle contacts of the receptacle connector. A protrusion is formed on the contact portion of each plug contact. The spring portion is formed to have an auxiliary contact portion that is urged by the protrusion when both of the connectors are fitted to each other, and a recess that receives the protrusion when the both of the connectors are fitted to each other.
US08267697B2
The invention relates to educational equipment comprising a plurality of information support means (1) having identical dimensions but bearing at least partly different information. According to the invention, each support means (1) takes the form of a board comprising an outer frame (2) into which are inserted, removably and with friction, at least two inner frames (3), into each of which are inserted, removably and with friction, at least two labels (4) bearing the information.
US08267693B1
An educational board game is designed to teach children how to care for a pet. The game includes a game board having a serpentine path which has a start and a finish and spaces for movement thereon. Game pieces are moved on the spaces between the start and the finish according to a random movement generator controlling the movement of the game pieces along the specified path. The spaces have specified actions when the game pieces land thereon.
US08267687B2
Casting abutment for a dental implant that includes an apical socket portion, a transition portion bordering coronally on the socket portion, and an occlusal portion bordering coronally on the transition portion, having an apical circumferential collar area. The collar area is provided with an axially closer lying first circumferential platform and with at least two adjacent circumferential step-like areas, wherein the largest diameter of a first step-like area is smaller than the smallest diameter of a second step-like area the second step-like area lying apically with respect to the first step-like area.
US08267686B2
An orthodontic article and method of making the orthodontic article, where the orthodontic article includes a fine-grain ceramic bracket and a metal liner secured in an archwire slot of the bracket with a brazing alloy comprising silver, copper, and at least about 1.5% by weight titanium.
US08267681B2
Embodiments for methods and apparatuses for forming a nonwoven web are described herein. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes one or more sources configured to dispense a first fluid flow stream comprising a fiber and a second fluid flow stream also comprising a fiber. The apparatus also includes a mixing partition downstream from the one or more sources, where the mixing partition is positioned between the first and second flow streams from the one or more sources. The mixing partition defines one or more openings that permit fluid communication between the two flow streams. The apparatus also includes a receiving region situated downstream from the one or more sources and designed to receive at least a combined flow stream and form a nonwoven web by collecting fiber from the combined flow stream.
US08267679B2
A mold device is described for use in a mold having a plurality of tread molding segments. Each tread molding segment has an end face for mating with an adjoining segment. The mold device includes a piston located on the segment and is actuated by the opening and closing of the mold. The piston is positioned within a first chamber and has a plunger end in communication with a working material and a spring. Each of the mold segments further includes a retractable blade assembly having a distal end in fluid communication with a second chamber. The first chamber is in fluid communication with the second chamber. Closing of the mold compresses the piston, forcing the working fluid to transfer from the first chamber to the second chamber, actuating the blade assembly.
US08267678B2
A vane type vacuum pump 1 is provided in the vicinity of an air intake passage 11 for sucking the air into a pump chamber 2, and communicates a space A on the front side and a space B on the back side of the rotational direction of the vane at the time of the reverse rotation of the vane 6, and includes an escaping groove 21 for allowing a lubricating oil to escape into the space B on the back side from the space A on the front side.
US08267674B2
A motor housing includes a motor support portion defining a central axis and including a first end and a second end, a wall surrounding the motor support portion, a surface offset from the wall toward the second end in a direction parallel with the central axis, a cooling air passageway oriented generally parallel with the central axis and offset from the central axis, and an inlet, opening directly into the cooling air passageway, at least partially defined between the wall and the surface. The inlet is configured to permit entry of a tangential airflow into the cooling air passageway, and the inlet is configured to permit entry of a radial airflow into the cooling air passageway.
US08267666B2
An apparatus includes a valve housing having an inlet port, a first chamber with a first outlet port, and a second chamber with a second outlet port. A first valve opens between the inlet port and the first chamber under a first level of pneumatic pressure at the inlet port. A second valve opens between the first chamber and the second chamber under a second, greater level of pneumatic pressure in the first chamber. A third valve opens between the second chamber and the first chamber under a third level of pneumatic pressure in the second chamber, with the third level being less than the first level.
US08267659B2
A turbine blade is provided. The turbine blade includes a support structure and a shell which surrounds the support structure and which is connected to and at a distance from the support structure by at least one spacing element. For example the spacing element can be a solder globule in order to form a space through which a cooling medium can flow between the support structure and the shell. A method for the production of a turbine blade having a support structure and a shell which surrounds the support structure and which is connected to and at a distance from the support structure is also provided. The shell is soldered to the support structure in at least at one place of the support structure in order to connect the shell to and at a distance from the support structure.
US08267655B2
The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling a wind turbine, the wind turbine including at least one movable portion which is movable during operation of the wind turbine and at least one movable portion device including at least one of a movable portion transmitter or a movable portion receiver, the movable portion transmitter or the movable portion receiver being disposed at the least one movable portion; the method including: at least one of sending to or receiving from at least three reference points at least one signal by at least one of the movable portion transmitter or movable portion receiver; and determining at least one operational parameter of the wind turbine depending on at least one characteristic of the at least one received signal. Further the present disclosure relates to a wind turbine arrangement and a system for controlling a wind turbine, comprising a controller of the wind turbine and a movable portion.
US08267649B2
A system is disclosed that includes a turbine engine having a first rotary component having a first annular coupling disposed about a rotational axis of the engine. The first annular coupling has an axially converging surface relative to the rotational axis. The system also includes a second rotary component having a second annular coupling disposed about the rotational axis of the turbine engine, wherein the second annular coupling comprises an axially diverging surface such that the axially converging surface of the first annular coupling mates with the axially diverging surface.
US08267619B2
A road paver F has a paving screed E the working width of which can be adjusted continuously. In order to further enlarge the working width in steps at least one paving screed extension can be mounted. A distributing auger is supported in a distributing auger support. Distributing auger extensions can be mounted to the distributing auger. Scraper blades are arranged in casting travelling direction behind distributing auger. At least a scraper blade section functionally associated to a mounted paving screed extension is carried by a channel sheet steel plate being part of the mounted distributing auger extension. The scraper blade section can be adjusted in height direction together with the distributing auger support via a drive which can be remotely controlled during a casting process.
US08267617B2
A cover plate system for a gap (15) between two structural members (10, 20) is provided. The system includes an elongated cover (30) that extends across the gap (15) from a first structural member (10) to a second, spaced-apart structural member (20). The cover plate system further includes damped spring anchors (40) for engaging the cover plate (30) to an underlying structural member (10) and dampers (50, 60) for absorbing energy imparted to the cover plate (30) by vehicular traffic. The cover plate system minimizes the strain energy that is absorbed by the cover plate (30), which results in less cover plate slapping and bouncing during operation.
US08267615B2
A connecting mechanism includes a transmission shaft, an adjustment member, a transmission member, a key, and a fastening member. The transmission shaft forms a first threaded portion and a second threaded portion, and axially defines an assembly groove between the two threaded portions. An adjustment member receives the first threaded portion. The transmission member is sleeved on the transmission shaft, and defines a receiving groove. The key is wedge-shaped. The key is partially received in the assembly groove of the transmission shaft, and partially received in the receiving groove of the transmission member. The fastening member engages the second threaded portion, and drives the key to resist the adjustment member.
US08267602B2
A lens assembly in a digital still camera has a lens housing. First and second movable lenses/lens groups are contained in the lens housing, and supported in respectively first and second lens holders. A guide rod guides movement of the first and second lenses/lens groups in an optical axis direction with the lens holders. A shutter unit is disposed between the lens holders. A shutter actuator drives the shutter unit. A containing chamber in the lens housing contains the shutter actuator. A first motor is disposed between the guide rod and an inner surface of the lens housing and near to a first surface of the shutter unit, and moves the first lens holder. A second motor is disposed between the guide rod and the containing chamber and near to a second surface of the shutter unit, and moves the second lens holder.
US08267595B2
A one-piece LC type optical fiber adapter is provided. The LC type adapter of the present invention has fewer parts than a conventional one. Therefore, it is simpler and easier to assemble the LC type adapter of the present invention. In addition, the main body of the LC type adapter is unitary thereby avoiding the prior art problem that the stresses cause the two halves of the adapter to separate from each other after time.
US08267588B2
Disclosed is a fluid lubrication bearing device in which generation of a contaminant in a resin housing is suppressed, maintaining a high level of cleanliness in the interior and in the periphery of the bearing device. A side portion 7a and a bottom portion 7b of a housing 7 are formed integrally by injection molding of a resin material, and a gate mark 12 of a gate resin portion 11 formed at a lower end surface 7d of the bottom portion 7b of the molding is formed by a jig 13 having a forming surface 13a with a concave configuration. As a result, the cut portion 12a of the gate mark with sharp asperities is smoothened, and the surface 12d of the gate mark 12 is turned into a smooth convex curved surface.
US08267571B2
A system and a method for making an injectable mixture using at least one first pulverulent component and a second liquid component with a first piston/cylinder arrangement with a cylinder with an axial extension and a piston, wherein the cylinder includes a measured amount of the pulverulent component, a separate reservoir including a corresponding measured amount of the liquid component, and a transfer device for sealed transfer of said amount of the liquid component to the cylinder for subsequent mixing and injection of the completed mixture. The first piston/cylinder arrangement is an injection syringe. A mixing element being manoeuvrable by a user is positioned inside the cylinder. At least one gas transferring channel means leading to the cylinder is arranged at the cylinder. Engagement means are arranged for connecting the first injection syringe to the separate reservoir during transfer of the liquid component.
US08267569B2
A backlight device (3) includes: a light guide plate (32); a chassis (31) on which the light guide plate (32) is mounted; a frame member (35) having the light guide plate (32) held between the chassis (31) and the frame member (35); a spot light source (36) arranged near a side surface of the light guide plate (32); a flexible printed circuit board (37) on which the spot light source (36) is mounted; and a heat dissipation plate (31a) (part of the chassis (31)) bonded through a double-faced adhesive (38) to the flexible printed circuit board (37). The frame member (35) is provided with a protrusion portion (351) that is in contact with the flexible printed circuit board (37) and that presses the flexible printed circuit board (37) onto the heat dissipation plate (31a), and a tip portion of the protrusion portion (351) is so tapered as to be located apart from the flexible printed circuit board (37).
US08267566B2
A planar lighting device comprises: a light guide plate including a concave rectangular light exit plane, two light entrance planes containing two opposite sides of the light exit plane and disposed opposite each other, two symmetrical inclined planes opposing to the light exit plane such that their distance from the light exit plane increases with the increasing distance from the two light entrance planes toward the center of the light exit plane, a curved portion connecting the two inclined planes; two light sources respectively disposed opposite the two light entrance planes for emitting light to enter the light into the light guide plate through the light entrance planes; and sliding mechanisms allowing the light sources to slide in a direction parallel to the light entrance planes of the light guide plate to absorb the expansion and contraction of the light sources along the length thereof.
US08267563B2
A backlight unit includes; a plurality of point light sources, a light guide plate including lateral sides and main planes substantially perpendicular to the lateral sides, and a printed circuit board on which the point light sources are mounted. At least one side of the light guide plate includes a first plane, which does not correspond to the point light sources, and a light incident plane corresponding to the point light sources and having a predetermined inclination angle with respect to the first plane.
US08267562B2
An apparatus, method and system for visually indicating a circuit breaker, such as a multi-pole circuit breaker, has been tripped are provided. An exemplary light guide comprises a plurality of light conduits adapted to transmit light from two or more light sources within a circuit breaker assembly to an exterior of the circuit breaker assembly; a beam that connects the light conduits; and one or more retention features coupled to one or more of the light conduits, wherein each retention feature is adapted to mate with a retention feature interface of the circuit breaker assembly. Numerous other aspects are provided.
US08267558B1
A light fixture for and method of rotating a rotatable light source. The light fixture having a flange with a rotating member positioned within the flange. The rotating member houses a light source. A first self-lubricating ring is located proximal to the front of the flange and at least partially encircles the rotating member. A second self-lubricating ring is located distal to the front of the flange and also at least partially encircles the rotating member. A compression device, held in place by a retaining ring, is located behind the second self-lubricating ring.
US08267557B2
A light module, a light-module carrier and an illumination system for an aircraft, which allow intelligent illumination and at the same time easy reconfiguration of cabin illumination. The light module provides information relating to its characteristics, while a control system determines a position of the light module on a light-module carrier, and on the basis of the determined position and of the characteristics of the light module adjusts the light module by way of a bus system of the light-module carrier according to a desired illumination.
US08267554B2
A light emitting diode (LED) device comprises a base and a cover packaging of a rectifier diode chip and a light emitting diode chip connecting in series with a metal wire. The LED device can be plugged directly into the socket of the LED light string without any other external rectifier circuits. Moreover, the device has advantages of small size, easy-to-use and easy-to-change. By adopting different connection methods with the LED device, it can achieve anticipative functions, such as half-wave, full-wave and bridge rectifier, etc.
US08267552B2
A light-transmissive shell capable of intensifying an illuminant and wide-angle light transmission includes a lens body and an extension portion integrally extended from the lens body in a vertical direction or at an acute angle to the vertical direction. The lens body includes an outer top surface structured as a convexity and an inner bottom surface structured as a flat surface or an inner concavity. The extension portion includes an inner surface extending around from the inner bottom surface of the lens body. An arcuate surface is formed as a joint between the inner bottom surface of the lens body and the inner surface of the extension portion. The light emitted by an illuminant is intensified through the lens body and guided into a wide-angle light through the extension portion.
US08267549B2
An illumination device includes a cover, a heat-dissipation module, and a plurality of light emitting units. The heat-dissipation module includes a main body and a mounting plate connected to the main body. The mounting plate is received in the interior of the illumination device. The light emitting units are mounted on the mounting plate and opposite to the cover. Light from the light emitting unit is transmitted through the cover.
US08267545B2
The invention relates to a light-emitting apparatus. The light-emitting apparatus includes a heat-conducting/dissipating module and at least one semiconductor light-emitting module. The heat-conducting/dissipating module includes a substantially cylindrical heat-conducting device having at least one flat portion and at least one heat-dissipating fin mounted on the circumference of the heat-conducting device. The at least one semiconductor light-emitting module includes a carrier, a plurality of exterior electrodes, at least one semiconductor light-emitting die, and at least two conducting wires. The carrier is flatly mounted on the flat portion of the heat-conducting device. The plurality of exterior electrodes is disposed on the carrier. The at least one semiconductor light-emitting die is mounted on the carrier and respectively connected to the plurality of exterior electrodes. The at least two conducting wires are connected to a power source or a grounding by being electrically connected to the plurality of exterior electrodes.
US08267530B2
A video projector including a housing which accommodates a component for projecting and displaying a picture. A cable insertion member is fastenable to an antitheft cable. The cable insertion member is retractable into the housing.
US08267528B2
An illumination source includes a number of light emitting diodes (LEDs) operating at a first wavelength. Light from the LEDs illuminates a phosphor material that generates light at a second wavelength. A reflective polarizer transmits light at the second wavelength in a first polarization state and reflects light at the second wavelength in a second polarization state orthogonal to the first polarization state. The light at the second wavelength reflected by the reflective polarizer is directed back towards the phosphor material without an increase in angular range. In some embodiments the LEDs, having a conformal layer of phosphor material, are attached directly to the first surface of a liquid cooled plate. A liquid coolant contacts a second surface of the plate.
US08267525B2
An adjusting system for a projector includes a reference point projection unit, an infrared apparatus, a micro controller unit (MCU), and a graphic processing unit (GPU). The reference point projection unit stores reference points. The reference points are projected on a screen to form projection points. The infrared apparatus includes infrared devices mounted on a front surface of a body of the projector. The infrared devices emit infrared signals to the screen and form light points on the screen. When a projection angle of the projector is 0 degrees, the light points overlap the projection points respectively. When the projection angle of the projector is a certain angle, the MCU controls the GPU to make adjustment corresponding to the infrared devices which receive the reflected infrared signals, until the projection points overlap the light points respectively.
US08267523B2
A plurality of projector apparatuses project images based on inputted image signals onto a screen so that the images are displaced relative to one another by a predetermined amount and superimposed. The luminances of an image region composed of a plurality of projected images that have been projected onto the screen are observed. Luminance values of pixels that construct an image to be projected by each projector apparatus are adjusted based on an observation result and are supplied to the plurality of projector apparatuses. The image region composed of the plurality of projected images is presented by superimposing a first projected image and a second projected image that has a higher resolution than the first projected image. Predetermined pixels in the image region are presented by superimposing corresponding pixels in the projected images from n adjacent projector apparatuses.
US08267501B2
A nozzle for a drop ejector is shaped as a plurality of lobes adjoining a central opening region and extending along a radial direction away from the central region. Each lobe increases in width as distance from the central region increases. The nozzles include sidewalls that converge toward the central opening region of the nozzle, giving the lobe a teardrop shape. Because the central part of the nozzle opening is constricted the ink that is ejected pinches off in the center and provides several advantages such as straighter trajectory, shorter tails, better accuracy, smaller ink volume, and less satellite effects.
US08267496B2
In case resolution is set to 360 dpi, each dot is formed on each printing line provided orthogonally to conveying direction at intervals obtained by dividing an inch on a surface tape by 360 lines. Contrarily, in case resolution is set to 180 dpi, each dot array is formed to occupy two printing lines. In case a control unit judges that the number of dot-array-formed printing lines from start of printing till temporary stop of printing with 180 dpi is not equal to that of dot-array-formed printing lines with 360 dpi, a portion of serial arrays of dots to be formed from start of printing till temporary stop of printing with 180 dpi is formed with 360 dpi so that the number of dot-array-formed printing lines from start of printing till temporary stop of printing is made equal to that of dot-array-formed printing lines in printing with 360 dpi.
US08267481B2
A constructed permeability control infrastructure can include a permeability control impoundment, which defines a substantially encapsulated volume. The infrastructure can also include a comminuted hydrocarbonaceous material within the encapsulated volume. The comminuted hydrocarbonaceous material can form a permeable body of hydrocarbonaceous material. The infrastructure can further include at least one convection driving conduit oriented in a lower portion of the permeable body to generate bulk convective flow patterns throughout the permeable body. An associated method of recovering hydrocarbons from hydrocarbonaceous materials can include forming a constructed permeability control infrastructure, which defines a substantially encapsulated volume. A comminuted hydrocarbonaceous material can be introduced into the control infrastructure to form a permeable body of hydrocarbonaceous material. A heated fluid can be passed throughout the permeable body in bulk convective flow patterns to remove hydrocarbons from the permeable body. Removed hydrocarbons can be collected for further processing and/or use.
US08267478B2
A vehicle seat includes a backrest connected to a sitting part by a backrest adjustment element. The adjustment element has a part that is connected to the backrest or to the sitting part. At least one means is formed, incorporated, shaped and/or arranged in the backrest, in the part and/or the seat part for securing the position of the part relative to the backrest and/or to the sitting part in at least one direction.
US08267476B2
Each of the pawls that are capable of rotationally locking a reclining device has a hardness greater than a slide cam that is capable of pressing the pawls to engage a ratchet. When a large load capable of forcibly rotationally displacing the ratchet is applied thereto while the pawls mesh with the ratchet, the pawls are pressed by the ratchet in a radially inward direction in which the pawls are disengaged therefrom, so as to press the slide cam with an increased buckling strength and plastically deform the same.
US08267472B2
The general field of the invention is that of seats comprising foldaway trays. More precisely, the seat according to the invention is specifically adapted in order to fold away large-dimension screens. It comprises at least one armrest and a foldaway display screen. The screen comprises an articulated supporting arm mounted on a movable carriage and the armrest comprises a circularly arcuate rail, the top end of the rail being substantially vertical and the bottom portion substantially horizontal, the carriage being secured to said rail and being able to move in translation between a first bottom position for stowage of the screen and a second top position of the screen. The screen may also comprise a cover so that it can be used as a tray.
US08267471B2
A vehicle seat back includes a frame and back support member. The back support member can connect with the frame at a first location and at a second location. The back support member can include a breakaway connection configured to rupture during a crash event to increase an operative length of the back support member.
US08267468B2
A bracket structure is in a vehicle body rear portion. In the bracket structure, an upper bracket 19 and first and second lower brackets 18 and 15 are disposed in such a manner as to be shifted to a right side or a left side in the vehicle width direction from an axis passing through a center of a spare tire housing 5, the second lower bracket 15 is formed in a concave shape and a closed section is formed between the first lower bracket 18 and the second lower bracket 15 by superposing the first lower bracket 18 and the second lower bracket 15, and the upper bracket 19 is attached to a top surface of the rear floor panel 4, and the upper bracket 19 and the first lower bracket 18 are disposed so as to correspond to each other in a vertical direction.
US08267465B2
A structural reinforcing member for motor vehicle wind deflectors has a shaped configuration with at least one curved portion, and a plurality of mutually spaced apart, plastically formed deformation sections which provide structural rigidity to maintain the shaped configuration and geometry of the reinforcing member.
US08267463B2
A door impact beam for a motor vehicle includes a formed metal sheet defined by a longitudinal axis and having a tubular cross section which has a closed circumference in a center portion of the metal sheet, and is configured with open circumference at both end portions of the metal sheet which adjoin the center portion in a direction of the longitudinal axis. Each end portion is defined by an opening angle which continuously increases from the center portion to respective ends of the end portions.
US08267457B2
A vehicular seat device assumes, as seat arrangements, a seating state and in which an occupant can sit, an entry/exit state in which the seat cushion (12) is in a standing state, and a retracted state in which a seatback (14) is superimposed on an upper side of the seat cushion (12). The vehicular seat device has a first linking member (21), a second linking member (22) and a drive mechanism (16) that are capable of changing the posture of the seat cushion (12) synchronously with the tilting of the seatback (14). Since the seat arrangement is changed synchronously with the tilting of the seatback (14), it is possible to reduce the burden of operation on an occupant in changing the seat arrangement, while allowing various seat arrangements.
US08267454B2
A pick-up style utility vehicle with an expandable cargo bed, including a stationary cargo bed part serving as a bottom face and a side face of the cargo bed, a movable cargo bed part serving as the bottom face and the side face of the expanded cargo bed, and a cargo bed support mechanism for supporting the movable cargo bed part at a normal position and an expansion position set on the rear side of the normal position.
US08267453B1
A hard cover roof to cover the open top of a pop-out and is rotatably hingeably affixed to the roof of the trailer and slidably engaged with the pop-out through mating track mechanisms on the underside of the roof and the top exterior rear wall of the poop-out so that the roof track mechanism can slide relative to the track retaining mechanism of the pop-out so that it covers the top opening the pop-out is in the fully extended condition and rests over the exterior rear wall of the pop-out when the pop-out is in the retracted condition within the trailer.
US08267444B2
A door lock apparatus for a vehicle includes a latch mechanism, an open operation lever, an open lever operatively connected to the open operation lever, a locking lever being switchable between an unlocked position and a locked position, a link operation lever operatively connected to the locking lever, a link member operatively connected to the link operation lever, the link member being able to transmit an operation of the open lever to the latch mechanism when the locking lever is in the unlocked position, the link member being unable to transmit the operation of the open lever to the latch mechanism when the locking lever is in the locked position, and a lever member operatively connected to the open lever and the locking lever, the lever member moving the locking lever from the locked position to the unlocked position by means of the operation of the open lever.
US08267441B2
An operating device for a lock includes a mounting plate mounted to an outer side of a door. A frame is fixed in a receiving space of the door. A push member includes a push section operably connected to a latch. The push member further includes a pivotal section having a pivot hole and a sliding groove. A first pivot extends through the pivot hole of the pivotal section and the frame. A second pivot extends through the frame and is slideably received in the sliding groove of the pivotal section. A lever includes a lug received in the receiving space. The lug has a pin hole through which the second pivot extends. When the lever pivots from an upper position to a lower position about a pivot axis defined by the second pivot, the push member pivots about a pivot axis defined by the first pivot for unlocking operation.
US08267434B2
Hose coupling incorporates male part and a female part being provided with elements which in corporation with a slide axially displaceable sleeve on the female part renders possible pressure relief at disconnection. These elements are constituted by an angular locking pawl one portion of which is insert able in an axial groove in the female part and has such length that always at least some part thereof is surrounded by the sleeve. The other inwardly directed part of the locking pawl has such length that it extends into the groove of the male part when locking pawl is influenced by the sleeve. The locking pawl is a combined element. To lock the male part when the coupling is connected and lock the male part in an alternative position when it's pressure relieved.
US08267428B2
An energy absorber for a vehicle includes an elongate member having lateral and longitudinal axes. The elongate member may include one or more channels which are oriented to have walls which extend in the general direction of the lateral axis. An upper surface of at least one of the channels may have an engagement feature that may be configured to engage a stationary member of a vehicle when an impact force brings the engagement feature into contact with the stationary member. The channels may be configured to deform and collapse to absorb at least some of the impact force.
US08267411B2
The present invention relates to a size-adjusting fastening mechanism for stakes comprising fixed locking grooves and a movable locking convex block, whereby when one of the grooves engages with the convex block, tooth position is loosened and toecap is telescopic upon pulling. When the groove and the convex block are rotated to deflect so as not to engage with each other, tooth position is pressed to lock so as to be irremovable. Such a structure requires that the pull handle be pulled horizontally forwards and backwards. Being secured with rivet punching, the claimed device possesses good stability, is simple in structure, low in cost and easy for operation.
US08267410B1
A suspension for a trailer vehicle that allows the trailer itself to be used as a ramp. The suspension has an axle having an axis and wheels at each end of the axle. The axle is pivotally connected to the vehicle at a pivotal connection and the axis of the axle is offset from the pivotal connection to the vehicle. An actuation device having a first and second end is pivotally connected to the axle at its first end. The actuation device is movable between a retracted length and extended length. Shifting the actuation device between its retracted and extended lengths causes the axle to pivot about the pivotal connection on the trailer, thereby changing the height of the vehicle relative to the ground surface. The trailer can be used as a ramp, thus, eliminating the need for separate ramps.
US08267409B2
Apparatus and methods for propelling a multiple-wheeled golf bag cart over a terrain are described. In one embodiment, the apparatus is configured to be attached to a handle of the golf bag cart and further configured to be attached to the waist of a golfer. The apparatus includes a belt member for attachment to the waist of the golfer, a deformable member configured to be disposed between the cart handle and the belt member for controlling movement of the cart while the cart is being towed, and a mounting member for attachment to the handle for connecting the deformable member to the handle.
US08267406B2
A retaining ring for a seal ring of a mechanical seal assembly comprises a recess (8) inserted at the side of one of its axial ends for a sealing receipt and force-fit assembly of the seal ring (2). In the recess (8), an engaging ring (10) made of a flexible material and having a corrugated profile at its inner periphery is retained, wherein at least the elevations (15) of the corrugated profile may be brought in a force-fit engagement with the outer periphery of the seal ring, when the seal ring is moved into the engaging ring by an external mounting force. Each elevation has a leading flange in direction (P) of the mounting movement having a inclination angle α2 larger than α1 of a lagging flange (18).
US08267402B2
A medium reversing apparatus, an image forming apparatus and an image reading apparatus that respectively have the medium reversing apparatus are supplied capable of avoiding medium damage and medium load abnormality. In the medium reversing apparatus that conveys a sheet-like medium back and reverses obverse side and reverse side of the medium, a medium ejection opening is used for ejecting at least a part of the medium; an ejecting member at least ejects the part of the medium from the medium ejection opening and conveys the medium back; and a bend forming section is set at the outside edge portion of the ejecting member and bends the medium from a clamp face of the medium clamped by the ejecting member.
US08267399B2
A sheet processing apparatus capable of improving sheet processing performance and productivity is provided. While sheets are conveyed in a piled state toward a rear-end stopper, displacement is produced between the sheets by a pair of discharge rollers. Even if adhesion occurs between the sheets during conveyance thereof, the adhesion between the sheets can be removed before the sheets come into contact with the rear-end stopper.
US08267396B2
A sheet feed device has a tray with holding surface for holding sheets, a feed unit for feeding sheets from the tray, and a separation plate. The separation plate has an inclined surface and two or more separation portions that separate a sheet from the sheets held in the tray. At least one of the separation portions projects a first distance from the inclined surface. The separation plate also has a projection positioned on the inclined surface that projects a second distance from the inclined surface. The second distance is greater than the first distance. A first of the separation portions is positioned upstream of the particular projection in the sheet feed direction, and a second of the separation portions positioned downstream of the particular projection in the sheet feed direction.
US08267392B2
An inserter device for a document printer and inserter system includes a first container sensor. A belt mechanism includes a flexible delivery belt receiving a printed document from a document printer. A motor rotates the delivery belt in response to an actuation signal from the first container sensor indicating the presence of a container at a document loading position proximate the delivery belt. A support shaft is rotatably connected to a support frame. The belt mechanism is fixed to the support shaft. The support shaft is rotated to achieve a desired belt drive angle and fixed to the support frame to maintain the belt drive angle. A rigid document diverter proximate the delivery belt deflects a document discharged from the delivery belt at the belt drive angle into the container. First and second belt tensioning assemblies are individually positioned in either a belt mechanism drive box or idler box.
US08267387B2
A device (1) for the handling of containers with a mandrel (4), the cross-section of which is adjusted to the cross-section of one of the containers to be handled, whereby the mandrel (4) is displaceable, relative to the support device (30), along a direction of movement (L) between a resting position and a working position. The device has a spacing element (10) which is displaceable relative to the mandrel (4) in a direction of displacement (R) between at least two positions, whereby the direction of displacement (R) and the direction of movement form an angle with one another that differs by 0°, and whereby this spacing element is constructed in such a manner that the working position of the mandrel (4) in the direction of movement (L) is changed through a shifting of the spacing element.
US08267385B2
The invention relates to a holding device (1), especially for fixing a glass substrate during a cutting process. The holding device comprises a housing (2) and a plunger (3) which can be axially displaced in relation to the housing (2). The plunger has a first and a second end section (4, 5), the first end section (4) projecting from the housing (2) and having a suction element (6). The aim of the invention is inter alia to improve a known holding device in such a manner that the substrate can be approached and fixed almost without the application of force. The holding device (1) according to the invention is characterized in that the plunger (3) is received in the housing (2) by a pneumatic spring. A holding system (20) comprising a plurality of holding devices (1) is protected in a support plate (24), the support plate (24) having a vacuum channel collector (21) which is connected to vacuum channels (13) and which is connected to a common vacuum pump (14).
US08267380B1
A retractable fence apparatus which comprises a housings. The housing has a bottom wall, a top wall with a longitudinal slot, a rear wall, a front wall and a pair of side walls. The housing is installed within the ground with the top wall level with the top of the ground. A of lift mechanism is provided. The lift mechanism is installed onto the bottom wall within the housing. A barrier assemblies are also provided. The barrier assembly is installed within the housing of the lift mechanism. A mechanism is for operating lift mechanism, wherein a the barrier assembly can be raised up and lowered down through the longitudinal slot in the top wall of the housing.
US08267378B1
A hydraulic lift system for artificial lift pumping or industrial hoisting comprises a three chamber cylinder, a gas over oil accumulator, a large structural gas accumulator and a large flow pilot operated check valve. A matrix variable frequency drive, a standard variable frequency drive, an electrical squirrel cage motor or a natural gas engines are part of the main prime mover alternatives.
US08267373B2
A single lever control for manually manipulating a hydraulic valve spool of a directional control valve, which comprises an elongate shaft encased within an outer casing and having first and second ends each being fixedly attached to an end cap and a pivot block, respectively. The outer casing comprising a cylindrical cup for housing a biasing element whereupon an applied upward force on the cylindrical cup causes the outer casing to move upwardly to the extent of lifting a latching member pivotally connected to the pivot block and releasing a locking mechanism. The mounting assembly comprising an adapter plate integrally connected to a vertical support member and having a large aperture for receiving a moveable stem associated with the hydraulic valve spool, an arrangement of which allows a valve-actuating stem associated with the pivot block to movably interact with the moveable stem as the single lever control is selectively manipulated.
US08267367B2
The present invention relates to a vacuum pad device used in a vacuum transport system. The pad device includes a housing, a pad unit connected to the housing through a ball joint such that the pad unit is rotatable, and a piston arranged in the housing and controlling the rotation of the pad unit. The pad unit is bonded to an object at a desirable rotation angle, and controlled such that the rotation angle is fixed by the movement of a piston operating via compressed air. Consequently, the object can be transported in an accurate and safe manner. Preferably, the vacuum pad device of the present invention further includes a vacuum pump arranged in the housing unit the piston.
US08267363B2
A slatwall mounting system includes a rail member and a mounting arrangement. The rail member includes longitudinally extending upper and lower edges, a longitudinally extending upper slot portion including a downward extending undercut a longitudinally extending lower slot portion including an upward extending undercut. The mounting arrangement includes a bracket member having a downward oriented hook portion and a mounting aperture, and a cam assembly having a mounting cam assembled with a user graspable cam driver, the cam and cam driver defining an annular groove for securing the cam assembly to the mounting aperture. The mounting cam is rotatable between a slatwall securing position for mounting engagement with the lower slot of the rail member, and a slatwall releasing position, in response to user manipulation of the cam driver.
US08267360B2
A height adjustable holding apparatus for holding an object is provided. The height adjustable holding apparatus includes a support, a moving part, a holding unit, an elastic member, and a linking unit. The moving part is movable along the support, wherein the object connects to the moving part to be movable along the support. The holding unit is disposed at a top end of the support. The elastic member is disposed at a bottom end of the support. One end of the linking unit connects to the moving part and the other end extending around the holding unit to connect to the elastic member. When moving the object along the support to a desired position, the object substantially remains balanced at the desired position by the cooperation of the holding unit, the elastic member and the linking unit.
US08267358B1
A bag holder is provided for holding a bag in an open position to facilitate collection of debris in the bag. The bag holder includes a rigid frame assembly having an outer frame and an inner frame. The outer frame has a perimeter wall. The inner frame is sized to nest within the perimeter wall of the outer frame. Thus, the frame assembly is configured for securing a bag between the outer frame and the inner frame such that the frame assembly holds the bag in an open position. A handle is coupled to and extends from the outer frame to facilitate manipulation of the open bag to a desired location using the handle. Debris may then be scooped or swept into the open bag.
US08267354B2
A fitting for joining a first component to a second component, the fitting comprising a composite part and a reinforcement element. The composite part is formed from a composite material and comprises: a base; an end wall meeting the base at a first corner; and a side wall meeting the end wall at a second corner and the base at a third corner. The reinforcement element is shaped such that it can be fitted to the composite part and engage the end wall of the composite part, the first corner of the composite part; and the second corner of the composite part.
US08267352B2
Load introduction zone in the rear end of an aircraft comprising receiving elements (3, 4) of the loads of the horizontal and vertical tail stabilizers connected to structural elements (2, 8, 9) wherein: a) said structural elements are the cladding (8), two contiguous load-bearing frames (2) with a Π or omega cross-section and, at least, a third frame (9); b) the receiving element of the horizontal tail stabilizer load is a first fitting (3) structured as a torque box, transversely arranged between said load-bearing frames (2) and connected to them, and the receiving elements of the vertical tail stabilizer loads are some second fittings (4) coupled to these frames (2, 9); c) said frames (2, 9) and said first and second fittings (3, 4) are entirely made of composite material.
US08267350B2
An actuator, comprises a housing, a first prime mover for producing rotary motion, a first gearbox arranged to convert in use the rotary motion from the first prime mover into rotary motion having higher torque and lower speed. The first gearbox comprises a casing mounted for rotation relative to the housing of the actuator and a second gearbox arranged to convert rotary motion of the casing of the first gearbox into rotary motion having lower torque and higher speed.A brake is arranged to act on the rotary motion having lower torque and higher speed from the second gearbox. In use when the first gearbox is not jammed, the brake may be applied to resist relative rotation between the casing of the first gearbox and the housing of the actuator.When the first gearbox is jammed, the brake may be released thereby allowing the casing of the first gearbox to rotate relative to the housing of the actuator. The actuator may thereby be jam-tolerant. A second motor may also be provided.
US08267337B2
A particle reduction device with a housing containing an inlet for receiving paper material into a flow chamber, at least two adjacently spaced particle reduction stages through which paper material flows from one stage to the other for reducing the particle size of the material, and an outlet for outputting processed material with reduced particle size. Each particle reduction stage of the paper particle reduction device includes an impact member that rotates about a central shaft for impacting material into smaller particles. At least one of the stages has a screen, located downstream from the impact member, that includes perforations through which particles of a sufficiently small size can pass.
US08267335B2
One aspect is an ultrasonic crusher including a pipe system having at least one elutriator. A pump is configured to pump a slurry through the pipe system and the at least one elutriator. A first ultrasound sonotrode is configured proximate to the at least one elutriator.
US08267333B2
A fuel injector and a method of assembly includes a determination of various flow areas through clearances or openings formed in various components of the injector. With the various flow areas determined, the various components can be classified according to their flow areas such that sets of components can be selected having desirable flow area characteristics for assembly of the fuel injector.
US08267332B1
A self-contained, hand-held paint spray gun apparatus having a paint reservoir on the gun and a turret assembly having a reversible tip for spraying paint from the reservoir through the tip and a swirl chamber adapter located between the gun and turret assembly. The tip is reversible between a SPRAY position and a CLEAN position to enable a user of the paint spray gun to rapidly and conveniently clear an obstruction in the tip and continue spraying without removing the tip. The swirl chamber adapter has a generally planar face opposing a swirl valve in the gun and forming a swirl chamber upstream of the turret assembly and has a centrally located bore extending from the generally planar face to the outlet of the adapter.
US08267331B2
The subject invention relates to a power sprayer that offers flexibility of movement because it can be battery operated and is designed to eliminate the need for cleaning its spray nozzle after being used. Paint colors can be changed quickly by simply changing the media cartridges that are adapted for simple attachment to the sprayer. These media cartridges also eliminate the inconvenience associated with refilling conventional power sprayers with a desired media. The present invention more specifically discloses a sprayer media cartridge system comprising: (a) a media container, (b) a self-cleaning nozzle, (c) a media shut-off means, (d) a primary media atomizing aperture in a configuration relative to the self-cleaning nozzle, (e) a movable media containment member within the media container, (f) a gas transfer interface, and (g) a power unit engagement means.
US08267330B2
A mobile hose winding apparatus, including a case, a hose winding mechanism for hose winding, a sprinkler mechanism and a water inlet and outlet mechanism. One end of the water inlet and outlet mechanism is used to connect to the hose on the winding mechanism while the other end is connected to the water inlet of the sprinkler mechanism; the hose winding mechanism and the water inlet and outlet mechanism are fitted in the case, with the sprinkler mechanism in the front of the case. The mobile hose winding apparatus abandons the wall-mounted connecting mode of the conventional hose winding apparatus, and thus the apparatus according to the present disclosure can be moved as a whole for operation.
US08267329B2
In an expansion valve, in a first passage through which a high pressure liquid refrigerant flows, an inlet port includes a large diameter passage portion formed from one side surface to the other side surface of a valve body, and a small diameter passage portion that provides communication between the large diameter passage portion on the bottom end thereof and a valve chamber. A coil spring provided in the valve chamber biases a valve member toward a valve hole. An O ring that seals between a plug that supports a lower end of the coil spring and the valve body is located below the small diameter passage portion and placed on the opposite side of the bottom end of the large diameter passage. Thus, the plug that closes an opening of the valve chamber can be mounted to an upper position, thereby reducing a vertical size of the valve body to further reduce a size of the valve body, and reducing an amount of use of metal materials for the valve body to reduce weight and cost.
US08267321B2
A method of decoding a two-dimensional enhanced-density barcode. A first and a second barcode are encoded in the enhanced-density barcode. The enhanced-density barcode includes a set of blocks. Each block includes a predefined number of sub-pixels. The blocks of the enhanced-density barcode being arranged relatively to each other in a geometrical lattice having a first and a second lattice direction. The method includes the steps of distorting of the enhanced-density barcode in the first lattice direction, resulting in a first distorted barcode, distorting of the enhanced-density barcode in the second lattice direction, resulting in a second distorted barcode, reconstructing the first barcode by low-pass filtering the first distorted barcode, reconstructing the second barcode by low-pass filtering the second distorted barcode.
US08267319B2
A radio frequency identifying device minimizes a null point area within a radiation pattern by horizontally or vertically vibrating an antenna plate radiating a radio frequency beam by using at least one vibration motor.
US08267313B2
A system, computer product and method are provided for a card issuer providing a prepaid gift card to a purchaser, the gift card usable by a recipient of the card to pay merchants who participate in a financial network. The method includes receiving a payment of a predetermined amount, and loading the predetermined amount received from the purchaser into the prepaid gift card. The method further includes activating the loaded prepaid gift card, the activated prepaid gift card being usable by the recipient for paying any of the merchants in the financial network until the predetermined amount loaded in the prepaid gift card is exhausted, and being usable by the recipient to obtain a benefit beyond what is purchased from at least some of the merchants in the financial network.
US08267312B2
A virtual cash system, method, and apparatus for establishing account records containing a record of money amounts associated with a wireless device and a security code comprising a code portion to verify a deposit of money. Cash transfers between account records may be subject to restrictions associated with the cash amounts. Restrictions may include the specific merchant identifications, product type identifications for which cash transfers may be made. Alternatively, the restrictions may include spending limits on each cash transfer.
US08267311B2
The present invention relates to the use of unique markers in the identification and tracking of objects. The present invention provides large numbers of unique markings for application to items as part of a marking system. The present invention provides a new approach to laboratory analysis and a means of rapid in-field identification of goods using a hand-held scanner. It provides data that can be used as a means of product tracking, identification of counterfeit product and to prove ownership of stolen goods.
US08267303B2
Methods and systems are described for enabling the efficient fabrication of wedge-bonding of integrated circuit systems and electronic systems.
US08267297B2
A portable linear fastener driving tool is provided that drive staples, nails, or other linearly driven fasteners. The tool uses a gas spring principle, in which a cylinder filled with compressed gas is used to quickly force a piston through a driving stroke movement, while a driver also drives a fastener into a workpiece. The piston/driver is then moved back to its starting position by use of a rotary-to-linear lifter, and the piston again compresses the gas above the piston, thereby preparing the tool for another driving stroke. The driver has protrusions along its edges that contact the lifter, which lifts the driver during a return stroke. A pivotable latch is controlled to move into either an interfering position or a non-interfering position with respect to the driver protrusions, and acts as a safety device, by preventing the driver from making a full driving stroke at an improper time.
US08267296B2
A portable linear fastener driving tool is provided that drive staples, nails, or other linearly driven fasteners. The tool uses a gas spring principle, in which a cylinder filled with compressed gas is used to quickly force a piston through a driving stroke movement, while a driver also drives a fastener into a workpiece. The piston/driver is then moved back to its starting position by use of a rotary-to-linear lifter, and the piston again compresses the gas above the piston, thereby preparing the tool for another driving stroke. The driver has protrusions along its edges that contact the lifter, which lifts the driver during a return stroke. A pivotable latch is controlled to move into either an interfering position or a non-interfering position with respect to the driver protrusions, and acts as a safety device, by preventing the driver from making a full driving stroke at an improper time.
US08267286B2
An actuator cap for a pressurized aerosol spray can for the dispensing of marking compositions consists of an outer housing, an inner housing, and a rotatably mounted spray tip. The outer housing employs an annular chime for use with devices for remotely actuating pressurized aerosol spray cans. The inner housing connectively couples to various pressurized aerosol spray cans. The spray tip allows for efficient dispensing of marking composition through the pressurized aerosol spray can valve while also preventing accidental sideways discharge.
US08267278B2
The container includes a base and a detachable cover. To releasably attach the base and cover, the base includes a first closure portion and the cover includes an engagable second closure portion. In one aspect, the first and second closure portions are configured for engagement in both a fully engaged position and an intermediately engaged position. In the intermediately engaged position, the container can be further configured to vent steam during, for example, microwaving. In another aspect, the container including the first and second closure portions can be configured for simplified engagement of the base and cover, preferably by enabling engagement via a downward push applied to the center of the cover. In yet another aspect, the first and second closure portions can be configured with diverging flanges that simplify detachment of the base and cover.
US08267274B2
A dispensing closure system is provided for a container that has an opening to the container interior. The preferred embodiment of the system includes a closure having a closure body for extending from the container at the container opening and a lid hingedly attached to the closure body. The closure body has a dispensing spout, and the lid includes a hollow spud for entering the spout. A spud rim can be provided on the spud, extending inwardly towards the hollow interior of the spud. A lid rim can additionally or alternatively be provided on the inside surface of the lid, positioned within the hollow interior of the spud.
US08267271B2
A collapsible beverage container has a plurality of co-axially oriented, concentric cylindrical wall sections of progressively different diameters. The wall sections are extendable from a collapsed position wherein the wall sections substantially completely overlap in an axial direction to an extended position wherein the wall sections only partially overlap in an axial direction. The collapsible beverage container includes one or more elastomeric gaskets between adjacent cylindrical wall sections, each gasket providing a liquid-tight seal along the entire extension of the adjacent cylindrical wall sections between the extended and collapsed positions.
US08267270B2
A folding container having integrally formed hinge elements. The container including a base portion, first and second lower side wall portions having a snap-fitted hinge connection to a first side and second side of the base portion respectively, first and second upper side wall portions having a hinge connection to the lower side wall portions, and a rim portion having a snap-fitted hinge connection to the first and second upper side wall portions, and end walls having a hinged connection to the rim portion. The hinge elements including hook-shaped snaps having a first ramp segment and a second ramp segment on the outer surface of the hook portion to facilitate connection of a hinge axle to the hook-shaped snaps. A tongue and groove combination in the lower and upper side wall portions to provide structural support for loads placed on the container. The folding container including locking tabs in the base portion for engaging notches in the lower side wall portions when the container is in a folded configuration. A plurality of stanchion ribs extending upward from the rim portion to supports loads on the container. A locking tab having a window for providing visible evidence the end wall is properly positioned in an unfolded configuration. A stamping tab extending downward from the rim to facilitation hot stamping of the tab when the container is assembled.
US08267265B2
Containers with child resistant safety caps are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the cap contains (1) an overlay and (2) a solid base. The overlay fits around at least a portion of the cap's solid base. At an end of the overlay is a thumb tab for facilitating the opening and closing of the cap. The overlay also contains a skirt that is perpendicular to the thumb tab. The skirt of the overlay contains a tab. At the end of the solid base proximal to the location of the tab on the overlay (when the cap is in the closed position) the solid base contains a notch. When the cap is shut, the overlay is secured around the solid base. If an upward force is only applied to the thumb tab, and then the overlay is lifted up, while the solid base of the cap remains secured to the container. If an upward force is applied to the thumb tab while simultaneously, sufficient inward force is applied to tab on the overlay to contact and secure the tubular skirt of the cap, then the solid base of the cap is simultaneously lifted up along with the overlay, thereby opening the container. In one embodiment, the overlay contains a top. In another embodiment, the overlay does not contain a top.
US08267262B2
A pallet rack upright column protection device for the use in preventing and reducing destructive levels of kinetic energy of motion from occurring to a pallet rack upright. The device is made from an assembly of multilateral polymer based elastomeric materials that has a primary external component, and with a synergistic less dense internal component. The device attaches directly to the front and lateral sides of the lower section of a rack upright.
US08267253B2
A carrier having a plurality of support bars for safely transferring a substrate is provided. The carrier includes a frame having a through-hole formed at a center, the center through-hole including a first inner surface and a second inner surface that faces the first inner surface within in the through-hole; and a plurality of support bars joined to the first inner surface and the second inner surface.
US08267241B2
An article support assembly (1) is adapted for movement by a conveyor along a path of conveyance. The article support assembly (1) includes a trolley (5) for engagement by the conveyor and a shackle (3) configured to support an article, and rotatable with respect to the trolley. A turning block (33) is associated with the shackle (3), and rotation of the turning block with respect to the trolley (5) causes corresponding rotation of the shackle relative to the trolley. Yieldable indexing features (23, 27, 29, 31) are operatively arranged between the trolley (5) and the turning block (33) to define at least a first and a second incremental rotational position or orientation for the shackle (3). The yieldable indexing features (23, 27, 29, 31) of the article support assembly (1) are biased into yieldable engagement by magnetic repelling forces. A conveyor system for conveying articles along processing stations is adapted to include the article support assembly (1) and comprises a turning station (43A, 43B, 43C, 43D) for giving a predetermined rotational orientation to the shackle (3) with respect to the trolley (5).
US08267234B2
A force transmitting coupling for drivingly coupling winding devices of adjacent architectural coverings. The coupling includes first coupling member, a second coupling member, and mating engagement means on the first and second coupling members adapted to establish mating engagement between the first and second coupling member to transmit a drive force from one of the first and second coupling members to another of the first and second coupling members. The second coupling member includes a hub and the engaging means on the second coupling member are resiliently connected to the hub.
US08267227B2
The present invention is predicated upon improved vehicle brake assemblies, parking brake assemblies, parking brake actuating mechanisms, or combinations thereof, having simplified attachment features and for assembling a brake cable within the parking assembly with substantially limited or no visual access therein.
US08267223B2
In a drive assembly of the invention, a first catch tank is provided above a casing that keeps lubricating oil accumulated in a bottom thereof for immersion of part of a rotor of a motor MG3 and of part of a differential ring gear of a differential gear. The first catch tank temporarily keeps the lubricating oil scooped up from the bottom of the casing by the rotation of the differential ring gear. The lubricating oil kept in the first catch tank is flowed down by the force of gravity and is fed to peripheral bearings. A second catch tank is arranged to temporarily keep the lubricating oil scooped up from the bottom of the casing by the rotation of the rotor of the motor MG3. The lubricating oil kept in the second catch tank is flowed down by the force of gravity and is fed to peripheral bearings. This arrangement desirably shortens oil paths connecting the respective catch tanks to the peripheral bearings and ensures smooth supply of the lubricating oil to all the peripheral bearings and other oil-requiring sites.
US08267220B2
An electric power steering control apparatus can reduce a steering vibration such as shimmy vibration generated due to the structure of a vehicle without adding new mechanism elements. The apparatus includes a torque sensor for detecting steering torque generated by a driver, a torque controller for calculating an assist torque current for assisting the steering torque based on the detected steering torque, a vehicle speed detector for detecting the speed of the vehicle, a specific frequency detector for detecting a specific frequency from the detected vehicle speed, a motor angular velocity calculator for calculating a motor angular velocity from a motor angle detected by an angle detector, a phase compensator for converting a vibration frequency of the motor angular velocity, and a vibration suppression current calculator for calculating a vibration suppression current to suppress the steering vibration from respective output signals of the phase compensator and the specific frequency detector.
US08267214B2
A motorcycle is provided that includes a drivetrain. The drivetrain includes a transmission having a transmission output shaft and also includes a gearcase coupled with the transmission output shaft. The gearcase has a gearcase output shaft. The transmission output shaft is rotatable in a first direction and the gearcase output shaft is rotatable in a second direction that is opposite the first direction.
US08267213B2
An inverted pendulum type omnidirectional vehicle includes: a pair of wheels; a drive mechanism; a control apparatus; an auxiliary wheel; and a vehicle body. Each of the wheels includes: a rotation member capable of rotating about the wheel axis; a plurality of free rollers which are disposed all around an outer circumference of the rotation member, and each of which is brought into contact with a road surface at a lowest position of the rotation member and is rotatable about a rotation axis diagonal with respect to the wheel axis. The free rollers on both sides in contact with the road surface at ground contact portions each have the rotation axis extending in parallel with the road surface, and are arranged in an orientation in which a distance between the rotation axes of the free rollers is shorter toward a side of the auxiliary wheel.
US08267210B2
A vehicle having a plurality of wheels and elements, to drive at least one wheel to propel the vehicle is provided with a frame and a power supply assembly for delivering power to the drive elements. The power supply assembly includes a battery and a housing structure surrounding the battery. The power supply assembly is removeably supported on the vehicle frame. A latching mechanism is provided having a pivoting actuator. The actuator moves between a locking position and a release position. The actuator movement displacing a pin disposed in combination with the housing between a locking position, wherein the pin fixedly engages the power supply assembly to the frame, and a release position, wherein the pin disengages and permits the power supply assembly to be removed from the frame.
US08267204B2
Methods of forming polycrystalline diamond elements include forming a polycrystalline diamond compact comprising a cavity in a surface thereof. A catalyst is at least substantially removed from the polycrystalline diamond compact, and the polycrystalline diamond compact is secured to a supporting substrate. Cutting elements include a diamond table formed with a cavity in a back side surface thereof and a supporting substrate secured to the back side surface of the diamond table. Earth-boring tools comprise a bit body carrying one or more cutting elements including a diamond table, a supporting substrate and an adhesion layer comprising a superhard material between and bonding the cutting table and the supporting substrate.
US08267202B2
An automatic tensioning system for a chain drive system of a rock drill assembly is disclosed. A hydraulic cylinder is coupled to one end of the feed channel of a rock drill assembly. When pressurized hydraulic fluid is provided to the hydraulic cylinder, a plunger within the hydraulic cylinder pulls on a tensioner sprocket, which in turn provides tension to the chain of the chain drive system. This allows for a constant tension to be applied to the chain throughout a long duration of operation as opposed to a manually adjusted chain drive system in which the chain tension varies during operation in between manual adjustments.
US08267197B2
A method for reducing temperature of a bottomhole assembly during a drilling operation is disclosed, that, in one aspect, may include: drilling a borehole using a drillstring including a bottomhole assembly by circulating a fluid through the drillstring and an annulus between the drillstring and the borehole, pausing drilling, continuing circulating the fluid through the dill string and the annulus. The method further includes diverting a portion of the fluid from the drillstring into the annulus at a selected location above the drill bit to reduce temperature of the bottomhole assembly.
US08267193B1
A valve tester suspension assembly for allowing one person to perform the tasks necessary to test underground valves includes an articulated arm attached to a mobile base such as a vehicle. The articulated arm may be biased such that the biasing assists in supporting the weight of a rotating assembly positioned at a distal end of the articulated arm. The articulated arm is pivoted to permit positioning of the rotating device in a substantially horizontal orientation at a desired position within a three dimensional space adjacent to the base to which the articulated arm is attached. A method of use is also described.
US08267192B2
An ergonomic handle for use with a power tool defines a first region that includes a switch, adapted to receive a thumb and forefinger when the forefinger is actuating the switch, a second region adapted to receive a middle finger, a third region adapted to receive a ring finger; and a fourth region adapted to receive a pinky finger. Each of the second, third, and fourth region includes a generally oval cross section having a major axis and a minor axis. The longest major axis is in the third region, the shortest major axis is in the fourth region, the shortest minor axis is in the second region, and the longest minor axis is positioned in the fourth region.
US08267180B2
A remotely controllable flow control configuration including a body; one or more flow restrictors disposed in the body; and a selector fluidly connected with the body and capable of supplying or denying fluid to one or more of the one or more flow restrictors and method.
US08267167B2
A downhole valve apparatus including a force transmitter configured to move in an axial direction and a valve actuator configured to move in an axial direction. The valve actuator is independently movable relative to the force transmitter and physically isolated from the force transmitter. A first magnetic assembly is disposed at the force transmitter. A second magnetic assembly is disposed at the valve actuator. The first and second magnetic assemblies are configured to repel one another and cause the force transmitter to move the valve actuator when the force transmitter is moved toward the valve actuator.
US08267156B2
A comfort system outdoor unit with a heat exchanger coil and a fan in its top opening has an orifice structure and an insert registerable with the orifice structure to streamline the inward flow of air that passes over a lower end of the orifice structure. The insert may be fastened directly to the orifice structure lower end, or it may be installed so as to extend substantially from an upper edge of the coil to the orifice structure lower end.
US08267150B2
An apparatus for starting the casting of a continuous casting system has a mold (2) and a strand guide (10; 10′) comprising drive and guide rollers (11, 12; 11′, 12′). Moreover, a dummy bar (22) that can be introduced into the mold (2) by the strand guide (10; 10′) and be withdrawn from said mold is provided. A safety device (20; 20′) for the dummy bar (22) has an element (25) that can be engaged, with form fit, with the dummy bar (22) and limiting the speed of the cold bar (22). It is thus guaranteed that a predetermined maximum strand speed can not be exceeded and that the dummy bar does not slide through.
US08267147B2
A dental shield apparatus includes a first portion of flexible tubing having proximal and distal ends. A handle is operably coupled to the distal end of the first portion of flexible tubing. The dental shield apparatus includes a transparent shield. Second and third portions of flexible tubing operatively couple the transparent shield to the handle, the second portion of flexible tubing having a mass per unit length that is less than a mass per unit length of the first portion of flexible tubing. The third portion of flexible tubing includes a mass per unit length that is less than the mass per unit length of the first portion of flexible tubing. The proximal end of the first portion of flexible tubing is attached to an anchor.
US08267138B2
The present application generally relates to methods, materials, and equipment for manufacturing a signs. Some embodiments of the present application relate to methods of manufacturing a digitally printed, multi-panel sign. Some embodiments of the present application relate to a laminator for use in laminating optically active sheeting to a substrate.
US08267135B2
On a tread surface 1 of a pneumatic tire, at least one circumferential groove is formed on an outer-side region 3 in a vehicle width direction, at least three circumferential, which number is two or more larger than the outer-side region 3, grooves are formed on an inner-side region 2 in the vehicle width direction. A plurality of lug grooves 20 are formed on the tread surface 1, open to a tread edge TE1 of the inner-side region 3, extend in a direction toward circumferential groove 11, and terminate without opening to circumferential groove 11. A plurality of continuous lug grooves 21 are formed on the tread surface 1, open to a tread edge TE2 of the outer-side region 3, extend in a direction toward the circumferential groove 13, continue to the central land portion 5 intersecting the circumferential groove 10, and terminate without opening to the circumferential groove 13 which borders the central land portion 5, among the three second-region circumferential grooves 11, 12, 13.
US08267126B2
A mostly cotton yarn terry cloth product is provided with borders having high content polyester yarns. The polyester borders are more rugged, and thus aid in preventing fraying and failure along the edges. In addition, reinforcing ribs, also formed from yarns have a high polyester content, may be provided that extend from a border on one side of the terry cloth product to a border on the other side. This feature anchors the borders in place, limiting failure at the juncture of the border and the adjacent cotton.
US08267123B2
Methods and apparatus to charge accumulators are described. An example system to charge an accumulator apparatus includes a piston disposed within a housing to define a first chamber adjacent a first side of the piston and a second chamber adjacent a second side of the piston. A fill probe having a body and a passageway between a first end of the fill probe and a second end of the fill probe removably couples to the piston to fluidly couple to the passageway of the fill probe to the second chamber of the housing when the accumulator is in a charging condition. A valve is fluidly coupled to the piston to enable fluid flow to the second chamber of the housing via the piston when the fill probe is coupled to the piston.
US08267122B2
A method and system for an integrated ejector valve assembly is provided. The integrated ejector valve assembly includes a first valve assembly configured to control a flow of relatively lower pressure fluid from a first inlet port, a second valve assembly configured to control a flow of relatively higher pressure fluid from a second inlet port, a first actuation chamber configured to close the first valve assembly, a second actuation chamber configured to close the second valve assembly, and a third actuation chamber configured to open the second valve assembly.
US08267115B2
A self-compensated, adjustable fluid emitter includes a casing externally delimiting a volume, which is divided into a first chamber and into a second chamber by a fixed membrane that can be elastically deformed. An inlet communicates with the first chamber and an outlet communicating with the second chamber, causing the first and the second chambers to be in communication one with the other through a communicating duct. In operation, the membrane becomes deformed such that at least a portion thereof changes its position with respect to the outlet, modifying the flow rate of the fluid through the outlet depending on the pressure difference. Therefore, the flow rate of the fluid through the outlet is controlled and kept constant by the membrane in spite of changes in fluid pressure at least at the inlet or the outlet.
US08267109B2
The present invention provides a water vacuum break assembly for use in a washing machine and a method of assembling the water vacuum break assembly. The water vacuum break assembly includes a housing defining at least one water inlet opening, a water cavity fluidly connected with the at least one water inlet opening, and a control system cavity positioned proximate the water cavity, the control system cavity configured for selectively retaining one of at least two differently configured control systems configured for sensing and/or regulating a temperature of water in the water cavity.
US08267088B2
A respirator including a collapse-resistant means for resisting collapse of the respirator main body due to respiration of a user during use of such a respirator is disclosed. Specifically, in various embodiments, the collapse-resisting means may be a deflection member, a stiffening material, fastening components configured to apply an outward-facing deflection force when the respirator is worn, or any combination thereof. Additionally, a dual exhalation vent assembly adapted for use in a collapse resisting respirator is also disclosed.
US08267086B2
A fluid dispenser device including: a body (1) incorporating a dispenser orifice (5); a reservoir (10) containing the fluid; and a dispenser member (15), such as a metering valve or pump, for selectively dispensing the fluid contained in the reservoir (10), the device also including a dose indicator having an electronic display the display including a permanent display member (21) that does not require any energy in order to keep the display unchanged, and that requires only a small amount of energy in order to change the display.
US08267084B2
An adapter for use with a flow generator includes a conduit attachable to the outlet of the flow generator and an identifying element supported by the conduit and providing an identifying feature unique to a specific peripheral component attachable to the flow generator. The identifying feature is communicable to the flow generator so that appropriate operating parameters of the flow generator may be automatically selected by the flow generator to coordinate with the specific peripheral component.
US08267082B2
The invention is a medicament magazine having at least one medicament chamber for use in a powder inhaler, wherein the magazine is formed from two foil strips applied to one another and the at least one medicament chamber is formed between the foil strips as depicted in exemplary FIGS. 1a and 1b. The medicament chambers have an internal structure (3) which comprises in its interior a space for receiving a powdered medicament and stabilizes this inner space against external mechanical influences. In another embodiment in which the internal structure preferably also has a stabilizing function, the structure has means for opening one foil strip. In addition, the medicament chamber contains a retaining device which holds the internal structure on the medicament magazine after the medicament chamber has been opened.
US08267063B2
The present disclosure is directed to injectors with integrated igniters providing efficient injection, ignition, and complete combustion of various types of fuels. These integrated injectors/igniters can include, for example, multiple drivers used to shape charges, controllers used to modify operations based on ionization parameters, and so on.
US08267057B2
An internal combustion engine includes a camshaft, a valve, a cam follower and a rocker arm. The cam follower is coupled between the camshaft and the valve. The rocker arm is coupled between the cam follower and the valve. At least one of the cam follower and the rocker arm is configured so as to move through an adjustable distance prior to transmitting motion for moving the valve.
US08267048B2
A pet crate having a top, a bottom, and a cage between the top and bottom. The cage can be engaged to and disengaged from each of the top and bottom. When engaged to the top and bottom, or when disengaged from either one or both of the top and bottom, the cage is endless and can safely hold a pet therein. When disengaged from the top and bottom, the cage is foldable into a closed, endless and flat configuration such that the cage can be stored between the top and bottom such that the crate as a whole in such stored configuration is generally flat. When disengaged from the top and bottom, the cage is foldable out into a fence configuration by disconnecting two ends of the cage.
US08267036B2
An apparatus for printing active materials, such as adhesives, onto articles, such as absorbent articles or release paper, using a coater with a multitude of applicators. The applicators coat a surface (roll) with a multitude of beads of the active material. The apparatus also includes a specific coating blade, which contacts the surface with the active material at a certain angle and thereby coats the surface even better.
US08267030B1
A method and apparatus which will allow a single person to launch and secure a boat or watercraft to a pier without the user getting into the water and which allows the user to maintain control of the vessel or watercraft. Disclosed is a bracket mounted near the tongue of a boat trailer which has a tube for holding a telescoping pole which pole is removably, insertable into the tube so that when the boat on the trailer is backed into the water in preparation for launching the boat an attachment ring on the end of the boat lanyard is attached to the bow cleat of the boat so as to assist in maneuvering the boat off of the trailer. Thereafter, the pole is removed from the tube and the loop on the end of the pole is connected to a stern cleat on the rear of the boat so as to then allow the user to pull the boat toward the pier.
US08267028B2
A semi-continuous composite rigging system is provided including at least one discontinuous shroud and one continuous shroud. The discontinuous shroud and the continuous shroud are coupled at their end portions to attachment points on a sailboat or other structure by terminal coupling devices. The continuous shroud is further coupled to the sailboat at one or more intermediate locations between its first end portion and its second end portion. These intermediate locations are coupled to the boat by non-terminal coupling devices. A hybrid coupling device may be used in place of a terminal and a non-terminal coupling device at one or more attachment points on the sailboat. The semi-continuous rigging system provides for achieving a desired balance of certain performance characteristics of a sailboat by utilizing a combination of discontinuous shrouds, continuous shrouds, terminal coupling devices, and non-terminal coupling devices.
US08267019B2
A foldable table or bed comprises outer frames 1 and 2, leg frames 1 and 2, and leg frame expanding rods. Each outer side of the outer frames 1 and 2 is a flat panel of rectangular shape. Each inner side of the outer frames 1 and 2 is concave for containing leg frames 1 and 2 and leg frame expanding rods. The outer frames 1 and 2 are connected to each other with hinges on the ends of each adjacent side to form a case which can be folded and unfolded via the hinges. The leg frames 1 and 2 are inverted-square-bottomed-“U”-shaped and set in outer frames 1 and 2. Leg frame expanding rods are installed under each leg frame shaft to increase the height of the table.
US08267018B2
Load supports (10), in the form of pallets, have a front plate (12), a rear plate (14), frame members (20) and an upper surface member (22). Two pallets (10) can come together as shown, one inverted relative to the other and can inter fit which results in space saving when the pallets (10) are not in use. For example, the dimensions of the front and rear plates (12, 14) allow the rear plates (14) to be received in-board of the front plates (12) and resting against the frame members (20) of the other pallet (10). Once inter fitted, the volume of the pallets (10) is less than the sum of the volume of two independent pallets.
US08267014B2
An ejectable device is provided having multiple ejection bays. The ejectable device includes an impulse cartridge having multiple charges that are independently activatable. The ejectable device further includes an orientation adapter that allows reliable connectivity between the impulse cartridge and a signal source.
US08267010B2
A self-contained compactor apparatus which includes a charge chamber and a compacting chamber for compacting and storing waste contained within the chamber. The charge chamber and the compacting chamber are integrally formed as a compacting/storage container. The compacting/storage container has a top wall, a bottom wall, a sidewall extending between the top wall and the bottom wall, and a protective coating provided on at least a portion of an interior surface of the bottom wall and on at least a portion of an interior surface of the sidewall.
US08267000B1
A system that guides an airborne weapon toward a target, in order for the weapon to fuze at the target, so as to increase the probability of kill of the target. The system uses a lethality database that lists the various vulnerabilities for each target so that the weapon may fuze at a point that achieves maximum exploitation of the vulnerabilities. The system continually updates during weapon fly out in order to continually update the best achievable aim point for the weapon based on the changing encounter geometry between weapon and target.
US08266993B2
A deflectable lifting device can be mounted to a support form, work surface or other member of a material conveyance system. According to embodiments, the deflectable lifting device can have a base that mounts into the support, and a bendable arm arranged in the pathway of a material conveyance system, such as a paper stripping or paper blanking work station. When a sheet or web of material travels over the deflectable lifting device, the bendable arm can bend and deflect downwards, but still contact the sheet or web with a gently humped or arcuate portion, providing a small margin of elevation or lift to the sheet or web. The sheet or web can therefore be elevated above edges, holes, or other obstructions in the pathway that could jam or snag the delivery of the material. The deflectable lifting device can comprise an arcuate portion or head over which the sheet or web can slide in a bearing fashion.
US08266991B2
A pipe cutter for cutting a pipe includes a cutting head assembly having a first carriage and a second carriage spaced apart to define a cutting area. The first carriage supports a cutting mechanism, and the second carriage is configured to support a pipe within the cutting area. The carriages have a locked state and an unlocked state such that when the carriages are in the unlocked state, the carriages are movable relative to each other and biased into the cutting area. The pipe cutter also includes a drive assembly configured to rotate the cutting head assembly and a locking mechanism configured for changing the carriages from the unlocked state to the locked state and for holding the carriages in the locked state. The locking mechanism includes an actuation member rotatably coupled to the first carriage.
US08266985B2
A device for reducing the drop in tractive force during the gear shifting phase of an automatic transmission comprising an automatically actuated drive clutch. The device comprises a rotary storage device that can be coupled, if necessary via two transmission ratio steps (4, 5) that are each assigned a friction clutch (6, 7), to the output shaft of the transmission or, if the transmission has a downstream range group, to the output shaft of the main friction transmission. Only one of the two friction clutches (6, 7) can be activated at any time, and a step up ratio can be achieved and the rotary storage device can be loaded with one of the transmission ratio steps (5). A step down ratio can be achieved and energy can be released from the rotary storage device to the output shaft using the other transmission ratio step (4).
US08266977B2
A transmission includes an input member, an output member, first and second interconnecting members, first and second countershaft members, a plurality of co-planar gear sets, and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. The torque transmitting devices include a plurality of synchronizer assemblies and a dual clutch assembly. The transmission is operable to provide at least one reverse speed ratio and a plurality of forward speed ratios between the input member and the output member.
US08266966B2
An exploration operation, in which the transmission/reception position, at which ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received, is changed by a specified pitch distance, is performed for each of a plurality of incident angles. A nonlinear image in which echo signals acquired from harmonic waves of reflected waves are presented is generated for each incident angle. Each nonlinear image is converted into a frame conversion image in accordance with the cross-sectional shape of an exploration-target area. A signal intensity threshold for removing echo signals resulting from an orientation defect is determined in advance. Frame conversion images formed by only echo signals 41a whose signal intensity is the signal intensity threshold or more are overlapped to generate a nonlinear exploration image 35. Exploration of a welded portion 23 stably provides a nonlinear exploration image 35 in which the shape of an interface 25 of the welded portion 23 is shown accurately and clearly.
US08266963B2
A method for generating electrical power from an acceleration of an object is provided. The method including: vibrating a mass-spring unit upon an acceleration of an object; transmitting a force resulting from the acceleration from the mass-spring unit to the one or more piezoelectric elements; converting the vibration of the mass-spring unit to an electrical energy; and calculating at least one of the force and acceleration based on an output of the one or more piezoelectric elements.
US08266953B2
A method and apparatus for detecting an abnormality of a nitrogen oxide purifying catalyst using an NOx sensor, the method including: calculating a detection integrated value by integrating corresponding values corresponding to the NOx sensor output signal obtained until a first predetermined detection period has elapsed after the NOx sensor begins to generate an output signal and subtracting a variation integrated value. The variation integrated value is calculated by integrating corresponding values obtained until a predetermined second detection period has elapsed after the NOx sensor beings to generate an output signal when driven in a gas atmosphere having a constant nitrogen oxide concentration.
US08266949B2
An apparatus and a method for testing a viscosified fluid containing particulate indicate when the particulate is in suspension within the fluid and when it is not. The apparatus and method stir the fluid and particulate mixture for a time during which the viscosity of the fluid changes such that during a first period of the stirring time substantially all the particulate remains suspended in the fluid and during a second period of the stirring time substantially all the particulate settles out of suspension in the fluid. A signal is generated during the first and second periods such that the signal has a characteristic that changes from the first period to the second period to indicate the change in particle carrying ability of the fluid. Other characteristics, including crosslinking time, can also be determined. A test chamber includes projections extending from the inner surface of a cup receiving the fluid and from an axial support extending into the fluid in the cup.
US08266947B2
A cetane number estimating device (1) comprises cylinders which are provided to an internal combustion engine where a part of the exhaust gas can be fed back from the exhaust system to the intake system, injection device (30) for injecting fuel into the cylinders, measuring device (40) for measuring the ignition timings in the cylinders, and estimating device (20) for estimating the cetane number of the fuel according to the measured ignition timing as well as any one of a first correlation between the ignition timing corresponding to the stage at which when one cylinder is in the intake stroke, another cylinder in the exhaust stroke exhausts non-burned gas and the cetane number and a second correlation between the ignition timing corresponding to the stage at which when one cylinder is in the intake stroke, another cylinder exhausts burned gas and the cetane number.
US08266943B2
In a flow rate estimation device of a blood pump, a general flow rate estimation formula which includes a correction term is formed based on a plurality of blood pumps. Measured data obtained from an objective blood pump implanted inside a patient is substituted into the correction term, thus forming a flow rate estimation formula of the objective blood pump. The flow rate Q of the objective blood pump is estimated based on the flow rate estimation formula and the values of the rotational speed N and the consumption current I of the motor of the objective blood pump, and the attribute data Z of the blood of the patient.
US08266935B2
A lock mounting structure for mounting a lock to a part of a container is disclosed. The lock mounting structure comprises an outer part adapted to form an outer portion of the container part and an inner part adapted to form an inside portion of the container part and having a first surface for facing towards the inside of the container. The inner part includes a mounting structure for mounting the lock thereto. The mounting structure extends outwardly from the first surface. The structure also includes an aperture for accessing a key receiving end of the lock. The lock mounting structure is formed as an integral piece.
US08266932B2
A theft deterrent hasp assembly for shrouding the shackle of a pad lock device. The disclosed hasp comprises a hingeable arm having a protective shroud at its distal end and a pad lock hoop engagement hole. The engagement hole is positioned at an angle with regard to the length of the hingeable hasp and along a diagonal within the shroud enclosure to allow improved access for pad lock shackle insertion therein. This access allows the shackle to be more easily inserted into a pad lock hoop protruding through the engagement hole of the hasp after placement thereover, while the protective shroud provides plurality of upstanding members that form a three sided structure for protection against tampering. The shroud members are adapted to cover a majority of the padlock shackle while in use, preventing cutting tools or saw blades from achieving access thereto while in a locked position.
US08266928B2
Provided is a burner for manufacturing a porous glass base material, the burner having: a glass raw material gas ejection port; a burnable gas ejection port provided around and centered on the glass raw material gas ejection port; and one or more sequences of small diameter auxiliary gas ejection ports provided inside the burnable gas ejection port, to be coaxial with respect to the glass raw material gas ejection port, where in each of the sequences, the small diameter auxiliary gas ejection ports have the same focal length as each other, and have a concave portion at an end surface thereof.
US08266926B1
A cigarette urn and method of assembly of same that defines an interior passage for smoking debris to travel when multiple components of the urn are assembled into a self-standing, upright assembly condition. A top one of the multiple components has a sidewall opening. The multiple components may be disassembled from the self-standing, upright assembly condition into an overlapping assembly condition with the multiple components overlapping and taking up less overall volume that in the self-standing, upright assembly condition. A fire retardant or heat resistant material may be lining an interior contour of a base of the multiple components. The top one of the multiple components may be of substantially uniform diameter along a majority of its length.
US08266924B2
This invention pertains to a process of bonding a magnesium aluminate spinel article or articles and a germanate glass article or articles including the step of heating them together above the softening temperature of the glass.
US08266923B2
A refrigeration device comprising at least two storage compartments that are thermally insulated from one another and from the environment. In said device, an evaporator that can be cooled independently of an evaporator of the other storage compartment or compartments, is allocated to each storage compartment. Said device is equipped with elements for switching at least one of the compartments from a freezing mode to a non-freezing mode.
US08266920B2
An object of the present invention is to reduce electrical noise in accordance with the necessity of a countermeasure taken against electrical noise without changing a structure of an expansion valve. In a case where a judgment result as to whether or not the countermeasure against electrical noise is taken is affirmative, a drive timing (interval) of an expansion valve (107) is increased. Further, a driving amount is reduced. Accordingly, a flow of a refrigerant is made slow, whereby it is possible to reduce generated electrical noise while performing instructed temperature control.
US08266897B2
An exhaust system for an engine is disclosed. The exhaust system may have a NOx reducer located to receive exhaust from the engine, and a bypass circuit configured to selectively pass supercharged air to the NOx reducer. The exhaust system may also have a valve disposed within the bypass circuit to regulate the flow of supercharged air, and a controller in communication with the valve. The controller may be configured to move the valve to pass the supercharged air and cool the exhaust received by the NOx reducer. The controller may also be configured to move the valve to reduce the passing of the supercharged air and remove sulfur compounds from the NOx reducer.
US08266895B2
An object of the present invention is to produce O3 to be supplied to the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine while suppressing deterioration of the fuel economy. An O3 production apparatus according to the present invention is an O3 production apparatus that produces O3 to be supplied to the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine by generating a plasma, when the operation state of the internal combustion engine is a decelerating operation state in which the engine load becomes lower.
US08266893B2
An adding time a of a fuel addition to an exhaust system is limited to a guard value G or less during an adding period A of a concentrated intermittent fuel of a catalyst recovery control. Accordingly, a one-time fuel adding amount from an adding valve 46 is limited to be equal to or less than a predetermined value, and it is possible to prevent such a great amount of unburned fuel component that cannot be fully purified by a NOx catalyst from being supplied to the NOx catalyst during the adding period A. Further, if a total amount (GF+Q1)·t of the unburned fuel component supplied to the NOx catalyst during the adding period A reaches an allowable upper limit value UL, the concentrated intermittent fuel addition is canceled and a suspend period B is forcibly started. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a total amount of such a great amount of unburned fuel component that cannot be fully purified by the NOx catalyst from being supplied to the NOx catalyst during the adding period A. Therefore, generation of white smoke in exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine by an excessive supply of the unburned fuel component to the NOx catalyst at a time of executing catalyst recovery control can be prevented.
US08266890B2
A method of determining a need to perform regeneration of a diesel particulate filter in a diesel engine exhaust predicts a soot load of a diesel particulate filter with a pressure change based soot load estimate based upon a pressure change across the diesel particulate filter at a first time and a second time. A restriction sensitivity for the diesel particulate filter is calculated based upon the pressure change across the diesel particulate filter at the first time and the second time. The method transitions from the pressure change based soot load estimate to a model based soot accumulation estimate of the soot load of the diesel particulate filter upon the restriction sensitivity falling below a predetermined threshold. Regeneration of the diesel particulate filter is requested after the estimated soot level reaches a preset level based upon the soot accumulation model.
US08266888B2
A cooling system in an aircraft gas turbine engine includes a heat exchanger positioned within an annular nacelle space surrounding a bypass duct of the engine. The heat exchanger has a radial coolant passage extending between the bypass duct and ambient air surrounding the nacelle, and a flow passage extending substantially normal to the radial passage for direction of a fluid to be cooled therethrough. A configuration of this nature may assist in defining a no-flow length of the heat exchanger in a third direction normal to the other two mentioned directions, which may allow for improved performance within a given radial envelope.
US08266879B2
A riding mower comprises a raising and lowering mechanism (30, 33, 100), the raising and lowering control lever (27), and a PTO mechanism (17a, 17b) operated by a clutch lever (29). When the raising and lowering mechanism (30, 33, 100) reaches a predetermined height, a operatively connecting mechanism (5) transmits, to the raising and lowering control lever (27), a return-to-neutral displacement for returning the raising and lowering control lever (27) to the neutral position, and transmits, to the clutch lever (29), a disengaging displacement for returning the clutch lever (29) to the disengage position. A first adjusting operation member (55a) adjusts a triggering displacement at which the raising and lowering displacement is transmitted to the raising and lowering control lever (27) as the return-to-neutral displacement. A second adjusting operation member (55b) adjusts a triggering displacement at which the raising and lowering displacement is transmitted to the clutch lever (29) as the disengaging displacement.
US08266876B1
Improved matchbooks having separable message sheets are provided for. The novel matchbooks each comprise a comb of matches having a plurality of matches and a cover. The cover is attached to and folded over the comb such that the cover substantially encloses the comb when the cover is in a first closed position and permits a consumer to access the matches in the comb when the cover is in a second open position. The cover has igniting material on the cover on which the matches may be struck and ignited. The matchbooks also have a message sheet providing a substrate on which a message may be imprinted. The message sheet is separably connected to the cover such that the message sheet is separable from the cover. Thus, the message sheet may be removed from a novel matchbook by a consumer without compromising the integrity of the matchbook.
US08266870B1
Waste disposal device includes a container defining a waste-receiving compartment having an opening, a lid connected to the container and having a closed position covering the opening of the container and an open position in which the opening is exposed, and a twisting assembly that engages with and twists or untwists a bag or tubing that extends through the twisting assembly and into which waste is inserted. A manual actuator or controller has a first position in engagement with the twisting assembly to enable manual rotation of the twisting assembly and a second position out of engagement with the twisting assembly. When the manual actuator is in the first position, the twisting assembly is manually rotatable in at least one direction, and possibly both, and in the second position, the manual actuator is freely movable.
US08266865B2
A device is described for the frontal termination of a floating-laid floor covering (3) having a terminus profile (4) and having a fastener fitting (5) for the terminus profile (4) resting on a subfloor (2). To provide advantageous design conditions, it is suggested that the fastener fitting (5) be connected in a shear-resistant manner to the floor covering (3) and have a rest (8) for the terminus profile (4) butt-jointed on the front face (1) of the floor covering (3).
US08266861B2
A hip, ridge or rake shingle is provided, having a high profile, by using various shingle layers to form a built-up wedge-shaped headlap portion, comprised of a plurality of layers of different dimensions in the headlap portion of the shingle, and the process for manufacturing the same from a single sheet of shingle material is provided.
US08266859B1
A reinforced concrete wall system assembles rigid panels into two form walls in spaced apart relationship to securely hold poured concrete and reinforcing materials there between. The panels may include insulating foam. The panels are held securely side by side within a form wall by elongate connectors that have paired channels into which edges of the panels snugly fit. Each connector has brackets extending into the concrete space. Brackets are provided with perforations to receive tie rods. Each tie rod ties a bracket from one form wall to a bracket extending from the other form wall. This holds the space being filled with concrete together. The perforations are formed to resist releasing the tie rod once it has been inserted. Reinforcing steel is positioned by fastening to the tie rods.
US08266858B2
A waterproof heat-insulation construction method aims to spread a layer of waterproof heat-insulation powder through a waterproof heat-insulation module on a work surface to form waterproof and heat insulation effect thereof. The method comprises the steps of: first, anchoring at least one waterproof heat-insulation module which can be arranged on the work surface; then holding the waterproof heat-insulation powder in the waterproof heat-insulation module in contact with the work surface to form a waterproof heat-insulation layer. The invention also provides a corresponding waterproof heat-insulation module which can be constructed in a modular fashion to achieve waterproof and heat insulation effect for buildings.
US08266857B2
A flooring system includes multiple polymeric panels that are interlocked into a floor system and then covered with a material such as carpet and artificial turf. A top surface of the polymeric panels includes barbs to hold the material from moving laterally during use.
US08266852B2
An ornamental filled glass unit (“FGU”) is manufactured by placing a first glass lite in a horizontally supported position and affixing a spacer frame around a periphery of the first surface, providing a space for filling. A first joiner element centered on the first surface, the joiner element having an upward height that slightly exceeds an intended gap between the first lite and a second lite to be placed on the spacer frame. Additional joiner elements may be used, depending upon the area of the first surface. A filler design is built by arranging a plurality of infill elements in the filling space. The second lite is affixed to an adhesive sealant around a top surface of the spacer frame, and to an adhesive on an upwardly-extending surface of each joiner element. The filler design is spatially maintained when the filler space is sealed by the second lite.
US08266850B2
First and second frame sections are to be joined at a corner of a glazing. Each section has a front base piece, a rear base piece, and a glazing stop piece. The front base piece is anchored to a support structure of a building and has a glazing channel facing the safe side of the window, to receive therein the glazing. The glazing stop piece is secured to the front base piece and thereby holds the glazing in its channel. The rear base piece is secured to the front base piece and thereby laterally closes the frame section. The base pieces are shaped so that an end portion of the front base overlaps an end portion of the rear base and a number of fasteners are installed through these end portions to secure the base pieces to each other. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US08266847B2
An assembly for retaining a plurality of photovoltaic modules in a three-dimensional array, the assembly including a plurality of overlapping vertically spaced grid layers each defining a plurality of horizontally spaced positions, wherein the photovoltaic modules are arranged and retained in the positions of successive grid layers in substantially non-overlapping vertical relationship so that none of the photovoltaic modules in any grid layer substantially vertically occludes any other of the photovoltaic modules in any other grid layer.
US08266845B2
Flat panels formed by an assembly of wooden plates include arrangements for integrating rigidity inserts for the assembly thereof. Vertical edges of the panels receive profiles for connecting to adjacent panels in a linear and/or angular alignment manner.
US08266844B2
A paver or landscape edging is provided with enhanced anchoring means. The edging has an elongated, longitudinal strip with a paver-facing surface and an opposed surface, and extensions extending from the opposed surface of the elongated strip, each comprising a first wall edge and a bore for receiving a fastener such as a spike or stake. A strap member extends between neighboring extensions, offset from the first wall edge and defining a gap, or anchoring region, when the edging is placed on a substrate. The installed edging may be anchored by fasteners, and by root systems of a concealing layer placed over the edging that grow around the strap member. In addition, a method for installing pavers provides for the fixing of a portion of the edging on the substrate prior to cutting a strap to allow the edging to be deformed in conformance with a curved or irregular boundary.
US08266843B2
The actuator uses reinforced polyurethane timing belts as a flexible rack member mounted to the slide-out room and a pinion assembly mounted at the top and bottom of the slide-out opening of the main compartment. A pair of timing belts are mounted at the corners of the slide-out room top and floor, each running longitudinally to the direction of the slide-out movement. Each pinion block includes a pinion and two idle rollers. The timing belts pass through the drive block being trained around the pinion between two idle rollers in a serpentine fashion. A reversible electric motor, which is operatively connected to all four pinion blocks, simultaneously turns the pinions to propel the timing belts through the pinion blocks thereby extending and retracting the slide-out room through the slide-out opening.
US08266841B2
A weatherstrip for the outer belt of a an automotive door includes a controllably compliant sealing element configured with tip-conjoined leaves which afford controllable, selectively discontinuous compliance along not only the distance from the roots to the tip of the leaves, but also along the length of the sealing element.
US08266823B2
A system and method for drying cavities loaded with high level waste (“HLW”) is devised. The invention utilizes a non-intrusive procedure that is based on monitoring the dew point temperature of a non-reactive gas that is circulated through the cavity. In one aspect, the invention is a system for drying a cavity loaded with HLW comprising: a canister forming the cavity, the cavity having an inlet and an outlet; and a source of non-reactive gas. The system further flows the non-reactive gas from the source of non-reactive gas through the cavity; and repetitively measures the dew point temperature of the non-reactive gas exiting the cavity.
US08266821B2
A method for torrefaction of water containing cellulosic materials is performed in an inert atmosphere. The cellulosic material is cascaded through the apparatus between a plurality of rotatable trays vertically stacked within multiple processing zones. Steam being generated from heating of the cellulosic material is recycled back to the apparatus to provide an inert atmosphere. The steam may be superheated in a heat exchanger. Exhaust from the torrefaction zone of the apparatus has some moisture and other volatiles removed prior to being reheated in a burner. The heated exhaust is used in the heat exchanger to superheat the recycled steam.
US08266819B2
An air drying system for use in a concentrated solar power generation system using a fluid heat transfer medium includes a first vent pipe and a first desiccant pack. The first vent pipe extends from the concentrated solar power generation system and includes a first inlet open to ambient air, and a first outlet open to an interior of the solar power generation system in fluid communication with the fluid heat transfer medium. The first desiccant pack is positioned within the first vent pipe between the first inlet and first outlet and is positioned to reduce moisture content of ambient air flowing into the first vent pipe.
US08266816B2
Disclosed are a clothes dryer and a door thereof. The door includes a glass assembly provided with a door glass; and a door cover connected to the glass assembly. The door cover has a vertically symmetrical structure, and is rotated against the glass assembly and then connected to the glass assembly, when the opening and closing direction of the door is changed. Thereby, when the opening and closing direction of the door is changed, only the door cover is rotated, and thus the opening and closing direction of the door is easily changed.
US08266810B2
A system and method for quick and accurate tramming are disclosed. The system includes an apparatus comprising a plurality of indicators spaced apart in a plane perpendicular to a body shank and connected thereto, the body shank configured to be received into the spindle. The system also includes a calibration device configured to temporarily remain fixed in place on the mill table to provide a single point of calibration for each indicator received in the apparatus. The method includes calibrating the indicators one at a time by positioning an indicator shank tip atop the calibration device and adjusting the indicator to read a calibration value common to all the indicators. The spindle is moved toward the mill table until at least one indicator tip touches the mill table and the mill head is adjusted until all indicator tips touch the mill table and all indicators read the same value.
US08266807B2
The present invention relates to measuring apparatus for pulling a measurement from an underlying base structure. In one aspect, the present invention is a measuring apparatus having a rigid body and means for coupling the body to an underlying base structure. The rigid body includes a first laser and is adapted to receive a portion of a tape measure therein. The means for coupling the rigid body to the underlying base structure can be one or more conventional fasteners, such as, but not limited to, a bar clamp, suction cups, screws, bolts, nails, pins, hooks, hook and loop fastener, snaps, clips, brackets, and/or sleeves. Generally, the first laser is oriented such that light emitted from the laser is projected about 90 degrees from the face of the underlying structure.
US08266803B2
A method of releasably connecting a cable to a post in a manner such that the cable will release from the post when the post is deformed toward ground level, the method includes the steps of providing a post having an interior cavity and a slot formed through a post face wall extending from the top end of the post; disposing a cable within a loop formed in an elongated section of a connector; hanging the connector from the top end of the post, the elongated section positioned substantially within the cavity and the loop and the disposed cable positioned exterior of the cavity; and tensioning the cable.
US08266798B2
A method of forming a seal about an electrically conductive core of a cable having an insulative outer cover and a terminal includes the steps of providing a lead of the core extending beyond an axial edge of the insulative outer cover; spraying a conformal coating onto the lead; crimping the terminal onto the cable while the conformal coating is still wet to displace the conformal coating from between the lead and the abutting contact surfaces of the terminal and to cover and seal remaining portions of the lead not in direct contact with the terminal with the conformal coating and curing the conformal coating over the remaining portions of the lead.
US08266791B2
Methods of fabricating microfluidic structures featuring substantially circular channels are provided. The methods involve (a) providing a patterned wafer comprising at least one exposed electrically conductive region and at least one exposed electrically insulating region; (b) electroplating an inverse channel portion with substantially semicircular cross section onto the wafer, thereby forming a first master mold; (c) employing the first master mold so as to emboss a channel portion in a first polymer sheet; and (d) aligning and bonding the first polymer sheet with a second polymer sheet having a corresponding channel portion such as to define a first channel with substantially circular cross section between the polymer sheets.
US08266783B2
A method of manufacture for an end effector assembly is provided. The method includes providing a pair of jaw members. A step of the method includes forming one or more seal plates positionable on one of the pair of jaw members. Etching a dam along a side of the one or more seal plates is a step of the method, wherein the etched dam inhibits the flow of a plastic on the one or more seal plate such that a height of the plastic with respect to the at least one seal plate during an overmolding process may be controlled. The method includes positioning the one or more seal plates on the one of the pair of jaw members; and overmolding the seal plate to one or more of the pair of jaw members.
US08266775B2
An apparatus, system, and method is provided for installing clamps. The system comprises pliers and an awl. The pliers have a pair of bifurcated jaws, each jaw generally narrow and of substantially equal width and thickness. A first jaw is pivotally mounted in relation to a second jaw such that spaces between furcations of the jaws substantially align as the jaws open and close. The distance between the jaws is adjustable, and the jaws can be releasably locked in position. The clamp is placed around a structure and an elongated shaft of the awl is passed through holes in ears of the clamp. The jaws compress the ears. The shaft is bracketed by the furcations of the jaws. The awl is removed, and a fastener inserted through the holes in the ears and secured to the clamp. At least five clamps can be secured together using just one bolt.
US08266768B2
Apparatus for connecting an ornament to the surface of a textile is provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for connecting an ornament to the surface of a textile may include a bottom plate; a plurality of posts coupled to a surface of the bottom plate; and a top plate having at least one connection arm comprising a plurality of hooks moveably coupled thereto, wherein the at least one connection arm and the plurality of hooks are configured to interface with the plurality of posts to removably couple the top plate to the bottom plate.
US08266766B2
A hinge assembly has a pintle, a torque assembly and a resistance assembly. The pintle has a head formed on the pintle. The torque assembly is mounted on the pintle at a first side of the head to provide a force to automatically open the cover relative to the body to a first angle. The resistance assembly is mounted on the pintle at a second side of the head to provide a frictional force to hold the cover at a second angle relative to the body when the cover is closed relative to the body. Accordingly, the cover can be pivoted open relative to the body automatically with the torque provided by the torque assembly.
US08266759B2
The invention relates to a wiper blade (10) of a windshield wiper provided with a protective rail (32, 44, 56, 72, 88), comprising a base body (34) that has an essentially V-shaped cross section and a wiper lip (36) of the wiper blade (10) and that is detachably fixed to the wiper blade (10) with the aid of fixing elements (38, 52, 58, 78, 90). It is proposed that the wiper blade (10) consist of a wiper strip (14) with at least one flat, bar-type, elastic support element (26) and a spoiler (12), wherein the protective rail (32, 44, 56, 72, 88) rests on the support element (26) or spoiler (12).
US08266758B2
An adjustable spatula for forming a smoothly arcuate concave contour in a viscous material and a smoothly arcuate convex contour in the viscous material, independently of each other, with a certainty that the contour of the viscous material is consistent, and with using only one hand. The adjustable spatula includes a blade, a handle, and an apparatus. The handle extends from the blade and is gripped by a user. The apparatus bends the blade to form the blade into a smoothly arcuate convex contour to form the smoothly arcuate concave contour in the viscous material and bends the blade to form the blade into a smoothly arcuate concave contour to form the smoothly arcuate convex contour in the viscous material, independently of each other, without a need for the user to have to manually bend the blade, with the certainty that the contour of the viscous material is consistent, and with using only the one hand.
US08266756B1
A scrubber for lap siding with a profile complementary to the profile of the boards in the lap siding such that when the scrubber is moved side to side in a washing action, an exposed side face and under surface of the siding boards are effectively scrubbed and dirt, dust, mildew, mold and algae are effectively removed.
US08266753B2
The resonator assembly for a power toothbrush includes an elongated solid rod made from stainless steel, having a back assembly which includes permanent magnets which interact with an electromagnet in a drive system in the handle of the toothbrush to produce a transverse motion of the rod. A mount member is connected to the rod at a selected point along its length, and is mounted to a toothbrush housing so that the rod resonates about the mount member at a selected frequency.
US08266741B2
A bed for use with a patient coupled to a medical device via at least one patient care line is provided. The bed includes a frame including at least one movable patient support section and an actuator coupled to the movable patient support section. The actuator is operable to move the movable patient support section. The bed also includes control circuitry that is coupled to the actuator to command operation of the actuator. The control circuitry ceases operation of the actuator in response to receiving a signal indicative of an unwanted condition of the at least one patient care line.
US08266739B2
A remote-controlled vehicle for collecting and transporting bio-waste that is capable of compacting bio-waste, dumping the waste in a variety of ways, and that has a rechargeable battery, among other functions, is disclosed. A system for collecting the bio-waste material also is provided. The system includes a plurality of collection receptacles associated with a structure, each of the plurality of collection receptacles receiving the bio-waste material without the use of water as a carrier. A transport network extends from each of the plurality of collection receptacles to at least one storage receptacle located at the structure. A plurality of vehicles, or carts, is disposed within the transport network and collect the bio-waste material.
US08266731B2
A toilet seat for use with a Western-style toilet bowl. The seat has a generally-oval, endless base that compliments the shape of the toilet bowl rim. A deflector is fixed to the bottom surface of the base and extends downwardly adjacent the inside surface of the bowl rim. The deflector covers the interior gap between the bottom of the seat and the top of the bowl rim.
US08266729B2
The dispenser for a W.C. bowl comprises a support means (40) having a support (41, 42) for containing a first active substance in liquid or solid form and provided with at least one exit aperture (3) for said active substance; and hooking means (43) for supporting said support (41, 42) below the rim (21) of the W.C. bowl (20), in a position exposed to the action of the flushing water flow. According to the invention, at least one pocket (5) is provided, shaped to be associated with the outside of the support means (40), within said pocket (5) there being defined a chamber (6) comprising a perfuming substance or other active substance. Preferably, said perfuming substance is in the form of granules formed of absorbent plastic material. Alternatively, said perfuming substance is liquid and contained in an enclosure with an osmotic membrane.
US08266728B2
Described is a multi-function device for attachment to the tank of a toilet fixture. The multi-function device provides a diffusible air-treatment concentrate for deodorizing or otherwise treating the ambient air surrounding the toilet. At the same time, the multi-function device provides a water-soluble water-treatment concentrate for treating the flush water stored in the toilet tank. The multi-function device has a bellows with a varying cross-sectional area to provide, during a flush cycle, a variable flow of air over the air treatment concentrate and into the air.
US08266726B2
Described is an adsorption filter material, in particular for NBC protective apparel, preferably for wearing next to the skin, in particular as an undergarment (underwear), wherein the adsorption filter material has a multilayered construction, wherein the multilayered construction comprises a first textile sheet material, a second textile sheet material and an adsorption layer disposed between the first and the second textile sheet materials, wherein the adsorption layer includes discrete, in particular grain-shaped, preferably sphere-shaped, sorbent particles, preferably based on activated carbon, adsorbing chemical and/or biological poison and noxiant materials, in particular warfare agents. The adsorption filter material is characterized in that the first textile sheet material and the second textile sheet material are each adapted to be elastic in at least one direction, preferably in both directions, and/or in that the first textile sheet material and the second textile sheet material have at least essentially the same elasticity properties. The adsorption material combines a high wearing comfort with excellent protection with regard to chemical poisons.
US08272061B1
A method for evaluating access rules violations, the method includes: receiving, a model of a computer network; and determining security metrics associated with a violation of an access rule in response to: the model of the computer network, multiple network nodes of the computer network accessible according to at least one violated access rule or according to the network model, at least one vulnerability associated with the multiple network nodes, and damage associated with an exploitation of the at least one vulnerability.
US08272058B2
A security system provides a defense from known and unknown viruses, worms, spyware, hackers, and social engineering attacks. The system can implement centralized policies that allow an administrator to approve, block, quarantine, or log file activities. The system stores meta-information for files relating to security and at defined times after a file or a file hash is first received, performs security related analyses from a central server. Analysis results are stored on the server, and the server can automatically change file meta-information. Changes in file meta-information are provided to hosts.
US08272048B2
This document describes systems and methods for restricting program process capabilities. In some implementations, the capabilities are restricted by limiting the rights or privileges granted to an application. A plurality of rules may be established for a program, or for a group of programs, denying that program the right to take actions which are outside of the actions needed to implement its intended functionality. A security policy is implemented to test actions initiated in response to an application against the rules to enable decisions restricting the possible actions of the program. Embodiments are disclosed which process the majority of decisions regarding actions against a security profile through use of a virtual machine. In some embodiments, the majority of decisions are resolved within the kernel space of an operating system.
US08272046B2
Methods and apparatus for applying a single virtual private network (VPN) address to tunnels or connections associated with different access interfaces are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes establishing a first tunnel between a node and a VPN server. The first tunnel has a first address. The method also includes assigning a VPN address to the first tunnel, as well as establishing a second tunnel between the node and the VPN server. The second tunnel has a second address. The VPN address is assigned to the second tunnel, and VPN address is accessed by both the first address and the second address.
US08272036B2
Systems and methods for authentication using paired dynamic secrets in secured wireless networks are provided. Each authenticated user is assigned a random secret generated so as to be unique to the user. The secret is associated with a wireless interface belonging to the user, so that no other wireless interface may use the same secret to access the network. The secret may be updated either periodically or at the request of a network administrator, and reauthentication of the wireless network may be required.
US08272033B2
A user authentication system is provided that is suitable for detecting and controlling potentially fraudulent login behavior. A pattern recording module is configured to record login attempts and to detect a pattern of login attempt results. An analyzing module is operatively connected to the pattern recording module and is configured to determine whether or not the pattern of login attempt results has an indicator of at least one abnormal pattern range. An action module is operatively connected to the analyzing module and is configured to perform at least one action, including adjusting a threshold value of the abnormal pattern range for a subsequent pattern of login attempt results if the pattern of login attempt results has an indicator of a predetermined abnormal pattern range.
US08272030B1
A method for dynamically changing the security protocol in a hand-held mobile communications device within a network includes providing an application management system in a respective mobile communications device for management of memory use and download functions, providing within the mobile communications device an embedded file system that contains executable files that are controlled by the application management system, providing a browser on the mobile communications device so that a user thereof may access websites available on the network, and providing a policy file that includes a set of rules for managing the download of applications from a remote location, the policy file being enabled to receive authorized updates over the network.
US08272027B2
A routing computer is connected to one or more multi-function peripherals (MFPs) on a network. A routing manager located in the routing computer contains user information for users that operate one or more of the MFPs connected on the network. Based on a set of user preferences and or default settings, document data scanned by or received via facsimile for a particular user is sent from one of the MFPs to the routing computer. The routing manager then applies rights management and optional encryption to the destination document created from the document data and sends the destination document to a folder or to one or more individuals via electronic mail. As a result, rights management policy may be applied to newly created documents automatically and before the documents are accessible to users in network storage or by email.
US08272014B2
An information storage medium on which a plurality of titles are recorded, and a reproducing apparatus and method thereof. The information storage medium includes a plurality of titles which are reproduced as motion pictures and a plurality of units of attribute information that correspond to the titles and indicate whether a user can control a title to be reproduced. Therefore, efficient navigation can be ensured and the titles can be reproduced as a manufacturer of the information storage medium has planned.
US08272002B2
A method for implementing an external trusted platform module includes establishing a connection with a remote host device via a remote interface. The method also includes receiving and processing a request for a trusted platform module (TPM) function from the remote host device via the remote interface. The method additionally includes generating a response to the request for the TPM function based on the processing of the request for the TPM function received from the remote host device. The method further includes sending the response to the request for the TPM function to the remote host device via the remote interface.
US08271998B2
Exemplary illustrative embodiments provide for a method implemented in a service oriented architecture environment including a plurality of live services. The method includes composing, at runtime, a composed service by mapping a first parameter of a first subset of live services to a second parameter of a second subset of live services. The first subset and the second subset are part of the plurality of live services. The method can further include storing the composed service in a memory.
US08271996B1
Described are techniques for communicating between one or more producers and one or more consumers. A first consumer of an event queue registers for notification regarding occurrences of one or more events. A producer of the event queue posts one or more notifications to one or more consumers of the event queue regarding one or more occurrences of one or more events. Each of the consumers receive notification regarding occurrences of events for which the consumer is registered. The first consumer retrieves posted event notifications regarding events for which the first consumer is registered. If the first consumer is executing in user space and an event notification list to which the event notifications for the first consumer are posted is located in shared memory, the first consumer retrieves the posted event notifications without proxying into kernel space.
US08271987B1
Techniques are described for facilitating access of users to tasks that are available to be performed, such as via a task exchange system that serves as an intermediary to facilitate performance by some task performer users of tasks supplied by other task requester users. The techniques may include automatically providing a particular group of task performer users with access to a supply of available tasks that are appropriate for those task performer users, such as based on an aggregate probability or other likelihood measure that the task performer users as a group will collectively accept to perform those tasks in a specified manner. More generally, the affinity and/or appropriateness of a group of users to perform one or more tasks may be based on various information related to the users, including past task performance behavior of those users, and/or qualifications or more general reputational aspects of those users.
US08271981B2
An apparatus detects detecting when an extraordinary behavior is performed when a monitoring task is executed on an information processing apparatus. The detecting apparatus includes: an obtaining section for obtaining a measurement data including an executing timing and an execution time for each occasion of execution when the monitoring task is executed for a number of times on the information processing apparatus; a distance calculating section for calculating a distance between a measured point corresponding to each measurement data in a multi-dimensional space on which an executing timing and an execution time are allocated to different coordinates and another measured point placed in a predetermined range; and a determining section for determining whether an extraordinary behavior is performed when the monitoring task corresponding to the measurement data is executed based on the distance obtained for the measured point corresponding to the measurement data.
US08271977B2
A virtual computer system has a plurality of computers for executing a program and a storage system connected to the computers via a network. A virtualization mechanism in a first computer of the plurality of computers generates at least one virtual computer on the first computer. The virtualization mechanism in the first computer executes at least one of a first judgment and a second judgment when a request for activating a first virtual computer of the at least one virtual computer is received, the first judgment being for judging whether or not the activation of the first virtual computer is prohibited based on first information stored in a memory of the virtualization mechanism, and the second judgment being for judging whether or not an identifier included in a logic I/O adapter device assigned to the first virtual computer is invalid based on second information stored in the memory of the virtualization mechanism. The activation of the first virtual computer is permitted or prohibited based on the executed judgment in response to the request for activating the first virtual computer.
US08271973B2
A system and method are disclosed for enabling the system administrator to identify servers in which the installation of drivers failed without having to examine the installation log of each server by directing the server to send an e-mail to the system administrator in the event of an installation failure. The need for examination of installation logs is eliminated as e-mail messages provide proactive, immediate and specific failure notifications to the system administrator.
US08271967B2
Techniques are provided for updating software components on an multi-function peripheral (MFP) using Web Services (WS). An MFP sends a multi-cast discovery message that conforms to a WS-Discovery protocol. An update server receives the discovery message and responds with a discovery response message that also conforms to a WS-Discovery protocol. The MFP sends, to the update server, an event subscription message that conforms to a WS-Eventing protocol. The event subscription message indicates one or more software components for which the MFP seeks an update. When an applicable update of a subscribed-for software component is available, the update server sends, to the MFP, an event notification message that conforms to a WS-Eventing protocol. In response to a message that requests the updated component, the update server sends, to the MFP, the updated software component.
US08271966B2
Techniques are disclosed for controlling software patching activity. Techniques may implement a software shell and institute a patching policy to control patching activities. When implemented, the software shell acts as a barrier which permits patching of the underlying software only when the patching activity would be in accordance with the instituted patching policy. Various patching policies can be instituted. Patching may be performed when convenient; or just before when the software requiring the patch is needed; or patching may be blocked to prevent unwanted software characteristics and/or behavior. Patching may be delayed until confidence has been established in a new patch so as to avoid disrupting a computer system that is already functioning in an acceptable manner. A particular software action may be blocked so as to avoid the necessity of having to patch software, particularly when the action may interrupt the orderly function of a computer system.
US08271961B1
Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that measures the quality of a software system. During operation, the system performs a series of stress tests on the software system and determines a set of failure rates for the software system from the stress tests. Next, the system obtains a failure distribution from the failure rates. Finally, the system assesses the quality of the software system based on characteristics of the failure distribution.
US08271959B2
A computer-implemented method of finding portions of a computer program exhibiting irregular performance can include detecting an entry into a function of a computer program under test indicating a current execution of the function and, responsive to detecting an exit from the function, determining a count of a computing resource utilized by the function during the current execution of the function. The count of the computing resource can be compared with a count range determined according to at least one prior execution of the function. The function can be selectively represented within a call graph as a plurality of nodes according to the comparing.
US08271951B2
A system and method are disclosed for collecting software development feedback. In one embodiment, the method includes collecting a user feedback message associated with a software object. The software object may define a portion of an application user interface. The method may also include categorizing the user feedback message according to a feedback categorization criterion. Additionally, the method may include displaying the user feedback message in a display arranged by a category identified by the categorization criterion.
US08271949B2
A method, system, and computer-readable medium for self-healing a software factory are presented. Factory metrics that describe resources and operations within the software factory are collected and analyzed. If the analysis reveals a significant problem within the software factory, then corrective measures are taken and stored, thus enabling the software factory to evolve and improve over time.
US08271944B2
System and method for performing program-related operations over a network via a web browser. A network connection is established between a server computer and a client computer over a network. A universal resource identifier (URI) is sent from the client computer to the server computer over the network, where the URI indicates a program, e.g., a graphical program (GP), or at least a portion of a graphical program interactive development environment (GPIDE), e.g., a graphical program editor, an execution engine, a static or dynamic analyzer, and/or compiler. The at least a portion of the GPIDE is received from the server computer over the network in response to the URI, and executed in a web browser of the client computer to perform some specified functionality with respect to the GP.
US08271943B2
A system and method for automatically generating a graphical program or a portion of a graphical program in response to receiving user input. The user input may specify functionality of the graphical program or graphical program portion to be generated. In response to the user input, a graphical program (or graphical program portion) that implements the specified functionality may be automatically generated. The graphical program may include a plurality of computational models. Thus, different graphical programs may be generated, depending on the user input received.
US08271941B2
Techniques are provided for representing and configuring flexible and extensible presentation patterns based on fine-grained architectural building blocks (ABBs). The techniques include defining ABBs, modeling the ABBs in a uniform manner, and creating at least one template using the ABBs, wherein the at least one template includes at least one of pre-configured static characteristics and user-specified service characteristics. In an embodiment of the invention, an exemplary method for designing and managing fine-grained ABBs can include identifying ABBs to compose an architecture for facilitating presentation and interaction between consumers and other elements in a solution, analyzing the ABBs to monitor computing resources used by individual ABBs, selecting a number of running instances of the ABBs based on (i) requests of a pertinent entity and (ii) available resources, and managing life-cycles of ABBs.
US08271938B2
Mechanisms that allow frameworks significant flexibility in varying the library of common base classes in a manner that better suits the domain of applications served by the framework. Instead of providing the base class library, the runtime provides a data contract for the data structure of each base class. The frameworks can then define each base class in a custom way so long as the data contract is honored. Thus, for example, the framework may provide custom framework-specific methods and/or properties as is appropriate for the framework. Another framework might define the base classes in a different way.
US08271937B2
An application software generator automatically generates an application software unit. The application software generator includes an application composer that combines components extracted from a component repository with an application framework to generate the application software unit. Each component in the component repository includes a component shell, a component interface and a component core. The application framework includes configurable parameters that determine how the application software unit is generated and operates. The configurable parameters can be entered by a user using a graphical user interface. The user can be assisted using a wizard format. The application framework also provides connectivity between components so that they can pass messages to one another. The connectivity can be, for example, by a message bus or event registry and event dispatch. Components themselves can be automatically generated using the application software generator. Uses of the application software generator include creation of sensor/actuator networks and test script generation.
US08271929B2
A computing device may include a memory to store instructions and a processor. The processor may execute the instructions to conduct an initial cell optimization for an integrated circuit layout; designate clock loads associated with a first-level clock buffer; receive, after the initial standard-cell optimization, a set of initial placement locations; align the clock loads according to the set of placement locations; conduct, using the aligned clock loads, a re-optimization of the integrated circuit layout; and store, in the memory, a circuit layout based on the re-optimization.
US08271928B2
One or more portions of the design (e.g., components, channels, or portions thereof) can be assigned instances of one or more component power domains (CPDs). Assigning an instance of a CPD to a design element (or to a portion thereof) can indicate, for example, whether the element can be switched on and off, or whether the element can operate over a range of voltages. The CPD instances can, in turn, be assigned to one or more design power domains (DPDs). Assignments of a CPD to a DPD can be evaluated according to a set of compatibility rules. Two or more electronic design elements can be connected by one or more signal paths. Organizing the CPD instances into DPDs can aid in finding signal paths that cross from a first DPD to a second DPD. To improve the reliability of signal paths traversing a DPD boundary, one or more power domain interface (PDI) components can be created to handle the signal paths at the boundary.
US08271922B2
A system and method for clock optimization to achieve timing signoff in an electronic circuit and an EDA tool that embodies the system or the method. In one embodiment, the system includes: (1) a clock cell identifier/sorter configured to identify at least some clock cells in a clock network associated with an electronic circuit design and sort the cells according to breadth, (2) a slack analyzer associated with the clock cell identifier/sorter and configured to identify flops that are downstream of the cells and determine a worst setup and hold timing slack thereof and (3) a clock cell delay adjuster associated with the slack analyzer and configured to adjust delays of the cells subject to the worst setup and hold timing slack.
US08271918B2
Methods and apparatus for performing automated formal clock domain crossing verification on a device are detailed. In various implementations of the invention, a device may be analyzed, wherein the clock domain crossing boundaries are identified. Subsequently, a formal clock domain crossing verification method may be applied to the identified clock domain crossing boundaries, resulting in clock domain crossing assertions being identified. After which the identified assertions may be promoted for post clock domain crossing analysis. With various implementations of the invention, a formal clock domain crossing method is provided, wherein the device components near an identified clock domain crossing are extracted. Assertions may then be synthesized and verified based upon the extracted components. Various implementations of the invention provide for clock domain crossing verification to be performed iteratively, wherein a larger and larger selection of the device is extracted during formal verification. Additionally, various implementations of the present invention provide that the clock domain crossing verification operate on the fly during a device verification procedure. With further implementations, a bit-blasted approach to clock domain crossing verification may be provided during formal verification.
US08271917B2
A static verification program according to the present invention reads a circuit description and property. In a static verification step, static verification of the circuit description is performed on the basis of the property and the number of states that can be reached and the number of states that is reached are calculated. In a search coverage value calculation step, a search coverage value is calculated on the basis of the number of states that can be reached and the number of states that is reached. In a display step, the search coverage value is displayed in a state in which the search coverage value can be visually checked.
US08271909B2
Embodiments of the invention provide system and methods for EDA tools. Specifically, some embodiments of the invention provide an input infrastructure for EDA tools that gathers pertinent information surrounding an input cursor's present locality (or neighborhood) and then analyzes the pertinent information in view of an issued command to automatically determine suitable targets or subsequent operations that a user of the EDA tool may want to select next.
US08271898B1
A system and a method are disclosed for effectively displaying database records on a device having a display area that is small compared to the underlying data being represented. A simulated catalogue is displayed with cards associated with database records. Detailed information is presented for a record on a card obscuring information related to other records. A user is allowed to swipe on the catalogue causing simulated movement of the cards thereby displaying information associated with a database record previously obscured. The catalogue is moved with an initial velocity determined by the speed of swiping and decelerated based on a drag factor until it comes to a stop and displays information for the record reached. The ability to determine the final record displayed when the catalogue stops allows pre-fetching of the data associated with the record.
US08271892B2
Systems and methods for generating and sharing interactive charts are described. The interactive charts are generated in an online portal that allows users to customize the interactive features of the chart. An exemplary interactive feature includes an interactive audio feature. The interactive chart can be shared by, for example, embedding the interactive chart in an external electronic document, such as a .ppt or PDF document, that can be shared with other users. The interactive chart and/or the data associated with the interactive chart may also be purchased through an online store environment or otherwise shared with other users.
US08271891B1
A computing environment logbook logs events occurring within a computing environment. The events are displayed as a history of past events within the logbook of the computing environment. The logbook provides search functionality to search through the history of past events to find one or more selected past events, and further, enables an undo of the one or more selected past events.
US08271886B2
A target advertising system includes a user profile database configured to store browser-login mapping information associated with mapping of browser cookie information and login cookie information, an advertisement server configured to identify an access by a web browser and to transfer browser cookie information of the web browser to a user behavior server, and the user behavior server configured to receive the browser cookie information from the advertisement server, to identify, from the user profile database, user profile information of the browser-login mapping information corresponding to the browser cookie information, and to transfer the identified user profile information to the advertisement server.
US08271884B1
Compiled computer code loaded on a mobile networked device implementing aspects of graphical animation capabilities, which include at least one of lateral movement, vertical movement, timing of movement and behavior. A network communication initiated by the code retrieves new instructions previously assembled in programmed browser and stored on programmed server. The new instructions direct the code to create content objects and download content object components, such as, but not limited to, graphic image, graphic images in frame sequence for animation, video, audio, and text elements. The instructions trigger selected ones of the coded aspects of graphical animation capabilities on the content objects to produce presentations. New instructions downloaded from the server trigger different coded aspects of graphical animation capabilities on the same or different content objects and content object components to change and display new presentations without having to program, compile and download new code on the mobile networked device.
US08271872B2
A technique for aligning a plurality of media clips is provided. One or more intra-clip points of interest (POIs) are identified in at least a first media clip. When aligning a first point in the first media clip with a second point in a second media clip, the first point may be snapped to the second point, wherein at least one of the first point and second point is an intra-clip POI. When a snap occurs, at least one of a visual or audible indication is generated, such as a “pop” sound, a snap line, or automatically aligning the first point with the second point when the first point is within a specified number of pixels of the second point. Techniques for representing multiple channels of an audio clip as a single waveform and caching waveforms are also provided.
US08271868B2
An embodiment of the current invention is directed to inserting content from a source website into a destination website. Content from the source website is selected as selected content. A destination website is navigated to and, thereafter, a script is executed in a window displaying the destination website. In embodiments, the script performs a process that includes retrieving the selected content and displaying the selected content on the destination website.
US08271857B2
The invention includes a method for longitudinal position (LPOS) detection in a magnetic tape storage system for storing data upon linear tape open (LTO) magnetic storage tape, which data includes odd and even 36-bit LPOS words with error correcting ability. The method includes steps of encoding positional information onto the magnetic storage tape within the odd and even 36-bit LPOS words using each LPOS word's 8-bit sync mark field, Sy, and six of each LPOS word's 4-bit symbol fields, L0, L1, L2 L3, L4, and L5, wherein 6 of 24 total bits comprising the encoded 8-bit sync mark field: Sy, and six 4-bit symbol fields: L0, L1, L2 L3, L4, and L5 are utilized as parity bits, operating the magnetic tape storage system by passing the LTO magnetic storage tape encoded with the odd and even LPOS words with error correcting ability longitudinally across a servo reader/writer at a known speed, decoding the encoded positional information by reading either two words sequentially or two words simultaneously, the simultaneous reading requiring that the LPOS words include servo band numbers and detecting and correcting both ambiguous bits and single erroneous bit errors.
US08271856B2
To control operations of a resistive memory device, an input-output operation of an error check and correction (ECC) code is separated from an input-output operation of data. A condition of the input-output operation of the ECC code is determined stricter than a condition of the input-output operation of the data. reliability of the input-output operation of the ECC code may be enhanced, thereby reducing errors due to defect memory cells, noise, etc.
US08271849B2
Modification of the prior-art M/H system to better suit transmission of internet-protocol (IP) transport packets includes a standard codeword length for a plurality of various options for transverse Reed-Solomon coding of M/H data, which options offer different degrees of forward-error-correction capability. A 235-byte standard codeword length for TRS coding of M/H data allows extending the FIC-Chunks in the Fast Information Channel signaling to double length so as to substantially increase the capability of such signaling to convey information concerning M/H services. In some transmitter apparatus constructed in accordance with aspect of the invention the TRS encoder in the M/H Frame encoder is modified for transmitting the parity bytes of TRS codewords before, rather than after, the data bytes of those TRS codewords.
US08271847B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for N+1 packet level mesh protection. An error correction encoding method is provided that assembles M-T data packets; appends a sequence number and a payload integrity check to each of the M-T data packets; and creates T protection packets having the sequence number and payload integrity check, wherein a payload for each of the T protection packets are formed from corresponding symbols in the M-T data packets. An error correction decoding method is also provided that receives a plurality of error-free packets and one or more packets having an error; and reconstructs the one or more packets having an error by applying block erasure decoding to said plurality of error-free packets, whereby one packet having an error can be reconstructed for each protection packet used to encode the received packets.
US08271842B2
Systems, methods and apparatuses for reducing HARQ retransmissions using peak power management techniques are presented. In one example, a receiver may perform multi-level error correction for reducing HARQ retransmissions. The receiver may include a Peak-to-Average-Power Ratio Management Module (PAPR MM) decoder configured to perform a first level of error correction utilizing retransmissions originating at a front end of a distal transmitter. The receiver may further include a symbol demapping module connected to the PAPR MM decoder, a deinterleaver connected to the symbol demapping module, and a decoder connected to the deinterleaver and the PAPR MM decoder, where the decoder may be configured to perform a second level of error correction utilizing retransmissions originating at a back end of the distal transmitter. A transmitter for reducing HARQ retransmissions using PAPR techniques is also presented.
US08271841B2
A method for testing an integrated circuit to detect delay faults resulting from a signal path from a first block of the integrated circuit to a second block of the integrated circuit, wherein first and second blocks are running at different application speeds. The method may include shifting first data into scan memory cells of the integrated circuit at a first frequency; applying a launch test clock pulse to the first block at a second frequency; applying a capture test clock pulse to the second block at the second frequency, wherein the first edges of the launch and capture pulses are delayed with respect to each other by a period that is a reciprocal of the second frequency; shifting second data from the scan memory cells to an output at the first frequency; and comparing the second data at the output with expected values.
US08271837B2
In a method, system, and computer-readable medium having instructions for performing asynchronous testing of an application that is occasionally connected to an online services system, metadata describing at least a portion of an online services database is retrieved and the at least a portion of the online services database is authorized for replication at a software application, information is determined for an entity for an application database from the metadata, a request is sent for a database using the software application interface and the request has an asynchronous operation call to the database for the entity, an execution of the asynchronous operation call is recorded within a callback function, a response is received for the asynchronous operation call, and a result is determined for the software application performance.
US08271834B2
A method and system for providing immunity to a computer system wherein the system includes an immunity module, a recovery module, a maintenance module, an assessment module, and a decision module, wherein the immunity module, the recovery module, the maintenance module and the assessment module are each linked to the decision module. The maintenance module monitors the system for errors and sends an error alert message to the assessment module, which determines the severity of the error and the type of package required to fix the error. The assessment module sends a request regarding the type of package required to fix the error to the recovery module. The recovery module sends the package required to fix the error to the maintenance module, which fixes the error in the system.
US08271833B2
Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for system recovery. An operating system and a backup copy of the operating system are both maintained in a partition of a computational device. A boot loader receives an indication to load the backup copy of the operating system. The boot loader loads the backup copy of the operating system. The computational device is rebooted with the loaded backup copy of the operating system.
US08271832B2
The described embodiments include a processor that handles faults during execution of a vector instruction. The processor starts by receiving a vector instruction that uses at least one vector of values that includes N elements as an input. In addition, the processor optionally receives a predicate vector that includes N elements. The processor then executes the vector instruction. In the described embodiments, when executing the vector instruction, if the predicate vector is received, for each element in the vector of values for which a corresponding element in the predicate vector is active, otherwise, for each element in the vector of values, the processor performs an operation for the vector instruction for the element in the vector of values. While performing the operation, the processor conditionally masks faults encountered (i.e., faults caused by an illegal operation).
US08271831B2
A method, system, and computer usable program product for tolerating soft errors by selective duplication are provided in the illustrative embodiments. An application executing in a data processing system, selects an instruction that has to be protected from soft errors. The instruction is marked for duplication such that the instruction is duplicated during execution of the instruction. The marked instruction is sent for execution to a hardware front end.
US08271829B2
A network error detecting method checks if a network connection device has an Internet protocol (IP) address, if domain name mapping of web pages is correct, and if data communication between a web browser and a web server is correct. Accordingly, the network connection device informs the web browser of an IP address error, a domain name mapping error, or a data communication error. The web browser displays the network errors to users when the network errors are detected.
US08271815B2
This invention relates to a standby power control device, which is able to apply in controlling the ON/OFF state of the power of a computer and a plurality of peripheral devices, which comprises: a power input unit, a power transformation unit, a switching unit, a start control unit, a power control unit, a power output unit, and a micro-process unit, wherein the micro-process unit is connected to the computer to detect a boot signal and a shut down signal. When the computer is shut down, the micro-process unit receives the shut down signal and to turn off the start control unit to facilitate the power control unit to disable the connection of the power input unit and the power output unit, so that the standby power of the computer and the peripheral devices is turned off for achieving the purpose of saving the electrical power.
US08271810B1
Disclosed is a dynamic detector to detect an environmental condition including a power-supply level relative to a predetermined threshold signal during a training phase; and an adjustable buffer, coupled with the dynamic detector, configured to adjust output drive strength during the training phase in response to the detected environmental condition.
US08271809B2
Illustrative embodiments estimate power consumption within a multi-core microprocessor chip. An authorized user selects a set of activities to be monitored. A value for each activity of the set of activities is stored in a separate counter of a set of counters, forming a set of stored values. The value comprises the count multiplied by a weight factor specific to the activity. The set of activities are grouped into subsets. The stored values corresponding to each activity in each subset are summed, forming a total value for each subset. The total value of each subset is multiplied by a factor corresponding to the subset, forming a scaled value for each subset. The scaled value of each subset is summed, forming a power usage value. A power manager adjusts the operational parameters of the unit based on a comparison of the power usage value to a threshold value.
US08271803B2
A first process operating on a computer comprises code to be executed in connection therewith, where the code includes at least one triggering device. A digital license corresponds to the first process and sets forth terms and conditions for operating the first process. A second process operating on the computer proxy-executes code corresponding to each triggering device of the first process on behalf of such first process. The second process includes a selection of options to thwart reverse engineering by a debugger if a debugger is detected. The options include execution by a proxy engine of a re-routed call, crashing the first process, detection ad elimination of a debugger related interrupt a call to an arbitrary function.
US08271780B2
A trusted network connect method for enhancing security, it pre-prepares platform integrity information, sets an integrity verify demand. A network access requestor initiates an access request, a network access authority starts a process for bi-directional user authentication, begins to perform the triplex element peer authentication protocol with a user authentication service unit. After the success of the bi-directional user authentication, a TNC server and a TNC client perform bi-directional platform integrity evaluation. The network access requestor and the network access authority control ports according to their respective recommendations, implement the mutual access control of the access requestor and the access authority. The present invention solves the technical problems in the background technologies: the security is lower relatively, the access requestor may be unable to verify the validity of the AIK credential and the platform integrity evaluation is not parity. The present invention may simplify the management of the key and the mechanism of integrity verification, expand the application scope of the trusted network connect.
US08271771B1
A computer-implemented method for restoring an image to an encrypted disk is described. An image to restore to the disk is identified. Information is read from one or more filesystems currently residing on the disk to identify one or more sectors on the disk that are reserved for a disk encryption driver. The image is restored to one or more non-reserved sectors on the disk. One or more filesystems are created on the disk that are associated with the restored image.
US08271769B2
A method and apparatus for dynamic adaptation of a configuration to a system environment. An embodiment of a method includes obtaining system information for a system. The system information is stored in a memory. A setting of an abstract configuration for the system is resolved, with the resolution of the setting being based at least in part on the system information.
US08271765B2
The illustrative embodiments described herein provide a computer-implemented method, apparatus, and a system for managing instructions. A load/store unit receives a first instruction at a port. The load/store unit rejects the first instruction in response to determining that the first instruction has a first reject condition. Then, the instruction sequencing unit activates a first bit in response to the load/store unit rejection the first instruction. The instruction sequencing unit blocks the first instruction from reissue while the first bit is activated. The processor unit determines a class of rejection of the first instruction. The instruction sequencing unit starts a timer. The length of the timer is based on the class of rejection of the first instruction. The instruction sequencing unit resets the first bit in response to the timer expiring. The instruction sequencing unit allows the first instruction to become eligible for reissue in response to resetting the first bit.
US08271759B2
Provided is a storage system comprising a plurality of storage subsystem in which each storage subsystem includes a storage resource and controls access from a host system to the storage resource of the storage subsystem. The storage system is capable of simply and promptly changing the operation of a storage subsystem between operating as a stand-alone system and virtualize the plurality of storage subsystems logically into one virtual storage subsystem and execute a first mode of causing a host system to recognize the virtual storage subsystem. The storage is further able to execute a second mode of causing the host system to recognize the plurality of storage subsystems respectively as separate storage subsystems.
US08271754B2
A system, method and computer-usable medium are disclosed for recovering data from a memory storage device. The operating system (OS) of an IPS comprising a source memory storage device, further comprising stored data, is monitored to detect a defective operating state. If a defective operating state of the OS is detected, then operation of the IPS is terminated, followed by the initiation of IPS boot operations to recover data from the source memory storage device. The OS is bypassed, and initial boot operations are performed from a management controller or from the BIOS of the IPS. Additional boot operations are performed, and once the IPS has been brought to an operative state, a data recovery module is used to transfer data from the source memory storage device to a target storage device.
US08271753B2
Difference information between two snapshots from a first point-in-time snapshot, which has been copied, to an Nth point-in-time snapshot, which constitutes the latest point-in-time snapshot, is acquired to a memory module. The memory module stores two or more pieces of difference information. The two or more pieces of difference information comprise difference information that shows the difference between a first point-in-time snapshot and any snapshot other than the first point-in-time snapshot of N snapshots. Copy difference information, which is information that shows the difference between the first point-in-time snapshot and a specified snapshot from among N snapshots, and which is used in copying the specified snapshot, is created on the basis of the two or more pieces of difference information.
US08271751B2
Systems and methods allow for reliably and efficiently managing files stored on a data storage medium associated with a computer system such as a set-top box. The computer system manages a collection of metadata describing each of the files stored on the data storage medium in a memory during operation of the computer system. A current snapshot of the collection of metadata is periodically or otherwise stored to the data storage medium. Following a reboot of the computer system, the collection of metadata can be recovered to the memory from the snapshot of the collection of metadata stored on the data storage medium.
US08271750B2
A data processing system includes a data store having storage locations storing entries which can be used for a variety of purposes, such as operand value prediction, branch prediction, etc. An entry profile store stores profile data for more candidate entries than there are storage locations within the data store. The profile data is used to determine replacement policy for entries within the data store. The profile data can include hash values used to determine whether predictions associated with candidate entries were correct without having to store the full predictions within the profile data.
US08271744B2
A device, method, and system for switching library managers of a data library while maintaining data library storage devices online. A library manager accepts and executes data transaction commands for access to data residing on the storage devices of the data library. A transition manager module receives a directive to transition library management functions from a first library manager to a second library manager. The transition manager module stops the first library manager from accepting new data transaction commands while maintaining the storage devices online. The first library manager may execute previously accepted data transaction commands. The transition manager module suspends the library management functions of the first library manager and activates the library management functions of the second library manager. The storage devices of the data library may complete data transaction commands throughout the library manager transition.
US08271732B2
In one embodiment, a cache memory includes a data array having N ways and M sets and at least one fill buffer coupled to the data array, where the data array is segmented into multiple array portions such that only one of the portions is to be accessed to seek data for a memory request if the memory request is predicted to hit in the data array. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08271726B2
A data storage apparatus having a plurality of hard disk drives, having: a deletion control section which executes complete deletion processes of the plurality of hard disk drives simultaneously; and a display control section to form a progress status display information of the complete deletion processes by the deletion control section, which display information represents all the progress statuses of the plurality of the hard disk drives, and to display the display information on a display section.
US08271724B1
In one embodiment of the present invention, a method and system are provided to control access to the non-volatile log (NVlog) of a storage server. By controlling access to the NVLog of a storage server the relative disk write bandwidth available to different client write requests can be controlled. The incoming write request can be categorized, and, during times of heavy load, only be permitted to use NVLog space as permitted based on the categorization of each write request. In one embodiment, the present invention includes receiving a write request from a client at a storage server, and determining whether the received write request can be presently logged in a NVlog based on a category of the write request.
US08271719B2
A method of storing information at a non-volatile memory includes storing a status bit prior to storing data at the memory. A second status bit is stored after storing of the data. Because the storage of data is interleaved with the storage of the status bits, a brownout or other corrupting event during storage of the data will likely result in a failure to store the second status bit. Therefore, the first and second status bits can be compared to determine if the data was properly stored at the non-volatile memory.
US08271718B2
The present invention provides a criterion for determining whether or not to apply de-duplication processing. That is, by setting a reduction effect threshold to control switching the de-duplication between ON and OFF, the present invention allows operation such that the de-duplication is applied for a volume for which a high capacity-reduction effect is provided by the de-duplication processing, and in contrast, the de-duplication is not applied to maintain performance for a volume for which a low capacity-reduction effect is provided by the de-duplication processing.
US08271704B2
Provided are techniques for status information saving among multiple computers. In one embodiment, a selected computer is operated using a plurality of input/output devices over switched input/output signal paths passing through a KVM (keyboard video mouse) switch positioned between the selected computer and the plurality of input/output devices. Status data is carried over signal paths passing through the KVM switch wherein the status data represents status information for a plurality of computers connected to the KVM switch. The status data passing through the KVM switch is stored in a memory coupled to the KVM switch. Other embodiments are described and claimed. Other embodiments are contemplated, depending upon the particular application.
US08271699B2
A memory system includes n (n>1) memory arrays (1.1 to 1.n), a address decoder (2), a data connecting circuit (3), and a write controlling circuit (4). The address decoder (2) includes a decoder (5), and n−1 selectors (6.1 to 6.n−1). The memory system has an address bus (01) for lead in address A, k (k>1), input/output data buses (02.1 to 02.k) for data transmission, and a control bus (03) for lead in write control signals. The data is stored by bytes, each data byte D being addressable by one address A. After the address A has been set on the address bus (01), in memory arrays (1.1 to 1.n) the memory locations are activated in which the data bytes DA, DA+1, . . . , DA+k−1 are stored. The data connecting circuit (3) connects the data interfaces of the memory arrays (1.1 to 1.n) with the data buses (02.1 to 02.k) so that the first data bus (02.1) transmits the data byte DA, and simultaneously the second data bus (02.2) transmits the data byte DA+1, . . . , and simultaneously the k-th data bus (02.k) transmits the data byte DA+k−1. This parallel access memory provides parallel access to all bytes of sequentially arranged data, e.g. to unequal length instruction code, within one read/write memory cycle.
US08271692B1
A storage device comprising a storage media and a controller is disclosed. The controller is configured to receive access commands from a host, to write data to or read data from the storage media based on the access commands, to detect a trigger event, and, when the trigger event is detected, to throttle back the access commands from the host based on an amount of data in a cache.
US08271690B2
In a device having a capability of using time data acquired from an external time information generator, a notification unit notifies a user of time information. The notification unit also notifies the user whether the notified time information is based on time data acquired from the external time information generator. Processing performed by the device is restricted depending on a status associated with time information. Although some types of processing are allowed when the device is in a status in which the time information is based on the time data acquired from the external time information generator, the same type of processing are disabled when the device is in any other status associated with time information.
US08271688B2
In a network having transaction acceleration, for an accelerated transaction, a client directs a request to a client-side transaction handler that forwards the request to a server-side transaction handler, which in turn provides the request, or a representation thereof, to a server for responding to the request. The server sends the response to the server-side transaction handler, which forwards the response to the client-side transaction handler, which in turn provides the response to the client. Transactions are accelerated by the transaction handlers by storing segments of data used in the transactions in persistent segment storage accessible to the server-side transaction handler and in persistent segment storage accessible to the client-side transaction handler. When data is to be sent between the transaction handlers, the sending transaction handler compares the segments of the data to be sent with segments stored in its persistent segment storage and replaces segments of data with references to entries in its persistent segment storage that match or closely match the segments of data to be replaced. The receiving transaction store reconstructs the data sent by replacing segment references with corresponding segment data from its persistent segment storage, requesting missing segments from the sender as needed. The transaction accelerators could handle multiple clients and/or multiple servers and the segments stored in the persistent segment stores can relate to different transactions, different clients and/or different servers. Persistent segment stores can be prepopulated with segment data from other transaction accelerators.
US08271687B2
In one embodiment, a method comprises supplying, by a network node to a peer network node, a randomization seed assigned to the network node for generating a prescribed sequence of pseudorandom numbers according to a prescribed pseudorandom number generation function; encoding each data block having a corresponding position in an ordered sequence of a stream of data blocks, by the network node into a corresponding differentially-encoded data block based on applying a product of the corresponding data block and the corresponding pseudorandom number, having the corresponding position in the prescribed sequence, to a corresponding successively-preceding differentially-encoded data block from the prescribed ordered sequence, the data block recoverable solely based on a determined difference between the corresponding differentially-encoded data block and the corresponding successively-preceding differentially-encoded data block relative to the corresponding pseudorandom number; and outputting each differentially-encoded data block in a corresponding packet that identifies the network node and the corresponding position.
US08271683B2
A method, system and computer program product for pushing contents to client devices is disclosed. The method, system, and computer program product handles group pushes, manages different content priorities, prevents one content push from starving others, and handles different transport mechanisms for different clients.
US08271667B2
A session management server, which is provided with a service determination table having a plurality of entries each indicating a service identifier in association with possible particular items of information which may be extracted from a session setup request packet, receives a session setup request packet issued from a client to a particular application server and determines whether the client terminal is authorized to receive an information service by referring to the determination table, in place of the particular application server. When the determination results in success, the session setup request packet is forwarded to the particular application server.
US08271640B2
A method and device for communicating information resources between subscriber end stations and nodes belonging to different network domains is described. The device instantiates different virtual network machines for different network domains using separate independently administrable network databases. Each of the administrable chores of the separate independently administrable network databases includes the assignment of access control and the configuration of the policies for those network databases. The policies include traffic filtering policies to indicate what kind of information payloads can be carried, traffic and route filtering policies to indicate what paths through the network will be used for each payload carried. Each of the network domains includes one of the different virtual network machines and each of the different network domains is virtually isolated from other network domains.
US08271633B2
The correlating network transactions techniques include a method, an apparatus, and/or a computer program product. In some embodiments of these techniques, the method includes receiving, at a first monitor server, a first plurality of network transmissions from a first plurality of communication networks and correlating, at the first monitor server, the first plurality of network transmissions based on information associated with the first plurality of network transmissions to form a first correlated network transaction. The method further includes transmitting the first correlated network transaction from the first monitor server to a second monitor server based on a first correlation flag and correlating, at the second monitor server, the first correlated network transaction with a second network transmission based on at least one of the first correlation flag, information associated with the second network transmission, and information associated with the first correlated network transaction to form a second correlated network transaction.
US08271625B2
A method and apparatus for synchronizing contents of devices in a home network are provided. The apparatus includes a determination unit which determines whether a first device and a second device support a common synchronization protocol. A synchronization request unit then requests at least one device to synchronize the contents using the common synchronization protocol determined by the determination unit.
US08271621B2
Techniques for communicating metadata are disclosed. According to one technique, a device comprises a configuration module. The configuration module contains and specifies a mapping table. For example, each mapping in the mapping table might indicate a standard, a retrieving protocol, and a packaging protocol. In the mapping table, a particular retrieving or packaging protocol can be mapped to more than one standard. The device comprises one or more separately implemented retrieving protocol modules and packaging protocol modules. The device receives a client's request. The device selects a retrieving protocol to interpret the request, and interprets the request using that protocol. The device uses the mapping table to determine a packaging protocol that is mapped to the client's standard. The device uses the selected packaging protocol to package, in the appropriate form, the requested metadata. The device sends the appropriately packaged metadata back to the client.
US08271613B2
An asynchronous hypertext messaging system and method are disclosed. The system and method use existing hypertext transfer protocols and is capable of transmitting real-time asynchronous data between server and client regardless of firewalls or proxy servers implemented at the client or the server. In a communication system comprising a client and server interconnected by an internet, initial authentication is performed initially between the server and the client. A secure log in is performed by the client with the server in conjunction with a possible java applet download. The communication server then initiates a multiplexed virtual connection between the server and the client and transmission of asynchronous real-time data can occur over the virtual connection. The virtual connection is periodically refreshed by a request issued from the java applet.
US08271602B2
Embodiments of the present invention introduces mechanisms that allow conversational Web services to have long running business transactions between multiple parties with persistent states. Web service addressing is used to exchange conversational identifiers between the client(s) who requests the service and the server who provides it. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.
US08271590B2
A computer-implemented method of sorting electronic messages can include identifying at least one recipient of an electronic message and retrieving a classification scheme of the recipient. An identifier can be included within the electronic message. The identifier can specify a tag selected from the classification scheme of the recipient. The electronic message, including the identifier specifying the selected tag, can be sent.
US08271588B1
Systems and methods for filtering fraudulent email messages are described. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an email message, determining whether the email message is indicative of fraud, and creating a fraud filter based on the email message if the email message is fraudulent.
US08271579B2
A server implemented method for facilitating execution of an application for a wireless device. The server selects a plurality of scene components. The scene components comprise at least one functional unit operable to execute functions associated with the scene components. The functions of said functional units are a portion of an application operable to be executed by the wireless device. The server further selects a plurality of assets. The assets are operable to be used in rendering a scene utilizing said plurality of scene components. The server determines a partition of functionality of the application which defines a server behavior module for executing on the server and a client behavior module for executing on the wireless device. The server customizes the plurality of scene components and the plurality of assets for the wireless device. The plurality of scene components and plurality of assets are sent to the wireless device for execution and rendering.
US08271578B2
A method of transferring data objects over a network comprises intercepting a network transfer message with a passing object, creating a unique identifier for the object using a predetermined function, the same function having been used to provide identifiers for objects stored at predetermined nodes of said network, removing the object and sending on the network transfer message with the unique identifier in place of the object. Then, at the recipient end it is possible to obtain the unique identifier and use it as a key to search for a corresponding object in the local nodes. The search starts with a node closest to the recipient and steadily spreads outwards. The object when found is reattached for the benefit of the recipient and network bandwidth has been saved by the avoidance of redundant transfer since the object is brought to the recipient from the node which is the closest to him.
US08271575B2
Particular embodiments provide interaction between items in a network. For example, lists of content may be shared between items connected through a network. A user may use a first item to select a second item in which content should be outputted. Instead of sending the content to the second item, the first item may generate and send a list of content to the second item instead of the content. A messaging infrastructure is used to allow the items to communicate the list of content between each other. The second item can then process the list and then determine how to access the item. This allows two different items to share content without the transfer of content between them. In another example, an item may be used to interact with a user interface of a second item. For example, an input device on a first item is used to provide input to a second item.
US08271570B2
A unified integer/Galois-Field 2m multiplier performs multiply operations for public-key systems such as Rivert, Shamir, Aldeman (RSA), Diffie-Hellman key exchange (DH) and Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem (ECC). The multiply operations may be performed on prime fields and different composite binary fields in independent multipliers in an interleaved fashion.
US08271569B2
A technique for performing a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) includes storing, in a single-port memory, multiple signal points. A first group of consecutive ones of the multiple signal points are fetched (from a first line of the single-port memory) to a first input register associated with a processor that includes multiple arithmetic units (AUs) that are each configured to perform multiply accumulate (MAC) operations. A second group of consecutive ones of the multiple signal points are then fetched (from a second line of the single-port memory) to a second input register associated with the processor. Selected pairs of the multiple signal points are then loaded (one from each of the first and second input registers for each pair) into the multiple arithmetic units during an initial butterfly stage. Radix-2 butterfly operations are then performed on the selected pairs of the multiple signal points (using the multiple AUs) to provide respective output elements.
US08271566B2
The present invention provides a system and method for time-series with compression accuracy as a function of time. Briefly described, in architecture, one embodiment of the system, among others, can be implemented as follows. The system includes a computer with a processor. The system performs a method receiving a data set on the computer, utilizing a plurality of filter banks to transform the data set into a plurality coefficients, wherein each coefficient is associated with a basis function, and quantizing the plurality of coefficients, wherein the quantization maps the plurality of coefficients into certain value ranges. Then, system further performs determining a threshold based upon each coefficient effect on a time domain, disregarding the coefficient that fall below the threshold, and storing any remaining coefficients as compressed data for the data set.
US08271565B2
Method, apparatus, and program means for nonlinear filtering and deblocking applications utilizing SIMD sign and absolute value operations. The method of one embodiment comprises receiving first data for a first block and second data for a second block. The first data and said second data are comprised of a plurality of rows and columns of pixel data. A block boundary between the first block and the second block is characterized. A correction factor for a deblocking algorithm is calculated with a first instruction for a sign operation that multiplies and with a second instruction for an absolute value operation. Data for pixels located along said block boundary between the first and second block are corrected.
US08271563B1
A computer-enabled system, method, and medium is provided to support, e.g., analyzing intellectual property documents by assigning attributes to the documents. The present invention is suitable for use by intellectual property professionals and is flexible to support development and use of customized attribute types and attributes. Optionally, a group of intellectual property documents can be divided into projects, which can be ingested including assigning attributes. Optionally, the attributes can be used to filter information included in e.g., searches, and/or reports.
US08271561B2
A software product comprising a set of computer instructions stored on a computer readable medium and executable by a computer processor to maintain a profile object representing profile data, receive a first command based on the profile object to access an attribute value, and access the attribute value. The profile object can include at least one profile section that acts as a container for attributes and at least one attribute for each profile section. The attributes can essentially be variables having a name and a value.
US08271555B2
A system for external monitoring of networked digital file sharing to track predetermined data content, the system comprising: at least one surveillance element for deployment over said network, said surveillance elements comprising: surveillance functionality for searching said digital file sharing and identification functionality associated with said search functionality for identification of said predetermined data content, therewith to determine whether a given file sharing system is distributing said predetermined data content.
US08271554B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to a multimedia data encoding/decoding method and apparatus. In some aspects, a decoding method comprises receiving multimedia data which comprises a media area including a video data area having a plurality of video contents and an audio data area having a plurality of audio contents, a media information area including a plurality of video track areas respectively corresponding to the video contents and a plurality of audio track areas respectively corresponding to the audio contents, and a menu description area including description data for displaying a menu that provides an interface between a user and media data in the media area; displaying a menu using the description data; and decoding media data extracted from the media area based on the menu, wherein each of the video track areas and the audio track areas comprises at least one of temporal information and spatial information of a corresponding content, and the media area, the media information area and the menu description area are incorporated into a single file. The disclosed embodiments include a multimedia data encoding/decoding method and apparatus can construct a multi media data file including a plurality of video/audio contents and description data for a menu between a user and media data. Thus, a time taken to process and transmit the multimedia data can be reduced.
US08271553B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to a multimedia data encoding/decoding method and apparatus. In some aspects, a decoding method comprises receiving multimedia data which comprises a media area including a video data area and an audio data area, a media information area including a video track area and an audio track area respectively corresponding to the video data area and the audio data area, and a menu description area including description data for displaying a menu that provides an interface between a user and media data in the media area; extracting the description data from the multimedia data, the description data being described using a scene representation format; decoding the extracted description data by extracting scalable vector graphics format data form the description data; rendering a menu using the decoded description data; and decoding media data extracted from the media area based on the menu, wherein the media area, the media information area and the menu description area are incorporated into a single file. The disclosed embodiments include a multimedia data encoding/decoding method and apparatus can construct a multi media data file including a plurality of video/audio contents and description data for a menu between a user and media data. Thus, a time taken to process and transmit the multimedia data can be reduced.
US08271551B2
The present invention relates to a multimedia data encoding/decoding method and apparatus. The encoding method includes generating a file type area having information on a file format; generating a data area comprising a plurality of media data areas; and generating a media information area comprising a plurality of track areas corresponding to the plurality of media data areas, respectively. According to the present invention, the multimedia data encoding/decoding method and apparatus has an effect of being capable of constructing a slide show by only a small amount of multimedia data. Thus, a time taken to process and transmit the multimedia data can reduce.
US08271550B2
A memory management system for managing memory of a processing device and a corresponding method thereof. The system comprises a memory manager and a garbage collector. The memory manager is configured to allocate memory after dividing discrete units of memory into smaller units. The garbage collector is configured to organize a memory availability collection of free units of memory in the memory manager. The collection is ordered based on at least one of the amount of each of the discrete units available and the allocation age of the discrete units.
US08271546B2
A set of ordered predicted completion strings are presented to a user as the user enters text in a text entry box (e.g., a browser or a toolbar). The predicted completion strings can be in the form of URLs or query strings. The ordering may be based on any number of factors (e.g., a query's frequency of submission from a community of users). URLs can be ranked based on an importance value of the URL. Privacy is taken into account in a number of ways, such as using a previously submitted query only when more than a certain number of unique requestors have made the query. The sets of ordered predicted completion strings is obtained by matching a fingerprint value of the user's entry string to a fingerprint to table map which contains the set of ordered predicted completion strings.
US08271543B2
In one embodiment, an identification (ID) of a person involved in a current communication is utilized to access a communication log to determine an active time interval of a previous communication with the same person. The active time interval is utilized to identify the context material of the previous communication and access to the context material is provided during the current communication.
US08271540B2
An exemplary MMIC (“Multi-Mode Interviewing Capability”) survey program is a computerized tool that supports various traditional modes of collecting interview data, including telephone interviewing, written interviewing, and personal interviewing, and can be used to manage the whole interview process from questionnaire design, sample management, and fieldwork monitoring to final dataset production. The collected data may also include non-textual data from survey participants such as medical measurements of blood pressure and heart rate. Self-interviewing using the Internet is also possible which permits real time availability of results and the participation of respondents from virtually anywhere in the world, using devices such as PDA's, Smart phones and Web TV's. The MMIC survey structure is non-linear and object oriented, which permits a connection between all the building blocks of the survey to be defined on any level. The compiled survey includes sufficient metadata to facilitate decompilation and the production of equivalent source code in any supported programming language, whether or not it was originally programmed in that language. This stored metadata not only allows researchers to later trace back the exact conditions under which this particular answer was given, but also permits results from multiple iterations of the related surveys to be combined in a rigorous manner that will be transparent to subsequent analysis and research.
US08271532B2
A method and apparatus for improving the system response time when URL filtering is employed to provide security for web access. The method involves gathering the attributes of the user, and pre-populating a local URL-rating cache with URLs and corresponding ratings associated with analogous attributes from a URL cache database. Thus, the cache hit rate is higher with a pre-populated local URL rating cache, and the system response time is also improved.
US08271523B2
In a structure where a table is partitioned into multiple databases according to a certain partitioning method, a coordinator server changes allocation information that is used to determine a database into which each of data records should be registered when an allocation change command is issued. The coordinator server stores therein allocation history information, which is the allocation information used before the change. When an entry request to make an entry of a new data record from a client, a database to enter the new data record is determined based on the stored allocation history information and the changed allocation information, and an entry request is sent to a database server having the determined database.
US08271522B2
A method of matching queries in a hybrid infrastructure/infrastructure-less network, the network comprising pluralities of first and second type communication devices respectively, the method comprising placing a first query by a user on one of the first type devices and forwarding the query via infrastructure based communication to one of the second type devices; forwarding, depending on a category of the first query, the first query from the one second type device to one or more first type devices via infrastructure based communication; and relaying the first query from each of one or more first type devices to one or more neighboring first type devices via infrastructure-less communication.
US08271518B2
A method of searching real numbers for a nearest neighbor to a query point includes a construction phase in which a database of the real numbers is prepared; and a search phase in which the nearest neighbor is searched by the use of the database. The database includes a series of buckets that respectively correspond to small one-dimensional spaces defined by dividing a one-dimensional space between a minimum real number and a maximum real number at regular intervals. The buckets include data about real number(s) falling in one of the small one-dimensional spaces corresponding to the bucket concerned, and the number of the real number(s). The search phase includes locating one of the buckets in which the query point falls; checking the bucket size of the located bucket whether the bucket size thereof is zero; and searching the nearest neighbor by the use of the data in the bucket.
US08271516B2
A social network service provides trusted, timely and managed communications between a querying individual and an informed individual by optimizing distribution of queries to reflect a requisite amount of expertise necessary (i.e., interest, background, education, demographic attribute, etc.). Those candidate recipients with a rare level of expertise or specialization can specify a desired level of participation, which is respected. In order not to exhaust their availability, those who are less qualified or part of a larger demographic category appropriate for the query are selected to handle queries of lesser difficulty or less specialization. Anonymity if desired by the recipient party can be supported by increasing the pool of candidate recipients so that the querying party cannot reasonably ascertain who is responding. Timeliness of response, as well as satisfaction in the response, is tracked in order to affect redirection of a query.
US08271515B2
An invention is provided for affording CopyBack data integrity in a non-volatile memory system. When the potential for moving data with a CopyBack command occurs, a counter corresponding to the data is examined. When the counter is below a predetermined limit, the counter is incremented and data from the block of data is moved using a CopyBack command. However, when the counter reaches the predetermined limit, the counter is reset and data from the block of data is moved to system memory and examined for errors. Once any errors are corrected, the data is transferred back to the non-volatile memory.
US08271513B1
A module determining a named entity of terminology includes a named entity dictionary and mining rule database storing the named entity dictionary where named entity of terminology combined with the ontology schema and connected to concept is defined, and a mining rule database where a mining rule configured with mining pattern and RDF triple combined with the ontology schema and connected to relationship name is defined; a named entity and mining rule search unit searching for corresponding mining rule and named entity from the mining rule database and the named entity dictionary using inputted mining pattern and terminology included in the mining pattern; and a names entity selection unit selecting, if two or more named entities corresponding to the terminology are searched, named entity matching to the concept configuring the RDF triple of the searched mining rule as named entity of the terminology among the searched named entities.
US08271507B2
A server runs a software program controlling a system and is connected to the Internet to communicate with one or more advertising agencies. A client of the agencies has a home location with a server connected to the Internet for communication with the server and the agencies. The client can have branches that are connected to the Internet for communication with the server and the Client Home and, in some circumstances, with the agencies. Also connected to the Internet are Media parties representing any and all types of advertising display parties such as radio, television, print, billboard, etc. The media parties also could be brokers that place the advertising with various media outlets.
US08271506B2
The disclosure describes systems and methods for modeling relationships between entities on a network using data collected from a plurality of communication channels including social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data within a W4 Network. The W4 Network personalizes and automates sorting, filtering and processing of W4COMN communications delivered or requested to be delivered using personalized value-based ranking and encoding of data, which is modeled from the point-of-view (POV) of any specific user, topic or node in the W4 Distributed graph. POV modeling supplies comparative value services to users which entails individuated data models to be aggregated and used in customization and personalization forecasting for each user and their associated data management needs.
US08271502B2
Methods and computer-readable media are provided for summarizing the content of a plurality of documents and presenting the results of such multiple-document summarization to a user in such a way that the user is able to quickly and easily discern what, if any, unique information each document contains. Each sentence of each document is assigned a score based upon the perceived importance of the information contained therein. The sentences receiving the highest scores are then compared with one another to identify and remove any duplicate sentences. The remaining high-scoring sentences are extracted from the corresponding documents and presented to the user, for instance, in a bulleted list format. The user can then simply scan the list and can quickly and easily discern the unique information contained in each document.
US08271497B2
In a position history analysis unit for analyzing a position history to acquire movement history information such as places of stay, a speed history computation unit refers to the position history to determine a speed occurring at each point of time and to obtain a speed history. A categorization unit organizes a time axis in the position history, and, ultimately, data for position coordinates occurring at respective points of time, into segments of stay and segments of movement, by checking the speed history against a threshold value. A merge unit detects segments of stay which occur at different points of time but which are identified as indicating stays in the same place, by feeding the time flow, categorized into segments of stay and segments of movement by the categorization unit based on the speed, back to the position coordinates in the respective segments. The merge unit merges the segments of stay as needed. An information generation unit evaluates a set of position coordinates and speed values in each segment of stay and in each segment of movement thus obtained and derives predetermined information on each segment.
US08271491B2
An apparatus and method for recording activities of an avatar in a virtual world by means of a computer including: means for dividing the virtual world into a plurality of blocks each provided with a unique ID; means for recording a movement history in a storage area of the computer, the movement history including the ID of each block which an avatar acting in the virtual world enters and a time point at which the avatar enters the block; means for deleting the movement history between the first and the last blocks of a plurality of blocks which the avatar enters if the plurality of blocks are continuous in a straight line in one direction; and activity record DB recording means for recording, as an activity dataset in an activity record DB, an event content, the movement history and a repetition count of an event.
US08271488B2
A program may be used to increase traffic flow to a Web site by analyzing, optimizing and submitting the Web site to one or more search engines. The program may accept search phrases and check the compatibility of the Web site with the search phrases as well as check the textual content, the parseability and the spiderability of the Web site. In a preferred embodiment, the analysis mimics the ranking methodologies used by the search engines. The program assists the owner of the Web site in optimizing the Web site for the search engines, possibly by automatically editing the code of the Web site, and submits the Web site for registration with the selected search engines. The program may be repeated from time to time to insure the Web site remains in an optimized state.
US08271480B2
A method and apparatus for generating search results including searching by subdomain and providing sponsored results by subdomain is provided. A search system according to embodiments of the present invention analyzes search queries to determine if they are to be routed to subdomains and presents results include sponsored hits sponsored on a subdomain by subdomain basis.
US08271479B2
Embodiments of the invention disclose a method, a system and a computer program product of discovering automated insights in XML data by generating a query result in response to querying data using a query, wherein the data is in a markup language format, and identifying a pattern associated with the query result, wherein the data in the markup language format is used for pattern identification.
US08271475B2
An approach that applies user context to searches in a virtual universe is described. In one embodiment, there is an enhanced virtual universe search tool that includes a receiving component configured to receive a query from an avatar that is online in the virtual universe. A scanning component is configured to scan a collection of avatar data describing attributes that are relevant to behavioral, search and informational needs of the avatar. A resource search component is configured to return search results for the query that are in accordance with the scanned collection of avatar data.
US08271463B2
Methods, systems and articles of manufacture are provided for accessing data within data repositories. Public UDTFs, private UDTFs and a metadata processor are utilized to provide access to data residing in a variety of data repositories.
US08271456B2
Information is retrieved by receiving a list of one or more files to be restored; and obtaining a contiguous group of blocks that includes a first segment of one or more blocks associated with the one or more files to be restored, a gap of one or more blocks that are not associated with the one or more files to be restored that is adjacent to the first segment, and a second segment of one or more blocks associated with the one or more files to be restored that is adjacent to the gap.
US08271444B2
A storage control device uses write management information that manages locations of the occurrence of writing in one or more first storage devices in order to specify one or more locations where writing has occurred, and backs up one or more data elements stored in one or more specified locations to a second storage device. In order to perform a restore operation, write management information at the time of a backup is stored, and data elements stored in the second storage device are restored to one or more locations specified from the write management information at that time of backup, or to one or more new locations specified from new write management information indicating one or more new locations corresponding to the one or more locations.
US08271442B2
Tools and techniques are described for formats for database template files shared between client and server environments. Systems provided by these tools may include client subsystems that include client-side database management applications that instantiate tables within a database, and instantiate client-specific database template files corresponding respectively to the tables. These database management applications may also instantiate server-specific database template files that correspond to the client-specific template files, and may enable servers to access the server-specific template file. These systems may also include server subsystems that further include server-side database management services that access the server-specific template files, and instantiate server-side template files based thereon. In turn, the database management services may create database applications from the server-side template files.
US08271439B2
A method for providing synchronized updates to a data record in a data store, the data record including a plurality of data fields, each of the plurality of data fields having an initial field value, the method includes reading the data record from the data store into a data record in memory, each of the plurality of data fields of the data record in the data store having a corresponding data field in the data record in memory, the data fields in the data record in memory having inspectable and modifiable field values; identifying a set of relevant fields comprising at least one of an inspected field and a modified field of the data record in memory; in response to a determination that fields of the data record in the data store corresponding to each of the fields in the set of relevant fields has a value of its initial field value, updating the data record in the data store with the value of modified fields in the data record in memory.
US08271435B2
A partial entry of a service request is received into a service request window. Responsive to the receiving the partial entry of the service request, a first querying operation is performed on a first topic map. The first querying operation includes constructing a first query based on the partial entry. The first topic map is stored in conjunction with the application, and the application generates the service request window. Responsive to the performing the first querying operation, a first group of service request solution identifiers are retrieved. A result display is populated with the first group of service request solution identifiers. Responsive to a selection of a selected service request solution identifier from the result display, a service request solution associated with the selected service request solution identifier is retrieved. The service request window is populated with details derived from the service request solution.
US08271432B2
A method and apparatus for calculating a score for word selection, which may be used to preprocess sets of words prior to a dimensionality reduction process, employs information about relationships between words themselves (such as synonym relationships) or relationships between items with which the words are associated (such as products in a catalog). In some embodiments, the relationships are also community based; i.e., the relationships are established by a community of users. The relationships may be references to two or more word sets in which the word of interest is common. In one embodiment, the word sets are descriptions of products in an online catalog, the community is the group of people who view the catalog, and the relationships used for calculating the score for a particular word of interest are coreferences (e.g., viewing or purchasing) of pairs of products for which the catalog descriptions both include the particular word.
US08271428B2
A data warehouse is created using an input file that can contain sub-documents of different formats. A root document model including path names to all nodes among the sub-documents is generated, and a table is generated with columns being derived from the path names of the root model. The sub-documents are shredded to populate the table. Then, the dimensions of the data warehouse are defined by selecting respective columns. A routine such as a DDL may then be generated to populate the data warehouse with data.
US08271426B2
A method includes storing a first value for one or more measures in a block of data for the cube of data. The first value is a value where the state of the cube is that no changes are applicable to the block of data. A second value is stored for the one or more measures in the block of data. The second value is a delta value representing changes made to the block of data based on the first value. A change is received to the block. A computer processor then calculates a new second value based on the change to the block. The new second value is stored in place of the second value previously stored while the first value remains the same. The second value represents the cumulative changes to the measure since the frozen value was determined.
US08271420B2
Systems and methods are provided for integrating educational software. In one implementation, a first method includes providing on a first server an integrated learning management system adapted to exchange education data and materials via a connector interface, providing on the first server a first component which responds to requests made by the integrated system via the connector interface to exchange education data and materials with a first source learning management system, and exchanging education data and materials between the integrated system and the first system via the first component by use of the connector interface.
US08271416B2
A method for dynamically determining a predetermined previous condition of a rule-based system comprising a plurality of rules. Each of the plurality of rules is associated with a transaction and a condition under which the transaction is executed. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of (a) determining a system condition; (b) determining an immediate previous condition that caused the system condition; (c) setting the immediate previous condition to the system condition; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until the predetermined previous condition is reached.
US08271410B2
A user data engine residing on an endpoint machine generates a current user context reflecting a specific flow of operations performed by an end-user when interacting with a software application. A context engine residing on a sever machine compares the current user context to one or more stored user contexts included in a context database and generates a similarity value based on each comparison. A resource engine identifies resources in a resource database that are associated with the stored user contexts and then generates a relevance score for each resource based on the similarity scores corresponding to the stored user contexts with which those resources are associated. The resource engine transmits a resource list reflecting the identified resources to the user data engine based on the relevance scores. The user data engine displays on a display screen of the endpoint machine information associated with resources reflected in the resource list.
US08271406B2
An optimization engine includes a mixed-integer programming (MIP) solver that receives a programming model, an outcome objective, and a group of start vectors. Each of the MIP start vectors in the group specify one or more restrictions to apply to the programming model. The MIP solver uses the programming model to compute a potential solution from each of the MIP start vectors included in the group, which results in a group of potential solutions. Next, the MIP solver selects one of the potential solutions in the group as an optimal intra-group solution. The optimal intra-group solution is the potential solution in the group that best achieves the outcome objective. In turn, the optimal intra-group solution is used to complete the outcome objective.
US08271405B2
A method is provided for constructing at least one decision graph for managing at least one applicative stream assigned to a terminal and set up between the terminal and a correspondent via at least one communication network. The method includes a step of dynamically constructing at least one possible decision graph for the one applicative stream assigned to the terminal, itself including a step of exchanging at least one configuration message between at least two decision modules pertaining to a predetermined set of decision modules.
US08271404B2
Techniques are disclosed for generating complex invariants in a program using a Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) solver. In one embodiment, the generated invariants may be used to validate assert statements in a program. Additionally or alternatively, a weakest pre-condition invariant may be generated such that parameters passed to the program that satisfy the weakest pre-condition are guaranteed to satisfy the program's assert statements. Additionally or alternatively, a strongest post-condition may be generated, determining what is guaranteed to be true about the state of the program upon completion of the program. In one embodiment, the SMT solver generates invariants by mapping predicates onto unknown variables in a template. The template may comprise unknown variables related by logical structures defined with disjunctions, universal quantifiers, and existential quantifiers. The predicates may comprise equalities and inequalities between program variables.
US08271401B2
An expert system may be utilized for providing and receiving interactive, computer-implemented support services related to chemical processing units. The expert system may include a knowledge base that contains information coded in the form of rules, decision trees, and logic and a database that stores and handles various types of information related to the expert system. A query component receives a query that may be a problem, a performance issue, or a training request selected from a list or diagram or otherwise generated by a customer. An answer component utilizes the knowledge base, the database, an external database, and/or an expert to provide one or more answers to the query. A question and answer session may be initiated by the expert system in order to gain further information and detail related to the query. Supplemental information and the identified answers may be provided to the customer.
US08271392B2
A method and system for processing a financial transaction using a payment card through a third-party interchange network is provided. The financial transaction is initiated by a cardholder at a merchant location. The method includes storing a list of private label participating merchants, receiving an authorization request for the transaction involving the payment card wherein the authorization request includes a merchant location identifier for the merchant location where the transaction occurred, performing a merchant screening process on the transaction including validating the transaction as originating at a private label participating merchant location, manipulating at the interchange network the authorization request to include a private label identifier when the transaction is determined to have originated at one of the participating merchants, and transmitting the manipulated authorization request with the private label identifier to an issuer of the payment card for processing as a private label transaction.
US08271389B2
Techniques described herein overcome many of the issues that have previously made the printing of a single copy of a book from a digital version unattractive and infeasible. According to one embodiment of the invention, an automated mechanism such as a computer program automatically determines whether the spine thickness of a to-be-printed copy of a digital version of a book will exceed the specified maximum spine thickness that a specified binding or other finishing device can handle. In response to determining that the spine thickness will exceed the specified maximum spine thickness, the automated mechanism automatically splits the digital version of the book into two or more volumes such that, for each volume, the spine thickness of the printed version of that volume will be no greater than the specified maximum spine thickness that the specified binding or other finishing device can handle.
US08271387B2
A method and apparatus for providing limited access to data objects or files within an electronic software delivery and management system are described. A data object is transmitted to the system for storage in a library. Input of one or more restriction parameters is further requested for the stored data object. A user interface is displayed in a display window for facilitating input of the restriction parameters. At least one customer is selected, such as, for example, one or more users authorized to receive the stored data object. The stored data object is further designated as restricted data object for the selected users. Finally, the user restriction information is stored in appropriate tables within a database.
US08271382B2
One method involves the use of stored value account that may be used, for example, to make internet payments, and that can be credited using a variety of payment techniques. Such a method involves receiving money at a money transfer location from a potential purchaser. The money is then stored as an electronic record in a stored value account of the purchaser. This money is then available for transfer at the request of the purchaser. Upon such a request, the money may be electronically sent to a recipient and the stored value account may be debited.
US08271380B2
System and methods for facilitating the settlement of financial accounts across different entities utilize a host computer system that tracks financial transactions made at each merchant location or store and uses this information to reconcile accounts across different entities. In one embodiment, for redemption transactions that occurred within one of the entities other than where the associated account was activated, the host computer system is configured to prepare a request to transfer a redemption amount to a central account from an entity account associated with where the account was activated, and to prepare a request to transfer less than the redemption amount from the central account to an entity account associated with where the redemption transaction occurred.
US08271359B2
A device and method for permitting access to a real time data stream through prepayments or other payment arrangements and/or calculating a fee corresponding to usage of a real time data stream, wherein the real time data stream includes transcript data from a court transcription. In one example, a device may include a data collection device for receiving prepayment data, such as a code, key, token, pass that may contain purchase units therein; and a counter. In one embodiment, if the counter contains a value representing unused real time connections, then the data collection device permits the computing device to access to the real time data stream. In one example, the prepayment data includes a code containing a number representing a quantity of connections that may be made to the real time data stream. In another example, a method may include receiving the real time data stream; extracting one or more billing data elements from the real time data stream; storing said one or more billing data elements for processing; and calculating the fee based on at least one of the one or more billing data elements. In this way, charges may be calculated and levied or itemized according to the usage of such a real time service during a court proceeding such as a deposition.
US08271357B2
Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to monitor an activity level associated with queries made in an online marketplace over a monitoring time period to provide an activity rate, and to determine that the activity rate has crossed a merchandising threshold rate. In response, a cluster of items or item groups associated with the queries may be presented on a display, perhaps in conjunction with a landing page merchandising promotion. Additional apparatus, system, and methods are disclosed.
US08271354B2
Method and system for providing a notification function for bookmarked music clips broadcast over a radio station to provide to a user of an electronic music marking device such that when the playlist for the bookmarked music clips is available, the user can access information corresponding to the bookmarked music clips, while when the playlist for the bookmarked music clips is not available, the user is notified that the playlist is unavailable, and when the playlist becomes available, the an email is generated and transmitted to the user informing the user that the playlist corresponding to the user's bookmarked music clips is available, and further, the email may include a hypertext link attachment which may be configured to automatically re-direct the user's browser terminal to display the playlist corresponding to the bookmarked music clips on the user's electronic music marker device account.
US08271352B2
A method of providing recommendations is disclosed and includes receiving a selection of an offering via an online site. The method also includes outputting a detail page related to the offering via the online site. The detail page includes a first selectable indicator corresponding to a social network of a visitor and a second selectable indicator corresponding to unfiltered content. The method also includes outputting at least one recommendation via the detail page. Each recommendation is associated with a member of the social network when input received via the online site indicates a selection of the first selectable indicator.
US08271348B2
Systems and methods are presented for generating consumable orders for document processing devices and for verifying approved source consumable usage in document processing devices, in which a customer computer receives electronic reports from the devices and from these ascertains whether particular devices will need replacement consumables and also whether non-program consumable products are being used in particular devices. If a replacement will be required, the customer computer presents a proposed order to the customer via prompting content customizable by a reseller. The customer can then accept, modify, or reject the proposed order, and any accepted or modified order is forwarded to an account manager system for automatic placement for consumable shipment from a manufacturer or distributor. If the device has a non-program consumable installed, the customer computer notifies the account manager system and may warn the customer that continued usage may void one or more warranty extensions or other program incentive.
US08271347B2
A self-distribution method and system for distributing information content among network connected devices includes receiving a query having a code against a database from a wireless communications device, the code uniquely representing one of an advertising campaign, a product, or a service. A result set is generated by querying the database, forwarding a link associated with the result set to a user-preferred remote location, the link being sent in an electronic message. The link directs a user to a first version of information content. A plurality of options to purchase user-preferred items from the first version of information content include “purchase now” and “purchase later” features. A reminder message is forwarded to the wireless communications device if a user at the remote location selects the “purchase later” feature. The user is enabled to conduct a purchase transaction from the remote location or the wireless communications device.
US08271341B2
The present invention provides systems and methods for enabling a consumer to acquire media content items.
US08271339B2
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for providing real-time, two-way transactional capabilities on the Web. Specifically, one embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for enabling object routing, the method comprising the steps of creating a virtual information store containing information entries and attributes associating each of the information entries and the attributes with an object identity, and assigning a unique network address to each of the object identities. A method is also disclosed for enabling service management of the value-added network service, to perform OAM&P functions on the services network.
US08271337B1
The present invention enables the purchase of upgrades by ascertaining and attaching a value to the certainty that the upgrade will be available and adjusting the value of the product or service for purchasers willing to pay a reduced value on the condition that the upgrade may not be available at the time of expiration. Rather than paying the certainty value, the prospective purchaser is given the opportunity to enroll in a pool for the perishable upgrade. At a certain time the perishable is released to the pool of purchasers, who are then selected to purchase the item.
US08271326B1
Systems and methods are disclosed for tracking, reporting and performing processing activities and transactions in association with referral data and related information for a variety of product and service offerings.
US08271320B2
The present invention provides a method and system for enabling an e-commerce website to persist electronic items, such as electronic coupons, gift certificates etc., across multiple browsing sessions. Users are offered electronic items over a communications network during a browsing session. In case the user wishes to save the items for a later browsing session, he/she is prompted for an email address. Details pertaining to the selected items are mapped against the email address. Thereafter, e-mail is sent to the user, containing a URL with the email address of the user embedded in it. Alternatively, entire details corresponding to the items selected during a session are embedded in the URL and in this case they need not be mapped against the email address.
US08271312B2
Example implementations relate to revenue generation based on introduction of revenue-generating features or inconvenience. In some implementations, the logarithmic convexity of a probability function is determined. The probability function may describe a probability that a user will continue to utilize the service based on a level of inconvenience or number of revenue-generating features introduced to the service. In some implementations, a number of periods for introducing the inconvenience or revenue-generating features may then be determined based on the log convexity of the probability function.
US08271300B1
Systems and methods for gathering information for insurance underwriting may present a question from a sequence of questions. Questions in the sequence of questions may relate to an insurance underwriting function. A response to the question may be collected and analyzed. An investigative function may be selected based upon the analysis of the response to the question. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08271295B1
A health clinic broker system is provided. The system comprises at least one computer system and a health clinic broker application that, when executed on the at least one computer system, receives a plurality of health care service requests containing information about a health care need, at least some of the requests seeking to set an appointment for health care. The system also receives a plurality of health care service offerings and provides at least one recommendation for the appointment for health care based on matching the health care service offerings with the health care service request.
US08271287B1
The invention is a method and apparatus for controlling electronic devices from a remote location. The method and apparatus utilizes a remote control device which receives and transmits voice commands as electrical signals to at least one controlled device having a recognition processor which converts received electrical signals to pattern data and compares that pattern data with data stored in the processor. The invention may incorporate the use of a recorder for recording electrical signals in the remote or controlled device and may further include a teaching circuit for retrieving and reproducing voice commands as visual or audio prompts as needed. The invention may be adapted to control multiple controlled devices in coordination so that each coordinated device is made to perform the same or a different function in response to a single voice command is disclosed.
US08271273B2
In order to achieve the best improvement of ITU G.711 related codec perceptual quality, perceptual weighting controlling parameter(s) should be at least adaptive to relative quantization error statistics or adaptive to signal level. When the relative quantization error statistics are larger or the signal level is lower, the perceptual weighting should be “stronger”, which means α in (5) is smaller; when the relative quantization error statistics are smaller or the signal level is larger, the perceptual weighting should be “weaker”, which means α in (5) is larger.
US08271271B2
A method for modification of a cepstro-temporally smoothed gain function of a gain function resulting in a bias compensated spectral gain function is provided. The cepstro-temporal smoothing increases the quality of an enhanced output signal, as it affects only spectral outliers caused by estimation errors, while the speech characteristics are well preserved. However, due to the cepstral transform, the temporal smoothing is done in the logarithmic domain rather than the linear domain, and hence results in a certain bias. Thus, the method for a general bias compensation for a cepstro-temporal smoothing of spectral filter gain functions that is only dependent on the lower limit of the spectral filter-gain function.
US08271270B2
A method, apparatus, and system for encoding or decoding a broadband voice signal are provided. The method includes extracting a linear prediction coefficient (LPC) from the broadband voice signal; outputting a linear prediction (LP) residual signal; pitch-searching a spectrum of the LP residual signal; extracting spectral magnitudes and phases of the LP residual signal, which correspond to a damping factor; obtaining, from among the extracted spectral magnitudes and phases, a first spectral magnitude and a first phase at which a power value of the LP residual signal is minimized; quantizing the first spectral magnitude and the first phase; and decoding the broadband voice signal. The apparatus includes a linear prediction coefficient (LPC) analyzer; an LPC inverse filter; a pitch searching unit; a sinusoidal analyzer; and a phase and spectral magnitude quantizer. The system includes a broadband voice encoding apparatus and a broadband voice decoding apparatus.
US08271253B2
Methods are provided for performing depth-first searches of concrete models of systems using control flow information of the system for improved reachability analysis. The concrete model's control structure and dependencies are extracted and an over-approximated (conservative) abstract control model is created. The abstract control model simulates the concrete model during model checking. Model checking the abstract control model produces execution traces based on the control paths of the concrete model. These execution traces may be used to guide a state space search on the concrete model during invariant checking to determine satisability of one or more selected invariants of the system.
US08271246B2
A system and method is provided for minimizing lost circulation associated with the operation of a subterranean reservoir. The system includes one or more sources, such as earth modeling and fracture analysis tools, for providing data representative of a fracture formation in the reservoir, and a computer processor in communication with the data sources for determining an appropriate blend of lost circulation material products for application to the fracture formation. The computer processor is programmed with computer readable code for selecting a plurality of candidate products for application to the fracture formation, and for mathematically determining an optimized blend of the selected products. By applying the optimized blend, material and labor costs associated with well operation can be significantly reduced.
US08271242B2
A method that is suitable for modelling and simulating optical properties in special effect paints which contain pigments with isotropic light-scattering properties and pigments with anisotropic light-scattering properties, and the effect-producing substances form at least one layer of material or coat of paint on a suitable substrate. The method is characterised in that the isotropically light-scattering pigments and the anisotropically light-scattering pigments are virtually separated such that the isotropically light-scattering pigments virtually form the layer of material and the anisotropically light-scattering pigments are virtually arranged on the edge surfaces of the layer of material. The optical properties of the virtual layer of material of the isotropically light-scattering pigments are determined by linear differential equations and the optical properties of the anisotropically light-scattering pigments are taken into consideration as boundary conditions, by means of specific effect operators.
US08271240B2
In a method of electronic design automation, discretized meshes of layers of current conducting materials of a computerized device model are determined. Each discretized mesh corresponds to the current conducting material of one model layer. For each discretized mesh, a corresponding impedance matrix having cells is determined. Each cell includes an impedance value Zij which is based on a voltage (Vi) induced in a cell i of the discretized mesh due to a current (Ij) flowing in a cell j of the discretized mesh. A subset of the cells, including impedance values, of the impedance matrices is dispatched to node computers via an electronic communications network. In response to dispatching the cells of the impedance matrices, charge densities estimated by the node computers to exist on a subset of the cells of the discretized meshes are returned.
US08271237B2
Improved 8-node hexahedral elements configured for reducing shear locking in finite element method are disclosed. According to one aspect, aspect-ratio based scale factors are introduced to modify partial derivatives of the isoparametric shape function of the hexahedral element with respect to isoparametric dimensions, respectively. The modified derivatives are used for calculating the Jacobian matrix thereby the rate-of-strain. The scale factor is configured such that no changes for a perfect cubic solid element (i.e., element having aspect ratio of 1 (one) in all three spatial dimensions), while significant changes for element having poor aspect ratio. In other words, elements with poor aspect ratio are mapped to a perfect cubic element using the aspect-ratio based scale factors. According to anther aspect, off-diagonal components in the local Jacobian matrix are directly modified by cancelling terms related to spurious shear deformation modes. This measure completely alleviates the shear locking effect even for perfectly shaped elements.
US08271236B2
A method of predicting breakage properties of a particulate material when subjected to impact, the method including: calculating a breakage index for the particulate material using the following equation: Breakage Index=M{I−exp[−fmatxk−E]} where: M represents the maximum breakage of particles for the particulate material; fmat is a material parameter that is a function of the particulate material being broken and particle size; x is the initial particle size of the particulate material prior to impact; E is a measure of the specific energy applied to the particulate material; and k is the number of impacts with specific energy E.
US08271233B2
A fault isolation method and system includes tailored fault isolators for each grouping of similar data to differentiate between one or several potential faults within any group.
US08271227B2
A measuring transducer has a sensor for recording a physical or chemical parameter and for generating a corresponding measurement signal and has an analytical device for determining a measured value dependent on the measurement signal and for outputting the measured value. A first interface for digital transmission of the measured value and a second interface are provided between the sensor and the analytical device. The analytical device is provided with a signal by the second interface, providing the measurement signal from the sensor. A synchronization of the analytical device t to the sampling time of the sensor is thus possible.
US08271213B2
A system and method for online monitoring partial discharge of a generator are disclosed. The system is connected in parallel with a busbar between the generator and electric network, includes: a near-end circuit on a generator side, which includes a near-end capacitive coupling sensor connected to the busbar and a near-end impedor connected in series with the near-end capacitive coupling sensor; a far-end circuit on an electric network side, which includes a far-end capacitive coupling sensor connected to the busbar and a far-end impedor connected in series with the far-end capacitive coupling sensor; and a detection device, which has a near-end input terminal connected to a connection point between the near-end capacitive coupling sensor and the near-end impedor through a near-end cable, a far-end input terminal connected to a connection point between the far-end capacitive coupling sensor and the far-end impedor through a far-end cable, and a processing unit.
US08271209B2
Methods, systems and computer program products for identifying components of an unknown mixture using spectral analysis techniques. The method includes comparing the spectrum of the unknown mixture with the spectra of library compounds to obtain candidate mixture combinations. A model is generated for each of the candidate mixture combinations based on a modeling metric. A residual spectrum is computed corresponding to each of the candidate mixture combinations by removing the spectrum of each of the compounds of the candidate mixture combination from the spectrum of the unknown mixture. One or more potential compounds are identified by comparing the residual spectrum with the spectrum of library compounds. The potential compounds are added to the candidate mixture combinations to generate an updated list of the candidate mixture combinations. The search algorithm repeats the steps described above on the updated candidate mixture combinations, until a first termination condition is satisfied.
US08271199B2
A method for forming a borehole image includes fitting logging sensor measurements residing in each of a plurality of azimuthal windows with corresponding mathematical fitting functions. The functions may then be evaluated at one or more corresponding azimuthal positions to obtain at least one sector value for each of the azimuthal windows. A two dimensional borehole image may be formed by repeating the procedure at multiple measured depths in the borehole.
US08271191B2
Methods and systems for determining reliability of Global Positioning System (GPS) ground speed. An example system receives GPS track information and GPS ground speed, determines a change in GPS track information and determines reliability of the GPS ground speed based on the determined change in GPS track information relative to the GPS ground speed. The system sets a GPS ground speed based on the determined reliability. A GPS ground speed output is set to zero, if the GPS ground speed is determined unreliable and the GPS ground speed output is set to the GPS ground speed, if the GPS ground speed is determined reliable. The system sends the GPS ground speed output to a Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS). Also, the system sets the GPS ground speed output to zero, if a received GPS ground speed validity signal or a received GPS track validity signal indicate invalid.
US08271188B2
Location may be determined based on a map that includes a plurality of transition patterns for a geographic feature. Each such transition pattern is different from the others.
US08271186B2
A synthetic vision type viewing system SVS for a first aircraft includes at least position sensors of the first aircraft, a traffic detection system for calculating the position and the dangerousness of at least one second aircraft presenting a risk of collision with the first aircraft based on data obtained from sensors or from the TCAS or ADS-B, an electronic computer, a human-machine interface device and a display screen. The computer includes a processing unit configured to process different information obtained from the database, from the sensors and from the interface device. The processing unit is configured to provide the display screen with a synthetic image of the space surrounding the first aircraft and center on the latter. The image includes at least one first symbol of the first aircraft and a second representation of the past and present trajectory of the second aircraft.
US08271176B2
An end point of a reference speed zone is obtained in which a host vehicle travels at a reference speed by controlling an adjustment amount of a drive source output of the host vehicle, without applying a preset correspondence relation regarding an accelerator pedal position and the adjustment amount of the drive source output of the host vehicle. After the host vehicle passes the end point of the reference speed zone, the adjustment amount is changed by a first degree of change if an actual adjustment amount and an adjustment amount corresponding to application of the correspondence relation with the accelerator pedal position do not coincide.
US08271173B2
A control method for vehicular hybrid powertrain system includes monitoring operator inputs to an accelerator pedal and a transmission gear selector, and determining an operator torque request based upon the operator inputs to the accelerator pedal and the transmission gear selector. Torque output from the electric machine is commanded based upon the operator torque request. Engine output is controlled based upon the operator torque request and the commanded torque output from the electric machine. Vehicle hood position is monitored and the engine output is controlled correlative to the operator input to the accelerator pedal when the monitored position of the vehicle hood is open and the operator input to the transmission gear selector is one of a PARK and a NEUTRAL position.
US08271171B2
A method for clutch characteristic curve adaptation of an automatic dual-clutch transmission which comprises two sub-gearboxes each with an input shaft connected, via a friction clutch, to the drive shaft of a motor and several gears that are shifted via a friction-synchronized gear clutch. A value of the current touch point of the friction clutch can be determined with the motor running and the gears disengaged in a load-free sub-gearbox. The method includes the steps of starting synchronization of a gear clutch with a defined force of a regulator. Waiting until the gear clutch is synchronized. Engaging the friction clutch of the until the gear clutch is synchronizes. Determination the current touch point from the current synchronous torque of the gear clutch and the current regulating parameter of the associated clutch regulator. Then, adapting the clutch characteristic curve of the friction clutch in view of the current touch point.
US08271169B2
An ECU executes a program that outputs a shift command when a determination has been made to perform a power-on downshift (i.e., YES in S100); controls the hydraulic pressure supplied to a friction engagement element to perform the power-on downshift; allows the correction of the hydraulic pressure supplied to the friction engagement element during the power-on downshift when the difference between a target input torque and an estimated input torque is equal to or less than a threshold value ΔTT (1) (i.e., YES in S130); and correcting the hydraulic pressure supplied to the friction engagement element during the power-on downshift.
US08271164B2
The invention provides a guidance system for guiding a towed agricultural implement such as seeders, planters, sprayers and the like, along a preferred path between rows of growing crop or standing stubble by sensing the rows of growing crop or standing stubble with a uniquely designed paddle-like sensor means which does not engage the ground.
US08271161B2
A method and system, according to one embodiment of the present invention, provide a means to securely store odometer information in an automobile. A distance traveled by the automobile is calculated. The distance traveled is then stored in both a first and second memory unit within the automobile.
US08271160B2
In a method for checking the proper functioning of a component in a vehicle by evaluating the system state of the component with the aid of a sensor, a state variable is measured first and then the measured state variable is examined for at least one characteristic feature that is descriptive of the system state of the component.
US08271158B2
A system maintains communication between a plurality of unmanned vehicles within an environment. The system includes a sensor component and an evaluator. The sensor component senses objects within the environment. The sensor component is located on a first unmanned vehicle. The evaluator evaluates data from the sensor component. The evaluator is located on the first unmanned vehicle. The evaluator compares data for the first unmanned vehicle and a second unmanned vehicle and determines whether a trajectory of one of the first and second unmanned vehicles may be modified to maintain communication between the first unmanned vehicle and the second unmanned vehicle.
US08271157B2
A steering mechanism is provided on an equilateral triangular base of a mobile mechanism, and three joints are attached to the base at the three vertexes thereof. Links are attached to the three joints respectively. On each link is provided a steering mechanism. The equilateral triangular base of the mobile mechanism is moved or rotated by periodically driving the three joints while steering the four steering mechanisms.
US08271155B2
There is elucidated a safety system for a marine vessel. The vessel includes two engines coupled to propellers for propelling the vessel through water. The vessel is provided with a digital anchor in communication with the two engines for maintaining the vessel substantially at a defined location when the anchor is activated. The safety system includes a sensor assembly coupled to a data processing assembly for sensing a region of said water at least partially surrounding the vessel for detecting one or more persons present in the region and for modifying operation of the digital anchor in response to the one or more persons being detected. The invention is of advantage in that the digital anchor is capable of responding to the one or more persons being present in the water and thereby reducing a risk of injury or loss of life when the digital anchor is employed.
US08271143B2
Disclosed is a control system for controlling a plurality of fluidly and operably connected water heaters to meet a hot water demand such that overall efficiency is maximized and usage disparity between water heaters is minimized. There is further disclosed a method for detecting a small system demand in said network by adjusting the setting of each flow limiting valve of each water heater. There is still further disclosed a method for enabling seamless addition or removal of a heater in service and heating load distribution to water heaters.
US08271142B2
Provided is an easy to use valve controller designed to obtain optimum operation performance. The valve controller is designed to control the valve opening of an expansion valve by calculating the valve opening such that a detected temperature coincides with a target temperature. The valve controller includes an automatic for calculating a deviation between the detected temperature and the target temperature and for calculating a changing amount of the valve opening by substituting at least the deviation and a set control parameter into an arithmetic expression to automatically set the control parameter. The valve controller further includes and control level adjuster for adjusting a magnitude of the valve opening calculated with the control parameter set by the automatic tuning means in stages in accordance with a set control level.
US08271137B2
There is provided a robot, which compensates for the angle of a joint, bent due to external force, using a redundant degree of freedom of the robot, and a method of controlling the same. The method includes sensing a bending angle of a joint due to external force or a torque applied to the joint, comparing the bending angle of the joint or the torque applied to the joint with an allowable safety reference value; and adjusting the bending angle of a higher-level joint of the joint using a redundant degree of freedom of the robot, when the bending angle or the torque reaches the allowable safety reference value, thereby compensating for the excessively bending angle of the joint and thus being capable of safely controlling the robot.
US08271134B2
A robot having a learning control function is disclosed. The robot includes a robot mechanism unit with a sensor on a part to be positionally controlled and a control unit for controlling the operation of the robot mechanism unit. The control unit includes a normal control unit for controlling the operation of the robot mechanism unit, and a learning control unit for operating the robot mechanism unit according to a task program and carrying out the learning to calculate the learning correction amount in order that position of the part of the robot mechanism unit to be controlled which is detected by the sensor approaches a target trajectory or a target position assigned for the normal control unit. The learning control unit calculates the maximum speed override that can be set with in the learning operation, and carries out the learning to calculate the learning correction amount while increasing the speed override a plurality of times until the maximum speed override is reached.
US08271123B2
An embroidery data generating apparatus includes a thread color acquisition device, a first line segment data generating device, an expanded data generating device, a second line segment data generating device, a color allocating device, a connecting line segment data generating device, and an embroidery data generating device. The thread color acquisition device acquires a plurality of available thread colors. The first line segment data generating device generates first line segment data. The expanded data generating device generates expanded data. The second line segment data generating device generates second line segment data. The color allocating device allocates an embroidery thread color to each piece of the second line segment data. The connecting line segment data generating device generates connecting line segment data. The embroidery data generating device generates embroidery data.
US08271110B2
The present invention provides a sound source supply apparatus capable of playing music with less degradation of sound by processing an original sound source such that music is not determined to be a noise.According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a sound source supply apparatus (20) for providing a service for playing music via a portable terminal (105), the sound source supply apparatus having a sound source file storage device (200) for preliminarily storing a plurality of types of processed sound source files (202 and 203) produced by processing an original sound source of the music so as to reduce degradation of sound according to a plurality of types of codec characteristics and a sound source playback device (300) for determining a codec type (106) of the portable terminal (105) from a start signal indicative of a playback request when the sound source playback device receives the start signal, playing back one processed sound source file corresponding to the determined codec type selectively from the plurality of types of processed sound source files (202 and 203), and supplying the one processed sound source file to the portable terminal (105) so as to play the music via the portable terminal.
US08271103B2
A system and computer-implemented method for creating a new model or updating a previously-created model based on a template are described. A template is generated from a previously-created model. The previously-created model specifies a set of parameters associated with a manufacturing process, a process tool or chamber. Variables associated with the manufacturing process are acquired, monitored, and analyzed. A statistical analysis (or multivariate statistical analysis) is employed to analyze the monitored variables and the set of parameters. When any of the monitored variables satisfy a threshold condition, a new model is created or the parameters of the previously-created model are updated, adjusted, or modified based on the template and the monitored variables. A user interface facilitating communication between a user and the systems and display of information is also described.
US08271097B2
Various embodiments relating to MRI safe, multi-polar active fixation stimulation leads with co-radial construction are disclosed. Some embodiments, allow the use of the generally smaller diameter co-radially constructed body (coated wires) to construct an active fixation lead, with an extendable/retractable fixation mechanism. Some embodiments use a connector assembly with an inner terminal ring, a terminal pin partially rotatably positioned within the annular inner terminal ring, and one or more resilient C-clips disposed within circumferential recesses. The resilient C-clips mechanically and electrically couple the inner terminal ring and the terminal ring while substantially limiting relative longitudinal translation of the terminal pin. In some embodiments, the connector assembly can be connected to an electrically inactive torque tube disposed longitudinally within the flexible body of the lead such that rotation of the terminal pin relative to the lead body causes rotation and longitudinal translation of a fixation helix relative to the body.
US08271093B2
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a system for deriving physiologic measurement values that are relative to ambient conditions. In one embodiment, the system comprises an implantable medical device (“IMD”), an external computing device, and a backend computing system. The IMD determines an absolute physiologic parameter value within a patient's body, and communicates the absolute physiologic parameter value outside the patient's body, for example, to the external computing device. Further, the external computing device receives the absolute physiologic parameter from the IMD and communicates it to the backend computing system. The backend computing system receives the absolute physiologic parameter value and obtains an ambient condition value outside the body that can affect the absolute physiologic parameter value. The backend computing system then calculates a relative physiologic parameter value from the ambient condition value and the absolute physiologic parameter value, and in some embodiments, stores the relative physiologic parameter value in a storage location, such as a memory or database.
US08271088B2
This document discusses, among other things, methods and systems for facilitating automated device programming at changeout. A method comprises receiving, from a first device, physiological data at a temporary storage device; and processing the received physiological data, wherein the processing includes determining if a first signal processing function was used by the first device and substantially offsetting the first signal processing function if the first signal processing function was used by the first device; and processing the resultant physiological data to be compatible with a second device. The method further comprising providing the processed resultant physiological data to the second device.
US08271085B2
An implantable medical device has an impedance or admittance determination unit, an alternating current or voltage source, a measuring unit, and an analysis unit which is connected to the alternating current or AC voltage source and the measuring unit to calculate an impedance value or an admittance value at different times. The impedance or admittance determination unit may generate measuring current having two different frequencies (preferably below 100 kHz), and the analysis unit may calculate pairs of impedance or admittance values which are chronologically assigned to one another for different frequencies of the measuring current, and calculate a value for a blood impedance or blood admittance component which is independent of the impedance of the body tissue surrounding a particular blood vessel, The analysis unit may also determine trends in this value over time as an indicator for a change of blood hematocrit value.
US08271073B2
A medical device and associated method for discriminating cardiac events includes determining whether a first match score is within a first match zone having a first correlation with a non-treatable cardiac event, a second match zone having a second correlation with the non-treatable cardiac event less than the first correlation, a third match zone having a first correlation with a treatable cardiac event, and a fourth match zone having a second correlation with the treatable cardiac event greater than the first correlation with the treatable cardiac event. In response to the first match score being within one of the first and second match zones, a determination is made whether consecutive match scores are within the first match zone and whether a break in the treatable cardiac event has occurred. Cardiac evidence is accumulated in response to determining whether a break has occurred and utilized to discriminate cardiac events.
US08271070B2
A method for monitoring left ventricular (LV) myocardial wall thickness. The method includes: obtaining real time images of a periodically spatially changing myocardium and segmenting the myocardium in such images; calculating wall thickness of the myocardium from each one of the obtained images; and performing a dynamic harmonic analysis of the calculated thickness to determine spatial changes in the thickness of the wall of the myocardium. The method applies the calculated wall thickness to a predictor to determine changes in the thickness of the wall of the myocardium. The method applies the calculated wall thickness to a predictor to determine the periodicity the myocardium.
US08271069B2
A surgical navigation system for navigating a region of a patient that may include a non-invasive dynamic reference frame and/or fiducial marker, sensor tipped instruments, and isolator circuits. The dynamic reference frame may be placed on the patient in a precise location for guiding the instruments. The dynamic reference frames may be fixedly placed on the patient. Also the dynamic reference frames may be placed to allow generally natural movements of soft tissue relative to the dynamic reference frames. Also methods are provided to determine positions of the dynamic reference frames. Anatomical landmarks may be determined intra-operatively and without access to the anatomical structure.
US08271067B1
A graphical visualization tool is disclosed that enables a user to graphically define multiple pre-scan volumes on a localizer image. The tool automatically determines appropriate shim values for both pre-scan volumes. Additionally, the tool displays the pre-scanned volumes on the localizer image such that the user knows that the slices/slabs for high resolution imaging are positioned in the region where the user wants the center frequency to lie.
US08271057B2
Device, system, and method of condition-based activation, shut-down and management of applications of mobile devices. For example, a method includes: based on one or more collected information items, determining whether or not a condition related to a mobile device is true; and based on the determination, controlling a monitored application of the mobile device by performing at least one of: activating the monitored application; shutting down the monitored application; activating a feature of the monitored application; deactivating a feature of the monitored application; and switching the monitored application from a first mode of operation to a second, different, mode of operation.
US08271056B2
A battery conservation component synchronizes with a user's schedule or calendar. The battery conservation component may disable functions or features to ensure that the device has sufficient battery life for selected calendar events. The battery conservation component may warn the user if a battery charge is necessary to make selected calendar events. The battery conservation component may be applied to a wide variety of portable devices with time-sensitive events. For example, the battery conservation component may be applied to a device with vehicle navigation and estimate time-sensitive events based on waypoints in the vehicle's route. The battery conservation component may synchronize with a user's travel itinerary. Alternatively, the battery conservation component may suggest alternative functions or features based on a time-sensitive event, such as suggesting a shorter movie on a flight or road trip.
US08271055B2
An interface transceiver power management method and apparatus including controlled circuit complexity and power supply voltage reduces power consumption when interface conditions will support a transceiver having reduced complexity. The power supply voltage of the reduced complexity logic is then reduced if the lowered complexity will support a lower power supply voltage. The reduced complexity in combination with a reduced power supply voltage decreases power consumption to a greater degree than reducing transceiver complexity alone.The complexity of processing blocks within the receiver and/or transmitter are adjusted in conformity with one or more selection signals and an operating voltage level is selected in accordance with the requirements of the reduced complexity circuit. An interface quality measurement circuit may provide the selection signal, so that the transceiver complexity is adjusted in response to measured interface conditions or an external pin or register bit may be coupled to a select input.
US08271051B2
A method and system for eliminating echo in a speaker-microphone communication system are provided. The method includes the steps of: performing a noise energy estimating process on a local microphone signal in order to obtain an estimated noise signal, wherein the local microphone signal includes a local voice signal, possible background noise signal, and possible remote voice signal output from a speaker and received by a microphone; performing an echo estimating process on a remote voice signal to obtain an estimated echo signal, wherein the remote voice signal is output from the speaker; determining an error signal from the local microphone signal and the estimated echo signal; calculating a variance (σe2) of the error signal and a variance ({circumflex over (σ)}n2) of the estimated noise signal; calculating a determinant (ξ), wherein the determinant (ξ) corresponds to the variance (σe2) of the error signal and variance ({circumflex over (σ)}n2) of the estimated noise signal; and comparing the determinant (ξ) and a preset threshold, wherein when the determinant (ξ) is lower than the preset threshold, it is determined that double-end talk has not occurred, otherwise, it is determined that double-end talk has occurred.
US08271030B2
A mobile communication terminal including a wireless transceiver configured to perform a video telephony call with at least one other terminal, a display configured to display a first image corresponding to a user of the mobile communication terminal and a second image corresponding to a user of the at least one other terminal during the video telephony call, an input device configured to input a request for an image processing of the first image, and a controller configured to perform a predetermined image processing on the first image according to the input request for the image processing and to control the display to display the image-processed first image as a preview image.
US08271028B2
A dual band amplifier is provided comprising a first matching circuit disposed in a first radiofrequency path between an input port and a first amplifier and a second matching circuit disposed in a second radiofrequency path between the input port and a second amplifier. The first matching circuit transforms a first input impedance of the first amplifier to a predetermined input port impedance when the radiofrequency signal is in a first frequency range and transmits the first input impedance to the input port when the radiofrequency signal is in the second frequency range. The second matching circuit transforms the second input impedance to the input port impedance when the input signal is in the second frequency range and transmits the second input impedance to the input port when the radiofrequency signal is in the first frequency range.
US08271025B2
System(s) and method(s) are provided to manage utilization of radio network technology and display thereof when multiple services and radio network technologies are available to a multi-technology mobile device. Management relies at least in part on a subscriber profile that comprises a network selection profile constructed through market policy, subscriber policy, and application policy for radio technology utilization. Network preference(s) profile is generated on per subscriber, or per subscriber type, basis and is conveyed to a subscriber station over the air. Initial subscriber profile can be delivered at a time of provisioning a multi-technology mobile device, and updated based at least upon subscriber demand, a schedule established by a network operator or service provider, or an event related to coverage area relocation or contracted services. Radio technology preferences and display of associated technologies available to a multi-technology mobile device can be dynamically controlled on a per-call and/or per-application basis.
US08271024B1
The present invention relates to facilitating the delivery of messaging service messages, such as those provided through short messaging services and multimedia messaging services, to a dual-mode terminal through a wireless network as well as through either a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or data access network using a terminal adaptor. The terminal adaptor is capable of providing local wireless communications with the dual-mode terminal, when it is within communication range of the terminal adaptor.
US08271019B2
Provided is an apparatus and method for storing a phone number in a mobile terminal. The apparatus includes a memory that stores a call history in which an outgoing call number and an incoming call number are listed; a phonebook manger that detects a recent phone number from the call history, checks how many times the detected recent phone number has been used to make a call, and determines whether to store the recent phone number; and a Micro-Processor Unit (MPU) that controls the phonebook manager to determine whether the recent phone number can be stored when the call is ended, and, if information that indicates the recent phone number can be stored is received from the phonebook manager, stores the recent phone number in the memory.
US08271018B2
A method, a system, and an equipment for implementing the central control of a 2G network electric regulating antenna are disclosed. The embodiment of the method includes: receiving an ID of the electric regulating antenna to be controlled and a control command; determining the 2G network electric regulating antenna according to the ID; and sending the control command by a 3G base station equipment to the 2G network electric regulating antenna to control the 2G network electric regulating antenna. The embodiment of the system includes a control platform and a 3G base station equipment. The embodiment of the equipment includes a memory unit and a control unit.
US08271016B2
A method of managing radio resources and a Node B implementing the same are provided. If the total radio resources used in a cell exceed target radio resources signaled by an RNC, uplink rates are equally allocated to primary UEs and non-primary UEs by controlling the signal strengths of the primary and non-primary UEs.
US08271011B2
A method for a response device in an audience response system having a plurality of response devices to wirelessly communicate bulk data includes transmitting a signal and receiving data indicating to the response device to transmit data requests. The method further includes transmitting data request signals, and receiving at least data describing the bulk data in response to a first data request signal and at least a portion of the bulk data in response to a second data request signal.
US08271001B2
A method for allocating paging areas includes: determining a basic paging area currently visited by a User Equipment (UE); and allocating a paging area to this UE according to a history record of motion trace of UEs located in the basic paging area currently visited by this UE. An apparatus for allocating paging areas is disclosed.
US08270999B2
A method for indicating a direction of a destination in a mobile communication terminal includes: receiving network identification information from a mobile communication network that is currently accessed; reading current location and declination information corresponding to the network identification information from a mobile communication network information table; obtaining true north information by using the declination information to correct magnetic north information of a current location measured with a geomagnetic sensor; obtaining direction information of the destination from the current location information on the basis of the true north information; and displaying the direction information of the destination.
US08270997B2
A method of providing a localized information service using an infrastructure of a cellular communication network is described. It comprises a service source terminal transmitting a network upload message to the cellular communication network, said network upload message comprising a payload part, a reflection entity of said cellular communication network receiving said network upload message, generating one or more reflection messages comprising said payload part, and sending said one or more reflection messages to a group of service destination terminals that stand in a predetermined spatial relationship with said service source terminal.
US08270993B2
A proxy server in a wireless communication network and method thereof that receives data from a mobile station, processes the data in conjunction with information contained within proxy server databases, and forwards the data to a Position Determining Entity (PDE). The proxy server may include subscriber and network information databases. The subscriber database may include information regarding characteristics of the mobile station. This subscriber database information may be used by the proxy server to determine whether to forward or modify the data to the PDE. The network information database may include information regarding characteristics of the wireless communication network. The information from the network information database may be used by the proxy server to determine a route to forward the data to the PDE. A billing information database may also be included that prepares billing information based on predetermined characteristics of a roaming environment of the mobile station.
US08270982B2
A method for switching call between a mobile terminal with the same number and a soft terminal includes: receiving the switching instruction information sent by the soft terminal user during the call between the soft terminal or the mobile terminal with the same number and the opposing user; confirming the type of the switching instruction information, and carrying out the switching performance between the mobile terminal with the same number and the soft terminal according to the type of the switching instruction information. A system and an equipment for switching call between a mobile terminal with the same number and a PC client are disclosed in the present invention.
US08270981B2
When a receive signal strength received from a target network that will perform the handoff is larger than a reference strength, software related to the target network is previously installed in the corresponding portable terminal, a wireless connection environment with the target network is configured by driving the software related to the target network at the time of determining that the handoff is performed, and performs the handoff to the target network in the portable terminal.
US08270979B1
Methods and systems for facilitating handoff in a wireless communication network are disclosed. One method entails receiving a sector handoff request from a mobile station, the request including a signaling trend and specifying a sector identifier that identifies a target sector, where multiple available sectors are identified by the sector identifier. The method further entails accessing a history of signaling-trend records, which are indexed per sector, to determine, based on the received signaling trend, which of the multiple available sectors is the intended target sector, and, responsive to the determination of the intended target sector, causing the mobile station to be served by the intended target sector. Other embodiments include a system for implementing the methods and a method in which a mobile station requests handoff to a target sector and provides a signaling trend upon request when it is determined that multiple available sectors have the same sector identifier.
US08270978B1
A method and apparatus for performing a handover of a communication session from a non-3GPP access network to a 3GPP access network in which only a Gn/Gp-based Serving GPRS Support Node has been deployed in the 3GPP access network. The method includes establishing the communication session between a user equipment and an Evolved Packet Core through the non-3GPP access network, and performing a handover of the communication session from the non-3GPP access network to the 3GPP access network. Performing the handover includes providing information to the UE of a selected packet data network gateway prior to performing the handover, and providing the information of the selected packet data network gateway from the user equipment to the 3GPP access network during the handover to maintain continuity of the communication session between the user equipment and the Evolved Packet Core.
US08270975B2
A method of managing network traffic within a wireless network (100) comprises identifying a plurality of base stations (111, 121, 131) within the wireless network, categorizing each one of the plurality of base stations according to its type, setting a load balancing parameter (α) for each one of the plurality of base stations according to its type, and, for a handover event involving a handover from a first one of the plurality of base stations to a second one of the plurality of base stations, selecting the second one of the plurality of base stations according to a process that takes into account the load balancing parameters of both the first one of the plurality of base stations and the second one of the plurality of base stations.
US08270971B2
To provide an initialization method that enables a portable terminal device to be initialized with a remote operation even if an insertable/removable user information storing unit is replaced with one possessed by a third party in the portable terminal device that performs an incoming/outgoing operation on the basis of identification information registered to the user information storing unit, a communication system includes a portable terminal device that obtains first identification information and second identification information from a user information history storing unit and notifies a switch of the obtained information, and a switch that searches for the second identification information in an initialization target storing unit, and instructs the portable terminal device into which the user information storing unit to which the first identification information is registered is inserted to initialize data upon detection of the second identification information.
US08270970B1
A network listening method of a mobile phone is provided. The mobile phone includes a code division multiple access (CDMA) chip and two user identity module (UIM) cards. The network listening method executes a first network listening method to listen to a communication network, if a listening frequency of the first UIM card equals a listening frequency of the second UIM card and the listening channel of first UIM card equals the listening channel of the second UIM card. The network listening method further executes a second network listening method to listen to the communication network, if the listening frequency of the first UIM card does not equal the listening frequency of the second UIM card and/or the listening channel of first UIM card does not equal the listening channel of second UIM card.
US08270961B2
A mobile telephone can be configured to interact with external services by using a client application on the telephone that interacts with several external services via an intermediary server. The server sends, to the mobile telephone, configuration information to enable or disable defined sets of functionality in the application, the configuration information depending on and appropriate to the particular external service selected on the mobile telephone and being sent automatically to the mobile telephone over-the-air. An implementation of the invention enables a single client application on the mobile telephone to automatically configure features on / off, and modify the terminology used in resources (such as menus, text strings, bitmap images, sounds, sonic effects etc.) depending on the external system or service that the client is connected to via the intermediary server.
US08270956B1
A system and associated methods and media of delivering a notification of an incoming call and a series of interactive options such that a user can provide call-handling instructions to a wireless communications network for the incoming call. The notification and interactive options are transferred to a display device across at least a partially wired network. The indication and caller-identification information is inserted into a video stream that is communicated from the video-providing component to a media-receiving device that is in communication with a display device. The video-providing component receives call-handling instructions from the media-receiving device, as selected by a user, regarding the incoming call and then transmits the call-handling instructions to the wireless communications network.
US08270952B2
Various embodiments are disclosed for a services policy communication system and method. In some embodiments, a software developers kit is provided for implementing a verifiable service processor to be stored on a communications device, in which the software developer kit facilitates development of a plurality of service processors for controlling network service usage of a plurality of communications devices and includes one or more tested service processor versions for more or more communications device types.
US08270950B2
A mobile communication device and method for reducing exposure to radio frequency (RF) energy during outgoing and incoming transmissions. During outgoing transmissions, media is stored in a local storage element on the mobile communication device as the media is being created. When the device is positioned a safe distance away from the user, the media is transmitted out of storage over the network to the recipient. Alternatively for incoming transmissions, media is stored on the network as it is created. While the wireless communication device is a safe distance away from the user, the media stored on the network is transmitted to the mobile communication device, where it is locally stored. The user of the mobile communication device can then review the incoming media at an arbitrary later time out of storage. As a result, the exposure of the user of the mobile communication device to RF energy for both outgoing and incoming transmissions is either substantially reduced or eliminated altogether.
US08270948B2
A method for avoiding loss of data or consumption of resources between a mobile node and an new access network in which an authentication agent performs authentication with an authentication client of the mobile node to effect access to an enforcement point of said access network, said method comprising informing an authentication client of said mobile node that an authentication agent has completed an installation process with the enforcement point.
US08270938B2
A method of 2-way data and voice communication with a user utilizing a portable device having a cellular transceiver module, a GPS module and an emergency call button is disclosed. The method includes determining whether the portable device is in proximity of the base station; powering down the GPS, placing the portable device into sleep mode and sending a signal to the base station indicating that said portable device is in proximity of the base station when the portable device is in proximity to the base station; and activating and fully powering the cellular transceiver module and activating and fully powering said GPS module when the portable device is not in proximity of said base station. When not in proximity, the method also includes collecting an initial GPS location data from the GPS module and storing the location data into a memory location; placing the GPS module into a lower power mode and fully powering the GPS module, acquiring and storing additional GPS location data only at specified intervals to conserve battery life while monitoring the cellular transceiver module for inquiries and monitoring the emergency call button for an emergency signal. Various other steps occur when the emergency button is depressed which involve communicating with a back end server and collecting and sending various data packets.
US08270932B2
A method and apparatus for performing a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) operation of a connected User Equipment (UE) in a mobile communication system are provided. For a packet service, adjusting an active period length according to the requirements of traffic at a reception time provides a DRX operation. Also, the UE enters into a sleep mode after confirming successful reception of packets including retransmission packets and sending an RLC ACK signal for the packets.
US08270924B2
There is an antenna diversity system for radio reception in moving vehicles which includes a receiver, and at least two antennas coupled to the receiver. These antennas transmit antenna feed signals to an antenna diversity module coupled between the receiver and the antennas. In at least one embodiment, the antenna diversity module comprises at least one evaluation circuit for evaluating an interference in a reception signal, and at least one processor for adjusting a magnitude and a phase angle of a linear combination of the antenna feed signals. The evaluation circuit reads and sends an interference indication signal to the processor to create a relatively low interference signal. Thus, the diversity module combines the antenna feed signals in an adjustable manner based on an magnitude of phase angle, to form a linear combined signal that is present at the output of the antenna diversity module as a reception signal.
US08270919B2
A receiving apparatus includes: an electronic device; a first antenna which is provided so as to be separate from a main body of the electronic device and receives broadcast waves; and a power transmission cable which transmits power to the electronic device. In the power transmission cable, a high-frequency blocking section is disposed on the side of a power source, and at least a part of the power transmission cable functions as a second antenna receiving a broadcast wave. The electronic device includes a diversity processor executing a diversity process on a signal received by the first antenna and a signal received by the second antenna.
US08270909B2
The present disclosure includes systems, apparatuses, and techniques relating to wireless local area network devices. Systems, apparatuses, and techniques include communicating with multiple wireless communication devices to determine characteristics of spatial wireless channels, determining steering matrices based on one or more outputs of the communicating, and transmitting signals that concurrently provide data to the wireless communication devices via different spatial wireless channels. The signals can be spatially steered to the wireless communication devices based on the steering matrices.
US08270907B2
Aspects of a method and system for matching an integrated system to an antenna utilizing on-chip measurement of reflected signals are provided. In a chip comprising at least a portion of a receiver and at least a portion of a transmitter, a best impedance match between an antenna and the chip may be determined based on on-chip measurement of one or more signals reflected from the antenna. The best impedance match between the antenna and the chip may be determined utilizing a correction algorithm. The correction algorithm may be determined utilizing data from an external test set that measures signals transmitted by the chip via the antenna. The reflected signals may be routed to a signal analyzer via on on-chip directional coupler. The best impedance match may be determined for each of a plurality of frequencies and/or each of a plurality of transmit signal strengths.
US08270904B2
A method to transmit local area radio broadcast signals (38) that is coupled to wide area radio broadcast signals (39) is described. Local area radio broadcasting is used to transmit audio content from personal audio players into the audio of an automobile. Local area radio broadcast signals (38) are coupled to wide area radio broadcast signals (39) using time based or algorithm based time slot allocation methods. A personal audio player such as a smartphone (32) or a music player is enabled with a local area broadcast radio signal transmitter (53) that transmits radio signals into a desired channel (35) which may be occupied by a wide area transmitter (68). The local area transmission may be mutually exclusive or overlapping with wide area transmission. When overlapping, signal cancellation techniques may be used such that a signature signal from wide area broadcast station may be cancelled by local area broadcast.
US08270892B2
When a toner image larger than a recording material is formed on an image bearing member, and the toner image is transferred onto the recording material as widely as possible to form an image without margins, a toner in a vicinity of an end portion of the recording material adheres to the recording material while remaining unfixed. In order to suppress the adhesion of the toner to the end portion of the recording material, the recording material is passed through a cleaning unit for the end portion of the recording material after fixation. In the cleaning unit, the recording material is sent askew. By being conveyed while an edge of the end portion of the recording material is rubbed against a cleaning member, the recording material becomes less subject to the adhesion of the toner at the end portion thereof.
US08270891B2
An image forming apparatus includes a developer storage portion for storing developer. The image forming apparatus further includes a developer supply portion for supplying developer through an opening portion of the developer storage portion. When a closing member is attached to the developer storage portion for closing the opening portion, the developer supply portion is separated from the developer storage portion.
US08270884B2
An image forming method using toner comprising toner particles having a core-shell structure comprising a core particle incorporating a viscous material and a shell layer covering the above core particle is disclosed. The method comprises steps of a toner image forming step on a dielectric drum; a first pressure applying step in which the shell layer of the toner particles forming the toner image is subjected to a preliminary break treatment by a first pressure roller, which is arranged in contact with the dielectric drum; and a transfer/fixing step in which a toner image made by the toner particles which have been subjected to a preliminary break treatment by the first pressure applying step is transferred and fixed to an image support by a second pressure roller which is arranged in contact with the dielectric drum.
US08270879B2
An image forming apparatus includes a developing cartridge and rotatable member having a cartridge mounting portion with an engaging portion engageable with a portion of the cartridge. The cartridge includes a developing roller for developing a latent image formed on an image bearing member. The rotatable member is rotatable for moving the mounting portion between a mounting and demounting position for mounting and demounting the cartridge and another position. The engaging portion is movable between a regulating position, in which disengagement of the cartridge from the mounting portion is suppressed, and a permitting position in which the disengagement of the cartridge from the mounting portion is permitted. When the mounting portion is at the another position, the engaging portion is regulated at the regulating position. When the mounting portion is at the mounting and demounting position, the engaging portion is movable from the regulating position to the permitting position.
US08270876B2
A process cartridge usable with an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the process cartridge includes i) an electrophotographic photosensitive drum rotatable about an axis and having a photosensitive layer at its peripheral surface; ii) process means actable on the drum; iii) a coupling member for receiving an external force for rotating the drum, wherein the coupling member is capable of taking a first angular position for transmitting the external force to the drum, a second angular position inclined away from the axis of the drum from the first angular position, and a third angular position away from the axis of the drum from the first angle position; and iv) a regulating portion for regulating an inclination angle of the coupling member such that downward inclination angle of the coupling member is smaller than an inclination angle of the coupling member when the coupling member is at the second angular position.
US08270871B2
An accommodating container includes: a container main body that has an opening at a part thereof; a cap member; and a seal member, wherein the seal member includes a plurality of seal abutment pieces that abut on a wall surface of the cap member or a wall surface of the container main body, and are elastically deformable, and at least one of the seal abutment pieces is arranged in non-contact with the wall surface of the cap member or the wall surface of the container main body in a first state before the cap member is attached to the container main body, and is arranged in contact with the wall surface of the cap member or the wall surface of the container main body in a second state where the cap member has been attached in an attachment position of the container main body.
US08270866B2
A cooling device having a cooling unit including an air suction port that is disposed at a front surface side of a main body of the cooling device to suck air, and an air exhaust port that is disposed at a rear surface side of the main body of the cooling device to exhaust air, in which the cooling unit transfers heat from a cooling target to air sucked from the air suction port to cool the cooling target, and discharges the heat-transferred air from the air exhaust port.
US08270865B2
Disclosed is an image forming apparatus including an image forming section to perform image formation based on a plurality of jobs, including: a control section to allow a display section to display switching information showing that a paper feeding tray to be used in performing the job is to be switched, the switching information displayed before the plurality of jobs are performed by the image forming section.
US08270858B2
An image forming device includes a sensor to detect whether a paper is discharged or not, a determiner to determine a paper width according to whether a sensing signal is output from the sensor when a printing job is executed, and a controller to control a subsequent printing operation according to the determination result of the determiner. After the printing job is initiated, the determiner determines a normal width when the sensing signal is output within a preset time, and the determiner determines a narrow width when the sensing signal is not output within the present time. Accordingly, using an existing sensor, the paper width can be detected and the appropriate printing process can be performed.
US08270857B2
A prediction table is stored in an NVM and an in-apparatus temperature is measured by a temperature sensor, a registration control adjustment based on the prediction table is carried out if an absolute value of a variation in the in-apparatus temperature is smaller than a threshold, and a registration adjusting patch is formed to actually measure a positional shift amount if the absolute value of the variation in the in-apparatus temperature is equal to or greater than the threshold. When the positional shift amount measured actually is greatly different from a value of the prediction table, the value of the prediction table is modified into the actually measured value.
US08270848B2
A device and a method for receiving a differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) signal and a method for obtaining a DQPSK signal are provided. The device includes: a splitter, configured to split the DQPSK signal to obtain two optical signals; two optical bandpass filters, connected to the splitter and configured to optically bandpass filter the two optical signals respectively, in which the two optical bandpass filters respectively have a positive frequency offset and a negative frequency offset from a central frequency of the DQPSK signal received by the splitter; and two photoelectric detectors, correspondingly connected to the two optical bandpass filters and configured to photoelectrically convert the filtered optical signals to obtain data signals. In the method, the DQPSK signal is filtered and demodulated by the optical bandpass filters, and then photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric detectors to recover the data signals, such that the problems of poor stability and polarization dependence caused by the Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) are avoided, thereby greatly improving the performance of an optical transmission system.
US08270833B2
A passive optical network (PON) system supporting wireless communication includes an optical line terminal (OLT) configured on a central office, an optical distribution network (ODN), and a plurality of optical network units (ONUs) respectively configured on user ends. The ODN is connected to the OLT and the ONUs in a one-to-many manner. The OLT sends a downstream optical signal to the ODN, and receives an upstream optical signal. The ODN circularly guides the optical signal to each ONU. Each ONU receives and reflects the downstream optical signal, processes the received downstream optical signal, receives and processes the upstream optical signal, carries an electrical signal to be uploaded into the upstream optical signal, and carries data received by a remote antenna into the upstream optical signal. Through the above architecture, the PON system supports wireless communication.
US08270829B2
In a network design apparatus, a full channel evaluator determines whether all wavelength channels for main signals can deliver the main signals of an existing optical network. When it is found that one or more wavelength channels cannot deliver main signals, a chromatic dispersion evaluator determines whether there are a specified number of wavelength channels that satisfy a specified chromatic dispersion condition. An optical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) evaluator extracts a specified number of wavelength channels out of those satisfying the chromatic dispersion condition in descending order of optical SNRs thereof, and determines whether the extracted wavelength channels satisfy a specified optical SNR condition.
US08270823B2
A shake correction module for a photographing apparatus, including a base plate, a first slider member capable of moving in a first axis direction with respect to the base plate and accommodating a photographing device, a first drive portion moving the first slider member in the first axis direction, a second slider member capable of moving in a second axis direction that is perpendicular to the first axis direction, a second drive portion moving the second slider member in the second axis direction, and a support member attached to the base plate and pressing one of the first and second slider members. The shake correction module can reduce the effect of shaking during photographing.
US08270816B2
To provide an information recording and/or playback apparatus for dubbing onto a second recording medium all or some of plural pieces of information from a first recording medium in which the plural pieces of information are recorded. The apparatus includes a dubbing function that includes a plurality of dubbing functions respectively having different dubbing information selection methods. In the event of executing dubbing, identifiers enabling selection of one of the plurality of dubbing functions and a display screen for displaying an explanatory text regarding the respective dubbing function is displayed. In addition, when information is selected before the display screen is displayed, the information selection method of the respective dubbing function and an explanatory text to be displayed is changed corresponding to an information selection state.
US08270812B2
A video signal input-output circuit and a recording-reproduction apparatus in which a digitally compressed video signal input in packet form can be recorded and reproduced efficiently and in stable fashion. In this apparatus, a clock reference is detected from a packet signal containing the clock reference and a digitally compressed video signal, a time stamp for a packet is generated using a clock signal in phase with the clock reference and added to the particular packet, and the packet signals with the time stamp added thereto are recorded closely to each other in a data storage element such as a magnetic recording medium. At playback, the packet interval is output by being restored to the original length on the basis of the time stamp added to the packet in store.
US08270810B2
A personal video recorder (PVR) enabled set-top box (STB) may be operable to store an advertisement and associated playback control information received from a media provider into a storage device in the PVR enabled STB, schedule the stored advertisement for viewing based on the associated playback control information. The PVR enabled STB may be operable to insert the stored advertisement into media content for one or more times based on the scheduling. The PVR enabled STB may be operable to cause display of the stored advertisement and the media content in different transport formats. At a forward/reverse playback position during a PVR playback, the PVR enabled STB may be operable to cause display of the stored advertisement when a play count associated with the stored advertisement is less than a count threshold at the forward/reverse playback position.
US08270809B2
Systems and apparatus are described to perform methods including receiving input to apply attributes that represent modifications to appearance of content of the video segment, to a video segment. Multiple modified video segments are generated, each modified video segment being associated with a corresponding attribute applicable to the video segment. The appearances of the multiple modified video segments vary based on corresponding attributes. A selection of a modified video segment associated with a first attribute is received, and a first video segment is generated by associating the first attribute with the video segment.
US08270804B2
In one embodiment, the recording medium includes a data area storing moving picture data, and a navigation area storing navigation information for managing reproduction of the moving picture data. The navigation information includes a metadata indicator indicating whether metadata associated with the moving picture data exists. The metadata is additional information describing content of the moving picture data, and the navigation information includes linking information identifying metadata associated with the moving picture data if the metadata indicator indicates metadata associated with the moving picture data exists. The navigation area may also store a content reference that references the moving picture data associated with the metadata.
US08270799B2
An inlet device is described for inserting a telecommunication cable into a telecommunications enclosure. The inlet device includes a housing compressible portion and a strength member securing section configured to fasten at least one strength member of the cable to the housing. The cable is centered in the housing when a protective sleeve is applied over a compressible portion of the housing. A method for preparing a cable assembly is also described. A telecommunications enclosure including an inlet device is also described.
US08270797B2
The present invention discloses a splice holder, which is used for holding at least one splicing sleeve (4), each of the splicing sleeves (4) is used for coupling two optical fibers. The splice holder comprises: a body; a splice channel (7) provided on the body; and an elastic device (9) in each splice channel, wherein the elastic device holds the splicing sleeve (4) elastically in the splice channel. The present invention also includes a communication socket having a splice holder mounted therein. By the splice holder of present invention, optical fiber connection points can be accommodated in a communication socket, so that electrical cables and optical fibers in the communication socket may be managed in an orderly way. Furthermore, inclusion of the inventive splice holder ensures than a minimum bending radius of optical fiber can be maintained when the optical fiber is stored in the communication socket.
US08270795B2
A hollow fiber has a hollow tube, a reflecting film formed on an inner wall of the hollow tube, and the reflecting film is a first metal film formed by baking a first metal nano particle solution including a first metal nano particle. The hollow fiber may have a transparent film on the first metal film. The transparent film is formed by baking or chemically reacting from a second metal nano particle included in a second metal nano particle solution.
US08270791B2
An optical waveguide of the invention includes a core that is a waveguide through which light propagates; and a cladding that surrounds the core. The core has a plate shape and includes a wide core base part onto which the light is incident, a taper part that is connected to the core base part and of which a width is gradually tapered along a propagation direction, and a narrow front end core part that is connected to the taper part and that extends along the propagation direction. A grating is provided on one of planar surfaces of the wide core base part, the grating is formed by engraving a number of concave grooves having a rectangular cross section on the planar surface along a width direction thereof, the grating is formed to be optically coupled with laser light that is incident perpendicularly onto the grating formation surface, a frequency (grating pitch: pitch of the concave grooves) of the grating is smaller than a wavelength (defined as a wavelength in the cladding) of the perpendicularly incident laser light, and a groove depth H1 of the grating is formed with respect to a thickness H2 of the core base part so that a relationship H1=(0.33 to 0.67)×H2 is satisfied.
US08270779B2
An apparatus comprising an electronic-photonic device. The device includes a planar substrate having a top layer on a middle layer, active electronic components and active photonic waveguide components. The active electronic components are located on first lateral regions of the top layer, and the active photonic waveguide components are located on second lateral regions of the top layer. The second-region thickness is greater than the first-region thickness. The top layer has a higher refractive index than the middle layer.
US08270778B2
A single-photon absorption all-optical signal-processing device, systems employing the same, and methods of making and using the same. Illustrative examples are provided based on silicon semiconductor technology that employs rectangular waveguides fabricated on SOI wafers. In some embodiments, it is observed that the waveguides have surface state density, σ, of not less than 1.5×1018 cm−1s−1mW−1 to provide a single-photon absorption operation mode. In some embodiments, some portion of the ridge waveguide structure has a surface to volume ratio of at least 18 μm−1, computed using a unit length of 1 μm of the waveguide, with the width and depth dimensions of the waveguide being measured in units of microns.
US08270777B2
Provided is an optical modulator wherein frequency characteristics in a high frequency band are further improved and temperature drift phenomenon is more suppressed. The optical modulator is provided with a substrate (1) having electro-optical effects; an optical waveguide (2) formed on the substrate; and a modulation electrode on the substrate. The modulation electrode is composed of a signal electrode for controlling an optical wave guided in the optical waveguide, and ground electrodes (4, 5). A high frequency modulation signal introducing path or a terminator is bonded to at least one of end sections (31, 32) of the signal electrode by bonding (81-86). Dummy electrode sections (131-186) are arranged on the side opposite to the end section of the bonded signal electrode, by having a waveguide path in between.
US08270774B2
An image processing device includes: an interpolation unit configured to perform interpolation along each of a plurality of directions in a neighbor region of a predetermined pixel of interest in an input image, and generate interpolation values for each; a chroma signal alias intensity calculating unit configured to calculate alias intensities of chroma signals from interpolation values of each of the plurality of directions from the interpolation unit; and a direction evaluation unit configured to generate evaluation values corresponding to each of the plurality of directions, based on the alias intensity of each of the chroma signals of the plurality of directions from the chroma signal alias intensity calculating unit.
US08270772B2
Image resizing for web-based searching is described. In one implementation, a system resizes a user-selected thumbnail image into a larger version of the image that emulates the quality of a large, original image, but without downloading the original image. First, the system extracts resizing parameters when each thumbnail image is created. Then, the system creates a codebook of primitive visual elements extracted from a collection of training images. The primitive visual elements in the codebook provide universal visual parts for reconstructing images. The codebook and a resizing plug-in can be sent once to the user over a background channel. When the user selects a thumbnail image for enlargement, the system resizes the thumbnail image via interpolation and then refines the enlarged image with primitive visual elements from the codebook. The refinement creates an enlarged image that emulates the quality of the large, original image, without downloading the original image.
US08270768B2
A method of rendering a multi-view image comprising a first output image and a second output image on basis of an input image (102) is disclosed. The method comprises: creating a modulation image (100) comprising irregular shaped objects (106-112); modulating pixel values of a portion of the input image (102) on basis of further pixel values of the modulation image (100), resulting into an intermediate image (104); and generating the multi-view image by means of warping the intermediate image on basis of the disparity data.
US08270763B2
Image transforms that can be performed through a reverse lookup process in which output pixel addresses of an output image are reverse transformed into input pixel addresses. In some embodiments, rather than reverse transforming all output pixel addresses, a subset of output pixel addresses can be reverse transformed to calculate transformed addresses. The reverse transforms of all output pixel address may then be approximately calculated by interpolating the transformed addresses. The approximately transformed addresses can then be used as read addresses to a memory storing the input image.
US08270762B1
A method of calibrating the intensity with which light is emitted through the light-emission face of an optical fiber light line assembly employs (i) a data processing system with computer memory, (ii) a camera communicatively linked to the data processing system, and (iii) a signal-responsive scoring device communicatively linked to the data processing system. Light is introduced into the assembly, an image of the emitting face is captured, and corresponding image data is stored in computer memory. The image data is segmented into plural image-data segments corresponding to physical sub-regions of the imaged face. The image-data segments are algorithmically analyzed to identify the sub-region that emits inputted light with the lowest intensity, and emission-intensity data associated with that sub-region is identified as reference emission data. Comparative analysis of the image-data segments identifies “non-compliant” sub-regions that emit light with unacceptably high intensity in accordance with a pre-established parameter set. The data processing system issues scoring signals that cause the scoring device to score each non-compliant sub-region until that sub-region emits light with acceptable average intensity.
US08270758B2
A number of invalid pixels at an outer peripheral part is reduced while suppressing an influence on an image quality such as discontinuity by pixel expansion, and suppressing increase in a number of processing pixels. When sequentially generating a plurality of reduced images having resolutions different from each other by sequentially performing a reduction process on an input image when realizing a noise reduction process using multiresolution transformation, the pixel expansion process of expanding the pixels at the outer peripheral part of the image of the reduced image is performed at least once before performing one of the reduction processes, and the reduced image after the pixel expansion process is further reduced to generate the plurality of reduced images.
US08270753B2
An image processing device includes: a saturated area extraction unit that extracts a saturated area corresponding to a saturated pixel from an image expressed by a color component signal of a predetermined color system corresponding to a pixel; a color information acquisition unit that acquires color information from a color component signal corresponding to a pixel contained in an area in contact with the saturated area of the image; and a color component signal modification unit that modifies a color component signal of a pixel in the saturated area so that color information on the saturated pixel contained in the saturated area approaches the color information acquired by the color information acquisition unit.
US08270748B1
Disclosed is a method for determining the absence or presence of one or more instances of a predetermined pattern in an image, and for determining the location of each found instance within a multidimensional space. A model represents the pattern to be found, the model including a plurality of probes. Each probe represents a relative position at which a test is performed in an image at a given pose, each such test contributing evidence that the pattern exists at the pose. The method further includes a comparison of the model with a run-time image at each of a plurality of poses. A match score is computed at each pose to provide a match score surface. Then, the match score is compared with an accept threshold, and used to provide the location any instances of the pattern in the image.
US08270747B2
An image encoding device that receives a plurality of component values of a color input signal inputted to an object pixel, vector quantizes, and encodes each of the plurality of component values includes: a difference vector quantization unit that vector quantizes and encodes each difference value obtained by subtracting prediction component values based on a previous object pixel from the component values of the object pixel respectively; an absolute value vector quantization unit that vector quantizes and encodes each different value of the object pixel; a determination unit that compares each difference value with respective comparison ranges to determine a code selection; and a code selector that selects one of an output from the difference vector quantization unit and an output from the absolute value vector quantization unit based on an output from the determination unit.
US08270746B2
An image compression method and a device thereof are provided. In the image compression method, a block image having a plurality of pixels is received. In the block image, an adjusted value of a first pixel is compared with a threshold value, and the adjusted value of the first pixel is accordingly quantized as a first parameter value or a second parameter value so as to obtain a quantized value of the first pixel. Next, an error value between the adjusted value of the first pixel and the quantized value of the first pixel is distributed to at least one second pixel adjacent to the first pixel according to an error diffusion kernel. The first pixel and the second pixel are respectively one of the above pixels. Therefore, the quality of the compressed image is improved and the influence of the blocking effect is reduced.
US08270745B2
The present invention can realize an image processing device and an image processing method that enable a simplified circuit configuration. An image encoding device (200) encodes an input image (91) in an ordinary process that is the same as main encoding on the basis of a predictive quantization parameter (QPd), while encoding the input image (91) in a simple manner (simplified process) on the basis of the predictive quantization parameter (QPd) and quantization parameters (QP) approximate to the predictive quantization parameter (QPd). The image encoding device (200) calculates a code quantity ratio R_reduction between a high-precision generated code quantity obtained through an ordinary process based on the predictive quantization parameter (QPd) and a generated code quantity obtained through a simplified process based on the predictive quantization parameter (QPd). The image encoding device (200) calculates high-precision generated code quantities based on the quantization parameters (QP) approximate to the predictive quantization parameter (QPd) on the basis of the code quantity ratio R_reduction and generated code quantities obtained through a simplified process based on the quantization parameters (QP) approximate to the predictive quantization parameter (QPd).
US08270741B1
Assets of raw geo-located imagery can be divided into tiles and coverage masks can be generated for each tile. For each tile, fragments of pixels from coverage masks of neighboring tiles can be extracted and tagged. The fragments can be sorted and stored in a data structure so that fragments having the same tag can be grouped together in the data structure. The fragments can be used to feather the coverage mask of the tile to produce a blend mask. Multi-resolution imagery and mask pyramids can be generated by extracting fragments from tiles and minified (e.g., down-sampled). The minified fragments can be tagged (e.g., by ancestor tile name), sorted and stored in a data structure, so that fragments having like tags can be stored together in the data structure. The fragments can be assembled into fully minified tiles for each level in the pyramid. Input tiles in a first projection are re-projected into a second projection using techniques that minimize distortion in the re-projected imagery.
US08270734B2
An image-processing method and apparatus are disclosed. The method includes compressing color information of an input image, generating additional data, which includes transparency information of the input image, and providing a compressed image, which includes the generated additional data and the compressed color information. The apparatus can include: a color-information-compressing unit, which compresses the color information of an input image; a transparency-processing unit that generates additional data, which includes transparency information of the input image; and an output unit that generates a compression image that includes the generated additional data and the compressed color information.
US08270730B2
A method of target recognition performs a 3D comparison of target and reference data. Translation invariant signatures are derived from the two data sets, and an estimate of the orientation of the target with respect to the reference is obtained. Rotational alignment and comparison can then be achieved. The 3D data sets can be represented on an axi-symmetric surface such as a sphere and rotational convolution, over a discrete set of selected rotation angles can be performed. Optic flow can be used to derive the estimate of orientation or the target relative to the reference, in terms of a displacement field.
US08270729B2
The invention to be provided relates to focusing control for obtaining a detected image necessary for image authentication. Through the focusing control, a lens is controlled to be located at an optimum position upon starting authentication. An image authenticating apparatus compares a detected image with a recorded image to carry out authentication using the detected image and the recorded image. The apparatus includes an image-capturing unit (camera unit) that obtains the detected image by capturing an image of a photographed subject, a display unit (image display unit) that displays the detected image on a screen displaying a target image showing the outline of a portion to be detected, and a controlling unit (image processing unit) that controls the lens of the image-capturing unit to locate the lens at a given focusing position relative to the photographed subject upon obtaining the detected image.
US08270727B2
The method, system, and apparatus of source statistics based intra prediction type is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes classifying a four-pixel square block in an edge class (e.g., may include a DC edge class, a vertical edge class, a horizontal edge class, a diagonal edge class, and/or a planar edge class) based on an edge classifier, classifying an eight-pixel square block having the four-pixel square block and other four-pixel square blocks as a homogenous class if the four-pixel square block and the other four-pixel square blocks of the eight-pixel square block belong to the edge class, assigning a direction to the edge class of the eight-pixel square block, and determining an optimal intra-prediction type through the classification such that empirical testing of all possible ones of the edge class and the direction is avoided when the homogenous class is identified.
US08270723B2
A recognition device includes storage unit that stores information of a cluster to which a model feature point belongs; extracting unit that extracts a feature amount of a query feature point; generating unit that determines a first set of the query feature point including a reference point and a dependent point, and generates geometric information; clustering unit that clusters the query feature point; correcting unit that sets up the model feature point as a nearest candidate of the reference point, sets up the model feature point as a nearest candidate of the dependent point, determines whether or not the nearest candidate of the reference point is present, and corrects the model feature point; and similarity degree calculating unit that calculates a similarity degree of the first set and a second set and determines the second set nearest to the first set.
US08270717B2
A method for extracting a character string from print data rasterizes the print data into a raster image. Then, the method divides the raster image into a character region and non-character region and determines character data used for metadata based on the raster image of the character region and character data extracted from the print data and drawn at approximately the same position as the character region.
US08270705B2
A motion object monitoring system captures an image of a scene and distance data between points in the scene and a time-of-flight (TOF) camera by the TOF camera. A 3D model of the scene is built according to the image of the scene and the distance data. The motion object monitoring system gives numbers to the monitored objects according to specific features of the monitored objects. The specific features of the monitored objects are obtained by detecting the built 3D model of the scene. Only one of the numbers of each of the monitored objects is stored, instead of repeatedly storing the numbers of same motion objects. The motion object monitoring system analyzes the stored numbers, and displays an analysis result. The motion object monitoring system also determines a movement of each of the motion objects according to corresponding numbers of the motion objects.
US08270700B2
According to the present invention, for a pattern inspection apparatus that compares images in corresponding areas of two patterns that are identical and that determines an unmatched portion between the images is a defect, a plurality of detection systems and a plurality of corresponding image comparison methods are provided. With this configuration, the affect of uneven brightnesses for a pattern that occurs due to differences in film thicknesses can be reduced, a highly sensitive pattern inspection can be performed, a variety of defects can be revealed, and the pattern inspection apparatus can be applied for processing performed within a wide range. Furthermore, the pattern inspection apparatus also includes a unit for converting the tone of image signals of comparison images for a plurality of different processing units, and when a difference in brightness occurs in the same pattern of the images, a defect can be correctly detected.
US08270695B2
A method for medical diagnostic image processing obtains digital image data for a diagnostic image and extracts one or more image features from the image data, obtaining one or more image properties from the one or more extracted features. An image quality aim is obtained for rendered image appearance according to one or more stored viewer preferences. Rendering parameters are generated according to the obtained image quality aim and the one or more obtained image properties. The image is rendered according to the generated rendering parameters and the rendering validated against the selected image quality aim.
US08270692B2
A method of obtaining a measurement of the extent of telangectasia in an area of skin is disclosed. Initially (S3-1) an image of an area of skin (2) to be analyzed is obtained. The obtained image is then processed (S3-2-S3-3) to determine blood distribution data indicative of the distribution of blood in an imaged area of skin. This blood distribution data is then converted (S3-5) using a Discrete Fourier Transform and the converted blood distribution data is then processed to obtain a measurement of the extent features in a determined distribution of blood correspond to structures of a predetermined size. The obtained measurement of the extent of telangectasia can then be combined (s3-6) with other measurements of the effects of photo-damage such as measurements of melanin disorder and collagen degradation to obtain a measurement of the extent of photo-damage.
US08270689B2
An apparatus for obtaining an image of a tooth having at least one light source providing incident light having a first spectral range for obtaining a reflectance image (122) from the tooth and a second spectral range for exciting a fluorescence image (120) from the tooth. A polarizing beamsplitter (18) in the path of the incident light from both sources directs light having a first polarization state toward the tooth and directs light from the tooth having a second polarization state along a return path toward a sensor (68), wherein the second polarization state is orthogonal to the first polarization state. A first lens (22) in the return path directs image-bearing light from the tooth toward the sensor (68), and obtains image data from the portion of the light having the second polarization state. A long-pass filter (15) in the return path attenuates light in the second spectral range.
US08270683B2
Provided is a computer system and method for mapping a visual path. The method includes receiving one or more images included in a predefined area; receiving one or more parameters associated with the image; and integrating the images and parameters into a map of the predefined area to enable mapping the visual path through the predefined area in response to one or more input path parameters.
US08270682B2
Segmenting scalp and facial hair of a human subject depicted in an image by identifying from metadata associated with the image or semantic information extracted from the image information indicating a possible distribution of the scalp hair or the facial hair, identifying from hair distribution information an expected-hair region within the image wherein the expected-hair region includes at least a portion of a head area of the subject, and identifying a hair region within the expected hair region.
