US08281410B1
A computer-implemented method may provide resource-access information. The computer-implemented method may include determining a resource-access scope of a software application and determining whether a resource is within the resource-access scope. The computer-implemented method may also include retrieving resource information associated with the resource from a resource-information database and providing a notification that indicates whether the resource is within the resource-access scope. The notification may comprise the resource information. Additional computer-implemented methods and systems are also disclosed.
US08281408B2
A communications protocol is used to provide data privacy, message integrity, message freshness, and user authentication to telemetric traffic, such as to and from implantable medical devices in a body area network. In certain embodiments, encryption, message integrity, and message freshness are provided through use of token-like nonces and ephemeral session-keys derived from device identification numbers and pseudorandom numbers.
US08281405B1
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for securing data on a server based on a heuristic analysis. In use, information associated with attempts to access data on a server is recorded. Additionally, the information is heuristically analyzed. Further, the data is secured on the server based on the heuristic analysis.
US08281404B2
A method, system, and computer program product for corporate portal security are provided, wherein security information corresponding to an external object imported into the corporate portal is automatically mapped from the object's native security system into the corporate portal system. For each external object imported, the corporate portal maps external users and external groups identified by the native security into corresponding portal users and portal groups according to a predefined mapping process, and stores the results in a manner that associates the external object with those portal users and portal groups. A plurality of database tables and maps determines the outcome of the predefined mapping process. Advantageously, when new external users or groups are added, they are detected by a synchronization agent which then automatically updates the database tables and maps. When custom group security configurations are desired, or when new domains are added, the portal administrator may manipulate a subset of the database tables and maps to achieve the desired configuration. Advantageously, manually intensive operations such as object-by-object security stampings, and/or re-manipulation of individual security settings associated with re-instantiated crawls, are avoided.
US08281402B2
According to embodiments of the present invention, host platform device includes an embedded firmware agent that may detect an attempt by the host platform device to fully connect to a network. The firmware agent may restrict traffic between the host platform device and the network to bootstrap traffic, test the device to determine device vulnerability, may temporarily stop access to other peripheral devices, and transmit a report of the device vulnerability to a remote policy server. After the test(s) are performed, the firmware agent may receive an indication from the remote policy server as to whether the device is permitted to fully connect to the network and, if so, whether there are any further restrictions on traffic flow, for example, and if the peripheral device access may be allowed.
US08281393B2
A method, system, and computer program product for detecting a kernel-mode rootkit that hooks the System Service Dispatch Table (SSDT) is secure, avoids false positives, and does not disable security applications. A method for detecting a rootkit comprises the steps of calling a function that accesses a system service directly, receiving results from calling the function that accesses the system service directly, calling a function that accesses the system service indirectly, receiving results from calling the function that accesses the system service indirectly, and comparing the received results from calling the function that accesses the system service directly and the received results from calling the function that accesses the system service indirectly to determine presence of a rootkit.
US08281391B2
Mobile unit 16 which can activate Java-AP software receives SDF (Security Descriptive File) 204 from administering server unit 18 which a trustworthy organization (a communication provider which administers mobile packet communication network 15) administers, and obtains ADF 205 from IP server unit 13 by using URL contained in the SDF, and obtains Jar file 206 from IP server unit 13 by using ADF 205, and installs in itself Java-AP containing these files. Java-AP, which is achieved by activating the installed Java-AP software, operates within the range of authorization expressed by policy information contained in SDF 204.
US08281385B2
An industrial automation proxy server comprises an interface that receives data related to legacy software, where the data is associated with a legacy protocol. Additionally, the industrial automation proxy server includes a protocol transformation component that converts the data associated with the legacy protocol to a disparate protocol. Furthermore, the industrial automation proxy server can include a routing component that redirects the data to a remote device over an internet connection.
US08281384B2
Methods of enabling access to data using a portable electronic device within a private network protected by firewall are disclosed. The data may be transmitted in packets to the portable electronic device and may be consumed either instantly or subsequently. The methods may utilise either at least one web storage or an agent server.
US08281380B2
When a user makes a remote log-in to a server apparatus from a terminal apparatus, a password managing apparatus, which manages the name of a user of the server apparatus, his/her direct log-in password and transformation rule, displays an authentication purpose symbol sequence on a display apparatus. The user transforms the displayed sequence by his/her transformation rule and supplies, via the terminal apparatus, his/her user name and the post-transformation symbol sequence to the server apparatus, which then sends them to the password managing apparatus. If the result of applying the user's transformation rule to any authentication purpose symbol sequence generated in the past coincides with the post-transformation symbol sequence, the password managing apparatus sends the direct log-in password to the server apparatus to pass the remote log-in to the server apparatus by the terminal apparatus as a success.
US08281379B2
The present invention relates to the field of authentication of users of services over a computer network, more specifically within the paradigms of federated authentication or single sign-on. A known technique consists of associating different trust levels to different authentication mechanisms, wherein the respective trust levels give access to different information resources, notably to provide the possibility to protect more sensitive resources with a stronger form of authentication. The present invention provides a mechanism to allow the trust level to decrease without re-authenticating with the single sign on system, down to the level at which it is no longer sufficient to obtain access to a desired resource. Only then, the user needs to reauthenticate.
US08281378B2
A system for distributed authentication includes a client machine, in a first domain in a federation, that receives from a user a first set of authentication credentials. The system also includes an intermediate machine in a second domain in the federation, a server, also in the second domain, a password management program executing on the server and a non-federated resource. The intermediate machine authenticates the user responsive to receiving the first set of authentication credentials and identifies a second set of authentication credentials. The server in the second domain authenticates the user, responsive to the second set of authentication credentials. The password management program, executing on the server, retrieves a third set of authentication credentials associated with the user. The non-federated resource authenticates the user, responsive to receiving, from the password management program, the third set of authentication credentials.
US08281377B1
A remote access manager in a virtual computing services environment negotiates a time limited NAT routing rule to establish a connection between a remote device and virtual desktop resource providing user computing services. A series of NAT connection rules are revised in a dynamic manner such that a pool of ports is available to connect a plurality of remote users to local virtual compute resources over one or more public IP addresses. Once a connection is established, an entry is made in a firewall state table such that the firewall state table allows uninterrupted use of the established connection. After an entry has been made in the state table, or the routing rule has timed out, the port associated with the original NAT routing rule is removed and the same port can be re-used to establish another connection without disrupting active connections.
US08281376B2
An authentication system includes a plurality of personal authentication servers, a client terminal, a replacing portion and a renewing portion. The plurality of personal authentication servers store at least a part of enrolled data different from each other for user personal authentication and perform authentication with stored enrolled data according to authentication request from a client terminal. The client terminal stores identification information for specifying the personal authentication server storing each enrolled data, and requests an authentication to the personal authentication server specified with the identification information. The replacing portion replaces at least a part of the enrolled data between the plurality of personal authentication servers according to the authentication request condition to the plurality of personal authentication servers from the client terminal. The renewing portion renews the identification information according to the replacing result of the replacing portion.
US08281373B2
A client apparatus transmits environmental information acquired from an environmental information acquisition device as well as a biometric authentication information matching result to a server apparatus. The server apparatus verifies the validity of the environmental information such as a luminance as well as the validity of the biometric authentication information matching result. If an environment is problematic, the server apparatus notifies the client apparatus that the environmental information is problematic. The client apparatus overcomes the problem of the environment such as the luminance based on the notification from the server apparatus and then retries a biometric authentication. The possibility of re-failure due to the environmental problem can be reduced during a retry of the biometric authentication.
US08281366B1
A computer-implemented method for using guardian proximity to control computing activities of children. The method may include determining that a child is attempting to access a computing system and determining whether a guardian of the child is in proximity of the computing system. The method may also include limiting the child's access to one or more resources of the computing system if the guardian of the child is not in proximity of the computing system and permitting the child to access the one or more resources of the computing system if the guardian of the child is in proximity of the computing system.
US08281361B1
A method for enforcing parental-control policies on user-generated content may include identifying a web document with user-generated content and identifying a set of links in the web document that relate to the user-generated content in the web document. The method may also include identifying a target web document for each link in the set of links and determining a parental-control rating for each link in the set of links based on the target web document. The method may further include generating a composite rating of the web document based on the parental-control rating of each link in the set of links. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable-storage media are also disclosed.
US08281356B2
A source device 10 transmits streaming data. In a packet receiver 22 of a sync device 20, statistical data acquirer 23 calculates statistical data such as one-way delay time, packet loss ratio, reception rate and the like from the received streaming data and transmits it to the source device. The statistical information received by source device 20 is extracted by a packet receiver 15 and input to a channel band estimator 16. The channel band estimator 16 gives encoder 11 instructions to provide optimal encoding based on the transmission delay. Upon this, the transmission delay is calculated by assuming the minimum value of the communication delay from the start of transmission as zero. Control is performed by determining the delay time and packet loss ratio in data transmission and considering, based on these, the channel quality and bandwidth margin, so as to provide the optimal transmission bit rate or encoding rate.
US08281353B1
A method and apparatus for transmitting audio information and digital images via a wireless switching network by performing the operations of starting a photo or audio session by a digital camera or audio appliance; connecting the digital camera or audio appliance to a wireless telecommunication terminal; reserving bandwidth on the wireless switching network; transmitting digital images or audio information between the digital camera or audio appliance and a centralized database via a first path on the wireless switching network; and establishing a second path for transmission of digital images or audio information upon the first path being interrupted using the reserved bandwidth for the second path.
US08281352B2
Methods and apparatus for recovery and/or utilization of bandwidth within a network. In one embodiment, the network comprises a switched architecture (e.g., broadcast switched) content-delivery network such as a cable television network. Reclamation, overflow, and/or triage logical processes are selectively applied in order to more efficiently manage bandwidth utilization within the network while maintaining user experience, and optionally achieve one or more business and/or operational goals.
US08281340B2
In the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus for recommending contents. The information processing apparatus may include recommendation information generating means for generating recommendation information for presenting a recommended content to be recommended to a user to the user, and when presenting the recommendation information to the user, changing a form of presentation of at least a part of the recommendation information.
US08281337B2
A method of displaying an interactive display at a set top box (STB) device is disclosed. The method includes receiving a media content stream. The media content stream includes a first content segment and a second content segment, where the second content segment is received at the STB device after the first content segment. The method also includes displaying a first interactive display, where the first interactive display includes at least one field to receive user input. The method also includes displaying a second interactive display after displaying the first interactive display but before displaying the second content segment. The method also includes performing a user-designated transition with respect to the second content segment based on a user input received via the second interactive display.
US08281334B2
Systems, methods, computer-readable media, and graphical user interfaces for facilitating advertisement placement over video content are provided. Images within a video are partitioned into image regions. Upon partitioning images into image regions, an intrusiveness score is determined for each image region. Based on the intrusiveness scores, optimal placement of an advertisement within the video is determined.
US08281327B2
A disc loading mechanism transporting a disc between a disc cartridge and a recording and reproducing apparatus includes: a loading arm having at a leading end thereof claw members which comes into contact with an outer circumference of the disc and performs drawing of the disc into the recording and reproducing apparatus and insertion of the disc into the disc cartridge; an arm driving mechanism which slides the loading arm in a disc transport direction; a disc extruding lever which extrudes the disc up to a contact position with the claw members when discharging the disc; and a lever driving mechanism which drives the extrusion lever, wherein each of the claw members includes a draw-in surface portion and an insertion surface portion provided at the opposite side to the draw-in surface portion.
US08281321B2
A message board cache system comprising: a database containing message board information; a notification system in communication with the database, the notification system generating a notification when data in the database is altered or deleted; a web application executing a message board interface, the web application receiving the notification from the notification system and the data altered or deleted; a cache implementation in communication with the web application, the web application deleting an item from the cache implementation upon receiving the notification that the data has been altered or deleted from the database.
US08281319B2
An apparatus for and method of predefining a series of messages between a client application and a server application which needed to be transferred and honored in sequence to perform a compound service request. The sequence of messages is predefined through the use of an Action Control List, whereby the event handler defines the messages to the administrative object.
US08281313B1
An embodiment of a method of scheduling computer processing begins with a first step of receiving job properties for a plurality of jobs to be processed in a multi-processor computing environment. At least some of the jobs each comprise a plurality of stages, one or more tasks for each stage, and precedence constraints among the stages. The method continues with a second step of determining a schedule for processing at least a subset of the plurality of jobs on processors within the multi-processor computing environment from a solution of a mathematical program that provides a near maximal completion reward. The schedule comprises a sequence of tasks for each processor. In a third step, the computer processing jobs are processed on the processors according to the sequence of tasks for each processor.
US08281306B2
Automated management of partition service assignment to a virtual input/output (VIO) adapter is provided. Responsive to creation of a new partition service in a data processing system, a partition priority number is determined for the new partition service, and, for each VIO adapter, the partition priority numbers of the partition services currently assigned to that VIO adapter are summed. For a VIO adapter with a lowest sum of partition priority numbers, logic determines whether assigning the new partition service to that VIO adapter results in its summed partition priority number being above a predefined threshold, and the new partition service is assigned to a VIO adapter based, at least in part, on whether assigning the new partition service to the VIO adapter with the lowest sum of partition priority numbers results in that VIO adapter's summed partition priority number exceeding the predefined threshold.
US08281305B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus for resource provisioning for a new virtual machine to be provided in a computer device. In one embodiment, at least one storage subsystem, the computer device, and a storage management server are connected via a network. A unique virtual port name for the new virtual machine is created by one of a first storage subsystem of the at least one storage subsystem or the storage management server. A volume for the new virtual machine is provided in the first storage subsystem. The first storage subsystem includes a unique port name for a port through which the volume for the new virtual machine has I/O connection via the network. The unique virtual port name is assigned to the new virtual machine in the computer device under NPIV (N_Port ID Virtualization).
US08281304B2
A high availability system includes a first computer on which a first virtual computer and a first hypervisor managing the first virtual computer operate, and a second computer on which a second virtual computer and a second hypervisor managing the second virtual computer operate. The first hypervisor includes an acquisition unit which acquires synchronization information associated with an event, wherein the event has occurred in the first virtual computer and accompanies an input to the first virtual computer, and a transmission unit which transmits the acquired synchronization information to the second hypervisor. The second hypervisor includes a reception unit which receives the synchronization information from the first hypervisor, and a control unit which performs control to match an input to the second virtual computer with an input to the first virtual computer in accordance with the received synchronization information.
US08281297B2
A method of producing a reconfigurable circuit device for running a computer program of moderate complexity such as multimedia processing. Code for the application is compiled into Control Flow Graphs representing distinct parts of the application to be run. From those Control Flow Graphs are extracted basic blocks. The basic blocks are converted to Data Flow Graphs by a compiler utility. From two or more Data Flow Graphs, a largest common subgraph is determined. The largest common subgraph is ASAP scheduled and substituted back into the Data Flow Graphs which also have been scheduled. The separate Data Flow Graphs containing the scheduled largest common subgraph are converted to data paths that are then combined to form code for operating the application. The largest common subgraph is effected in hardware that is shared among the parts of the application from which the Data Flow Graphs were developed. Scheduling of the overall code is effected for sequencing, providing fastest run times and the code is implemented in hardware by partitioning and placement of processing elements on a chip and design of the connective fabric for the design elements.
US08281293B2
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for copy-on-write optimization of immutable objects. An immutable object is marked as read-only to form a read-only object. The read-only object is formed to delay copying of the immutable object until a runtime determination is made that a write to the immutable object will be made. In response to an attempt to write to the read-only object, an internal value of the read-only object is copied to read-and-write storage using runtime information to form a writable copy of the read-only object. A set of references for the read-only object is updated to point to the writable copy of the read-only object. Delaying copying of the immutable object optimizes a copy-on-write of the immutable object.
US08281288B1
An IDE is provided by a web browser on a client machine, the IDE having a document editor that allows a user to generate source code. The source code is transmitted from the client machine to one or more servers via a network connection to be compiled into compiled native machine instructions. The compiled native machine instructions are received from the one or more servers by the client machine. The compiled native machine instructions are executed in a sandboxed environment on the client machine, such that system calls originating from the compiled native machine instructions that present a security risk are blocked using the sandboxed environment and system calls originating from the compiled native machine instructions that do not present a security risk are allowed in the sandboxed environment.
US08281281B1
Visual representations of different versions of an object are automatically generated and presented to users. Users can compare these visual representations to determine appropriate level of detail transition points based on the visual appearances of different versions of an object. The specified level of detail transition points are converted into level of detail parameter values to be used to select one or more versions of an object for rendering, simulation, or other tasks. The visual representation of each version of an object can include an image sequence of the version at a range of distances from the camera. Each image corresponds to a view of the version at a specific level of detail parameter value. A user interface allows users to view the image sequences associated versions of an object as still images or animation. Users can select images in image sequences as level of detail transition points.
US08281280B2
Methods and systems for testing a design under verification (DUV), the method including receiving, at an interface, configured Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) images and runtime control information, wherein each of the FPGA images contains a respective portion of the DUV, and a respective verification module associated with a respective FPGA device. The method further includes, sending, by the interface, each of the FPGA images to each of the respective FPGA devices associated with each of the respective FPGA images. The method also includes, sending, by the interface, timing and control information to each of the respective verification modules based on runtime control information received from the host workstation. In response to receiving timing and control information, each of the respective verification modules, controls each of the respective portions of the DUV in each of the respective FPGA devices.
US08281276B2
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit includes: generating first data by performing floor planning based on semiconductor integrated circuit information and monitor path circuit information; generating second data by arranging at least one monitor path flip-flop and at least one monitor path circuit element in the first data based on monitor path position information; generating third data by performing arrangement or wiring based on the second data; generating a first timing analysis result by performing timing analysis on data corresponding to the semiconductor integrated circuit information of the third data; generating a second timing analysis result by performing timing analysis on data corresponding to the monitor path circuit information of the third data; modifying the semiconductor integrated circuit information by comparing the first timing analysis result with the second timing analysis result; and manufacturing the semiconductor integrated circuit based on the modified semiconductor integrated circuit information.
US08281275B2
A method for reducing leakage power of an IC during the design of the IC. A cell based IC design is received that includes a plurality of signal paths with positive slack. The positive slack is converted to negative slack by replacing cell instances in the IC design with footprint equivalent variants of the cell instances. The negative slack is converted back to positive slack via an iterative path-based analysis of the IC design. In each iteration, a path is selected that has negative slack and replacement values are computed for cell instances in the path. One or more cell instances in the path are then replaced with variants based on the replacement values.
US08281273B2
Some embodiments provide a method that defines a set of connections that connect the nodes in a configurable node array. The method identifies different sets of connections for connecting a set of the nodes. For each identified set of connections, the method computes a metric score that quantifies a quality of the identified set of connections. The method then selects one of the identified sets of connections to connect the configurable nodes in the array.
US08281271B1
A method for determining a delay through a lookup table (LUT) in a logic array block (LAB) of a field programmable gate array (FPGA) for a signal includes identifying paths through the LUT that are taken for the signal. Delays are computed for the signal only on the paths identified.
US08281269B2
An object of the present invention is to largely reduce a period required for a layout design of a semiconductor integrated circuit device by simplifying a hierarchical layout process. It is necessary to couple a signal line between a circuit belonging to a top and a signal terminal of a block, and there is such an inadequate situation that the signal line cannot be coupled to a predetermined location of the signal terminal of the block or the signal line needs to be largely detoured depending on congestion conditions of the other signal lines in the block and the signal lines of the top coupled to the other blocks. Accordingly, location information of the signal terminal is deleted before the signal line is coupled, so that the signal line can be coupled irrespective of the location information of the signal terminal of the block. Further, the signal line can be optimally coupled in some cases by arranging the circuit of the top on the inner side relative to a boundary of the block, so that location information of the boundary of the block as well as the location information of the signal terminal is deleted.
US08281267B2
A circuit design support apparatus for supporting design of a semiconductor integrated circuit includes an upper limit path delay determining unit that sorts circuit paths included in the semiconductor integrated circuit by probability distributions for the delay values of the circuit paths, selects a worst path having a largest delay value in the circuit paths, and determines a maximum delay value as an upper limit path delay value that does not affect an operational timing of the semiconductor integrated circuit, a cell size optimization processor that replaces cells by modifying their cell sizes on the basis of the upper limit path delay value, and a critical path determining unit that determines critical paths that are capable of affecting the upper limit path delay value if the cell size optimization processor replaces cells included in the circuit paths.
US08281266B2
Various embodiments of methods of designing an integrated circuit (IC). One embodiment of one such method includes: (1) generating a functional design for the IC, (2) determining performance objectives for the IC, (3) determining an optimization target voltage for the IC, (4) determining whether the IC needs voltage scaling to achieve the performance objectives at the optimization target voltage and, if so, whether the IC is to employ static voltage scaling or adaptive voltage scaling, (5) using the optimization target voltage to synthesize a layout from the functional IC design that meets the performance objectives by employing a unitless performance/power quantifier as a metric to gauge a degree of optimization thereof and (6) performing a timing signoff of the layout at the optimization target voltage.
US08281264B2
A system and method are provided for analyzing layout patterns via simulation using a lithography model to characterize the patterns and generate rules to be used in rule-based optical proximity correction (OPC). The system and method analyze a series of layout patterns conforming to a set of design rules by simulation using a lithography model to obtain a partition of the pattern spaces into one portion that requires only rule-based OPC and another portion that requires model-based OPC. A corresponding hybrid OPC system and method are also introduced that utilize the generated rules to correct an integrated circuit (IC) design layout which reduces the OPC output complexity and improves turnaround time.
US08281258B1
Optimized object traversal techniques are presented to move an object focus in an intuitive manner in a display interface using a navigational controller. The optimized object traversal enables two-directional movement (e.g., up, down, left, right, or other direction) of the object focus and not confined to a sequential movement order. The optimized object traversal may vary an order of the object focus selection between objects based on a selection path of a user (e.g., which object previously had the object focus). The optimized object traversal techniques use an edge point on the object having a current object focus to identify a next object to receive the object focus. Objects may be identified based on an orthogonal alignment, a distance from the edge point, a container order (e.g., in tie breaking instances) and/or by a coded assignment.
US08281248B2
Collaboration by a plurality of users in an application. The application may include processing logic and a user interface. The user interface may include at least one control element adapted to receive collaborative input, where the at least one control element may be linked to a collaboration utility. The collaboration utility may be adapted to generate the collaborative input for the control element based on the individual inputs of at least some of the plurality of users.
US08281247B2
Systems and methods are presented which generate modified email messages, which are largely devoid of embedded functions, from original email messages, which have embedded functions. The embedded functions are amenable to self-executing codes such as viruses, worms, and Trojan programs. Thus, the modified email message without these embedded functions, and any argument associated with these functions, provides a more secure email environment.
US08281241B2
An electronic device and a method for providing an extended user interface in an electronic device are provided. The electronic device comprises a user interface and a display configured to display data objects. The device is configured to detect selection of a data object on the display, detect dragging of the selected data object to a border of the display and to detect an effort to drag the object over the border in a given direction outside the display. A predetermined action is performed in the device on the basis of the detected effort and the detected direction.
US08281240B2
An approach that aggregates avatars that are online in a virtual universe into an aggregated avatar is described. In one embodiment, there is an avatar identification component configured to identify a plurality of avatars that are online in the virtual universe. An avatar aggregation component is configured to aggregate the plurality of avatars into an aggregated avatar representative of the plurality avatars.
US08281233B2
A method for importing document data into a website hosted on a server computer includes a block of document data that is received at the server computer. The block of document data includes data from an identified section of a document. In response to receiving the block of document data, the server computer automatically updates a web page component on the website. The web page component is selected via a document widget on the server computer. The document data is mapped to the web page component.
US08281218B1
Data storage devices are provided according to various embodiments of the present invention. In one embodiment, a data storage device comprises a host interface, a buffer, a storage media interface, and a data manipulation engine. The data manipulation engine comprises a receive pipe configured to read first and second data blocks from first and second locations in the buffer and to check the validity of the first and second data blocks, an arithmetic logic unit configured to perform a logic operation on first and second user data of the first and second data blocks, respectively, to generate third user data, and a transmit pipe configured to receive the third user data from the arithmetic logic unit, to generate and append a third checksum to the third user data to produce a third data block, and to write the third data block to a third location in the buffer.
US08281217B2
Memory devices and/or encoding/decoding methods are provided. A memory device may include: a memory cell array; an internal decoder configured to apply, to a first codeword read from the memory cell array, a first decoding scheme selected based on a characteristic of a first channel in which the first codeword is read to perform error control codes (ECC) decoding of the first codeword, and apply, to a second codeword read from the memory cell array, a second decoding scheme selected based on a characteristic of a second channel in which the second codeword is read to perform the ECC decoding of the second codeword; and an external decoder configured to apply an external decoding scheme to the ECC-decoded first codeword and the ECC-decoded second codeword to perform the ECC decoding of the first codeword and the second codeword.
US08281215B1
Error detection and error location determination circuitry is provided for detecting and locating soft errors in random-access-memory arrays on programmable integrated circuits. The random-access-memory arrays contain rows and columns of random-access-memory cells. Some of the cells are loaded with configuration data and produce static output signals that are used to program associated regions of programmable logic. Cyclic redundancy check error correction check bits are computed for each column of an array. The cyclic redundancy check error correction check bits are stored in corresponding columns of cells in the array. During normal operation of an integrated circuit in a system, the cells are subject to soft errors caused by background radiation strikes. The error detection and error location determination circuitry uses parallel processing to continuously monitor the data to identify the row and column location of each error.
US08281212B1
Processing a sequence of data frames in an error correction code (ECC) decoder is disclosed. Processing includes receiving a first data frame in the sequence of data frames, storing the first data frame, initiating processing of the first data frame using the ECC decoder that includes a faster stage and a slower stage, receiving a second data frame from the input sequence of data frames, storing the second data frame, and initiating processing of the second data frame through the ECC decoder before the first data frame is finished being processed using the ECC decoder.
US08281200B2
A method and device for retransmitting data is provided. A receiving end receives a data unit, and checks whether a Negative Acknowledgement NACK->Acknowledgement, ACK, error occurs. If the NACK->ACK error occurs, the receiving end transmits an Automatic Repeat Request ARQ request message to a transmitting end, for requesting the transmitting end to perform an ARQ retransmission. Therefore, by adopting the technical solutions of the embodiment of the invention, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request HARQ NACK->ACK errors are avoided from being missed, the complexity of ARQ operation is lowered, and the ARQ retransmission feedback time is reduced.
US08281195B1
An output storage latch within a combinational logic circuit may be adapted to form a scan flip-flop latch that supports both functional operation and scan chain testing of a combinational logic matrix included in the combinational logic circuit. A described master/slave clock approach allows the scan flip-flop latch to support receiving into a scan chain a sequence of test input data, execution of combinational logic matrix testing based on the test input data, and sequentially outputting test results to a test result register for comparison with expected results. The described scan flip-flop latch may be used along side unaltered output storage latches thereby allowing flexibility with respect to the number and placement scan chain test points within an integrated circuit. Use of the described dual-use scan flip-flop latch results in a less complex circuit design, reduced circuit area requirements and improved reliability.
US08281194B2
The peripheral circuitry (350, 360, ESD, BH) of an integrated circuit die on a wafer is tested without physically contacting the bond pads of the die.
US08281188B2
In a data processing system including a first master operably coupled to a peripheral bus interface and a plurality of peripherals operably coupled to the peripheral bus interface, wherein the first master communicates with each of the plurality of peripherals via the peripheral bus interface, a method includes initiating a write, by the first master, of configuration information to a first peripheral of the plurality of peripherals. In response to initiating the write, the configuration information is provided via the peripheral bus interface for storage into the first peripheral, wherein a first error syndrome of the configuration information is generated by the peripheral bus interface. The provided configuration information is stored in the first peripheral, and the first error syndrome is stored in storage circuitry of the peripheral bus interface. The first error syndrome can be used to check the integrity of configuration information during subsequent error checking.
US08281185B2
One embodiment provides a system that facilitates the execution of a transaction for a program in a hardware-supported transactional memory system. During operation, the system records a failure state of the transaction during execution of the transaction using hardware transactional memory mechanisms. Next, the system detects a transaction failure associated with the transaction. Finally, the system provides an advice state associated with the recorded failure state to the program to facilitate a response to the transaction failure by the program.
US08281180B1
A main data center with first and second backup data centers also has a translator for assisting a failover module of a failed server at the main data center in implementing failover of the failed server to a corresponding server at the first backup data center. The translator intercepts a command from the failover module to a store of the main data center, where the command directs the store to disable writes to particular storage space in the store associated with the failed server, but does not identify with specificity which of a store of the first data center and a store of the second data center is enabled to write to such particular storage space. Thus, the translator determines an identification of the store of the first backup data center, and modifies the command from the failover module based on the determined identification.
US08281179B2
Availability of an information system including a storage system that performs remote copy between two or more storage apparatuses and a host computer using such storage system is improved. A third storage apparatus including a third volume is coupled to a first storage apparatus, a fourth storage apparatus including a fourth volume is coupled to a second storage apparatus, the first and third storage apparatuses perform remote copy of copying data stored in a first volume to the third volume, the first and second storage apparatuses perform remote copy of copying data stored in the first volume to a second volume, and the third and fourth storage apparatuses perform remote copy of copying data stored in the third volume to the fourth volume.
US08281178B2
A clock object is provides, which includes a clock time and a monotonic time that are readable by the electronic device. The monotonic time is incremented every read of the monotonic time from the clock object. The clock object can also include an indication of a level of trust of the clock time.
US08281174B2
A field device of process automation technology which includes a hardwire communication interface and a functional unit associated with the communication interface. The functional unit is embodied in such a manner, that it performs sending and/or receiving of digital signals via the communication interface. The field device is embodied in such a manner, that the functional unit is operable in a clocked manner, wherein, in the clocked operation, active time periods, in which the functional unit is activated, alternate with turned-off periods of time, in which the functional unit is switched off.
US08281168B2
A data processor includes: a data input unit that inputs data in real time; an input data storing unit in which the inputted data is stored; a signal processing unit that reads out the stored data and performs signal processing of the stored data; a signal processing control unit that has the signal processing unit intermittently perform the signal processing faster than real-time; a clock/power source control unit that reduces power consumption by restricting a clock signal and/or electric power to the signal processing unit and the signal processing control unit in an inactive period of the intermittent operation; and an input monitor unit that monitors the volume of stored data, requests the clock/power source control unit to remove a clock or power restriction based on the volume, and requests the signal processing control unit to move into an active period of the intermittent operation.
US08281165B2
An inline power controller includes at least one analog interface circuit module (AICM) having a first analog input node for receiving an inline power port voltage, a second analog input node for receiving an inline power port current, a first analog output for effecting an inline power port voltage, a second analog output for effecting an inline power port current, and a digital interface converting the received inline power port voltage to a digital value, the inline power port current to a digital value, a first digital value to the first analog output and a second digital value to the second analog output. A digital serial bus (DSB) couples the AICM to a digital controller via digital serial bus interfaces (DSBIs).
US08281164B2
A multicore processor provides for local power control at each of the cores which is used to lower the maximum operating frequency of cores by any amount above of the maximum operating frequency of the slowest core. This power savings is then used to increase the maximum operating frequency of the frequency balanced cores within a power constraint.
US08281162B2
The present invention discloses a power management device that measures the idle or standby power consumed by an attached electronic product, and then automatically and completely shuts off all power to the electronic product when that product consumes idle power for a continuous, predetermined length of time.
US08281159B1
Systems and methods for managing power usage based on power-management information from a power grid
A computer-implemented method for managing power usage of a computing device based on power-management information from a power grid may comprise: 1) receiving power-management information from a power grid, 2) identifying power-usage requirements of the computing device, and then 3) determining, by analyzing the power-management information and the power-usage requirements of the computing device, whether to adjust power usage of the computing device. The method may also comprise adjusting the power usage of the computing device in accordance with the power-management information. Corresponding systems and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08281157B2
It is made possible to correctly decrypt data in a storage area in a computer system (storage system) having various encryption execution sections (such as a storage device or encryption appliance having an encryption function). In the case where storage areas may be encrypted by the various encryption execution sections, there is a possibility that, when a storage area is copied or the configuration of the computer system is changed, the storage area cannot be correctly decrypted unless it is managed where the storage area has been encrypted or whether the storage area is not encrypted. To prevent this, a management computer manages the key and the encryption execution section for each storage area in the system. Furthermore, when copying a storage area or the like is performed, the management computer determines which storage area's state and key should be changed together with performing the copy operation is performed, and instructs the encryption execution section to change the state and key for the storage area if it is necessary to change it.
US08281156B2
A data placement configuration which ensures seamless playback of contents having segment portions including multiple different variations of encrypted data is provided. With regard to contents having segment portions configured of multiple different variations of encrypted data to which individual segment keys have been applied, and non-segment portions serving as encrypted data to which a unit key has been applied, the placement of segment data and non-segment portion configuration data is determined such that the maximum jump distance executed at the time of playback processing is equal to or less than a maximum jump distance set beforehand. Data placement has been determined based on seek time, ECC block processing time, sequence key usage time which is key switchover time, and so forth.
US08281152B2
Managing data on a storage device includes intercepting unencrypted data to be stored on the storage device, where intercepting unencrypted data is transparent to an application storing the data on the storage device and encrypting the data prior to storage on the storage device. The storage device may include a tape drive and/or a disk drive. Managing data on a storage device may also include migrating data from a first storage location to a second storage location. The first storage location may be the same as the second storage location or the first storage location may be different from the second storage location. The unencrypted data may be intercepted during migration. Managing data on a storage device may also include decrypting data read from the storage device.
US08281150B2
A smart card and an access method thereof for use with a smart card management system are provided. The smart card management system comprises a smart card access apparatus and a card server. The smart card access apparatus is electrically connected to the smart card. The smart card is configured to store a plurality of application data and management information corresponding to the application data. The smart card access apparatus may transmit a modification signal of a user to the smart card. The smart card may modify the management information according to the modification signal to generate modified management information when the smart card access apparatus is disconnected from the card serve. Therefore, the contents of the smart card may be managed when the smart card access apparatus is disconnected from the card server.
US08281145B2
The present invention introduces encrypted identifiers to be used when the owner of an identifier wants to hide the original identifier away from public exposure but still be able to be uniquely identified through the encrypted form of the identifier. The encrypted proxy identifiers are generated using a Rule Number that references a user-specific algorithm and encryption key that is different for every user. One or more identity-owner-specific passwords are also utilized.
US08281139B2
A system for network content monitoring and control, comprising: a transport data monitor, connectable to a point in a network, for monitoring data being transported past said point, a signature extractor, associated with said transport data monitor, for extracting a derivation of said data, said derivation being indicative of content of said payload, a database of preobtained signatures of content whose movements it is desired to monitor, and a comparator for comparing said derivation with said preobtained signatures, thereby to determine whether said payload comprises any of said content whose movements it is desired to monitor. The monitoring result may be used in bandwidth control on the network to restrict transport of the content it is desired to control.
US08281137B2
Many watermarking systems make use of correlation for calculating a detection metric, which means that several reference patterns are generated at encoder side and one or more of them are embedded inside the content signal, dependent on the message to be embedded. To decode the embedded message, it is necessary to discover which reference pattern was embedded at encoder side by correlating the known reference patterns with the content signal. In the case where watermarked audio is emitted by a loudspeaker and then captured with a microphone, the received signal echoes are used for watermark detection instead of treating them as noise by integrating the correlation values resulting from echoes into the main correlation peak, thereby using correlation result amplitude values located within a predetermined neighborhood of a correlation result peak amplitude value and exceeding a predetermined threshold.
US08281136B2
Techniques for key distribution used with encrypted communications are provided. A shared secret associated with a principal is maintained securely and separately from the principal. If a principal is authenticated, then the shared secret is acquired from secure data store and used to encrypt a session key. An encrypted authentication token is also generated. The session key is used by the principal to encrypt communications with services and the authentication token vouches for an identity of the principal.
US08281134B2
A method is provided for both layer 2 (L2) and layer 3 (L3) security in the context, for example, of a WISP-e protocol. An AES algorithm in CBC mode is used for encryption and decryption of the control frames. The session keys (e.g., 128-bit session keys) are derived from a pre-shared secret configured on both communicating wireless termination points.
US08281122B2
An embodiment may include circuitry to generate, at least in part, and/or receive, at least in part, a packet. The packet may include at least one field and an encrypted payload. The at least one field may include, at least in part, a first key and/or at least one value. The first key and at least one value, as included in the at least one field, may be encrypted by a second key. The encrypted payload may be capable of being decrypted, at least in part, based, at least in part, upon the first key and/or the at least one value to yield an unencrypted payload. The unencrypted payload may include at least a portion of application layer data that is to be communicated in a secure session.
US08281115B2
A security method and a security apparatus are disclosed which use a self-generated encryption key. The security method includes the steps of: generating an encryption key; decrypting pre-encrypted data using a pre-stored manufacturer key; and re-encrypting the decrypted data using the encryption key. The security method and apparatus minimize external leakage of data by self-generating the unique encryption key. Since the encryption keys are unique in each set, set binding is possible.
US08281108B2
A processor includes a reconfigurable field of data processing cells. A register is provided where the register has a data stream memory designed to store a data stream and/or parts thereon. The register may be a RAM PAE.
US08281107B2
A method of sharing a coarse grained array and a processor using the method is provided. A processor includes a first processor core including a plurality of first functional units which execute a first instruction set, a second processor core including a plurality of second functional units which execute a second instruction set, and a coarse grained array including a plurality of third functional units which execute a portion of instructions of the first instruction set and/or the second instruction set, instead of the first processor core and/or the second processor core.
US08281105B2
A storage system comprises a storage apparatus which includes a processor, storage disks, and a memory storing a page mapping table, a page mapping program, and a page-filename mapping program. A file system manages a file tree of files with filenames. The page mapping table specifies a relationship between data volumes in the storage apparatus and the storage disks and the file system, the data volumes each including pages, each page including segments, each segment including sectors. The file tree has for each storage apparatus a hierarchy of directories and files based on relationships among the data volumes, the pages, and the segments. The page mapping program and the page-filename mapping program are executable by the processor to specify, by page, a location of data contained in the I/O request by referring to the page mapping table and the file tree.
US08281102B2
A management apparatus and method that manage a storage system, in which an access node and a storage node, with which the management apparatus is in communication via the network. The management apparatus includes a logical volume judging unit that acquires a plurality of processing requests to each of the plurality of storage areas, references a logical volume allocation information storage unit that stores a correspondence relationship between the plurality of storage areas and the plurality of logical volumes in the storage node, and judges a logical volume corresponding to a storage area to become a processing object of each processing request, and a processing request breakdown calculating unit that counts an acquisition count of each processing request for each logical volume based on a judgment result by the logical volume judgment unit, and calculates a proportion of each acquisition count to a total of respective acquisition counts.
US08281100B2
A volume group is a group of two or more copy-source volumes and two or more copy-destination volumes. A computer system stores access rate information, which is information denoting an access rate for a copy-source volume at respective time periods. The computer system estimates the access rate for a future target period for each copy-source volume based on information denoting the access rate of each copy-source volume for one or more past target periods in a predetermined period from among the access rate information. The computer system determines the start timing of a copy for each copy-source volume based on the result of this estimation. A start time and an end time of the past target period are the same as the start time and the end time of a future target period.
US08281096B1
A computer-implemented method for creating snapshots may include identifying a request to take a snapshot of a primary volume of data. The computer-implemented method may also include identifying a write-once block device configured to receive data for the snapshot. The computer-implemented method may further include identifying an attempt to write to a block of the primary device. The computer-implemented method may additionally include copying the block to the write-once block device before allowing the write attempt to write to the block of the primary volume. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08281084B2
In one embodiment of the present invention, a two-register interface is provided by a first electronic device to allow access to memory within the electronic device by external electronic devices. The two-register interface is mapped from the memory of an accessing, second electronic device. READ and WRITE accesses are transmitted from the accessing, second electronic device to the two-register interface through a communications medium. A first register of the two-register interface directs access to a particular memory location, and the second register of the two-register interface provides a portal for both READ and WRITE access to the particular memory location.
US08281082B2
Hypervisor page fault processing logic is provided for a shared memory partition data processing system. The logic, responsive to an executing virtual processor of the shared memory partition data processing system encountering a hypervisor page fault, allocates an input/output (I/O) paging request to the virtual processor from an I/O paging request pool and increments an outstanding I/O paging request count for the virtual processor. A determination is then made whether the outstanding I/O paging request count for the virtual processor is at a predefined threshold, and if not, the logic places the virtual processor in a wait state with interrupt wake-up reasons enabled based on the virtual processor's state, otherwise, it places the virtual processor in a wait state with interrupt wake-up reasons disabled.
US08281073B2
Disclosed is an information processing apparatus equipped with first and second CPUs, as well as a method of controlling this apparatus. When the first CPU launches an operating system for managing a virtual memory area that includes a first cache area for a device, the first CPU generates specification data, which indicates the corresponding relationship between the first cache and a second cache for the device and provided in a main memory, and transfers the specification data to the second CPU. In accordance with the specification data, the second CPU transfers data, which has been stored in the device, to a physical memory corresponding to a cache to which the first CPU refers. As a result, the first CPU accesses the first cache area is thereby capable of accessing the device at high speed.
US08281068B2
This invention provides, when optimizing a configuration of a storage system using a pool, an optimal configuration while ensuring a policy set by an administrator, the policy concerning a power saving performance, a response performance, or the like. The management computer sets, according to the set policy, priorities to volumes held by a storage subsystem, and reserves volumes satisfying the capacity of the pool, in descending order of the priority. Only some of the reserved volumes are registered for the pool in descending order of the priority. At this time, it can be guaranteed that a host computer makes no access to the volumes which have not been registered for the pool, and therefore the sleep state is set to physical drives forming the volumes or to a controller controlling the physical drives.
US08281063B2
A data programming device is provided and comprises a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory, and a memory control unit. The non-volatile memory is arranged for programming data. The volatile memory is arranged for temporarily storing data. The memory control unit is arranged for receiving data and determining whether the data is programmed into the non-volatile memory or stored into the volatile memory. If the data exceeds one page, the memory control unit programs a first portion of the data into the non-volatile memory and stores a second portion of the data, which is insufficient for one page, into the volatile memory.
US08281058B1
An exemplary method for using USB device descriptors to uniquely identify computing environments may include: 1) detecting a set of USB devices connected to a computing device within a computing environment, 2) obtaining a USB device descriptor for each USB device within the set of USB devices, and then 3) creating an environmental signature for the computing environment that identifies the computing environment based at least in part on the USB device descriptors. Exemplary methods for using such environmental signatures to uniquely identify computing environments are also disclosed.
US08281053B2
Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for performing an all-to-all exchange on n number of data buffers using XOR swap operations. Each data buffer has n number of data elements. Performing an all-to-all exchange on n number of data buffers using XOR swap operations includes for each rank value of i and j where i is greater than j and where i is less than or equal to n: selecting data element i in data buffer j; selecting data element j in data buffer i; and exchanging contents of data element i in data buffer j with contents of data element j in data buffer i using an XOR swap operation.
US08281051B2
A method and device for time determination in a bus system and a bus system having at least two users which are connected via a communication link are provided, where at least one user stores a specifiable base time in at least one memory, in particular a register, when an event occurs on the communication link whose moment of occurrence is to be determined.
US08281030B2
The invention features a system and method for programming, integrating, and controlling the operation of computer peripherals. In brief overview, a computer peripheral is provided with a network communications protocol stack that includes a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) layer. The HTTP layer permits the computer peripheral to function as a thin web server. As such, the computer peripheral is able to respond to HTTP requests. In one embodiment, a HTTP enabled computer peripheral augments the functionality of a computing device. According to this embodiment, the HTTP enabled computer peripheral includes an interface module, a data module, and a network communications protocol stack module including a HTTP layer module. In addition the address of the HTTP enabled computer peripheral includes a reference to the computing device.
US08281027B2
A system and method for distributing media related to a location. The physical location of a media presentation device is received over a network. The physical location of a plurality of end users are identified, via the network, wherein each of plurality of users is associated with a user device capable of storing media files. At least one of the end users is identified who is located in such proximity to the media presentation device that the user can perceive media that presented on the media presentation device. At least one media file that is currently being presented on the media presentation device is identified and transmitted over the network to each of the identified end users.
US08281022B1
A data system architecture is described that allows multiple processing and storage resources to be connected to multiple clients so as 1) to distribute the clients' workload efficiently across the available resources; and 2) to enable scaleable expansion, both in terms of the number of clients and in the number of resources. The major features of the architecture are separate, modular, client and resource elements that can be added independently, a high-performance cross-bar data switch interconnecting these various elements, separate serial communication paths for controlling the cross-bar switch settings, separate communication paths for passing control information among the various elements and a resource utilization methodology that enables clients to distribute processing or storage tasks across all available resources, thereby eliminating “hot spots” resulting from uneven utilization of those resources.
US08281020B2
Methods, devices, and systems for smart load balancing are provided. SIP Requests destined for a particular AOR are delivered to one of several registered contact addresses according to associated availability score stored in routing element's contact resolution table. The availability score is periodically updated by the contact entity itself using the SIP PUBLISH mechanism to push the score to the routing element.
US08281006B2
A connection state estimating method includes: acquiring a network distance between respective devices in a communication network; assuming branch point candidates at which three devices extracted from the network are connected together; calculating the network distance between each of the assumed branch point candidates and each of the three devices; classifying all the branch point candidates assumed to be connected with one of the devices into groups on the basis of the network distance between the one device and each branch point candidate; calculating representative values of the network distances between each device and branch point candidates assumed to be connected with the device; and selecting a device from the devices assumed to be connected with one of the branch point candidates and the representative value relating to the selected device.
US08281002B1
The invention includes a system and method for providing notification of the availability of a peer computer in a peer-to-peer network. The system includes a peer network server (PNS) configured to provide the peer-to-peer network. The PNS receives a request for access to the peer computer and determines whether the peer computer is connected to the peer-to-peer network. In the event that the peer computer is not connected to the peer-to-peer network at the time the request is received, the PNS provides a notification that the peer computer has connected to the peer-to-peer network after the peer computer connects to the peer-to-peer network.
US08280997B2
Disclosed is a triggered session performance in a SUPL-based triggered location service, in particular, a triggered location service capable of pausing an ongoing session and then resuming the paused session by using a dedicated or common message and other certain parameters indicating a session pause/resume.
US08280996B2
Example methods and apparatus to collect broadband market data are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes selecting a panelist household, the panelist household subscribing to at least one broadband service delivered via a modem, and identifying an Internet protocol (IP) address assigned to the modem by an Internet service provider (ISP). The example method also includes retrieving a range of IP addresses associated with the ISP, selecting a random subset of IP addresses from the range of IP addresses, and testing each of the IP addresses from the random subset to determine an activity status of each IP address.
US08280995B2
A system, method and computer program product for supporting communication among users. The system includes a storage device for storing, a search unit for searching, and a selection unit for reading and then selecting a communication means to be used in the communication between the first and second users. The method and computer program product for supporting communication among users includes the steps of searching, reading and then selecting a communication means to be used in the communication between the first and second users.
US08280992B2
A method for configuring, in a preset node within an anycast group, non-preset nodes within the group and a control device therefor are provided. The method comprises: generating one or more address configuration messages based on the predetermined configuration address information; and sending to each of non-preset nodes within the anycast group the address configuration message corresponding to the non-preset node. A method for assistant configuration of non-preset nodes within an anycast group and an assistance control device therefor are also provided.
US08280985B2
A method and system for serving content from a peer server in a photosharing peer-to-peer network is disclosed, wherein the peer server stores a web album and at least one associated digital image. Aspects of the invention include prior to the peer server going off-line, the peer server initiates a synchronization with a proxy server and a guest content server in which the web page a web page descriptor defining the web album is copied from the peer server to the guest content server, and the image associated with the web album is copied from the peer server to the proxy server. In response to a request from a requesting computer to view content stored in the peer computer when the peer server is off-line, the request is fulfilled by forwarding the web page from the guest content server to the requesting computer, and forwarding the image associated with a web page from the proxy server to the requesting computer, thereby successfully serving content from the peer server even when the peer server is off-line.
US08280981B2
A computer-implemented method of dynamically selecting and presenting a webpage includes: receiving a request, at a server, from a client device to display a webpage; determining, at the server, a homepage defined by a user of the client device; accessing, at the server, a list of one or more webpages associated with the user; selecting a chosen webpage from the homepage and the list of one or more webpages; and facilitating the display of the chosen webpage on the client device.
US08280974B2
A network system comprising a plurality of servers communicatively-coupled on a network, a network-attached memory coupled between a first server and a second server of the server plurality, and a memory management logic that executes on selected servers of the server plurality and migrates a virtual machine from the first server to the second server with memory for the virtual machine residing on the network-attached memory.
US08280963B2
Caching and exposing pre-send data relating to the sender or recipient of an electronic mail message
Technologies are described herein for caching and exposing pre-send data relating to the sender or recipient of an e-mail message. A mail client program is configured to cache recipient and configuration mail tips at a client computer. The configuration mail tips may be retrieved from a server computer and cached when the mail client program is started. Recipient mail tips may be retrieved and cached as each recipient of an e-mail message is identified. When subsequent e-mail messages are created, cached mail tips for an e-mail recipient are utilized instead of retrieving the mail tips from the server computer. The cached mail tips may be updated after a predefined period of time has elapsed. The cached mail tips may also be utilized when the client program is offline or unable to establish a connection to the server computer.
US08280961B2
A method for providing a camp-on service for a network service includes detecting a request from a user for access to a network service and detecting that the network service is unavailable. The method includes subscribing the user to a camp-on service for the network service. The method includes detecting that the network service is available and notifying the user that the network service is available.
US08280956B2
A system, a method, and a graphical user interface testing tool are described herein for constructing a validation trace (i.e., high-speed realistic network traffic) using a real network without causing privacy concerns. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: (a) providing a client device which has one or more applications operating thereon and a graphical user interface; (b) recording user interactions on the client device; (c) extracting usage scenarios from real network traffic in the real network; (d) emulating user actions on the client device according to a specific user scenario by utilizing the recorded user interactions and the extracted usage scenarios to generate additional real traffic in the real network; and (e) creating the validation trace based on the generated additional real traffic and the extracted usage scenarios.
US08280939B2
A computer-implemented method performs an operation on a set of at least one BFP operands to generate a BFP result. The method is designed to reduce the risks of overflow and loss of accuracy attributable to the operation. The method performs an analysis to determine respective shift values for each of the operands and the result. The method calculates result mantissas by shifting the stored bit patterns representing the corresponding operand mantissa values by their respective associated shift values determined in the analysis step, performing the operation on shifted operand mantissas to generate preliminary result mantissa, and shifting the preliminary result mantissas by a number of bits determined in the analysis step.
US08280938B2
Disclosed are a semi-sequential Galois field GF(2n) multiplier and the method thereof. The GF(2n) multiplier comprises two ground field multipliers over GF(2m), at least a constant multiplier, and multiple GF(2m) adders. The high-order and low-order elements from a composite field GF((2m)2) for one operand of one GF(2n) multiplication are inputted in parallel into the two ground GF(2m) multipliers, respectively. The high-order and low-order elements from the composite field of another operand of the GF(2n) multiplication are sequentially inputted into the two ground GF(2m) multipliers. As such, multiple partial products are generated. The constant multiplication and additions are performed on the multiple partial products through the constant multiplier and the GF(2m) adders. This generates a high-order element and a low-order element of the composite field GF((2m)2). After mapping these two elements of GF((2m)2) back to GF(2n), the GF(2n) multiplication is done.
US08280936B2
An apparatus for expanding an immediate vector of restricted data structures may include logic connected to a first memory and a second memory connected to the logic. The first memory may store the immediate vector of restricted data structures that specify distinct floating point numbers. The immediate vector may have a fixed number of bits. The logic may expand the vector of restricted data structures into a number of corresponding expanded data structures that also specify the distinct floating point numbers. Each of the expanded data structures may also have the fixed number of bits. The second memory may store the number of corresponding expanded data structures.
US08280934B2
Systems and methods for producing a frequency divider output signal having a period substantially equal to three times a period of a reference input signal, comprising configuring each of three storage elements to receive a first input, a second input, and a reference input signal, and to provide a storage element output, obtaining a frequency divider output signal from at least one storage element output, and using the storage element output from each of the three storage elements as an input to another one of the three storage elements, where a phase difference between the output of the first storage element and the output of the second storage element is substantially equal to 60°.
US08280931B2
A steam-based document storage and retrieval system accepts documents that are in diverse formats and come from diverse application, automatically creates document model objects describing these documents in a consistent format and associating time stamps with the documents to automatically create a main stream in chronological order. The stream, or sub-streams meeting selected search criteria, are displayed in a variety of forms, including a receding, partly overlapping stack with aids that facilitate user interaction.
US08280929B2
A recording apparatus includes a recording unit configured to record a plurality of content files on a recording medium, each containing an image signal, a first management file creating unit configured to, in association with a recording operation by the recording unit, create a first management file managing the plurality of content files using a plurality of hierarchical layers, and a second management file creating unit configured to, based on the first management file, create a second management file managing the plurality of content files recorded on the recording medium using one hierarchical layer.
US08280925B2
Generally described, the present invention is directed to a network operating system that provides more effective ways of leveraging the connectivity of computer networks. In one embodiment, an XML virtual machine is implemented that accepts high-level application code written in an XML programming language as input. Functionality is provided to interpret or translate the application code written in an XML programming language into code that is suitable for execution across computer platforms. Moreover, the XML virtual machine supports the Model View Controller (MVC) design paradigm that facilitates true data abstraction from applications to a common data model. Multi-instance applications, with each instance potentially supporting multiple views, may be created and executed.
US08280914B2
Notification of a system incident is received at a first help desk system. In response, an incident record is generated and maintained for the system incident. The incident record includes incident data and a record identification (ID). The incident data and record ID are transmitted from the first help desk system to a second help desk system where a corresponding record is maintained. One of the help desks is assigned an exclusive status to process the system incident. Regardless of which help system is assigned the exclusive status to process the system incident, the incident record is closed at the first help desk system, which automatically triggers closing of the corresponding record in the second help desk system.
US08280913B2
Systems and methods for the management of contact information, which may include automatic transfer processes (102,103), automatic update processes, automatic customization processes, automatic delivery processes (1061,1062,1063), automatic storage processes (101), automatic portability processes (106), and/or automatic radial mining processes.
US08280912B2
A system and methods for using data from an external database compiled from real device used for testing and simulation of a system. The system includes an external database interface to access an external database. The external database includes a plurality of categories of time-value data collected from an electrical device. An importer converts one of plurality of categories of time-value data to a corresponding topic of a common data format. A device profiler is coupled to the importer to create a device profile including the converted topic. A database profiler creates a database profile representing a system including a device defined by the device profile and including the category of time-value data.
US08280909B2
A plurality of database hosts hold subscriber information in a distributed manner. A retrieval server processes inquires (host retrieval requests) on which of the database hosts has desired subscriber information stored therein. The retrieval server includes a plurality of processors, and the plurality of processors performs processing in parallel. Therefore, inquiries can be processed at a high speed. Further, a conversion information database and a host information database are provided as in-memory databases, which allow inquiry processes to be processed at a high speed. A call control server can efficiently acquire subscriber information from the database host based on the result of an inquiry made to the retrieval server.
US08280908B2
Two or more separate physical file system directories are presented as one merged (virtual) file system directory to a process running in a silo. The operating system controls the level of access to the files in the merge directory. The operating system provides the merged view of the file system directories by monitoring file system requests made by processes in silos on a computer or computer system and in response to detecting certain types of file system access requests, provides the view of the seemingly merged directories by performing special processing. The types of requests which trigger the special processing include: enumeration, open, create, rename or close.
US08280907B2
A method, system and article of manufacture for data processing and more particularly for managing access to data in a database that should be available for a limited number of accesses. One embodiment provides a method comprising receiving, from a requesting entity, a query against a database having consumable data that is configured to be accessible for only a predefined number of accesses. The query is configured to access the consumable data and is executed against the database to obtain a query result that includes the consumable data. The method further comprises determining whether the predefined number of accesses is reached as a result of the execution of the query against the database. If so, the consumable data is made inaccessible. The obtained query result is returned to the requesting entity.
US08280902B2
A high precision search system and method receives a full-text search request from a user and processes the full-text search request to determine the meanings of key words within the search request. The high precision search system creates a graphical representation of the search request based on the key words in the search request and the frequency with which they appear. The high precision search system accepts direct user input for modifying the graphical profile. The high precision search system also provides suggestions for adding new concepts and entities to the graphical profile and improving the search results. The system offers an extreme precision option wherein paragraphs are extracted from selected documents that match the search profile.
US08280897B2
Systems and methods consistent with the present invention assess and evaluate project management offices (“PMOs”). Information relating to the current project management capabilities of a PMO is obtained. The information is compared with industry best practices information and consolidated knowledge and experience. Based on the comparison, the maturities of the PMO's current capabilities are evaluated. The maturities of the PMO's current capabilities are given scores which provide a standardized measure of the maturity of each capability. In addition to the scores, recommendations are provided indicating specific ways in which the PMO may improve the maturities of its capabilities.
US08280891B1
A system and method for calibrating a scoring function. The scoring function S(input, classification) provides a score based on the amount of evidence a particular input has in connection with a particular classification. For example, a street level image may be OCR'ed so as to indicate the names of establishments contained within the image, and the scoring function indicates how much evidence exists within the image for a particular establishment. Some establishments (i.e. classifications) may produce higher scores based on the nature of the establishment rather than the nature of the image (i.e. input) causing any ranking of establishments done on the basis of the scoring function to be biased. Accordingly, the scoring function is calibrated by determining the probability distribution of scores for an establishment over a false set of images that do not display the establishment. The scoring function is calibrated so as to adjust the score to overcome such bias.
US08280890B2
A computing device and method for searching for parameters in a data model uses a first hash table to store index values of all parameter names in a data model, and uses a second hash table to store index values of data paths of duplicate parameters names in the data model, and changes the comparison sequence when searching for parameters in the data model. That is, comparing beginning from the last character in the input data string, if a leaf node in the data model matches the last character, then comparing parent nodes of the leaf node with the remaining characters of the input data string. Then, a data path of a parameter having a unique name is located according to the first hash table. Furthermore, data paths of parameters having duplicate names is located according to the second hash table.
US08280879B2
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable media for quantifying visibility into a search engine and into search results for a specific query into a search engine. A system configured to practice the method obtains a first set of search results from a search engine, using a name of an entity and at least one additional search term relating to attributes of the entity, and obtains a second set of search results, from the search engine, using the name without the at least one additional search term. The system determines what search results in the first set of search results are in the second set of search results. Then the system can generate an indicator that relates information about how many results from the first set of search results were in the second set of search results to a total number of results in the first set of search results.
US08280876B2
A database restructuring support system that enables a user to flexibly design the structure of a database after a restructure.A storage cost estimate unit 112 calculates storage cost before and after restructure by using catalog information included in a database 122. In the case of calculating the storage cost of the restructure, tuples of a new schema is calculated and the storage cost is calculated by using the tuples. The access cost estimate unit 113 uses the catalog information and the log DB 121 included in the database 122 to calculate each access cost before and after restructure. In the case of calculating the access cost after restructure, the number of types of values of an attribute in the new schema is calculated to calculate the access cost by using the number of types. The integrated cost estimate unit 111 calculates the integrated cost by integrating the access cost and the storage cost.
US08280875B2
More efficient querying of a multi-tenant database using dynamic tuning of database indices. A layer of meta-data associates data items with tenants, e.g., via tags, and the meta-data is used to optimize searches by channeling processing resources during a query to only those pieces of data bearing the relevant tenant's unique tag.
US08280866B2
During garbage collection, writes to objects being copied (relocated) are monitored (tracked) using a write barrier that uses a thread-local write barrier buffer. In the preferred embodiment, soft synchronization is used for reading the thread-local write barrier buffers. In response to detecting a write to an object, the object may be re-copied, the copying may be made to fail, the write may be propagated to another copy of the object, or, e.g., another node in a distributed system may be notified of the write.
US08280864B1
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for retrieving presentation settings from a database. In use, presentation capabilities information associated with media hardware is received. Further, a plurality of presentation settings is retrieved from a database, utilizing the presentation capabilities information.
US08280862B2
A digital-cinema processing apparatus for ingesting a digital cinema package (DCP) in a storage device includes a DCP obtaining unit configured obtain at least one divided DCP to be ingested among divided DCPs including a common asset map corresponding to a digital cinema, the divided DCPs having allocated thereto one or more picture track files, sound track files, and/or subtitle track files for the digital cinema; an asset-map-information extracting unit configured to extract asset map information from the asset map included in the divided DCP to be ingested, the asset map information being information unique to the asset map; a directory determining unit configured to determine an ingestion destination directory for the divided DCP in the storage device on the basis of the asset map information; and an ingesting unit configured to ingest the divided DCP in the ingestion destination directory of the storage device.
US08280859B2
The present invention provides for a system and method for assuring integrity of deduplicated data objects stored within a storage system. A data object is copied to secondary storage media, and a digital signature such as a checksum is generated of the data object. Then, deduplication is performed upon the data object and the data object is split into chunks. The chunks are combined when the data object is subsequently accessed, and a signature is generated for the reassembled data object. The reassembled data object is provided if the newly generated signature is identical to the originally generated signature, and otherwise a backup copy of the data object is provided from secondary storage media.
US08280858B2
A method for scrubbing a storage pool is disclosed. The method includes loading a scrub queue with a number of identifiers corresponding to a number of datasets, selecting a first identifier from the scrub queue, where the first identifier corresponds to a first dataset, initiating a scrubbing of the first dataset. The method further includes, upon receiving an indication of a requirement to pause the scrubbing, pausing the scrubbing of the first dataset, creating a bookmark recording a last location within the first dataset that was scrubbed before pausing the scrubbing of the first dataset, detecting at least one change to a storage pool, and performing a modification in response to detecting the at least one change to the storage pool.
US08280854B1
A computer-implemented method for relocating deduplicated data within a multi-device storage system. The method may include identifying a set of deduplicated data units stored on a first device of the multi-device storage system. Each data unit in the set of data units is referred to by one or more deduplication references. The method may also include procuring reference data that indicates, for each data unit in the set of deduplicated data units, the number of deduplication references that point to the data unit. The method may further include using the reference data to select one or more data units from the set of deduplicated data units for relocation to a second device in the multi-device storage system and relocating the one or more data units to the second device in the multi-device storage system. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08280839B2
Embodiments of the invention disclose a system and a method for determining a nearest neighbor to an input data point on a non-Euclidean manifold. The data points on the non-Euclidean manifold are clustered, projected into Euclidean sub-space nearest to the cluster and mapped from the Euclidean sub-space into a Hamming space such that neighboring data points of the Hamming space corresponds to neighboring data points on the non-Euclidean manifold. The method maps the input data point to the Hamming space corresponding to a particular Euclidean sub-space, wherein the particular Euclidean sub-space is the nearest to the input data point, and selects a data point corresponding to a nearest data point to the input data point in the Hamming space as the nearest neighbor for the input data point on the non-Euclidean manifold.
US08280837B2
A method for identifying the location, orientation and shape of an object that a robot hand touches that includes using a particle filter. The method includes defining an appropriate motion model and a measurement model. The motion model characterizes the motion of the robot hand as it moves relative to the object. The measurement model estimates the likelihood of an observation of contact position, velocity and tactile sensor information given hand-object states. The measurement model is approximated analytically based on a geometric model or based on a corpus of training data. In either case, the measurement model distribution is encoded as a Gaussian or using radial basis functions.
US08280832B1
A technique for analyzing a model, either statically or dynamically, checks the model for one or more specified patterns with respect to accessing a data store associated with the model. The patterns may include, for example, writing to the data store prior to reading the data store, reading the data store prior to writing to the data store, writing to the data store multiple times prior to reading the data store, reading the data store multiple times before writing to the data store, etc. The model may be an executable graphical model that is generated in a graphical modeling environment. A result may be generated based on analyzing the model and the result may be output.
US08280827B2
A multilevel semiotic and fuzzy logic user and metadata interface means includes: an interactive user interface means comprising at least one multilevel semiotic means addressable by a user and a fuzzy logic descriptor set module for storing multiple fuzzy logic descriptor sets; a metadata layer for linking said multilevel semiotic means to interactivity points present in content of the multimedia representation and defined by the metadata layer such that each level of each of the multilevel semiotic means identifies an interactivity point in the content and allows by selection of the interactivity point to perform a selectively varying content manipulation and to receive a resulting interactive presentation of content according to the selection: and a user control device for addressing the multilevel semiotic means.
US08280826B2
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for identifying a deformable object of a scene of a computer game that is visible by an artificial intelligence (AI) character of the game, requesting a speculative physics simulation associated with the deformable object to determine a result of an action to the deformable object by the AI character, and selecting an action to be performed by the AI character, where the selection is based at least in part on the speculative physics simulation. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08280823B1
A computer system and method for managing access to a resume database. For each skill or experience-related phrase in a resume, the system computes a term of experience based on an experience range associated with a contextual use of the phrase in the resume. The term of experience for a phrase that occurs multiple times in the resume is the summation of the term of experience for each occurrence of the phrase associated with a different contextual use. The system stores each phrase and the term of experience in a parsed resume. The resume database also stores job descriptions that include required phrases and a required term of experience for each required phrase. The job descriptions also store a required level of education or field of specialization, and a required salary range. A recruiter searches the resume database to find matching resumes that satisfy a job description.
US08280818B2
Disclosed herein is, a license source component for transferring a license defining a content usage rule to a license destination component, the license source component and the license destination component each being a unit of license processing, including, creating means for creating a message including a license, a manipulation type defining a type of processing the license between the license source component and the license destination component, and a component attribute defining an attribute of the license source component of its own, and transferring means for transferring the message to the license destination component.
US08280817B2
A subset of unique codes are generated from a set of codes. The subset of codes are stored in a database on a secure server and each of the codes is marked on a corresponding instantiation of the product. The marked instantiations are distributed. During their distribution, the marked instantiations are verified for authenticity and for routing. This verification is performed by reading or scanning the codes on the instantiations, and transmitting that information to the secure server for comparison against the codes and other information located in the database contained therein.
US08280813B2
A system and method that provides an enhancement to an overdraft protection program at a financial institution. The debt protection of the program is funded by the financial institution rather than by a consumer/user of the financial account at the financial institution. Under the debt protection program, if the consumer dies, becomes disabled, or becomes involuntarily unemployed and such facts are established to a reasonable degree, the debt protection program will automatically repay the overdraft in full including cost and fees up to a predetermined maximum amount. The payment can occur in a single payment or over a period of time, for example monthly, until the predetermined maximum amount is reached.
US08280807B2
The present Invention provides a system of transferring and utilizing reusable credit including a server having at least one database, at least one credit account having at least one line of credit, at least on© request for transfer, a reusable credit transfer processing (RCTP) system, a reusable credit accounting and transaction processing (RCATP) system and a reusable credit-merchant acceptance (RCMA) system whereby the system of transferring and utilizing reusable credit provides a means for enabling a sender to transfer reusable credit to a recipient for the purchase of goods/services and/or payment to another third party.
US08280799B2
A method of anticipating a short-term future electrical energy demand of an energy trader's customers includes calculating a short-term future net electrical energy demand required to meet the demand of customer facilities which have a solar energy generating system or systems in a geographic region. The method further includes determining a resulting difference, expressed as a shortfall or surplus, between the short-term future net electrical energy demand and an amount of electrical energy purchased in long-term contracts for the supply of the customer facilities, and bargaining a buying price or a selling price for energy in a short-term future or day-ahead market based on the shortfall or surplus. A method for hedging energy sales or purchases in a short-term future or day-ahead market includes determining an historical performance of a regional net energy forecasting methodology for a facility or facilities which have solar energy generating systems in a geographical region. The method further includes estimating a difference between the maximum cost of energy in a spot market and an energy trader's minimum price of energy for each hour bid in the short-term future or day-ahead market, determining a risk factor associated with energy sales or purchases from the historical performance and the estimated difference, and purchasing or selling options to buy energy at the previous day's day-ahead market price based on the determined risk factor.
US08280790B2
Some embodiments provide a system and method for projecting billing of a specified server configuration. In some embodiments, the projected billing is determined by identifying a set of allocated resources for the server configuration. In some embodiments, the set of resources include an amount of allocated RAM, network bandwidth, disk storage, processing power, etc. The set of resources are then projected over a billing period. Some embodiments determine a projection for the configuration as each component of the configuration is specified within a graphical user interface. Additionally, some embodiments determine a projection for the configuration after the entire configuration is specified within the graphical user interface.
US08280785B1
A method for managing financial accounts, comprising obtaining a data item, a first account, and a second account, generating a plurality of change requests comprising the data item, sending the one of the plurality of change requests to a first financial institution managing the first account, wherein the data item is used by the first financial institution to update the first financial account, sending one of the plurality of change requests to a second financial institution managing the second account, wherein the data item is used by the second financial institution to update the second financial account, receiving a plurality of notifications associated with a status of the first account and a status of the second account, and reporting the plurality of notifications.
US08280784B2
Performing an inventory count is provided. A scan of an object is initiated according to a profile in order to perform the inventory count of the object. A scan result is compared with a recorded level for the object to determine if a variance exists between the scan result and the recorded level. A variance analysis is performed if the variance exists.
US08280782B1
A computer-implemented system and method for generating and display a listing of offers of items to be sold on a third party marketplace. The system includes a processing unit and a storage device coupled to the processing unit. The processing unit has stored information for configuring the processing unit to receive a plurality of offers wherein each offer is associated with an item to be offered for sale, item information, and a seller identification. The processing unit is further configured to receive a search criterion, sort the plurality of offers based on the seller identification to generate one or more seller-specific offer listings, sort each of the seller-specific offer listings based on the search criterion, and generate a listing of offers by iteratively selecting an offer from each of the seller-specific search listings.
US08280780B1
A system, method, and computer readable medium for facilitating user interaction with numerous product suppliers to determine which supplier to utilize for ordering a product based on various parameters are provided. A user may interact with one or more suppliers using similar or different parameters for each supplier within the same application without having to switch to another external application. Results are provided in a visually appealing and logical manner and automate the ordering of an item if that item is found at a particular supplier within predefined thresholds specified by the user. In this manner, orders may be submitted at the moment order thresholds are met, and decisions may be made automatically by one or more of the system, the user, or on an interaction by the user and another individual.
US08280774B2
A user can select a higher Quality of Service network connection that is at least partially subsidized by a sponsor. In response, an indicia of the sponsorship of the higher Quality of Service connection is provided to the user. The indicia of sponsorship can be provided as a result of a sponsored proactive search, wherein advertising and/or sponsored links may be repeatedly or continuously provided to the user based on analysis of the user's navigation of the network while using the higher Quality of Service connection. A sponsorship message (analogous to a “brought to you by” message in conventional radio or television programming) and/or a sponsored link also may be provided. Accordingly, higher Quality of Service network connections may be at least partially sponsored by third parties to provide revenue to the network provider that can at least partially subsidize the higher Quality of Service network connection.
US08280772B2
An apparatus, method, and system for a Media Expiration System (MES) that improves upon current content control systems by better managing media recordings. The MES enables media owners to disable recordings of their broadcast content and/or advertising, locally, after the content has been recorded by a consumer. In one embodiment, the MES places expiration stamps into broadcast media as it is recorded by a consumer electronics device. The MES tracks viewing habits, enables the purchasing of extended views of programs, and removes expired media programming content. The manner and way in which this is achieved results in the expiration of stale media content.
US08280771B2
A person is viewing a display. By evaluating tracked information about the person, the display and/or the content being viewed, a tracking system determines that an opportunity exists to present an advertisement that is relevant to the person in the context of the person currently viewing the display. The tracking system provides advertiser data for the advertisement and instructions for generating the advertisement to a synthesis system local to the viewer and the viewer's display system, which dynamically synthesizes the advertisement and provides it to the display.
US08280769B2
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a controller calculates a measurement of product success, such as the number of products sold or the market share of the product. A set of registrations which are “early-adopter” registrations are selected. The set of registrations thereby defines a set of early-adopter purchasers. If the measurement of product success is within a predetermined range, a reward, such as a refund or a free product, is provided to each early-adopter purchaser.
US08280768B2
A method and system for point of sale consumer packaged goods and lottery promotions. A discount coupon is generated having two barcodes. The first barcode encodes standard UPC barcode data including, e.g., manufacturer ID, retail product or a retail product family, and discount value code. The second barcode encodes a FreePlay identifier code. A POS system scans the barcodes and the FreePlay identifier code is recognized. Based on this, the consumer is offered a choice of a Lottery FreePlay coupon in lieu of the discount on the retail product. When the consumer accepts the choice of a Lottery FreePlay coupon, a Lottery FreePlay coupon is printed for the consumer in lieu of giving the consumer a discount on the retail product. The Lottery FreePlay coupon is redeemable at an authorized lottery booth for a lottery ticket having a purchase price based on the discount value code.
US08280762B2
Integrated advertising management method and system with respect to plurality of advertising domains
An integrated advertising management method and system with respect to an advertising campaign including a plurality of advertising domains is provided. The integrated advertising management method includes the steps of: generating an advertiser identification associated with an advertiser; in response to a request from the advertiser, setting up an advertisement management component associated with the advertiser identification; and allowing the advertiser to manage the plurality of advertisements included in the advertising campaign by using the advertisement management component such that the advertiser can set up and update at least one of a plurality of conditions for the plurality of advertisements included in the advertising campaign.
US08280760B1
A method for generating a pricing estimate involves displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) to obtain and display data associated with the pricing estimate, receiving items of the pricing estimate receiving a request to generate the pricing estimate, and obtaining, in response to receiving the request, pricing data for the items from a pricing server collecting pricing data from suppliers. The method further involves accessing a pricing rule relating to items of the pricing estimate, applying the pricing rule to the pricing data for the items to obtain adjusted pricing data, populating the GUI with the adjusted pricing data, calculating a total estimated cost based on adjusted pricing data and displaying the total estimated cost within the GUI.
US08280757B2
A demand forecast system and method. A planning module normalizes historical forecast data, and generates a forecast error interval according to the historical forecast data and a Grey forecast model. An adjustment module adjusts a target forecast value of a target-planning bucket according to the forecast error interval and/or the distance between the forecast error interval and a benchmark.
US08280750B2
A system and method for screening for coronary heart disease is provided. The method includes the steps of retrieving a test for assessing risk of coronary heart disease, the test including a plurality of data fields relating to coronary risk factors; accessing a database to populate the data fields with information of an individual patient; and calculating a risk assessment of the individual patient developing coronary heart disease. A system includes a first database including a plurality of structured computerized patient records; a second database including a knowledge base relating to coronary heart disease, the second database including at least one test for determining coronary heart disease risk; and a processor for retrieving the at least one test from the second database, populating the at least one test with patient information retrieved from the first database and calculating a risk assessment for at least one patient.
US08280745B2
Systems and methods are provided for determining secondary address information. In one implementation, a method is provided that uses a data processing apparatus. According to the method, a code word is created for a business name and a building default extended delivery code. A data table is searched using the code word and secondary address information is revealed when a match is found between the code word and data stored in the data table.
US08280738B2
The voice quality conversion apparatus includes: low-frequency harmonic level calculating units and a harmonic level mixing unit for calculating a low-frequency sound source spectrum by mixing a level of a harmonic of an input sound source waveform and a level of a harmonic of a target sound source waveform at a predetermined conversion ratio for each order of harmonics including fundamental, in a frequency range equal to or lower than a boundary frequency; a high-frequency spectral envelope mixing unit that calculates a high-frequency sound source spectrum by mixing the input sound source spectrum and the target sound source spectrum at the predetermined conversion ratio in a frequency range larger than the boundary frequency; and a spectrum combining unit that combines the low-frequency sound source spectrum with the high-frequency sound source spectrum at the boundary frequency to generate a sound source spectrum for an entire frequency range.
US08280732B2
Hand gestures are translated by first detecting the hand gestures with an electronic sensor and converting the detected gestures into respective electrical transfer signals in a frequency band corresponding to that of speech. These transfer signals are inputted in the audible-sound frequency band into a speech-recognition system where they are analyzed.
US08280728B2
Systems and methods are described for performing packet loss concealment using an extrapolation of an excitation waveform in a sub-band predictive speech coder, such as an ITU-T Recommendation G.722 wideband speech coder. The systems and methods are useful for concealing the quality-degrading effects of packet loss in a sub-band predictive coder and address some sub-band architectural issues when applying excitation extrapolation techniques to such sub-band predictive coders.
US08280724B2
A method for processing a speech signal includes dividing the speech signal into a succession of frames, identifying one or more of the frames as click frames, and extracting phase information from the click frames. The speech signal is encoded using the phase information. Methods are also provided for modeling phase spectra of voiced frames and click frames.
US08280719B2
The invention relates to information extraction systems having discriminative models which utilize hierarchical cluster trees and active learning to enhance training.
US08280718B2
An apparatus, method, and a computer program product are provided for improving the translation quality of text when a text sequence, such as a sentence, includes a parenthetical part delimited by a separator or separators, such as parentheses, quotation marks, or the like. The apparatus applies an algorithm which is configured for using several methodologies in sequence to identify an optimum position for insertion of the translated parenthetical in the main part of the translated text sequence. As a result, the translated parenthetical is more likely to be correctly delimited by separators and more likely to be correctly placed in the main part than in a conventional translation system which automatically translates each sentence as a whole.
US08280713B2
A parametrically controlled model-based test generator automatically generates architectural compliance test suites for different implementations of a processor architecture, based on a set of architectural decisions chosen among optional behaviors for each implementation. Thus, different implementations of the same architecture can be easily supported by modifying the parameter values. In addition, ongoing changes to the architecture or comprehensive updates to the test suite can be easily handled by updating the architecture model or the coverage models, forgoing the need to review the whole, potentially huge, set of tests.
US08280702B2
A computer system and method for determining a survivability aspect control signal for an aircraft is disclosed. The computer system can include a processor and a memory including software instructions adapted to cause the computer system to perform a series of steps. The steps can include providing a plurality of signature exposure models, each signature exposure model corresponding to a threat sensor and including a threat sensor characteristic and a threat operational characteristic. A portion of a mission can be selected along with one or more of the models based on the selected mission portion. The steps can include calculating a signature exposure index based on the one or more selected models and the selected mission portion and providing a survivability aspect control signal based on the signature exposure index.
US08280691B2
The object of the invention is to implement an arrangement that enables maximally flexible linkage of measured-value sensing systems 12 to automation devices. This object is achieved in that an arrangement for evaluating the measured values of a measured-value converter 12 is provided, which arrangement encompasses an evaluation means 13 and a connecting means 18 for linking the evaluation means 13 to the measured-value transducer 12. Connecting means 18 in turn encompasses means 14, 15, 16, 17a, b that are at least in part electrically configurable, by means of parameters, in such a way that a linkage of evaluation means 13 to measured-value converters 12 that differ in terms of measured-value data transfer can be implemented.
US08280689B2
An image processing device in which predetermined image processing is carried out on image data, and the image data that has been processed is saved as processing history information, is provided with: a format determination means that determines whether or not the image data is in a specified document format, and a saving means that, when it is judged that the image data determined by the format determination means is in the specified document format, saves format information of the specified document format together with the image data as the processing history information.
US08280687B2
In embodiments of the disclosed technology, diagnosis of a circuit is performed using compactor signatures (a technique referred to herein as “signature-based diagnosis”). Signature-based diagnosis typically does not require a test step that bypasses the compactor. Compactor signatures can be read from a compactor on a per-pattern basis, and an expected signature can be loaded into a compactor while an actual signature is being read from the compactor. Error functions can be used to describe relationships between errors in scan cell values and per-pattern compactor signatures, and the functions can be used to help generate a list of fault candidates in a circuit design.
US08280671B2
Techniques for data gathering in large-scale wireless sensor networks are described. A data collection device receives aggregate data from at least one sensor node of a group of N sensor nodes. The aggregate data includes M weighted sums. Each of the M weighted sums includes a respective sum of N products each of which being a product of a respective coefficient and a sensor reading from a respective one of the N sensor nodes. M and N are positive integers and M is less than N. Computation is performed on the aggregate data to recover sensor readings from the N sensor nodes.
US08280666B2
The invention disclosed includes a method for determining the magnitude and phase calibration of dynamic motion sensors (SUTs), such as accelerometers, velocimeters, and dynamically responding displacement transducers at low vibration frequencies, using an optical encoder as the reference. To calibrate the sensitivity, the dynamic motion sensor is mounted to a shaker mechanism which imparts harmonic linear motion in the axis of the sensitivity of the sensor. In the case of an accelerometer, the mechanism commonly includes another accelerometer as a reference sensor. However, the output of conventional reference accelerometers becomes inadequate at low frequencies. The subject of this patent is an optical encoder to measure the displacement, at frequencies at which the optical measurement is more accurate than that of an accelerometer or other dynamic motion sensor.
US08280656B2
A system, method and computer program product for processing utility data of a power grid is provided. In one embodiment, the system includes a datamart comprised of a plurality of physical databases storing utility data, a plurality of applications comprising an automated meter application configured to process power usage data from a plurality of automated meters, a power outage application configured to identify a location of a power outage, and a power restoration application configured to identify a location of a power restoration. The system may include an analysis engine comprising a plurality of analysis objects with each analysis object configured to process data to provide a specific analysis, wherein said analysis engine is accessible via one or more of the plurality of applications, and the system may include a report module configured to receive an output from the analysis engine and to output a report. The plurality of applications may also include a fault analysis application, a transformer analysis application, a theft detection application, a power flow application, a substation automation application, a load shed application and others.
US08280655B2
A digital power monitoring circuit for monitoring power through an output inductor of a switching power supply in accordance with an embodiment of the present application includes a first analog to digital converter receiving a current sense signal indicative of the current through the output inductor and providing a first digital signal including information regarding the current through the output inductor, a second analog to digital converter receiving a signal indicative of the output voltage of the switching power supply and providing a second digital signal containing information regarding the output voltage of the switching power supply; and a convolver circuit operable to receive the first digital signal and the second digital signal and to provide a third digital signal including information regarding the power through the output inductor based on the first and second digital signals.
US08280645B2
An apparatus for measuring particulate matters includes a particulate matters collecting part 1 that collects particulate matters contained in exhaust gas from an engine 200 by a collecting filter 41 during a predetermined period while the engine 200 is dynamically driven. A second measuring part 22 continuously measures properties indirectly indicating the mass of the particulate matters contained in the exhaust gas during the predetermined period. A correlation calculating part 82 calculates a correlation between the measurement result of the mass of the particulate matters collected by the particulate matters collecting part 1 and a time integration value of the measurement result in the second measuring part 22 during the predetermined period. A converting part 83 converts the continuous measurement data in the second measuring part 22 into a time series variation of the mass of the particulate matters based on the correlation.
US08280644B2
A method of calculating the carbon or greenhouse gas footprint of a food composition includes determining the CO2 or greenhouse gas emission of each ingredient by associating a total energy value with the ingredient, determining the proportion of the total energy value contributed by each of at least one energy source, where each energy source has a characteristic CO2 or greenhouse gas emissions value, and then calculating a CO2 or greenhouse gas emission value for the ingredient based on the GHG emission values of each contributing energy source. Also, optimizing the CO2 or greenhouse gas emissions in the formulation of pet food employs this method.
US08280642B2
An analysis system for determining an analyte of a body fluid comprises a test element and an analysis instrument having a measurement and evaluation unit. The test element has a sample application zone and two analysis zones and a reagent system, whose reaction with the analyte results in a detectable change characteristic for the desired analytical result. The measurement and evaluation unit comprises two analog measuring units, in each of which an analog measurement signal corresponding to one of the analysis zones is generated, two analog-digital converters for digitizing the analog measurement signal, a comparator unit for comparing control data values based on the digitized measurement signals, and a final processing unit, in which, if the determined deviation between the control data values of the digitized measurement signals is less than a predefined value, at least one of the control data values is allowed to pass for further processing into the desired analytical result.
US08280641B1
A method and system to analyze repetitive elements of in hereditary material as fractal sets, and analyze and interpret the hereditary information for biological research and medical procedures. The fractal genomic information is analyzed for correspondences to healthy or pathological structural and functional properties of cells, organelles, or organisms. One embodiment of the invention uses analytical tools to analyze and interpret DNA sequences and their aberrant repetitions, fractal defects, of DNA sequences. Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method, system, or program for fractal analysis and fractal interpretation of repetitive elements in genomic information for existing and synthetic organisms.
US08280640B2
The present invention is based on the encoding of sequential data or sequences in a novel manner that permits efficient storage and processing of sequential data, as well as methods for searching sequences or databases of sequences. The methods and systems of the current invention may be adapted broadly to various fields of application and to a variety of sequences types. For example, the current invention has broad application including to the fields of bioinformatics, molecular biology, pharmacogenomics, phonetic sequences, lexicographic sequences, signal analysis, game playing, law enforcement, biometrics, medical diagnosis, equipment maintenance and micro-array data analysis.
US08280638B2
A multi-station gravity and magnetic survey is carried out in a borehole. The data from the survey are processed to estimate the inclination and azimuth of the borehole. The drill collar relative permeability is estimated, and the estimated drill collar permeability is then used to remove the effects of induced magnetization of the drill collar on the magnetic measurements.
US08280632B2
An apparatus for inspecting overlapping figures includes a chip overlap inspection unit configured to input a data file on each chip of a plurality of chips arranged in a writing pattern, and inspect an existence of an overlap between a plurality of chips, based on arrangement data on each region of the plurality of chips, a setting unit configured to set, with respect to the plurality of chips, a plurality of hierarchies and a plurality of cell regions of each of the plurality of hierarchies, an extraction unit configured to extract, with respect to a plurality of chips where the overlap occurs, a cell region where the overlap is located, from a higher hierarchy level to a lower hierarchy level in order, a figure overlap judging unit configured to judge an existence of an overlap between a figure in the cell region extracted and a figure in the other cell region extracted, and an output unit configured to output data on a plurality of figures overlapping.
US08280628B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide navigation devices (10) and methods for receiving and/or forming geoblogs. The provided navigation devices (10) are generally operable to retrieve a geoblog utilizing the current geographic location of the device (10) and a user input, form a geoblog utilizing the current geographic location of the device (10) and selected pre-defined comment, and/or automatically title a geoblog utilizing a current geographic location of the device (10). Such configurations and variations thereof enable users to easily share information related to a geographic location.
US08280620B2
A position calculating method performed by a position calculating device having a sensor unit carried by or mounted on a mobile body and moving with the mobile body, includes: calculating the position of the mobile body; setting a detection value agreement range of the sensor unit for each of the possibility of moving, possibility of uncertainty, and possibility of stopping of the mobile body, and setting the detection value agreement range of the possibility of moving as the widest range to establish a membership function; determining whether the mobile body is in the stopping condition by predetermined fuzzy inference calculation using the membership function; changing an error parameter used for predetermined Kalman filter process to correct the calculated position by the Kalman filter process according to whether the stopping condition of the mobile body is determined or not; and correcting the calculated position by the Kalman filter process.
US08280618B2
Methods and systems are provided for providing information relating to taxiing an aircraft at an airport having a plurality of taxi paths. One exemplary method involves identifying a first aircraft location on a first taxi path and a first aircraft heading along the first taxi path, and determining a first subset of possible taxi paths from the plurality of taxi paths based on the first aircraft location and the first aircraft heading, such that each respective taxi path of the first subset intersects the first taxi path at a respective intersection location in the first aircraft heading from the first aircraft location. The method continues by receiving a first input, and when the first input corresponds to a second taxi path of the first subset, providing indication of the second taxi path.
US08280617B2
Devices, systems, and methods for monitoring traffic, such as vehicle traffic on a roadway, using identification information acquired using a Bluetooth protocol. A sensor is configured to scan for discoverable Bluetooth devices within a flow of vehicle traffic and to create a log of identified Bluetooth devices. A system includes multiple sensors at known locations along a route and is operable to identify a Bluetooth device identified at multiple sensors.
US08280616B2
Disclosed is a remote starter system for remotely starting an engine of a vehicle. The remote starter system may comprise an integrated universal bypass module that allows the remote starter system to be utilized with vehicles equipped with a passive anti-theft system such as a transponder-based vehicle security system or a resistance-based vehicle security system. Alternatively, the remote starter system may comprise a kit comprising a remote starter system for remotely starting an engine of a vehicle and a universal bypass module that allows the remote starter system to be utilized with vehicles equipped with an anti-theft system such as a transponder-based vehicle security system or a resistance-based vehicle security system.
US08280614B2
A control device has a CPU for determining an opening time and a conversion time, set in a non-injection period between preceding and present injections, in an interception process every fuel injection, and a control circuit for controlling a converting unit, independent of the operation of the CPU, to convert an analog signal, indicating fuel pressure of an injector, into a converted value at the conversion time. The CPU determines a closing time from the opening time and the converted value in another interception process. The device has a driving circuit for starting the valve opening at the opening time to open the injector and to inject fuel from the opened injector into an engine and starting the valve closing at the closing time to close the injector and to stop the fuel injection when the injected fuel reaches a required quantity.
US08280613B2
A fuel injection control apparatus for an internal combustion engine which can inject a fuel injection quantity to a fuel injector with accuracy even when the fuel injection quantity is reduced than before is provided. A fuel injection control apparatus of a direct cylinder injection type of internal combustion engine, including a fuel injector which performs fuel injection by supplying a drive current to a solenoid, a fuel pressure sensor which detects fuel pressure supplied to the fuel injector, and operation state detecting means which detects the operation state of the internal combustion engine, comprises current profile changing means 100 which has multiple current profiles of the drive current and changes current profiles based on the operation state and the fuel pressure, valid pulse width calculating means 701 which calculates a valid pulse width for opening and driving the fuel injector, invalid pulse width calculating means 103 which calculates an invalid pulse width, and fuel injector control means which calculates a fuel injection pulse width based on the valid pulse width and the invalid pulse width, and controls the fuel injector based on the fuel injection pulse width, wherein the invalid pulse width calculating means 103 calculates an invalid pulse width corresponding to the current profiles to be changed before the current profiles are changed.
US08280611B2
A regulating method and a regulating device for actuating an actuator in an injection system for an internal combustion engine, may have the following steps: stipulation of a setpoint value for a controlled variable of the actuator; determination of an actual value of the controlled variable; determination of a setpoint/actual value deviation between the setpoint value and the actual value of the controlled variable; pilot control of a controlled variable in accordance with a predefined pilot control response as a function of the setpoint value; regulation of the controlled variable by a regulator output variable in accordance with a predefined regulating response as a function of the feedback setpoint/actual value deviation; actuation of the actuator with the pilot-controlled and regulated controlled variable; and determination of a characteristic variable of the injection system as a function of the regulator output variable.
US08280610B2
An engine control system comprises an actuator control module and a tertiary injection module. The actuator control module provides secondary air to an exhaust system when a catalyst light-off mode is enabled and provides first and second injections of fuel to a cylinder during each engine cycle while the catalyst light-off mode is enabled. The tertiary injection module selectively provides a third injection of fuel to the cylinder during an exhaust phase of each engine cycle while the catalyst light-off mode is enabled. The first, second, and third injections are each separated by a period of time.
US08280605B2
A braking force control apparatus for a vehicle is provided with a brake device that brakes a rotation of a drive wheel of a vehicle equipped with a continuously variable transmission and adjusts a magnitude of a braking force acting upon the drive wheel on the basis of a brake depression amount. The braking force control apparatus includes a controller that is configured to set an upper limit value of the braking force of the brake device when a restriction condition that is a condition, at which an excessively large torque input state occurs, has been estimated to be established, the excessively large torque input state being a state in which a reduced speed of the drive wheel based on the braking force is larger than an allowable limit speed.
US08280600B2
A method is provided for calibrating an automatic transmission with a torque converter clutch. In order to avoid that the torque converter clutch still has capacity even if the pressure is commanded to be zero without modifying the behavior of the torque converter clutch behavior of all the production, the torque converter clutch minimum offset transmissions are detected and only on these transmissions the torque converter minimum clamp pressure is decreased by a pressure step and the torque converter clutch coast adapt reference cell is increased.
US08280591B2
A method monitors the vehicle handling of a vehicle with respect to vehicle stability by comparing a measured variable, which reflects the yaw rate or the lateral acceleration, with a comparison value, which is derived from the steering angle, specified by the driver. The gradients of the regression lines, which are normalized in relation to each other, of the measured variable, on the one hand, and the comparison value, which represents the steering angle, on the other hand, are compared continuously over a number of analysis time windows. Upon finding a significant deviation between these gradients, an unstable driving condition is concluded. The difference between the gradients of the regression lines, which may be determined by a first order least squares method and normalized to the same units by a suitably applied amplification factor, are determined and compared with a suitably determined limit value, above which an instability is inferred. Alternatively, the measured variable and the comparison value, which represents the steering angle, can be analyzed for a linear or nonlinear dependence within an analysis time window by a coherence analysis; and on detection of a noteworthy nonlinearity, an unstable driving condition can be concluded.
US08280588B2
A travel support apparatus sets a travel locus of a vehicle based on a gaze point of a driver of the vehicle. By utilizing the gaze point, the travel locus is calculated and set for the travel control of the vehicle, especially for a curved portion of a road, in a matching manner that the calculated travel locus approximates the travel locus created by the steering operation of the driver. The above locus calculation scheme generates a natural travel locus because the driver of the vehicle usually gazes at an exit of the curved portion of the road when he/she steers the vehicle on the road. The natural travel locus calculated and set by the travel support apparatus prevents the driver from having discomfort and/or unsafe feeling while the travel of the vehicle is controlled by the apparatus.
US08280586B2
In a method for determining the actual yaw rate and slip angle of a vehicle, a slip angle characteristic is first determined by a driving condition sensor system, a yaw rate sensor and a position determination system. If the slip angle characteristic remains below a threshold value, the actual yaw angle is adjusted to match the actual speed vector angle. Otherwise, the actual yaw angle is determined by a continuous value integration using yaw rate sensor values and the slip angle is calculated as the difference between the yaw angle and the speed vector angle. The slip angle is reliably determined with sufficient accuracy, without the need for additional sensors, if the values of the slip angle increase over several seconds. In addition, the yaw angle is reliably determined over long periods of time and the deviations in the values that occur in the integrating methods are adjusted at frequent intervals.
US08280585B2
A control method is provided for an electronically controlled damping system in a vehicle, wherein at least one characteristic quantity varying with different axle load conditions of an axle of the vehicle is determined, a correcting variable is established for an actuator of a vibration damper based on the characteristic quantity and the correcting variable is transmitted to the actuator of the vibration damper to adjust a desired damping behavior of the vibration damper.
US08280578B1
An analysis tool which extracts all the available parameter identifications (i.e. PIDS) from a vehicle's power train control module for diagnostic decisions. This is done by checking these PIDS and other information (e.g., calculated PIDS, Break Points, charts and algorithms) in three states; key on engine off, key on engine cranking, key on engine running In all three modes the tool is comparing the live data from PIDS and voltage to the other information (e.g, Break Points). If any of this data are outside the programmed values a flag is assigned to the failure or control problem. The relationship between a particular PID and its associated preprogrammed value(s) may be indicated by a light. The depth of the problem (if any) is conveyed by the color of the light. Also included are tests/charts for fuel trim, engine volumetric efficiency, simulated injector, power, catalyst efficiency, and engine coolant range.
US08280575B2
An ECU (60) for an engine (10, 70) monitors a change of an actual fuel pressure (NPC), when a target fuel pressure (PFIN) is changed stepwise. In one abnormality, the time required for the actual fuel pressure to reach the target fuel pressure is equal to that when an actuator (34) operates normally. However, the maximum value of a differential value (dNPC/dt) with respect to time of the actual fuel pressure is different from that when the actuator operates normally. For this reason, a normal range is set in advance for the maximum value of the differential value with respect to time of the actual fuel pressure and when the maximum value of the differential value with respect to time of the actual fuel pressure is out of the normal range, it is determined that the actuator operates abnormally.
US08280571B2
A drive controller for hybrid vehicles, the hybrid vehicle comprising: an engine; a motor which is able to assist the driving force from the engine; an automatic clutch mechanism which is able to engage/disengage the transmission of the driving force between the engine and the motor; an automatic transmission disposed downstream of the motor; a filter for collecting particulates in exhaust gas; and a controller for controlling operations of these devices, wherein the controller operates in such a way that, for regenerating the filter, the idling speed while the vehicle is halted is set higher, and the predetermined rotational speed for initiating the clutch engagement is set higher than the rotational speed at the time of non-regeneration of the filter in light of increase in the engine rotational speed for the fast-idle control.
US08280565B2
A drive control apparatus for an electric car as can correct a synchronizing frequency without employing beacons, is proposed. A wheel-diameter correction information output means includes wheel-diameter information calculation means for calculating wheel-diameter calculation information expressive of a wheel diameter of an electric car, on the basis of two-phase current information. The wheel-diameter correction information output means also includes selection output means. The selection output means selects a wheel-diameter data output WD1, the wheel-diameter calculation information WD2 based on the wheel-diameter calculation means, or wheel-diameter default information WD0, and it outputs wheel-diameter correction information WD. A synchronizing-frequency calculation means outputs synchronizing frequency information FM on the basis of axle rotational-frequency information FR and the wheel-diameter correction information WD.
US08280560B2
An adaptive vehicle control system that classifies a drivers driving style based on vehicle headway control. The system reads sensor signals to identify the range and range rate between a subject vehicle and a preceding vehicle, where the range rate is close to zero if the distance between the subject vehicle and the preceding vehicle is relatively steady, the range rate is negative when the subject vehicle is closing in on the preceding vehicle and the range rate is positive when the subject vehicle is falling behind the preceding vehicle. The range rate, the subject vehicle speed and other signals are used to classify the drivers driving style based on how fast the subject vehicle closes in on the preceding vehicle or falls behind, and the following distance between the subject vehicle and the preceding vehicle. The system can then classify the headway-control maneuver using selected discriminant features.
US08280559B2
In an embodiment, an integrated circuit includes an input configured to receive a first control signal and an output module configured to generate an output signal based at least on the first control signal and a second control signal generated based at least on a measured temperature of the IC. The output signal is configured to control a cooling device.
US08280542B2
A dental prosthesis is made by first forming a model of a patient's dentition. A three dimensional digital data corresponding to the surfaces of the model is then created. Based on this data, a three dimensional digital data file is then created substantially corresponding to the dental prosthesis to be manufactured. The three dimensional digital data of the dental prosthesis to be manufactured is next transmitted to automated prototyping equipment, and using the automated prototyping equipment, a wax pattern of the dental prosthesis is manufactured based upon this three dimensional digital data of the dental prosthesis. Finally, using this wax pattern in the lost wax investment casting process, the dental prosthesis is made. Prior to investment casting, marginal edges of the wax pattern are adjusted manually.
US08280536B1
A thermostat for controlling an HVAC system is described, the thermostat having a user interface that is visually pleasing, approachable, and easy to use while also providing ready access to, and intuitive navigation within, a menuing system capable of receiving a variety of different types of user settings and/or control parameters. For some embodiments, the thermostat comprises a housing, a ring-shaped user-interface component configured to track a rotational input motion of a user, a processing system configured to identify a setpoint temperature value based on the tracked rotational input motion, and an electronic display coupled to the processing system. An interactive thermostat menuing system is accessible to the user by an inward pressing of the ring-shaped user interface component. User navigation within the interactive thermostat menuing system is achievable by virtue of respective rotational input motions and inward pressings of the ring-shaped user interface component.
US08280535B2
The present invention discloses a massage bathtub automatic control system and method for controlling the same, which provides a control panel and a digital control unit, wherein the control panel is disposed with a visual-displaying unit, a master control device and an input device connected to the master control device. The visual-displaying unit displays multi-layer function menus where a user can use the input device to pick up one of function icons appearing. The picked up function icon corresponds operation of at least one of attaching devices or operations of combining the plural attaching devices connected to the bathtub, and simultaneously, the control panel sends a related control command to the digital control unit for performing such an operation on the corresponding attaching device. The operational result of the corresponding attaching device can be sent back to the control panel for data process. Therefore, this brings the user conveniences on rapid and simplified operation and watching the control performance in time.
US08280532B2
Providing a remote control technique capable of realizing the achievement of constraints and the certain following of a target value even with a network in which delay, loss, distortion, or the like may occur. In a remote control system, an area setting unit of a client-side control unit sets at least two areas representative of a group of states of an target object, which changes over time by feedback control. A state-evaluation information sending unit sends, to the host-side control unit, state evaluation information obtained by evaluating the state of the target object based on the area set by the area setting unit. A target value setting unit of the host-side control unit sets a target value such that the state of the target object changes in the area set by the area setting units. Moreover, a target value updating unit updates the target value based on the state evaluation information received from the client-side control unit.
US08280524B2
An external processor device is described for an implantable prosthetic system. An external processor housing has a generally planar skin contacting surface and a central axis perpendicular to the skin contacting surface. A signal processor is located within the processor housing for developing an implant data signal. The processor housing also contains a transmitter coil for coupling the implant data signal across the skin to the implantable prosthetic system. A battery compartment is also located within the processor housing in an annular region around the central axis for containing a battery arrangement to provide electrical power to the signal processor and the transmitter coil.
US08280522B2
A cochlear implant system has an implantable portion that includes a stimulator module for producing for the auditory system of a user an electrical stimulation signal representative of an acoustic signal. The implantable portion further includes a battery for supplying power to the stimulator module, a receiver module for receiving an electrical power signal across the skin of a user, and a recharge module that uses the electrical power signal to recharge the battery. The recharge module recharges the battery at less than the maximum recharge rate.
US08280519B2
Wet-tantalum capacitors used in a medical device are charged to and maintained at a maintenance voltage between full energy charges so that deformation in the wet-tantalum capacitor is substantially inhibited.
US08280515B2
A method of treating chronic pain in a subject by positioning a lead containing electrodes subcutaneously in the occipital region of a subject's skull at the height of an imaginary line connecting the tops of the ears; and energizing the lead with an electrical signal effective to suppress pain, and below the level where the subject can feel the lead being energized. Typically the procedure involves a trial phase and a permanent implant phase. The procedure is known as occipital neuromodulation.
US08280508B2
For a sampled signal, storing characteristic points generated based on parameters corresponding to curvature of the signal. The characteristic points include a time of occurrence of a lobe in a curvature series based on the signal and a corresponding amplitude of the signal. The characteristic points provide a compressed version of the sampled signal. The signal is reconstructed by establishing a function between a chronological sequence of characteristic points. For a repetitive signal, the stored data includes a code to indicate a time of reoccurrence of a previous cycle or data corresponding to differences between a previous cycle and a current cycle.
US08280502B2
A computing device-controlled system is described for the generation of amplitude-modulated pulse-width modulation (AMPWM) signals for use in treating neurological dysfunction via cranial neurostimulation, where the AMPWM signal is specifically designed to minimize the electrical impedance of the tissues of the head. A low-frequency carrier signal is determined for the AMPWM signal by measuring EEG activity at a reference site or sites, generally corresponding with the location of suspected brain dysfunction. Carrier signal frequency is variably related to critical frequency components of the EEG power spectral density, determined from statistical analysis of amplitudes and variability, and dynamically changed as a function of time to prevent entrainment. The AMPWM signal is presented to a subject via a plurality of neurostimulation delivery modes for therapeutic use.
US08280499B2
An implantable monitoring device includes a flexible lead body that includes at least one sensing element. The device also includes a rigid main body connected to the flexible lead body at an attachment point. The rigid main body is generally centered about a longitudinal axis defined by the flexible lead body when the lead body is unflexed. The device further includes a measurement circuit, which is housed within the rigid main body and electrically coupled to the at least one sensing element of the flexible lead body and at least another sensing element on an outside surface of the rigid main body. The measurement circuit is configured to measure a potential difference between the at least one sensing element of the flexible lead body and the at least another sensing element of the main body.
US08280493B2
An apparatus measures the quantity of milk consumed by an infant during a breast-feeding session. The apparatus includes a brassiere-like garment (30) with openings allowing the breasts to be exposed for nursing an infant. Lining (32) is attached to the inside of the brassiere. Ultra-sonic Doppler-Effect transmitter probes (44) and receiver probes (46) are annexed to the brassiere lining pointing at the direction of the respective nipple of the nursing person. A processor is provided for translating flow measurements by the probes (44, 46) into volume units.
US08280485B2
A medical robot for use inside a magnetic resonance imager includes a horizontal motion assembly, a vertical motion assembly and a controller. The horizontal motion assembly includes a motion joint, an ultrasonic motor operably connected to the motion joint and an encoder operably connected to the ultrasonic motor. The motor and encoder are positioned proximate to the joint of the horizontal motion assembly. The vertical motion assembly is operably connected to the horizontal motion assembly and it includes a motion joint, an ultrasonic motor operably connected to the motion joint and an encoder operably connected to the ultrasonic motor. The motor and encoder are positioned proximate to the joint of the vertical motion assembly. The controller is operably connected thereto and is adapted to be powered off when the magnetic resonance imager is being used to collect images. A medical instrument assembly is connectable to the medical robot.
US08280480B2
The invention relates to a stapedius muscle electrode array for detecting the action elements generated when a human stapedius muscle is contracted. Said array comprises an electrode (2, 2′, 2″) that is adapted for bipolar discharge and is to be attached to a human stapedius muscle. The electrode has two flexible, elastic, electrically conducting elongate elements (2a, 2b), each of which has a distal (4a, 4b) and a proximal end (17a, 17b) and is helically preshaped along at least some of the length thereof to the distal end (4a, 4b) thereof in such a way that the distal end (4a, 4b) and a section of the respective elongate element (2a, 2b) which adjoins the distal end (4a, 4b) can be placed at least in part around the tendon (7) extending between the stapedius muscle and the stapes while the helical part can be guided along the tendon (7), can be moved in the direction of the stapedius muscle, and can be at least partly twisted into and/or slid onto the region of the muscle belly (6) adjoining the tendon (7). The two elongate elements (2a, 2b) are electrically insulated from one another, and the helical parts (3) thereof are intertwined in such a way as to run around a common centerline (11), allowing the helical parts (3) to be jointly placed around the tendon (7), be guided along the tendon (7), and be brought in contact with the stapedius muscle.
US08280477B2
Catheters and methods for obtaining monophasic action potential (“MAP”) electrograms include a flexible catheter body defining a longitudinal axis, and a distal assembly affixed to the catheter body distal end defining a distal tip. The distal assembly has at least three MAP recording electrodes, and at least one reference electrode for determining reference potential. The recording electrodes are each positioned a radial distance from the longitudinal axis in at least three different radial directions, defining a recording geometry substantially having radial symmetry. The reference electrode is a longitudinal distance from the recording geometry. Optional features include a steerable catheter shaft, one or more radio-frequency ablation electrodes, and a dedicated pacing electrode. Different possible embodiments include a dome housing having the recording electrodes in a fixed spatial arrangement, and a distal loop assembly having an array of electrodes on at least three flexible loop elements.
US08280472B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed for measuring blood oxygen saturation by using spectrophotometry to improve the accuracy of the measurement under a condition of low perfusion.
US08280464B2
A handheld electronic device including a first body, a second body and a moving mechanism is provided. The second body is stacked under the first body. A side of the second body facing the first body has a concave portion. The moving mechanism includes a first sliding member, a second sliding member and an elevating mechanism. The first sliding member is fixed to the first body. The second sliding member is slidingly disposed at the first sliding member. The elevating mechanism is connected between the second body and the second sliding member. After the first sliding member drives the first body to shift relatively to the second body to reach the concave portion, the first body compresses the elevating mechanism and enters the concave portion.
US08280463B2
An electronic apparatus includes a case, a cover member that includes a first layer, and a second layer made of a material different from that of the first layer, and an electronic component accommodated between the case and the cover member, wherein the second layer includes a first adhesion area that is adhered to the first layer, and a second adhesion area that is located closer to a center than the first adhesion area, adhered to the first layer, and recessed closer to the case than the first adhesion area, a step being formed between the first adhesion area and the second adhesion area.
US08280455B2
A battery charging assembly for charging a battery of a mobile device includes a charging unit, an output assembly and an input assembly. The input assembly is detachably associated with the charging unit and includes an adapter for removable attachment to the charging unit, a power cord, and a plug configured to mate with a style of electrical outlet such that the charging unit is positionable at a remote location from the electrical outlet. The adapter has a latching mechanism for latching the adapter in a receptacle defined in the charging unit.
US08280454B2
Various embodiments are described for a mobile communication device having a main processor for controlling the operation of the mobile communication device; a device memory coupled to the main processor for storing a plurality of battery information profiles; and a smart battery coupled to the main processor for providing supply power. The smart battery includes a battery processor for controlling the operation of the smart battery and communicating with the main processor; and a battery memory coupled to the battery processor for storing a Battery ID indicating the model of the smart battery. The main processor is configured to communicate with the battery processor to obtain the Battery ID and select one the battery information profiles based on the Battery ID.
US08280442B2
Even if a receiver has a normal gain and a lowered intermodulation distortion characteristics, a fault detection is possible. A test signal transmitter sends a test signal having at least two frequencies to a radio receiver through a coupler. A digital signal processing section receives a signal which includes an IM3 component generated by the radio receiver and measures the electric power of fundamental wave components and the IM3 component. Then, the digital signal processing section calculates the gain of the radio receiver and IIP3, which is an index for intermodulation distortion characteristics, of the radio receiver 207 from the calculated electric power. A base station control section determines whether the gain and IIP3 of the radio receiver fall in predetermined ranges to determine whether the radio receiver works normally or has a fault.
US08280438B2
A portable electronic device includes a safety feature configured to prevent at least some forms of use of the device when the user is traveling beyond a speed threshold. The device may detect its linear speed, compare that speed to a threshold, and provide a response or blocking function upon detecting that the speed has exceeded a threshold. In one embodiment, the device is a cell phone configured to disable the transmission and reception of voice and text, conceal its display screen, and disable incorporated games, cameras, internet access, etc., if the cell phone is moving faster than walking speed. The blocking function in a cell phone may be partially overridden by the introduction of hands-free equipment. The introduction of a hands-free earpiece and microphone may serve to override the blocking of voice transmission and reception, and may also enable a voice activated dialing and/or answering function.
US08280434B2
A mobile wireless communications device includes a housing and transceiver carried by the housing for transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals carrying communications data of speech. A processor is coupled to the transceiver for processing the communications data as speech that is transmitted and received to and from the transceiver. A keyboard and display is carried by the housing and connected to the processor. A speech-to-text and text-to-speech module converts communications data as speech received from the transceiver to text that is displayed on the display and converting text that is typed by a user on the keyboard in the communications data as speech to be transmitted from the transceiver as an RF signal.
US08280430B2
Calibration for a transmit chain of a device transmitting information to multiple devices over wireless links and receive chains of the multiple devices receiving information over one of the wireless links utilizing each of the estimates for different antennas of an access terminal as a separate estimate.
US08280422B2
The present invention relates to a method of arranging inter-working for a communications system comprising a PMR (private mobile radio) system part and a PLMN (public land mobile network) system part. The system comprises a mobile intermediate device capable of communicating with the PMR system part and the PLMN system part and comprising a converter for performing protocol conversion between the PMR system part and the PLMN system part, the method comprising: detecting in the intermediate device a need for inter-system transfer from a source system part to a target system part, performing by the converter conversion for an information unit from a source system to a format appropriate in the target system part; and transmitting the converted information unit to the target system part.
US08280420B2
The claimed subject matter relates to enforcing a threshold peak to average power while reducing affects associated with saturation. This can be accomplished, for instance, by assessing piecewise linear approximation of an ideal saturation region, wherein the ideal saturation region is based at least in part upon the threshold peak to average ratio. Thereafter, a desirably transmitted signal can be saturated if power associated with the signal lies outside a region encompassed by the piecewise linear approximation.
US08280402B2
A system and method for controlling financial transactions is disclosed. A customer, using a wireless device, identifies a point of sale and the amount of a transaction at that point of sale is first communicated to a central service and then transmitted to the wireless device for display at the wireless device. The customer can either accept the transaction amount to complete the transaction or reject the amount to cancel the transaction. The customer may have to enter a password or personal identification number to verify the authorization to use the wireless financial system. The customer is billed for the transaction via credit, debit, ATM or other methods, such as the wireless carrier or an internet provider.
US08280384B2
The location of a wireless mobile device may be estimated using, at least in part, one or more pre-existing Network Measurement Reports (“NMRs”) which include calibration data for a number of locations within a geographic region. The calibration data for these locations is gathered and analyzed so that particular calibration points within the geographic region can be determined and associated with a particular set or sets of calibration data from, for example, one or more NMRs. Sets of calibration points may be evaluated as a function of parameters of the calibration data, and a set of calibration points may be selected as a function of a predetermined criteria. Signal reception in the region may be estimated as a function of mobile device location in the region and an approximate statistical accuracy of a signal strength pattern determined as a function of the estimated signal reception. An expected accuracy of a location system may then be modeled in the region as a function of system configuration information and determined approximate statistical accuracy.
US08280383B2
A system and methodology that facilitates triggering device scanning and efficient femtocell detection in areas dominated by macro cells is provided. In particular, the system can includes a jamming component that generates a small and measured amount of interference to user equipment or user equipments (UEs) camping on nearby macro carriers. Moreover, the power utilized to introduce the interference can be enough to cause macro signal quality around the femtocell access point (AP) to fall below a scan trigger level. The UE(s) can detect the macro signal quality decline below the scan trigger level and scan other frequency bands, including the femtocell, on which to camp. Additionally, the system can perform femto pilot gating, such that the jamming component can scan the radio environment surrounding the femto AP during an off state, to determine information that facilitates jamming of a macro pilot.
US08280374B2
The invention comprises methods and arrangements for Policy Decision Point discovery in a roaming or handover scenario in an IP network (IN) comprising a plurality of network elements. The authentication function, e.g. an AAA-server, receives the address (ASPDP1) of the serving Policy Decision Point (SPDP1) associated to the user equipment, and stores the address of the serving policy decision point together with the local address of the user equipment. The authentication function sends the address of the serving policy Decision Point to the Home Agent so that the Home Agent can forward the address of the serving policy decision point to the anchor Policy Decision Point and so that the anchor Policy Decision Point can contact the serving policy decision point by using said address of the serving Policy Decision Point.
US08280372B2
The invention refers to a base station, BTS, (BTS) and a method for a BTS, for a cellular communication system comprising a user equipment, UE, (UE) onboard an aircraft (1) being at a predetermined altitude and a terrestrial network. The invention is characterized in that the base station (BTS) is arranged to be an airborne onboard BTS (BTS) comprising a screening device (2) generating a first signal (S1) being matched to screen a second signal (S2) from the terrestrial network at a predetermined altitude. The onboard BTS (BTS) also comprises a signal generator (3) generating a third signal (S3) being stronger than both the first signal (S1) and the second signal (S2), the onboard BTS (BTS) being arranged to establish a communication link with the UE (UE) via the third signal (S3).
US08280369B1
A method for managing the application mode on a mobile device is provided. Messages containing instructions to change the application mode of a mobile device may be inspected to ensure the message conforms to security policies. The message may be modified to request a confirmation that the application mode has been changed according the instructions in the message. The delivery of the message may be ensured by overriding normal message delivery polices by repeatedly notifying the mobile device that the message is ready for download. The mobile device may update the application mode according to the instructions and send a confirmation message to a designated address.
US08280363B2
According to an embodiment of the present invention, In accordance with one embodiment, a method for controlling a visual appearance of a mobile terminal is described. The method includes sensing a property of an object or environment external to the mobile terminal and controlling the visual appearance of at least one portion of the mobile terminal according to the sensed property. According to another embodiment, a mobile terminal includes a sensor configured to sense a property of an object or environment external to the mobile terminal, and a controller configured to control a visual appearance of at least one portion of the mobile terminal according to the sensed property.
US08280357B2
The different illustrative embodiments provide a method, system, and computer program product for sharing a list passed in a shared direct communication environment after a direct communication has ended among mobile devices. A profile associated with the first mobile device in a storage of a server computer is accessed by an indirect transceiver in the second mobile device responsive to a second mobile device acquiring an information that is responsive to a list previously received from a first mobile device and responsive to the information being acquired during a time when there is no direct communication between the first mobile device and the second mobile device. A contact information is retrieved, and the information is sent to a location specified by the contact information.
US08280356B2
The instant application describes a method for enabling a user of a mobile device to purchase a Ring Back Tone (“RBT”). The method includes steps of receiving an identifier associated with the mobile device that has received the RBT as a result of a call to another device and a mapping identification code associated with a RBT content identification code; generating a long code for the mapping identification code; and generating a message with the long code as a reply-to-number. The method also includes steps of sending the message to the mobile device, the message offering the user of the mobile device an option to purchase the RBT; receiving a response from the mobile device, reflecting the mobile device's user desire to either purchase the RBT or not to purchase the RBT; and identifying the mapping identification code from the reply-to-number in the response. Upon determining that the user desires to purchase the RBT from the response, allowing the purchase of the RBT by determining the RBT content identification code based on the mapping identification code.
US08280355B1
A plurality of beacons transmit beacon signals indicating beacon identifiers. A mobile communication device receives a first one of the beacon signals indicating a first one of the beacon identifiers when the mobile communication device is proximate to a first one of the beacons. The mobile communication device generates a random code and transmits a first message indicating the first beacon identifier and the random code. The mobile communication device receives a second one of the beacon signals indicating a second one of the beacon identifiers when the mobile communication device is proximate to a second one of the beacons and transmits a second message indicating the second beacon identifier and the random code. A computer system receives the first message and the second message and processes the random code, the first beacon identifier, and the second beacon identifier to determine the velocity of the mobile communication device.
US08280353B2
A system for storing subscriber information in a centralized location includes a processor, memory coupled to the processor, and a data storage device coupled to the processor. The data storage device includes a subscriber profile portion for storing personal information about a subscriber. The subscriber profile portion includes a subscriber identification portion for storing an identification string. The subscriber profile portion is associated with an account type portion for storing account information, a portal portion for storing portal information, and an account status portion for storing account status information. The data storage device further includes a subscription portion for storing subscription information. The subscription portion is associated with a device portion for storing device information, a services portion for storing services information, and a mobile subscription portion for storing mobile subscription information.
US08280345B2
A wireless transceiver includes: (a) a low power radio frequency (LPRF) communications component capable of powering down to conserve energy and capable of powering up in response to an electronic signal, the LPRF communications component including a transmitter and a first receiver; and (b) a second receiver that is configured to screen a radio frequency broadcast and provide, on the basis of specific data identified therein, the electronic signal to the LPRF communications component in order to power up the LPRF communications component. The second receiver is adapted to draw less current than the LPRF communications component while awaiting receipt of and listening for a radio frequency broadcast.
US08280342B1
A visited access gateway provides an emergency communication service to a visiting mobile unit. The visiting mobile unit transfers a user registration to a home communication network, and the home communication network transfers a home internet protocol address to the visiting mobile unit. Upon receiving an emergency call request having the home internet protocol address from the visiting mobile unit, the access gateway transfers the emergency call request having the home internet protocol address over a signaling tunnel from the visiting mobile unit to a visited call processing system, receives routing instructions from the visited call processing system, and exchanges emergency communications having the home internet protocol address over a bearer tunnel between the visiting mobile unit and a visited emergency service node.
US08280333B2
A harmonic rejection mixer unit is provided which comprises an input (RF), at least one harmonic rejection unit (HRU) with at least two transistor units (T3a, T3b; T4a, T4b) for multiplying an input signal from the input (RF) with a multiplication signal (ELO). The harmonic rejection mixer unit furthermore comprises a transistor control signal generating unit (GGU) for generating transistor control signals (GS1-GS4) for the at least two transistor units (T3a, T3b; T4a, T4b) of the at least one harmonic rejection unit (HRU) by deriving the transistor control signals (GS1-GS4) from a local oscillator signal (LO). The transistor control signals (GS3, GS4) for the at least two transistor units (T3a, T3b; T4a, T4b) are generated with a duty cycle of <50% and are generated such that the shape of the multiplication signal ELO) is achieved by a constructive summation of the output signals from the transistor units (T3a, T3b; T4a, T4b). The transistor control signals (GS1-GS4) are generated such that only a summation of output signals from the transistor units with the same sign or with zero is performed.
US08280322B2
A phase locked loop (PLL) a phase detector, a charge pump, a loop filter, a controlled oscillator, and a feedback divider. The phase detector is coupled to produce a difference signal based on a difference between phase of a reference oscillation and phase of a feedback oscillation. The charge pump is coupled to convert the difference signal into an up-signal or a down signal. The loop filter coupled to filter the up signal or the down signal to produce a control signal. The controlled oscillator is coupled to generate an output oscillation based on the control signal. The feedback divider is coupled to generate the feedback oscillation from the output oscillation based on a divider value. The loop filter includes a first resistor-capacitor circuit and a second resistor-capacitor circuit. The first resistor-capacitor circuit is calibrated using a first calibration technique and the second resistor-capacitor circuit is calibrated using a second calibration technique.
US08280319B2
A communications device is provided. The communications device includes a first antenna port coupled to a signal line, transmitter circuitry coupled to the signal line and configured to broadcast a radio frequency (RF) output signal across the first antenna port, tuning circuitry coupled to the signal line, and a controller configured to adjust a tuning of the tuning circuitry. The first antenna port, the transmitter circuitry, the tuning circuitry, and the controller are at least partially integrated on the same integrated circuit.
US08280316B2
In a wireless transmitting/receiving device of TDD system etc., a transmission signal is detected on the transmitting side in a specified transmission period, a signal reflected from an antenna through a circulator is detected on the receiving side in the transmission period and a reception signal is detected on the receiving side in a specified reception period. In this case, in a part of the transmission period a transmission signal having been detected on the transmitting side is selected while in the remaining part of the transmission period a reflection signal having been detected on the receiving side through a circulator from an antenna is selected, and in the reception period a reception signal having been detected on the receiving side through the circulator from the antenna is selected and outputted.
US08280315B2
An RF integrated circuit (IC) includes a first IC port for coupling a first transmit signal in a first frequency band to at least one external device and a second IC port for coupling a second transmit signal in a second frequency band to the at least one external device. A transmitter module responds to outbound data to generate the first transmit signal in a first mode of operation and to generate the second transmit signal in a second mode of operation, wherein the transmitter module generates the first transmit signal and the second transmit signal in a selected one of a plurality of wireless telephony formats based on a control signal, and wherein the plurality of wireless telephony formats includes a UMTS format and at least one non-UMTS format.
US08280313B2
A base station selecting method of this invention includes the steps of causing each of a plurality of ID transmitters (102) provided in the communication range of a wireless base station (103) to transmit location ID information for identifying the installation location of the ID transmitter (102) by a near field wireless communication scheme, and when a wireless terminal device (101) has received the location ID information, determining a connection destination wireless base station (103) based on the received location ID information. This makes it possible to speed up search processing and switch processing of the wireless base station (103) while suppressing an increase in the cost of the wireless terminal device (101) and also facilitate coverage design and coverage change of the wireless base station (103).
US08280311B2
The invention relates to a method of determining the presence of a telecommunications signal on a frequency band, said signal being assumed cyclostationary, comprising steps of: determining an energy vector {circumflex over (T)} (14) comprising m components respectively representative of energy values of an autocorrelation function of the signal received on said frequency band for m shift times, calculating correlation elements (15) between the m components of the energy vector {circumflex over (T)}, performing a statistical calculation (16) on the correlation elements calculated so as to determine a statistical indicator λ, comparing (17) the statistical indicator obtained λ with a predetermined threshold with the aim of determining the presence of a telecommunications signal on said frequency band.
US08280306B2
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method that allow wireless communications to be readily and quickly started. When a cellular phone 1 is placed in proximity to a personal computer 11, a strap ID is transmitted from a contactless IC tag 3 of a cellular phone strap 2 to a reader/writer 12 of the personal computer 11. The personal computer 11 has a table of association between the strap ID and a Bluetooth device name of the cellular phone 1. The personal computer 11, upon obtaining the strap ID, refers to the association table and thereby identifies the cellular phone 1 as a party for carrying out Bluetooth communications therewith. The personal computer 11, by referring to the Bluetooth device name, identifies the cellular phone 1 from among a plurality of Bluetooth devices including the cellular phone 1, and carries out Bluetooth communications with the cellular phone 1. The present invention can be applied to various information processing apparatuses such as cellular phones and personal computers.
US08280298B2
A sheet humidifying device includes a pair of humidifying rollers which form a nip portion by pressure contacting against each other and giving water to a sheet passing through the nip portion, a water-supply roller that pressure contacts the humidifying roller and supplies water to the humidifying roller, a water vessel that stores water to be supplied to the water-supply roller, and a pressure-contact releasing section that releases pressure-contact of the pair of humidifying rollers and releases pressure-contact between the humidifying roller and the water-supplying roller.
US08280293B2
In an image forming apparatus including a plurality of image forming devices, a first image forming device in which a leveling blade that functions as a lubricant leveling blade is easily worn away over time uses an obtuse-angle blade as a first leveling blade, and a second image forming device being other image forming device among the plurality of image forming devices uses a right-angle blade as a second leveling blade.
US08280289B2
An embodiment of the present invention includes a fixing member; a pressure member for pressing against the fixing member so as to form a nip region between the pressure member and the fixing member; a pressure cancellation unit for pressing the pressure member against the fixing member and for cancelling the state in which the pressure member is pressed against the fixing member; a paper detachment member for detaching paper held between the fixing member and the pressure member in the nip region from the pressure member; and a separation mechanism for cleaning the paper detachment member by separating the paper detachment member from the pressure member in conjunction with a pressure cancellation operation of the pressure cancellation unit.
US08280281B2
The development device includes a development member and a circulation member. The development member develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a latent image carrier with a developer including toner and a carrier to make the electrostatic latent image visible. The circulation member receives the developer discharged from the development member and conveys the developer back to the development member. The circulation member includes a container provided upstream from the development member in a conveyance direction of the developer to store the developer. The container includes an agitator provided inside the container and agitates and mixes the developer and fresh toner supplied to the container. The agitator includes a rotatable agitation member in which one or more holes are formed through which the developer passes to mix the fresh toner and the developer to be agitated in the container.
US08280275B2
A combination gear having a simple structure is provided at low cost without increasing a number of components. In at least two gears adjacent in an axial line direction and having a same rotation direction, three engaging portions arranged in a regular triangle are formed at an end of one of the adjacent gears and a regular triangle engaging hole is formed at an end of another gear. The engaging portions and the engaging hole fit together with play remaining, and when one of the gears rotates, the three engaging portions and three surfaces of the engaging hole engage such that the other gear rotates coaxially, and when rotation stops, the engaging portions and the engaging hole move in a direction orthogonal to the axial line by a play amount and become eccentric.
US08280272B2
A high-voltage power supply usable in an image forming apparatus includes a power transformation unit that generates an alternate-current (AC) voltage by transforming a voltage applied to the high-voltage power supply and a plurality of rectification units that are connected to the power transformation unit in order to rectify the AC voltage into different DC voltages, respectively.
US08280270B2
A fixing device including a heating roller; a pressure roller forming a nip section by making contact with the heating roller; a controller for controlling the surface temperature of the heating roller so that it becomes a predetermined set temperature; an amount of decrease detector for detecting an amount of decrease in the surface temperature of the pressure roller between before and after the passing of the paper sheet through the nip section; a determiner for specifying a required temperature required to perform the fixing for the paper sheet on the basis of the amount of decrease and for determining whether the set temperature is acceptable as the required temperature; and a temperature compensator for correcting the set temperature so that the set temperature is acceptable as the required temperature in the case that the determiner has determined that the set temperature is not acceptable as the required temperature.
US08280267B2
An image forming apparatus includes a first image forming unit for forming a first developer image; a second image forming unit for forming a second developer image; a transfer unit for transferring at least one of the first developer image and the second developer image; a separation contacting unit for moving at least one of the first image forming unit and the second image forming unit to a first position and a second position; a density measurement unit for measuring a first image density and a second image density of the first developer image; and a control unit including a density calculation unit for calculating a difference between the first image density and the second image density and a density correction unit for correcting a density of the first developer image according to the difference.
US08280263B2
A paper feed system for use in a printing apparatus that detects multi-feeds and separates all sheets while allowing a single sheet to continue into the machine includes a nip with a drive roller for feeding sheets. A reversible pressure roller downstream of the drive roller is connected to a motor, but idles in the direction of the paper feed in normal operation. When a multi-feed is detected, the motor is turned ON and the reversible pressure roll actuated by a controller. The reversible pressure roller has more friction with the sheet in its contact than the friction between sheets. This drives the sheet in contact backwards. This sheet can be diverted to a separate paper path using a gate mechanism and, if desired, fed back into the feed path.
US08280262B2
A light receiving circuit includes: a light receiving element that receives an optical signal and converts into an electrical signal; a comparator that demodulates the information on the optical signal to a pulsed signal; a band limit circuit disposed between the light receiving element and the comparator, the band limit circuit removing noise components of frequency higher than the pulsed signal; and a comparator threshold circuit disposed between the light receiving element and the comparator, the comparator threshold circuit generating a threshold of the comparator and limiting the threshold of the comparator within a binary range.
US08280261B2
The invention relates to a device for regenerating the phase of an optically modulated signal with phase changes and based on two and three replicas, wherein the replicas refer to the number of identical signals that are obtained form the input signal. This regenerator is capable of regenerating the phase and period of any format of modulation of optical communications systems which are differential modulation with phase changes, such as: DISK, DQPSK, RZ-DQPSK, RZ-DQPSK, D8PSK, D8PSK, RZ-D16PSK, D16PSK. The regenerator design presented involves the regenerator being placed alter the multiplexer of a communications system and before the signal modulators and/or decoders. Thus the regenerator receives the signal leaving the multiplexer and this signal is input in an amplitude modulator.
US08280256B2
An optical hybrid circuit includes a MMI coupler including a pair of input channels provided at positions symmetrical with respect to a center position in a widthwise direction thereof, a pair of first output channels outputting a pair of first optical signals having an in-phase relationship, and a pair of second output channels neighboring with each other outputting a pair of second optical signals having an in-phase relationship. The MMI coupler converts QPSK signal light or DQPSK signal light into the pair of first optical signals and the pair of second optical signals having an in-phase relationship. The optical hybrid circuit includes a 2:2 optical coupler connected to the first or the second output channels. The 2:2 optical coupler converts the pair of first optical signals or the pair of second optical signals into a pair of third optical signals having a quadrature phase relationship with the pair of first or second optical signals.
US08280247B1
The invention concerns an arrangement for supervising and/or controlling the bit rate of data pulses that are transmitted from a transmitter (16) to at least one optical conduction path (22). The transmitter (16) has an input side (18) which receives electrical pulses from an electric connection (14) and an output side (20) from which light pulses are transmitted in response to the received electrical pulses. The arrangement comprises a supervising unit (24) with at least one input (26) which is suited to be connected to said electric connection (14). The supervising unit (24) is arranged to estimate or determine the bit rate of the pulses that are received at said input (26). The arrangement is arranged to carry out at least one measure which depends on the estimated or determined bit rate.
US08280246B2
The differential group delay is measured in an optical fiber connection for an optical signal undergoing a phase modulation BPSK or DPSK by a digital signal at a given rate. A polarization controller at an emerging end of the connection scans polarization states of the modulated optical signal. An emulator iteratively introduces an additional delay in the modulated optical signal emerging from the connection and combines the delayed modulated optical signal and the non delayed modulated optical signal which are both polarized along two orthogonal axes into a resulting optical signal. A polarization controller and a fixed polarizer select a polarization state in the resulting optical signal along one of bisecting lines of the orthogonal axes into a linearly polarized signal. An eye diagram or a spectrum of the polarized signal is acquired by a digital oscilloscope or an optical spectrum analyzer to determine the differential group delay.
US08280245B2
An optical sampling arrangement for high-speed measurement of the time-varying electric field of a data-carrying optical input signal. The present invention includes optical sampling of the optical input signal, followed by coherent mixing with a reference laser source in an optical hybrid solution. The generated streams of mixed optical samples are then detected and signal processed in order to reconstruct a sampled version of the electric field of the data-carrying optical input signal.
US08280243B2
To detect the performance degradation of an optical communication transmission system after it becoming operational, thereby preventing the reliability of the system from lowering. In an optical communication transmission system, one of optical transmitter-receivers in a redundant-structured system is an active optical transmitter-receiver, and the other optical transmitter-receiver is a standby optical transmitter-receiver. The optical transmitter-receiver includes a loopback device through which the signal light of a transmitting section of the optical transmitter-receivers is inputted to a receiving section, and an operating-system switching scheduling device for regularly switching the operating system is provided. Further, there is also provided a performance check scheduling device which operates the loopback device of the standby-system optical transmitter-receiver at a prescribed timing determined in advance to start the performance check processing by the transmitting section and the receiving section of the optical transmitter-receiver.
US08280241B1
Disclosed is a hood-cover combination for a lens of a camera. The hood-cover combination includes a hood for detachable attachment to a portion of the camera around the lens, a frame rotationally located in the hood, two covers pivotally connected to the frame and two springs for biasing the covers from the frame so that the frame is kept open.
US08280239B2
Provided are a digital image photographing apparatus which easily captures an image of a composition intended by a user, a method of controlling the apparatus, and a recording medium having a program for executing the method. The apparatus includes: an image capturing device for receiving light to generate data on an image; and an auto-focusing tracking unit for allowing a lens to be auto-focused on a subject selected by a user. The image capturing device generates data on a still image when the subject on which the lens is auto-focused is located in a predetermined region of interest (ROI).
US08280237B2
A cogeneration system of the present invention includes: a fuel cell (1) configured to generate electricity and heat; a hot water tank (2) configured to store hot water having recovered the heat generated by the fuel cell (1); a heat exchanger (7) configured to transfer the heat generated by the fuel cell (1) to the hot water; a hot water passage (8) that is a first heat medium passage configured such that the heat is transferred to the hot water by the heat exchanger (7) and the hot water flows into the hot water tank (2); a heat medium supplier (9) configured to cause the heat medium to flow through the first heat medium passage (8); a hot water supplying passage (11) through which the hot water stored in the hot water tank (2) is supplied to the heat load; an electric power consuming heater (12) configured to heat the hot water flowing through the hot water supplying passage (11) toward the heat load by consuming surplus electric power of the fuel cell (1) and commercial electric power; and a second heat medium passage (A) configured such that the hot water is heated by the electric power consuming heater (12) and flows into the hot water tank (2).
US08280235B2
A liquid material vaporizer comprises a gas-liquid mixing section for mixing a liquid material and a carrier gas to generate a gas-liquid mixture; a heating type vaporizing section for vaporizing the gas-liquid mixture from the gas-liquid mixing section and exhausting outside with an assistance of the carrier gas a gas generated by the vaporization; a connecting section for making a connection between the gas-liquid mixing section and the vaporizing section, the connecting section having inside a flow path for the gas-liquid mixture; and a connecting section cooling section for cooling the connecting section. Thus, the liquid material vaporizer which performs suitable vaporization by preventing residue from being generated even in the case of vaporizing a liquid material composed of a plurality of materials having different boiling points.
US08280228B2
An information recording and reproducing apparatus includes a tuner, a recording and reproducing unit to record a television program selected by the tuner into a recording medium and to reproduce the television program recorded in the recording medium, and a system controller that includes a program identification information storage unit to store, in a case where an automatic recording function is set and when the television program is watched or when the television program is reservation-recorded, program identification information including a broadcast day of the week, a broadcast time zone and a channel of the television program into a memory, and a program recording unit to cause, when a main power source of the apparatus is off and when a time reaches a record start time of a television program of this week corresponding to program identification information of the last week stored in the memory, the recording and reproducing unit to record the television program of this week into the recording medium.
US08280218B2
A tilting mirror MEMS variable optical attenuator attenuates light over a band of wavelengths with minimum wavelength dependent loss. The attenuator includes a lens that has a wedged input face and is made from a material that has high dispersion. The lens design causes different wavelengths to travel different paths through the attenuator such that wavelength dependent loss is reduced. The attenuator may be designed to have minimum wavelength dependent loss at a specified attenuation greater than zero.
US08280217B2
The invention relates to a holding apparatus for splice protection devices with splices, accommodated in the splice protection devices, of optical waveguides, with a base wall and a plurality of separating elements which engage on the base wall, the separating elements demarcating accommodating regions from one another which run substantially parallel to one another for in each case at least one splice protection device. According to the invention, at least some accommodating regions are delimited at least one longitudinal side by in each case at least one first separating element, which has a dimensionally stable section and at least one elastically deformable section, the dimensionally stable section engaging on the base wall, the or each elastically deformable section engaging on the dimensionally stable section in such a way that the former protrudes, in an unformed initial position, into the respective accommodating region while reducing the effective width thereof and can be elastically deformed out of the initial position while enlarging the effective width of the respective accommodating region for the purpose of inserting a splice protection device into the respective accommodating region.
US08280216B2
Fiber optic drawers supporting fiber optic modules are disclosed. The drawer is movable about a chassis. At least one fiber optic equipment tray is received in the drawer. The fiber optic equipment tray(s) is movable about the drawer and configured to receive at least one fiber optic module. The fiber optic module(s) is movable about a fiber optic equipment tray. In this manner, enhanced access can be provided to the fiber optic module(s) and their fiber optic connections. The drawer can moved out from the chassis to provide access to fiber optic equipment tray(s) and fiber optic module(s). The fiber optic equipment tray(s) can be moved out from the drawer to provide enhanced access to fiber optic module(s). The fiber optic module(s) can be moved from fiber optic equipment tray(s) to provide further enhanced access to fiber optic module(s). The drawer may also be tiltable about the chassis.
US08280213B2
The present invention embraces an optical fiber that includes a central core having an alpha refractive index profile with respect to an outer cladding. The optical fiber also includes an inner cladding, a depressed trench, and an outer cladding. The optical fiber achieves reduced bending losses and a high bandwidth with a reduced cladding effect for high-data-rate applications.
US08280197B1
Disclosed are apparatus and methods for loading images. A request can be received at a computing device to display a plurality of images on the computing device. In response to the request, the computing device can load, in parallel, the plurality of images into storage of the computing device. The computing device can determine whether an image of the plurality of images is to be used. In response to determining that the image is to be used, the computing device can mark the image as loaded. In response to determining that the image is to not be used, the computing device can mark the image as no-image. Only images marked as loaded can be provided for display.
US08280193B2
A screen magnification tool to scale the content of a computer display screen by distinguishing text and non-text elements of the content and applying different scaling methods to the text and non-text elements. Information about the text elements is stored in a database. Other embodiments are also described.
US08280186B1
A system and method for expansion and reduction of images uses a look-up table to define an arbitrary mapping of data (e.g., pixel values) representing an image to respective energy values. Each pixel value may represent an absolute color or intensity value, a difference in color or intensity values, or an average, derivative, minimum, or maximum of two or more pixel values. The energy values may then be used to determine one or more low-cost seams of the image to be removed for an image reduction operation or replicated for an image expansion operation, where the cost of each seam is dependent on the energy values of the pixels of the seam. The look-up table may be used to apply a threshold and/or cap on the energy values mapped to pixel values. The look-up table may also provide a mechanism for reconfiguring mappings, thresholds, and/or caps.
US08280185B2
Image denoising techniques include determining wavelet-domain noise model and a non-parametric multivariate wavelet description from the image signal for raw image data. A noise corrected image may then be determined from the image signal, the wavelet-domain noise model and the non-parametric, multivariate wavelet description and the image signal.
US08280184B2
An image enhancement apparatus is provided. The image enhancement apparatus includes a global tone mapping curve generator, a local tone mapping curve generator, a reference gamma voltage generator and an image generator. The global tone mapping curve generator generates a global tone mapping curve for an input image according to global characteristic(s) of the input image. The local tone mapping curve generator generates a local tone mapping curve for each image partition within the input image according to the global tone mapping curve and further a feature of the image partition. The reference gamma voltage generator generates a plurality of reference gamma voltages for each image partition according to the corresponding local tone mapping curve for the image partition. The image generator generates an output image according to the reference gamma voltages of the image partitions and the input image.
US08280181B2
Systems and methods for efficiently applying a filter to image data are disclosed. For efficiently applying the filter, a filter type including coefficient values for each pixel in the image data is identified. A sub-matrix corresponding to the size of the filter is selected in the image data. The sub-matrix includes the plurality of pixels that can be represented in a 2N form. Each coefficient value is a number that is in a 2M form. The system calculates an average value of multiplications of pixel values with the corresponding coefficient values of each of the plurality of pixels. The multiplication of a pixel value and corresponding coefficient value is calculated by shifting a binary representation of the pixel value M bits, and a division to calculate the average value is performed by shifting a binary representation of a sum of the multiplications N bits. The average value is then applied to the center pixel. The process is repeated by selecting a new sub-matrix until the end of the image data is reached.
US08280172B1
A method for correcting coaxial light image edge location errors in a precision machine vision inspection system is disclosed. The method comprises comparing an edge position measurement of a workpiece edge feature using coaxial light and stage light. Edge position measurements using stage light have a lower uncertainty than that of coaxial light. Position correction factors may be determined from the difference between the two edge position measurements. The position correction factors may be stored for correcting subsequent edge position measurements that are based on images acquired using coaxial light. In some embodiments, position correction factors may be determined based on comparing edge position measurements for a plurality of edges.
US08280169B2
Handwriting activity is recorded by use of electromyography (EMG) signals detected from muscles at several locations on the hand. The EMG signals are sensed and registered. The sensed signals are processed and stored, after which the signals are analyzed to reconstruct handwriting activity into a digital format. Machine edible text is generated and displayed along with a graphical depiction of the handwriting.
US08280166B2
A color adjustment interface includes an original image thumbnail representing a version of an image prior to modification, a current image thumbnail representing a version of an image after a modification and a color polygon including a multitude of variation image thumbnails each representing a color variation. Each selection of a variation image thumbnail modifies the current image thumbnail in an adjustment towards a color represented by the selected variation image.
US08280163B2
When determining an area in which color blur occurs from an image, there may be an area where color blur suppression is performed in an area even though color blur does not occur, and the area becomes more noticeable or less noticeable depending on a degree of gamma correction processing. To solve this problem, an image processing apparatus obtains a color blur suppression coefficient based on a gradient value obtained from the image, performs color blur suppression on the image data using the color blur suppression coefficient, and changes the color blur suppression coefficient corresponding to the gradient value according to brightness.
US08280162B2
An image processing apparatus includes a histogram calculating section, a tone curve determining section and a tone curve applying section that perform different tone corrections on pixels at different positions in a color image and a false contour detecting section that calculates the degree of false contour occurrence for the color image based on the difference in signal saturation level between color signals. Based on the result of the calculation by the false contour detecting section, the tone curve determining section controls the tone correction characteristics to make a false contour less prominent.
US08280158B2
A system and method for identifying key frames of a presentation video that include stationary informational content. A sequence of frames is obtained from a presentation video and differences of pixel values between consecutive frames of the sequence of frames are computed. Sets of consecutive frames that are stationary are identified, wherein consecutive frames that are stationary have a proportion of changed pixel values below a first predetermined threshold, and wherein pixel values are deemed to be changed when the difference between the pixel values for corresponding pixels in consecutive frames exceeds a second predetermined threshold. Next, a set of key frames that include stationary informational content is retained. The set of key frames that include stationary informational content is then displayed for user interaction.
US08280156B2
A color scheme suitable for a captured position is performed on a portion except a captured image based on position information of the captured image. The album creating apparatus according to the present invention includes a captured position specifying section that specifies a captured position at which a captured image constituting an album is taken, an image storing section that stores a captured images in association with a captured position, an image classifying section that classifies a plurality of captured images stored on the image storing section into captured image groups based on the captured position, a color selecting section that selects a color to be used in a portion except the captured image in the album based on the captured position specified by the captured position specifying section, a color adding section that uses the color selected by the color selecting section to add color to the portion except the captured image in the album, and an image arranging section.
US08280141B2
A biological sample such as a tissue section is stained with one or more quantum dots and possibly other fluorophores (total number of fluorophores N). A camera coupled to a microscope generates an image of the specimen at a plurality of different wavelengths within the emission spectral band of the N fluorophores. An analysis module calculates coefficients C1 . . . CN at each pixel from the set of images and reference spectral data for the N fluorophores. The coefficients C1 . . . CN are related to the concentration of each of the individual fluorophores at each pixel location. Morphological processing instructions find biological structures, e.g., cells, cellular components, genes, etc., in the images of the specimen. Quantitative analysis is performed on the identified biological structures. A display module displays the quantitative analysis results to the user, along with images of the specimen. The images can include images constructed from one or more of the coefficients C1 . . . CN. The quantitative analysis display includes histograms of the biological structures, scatter plots of fluorophore concentrations, statistical data, spectral data and still others.
US08280136B2
A method and apparatus for detecting intraventricular dyssynchrony is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes: a) receiving information from an observer viewing a source image to define a plurality of points associated with muscle boundaries of a ventricle, b) extracting muscle boundaries for a series of source images to define a corresponding series of contour shape images using a Fourier descriptor model, and c) deforming each contour shape based at least in part on image forces, external forces, and internal forces to track movement of the muscle boundaries over time. In another embodiment, the method includes: a) characterizing the series of source images as a corresponding series of contour shape images representative of movement of muscle boundaries of the ventricle over time, b) classifying the series of contour shape images in a dyssynchronous class or a non-dyssynchronous class, and c) pre-diagnosing the ventricle as dyssynchronous or non-dyssynchronous.
US08280132B2
This invention relates to computer-aided diagnostics using content-based retrieval of histopathological image features. Specifically, the invention relates to the extraction of image features from a histopathological image based on predetermined criteria and their analysis for malignancy determination.
US08280131B2
A configuration for the optical detection of a specimen, wherein the specimen or at least part of the specimen is scanned by means of linear illumination by scanning means, means for linear beam shaping of the illuminating light are provided, and the illuminating light has a preferably periodic structure in at least one spatial direction in that means for generating the structure are disposed in the illuminating beam path, light coming from the specimen is detected and images of the specimen are generated therefrom, at least one optical sectional image through the specimen and/or one image with increased resolution is/are calculated from the images, and means for generating the structure are disposed downstream of the scanning means in the direction of the illumination.
US08280126B2
A method for the analysis of three dimensional scan data representing an articular cartilage is provided to extract a quantitative parameter indicative of joint pathology. A measure of local curvature of the cartilage is determined within a region of interest. The value of the quantitative parameter of this joint derived from this measure is compared with the value of a similar quantitative parameter previously established in respect of healthy joints and/or joints characterized by a pathology.
US08280125B2
A method and system for segmenting tubular or stroke-like structures in 2D images is disclosed. Examples of such structures include, but are not limited to, blood vessels, bones, roads, rivers, electrical wirings, and brush-strokes. User inputs identifying a first region on the image inside of a tubular structure and a second region of the image outside of the tubular structure are received. Based on this information, an ordered series of pearls are generated along the tubular structure. Pearls are 2D disks, each having a center location and a radius determined based on local pixel intensities in the image. A continuous model of the tubular structure is generated by interpolating the center locations and radii of the ordered series of pearls.
US08280113B2
A passive electro-optical tracker uses a two-band IR intensity ratio to discriminate high-speed projectiles and obtain a time-varying speed estimate from their time-varying temperature, as well as determining the trajectory back to the source of fire. In an omnidirectional system a hemispheric imager with an MWIR spectrum splitter forms two CCD images of the environment. Various methods are given to determine the azimuth and range of a projectile, both for clear atmospheric conditions and for nonhomogeneous atmospheric conditions. One approach uses the relative intensity of the image of the projectile on the pixels of a CCD camera to determine the azimuthal angle of trajectory with respect to the ground, and its range. A second uses a least squares optimization over multiple frames based on a triangle representation of the smeared image to yield a real-time trajectory estimate.
US08280102B2
A device for controlling a driven movement element with an electronic unit is proposed, which comprises a transmitter for electromagnetic radiation, for example, light, in particular infrared light, and a receiver for electromagnetic radiation emitted by a transmitter for the detection of objects on a propagation path between transmitter and receiver. According to the invention, the electronic unit is designed to detect a temporal change in at least one feature derived from the received electromagnetic radiation and, upon a detection of a change in the at least one feature that is comparatively slow over time, to output a signal that is associated with a detection of smoke.
US08280099B2
A laser safety system providing a system for checking the presence, focus and integrity of a laser beam focusing lens is disclosed. The laser safety system checks the focusing lens properties by capturing an image of a target by viewing the target through the focusing lens from along the laser beam path. An initial, known good, image is compared to an image captured immediately before enablement of the laser beam source to determine if the focusing lens is present, focused and is not damaged. The system may also utilize a mask projected onto the target as well as a low-power visible light laser directed along the path of the processing laser to determine the focusing lens properties. The system can also provide target recognition.
US08280097B2
A microelectromechanical system diaphragm is provided. The microelectromechanical system diaphragm includes a substrate, a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, a first dielectric layer, and a second dielectric layer. The first conductive layer is disposed on the substrate. The first conductive layer has a flexible portion in which a plurality of trenches is formed. The second conductive layer is disposed between the first conductive layer and the substrate, in which the flexible portion is located above the second conductive layer. The first dielectric layer is disposed between the second conductive layer and the substrate. The second dielectric layer is disposed between the substrate and a portion of the first conductive layer so as to suspend the flexible portion. Furthermore, at least one first opening is formed in the first conductive layer.
US08280095B2
A mobile apparatus includes a main body; a wall forming part of an enclosure forming a sound space in the main body, the wall having an opening therein; a speaker disposed in the sound space; a signal line connected to the speaker and passing through the opening in the wall; and an opening sealing member that seals the opening in the wall through which the signal line passes.
US08280093B2
A removable component for use with an earphone is disclosed. As an example, the removable component can be an ear tip. According to one aspect, an improved ear tip can be provided for use with a headphone. The ear tip is suitable for in-ear operation and can have a cosmetic deformable outer member. The deformable outer member can enable the ear tip to readily conform to a user's ear. The ear tip can also include an inner member to structurally support the outer member and to facilitate attachment to a headphone. Methods for forming such ear tips are also disclosed.
US08280086B2
A remote control system for a hearing aid (9) comprises a mobile telephone (1) and a plug-in device (5). The mobile telephone (1) is executing hearing aid remote control software and transmitting commands to the hearing aid (9) via the plug-in device (5). The plug-in device (5) comprises means for transmitting remote control commands or audio to the hearing aid (9) wirelessly. The invention provides a system, a plug-in device and a mobile telephone.
US08280084B2
A method for signal processing for a hearing aid aims to better match signal processing for a hearing aid and in particular a hearing device to a situation and includes processing an input signal in accordance with a first processing algorithm to form a first intermediate signal and processing the input signal in accordance with a second processing algorithm to form a second intermediate signal in parallel with the processing of the input signal in accordance with the first processing algorithm. The input signal is classified by a classifier. Finally, an output signal with a constant mixture ratio is formed both from the first and from the second intermediate signals, taking into account the result of the classification. This allows the advantages of a plurality of algorithms to be used at the same time. A corresponding hearing aid is also provided.
US08280082B2
The present invention relates to a microphone that includes a housing and a diaphragm and backplate located with the housing. The housing has a sound port for receiving the sound. The diaphragm undergoes movement relative to the backplate, which it opposes, in response to the incoming sound. The backplate has a charged layer with a first surface that is exposed to the diaphragm and a second surface opposite the first surface. The backplate further includes a conductor for transmitting a signal from the backplate to electronics in the housing. The conductor faces the second surface of the charged layer. To minimize the charge degradation created by contact with or infiltration of foreign materials, the first surface, the second surface, or both surfaces of the charged layer includes a protective layer thereon.
US08280081B2
An electrode connection structure of a speaker unit is provided. The speaker unit includes at least one electrode layer, which is made of a conductive material, or made of a non-conductive material with a conductive layer formed on a surface thereof. The electrode connection structure includes a conductive electrode and an adhesive material. The conductive electrode is used for providing power supply signals for the speaker unit to generate sounds. The adhesive material adheres the conductive electrode in parallel with a surface of the electrode layer. The adhesive material has adhesive characteristics, so as to electrically connect the conductive electrode and the electrode layer, in which the adhesive material is adhered to a side of the surface of the electrode layer closely adjacent to the conductive electrode with a certain area.
US08280075B2
A signal processing apparatus includes a signal output unit for outputting a measurement signal, the measurement signal being produced by synthesizing a signal composed of a concatenation of 2d period signals with a sinusoidal signal, each period signal having a time-domain waveform period being 2n samples, the sinusoidal wave having a wave count within the concatenation period of 2d period signals being other than an integer multiple of 2d, and n and d being respectively natural numbers, and an analyzing unit for frequency analyzing a response signal obtained as a result of picking up the measurement signal output from the signal output unit.
US08280071B2
A voice output system and method provide a voice of high quality while enabling coexistence with other wireless transmission systems. Compression-encoded voice data accompanying a video displayed on a video display surface is acquired at the side opposed to the video display surface. The voice data is wirelessly transmitted. At least at the video display surface side, the wirelessly transmitted voice data transmitted is received and expanded. Then, the voice based on the acquired expanded voice data is output.
US08280070B2
An arrangement includes an input, a modulation circuit, an isolation circuit, a demodulator circuit, a detector circuit and at least two outputs. The input is configurable to receive an audio signal and a DC voltage. The modulation circuit is configured to modulate the audio signal and the DC voltage. The isolation circuit has an input electrically isolated from the output, wherein its input coupled to the modulation circuit. The demodulator circuit is operably coupled to the output of the isolation circuit and configured to extract the audio signal therefrom. The detector circuit is operably coupled to the output of the demodulator, and is configured to generate a first signal responsive to detection of a modulated signal corresponding to the DC voltage modulated by the modulation circuit.
US08280069B2
In a noise reduction apparatus for controlling noise up to a predetermined upper limited frequency, a distance from a noise source to control point X is made larger than a distance obtained by subtracting a one-half wavelength from a distance, obtained by adding up a distance from the noise source to a noise detecting microphone, a distance corresponding to time as a sum of respective delay time of the noise detecting microphone, a noise controller, and a control speaker, and a distance from the control speaker to control point X, where one wavelength is a period corresponding to the upper limited frequency.
US08280053B1
A method which improves the security of the authentication between two entities in a telecommunication network, and particularly between a mobile terminal and the fixed network, notably visitor location and nominal recorders and an authentication center, in a cellular radiotelephony network. Prior to a first authentication of the terminal, and more precisely of the SIM card therein, by the fixed network, a second authentication is based on an algorithm in which there are entered a random number produced and transmitted by the fixed network and a key different from the key for the first authentication. A transmitted signature and a signature result are produced by the fixed network and the terminal, and compared in the terminal in order to enable the first authentication in the event of equality.
US08280051B2
Secure presentation of media streams includes encoding the media streams into digital content, encrypting a portion of that digital content, the portion being required for presentation, in which the encrypted version is substantially unchanged in formatting parameters from the clear version of the digital content. Selecting those portions for encryption so there is no change in distribution of the media stream: packetization of the digital data, or synchronization of audio with video portions of the media stream. When encoding the media stream into MPEG-2, refraining from encrypting information by which the video block data is described, packet formatting information, and encrypting the video block data using a block-substitution cipher. A block-substitution cipher can be used to encrypt each sequence of 16 bytes of video data in each packet, possibly leaving as many as 15 bytes of video data in each packet in the clear.
US08280049B2
A new copy protection signal includes resistance to certain circumvention devices and includes improved playability. The new copy protection signal causes the certain circumvention devices to pass substantially the copy protection effects to a video recorder or to allow for content control effectiveness on a compliant device. The new copy protection signal also causes the circumvention device to add or enhance copy protection effectiveness, which is contrary to the circumvention device's original intent of removing or reducing copy protection effectiveness. The new copy protection signal is provided by inserting or adding one or more pseudo sync pulses or one or more pseudo sync/AGC pulse pairs immediately after, or one line after, a vertical sync signal in at least one television line.
US08280047B2
A data processing device and method adapted for key management are provided. A first encryption key associated with a first password is generated, and at least a further encryption key associated with a further password is generated. Generation of the encryption key may use the associated password, a key seed, and a current key. The first encryption key and further encryption key or keys are stored in memory, and are used to encrypt and decrypt separate sets of data. Different keys and potentially different levels of encryption are thus used to protect different sets of data at the device.
US08280045B2
A text-input device and method is provided. The device includes a display unit that displays a user interface, which is divided into a plurality of areas each including a plurality of cells where predetermined text is displayed, an input unit that includes a plurality of text-input units to provide a focusing signal that focuses on a predetermined cell in the displayed user interface and a selecting signal that selects the focused cell, a user interface providing unit that generates a control signal corresponding to the selected cell with reference to a mapping table according to whether the selecting signal is available, and a control unit that performs a control command based on the control signal, wherein the plurality of text-input units correspond to the areas.
US08280039B2
A signature generation apparatus is capable of making a value used in signature generation processing difficult to analyze. In the signature generation apparatus, a random number generation module generates a len-bit random number u, a selection module converts the generated random number u into a bit expression, and acquires element pairs corresponding to the bit values from a table memory unit. A random element generation module applies a basic operation of a first group G and a second group to all acquired element pairs, and calculates an element Pk on the first group G and an element Pak on the second group Ga. The signature generation apparatus generates a digital signature S for a message m with use of a transformation module, a main operation module, an inverse transformation module, a multiplication module, a division module, and a signature data generation module.
US08280034B2
A device (500) for switching-in and switching-off telecommunications or data services in a telecommunications or data network to a plurality of subscribers the device comprising a plurality of apparatuses (100, 504, 506, 508), wherein each of which comprises a first distribution matrix (104) connected to a crossover matrix (108) and a second distribution matrix (106) connected to said crossover matrix (108), wherein the crossover matrix (108) is adapted to be connected to a main cable (110) and to a distribution cable (112) and crossover switching elements for switching of connections within said crossover matrix (108) and distribution switching elements for switching of connections within said distribution matrices (104, 106) are controlled from a remote location, wherein the first distribution matrix (104) and the second distribution matrix (106) are adapted to be connected to a node for providing plurality of telecommunications or data services (114) and wherein the first distribution matrix (104) from a first apparatus (100) is connected (512) to at least one second distribution matrix of the plurality of apparatuses (100, 504, 506, 508).
US08280033B2
Apparatus for providing a plurality of alternative telecommunications services to a plurality of users (14, 16, 18, 20, 22) of a telecommunications network (10) comprising a primary cross-connect (26) in communication with a node (12) of the network for supplying a first selected telecommunications service to the users (14, 16, 18, 20, 22), and a secondary cross-connect (28) in communication with the node (12) and the primary cross-connect (26). The primary cross-connect (26) is provided with switches (34). The switches (34) are operable from a remote location (36) to disconnect a selected user (14, 16, 18, 20, 22) from the telecommunications services, and the secondary cross-connect (28) is are operable from a remote location (36) to reconnect the selected user (14, 16, 18, 20, 22) to an alternative telecommunication service through the secondary cross-connect (28).
US08280021B2
Method for managing lists stored in a mobile telephone includes automatically storing telephone numbers of incoming and outgoing calls in a first or second list. The first list is accessible to any use, the second list contains code protected telephone numbers. A telephone number stored in a temporary register is verified to whether it's contained within the second list. Method includes limiting a user's access to only telephone numbers in first list until a code is input by user. After inputting code, telephone numbers in first and second lists are accessible by user. Both first and second lists are stored in mobile phone, and telephone numbers associated with second list are not stored in first list, and second list is at least one of accessible and displayable only after inputting code.
US08280016B2
An aspect of the invention provides a communication terminal device that comprises: a communication counterpart information notification contract determination unit configured to determine if a counterpart communication terminal device communication received through a line has a communication counterpart information notification contract; and a communication controller configured to change a communication time parameter when the communication counterpart information notification contract determination unit determines that the counterpart communication terminal device of the received communication has the communication counterpart information notification contract.
US08280013B2
A system, method and software for facilitating a speech-enabled call routing application using an action-object matrix is disclosed. In operation, a natural language user utterance may be evaluated to identify an action and object available in an action-object matrix indicating transactions or operations available to a user. Depending upon the contents of the natural language user utterance, additional prompts and/or a disambiguation dialogue may be effected to elicit an available action-object combination selection from the user. Following identification of an action-object combination from the natural language user utterance, the action-object matrix may cooperate with a look-up table to identify an appropriate use routing destination. Following identification of an appropriate routing destination, the user connection may be routed to a service agent or module configured to facilitate the user selected transaction as indicated by the action-object combination.
US08280012B2
Methods and systems for providing electronic notifications are described. A server is configured to serve an interface, such as a Web page, to a terminal that requests from a user a first set of user contacts to be used to provide notifications to the user by a telephonic notification system in response to a notification process initiated by an organization associated with the user. The interface further requests a first set of priorities corresponding to the first set of user contacts, wherein the notification system will attempt to provide notifications to the first set user contracts in an order based at least in part on the first set of priorities. A database is configured to store the first set of user contacts and the first set of priorities. A voice interface circuit is configured to transmit a voice notification to at least one of the first set of user contacts.
US08280010B2
The present invention provides for a system and method for blocking leakage signals and uncoupling connections in a communication system. A leakage signal (LS) blocking splitter employs a high-pass filter which effectively blocks the lower frequency leakage signal. The high-pass filter (an LS filter) has a cut-off frequency selected to fall between the upper range of the leakage signal (which is approximately 4 KHz in the preferred embodiment) and the low-end frequency of a data signal. A detect and terminate function detects service on the communication connection to which each one of the leakage signal (LS) filters are coupled to. The detect and terminate function detects service on the communication connection to ensure that each LS blocking splitter is coupled to an in-service communication connection. If the communication connection becomes out-of-service, such as when a customer discontinues service with the service provider, the detect and terminate functions automatically uncouple the respective LS filter from the communication connections so that the LS filter cannot introduce undesirable harmonics into the communication system. In an alternative embodiment, the detect and terminate function may insert an impedance matching element in addition to uncoupling the LS filter.
US08280007B2
Apparatus and method for improved transient response in an electromagnetically controlled X-ray tube
An x-ray tube assembly includes a vacuum enclosure having a cathode portion, a target portion, and a throat portion comprising a non-electrically conductive tube. The throat portion has an upstream end coupled to the cathode portion and a downstream end coupled to the target portion. The x-ray tube assembly also includes a target positioned within the target portion of the vacuum enclosure, and a cathode positioned within the cathode portion of the vacuum enclosure. The cathode is configured to emit a stream of electrons through the throat portion toward the target.
US08280006B2
The present invention provides an X-ray tube that improves and stabilizes a withstanding voltage performance and thus ensures the reliability of a product.The present invention is an X-ray tube comprising a cathode for emitting electrons, an anode for emitting an X-ray which an irradiation of the electrons emitted from the cathode causes, and a glass tube for confining the cathode and the anode in a vacuum, wherein an inside surface of the glass tube is covered with a glass thin film having a melting point lower than that of a glass of the glass tube and particles adhered to the glass tube by the glass thin film.
US08280002B2
Some aspects include a system, apparatus, means and method for configuring a radiotherapy beam shaping device to define a treatment field of view, acquiring images of a patient area within the treatment field of view based on an imaging radiation beam, determining a treatment motion model that predicts, based on the acquired images, a prediction treatment period during which the patient area will be within the treatment field of view of the radiotherapy beam shaping device, and delivering a treatment radiation beam to the patient area for a time period equal to the prediction treatment period.
US08279996B2
A method is disclosed for reconstructing image data of an examination subject from measured data, wherein a series of measured data sets has previously been acquired during a relative rotational movement between a radiation source of a computed tomography system and the examination subject and the measured data sets relate to the same section of the examination subject at succeeding instants in time. In at least one embodiment, first image data is reconstructed in each case from the measured data sets such that a series of first image data is available. A change variable indicating a change over time within the series of first image data is determined, and a distinction is made between different components of the examination subject in the first image data with the aid of the change variable. This distinction is used for beam hardening correction in an iterative algorithm for calculating enhanced image data.
US08279995B2
Disclosed herein is a guide thimble of a nuclear fuel assembly, which is capable of improving the cooling performance and the stability of a nuclear fuel, preventing a flow split in dual-cooling nuclear fuel rod and guide thimble sub channels for obtaining high combustion degree and high power, and minimizing a neutron absorption section in a reaction degree region. Since the guide thimble having the dual tube type structure is adopted, a flow split in the fuel rod and guide thimble sub channels can be reduced, and the degradation in performance of nuclear fuel due to increase of a neutron absorption section can be prevented. In order for compatibility with an existing control rod, a typical guide tube is used as an inner guide thimble, and an outer guide thimble is provided outside the inner guide thimble. Thus, the guide thimble has the dual tube type structure as a whole, and is coupled to the upper and lower end fittings so that it can prevent a flow unbalance due to the flow split in the fuel rod and guide thimble sub channels.
US08279994B2
Disclosed is a tokamak reactor. The reactor includes a first toroidal chamber, current carrying conductors, at least one divertor plate within the first toroidal chamber and a second chamber adjacent to the first toroidal chamber surrounded by a section that insulates the reactor from neutrons. The current carrying conductors are configured to confine a core plasma within enclosed walls of the first toroidal chamber such that the core plasma has an elongation of 1.5 to 4 and produce within the first toroidal chamber at least one stagnation point at a perpendicular distance from an equatorial plane through the core plasma that is greater than the plasma minor radius. The at least one divertor plate and current carrying conductors are configured relative to one another such that the current carrying conductors expand the open magnetic field lines at the divertor plate.
US08279993B2
A cylindrical gamma generator includes a coaxial RF-driven plasma ion source and target. A hydrogen plasma is produced by RF excitation in a cylindrical plasma ion generator using an RF antenna. A cylindrical gamma generating target is coaxial with the ion generator, separated by plasma and extraction electrodes which has many openings. The plasma generator emanates ions radially over 360° and the cylindrical target is thus irradiated by ions over its entire circumference. The plasma generator and target may be as long as desired.
US08279988B2
A module and method for channel estimate based timing recovery comprises a timing estimation module, a channel estimation module communicably coupled to the timing estimation module, a conversion module communicably coupled to the timing estimation module and to the channel estimation module, and an analog pulse shaping filter communicably coupled to the conversion module, wherein: the analog pulse shaping filter receives an analog signal and outputs a filtered analog signal, the conversion module receives the filtered analog signal and outputs a 1/T rate signal to the channel estimation module, the channel estimation module outputs a 1/T Channel Impulse Response (CIR) estimate to the timing estimation module, and the timing estimation module outputs a timing estimate to the conversion module, wherein the timing estimate is used in conjunction with an output of the conversion module to provide the 1/T rate signal.
US08279982B2
A method for estimating the speed of a mobile device in a network is provided that includes selecting a correlation length from a plurality of possible correlation lengths. A correlation result is generated based on the selected correlation length. A speed estimate is generated for the mobile device based on the correlation result.
US08279980B1
Techniques are provided for detecting a coded signal in the presence of interference. In an embodiment, a primary transmitter corresponds to a desired transmitter, and one or more secondary transmitters correspond to interfering transmitters. Received symbols, which include interference and additive noise, are filtered to recover a set of original message bits. An estimate of the set of original message bits may be determined using an ordered successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoder that uses either a SIC detector or an AWGN-based detector, depending on the signal-to-interference ratio at a primary receiver.
US08279975B2
A receiver and method of correcting for amplitude and phase errors in a received complex signal are provided. After separating and processing the complex signal into its I and Q component signals, the magnitude of each of the I and Q signals is obtained. The magnitudes are averaged over a predetermined time period and the average used to correct the amplitude of the I and Q signals. Each amplitude-corrected signal is then rotated by 45° and the average magnitude of the rotated signal determined. The amplitude of the rotated signal is then corrected to provide resultant I and Q signals, which are orthogonal to each other.
US08279974B1
Various techniques for dynamically reducing power usage in a wireless receiver are disclosed. A receiver unit receives a wireless signal over a channel and processes the wireless signal, including dynamically changing one or more of the settings of the receiver unit to control its power usage. These setting are changed in response to one or more power setting values that are generated based on a first set of information that includes state information for the channel. The receiver unit may dynamically change a first setting that causes the bias current applied to an analog-to-digital converter to be changed. The channel state information may include information indicative of a received signal strength indication (RSSI), information indicative of a packet error rate (PER) for packets encoded on the wireless signal, and header error check (HEC) and/or cyclical redundancy check (CRC) errors for data packets encoded on the wireless signal.
US08279966B2
Systems and methods are provided for decoding signal vectors in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, where the receiver has received one or more signal vectors from the same transmitted vector. The symbols of the received signal vectors are combined, forming a combined received signal vector that may be treated as a single received signal vector. The combined signal vector is then decoded using a maximum-likelihood decoder. In some embodiments, the combined received signal vector may be processed prior to decoding. Systems and methods are also provided for computing soft information from a combined signal vector based on a decoding metric. Computationally intensive calculations can be extracted from the critical path and implemented in preprocessors and/or postprocessors.
US08279958B2
A receiver for receiving a sequence of OFDM symbols transmitted via a channel. Each OFDM symbol comprises a plurality of data bearing sub-carriers and a plurality of pilot bearing sub-carriers. The receiver includes a channel estimator, and the channel estimator includes a pilot data extractor, a pilot data extrapolator and a pilot data interpolator operable to process the pilot data by interpolating between the extrapolated pilot data in time and frequency. The receiver also comprises a discontinuity detector for detecting a discontinuity in the pilot data processed by the channel estimator, and a controller, which upon detection of a pilot data discontinuity by the discontinuity detector, is operable to provide a control signal to the channel estimator which causes at least one of the pilot data extractor, the pilot data extrapolator and the pilot data interpolator to compensate for the discontinuity in the pilot data.
US08279951B2
A method and device are provided for producing a transmission signal to be transferred over a transmission path from an input signal, for example an xDSL signal, wherein a bandwidth of the input signal is distributed onto a plurality of frequency bands in such a way that part signals are obtained corresponding to the individual frequency bands, and wherein each part signal is conducted to separate line drivers, and wherein output signals of the individual line drivers are combined to form the transmission signal to be transferred over the transmission path by combination means, which can be designed as an adder. In order to obtain the frequency band which pertains in each case from the input signal, which can be transformed into an analogue signal with a D/A converter, filter means can be used.
US08279949B2
A method for estimating a length of a channel in a wired communication system includes receiving a plurality of signals transmitted continuously via the channel, determining relation between a signal and at least one signal in the of the plurality of signals, to generate a decision result, and determining the length of the channel according to the decision result.
US08279935B2
In one embodiment of the invention, a method for controlling video image quality may include receiving digital video data into a buffer that is coupled to a video data encoder. The video data includes multiple tiles. One of the tiles is compressed at a first compression bit size and another tile is compressed at a second compression bit size. The tiles are transmitted to a video data decoder. The first compression bit size is unequal to the second compression bit size.
US08279934B2
A single compression engine transmits first and second discrete cosine transform (DCT)-encoded signals. The first DCT-encoded signal uses at most t coefficient bits to represent each of a plurality of DCT coefficients. The second DCT-encoded signal uses at most u coefficient bits, where u is less than t, to represent each of the plurality of DCT coefficients.
US08279932B2
An information processing apparatus includes: a synthesis filter unit configured to execute synthesis filtering for coefficient data of each subband, obtained by decoding a code stream of a reversibly-encoded image and performing band division, in each predetermined number of lines or in each predetermined block to obtain baseband image data on a line basis; a storage unit configured to store the baseband image data obtained by the synthesis filter unit; an analysis filter unit configured to read the baseband image data stored in the storage unit and execute analysis filtering for the image data to divide the image data up to a predetermined division level; and a control unit configured to control the analysis filter unit to execute analysis filtering as soon as the amount of the baseband image data stored in the storage unit reaches a data amount allowing analysis filtering.
US08279931B2
A motion vector estimator for reducing film judder measures a motion vector of a block of an image. A motion vector selection device receives a plurality of motion vectors and generates N candidate vectors based on a motion estimation stage signal. N block matchmakers are connected to the motion vector selection device in order to generate N matching costs based on the N candidate vectors. A motion vector determinator is connected to the N block matchmakers and the motion vector selection device in order to determine an output motion vector of the block based on the N matching costs.
US08279930B2
A compensation allocation unit performs allocation compensation of a motion vector to a pixel to which a motion vector is not allocated by a victor allocation unit. A C/UC area determination unit compares magnitudes of a present DFD, a past DFD, and a future DFD based on a background vector and a DFD based on a compensation allocation vector by an evaluation value calculation unit to determine an area of a target pixel. Regarding the target pixel determined as the pixel in a covered area or an uncovered area, an interpolation method decision unit decides a computation method for a pixel value through which one of a double-sided interpolation and a one-sided interpolation. An interpolation frame generation unit computes the target pixel of the pixel value of the interpolation frame through the method decided by the interpolation method decision unit.
US08279918B2
A method for temporal decomposition and reconstruction of an input video signal is disclosed. The method can use a prediction process and an update process in the framework of motion compensated temporal filtering (MCTF), the method can employ a block based video codec having an encoder and a decoder. A residual picture signal and a low-pass picture signal are received, the low-pass picture signal having a lesser precision than that of the residual picture signal, and in response to the residual picture signal being decoded in the decoder, the residual picture signal is clipped and reduced in precision, such that the low-pass picture signal, a reconstructed picture, and the residual picture signal have equal precisions. An inverse MCTF process, using a lifting scheme, can be performed on the clipped residual signal.
US08279912B2
Embodiments of a method and apparatus for reducing non-linear transmit signal components of a receive signal of a transceiver signal are disclosed. The method includes the transceiver simultaneously transmitting a transmit signal, and receiving the receive signal. A non-linear replica signal of non-linear transmission signal components that are created in the transceiver by a transmit signal DAC, and imposed onto the receive signal, is generated. The non-linear replica signal is subtracted from the received signal reducing the non-linear transmission signal components imposed onto the receive signal.
US08279886B2
A context-free (stateless) dataport may allow multiple processors to perform read and write operations on a shared memory. The operations may include, for example, structured data operations such as image and video operations. The dataport may perform addressing computations associated with block memory operations. Therefore, the dataport may be able, for example, to relieve the processors that it serves from this duty. The dataport may be accessed using a message interface that may be implemented in a standard and generalized manner and that may therefore be easily transportable between different types of processors.
US08279883B2
A high speed isolation interface which can be used to enable high speed communications between the isolated side and the wire side in a PoE system is provided. The high speed isolation interface may implement an Ethernet or non-Ethernet based signaling scheme. The high speed isolation interface can be used within both PSE (endspan or midspan) and PD systems, including single port and multi-port PSE and PD systems. Further, the high speed isolation interface is usable within pre-standard PoE, 802.3af PoE, and 802.3at PoE systems. The high speed isolation interface may also be used within 2-pair PoE (Alternative A) and 4-pair PoE (Alternative B) systems.
US08279875B2
A method for an Ethernet to bear ATM cells includes: mapping the ATM virtual connection information in the first ATM cell received from the ATM network to an Interworking Identifier (IW ID); combining the IW ID and the cell payload of the first ATM cell into an Ethernet frame; and transmitting the Ethernet frame in an Ethernet network. An apparatus for an Ethernet to bear ATM cells is also disclosed. The embodiments of the present invention implement network interworking on the data link layer (layer 2) and enable an ATM network to perform ATM emulation in a metropolitan area Ethernet (MEN) independently of the upper-layer protocol, thus facilitating the user.
US08279863B2
In some embodiments, a method includes sending a signal to a first module associated with a stage of a switch fabric and receiving a signal from the first module a first amount of time after sending the signal to the first module. A signal is sent to a second module associated with the stage of the switch fabric and a signal is received from the second module a second amount of time after sending the signal to the second module. The second amount of time is less than the first amount of time. A cell of a first data packet is sent to the first module and a cell of a second data packet is sent to the second module a third amount of time after sending the cell of the first data packet. The third amount of time is associated with the difference between the first amount of time and the second amount of time.
US08279853B1
Systems and methods for assigning unique network identifiers in a packet-switched wireless network and methods for communicating with a wireless device in a packet-switched wireless network are provided. A request for a unique network identifier for a wireless device is received. A socket-based unique network identifier, including an IP address and one or more ports, is assigned to the wireless device. The unique network identifier is created by combining an IP address and one or more ports. This allows multiple unique network identifiers to be created from a single IP address, where each unique network identifier consists of the same IP address combined with a different group of one or more ports.
US08279852B2
Methods and apparatus to measure market share for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) carriers is disclosed. An example method includes querying a plurality of VoIP carrier servers to determine the VoIP carrier server that owns the telephone subscriber number and, in response to the querying, receiving a plurality of messages operable to determine whether the telephone subscriber number is found within any one of the plurality of VoIP carrier servers. The example method also includes, when the received plurality of messages is at least one of inconclusive or when the telephone subscriber number is not found within any one of the plurality of VoIP carrier servers, placing a first partial call to the telephone subscriber number from a first VoIP number within a first VoIP carrier network. Further, the example method includes, in response to placing the first partial call, receiving a first signal from the first VoIP carrier network, and based on the first received signal, determining whether the telephone subscriber number belongs to the first VoIP carrier network.
US08279843B2
An Application-Enablement data switch enables web-enhanced services to be provided to legacy near-field communication (NFC) systems. The data switch receives IP packets from a legacy network and identifies select IP packets that contain NFC data indicating a reader ID of an NFC reader and a tag ID of an NFC tag in communication with the NFC reader. The switch further extracts the NFC data from the select IP packets and inserts the NFC data into a request message that is transmitted to a web application server that provides the web-enhanced services based on the NFC data.
US08279840B2
Systems and methods for tracking a wireless device are disclosed. According to one aspect, the wireless device includes a hybrid global positioning system (GPS) and wireless local area network (WLAN) circuit board for seamless indoor and outdoor tracking. In embodiments, GPS and WLAN data are combined to obtain a position estimate of the device. In other embodiments, the circuit board automatically switches between WLAN and GPS data for indoor and outdoor environments. A Location Based Services (LBS) algorithm for determining the position of a wireless device using WLAN and/or GPS signals is also disclosed. The LBS algorithm is implemented by way of method steps including: sensing GPS and/or WLAN signals, measuring and/or converting the sensed signals to obtain distance data, fusing the distance data, and applying one or more approximation algorithms to the distance data to obtain a position estimate of the wireless device. A method for rendering position data using a Marching Cubes algorithm is further disclosed.
US08279838B2
A communication system comprises a communication network including a computer processor operating a network management system and a femtocell network management system. The communication system further comprises a broadband base station providing a first service signal and creating a mapping table configured to include at least one unique identifier of a mobile client device and a base station providing a second service signal and receiving the mapping table from the broadband base station. A computer processor in the communication system is configured to determine a link quality of a mobile client device service signal received by the broadband base station, the contents of the mapping table, and the unique identifier of the mobile client device to determine whether the broadband base station will provide the first service signal to the mobile client device or whether the base station will provide the second service signal to the mobile client device.
US08279831B2
A system, method, and computer-readable medium are provided for choosing a network for connection and handover based on the application requirements of a multi-mode, multi-radio user equipment. The selection of the network for connectivity and handover is based on one or more of the invoking of an application, the invoking of a second application, and the closing of an application.
US08279827B2
A method is disclosed for transmitting channel quality reports periodically from a secondary station to a primary station, wherein transmission of a control channel is carried out discontinuously with a predetermined periodic transmission phase, and wherein said method comprises the following steps. Scheduling the transmission of a transmission sequence of channel quality reports of at least a first type and a second type according to a predetermined pattern. Estimating the number of channel quality reports of the second type scheduled during the transmission phases of a predetermined time window. Amending the transmission sequence by replacing at least one channel quality report scheduled to be of the first type with a channel quality report of the second type if the number of second type channel quality reports scheduled during the transmission phases of the predetermined time window is below a predetermined threshold. Transmitting the amended sequence to the primary station.
US08279824B2
A method of transmitting control signals in a wireless communication system includes transmitting a first control signal via a control channel region comprising a plurality of tiles composed of a plurality of subcarriers contiguous in a frequency domain on a plurality of OFDM symbols in a time domain, and transmitting a second control signal via the control channel region, wherein the plurality of tiles included in the control channel region are distributedly or contiguously disposed within a basic range of the control channel region, a range within which the plurality of tiles are distributed in the time domain. Control channel regions can be configured in various manners, so control signals can be adaptively transmitted in various channel environments.
US08279823B2
Spectrum asset class determination is dynamically assessed so that a radio device may use a more preferred one of licensed spectrum or unlicensed spectrum for the specific wireless communications application of the radio device. Licensed spectrum, in addition to unlicensed spectrum, may be made available to preferred radio devices by validating that the radio system has an equipment ID and a secondary ID that authorizes the use of the licensed spectrum by the radio system.
US08279822B2
A communication system is provided that facilitates an expedited exchange of a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) acknowledgment by scheduling the TCP acknowledgment at a higher priority than Best Effort and/or by arranging for a scheduling of the TCP acknowledgment based on a predicted transmission of a request to schedule the TCP acknowledgment.
US08279812B2
A module constructs a frame for communication in a communication system that supports a new standard and a legacy standard, the new standard being backward compatible with the legacy standard. The module comprises a first frame generator configured to generate a first portion of the frame, the first portion of the frame to support a first set of data to be transmitted in the legacy standard in each of a number of first bands, a second frame generator configured to generate a second portion of the frame, the second portion of the frame to support a second set of data to be transmitted in the new standard in a second band composed of the first bands, and a frame constructor configured to construct the frame based on the first portion of the frame from the first frame generator and the second portion of the frame from the second frame generator.
US08279811B2
A wireless communication system includes a scheduling entity that transmits scheduling messages to first and second wireless terminals having different scheduling characteristics, wherein each scheduling message includes a reference signal cyclic shift indicator and a resource assignment. The assignment of a downlink feedback resource to the first wireless terminal is indicated by the reference signal cyclic shift indicator in the corresponding scheduling message, and the assignment of a downlink feedback resource to the second wireless terminal is indicated by a corresponding resource assignment. The scheduling entity indicates a cyclic shift that the first wireless terminal should use for its reference signal transmission using the reference signal cyclic shift indicator.
US08279804B2
The wireless base station sends control data relating to the processing, belonging to the upper layer (the second layer) of the first layer, to the wireless terminal through the downlink channel. Upon reception of the control data through the downlink data channel, the wireless terminal sends the response data, as a response to the control data, to the wireless base station through the control channel. The wireless base station detects the response data from the received data through the control channel, and then controls the processing belonging to the upper layer based on the response data. The above processing eliminates establishing a data channel to the wireless base station only for the response data as a response to the processing belonging to the upper layer.
US08279803B2
A computing unit includes a processing module, a baseband processing module, and a RF section. In a femtocell AP mode, the processing module performs at least a portion of a MAC function to facilitate signal conversion between radio interface (RI) signals and PHY AP signals. The baseband processing module converts signals between the PHY AP signals and AP symbol stream. The RF section converts signals between the AP symbol streams and RF AP signals. In a cellular (CELL) mode, the processing module facilitates conversions between data and PHY CELL signals. The baseband processing module converts signals between PHY CELL signals and CELL symbol streams. The RF section converts signals between CELL symbol streams and RF CELL signals.
US08279794B2
Mobile communication devices and wireless network device each can participate in, or solely provide, opportunistic data forwarding in a wireless network such as a wireless local area network or radio access network. A supporting node receives wireless communication between a transmitting node and a receiving node comprising packet data units (PDUs). The receiving node communicates to the transmitting node that one or more portions of the communication were not received, which is overheard by the supporting node. The supporting node can have sufficient over-the-air (OTA) allocation in its transmit opportunity to relay the failed portions to the receiving node. Thereby, techniques such as more robust error encoding, longer transmit allocations, etc., that would reduce the effective data throughput for OTA resources are avoided while providing an ability to more rapidly adapt to a changing channel state.
US08279783B1
In one implementation, a transceiver is provided that includes a precoder to pre-equalize a data signal transmitted from the transceiver. The transceiver further includes an interference cancellation system to substantially cancel interference from a data signal received by the transceiver. The precoder and the interference cancellation system share at least one common input signal.
US08279780B2
Dual (redundant) operation support servers are used to improve the reliability of a video conferencing system and ensure the stability of communication. Switching automatically one operation support server to another enables a video conference to be smoothly continued without interruption. Multiple operation support servers are provided, each including a synchronization function which synchronizes site connection information and live camera information between the operation support servers and prevents an operation support server in a standby state from writing live camera information in a folder for each site. Each site PC 14 includes an automatic server change function which, when an operation support server 11 in service fails, switches connection from the operation support server 11 to an operation support server 12 in a standby state. When the operation support server in service fails, the operation support server in a standby state writes live camera information into a folder for each site and each site PC changes connection from the operation support server that was in service to the operation support server in a standby state.
US08279770B2
A method for uplink transmit diversity enhancement is described. Two or more potential uplink transmission configurations are determined. Each potential uplink transmission configuration is evaluated. An uplink transmission configuration is selected based on the evaluation. Metrics of the selected uplink transmission configuration are determined. Cycle adaptation parameters are adjusted. The selected uplink transmission configuration is applied for an extended use period.
US08279763B2
A device, system, and method for grouping traffic events. In one embodiment, the device comprises a traffic component, a computing device coupled with the traffic component, and a display coupled with the computing device. The traffic component is operable to receive data corresponding to a plurality of traffic events. The computing device is operable to identify at least two related traffic events and form a traffic event group representing at least two of the related traffic events. The display is operable to present an indication of the formed traffic event group. Such a configuration enables users to more easily access relevant traffic information.
US08279757B2
A method and apparatus of managing power save in a wireless network is provided. A direct link with a peer station (STA) is established by exchanging a Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) setup request frame and a TDLS setup response frame through a access point (AP). The peer STA enters power save mode (PSM). Traffic data that are destined for the peer STA in the PSM are buffered and a peer traffic indication (PTI) frame is transmitted to the peer STA in the PSM. The PTI frame includes a traffic identifier (TID) field and a sequence control field. Unnecessary allocation of service period can be prevented.
US08279754B1
Constraint information associated with peering links is taken into account when establishing label switched paths (LSPs) to exit points of a network. Devices within the network, such as routers, designate interfaces associated with peering links as “passive interfaces” to indicate that the interfaces should be included for bandwidth accounting purposes and internal path computation. Other devices within the network utilize the constraint information, e.g., bandwidth availability, when computing and establishing LSPs to the exit points of the network to avoid congested peering links.
US08279746B2
An apparatus for performing a scan procedure according to an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) signal and a mobile station comprising the same are provided. The characteristic of the apparatus is that it comprises two FIT input buffers. In a first period of a downlink subframe, the first FFT input buffer is used for data transmission. In a second period of the downlink subframe, the second FFT input buffer is used for storing more than one OFDMA sample in advance for further processing. In a third period of an uplink subframe, the stored OFDMA samples can be used to generate a refined frame boundary and calculates a CINR value of each of a plurality of neighboring base stations. Therefore, the apparatus and the MS can perform the scan procedure without downgrading the network efficiency.
US08279744B2
In a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless local area network (WLAN) system, a method is provided for selecting at least one antenna from a plurality of antennas and transmitting a data frame from a station to an access point via the selected antenna or antennas. A method for transmitting data from a plurality of stations to an access point in the MIMO WLAN system includes detecting a channel status of a channel from the access point to each transmitting antenna of the station, selecting at least one transmitting antenna from among the station's transmitting antennas based on the detected channel status, and transmitting a data frame from the station to the access point via the selected transmitting antenna or antennas.
US08279743B2
In an OFDM communications system receiver, channel estimates are processed to remove or reduce noise, exploiting the orthogonality of pilot patterns. The de-noised channel estimates are then used to compute inter-cell interference. The noise effects of orthogonal pilot patterns are selectively removed from channel samples in estimating inter-cell interference, depending on whether data subcarriers are subject to the same interference as pilot subcarriers, and whether data subcarriers are subject to interference from sectors with pilot patterns orthogonal to those in the transmitting sector. A further calculation removes noise from cells not identified by an orthogonal pilot sequence, which may be particularly applicable when large variations exist in the frequency domain of the propagation channel across a pilot pattern.
US08279742B2
A transmitter transmits data to a communicating opponent with a better channel condition with use of one or more frequency blocks including one or more carrier frequencies. The transmitter includes a communicating opponent selection unit evaluating the channel condition for each frequency block for each of plural communicating opponents and selecting one or more communicating opponents from the plurality of communicating opponents, a modulation scheme determination unit determining at least a modulation scheme depending on the evaluated channel condition, a control channel generation unit generating a control channel indicative of the determined modulation scheme and one or more frequency blocks available for the selected communicating opponents to receive a data channel, and a channel transmission unit providing the selected communicating opponents with the control channel and the data channel modulated in accordance with the modulation scheme.
US08279740B2
A technique is disclosed for re-enabling transmission protection at enhanced stations while in the presence of high, enhanced modulation traffic conditions once protection has been disabled. Transmission protection allows enhanced modulation stations to co-exist with legacy modulation stations on a shared-communications channel. The problem being solved is when transmission protection is set to inactive and the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (i.e., enhanced modulation) traffic load is high, legacy traffic is likely to collide repeatedly with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing transmissions, with the result that the access point does not notice that a legacy station has become active again. Consequently, the access point does not activate transmission protection. The present invention addresses the problem by defining access point mechanisms that are capable of re-enabling transmission protection, once protection has been disabled, in the presence of high, enhanced modulation traffic conditions.
US08279738B2
There is provided an objective lens for information recording/reproducing for three types of optical discs, which includes a first area contributing to converging a third light beam onto a record surface of a third optical disc. The first area includes a phase shift structure having refractive surface zones concentrically formed about a predetermined axis. The phase shift structure includes first and second step groups. The first step group is configured such that an optical path length difference ΔOPD1 (nm) given by each step of the first step group to a first light beam satisfies a condition: 2N1+1.10<|ΔOPD1/λ1|<2N1+1.40, where N1 is an integer or zero, and the second step group is configured such that an optical path length difference ΔOPD2 (nm) given by each step of the second step group to the first light beam satisfies a condition: 2N2−0.10<|ΔOPD2/λ1|<2N2+0.10, where N2 is an integer.
US08279737B2
There is provided a diffraction grating including a convex portion and a concave portion which are used for lights having different wavelengths λ1, λ2 and λ3 and are alternately disposed on at least one surface of a substrate with a predetermined pitch. An average refractive index of the convex portion is smaller than an average refractive index of the concave portion. A phase difference in the lights having the wavelength λ1 which transmit the convex portion and the concave portion and a phase difference in the lights having the wavelength λ2 which transmit the convex portion and the concave portion are both substantially the integral multiple of 2π, and a phase difference in the lights having the wavelength λ3 which transmit the convex portion and the concave portion is substantially the non-integral multiple of 2π.
US08279736B2
The present invention discloses a multilevel recording method and system thereof. The multilevel recording method applied to a recording media comprises the following steps. At First, a plurality of beams are provided to a recording layer of the recording media, and the recording layer has a first structure and a second structure. Then, a first polarized reflected light of the first structure and a second polarized reflected light of the second structure are detected by a detecting unit. Then, a corresponding table is stored by a storing unit. The corresponding table comprises a relationship between the different angle of the polarized reflected light and a level of multilevel recording. Finally, the processing unit looks up the corresponding table to process multilevel recording.
US08279727B1
In one embodiment the present invention includes a circuit comprising a switch and a switch driver. The switch is configured to provide synchronous rectification switching of a back-EMF voltage. The synchronous rectification switching produces a source voltage. The switch driver is configured to receive the back-EMF voltage and the source voltage. The switch driver provides a control signal to a control terminal of the switch. The control signal has a frequency. The frequency is used to control an amount of the synchronous rectification switching. Accordingly, the frequency reduces a dissipated power associated with the synchronous rectification switching.
US08279724B2
An optical pickup has a first optical system and a second optical system. The optical axis of the first optical system and the optical axis of the second optical system are inclined, for example, 45 degrees with respect to the reference plane, and are parallel to each other. A first objective lens and a second objective lens are arranged substantially side-by-side in a radial direction, and the center position of the second objective lens is slightly displaced from the reference plane in a tangential direction. The first optical system and the second optical system each have a flat-shaped beam splitter; this is used to produce astigmatism for acquiring a focus error signal by the astigmatic method.
US08279718B2
To provide a calendar mechanism wherein the building-in property of a second date indicator is improved, and an analog timepiece equipped therewith. A calendar mechanism of an analog timepiece includes a first date indicator which includes a first date character indication portion, a first date indicator gear portion, and an endless ring-shaped drive cam portion; a drive cam lever which includes an operating lever portion including a first fan-shaped gear portion, wherein a driven lever portion is spring loaded in order to become a cam follower, and the operating lever portion is pivoted in accordance with the driven lever portion abutting against the drive cam portion; a second date indicator which, being rotatable, includes a second date character indication portion and a second fan-shaped gear portion meshing with the first fan-shaped gear portion; and a positioning/locking portion. In a case in which the tens column of the date is 0, one portion of the drive cam lever abuts against the positioning/locking portion, causing the cam follower of the driven lever portion to remain in a condition out of contact with an invalid cam face portion of the cam face of the drive cam portion.
US08279714B2
The systems and methods described herein relate to a device which enables oceanographic surface buoy mooring systems to detect and monitor underwater noise at most sea state and weather conditions. In particular, the systems and methods described herein provide mooring systems that can support a hydrophone or other underwater listening devices connected to a surface buoy located at a deep sea position. As will be more fully described below, the mooring includes an expandable tether cable/hose that reduces noise generated underwater when the buoy moves in response to wave and weather.
US08279711B2
A marine air gun generates an acoustic signal in water, for example, during a marine seismic survey. The marine air gun includes digital electronic circuitry. The digital electronic circuitry may control an actuator of the marine air gun, digitize and store data from sensors located on or near the marine air gun, send and/or receive digital communications, store and/or output electrical energy, and/or perform other functions. A marine seismic source system that includes multiple air gun clusters may have a separate digital communication link between a command center and each air gun cluster. Each communication link may provide power and digital communication between the command center and one of the air gun clusters.
US08279701B2
A semiconductor storage device and control method are provided. The semiconductor storage device includes a storage unit including a plurality of storage elements specified by addresses and divided into a plurality of blocks each corresponding to a plurality of the addresses, a write address decoding circuit that decodes a write address specifying a block to write data, a write buffer provided in a write signal path to input write data including write address to the block specified by the write address and a write buffer control unit that disables a write buffer provided in the write signal path for inputting the write data to blocks other than a block including a write address decoded by the write address decoding circuit.
US08279697B2
Circuits and methods for reducing noise in the power supply of circuits coupled to a bidirectional bus are presented. The circuits and methods are responsive to an idle condition on the bidirectional bus. The control signal is applied to and changes an electrical characteristic within the receiver to generate a voltage offset. The voltage offset prevents unintended voltage transitions in the power supply of circuits coupled to the bidirectional bus from generating a signal transition on an output signal connection of the receiver.
US08279695B2
A semiconductor memory device has: memory blocks; and a local bus connected to the memory blocks. Each memory block has: switches respectively provided between bit line pairs and the local bus and each of which is turned ON in response to a selection signal; a dummy local bus; first and second control circuits. The local bus and the dummy local bus are precharged to a first potential before a read operation. In the read operation, the first control circuit outputs the selection signal to a selected switch to electrically connect a selected bit line pair and the local bus, while the second control circuit supplies a second potential lower than the first potential to the dummy local bus. The first control circuit stops outputting the selection signal when a potential of the dummy local bus is decreased to a predetermined set potential that is between the first and second potentials.
US08279694B2
A semiconductor memory device having a reduced noise interference is presented. The semiconductor memory device includes a first switch and a second switch. The first switch is disposed in a sub hole region or an edge region and is configured to be turned on in response to a first pre-control signal, which is enabled before a time point at which a sense amplifier array begins to operate, and to apply an external voltage to a first voltage line through which a bias voltage is supplied to the sense amplifier array. The second switch is configured to be turned on in response to a first control signal, which is enabled in a sense amplifier overdriving period, and to apply the external voltage to the first voltage line.
US08279693B2
One example memory device includes a memory array, a sense amplifier, and a tracking circuit. The memory array is formed of a plurality of memory cells. The sense amplifier is for accessing the memory array. The tracking circuit is for tracking memory read current of the memory array. The tracking circuit comprises one or more columns of tracking cells. Each column is coupled to a corresponding bit line to provide a drive current on the bit line for triggering a memory read operation by the sense amplifier. At least one of the columns comprises two tracking cells connected in series to each other.
US08279679B2
Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, method of reading data therefrom, and semiconductor device
A control circuit is configured to perform, in a write operation to a memory cell and a verify operation for verifying a threshold voltage of the memory cell, a voltage control to provide the memory cell with threshold voltage distributions. The circuit is configured to apply, in a read operation from the memory cell, to a selected memory cell a read voltage between the lower and upper limits of the threshold voltage distributions, and apply to an unselected memory cell a first read-pass voltage higher than the upper limit of a first threshold voltage distribution that is the maximum distribution of the threshold voltage distributions. The circuit is configured to apply, at least during a verify operation in a first write operation conducted before a second write operation that completes writing to the first threshold voltage distribution, a second read-pass voltage lower than the first read-pass voltage to the unselected memory cell, and apply to the semiconductor layer and the source-line a positive voltage.
US08279672B2
A nonvolatile memory includes memory blocks each including a data storage area for storing user data and a discrimination area that is provided so as to correspond to the each data storage area on a one-to-one basis and stores discriminative data indicating a writing state of data to the data storage area. The nonvolatile memory further includes a control circuit which determines the data storage area that will be a storage destination of the user data based on a relative difference relation among the discriminative data of the respective memory blocks, and changes the discriminative data of the discrimination area corresponding to the data storage area in which the user data was written to a value different from that before the writing.
US08279662B2
An apparatus and associated method for a non-volatile memory cell, such as a multi-bit magnetic random access memory cell. In accordance with various embodiments, a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) has a ferromagnetic free layer with multiple magnetic domains that are each independently programmable to predetermined magnetizations. Those magnetizations can then be read as different logical states of the MTJ.
US08279660B2
Dual port memory elements and memory array circuitry that utilizes elevated and non-elevated power supply voltages for performing reliable reading and writing operations are provided. The memory array circuitry may contain circuitry to switch a power supply line of a column of memory elements in the array to an appropriate power supply voltage during reading and writing operations. Each memory element may contain circuitry to select between power supply voltages during reading and writing operations. During reading operations, an elevated voltage may power cross-coupled inverters that store data in the memory elements while a non-elevated voltage may be used to turn on associated address transistors. During writing operations, the non-elevated voltage may power the cross-coupled inverters while the elevated voltage may be used to turn on the associated address transistors.
US08279656B2
A memory cell is arranged to enhance the electrical field of the memory element. The memory cell has a metal-oxide memory element, a nonconductive element, and a conductive element. The metal-oxide memory element is in a current path between a first electrode at a first voltage and a second electrode at a second voltage. The nonconductive element is adjacent to the metal-oxide memory element.
US08279650B2
A storage system includes a three-dimensional memory array that has multiple layers of non-volatile storage elements grouped into blocks. Each block includes a subset of first selection circuits for selectively coupling a subset of array lines (e.g. bit lines) of a first type to respective local data lines. Each block includes a subset of second selection circuits for selectively coupling a subset of the respective local data lines to global data lines that are connected to control circuitry. To increase the performance of memory operations, the second selections circuits can change their selections independently of each other. For example, a memory operation is performed concurrently on a first non-volatile storage element of each group of a plurality of groups of non-volatile storage elements. Completion of the memory operation for the first non-volatile storage element of each group is independently detected. A memory operation on a second non-volatile storage element of each group is independently commenced for each group upon independently detecting completion of the memory operation for the first non-volatile storage element of the respective group.
US08279647B2
The systems and methods described herein provide for a universal controller capable of controlling multiple types of three phase, two and three level power converters. The universal controller is capable of controlling the power converter in any quadrant of the PQ domain. The universal controller can include a region selection unit, an input selection unit, a reference signal source unit and a control core. The control core can be implemented using one-cycle control, average current mode control, current mode control or sliding mode control and the like. The controller can be configured to control different types of power converters by adjusting the reference signal source. Also provided are multiple modulation methods for controlling the power converter.
US08279645B2
In an embodiment, a power converter system includes a plurality of variable frequency power converters and a plurality of synchronization circuits. Each variable frequency power converter has a switching frequency. Each synchronization circuit is associated with a respective one of the plurality of variable frequency power converters. A control circuit is coupled to and coordinates the plurality of synchronization circuits. The plurality of synchronization circuits and the control circuit are operable to synchronize the switching frequencies of the variable frequency power converters to each other. Each synchronization circuit is operable to: receive a first input signal indicative of the beginning of a switching period for the associated variable frequency power converter; receive a second input signal indicative of the end of the switching period for the associated variable frequency power converter; generate a first output signal for directing a pulse width modulation of the associated variable frequency power converter; and generate a second output signal for coordinating a phase relationship with another variable frequency power converter in the system.
US08279641B2
An electric power conversion apparatus includes a converter 1 for rectifying ac electric power, a series-connected set, of capacitors 2A and 2B, connected to the dc side of the converter, an inverter 3 for, by setting one end of the series-connected capacitor set to a high-potential level, the other end of the set to a low-potential level, and a connection point between the capacitors to a medium-potential level, selecting any one of the levels and outputting three-phase ac, an inverter control unit 4 for controlling the inverter 3, and a voltage measurement device 8 for measuring a capacitor voltage Vdc as a voltage between both ends of the series-connected set, of the capacitors 2A and 2B; and the inverter control unit 4 further includes a beatless control unit 21 for controlling a modulation factor γ in response to the capacitor voltage Vdc, and a frequency fixing unit 22 for fixing to a command value the frequency of an ac voltage outputted from the inverter 3.
US08279637B2
In order to further develop a circuit arrangement (100) as well as a method for generating at least one drive signal for at least one synchronous rectification switch of at least one flyback converter in such way that an improved and simpler thermal management can be combined with a significant cost reduction as well as with a higher efficiency, it is proposed to generate the drive signal for said synchronous rectification switch as a function of at least one oscillating signal controlling the synchronous rectification switch, of at least one constant delay time, of at least one variable delay time, and of at least one Boolean OR function.
US08279635B2
A driving circuit for an opto-coupler comprising a switched mode regulator configured to convert a first voltage to a second voltage, the switched mode regulator operable in accordance with a control signal (311) representative of the first voltage, and wherein the second voltage is used to drive the diode (304a) of the opto-coupler (304), in use.
US08279633B2
The configurations of a parallel-connected resonant converter circuit and a controlling method thereof are provided in the present invention. The proposed circuit includes a plurality of resonant converters, each of which has two input terminals and two output terminals, wherein all the two input terminals of the plurality of resonant converters are electrically series-connected, and all the two output terminals of the plurality of resonant converters are electrically parallel-connected.
US08279632B2
An apparatus for transfer of electrical energy between a primary side and a secondary side. The apparatus includes: at least one voltage input on the primary side; at least one transformer, wherein the transformer has on the primary side at least a first winding area and a second winding area; and at least one voltage monitoring unit, wherein the voltage monitoring unit is embodied in such a manner, that it connects the voltage input with the first winding area or the second winding area as a function of a primary voltage present at the voltage input.
US08279620B2
A power electronics assembly is provided. A first support member includes a first plurality of conductors. A first plurality of power switching devices are coupled to the first support member. A first capacitor is coupled to the first support member. A second support member includes a second plurality of conductors. A second plurality of power switching devices are coupled to the second support member. A second capacitor is coupled to the second support member. The first and second pluralities of conductors, the first and second pluralities of power switching devices, and the first and second capacitors are electrically connected such that the first plurality of power switching devices is connected in parallel with the first capacitor and the second capacitor and the second plurality of power switching devices is connected in parallel with the second capacitor and the first capacitor.
US08279609B2
A wearable containing element for an electronic apparatus, comparable to an ornament or pendant, comprising at least a pair of complementary shells, able to be coupled with each other so as to define a containing body with an external surface having a shape and size comparable to those of a traditional ornament, and an internal containing compartment, of a shape and size sufficiently large to house the electronic apparatus.
US08279601B2
Air flow ducts for improving the air flow within data processing units are described herein. In some embodiments, a duct includes an inlet portion and an outlet portion. An interior surface of the outlet portion of the duct defines, at least in part, a portion of a flow path. The duct is configured to be coupled to a printed circuit board within a data processing unit such that a first portion of a cooling fluid can flow within the flow path between the inlet portion of the duct and an electronic device coupled to the printed circuit board. An exterior surface of the outlet portion of the duct is configured to redirect a second portion of the cooling fluid to a volume within the data processing unit apart from the electronic device.
US08279594B2
A data transmission base is used to transmit data for a data transmission device. The data transmission device has a data transmission body and a cover. The data transmission body has a first transmission interface. The data transmission base includes a transmission connection body and a cover connection body. The transmission connection body has a second transmission interface for connecting the first transmission interface. The cover connection body, which is connected to the transmission connection body, is used for connecting the cover.
US08279593B2
A retention assembly for securing a hard disk to a frame of an electronic device, the retention assembly includes a bracket and a connector. The bracket is fixed to the hard disk. One of the frame and the bracket defining a guide groove, the other one forming a slide rail slidably received in the guide groove. The connector fixed to the frame and adjacent to the guide groove or the slide rail. The hard disk is electrically connected or disconnected to the connector by sliding the bracket along the guide groove or the slide rail.
US08279591B2
An electronic device includes a first body, a second body, a first pivot, an audio module, a second pivot, a cam, a follower, a latch, and an elastic element. The first pivot pivotally connects the first body with the second body. The second pivot pivotally connects the audio module with the second body. The cam is coupled with the first pivot. The follower contacts the cam. The latch is fastened to the audio module and connected with the follower. The elastic element includes two ends, one is against the second body, and the other one is against the audio module.
US08279590B2
An electronic apparatus includes an accommodation plate, a first exterior member, and a second exterior member. The accommodation plate accommodates a plurality of components except at least a keyboard component. The first exterior member holds the keyboard component and constitutes a first exterior surface of the electronic apparatus. The second exterior member constitutes a second exterior surface as an opposite surface of the first exterior surface. The accommodation plate is disposed between the first exterior member and the second exterior member.
US08279581B2
An electrolytic solution for an electrolytic capacitor includes a solvent and an electrolyte dissolved in the solvent. This electrolyte includes at least one of a carboxylic acid and a salt of the carboxylic acid. The carboxylic acid has a carboxyl group and at least one or more of substituents bonded to each terminal carbon of a straight main chain. The substituent bonded to the each terminal carbon of the main chain is hydrophilic, and/or a hydrophilic substituent is bonded to at least one of carbons other than the both terminal carbons of the main chain.
US08279575B2
A thermally protected surge suppression device comprises a housing and a base seat with a mounting plate. The base seat is provided with a surge suppression component and a thermal protection device, and the thermal protection device further comprises a metal bulge electrically connecting to the electrode B of the surge suppression component, a compression spring, a slider provided with an arc extinguishing component movable on the guide-track groove. In normal working condition, the conductive metal member electrically connects to the metal bulge via a low temperature solder. When the surge suppression component fails, the low temperature solder is melt owing to being passed through the power frequency fault current, the conductive metal member is disconnected from the metal bulge, the compression spring pushes the arc extinguishing component to move to obstruct the disconnected gap, and form an airflow to extinguish the electric arc between the conductive metal member and the metal bulge. The present invention provides a safer, more timely and reliable circuit protection.
US08279574B2
An emergency lighting system comprising an electrical panel board comprising a two-pole switched breaker with one pole controlled using an Emergency Remote Operated Relay. Each of the poles of the circuit breaker is fed by a single phase. The controlled pole feeds normal power to the lighting ballast operating under normal conditions. The non-controlled pole feeds constant power to at least one battery which provides back-up power to the light(s) in an emergency/power failed condition. The Emergency Remote Operated Relay further comprises a two pole circuit breaker (BQD 2P) with one of the poles connected to a Remote Operated Relay that is remotely controllable.
US08279572B2
A design structure for an on-chip high frequency electro-static discharge device is described. In one embodiment, the electro-static discharge structure comprises a first dielectric layer with more than one electrode formed therein. A second dielectric layer with more than one electrode formed therein is located above the first dielectric layer. At least one via connects the more than one electrode in the first dielectric layer with the more than one electrode in the second dielectric layer. A gap is formed through the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer, wherein the gap extends between two adjacent electrodes in both the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer. A third dielectric layer is disposed over the second dielectric layer, wherein the third dielectric layer hermetically seals the gap to provide electro-static discharge protection on the integrated circuit.
US08279571B2
A transmission delay line is introduced between the switch and the power output side of a power switching system so that sparking of the load is hidden from the switch by the time delay of the transmission line. This makes it possible to detect the load spark and actively protect the switch, typically by turning the switch off, before it actually knows that there has been a load fault spark. Alternatively, the delay of the transmission line is long enough so that the switch has already been turned off in normal pulse operation before the load fault current reaches the switch. Either way, the switch will be turned off under normal current flow and will not be subject to destructive over-current or over-voltage conditions.
US08279570B2
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) circuit, adaptive to a radio frequency (RF) device, which includes a RF circuit coupled between a VDD power rail and a VSS power rail and having a RF I/O pad, includes an ESD clamp circuit coupled between a VDD power rail node and the VSS power rail node and a LC-tank structure coupled between the VDD power rail node and the VSS power rail node and to the RF I/O pad. The LC-tank structure includes a first ESD block between the VDD power rail node and the RF I/O pad, and a second ESD block between the VSS power rail node and the RF I/O pad. At least one of the first and second ESD blocks includes a pair of diodes coupled in parallel with each other and an inductor coupled in series with one of the pair of diodes.
US08279569B2
An apparatus for preventing abnormal voltage, a light emitting module, and a display apparatus are provided. The present apparatus for preventing abnormal voltage extracts the highest voltage and the lowest voltage among voltage applied from a plurality of loads, includes two voltage distribution units distributing the highest voltage and the lowest voltage, and detects whether the highest voltage and the lowest voltage applied from the voltage distribution unit are within a predetermined range. Accordingly, the apparatus for preventing abnormal voltage is not affected greatly in terms of its size and cost even if the number of loads to be protected increases.
US08279562B2
A pole tip shield for a write element of a recording head is disclosed. The pole tip shield is spaced from the pole tip in the leading edge direction to provide a magnetic wall angle to reduce ATI or adjacent track erasure to compensate for the skew angle of the head. In illustrated embodiments, the pole tip shield includes side portions. In illustrated embodiments the pole tip shield is generally “U” shaped and side portions of the pole tip shield include different thickness or width dimensions. In illustrated embodiments, the pole tip shield provides a magnetic wall angle for a rectangular shaped pole tip. Embodiments disclosed in the application include a trailing edge shield separated from the pole tip shield along an air bearing surface of the head by a non-magnetic gap portion.
US08279553B2
A rolling bearing provided with a shield plate which hardly induces the irregular deformation of an outer ring without increasing a cost is provided. A rolling bearing includes an inner ring and an outer ring; a plurality of rolling bodies which are held between the inner ring and the outer ring in a rotatable manner; and an annular shield plate which is engageable with an engaging groove portion which is formed on an inner peripheral surface of the outer ring along the circumferential direction and opens toward an inner peripheral surface side and an open end side. The shield plate includes: an annular shield body; and a plurality of engaging projections which are arranged along the outer peripheral portion of the shield body, project outwardly in the radial direction from the outer peripheral portion in an inclined state, and are engageable with the engaging groove portion. The engaging projection is deformable by bending in the orthogonal direction orthogonal to the in-plane direction of the shield body using a connecting portion of the engaging projection connected with the outer peripheral portion of the shield body as a start point, and is formed such that a projecting length of the engaging projection from the outer peripheral portion at both end portions in the circumferential direction is set shorter than the projecting length of the engaging projection from the outer peripheral portion at a center portion in the circumferential direction.
US08279549B2
A device for setting a bias for a magneto-resistive (MR) head can include a counter configured to provide a count value that varies incrementally from a first count value to a maximum count value. Logic is configured to determine at least one of whether the bias for the MR head has reached a predetermined threshold and whether the counter has reached the maximum count value. The logic provides a bias output signal corresponding to the count value for setting the bias of the MR head according to the determination by the logic.
US08279548B2
A microwave oscillation element of the present invention includes a lamination main part in which an oscillating layer that is a magnetization free layer and that generates a high frequency electromagnetic field by an excitation of a spin wave, a nonmagnetic intermediate layer, a polarizer layer, and a reference layer that is to be a base magnetic layer of a spin transfer due to application of current are layered in this order. The oscillating layer is made of CoIr, the polarizer layer is configured of CoCr or CoRu; and the nonmagnetic intermediate layer is configured of Cr or Ru. As a result, the efficiency of the spin injection is improved and the microwave oscillation element where the oscillation efficiency is excellent can be realized.
US08279541B2
A lens actuator module includes a lens assembly with an optical centerline and a clear aperture, a bearing guide integrated adjacent to the clear aperture with the centerline of motion substantially parallel to the optical centerline, a linear actuator with a preloaded frictional contact point that moves the lens along the centerline. The preload force is perpendicular to the optical centerline, constant and generated in-line with the contact point such that the preload force produces substantially zero additional friction in the bearing guide irrespective of the location along the optical centerline.
US08279540B2
A compound lens comprises three or more optical elements, including first, second, and third optical components, that are cemented together. The material of the second optical element is an organic composite material. The first optical element is cemented to one surface of the second optical element. The third optical element is disposed remotest from the first optical element in an optical axis. The diameters of effective areas of the first optical element on the cemented surface between the first and the second optical elements, and of the second optical element, and the distance ti(φ) between optically effective surfaces of the i-th optical element (i=1, 2, 3) along the optical axis at diameter φ are appropriately designed. The second optical element has such a shape that the decrease in the distance between its optically effective surfaces is small in a region outside the effective surface area.
US08279525B2
Three-dimensional grating device includes two (crossed) diffraction gratings, exhibits diffraction efficiency substantially independent of the incident polarization inside an optical communication spectral window from 1.5-1.6 μm. The gratings are characterized by different periods in two directions, chosen to support only one dispersive diffraction order in addition to the zero-(specular) order. Gratings may be orthogonal. Exemplary grating profiles include but are not limited to sinusoidal and truncated pyramidal (trapezoidal) profiles. A method for diffracting polarization independent light with 90% or higher efficiency. Applications include various wavelength control devices particularly useful in telecommunications.
US08279517B2
The invention applies to doubly resonant optical parametric oscillators comprising a non-linear crystal (4) through which pass a pump laser beam (fp), a signal beam (fs), and a complementary beam (fc), and a device (5) that totally or partially reflects said beams emanating from the crystal such that, after reflection, they generate between them a relative phase-shifting value ΔΦar for a given functioning mode independent of the signal frequency or complementary frequency, and is characterized in that the reflecting device (5) is a metallic minor, or a combination of two scattering mirrors and a multilayer dielectric mirror placed downstream.
US08279514B2
An optoelectronic device for projecting a first beam (110) of coherent first electromagnetic radiation onto a surface (91) comprises a first radiation source (11), which is suitable for emitting a first beam (110) of coherent first electromagnetic radiation when in operation. The optoelectronic device additionally comprises a first phase-modifying element (21) in the beam path of the first electromagnetic radiation for changing the phase of the first electromagnetic radiation in a subzone (1102) of the first beam (110) and a radiation-directing element (4) in the beam path of the first electromagnetic radiation for changing a beam direction (P1, P2) of the first beam (110).
US08279509B2
An MEMS-scanning mirror device includes an electrostatic comb actuator, in which a mirror surface is formed below a top surface (TOPS) of the mirror device. In a method for manufacturing the MEMS-scanning mirror device having the electrostatic comb actuator, a mirror surface (10BS) of a mirror plate (10B) is formed by removing an insulating layer (I) thereon.
US08279489B2
A technique for performing high-quality cluster type FM halftone image output without “anisotropy” or “sweep out texture” phenomenon is provided. An error diffused to a current pixel position and a random number RND are added by an adder to multi-level pixel data as a subject of binarization, and supplied as pixel data Pxy to a selector. The selector compares the pixel data Pxy with thresholds, and supplies the pixel data Pxy to one of a highlight portion processor, a dark portion processor and an intermediate portion processor. The highlight and dark portion processors refer to already-binarized results within a range determined in accordance with the value of the input pixel data Pxy, and determine a binarization result Qxy. The intermediate portion processor compares a threshold, which monotonously increases in accordance with the value of the pixel data Pxy, with the pixel data Pxy, thereby determines the binarization result Qxy.
US08279482B2
A computer readable recording medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for a combination printing function for collectively printing out contents of plural pages into one page, the process which includes selecting a test printing target page from printing target data, generating image data in which at least two pages regarding the selected page are reduced to different scales and are collected into one page, and transmitting the generated image data to a printing device.
US08279480B2
This invention provides an image forming apparatus for accurately specifying the type of the apparatus without increasing cost, and a method of controlling the same. To accomplish this, an image forming apparatus of the embodiment executes a continuous image formation test to specify the model of the self apparatus when a system control unit is connected to an engine control unit. In the continuous image formation, the image forming apparatus measures the period from synchronization signal output by the engine control unit to output of the next print start request by the system control unit, and specifies the model of the self apparatus in accordance with the measured period.
US08279478B2
A printing system that transfers an image composed of pixels of a first resolution, includes a client and a printing apparatus. The client includes a determining unit that, for a pixel block that is of a size of a pixel of a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution, determines whether or not the pixel block is homogenous on the basis of a difference in color information for a target pixel of the first resolution included in the pixel block; an image-data-for-transfer creating unit that creates image data for transfer by changing pixels of the first resolution included in a pixel block that has been determined to be homogenous from the first resolution to the second resolution; and a transmitting unit that transmits the image data for transfer. The printing apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives the image data for transfer and a high-resolution-image-data creating unit that creates image data representing an image composed of pixels of the first resolution by changing pixels of the second resolution in the image data for transfer from the second resolution to the first resolution.
US08279474B2
In order to reduce the number of times of authentication when printing data stored in a server is printed, an MFP includes: a printing data receiving portion to receive printing data from a server; a job executing portion to execute a job; a user authenticating portion; a job generating portion to generate a reserved job to form an image of printing data associated with the authenticated user; a suspending portion to temporarily prohibit the reserved job from being executed; a job identification information issuing portion to issue job identification information; a transmission demanding portion to transmit to the printing server a printing data transmission demand that demands transmission of the printing data and contains the job identification information; and a releasing portion to release the prohibition of execution of the reserved job when the printing data received in response to transmission of the printing data transmission demand is received together with the same job identification information as the reserved job.
US08279469B2
An image forming apparatus, which includes: a printing data reception section that receives printing data through a communication section; a printing data storage section that stores the printing data and authentication information added to the printing data in association with each other; a printing section that prints the printing data on a printing medium; an information reception section that receives information; a matching section that matches the information with the authentication information; a retrieval section that retrieves the printing data processable based on matched first information; a presentation section that provides a list of the retrieved printing data; and a permission section that, when, while the list of printing data is being provided, the reception section receives an instruction to print the printing data and second information, and the instructed printing data is included in the printing data processable based on the second information, permits printing the printing data.
US08279462B2
In an information processing apparatus capable of direct or indirect communication with a printing apparatus, upon notification of processing status of a printing job, first identification information indicating a log-in user upon generation and transmission of the printing job is obtained. Then, upon reception of notification information indicating a processing state of the printing job from an external apparatus, second identification information indicating a log-in user at that time is obtained. It is determined whether or not the notification information is to be notified by comparing the first identification information obtained regarding a printing job corresponding to the received notification information with the second identification information obtained upon reception of the notification information.
US08279460B2
An application for execution on a computer system which generates print data for an interactive document. The application is configured to operatively control the computer system so as to perform the steps of: receive a print request from a user; format user information in an electronic document so as to include a first user interactive element; determine advertising material for printing with the user information; format the advertising material so as to include a second user interactive element; and generate print data for printing the formatted user information and the formatted advertising material together with coincident coded data on a substrate.
US08279452B2
A dimple position detection device for detecting a position of a dimple formed on a load beam is provided with an illumination device, imaging device, and image processing section. The illumination device directs illumination light toward the dimple. The imaging device receives reflected light from the dimple. The image processing section binarizes an image obtained by the imaging device. The image processing section maximizes a binarization level, binarizes the reflected light image, determines whether an area of a light spot region or on-region above the binarization level has a predetermined value, reduces the binarization level when the area of the light spot region is less than the predetermined value, and calculates the gravitational position of the light spot region with the predetermined value reached by the light spot region area.
US08279451B2
One aspect of the present disclosure provides a probing apparatus with on-probe device-mapping function. A probing apparatus according to this aspect of the present disclosure comprises a housing, at least one probe stage positioned on the housing and configured to retain at least one probe, a device holder positioned in the housing and configured to receive at least one semiconductor device under test, and an inspection module having a predetermined field of view configured to capture an image showing at least the semiconductor device, wherein the probe stage includes a driving unit configured to move the probe out of focus of the inspection module in a mapping phase while keeping the device under test in the field of view of the optical inspection module.
US08279438B2
An object is to enable a change in a frequency for which an electric signal based on an optical signal is measured by a spectrum analyzer. An optical measurement device includes a first photoconductive switch that receives predetermined pulse light from a first laser light source, and outputs terahertz light having the same repetition frequency as the repetition frequency of the predetermined pulse light. The optical measurement device also includes a second photoconductive switch that receives the terahertz light and a sampling light pulse, and outputs a signal corresponding to a power of the terahertz light at a time point when the sampling light pulse is received. The optical measurement device further includes an RF spectrum analyzer that measures a magnitude of the signal corresponding to a measured frequency that changes over time, an optical coupler that outputs a simultaneous light pulse when the predetermined pulse light and the sampling light pulse are simultaneously input, a photo detector that converts the simultaneous light pulse into an electric signal as a trigger signal, and an optical delay circuit that delays the trigger signal.
US08279428B2
A weighing scale, e.g. a top-pan scale, having a scale pan (01, 02) supported on a force transducer, and a corner load sensor (03, 04, 06, 08, 09) measuring the tilting of the scale pan (01, 02) relative to the force transducer. The corner load sensor includes a light beam source (03, 04, 06) emitting a first light beam and a second light beam. The first light beam and the second light beam are directed toward a reflecting surface on an underside of an arrangement that includes the scale pan (01, 02). The first light beam and the second light beam are respectively inclined relative to the reflecting surface of the untilted scale pan (01). The corner load sensor (03, 04, 06, 08, 09) of the scale also includes a first optical sensor (08) measuring the first light beam reflected by the reflecting surface. If no corner load exists, a predetermined proportion (12) of the reflected first light beam is directed to the first optical sensor (08). If the scale pan (02) is tilted, the proportions of the reflected light beams which fall on the two optical sensors (08, 09) change. The corner load sensor (03, 04, 06, 08, 09) has an evaluating unit determining the tilt of the scale pan (01, 02) dependent on the light quantities measured with the two optical sensors (08, 09).
US08279427B2
A method for measuring the refractive index of a material with Bragg gratings includes the emission of a collimated radiation beam (9) from a radiation source (4) with a large spectrum and orientation thereof along a direction normal to the material (2) to be examined, the propagation of the collimated radiation beam (9) entering the material (2), then a Bragg diffraction grating (3) that is obliquely placed to the direction of the collimated radiation beam (9), and again the material (2), the subjection to spectral analysis of the collimated radiation beam exiting the material (2), the grating (3) producing a minimum in the spectrum subjected to the spectral analysis in accordance with Bragg's law, and the calculation of the refractive index of the material (2) from the measure of the wavelength corresponding to the minimum in thus spectrum. A relevant apparatus is described.
US08279425B1
A system and method for performing lethality assessment utilizes frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) to determine impact point and damage propagation faults in a detection surface. The detection surface has a conductive layer capable of propagating radio frequency (RF) signals. At least one signal transmit/receive port on the detection surface injects a radio frequency (RF) interrogation signal into the detection surface and at least two signal receive-only ports on the detection surface spaced a distance apart from each other and from the signal transmit/receive port receive reflected radio frequency (RF) signals of the interrogation signal. A frequency domain reflectometry measurement system coupled with the transmit/receive port and signal receive-only ports measures frequency responses of the ports compared to predetermined baseline measurements and determines the precise location of an impact point and damage propagation fault in the detection surface by triangulation.
US08279420B2
A phase-sensing and scanning time-of-flight LADAR method and device are disclosed that take advantage of an atmospheric absorption bands within the solar IR spectrum.In the phase-sensing LADAR embodiment, an object is illuminated with electromagnetic energy such as a laser beam having a wavelength substantially equal to a predetermined atmospheric absorption band such as 1.39 microns. The transmitted laser beam is modulated at a predetermined frequency and has a first phase. The phase of the reflected and returned laser beam is altered proportional to the distance of the object and has a second phase. The first phase of the transmitted signal and the second phase of the received signal are compared and used to determine the distance of the object from the device. The system may comprise a modified laser that is tuned to operate in an atmospheric absorption band. A method to identify range ambiguity is disclosed by periodically altering the modulation frequency from a first modulation frequency to a second modulation frequency.In the scanning LADAR embodiment, an object is scanned or illuminated with electromagnetic energy having a wavelength substantially equal to a predetermined atmospheric absorption band at a first time and detects the reflection of the beam at a second time. The difference in time from the transmission of the scanning beam and the detection of the reflection of the beam from the object is used to calculate the range of the object.
US08279417B2
An improved range finder for use on a golf course. The improved range finder includes means for identifying the closest target in a field of view during a sweep operation of the field of view and means for presenting the distance of the closest target at the conclusion of the sweep operation of the field of view. The improved range finder preferably uses infrared light to detect a flagstick.
US08279414B2
The invention refers to a device and a method for monitoring a delimited area in order to detect if an undesired object is present within the area. The invention also refers to a use of the device. A first laser is adapted to emit a laser pulse (B) of a determined wavelength over the area. A first photo sensor is arranged to receive a reflected part of the laser pulse (B). An evaluation unit is connected to the laser and the photo sensor. The evaluation unit is arranged to measure the reflected part of the laser pulse (B) during a predetermined time period after the laser pulse has been emitted from the laser, to generate a signal depending on the measured reflected part and to process the generated signal in order to determine if an undesired object is present within the area.
US08279413B2
An optical sight includes an outer barrel unit, an objective lens unit, an ocular lens unit, a magnification unit, amounting unit, and a range-finding module. The outer barrel unit extends about an axis and has a front end and a rear end. The objective lens unit is mounted to the front end of the outer barrel unit. The ocular lens unit is mounted to the rear end of the outer barrel unit. The magnification unit is disposed between the objective lens unit and the ocular lens unit. The mounting unit is disposed in the outer barrel unit between the objective lens unit and the magnification unit, and has an outer peripheral surface, and an inner passage extending along the axis. The range-finding module is disposed in the outer barrel unit, and includes a light emitter, a light receiver, and a circuit board unit.
US08279412B2
Position determining systems and methods are provided. A particular portable device includes a calibration component to communicate with a local positioning system to determine an initial position and orientation of the portable device within a local coordinate system associated with a target structure. The portable device also includes at least one movement sensor to detect movement of the portable device. The portable device further includes a processor to determine a measured position and orientation of the portable device based on the initial position and orientation of the portable device within the local coordinate system and based on the detected movement of the portable device.
US08279411B2
A method of fabricating a photodiode detector array is provided. The method facilitates a reduction in secondary photon emission detection by the photodiode detector array. The method includes fabricating an array of active regions, wherein the array of active regions comprises a plurality of active regions. The method also includes positioning a passivation region in optical paths between the active regions. The passivation region includes at least one of a photon-absorbing material and a trench.
US08279410B2
An optical body height measurement instrument is provided comprising: a lens configured to be movable along a direction parallel to the height of an object to be measured and form an image of the object; a photosensitive sensor arranged at an image side of the lens to sense the image; and a driving device configured to drive the lens along a direction parallel to the height of the object, wherein when the lens is moved across the height at which the head of the object is located, a hop occurs to an output of the photosensitive sensor; and wherein the height of the object is determined based on the height of the lens measured at the time of the occurrence of the hop. The optical body height measurement instrument can rapidly, conveniently and accurately measure the height based on the infrared rays emitted from the measured object or the light with a predetermined wavelength emitted from an auxiliary light source so long as the person to be measured stands within a certain region.
US08279398B2
A deforming mechanism for deforming a transmissive optical element comprises a rotation member configured to hold the optical element and to rotate around an axis parallel to a tangential line of a circumference of the optical element at a portion where the rotation member holds the optical element, so as to deform the optical element by the rotation, a torque generating unit configured to generate a torque to rotate the rotation member around the axis, a holding base, and an elastic member connecting the holding base to the torque generating unit.
US08279394B2
An object of the present invention is to provide a discrimination medium which has high discrimination ability, and which is more difficult to counterfeit than conventional discrimination mediums. A discrimination medium comprises: a cholesteric liquid crystal layer; and a liquid crystal layer acting as a half-wave plate and provided on the cholesteric liquid crystal layer in a predetermined pattern.
US08279388B2
A liquid crystal display includes a first substrate, a plurality of gate lines formed on the first substrate, a plurality of data lines intersecting the gate lines, a plurality of thin film transistors connected to the gate lines and the data lines, a plurality of color filters formed on the gate lines, the data lines, and the thin film transistors, a plurality of first electrodes made of a transparent conductor formed on the color filters, and electrically connected to the thin film transistors, a first passivation layer formed on the first electrodes, a second electrode formed on the first passivation layer, and including a plurality of branch electrodes, a second substrate facing the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate.
US08279373B2
A liquid crystal module according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a liquid crystal panel, a transparent panel member configured to include a display section constituting a display image plane while overlapping the liquid crystal panel, and a step section connected to the display section and lower than an image plane position by one step, at least one light source disposed in the step section of the transparent panel member, and a diffusion mechanism provided in a part other than the display image plane of the display section and a face opposite thereto, and diffusing light from the light source.
US08279361B2
A in-cell touch-sensitive liquid crystal display device (LCD) includes a first substrate, a second substrate opposite to the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, a first sensing line and a second sensing line disposed on the second substrate, a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer electrically connected to the first sensing line and the second sensing line, respectively, and electrically isolated from each other by a gap existing therebetween. The in-cell touch-sensitive LCD device further includes a spacer disposed on the first substrate and corresponding to the gap. The spacer is electrically connected to the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer in response to an external pressure.
US08279360B2
A projection type liquid crystal display apparatus includes: a light source; a liquid crystal display device; and a projection lens projecting light modulated by the liquid crystal display device. The liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal layer, a pixel electrode section having two-dimensionally disposed pixel apertures through which light can pass, and first and second microlens arrays formed on a light entering side and a light exiting side of the device with respect to the liquid crystal layer, respectively, and being a two-dimensional array of first and second microlenses provided in association with the pixel apertures, respectively. The F-number of the first microlenses is set at a value equal to or greater than that of the projection lens. The first and second microlenses are disposed such that the groups of microlenses are located in the focus position of each other.
US08279348B2
A display method and apparatus are provided for enabling a user, whether or not he has experience, to readily detect a luminance level of a video image with high accuracy. A luminance level of a video signal of a video image is converted to color information to display a change in the luminance of the video image as a change in color. The conversion preferably involves a method of converting the luminance level to color information of three primary colors, red, green, blue, in accordance with a plurality of weights, respectively, a method of converting a luminance level in a predetermined range to color information having a changing rate larger than a changing rate of the luminance level, a method of converting a luminance level out of the predetermined range to color information of a maximum or a minimum level, or the like. Also, the input video signal is preferably displayed together with a converted video image side by side or one on another.
US08279332B1
An electronic apparatus includes a fuel cell device, an image pickup device, a lens unit, a temperature sensor, and a system controller. The electronic apparatus is mobile and held in a user's hand while being operated. The fuel cell device controls electrical power generation. The image pickup device is positioned relative to the fuel cell device and converts an image into an image pickup signal. The lens unit provides the image to the image pickup device. The temperature sensor obtains a temperature from the lens unit. The system controller controls operation of the fuel cell device based on the temperature. A secondary battery stores electrical power generated by the fuel cell device. When the temperature exceeds a reference temperature and a remaining power level in the secondary battery is equal to a reference power level, the system controller halts a moving supply of fuel to the fuel cell device.
US08279331B2
An electronic apparatus is provided that includes a fuel cell device, an image pickup device, a temperature sensor, and a system controller. The electronic apparatus is mobile and may be held in a user's hand while being operated. The fuel cell device controls generation of electrical power. The image pickup device is position relative to the fuel cell device and converts an image into an image pickup signal. The temperature sensor obtains a temperature from the image pickup device. The system controller configured to control operation of the fuel cell device based on the temperature from the image pickup device.
US08279330B2
An image pickup apparatus able to reliably detect a power supply abnormality even in an arrangement in which power supplies are managed by using a communication unit of single system. The image pickup apparatus includes a recording unit for writing image data onto a recording medium, and a power supply control unit for selecting and executing either a monitoring operation to monitor a state of a power supply for a camera main unit or a communication operation to communicate with a power supply for an accessory unit. The power supply control unit selects and executes the monitoring operation while the recording unit is performing an image data writing operation.
US08279329B2
An object to be imaged is illuminated with a structured (e.g., sinusoidal) illumination at a plurality of phase shifts to allow lateral superresolution and axial sectioning in images. When an object is to be imaged in vitro or in another situation in which the phase shifts cannot be accurately determined a priori, the images are taken, and the phase shifts are estimated a posteriori from peaks in the Fourier transforms. The technique is extended to the imaging of fluorescent and non-fluorescent objects as well as stationary and non-stationary objects.
US08279325B2
Systems and methods directed to acquiring, generating, manipulating and/or editing refocusable video data/frames. The refocusable video frames may be light field video frames that may be focused and/or re-focused after acquisition or recording of such video frames. In one aspect, method comprises: selecting a first key frame, wherein the first key frame corresponds to one of a plurality of refocusable light field video frames, selecting a second key frame, wherein the second key frame corresponds to one of the plurality of refocusable light field video frames which is temporally spaced apart from the first key frame such that a plurality of refocusable light field video frames are temporally disposed between the first and the second key frames, determining a virtual focus parameters for the first key frame and the second key frame, and generating first video data.
US08279321B2
An apparatus includes an imaging unit to capture an image of an object, a selection unit to select one of a plurality of shooting modes of the imaging unit, a recording unit to record the captured image onto a recording medium, a switching unit to switch between a reproduction mode in which recorded image data is readout and displayed on a display device, and a shooting processing mode in which shooting processing is performed in the selected shooting mode and a reproduction control unit to cause the display device to display the read out image data. When the switching unit switches the mode to the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit changes an operation that can be instructed in the reproduction mode according to the selected shooting mode.
US08279317B2
Multiple images are captured where the exposure times for some of the images overlap and the images are spatially overlapped. Charge packets are transferred from one or more portions of pixels after particular integration periods, thereby enabling the portion or portions of pixels to begin another integration period while one or more other portions of pixels continue to integrate charge. Charge packets may be binned during readout of the images from the image sensor. Comparison of two or more images having different lengths of overlapping or non-overlapping exposure periods provides motion information. The multiple images can then be aligned to compensate for motion between the images and assembled into a combined image with an improved signal to noise ratio and reduced motion blur.
US08279313B2
An imaging device formed as a CMOS semiconductor integrated circuit having two adjacent pixels in a row connected to a common column line. By having adjacent pixels of a row share column lines, the CMOS imager circuit eliminates half the column lines of a traditional imager allowing the fabrication of a smaller imager. The imaging device also may be fabricated to have a diagonal active area to facilitate contact of two adjacent pixels with the single column line and allow linear row select lines, reset lines and column lines.
US08279302B2
Disclosed is a method for integrating an image sensor capable of removing a flicker noise without causing any burdens on a hardware due to setting up additional logics. The method for integrating an exposure time of an image sensor employing a line scan method, including the steps of: performing an integration to a first line when an integer multiple of a light source frequency is different from an integration time; and performing an integration to a second line at a phase substantially equal to a phase in which the integration to the first line is started.
US08279299B2
According to the invention, extracting still and moving pictures having different aspect ratios from an original picture from within an extraction range suitable for an imaging mode can be performed. An embodiment of the invention, according to the selected imaging mode, sets the still picture extraction range with an aspect ratio of 4:3 for extracting a still picture and the moving picture extraction range with an aspect ratio of 16:9 for extracting an HD moving picture within the imaging range of the imaging device 17. Then, the embodiment, from the imaged picture, extracts a picture within the set still picture extraction range as still picture, and extracts a picture within the set moving picture extraction range as HD moving picture. That is, the embodiment can switch between the still picture extraction range and the HD moving picture extraction range having different aspect ratios according to the imaging mode. And thus, from the picture within the imaging range (i.e., the original picture), the embodiment can extract the still picture and the HD moving picture having different aspect ratios from within the extraction range suitable for the imaging mode.
US08279295B2
There is provided an image delivery apparatus including a camera capable of changing a shooting condition specified by at least a shooting direction, a camera controller that causes the camera to shoot image shots corresponding to a plurality of shooting conditions in a predetermined period according to a shooting pattern containing the plurality of mutually different shooting conditions and having the predetermined period, an image storage that stores data of image shots shot corresponding to the plurality of shooting conditions and updated in the predetermined period, an operation information receiver that receives operation information indicating any shooting condition contained in the shooting pattern from image reproducing apparatuses, and an image delivery unit that delivers data of image shots corresponding to the shooting condition indicated by the operation information received from each of the image reproducing apparatuses and updated in the predetermined period to each of the image reproducing apparatuses.
US08279286B2
A method of extracting image features from objects on a plane within video images; detecting the objects from a relative position on the plane by comparing the extracted image features with sample image features; and generating object identification data identifying the objects on the plane. The method includes generating a 3D model of the plane and logging object identification data and object path data, the object path data including a time history of object position on the 3D model and a path of the objects within the video images. The method also includes detecting an occlusion event indicating whether object features are occluded; associating object identification data with object path data for objects in the occlusion event; identifying one of the objects involved in the occlusion event by comparing the objects image features and the sample image features; and updating the path data after the identification.
US08279278B2
An apparatus for photographing a pipe without suspension of water supply and a system for controlling the same are disclosed. According to present invention, the interior of the pipe can be photographed by inserting the camera into the pipe and moving and rotating the camera without halting water supply, and information about the movement and rotation of the camera can be produced. A problem of discontinuance of using the whole pipe due to photographing of the interior of the pipe can be prevented. The camera can accurately photograph respective portions in the pipe by precisely moving forward/backward and rotating left/right or up/down. Since information about a practical position in the pipe with respect to the photographed image is provided, a user can accurately grasp a defect-position in the pipe, and can easily control the camera.
US08279277B2
Provided are vision watching system and method for a safety hat. The vision watching system includes: a receiver which receives an image signal of a watching zone of a camera; a processor which determines whether an object of the image signal is a person, based on a size and an outline of the object and determines whether the person wears a safety hat, based on at least one or more of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) values of a head part of the person and a Hue value of Hue, Saturation, Value (HSV) of the head part; and a transmitter which outputs a Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) control signal of the camera to obtain a thumbnail image of the person when determining the person who does not wear the safety hat.
US08279271B2
A single channel stereoscopic monitor receives a stereoscopic TV image and an Internet stereoscopic image. Left and right eye images are simultaneously received to display the stereoscopic image by a monitor or a TV through a single channel, are polarized by polarizing plates having left and right deflection angles symmetrical to each other, and are automatically combined into a single stereoscopic image by a reflecting mirror and a half mirror, so that a viewer can watch the stereoscopic image.
US08279266B2
A method of providing an omnidirectional view about an object by providing at least two camera modules, each module having a plurality of cameras disposed about the periphery of each module with each camera having a predetermined field of view. The modules are directly attached to a respective predetermined position on a surface of the object to provide up to a 360 degree view about the object when the fields of view of each camera are combined from each module. Electrical communication is enabled between the plurality of cameras and at least one position external to the modules to enable viewing about the object from the external position.
US08279264B2
Disclosed is a method for photographing a panoramic image including the steps of recognizing movement of a corresponding photographing apparatus by comparing a current real-time input image with a previous image through a motion estimation mechanism with exposure compensation, determining a time to photograph each next picture by determining whether movement in a photography direction reaches a preset threshold value, and photographing each next picture by manual or automatic operation at the determined time.
US08279253B2
An image communicating display apparatus includes: an imaging unit that picks up and processes an image signal of an object; a voice input unit that receives a voice signal of the object; an encoder that receives and encodes the image and voice signals and generates information on the object; a decoder that decodes the encoded image and voice signals and an encoded external signal; a network transceiver that transmits the encoded image and voice signals and the information on the object; a controller that controls the encoder, decoder and network transceiver, and outputs a voice guidance instruction signal based on information on a remote party received through the network transceiver; a display unit that displays the decoded image signal; and a voice output unit that outputs the decoded voice signal and outputs a voice guidance announcement based on the voice guidance instruction signal.
US08279242B2
Anticipating movement of a display device and compensating for the anticipated movement. As a user performs an activity while viewing the device, the device experiences movement. The movement is compared to pattern data associated with profiles. One of the profiles is selected based on the comparison. Based at least on compensation data associated with the profile, image data for display on the device is modified to compensate for the anticipated movement. In some embodiments, the image data is shifted horizontally and/or vertically relative to a display area of the device in the opposite direction of the anticipated movement.
US08279241B2
A method of presenting a hierarchically-organized collection of objects includes displaying a first-level set of first-level objects in a prominent scale; and while displaying the first-level set of first-level objects in the prominent scale, displaying one or more second-level sets of second-level objects in a diminished scale. Each second-level set of second-level objects is linked to a different first-level object. The method further includes recognizing selection of a chosen first-level object, and after recognizing selection of the chosen first-level object: displaying a second-level set of second-level objects linked to the chosen first-level object in a prominent scale; displaying a portion of the chosen first-level object in an enlarged scale; and displaying one or more third-level sets of third-level objects in a diminished scale. Each third-level set of third-level objects is linked to a different one of the second-level objects.
US08279239B1
A method allowing for quick manipulation of weight values associated with points on a polygonal mesh that is to be deformed. A point on the polygonal mesh may be selected by the user. Then, a solution space of possible positions for the selected point may be calculated by solving a deformation model for a range of weight values. A graphical representation of the solution space may be provided, such as a locus of possible positions for the selected point, where each point on the locus corresponds to a particular weight value. Manipulation of these weight values, and hence, the deformation of the polygonal mesh, may be achieved simply by selecting a position on the locus. The mesh may be updated to reflect the weight corresponding to the selected position.
US08279238B2
An image display device includes: a display part 4 that displays a video image based on an input signal; a video image adjusting part 33 for adjusting a parameter of the video image; and a region selecting part 31 for selecting a region in the video image, with respect to which an adjustment of the parameter is performed. The display part is capable of composing, based a video image in the selected region, a first video image 31a before the adjustment of the parameter and a second video image 31b to be used for the adjustment, displaying the first video image and the second video image above and below each other or side by side, and displaying either of the first video image and the second video image upside down or in a mirror-reversed manner. By operating the chroma adjusting bar 34, the hue adjusting bar 35, the luminance adjusting bar 36 of the video image adjusting part 33 (image adjustment parameter display screen), the second video image 31b is varied, and when a desired video image is obtained, the image is fixed, so that contents of the adjustment are reflected throughout the whole video image. Since the first video image or the second video image is displayed upside down or in a mirror-reversed manner, an influence of the human visual characteristics is eliminated, thereby enabling a precise image quality adjustment.
US08279230B2
A display device is provided with a display panel; and a display panel driver driving the display panel in response to externally-provided image data. The display panel driver includes a display memory for storing the image data, and is configured to perform overdrive processing on the image data read from the display memory. The display panel driver includes an overdrive processing control circuit detecting writing of the image data into the display memory to control operation and halt of a circuit used for the overdrive processing.
US08279226B2
In a method for visualization of a parameter which is measured continuously on or in a human body, in particular a glucose concentration, the following steps are carried out. First, a measured value range for a measured parameter is subdivided into two or more sub-ranges. Trend information is then calculated relating to the future expected profile of the measured parameter on the basis of two or more measured values. A time period after which it is predicted that the measured parameter will have left its current sub-range is calculated based on current value of the measured parameter and the calculated trend information and finally the time period is displayed. On the basis of the calculation and display of a time period after which the measured parameter will have departed from one sub-range to another, it is possible for a patient to assess, even without detailed knowledge of the medical relationships, the effects of his action at a time which he can comprehend on the basis of the prognoses available to him, and if appropriate to take corrective actions. An apparatus for carrying out a method such as this comprises a measurement apparatus, a system controller with a computer having a memory unit and a display. A computer program product for carrying out a method such as this on an appropriate apparatus is likewise disclosed.
US08279225B2
Distribution images that are element mapping images displayed on a parent window of a display unit are switched by selecting a particular element or an analysis line to be displayed on a display element screen or a screen switch button using a keyboard or a mouse, so that the plural distribution images overlap to be overwritten at the same large size.
US08279216B2
An apparatus and method for data interface of a flat panel display device, which is capable of transferring clocks in a state, in which the clocks are embedded in digital data, thereby reducing the number of transfer lines, is disclosed. The apparatus includes a transmitter unit built in a timing controller, to transmit transfer data with an embedding clock embedded between successive pieces of data, and a clock enable signal to indicate the embedding clock, and receiver units respectively built in a plurality of data integrated circuits connected to the timing controller, to separate and detect the embedding clock and the data from the transfer data, in response to the clock enable signal.
US08279208B2
A driving circuit is provided which is applied to a matrix device having a plurality of functional elements arranged in a matrix, which is connected to the functional elements via data lines, and which has a plurality of blocks. The driving circuit includes a shift register which has a plurality of register sections, each of the register sections being corresponding to one of the plurality of blocks; a data signal line; a first data latch circuit connected to an output terminal of the shift register and the data signal line; and a second data latch circuit connected to the output terminal of the shift register and an output terminal of the first data latch circuit, and connected to the data line directly or via another circuit. The first and second data latch circuits are respectively divided into multistage operation units. Each of the operation units is corresponding to the one data line or the plurality of data lines and is corresponding to one of the plurality of blocks. An output terminal of the shift register belonging to a block B is connected to the operation unit of the first data latch circuit belonging to the block B, the output terminal of the shift register belonging to a block A is connected to the operation unit of the second data latch circuit belonging to the block B, and each of the block A and block B is one of the plurality of blocks.
US08279207B2
An information processing apparatus capable of communicating with an image display apparatus includes an acquiring unit and a transmitting unit. The acquiring unit is configured to acquire a first image. The transmitting unit is configured to transmit the first image, first additional information that indicates a process by which a second image is to be displayed simultaneously while the first image is displayed, and second additional information that indicates a frame at which displaying of the second image by the process is to be started, to the image display apparatus.
US08279202B2
The present invention relates to methods of making and using and apparatus for providing touch screen capability using an LCD screen without an extra touch screen layer.
US08279199B2
A method for one or more portions of one or more regions of an electronic paper assembly having one or more display layers includes, but is not limited to: obtaining first information regarding one or more positions of one or more portions of one or more regions of the electronic paper assembly and sending one or more application related information portions to the electronic paper assembly based upon the obtaining of the first information. In addition to the foregoing, other related method/system aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.
US08279191B2
There is disclosed an interactive display system comprising an interactive surface for displaying an image and for receiving inputs from remote devices, the system being adapted to detect the presence of at least two remote devices proximate the interactive surface.
US08279181B2
A pointing device includes a movement detector adapted to detect movement of an operating object, a pressure detector adapted to detect an operating pressure of the operating object, and a controller adapted to direct movement of a target object, wherein the controller controls the moving direction of the target object in accordance with the detected movement of the operating object and controls the moving speed of the target object in accordance with the operating pressure detected when the operating object is moving.
US08279180B2
A multipoint touch surface controller is disclosed herein. The controller includes an integrated circuit including output circuitry for driving a capacitive multi-touch sensor and input circuitry for reading the sensor. Also disclosed herein are various noise rejection and dynamic range enhancement techniques that permit the controller to be used with various sensors in various conditions without reconfiguring hardware.
US08279179B2
An a data input system includes an encoded pad having position encoding and a data input device adapted to image a portion of the encoded pad to determine position and orientation of the data input device relative to the encoded pad. The encoding pad includes a plurality of correlation windows. Each correlation window includes a primary encoding marker in form of vertical line segment and a set of secondary encoding markers in form of diagonal line segments, at least one diagonal line segment intersecting the vertical line segment at an intersection angle. Spacing of the diagonal line segments encodes the X-axis position of the input device relative to the encoding pad. Intersection angle encodes the Y-axis position of the input device relative to the encoding pad. Angle of the primary encoding marker vertical line segment within the frame of the captured image encodes the angular orientation of the input device relative to the axes of the encoded pad.
US08279178B2
A system and method for performing optical navigation uses an imaging lens, which is positioned between a target surface and an image sensor array, that is orientated to be substantially horizontal with respect to the target surface such that the optical axis of the imaging lens is substantially perpendicular to the target surface.
US08279176B2
A mouse having improved input methods and mechanisms is disclosed. The mouse is configured with touch sensing areas capable of generating input signals. The touch sensing areas may for example be used to differentiate between left and right clicks in a single button mouse. The mouse may further be configured with force sensing areas capable of generating input signals. The force sensing areas may for example be positioned on the sides of the mouse so that squeezing the mouse generates input signals. The mouse may further be configured with a jog ball capable of generating input signals. The mouse may additionally be configured with a speaker for providing audio feedback when the various input devices are activated by a user.
US08279170B2
An image display apparatus includes an input unit which has a display on which an image is displayed, a flexible sheet typed substrate, and a bending detection section which is arranged on a surface of the substrate to detect a bending deformation of the substrate, and a display control section which controls to change an image to be displayed on the display, based on the bending deformation of the substrate detected by the bending detection section. Accordingly, it is possible to provide an image display apparatus which is capable of changing easily an image to be displayed on the display even when a user is not good at operating an equipment.
US08279153B2
A liquid crystal display and a method for driving the same are disclosed. The liquid crystal display includes a timing controller generating a polarity control signal. A logic inverting period of the polarity control signal during frame periods ranging from an Nth frame period among M frame periods to 2 to 4 frame periods following the Nth frame period is longer than a logic inverting period of the polarity control signal in the other frame periods, where N is an integer equal to or larger than 4 and M is larger than N. The liquid crystal cells in one frame period of the M frame periods are charged to the data voltage whose a polarity is opposite to a polarity of the data voltage in a previous frame period of one frame period.
US08279152B2
Electro-optical device and circuit for driving electro-optical device to represent gray scale levels
An electro-optical device drives a plurality of pixels to represent gray scale levels based on effective voltages by dividing one frame into a plurality of fields, and includes a calculating unit that receives image data specifying gray scale values in each frame for each pixel. A voltage pattern determining unit that determines to supply a first effective voltage shifted in a variation direction, rather than a voltage according to a gray scale value specified in the image data of a later frame of the adjacent frames, in a previous field of the plurality of fields in the later frame, while determining to supply a second effective voltage shifted in a direction opposite the variation direction, rather than the voltage according to the gray scale value specified in the image data of the later frame, in a later field of the plurality of fields in the later frame, for the pixel.
US08279149B2
An apparatus of driving a liquid crystal display (LCD) includes a gray voltage generator generating a range of gray voltages that correspond to different LC light transmittance levels. These gray voltages, along with image data, are fed into a data driver. The data driver converts the gray voltages to a data voltage that properly generates the image indicated by the image data. The gray voltage values are chosen from a wider range of values than the pixel voltages, and this conversion may include determining a conversion factor based on the relative range sizes. This conversion may also include calculating the voltage difference between the previous data and the current data and adjusting the data voltage according to the magnitude of this difference. Generally, the larger the voltage difference, the larger is the data voltage magnitude that is needed to bring the pixel voltage to the target voltage within limited time.
US08279147B2
A display device includes a plurality of pixels connected with a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines, a data driving part applying a data signal to the plurality of data lines, a gate driving part applying a gate signal to the plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of protection circuits connected with the plurality of data lines, wherein each of the plurality of protection circuits comprises a first transistor including a control terminal connected with a first signal line, an input terminal connected with a data line, and an output terminal connected with a second signal line, a second transistor including a control terminal connected with the second signal line, an input terminal connected with the second signal line, and an output terminal connected with the first signal line, and a storage capacitor is connected between the control terminal of the first transistor and the output terminal of the first transistor.
US08279146B2
An LCD device is provided. The LCD device includes a liquid crystal display panel for displaying an image, a PCB (printed circuit board) where a driver circuit driving the liquid crystal display panel is formed and having an outer portion extending a predetermined length and width to provide a ground region, and a chassis where the PCB is located and electrically connected to the ground region.
US08279134B2
A dielectrically loaded backfire helical antenna has a cylindrical ceramic core and a feed structure which passes axially through the core to a distal end face of the core where it is connected to helical conductors located on the outside of the core. Opening out on the proximal end face of the core is a cavity which is coaxial with the feed structure. A conductive balun layer encircling a portion of the core extends over the proximal end face of the core and the wall of the cavity to connect the helical elements to the feeder structure when it emerges into the cavity. The presence of the cavity and accommodating some of the length of the balun in the cavity allows a reduction in the size and weight of a dielectrically loaded backfire antenna.
US08279128B2
Methods, antennas and other embodiments associated with impedance matching an antenna feed slot are based on a fractal shape. A slot antenna includes a planar metal sheet. A feed slot opening is formed in the metal sheet. The feed slot has a first end and a second end. A tapered opening is formed in the metal sheet. Adjacent sides of the tapered opening touch the first end of the feed slot. An impedance matching fractal shaped opening is formed in the metal. The impedance matching fractal shaped opening touches the second end of the feed slot.
US08279127B2
An improved control system for controlling radiation direction of an antenna beam of an antenna is disclosed. The radiation direction is adjustable by an actuating device influencing phase shifting means based on an actuating signal. The system includes filtering means, arranged for filtering out a control signal and being connected, in use, to a feeder cable arranged for carrying RF signals and control signals. The system further includes an external control unit including detecting means, arranged for detecting the filtered out control signal, and control means, arranged for producing the actuating signal based on the detected control signal. The filtering means is directly connected to the external control unit so as to provide the filtered out control signal directly to the external control unit.
US08279120B2
Communication to or from a nanodevice is provided with a nanostructure-based antenna, preferably formed from, but not limited to, a single wall nanotube (SWNT). Other nanostructure-based antennas include double walled nanotubes, semiconducting nanowires, metal nanowires and the like. The use of a nanostructure-based antenna eliminates the need to provide a physical communicative connection to the nanodevice, while at the same time allowing communication between the nanodevice and other nanodevices or outside systems, i.e., systems larger than nanoscale such as those formed from semiconductor fabrication processes such as CMOS, GaAs, bipolar processes and the like.
US08279116B2
A method of processing received satellite radio signals is disclosed in which signals are received the signals from plural satellites through a common antenna. The received signals are digitised to produce a time-series of digitised signal samples and a plurality of replicas representing the signals of each of the plurality of satellites are obtained. At least one sample is selected from each of the replicas and the elements of a register are set equal to the selected replica samples. Thereafter, in turn, for each one of said digitised signal samples, the value of the digitised signal sample is combined with each of the values of the elements of the register to produce corresponding modified values; and the modified values corresponding to each of said register elements are accumulated.
US08279115B2
A method for providing satellite orbit ephemeris includes: determining a positioning satellite in view of a reference position; and providing to a positioning device a satellite orbit ephemeris of the positioning satellite in view of the reference position, the satellite orbit ephemeris being valid for at least one day.
