US08283428B2

This invention relates to a polymacromonomer comprising at least one macromonomer and from 0 to 20 wt % of a C2 to C12 comonomer, wherein the macromonomer has vinyl termination of at least 70%, and wherein the polymacromonomer has: a) a g value of less than 0.6, b) an Mw of greater than 30,000 g/mol, c) an Mn of greater than 20,000 g/mol, d) a branching index (g′)vis of less than 0.5, e) less than 25% vinyl terminations, f) at least 70 wt % macromonomer, based upon the weight of the polymacromonomer, g) from 0 to 20 wt % aromatic containing monomer, based upon the weight of the polymacromonomer and h) optionally, a melting point of 50° C. or more. This invention also relates to processes to make such polymacromonomers.
US08283426B2

The present invention relates to a process for the production of fibers and filaments with polypropylene having a broad polydispersity index. The present invention also relates to high elongation nonwoven prepared from such fibers and filaments. It further relates to films and laminates prepared from high elongation nonwoven.
US08283418B2

Polypropylene composition comprising a) an isotactic polypropylene (iPP) produced in the presence of a single-site catalyst and said isotactic polypropylene (iPP) has a mean isotactic block length between two structural chain defects, as a statistical average, greater than 70, and b) an atactic polypropylene (aPP) with an absorbance ratio of the absorption band at 998 cm−1 to the absorption band at 973 cm−1 [A998/A973] below 0.80 wherein the weight ratio of said atactic polypropylene to the sum of said atactic polypropylene and said isotactic polypropylene (aPP/(aPP+iPP)) is at least 0.50 wt.-%.
US08283417B2

The instant invention is an impact resistant composition, method of producing the same, and articles made therefrom. The impact resistant composition comprises (1) at least 85 percent by weight of poly(vinyl chloride), based on the weight of the impact resistant composition; and (2) less than 10 percent by weight of an impact modifier composition, based on the weight of the impact resistant composition, comprising; (a) less than 30 percent by weight of high-density polyethylene, based on the weight of the impact modifier composition; and (b) at least 70 percent by weight of chlorinated polyethylene, based on the weight of the impact modifier composition; wherein the impact resistant composition has an instrumented dart drop impact of greater than 0.90 inch-pounds per mil at −10° C. The method for producing the impact resistant composition comprises the steps of (1) selecting poly(vinyl chloride); (2) selecting an impact modifier composition comprising; (a) less than 30 percent by weight of high-density polyethylene, based on the weight of the impact modifier composition; and (b) at least 70 percent by weight of chlorinated polyethylene, based on the weight of the impact modifier composition; (3) melt blending the poly(vinyl chloride) and the impact modifier composition; and (4) thereby producing the impact resistant composition comprising at least 85 percent by weight of poly(vinyl chloride), based on the weight of the impact resistant composition; and (2) less than 10 percent by weight of the impact modifier composition.
US08283416B2

Processes for manufacturing a composition of a solvolysis product of an ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer, which comprises: conducting solvolysis of an ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer (A′) and a modified ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer (B′) comprising a unit derived from a compound represented by the general formula (2) in one system to manufacture the composition of a solvolysis product of an ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer comprising a solvolysis product (A) of the ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer and a solvolysis product (B) of the modified ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer comprising a unit represented by the general formula (1), wherein a ratio of an ethylene content (B′)/(A′) of copolymer (A′) and copolymer (B′) in conducting solvolysis is 1 or more, and a blending ratio (B′)/(A′) of the ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer (A′) and the modified ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer (B′) is from 50/50 to 1/99 by weight:
US08283407B2

The invention provides for processes to produce elastomeric compositions, the processes including contacting at least one elastomer with a processing aid, wherein the processing aid includes the reaction product of at least one functionalized polymer having at least one anhydride group contacted with at least one polyamine, wherein the at least one polyamine includes at least one primary amine. The invention also provides for articles such as innerliners for tires produced from the aforementioned elastomeric compositions.
US08283405B2

This invention provides water-based paint compositions which can form coating film excelling in finished appearance such as coated surface smoothness and also of excellent performance in such properties as water resistance, which comprise water-dispersible acrylic polymer particles (A), reactive group-containing resin (B) and optionally curing agent (C), the water-dispersible acrylic polymer particles (A) having a weight-average molecular weight of at least 1,100,000 and an absorbance not higher than 0.2 at the wavelength of 330 nm as measured with spectrophotometer in the state of a liquid dispersion at a mass concentration of 1.35% in 1,4-dioxane solvent.
US08283396B2

Disclosed is a curable fluorine-containing polyether composition comprising (A) 100 parts by weight of a fluorine-containing polyether compound of the formula: wherein R1 is a hydrogen atom, a C1-C3 alkyl group, or a phenyl group, X is a bromine or iodine atom, l and m are integers of 10 or more, and l+m is 30 to 200; (B) 1 to 20 parts by weight of a fluorine-containing aromatic boronic acid ester compound of the formula: wherein R2 is a C2-C10 divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon group, and Y is a C1-C20 fluoroalkyl group; (C) 0.0001 to 1 parts by weight of a zero-valent or divalent organopalladium compound; (D) 0.5 to 10 parts by weight of a basic inorganic or organic compound; and (E) 0 to 5 parts by weight of an organophosphorus compound. The curable fluorine-containing polyether composition can produce a cured product that has improved compression set characteristics.
US08283394B2

The use of water redispersible thermoplastic polymer powder stabilized with protective colloid as a binder in cork products produced from cork flour or granules allows use of reduced amounts of binder without compromising physical properties.
US08283382B2

The invention provides methods and compositions for treating and preventing a skin rash secondary to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy, where the method comprises applying a vitamin K analog or a phosphatase inhibitor to the skin.
US08283380B2

New uses of safinamide, safinamide derivatives and MAO-B inhibitors in novel types of treatment for Parkinson's Disease are described. More specifically, the invention relates to methods for treating Parkinson's Disease through the administration of safinamide, a safinamide derivative, or a MAO-B inhibitor, in combination with other Parkinson's Disease agents or treatments, such as levodopa/PDI or dopamine agonists.
US08283377B2

Provided is a method for inhibiting blood vessel stenosis in a subject, comprising administrating to the subject an effective amount of an active ingredient selected from a group consisting of a compound of formula (I), a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the compound, a pharmaceutically acceptable ester of the compound, and combinations thereof. Also provided is a method for inhibiting blood vessel stenosis in a subject, comprising administration to the subject an effective amount of an Angelicae Sinensis extract comprising the compound of formula (I).
US08283373B2

This invention provides chemical inhibitors of the activity of various phospholipase enzymes, particularly cytosolic phospholipase A2 enzymes (cPLA2), more particularly including inhibitors of cytosolic phospholipase A2 alpha enzymes (cPLA2α). In some embodiments, the inhibitors have the Formula I: wherein the constituent variables are as defined herein.
US08283369B2

Described herein are compounds useful in the modulation of blood uric acid levels, formulations containing them and methods of using them. In some embodiments, the compounds described herein are used in the treatment or prevention of disorders related to aberrant levels of uric acid.
US08283364B2

Compounds of formula (I) and salts are provided: wherein R4 is fluoro, R5 is selected from hydrogen, halogen, cyano, C1-6alkyl, C1-6alkyl substituted with one or more fluorine atoms, C1-6alkoxy, and C1-6alkoxy substituted with one or more fluorine atoms; and R6 is selected from halogen, cyano, C1-6alkyl, C1-6alkyl substituted with one or more fluorine atoms, C3-6cycloalkyl, C3-6cycloalkyl substituted with one or more fluorine atoms, C1-6alkoxy and C1-6alkoxy substituted with one or more fluorine atoms, and Q is hydrogen or C1-6alkyl. The compounds are expected to be useful for therapy, for example in the treatment of psychotic disorders and cognitive impairment.
US08283360B2

The present invention relates to novel Bicyclic Heterocyclic Derivatives, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the Bicyclic Heterocyclic Derivatives and the use of these compounds for treating or preventing treating allergy, an allergy-induced airway response, congestion, a cardiovascular disease, an inflammatory disease, a gastrointestinal disorder, a neurological disorder, a cognitive disorder, a metabolic disorder, obesity or an obesity-related disorder, diabetes, a diabetic complication, impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose.
US08283356B2

Disclosed are pyrimidine derivatives of formula wherein R0, R1, R3 to R9, and Z have a signification as indicated in claim 1, which have interesting pharmaceutical properties.
US08283352B2

A solution-type preparation of lurasidone comprising N-[4-[4-(1,2-benzisothiazol-3-yl)-1-piperazinyl]-(2R,3R)-2,3-tetramethylene-butyl]-(1′R,2′S,3′R,4′S)-2,3-bicyclo[2,2,1]heptanedicarboxyimide hydrochloride (lurasidone) as an active ingredient and containing at least one substance selected from benzyl alcohol, N,N-dimethylacetamide, lactic acid and propylene glycol.
US08283351B2

The present invention relates to compositions and methods for treating a disease in an animal, which disease is responsive to inhibiting of the functional cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) polypeptide by administering to a mammal in need thereof an effective amount of a cyclic or acyclic hydrazine derivative including those of formulas II or III: or compositions thereof, thereby treating the disease. The present invention particularly, relates to a method of treating diarrhea and polycystic kidney disease.
US08283334B2

The present invention relates to the use of oligonucleotides for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition for the prevention or treatment of a disease, wherein neurogenesis and/or neuroregeneration has a beneficial effect, in particular a disease like Morbus Alzheimer, Morbus Parkinson, Lewy Body Dementia, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Spinocerebellar Atrophies, Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, Frontemporal Dementia, Morbus Pick, AIDS Dementia Complex, Vascular Dementia, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Corticobasal Degeneration, Multisystem-Atrophy, Hallervorden Spatz Disease, Huntington's disease, Stroke, Traumatic Brain and spinal cord Injury, Retinitis Pigmentosa, Macular Degeneration, Glaucoma, Cochlea Degeneration, Depression, Schizophrenia, Multiple Sclerosis, and developmental neurodegeneration.
US08283328B2

The invention relates to a class of soft or semi-soft CpG immunostimulatory oligonucleotides that are useful for stimulating an immune response.
US08283323B2

Provided are methods for screening for drugs effective for treating fibrotic conditions. One screening method comprises exposing a cell to a test compound, monitoring the effect of the test compound on the amount or form of a cell molecule, comparing the amount or form of the cell molecule with the result obtained by treatment of the cell with an anti-fibrotic -effective amount of a withanolide compound, and selecting a drug effective for treating a fibrotic disease based on the ability of the test compound to provide the effect obtained by the withanolide compound on the cell molecule. Also provided is a method of treating a fibrotic disease comprising administering an anti-fibrotic effective amount of a withanolide compound to a mammal in need of treatment for fibrosis.
US08283322B2

Improved methods and compositions for the treatment of native tissues with crosslinkers are provided. The methods and compositions will find particular use in increasing resistance to tearing, fissuring, rupturing, and/or delamination.
US08283321B2

This invention provides: novel protein homologous of a Kunitz domain, which are capable of binding kallikrein; polynucleotides that encode such novel proteins; and vectors and transformed host cells containing these polynucleotides.
US08283311B2

A safe and widely-applicable food intake regulator can be provided by using at least one peptide selected from the group consisting of a fish or mammalian melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) and enzymatic digests thereof, which have the activity to suppress food intake.
US08283309B2

The present invention discloses compounds of formula I, or pharmaceutically acceptable salts, esters, or prodrugs thereof: which inhibit serine protease activity, particularly the activity of hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3-NS4A protease. Consequently, the compounds of the present invention interfere with the life cycle of the hepatitis C virus and are also useful as antiviral agents. More specifically, the invention relates to oxime compounds containing a carbocyclic P2 unit, and the oxime is tethered to one of the carboxylic acid on P2. The present invention further relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising the aforementioned compounds for administration to a subject suffering from HCV infection. The invention also relates to methods of treating an HCV infection in a subject by administering a pharmaceutical composition comprising the compounds of the present invention.
US08283297B2

Provided are a formulation which creates protection layers on the metal friction and wear surface and a method for preparing the same. The formulation provided here comprises 45-99 parts laminar hydroxyl silicate powders, 1-50 parts formulation which creates protection layers on the metal surface and method for preparing the same and 0.05-6 parts carbonization-graphitization catalyst, calculated by weight. Also provided is method for preparing the same. The formulation provided here could create a friction-reducing and wear-resistant nanocrystal protection layer in situ on the metal friction and wear surface, at the same time, it has high hardness of cermet and elastic modulus of formulation which creates protection layers on the metal surface and method for preparing the same high grade alloy steel.
US08283295B1

Precipitation vessel for precipitation of flocculants from lubricating oil includes a hollow housing having an interior volume capable of containing oil; an entry port capable of allowing oil to enter into the interior volume; a stirrer capable of stirring contained oil; a heater capable of heating the contained oil; a product exit port capable of allowing oil to exit the interior volume; an upper exterior access port; and a lower exterior access port. Contaminated lubricating oil can be cleaned from solid particulates by a method of providing a vessel for containing oil; providing contaminated lubricating oil to the vessel; contacting the contaminated lubricating oil with a coagulant, and, maintaining the resulting mixture at a mildly elevated temperature throughout the vessel, inducing flocculation of solid particles and settlement of flocculated particles under low thermo-current, if not thermo-current-free, conditions; and drawing off lubricating oil cleaned from settled flocculated solid particles. The vessel or method can be employed as part of a system for reclaiming used lubricating oil, which, for example, may also employ vacuum separation of gasses, water and solvents under mild temperature conditions.
US08283291B2

The present invention relates to a herbicidal composition having a synergistic herbicidal effect against weeds, said herbicidal composition including 3-[(5-difluoromethoxy-1-methyl-3-trifluoromethylpyrazol-4-yl)methylsulfonyl]-4,5-dihydro-5,5-dimethylisoxazole and salts thereof as a component A and a component B selected from the group consisting of paraquat, ametryn, acetochlor, clodinafop-propargyl, diclofop-methyl, cycloxydim, tepraloxydim, tralkoxydim, amidosulfuron, mesosulfuron-methyl, sulfosulfuron, tribenuron-methyl, imazamethabenz-methyl, imazamox, imazapic, florasulam, hexazinone, chlorotoluron, pyraflufen-ethyl, metazachlor, S-metolachlor, isoxaben, fluroxypyr, qinclorac and pinoxaden.
US08283287B2

A thermosensitive recording material including a support, a thermosensitive recording layer composed mainly of a leuco dye and a developer, provided on one surface of the support, and a back layer provided on the other surface of the support, wherein the back layer contains an isobutylene-maleic anhydride copolymer ammonium salt, and at least one of an aziridine compound, and a cross-linked product of the isobutylene-maleic anhydride copolymer ammonium salt and the aziridine compound.
US08283285B2

Disclosed are a scratch color-developable ink comprising an electron-donating colorless or light-color dye precursor, an electron-accepting color developer and a varnish, wherein a solid particle component contained therein has an average particle diameter of 0.3 to 25 μm, a scratch color-developable ink comprising an electron-donating colorless or light-color dye precursor, an electron-accepting color developer and a varnish, wherein an azaphthalide compound is contained as the electron-donating colorless or light-color dye precursor, and an invisible information printed sheet obtained by printing invisible information on a support with the above scratch color-developable ink.The above scratch color-developable ink makes invisible information visible easily by scratching with a finger nail although the color of an invisible information printed portion is hard to develop by frictional contact during usual handling, gives a high developed color intensity and is free from the occurrence of dust during the visualization of invisible information.
US08283283B2

A direct thermal label and methods of making thereof are provided. In one embodiment, a direct thermal label comprising a first substrate and a thermal barrier coating is provided, wherein the first substrate has a thermally sensitive coating situated over the thermal barrier coating on at least a first side thereof.
US08283282B2

There is disclosed a ceramic structure which comprises a material having a controlled pore distribution and including cordierite as the main crystal phase. In the pore distribution, the volume of pores having pore diameters smaller than 20 μm accounts for 15% or less of the total pore volume, and the volume of pores having pore diameters of 20 to 100 μm accounts for 70% or more of the total pore volume. This ceramic structure is suitable for realizing a ceramic catalyst body which has excellent purification efficiency, is reduced in pressure loss, and is mountable even in a limited space.
US08283278B2

The present invention relates to a process for sulfurizing a hydrocarbon treatment catalyst, comprising: at least a first step of depositing, on the surface of the catalyst, one or more sulfurization auxiliaries of formula (I): and at least a second step of placing the catalyst in contact with a sulfur-containing gaseous mixture containing hydrogen and a sulfur compound.
US08283269B2

The borosilicate glass with improved solarization-resistance has a transmittance curve within an area bounded by respective curves defined by the corresponding equations τ=1.7·(λ−277) and τ=1.6·(λ−284) in a wavelength range of 283 nm to 325 nm. This glass has a composition, in wt. % based on oxide content, of: 55-82, SiO2; 10-20, B2O3; 1-10, Al2O3; 0-5, Li2O; 0-10, Na2O; 0-10, K2O; 0-10, ΣM2O; 0-5, MgO; 0-10, CaO; 0-5, SrO; 0-15, BaO; 0-15, ΣMO; 0-3, ZrO2; 0-5, ZnO; 0-2, CeO2; 0-3, WO3; 0-2, SnO2: 0-0.1, Fe2O3; 0.05-2, MoO3; 0-5, Bi2O3; 0-1, TiO2 and 0-5, oxides of selected rare earth and Group IVB to VIIIB elements. The transmittance is adjusted by varying the MoO3 content and if necessary the TiO2 and Bi2O3 content. The glass is especially suitable for use in a weathering apparatus.
US08283268B2

The colorless transparent colloid-former-containing glass that is convertible into a colorless transparent glass ceramic or a metal colloid-colored glass ceramic via respective heat treatments contains a combination of one or more metal colloid formers and one or more redox partners. The metal colloid formers are compounds containing Au, Ag, As, Bi, Nb, Cu, Fe, Pd, Pt, Sb and/or Sn. The redox partners are compounds containing As, Ce, Fe, Mn, Sb, Sn and/or W, with the proviso that the redox partner must be different from the metal colloid former.
US08283254B2

There are provided an etching method and an etching apparatus suitable for etching an antireflection coating layer by using a resist film as a mask. The etching method includes forming the antireflection coating layer (Si-ARC layer) on an etching target layer; forming a patterned resist film (ArF resist film) on the antireflection coating layer; and forming a desired pattern on the antireflection coating layer by introducing an etching gas including a CF4 gas, a COS gas and an O2 gas into a processing chamber and etching the antireflection coating layer by the etching gas while using the resist film as a mask.
US08283242B2

A method includes forming a photoresist pattern over a certain portion of a material layer to expose an ion implantation region, implanting impurities in the ion implantation region of the material layer using the photoresist pattern as an ion implantation barrier, and removing the photoresist pattern using plasma of a gas mixture including a hydrocarbon-based gas.
US08283237B2

A through-silicon via fabrication method comprises forming a substrate by bonding the front surface of a silicon plate to a carrier using an adhesive layer therebetween to expose the back surface of the silicon plate. A silicon nitride passivation layer is deposited on the exposed back surface of the silicon plate of the substrate. A plurality of through holes are etched in the silicon plate, the through holes comprising sidewalls and bottom walls. A metallic conductor is deposited in the through holes to form a plurality of through-silicon vias.
US08283230B2

A fabrication method of a self-aligned power semiconductor structure is provided. Firstly, a trenched polysilicon gate is formed in a silicon substrate. Then, a self-aligned polysilicon extending structure is formed on the trenched polysilicon gate. A width of the self-aligned polysilicon extending structure is smaller than that of the trenched polysilicon gate. Thereafter, the self-aligned polysilicon extending structure is oxidized to form a silicon oxide protruding structure on the trenched polysilicon gate. Then, a first spacer is formed on a sidewall of the silicon oxide protruding structure to define a source contact window.
US08283224B2

A method of manufacturing a memory cell 200. The method comprises forming a memory stack 215. Forming the memory stack includes pre-treating an insulating layer 210 in a substantially ammonia atmosphere for a period of more than 5 minutes to thereby form a pre-treated insulating layer 310. Forming the memory stack also includes depositing a silicon nitride layer on the pre-treated insulating layer.
US08283218B2

A production method of a semiconductor element having a channel includes forming a resist pattern film on a thin film formed on a substrate, and pattering the thin film by etching. The production method also includes forming a second resist pattern film by applying a fluid resist material inside a channel groove after channel etching or inside a resist groove formed above a channel region before channel etching. The production method may also include forming a gate electrode, a gate insulating film, a semiconductor film, and a conductive film on an insulating substrate. The method may include applying the fluid resist material inside the channel groove, thereby forming the second resist pattern film, and patterning the semiconductor film using at least the second resist pattern film.
US08283216B2

As a substrate gets larger, time of manufacture is increased due to the repetition of film formations and etchings; waste disposal costs of etchant and the like are increased; and material efficiency is significantly reduced. A base film for improving adhesion between a substrate and a material layer formed by a droplet discharge method is formed in the invention. Further, a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display device according to the invention includes at least one step for forming the following patterns required for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device without using a photomask: a pattern of a material layer typified by a wiring (or an electrode) pattern, an insulating layer pattern; or a mask pattern for forming another pattern.
US08283207B2

Through substrate vias for back-side electrical and thermal interconnections on very thin semiconductor wafers without loss of wafer mechanical strength during manufacturing are provided by: forming desired device regions with contacts on the front surface of an initially relatively thick wafer; etching via cavities partly through the wafer in the desired locations; filling the via cavities with a conductive material coupled to some device region contacts; mounting the wafer with its front side facing a support structure; thinning the wafer from the back side to expose internal ends of the conductive material filled vias; applying any desired back-side interconnect region coupled to the exposed ends of the filled vias; removing the support structure and separating the individual device or IC assemblies so as to be available for mounting on a further circuit board, tape or larger circuit.
US08283205B2

A semiconductor die has a first semiconductor die mounted to a carrier. A plurality of conductive pillars is formed over the carrier around the first die. An encapsulant is deposited over the first die and conductive pillars. A first stepped interconnect layer is formed over a first surface of the encapsulant and first die. The first stepped interconnect layer has a first opening. A second stepped interconnect layer is formed over the first stepped interconnect layer. The second stepped interconnect layer has a second opening. The carrier is removed. A build-up interconnect structure is formed over a second surface of the encapsulant and first die. A second semiconductor die over the first semiconductor die and partially within the first opening. A third semiconductor die is mounted over the second die and partially within the second opening. A fourth semiconductor die is mounted over the second stepped interconnect layer.
US08283197B2

A fabricating method for a pixel structure is provided. First, a substrate having an active device and a capacitor electrode line thereon is provided. Next, a passivation layer is formed on the substrate to cover the active device. After that, a light shielding layer is formed on the passivation layer to define a unit area. Next, an ink-jet printing is performed to form a color filter pattern within the unit area defined by the light shielding layer. After that, a portion of the color filter pattern is removed to form a first hole above active device. Next, the passivation layer exposed by the first hole is removed so as to form a contact hole exposing a portion of the active device. After that, a pixel electrode is formed on the color filter pattern to fill into the contact hole so as to electrically connect with active device.
US08283185B2

The present invention includes a magnetically susceptible polymer component, a method of making the same, and apparatuses and systems for mixing, separating or localizing a magnetically susceptible polymer compound in a reaction. The magnetically susceptible polymer component includes a polymer and a magnetically susceptible particle of a predetermined size, which yields a component having a much-improved magnetic reactivity due to the increase in magnetic material by mass percentage. The apparatuses and systems of the present invention employ controllable magnetic fields distributable in perpendicular directions in order to precisely control the orientation, position and relative motion of any magnetically susceptible components within a reaction vessel.
US08283181B2

This invention provides improved components (e.g. array “pins”, print head, substrate platen, print head platen, and the like) for microarray printing devices as well as microarray printing devices incorporating such components. In one embodiment, this invention provides a microarray print head comprising a plurality of glass or quartz spotting capillaries disposed in a support that maintains a fixed spacing between the spotting capillaries and that permits the spotting capillaries to move in a direction parallel to the long axis of the capillaries.
US08283174B2

A formation fluid sampling tool is provided with reactants which are carried downhole and which are combined in order to generate heat energy which is applied to the formation adjacent the borehole. By applying heat energy to the formation, the formation fluids are heated, thereby increasing mobility, and fluid sampling is expedited.
US08283173B2

This invention relates to a process utilizing natural carbon-13 isotope for identification of early breakthrough of injection water in oil wells. All natural water sources are labeled by unique ratios of carbon isotopes (13C/12C). Following the requirements of the invention, the carbon isotope ratio for oil bearing formation water and for local aquifer water which is to be injected in to the oil reservoir rock is determined. The carbon isotope ratio of the produced water from the selected oil wells is then monitored periodically. When the carbon isotope ratio of the produced (oil well) water shows deviation from the formation water value and tends towards injection water value, then the early breakthrough phenomenon of injection water is identified. Thus the contrast in natural carbon isotope ratios of injection water, formation water and produced water from selected oil wells serve as tracer in the identification of “Early Breakthrough” phenomenon of injection water and its movement.
US08283172B2

A lunar dust simulant containing nanophase iron and a method for making the same. Process (1) comprises a mixture of ferric chloride, fluorinated carbon powder, and glass beads, treating the mixture to produce nanophase iron, wherein the resulting lunar dust simulant contains α-iron nanoparticles, Fe2O3, and Fe3O4. Process (2) comprises a mixture of a material of mixed-metal oxides that contain iron and carbon black, treating the mixture to produce nanophase iron, wherein the resulting lunar dust simulant contains α-iron nanoparticles and Fe3O4.
US08283170B2

Disclosed are mammalian expression vectors for expressing simultaneous expression of immunoglobulins as both a secreted and cell surface bound form.
US08283169B1

A device and method in which cells of a heterogeneous population are separated through a column partially packed with antibody coated beads. The antibody coated beads may be placed in a gradient fashion such that each layer binds to and selects a subset of cells from the entire sample population. A lipoaspirate fluid, or other fluid containing cells, may be brought through the column by positive pressure on the specimen bag side and negative pressure at the base of the column with a vacuum line and waste trap. The column may then be inverted and irrigated internally with a wash buffer to remove unhomogenized macroscopic tissue material and unbound residual cells. The column may be closed at the ends and shaken and/or washed with an enzymatic buffer. Cells may be removed from the device with an elution buffer.
US08283160B2

Methods and compositions for preventing and treating the damaged and/or degenerating CNS experiencing loss or death of CNS cells. Various embodiments of the invention transport a therapeutically effective amount of, inter alia, at least one therapeutic cell to the CNS by intranasal application to the upper-third of the nasal cavity, thereby bypassing the blood-brain barrier. A pharmaceutical composition according to the invention may comprise at least one therapeutic cell, at least one delivery-enhancement agent, at least one antibiotic, at least one regulatory factor and/or at least one immunosuppressive agent, wherein the composition is delivered to the upper-third of the nasal cavity. The therapeutic cells, once delivered to the CNS, migrate preferentially to the area of damage or degeneration or injury.
US08283157B2

An electrolytic system includes an analyte chamber having an access port for introducing a sample containing a molecules of interest, such as DNA. Electrodes create an electric field along a length of the analyte chamber to drive molecules toward an interaction region containing a nanopore, thereby increasing the arrival rate of molecules at the nanopore. Additional electrodes may be utilized to create an electric field through the nanopore to drive a molecule into the nanopore. A current sensor may be utilized to count, discriminate or characterize the molecules as they interact with the nanopore. Advantageously, system can be utilized for unamplified DNA sequencing.
US08283152B2

Disclosed is a strain of Escherichia sp., capable of producing O-acetyl homoserine in high yield, with the introduction and enhancement therein of the activity of: homoserine acetyl transferase, aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase; and at least one enzyme selected from a group consisting of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, aspartate aminotransferase and aspartate semi-aldehyde dehydrogenase. Also, a method of producing O-acetyl homoserine using the strain is provided.
US08283132B2

The invention relates to a method for treating a biological cell (1) including a cytoskeleton (3) enveloped by a cell membrane (2). The method includes the following steps: the biological cell (1) and a tool (10) are mutually oriented such that the tool (10) comes into contact with the biological cell (1); the tool (10) and the biological cell (1) are displaced in relation to each other; and a gap is formed in the molecular composite of the cell membrane (2) of the biological cell (1). During the displacement of the tool (10), the cytoskeleton (3) of the biological cell (1) has a state of equilibrium. The invention also relates to a cell manipulator for carrying out the inventive method.
US08283128B2

The present invention relates to methods and compositions for monitoring, diagnosis, prognosis, and determination of treatment regimens in subjects. In particular, the invention relates to methods and compositions selected to monitor cardiorenal syndrome using assays that detect NGAL, preferably together with assays that detect natriuretic peptides such as BNP. Such methods and compositions can provide early indications of a deterioration in cardiorenal syndrome status, including prognosis regarding mortality and worsening renal function.
US08283127B2

A system for the detection of molecular associations, the system comprising: i) a first agent, comprising a first interacting group coupled to a first reporter component; ii) a second agent, comprising a second interacting group coupled to a second reporter component; iii) a third agent, comprising a third interacting group; iv) a modulator; and v) a detector; wherein proximity of the first and second reporter components generates a signal capable of detection by the detector; and wherein the modulator modulates the association of the second interacting group with the third interacting group; such that monitoring the signal generated by proximity of the first and second reporter components by the detector constitutes monitoring the association of the first and third agents.
US08283123B2

An in vitro method of determining activation or inactivation of the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) hormonal systems, the method comprising simultaneously detecting the presence or amount of atrial and brain natriuretic peptide prohormones (proANP and proBNP) or fragments thereof in a sample.
US08283118B1

The invention is directed to isolated genomic polynucleotide fragments that encode human resistin and human syntaxin binding protein 2, vectors and hosts containing these fragments and fragments hybridizing to noncoding regions as well as antisense oligonucleotides to these fragments. The invention is further directed to methods of using these fragments to obtain human resistin and human syntaxin binding protein 2 and to diagnose, treat, prevent and/or ameliorate a pathological disorder.
US08283117B2

The present invention relates to a disease diagnosis method, a marker screening method, and a marker using a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), and more particularly, to a large intestine cancer diagnosis method, a large intestine cancer marker screening method, and a large intestine cancer marker using a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Specifically, the present invention provides a method diagnosing a disease using a pattern of secondary ion mass (m/z) peaks of biological samples measured using a time-of- flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) as a marker, a marker screening method being a reference judging an existence or non-existence of a disease, and a marker configured of specific secondary ion mass peaks.
US08283104B2

There is disclosed a sulfonate shown by the following general formula (2). R1—COOC(CF3)2—CH2SO3−M+  (2) (In the formula, R1 represents a linear, a branched, or a cyclic monovalent hydrocarbon group having 1 to 50 carbon atoms optionally containing a hetero atom. M+ represents a cation.) There can be provided: a novel sulfonate which is effective for a chemically amplified resist composition having a sufficiently high solubility (compatibility) in a resist solvent and a resin, a good storage stability, a PED stability, a further wider depth of focus, a good sensitivity, in particular a high resolution and a good pattern profile form; a photosensitive acid generator; a resist composition using this; a photomask blank, and a patterning process.
US08283100B2

Compositions and methods for forming color images on a substrate capable of development at desired wavelengths or energy levels are disclosed and described. The color forming composition can include a carrier system and a latent pigment with a pendent group, wherein the latent pigment is colorless or pale in color while the pendent group is attached, and wherein the latent pigment is convertible to a colored pigment upon removal of the pendent group. Alternatively, the latent pigment can have multiple states of conjugation where the latent pigment is colorless or pale in a first conjugation state, and colored in a second conjugation state. The color forming compositions are useful in forming images on a wide variety of substrates, such as optical disks.
US08283089B2

A direct oxidation fuel cell of the invention includes at least one unit cell, the unit cell including a membrane-electrode assembly including an electrolyte membrane and an anode and a cathode sandwiching the electrolyte membrane, an anode-side separator being in contact with the anode, and a cathode-side separator being in contact with the cathode. The anode includes an anode catalyst layer and an anode diffusion layer, the anode catalyst layer containing an anode catalyst. The cathode includes a cathode catalyst layer and a cathode diffusion layer, the cathode catalyst layer containing a cathode catalyst. The anode-side separator has a fuel flow channel for supplying fuel to the anode. A portion of the cathode catalyst layer facing the upstream of the fuel flow channel has an effective reaction area per unit area larger than that of a portion of the cathode catalyst layer facing the downstream of the fuel flow channel.
US08283086B2

A separator includes a plurality of first and second sandwiching sections, a plurality of first bridges connected thereto, and first and second fuel gas supply units integrally connected to the first bridges. Electrolyte electrode assemblies are sandwiched between the first and second sandwiching sections. A fuel gas supply channel is formed in each of the first bridges. A fuel gas supply passage extends through the first and second fuel gas supply units in a stacking direction. A pressure loss generator mechanism is provided in the fuel gas supply channel. The pressure loss generator mechanism generates a pressure loss over the entire fuel gas supply channel for distributing a fuel gas equally to each of the electrolyte electrode assemblies.
US08283081B2

The invention relates to a membrane-electrode assembly for a fuel cell with a proton-conducting membrane two catalyst layers adjoining both sides of the membrane, wherein the catalyst layers have an electrically conductive base material and at least one catalytic material deposited on the base material, and two gas diffusion layers adjoining the catalyst layers. The membrane and/or at least one of the catalyst layers and/or at least one of the gas diffusion layers includes at least one hydrogenatable material capable of binding hydrogen in a reversible exothermic hydrogenation operation by forming a hydride, depending on the temperature and/or pressure. The hydrogenatable material can be distributed in the gas diffusion layer and/or in the catalyst layer or can be present as a separate layer on at least one side of the gas diffusion electrode or the membrane.
US08283075B2

A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery has a positive electrode (1), a negative electrode (2), a separator (3) interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and a non-aqueous electrolyte solution in which a solute is dissolved in a non-aqueous solvent. The negative electrode contains a negative electrode active material capable of alloying with lithium and the non-aqueous solvent of the non-aqueous electrolyte solution contains one ore more fluorinated cyclic carbonates and a carboxylic ester. In addition, the non-aqueous electrolyte solution contains a nitrile compound having a chain saturated hydrocarbon group having two or more carbon atoms.
US08283074B2

Metal complex salts may be used in lithium ion batteries. Such metal complex salts not only perform as an electrolyte salt in a lithium ion batteries with high solubility and conductivity, but also can act as redox shuttles that provide overcharge protection of individual cells in a battery pack and/or as electrolyte additives to provide other mechanisms to provide overcharge protection to lithium ion batteries. The metal complex salts have at least one aromatic ring. The aromatic moiety may be reversibly oxidized/reduced at a potential slightly higher than the working potential of the positive electrode in the lithium ion battery. The metal complex salts may also be known as overcharge protection salts.
US08283064B2

An electrode assembly of a secondary battery includes an electrode group including a first electrode plate, a separator, and a second electrode plate that are stacked and wound, and a finishing tape attached to a predetermined region of a terminal portion of the electrode group. The finishing tape satisfies the equation Y1=tensile strength×thickness of finishing tape/modulus of elasticity, with Y1 ranging from 64 to 89. Alternatively, the finishing tape includes a film layer and an adhesive layer, and satisfies the equation Y2=tensile strength×thickness of film layer of finishing tape/modulus of elasticity, with Y2 ranging from 51 to 75. The finishing tape effectively prevents an increase in the thickness of a high-capacity secondary battery.
US08283063B2

In a power supply device, a power supply body, and a cooling liquid that cools the power supply body are housed in a power supply casing. The power supply device includes a plurality of agitation members that agitate the cooling liquid; and a transmission mechanism that transmits driving power from a drive motor to each of the agitation members. Examples of the transmission mechanism include a gear, a belt, and a chain.
US08283057B2

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to heteroarylamine compounds and organic light-emitting devices including the heteroarylamine compounds. The organic light-emitting devices using the heteroarylamine compounds have high-efficiency, low driving voltages, high luminance and long lifespans.
US08283041B2

A method is provided for making a coated article including an anti-etch layer(s) that is resistant to attacks by at least some fluoride-based etchant(s) for at least a period of time. In certain example embodiments, an anti-etch layer(s) is provided on a glass substrate in order to protect the glass substrate from attacks by fluoride-based etchant(s). In certain example embodiments, the anti-etch layer(s) is formed using at least one ion beam (possibly in combination with at least one sputtering target). In certain embodiments, a diamond-like carbon (DLC) inclusive layer(s) may be provided over and/or under the anti-etch layer.
US08283035B2

A process for obtaining rubber pellets from used tires is described, the process comprises a series of steps which take account of the structure of a tire, and among which are mainly: collecting used tires having a tread and lateral faces, in which the tread includes an inner layer and an outer layer; and each lateral face includes a flange at the inner edge thereof; separating the tread from the lateral faces; cutting the tread transversely through the inner layer and the outer layer in order to form a strip from the tread; cutting the strip in order to form pellets therefrom; detaching the flange from the separated lateral faces; and cutting the flange-less lateral faces in order to form pellets therefrom.
US08283025B2

Reinforced silicone resin films comprising at least two polymer layers, wherein at least one of the polymer layers comprises a cured product of a at least one silicone resin having an average of at least two silicon-bonded alkenyl groups or silicon-bonded hydrogen atoms per molecule, and at least one of the polymer layers comprises a carbon nanomaterial.
US08283018B2

A composite structure comprising: a panel formed from two or more plies of composite material, the panel having a surface formed with a step where the thickness of the panel changes. Two or more stiffeners are attached to the surface of the panel. One of the stiffeners engages at least part of the step so as to transmit load forces in the panel.
US08283013B2

Uniquely perforated web products are disclosed which include forming selected perforation designs and patterns. The perforation designs and patterns can be formed in linear or nonlinear fashion, can extend in the cross direction or the machine direction and can be formed to complement or match an embossed or printed design on the web. The perforation designs and patterns can be formed utilizing various mechanical perforating techniques.
US08283011B2

The present invention relates to peelable resealable multilayer films which include at least a first polymer layer, a second polymer layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive in direct contact with and bonded to both the first and third layers. The bond formed between the second and third layers includes a peelable resealable interface having a first interfacial peel strength, A, and a second interfacial peel strength, B. The peelable resealable interface includes a first interfacial peel strength, A, having a value of less than 3500 gram-force/inch (1350 newton/meter) as measured in accordance with ASTM F-904-98 test method when the films of the present invention are peeled from a second thermoplastic film to which the film has been heat-sealed. The second interfacial peel strength, B, has a value of at least 400 gram-force/inch (154 newton/meter) as measured in accordance with ASTM F-904-98 test method when the films are peeled from and re-adhered to a second film.
US08283009B2

The present invention relates to the use of a packaging material based on a thermoplastic polymer for packaging a dianhydrohexitol, the packaging material comprising at least one thermoplastic polymer layer containing at least 0.1% by weight of at least one antioxidant (layer (A)), said layer (A) either being directly in contact with the dianhydrohexitol or being separated from the latter by a thermoplastic polymer layer (layer (B)) having a thickness at most equal to 150 μm, and the thermoplastic polymer of the layer (A) and/or of the layer (B) being chosen independently from polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene/polypropylene copolymers and blends of the latter.
US08283005B2

An inkjet recording medium having on a substrate an ink-receiving layer containing inorganic fine particles and organic nitrogen-containing cationic polymer, with the organic nitrogen-containing cationic polymer being contained in a greater quantity in a half of the ink-receiving layer at a side nearer to the substrate (a near-substrate side) than in a half of the ink-receiving layer at a side further from the substrate (a far-substrate side) when the ink-receiving layer is divided into two equal parts by a plane parallel to the substrate.
US08283003B2

Artificial turf has a base layer, a multiplicity of blades fixed in and projecting upward from the base layer, and a mass of damping material on the base layer and through which the blades project. Each of the blades is at least partially formed of a polyester of terephthalic acid made from waste. The polyester is polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), both from waste. The base layer is a flat primary layer, preferably a textile and preferably consists of plastic, a polyolefin and/or a polyester of terephthalic acid, preferably a polyester of terephthalic acid from waste.
US08282999B2

An apparatus and process operate to impose sonic pressure upon a spin-on film liquid mass that exhibits a liquid topography and in a solvent vapor overpressure to alter the liquid topography. Other apparatus and processes are disclosed.
US08282993B2

A nanostructure includes a plurality of metal nanoblades positioned with one edge on a substrate. Each of the plurality of metal nanoblades has a large surface area to mass ratio and a width smaller than a length. A method of storing hydrogen includes coating a plurality of magnesium nanoblades with a hydrogen storage catalyst and storing hydrogen by chemically forming magnesium hydride with the plurality of magnesium nanoblades.
US08282990B2

Disclosed are biodegradable microspheres, capable of releasing a glucose-regulating peptide in a controlled manner, comprising a biodegradable polymer carrier with the glucose -regulating peptide encapsulated therein, and methods for the preparation thereof. In addition to ensuring high encapsulation efficiency and high stability of the encapsulated drug, the microspheres shows neither an initial burst effect nor incomplete release and allows the zero -order release of drugs over a prolonged period of time, thus improving the therapeutic effect of the drug.
US08282988B2

There is disclosed a method of forming crystalline tantalum pentoxide on a ruthenium-containing material having an oxygen-containing surface wherein the oxygen-containing surface is contacted with a treating composition, such as water, to remove at least some oxygen. Crystalline tantalum pentoxide is formed on at least a portion of the surface having reduced oxygen content.
US08282982B2

A multi-layer drug coated medical device such as for example an expandable vascular drug eluting stent is formed by vacuum pulse spray techniques wherein each layer is irradiated to improve adhesion and/or drug elution properties prior to formation of subsequent layers. Layers may be homogeneous or of diverse drugs. Layers may incorporate a non-polymer elution-retarding material. Layers may alternate with one or more layers of non-polymer elution-retarding materials. Polymer binders and/or matrices are not used in the formation of the coatings, yet the pure drug coatings have good mechanical and elution rate properties. Systems, methods and medical device articles are disclosed.
US08282981B2

A system and method for coating an endoprosthesis involves an applicator capable of delivering a coating substance to the endoprosthesis without spraying. The applicator may have a tube or die through which a coating substance is moved upwards by capillary action or by means of a pump so as to form an accumulation of the coating substance at an upper portion of the applicator. The endoprosthesis can be lowered onto the accumulation, then axially translated or rotated in order to transfer the coating substance to selected portions of the endoprosthesis. The applicator is lowered and/or the endoprosthesis is raised in order to form gaps in the coating. Selective coating of abluminal or luminal surface of the endoprosthesis may also be performed by allowing the surface to skip on a liquid surface of a pool of the coating substance.
US08282978B1

A method for making a bean-based oil substitute comprising the steps of making an aqueous liquid dispersion of comminuted beans in a stable flowable form, homogenizing said aqueous dispersion, and mixing an emulsifier with said comminuted beans before, during or after homogenization, said homogenized aqueous dispersion including less than about 2% weight of added oil, and drying the dispersion. Also, the substitute made by the method and a dehydrated refried bean product made using the oil substitute.
US08282970B2

A process for producing purified theaflavin extract is provided which comprises combining an organic solvent with tea leaves, extracting polyphenols from the tea leaves to produce an organic stock substrate solution; producing a second batch of tea leaves; grinding the second batch of tea leaves to produce stock fermentation enzyme; combining the stock substrate solution with the stock fermentation enzyme to produce a fermentation mixture; fermentation of the mixture to produce theaflavins; and, separating the theaflavins from the fermentation mixture to produce purified theaflavin extract. Oral dosage forms are provided which comprise an effective amount of the purified theaflavin extract. Methods of treatment of human physiological disorders are provided which comprise administering an oral dosage form.
US08282968B2

The present invention relates to a novel bioactive water fraction obtained from the leaves of an herb named Gomphostema niveum commonly found in North Eastern part of India, and which is useful for inhibiting the growth of malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The present invention also relates to a method for the extraction of said bioactive fraction. The present invention also provides methods for treatment of malaria using such bioactive water fractions and use of such bioactive water fractions for the treatment of malaria.
US08282962B2

One aspect of the present invention relates to a readily water-dispersible particulate composition comprising by weight of dry matter at least 10% of xanthan gum and not more than 60% of starch, said composition being characterized in that the xanthan gum present in the composition can be dispersed completely within 2 minutes in distilled water of 25° C. at a concentration of 0.7% based on the dry weight of xanthan. The particulate xanthan gum compositions of the present invention exhibit unique viscosity enhancing properties that are dependent on the electrolyte levels of the aqueous environment in which they are applied. The favorable properties of the xanthan compositions according to the invention can be realized without resorting to chemical modification of the xanthan gum. The xanthan compositions according to the present invention can be applied advantageously in e.g. food products and oil drilling fluids.
US08282960B2

The present invention provides methods and compositions for the treatment of ion imbalances. In particular, the invention provides core-shell compositions and pharmaceutical compositions thereof. Methods of use of the core-shell compositions for therapeutic and/or prophylactic benefits are disclosed herein. Examples of these methods include the treatment of phosphate imbalance disorders, hypertension, chronic heart failure, end stage renal disease, liver cirrhosis, chronic renal insufficiency, fluid overload, or sodium overload.
US08282943B2

The invention is relates to drugs on the basis of antibodies against non-cellular bone matrix proteins, especially BSP, for use in the prevention and treatment of bone metastases. According to the invention, the antibodies are induced in the patient by recombinantly expressing antigenic determinants of bone matrix proteins in Listeria and anchoring them on the surfaces thereof. The antigenic determinants are selected according to whether they are characteristic of antigens that are expressed by the tumor cells themselves.
US08282940B2

The present invention relates to an immunogen-carrier having immunopotentiating or adjuvant properties. More particularly, the immunogen-carrier is a virus-like particle (VLP) from the family of potexvirus, and most particularly the papaya mosaic virus. The VLP produced by recombinant techniques is in fusion with one of its own proteins a protein immunogen. The above VLP and a protein or a protein extract from a viral, bacterial or parasital pathogen may be used as a vaccine.
US08282929B2

The present invention refers to recombinant antibodies of human origin specific for the C5 component of the activated complement and characterized by the ability to inhibit the conversion of the C5 alpha chain to C5a and C5b. Moreover the present invention refers to the nucleotide sequences coding for such antibodies and to the therapeutic use of both polypeptide and nucleotide sequences, in particular for the therapy of diseases involving tissue damage deriving from uncontrolled activation of the complement system.
US08282925B2

The present invention relates to compounds and methods for modulating, reducing or inhibiting, inflammatory reactions in a patient. Particularly, inflammatory reactions that are targeted by the present invention are cell migration, secretion of toxic products and proteolysis at a site of inflammation. Reduction of inflammation manifestations and reactions occurs by using an anti-S100 polynucleotide or polypeptide inhibitor or antagonist, which is essentially targeted against S100A8, S100A9 or S100A12, alone or in combination with other inhibitors of chemokines or immune modulating products.
US08282921B2

The present invention relates to compositions and methods for treating conditions associated with angiogenesis. In particular the present invention relates to multi-unit complexes of tRNA synthetase fragments and uses thereof; diverse multi-unit complexes including a tRNA synthetase fragment; compositions and methods for modulating angiogenesis; polynucleotides encoding tRNA synthetase fragments and uses thereof; antibodies and epitopes specific to tRNA synthetase fragments; variants of tRNA synthetase fragments and uses thereof; methods for treating angiogenesis; methods for screening for anti-angiogenic agents; methods of modulating angiogenesis; kits for modulating angiogenesis; and business methods for modulating angiogenesis. Preferably the tRNA synthetase fragments are tryptophanyl tRNA synthetase fragments, and more preferably human tryptophanyl tRNA synthetase fragments.
US08282913B2

The present invention provides methods and compositions for the treatment of ion imbalances. In particular, the invention provides compositions comprising potassium binding polymers and pharmaceutical compositions thereof. Methods of use of the polymeric and pharmaceutical compositions for therapeutic and/or prophylactic benefits are disclosed herein. Examples of these methods include the treatment of hyperkalemia, such as hyperkalemia caused by renal failure and/or the use of hyperkalemia causing drugs.
US08282906B2

A method of synthesizing nanoparticles, comprising providing a precursor comprising a titanium alkoxide compound; forming a plasma from oxygen gas at a first location, wherein the plasma comprises plasma products that contain oxygen atoms; causing the plasma products to flow to a second location remote from the first location; contacting the precursor with the plasma products at the second location so as to oxidize the precursor and form nanoparticles; and collecting the nanoparticles with a collector.
US08282905B2

The fullerenic structures include fullerenes having molecular weights less than that of C60 with the exception of C36 and fullerenes having molecular weights greater than C60. Examples include fullerenes C50, C58, C130, and C176. Fullerenic structure chemically bonded to a carbon surface is also disclosed along with a method for tethering fullerenes to a carbon material. The method includes adding functionalized fullerene to a liquid suspension containing carbon material, drying the suspension to produce a powder, and heat treating the powder.
US08282894B2

Provided are a droplet emitting apparatus and a method of emitting droplets using the same. The apparatus includes a solution tank for containing a solution; a nozzle including an opening through which at least a droplet of the solution is emitted; and a voltage generator including a piezoelectric material for generating a voltage by instantaneous pressure application, wherein the voltage generated by the pressure to the piezoelectric material is applied to the solution in order for the at least a droplet of the solution to be emitted through the nozzle.
US08282892B2

Bio-waste sterilizers are described. In one implementation an exemplary system has waste transport vessels that can be intermittently heated and pressurized, for example, with steam, and are interconnected to provide multiple sterilization pathways for waste as the waste is transported. Selected sterilization pathways may depend on attributes of the waste. Sterilization factors, such as mechanical shredding, application of steam, application of pressure, maintenance of temperature, separation of liquid, etc., are integrated into the waste transport features of the system, which can be made compact to save space while processing relatively large bulk amounts of materials, such as medical wastes. The system maintains safe isolation of bio-hazardous components in the waste from the external environment. A system controller provides parameters management, smart sterilization cycle control, quality assurance, safety management, diagnostics, and reporting over a network.
US08282888B2

Methods and reagents for photo-initiated carbonylation with carbon-isotope labeled carbon monoxide using amines and alkyl/aryl iodides are provided. The resultant carbon-isotope labeled amides are useful as radiopharmaceuticals, especially for use in Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Associated kits for PET studies are also provided.
US08282885B2

An FCC apparatus may include a distributor disposed in a recess in a wall of the riser for distributing gaseous hydrocarbon feed to a riser. The distributor may be shielded from upwardly flowing catalyst by a shield. An array of nozzles from the distributor may extend through openings in the shield.
US08282883B2

A blower type chemical diffusing apparatus is disclosed which can be of service for an extended period of time and does not give rise to refuse disposal problems. The blower type chemical diffusing apparatus of the invention has an air blower, a chemical retainer and a fuel cell included in the apparatus body whereby powering the air blower to drive it with the fuel cell causes chemical from the chemical retainer to be emitted into an environmental atmosphere.
US08282882B2

Methods and systems for label-free on-chip optical absorption spectrometer consisting of a photonic crystal slot waveguide are disclosed. The invention comprises an on-chip integrated optical absorption spectroscopy device that combines the slow light effect in photonic crystal waveguide and optical field enhancement in a slot waveguide and enables detection and identification of multiple analytes to be performed simultaneously using optical absorption techniques leading to a device for chemical and biological sensing, trace detection, and identification via unique analyte absorption spectral signatures. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08282866B2

Three-dimensional models are produced using a sheet material made of water-soluble paper. Each layer of the sheet material is made severable along the contour lines of the three-dimensional model by discharging water onto each layer of the sheet material. A coloring solution is discharged when each layer is deposited to color the sheet material. After the deposition is completed, the unnecessary parts of the sheet material can be pulled away to complete the three-dimensional model. Alternatively, by discharging a setting solution onto each layer of the sheet material, each layer of the sheet material in the section of the three-dimensional model can be insolubilized, and a color setting solution can be discharged to color and set the colored parts. After the deposition is completed, the deposition can be immersed in water to remove the sheet material that was not insolubilized and complete the three-dimensional model.
US08282860B2

The present invention relates to a process for preparation of silver nanoparticles and the compositions of silver ink containing the same. The present invention can prepare the silver nanoparticles with various shapes through a simple preparation process, improve the selectivity of the size of the silver nanoparticles, fire the silver nanoparticles even at a low temperature of 150° C. or less during a short time, provide the ink compositions capable of forming the coating or the fine pattern showing the high conductivity, and provide the ink compositions capable of being applied to the reflective film material, the electromagnetic wave shield, and the antimicrobial agent, etc.
US08282859B2

A green emitting phosphor exhibiting an excellent absorption ratio is provided. A green emitting phosphor containing a crystal represented by MGa2S4:Eu2+, wherein M is an element comprising one species or a combination of two or more species among Sr, Ba and Ca, and Eu2+ is a luminescent center, and wherein the particle diameter at 10%, D10, 4.5 μm to 30 μm in the volume-based particle size distribution measured and obtained by the laser diffraction/diffusion particle size distribution measurement method.
US08282857B2

A solvent extraction composition comprising one or more orthohydroxyarylaldoximes and/or one or more orthohydroxyarylketoximes, and one or more selectivity modifiers consisting of phosphinic and/or phosphonic acids, and salts and esters therefore and optionally one or more equilibrium modifiers is provided.
US08282855B2

The composite positive active material of a lithium battery is composed of a main active material containing lithium and a sheathing active material containing lithium, whose particle diameter is far smaller than that of the main active material. A pulp containing these two active materials is sprayed and dried to form a mixed powder. The composite positive active material is obtained by means of sintering the mixed powder.
US08282854B2

A (Li, Na, K)(Nb, Ta, Sb)O3 based piezoelectric material is a sintered body having a surface microstructure that comprises microscopic grains having a grain diameter of less than 5 μm, intermediate grains having a grain diameter of 5 μm or more and less than 15 μm, and coarse grains having a grain diameter of 15 μm or more and 50 μm or less. The amount of coarse grains is 3% or more in a share of grains in terms of area. The piezoelectric material can be manufactured by mixing metal-containing compounds so as to give the above-mentioned formulation, calcining the mixture and then crushing the resultant to obtain a calcined/crushed powder, then keeping temperature constantly at a temperature within a range from 800 to 950° C. for a predetermined period of time in a constant temperature keeping process, and raising temperature to firing temperature for sintering.
US08282852B2

A magnetorheological (MR) fluid is described herein. The MR fluid includes a plurality of magnetizable particles having a particle density. The fluid also includes a carrier fluid having a fluid density, and the plurality of magnetizable particles is dispersed within the carrier fluid. A portion of the plurality of magnetizable particles has a particle density that is substantially the same as the fluid density. The MR fluid may include a plurality of magnetizable particles having an outer shell of a magnetizable material and a hollow core. The MR fluid may also include a plurality of magnetizable particles having an outer shell of a magnetizable material and a solid core. The MR fluid may include a plurality of magnetizable particles having a matrix and a plurality of sub-particles embedded therein. The core or matrix of these particles may include a ceramic, glass or polymer, or a combination thereof. The magnetizable material may include magnetizable metals, metal alloys and various ferrites, such as those comprising Co, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, or Zn, or a combination thereof.
US08282851B2

The invention relates to a cellular elastomer which is anisotropic, with anisotropy being defined by the compressive modulus in one of three orthogonal directions being greater than that in the other two directions by a factor of at least 1.5. The invention also relates to a cellular elastomer containing magnetizable particles which have a chain-like alignment along one spatial direction. The invention also relates to a process for producing a cellular elastomer containing magnetiable particles and the use of such elastomers in articles of manufacture.
US08282849B2

An etching process state judgment method comprising: a spectral data obtaining step, in which an optical emission spectrum distribution is obtained by monitoring optical emission during an etching process of a plurality of wafers; a peak detection step, in which peaks are detected from the optical emission spectrum distribution at a specific time point during the etching process, to obtain peak characteristics; a common peak identifying step, in which peaks common to the wafers are identified among the peaks detected in the peak detection step; and a state detection step, in which the characteristics are compared regarding the common peaks, to detect a state of each wafer in the etching process.A state (anomaly or normalcy) of an etching process is detected from optical emission spectrum distribution at the time of etching process, by a simple method without assuming substances.
US08282847B2

A method for etching an etch layer formed on a substrate is provided. A first photoresist (PR) mask with first mask features is provided on the etch layer. A protective coating is provided on the first PR mask by a process including at least one cycle. Each cycle includes (a) a deposition phase for depositing a deposition layer over the surface of the first mask features using a deposition gas, and (b) a profile shaping phase for shaping the profile of the deposition layer using a profile shaping gas. A liquid PR material is applied over the first PR mask having the protective coating. The PR material is patterned into a second mask features, where the first and second mask features form a second PR mask. The etch layer is etched though the second PR mask.
US08282841B2

A printed circuit board includes a flexible insulated substrate with a first surface and a second surface at both sides respectively, a wiring layer on the first surface, a reinforcement plate on a part of the second surface and an auxiliary layer between the second surface and the reinforcement plate. A reinforcement edge side of the reinforcement plate is located at the outside of an auxiliary edge side of the auxiliary layer.
US08282829B2

A dialysis system includes: a dialysis machine for performing a first dialysis session on a patient at a first time of a day; a remote exchange device for performing a second dialysis session on the patient at a second time of the day, the remote exchange device configured to record an amount of ultrafiltration (“UF”) that is removed from the patient over the second dialysis session; and a communication link between the dialysis machine and the remote exchange device, wherein the dialysis machine is configured to receive the recorded amount UF removed from the remote exchange device via the communication link and determine a total amount of UF removed from the patient over the first and second sessions.
US08282825B2

A fluids filter is presented that is cylindrical in shape and can be adapted to fit inline with any pipe system. The filter is comprised of an outer solid cylinder and an inner cylinder possessing multiple filter means, including a replaceable fine mesh or material filter. An absorbent boom can be placed in the filter system to absorb hydrocarbons or other materials.The inner tube possesses an emergency bypass in case of flows through the pipe system exceeding rated levels.
US08282820B2

A water dispenser in a refrigerator door can include a filter casing in the door opening into the bottom of the dispenser housing. The filter casing can include a top wall positioned in the bottom of the dispenser housing, a head assembly at the bottom of the filter casing connected to the water supply and to a water outlet in the dispenser, and can include a filter casing drain. A filter cartridge in the filter casing can connect to the head assembly. The filter casing can include a filter retainer mounted adjacent the opening into the filter casing and can hold the filter cartridge connected to the head assembly in a first position and can release the filter cartridge in a second position. The filter casing can include a drain line leading from the filter casing drain to a pan outside the refrigerated space.
US08282815B2

The invention relates to a method of treating feedstocks from renewable sources without intermediate gas-liquid separation in order to produce diesel fuel bases of excellent quality. The feedstocks used can be raw vegetable oils or such oils that have been previously subjected to a prerefining stage, animal fats, or mixtures of such feedstocks. The invention relates to a method allowing high diesel fuel base yields to be obtained from such feedstocks.
US08282811B2

Disclosed are methods and systems for generating hydrogen gas at pressures high enough to fill a hydrogen storage cylinder for stationary and transportation applications. The hydrogen output of an electrochemical hydrogen gas generating device, a hydrogen-producing reactor, or a diluted hydrogen stream is integrated with an electrochemical hydrogen compressor operating in a high-differential-pressure mode. The compressor brings the hydrogen produced by the hydrogen generating device to the high pressure required to fill the storage cylinder.
US08282807B2

In a method of manufacturing a metal member, a metal material containing aluminum as a main component is anodized in an anodization solution having a pH of 4 to 10 and containing a nonaqueous solvent having a dielectric constant smaller than that of water and capable of dissolving water, thereby forming a nonporous amorphous aluminum oxide passivation film on a surface of the metal member. The method includes a step of controlling the viscosity of the anodization solution. In the step of controlling the viscosity, the viscosity of the anodization solution is lowered by elevating the temperature of the anodization solution above the room temperature or by adding to the anodization solution a substance having a dielectric constant smaller than that of water and a viscosity lower than that of the nonaqueous solvent.
US08282806B2

The preceding invention concerns a galvanic bath as well as a method for depositing a zinc-bearing layer onto a substrate surface. According to the invention, it is provided that the galvanic bath be divided into at least two cell chambers, in which the division occurs by means of a cation-exchange membrane and one cell chamber includes an acidic deposition-electrolyte and the other cell chamber includes a neutral or acidic anolyte. The acidic anolyte here is at least partially removed from the cell chamber containing it and is stripped of the foreign metal ions contained in it by means of a cation-exchange arrangement.
US08282805B2

An improved process for treating an electrically conductive surface of a workpiece by cleaning or coating the surface is provided, comprising the steps of deploying the electrically conducting surface of the workpiece to form a cathode in an electrolytic cell; establishing a DC voltage between the cathode and an anode; forming a working gap between the anode and the cathode, and establishing a seal around the working gap to form a sealed treatment zone; delivering into the working gap an electrically conductive medium selected from the group consisting of: (A) an aqueous electrolyte from which a foam is created; (B) a foam; and a mixture of components (A) and (B), so that electrically conductive medium consisting of a foam comprising a gas/vapor phase and a liquid phase fills the working gap, wherein said electrically conductive medium enters the electrolytic cell through tubes having discharge ends oriented at approximately ten degrees from parallel to the workpiece, and wherein turbulence is created within the electrolytic cell; adjusting the operating parameters so that an electro-plasma discharge is created between the cathode and positive ions in the electrically conductive medium which are concentrated near the electrically conducting surface of the workpiece, thereby causing micro-zonal melting of the surface; and removing foam from the working gap.
US08282800B2

Polyacrylamide gels that offer high resolution in protein separations and are more stable relative to hydrolysis than conventional polyacrylamide gels that rely on Tris or Tris-Bis as buffering agents are made by incorporating triethanolamine in place of most or all of the Tris or Tris-Bis.
US08282799B2

The present invention relates to methods and devices for separating particles according to size. More specifically, the present invention relates to a microfluidic method and device for the separation of particles according to size using an array comprising a network of gaps, wherein the field flux from each gap divides unequally into subsequent gaps. In one embodiment, the array comprises an ordered array of obstacles in a microfluidic channel, in which the obstacle array is asymmetric with respect to the direction of an applied field.
US08282798B2

A gas probe, in particular a lambda probe for the analysis of exhaust gases from a mobile internal combustion engine, includes at least one protective device, at least partly surrounding a sensitive sensor element of the gas probe, which comes into contact with a gas. The at least one protective device includes a gas contact face which at least partly has a hygroscopic surface.
US08282780B2

A method and apparatus for pretreating fiber material to be used in manufacturing paper or the like, for example, by precipitating mineral substances to the fibers. During precipitation, fiber material, which is advantageously pretreated in a through-flow mixer operating on the principle of an impact mill, is fed to the precipitation reactor. Gas is led to the precipitation reactor in order to generate a gas space in the reactor. The gas contains a substance, which precipitates the mineral substance such as carbon dioxide (CO2). The fiber material is fed to the gas space of the precipitation reactor as small liquid and solid substance fractions such as drops and/or particles.
US08282778B2

The invention relates to a method for preventing or delaying bacterial sporulation in the broke system of a board or paper machine by lowering the content of transition metals in the broke to a level unfavorable for sporulation. Preferably bacterial cells present in the broke system of the board or paper machine are not substantially killed by the procedure used for lowering the content of the transition metals. The invention further relates to a method for producing packaging board or packaging paper having a low bacterial spore content.
US08282774B2

A process comprising treating a lignocellulosic material preferably pulp in the presence of a transition metal catalyst with a oxidizing agent selected from a group consisting of hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorite, hypochlorous acid and any combination thereof to form a treated lignocellulosic material having a viscosity equal to or less than about 17 cp and having reducing functional groups selected from the group consisting of aldehyde and aldehyde type functional groups at the C6 and C1 positions but predominating at the C1 position.
US08282761B2

A method for simultaneously cutting a compound rod of semiconductor material into a multiplicity of wafers. The method includes selecting a first workpiece and a second workpiece, each having two end surfaces; grinding at least one of the two end surfaces of each workpiece so as to create a ground end surface on each workpiece; cementing the ground end surface of the first workpiece to the ground end surface of second workpiece using a fastener so as to produce a compound rod piece having a longitudinal axis, wherein the fastener is disposed between the workpieces so as create a distance between the workpieces; fixing the compound rod piece in a longitudinal direction on a mounting plate; clamping the mounting plate with the compound rod piece in a wire saw; and cutting the compound rod piece perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis using the wire saw.
US08282756B2

One or more two-dimensional fiber fabrics of carbon or carbon precursor fibers are impregnated (58, 59) by a solution or a suspension capable of allowing a dispersion of discrete ceramic particles to remain in the fiber fabric, and a fiber preform (51) is made by superposing plies formed of two-dimensional fabric made of carbon or carbon precursor fibers, the plies being bonded to one another, and at least some of the plies being at least partially formed of a previously-impregnated two-dimensional fabric. The field of application is particularly that of friction parts made of C/C composite material with incorporated ceramic particles.
US08282754B2

A label for application to a surface having at least one compound curve is provided. The label comprises a heat shrinkable film having an inner surface and outer surface and a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive on the inner surface of the heat shrinkable film.
US08282749B1

Boron-containing, green light emitting pyrotechnic compositions that advantageously do not include barium, perchlorate or chlorinated organic compounds.
US08282740B2

Exemplary surface debris removal systems and methods are operable to remove debris from a signal transmitting/receiving surface. An embodiment provides power to, and then removes power from, a conductive memory wire that is secured to a moveable portion of a two-position snap spring. In response to providing the power to the conductive memory wire, a length of the conductive memory wire decreases so that the moveable portion of the two-position snap spring is pulled from an extended position to a retracted position. When power is removed from the conductive memory wire, the moveable portion of the two-position snap spring moves from the retracted position to the extended position. In response to the moving of the moveable portion of the two-position snap spring from the retracted position to the extended position, an energy is generated and transferred to the surface that dislodges the debris from the surface.
US08282735B2

A reactor configured to subject a substrate to alternately repeated surface reactions of vapor-phase reactants is disclosed. In one embodiment, the reactor includes a reaction chamber that defines a reaction space; one or more inlets; an exhaust outlet; a gas flow control guide structure; and a substrate holder. The gas flow control guide includes one or more channels, each of which extends from a respective one of the one or more inlets to a first portion of a periphery of the reaction space. Each of the channels widens as the channel extends from the inlet to the reaction space. At least one of the channels is configured to generate a non-uniform laminar flow at the first portion of the periphery of the reaction space such that the laminar flow includes a plurality of flow paths that provide different amounts of a fluid. The reaction chamber may include a reactor base and a reactor cover detachable from each other; and a driver configured to independently adjust at least three portions of the reactor base to provide a substantially perfect seal to the reactor space.
US08282734B2

An article having a protective coating for use in semiconductor applications and methods for making the same are provided. In certain embodiments, a method of coating an aluminum surface of an article utilized in a semiconductor processing chamber is provided. The method comprises providing a processing chamber; placing the article into the processing chamber; flowing a first gas comprising a carbon source into the processing chamber; flowing a second gas comprising a nitrogen source into the processing chamber; forming a plasma in the chamber; and depositing a coating material on the aluminum surface. In certain embodiments, the coating material comprises an amorphous carbon nitrogen containing layer. In certain embodiments, the article comprises a showerhead configured to deliver a gas to the processing chamber.
US08282723B2

The present invention relates to magenta dye-based inkjet inks having improved permanence when jetted onto porous photo media. The inkjet ink includes a mixture of at least two magenta dyes, at least three co-solvents comprising about 18 to about 24% of the composition of the ink by weight, a penetrant, at least one wetting agent, and water.
US08282722B2

A sulfonated dye salt of formula (II): wherein M is Ga(A1); A1 is an axial ligand selected from the group consisting of: —OH and halogen; and Z1+, Z2+, Z3+ and Z4+ are independently selected from the group consisting of: H and an ammonium cation including 3 or more hydroxyl groups. At least one of Z1+, Z2+, Z3+ and Z4+ is the ammonium cation. Such salts exhibit reduced kogation in thermal bubble-forming inkjet printheads.
US08282718B2

A surface treatment solution for a recording paper on which ink-jet recording is performed with a water-based ink, the surface treatment solution includes calcium alginate which is contained by 0.008 wt % to 0.074 wt % in the surface treatment solution, sodium alginate which is contained by 0.013 wt % to 0.084 wt % in the surface treatment solution, a water-soluble organic solvent, and water.
US08282714B2

A pyrolyzed monolith carbon physical adsorbent that is characterized by at least one of the following characteristics: (a) a fill density measured for arsine gas at 25° C. and pressure of 650 torr that is greater than 400 grams arsine per liter of adsorbent; (b) at least 30% of overall porosity of the adsorbent including slit-shaped pores having a size in a range of from about 0.3 to about 0.72 nanometer, and at least 20% of the overall porosity including micropores of diameter<2 nanometers; and (c) having a bulk density of from about 0.80 to about 2.0 grams per cubic centimeter, preferably from 0.9 to 2.0 grams per cubic centimeter.
US08282699B2

The present invention improves a method of bonding by welding a plurality of filter units each having a frame body made of a resin member so as to provide a filter unit panel having excellent pressure resistance. This filter unit panel is obtained by disposing a plurality of filter units so that the outer peripheral surfaces of adjacent filter units (100a) and (100b) are partially in contact with each other but at least a part of the upper surfaces (11) and/or the lower surfaces (12) of the adjacent filter units are spaced apart from each other, and then melting a bonding resin so as to cause the melted bonding resin to flow into a gap (15) between the spaced upper surfaces and/or a gap (15) between the spaced lower surfaces and to cure. The bonding resin is supplied from, for example, protruding portions (10a) and (10b) of the frame body. This welding method increases the bonding strength between the filter units and increases the pressure resistance thereof accordingly.
US08282697B2

A dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner is provided. The dust collecting apparatus includes a dust separating chamber separating dust from dust-laden air, a dust collecting chamber storing the dust separated by the dust separating chamber, and an air discharge guide duct guiding the air discharged from the dust separating chamber to an air outlet at a lower end of the dust collecting chamber. The air discharge guide duct includes a first duct formed on a rear surface of the dust collecting apparatus so as to guide the air discharged from the dust separating chamber downwards, a second duct being coupled with the first duct and extending into the dust separating chamber, and a third duct formed in the dust separating chamber so as to connect the second duct with the air outlet.
US08282691B2

The invention relates to materials for use as electrodes in an alkali-ion secondary (rechargeable) battery, particularly a lithium-ion battery. The invention provides transition-metal compounds having the ordered-olivine or the rhombohedral NASICON structure and the polyanion (PO4)3− as at least one constituent for use as electrode material for alkali-ion rechargeable batteries.
US08282681B2

A prosthesis for the replacement of an intervertebral disc of the spine comprises a block of an elastomeric material, which is held under compression by an encapsulating textile fabric. A preferred version of the invention has flanges that are continuations of the encapsulating fabric forming an interdigitation, with the continuation of the upper fabric passing through a hole in the lower fabric and being attached to the lower vertebral body and the continuation of the lower fabric crossing to its fixation site on the upper vertebral body. Optionally, the flanges are resorbable, over time leaving only the implant core and encapsulation fabric in the intervertebral space.
US08282680B2

Blood vessels and other body lumens are stented using stent structures comprising a plurality of radially expansible rings where at least some of the rings comprise axially extending elements which interleave with axially extending elements on adjacent unconnected rings. The ring structures may be open cell structures or closed cell structures, and the axially extending elements will typically be formed as part of the open cell or closed cell structure.
US08282673B2

An anti-splay closure with a multi-surfaced aperture, such as a multi-lobular socket, includes a cylindrical body with an external, continuous, helically extending anti-splay guide and advancement flange and a breakaway installation head. The multi-lobular socket includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced lobes extending parallel to a closure axis of the plug and which circumferentially alternate with spline receiving grooves extending parallel to the closure axis. The closure is used with an open headed bone implant screw having arms that are provided with internal, helically extending mating guide and advancement structures complementary to the body flange to allow slidable mating with the body upon rotation thereof and radial interlocking between the arms and the body.
US08282669B2

A medical instrument for grasping surgical suture material, with a shaft on whose proximal end a handle is positioned consisting of at least two gripping members and on whose distal end a tool is positioned consisting of a rigid jaw member and a pivotable jaw member and where the pivotable jaw member can be pivoted with respect to the rigid jaw member for opening and closing with a moveably configured gripping member of the handle, for which purpose the pivotable jaw member and the moveable gripping member are in active connection with one another by means of an actuating element mounted in the shaft. To create a medical instrument that is both easy to operate and makes possible a safe grasping and guiding of the suture material, it is disclosed that in the rigid jaw member there should be configured an indentation that opens toward the pivotable jaw member and that can be covered, with the tool in closed position, only in the center area by the pivotable jaw member.
US08282666B2

An intragastric balloon having a built-in sensor. The sensor may be used to monitor pressure within the balloon shell, or outside of the shell in the stomach. The sensor may be used after deflation of the intragastric balloon to monitor the pressure through the intestinal tract as the balloon migrates therethrough. An apparatus for remote deflation of the balloon may be utilized to allow a physician to deflate the intragastric balloon without surgery. The pressure sensor may be provided in a valve of the intragastric balloon which separates from the balloon and migrates as a capsule through the intestinal tract to monitor conditions therein.
US08282664B2

Disclosed is an expandable percutaneous sheath, for introduction into the body while in a first, low cross-sectional area configuration, and subsequent expansion to a second, enlarged cross-sectional configuration. The sheath is maintained in the first, low cross-sectional configuration by a tubular restraint. In one application, the sheath is utilized to provide access for a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure such as percutaneous nephrostomy or urinary bladder access.
US08282663B2

An obturator assembly comprising an obturator housing, an obturator member and an obturator sleeve is disclosed. The obturator member is mounted to the obturator housing, defines a longitudinal axis, and has proximal and distal ends. The obturator member includes an interchangeable obturator rod and a penetrating end. The penetrating end defines a substantially planar dissecting segment and a central rod segment extends from the planar dissecting element. The obturator sleeve is coaxially mounted about the obturator member and is adapted for reciprocal longitudinal movement between a retracted position and an extended position.
US08282662B2

A scalpel device has a metal shank having a blade carrier configured holding a scalpel blade. A sheath is configured for receiving the scalpel shank. The shank is rigidly coupled to the sheath. A retractable blade guard is movably coupled to the sheath. The blade guard is movable between retracted and extended positions wherein the scalpel blade is selectively covered or exposed.
US08282650B2

The invention is a surgical instrument for measuring an intervertebral space. On the distal end of a handle of the instrument there are at least two measurement plates, whereby an interval between the measurement plates, and an angle enclosed by the measurement plates, are adjustable.
US08282648B2

A needle assembly for dispensing a bone cement mixture is provided. The needle assembly includes a cannula defining an inner lumen, the cannula having an outlet end for dispensing the bone cement mixture from the assembly. The outlet end has at least one tip moveable between an expanded position and a collapsed position. The tip is configured to cut the bone cement mixture in the collapsed position when the cannula is rotated. The needle assembly also has an inner member disposed within the inner lumen of the cannula, which is movable between an extended position and a retracted position. The inner member is operable to hold the tip in the expanded position when the inner member is in the extended position. The tip automatically collapses into the collapsed position when the inner member is in the retracted position. A method of introducing a bone cement mixture into a damaged bone of a patient is also disclosed.
US08282645B2

A method for guiding a saw blade (22) during preparation of a metatarsal (14) of a foot (10) for a procedure, such as to receive a metatarsal bone implant (20), includes positioning a housing (242) substantially adjacent to the metatarsal (14), coupling an aligner (38) to the housing (242), and aligning a saw guide (30) of the housing (242). The housing (242) includes the saw guide (30) for receiving and guiding the saw blade (22). The foot (10) includes one or more additional metatarsals (142), and the aligner (38) is used to align the saw guide (30) relative to the metatarsal (14) by aligning the aligner (38) to be substantially parallel to and positioned over a longitudinal axis (40) of one of the additional metatarsals (142).
US08282641B2

Various exemplary instruments for introducing an implant using a posterolateral approach are also provided, as well as various exemplary methods for using such instruments. In general, the instruments are configured to interconnect to an implant and/or to a guide member such that the components are all docked relative to one another. This allows the various components of a multi-piece implant to be mated intraoperatively within the disc space, and in particular to be guided into alignment with one another.
US08282636B2

An orthopedic apparatus is provided for bridging a first bone unit to a second bone unit. The apparatus is demonstrated on a finger joint, wherein one of the bones and/or ligaments and/or tendons of the joint is/are injured. A method for implanting and using the apparatus also is presented. The apparatus includes a reformably deformable span portion which is generally circular and preferably rhombic. By deforming or reforming the span portion, it can be repositioned laterally, and/or it can be rotated to allow range of rotary motion so as to promote healing.
US08282635B1

Intra-oral devices for distraction osteogenesis are described. Utilizing a medical model, bone-traced fixation plates with undercut portions are custom-fitted to the skeleton of the patient. To these plates rigid distraction platforms are connected. In the pre-surgical stage, skeletal segments are placed in the post-operative position and occlusal splints are constructed. The occlusal splints are modified to interengage the distraction platforms and to provide docking therefor. One or more distractors are mounted on the rigid platform and, upon operation thereof, guide the segment to the distraction endpoint. Optionally, after distraction and during consolidation, the distractors may be removed.
US08282631B2

A new method for the ablation of undesirable tissue such as cells of a cancerous or non-cancerous tumor is disclosed. It involves the placement of electrodes into or near the vicinity of the undesirable tissue through the application of electrical pulses causing irreversible electroporation of the cells throughout the entire area of the undesirable tissue. The electric pulses irreversibly permeate the cell membranes, thereby invoking cell death. The irreversibly permeabilized cells are left in situ and are removed by the body immune system. The amount of tissue ablation achievable through the use of irreversible electroporation without inducing thermal damage is considerable.
US08282626B2

Some embodiments of a portable infusion pump system can be configured to deliver medicine (e.g., insulin or the like) to a user and to deliver media content to a user. The media content can include, for example, MP3 music and other audio/video data stored in a memory device in the portable system. Thus, in particular embodiments, the portable infusion pump system can serve a dual purpose of providing medication and entertainment for the user from a compact and unobtrusive device.
US08282618B2

A disposable pant includes a garment shell including a stretchable material. In one embodiment, the pant includes a front panel, a back panel and two leg panels. In another embodiment, the pant includes a middle panel and two leg panels. In another embodiment, the panel includes a single panel. The panel can include an absorbent structure either attached to, or integral with, the garment shell.
US08282614B2

A process and apparatus for producing a stabilized product from a pledget, including the steps of providing a pledget and a transfer member, and pushing the compressed pledget into a stabilization mold with the transfer member as the transfer member advances to a loading position. The transfer member is retracted to a stabilizing position. The compressed pledget is stabilized while the compressed pledget is maintained in compression by the transfer member and the stabilization mold to form a stabilized tampon.
US08282612B1

The present invention comprises methods and devices for collection of fluids, including cells and cellular materials, from the uterus. A device of the present invention comprises a central tubing member to which, at least, a flexible tubing member and an absorbable member are connected at least at one point. The absorbable member is connected to at least one portion of the central tubing member and to at least one portion of the flexible tubing member. The devices of the present invention are useful in methods of collection of uterine fluids, including blood, cells and cellular material.
US08282611B2

A reduced pressure treatment appliance is provided for treating a wound on the body of a patient. In some embodiments, the appliance comprises a cover, which can have a top cup member and an interface member. The interface member can have flow control means, configured to permit exudate from the wound to flow through the flow control means into the volume under the cover, but not in the opposite direction. Also, in some embodiments, the top cup member can have a lid member, a cup body member, and lid attachment means to removably attach the lid member to the cup body member. In some embodiments, the cover can be configured to facilitate access to the wound for monitoring, treatment and other purposes without removing the cover from the body. The wound treatment appliance can have a vacuum system to supply reduced pressure to the site of the wound in the volume under the cover. A suction bulb can he used lo provide a source of reduced pressure to the cover. Additionally, methods are provided for using various embodiments of the treatment appliance.
US08282605B2

A needle assembly includes a transparent or translucent housing with a fluid inlet end, a fluid outlet end, a flashback chamber, and a venting mechanism therebetween. Substantially axially aligned inlet and outlet cannulas extend from the housing and communicate with the chamber. A sealable sleeve covers the external end of the outlet cannula. Relative volumes of the cannulas, the chamber, and the sleeve are selected to provide rapid reliable flashback indicative of venous entry with an internal vent positioned within the housing so as to divide the interior into first and second chambers, with the second chamber being adapted to maintain a negative pressure therein relative to the external environment so as to inhibit leakage of blood from the needle on withdrawal from the patient.
US08282596B2

Breastpumps and methods for use in extracting breastmilk, which can be used to generate, among other things, both a letdown or stimulation phase and a milk expression phase, are disclosed.
US08282589B2

A restraint device includes first and second restraint and/or support portions adapted to extend around part of a person. First and second connector portions may secure the first and second restraint and/or support portions to the person. A lock member may be used to selectively prevent disconnection of the first and second connector portions. One or more removable tags or other information elements may be carried on at least one of the first and second restraint and/or support portions and may indicate who placed the restraint device on, or removed the restraint device from the person, and/or what time the restraint device was placed or removed. The tags or other elements may include a unique identifier to indicate whether the restraint device had been previously removed from the person after an initial placement. The restraint device may include an electronic information element configured to transmit information related to the wearer.
US08282576B2

A body fluid sampling device is provided. A mesh may be used to guide blood or fluid to travel directly from the wound to an analyte detecting port on the cartridge. Thus the volume of blood or body fluid produced at the wound site irregardless of its droplet geometry can be reliable and substantially completely transported to the analyte detecting member for measurement.
US08282569B2

A method is provided for determining ejection fraction. The method includes: measuring a physiologic signal indicative of blood pressure; analyzing the physiologic signal at more than one time instance so as to extract information present in its temporal variations; and determining ejection fraction based in part on the extracted information.
US08282565B2

A tool and method of positioning and delivering medical devices and therapeutics within the pericardial space, as well as other body part or space. A needle is inserted into the chest through a sub-xiphoid puncture, and the pressure within the needle is monitored manometrically or otherwise sensed as the needle is advanced towards the pericardial space. By reading the pressure within the needle while it is advanced, the clinician is able to know that he or she is avoiding insertion of it into organs or spaces not intended to be the target location. In addition the retractable sharp edge allows the operator to access the space and cut tissue but do so safely by retracting the sharp edge.
US08282561B2

An imaging system is disclosed that uses piezoelectric markers. The piezoelectric fields in combination with ultrasound reflections can be used to construct an image of an otherwise difficult to detect feature within a subject's body. In one embodiment, the invention includes a piezoelectric marker, including at least one piece of piezoelectric material, an ultrasound transducer connected to an ultrasound pulser and a receiver, a computer sequencing control connected to the receiver and the ultrasound pulser, a display connected to the computer sequencing control and electrodes connected to the computer sequencing control via amplification circuitry.
US08282559B2

The present invention provides a method for monitoring long-term potentiation and long-term depression, comprising placing a subject in head down bed rest position and monitoring in real-time cerebral mean blood flow velocity using a transcranial Doppler device during psychophysiologic tasks. The method involves using Fourier analysis of mean blood flow velocity data to derive spectral density peaks of cortical and subcortical processes. The effect of head-down bed rest at different time intervals is seen as accentuation of the cortical peaks in long-term potentiation and attenuation of subcortical peaks in long-term depression, relative to baseline. The effect of different interventions could be evaluated for research, diagnosis, rehabilitation and therapeutic use.
US08282558B2

An ultrasound system and method for forming ultrasound data corresponding to a receive scan line independent of a synthetic aperture. The ultrasound system includes the ultrasound data forming unit configured to: form scan line data corresponding to each of the receive scan lines by using data provided from the receive channels; form accumulated data by accumulating the scan line data corresponding to the receive scan lines of the same position; set a storing start position for storing the accumulated data based on the transmit synthesizing number; and store the accumulated data by shifting the storing start position by 1, thereby forming ultrasound data corresponding to each of the receive scan linen lines.
US08282546B2

Access devices and related methods are disclosed that generally involve flexible or adjustable cannulas that have a substantially cylindrical insertion configuration and a substantially conical expanded configuration. Various methods and features are provided for transitioning the cannula from the insertion configuration to the expanded configuration while the access device is inserted through tissue to form a conical opening through the tissue. Examples include cables, biasing elements, retaining elements, bimodal rings, and coil springs. The devices and methods disclosed herein can allow for improved retention of the access device, improved angulation of instruments passed through the access device, and can increase the integrity of a seal formed between the access device and surrounding tissue.
US08282545B1

An intra-corporeal surgical retractor for holding tissues and organs in place is provided, including a sealed container, made from a flexible material, having an interior containing a granular substance and a fluid. At least one tube may be provided with one end attached to the container in communication with the interior of the container and the other end connected to a suction mechanism. When the fluid is evacuated from the container, the container constricts around the granular substance and becomes relatively rigid. An absorbent sleeve or layer may be provided surrounding the container. The granular substance may be provided as loose fill or as a layer over at least a portion of the inner wall. Alternatively, the inner walls of the container may be provided with a very rough surface. Further, the outer surface of the bottom of the pouch is enhanced frictionally.
US08282543B2

A surgical instrument having a surgical unit which operates on an operating portion in a body cavity, an accommodation portion capable of accommodating the surgical unit. The surgical instrument having movement manipulation mechanism connected to the surgical unit for moving the surgical unit to a position at which the surgical unit is accommodated in the accommodation portion and to a position at which the surgical unit is exposed from the accommodation portion along the inside of the accommodation portion.
US08282529B2

A control apparatus of a vehicle transmission includes a hydraulic circuit configured to activate at least one friction element with a control pressure, a selector configured to select a range of the transmission, a valve configured to switch a transmission shifter, and a control unit configured to direct the valve to switch the transmission shifter in response to the selected transmission range and to reduce the control pressure prior to switching the transmission shifter. A method to control a vehicle transmission includes activating at least one friction element with a control pressure, selecting a desired range of the transmission, switching a transmission range in response to the selected desired transmission range, and reducing the control pressure prior to switching the transmission range.
US08282526B2

A method for controlling a powertrain comprising an electro-mechanical transmission mechanically-operatively coupled to an engine and an electric machine adapted to selectively transmit mechanical power to an output member through selective application of a plurality of torque-transfer clutches includes monitoring a clutch slip speed, synchronizing an oncoming clutch, and constraining reactive clutch torque limits for the oncoming clutch to achieve a reactive clutch torque that is less than an estimated clutch torque capacity.
US08282524B2

A transmission device is proposed for distributing a drive torque to at least two output shafts (Ab1, Ab2), comprising a differential (2) that is permanently connected to the output shafts (Ab1, Ab2), wherein a double planetary gearset (4) is provided co-axially to the output (Ab2) between the differential cage (3) of the differential (2) and the output (Ab2) of one side, said planetary gearset comprising a first sun gear (5) and a second sun gear (6), a first planetary range (7), an intermediate planetary range (8), and an internal gear (9), herein the internal gear (9) is connected to the differential cage (3) and the planet carrier (10) of the planetary gearset (4) is connected to the output (Ab2), wherein the first sun gear (5) meshes with the first planetary range (7) and can be coupled to the housing (G) by means of a brake (11) in order to shift the torque in one direction, and wherein the second sun gear (6) meshes with the intermediate planetary range (8) and can be coupled to the housing (G) by means of an additional brake (19) in order to shift the torque in the opposite direction.
US08282519B2

An electric derailleur motor unit is provided for a motorized derailleur assembly. The electric derailleur motor unit has a derailleur motor support, a derailleur motor, a drive train and an output shaft. The derailleur motor is mounted to the derailleur motor support and has a driving shaft. The drive train has at least one intermediate gear operatively coupled to the driving shaft of the derailleur motor and a worm gear operatively coupled to the intermediate gear such that rotation of the driving shaft of the derailleur motor rotates the intermediate gear which in turn rotates the worm gear. The output shaft is operatively coupled to the derailleur motor and rotatably supported on the derailleur motor support. The output shaft has an output gear engaged with the worm gear of the drive train.
US08282510B1

One embodiment of the present baseball training bat is comprised of a hollow tube with a handle portion and a knob attached at the proximal end. A hitting portion is attached at the distal end of the tube that provides two elongated, opposed striking surfaces that are narrower than the striking surface of a conventional baseball bat, and are offset from the axis for improving swing accuracy and wrist control. The relative weights of the components combine to produce a training bat that is substantially similar in overall weight and balance to a conventional baseball bat. The face of each narrow striking surface is substantially similar in convexity to the striking surface of a conventional baseball bat, thereby providing a familiar feel and sound to the hitter when used to hit a ball.
US08282504B1

A protective cover for a golf club, such as a driver or wood, is disclosed that remains in place during play to prevent scuffing, scratching, and the like of the surface finish. The golf club includes a head having a striking face portion and a non-planar body portion, and a shaft extending from the head. The protective cover includes a one-piece continuous polymeric film that closely conforms to the shape of at least a portion of the non-planar body portion of the golf club head, such as the entire crown, and a layer of adhesive adhering the polymeric film to the club head. The polymeric film preferably does not cover the face portion of the golf club head so that it has minimal impact on the performance of the golf club. A method of applying the protective cover to the club head is also disclosed.
US08282501B2

A putter-type golf club comprising an alignment system and a club head assembly. The putter-type club head has a body that is preferably composed of aluminum, with a rear weight disk and small inserts composed of a material denser than the material used for the remainder of the club head (excluding the neck of the club). The body has an alignment channel that is approximately the same width as a standard golf ball, and which runs from the face to the rear of the club head. In a preferred embodiment this alignment channel is black or dark in color with a white or light-colored border. The putter-type club has a neck that is inserted laterally through the side of the club head, such that it runs parallel to the face of the club head and for substantially the length of the face.
US08282500B1

An apparatus and method for training a golfer to achieve the proper club position at impact. The apparatus includes a tether having two ends. One end is connected to the head of a golf club type device at a location offset from the axis of the shaft. The other end is connected to a stationary support. The apparatus is used by causing the user to emulate a golf swing, the resistance in the tether forcing the user to achieve a square club face and forward leaning shaft in the impact zone.
US08282499B2

A method, system and golf ball are provided to determine the deceleration of a golf ball and, in turn, the speed of a green. The system may include a golf ball and an offboard display device. The golf ball may include a golf ball body, a motion sensor disposed within the golf ball body to measure acceleration of the golf ball along each of three mutually perpendicular axes, and a transmitter disposed within the golf ball body to transmit data representative of deceleration. The display device may include a receiver to receive data representative of the deceleration of the golf ball from transmitter and a display to provide a representation of the deceleration of the golf ball. At least one of the golf ball and the display device may include a processor to determine deceleration of the golf ball based upon the acceleration measured by the motion sensor.
US08282493B2

An improved display provides information regarding a projectile trajectory so that a user is informed whether or not there is a clear shot. Such information facilitates accurate, effective, and safe firearm and bow use by providing indications regarding obstacles that are between the shooter and target and which may or may not be in the projectile trajectory. The improved display provides one or more path indicators shown over the cross hairs. In some embodiments the highest point in the projectile trajectory (being a true aim point) is indicated in relation to the visualized target and possible obstacles. An improved rangefinder device generally includes a range sensor operable to determine a first range to a target, a tilt sensor operable to determine an angle to the target relative to the device, and a computing element, coupled with the range sensor and the tilt sensor, operable to determine an accurate projectile trajectory based on the first range and the determined angle. In some embodiments any obstacle in the projectile trajectory is automatically ranged and an indication is provided that the obstacle will interfere with the clear shot. A game display embodiment provides education regarding the technology. Enhanced rangefinders have digital cameras and high-resolution displays. Some embodiments adapt a mobile smart device such as an iPhone with a range sensor to be a high resolution rangefinder with a touch screen, GPS, and video analysis capabilities.
US08282491B2

Systems and methods for providing game-based incentives to users of online games as a reward for performing actions at physical locations are provided.
US08282485B1

A device is provided for capturing images of targets of interest for interaction with or in response to electronic events, such as may be generated by video games and/or other interactive applications. The device includes a shadowless light source, such as one or more light emitting devices that are capable of emitting light into an environment where the emitted light is in at least a first predetermined frequency range that defines a spectral range outside the range of the fluctuating ambient light. A camera has a light receiving lens and an image sensor for converting the light received through the light receiving lens into image data that is obtained by a processor to form a digital representation of the target of interest. Also, the device may include a filter to substantially block light in an anticipated spectral range of fluctuating ambient light.
US08282483B2

Processor (27) reads, from DVD-ROM (231), musical sound data and step data for plural specified periods indicated by plural pieces of section dance data indicated by medley dance data, for storage into RAM (25), and exclusively uses these pieces of data, for each specified period, in the order indicated by the medley dance data, to progress the play of a specific game. Additionally, in the game system (1), the player of the specific game operates a general operation unit (22) to freely create a section dance and a medley dance.
US08282478B2

A system and method are disclosed by which, in one embodiment, a player of a gaming device may select to commit to limitations on their gaming activity over a period of time. The commitment and data corresponding to an identifying biometric feature of the player are stored. When the player plays a gaming device the system and method compares a capture biometrical image of the player with the stored image and if there is a match the limitation is enforced. Biometrical data for files where the temporal period of the limitation has passed are ignored to reduce the number of files with which the comparison must be made reducing the number of false matches.
US08282475B2

Methods and systems for providing a virtual leash and command download capabilities on a hand-held personal gaming device (“PGD”) are disclosed. A host gaming system includes a game server configured to generate game seeds having data regarding predetermined game outcomes for various wager based games, and an authentication server configured to establish a virtual leash with a PGD. The virtual leash is adapted to repeatedly authenticate or verify a PGD user, a PGD location, the PGD itself, and/or software codes on the PGD. Included within an associated PGD are a display adapted to display gaming related information, a processor configured to execute gaming related code, and a memory containing a command download of computer code to be executed by the processor. The command download of computer code includes enough code for the PGD to process and display independently a game play based on a game seed.
US08282464B2

The device is a progressive jackpot system for a plurality of gaming machines. The progressive jackpot system includes at least one progressive jackpot with each progressive jackpot having an associated jackpot indicator based on color or symbols. The system includes a plurality of rotatable display wheels with a plurality of segments. Each wheel segment is adapted to display a numeric indicator and a first jackpot indicator. At least one win designator displaying a second jackpot indicator is positioned peripherally to each display wheel and each designator is adapted to indicate one of the segments as a selected segment. If the first jackpot indicator on the selected segment matches the second jackpot indicator of the win designator, then the system awards the progressive jackpot associated with the matching jackpot indicators as displayed on a progressive display. The first and second jackpot indicators may be changed intermittently by the associated gaming machines.
US08282443B2

An automatic machine and an automatic method for grinding the perimetric edge of rectangular or nonrectangular of glass sheets arranged substantially vertically, comprising at least one conveyor and at least one workhead provided with an abrasive tool for grinding the glass sheet at its edge, following its perimetric profile by way of the relative action of movement of the glass sheet and movement of the at least one workhead. During grinding, the glass sheet is no longer supported and moved by the conveyor but by at least one carriage, to which the glass sheet is coupled by way of at least one sucker.
US08282442B2

Methods, apparatus and computer programs for correcting a crown layer variance of a buffed tire carcass, the steps of the method including measuring a distance through a buffed crown layer at a plurality of locations around a tire carcass; identifying a maximum distance location from the distances determined at the plurality of locations around the tire carcass; inflating the tire carcass with the maximum distance location orientated at the 270 degree polar angle position; and, buffing the tire carcass.
US08282440B2

A system and method are provided for low power electronic speed control for a model vehicle. A remote controlled model vehicle system may comprise a motor, a transmitter, a receiver, and an electronic speed control device. The electronic speed control device comprises a user interface and is at least configured to control a magnitude of average power applied to the motor in response to a user input. The electronic speed control device can operate under at least two profiles, wherein a desired profile is selected by the user. In one embodiment, under a first profile the electronic speed control device applies 100% magnitude of average power to the motor in response to maximum forward throttle, and under a second profile the electronic speed control device applies a percentage magnitude of average power lower than 100% and greater than 0% to the motor in response to maximum forward throttle.
US08282434B2

An object of the present invention is to provide fin in which the fin can be easily attached or detached to a board, its attached state can be maintained well, and the fin readily comes off in an emergency such as when the fin is brought into contact with human body.Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to allow the reduction of rattle when the fin is attached.To solve such problems, provided is a fin, comprising a hollow part at a side surface of an attachment base portion of the fin to be attached to a groove in a bottom surface of a surfboard,wherein a ball part is biased outwardly of the hollow part by an elastic member in the hollow part; andwherein the ball part in the hollow part of the attachment base portion of the fin is moved into the hollow part against a biasing force from the elastic member, and thus the fin is detachably mounted in the attachment groove of this board under elastic compression force.
US08282429B2

An electrical terminal operable to facilitate electrical connectivity between the terminal and an electrical connector. The electrical terminal may include a cap to facilitate positioning a conducting element, such as but not limited to a coil spring, within a receptacle used to connect to an electrically conducting connector. The conducting element may facilitate electrical connectivity between the inserted connector and the terminal.
US08282420B2

A connector having a plurality of terminals for connecting to a circuit card and a method therefore are disclosed. The connector includes a socket having a casing with an aperture for receiving the circuit card therein and a plurality of terminals made of electrically conductive material. At least one of the plurality of terminals includes an elongated portion and a substantially L-shaped portion joined together by a U-shaped portion. The elongated portion has a proximal end and a distal end, and includes a support section and a bending section between the proximal end and the distal end. The terminal is secured to the casing by the support section at or near the proximal end of the elongated portion. The U-shaped portion is disposed at the distal end of the elongated portion. The terminal continues from the U-shaped portion to a region approximately halfway towards the proximal end of the elongated portion and turns away from the elongated portion thereby forming the substantially L-shaped portion. The L-shaped portion ends in a lip section curving towards the proximal end of the elongated portion.
US08282419B2

An improved eSATA connector structure includes a base, a circuit board, a chassis and a casing. The base includes a containing space, a retaining wall formed at a front end of the containing space, and an opening formed on the retaining wall. The circuit board is installed in the containing space and passed through the opening and out of the retaining wall, and at least one surface of the circuit board has a plurality of conductive pins, and a transmission line segment is extended from an end of each conductive pin and electrically coupled to a conductive terminal. The chassis is installed in the containing space and includes through holes for passing out conductive terminals, and the casing is installed at the exterior of the base and includes a hollow main body, and a port is formed at a front end of the hollow main body for exposing the circuit board.
US08282414B2

A cable connector assembly (100) comprises: an insulative housing (1); a number of first and second types of connectors (21, 22) disposed in the insulative housing. Each of the first type connectors (21) is arranged in an upstanding manner. Two second type of connectors (22) are arranged along a vertical direction and perpendicular to each other to form two mating ports (26) for mating with two complementary connectors simultaneously. A metallic shell (4) surrounds and engages the insulative housing. And a number of cables (3) extend into the insulative housing and electrically connect with the first and second types of connectors.
US08282411B2

A Connector Position Assurance (CPA) lock (10) for an engine wiring harness connector (12) having a connector body (14) and a lever latch (30) pivotal with respect to the connector body includes a lock body (34). A foot (52) extends from the lock body (34) and engages the connector (12) to fix the position of the lock body relative to the connector. The lock body (34) captures the lever latch (30) and prevents the pivoting of the lever latch with respect to the connector body (40) unless the foot (52) is deformed.
US08282408B1

A lamp holder structure includes a base body, two electrode plates, a rotary shaft, a short-circuit part, and a cover. When multiple sets of lamp holder structures are used in serial connections, a shaft part of the rotary shaft is rotated by rotating a lamp-tube for the lamp holder structure. Conducting terminals of the lamp-tube are electrically contacted with the two electrode plates. Before rotating the lamp-tube, the short-circuit part is electrically contacted with the two electrode plates. After rotating the lamp-tube, the short-circuit part is electrically contacted with one of the two electrode plates. The electrical connection between the two electrode plates is achieved by the lamp-tube. When the lamp-tube is removed, the lamp-tube is rotated again, so that the short-circuit part is electrically contacted with the two electrode plates, and the two electrode plates are short-circuited. The power could be transmitted to the next lamp holder structure.
US08282401B2

An electrical multiple distributor includes a housing having a modular design and including an inner housing. At least one clamping device is disposed on the housing and is configured to contact a shielded line of at least one cable outlet so as to connect the at least one cable outlet. At least one receiving contour is disposed at a connection position and is configured to accommodate a connecting sleeve so as to connect at least one connector. An electromagnetic shielding device is disposed on the housing, and a protective device is disposed on the housing and is configured to protect against at least one of moisture and dust. At least two electrical connections are disposed in the housing, and at least one distribution system is disposed in the housing and is configured to selectively interconnect the at least two electrical connections, the at least one distribution system being positionable by the inner housing.
US08282396B2

A bone or dental implant material in the form of a paste includes a mixture of calcium phosphate and/or calcium-containing powders, liquid glycerol, organic acid and gelling agent. The paste is stable, resistant to washout and will harden upon exposure to water. Physical characteristics of the paste, including consistency, porosity, and hardening time, are controlled by the choice and ratio of constituents.
US08282394B2

A visible coding of components of an articulator apparatus that mount maxillary and mandible casts indicates the relative correspondence between post-treatment goals and the present locations of a person's teeth and jaws. From another aspect, the visible coding indicates at least a direction, and preferably, a direction and a distance, which a person's teeth and/or jaws must be moved to achieve the goals.
US08282387B2

A hot runner nozzle for lateral injection of plastic components. The nozzle includes a multi-part nozzle body including at least one tip element which protrudes outwardly over a circumferential area of the nozzle body. The multi-part nozzle body further includes a nozzle body clamping disk section and a nozzle body base section having an axial side that has at least one recess arranged on the axial side to accommodate the at least one tip element.
US08282382B2

A method and apparatus for vacuum thermoforming disposable drink cups lids. The method and apparatus include the step of imparting printing to the lids in two or more colors. The step of imparting printing to the lids is done while the lids are in contact with the vacuum thermoforming platen.
US08282381B1

A nanoimprint mold includes a flexible body and a molding layer formed on the flexible body. The molding layer includes a plurality of protrusions and recesses. The molding layer is a polymer material polymerized via a cross linking polymerization of a nanoimprint resist which includes a hyperbranched polyurethane oligomer (HP), a perfluoropolyether (PFPE), a methylmethacrylate (MMA), a diluent solvent and a photo initiator.
US08282378B2

A device for extruding a strip of rubber comprises a passage for forming the strip, which passage is defined by a rotary roller for forming and driving the strip. The device also comprises a shutter for shutting the forming passage, which shutter is deactivatable under the effect of the pressure of the rubber upstream from the shutter exceeding a predetermined threshold.
US08282364B2

A rotary compressor includes a rotation compression element, a discharge port and a muffler. The rotation compression element is configured to compress gas as a result of rotation of a crankshaft about a rotation axis. The discharge port is configured to discharge the gas compressed by the rotation compression element. The muffler is arranged to cover the discharge port and surround the crankshaft. The muffler has a muffler crankshaft hole through which the crankshaft passes, and a muffler discharge region configured to discharge the compressed gas discharged from the discharge port toward an outer surface of the crankshaft.
US08282358B2

There is provided a fluidic device that is small, that can reduce contamination inclusion, and that can improve efficiency. A fluidic device includes a first constituent member internally having a first channel, and a mounting substrate internally having a second channel, the first constituent member being mounted on the mounting substrate. The mounting substrate has a storage portion for storing a fluid which is supplied to the first channel and a collecting portion for storing a fluid which is discharged from the first channel. The second channel has a supplying channel portion connected to the storage portion and a collecting channel portion connected to the collecting portion. The supplying channel portion and the collecting channel portion are connected to each other via the first channel.
US08282357B2

A blade arrangement (22) comprises an aerofoil (26) and a mounting support (28) to mount the blade arrangement to a disc. The aerofoil (26) is supported on the mounting support (28). The aerofoil (26) comprises a plurality of elongate aerofoil portions (34) arranged adjacent one another to provide the aerofoil.
US08282353B2

The invention relates to a bearing unit for a long rotor blade, especially a wind power installation, said bearing unit comprising two annular elements that can be rotated in relation to each other and are directly or indirectly connected to the rotor blade hub and to the rotor blade, and at least two running tracks that can be axially staggered in relation to each other and comprise peripheral rolling bodies with an approximately cylindrical shape, i.e. each comprising a lateral surface that is rotationally symmetrical to a rotational axis in a very precise manner. The aim of the invention is to be able to fully absorb the tipping moment caused by the wind pressure on the rotor blade and on the bearing unit, and optionally to absorb other forces and other moments. To this end, two running tracks are arranged between the two connection elements, are axially staggered in relation to each other, and comprise rolling bodies with an approximately cylindrical shape, said rolling bodies being oriented in such a way that the rotational axes thereof intersect the longitudinal axis of the rotor blade in question at an angle of between 30° and 90°. The invention also rates to a wind power installation provided with one such rotor blade bearing arrangement, and to a method for operating one such wind power installation. The at least one rotor blade in question is continuously rotted about the longitudinal axis thereof during the option of the wind power installation.
US08282334B2

The invention relates to methods and apparatus in which a plurality of ALD reactors are placed in a pattern in relation to each other, each ALD reactor being configured to receive a batch of substrates for ALD processing, and each ALD reactor comprising a reaction chamber accessible from the top. A plurality of loading sequences is performed with a loading robot. Each loading sequence comprises picking up a substrate holder carrying a batch of substrates in a storage area or shelf, and moving said substrate holder with said batch of substrates into the reaction chamber of the ALD reactor in question.
US08282326B2

A tie down for securing objects in an aircraft having a roller tray can comprise a tie-fitting, a carriage, and protruding elements. A carriage can include at least one side wall with protruding elements extending from the side wall of a carriage to cooperate with a roller tray. The protruding elements removably secure the tie down to a selected location along the roller tray. A restraint extending from an object can be removably secured to a tie down. The tie down being vertically insertable and removable by hand operation and without the use if tools or mechanical fasteners.
US08282325B2

A cradle unit for supporting metal coils, and other cylindrical objects, consists of two, parallel and separate saddles made of polyurethane or other material having a hardness range of between 50 Shore A and 90 Shore D, which saddles are connected together via a pair of parallel steel angle-brackets that provide inherent structural integrity to the cradle unit itself, while still allowing the unit to conform to the shape or level of the underlying support structure. The single cradle unit may be as a mobile support-device, or may be bolted or otherwise attached to a surface for a specific location of the stored product. The cradle unit is generally concave-shaped and has a first main or central lower concave curvature of a first radius, and a middle or secondary transitional curvature that connects the first main lower curvature to an upper, tertiary concave curvature of a second radius greater than the first radius, so that coils or rolls of different diameter may be safely and firmly supported. In a modification, a pair of rails are provided for fixedly mounting and supporting a plurality of support cradles, where each support cradle is held in place by the rails via metal pins protruding or projecting from the bottom surface of the support cradle that are received in openings formed the rails, whereby no lateral or longitudinal movement or sliding of the support cradles is possible.
US08282320B2

The invention relates to an eight-edged rotatable and reversible cutting insert having two opposite, substantially square base surfaces which are twisted relative to one another about a central axis running perpendicularly to said base surfaces, and having four identical side surfaces, wherein a main lip is formed between each base surface and each side surface. A bearing surface is formed between two chip grooves which extend along the associated main lip of the respective side surface, said bearing surface extending symmetrically beyond the groove ends of the adjacent chip groove and transversely to the main lips until its adjoins the latter.
US08282319B2

Rotary material removal tool mounted to a shaft for rotational motion includes a body and a plurality of radially extending arms. Each arm includes a radially outward peripheral edge, and, relative to a direction of rotational motion of the body, a leading side and a trailing side. Radially outward peripheral edges include a cutting insert mounting structure that projects axially below a bottom side of the body. The rotary material removal tool includes at least one of the following features to reduce measured air pressure (P1): (i) a leading edge of the insert mounting structure includes an air-displacement structure, (ii) the radially extending arms include at least one through-opening extending from the leading side to the trailing side, and (iii) the bottom side of the body is spaced from a plane containing a bottommost surface of the projecting cutting insert mounting structure. The air-displacement structure can be generally wedge-shaped, cone-shaped or pyramid-shaped.
US08282318B2

A bolt anchor is comprised of a camming element and sleeve. The camming element is generally cylindrical, but with a larger midsection and reduced diameters at each end. The camming element includes a threaded bore along its axis and at least one stop near one end. The sleeve has a round collar with leaves extending from the collar parallel to the axis of the collar and each other. The stop maintains the assembly of the camming element and sleeve. Prongs on the sleeve prevent the retraction or turning of the bolt anchor when a bolt is installed in a hole. Reduced material thickness associated with the leaves produces hinges which allow the leaves to be more easily deformed outwardly. Inserting a bolt and anchor assembly into the hole and turning the bolt pulls the camming element into the sleeve and creates a wedging effect in the hole.
US08282287B2

A connecting arrangement (10) for connecting a mowing knife to a mowing knife drive journal (12) has an annularly configured connecting element (16), a bearing arrangement (18) receivable in the connecting element (16), for mounting of the connecting element (16) on a mowing knife drive journal (12), and a mowing knife carrier (14) attachable to the connecting element (16).
US08282280B2

A bag (10) of thin plastic material shaped into a container having a closed end (11b) and an open end (11a) cut to provide two tying portions (18), and gusseted sides (14) extending between the open and closed ends. The plastic material is of a color and has embedded fragrance and antimicrobial agents, and has an imprinted design or pattern. The bag (10) is of a size suitable for receiving a single product, such as a used feminine hygiene product, along with any other material in the use or replacement of such product by a user, in which the tying portions (18) are tieable to seal said product within the bag. When a product is sealed in the bag (10) by a user, the antimicrobial agents inhibits the growth of odor causing bacteria, the scent masks any odors, and the color and imprinted design assists to conceal or obfuscate any blood on a used feminine product when received within the bag (10).
US08282277B2

The invention discloses a replaceable probe holder structure for thermometer, including a thermometer shell. Inside the thermometer shell installs a slot and an elastic positioning mechanism; inside the slot installs a probe holder; after the insertion of the probe holder in the slot, the probe holder will match with the elastic positioning mechanism and then fixed in the slot. By adopting the above structure, the probe holder structure of this invention requires fewer components, and convenient for installation; the adoption of the elastic positioning mechanism to fix the probe holder is more convenient to replace in practical use.
US08282272B2

A system and method is disclosed that reliably determines the transmissivity of a substrate. By determining the transmissivity of a calibration substrate, for instance, a temperature measuring device can be calibrated. The method and system are particularly well suited for use in thermal processing chambers that process semiconductor wafers used for forming integrated circuit chips.
US08282257B2

An apparatus for lighting display objects in a gaming machine is described herein. In one embodiment, a gaming machine includes a display object to be viewed and a light source to emit light. The gaming machine also includes a light-guiding panel. The light-guiding panel includes an edge to receive the light from the light source and a surface through which the light is reflected. In one embodiment, the surface includes a window through which the display object can be viewed. In one embodiment, the light is substantially uniformly reflected through all but the window of the surface.
US08282239B2

A light-directing apparatus for off-axial preferential-side distribution of light from a light emitter having an emitter axis, including a lens member positioned over the light emitter and a shield member. The lens member has a proximal end substantially transverse the emitter axis and an outer surface which may be configured for refracting light from the emitter. The shield member may be snugly received in a shield-receiving void of an inner surface of the lens member. Alternatively, the shield member is embedded by the lens member having been molded thereabout. Another aspect of this invention is a lighting fixture utilizing such light-directing apparatus.
US08282234B2

A personal protection system for providing a sterile barrier around medical/surgical personnel. The system includes a helmet over which a hood or a toga suspended. Integral with the helmet is a ventilation fan. The helmet also includes a light assembly for illuminating the surgical field. The helmet includes a front nozzle from which air from the ventilation fan is discharged. The light assembly is mounted to the helmet and is located below the front nozzle. Air discharged from the front nozzle blows heat generated by the light assembly away from the light assembly. In some versions of the invention, the light assembly includes a control arm connected to the light assembly for pivoting the light assembly.
US08282219B2

A projector includes: a projecting portion that projects an image based on input image data; an image data producing portion that produces the image data and then outputs the image data to the projecting portion; an image sensor that captures the projected image and thus produces a captured image; a movement detection sensor that is arranged on a plane parallel to the imaging plane of the image sensor and produces movement information on the basis of the detected movement, the movement detection sensor being arranged at an angle in the direction not equal to the horizontal direction and vertical direction of the imaging plane; a determining portion that determines whether the movement information meets an adjustment condition or not; and a control portion that, when the movement information meets the adjustment condition, controls the image data producing portion so as to adjust the image data on the basis of the captured image.
US08282216B2

A single-imager projection engine assembly includes a light source, a reflective polarization modulation imager, a reflective quarter wave composite plate, a projection lens system, and a PBS assembly which includes a first polarization beam splitting film and a second polarization beam splitting film in a V-notch pairing configuration. The first polarization beam splitting film reflects the illumination light in first polarization state to the reflective polarization modulation imager, while the second polarization beam splitting film and the reflective quarter wave composite plate in conjunction convert the illumination light in second polarization state passing through the first polarization beam splitting film to first polarization state and reflects the converted to the reflective polarization modulation imager. Combined illumination is modulated, polarization rotated and reflected by the reflective polarization modulation imager back to the PBS assembly for projection through the projection lens.
US08282201B2

A drum maintenance system for use in an imaging device includes a sump having a bottom surface and a plurality of sidewalls which are arranged to accommodate a volume of release agent. A roller applicator is rotatably supported a first distance above the sump and partially submerged in the release agent in the sump. A foam layer is positioned on the bottom surface of the sump beneath the roller applicator that has a first thickness that is greater than the first distance such that the foam layer is compressed between the roller applicator and the bottom surface of the sump. A filter is sandwiched between the foam layer and the roller applicator. The compressed foam layer provides a compliance force that presses the filter against the roller applicator. The filter is configured to permit rotation of the roller applicator positioned on top of the foam layer while being pressed against the roller applicator by the foam layer.
US08282198B2

A residual ink container comprising laminated members for absorbing residual ink not used for recording, wherein the laminated members are laminated with a gap between adjacent ones of the members; and a covering member covering such that non-contact portion is provided between the covering member and a topmost one of the laminated member so as not to press against the topmost one.
US08282177B1

A self-closing drawer slide for a refrigerator includes a slide assembly operable between an expanded position and a non-expanded position and having first and second slides that are slidably engaged. The first slide is removably attached directly or indirectly to the interior wall of the refrigerator. An actuator is operably coupled to the second slide. A modular self-closing mechanism is releasably attached to an interior wall of the refrigerator separate from the slide assembly. A slider is attached to a spring and slidably engaged with the self-closing mechanism. The slider is positionable by the actuator between an extended position and a retracted position. The slider is adapted to be disengaged from the extended position by the actuator, which allows the slider to move toward the retracted position under force of the spring and which consequently pulls the actuator and a third slide, causing the slide assembly to move toward the non-expanded position.
US08282173B2

An electropneumatic parking brake modulator for controlling a parking brake mode of trailer brakes in a vehicle/trailer combination includes a valve element for airing and bleeding the trailer spring brake cylinders, at least one compressed air reservoir inlet for airing at least one compressed air line in the parking brake modulator with compressed air from a compressed air reservoir of the towing vehicle, at least one compressed air reservoir outlet at which a reservoir pressure can be made available for the brakes of the trailer, and at least one compressed air control outlet at which a control pressure can be made available for the brakes of the trailer. A towing vehicle protection valve is integrated into the parking brake modulator, and a compressed air line to the compressed air control outlet is automatically blockable when the reservoir pressure made available for the trailer falls below a predetermined threshold value.
US08282172B2

A seating structure including a base, a pair of laterally spaced support arms each having a seat portion and a backrest portion and a transition portion joining the seat portion and backrest portion, wherein the support arms are coupled to the base. A body support member extends between and is connected to the support arms and includes at least a seat portion and a backrest portion. A support element is coupled to the base and includes a central support arm extending upwardly along a centerline of the backrest portion of the body support member. The central support arm is spaced rearwardly from the backrest portions of the support arms and further includes a pair of laterally extending struts connecting the central support arm and the laterally spaced support arms.
US08282157B2

In a sunroof system including a sunroof panel and a sunshade panel that is configured to avoid pinching a foreign object with the sunroof panel or sunshade panel, when a pinching by one of the panels is detected, the other panel is controlled according to the information on the pinching by the one panel and the condition of the other panel so as to prevent the pinching of the same foreign object by the other panel.
US08282154B2

A vehicle body lateral side portion structure including a side sill which has a closed cross-sectional structure formed from an inner panel and an outer panel, and is arranged along the vehicle longitudinal direction, wherein: an outer side wall of the outer panel includes a plurality of step portions; an arch surface which protrudes towards a vehicle exterior side taking, as an apex point, a vicinity of a join position with a center pillar of the vehicle body is formed in a portion of the outer side wall; the outer panel includes a planar portion adjoining the arch surface and a rectilinear portion extending in the vehicle longitudinal direction; a distal end portion of the side sill is connected to a front side frame of the vehicle body; and a rear end portion of the side sill is connected to a rear frame portion of the vehicle body.
US08282148B2

Trailers are described that include a chassis, a set of wheels for rollably supporting the chassis on the ground, and a rigid container carried by the chassis. The rigid container comprises a floor, a sidewall, an access door for loading/unloading materials into the container, and a convertible rigid roof. The convertible roof is movable between a closed position which permits waste or other materials to be compressed into the trailer, and an open position which permits the trailer to be loaded with bulk goods from the top. The convertible roof includes movable rigid panels, and a locking bar for holding the panels closed and connecting the opposite sidewalls of the trailer to each other against the expansion pressure exerted by loosely compressed materials transported in the trailer. The panels may be rotating panels hinged to a wall, or may be provided as sliding panels running in tracks.
US08282147B2

A laminate product particularly useful in vehicular applications is described. The laminate product comprises a foam core having a first major surface and a second major surface. One or both of the major surfaces comprises a fibrous layer and an adhesive layer adhering the fibrous layer to the foam core. The process for producing the laminate product involves exposing an initial laminate product to infrared radiation. A portion of the adhesive layer between fibers in fibrous layer being ablated. The foam laminate product has improved sound absorption properties and while maintaining desirable strength and stiffness properties. In addition, in certain cases, the peel strength of the fibrous reinforcing layer to the foam core is significantly improved in the present foam laminate product compared to the conventional approaches.
US08282144B1

A lifting ring assembly includes a shackle plate, a shackle operably associated with the shackle plate, and a lifting ring operably associated with the shackle. The lifting ring assembly further includes a biasing element operably associated with the shackle plate and the lifting ring for biasing the lifting ring away from the shackle plate.
US08282139B2

A quick connector coupling for a fluid line includes a female connector body defining a through bore, a tubular male member with a raised annular upset, and a retainer demountably coupled to the connector body. A seal assembly provides a fluid tight seal between the tube and body bore. A separate outer spacer is secured to the body to receive axial load of the seal assembly. The body defines spaced arcuate locking ledges having axially inward facing radial locking surfaces. The outer spacer is a continuous annular element includes an integral radial ring defining an annular axially outward facing radial abutment surface in radial abutting relation to the locking surfaces of said body ledges.
US08282132B2

A passenger motor vehicle (1) has a passenger compartment (3) and a fuel tank module (4) is in the passenger compartment (3). The module (4) has first and second chambers (19, 20). The first chamber (19) holds a tank bladder and a catch tank (32) is arranged within the tank bladder. The second chamber (20) holds a fuel pump unit (33). The module (4) is sealed off from remaining areas of the passenger compartment (3), and fuel lines to the module (4) and from the module (4) to the internal combustion engine are arranged outside the passenger compartment (3). Thus, a high level of safety for the vehicle occupant is ensured despite the accommodation of the fuel module in the passenger compartment, and substantially complete emptying of the fuel in the fuel module is possible.
US08282128B2

An airbag assembly comprises an airbag cushion, an inflator to provide inflation gas to inflate the airbag cushion, and a diffuser provided between the inflator and the airbag cushion. The diffuser includes a plurality of panels. The plurality of panels force the inflation gas to change flow direction at least two times before the inflation gas exits into the airbag. The panels each include openings for inflation gas to pass through. Openings in a first panel are not aligned with the openings in a second panel.
US08282127B1

A gas generating system including a housing and a divider dividing an interior of the housing into a first chamber and a second chamber. First and second tubes extend into the second chamber and end at the divider. At least one opening is formed in the divider to enable fluid communication of the first chamber with an interior of only the first tube after activation of the gas generating system.
US08282126B2

An occupant restraint system for a motor vehicle having a seat system configured to provide seating to an occupant positioned adjacent to a console having a top surface and configured to provide utility; which includes a cushion stored in the folded configuration and having an inflatable chamber configured to inflate adjacent to an occupant to provide impact restraint to the occupant; an inflator configured to provide gas to inflate the inflatable chamber of the cushion; wherein a bottom portion of the cushion deploys to a position below the top surface of the console and a top portion of the cushion deploys to a position above the top surface of the console; wherein, during occupant loading, a portion of cushion contacts the console to receive lateral support and to react the forces imparted into the cushion induced by the occupant impacting the cushion, wherein the lateral support impedes lateral displacement of the cushion providing additional restraint to the occupant.
US08282123B2

A knee airbag device includes a column cover that covers a rear end portion of a steering column from below; and an airbag module. The airbag module is disposed in a column lower cover and includes a gas generation portion that generates gas and a knee airbag that is housed in the airbag module in a folded state, and is inflated and deployed by the gas supplied by the gas generation portion. The airbag module is connected to the steering column by a snap-fit action.
US08282111B2

A cart may include a frame, a plurality of wheels carried by the frame, a platform movably carried by the frame, and a lift assembly. The lift assembly may be carried at least in part by the frame and operably associated with the platform to move the platform relative to the frame. The lift assembly may include at least one hydraulic actuator having a piston rod movable under hydraulic pressure to move the platform relative to the frame.
US08282107B2

An oil seal for reciprocation motion including a seal main body, a resin backup ring, and a holding member. The seal main body includes a seal lip that can be in sliding contact with a reciprocating shaft. The backup ring is disposed such as to support the seal lip from the atmosphere side to ensure durability of the seal lip. In the backup ring, at least a single annular groove is provided on the inner peripheral surface opposing the reciprocating shaft. The annular groove can hold a lubricating material. The holding member holds the backup ring between the holding member and the seal main body in a sandwiched-state. The inner peripheral surface of the backup ring forms a taper that increases in diameter from a sealed side towards an atmosphere side in the axial direction.
US08282098B2

A sheet stacking apparatus includes a sheet stack portion having a plurality of separately elevatable stacker trays configured to stack a conveyed sheet and arranged one after the other in a sheet conveying direction. When a number of sheets to be stacked is greater than a number of sheets stackable on a stacker tray, the sheets are conveyed on one stacker tray and then stacked on another stacker tray so that the sheet stacking apparatus is capable of stacking a large number of sheets.
US08282097B2

A transport system for cut sheet media has a first and second cylinder to form a nip, a support subsystem to transport edges of cut sheets having at least one image into and out of the nip, and an array of contact points on each cylinder to make contact with the cut sheets without marking the image. A wheel for a print medium transport system has an outer rim having a series of contact points, an inner hub supporting a means to accommodate a drive shaft, and an internal spring connecting the outer rim to the inner hub. A method of transporting cut sheets in a printing system forms a nip between at least one pair of cylinders, each cylinder having an array of contact points, guides a first edge of a cut sheet into the nip, and uses the arrays of contact points to transport the cut sheets through one of either a fusing or drying process.
US08282087B2

An oscillation decoupling device is disclosed with a load-receiving element which is mounted in an oscillating manner relative to a support unit at least along an active direction along which at least part of the load is applied having at least one sensor unit which detects an oscillation of the element due to the load and at least one actuator unit acting against the oscillation of the element. The support unit is modularly configured and serves as a support structure for at least one unit that receives the element and is elastically deformable in the active direction of the load. The load-receiving element is connected to the elastically deformable unit. The at least one actuator influences the deformation applied to the at least one unit, or is integrated thereon, so that the at least one actuator initiates a deformation acting against an elastic deformation due to the load inside the unit.
US08282085B2

An absorbent covering (1) has high damping power, secured on a structure (2) and includes a dissipater mesh made up of a plurality of dissipating elements (3) and of nodes (4) each having its bottom end (4′) secured on the structure (2). In remarkable manner, the bottom ends (4′) of the nodes (4) project from the dissipating elements (3) so as to leave an empty space (5) between the dissipating elements (3) and the structure (2), the absorbent covering (1) including main absorbent elements (6) arranged in the empty space (5), each of the main absorbent elements (6) being secured firstly to a bottom face (3′) of a dissipating element (3) and secondly to the structure (2).
US08282084B2

A respiratory humidification system having a capillary passage in communication with a ventilator, the ventilator adapted to deliver an air stream, a heater operable to at least partially vaporize water in the capillary passage, a pumping unit adapted to supply water to the capillary passage, wherein the water upon heating is at least partially vaporized to form an aerosol stream. The aerosol stream is combined with the air stream to form a humidified air stream.
US08282076B2

An opening and closing apparatus of a manhole cover has a simple structure and by which opening and closing operation of a cover can be performed safely by a worker alone. An opening and closing apparatus of a manhole cover has such a configuration that the manhole cover is openably and closably coupled to an opening portion of a supporting frame via a rotational joining portion. A hydraulic jack in which a plunger pump is driven by a manual lever raises a ram and the ram lowers due to releasing of an oil returning valve attached on the supporting frame near the rotational joining portion such that the hydraulic jack is rotatable at a lower end portion thereof, and the hydraulic jack and an engagement member fixed attachably to and detachably from the manhole cover are coupled to each other by a pulling member.
US08282074B2

The present invention provides more efficient, cost effective coke drum isolation valve devices and system as well as more efficient, cost effective methods for isolating the flow of matter from location to another in the delayed coker unit operation where the valve comprises a first seat; a second seat aligned with said first seat; a blind; a main body having an orifice dimensioned to align with an orifice in said line; wherein said main body is coupled to said line; an upper and lower bonnet coupled to said main body, wherein said bonnets may be removed in order to replace valve parts without separating the main body from the line; and a plate located inside a bonnet, wherein the plate comprises a planar surface that contacts a surface of the blind.
US08282058B2

The present invention relates to mounting devices, and in particular to a mount for mounting a device or other object on a suitable support structure such as a slatwall. In one embodiment, the mount comprises a support structure interface engageable with a support structure, the support structure interface comprising a base having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, and at least one engagement member extending from the first side for engaging the support structure, and a mounting slot at the second side of the base. The mount further comprises a separate device interface comprising at least one male portion receivable into the mounting slot of the support structure interface and at least one connector portion connectable to a device that is to be mounted.
US08282044B2

An actuator device for varying the attitude of a spacecraft includes a reversible conversion chain of electrical energy to mechanical rotation energy of a flywheel. The electrical energy is stored in a capacitive element that may be a supercapacitor. The actuator device also includes an electrical power converter, connected, on one hand, to the capacitive element and intended to be connected, on the other hand, to the spacecraft power bus. The converter makes it possible to compensate for losses to keep a total energy of the actuator device constant.
US08282038B2

A bi-directional flight control surface mechanism comprises a fixed part V of a vertical stabilizer having leading and trailing edges and a rudder having leading and trailing edges. The rudder is mounted relative to the fixed part of the vertical stabilizer so that the trailing edge of the fixed structure is adjacent the leading edge of the rudder. The rudder is movable from a neutral position in which the rudder lies in line with the fixed part of the vertical stabilizer to define a notional centerline to first and second angled positions in which the rudder is angled relative to the fixed part of the vertical stabilizer at a non-zero angle on one or other side of the notional centerline. An actuator is provided to drive the rudder relative to the fixed part of the vertical stabilizer so as to vary the distance between said part of the trailing edge of the fixed part of the vertical stabilizer and the leading edge of the rudder.
US08282037B2

A nacelle assembly for a turbine engine has a cowl for a turbine engine. The cowl has a first surface spaced from a second surface. The second surface defines defining a bypass flow passage. A flow volume is spaced between the first surface and the second surface. A plurality of holes are disposed on the cowl. Each of the plurality of holes are configured to alter local air pressure about one of the first surface and the second surface of the cowl. The plurality of holes are in communication with the flow volume.
US08282032B2

Disclosed is a pre-wound sheet cut-off mechanism of a thin material sheet winding device, including a first winding roller, a plurality of curved guide plates arranged at a predetermined distance below the first winding roller and distributed and spaced from each other by a predetermined distance along an axial direction of a shaft of the first winding roller, a plurality of pre-winding plates each coupled between adjacent curved guide plates, a second winding roller, and a rider roller. In a winding operation, a core is conveyed into a curved-guide-plate channel defined between the first winding roller and the curved guide plates to adhere to and pre-wind a thin material sheet that is conveyed to the first winding roller, and is thereafter transported to a winding nip to form a roll with the thin material sheet. The winding speed of the roll is reduced for preparing a next core to reach the pre-winding plates, accordingly, the thin material sheet is slacked, such that the slacked thin material sheet can be pre-wound, thereafter, the thin material sheet pre-wound continuously and the thin material sheet is gradually tensioned on the next core until the thin material sheet is torn apart.
US08282029B2

The invention discloses a system for processing bone product comprising at least a mincer and a comminuter (10), a method to operate such a system and a comminuter (10) for use in such a system and method.
US08282027B2

An electrostatic atomizing device for ejecting a mist of charged minute particles includes metal ion elution means for eluting sterilizing metal ions into a liquid to be electrostatically atomized. The metal ions are taken up by the charged minute particles, and are ejected into an environment space together with the charged minute particles, thereby eliciting a sterilizing effect. The elution amount of the metal ions is regulated by varying the voltage applied between two kinds of metal bodies.
US08282024B2

A system, nozzle assembly, and method for coating a stent with a solvent and polymer are provided. The polymer can include a therapeutic substance or a drug. The polymer and solvent can be discharged from separate tubes disposed within another tube carrying moving air. The polymer and the solvent mix together when they are discharged and are atomized by the air. The ends of the tubes can be concentric with each other. The ends of the tubes can also be positioned relative to each other to prevent accumulation of polymer at the ends of the tubes.
US08282023B2

Fluid storage and dispensing systems, and processes for supplying fluids for use thereof. Various arrangements of fluid storage and dispensing systems are described, involving permutations of the physical sorbent-containing fluid storage and dispensing vessels and internal regulator-equipped fluid storage and dispensing vessels. The systems and processes are applicable to a wide variety of end-use applications, including storage and dispensing of hazardous fluids with enhanced safety. In a specific end-use application, reagent gas is dispensed to a semiconductor manufacturing facility from a large-scale, fixedly positioned fluid storage and dispensing vessel containing physical sorbent holding gas at subatmospheric pressure, with such vessel being refillable from a safe gas source of refill gas, as disclosed herein.
US08282018B2

Embodiments of a track device include a track section with a hollow rail, a rail support member with flanges, eccentric rail support, a cross member with a rotatably coupling, rail ferrules for mating, and rail materials including a lubricious material.
US08282016B2

A substrate having a position-coding pattern disposed on a surface thereof. The position-coding pattern comprises a plurality of tags, each tag encoding a w-bit subsequence of a cyclic code sequence having a length n and a dimension k. The w-bit subsequence maps to a corresponding coordinate codeword for the tag. Adjacent tags contain successive w-bit subsequences in the cyclic code sequence and n>w>k.
US08282015B2

A document and a related viewer for the document are constructed as image files capable of transmission to a printing site. The document file contains information for printing a document having hidden security indicia, and the viewer file contains information for printing a document viewer having a decrypting portion for revealing the hidden security indicia in the document.
US08282014B2

Lottery tickets are printed and validated (“branded”) at a point-of-sale terminal by providing a stock paper to the terminal, the stock paper having a first defined inkjet printing section, and a second defined section having a thermally sensitive ink composition applied thereto. At the point-of-sale terminal, the individual lottery tickets are printed on the stock paper, including printing game data and related indicia on the first section with an inkjet printer. For each ticket presented as a winning ticket, a validation mark is formed on the ticket by exposing the second section of the stock paper to a heat source to activate the thermally sensitive ink composition.
US08282008B2

A closed-loop receptacle setup verification and traceability system for use in automatically detecting the presence or absence of a components receptacle at a location is presented, such receptacles comprising components reels, components bearing trays or racks, or other such receptacles for bearing and providing components for components processing and/or manipulation. The system is further for automatically identifying the detected receptacles and validating their use at respective detecting locations based on components parameters identifiably associated therewith. The system is still further for tracking and monitoring such receptacles from one detecting location to another optionally updating components parameters associated therewith as needed. To implement the system, each receptacle should comprise at least one detectable element and each detecting position should comprise at least one reader adapted to detect the detectable element and so determine whether receptacles are present at the detecting locations being monitored. Typically, the closed loop system uses RFID technology, e.g. the detector comprises at least one antenna and the detectable element comprises at least one RF tag. Detector antennae may be multiplexed or operated independently to communicate detection, identification and/or validation data between the detectable elements and the system.
US08281999B2

A method of formatting digital data and a method of decoding the formatted digital data. User selectable format parameters vary the dimensions and other attributes of spots and the cells containing those spots as well as other features which the formatting process formats into a pattern. A method of encoding the formatted digital data using these format parameters allows for encoding a substrate optimally for any given printer or scanner. One embodiment provides for markers to facilitate determination of cell locations. In one embodiment the decoding process achieves a pyramid gain of knowledge by locating a landmark (801), which is located in a known position relative to a metasector (802), which contains information about the encoding process used to encode the main body of data (803), which the decoding process decodes to recover the original digital data. Further embodiments include encryption, transmission by facsimile, inclusion of human readable information, and automatic launches of computer files.
US08281993B2

A data collection device can include at least one of a bar code reader unit, an RFID reader unit, and a card reader unit. A data collection device can be operative to receive and process radio signals. A data collection device can be configured so that operation of the data collection device is responsive to radio signals.
US08281982B2

A region having coded data thereon, a method of applying the coded data to the region and a system having a computer system and sensing device for interacting with the region are provided. At least some of the coded data has data indicative of a functional attribute of a part of the region and the coded data has a plurality of substantially undifferentiated marks positioned relative to a set of predetermined nominal mark positions. Each mark has a minimum radius and a maximum radius, where the length of a mark's minimum radius is greater than 40% of the length of that mark's maximum radius.
US08281966B2

A bracelet fastening device with a spring biased clasp gripping member, a bendable metal rod, a holding member, a sliding member, a spring post, and a resilient rod covering member. The holding member is ball shaped at one end and slidably engages with the sliding member and attached rod. The clasp gripping member is constructed like a standard alligator clip and is fixed to the opposite end of the bendable metal rod. The spring post is located within the sliding member and can engage one of a plurality of recesses inside the holding member so that the user can adjust the overall length of the device. The bendable metal rod is covered by the resilient rod covering. The rod and covering can be bent so that the clasp gripping member is in close proximity to the clasp being fastened.
US08281964B2

Rotary device for treating molten metal has a hollow shaft with a rotor having a roof and a base spaced apart and connected by a plurality of dividers. A passage extends between each adjacent pair of dividers and the roof and the base. A flow path extends through the shaft into inlets of the passages and out of outlets. A chamber in which mixing of the molten metal and gas can take place is located radially inwardly of the inlets, has an opening in the base of the rotor and is in the flowpath between the shaft and the inlets. Upon rotation of the device, molten metal is drawn into the chamber through the rotor base where it is mixed with gas passing into the chamber from the shaft. The metal/gas dispersion is pumped into the passages through the inlets before discharge from the rotor through the outlets.
US08281960B1

A manual pump spray bottle, comprising a rotating coupling near the top of the container, thereby allowing a suction tube to swing about the entire perimeter of the bottle, is herein disclosed. The coupling provides a means such that no matter how the bottle is held, the tube is always at the lowest part and immersed in the liquid contents. The radius of the container bottom corresponds to that of the swing of the suction tube.
US08281954B2

A sensory aroma glass is disclosed. According to one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a fluid barrier; and a fluid container designed for containing a fluid. The fluid barrier is in contact with the rim or internal or external sidewall of the fluid container. The fluid barrier extends into the fluid container. The fluid barrier has an opening that allows aroma of the fluid to escape from the fluid container without allowing the fluid to escape from the fluid container.
US08281951B2

A system, including an enclosure and a module, where the module is disposed in the enclosure such that a tab of the enclosure is disposed in a slot of the module; and the module is configured to rotate about the slot. The enclosure can also be configured to receive modular mounting structures. The enclosure can also include multiple panels that create a smaller opening.
US08281940B2

A computer rack includes an upper frame, a lower frame, two pairs of support legs, a pair of horizontal struts, a pair of mounting members, and a pair of vertical struts. The two pairs of support legs connect between the upper frame and the lower frame. The pair of horizontal struts is attached to the two pairs of the support legs at opposite sides. The pair of mounting members can be attached to each of the pair of horizontal struts at various horizontal locations. The pair of vertical struts is attached to the pair of mounting members. A distance between the pair of vertical struts varies when the locations of the pair of mounting members vary, thereby computer modules with different sizes capable of being mounted between the pair of vertical struts.
US08281938B2

The invention discloses a nano-fiber material, wherein the nano-fiber material is formed by spinning an ionic polymer into a nano-fiber nonwoven, and the ionic polymer is represented by the formula: wherein: R1 includes phenyl sulfonate or alkyl sulfonate; R2 includes R3 includes and m/n is between 1/50 and 50/1, q≧0.
US08281936B2

A vacuum drum washer including: a cylindrical drum including a screen and deck defining an exterior cylindrical surface; a plurality of outer filtrate channels disposed inward of the screen, the outer filtrate channels extending along a longitudinal axis of the drum and substantially an entire length of the drum; an radial array of filtrate end conduits extending radially inward from the outer filtrate channels towards a rotational axis of the drum, the radial filtrate conduits have an inlet positioned at a first end of the drum and draining filtrate from the outer filtrate channels; a filtrate chamber at the first end of the drum and receiving filtrate discharged from the end conduits, and an array of radial filtrate drainage conduits coupled to receive filtrate from the filtrate channels, the drainage conduits each having an inlet proximate to the filtrate channels, the inlets are arranged between a center of the drum and a second end of the drum, and the radial drainage conduits directing filtrate to the filtrate chamber.
US08281933B2

A rider bar (5) is essentially made of elastomeric material. The rider bar (5) is intended for a surface of a screen cloth (1) or a wear-resistant lining over which pieces or particles of material are intended to move. The rider bar (5) comprises a wear-resistant element (6).
US08281925B2

A safety spanner suspension structure is provided for suspending a slender box-end ratchet spanner in an easy and safe insertion-retained suspended form for exhibition. The suspension structure includes an upper portion suspension board and a lower portion suspension seat. The suspension seat forms a seating hole that receives and is for engagement with a retention seat that forms alternately arranged projection tabs. The body of the retention seat forms an open slot for easy insertion into the seating hole for positioning purposes. A ring hole of the spanner is set on the outer side of the retention seat and a retention member is fit from the outside through the ring hole of the spanner to fit into the retention seat to have a post of the retention seat fit into the open slot of the retention member.
US08281921B2

A plural chambered container for storing separately a plurality of substances for mixing prior to opening the container. The container comprises a closed outer container having a side wall, bottom and top. It further comprises an inner chamber with a designated opening area, wherein the inner chamber is operatively attached to the bottom of the outer container. In addition the outer container is filled with a first substance and the inner chamber is filled with a second substance. The outer container is filled with a one substance and the inner chamber is filled with another substance. Upon pressing the side walls of said outer container, the designated opening area is opened thereby causing the substance in the inner chamber to mix with the substance in the outer container.
US08281909B2

A vehicle drum brake includes: a first brake shoe; a second brake shoe; a parking brake lever connected with the second brake shoe; a pull unit connected with the parking brake lever; a strut including a curved portion which is curved towards an outer circumferential side of the backing plate, the strut being disposed between a portion of the parking brake lever which lies closer to the portion where the pull mechanism is connected than the portion where the parking brake lever is attached and the first brake shoe; a strut return spring for returning the strut in a non-operating state to its initial position is provided to extend between the strut and the second brake shoe; and an engagement hole formed in the curved portion of the strut for one end portion of the strut return spring to be brought into engagement therewith.
US08281893B2

A variable transmission ratio mechanism comprises: an input member capable of rotating around a first axis; and an intermediate member that allows the differential rotation of the output member. The intermediate member is capable of rotating around a second axis that is slanted relative to the first axis. On first and second power transmission surfaces of the intermediate member, corresponding first and second engaging sections are respectively arranged according to corresponding first and second arrangement pitch circles centered on the second axis. On corresponding first and second engagement circles centered on the first axis, the first and second engaging sections are respectively engageable with corresponding first and second engageable sections. The diameter of the first arrangement pitch circle differs from the diameter of the second arrangement pitch circle.
US08281886B2

An electric motor control device includes an inverter that supplies an output of a primary-side DC power supply to an electric motor to control driving of the electric motor; a converter that includes a voltage increasing power supply device that increases a voltage of the primary-side DC power supply to supply the inverter with the increased voltage as a secondary voltage, and a regenerative power supply device that reversely supplies regenerative power from the inverter to the primary-side DC power supply; a secondary-side target voltage determination unit; a converter control unit; and an electric motor control unit.
US08281880B2

In one aspect of the present invention an expandable tool for an earth boring system comprises a mandrel comprising a tubular body and an outer diameter, a plurality of blades disposed about the outer diameter, and a slidable sleeve positioned around the outer diameter and capable of manipulating the plurality of blades into collapsed and expanded positions.
US08281878B2

A well is drilled and casing installed utilizing a casing drilling technique. A bottom hole assembly having a drill bit and a fluid diverter is secured to a string of drill pipe and installed within a casing string. Drilling fluid is pumped down the drill pipe string to cause the drill bit to rotate and drill the well while the fluid diverter is in a drilling mode position. At the total depth for the casing string, the operator moves the fluid diverter to a cementing position and pumps cement down the drill pipe and up the casing string annulus. After cementing, the operator moves the fluid diverter to a packer set position and again pumps drilling fluid down the drill string to set the packer.
US08281877B2

A top drive system includes a top drive, top drive adapter, and a tubular positioning apparatus. In another aspect, the top drive adapter includes a housing operatively connected to the top drive and a plurality of retaining members disposed in the housing for gripping the tubular. In another aspect, the tubular positioning apparatus includes a gripping member for engaging a tubular and a conveying member for positioning the gripping member. A spinner may be provided to rotate the tubular.
US08281873B2

The invention relates to a hand-held power tool, in particular a hammer drill which has a hammer drive, a rotary drive, a switching device, and a main output element. The switching device has a slide mechanism, which is designed for switching between different operating modes. According to the invention, the slide mechanism has at least one coupling element, which in at least one operating mode is directly coupled to a coupling element, the latter being rotationally fixed to the main output element.
US08281872B2

A drill hammer for the three operation modes of drilling, chiseling, and hammer-drilling has a motor with a motor shaft; a gear with an intermediate shaft, a driving gear wheel, a toothed slaving shaft , a shifting hub, and a driven gear wheel; a percussion mechanism with a wobble disk and a wobble gear wheel; and a driven shaft with a driving gear wheel and a drill chuck. The gear is configured to be changed over easily without axial displacement of running gears that mesh with one another so that the drill hammer is more robust, shorter or more compact, and lighter in weight. The drill hammer is thus simply and economically constructed and whose efficiency is not impaired by the gear shifting mechanism.
US08281869B2

A spark arrestor for processing railroad rails includes an annular body having an upper end wall provided with a first opening and a lower end wall provided with a second opening. The annular body has a pair of generally aligned, circumferentially offset, downwardly open recesses, each structured to be received over a portion of the railroad rail and each having a first plurality of downwardly extending shield elements, extending downwardly beyond the upper surface of the rail. Lateral surfaces of the annular body disposed between the downwardly open recesses have a plurality of second shield elements extending downwardly therefrom. A cutting torch or heating torch or welding torch receiving opening is provided in the annular body to facilitate insertion of the torch. The upper and lower end wall opening, each preferably having a grid structure to resist outward migration of sparks and flames from the interior of the spark arrestor.
US08281863B2

A removable module for actuating elements, such as valves, within a subsea production tree. The module can include a motor, a drive shaft, and a ball screw. Embodiments exist where only the motor is removable, optionally the motor and drive shaft and/or all module elements are removable. A fail safe system is included that moves the production tree element into a pre-designated fail safe position.
US08281859B2

Methods and compositions are disclosed that comprise cement kiln dust having a mean particle size that has been altered. An embodiment discloses a subterranean treatment method comprising: introducing a treatment fluid into a subterranean formation, wherein the treatment fluid comprises cement kiln dust having a mean particle size that has been altered from its original size by grinding, separating, or a combination thereof. Another embodiment discloses a subterranean treatment method comprising: introducing a treatment fluid into a subterranean formation, wherein the treatment fluid comprises cement kiln dust having a mean particle size that has been reduced from its original size.
US08281855B2

Systems and methods for a shrouded tubular device that includes but is not limited to a tubular member, such as a screen joint; a shroud surrounding at least a portion of the tubular, the shroud is at least a two-piece shroud; and a shim in the annulus between the tubular member and the shroud. By way of example only, the shroud may be located directly radially inward from the joint of two of the shroud pieces.
US08281850B2

A metallic heat exchanger tube has fins which run helically around the outside of the tube, are molded integrally therefrom and are of continuous design and the fin base of which protrudes substantially radially from the tube wall, and with primary grooves located between respectively adjacent fins. At least one undercut secondary groove is arranged in the region of the groove base of the primary grooves. The secondary groove is delimited toward the primary groove by a pair of mutually opposite material projections formed from the material of respectively adjacent fin bases and the cross-section thereof is varied at regular intervals without having an influence on the shape of the fins. There is a spacing between the opposite material projections, the spacing being varied at regular intervals, as a result of which local cavities are formed.
US08281847B2

There is provided a roll-up shade apparatus which can ensure a larger open dimension of a shade. The roll-up shade apparatus comprises a pair of first wire drums which travel and rotate in a wire wind-up direction or a wire feed direction when the shade is moved in the open direction or the closing direction, a pair of second wire drums which are coupled to a retractor so as to be rotatable together with the retractor, and which are rotatably provided at both sides of the retractor coaxially therewith so that a wire wind-up direction becomes opposite to a shade wind-up direction of the retractor, and a pair of wires suspended between the respective first and second wire drums so that the second wire drums rotate in a wire feed direction or in a wire wind-up direction when the first wire drums rotate in the wire wind-up direction or in the wire feed direction, respectively.
US08281846B2

A curtain includes a curtain bracket (1) having an end to which a rotation driving device (3) is mounted. The rotation driving device (3) can actuate a curtain reeling drum (4A) to rotate a curtain cloth (7) or actuate a reeling rope device (4) to rotate a curtain cloth or shade (7). A reverse rotation releasing device (5) and a resilience reverse rotation mechanism (14) are connected to the rotation driving device (3). The rotation driving device (3) is comprised of a pull rope rotary disc (3c), a unidirectional clutch device (6) connected to the pull rope rotary disc (3c), and a rewinding spring (3e) mounted between the pull rope rotary disc (3c) and a pull rope rotary disc box (3a). Thus, only one cord is sufficient to control opening of the curtain cloth or shade (7), and reverse rotation of the curtain reel drum (4A) is not adversely affected by the rotation driving device (3). It is convenient to use while avoiding injury to children.
US08281845B2

A device that can be used as an advertising display device, an information display device or as a shade or screen that has novel ways to charge the sheet retraction spring, novel ways to prevent tampering with the charge on the spring once the device in operation and that may utilize a pull bar which allows identification of information on the sheet while in a rolled-up state without an additional label.
US08281837B2

Provided are a pneumatic tire with a durability which is improved by preventing oxygen deterioration of coating rubber of a reinforcement layer, and a method of manufacturing the pneumatic tire. The pneumatic tire according to the present invention is a pneumatic tire including a reinforcement layer having reinforcement cords. In the pneumatic tire, the reinforcement layer is covered with thin films each made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition obtained by blending a thermoplastic resin with an elastomer in a way that the reinforcement is wrapped with the thin films. A method of manufacturing the pneumatic tire includes: arranging a thin film made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition on an outer periphery of a making drum, the thermoplastic elastomer composition being obtained by blending a thermoplastic resin with an elastomer; arranging a reinforcement layer including reinforcement cords on an outer periphery of the thin film; arranging another thin film on an outer periphery of the reinforcement layer; covering the reinforcement layer with these thin films in a way that the reinforcement layer is wrapped with the thin films; making an uncured tire including the reinforcement layer; and curing the uncured tire.
US08281834B2

A pneumatic tire and rim assembly is provided in the cavity with a noise damper in which a sponge material extending in a circumferential direction of the tire and having a volume V2 of 0.4 to 20% of entire volume V1 of the cavity, wherein the noise damper comprises a fixing surface fixed to a surface which surrounds the tire cavity, and a free surface directed to the tire cavity, a maximum value of thickness from the fixing surface to the free surface is in a range of 5 to 50 mm, including a thick mountain portion and a thin valley portion; and at least one of outer ends of the noise damper in the circumferential direction of the tire is formed into an inclined surface portion comprising a first inclined surface rising from the fixing surface and a second inclined surface extending from the first inclined surface to the free surface.
US08281828B2

Provided is a pneumatic tire capable of providing improved lateral sliding resistance on snow, improved traction on snow, and improved uneven-wear resistance. The provided tire includes: at least one circumferential main groove formed in a tread portion and extending in the tire-circumferential direction; and plural columns of land areas defined in the tread portion by the circumferential main groove. Plural lug grooves and plural sipes are formed in at least one of the plural land-area columns. Each of the lug grooves extends in the tire-width direction. At least one end of each lug groove is formed as a dead end located in the corresponding land area. Each of the sipes extends so as to surround the corresponding lug groove. Each sipe intersects with the lug groove in question, and is communicatively connected to the corresponding single one of the circumferential main grooves at the two ends of the sipe.
US08281825B2

A fuel filler port closing apparatus including an opening (44) of a filler neck or an opening (211) of a nozzle guide (21) securely and reliably sealed, even when a seal packing (325) sags, bends or deflects. Sealing is realized by a flapper (3) including a rotation plate (31) which rotates and flaps, and a seal plate (32) having the seal packing (325) moving freely in an up and down direction with respect to the rotation plate (31).
US08281822B2

An in-vehicle hydrogen storage apparatus has a hydrogen gas filling passage connected from a hydrogen gas filling port up to the storage device that stores a hydrogen gas to be supplied to a fuel cell, and an odorizing agent supplying device that supplies an odorizing agent to hydrogen gas in at least one of the inside of the storage device and the inside of the hydrogen gas filling passage.
US08281811B2

A large manipulator, especially a truck-mounted concrete pump, has a boom base that can be arranged on a frame so as to be pivoted about a substantially vertical axis of rotation. The large manipulator has a pendular element, that hangs down as an articulated boom and a control device for controlling the drive units of the axes of articulation and rotation of the articulated boom. The remote control has at least one inclination sensor which is housed in a housing that is detachably fastened on the pendular element. Two inclination sensors are housed in the housing and are bent at an angle of 90° with respect to each other and with respect to an axis that is parallel to the pendular element axis. The housing has a mark indicating the orientation of at least one of the inclination sensors inside the housing.
US08281809B1

A flow modulator to control the flow of an aerosol to an aerosol detection and/or monitoring system and other aerosol flow systems includes a chamber having an inlet and an outlet, a diverging section of the chamber beneath the inlet that has a flow divider at the center to divide the aerosol into fractions, a recirculation section in which the divided aerosol fractions are recombined, and a converging section that channels the recombined aerosol fractions to the outlet of the chamber.
US08281808B2

The present invention provides a coolant reservoir tank for a fuel cell vehicle, in which the coolant reservoir tank is positioned at a bottom of the vehicle such that coolant in a coolant line is collected in the reservoir tank by gravity during shutdown of a fuel cell system and the coolant in the reservoir tank is supplied to the coolant line by a vacuum pump during startup of the fuel cell system.For this purpose, the present invention provides a coolant reservoir tank including: a coolant reservoir tank for a fuel cell vehicle, the coolant reservoir tank comprising: a reservoir housing having a predetermined volume of space; a cover for covering the top of the reservoir housing; and a plurality of ports detachably provided on at least one portion of the cover, wherein the reservoir housing and the cover are connected by a hinge type fastening member.
US08281795B2

A retractable awning, comprising a screen which may be extended and retracted, wherein there is provided a first motor arranged to extend the screen, a second motor arranged to retract the screen, and a control unit arranged to control the first and second motors, wherein the first and second motors are synchronized so as to maintain tension in the screen within predetermined values.
US08281794B2

A stage device for use in a vacuum includes a frame-shaped movable stage having a sample mounting surface, a fixed stage surrounded by the movable stage, an air bearing to float the movable stage by supplying gas to a gap between the stages, a pressure regulator to regulate a pressure of the gas, a differential pumping portion to prevent the gas from flowing outside the gap, and a controller. The controller moves the movable stage within a predetermined range under a pressure in the differential pumping portion set equal to that for movable stage in use when setting a floating height of the movable stage lower than that for movable stage in use, and under the pressure in the differential pumping portion set higher than that for movable stage in use when setting the floating height of the movable stage equal to that for movable stage in use.
US08281792B2

A diaphragm assist device includes a magnetic mat adapted for mounting inside a human body adjacent the diaphragm. The mat is made from a material responsive to application of an electromagnetic field so as to be movable into compressive relation with the diaphragm in response to application of the electromagnetic field thereto and movable out of the compressive relation to permit the diaphragm to relax when application of the electromagnetic field is discontinued. The device also includes an electromagnetic assembly adapted for surrounding the torso of the human body in functionally cooperative relation with respect to the mat, and for alternately generating and discontinuing the electromagnetic field so that the mat alternately moves into and out of the compressive relation with the diaphragm. The device also includes a controller constructed and arranged to control an intensity level of the electromagnetic field generated by the electromagnetic assembly.
US08281790B2

A surgical drape (1) has a first absorbent region (4) on the upper side thereof. According to the invention, the first absorbent region (4) extends along at least one edge of the drape (1), the first region having a dispersion of liquid on an inclined plane better than in a region (3) or regions adjacent to the first absorbent region.
US08281785B2

Breathing equipment (10) for use in conventional operating room procedures comprises a flexible breathing bag (12) connected at one end (12.1) via a gas redirecting connector (14) to a gas guiding tube (16) and at the opposite end to a flexible exhaust gas bridging tube (18) forming part of a gas removal conduit (20) used for the remote venting of exhaled gas via a remote discharge tube (22) also forming part of the conduit (20). A breathing piece (28) is situated at the free end of the tube (16). An inhalation gas supply tube (24) passes within the tube (22) and via the connector (14) into the gas guiding tube (16) up to a position of discharge in close proximity of a user. The connector (14) is formed to cause exhaled gases from the piece (28) to pass along the tube (16) and through the bag (12) prior to remote venting to enable use of the ‘feel’ of the bag (12) during breathing assistance.
US08281782B2

A system and method of arranging a solar cell and reflector to replace a typical solar cell oriented normal to the incoming sunlight inside a module (i.e. parallel to a module's transparent cover plate or opening). The present invention in a preferred embodiment uses a solar cell oriented at a 45 degree angle to the incoming sunlight, and a reflective surface oriented perpendicular to the cell and at a 45 degree angle to the incoming sunlight. The solar cell and the mirror are the same length/size and form a V shape where the angle between the sloped sides is 90 degrees. Any light falling normally on the arrangement will hit the solar cell either directly or after reflection. In another embodiment, two adjacent reflectors can be used making angles of around 60 degrees and around 30 degrees with respect to the cover or opening. An alternate embodiment can include a second reflector added to the base of the cell and reflector pairings also at an approximate 45 degree angle with the cover or opening. The second reflector can run along an entire row of cell and first reflector pairs such that the first reflectors form 90 degree angles with both the cells and with the second reflector.
US08281780B2

A regulation valve having a valve body with a gas inlet. Housed within the valve body is a rotary regulatory body having a first inlet orifice corresponding to a first minimum flow of a first type of gas and a second inlet orifice corresponding to a second minimum flow of a second type of gas. The first and second inlet orifices are angularly displaced so that when the regulatory body assumes a first angular position within the regulatory body the first inlet orifice faces the gas inlet and so that when the regulatory body assumes a second angular position within the regulatory body the second inlet orifice faces the gas inlet. The regulation valve includes first and second sets of cooperating features that are capable of limiting rotation of the regulatory body to the first and second angular positions, respectively.
US08281773B2

Improved compound archery bow features a cable guard that separates the crossing inside cable segments allowing the intersection locus of the crossing cable inside segments to freely glide through the guard as the bow is drawn and released, a dual cam power pulley having a power lobe cam presenting a power cable race spiraling outward on a side face of an elliptical draw lobe cam presenting a draw-lobe cable race where the power cable winds as the inside drawstring cable segment unwinds from around the power cable race of the power lobe cam, and the outside drawstring cable segment unwinds from and winds-up around the draw-lobe cable race of the elliptical draw lobe cam as the bow is drawn and released, and bow-limb mounting and limb-pod structures at the respective ends of the bow riser for anchoring, aligning and supporting extending bow limbs for flexure.
US08281762B2

An internal combustion engine has an engine block including a crankshaft which is mounted on the engine block by at least a first and a second main bearings, wherein the main bearings each include a first bearing portion and a second bearing portion, the second bearing portion being part of a bearing cap, wherein at least the first bearing cap is connected to the engine block or to the second bearing cap by at least one dampening structure, the structure including a first support portion fixed on the bearing cap, a second support portion fixed on the engine block or on an adjacent bearing cap, and a dampening portion including an elastomeric material which connects the two support portions.
US08281761B2

An internal combustion engine has a plurality of cylinders and an air intake system. The air intake system is formed from at least one distributor pipe, a plurality of intake pipes, and at least one plenum. The plenum is located between the distributor pipe and the intake pipes. Here, the combustion air is fed to the air intake system via an air guiding duct which opens out into the distributor pipe. The charge pressure of the combustion air is reduced between the outlet out of the compressor and the inlet into the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine. A distributor pipe length is dimensioned as a function of an equivalent distributor pipe diameter such that it is possible for a reduction in the charge pressure to be obtained within the air intake system by way of an expansion, with the expansion taking place partially in the plenum in the respective intake pipe and/or within the distributor pipe.
US08281758B2

A four-cycle engine with an enclosed oil reservoir for mounting on a power tool is provided. An oil pump driven by a camshaft, which mates by a cam gear with crank gear that is driven by a crank shaft, inhales the oil from the oil reservoir to lubricate the engine parts. A circular arc wall surrounds around web of the crankshaft with a slight distance from the web. A scroll-shaped wall has gradually increased distance from the circular arc wall to the direction of rotation of the web and has partial overlap with the circular arc wall. In case of stock of engine oriented power take off side up or down, oil is prevented to flow from oil reservoir to combustion chamber by a weir which is provided between the circular wall and the scrolled wall. The check valve splashes breathing missed oil from the crankshaft to the breather room and causes the oil to supply lubricant to lubricate the engine parts.
US08281751B2

A hot water apparatus comprises a main body thereof connected to each of water distribution devices 31, 32, and 33 via plumbing 2 and a remote controller 20 for remotely controlling the main body of the hot water apparatus 10. The main body of the hot water apparatus 10 comprises a control device 13 capable of controlling temperature of outflowing hot water which is a temperature of the hot water outflowing from the main body of the hot water apparatus 10 to the plumbing 2. The remote controller 20 comprises a setting element of the temperature of the outflowing hot water 21 for setting the requested value of the temperature of the outflowing hot water, and the correction-data setting element 21U and 24 for setting correction data which defines the deviation value of the temperature of the outflowing hot water with respect to the required value. The control device 13 comprises means for performing the processing for correcting the temperature of the outflowing hot water which controls the temperature of the outflowing hot water to the target temperature which is obtained by changing the requested value by the deviation value defined by the set correction data. Therefore, the hot water having the temperature desired by the user can be outflown from the water distribution device and the user-friendly hot water apparatus can be provided.
US08281748B2

At time it is necessary to restrain pets. Many pet restraining devices are uncomfortable for pets and some may injure pets. The Double loop auto-adjust pet restraining device applies a uniform pressure around the entire perimeter of the neck when a pet is retained in the neck area. A second loop of the Double loop auto-adjust pet restraining device can be utilized to restrain the body or torso of a pet, the device applies a uniform pressure around the entire perimeter of that body area. The Double loop auto-adjust pet restraining device uses a design that enables pets to be restrained in a very humane way.
US08281747B1

The animal containment apparatus provides a stand alone apparatus that may be used singularly or in plurality. Each apparatus has an adjustable angle sensor that may be set to encompass any angle up to about 180 degrees. Each sensor senses incursion of an object, alive or otherwise, into its set range area. Animals, people, or even propelled objects are sensed. A key feature is that sensed objects do not have to wear any sort of device in cooperation with the apparatus. Sensation of such objects and life forms trigger each apparatus to emit a user recorded sound. The sound may be a command or any other chosen recording. Of significant advantage is that the recorder/sound interface provides for an animal's master to record commands in a voice and structure as recognized by the animal.
US08281739B2

The present invention generally comprises an RF shutter assembly for use in a plasma processing apparatus. The RF shutter assembly may reduce the amount of plasma creep below the substrate and shadow frame during processing, thereby reducing the amount of deposition that occurs on undesired surfaces. By reducing the amount of deposition on undesired surfaces, particle flaking and thus, substrate contamination may be reduced.
US08281738B2

The present invention relates to ion sources (14) comprising a cathode (20) and a counter-cathode (44) that are suitable for ion implanters (10). Typically, the ion source is held under vacuum and produces ions using a plasma generated within an arc chamber (16). Plasma ions are extracted from the arc chamber and subsequently implanted in a semiconductor wafer (12). The ion source according to the present invention further comprises a cathode (40) arranged to emit electrons into the arc chamber; an electrode (44) positioned in the arc chamber such that electrons emitted by the cathode are incident thereon; one or more voltage potential sources (76) arranged to bias the electrode; and a voltage potential adjuster (82) operable to switch between the voltage potential source biasing the electrode positively thereby to act as an anode and the voltage potential source biasing the electrode negatively thereby to act as a counter-cathode.
US08281737B2

The medical device of the invention comprises a surface comprising at least one outermost portion and a plurality of depressions. The depressions occupy at least about 80% of the surface area of the surface. The depressions contain a coating material that preferably comprises a biologically active material and/or polymer, and the outermost portion is substantially free of any coating material. The invention is also directed to a method for manufacturing a medical device. The method comprises applying a coating material to the surface of the medical device by using at least one roller.
US08281731B2

A payload delivery system for protecting and delivering a payload submerged in a submersion medium includes a containment system. The containment system includes a container and a dehiscing system. The container includes a pressure-resistant shell defining a sealed containment chamber. The dehiscing system is operative to dehisce the shell to open the containment chamber to the submersion medium responsive to a prescribed event and/or a prescribed environmental condition.
US08281713B2

A round baler is provided for producing bales. The baler has a bale-forming chamber, at least one roller that is driven and that defines a part of an extent of the bale-forming chamber and that is mounted on a moving holder. Continuous, flexible bale forming elements are driven and define another part of the extent of the bale-forming chamber. The bale forming elements contact a first rotating body and a second rotating body, of which the first rotating body is mounted on the holder. It is proposed that the second rotating body is coupled with the holder with respect to motion by a drive connection, so that both move together with the growing bale.
US08281711B2

A feed head for a strapping machine includes a frame, a feed wheel, a tension wheel, and a feed and take-up motor mounted to the frame and operably connected to the feed wheel. The feed and take-up motor operates in forward and reverse directions to feed strapping material through the strapping machine, and to take up strapping material from the strapping machine. A tension motor is operably connected to the tension wheel and operates in a reverse direction to tension the strapping material around the load. The tension wheel is movable toward and away from the feed wheel and engages the feed wheel during strap tension and disengages from the feed wheel during strap feed. A pivot assembly operably mounts the tension motor and tension wheel to the frame to move the tension wheel toward and into engagement with, and out of engagement with the feed wheel.
US08281704B2

The mechanism comprises a main frame (1) and its extension (1′), which accommodate a barrel (21) with fixed mounting, a mobile bolt (22) and its guiding pin ensemble (66) and main spring (67) moving in the main frame (1), a mobile mass (34) and its assembly of guiding pin (60), push plate (61) and return spring (62), and a mobile mass catch sear (42) and its spring (7). The mobile mass pivots from a first position under the barrel to a downward position in reaction to the backward movement of the mobile bolt. The placement of the mobile mass in front of the chamber directs counteracting forces down on the barrel to prevent muzzle climb during operation.
US08281698B2

An improved barrel and attachment system for rapid fire weapons having a quick release and replacement. Further the barrel is lighter than comparable barrels for the same purpose, and has a flash suppression system.
US08281696B2

A method for automatically cutting a workpiece by moving a workpiece along its longitudinal axis, positioning a cutting blade by rotating the blade about a vertical axis, positioning the cutting blade by rotating about a bevel axis, and moving the blade into cutting contact with the workpiece, thereby cutting the workpiece at a compound angle. The method may also include positioning the blade along a transverse axis. Further steps may include moving the cutting blade along a transverse axis simultaneous to moving the workpiece along its longitudinal axis, thereby creating a scarf cut; sorting a finished workpiece; and marking the workpiece.
US08281694B2

A method for adjusting a height of a circular slitter blade includes rotating the slitter blade and the receiving roll such that an outer circumferential surface of the slitter blade and the receiving roll move in the same direction as the traveling direction of the corrugated board web; emitting a light beam in a width direction of the corrugated board web to pass through a contact point of the outer circumferential surface of the receiving roll with the corrugated board web; determining a height of the slitter blade at which the circular outer edge of the slitter blade intercepts the light beam while moving the slitter blade toward the receiving roll; and setting the height of the slitter blade to the determined height as a slitting position.
US08281690B2

An adaptor for a power drill includes an offset drive and means to adjust the rotated position of said offset drive with respect to the chuck of the drill.
US08281689B2

A tightening device is described. The tightening device can be utilized for facilitating the operation of rotation of items mutually coupled by means of closing and locking systems of rotating, screw, bayonet type, or the like.
US08281680B2

A power-augmenting gear structure for an electric car includes a low-speed and power-augmenting transmitting route additionally installed in a gear case, with an output shaft of an electric motor extending in the gear case. The gear case has transmission gears forming conventional normal speed transmitting routes with normal speed reducing ratio for running on common flat roads, and a low-speed and power-augmenting transmitting route to be used in case of moving up an upward slope or coping with a condition needing a large torque. Then the electric motor may be reduced in its size, weight and cost, without necessity of enlarging it to have a large power.
US08281678B2

A ballscrew assembly for an actuator is provided. In an embodiment, the ballscrew assembly includes a ball nut assembly including a view port; a ballscrew provided within at least a portion of the ball nut assembly; an inner rod provided within the ballscrew in the direction of the longitudinal axis, the inner rod including an enlarged end portion; and a compression mechanism, such that at least a portion of the compression mechanism is provided between the enlarged end portion and the ballscrew. In another embodiment the assembly is configured such that when the inner rod is in a failed state, the compression mechanism provides a force that moves the visual indicator toward the view port. In another embodiment, the assembly includes a proximity sensor in addition to, or in lieu, of a view port to detect a failure.
US08281674B2

A method for inspecting a wafer and a system. The system includes: a chuck; and a robot that includes a movable element connected to a detachable adaptor selected from a group of diced wafer detachable adaptors and non-diced wafer detachable adaptors; wherein a diced wafer detachable adaptor is shaped such to partially surround the diced wafer and comprises at least one vacuum groove adapted to apply vacuum on a tape that supports the diced wafer; and wherein the robot is adapted to fetch the wafer from a cassette and to place the wafer on the chuck.
US08281673B2

A permeable-wall sample holder provides ventilation of vapor-phase entities between the sample and the exterior of the holder through its wall. The vapor-phase transport across the holder wall supports equilibrium of the sample with the analysis environment.
US08281664B2

A measuring arrangement for measuring one or more pressures and/or temperatures in an injection-molding system includes a base plate and at least one mould insert with at least part of a cavity. The base plate and the mould insert rest against one another in a releasable manner on at least one common separating surface. The mould insert includes at least one sensor for detecting pressures and/or temperatures as well as a transmitter module on the separating surface, which transmitter module is electrically connected to the sensor. The base plate includes a receiving module on the separating surface opposite the transmitter module, wherein measurement data can be transmitted from the transmitter module to the receiving module. The transmitter module and the receiving module on the separating surface are essentially planar and can be separated without force.
US08281659B2

A multi-sine vibration testing method includes coupling a vibratory excitation source and a sensor to a test structure, then providing a reference signal to the excitation source, wherein the reference signal comprises a first sinusoidal waveform having a first frequency and a second sinusoidal waveform having a second frequency different from the first frequency. The first frequency and the second frequency each sweep between a corresponding start value and a corresponding end value, and the frequency response is measured from each of the sensors while providing the reference signal.
US08281656B2

A cartridge (2) with a fill level detection system (10, 10′, 10″), the cartridge comprising a substantially rigid containing wall (4) having a tubular wall portion (12) surrounding a chamber (18) for receiving liquid therein, a plunger or piston (8) mounted inside the chamber and configured to seal one side of the chamber, the plunger or piston being displaceable in the chamber towards an outlet end (14) of the cartridge, characterized in that the fill level detection system comprises a plurality of discrete fixed electrodes (24, 24′) positioned along the tubular wall portion in a juxtaposed manner in a direction of displacement D of the plunger or piston (8), and a mobile electrode member (28) fixed to the plunger or piston and displaceable therewith.
US08281655B2

A fluid measurement system utilizes one or more digital probes that communicate over a digital bus to a fluid gauging computer. The digital probes incorporate a capacitance to digital circuit that converts probe capacitance to a digital value. The digital value is communicated to the fuel gauging computer via a data bus.
US08281652B2

A method of testing the functionality of an oxidation catalytic converter of an internal combustion engine, particularly a diesel engine, of a motor vehicle, includes the following steps: (a) verifying whether the motor vehicle is at a standstill; (b) verifying whether the internal combustion engine is idling; (c) verifying whether a temperature lies within a predetermined range upstream and downstream of the oxidation catalyst. Then, if all of the steps (a) to (c) yield an affirmative result, an intervention in the engine management is made in such a way that a predetermined temperature is set in the oxidation catalyst; (e) hydrocarbons (HCs) are actively produced by post-injecting fuel at a late point in time; (f) a lambda value is measured upstream and downstream of the oxidation catalyst as soon as the predetermined temperature from step (d) has been reached, and while HCs are actively produced in step (e). Then, a difference is determined between the lambda values measured upstream and downstream of the oxidation catalyst. If the difference is less than a predetermined value, a conclusion is reached that the oxidation catalyst is damaged.
US08281628B2

A profiled key for use in an associated cylinder lock provided with a rotatable key plug having a longitudinal keyway. The key has a substantially flat key blade with a longitudinally extending profile groove at a side surface thereof and at least one local recess adjacent to the profile groove. The local recess constitutes a locally expanded portion of the profile groove, and the locally expanded portion of the profile groove has a cross-section with two opposite, non-symmetrical side walls. The local recess will accommodate a blocking element in the lock, and permit full insertion of the key blade into the keyway.
US08281627B2

The invention relates to a device for actuating a locking member (10) of a functionally essential component (40), particularly a steering column (40) of a motor vehicle, having a gear box (20), being operatively connected to the locking member (10), wherein the locking member (10) can be moved into a locked position (1) and into a released position (2), and vice versa, wherein the locking member (10) engages into the functionally essential component (40) in the locked position (1), the locking member (10) is released from the functionally essential component (40) in the released position (2), an actuation device (30) is provided that can be accessed by a user, said actuation device being signal-connected to the gear box (20) during normal operation, by means of which an electronic actuation of the gear box (20) can be effected via an intentional actuation of the actuation device (30), said gear box moving the locking member (10) into the respective position (1, 2) thereof.The invention provides that the actuation device (30) is mechanically decoupled from the gear box (20) during normal operation, and that the actuation device (30) can be mechanically coupled to the gear box (20) during emergency operation such that a movement of the locking member (10) into the respective position (1, 2) thereof, is carried out via manual actuation of the actuation device (30).
US08281614B2

A water-cooled air conditioner is provided, and includes an indoor unit, an outdoor unit, a cooling tower, and a boiler. The indoor unit cools or heats a space, and includes a first heat exchanger that performs heat exchange between air and refrigerant. The outdoor unit is installed separately from the indoor unit and includes a second heat exchanger that performs heat exchange between water and refrigerant. The cooling tower is connected to the outdoor unit, and cools water flowing to the second heat exchanger. The boiler is connected to the outdoor unit, and increases a temperature of the water flowing to the second heat exchanger. The second heat exchanger is formed with a plurality of thin plates separated from one another by predetermined gaps through which refrigerant and water flow. The second heat exchanger includes an anti-freezing device that prevents freezing of water within the second heat exchanger.
US08281611B2

An automatic icemaker for a refrigerator is disclosed. The automatic icemaker includes an ice mold body having a front side, a back side, and a plurality of ice chambers for containing water therein for freezing into ice cubes, each ice chamber having a top opening having a frontal portion adjacent the front side; an ice stripper disposed along the front side and extending over the ice chambers, the ice stripper being configured to completely cover the frontal portion of the top opening of each ice chamber; and an ice rake disposed between the front side and the back side, the ice rake including a rotatable shaft, and a plurality of rake fingers extending outward from the shaft for moving ice cubes out of the respective ice chambers and onto the ice stripper.
US08281609B1

A closed loop portable cooling system for a person comprises an air circulation pad, a desiccant module, an air pump module and a heat pump module. The air circulation pad is worn by the person and provides cooling air to the person's body and removes warm moist air from the person's body. Air is delivered and removed locally to evaporation chambers adjacent to the person's skin. The warm moist air removed from the evaporation chambers is dried, compressed and cooled. It is then returned to the air circulation vest. The system is a closed loop system so that outer protective garments may be worn over it.
US08281605B2

Embodiments of a heat transfer apparatus, and related methods, involve a curved flow path, a heat source external to and in thermal communication with at least a portion of an inner radial boundary of the curved flow path, and a working fluid, including a heavier component and a lighter component, flowing through the flow path. The flow path causes the working fluid to experience centrifugal force so as to preferentially force the heavier component toward the exterior wall portion and thereby cause the lighter component to preferentially absorb heat from the interior wall portion.
US08281602B2

A bullhorn or support for a turbine combustor is provided. The support maintains proper positioning of the transition element relative to the combustor while also allowing for certain movements of the support to alleviate mechanical stresses during turbine operation. The support is constructed from at least two pieces having an interlocking and releasable connection.
US08281599B2

The invention relates to a device for damping the lateral forces due to jet separation that act on a rocket engine nozzle during a stage of starting or stopping the engine, the engine including at least two identical drive assemblies mounted on the nozzle to take up the lateral forces acting thereon, each drive assembly comprising a first member forming a strut, a second member forming an anchor structure, and an actuator. Each strut comprises means enabling it to act as a rigid strut so long as the lateral forces acting on the corresponding actuator remain below a determined force threshold, and as an element for peak limiting force and for dissipating residual kinetic energy once the forces acting on the actuator exceed the determined force threshold.
US08281598B2

A gas turbine combustion chamber includes an essentially cylindrical flame tube 2, which is made of a ceramic material and circumferentially divided into several circumferential elements 10, 11, 12.
US08281591B2

A self contained geothermal generator includes a boiler, a turbine compartment, an electricity generator, a condenser and an electric cable. The condenser includes a distributor chamber, a peripheral chamber and plurality of tubes disposed between the chambers. The peripheral chamber of the condenser surrounds and cools turbine, elective generator and selector of the condenser departments. The condenser cools and converts exhausted steam back in liquid state and returns it back into boiler for reheating. In a method of using the geothermal generator, water contained within the boiler is converted to high-pressure, super heated steam due to heat from hot rocks contained within a pre-drilled well below the Earth's surface. The steam is used to produce electric energy which is transported up to the ground surface by the electric cable. A plurality of geothermal generators may be used in a “binary” power plant through system of several heat exchangers.
US08281585B2

An actuator includes a thermally activated active material member, and an external element configured to selectively engage the member and presenting a predetermined rate of thermal conductivity configured to transfer heat energy to and/or from the member, so as to reduce the actuation period or rate of cooling after actuation, when engaged.
US08281583B2

A hydraulic control assembly, in particular for controlling hydraulic consumers of a mobile machine, includes a load reporting line (26) that can be subjected to the highest load pressure of a plurality of hydraulic consumers, triggered simultaneously each via a respective main control valve (38, 57), and that is connectable by an end portion (26a) to a pump regulator (25). A pressure limiting valve (50) limits the control pressure in the end portion (26a) of the load reporting line (26). The pressure limiting valve (50) is adjustable as a function of the magnitude of a pilot control signal serving to trigger a main control valve (38, 57).
US08281581B2

An exhaust aftertreatment device has a unitary cast inlet that is configurable to have a 90° or 180° entry of combustion gasses relative to flow through tubular elements housing a diesel oxidization catalyst and a diesel particulate filter. The cast component provides the primary structural support for a tubular element connected to the casting element.
US08281569B2

In an exhaust gas purification device for an internal combustion engine, unburned fuel components are not supplied to a catalyst to make the atmosphere around the catalyst lean during a first lean period, unburned fuel components are supplied to the catalyst to make the atmosphere around the catalyst rich during a rich period, and the supply of unburned fuel components to the catalyst is again stopped during a second lean period. The first lean period, the rich period, and the second lean period form a cycle. If the actual amount of unburned fuel components added to the catalyst is below a required addition amount when a cycle ends, the duration of the first lean period in a subsequent cycle is reduced.
US08281567B2

A propulsion system for a combined aircraft/spacecraft including: a jet engine having a longitudinal axis defined in a direction from a front end at an air intake to a rear end at a jet exhaust: a front end at an air intake to a rear end at the jet exhaust; a rocket engine having a longitudinal axis defined normal to a rear end at a rocket exhaust; a common engine housing having an elongated shape and wherein the jet engine and the rocket engine are configured substantially coaxially and with respective rear ends facing the same direction when the rocket engine is operated.
US08281565B2

A gas turbine system includes a compressor, an expander, a combustor disposed between the compressor and the expander, a boiler disposed between the compressor and the expander, a conduit including chargeable air and in thermal communication with the boiler and an external free heat source coupled to the boiler.
US08281562B2

Tire comprising a crown surmounted by a tread, a crown reinforcement, two sidewalls and two beads, a carcass reinforcement passing into the two sidewalls and anchored by means for anchoring in the two beads, said anchoring means comprising, in at least one bead, a circumferential alignment of at least one anchoring reinforcing member oriented circumferentially and cooperating with a rubber composition referred to as ‘anchoring rubber’; this tire is characterized in that this anchoring reinforcing member is a metal cable having two layers of construction M+N comprising an inner layer C1 of M wires of diameter d1 wound together in a helix at a pitch p1, this layer C1 itself being surrounded by an outer layer C2 of N wires of diameter d2 wound together in a helix at a pitch p2, this anchoring cable furthermore having the following characteristics (d1, d2, p1 and p2 in mm): 2≦M≦4 M+3≦N≦M+7 0.25
US08281561B2

An agricultural harvesting machine including a flexible cutterbar and associated draper belts for carrying cut agricultural material to a center location. The belts are guided by a drive rollers and idler rollers. The idler roller for each belt is pivotable about an axis generally at 90 degrees to the axis of the belt and the drive roller for each belt is translatable axially to minimize diagonal stresses caused by flexing of the elongated endless belt.
US08281550B1

The present invention relates to optically clear fire resistant and impact resistant windows having at least one air gap and at least one fire resistant layer. Optionally there is also an anti-spall layer.
US08281545B2

A method for retrofitting a reinforced concrete column by compressing a reinforcing plate including a steel plate using an external pressure is provided. The reinforcing plate is compressed to double-layer or more, that is, multi-layer in due order, on the reinforced concrete column. Accordingly, since a workability of the retrofit is excellent and since the reinforcing plate is easily compressed on the surface of the reinforced concrete column by a small lateral pressure, sufficiently the reinforced concrete column could be reinforced. Besides, a compressive strength of the reinforced concrete column could be increased. In addition, the flexibility of the reinforcing plate and the energy absorption force of the reinforcing plate could be increased.
US08281544B2

A method of using a framing system for adjustably connecting building components comprising an outer stud, an interior support member, and a connecting clip.
US08281535B2

Protected prefinished fiber cement articles are manufactured by applying a protective layer on the finished surface of a fiber cement article. The protective layer protects the finish layer of the prefinished fiber cement article during handling, storage, and transport. Removing the protective layer leaves no residue on the finish layer, does not damage the finish layer, and does not substantially tear the protective layer. Protected prefinished fiber cement article are typically stacked on pallets for storage and transport. Optionally, spacers may be placed between the stacked protected prefinished fiber cement article.
US08281533B2

The invention relates to an attachment element for studded plastic sheets comprising a base body with at least one stud projecting from a front of the base body. To provide an attachment means that results both in a tear-resistant attachment of the studded plastic sheet to the building wall and in extensive surface contact at a top edge of the studded plastic sheet, it is provided that a head portion is arranged on the base body, which fully or at least partially projects from the front of the base body with a resiliently deformable area.
US08281531B2

A ground anchor assembly includes at least two threaded studs, an anchor plate having at least two openings sized and shaped to receive the at least two threaded studs. The assembly further includes a first fastener for each of the at least two threaded studs attached to the respective stud and bearing against a first side of the anchor plate, and a break-away fastener for each of the at least two threaded studs and attached to the respective stud on an opposite side of the anchor plate. Each break-away fastener cooperates with the corresponding first fastener to retain the corresponding stud in position relative to the anchor plate and the other of the at least two studs.
US08281527B2

A spacer assembly is disclosed having a spacer with a cross-section varying in a repeating manner along a longitudinal axis and an adhesive sealant at least partially encapsulating the spacer. Also, a moisture vapor barrier may be provided as well as a desiccated topcoat.
US08281526B2

A stairway assembly includes a tread and riser panel attached together by a uniquely designed gusset to form a tread and riser assembly that can be integrally installed on the stringers. In one embodiment, a first portion of the gusset includes a first attachment structure connected to the lower surface of the tread, and a second portion of the gusset has a second attachment structure connected to the lower surface of the riser. The first portion of the gusset extends at an angle from the second portion, with the side edge of the riser overlapping and facing the upper surface of the tread, and said tread side edge faces said gusset. The gusset may include an elongated slot that forms a line of weakening in the gusset. The gusset may be bent about the line of weakening to move the tread and riser into the final position in which the tread is perpendicular to the riser.
US08281524B2

A stackable flat-roof/ground framework (1) for solar panels, comprising a sloping desk-like supporting region (2, 5, 6) for the solar panel, at least said supporting region (2, 5, 6) being implemented as a wire grate, wherein the supporting region of the flat-roof/ground framework has downwardly angled elements on two opposite edges, one element, used as rear wall (3), being designed to be longer and one element, used a front wall (4), being designed to be shorter, and having weightable panel-like base regions (2, 5, 6), said base regions (2, 5, 6) being angled from the rear wall (3) and/or the front wall (4).
US08281521B1

A pre-notched drip edge assembly and related method includes a plurality of drip edge sections interconnected end-to-end to form a continuous water barrier along a roof edge. Each drip edge section has a formed one-piece construction with a top flange and a bottom flange having an inverted L-shape with upper and lower legs. The forward edges of the top flange and the upper leg are integrally interconnected along a folded-over nose having a wedge-shape. A pair of notches are formed in the opposite ends of each drip edge section which extend through the upper edge of the lower leg and the forward edges of the upper leg and the top flange to define flat end tab areas that are inserted into the noses of the next adjacent drip edge sections to horizontally and vertically locate the same along the building roof.
US08281520B2

A hip, ridge or rake shingle comprised of a plurality of panels sandwiched on each panel portion side of a layer of shingle material, such that each panel portion can be folded along a fold line, and wherein tabs are provided for each panel portion, adapted to be bent backwardly upon themselves, sandwiching thickening panels therebetween. The shingles can be laid up on a hip, ridge or rake of a roof, to yield desirable thickened features.
US08281511B1

A stand secures a loaded firearm in an inoperable condition for quick release to an authorized user in the event of an emergency. A housing serves as a base for the stand. A mechanism fixed to the housing prevents the firearm from firing. For example, a rod fixed to the housing is inserted through the muzzle and into the bore until it extends into an empty chamber of a revolver or into the receiver of an automatic pistol. Another mechanism mounted on the housing is operable between a first position in which it permits engagement of the firearm on and disengagement of the firearm from the rod and a second position in which it prevents disengagement of the firearm from the rod. The operating mechanism may be actuated manually by a key or electronically by a key pad, a fingerprint recognition pad or the like.
US08281504B2

An inner sole for an insole has a body made of flexible material and adapted to be laid on an insole of a shoe. Liquid containing spaces are formed in the body of the inner sole for sealingly and flowably containing liquid. Dam portions divide the liquid containing spaces into a toe region, a heel region and a middle region between the two. Orifices communicate the liquid between mutually adjacent regions. The orifice formed by the dam portions that divides the liquid containing spaces into the heel region and the middle region opens toward one side edge portion to cause an eddy of liquid, flowing from the heel region into the middle region, that substantially fills the whole middle region.
US08281498B2

Disclosed are an evaporator, an evaporation method, and a substrate processing apparatus, which can increase the concentration of generated vapor of an organic solvent and efficiently heat the organic solvent. The evaporator includes a fluid tube, a liquid organic solvent supply device for supplying the organic solvent liquid to one end of the fluid tube, and heating units for heating the fluid tube. The fluid tube has a cross section that increases from the one end to the other end. When the organic solvent liquid supplied to one end of the fluid tube is heated, the organic solvent vapor is discharged from the other end of the fluid tube. The substrate processing apparatus includes the above-described evaporator.
US08281492B1

A tube cutter having first and second arms pivotally connected. Each arm includes a handle segment and a head portion. The head portion of one arm includes a v-block and the head portion of the other arm has a cutting portion. At least each handle portion has a black oxide coating or chrome plating. A second tube cutter may include a pair of bumpers, one on each handle and each of the bumpers may include a gusset connecting the bumper to the terminal end of the handle.
US08281481B2

A method of loading stator windings into a stator core includes guiding a first stator winding including a plurality of slot segment portions along at least one guide track towards an arbor member having a plurality of slots, inserting one of the plurality of slot segment portions of the first stator winding into one of the plurality of slots, and guiding a second stator winding including a plurality of slot segment portions along the at least one guide track towards the arbor member. The method also includes indexing one of the at least one guide track and the arbor member to position another of the plurality of slots adjacent the at least one guide track, inserting one of the plurality of slot segment portions of the second stator winding into another of the plurality of slots, rotating the arbor member, and feeding a plurality of slot segment portions into remaining ones of the plurality of slots.
US08281480B2

A method for manufacturing a wireless receiver is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: providing a metallic casing having an accommodating space with both opposite ends thereof and having an front opening and a rear opening in communication with the accommodating space; forming a positioning base having a mounting trough by joining to the accommodating space of the metallic casing, the mounting trough being in communication with the accommodating space and rear opening; providing a receiving module, assembling the receiving module in the accommodating space, the receiving module being fixed by inserting it into the mounting trough via the rear opening; and providing a housing, assembling the housing to the rear opening, the housing sealing the rear opening to block the receiving module from sliding out of the rear opening. Therefore, the whole size of the wireless receiver can be reduced.
US08281476B2

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a multilayered tube, including: preparing an outer tube, an inner tube having an outer diameter of 95˜98% of an inner diameter of the outer tube, and dies with a shaping void having a diameter of 100.20˜100.30% of an outer diameter of the outer tube; mounting the outer tube on the shaping void, with the inner tube inserted into the outer tube; plastically expanding the inner tube to be brought into contact with the outer tube by injecting a fluid into the inner tube until a pressure of the fluid reaches a first forming pressure inside the inner tube; elastically expanding the outer tube to be brought into contact with the shaping void by increasing the pressure of the fluid until the pressure of the fluid reaches a second forming pressure inside the inner tube; and elastically recovering the outer tube to allow the outer tube and the inner tube to be coupled to each other by removing the fluid from the inner tube, wherein the first forming pressure is in the range of 10˜20% of yield strength of the inner tube, and the second forming pressure is in the range of 10˜20% of yield strength of the outer tube and is maintained for 2˜3 seconds.
US08281464B2

A buckle includes a first fastener and a second fastener. The second fastener has two hooks. The first fastener includes a socket, a locking piece disposed in the socket, and two first locking portions formed on the socket for mating with the hooks. The locking piece is slidingly connected in the socket to cooperate with the second fastener. When the first fastener is engaged with the second fastener, the locking piece enters the second fastener to restrict the movement of the second fastener, so that the second fastener cannot be released unless the locking piece is removed from the second fastener and the hooks of the second fastener are pressed. Thus, the second fastener can be released only when the locking piece is moved, thereby preventing a problem that the second fastener may be separated from the first fastener when the hooks of the second fastener are incautiously pressed. A user has to move the locking piece with one hand and presses the hooks with another hand. Thus, such an action performed by two hands is uneasy for a child, thereby generating a safety effect.
US08281456B2

An upright vacuum cleaner for cleaning a surface includes an upper body with a handle, a base unit and a carriage configured to move the base unit on the surface. The carriage includes a wheel disposed in a rear portion of the base unit. A motor-fan unit is disposed in the base unit and configured to create a partial vacuum at the surface. A tilting joint provides for relative tilting between the upper body and the base unit. The tilting joint has a pivot axis extending in a horizontal direction when the vacuum cleaner is in a position of use. The wheel is mounted on a pivotable carrier member, which has a pivot axle that is spaced apart from a rotatable axle of the wheel. A pivoting mechanism is disposed on the tilting joint in a vicinity of the carrier member and is configured to pivot the carrier member and the wheel during a pivoting movement of the upper body relative to the base unit.
US08281453B2

A fixing base (1) for a windshield wiper (100) includes a connecting piece (110) and a wiper blade (120). The fixing base (1) includes a bottom plate (10) and two wings (20). Both sides of the bottom plate (10) abutting the wiper blade (120) form a hook (11) respectively to be engaged with the wiper blade (120). The wings (20) extend from both sides of the bottom plate (10) and each has a first chamfer piece (22), a second chamfer piece (23), a first notch (24) and a second notch (25). The shaft rod (21) is provided between the first notch (24) and the second notch (25). The first notch (24) and the second notch (25) provide a space adjacent to the shaft rod (21) for allowing various kinds of the connecting pieces (110) to be assembled with the fixing base (1).
US08281452B2

A wiper device includes first and second pivot shafts, first and second pivot holders, a hollow frame, a drive source, and a link rod. The first and second pivot holders are fixed to a vehicle body, pivotally support the first and second pivot shafts, and include first and second attachment shafts, respectively. The hollow frame couples the pivot holders to each other. The link rod transmits drive force of the drive source to the first and second pivot shafts. The hollow frame includes first and second coupling-fixing portions and a drive source fixing portion. The first and second attachment shafts are respectively crimped and fixed to the coupling-fixing portions. Axes of the first and second coupling-fixing portions lie along a straight line. The hollow frame is bent so as to arrange the drive source fixing portion spaced apart from the first and second pivot holders in a direction extending from the distal ends towards basal ends of the pivot shafts.
US08281450B2

A powder applicator includes first and second sheets of flexible material, each sheet having a circular configuration with an external perimeter and having a porous section. The powder applicator also includes an absorbent disc having a predetermined amount of powder. The first sheet external perimeter is coupled to the second sheet external perimeter and the absorbent disc is sandwiched between the first and second sheets.
US08281447B1

A paint brush holder comprising a handle having an attachment portion. The attachment portion has a brush attachment end. The brush attachment end has a plurality of pins. The handle has an associated a slide lock track and slide lock.
US08281446B2

An oral care implement including a handle and a head with a tongue cleanser. The tongue cleanser has at least one ridge which is at least as wide as it is high. In one preferred construction, the ridges are shaped so as to define a concave surface facing generally toward the handle. The ridges also preferably include aligned segments from front to back that are oriented at different angular positions.
US08281445B2

Embodiments of the invention include a heated eyelid cleansing apparatus, a method of manufacturing a heated eyelid cleansing apparatus, a kit for providing treatment to the eyelids, and a method for cleansing an eyelid with a heated eyelid cleansing composition. The apparatus comprises an eyelid cleansing composition, a fabric pad impregnated with the eyelid cleansing composition, and a heating element. The heating element may be encased within the fabric pad or it may be external to the fabric pad.
US08281443B2

An electrically powered toothbrush has a body having a first end, a head opposite the first end, a neck between the first end and head, an electrical motor and a power source disposed in the body, a drive shaft operatively connected to the motor, and a bristle carrier. The head has a frame defining a recess. The shaft has a longitudinal axis of rotation and a portion offset from the axis of rotation. The bristle carrier is disposed within the recess and is pivotally secured to the frame by a laterally extending pivot member disposed substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of rotation. The bristle carrier has a receiving channel adapted to receive the offset portion. The rotation of the drive shaft causes the offset portion to engage the receiving channel of the bristle carrier thereby causing the bristle carrier to pivot about the pivot member.
US08281441B1

A hand-held submersible power cleaner for cleaning debris from a swimming pool includes a housing having an inlet at a front end thereof which communicates with an interior cavity of the housing. An intermediate conduit having front and rear ends extends through the interior cavity. A filter is positioned between the inlet and front end of the intermediate conduit. A removable drive assembly having an impeller at a forward end and a power switch at the opposing end is removably inserted into the housing such that the impeller faces the rear end of the intermediate conduit. Dual outlet conduits communicate with the rear end of the intermediate conduit, wherein the impeller draws water and debris through the inlet, the filter occludes the debris and retains it in the cavity while the water flows through the filter assembly into the intermediate conduit, and is discharged through the dual outlet conduits at the rear of the housing.
US08281438B2

A washing machine and a method of controlling a washing machine are provided. A drum may be rotated from a stopped state to a specific angle less than 180 degrees. While the drum is rotated, a laundry amount may be sensed based on a current value of a motor that rotates the drum. The laundry amount may be sensed simply and accurately.
US08281432B2

A crib bumper (23) includes a mattress-receiving base (40), and a continuous sidewall or row of bumper elements (50) attached to, and extending upright relative to, the base (40) encircling and defining a mattress-receiving opening (51) into a mattress-receiving area (51A) formed by base (40). A supporting spine (71) is coupled between the base (40) and each of the bumper elements (50) maintaining the bumper elements (50) upright relative to the base (40).
US08281426B2

Disclosed herein is an adapter for allowing add-on devices to be attached to an above ground pool. The adapter includes a housing having a first opening for allowing water in, defining an inlet. The housing having a second opening adapted for compatible connection with an existing above ground pool return fitting. The second opening defining an outlet from which the water flows into the return fitting after traveling through the housing. The housing having an open end and the open end being adapted for receiving a device module. The housing including a means for detecting water flow through the housing, the water detection means physically moving in response to the flow of water; and the device module connectable with the housing and including activation means for activating the device in response to the flow of water.
US08281425B2

A motor with associated load sensor is connected to a circulation pump of a swimming pool circulation system. The load sensor performs the function of a safety vacuum release system by detecting underload of the motor. Underload is now discovered to be reliably indicative of blockage on the intake side of a circulation pump. A switch controlled by the load sensor shuts off the motor in response to a suitable underload. Vacuum on the intake side of the circulation pump neutralizes, thereby freeing a person or object blocking the suction line.
US08286244B2

A method of controlling protection of a computing device or computer network. The method comprises directing incoming data packets to the computing device or computer network via a rate limiting system that is adapted to parse the data packets, providing the computing device or computer network with at least one threshold parameter for identifying a data flood condition, the threshold parameter being a function of one or more available computing resources of the computing device or computer network; the computing device or computer network responding to incoming data packets received via the rate limiting system that cause the at least one threshold parameter to be breached by generating event data; generating feedback data based on the event data; transmitting the feedback data to the rate limiting system; and the rate limiting system modifying its behavour according to the feedback data.
US08286241B1

Known legitimate applications are analyzed to establish a list of trusted user-agent strings used by the applications to download content from a network. Traffic interception modules connected to the network examine traffic exchanged between clients and servers on the network, recognize traffic associated with downloads of content from the network, and create content download descriptions describing the downloads. The content download descriptions are analyzed to identify content downloads using the trusted user-agent strings. Identifiers of the content downloaded using the trusted user-agent strings are added to a white list of legitimate content. Access to the white list is provided to clients and the clients use the white list to identify legitimate content.
US08286240B2

The invention discloses a method and system for content categorization, which aims at reducing the processing burthen of the content categorization as well as the network transmission traffic. The method comprises: transmitting, by a content categorization requester, a content digest of a content to be categorized to a content categorization provider; and performing, by the content categorization provider, content categorization according to the content digest. The device for requesting content categorization comprises: a digest operation determination component, adapted to determine whether it is necessary to obtain a content digest of a content to be categorized; a digest obtaining component, adapted to obtain the content digest of the content to be categorized when the digest operation determination component determines it necessary to obtain the content digest of the content to be categorized; and a first transmit component, adapted to transmit the content digest obtained by the digest obtaining component.
US08286236B2

Methods and systems for a manufacturing control system include but are not limited to identifying at least one object data file configured to produce an object by a manufacturing machine; confirming that an authorization code is associated with the object data file, the authorization code configured to be received by the manufacturing machine, the manufacturing machine adapted to receive the authorization code; and enabling the manufacturing machine to interface with the object data file only if the authorization code meets one or more predetermined conditions.
US08286232B2

System and method for transparent cloud access are described. In one embodiment, the system comprises an enterprise computing environment maintained by an enterprise and a cloud computing environment maintained by a cloud provider; and a secure bridge mechanism for interconnecting the enterprise computing environment and the cloud computing environment. The secure bridge mechanism comprises a first secure bridge portion associated with the enterprise and a second secure bridge portion associated with the cloud computing environment. The first and second secure bridge portions interoperate to provide transparent and secure access by resources of one of the computing environments to those of the other computing environment.
US08286229B2

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for token-based content subscription. Embodiments include receiving a request for content subscription; receiving from a user a subscription token; and delivering content to a device associated with the subscription token.
US08286226B2

A password registering method used in an electronic device includes displaying one visual dial on a touch screen of the electronic device; recording rotation parameters of the visual dial rotated by a user, and generating input information according to the rotation parameters; and registering the password according to the generated input information the user's confirming the rotation operation.
US08286219B2

A system and method is provided that makes sure the instruction sets executing on a computer are certified and secure. The system and method further facilitates a generic way to intercept the instruction loading process to inspect a loaded code segment first, before the computer gets a chance to execute the code segment. Further, a profiling component can monitor all executing processes running in a system and profile the behavior of the program. If the behavior is suspicious, established by a set of predefined rules, the profiler can take necessary actions to notify a system administrator and suspend or terminate execution of the program.
US08286217B2

A method and system for fast channel change (FCC) between multicast digital video feeds wherein each digital video feed is converted to a set of slotted multicasts, each having the same content but delayed in time relative to each other, metadata associated with the digital video feed and the slotted multicasts is published using an on-the-wire format to downstream client devices (e.g. set-top boxes), when a user selects the digital video feed (i.e. a new channel) the client device uses the metadata to select a slotted multicast that minimizes the total time to reach the next random access point (RAP) while allowing a maximum leave-join delay. Both a FCC server that generates the slotted multicasts and a FCC middleware on the client devices are connected to a common time reference, and the method and system provide for adjusting to clock drift on the FCC server relative to the common time reference.
US08286208B2

A set top box determines DVR requests that the set top box is not able to record based on a number of scheduled DVR requests. The set top box provides the DVR request to a DVR management server. The DVR management server selects another set top box to record the television content associated with the DVR request based on a number DVR requests the other set top box is scheduled to record. The DVR management server issues a command to the other set top box to record the television content associated with the DVR request. The other set top box provides the recorded television content, associated with the DVR request, to the set top box.
US08286206B1

Automatic rating optimization is described. In an embodiment, ratings of a program can be received from one or more rating sources. Based on these ratings, a representation of a content selection mechanism can be sent to potential consumers of the content. Access events for the content can be counted over a duration of time so a determination can be made regarding how the ratings provided by each of the rating sources affect popularity of the content. A weight accorded to ratings received from each of the rating sources can be adjusted based on the determination. Profiles can be established for consumers and/or rating sources.
US08286205B2

A terminal displays a broadcast program from a first provider, and displays one or more identifiers from additional broadcast providers. Upon selection of one of the identifiers of the additional providers, additional information of broadcasts from the additional provider is also displayed thereby enabling a user to decide whether to continue to display the broadcast program from the first provider or to display a broadcast program from the additional provider.
US08286204B2

A control system includes a control apparatus and a controlled apparatus, wherein the control apparatus is remotely controlled by a remote controller. The controlled apparatus transmits a control panel to the control apparatus. The control panel includes icons used to control the controlled apparatus. The controlled apparatus includes (a) a communication unit which receives, from the control apparatus, remote control information including information about operation keys included in the remote controller, the remote control information being received before the controlled apparatus transmits the control panel to the control apparatus, and (b) a modifying unit which modifies a position of the icons included in the control panel according to the remote control information. The communication unit transmits the control panel to the control apparatus after the modifying unit modifies the position of the icons included in the control panel according to the remote control information.
US08286199B1

An add-on application, running on a computer, allows a user to store, in a repository, information such as (for example) document images, and to associate particular information with specified states of a host application such as the QUICKBOOKS® accounting software. When the add-on application determines, for example, that a bill is being displayed (or is about to be displayed) on the screen by the host application, the add-on application automatically obtains, and displays on the screen, information associated with the bill, such as a list or count of one or more electronic documents that are associated with the bill. In our particular embodiment, the auxiliary window is a toolbar or sidebar window located within the host application window itself. The foregoing is achieved utilizing standard host-application SDK and operating-platform API functionality, thus reducing the risk of degrading the host application's performance.
US08286193B2

A computer system comprising hardware including a data interface for interfacing between the computer system and a data source; a memory; a first operating system capable of communicating with the hardware; and a second operating system capable of supporting a user-level application and being configured to communicate with the hardware via the first operating system, the second operating system being capable of allocating a region of the memory for use as a buffer by such a user-level application. The data interface is configurable to associate a predetermined data format with a region of the memory that has been allocated for use as a buffer by a user-level application supported by the second operating system and to, on receiving from the data source a data message of that format, automatically store data of that message in that region of the memory without it passing via the first or second operating systems.
US08286191B2

Techniques for dynamically modifying inter-connections between components in an application are provided. The techniques include receiving a data producer profile for each output port within a software application to be executed on one or more processors, receiving a data subscription profile for each input port of each component of the application, establishing connections between the output ports and the input ports of the components in the application based on a comparison of each data producer profile and each data subscription profile, executing the application on one or more processors to process streams of data, receiving either or both of a new data producer profile or a new data subscription profile during the execution of the application, and establishing at least one new connection between an output port and an input port based upon a revised comparison of the received data profiles that include the new data profile.
US08286189B2

Computer-executable code is automatically generated for a message flow in a message queuing infrastructure by determining a type of the message flow, inputting message flow parameters, and generating the computer-executable code based on the type of the message flow and the message flow parameters. The generation of code can also implement a design pattern, which is input based on the determined type of message flow. The computer-executable code can be, for example, Extended Structured Query Language (ESQL) code. The type of the message flow can identify, for example, a transformation requirement of the message flow. The transformation requirement can be, for example, one of (i) transformation from a first Extensible Markup Language (XML) message to a second XML message, (ii) transformation from an XML message to a Message Repository Manager (MRM) message, and (iii) transformation from a first MRM message to a second MRM message.
US08286186B2

A system and associated method for interfacing between caller applications and a shared service module. Upon receiving a request for a transaction, the shared service module creates a separate data structure per request from a caller application and configures a caller identifier to uniquely identify the caller application. The separate data structure per request can be extended by the shared service module with additional attributes that may be used, without impacting the service application data model, in the request to support servicing the request. The shared service module generates a generic service document to return the result after servicing the request to the caller application.
US08286183B2

Techniques for scheduling a task include receiving task data and quorum data. Task data describes tasks to be performed by one or more participants. Quorum data indicates a participant set of one or more participants to perform each task. Current user data may also be received. Current user data describes a current task set of one or more tasks currently being performed by a particular participant. Either or both of the task data and the current user data describe interruptibility through a particular medium of a plurality of communications media. A particular time interval to schedule a particular task is determined based at least in part on the interruptibility of the task or the particular participant. These techniques allow either or both unscheduled tasks and previously scheduled tasks to be moved to time intervals that overlap other scheduled tasks, including tasks currently being performed by a participant.
US08286181B2

A computer-implemented method for supporting administration of a multi-application landscape includes initiating, in a multi-application computer system, a business process that involves executing multiple applications and uses run control statements associated with process steps of the business process where a business process state is subject to change. The run control statements are executed as part of performing the business process. For each run control statement being executed, at least one of multiple state indicators associated with the run control statement is selected, the state indicator representing run-state information of the business process. A representation of the business process state is generated and stored in a repository, the representation comprising (i) each state indicator selected in executing the run control statements, and (ii) an identifier for the process step where the business process state changed.
US08286179B2

A system and method for management of jobs in the clustered environment is provided. Each node in the cluster executes a job manager that interfaces with a replicated database to enable cluster wide management of jobs within the cluster. Jobs are queued in the replicated database and retrieved by a job manager for execution. Each job manager ensures that jobs are processed through completion or, failing that, are re-queued on another storage system for execution.
US08286165B2

A server management apparatus for lowering migration costs during scale-in/scale-out and workload consolidation of a cluster system(s) to thereby reduce power consumption is disclosed. The apparatus manages a physical server group which renders operative a virtual server group thereon and, when putting into practice a cluster system including a plurality of virtual servers placed in the physical server group, manages the layout state of virtual servers pursuant to the load state of the virtual server group. When executing scale-in, a virtual server operating on a physical server with the minimum number of operative virtual servers is specified as a shutdown target. When executing scale-out, a workload variation is predicted to control a scale-out destination of cluster system so that load variation-resembled cluster systems gather on the same physical server. The scale-in execution timing is delayed if the predicted load variation tends to rise and accelerated if it falls.
US08286161B2

An information processing apparatus includes a control operating system executing a process for allocating a plurality of logical processors to a physical processor in a time division manner, and a guest operating system for which a logical partition as an application entity of the logical processor is set. The control operating system sets and updates, as address conversion tables for determining an allocation relationship between the logical processor and the physical processor, two address conversion tables of a first conversion table that sets an allocation relationship between a logical partition address space and a physical address space and a second conversion table that sets an allocation relationship between a virtual address space in the guest operating system and the physical address space.
US08286147B2

An information processing system includes a preparation machine with an installed image; an execution machine on which the installed image is virtually installed; and a virtualizer for virtualizing the installed image on the execution machine to produce a virtually installed image by using a hierarchy of selective virtualizers, wherein the virtualizing is selective such that not all operations of the executing software of the installed image at any particular level are virtualized.
US08286145B2

A program re-writing method which re-writes an inputted program into a program for a processor for controlling whether or not a process is executed based on a yes or no execution flag, said program re-writing method including: inserting a comparison process into the inputted program, the comparison process comparing first address information, which is memory address information accessed by a first memory access process included in the inputted program, and second address information, which is address information of a memory accessed by a second memory access process included in the inputted program, and writing a comparison result into the yes or no execution flag; and inserting a yes or no execution flag-attached logic preservation process into the inputted program, the yes or no execution flag-attached logic preservation process being a process executed based on a value of the yes or no execution flag and preserving the same result as a result of the inputted program when executed.
US08286136B2

An efficient testing method is provided for internationalized software executed in a plurality of language environments. The method includes mock-translating an externalized resource file written in a first language of the internationalized software by converting characters of the first language to characters of a second language based on a conversion table; and displaying output information from the internationalized software that performs processing by referring to the mock-translated test resource file using one of a plurality of fonts prepared for respective test categories.
US08286132B2

A method of performing a three-way merge includes receiving first, second, and third versions of a structured document containing first, second, and third pluralities of elements respectively; deserializing the first, second, and third versions to generate first, second, and third tree-structured data models respectively representing the first, second, and third versions; generating an identifier for each node of each data model that is unique within the data model by applying identifier determination rules to a context describing the element corresponding to the node; comparing each identifier in the first data model with each identifier in the second data model to identify each node in the first data model not having matching identifiers with any node in the second data model and to link each pair of nodes having matching identifiers; and applying comparison rules to the contexts of each linked pair of nodes to identify differences therebetween.
US08286128B2

A method for identifying a structure of a type to generate a model of the type includes the step of providing at least one replacement type for a basic type provided by a programming language. An identification of initialization, by a constructor, of an instance of the at least one replacement type is received. A type model comprising a description of a data layout of the instance of the type is generated responsive to the received identification.
US08286125B2

A processing device programming system automatically provides a user interface comprising a selectable list of one or more processing devices based on a system level solution, automatically generates an embedded programmable system solution from the system level solution and a processing device selected from the selectable list of one or more processing devices, and automatically programs the processing device according to the embedded programmable system solution.
US08286123B1

A method is provided to evaluate whether one or more test patterns is power safe for use during manufacturing testing of an integrated circuit that includes a nonuniform power grid and that includes a scan chain, the method comprising: assigning respective toggle count thresholds for respective power grid regions of the non-uniform power grid; and determining whether respective numbers of toggles by scan elements of the scan chain within one or more respective power grid regions meet respective toggle count thresholds for the one or more respective regions during at least one scan-shift cycle in the course of scan-in of a test pattern to the scan chain.
US08286120B2

Techniques are generally described for non-invasive, post-silicon characterization of—leakage power for devices of an integrated circuit (IC). A system of sparse leakage power equations may be developed for the devices (e.g. gates) within the IC to be solved using compressive sensing (CS) techniques. Input Vectors (IV) may be applied at input terminal of the IC, and power of the IC may be measured. The measurements may be used in conjunction with the set of sparse equations to determine leakage power values for individual devices, not directly accessible. Pre-processing and post-processing techniques may be employed to make the system of equations more sparse and further improve the efficiency of applying CS techniques to solve the equation. Example processing may include variable splitting, device grouping, IV and equation selection, measurement under elevated IC temperature, and bootstrapping. Other aspects may be disclosed and claimed.
US08286117B2

A macro layout verification apparatus for verifying a layout of a macro to be placed as a functional block on a semiconductor device. The apparatus includes: a unit, which assumes as a virtual wiring line, a wiring line that uses an unused intra-macro channel located adjacent to an intra-macro wiring line; a unit which calculates a parallel wiring length along which the virtual wiring line and the intra-macro wiring line run; and a unit which outputs information concerning the virtual wiring line when the parallel wiring length exceeds a reference value defined as a design rule.
US08286114B2

A method for defining a layout of 3-D devices, such as a finFET, is provided. The method includes determining an area required by a desired 3-D device and designing a circuit using planar devices having an equivalent area. The planar device corresponding to the desired 3-D device is used to layout a circuit design, thereby allowing circuit and layout designers to work at a higher level without the need to specify each individual fin or 3-D structure. Thereafter, the planar design may be converted to a 3-D design by replacing planar active areas with 3-D devices occupying an equivalent area.
US08286109B1

A method for designing a system on a target device includes identifying components and routing connections impacted by incremental design changes made to a system design. New information is computed to annotate delays for the components and routing connections identified. Delays previously computed for components and routing connections are utilized to annotate delays for components and routing connections that have not been impacted by the changes made to the system design.
US08286087B1

Various embodiments include at least one of systems, methods, software, and data structures for active route validation in workflow process authoring in workflow processing applications. Some embodiments include evaluating a route as a user attempts to add or modify the route in a modeled workflow process. The evaluation is performed in some such embodiments through evaluation of a route restriction rule based on a first workflow element the route is from and a second workflow element the route is to. When the route restriction is violated, the user is prevented from adding or modifying the route.
US08286081B2

Some embodiment provide media editing applications that include libraries that (i) provide presets (i.e., predefined operations and/or predefined attribute values) for modifying key indices and interpolation between the key indices, and/or (ii) provide storage for storing presets defined by a user of the media editing application. Some embodiments display the presets as thumbnails, thumbnails with text descriptions, and/or text-defined operations. In addition, some embodiments provide user-interface tools that allow the user of the media editing application to augment the preset libraries by storing a selected part of one key-indexed geometry or parts of multiple different geometries as a user-defined preset.
US08286070B2

Techniques are provided for converting live presentations into electronic media and managing captured media assets for distribution. An exemplary system includes capture devices that capture media assets of live presentations comprising a session, including image data of sequentially presented visual aids accompanying the live presentations and audio data. Each capture device has an interface for real-time image data marking of the image data for identification of individual images and session marking of the image data for demarcation of individual presentations of the session. A centralized device processes the captured media assets and automatically divides the captured media assets into discrete files associated with the individual presentations based on the session markings. An administrative tool manages the processed media assets to produce modified presentations and enables modification of the visual aid images identified by the image data markings. A production device formats the modified presentations for distribution on distribution media.
US08286060B2

A method to generate an erasure locator polynomial in an error-and-erasure decode. The method generally includes the steps of (A) storing current values in multiple registers at a current moment, (B) generating first values by multiplying each current value by a respective one of multiple constants, (C) generating second values by gating at least all but one of the first values with a current one of multiple erasure values of an erasure position vector, (D) generating next values by combining each one of the second values with a corresponding one of the first values, (E) loading the next values into the registers in place of the current values at a next moment and (F) generating an output signal carrying the current values at a last moment such that the current values form the coefficients of the erasure locator polynomial.
US08286049B1

A configurable transmitter for a wireless communication system may include a flexible block coder, an IFFT block, an analog and RF block, and an antenna coupled in series. The flexible block coder may advantageously perform forward error correction and mapping of a data stream to generate a processed data vector. To perform these functions, the flexible block coder may include a data formatter and a multiplier. The data formatter may format the data stream into an output vector, whereas the multiplier may multiply the output vector by a configurable channel coding matrix to generate the processed data vector. The size of the output vector may be a reflection legacy compatibility and data rate. The size of the processed data vector is equal to a product of the output vector and an inverse of a coding rate. The channel coding matrix may be compressed.
US08286048B1

A method for decoding an LDPC (low-density parity check) code word. The method includes receiving a plurality of LLR (log likelihood ratio) terms from a demodulation unit of a receiver and generating a scaling factor in accordance with at least one parameter descriptive of communication channel conditions for the receiver. The scaling factor is applied to each of the plurality of LLR terms to compute a corresponding plurality of scaled LLR terms. An iterative layered belief propagation algorithm is then executed by using the plurality of scaled LLR terms to generate decoded information.
US08286041B2

A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a scan chain which includes: first flip-flops contained in a first circuit and second flip-flops contained in a second circuit, wherein the first flip-flops and the second flip-flops are connected in a series connection in a scan path test mode to operate as a shift register, and a first selecting circuit configured to selectively output a test data in the scan path test mode and internal state data indicating an internal state of the first flip-flops and read from a memory circuit in a restoring operation in a normal mode to the series connection. The semiconductor integrated circuit further includes a backup control circuit configured to control the scan chain in a saving operation in the normal mode such that the internal state data is stored in the memory circuit without passing through the second flip-flops, in the restoring operation in the normal mode such that the internal state data from the first selecting circuit is set in the first flip-flops without passing through the second flip-flops, and in the scan path test mode such that the test data is shifted in the series connection.
US08286035B2

An operations management apparatus which acquires performance information for each of a plurality of performance items from a plurality of controlled units and manages operation of the controlled units includes a correlation model generation unit which derives a correlation function between a first series of performance information that indicates time series variation about a first element and a second series of performance information that indicates time series variation about a second element, generates a correlation model between the first element and the second element based on the correlation function, and obtains the correlation model for each element pair of the performance information, and a correlation change analysis unit which analyzes a change in the correlation model based on the performance information acquired newly which has not been used for generation of the correlation model.
US08286034B2

A method for accurately tracking fault status in a computer system. The method includes storing a prior state for a sensor associated with a component of the computer system and receiving a sensor reading. When the prior state indicates the sensor was unavailable or unreadable such as when the component was removed, the method includes resending or re-emitting a faulty event to the fault diagnosing module, e.g., after reinsertion of the component in the computer system while it is still faulty. The method may include, prior to the triggering of the resending of the faulty event, determining that the sensor is in a non-nominal state. The method may also include storing in the data storage a definition of a nominal state for the sensor such that the determining the sensor is in the non-nominal state includes comparing one or more sensor readings with the nominal state definition.
US08286029B2

In some embodiments, storage devices, such as a storage drive or a storage node, in an array of storage devices may be reintroduced into the array of storage devices after a period of temporary unavailability without fully rebuilding the entire previously unavailable storage device.
US08286027B2

An I/O device includes a host interface that may receive and process transaction packets sent by a number of processing units, with each processing unit corresponding to a respective root complex. The host interface includes an error handling unit having error logic implemented in hardware that may determine, as each packet is received, whether each transaction packet has an error and to store information corresponding to any detected errors. The error handling unit may include an error processor that may be configured to execute error processing instructions to determine any error processing operations based upon the information. The error processor may also generate and send one or more instruction operations, each corresponding to a particular error processing operation. The error handling unit may also include an error processing unit that may execute the one or more instruction operations to perform the particular error processing operations.
US08286021B2

A flash memory device includes a memory cell array, a clock signal input, an input for receiving a signal designating a writing operating mode, a plurality of data input/output pads, and a data input/output buffer circuit that is electrically connected to the clock signal input and to the plurality of data input/output pads. The data input/output buffer circuit is configured to receive data that is to be written to the memory cell array through the data input/output pads in synchronization with a clock signal that is applied to the clock signal input in response to activation of the signal designating the writing operating mode.
US08286014B2

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for sending a first link handshake signal between a first subsystem and a power management unit (PMU) of a system on a chip (SoC) to request entry into a power saving state for the first subsystem, sending a second link handshake signal between the first subsystem and the PMU to acknowledge the request, and placing the first subsystem into the power saving state without further signaling between the PMU and the first subsystem. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08286013B2

A system and method for providing multi-tiered power save operation in a portable communication device. A portable communication device may be operated in a first power-save mode. A power-save module of the portable communication device may, for example, provide for operation in such a first power-save mode. It may be determined to operate the portable communication device in a second power-save mode that is different than the first power-save mode. A power-save management module may, for example, make such a determination. The portable communication device may then be operated in the second power-save mode. The power-save module may, for example, provide for operation in such a second power-save mode.
US08286011B2

A method and apparatus for storing and classifying packets transmitted over a network to a processor in a low power mode. The processor receives and classifies the packets as interesting or not interesting. Uninteresting packets are discarded while interesting packets are stored in memory. For the first interesting packet received, a receive timer is activated and for every interesting packet received a counter is incremented. A transmit timer is activated when the processor enters the low power mode. When either the receive timer expires, the transmit timer expires or the counter reaches a threshold value then a wake-up interrupt is asserted.
US08286005B2

A tamper resistant apparatus 101 is mounted inside of a PC 900 and stores confidential information A through C. The tamper resistant apparatus 101 receives data from an application 118 which operates on the PC 900, processes the data using the confidential information A through C, and returns processed data to the application 118. To the tamper resistant apparatus 101, plural external sensors 110 provided to the PC 900 are connected. The plural external sensors 110 detect opening/closing of a case of the PC 900 or movement of the body of the PC 900 and send a detection signal to the tamper resistant apparatus 101. On inputting the detection signal from the plural external sensors 110, the tamper resistant apparatus 101 selects and erases confidential information to be erased from the confidential information A through C according to the tamper resistant policy stored previously.
US08285997B2

A system for more secure, more efficient, more widely applicable backup, retention, and retrieval of data. An apparatus comprising improved means for de-duplication of data and securely storing data remotely with efficient retention and recovery. A method comprising disassembling data objects, efficiently de-duplicating, securely storing and retrieving backups in shared servers on a public network, and controlling retention.
US08285993B1

A method for distributing a shared secret key among a plurality of nodes is described. Each node establishes a secret key, the number of nodes being more than two nodes. A node distributes by a ring protocol executing over computer network connections an encrypted version of the secret key of each node to other nodes of the plurality of nodes. Each node decrypts the secret keys of other nodes so that each node has the secret key of other nodes. Each node combines the secret keys of other nodes to form a shared secret key available to other nodes.
US08285985B2

A system and method can include comparing entities associated with public certificates and private keys in a keystore to detect compromised private keys. This increases security of systems implementing public key cryptography over a network. The comparison can be triggered by a trigger event in one embodiment. If a private key belonging to a certificate authority is detected, a notification can be generated. Alternatively or in addition, a revocation request can be generated for public certificates corresponding to the compromised private key.
US08285980B1

A system-on-a-chip includes a first memory and a processor. The first memory is configured to store a boot code. The processor is configured to (i) access the first memory, and (ii) execute the boot code when booting up. The processor is configured to, while booting up, determine whether a first one-time-programmable memory has been previously programmed based on the boot code. The processor is configured to, in response to the first one-time-programmable memory not having been previously programmed based on the boot code, (i) load firmware from a second memory into a third memory, and (ii) execute the firmware loaded into the third memory. The processor is configured to, in response to the first one-time-programmable memory having been previously programmed, verify a digital signature of the firmware.
US08285979B2

A method, chip and computer program product for booting from a secondary boot source. In one embodiment, the method includes: (1) retrieving primary boot code from an on-chip primary boot source on the same chip as a processor, the primary boot code comprising at least a boot discovery algorithm for determining the location of an external secondary boot source external to said chip, (2) executing the primary boot code on the processor, including the boot discovery algorithm, thus operating the processor to check each of a plurality of locations to determine the location of the external secondary boot source, (3) retrieving the secondary boot code from the determined location and (4) continuing the booting of the processor by executing the secondary boot code on the processor.
US08285974B2

An apparatus for queue allocation. An embodiment of the apparatus includes a dispatch order data structure, a bit vector, and a queue controller. The dispatch order data structure corresponds to a queue. The dispatch order data structure stores a plurality of dispatch indicators associated with a plurality of pairs of entries of the queue to indicate a write order of the entries in the queue. The bit vector stores a plurality of mask values corresponding to the dispatch indicators of the dispatch order data structure. The queue controller interfaces with the queue and the dispatch order data structure. The queue controller excludes at least some of the entries from a queue operation based on the mask values of the bit vector.
US08285968B2

In computing environments that use virtual addresses (or other indirectly usable addresses) to access memory, the virtual addresses are translated to absolute addresses (or other directly usable addresses) prior to accessing memory. To facilitate memory access, however, address translation is omitted in certain circumstances, including when the data to be accessed is within the same unit of memory as the instruction accessing the data. In this case, the absolute address of the data is derived from the absolute address of the instruction, thus avoiding address translation for the data. Further, in some circumstances, access checking for the data is also omitted.
US08285962B2

A defragmentation method includes the steps of: a) configuring a processor to determine a type of a target machine-readable storage device coupled electrically to the processor; b) configuring the processor to select, from among a plurality of pre-established defragmentation algorithms respectively for performing defragmentation on different types of machine-readable storage devices, a defragmentation algorithm that corresponds to the type of the target machine-readable storage device as determined in step a); and c) configuring the processor to perform defragmentation on the target machine-readable storage device according to the defragmentation algorithm as selected in step b).
US08285956B2

A system and method for logging for asynchronously replicating volume groups. A write request to write data to a location in a volume may be received. Metadata associated with the write request may be stored. It may be determined if the write request possibly overlaps with one or more earlier write requests to the volume that have not yet been replicated to a secondary storage. The data may be stored in a replication log only if the write request possibly overlaps with one or more earlier write requests to the volume. The data may not be stored in the replication log if the write request does not overlap with one or more earlier write requests to the volume. The data may be written to the location in the volume. Changes to the volume may periodically be replicated to the secondary storage using the replication log.
US08285946B2

Exemplary embodiments include a method for reducing access contention in a flash-based memory system, the method including selecting a chip stripe in a free state, from a memory device having a plurality of channels and a plurality of memory blocks, wherein the chip stripe includes a plurality of pages, setting the ship stripe to a write state, setting a write queue head in each of the plurality of channels, for each of the plurality of channels in the flash stripe, setting a write queue head to a first free page in a chip belonging to the channel from the chip stripe, allocating write requests according to a write allocation scheduler among the channels, generating a page write and in response to the page write, incrementing the write queue head, and setting the chip stripe into an on-line state when it is full.
US08285938B2

The present invention is related with the management of memory in environments of limited resources, such as those found for example in a smart card. In a more particular manner, the invention relates to a method of managing the data storage resources of volatile memory, the object of which is to reduce the size of volatile memory necessary to implement the stack of the system, and thereby to reserve more volatile memory available for other needs or procedures of the system or of other applications When the stack grows and comes close to its established limit, the system carries out a transfer of a stack block located in the volatile memory to an area of non-volatile memory, hence this transfer allows a compression of the stack increasing its size in a virtual manner.
US08285932B2

The present invention relates to a mass storage system with improved usage of buffer capacity, and more specifically to a mass storage system for real-time data storage with an embedded controller. According to the invention, the mass storage system has a first data path between a real-time data interface and a mass storage array, the first data path including a data buffer without access latency, and a second data path between an embedded processor and the mass storage array, wherein the data buffer without access latency is also used as a data buffer for non real-time data transfers between the embedded processor and the mass storage array.
US08285931B2

A redundant array of independent disk (RAID) stack loads a first parity block of RAID data into a first memory address of a main memory of a data processing system. A first parity calculation is performed on a first plurality of data blocks of the RAID data with the first parity block loaded from the first memory address of the main memory into a register of the processor of the data processing system and a cache memory associated with the processor. The RAID stack loads subsequent parity blocks of RAID data into subsequent memory addresses of the main memory, where a difference between the first memory address and the subsequent memory addresses equals to one or more multiples of an alias offset associated with the cache memory. A second parity calculation is performed on a second plurality of data blocks and the second parity block of the RAID data.
US08285927B2

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for solid-state storage as cache for high-capacity, non-volatile storage. The apparatus, system, and method are provided with a plurality of modules including a cache front-end module and a cache back-end module. The cache front-end module manages data transfers associated with a storage request. The data transfers between a requesting device and solid-state storage function as cache for one or more HCNV storage devices, and the data transfers may include one or more of data, metadata, and metadata indexes. The solid-state storage may include an array of non-volatile, solid-state data storage elements. The cache back-end module manages data transfers between the solid-state storage and the one or more HCNV storage devices.
US08285924B1

A cache control system is disclosed for use with data storage apparatus having a movably mounted storage element, such as a magnetic or optical disk and solid-state cache memory, in which the storage element is not at operating speed when data access has not occurred during a predetermined time period, comprising means arranged to access data stored on the storage element if a read or write request cannot be satisfied via access to the cache memory and a cache replacement mechanism for transferring data between the cache memory and the storage element to maintain consistency of data therebetween. The system is characterized in that the cache replacement mechanism performs data transfers between the cache memory and the storage element only while the storage element is at operating speed after a read or write request has given rise to an access to the storage element.
US08285915B2

Relocating data in a virtualized environment maintained by a hypervisor administering access to memory with a Cache Page Table (‘CPT’) and a Physical Page Table (‘PPT’), the CPT and PPT including virtual to physical mappings. Relocating data includes converting the virtual to physical mappings of the CPT to virtual to logical mappings; establishing a Logical Memory Block (‘LMB’) relocation tracker that includes logical addresses of an LMB, source physical addresses of the LMB, target physical addresses of the LMB, a translation block indicator for each relocation granule, and a pin count associated with each relocation granule; establishing a PPT entry tracker including PPT entries corresponding to the LMB to be relocated; relocating the LMB in a number of relocation granules including blocking translations to the relocation granules during relocation; and removing the logical addresses from the LMB relocation tracker.
US08285909B2

In some embodiments, an electronic apparatus comprises at least one memory module, and a universal serial bus (USB) host controller coupled to the memory, wherein the USB host controller implements hardware assisted idleness endpoint detection.
US08285908B2

A method for interfacing an out-of-order bus and multiple ordered buses and a bus bridge. The bus bridge includes multiple ordered bus interfaces, where each ordered bus interface is coupled to an ordered bus. A flow control logic circuit is coupled to the out-of-order bus and to the multiple ordered bus interfaces. The flow control logic circuit controls a flow of transaction requests between the out-of-order bus and each of the ordered buses interfaces. The flow control logic circuit includes an updating circuit for updating dependency resolution attributes and data readiness attributes associated with transaction requests, and a shared memory unit for storing the dependency resolution attributes, the data readiness attributes and the transaction requests where the transaction requests are destined to the ordered buses. A managing circuit, coupled to the shared memory unit and to the multiple ordered bus interfaces, is used to determine a readiness of each transaction request based on a dependency resolution attribute and a data readiness attribute associated with the transaction request, and for managing a dequeueing of ready transaction requests to the ordered bus interfaces based on an availability of the ordered bus interfaces.
US08285907B2

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing techniques for forming an Advanced Switching (AS) packet by applying AS path binding information to a packet received over a Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express (PCIe) fabric according to a downstream port identifier associated with the packet, and sending the AS packet to an AS fabric. Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing techniques for processing an AS packet received over an AS fabric by comparing an AS payload of the AS packet with one or more memory spaces associated with port identifiers, determining whether the AS payload comprises a base packet to be transmitted to the PCIe fabric based on the comparison, and if so, removing an AS header from the AS packet to reveal the base packet.
US08285893B2

A system and method is disclosed in which a switch is located between the I/O hubs of the computer system. The I/O hubs are coupled to I/O devices of the computer system. The I/O hubs are also coupled to one or more processors via direct point-to-point communication links. The I/O hub provides a connection point between various I/O devices and processors. The switch includes a set of internal communications pathways that can be set according to the communication status of links between the processors and I/O hubs of the system. When the communication links of the system are operational, the switch allocates all of I/O hub transmission bandwidth to I/O devices. When the communication links are determined to be not operational, the switch allocates some of I/O hub transmission bandwidth to establish a communication link between the I/O hubs of the computer system, while the remaining I/O hub transmission bandwidth is allocated to I/O devices.
US08285888B2

According to one embodiment, a communication system includes a first communication control apparatus and a second communication control apparatus. The first communication control apparatus includes an acquiring unit, a generating unit, and a transferring unit. The second communication control apparatus includes a receiving unit and a processing unit. The acquiring unit acquires a computer file. The generating unit generates transfer information including the computer file and added information indicating a content of processing designated by a user of the first communication control apparatus from among plural contents of processing relating to the computer file. The transferring unit transfers the transfer information to the second communication control apparatus. The receiving unit receives the transfer information. The processing unit performs processing on the computer file included in the transfer information in accordance with the content of processing indicated by the added information included in the transfer information.
US08285885B2

A universal serial bus (USB) device and a USB system are provided. The USB device comprises an electrical physical layer (EPHY) module, a logical physical layer (LPHY) module and a link layer module. The EPHY module reads the voltages of first and second transmission lines of a USB cable to extract a recovery clock and data. The LPHY module detects the recovery clock and data to output an indication signal. When the recovery clock is not detected, the LPHY module sets the indication signal to a predetermined value. The link layer module determines whether the indication signal is at the predetermined value, and makes a state machine thereof leave a normal operation state when the indication signal has been maintained at the predetermined value over a predetermined time period.
US08285882B2

An output apparatus includes an IP-address setting unit, a setting change detection unit, and a notification information creation unit. The IP-address setting unit sets an IP address of the output apparatus. The setting change detection unit detects a change in the setting of the IP-address setting unit. The notification information creation unit creates information that will be notified to a device that satisfies predetermined conditions upon detection of the setting change by the setting change detection unit.
US08285878B2

A block-based interface to a dispersed data storage network is disclosed. The disclosed interface accepts read and write commands from a file system resident on a user's computer and generates network commands that are forwarded to slice servers that form the storage component of the dispersed data storage network. The slice servers then fulfill the read and write commands.
US08285874B2

In some embodiments, a method and routing system parameterize a routing policy and apply the parameterized-routing policy to a route. Parameters are assigned to at least some policy statements of the policy. The parameterized policy may be called with parameters stored in a parameter table. In some embodiments, common blocks of the policy may be identified and assigned parameter sets. A commonized routing policy may be reused within more than one policy.In some embodiments, a method and routing system may evaluate a configuration file to determine relationships between route attributes. The relationships may be expressed in one or more mathematical functions, and when a route is received from a peer, the attributes of the route may be modified based on the mathematical functions.In some embodiments, a router and method for implementing routing policy and traffic engineering are provided. Routing policy may be implemented by performing a policy translation on a policy configuration to generate an internal-policy representation. Attribute-operator pairings of the internal-policy representation may be verified with one or more client dynamic load libraries (DLLs). When the attribute-operator pairings have been verified, the internal-policy representation may be compiled and stored in a system database. A client protocol may be notified that the routing policy has been modified.
US08285872B2

A router receives a transaction message. The router determines whether the transaction message may include an affinity indicating a preference regarding processing of the transaction message. The transaction message may be modified to include an identification of a server system to process the modified transaction message based on the determination of the affinity. The router may route the modified transaction message to a coupling facility. A notification message may be received from the coupling facility, where the notification message requests a server associated with or including the router to send a bid to process the modified transaction message. The router may send the bid to process the modified transaction message to the coupling facility. An authorization message, to process the modified transaction message, may be received from the coupling facility based on a timestamp of the bid.
US08285869B1

A system and method for controlling a backup operation to backup data from a source device to a backup storage device are described. Backup software creates checkpoints during the backup operation. Each checkpoint represents a point from which the backup operation can be re-started in case of failure. The backup software enables an administrator to specify a desired time interval between the checkpoints. The backup operation is performed using a backup protocol which uses a transfer frame size to determine when to create each checkpoint. The backup software translates the checkpoint time interval specified by the administrator into an appropriate transfer frame size in order to achieve the desired checkpoint time interval. The transfer frame size may be dynamically adjusted between each checkpoint.
US08285856B1

Systems and methods for integrating a messaging service with an application may comprise integrating a front end of the application with the messaging service. Furthermore, systems and methods for integrating a messaging service with an application may comprise integrating a messaging service login and an application login, the messaging service login being associated with the messaging service and the application login being associated with the application. Moreover, systems and methods for integrating a messaging service with an application may comprise configuring the messaging service to initiate business logic based upon at least one of opening a session with the messaging service and closing a session with the messaging service.
US08285854B2

A system and method for establishing and maintaining a voice over internet protocol connection between wireless devices, in one example embodiment, may comprise a receiving module to receive a communication device identifier, and a request to establish a communication data link to another communication device. The communication device identifier may initially be received by a terminal from the communication device over a wireless data link connecting the communication device and the terminal. Subsequently, the terminal network address may be associated with the terminal, which received the communication device identifier. A processing module may be utilized to determine whether another communication device is reachable over a wireless data link to another terminal based on information stored in a register. Further, a communication module may be utilized to establish the communication data link between one communication device and another communication device subsequent to determining that another communication device is reachable by a terminal over the wireless data link.
US08285847B1

A method, system, and storage medium for collecting bandwidth data is provided. The method includes producing master and slave text files in response to simultaneous collection of data samples from a network device by servers. The method also includes generating a clean data file by sorting data in the master and slave text files by the network device port, sorting data samples for the port by collection time, and for each of the samples: adding a designated interval of time to a time on the network device resulting in a target network device time whereby the time on the network device corresponds to a time the data sample was collected, examining data samples in the master and slave text files corresponding to the time the respective data samples were collected, selecting from one of the master and slave text files the sample with a collection time most closely matching the target network device time, and storing the selected sample in the clean data file.
US08285845B2

A distributed user validation and profile management system operates to automatically validate and update user profiles, such as those stored within an organizational security database, to properly reflect the actual positions and rights of various users within the organization to the various organizational assets, such as computer implemented applications. The user validation and profile management system periodically sends validation e-mails to various users within the organization to initiate the process of updating and verifying user profile information. The individual users may respond to the validation e-mails to verify their position and status within the organization as well as the position or status of one or more closely associated users, such as a manager or a subordinate. Failure of the user to respond to the validation e-mail causes the user validation and profile management system to determine that the user profile is invalid when the user attempts to access an application.
US08285831B2

A communication unit that communicates with the information terminal; an image display unit that forms and displays an image; a control unit that controls the image display unit; a storage unit that stores model data defining a model of web screen information for instructing the control of the image display unit; and a generation unit that generates the web screen information that can be displayed in the information terminal by selecting the model data stored in the storage unit, and configuring, in the model indicated by the model data, an instruction unit for instructing a control item that controls the display unit. The communication unit transmits the web screen information generated by the generation unit to the information terminal, and the control unit controls the control item of the image display unit based on an instruction signal transmitted as a result of specifying the instruction unit of the web screen information displayed in the information terminal.
US08285818B2

The disclosure is directed to a system and method for recording and accessing multimedia data. In a particular embodiment, a method includes determining a first number of requests to record specific multimedia content at a first server supporting a multimedia content distribution service. The first server may be configured to transmit multimedia data to multiple customer premises equipment (CPE). The method may also include recording the specific multimedia content at a second server when the first number of requests is greater than or equal to a threshold. The second server may be configured to transmit the multimedia data to the first server.
US08285817B1

A migration engine is provided for use in a logical namespace of a storage system environment. A remote agent of an integrated management framework is installed on a host machine of the storage system environment and includes a pre-installed migration plug-in module that configures the agent as a migration engine adapted to provide a data migration capability. That is, the migration plug-in has the intelligence to configure the remote agent as a migration engine adapted to perform data migration from a source location to a destination location in the storage system environment.
US08285813B1

A system and method for emulating a multitude of different user agents on a server-side is disclosed herein. On a server-side, an acceptable user agent string for receiving full content from the web-site with a browser sniffing agent is identified. The acceptable user agent is emulated by transmitting a HTTP request with the acceptable user agent string, allowing for access to the full content of the web-page of the web-site.
US08285807B2

A computer implemented system comprises a remote industrial factory automation control system tool stored in a non-transitory computer readable media that, when executed by a processor, configures the processor to modify a web browser to include a control object; request industrial factory automation control system data from a local control system; receive the industrial factory automation control system data; display, by the web browser, the industrial factory automation control system data; and send control instructions to the local control system.
US08285805B2

A communications system may include data storage devices each using at least one of a plurality of different operating protocols. Further, at least one of the data storage devices may operate using multiple operating protocols. The system may also include mobile wireless communications devices for accessing the at least one data storage device, and each may use at least one of the plurality of operating protocols. Moreover, the system may further include a protocol interface device. The protocol interface device may include a front-end proxy module for communicating with the plurality of mobile wireless communications devices using respective operating protocols. The protocol interface may also include a protocol engine module for communicating with the data storage devices using respective operating protocols. The protocol engine module may also select a desired operating protocol for communicating with the at least one data storage device from the multiple operating protocols.
US08285800B2

An automated method is provided for constructing or updating a service model that defines the entities in an enterprise's computing environment. The method includes: defining a group of templates for updating the service model, where the group of templates identify different types of entities which comprise the service model and relationships between the types of entities including an entity that links software applications to respective computing infrastructure that supports the software applications; monitoring messages received from monitoring tools residing in the computing environment; and updating a service model in accordance with the group of templates using data encapsulated in the messages.
US08285799B2

A determination of whether to archive email messages in a user mailbox is made each time an email message is received at a server computer. A storage quota, a first threshold and a second threshold are obtained for the user mailbox. The first threshold is a first percentage of the storage quota. The second threshold is a second percentage of the storage quota. When it is determined that the size of the received email message plus the current size of the user mailbox exceeds the first threshold for the user mailbox, one or more email messages in the user mailbox are archived. The archiving of the one or more email messages reduces the current size of the user mailbox such that the current size of the user mailbox becomes less than the number of bytes corresponding to the second threshold for the user mailbox.
US08285795B2

A rating is applied in connection with a sender of an electronic message and a use of an urgency indicator for the electronic message. A different electronic message is received from the sender, and an urgency indicator established for the different electronic message is modified responsive to the applied rating.
US08285794B2

A method and system for organizing printed documents associated with an e-mail message wherein each of the printed documents may be separated by a printer header page reflecting some or all of the signature information included with the e-mail message from which the printed documents originate.
US08285788B1

A group communication system is disclosed. The group communication system integrates a number of electronic communication tools to meet various communication needs among registered users in the system. According to one embodiment, a file is shared among members in a group. Instead of having a copy of the file be sent directly to all recipients at the same time, the file is retained in a store and downloaded therefrom to a client machine when a recipient decides to access the file. Further a mechanism is provided to retain a history of the file shared between or among the members so that everyone in the group can see what has been shared in the group.
US08285786B2

Methods and apparatus for forming and presenting confidential presentations within a computing environment associated with a virtual application are presented. For example, a method for forming a confidential presentation includes obtaining a correspondence indicator from an asset server, obtaining a first texture from the asset server, and overlaying the first texture onto a first object. The correspondence indicator indicates the first texture corresponds to the first object. The first object is within the computing environment associated with the virtual application. The first texture and the asset server are inaccessible by the computing environment associated with the virtual application. The confidential presentation comprises the first texture.
US08285779B2

Techniques for supporting a presence virtualization query are provided. The techniques include receiving a virtual query from a client, the virtual query specified in terms of a membership set of members, wherein the membership set comprises a list of presentity uniform resource identifiers (URIs) and a separate transformation function, defined over a set of presence documents of the members in the membership set, redirecting the query to a destination virtual presentity URI whose presence state comprises an aggregation of the presence documents of the list of URIs in the membership set and a corresponding query element (QE) object that manages subscriptions for the URI, adding the client as a watcher for the destination virtual presentity URI, and applying transformation logic specified by the watcher client and notifying a corresponding client of a resulting output.
US08285778B2

A method, system and an article of manufacture tangibly embodying a computer readable program for protecting Web application data between a server and a client. A response created by the Web application for the client is backed up and modified by adding capturing code for capturing a user action, user data of the client, or combination thereof. The modified response is sent to the client and a request submitted by the client and the user action and/or user data captured by the capturing code is received. A verifying request is generated according to the received user action and/user data captured by the capturing code and the backup of the response. The request submitted by the client is verified according to the verifying request and the verified request is sent to the Web application of the server.
US08285760B1

A system for organizing computer data by the use of naming rules, grouping rules, and sequencing rules. These rules name and sort data in a consistent and convenient manner, which can, in part or whole, be employed by a human, computer, or both.
US08285755B2

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to programmatic database access and provide a method, system and computer program product for programmatic partial updating of a row. In one embodiment, a data processing system for programmatic partial updating of a row in a database can include a database proxy driver configured to expose an interface for interacting with the database and to accept an execution of a prepared statement without requiring set values for all fields bound by the prepared statement. The interface can include, for example, a Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) compliant interface. The prepared statement can include a binding to multiple fields in a designated row and a set of setter methods defined for a subset of the multiple fields.
US08285749B2

A computer system comprising storage devices having different characteristics, a client computer, and a file access controller managing the storage devices with the HSM is disclosed. The file access controller provides a normal directory tree and a virtual directory tree, according to the configuration, and provides a first file stored in a first storage device through the normal directory tree and the virtual directory tree. And, the file access controller switches providing of a second file stored in a second storage device, depending on a used directory tree, which is used by the at least one client computer, and which is the normal directory tree or the virtual directory tree. Examples of the switch are about accessibility of the second file and recall processing of the second file.
US08285744B2

Indexing agents and/or data brokers are leveraged to provide search query results related to manufacturing processes. The indexing agents allow different manufacturing configuration data types to be “sub-indexed,” allowing them to be easily searched. In one instance, the sub-indices can be aggregated together to create an overall index to facilitate in query searches of the configuration data. Separate indexing agents can be utilized for indexing contents of the configuration components for the human-machine interface (HMI) and control system and the like. Data brokers can be employed to facilitate in responding to query searches by indexing/searching real-time process variables (tags) and historical data in persistent storage. A search engine can then be employed to aggregate the search results and present them to a user in a selectable fashion. User selected results are then rendered in the proper format and displayed to the user.
US08285742B2

An information processing apparatus that manages resource information which is information related to resources constituting a system, includes: a first condition setting section that sets first conditions which are predetermined conditions between given resource information and other resource information; a first condition extraction section that extracts, from the first conditions set by the first condition setting section, a first condition set to resource information, on which changed information that is information indicating a change to the resource information is based; and a first condition determination section that determines whether the changed information satisfies the first condition extracted by the first condition extraction section.
US08285740B2

Methods and devices are provided for querying databases maintained by electronic gaming machines (“EGMs”). The databases preferably follow a predetermined naming convention. In some such implementations, a query is written in a predetermined message field. For example, the query string may be written in a predetermined extension of the Gaming Standards Association's G2S Message Protocol. An EGM (or other device) receiving a message containing such a query may extract the query from the predetermined field, parse the query, determine the requested data and return a responsive message that includes the requested data.
US08285733B2

“Call casting” is the ability to create a broadcasted multimedia file from a telephonic device. A content originator selects an option to create a call cast from the telephonic device, and a processing unit receives a communication utilized in creating an episode file. The episode file is associated with a feed file, which is accessed by an audience. The feed file may be accessible from a user website. Additionally, the communication received by the processing unit may originate from the telephonic device or a voicemail server. The processing unit may comprise a voicemail server. The content originator may be provided with one or more options that affect the creation of the episode file or the association of the episode file to the feed file. These options may be provided over the telephonic device, or through use of an administrative website.
US08285732B2

A method includes providing a plurality of services to a user by a software application, each service having a plurality of service parameters and being capable of displaying a plurality of data to the user. The method also includes providing a data theme selection to the user, the data theme selection including selecting a data theme from among a plurality of available data themes. The method also includes setting, for each data theme parameter of the selected data theme, the service parameters associated with and according to that data theme parameter. The method also includes filtering, for each of the plurality of services, the display of the plurality of data as a function of the at least one associated data property according to the service parameters of that service as set by the selected data theme.
US08285725B2

Disclosed is a system for, and method of, identifying a universal entity representation in an electronic universal database that corresponds to a foreign entity representation in an electronic foreign database, each entity representation including a plurality of linked records, each record including a plurality of fields, each field capable of containing a field value, each field value associated with a field value weight.
US08285717B2

A system for use in storage of advertisements in a personal account at an online service is provided. The online service may be configured to serve data to a client device to cause the client device to display a graphical user interface. The system may include a search interface to receive a search query input by a user and to display search results and one or more advertisements generated from a search engine of the online service in response to the search query, a selector configured to receive a user command to save a selected advertisement in the personal account for later viewing and/or traversal of a hyperlink embedded in the advertisement, and a personal account interface to display a saved advertisement in the personal account.
US08285714B2

A system and a method is provided for extracting, classifying, and displaying related words for a query, if an internet or local computer or a mobile appliance user inputs the query. In a system for providing related words composed of a client and a server connected to the client through a network, the method of providing related words for a query includes the steps of the server searching for the co-occurrence frequency by words from source data, the server storing the result of the search in a database, the server receiving an input of a query from the client, and the server extracting related words related to the input query from the database.
US08285712B2

A processor-implemented method of operating a mobile communication device operable to execute one or more communication applications includes issuing a query for contact data over a communication network, creating a contact resolution object, receiving contact data responsive to the query over the communication network, the contact data comprising communication contact data for the one or more communication applications, associating the contact data received with the contact resolution object, and resolving the contact resolution object to select communication contact data.
US08285708B2

Described is a technology comprising a query processing pipeline in which a SPARQL query is processed into an intermediate LINQ query, which is then processed by a LINQ provider. The LINQ provider decides which instructions correspond to flat database queries, and routes those instructions a database engine (e.g., SQL server) for querying a database. Other instructions are provided to a reasoning engine for processing, e.g., by performing a graph traversal and/or database queries. The pipeline may include a parser that parses the query into an abstract syntax tree, and an optimizer that processes the abstract syntax tree into a LINQ query, including by reordering LINQ instructions and/or associating a flag with each of the instructions that indicates whether to query the database or provide the instruction to a reasoning engine.
US08285703B1

Systems and methods are provided for crawling and indexing documents stored in a data storage system. A crawler system processes multiple jobs that each correspond to crawling documents in the data storage system. Each job includes priority data and crawling instructions. The crawler system stores each job in a priority queue in a sequence based on the priority data. The crawler system assigns each job in the priority queue to a next available processing module for processing based on the stored sequence. Before processing each job, the crawler system determines whether to segment the job into smaller steps based on the corresponding crawling instructions. If the job is segmented, one of smaller steps is processed to crawl a group of the documents in the data storage system. The remaining steps are stored in the priority queue to wait for processing.
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