US08326430B2

Devices and methods of use identification, treatment, and/or management of heart failure and/or associated conditions. Methods may include providing a baroreflex therapy system, providing an implantable measurement device proximate a blood vessel of a patient, the implantable measurement device including a plurality of electrodes, determining an impedance of the blood vessel with the implantable measurement device over a time period of at least one cardiac cycle, generating at least one signal representative of a pressure waveform based on the impedance, activating, deactivating or otherwise modulating the baroreflex therapy system to deliver a therapy to treat heart failure based at least in part on the at least one signal representative of the pressure waveform.
US08326429B2

An exemplary includes acquiring an electroneurogram of the right carotid sinus nerve or the left carotid sinus nerve, analyzing the electroneurogram for at least one of chemosensory information and barosensory information and calling for one or more therapeutic actions based at least in part on the analyzing. Therapeutic actions may aim to treat conditions such as sleep apnea, an increase in metabolic demand, hypoglycemia, hypertension, renal failure, and congestive heart failure. Other exemplary methods, devices, systems, etc., are also disclosed.
US08326425B2

An implantable device includes a header, a pulse generator housing, one or more electrical connectors connected to the header, and a feedthrough assembly mounted to the pulse generator housing. The feedthrough assembly includes a nonconductive base having one or more holes therethrough, the feedthrough assembly further including one or more feedthrough pins, each feedthrough pin extending through one of the holes, each feedthrough pin including a pin body and an upper contact surface for connecting to one or more of the electrical connectors, the upper contact surface having a larger surface area than a cross-sectional area of the pin body.
US08326418B2

A medical system comprises a plurality of electrodes; at least one sensor configured to output at least one signal based on at least one physiological parameter of a patient; and a processor. The processor is configured to control delivery of stimulation to the patient using a plurality of electrode configurations. Each of the electrode configurations comprises at least one of the plurality of electrodes. For each of the electrode configurations, the processor is configured to determine a first response of target tissue to the stimulation based on the signals, and a second response of non-target tissue to the stimulation based on the signals. The processor is also configured to select at least one of the electrode configurations for delivery of stimulation to the patient based on the first and second responses for the electrode configurations. As examples, the target tissue may be a left ventricle or vagus nerve.
US08326415B2

A system is generally described for altering a user's motional response to sensory input and includes a current source and a first sensory input device configured to provide a first sensory input to a user. The system also includes a second sensory input device configured to provide a second sensory input to a user and a sensor device configured to detect motions associated with the user. Further, the system includes a control unit configured to receive signals from the sensor and receive sensory signals related to the first and second sensory inputs. The control unit generates control signals based on the signals and the sensory signals. Further still, the system includes electrical contacts configured to contact flesh of the user and deliver current from the current source to the vestibular system of the user in response to the control signals and the current is configured to cause the user to move in a predetermined manner if the user is not in the process of making the predetermined motion.
US08326407B2

A method and a system for detection of an arrhythmia and discrimination between different types of arrhythmia to determine whether to administer an electric shock to the heart, the method comprising monitoring the electrical activity of a beating heart, selecting a number of heart beat intervals that will comprise an analysis segment; determining an instantaneous heart rate for each of the heart beat intervals with the segment; calculating the mean instantaneous heart rate for the segment; determining the variability of the instantaneous heart rates compared to a mean; using a linear combination of the mean and the non-linear value for comparison with a predetermined threshold to discriminate the type of arrhythmia to automatically decide if intervention is indicated.
US08326406B2

A method and a system for free space optical tomography provides one or more light source and one or more light sensors spaced, which in one embodiment are spaced apart from and object to be imaged. A surface capture system coupled to a variety of optical models provides the method and system with the ability to render accurate tomographic images though the light has propagated both through a diffuse medium and, in on embodiment, also through free space to the one or more light sensors.
US08326404B2

Methods and apparatus for classifying tissue use features of Raman spectra and background fluorescent spectra. The spectra may be acquired in the near-infrared wavelengths. Principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis of reference spectra may be used to obtain a classification function that accepts features of the Raman and background fluorescence spectra for test tissue and yields an indication as to the likelihood that the test tissue is abnormal. The methods and apparatus may be applied to screening for skin cancers or other diseases.
US08326399B2

A method for a medical examination is provided. The method includes acquiring at least two datasets that include data acquired at a plurality of points that lie along at least two lines through a center of k-space, reconstructing the at least two datasets to generate an image, and outputting the image.
US08326394B2

A system and apparatus for obtaining physiological data from a patient. The system and apparatus comprising at least one electrode disposed to collect physiological data from the patient and an electrode connection device having a conductive array formed by a plurality of conductive regions and a plurality of nonconductive regions. The conductive regions are suitable to be connected to the at least one electrode. The electrode may be connected to a first conductive region of the electrode communication device and wherein upon movement by the patient or the conductive array, the electrode is connected to a second conductive region of the conductive array.
US08326389B2

A system for continuous in vivo biosensing of specific analyte molecule concentrations based on the dynamic optical properties of electronic polymers is disclosed. The biosensor system includes at least one implant member subcutaneously exposed to the interstitial fluid of the subject, and a reader member at least temporarily positioned over the implant member to probe it with light of specific wavelengths through the skin. The system has many potential applications, including the real-time monitoring of blood glucose levels in diabetics as a method to supplement or replace conventional capillary blood testing.
US08326387B2

A RE-type oxide superconducting wire having excellent angular dependence for magnetic field of Jc is obtained by finely dispersing magnetic flux pinning centers into a superconductor. A mixed solution which comprises a metal-organic complex solution including a metal element which composes a RE-type oxide superconductor whose Ba content is reduced and a metal-organic complex solution including at least one or more kinds of metals which are selected from Zr, Ce, Sn, or Ti which has a larger affinity for Ba is coated onto an intermediate layer of a composite substrate, and the assembly is then calcined to disperse artificially and finely oxide particles (magnetic flux pinning centers) including Zr. Thus, the angular dependence for magnetic field (Jc,min/Jc,max) of Jc can be remarkably improved.
US08326377B2

A key button for an input device is provided. The key button includes a button unit formed of a mineral material and a button support member formed of a non-mineral material and connected to the button unit. The button unit has a perimeter and the button support member extends beyond the perimeter of the button unit. A mobile device having at least one key button having a button unit formed of a mineral material and a button support member formed of a non-mineral material and connected to the button unit is also provided.
US08326373B2

Mobile devices are configured to receive an input or detect a condition, and to responsively perform operations including, when the mobile device is operative in an idle mode, transition the mobile device from the idle mode to a sleep mode in response to receiving the input or detecting the condition, when the mobile device is operative in a calling mode, transition the mobile device from the calling mode to the sleep mode in response to receiving the input or detecting the condition, or when the mobile device is operative in an in-call mode, transition the mobile device from the in-call mode to the sleep mode in response to receiving the input or detecting the condition. The mobile device in the sleep mode consumes less power than the idle mode, the idle mode consumes less power than the calling mode, and the calling mode consumes less power than the in-call mode.
US08326367B2

An information processing apparatus includes a first casing and a second casing hinge-connected to the first casing via a hinge part. A sub display provided to the second casing is exposed to the outside when the first casing and the second casing are in a closed state, and displays a plurality of input numeral keys in a first display area when the first and second casings are in the closed state. A control unit accepts an input of any input numeral key from among the plurality of the input numeral keys displayed in the first display area and decides the input of the accepted input numeral key. While following pressing of an outgoing call key provided to the second casing, an outgoing call is performed to another information processing apparatus identified by a combination of the decided numerals based on the input numeral keys whose inputs have been decided.
US08326362B2

A wireless base station for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal with at least one wireless terminal existing in an area, having a transmitter for transmitting the wireless signal, and a receiver for receiving the wireless signal; a timing management unit for managing the information on start timing of the transmitter and receiver, as well as noticing the information on start timing of the transmitter and receiver to the at least one wireless terminal; and a control unit for performing the switching control of start and stop of the transmitter and receiver.
US08326361B2

An information management system for operation over a network includes a first mobile device having a first application module, the first mobile device operating over the network and in communication with a second mobile device having a second application module, a first operating system residing on the first mobile device configured to detect a communication event between the first mobile device and the second mobile device, and an address book module residing on the second mobile device. The first application module is configured to send information associated with the first mobile device to the second mobile device in association with a detection of the communication event.
US08326353B1

A customized personal mobile device for communication and organization comprises a core engine and a plurality of modules coupled to the core engine. Each of the modules is dedicated to perform a different one of a plurality of classes of functionality of the mobile device, where each said module includes a processing element and memory dedicated for use by said module. A time-based intelligence system provides robust storage, access, and processing of information on a mobile device.
US08326347B2

An electronic device has a display in which the casing of the display includes a plurality of recessed cavities into which radio and antenna modules can be inserted to provide the electronic device with a wireless communication capability. The display can have cavities for one or more radios and one or more antenna modules. A radio electrically connects to one or more antenna modules via conductor(s) contained within the display and connects to the host electronic device via a serial bus (e.g., USB). Accordingly, the display can have a plurality of radio/antenna combinations thereby concurrently providing the electronic device with multiple wireless communication capabilities.
US08326344B2

A high-frequency device having high-frequency-signal-treating circuits in and on a laminate substrate comprising pluralities of dielectric layers having conductor patterns, the high-frequency-signal-treating circuits having amplifier circuits and switch circuits; terminals including input and output terminals of high-frequency signals, the power supply terminals of the amplifier circuits and the power supply terminals of the switch circuits being formed on one main surface of the laminate substrate; power supply lines each having one end connected to each of the power supply terminals of the amplifier circuits and power supply lines each having one end connected to each of the power supply terminals of the switch circuits being formed on one dielectric layer to constitute a power supply line layer; a first ground electrode being arranged on the side of the main surface with respect to the power supply line layer, the first ground electrode overlapping at least part of the power supply lines in a lamination direction; a second ground electrode being arranged on the opposite side of the first ground electrode with respect to the power supply line layer, the second ground electrode overlapping at least part of the power supply lines in a lamination direction; and the high-frequency-signal-treating circuits being arranged on the opposite side of the power supply line layer with respect to the second ground electrode.
US08326343B2

A mobile communication terminal and text-to-speech method. The mobile communication terminal includes a display unit for displaying at least one object on a screen; a controller for identifying a depth of an activated object on the screen and finding a speech data set mapped to the identified depth; a speech synthesizer for converting textual contents of the activated object into audio wave data using the found speech data set; and an audio processor for outputting the audio wave data in speech sounds. As a result, textual contents of different objects are output in different voices so the user can easily distinguish one object from another object.
US08326338B1

A system for generating a synthetic radio channel, including a server in communication with a plurality of mobile communications devices that provide their geolocation information to the server; the server receiving user voice data; the server associating each mobile communication device with a group of mobile communication devices within a geographic proximity radius to each one; the server generating a synthetic customized voice channel for each communication device comprising a stream of chunks of voice data generated from the voice data provided by the communication devices of the group of mobile communication devices; and the server dynamically adjusting the geographic proximity radius and which mobile communication devices associated with the group based on movement of the mobile communication device, a number of mobile communication devices in the group and movement of the mobile communication devices in the group.
US08326333B2

A method of controlling an electronic device is disclosed. The electronic device is provided with functionality for composing and sending messages in accordance with at least one text-based messaging service. In response to execution on the electronic device of a message-composition process for composing a message to be sent to a recipient of the message via said text-based messaging service, a language configuration of the electronic device is set in conformance with language data associated with the recipient. Said language data indicates a language to be used for composing the message. A corresponding electronic device, computer program product, and computer-readable medium are also disclosed.
US08326330B2

A method and apparatus for updating configuration attributes by transmitting a FastRepage Attribute in a wireless communication system is provided, comprising generating a FastRepage Attribute comprising an 8 bit Length field wherein the Length field indicates a value of length of the FastRepage attribute in octets excluding the length of Length field, an 8 bit AttributeID field, an 8 bit FastRepageEnabled field wherein the FastRepageEnabled field is set to a value ‘0x01’ to indicate that FastRepage is enabled and a 16 bit FastRepageInterval field, wherein the FastRepageInterval field indicates a value of interval at which an access network pages an access terminal when the access network does not receive a response to a page and transmitting the FastRepage attribute over a communication link. A method and apparatus is further provided for receiving and processing the FastRepage attribute.
US08326322B2

A method for managing communications in a wireless communications network comprising a set of pairs constituted by a sender device and a receiver device, each of the devices having a determined area of communications coverage, the coverage areas of each pair having a mutual intersection area. Such a method comprises the followings steps: determining future trajectories of a disturbing mobile obstacle as a function of a set of prior positions of the disturbing mobile obstacle, a position of an obstacle being determined as a function of areas of mutual overlapping of at least two disturbed intersecting areas, a disturbed intersecting area having a given state of disturbance according to a determined criterion of quality of communications between the devices of the pairs corresponding to the disturbed intersection area; establishing a forecast diagnostic of quality of communications by examining the determined future trajectory or trajectories; managing the routing of communications as a function of the established forecast diagnostic.
US08326318B2

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to position location in a wireless communication system, and may more particularly relate to position location for a mobile station.
US08326313B2

Methods and systems for dynamic spectrum access (DSA) in a wireless network are provided. A DSA-enabled device may sense spectrum use in a region and, based on the detected spectrum use, select one or more communication channels for use. The devices also may detect one or more other DSA-enabled devices with which they can form DSA networks. A DSA network may monitor spectrum use by cooperative and non-cooperative devices, to dynamically select one or more channels to use for communication while avoiding or reducing interference with other devices.
US08326306B2

A method, an apparatus and a system for congestion control in location updating are provided. The method includes: setting location updating congestion control information according to network circumstances (s101); and sending the location updating congestion control information to a terminal so as to implement, by the terminal, the congestion control in location updating according to the location updating congestion control information (s102). By the method, it can be effectively controlled whether the terminal initiates the location updating immediately or initiates the location updating with delay in intercell handover, so as to effectively smooth the system bandwidth required in the location updating, reduce the system call loss, and increase the terminal location updating efficiency and wireless resource utilization ratio.
US08326290B2

The techniques described increase efficiency and operation of a device operating in one or more communication systems. These embodiments provide a method for a device to perform selected scanning procedures of one or more communication systems based on the type of event detected by the device. One method includes detection of the opening or closing of the flip cover of the device and performing scanning as a result of detecting the event. Another method performs scanning in different modes such as high-scan, medium-scan and low-scan modes.
US08326272B1

A system, method and computer program product are included for governing a telecommunication network utilizing subscriber selected policies. A predetermined number of policies governing at least one aspect of a usage of a telecommunication network by subscribers are defined. In use, a selection of at least one of the policies is received from at least one subscriber. Furthermore, the at least one aspect of the usage of the telecommunication network by the at least one subscriber is governed based on the selection.
US08326266B2

A mobile communication device is configured to provide redundant credentialed access to one or more secured wireless communication networks. The mobile device obtains credentialed access to one of the secured networks by remotely using credentials stored in a credentialed communication device that is locally available (i.e., in the vicinity of the mobile device). Responsive to detecting the actual, or potential, compromise of the mobile device's credentialed access to that secured network, the mobile device switches to other credentials stored in a different credentialed device and obtains credentialed access to one of the secured networks by remotely using those other credentials. This switching occurs dynamically upon detecting the compromise of credentialed access, as well as automatically without requiring the mobile device's user to manually enter commands into the device's user interface.
US08326257B2

A method and apparatus for determining an operational mode for use in a wireless communication system based on a location, a velocity, or both, of a wireless communication device (WCD) in relation to a wireless network infrastructure is described. The selected mode can be used by various devices within the communication system. Modes that are selected include transmit diversity and site selection diversity.
US08326256B1

The present disclosure provides a power rectifier for a Radio Frequency Identification tag circuit. The power rectifier is constructed from a pair of hybrid RF rectifier elements that include a MOS transistor. Gates of the transistors have predetermined voltages applied to them. The applied voltages bias the transistors to near their active operating regions, while an additional RF control signal is being applied to the gates of the transistors.
US08326251B2

A mobile device receives a radio frequency (RF) signal, comprising a physical signal such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS), from a serving base station. Two successive samples derived from the received physical signal such as a PSS are selected to generate a single phasor. A receiver frequency offset for the received RF signal is estimated utilizing the generated single phasor. A correlation process is performed to detect the received PSS. An angular increment in the first quadrant is calculated utilizing the generated single phasor. An actual angular increment subject to the receiver frequency offset is calculated based on the angular increment in the first quadrant and signs of real and imaginary components of the generated single phasor. The receiver frequency offset is determined based on the calculated actual angular increment and is utilized to adjust a reference or local oscillator frequency of the mobile device.
US08326250B2

A receiver includes an antenna array that generates a plurality of received signals from at least a first remote transmitter and a second remote transmitter. Aa plurality of receiver sections process the plurality of received signals to generate a plurality of down-converted signals. A receiver processing module generates a first plurality of reception matrices corresponding to the first remote transmitter based on the plurality of down-converted signals, generates a first reception statistic from a sum based on the first plurality of reception matrices, and generates an association decision corresponding to one of: the first remote transmitter and the second remote transmitter, based on the first reception statistic.
US08326243B2

The electronic circuit includes: a micro controller unit; a timer operable to measure a standby time of the micro controller unit; a buffer circuit connected with an output-signal terminal of the timer; a logic circuit controlled by an output signal of the timer and an output signal of the micro controller unit; and a power-on switch controlled by the logic circuit. The buffer circuit has no protection diode connected with an input terminal thereof on a power-source side, and connected to a common power source shared with the micro controller unit. The switch is one for controlling the power source of the micro controller unit and buffer circuit. The micro controller unit is made to transition to an active state to either a standby state or a power-source cutoff state during the standby time.
US08326239B1

Predistortion may be employed to avoid distortion in the output of a power amplifier (PA) in a transmitter, while maintaining transmit power. An active transmission signal, instead of test tones, may be used for training a predistorter for the PA, and for the entire analog transmit path of the transmitter, via a loopback path from the output of the PA to the input of a receiver path. The transmitter may include an upconverter, and the receive path may include a downconverter, which may therefore both be included in the loopback path, helping eliminate phase noise. The predistortion training may incorporate fractional timing correction, to properly align the amplified version of the original TX signal received via the loopback path with the original TX signal. The transfer function of the PA may be estimated as a polynomial function, obtaining the coefficients of the polynomial function using adaptation techniques according to one of a number of possible different methods, e.g. through curve fitting using a least mean square (LMS) algorithm.
US08326233B2

Methods and systems for a configurable tuned MOS capacitor are disclosed and may include filtering undesired signals in a chip utilizing one or more configurable MOS capacitors comprising one or more MOS transistors. The source and drain terminals of the MOS transistors may be coupled together. The filtering frequencies may be tuned by configuring a resonance frequency of a matching circuit coupled to the source and drain terminals. The matching circuit may include a variable capacitor, which may include an array of binary-weighted addressable capacitors. The addressable capacitors may include MOS transistors. The matching circuit may include a variable inductor such as a multi-tap transmission line, and may be integrated on the chip and/or on a package to which the chip is bonded. A capacitance value of the configurable MOS capacitor may be configured utilizing a bias voltage on the matching circuit.
US08326229B2

Embodiments include systems and methods for over-the-air testing of wireless systems. Embodiments comprise separated anechoic chambers containing wireless devices. The anechoic chambers are connected by propagation path corridors.
US08326227B2

System and method for exploiting spatial spectrum holes (SSH) in the time/spectrum/location of wireless resources. A method comprises setting a directional antenna to a first transmission direction, determining a state of a spectrum band in the first transmission direction, transmitting information in the first transmission direction to the receiver in response to determining that the spectrum band state is idle and that the receiver lies within a coverage area of a transmitter, and transmitting the information in the first transmission direction to a first relay in response to determining that the spectrum band state is idle and that the receiver lies without the coverage area of the transmitter.
US08326225B2

The present invention relates to communication systems and methods which allow the partner of communication to be easily specified. A portable telephone 52 is provided with a non-contact IC card which communicates with a reader/writer of a personal computer 51 by electromagnetic waves. When the non-contact IC card receives electromagnetic waves emitted by the reader/writer, the portable telephone 52 reports the card ID assigned to the non-contact IC card to the personal computer 51. The card ID includes the Bluetooth address of the portable telephone 52. When the personal computer 51 obtains the Bluetooth addresses of the portable telephone 52 and a PDA 53 at an inquiry, the personal computer 51 specifies the portable telephone 52 as a Bluetooth device with which synchronization is established, according to the Bluetooth address reported in advance. The present invention can be applied to information processing apparatuses such as personal computers and portable telephones.
US08326224B2

A near field RF communicator has an antenna circuit (1020 coupled to an active switched rectifier (301) to rectify a received RF magnetic field signal. The active switched rectifier also has a passive mode of operation. A switching mechanism in the forward conducting arms of the rectifier is controlled by a comparator (309). A switching mechanism to control ground clamping of each respective input from the antenna circuit is provided by a coupling to the other respective input from the antenna circuit.
US08326218B2

A digital radio frequency transport system that performs bi-directional simultaneous digital radio frequency distribution is provided. The transport system includes a digital host unit and at least two digital remote units coupled to the digital host unit. The bi-directional simultaneous digital radio frequency distribution is performed between the digital host unit and the at least two digital remote units.
US08326215B2

A method and apparatus for broadcasting media events, the method including the steps of providing a sequence of media events in a first server, the sequence of media events including at least one media event of a first type and a plurality of media events of a second type; playing the sequence from the first server to a second server prior to a predetermined broadcast time; and storing at the second server at least a part of the sequence received from the first server. The method may further include the steps of broadcasting the sequence from the first server at the predetermined broadcast time; broadcasting the stored sequence from the second server at the predetermined broadcast time while continuing to play the sequence from the first server to the second server, the step of broadcasting from said second server further including the steps of skipping at least one media event of a first type, broadcasting a subsequent one of the plurality, and supplementing the stored sequence with media events stored in the second server separately identifiable from the stored sequence.
US08326188B2

A developer supply device carrying charged developer along a developer carrying path to a supply target, including: a carrying substrate that includes a plurality of carrying electrodes arranged along the developer carrying path and is configured to carry the developer through an electric field generated by voltage application to the plurality of carrying electrodes. The carrying substrate comprises a vertical carrying substrate provided to stand to carry the developer upward in a substantially vertical direction. The developer is supplied to the supply target around an upper end portion of the vertical carrying substrate.
US08326182B2

A printing machine having a colorant support, a transfer device, a delivery apparatus, and a colorant stripper. The transfer device is arranged to transfer colorant from a reservoir onto the colorant support such that during operation of the printing machine, a colorant is transferred from the transfer device onto the colorant support. The delivery apparatus is arranged to deliver at least part of the colorant from the colorant support onto a printing medium or a transfer means. The colorant support and the colorant stripper are arranged so that during operation of the printing machine, non-consumed colorant is transferred from the colorant support onto the colorant stripper. The invention is also a method for printing using such an apparatus.
US08326180B2

A development device to develop a latent image with two-component developer includes a developer carrier disposed facing the image carrier, to carry the developer, a magnetic field generator disposed inside the developer carrier, to form multiple magnetic poles around the developer carrier, an interior wall dividing the interior of the development device into a first transport chamber and a second transport chamber parallel to the first transport chamber, a first transport member disposed in the first transport chamber, facing the developer carrier, to supply the developer to the developer carrier while transporting the developer longitudinally, a second transport member disposed in the second transport chamber, facing the developer carrier, to transport the developer separated from the developer carrier longitudinally, a partition disposed between the developer carrier and the second transport member to prevent resupply of the used developer in the second transport chamber from to the developer carrier.
US08326173B2

Hard imaging devices, humidity control systems and hard imaging methods are described. According to one arrangement, a hard imaging device includes an imaging member comprising a surface and a writing assembly configured to form latent images upon the surface of the imaging member. The hard imaging device also includes a development assembly configured to provide a marking agent to the surface of the imaging member to develop the latent images to form developed images, a transfer assembly configured to transfer the developed images from the surface of the imaging member to media to form a plurality of hard images, and a humidity control system configured to control humidity within a region of the hard imaging device which is adjacent to the surface of the imaging member during the forming and the development of the latent images. Other structure and methods are described.
US08326160B2

A dispersion compensation device includes: an optical branching unit to branch an optical signal to be received; a first dispersion compensator to perform dispersion compensation on one part of the optical signal branched by the optical branching unit with a variable compensation amount; a second dispersion compensator to perform dispersion compensation on another part of the optical signal branched by the optical branching unit; a monitoring unit to monitor the communication quality of an output optical signal of the second dispersion compensator; and a controlling unit to determine the direction of variation in chromatic dispersion of the optical signal based on the direction of variation in communication quality monitored by the monitoring unit and control the compensation amount of the first dispersion compensator based on the result of the determination.
US08326144B2

Upon transmission path monitoring, when a monitoring signal responded by one of optical repeaters provided in a main signal transmission path is superposed on an optical main signal and sent out to the main signal transmission path, the optical main signal is branched to optical fibers, that are optical transmission paths, provided separately from the main signal transmission path and each provided with optical repeaters corresponding to the optical repeaters provided in the main signal transmission path, an optical main signal is selected from a desired optical fiber to be monitored from among the optical transmission paths and the monitoring signal is extracted from the optical main signal selected, thereby checking the quality of the desired optical fiber.
US08326142B2

The present invention is an optical image system having at least a first camera including a first lens and at least a second sensor including a second lens. The system also includes at least one beam splitter for transmitting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a first band of wavelength to a focal plane array of the first camera and reflecting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a second band of wavelength to a focal plane array of the second camera. The first lens is positioned behind the beam splitter for focusing the beam of the first band of wavelength onto an image at the focal plane array of the first camera and the second lens is positioned behind the beam splitter for focusing the beam of the second band of wavelength onto the image at the focal plane array of the second camera.
US08326141B1

A control system for controlling power states of a controlled device, such as a lighting device, a special effects device and an in-scene device, in a photographic image-acquisition setting. The control system is configured to detect one or more camera body signals generated as a function of actuation of one or more camera body controls by a user. The control system generates a first power state change signal in response to the detected camera body signal(s) and transmits the power state change signal to the remote device so as to cause the remote device to operate at a first power state. The control system also implements a preset delay and causes the remote device to change from the first power state to a second power state in response to expiration of the preset delay.
US08326128B2

A conversion apparatus and method is disclosed by which a file including data multiplexed therein can be edited or handled readily while maintaining the compatibility. A standard/independent conversion section converts a file of a standard AV multiplex format wherein video data and audio data are placed in a multiplexed state in a body into a file of an AV independent format wherein video data or audio data are placed collectively in a body. Meanwhile, an independent/standard conversion section converts a file of the AV independent formation into a file of the standard AV multiplex format.
US08326114B2

A control unit (3) is provided for storing time information of data which are received for the first time by a receiving unit (1) in a memory (3a), and for, every time when the receiving unit (1) detects time information, acquiring the time information from the receiving unit (1), calculating the difference between the acquired time information and the time information of the first received data stored in the memory (3a), and, when the difference reaches a predetermined amount, outputting a command for starting a playback of data to a playback unit (4). The playback unit (4) starts a playback of the data stored in the storage unit (2) when the command for starting a playback of data is outputted from the control unit (3).
US08326110B2

Disclosed, among other features, is a flexible optical waveguide, having one resin film for forming a core layer and two resin films for forming a cladding layer. At least one of the resin films for forming the cladding layer is composed of a resin for forming a cladding layer and a base material film, and the base material film is arranged on an outer side of the cladding layer with respect to the core layer.
US08326106B2

An optical fiber that is relatively insensitive to bend loss comprises a core region and a cladding region configured to support and guide the propagation of light in a fundamental transverse mode, the cladding region including (i) an outer cladding region having a refractive index less than that of the core region, (ii) an annular cladding pedestal region having a refractive index higher than that of the outer cladding region and comparable to that of the core region, and (iii) an annular cladding inner trench region disposed between the core region and the pedestal region, the inner trench region having a refractive index less than that of the outer cladding region. In one embodiment, the fiber also includes a (iv) an annular cladding outer trench region disposed between the pedestal region and the outer cladding region, the outer trench region having a refractive index less than that of the outer cladding region. In addition, to suppress HOMs the pedestal region is configured to resonantly couple at least one other transverse mode of the core region to at least one transverse mode of the pedestal region. Such fiber is advantageously used as access fiber, but may have other applications, such as sensor fiber.
US08326105B2

A multi-core optical fiber includes: a plurality of core portions; and a cladding portion positioned around the plurality of core portions and including a marker for identifying a position of a specific one of the plurality of core portions.
US08326102B2

The present invention is to provide a beam homogenizer, a laser irradiation apparatus, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, which can suppress the loss of a laser beam and form a beam spot having homogeneous energy distribution constantly on an irradiation surface without being affected by beam parameters of a laser beam. A deflector is provided at an entrance of an optical waveguide or a light pipe used for homogenizing a laser beam emitted from a laser oscillator. A pair of reflection planes of the deflector is provided so as to have a tilt angle to an optical axis of the laser beam, whereby the entrance of the optical waveguide or the light pipe is expanded. Accordingly, the loss of the laser beam can be suppressed. Moreover, by providing an angle adjusting mechanism to the deflector, a beam spot having homogeneous energy distribution can be formed at an exit of the optical waveguide.
US08326093B2

A system for conferring interactivity on a pre-printed image containing text, the image having been scanned and had a position-coding pattern printed thereon, the position-coding pattern identifying a plurality of absolute positions and an impression identity for the image, the system comprising a computer system configured for: (i) receiving association data indicating an association between the impression identity, the plurality of absolute positions and a scanned image; (ii) performing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on the scanned image to convert text images into computer text; (iii) generating an input description for the scanned image, the input description describing words of computer text and zones of corresponding text images in the scanned image; and (iv) storing a page description comprising the input description and the scanned image, the page description being indexed with the impression identity, wherein the page description is retrievable so as to confer interactivity on the image.
US08326091B1

The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes determining a score for an image of a plurality of images with respect to each of one or more terms, identifying one or more of the terms for each of which the score for the image with respect to the respective identified term satisfies a criterion, and associating the identified terms with the image. Determining the score for the image with respect to a respective term includes determining probabilities of navigating between images in the plurality of images and determining the score for the image with respect to the respective term based on the probabilities.
US08326090B2

An object of this invention is to allow a user to easily and simply designate or input an image serving as a document search key. That is, a search apparatus reads a document image (S7001) to obtain image data, extracts an image region in the image data (S7004), and displays, on display means, a list of images corresponding to the extracted image regions (S7008). When a user selects at least one of the images displayed in the list via an input means (S7009), the search is executed by using the selected image as a search key (S7010).
US08326084B1

A system and method of auto-exposure control is provided for image acquisition hardware using three dimensional information to identify a region(s) of interest within an acquired 2D image or images upon which to apply traditional auto-exposure techniques. By performing auto-exposure analysis over the region of interest, the acquisition property settings can be assigned such that the light levels within the region of interest fall within the linear range, producing sufficient grayscale information for identifying particular objects and profiles in subsequently acquired images. For example, in a machine vision application that detects people passing through a doorway, the region of interest can be the portion of the 2D image that generated 3D features of a head and shoulders profile within a 3D model of the doorway scene. With higher quality images, more accurate detection of people candidates within the monitored scene results.
US08326083B2

An image processing circuit includes: a memory that stores the location and pixel values that compose graphical images; a calculation unit that calculates the difference between a target location to which the graphical images is aligned in binary image data and an initial location designated in the graphical images; an output unit that outputs pixel values at locations distanced from the locations of the pixel values by an amount equivalent to the calculated difference; a first multiplier that multiplies the output pixel value with the pixel value included in the binary image data; an inverter that inverts the pixel value in the binary image data; a second multiplier that multiplies the pixel values in the binary image data or the pixel values included in background image data with the inverted pixel values; and an adder that adds the result of the multiplications performed by the first and second multipliers.
US08326082B2

An image processing apparatus includes: a subject region detection unit detecting regions of subjects included in an input image; a cropped region setting unit setting a region including all of the regions of the detected subjects as a cropped region; an expansion region addition unit adding an expansion region to expand an end of the cropped region only by a predetermined width; a cutting unit cutting a cut image formed from a cut region including the cropped region and the expansion region from the input image; a subject adaptation size change unit changing a size of an image formed from the cut region by deleting a region where an influence on the subjects is small in the cut image; and an entire image size changing unit changing the size of the entire image changed in size by the subject adaptation size change unit at a predetermined ratio.
US08326081B1

A correlation image detector is provided that co-registers sonar images by finding peaks in correlation images. To obtain the peaks, the mean of the absolute values of the correlation coefficients in the correlation image is found and the Rayleigh parameter is determined from the mean. Based on the Rayleigh parameter, an appropriate threshold can be determined using a desired probability of false detection. The threshold can be chosen such that the probability of a single false detection over the expected life of the mission for which correlation detection is being performed is extremely low, e.g., one in a million. The peak value in the image is determined and a correlation is considered detected when the peak value is greater than the product of the threshold and the Rayleigh parameter. If a detection occurs, the correlation image detector returns the transformation that co-registers the two images.
US08326079B2

Disclosed is a computer implemented method of detecting a defect in a printed image, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a target image comprising digital image data representing a scan of the printed image; receiving a reference image comprising digital image data representing a reference of the printed image; calculating a structural dissimilarity measure, D, associated with a target pixel located in the target image and a reference pixel located in the reference image; and, determining on the basis of the structural dissimilarity measure whether a defect is present at the target pixel, wherein the structural dissimilarity measure is calculated using a structural measure, s, and a contrast measure, c; the structural measure calculated using a spatial cross-correlation associated with a target region, {right arrow over (x)}, containing the target pixel and a reference region, {right arrow over (y)}, containing the reference pixel, and the contrast measure calculated using a standard deviation associated with the target region, and a standard deviation associated with the reference region.
US08326074B2

A method and apparatus for finite impulse response (FIR) filter bank architecture and method that involve low-complexity computation resources are described. In one embodiment, a digital image processing system includes an index mapping module to determine a rotation angle index to control rotation of an input patch of an image based on the (x,y) pixel coordinates of the image patch. The digital image processing system may also include a rotation module to rotate the input patch of the image based on the rotation angle index. In one embodiment, the digital image processing system may further include a filter engine module applied to a rotated version of the input patch of the image.
US08326073B2

A method for beautifying a human face in a digital image is adapted to beautify a face area of an input image. The method includes setting a selection window to select a partial image area in the input image; setting a target pixel in the selection window, and setting other pixels as comparison pixels; performing a detail checking process according to a variance between the target pixel; performing a luminance checking process on the target pixel to determine; performing a nonlinear filtering process to filter the target pixel by using a nonlinear filter to generate a filtered value, and providing a mixing ratio to mix the target pixel with the filtered value at the mixing ratio to generate a completed pixel; replacing the original target pixel with the completed pixel; and repeating the above steps until all pixels are completed.
US08326065B2

A method of encoding image data, and an apparatus to perform the method, the method including repeating a process of dividing a block into sub-blocks based on an average value of pixels of the sub-blocks; creating map information of the sub-blocks; determining a mode for generating bit streams according to a number of the sub-blocks; and generating bit streams of the determined mode, map information, and representative pixel values of the block or the sub-blocks.
US08326062B2

An electronic device includes an image processing system to binarize a gray-scale image to generate a corresponding binary image in the electronic device. Binarization of the gray-scale image by the image processing system includes generation of a binarization array to store binarization threshold values that each corresponds to a pixel of the gray-scale image, and binarization of the gray-scale image according to all binarization threshold values stored in the binarization array.
US08326053B2

A method and apparatus provides for block based image compression with multiple non-uniform block encodings. In one embodiment, an image is divided into blocks of pixels. In one embodiment the blocks are four pixels by four pixels, but other block sizes are used in other embodiments. In one embodiment, a block of pixels in the original image is compressed using two different methods to produce a first and second compressed block. Thus, each block in the original image is represented by two, typically different, compressed blocks. In one embodiment, color associated with a pixel is determined by combining the compressed information about the pixel in the first compressed block with information about the pixel in the second compressed block. In another embodiment, global information about the image is combined with the information in the first and second compressed blocks.
US08326052B2

A selector selects one of a standard parameter corresponding to a filter strength contained in input movie image data and an original parameter originally set at the decoding side as a filter parameter to be used. A screen-display filter performs deblocking filtering using the filter parameter selected by the selector on decoded movie image data. A post-filter performs deblocking filtering using the standard parameter and stores the obtained decoded image data in a memory to allow it to be used in inter-frame compensation.
US08326051B1

A method and apparatus for transmitting image information for display within a remote computing environment. The apparatus comprises a decomposition filter for determining a text mask from an image, the text mask determined from a text layer and related text-background information extracted from the image and comprising an initial mask and at least one refinement mask, a text mask encoder for encoding a refinement mask of the at least one refinement masks to generate a refinement encoding, and a network interface for transmitting at least one encoding, the at least one encoding comprising the refinement encoding.
US08326050B2

This invention relates to method and apparatus for subpixel-based down-sampling. This invention implements an adaptive filter 140 based on edge detection, which removes visible color fringing artifacts while efficiently retaining sharpness.
US08326046B2

Method and system for low complexity assessment of quality of an image are presented. By performing multiresolution decomposition of images using, for example, a discrete wavelet transform, and determining a metric based on a structural similarity index or a structural similarity map, a structural similarity score, characterizing similarity between images with a high degree of accuracy, is produced. The processing time is much smaller in comparison to that required by other methods producing image quality metrics of comparable accuracy.
US08326043B2

A video detection system and method compares a queried video segment to one or more stored video samples. Each of the queried video segments and stored video samples can be represented by respective digital image sets. A first and second comparison comprises comparing a set of low and high resolution temporal and spatial statistical moments in a COLOR9 space, and eliminating file digital image sets that do not match the queried digital image set. A third comparison generates a set of matching files by comparing a set of wavelet transform coefficients in a COLOR9 space. RGB bit-wise registration and comparison of one or more subframes of specific frames in the queried digital image set to a corresponding set of matching file subframes determines queried subframe changes. In the event of a change in a queried subframe, the changed subframe is added to the set of matching file subframes.
US08326039B2

An image processing apparatus of this invention includes a classification unit configured to classify anchor points that define the contour of an object into a plurality of groups based on features of the contour of the object, and a saving unit configured to identifiably save the anchor points classified by the classification unit for respective groups.
US08326038B2

Search terms are derived automatically from images captured by a camera equipped cell phone, PDA, or other image capturing device, submitted to a search engine to obtain information of interest, and at least a portion of the resulting information is transmitted back locally to, or nearby, the device that captured the image.
US08326037B1

A method for locating an object in an image is provided for an object that exhibits, in at least one direction, foreground pixel runs and background pixel runs consistent with at least characteristic of the object. In one embodiment, the method includes the acts of defining a plurality of regions in the image, associating a metric with each of the regions, finding pixel runs in the image, and identifying at least one pixel run in one of the plurality of regions where the at least one pixel run is consistent with the at least one characteristic of the object. According to one embodiment, the method includes the acts of adjusting the metric associated with the region where the at least one pixel run is identified and identifying, from among the plurality of regions, a region where the object is located based on a metric determined for a plurality of regions. In various embodiments, the object includes a repetitive pattern such as those found in barcodes and character strings.
US08326035B2

A graphical user interface for performing color correction and methods for implementing the color correction are disclosed. The graphical user interface allows a user to adjust the colorspace of the pixels in the image. In one embodiment, a color adjustment pad allows the user to push the pixels from a particular luminance level a desired magnitude towards a desired hue. Pixels from other luminance levels are affected proportionally. The graphical user interface further allows a user to adjust the luminance of the pixels in the image. A luminance adjustment slider allows the user to adjust the luminance of pixels from a selected luminance level by a relative amount. Pixels from other luminance levels have their luminance are affected in a manner proportional to a difference between the selected luminance level value and the luminance value of the other pixel.
US08326034B2

A method to reduce the amount of black in an image is disclosed. The method uses a computer to reduce or eliminate the amount of black in an original digital image. In the present invention, every three adjacent pixels are processed as a set, and the intensities of the RGB values are increased, respectively.
US08326030B2

There are provided a foreground region extraction program, a foreground region extraction apparatus, and a foreground region extraction method capable of clipping an object region (foreground region) at high speed.An arrangement is as follows: Foreground pixels designated by a user and background pixels designated thereby are each set as a reference pixel to identify, from among a plurality of divided color spaces created by a three-dimensional color space being divided, the divided color space to which each of the reference pixels belongs, as a reference divided color space. Color distance calculation processing to calculate a color distance in the color space between each reference pixel and an adjacent pixel adjacent thereto is performed, and belonging judgment processing to judge whether each of the adjacent pixels belongs to each of the reference divided color spaces is performed, and then, cost calculation processing to calculate a cost of each adjacent pixel is performed, based on the color distance calculated for each of the adjacent pixels, and weights based on whether to belong to the reference divided color space judged for each of the adjacent pixels. Further determination processing to determine the adjacent pixel having the lowest calculated cost as a foreground pixel or background pixel is performed, and a foreground region is extracted from the image by using the determined adjacent pixel as a reference pixel to repeatedly perform the color distance calculation processing, the belonging judgment processing, the cost calculation processing, and the determination processing.
US08326020B2

Provided is a structural light based three-dimensional depth imaging method and system using signal separation coding and error correction thereof capable of detecting, removing and correcting corresponding errors between a projection apparatus and an image photographing apparatus caused by phenomena such as reflection on an object surface, blurring by a focus, and so on, using geometrical constraints between the projection apparatus and the image photographing apparatus. Here, the projection apparatus projects light, and the image photographing apparatus obtains the light. The depth imaging method includes projecting light from a projection apparatus, obtaining the light using an image photographing apparatus, and measuring a distance or a three-dimensional depth image. Therefore, it is possible to provide a structural light based three-dimensional depth imaging method and system using geometrical conditions capable of precisely obtaining three-dimensional depth information of target environment.
US08326012B2

Methods, systems, and related computer program products for processing and displaying computer-aided detection (CAD) information associated with medical breast x-ray images, such as breast x-ray tomosynthesis volumes and conventional x-ray mammograms, are described. For one preferred embodiment, CAD findings for several cases (or several individual data volumes) are selectively designated for marking such that a predetermined number of CAD findings per case (or per data volume) are marked for display across all of the cases (or data volumes). In another preferred embodiment, localized breast fibroglandular tissue density information is used together with certainty-of-finding information as a basis for selecting which candidate CAD findings to designate as marked CAD findings, with increased certainty-of-finding being required to mark CAD findings in regions of higher fibroglandular tissue density. In another preferred embodiment, CAD findings located within regions of excessively dense fibroglandular tissue are withheld altogether, and associated warnings are displayed.
US08326007B2

A method for combined 4D presentation of quantitative measurements and morphology of an object uses an apparatus that includes a computer or processor, memory, and a display. The method includes identifying a region of interest in volumetric image data. Then, the following steps are iterated to produce a 4D volume rendering. The iterated steps include tracking a wall of the object in the region of interest of the image data to produce a displacement field, applying the displacement field to display data to create enhanced rendering data, volume rendering the enhanced rendering data to produce an enhanced volume rendering, and displaying the enhanced volume rendering.
US08326006B2

A method for use in medical imaging of a patient including, with the patient immobilized with respect to an imaging reference frame, acquiring first digital imaging information including a first region of interest using a first imaging modality; processing the first digital imaging information to identify a feature for analysis; and using a second imaging modality to acquire targeted second imaging information for a second region of interest, the second region of interest corresponding to a subset of the first region of interest, wherein the second region of interest includes the feature for analysis. An apparatus for use in medical imaging comprising structure for immobilizing a patient with respect to an imaging reference frame; a first imaging system for acquiring first digital imaging information including a first region of interest using a first imaging modality; a processor processing the first digital imaging information using a diagnostic tool to identify a feature of interest; and a second imaging system for acquiring second imaging information using a second imaging modality, the second imaging information corresponding to a second region of interest including the feature for analysis.
US08325999B2

The described implementations relate to assisted face recognition tagging of digital images, and specifically to context-driven assisted face recognition tagging. In one case, context-driven assisted face recognition tagging (CDAFRT) tools can access face images associated with a photo gallery. The CDAFRT tools can perform context-driven face recognition to identify individual face images at a specified probability. In such a configuration, the probability that the individual face images are correctly identified can be higher than attempting to identify individual face images in isolation.
US08325991B2

A registration device, verification device, authentication method and authentication program that can improve the accuracy of authentication are proposed. A predetermined process is performed for an image signal obtained as a result of taking a picture of a image-capturing target which is given as an object for biometrics authentication and which is a predetermined part of a living body; a characteristic part of the image-capturing target is extracted from the image signal; the Hough transform is carried out by characteristic extraction means for the extracted characteristic part; a plurality of characteristic parameter points are extracted from a parameter point obtained as a result of the Hough transform under a predetermined extraction condition; and a determination is made as to whether the plurality of characteristic parameter points are those to be registered or to be compared with the registered one according to an angle component of the plurality of the characteristic parameter points.
US08325987B2

An amorphous alloy member including an irregular region having a center line average roughness Ra of about 0.1 μm to about 1000 μm on a surface, at least the irregular region including an amorphous alloy having an amorphous phase at a volume ratio of about 50% to about 100%. A process for manufacturing the amorphous alloy member, and an authenticity determination device and an authenticity determination method using the amorphous alloy member.
US08325983B2

Provided are a detector and a method of detecting an object using the detector. The method includes combining a first detector and a second detector in a combination scheme to form a multi-layer combination detector, the second detector being of a type different from that of the first detector, processing a binary classification detection with respect to an inputted sample starting from an uppermost layer detector, allowing a sample of an object detected from a current layer to approach a lower layer, while rejecting a sample of a non-object detected from the current layer whereby the rejected non-object may not approach the lower layer, and outputting a sample passing through all layers as a detected object.
US08325979B2

A method of detecting objects from terrestrial based mobile mapping data is disclosed, wherein the terrestrial based mobile mapping data has been captured by way of a terrestrial based mobile mapping vehicle driving on a road having a driving direction, the mobile mapping data including laser scanner data, source images obtained by at least one camera and position and orientation data of the vehicle, wherein the laser scanner data includes laser points, each laser point having associated position and orientation data, and each source image comprises associated position and orientation data. In at least one embodiment, the method includes: retrieving a position and orientation of the vehicle; filtering the laser scanner data in dependence of the position and orientation of the vehicle to obtain laser points corresponding to regions of interest; retrieving a source image associated with the position and orientation of the vehicle; mapping the laser points corresponding to regions of interest to image coordinates of the source image to generate a recognition mask; combining the recognition mask and the source image to obtain candidate 3D images representative of possible objects within the regions of interest; and, detecting a group of objects from the candidate 3D images. By combining image recognition and laser scanner recognition the detection rate can be increased to a very high percentage, thereby substantially reducing human effort. Furthermore, the generating of regions of interest in the laser data, enables a significant reduction of the processing power and/or the processing time needed to detect the objects in the images.
US08325976B1

People are counted in a segment of video with a video processing system that is configured with a first set of parameters. This produces a first output. Based on this first output, a second set of parameters is chosen. People are then counted in the segment of video using the second set of parameters. This produces a second output. People are counted with a video played forward. People are counted with a video played backwards. The results of these two counts are reconciled to produce a more accurate people count.
US08325975B2

An image processing apparatus capable of processing an image based on a script indicating an execution content of a job includes an execution unit configured to process the script, a classification unit configured to classify the script processed by the execution unit into a plurality of types including an executable type or an inexecutable type by the execution unit, a correction unit configured to correct a content of the script, a notification unit configured to notify a user of the image processing apparatus of the inexecutable type script by the execution unit, and a determination unit configured, when the classification unit classifies the script as the inexecutable type script, to determine when to (a) perform notification by the notification unit or to (b) cause the correction unit to correct the content of the script without notification by the notification unit and to process the corrected script by the execution unit based on the content of the script and a function included in the image processing apparatus.
US08325971B2

The present invention concerns a method for extracting a random signature from a subject material element, comprising: a phase to generate at least one acquisition vector of structural characteristics of at least one region of the subject material element, a phase to generate at least one random signature vector from the acquisition vector, the random signature vector comprising: at least one random component having a stable nature so that its value may be found on each implementation of the method on one same region of the subject material element, and/or at least one random component having an unstable nature so that its value is likely to vary random fashion on each implementation of the method on one same region of the subject material element, use of the random signature vector as random signature.
US08325963B2

A bone-conduction microphone built-in headset comprises: an ear pad; an ear cup capable of covering an ear; a piezoelectric element composing a bone-conduction microphone; a buffer material forming the ear pad; a baffle board provided between the ear pad and the ear cup; a wire laid from the piezoelectric element, in which the ear pad is provided on an opening end side of the ear cup, the piezoelectric element is provided inside the ear pad and supported by the buffer material to be pressed against a skin around the ear, the ear pad is detachably attached to the baffle board, and the baffle board has a connecter to which the wire is connected.
US08325960B2

There is provided a narrow directional microphone in which the acoustic resistance of an acoustic tube scarcely varies, and a larger-diameter condenser microphone unit can be used without increasing the external dimensions. In the narrow directional microphone in which a unidirectional condenser microphone unit 30 is housed in an acoustic tube 10 the front end of which is open as a front sound wave introduction port 11 and which has side sound wave introduction ports 13 in the tube peripheral surface thereof and is provided with rear sound wave introduction ports 14 on the rear end side, and a microphone casing 20 that is larger in dimension and longer than the acoustic tube 10 is arranged so as to cover the acoustic tube 10, as the acoustic tube 10, a cylindrical body formed by rounding a flexible sheet (preferably, a metal sheet) is used, and at least the side sound wave introduction ports 13 provided on the acoustic tube 10 are formed by a large number of pores formed in the sheet.
US08325959B2

A microphone assembly includes a housing including at least one first tube in communication with at least one first cavity, at least one second tube in communication with at least one second cavity, one third tube in communication with at least one third cavity, and at least one microphone element separating the first, second and third cavities, wherein sound waves are received in the first, second, and third tubes and directed into the cavities and received by the microphone element. A method for converting sound waves into an electrical signal includes receiving the sound waves through at least three tube openings and directing the received sound waves along tube pathways into at least a first, second, and third cavity to a microphone separating the first, second, and third cavity. The method further includes converting the received sound waves into an electrical signal with the microphone.
US08325958B2

The components of a hearing apparatus and in particular of a hearing device are to be better protected against environmental influences. A hearing apparatus is thus provided with at least one acoustic converter, e.g. receiver, in a converter housing for receiving or outputting a sound, with a sound opening in the converter housing, through which or by which a sound is received or output respectively, being sealed with an airtight membrane. A pressure equalization facility is connected to the converter housing or is integrated onto the converter housing, so that the pressures on both sides of the membrane can be equalized.
US08325951B2

MEMS microphone packages and fabrication methods thereof are disclosed. A MEMS microphone package includes a cavity that houses a MEMS sensing element, an IC chip and other passive elements supported by a common substrate. The cavity is formed by a top cover member, a housing wall surrounds and supports the top cover member and the common substrate supports the housing wall. A conductive casing encloses and surrounds the cavity, and is electrically connected to a common analog ground lead on a PCB board. The top cover member and the housing wall are non-conductive. And the conductive casing is not connected directly to the ground leads of the package. An acoustic absorption layer is sandwiched between the conductive casing and the cavity which is formed by the top cover member, the housing wall and the substrate.
US08325948B2

A thermoacoustic module includes a substrate, at least one first electrode and at least one second electrode located on the substrate, a cover board spaced from the substrate, and a sound wave generator. The sound wave generator is located between the cover board and the substrate. The sound wave generator is electrically connected to the at least one first electrode and the at least one second electrode. The sound wave generator is capable of generating sound by causing a thermoacoustic effect.
US08325947B2

A thermoacoustic device includes a thermoacoustic module and a frame. The thermoacoustic module includes a sound wave generator, at least one first electrode and at least one second electrode. The sound wave generator includes at least one carbon nanotube structure. The at least one first electrode and the at least one second electrode are electrically connected to the sound wave generator. The frame secures the thermoacoustic module.
US08325946B2

A first selector receives a second input signal and a second reference voltage, and selects either one. A first buffer receives the output signal of the first selector, and outputs the signal thus received to a terminal of the first resistor, and to a terminal of the third resistor. A second selector receives a first input signal and a third input signal, and selects either one. A fourth selector receives, as input signals, the output signal of an operational amplifier, a signal that corresponds to the output signal of the second selector, and a signal that corresponds to the second input signal, and selects one signal selected from among the signals thus received.
US08325941B2

The invention relates to sonic steerable antennae and their use to achieve a variety of effects. The invention comprises a method and apparatus for taking an input signal, replicating it a number of times and modifying each of the replicas before routing them to respective output transducers such that a desired sound field is created. This sound field may comprise a directed beam, focus beam or a simulated origin. Further, “anti-sound” may be directed so as to create nulls (quiet spots) in an already existing sound field. The input signal replicas may also be modified in way which changes their amplitude or they may be filtered to provide the desired delaying. Reflective or resonant surfaces may be used to achieve a surround sound effect, a microphone may be located in front of an array of loudspeakers, beams of light may be used to identify the present focal position, a limiting device may be used to ensure that clipping or distortion is reduced when more than one input signal is output by the same device and the concept of beam directivity may be used to achieve input nulls or beams in a microphone made up of an array of input transducers. Further, sound field shaping information may be associated with an audio signal to be broadcast.
US08325940B2

A driver controller comprising a state machine for controlling transitions between a plurality of states. An output switch for providing a low impedance path to ground during transition periods. An output stage for decoupling output signal from driver amplifier during the transition periods.
US08325934B2

An electronic pillow including a pillow unit encasing at least one error microphone and at least one loudspeaker in electrical connection with a controller unit, the pillow unit also including a power source, and a reference sensing unit including at least one reference microphone in electrical connection with the controller unit, the controller unit including an algorithm for controlling interactions between the error microphone, loudspeaker, and reference microphone. A method of abating unwanted noise, by detecting an unwanted noise with a reference microphone, analyzing the unwanted noise, producing an anti-noise corresponding to the unwanted noise in a pillow, and abating the unwanted noise. Methods of hands-free communication, recording and monitoring sleep disorders, providing real-time response to emergencies, and playing audio sounds.
US08325930B2

A signal processing apparatus and a control method thereof are provided. The signal processing apparatus includes: a signal processor which respectively processes an input video signal and an input audio signal; a communication unit which is communicably linked with an external audio output unit that outputs the audio signal; and a controller which controls the signal processor to delay and process one of the video signal and the audio signal by a delay value corresponding to the external audio output unit if the external audio output unit is predetermined.
US08325914B2

Described herein in an example embodiment, is a mechanism to distribute and implement secure credentials on a WLAN (wireless local area network) employing radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. Symmetric keys are provisioned to the tag in a manner that allows for optimized re-association and secure announcements. The provisioned keys are derived in a way that enables the controller to operate without having to maintain the key state for every tag. In an example embodiment, the controller generates keys for the RFID tags that are derived from a master key associated with the controller, an identifier assigned to the RFID tag and an address associated with the RFID tag.
US08325913B2

Disclosed herein are systems, methods and computer readable media for performing authentication. The proposed scheme utilizes new algorithms that introduce randomness using a physical value for authentication. An exemplary method includes sharing an initial state value S(0) with a sender and a receiver, generating a sender S(t, v) based on a parameter t and an identifier v and based at least in part on the value S(0). The method includes generating a receiver S(t, v) from S(0) based on the parameter t and the identifier v wherein the parameter t is related to a physical value in authenticating the identifier v based on a comparison of the sender S(t, v) and the receiver S(t, v). The process of generating the sender S(t, v) and the receiver S(t, v) includes a random variable generated by a process such as by a random number generator, the Brownian Motion or Wiener Process. Other embodiments do not use the physical value for authentication.
US08325910B2

Provided is an echo canceller capable of realizing an excellent echo cancellation performance even in a double talk state. An echo canceller (10) comprises: an adaptive filter (20); a subtractor (30); and an error signal generating circuit (40). The adaptive filter (20) synthesizes a spurious echo signal (y′(k)) from a receiving signal (x(k)) before being delivered from a speaker (3). The subtractor (30) subtracts the spurious echo signal (y′(k)) from an input signal (yin(k)) received by a microphone (2) so as to generate an echo cancellation signal (p(k)) The error signal generating circuit (40) generates an error signal (s(k−1)) by removing a spurious voice signal (r(k−1)) corresponding to a voice signal (v(k)) of a talker from the echo cancellation signal (p(k)). The adaptive filter (20) updates a characteristic of the adaptive filter (20) so that an amplitude of the error signal (s(k−1)) becomes smaller.
US08325909B2

Sound signals captured by a microphone are adjusted to provide improved sound quality. More particularly, an Acoustic Echo Reduction system which performs a first stage of echo reduction (e.g., acoustic echo cancellation) on a received signal is configured to perform a second stage of echo reduction (e.g., acoustic echo suppression) by segmenting the received signal into a plurality of frequency bins respectively comprised within a number of frames (e.g., 0.3 s to 0.5 s sound signal segments) for a given block. Data comprised within respective frequency bins is modeled according to a probability density function (e.g., Gaussian distribution). The probability of whether respective frequency bins comprise predominantly near-end signal or predominantly residual echo is calculated. The output of the acoustic echo suppression is computed as a product of the content of a frequency bin in a frame and the probability the frequency bin in a frame comprises predominantly near-end signal, thereby making near-end signals more prominent than residual echoes.
US08325905B2

A method includes receiving a telephone number mapping query associated with a call. The method may also include generating routing information based on the query and forwarding the routing information to a control device. The routing information may indicate that processing associated with routing the call is to bypass a core portion of an Internet multimedia subsystem (IMS) when a calling party associated with the call does not invoke an IMS service, the called party associated with the call does not invoke an IMS service and the called party is not an IMS subscriber.
US08325903B2

A telephone device is capable of receiving, during communication with a first external device, a call from a second external device. The telephone device includes a setting unit and a ring alert inhibiting unit. The setting unit is configured so as to be capable of setting the telephone device to either one of a first status, in which a user of the telephone device wants to perform communication, and a second status, in which the user does not want to perform communication, the setting unit being configured so as to be capable of setting the second status, either when communication is started with the first external device, or while the communication with the first external device is being executed. The ring alert inhibiting unit inhibits a sound of a ring alert for informing that a call has been received from the second external device when the telephone device is in the second status.
US08325902B2

Rerouting telecommunications to a user including receiving a plurality of RFID signals from an RFID tag located with the user, anticipating a user's future location in dependence upon the RFID signals, selecting a telephony device in dependence upon the anticipated future location, and rerouting an ongoing call to the selected telephony device. In typical embodiments, selecting a telephony device in dependence upon the anticipated future location also includes identifying location based routing preferences for the user. In typical embodiments, selecting a telephony device in dependence upon the anticipated future location also includes identifying device-based routing preferences for the user. In typical embodiments, anticipating a user's future location in dependence upon the RFID signals also includes determining a first user location, determining a second user location, and predicting a user's future location in dependence upon the first user location and the second user location.
US08325889B2

A method and system for authenticating a user for conduct of a transaction initiated by the user via a data-enabled telephone is presented. Efficient use is made of keystrokes on the data-enabled telephone. The data-enabled telephone is capable of initiating telephone calls over a telephone network and of engaging in two-way data communication with a data server in a network and the server enables conduct of the transaction. Caller identification information is received at the server. The information is associated with a telephone call request initiated by the user via the data-enabled telephone to a service number. The caller identification provides basis for authentication of the user and the caller identification information received at the service number is used to address a message to the user. Included in such a message is a logon key for use by the user in accomplishing the transaction. Thus the user can use the logon key to enter into data communication with the server for conduct of the transaction.
US08325884B2

A system, method and software for implementing an automated call routing application in a speech enabled call center environment are provided. In operation, the invention provides for the identification of a call center transaction selection from a natural language user utterance and the invocation of one or more scripts operable to route the user to a call center service agent configured to service the selected transaction. In the event a transaction selection cannot be readily identified or can only be partially identified, the invention provides for the initiation of a dialog module or script directed to eliciting a discernable transaction selection and/or the presentation of one or more menus from which the user may select an available call center transaction.
US08325882B1

A communication network comprises a calling device, a call processing system, and a customer information system. The calling device transmits a call request for an emergency call to the call processing system. The call request includes a caller identification that identifies a caller. The call processing system receives the call request, generates and transfers first signaling for the call that includes the caller identification and a key, and generates and transfers second signaling for the call that includes the key. The customer information system has a plurality of context information stored in association with a plurality of caller identifications. The customer information system receives the first signaling for the call, processes the caller identification to determine a context information from the plurality of context information associated with the caller identification, and stores the key in association with the context information.
US08325881B2

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for preparing for a service disruption are provided. Information relating to an activity at a target location is received. Upon receiving information relating to at least the activity at the target location, stored data related to the activity and the target location are gathered. A probability of a service disruption at the target location based on at least the stored data related to the activity and the target location is assessed and the target location is monitored. Upon detecting a change in services associated to the target location, an alert is generated.
US08325877B2

One or more systems and/or techniques are described for generating volumetric data from both radiographic and ultrasound examinations of an object, where the radiographic volumetric data and the ultrasound volumetric data are representative of a substantially same volumetric space of the object. This allows, for example, corresponding portions of the volumetric data and/or images resulting therefrom (e.g., indicative of a tumor) to be identified for comparison via the different modalities. Moreover, in one embodiment, a compression paddle of a mammography examination apparatus is configured to selectively receive an ultrasound component.
US08325872B2

A working apparatus has: a working equipment for doing works on a structure; a folding/unfolding mechanism for conveying the working equipment to the working position in a folded state; a conveyance mechanism (such as a horizontal thruster) for conveying the working equipment and the folding/unfolding mechanism to the working position; a pressing mechanism (such as a ballast tank) for pressing the working equipment against the lower surface of the structure; and a traveling mechanism including a wheel for traveling along the lower surface of the structure and positioning the apparatus.
US08325871B2

Systems and methods for detecting clandestine fissile or radioactive material on the basis of emitted radiation and particles (such as neutrons and alpha particles) arising from within the material. Emission by the fissile or radioactive material is detected in conjunction with a conventional x-ray imaging system that includes an external source of illuminating penetrating radiation, at least one detector configured to detect at least the penetrating radiation and to generate a detector signal, and a processor configured as a detector signal discriminator to generate an output indicating whether the detector signal is triggered by an origin other than illuminating penetrating radiation. Active and passive modes of detection are described by some embodiments. Other embodiments are directed toward neutron detection, gamma ray detection with energy resolution, and designs of detectors to enhance the detection of clandestine nuclear material.
US08325867B2

Waveform data of selected bits having jitter or noise is generated wherein the waveform date represents a serial digital signal. A signal generator displays a jitter/noise setting area and a bit selection area on a display device where jitter or noise is set and the jitter or noise settings are applied to only the bit selected with the bit selection area. The bit is selected through various ways. A user may directly input a bit pattern to be selected. Box objects corresponding to the respective bits in the digital signal may be displayed and one or more of the bits can be selected by selecting one of the box objects. Frequently used bit patterns may be stored and provided using a menu-driven interface for selecting a bit pattern. An arbitrary number of consecutive bits may be designated for receiving jitter or noise and displayed.
US08325863B2

Techniques for performing data detection and decoding in a manner to account for guard subbands are described. A receiver obtains received pilot symbols for pilot subbands and received data symbols for data subbands. Channel estimates are derived based on the received pilot symbols with zeroed-out pilot subbands filled with zeros. Data detection is performed on the received data symbols with the channel estimates to obtain data symbol estimates. Estimates of noise and estimation errors due to the zeroed-out pilot subbands are derived. LLRs are then computed based on the data symbol estimates, the channel estimates, and the estimates of the noise and estimation errors. The LLRs are deinterleaved and decoded to obtain decoded data.
US08325860B2

A method includes, in a mobile communication terminal, receiving from at least first and second base stations, which cooperate in a coordinated transmission scheme, signals that are transmitted over respective first and second communication channels. Respective channel measures are calculated for the communication channels based on the received signals. First and second feedback data, which are indicative of the respective channel measures of the first and second communication channels, are formulated such that the first feedback data has a first data size and the second feedback data has a second data size, different from the first data size. The first and second feedback data are transmitted from the mobile communication terminal to at least one of the base stations.
US08325844B2

For data transmission with spatial spreading, a transmitting entity (1) encodes and modulates each data packet to obtain a corresponding data symbol block, (2) multiplexes data symbol blocks onto NS data symbol streams for transmission on NS transmission channels of a MIMO channel, (3) spatially spreads the NS data symbol streams with steering matrices, and (4) spatially processes NS spread symbol streams for full-CSI transmission on NS eigenmodes or partial-CSI transmission on NS spatial channels of the MIMO channel. A receiving entity (1) obtains NR received symbol streams via NR receive antennas, (2) performs receiver spatial processing for full-CSI or partial-CSI transmission to obtain NS detected symbol streams, (3) spatially despreads the NS detected symbol streams with the same steering matrices used by the transmitting entity to obtain NS recovered symbol streams, and (4) demodulates and decodes each recovered symbol block to obtain a corresponding decoded data packet.
US08325843B2

Particular codebook entries used for a MIMO system of a lower dimension (i.e., having a relatively low number of antennas) can be used to generate a codebook for a MIMO system of a higher dimension (i.e., having a relatively high number of antennas). The entries in rank 1 of the codebook related to the MIMO system having four transmit antennas are used to newly construct entries for rank 1 through rank 8 of two base matrices for a MIMO base codebook related to eight transmit antennas.
US08325833B2

Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, a data packet to be transmitted is encoded and one or more subpackets are generated from the encoded data packet. A first bit pattern is applied to a first symbol of the subpackets to provide a constellation, and a different bit pattern is applied to a next adjacent symbol in the constellation for one or more additional symbols. The data packet is then modulated according to the constellation and transmitted one or more times until the data packet is decoded by a receiver or until said transmitting is aborted according to a hybrid automatic repeat request error correction technique.
US08325826B2

Base stations transmit strip signals using strip signal segments and self supporting modulation scheme techniques facilitating rapid channel estimate. A strip segment occupies one OFDM symbol time interval and uses a set of downlink tones; some, e.g., half, of the tones are left unused facilitating SIR measurement. The strip segments are advantageously timed to correspond to uplink access intervals in which connected wireless terminals do not typically transmit uplink signals. Connected wireless terminals including: multiple antennas used in combination, an antenna duplex module, single RF receiver chain and single RF transmitter chain, switch antenna coefficient combinations based on strip signal segment timing. The wireless terminal determines an independent downlink channel quality measurement, e.g., SNR and/or SIR for each strip signal segment and for on-going non-strip signaling. The wireless terminal compares channel quality measurements and selects an antenna coefficient combination to be used during non-strip signaling intervals obtaining very good antenna gain.
US08325798B1

In some embodiments, a motion estimation search window cache is adaptively re-organized according to frame properties including a frame width and a number of reference frames corresponding to the current frame to be encoded/decoded. The cache reorganization may include an adaptive mapping of reference frame locations to search window cache allocation units (addresses). In some embodiments, a search window is shaped as a quasi-rectangle with truncated upper left and lower right corners, having a full-frame horizontal extent. A search range is defined in a central region of the search window, and is laterally bounded by the truncated corners.
US08325795B1

Generation of live streaming indices is disclosed that stores a media stream recording from a live event. Seek points are added to a fixed-length index memory corresponding to each point of the media stream separated at a first interval. In response to the fixed length being reached, alternate ones of the seek points are deleted up to a predefined percentage of the fixed length. Location indicators are added where the deletions caused the previous interval to be altered and at the end of the previous seek points remaining in the index memory. A new interval is then calculated, which corresponds to the altered interval, after which new seek points are added beginning at the second location indicator to the index memory corresponding to the points in the media stream separated by the new interval.
US08325794B2

An apparatus and a method for calibrating IQ mismatch to ensure that an in-phase oscillating signal and a quadrature-phase oscillating signal are orthogonal to each other. The apparatus includes a mixer for mixing the in-phase oscillating signal with the quadrature-phase oscillating signal to generate an output signal, a control module for determining a control signal according to a low-frequency component of the output signal, and a phase adjusting module for adjusting the phase of a specific oscillating signal to ensure that the in-phase oscillating signal and the quadrature-phase oscillating signal are orthogonal to each other. The specific oscillating signal may be the in-phase or the quadrature-phase oscillating signal. The apparatus does not require a digital signal-processing unit to perform complex calculations nor requires additional oscillating sources for calibration. Hence, the circuit design is much simplified, and the consumption of system resources is significantly reduced.
US08325792B2

Disclosed is an apparatus including an odd data receiving unit that receives an input signal, an even data receiving unit that also receives the input signal, and a pattern filter. The odd data receiving unit samples a half-rate DFE equalized signal with an odd data timing clock to output data decision data. The even data receiving unit samples the half-rate DFE equalized signal with an even data timing clock having the phase shifted by 180 degrees from the odd data timing clock to output data decision data. The pattern filter selects one of the edge decision data sampled at the odd edge timing and at the even edge timing in response to the value of a data pattern of three consecutive bits obtained from the data decision data sampled at the odd and even data timings.
US08325787B2

A method for performing data transmission between a transmitter and a receiver. The method includes the steps of generating a feedback message at the receiver in response to data received from the transmitter, assigning an identifier for the feedback message, storing the feedback message in association with the identifier in the receiver, transmitting the feedback message and the identifier to the transmitter, determining, at the transmitter, transmission format for data to be transmitted to the receiver based on the feedback message received from the receiver; and transmitting data and a control message, by the transmitter, using the determined transmission format, with the control message comprising the identifier of the feedback message based on which the transmission format is determined.
US08325779B2

A brick hearth system comprises a rigid containment shell in which a concave bottom is lined with a hearth refractory sub-layer and hearth brick working layer. The outer perimeter of the hearth refractory is ringed with thrust blocks to compress the whole toward the center and to thereby deny gaps from forming between the separate bricks. Many individual thrust rods penetrate the outer bottom of the containment shell, and such are used to transmit compression forces generated outside the shell to be applied against the thrust blocks in unison. Each thrust rod receives an adjustable amount of inward force from a spring, acting either directly or through a beam or rocker arm. These are anchored to and use the hoop strength of the containment shell as leverage. As the hearth brick working layer grows during its service life, the ring of thrust blocks grows in diameter as well inside the margins provided within the containment shell. The individual thrust rod springs are periodically adjusted to keep the pressures in the optimal range.
US08325777B2

A surface-emitting laser device is disclosed that includes a substrate connected to a heat sink; a first reflective layer formed of a semiconductor distributed Bragg reflector on the substrate; a first cavity spacer layer formed in contact with the first reflective layer; an active layer formed in contact with the first cavity spacer layer; a second cavity spacer layer formed in contact with the active layer; and a second reflective layer formed of a semiconductor distributed Bragg reflector in contact with the second cavity spacer layer. The first cavity spacer layer includes a semiconductor material having a thermal conductivity greater than the thermal conductivity of a semiconductor material forming the second cavity spacer layer.
US08325776B2

A device having a light cavity includes, at one end, a plasmonic reflector having a grating surface for coupling incoming light into traverse plasmon waves and for coupling the traverse plasmon wave into broaden light, the surface serving to redistribute light within the cavity, the reflector being well suited for use in laser diodes for redistributing filamental cavity laser light into spatially broaden cavity laser light for translating multimodal laser light into unimodal laser light for improved reliability and uniform laser beam creation.
US08325771B2

In a cavity-dumped, repetitively-pulsed, solid-state laser cavity dumping is protracted over a predetermined time longer than a round-trip time of the resonator of the laser. The cavity dumping is effected by a Pockels cell optical switch. During a dumping period a voltage applied to the Pockels cell falls in a predetermined time. Varying the voltage fall-time varies the duration of pulses provided by the laser, independent of the pulse-repetition frequency.
US08325768B2

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving a first portion of a first packet at a first agent and determining whether the first portion is an interleaved portion based on a value of an interleave indicator. The interleave indicator may be sent as part of the first portion. In such manner, interleaved packets may be sent within transmission of another packet, such as a lengthy data packet, providing improved processing capabilities. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08325767B2

A system includes at least two IEEE 1588 nodes. The nodes are connected by two paths: a low latency communication path and a high bandwidth path. The clocks within the nodes are synchronized to one another at a network interface. Data and timing are transmitted on the high bandwidth path while critical timing signals are passed on the low latency communication path thereby improving timing synchronization.
US08325765B2

A coexistence communications method for use between wireless networks includes adopting a super-frame structure for use in a wireless network having a plurality of frames, wherein a first frame includes a super-frame preamble, a super-frame control header, a data portion, and a regular self-coexistence window, an intermediate frame includes an OFDM symbol, a data portion, and a regular self-coexistence window, and a last frame includes an OFDM symbol, a data portion, and a joining self-coexistence window, using the self-coexistence windows to exchange inter-wireless network co-existence messages, and using a last reserved self-coexistence window to announce intra-wireless network negotiation decisions.
US08325759B2

A device, network and method wherein a standard wireless modem is coupled to wiring for carrying a wireless baseband signal that may be OFDM based, and may be directly generated by the wireless IF modem, or extracted from the modem RF signal. The wiring may be a building utility wiring, such as telephone, AC power or CATV wiring. The baseband signal is carried simultaneously with the utility service signal over the utility wiring using Frequency Division Multiplexing. The device may be enclosed with a data unit, a standalone dedicated enclosure, within an outlet or as a plug-in outlet adapter. Data units may couple the device by a wiring port such as standard data connector, or via wireless connection. The device may be locally powered or via a power signal carried over the wiring. This abstract is not intended to limit or construe the scope of the claims.
US08325757B2

Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to de-encapsulation of data streams into multiple links. An embodiment of a method includes receiving a data stream including multiple data frames, the data stream being in a first mode having a multiple channels of content data including a first channel sent in a first position in each data frame and a second channel sent in a second position in each data frame following the first position, with each data frame including a synchronization signal to indicate a start of the content data. The method further includes transforming the data stream into data sub-streams in a second mode, the data sub-streams including a first data sub-stream to carry data for the first channel in the second mode and a second data sub-stream to carry data for the second channel in the second mode. Transforming the data stream into in the plurality of data sub-streams includes generating the first data sub-stream by stripping the second channel from each frame of data, and generating the second data sub-stream by stripping the first channel and the synchronization signal from each frame and inserting a substitute synchronization signal before the second channel data in each data frame. The method further includes transmitting the first data sub-stream via a first link in the second mode and the second data sub-stream via a second link in the second mode.
US08325751B2

A method of implementing a scaleable architecture for a communications system considers the requirements of a particular communications transmission process that is dividable into individual transmission tasks. A computational complexity for each of said N individual transmission tasks respectively, said computational complexity being based on a number of instructions per second (MIPs) required by a computational circuit to perform each of said N individual transmission tasks; a number of gates and/or transistors required to implement each of individual transmission task using a hardware based or software based computing circuit, etc. After determining an effective number of MIPs achievable by such circuits, the N tasks are allocated in a gate efficient manner for a final design architecture, or for a working implementation in the field. A system constructed in this fashion is highly gate efficient and cost effective, so that a multiport system can be put on single SOC integrated circuit.
US08325748B2

A new process called a vector approximation graph (VA-graph) leverages a tree based vector quantizer to quickly learn the topological structure of the data. It then uses the learned topology to enhance the performance of the vector quantizer. A method for analyzing data comprises receiving data, partitioning the data and generating a tree based on the partitions, learning a topology of a distribution of the data, and finding a best matching unit in the data using the learned topology.
US08325737B2

A network arranged to implement label switched paths, comprising: an ingress label edge router (LER), at least one label switching router (LSR), and an egress LER, in which the ingress LER is connected to the egress LER via one or more of the LSRs. In said network the ingress LER is arranged to transmit, in use, a path message for setting up a bidirectional label switched path (LSP) from the ingress LER to the egress LER via at least one LSR in response for a request for such an LSP. The path message is transmitted over the path of the LSP to be created, in which the path message comprises a first parameter indicative of the bandwidth to be assigned to data traversing the LSP in a first, downstream, direction from ingress LER to egress LER and a second parameter indicative of the bandwidth to be assigned to data traversing the LSP in an opposite, upstream, direction, in which the upstream and downstream bandwidths are different.
US08325730B2

A hierarchical distributed routing architecture including at least three levels, or layers, for processing data packets is provided. The core level router components receive an incoming packet and identify a distribution level router component based on processing a subset of the destination address associated with the received packet. The distribution level router components receive a forwarded packet and identify a transit level router component based on at least a subset of the destination address associated with the received packet. The distribution level router components maintain address routing information a first and second memory. The transit level router components receive the forwarded packet and forward the packet to a respective network. The mapping of destination addresses to router components of may be managed by a router management component. Mapping of destination address to router components may be based, at least in part, on traffic volumes associated with the mapped destination addresses.
US08325728B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for. In one aspect, a method includes detecting, by an end point, a first broadcast message specifying a first network identifier for a first PLC network and a first unique substation identifier for a first substation processing unit that belongs to the first PLC network. Data is encoded with the first network identifier and the first unique substation identifier and the encoded first data is transmitted to the first substation processing unit.
US08325727B2

In general, techniques are described for inline packet replication in network devices. A network device referred to as an optical line terminal (OLT) may implement the techniques. The OLT comprises a customer interface that supports different logical interfaces to which couple a plurality of optical network terminals (ONTs) and a network interface that receives a data unit. The OLT further comprises a conversion unit, such as a media access control (MAC) module, located in a data path of the optical line terminal that determines whether the received data unit is a candidate for replication. The conversion unit includes an inline packet processing module that performs replication to generate at least one copy of the data unit based on the determination that the received packet is a candidate for packet replication. The customer interface outputs the at least one copy of the data unit to the ONTs.
US08325713B2

A method of configuring a port on a network device includes receiving a frame of information, determining that the frame includes maximum transmission unit (MTU) information, and configuring a prioritized receive queue on the port with an MTU size based on the MTU information. The MTU size is different than another MTU size of another prioritized receive queue on the port. A network interface includes a port, a de-multiplexer coupled to an output or the port, and prioritized receive queues that each have an MTTU size. A first prioritized receive queue has an MTU size different than a second prioritized receive queue.
US08325706B2

A network may include a first set of routers at a first level of a multi-protocol label switched tunneling hierarchy and a second set of routers at a second level of the multi-protocol label switched tunneling hierarchy, the second set of routers connected to the first set of routers in a partially meshed topology. The network may also include a hierarchical segmented label switched path. The hierarchical segmented label switched path may include a forwarding adjacency label switched path including a subset of the first set of routers, and a label switched path coupled to the forwarding adjacency label switched path, the label switched path including a subset of the second set of routers.
US08325688B2

A method and apparatus for providing policy control in a wireless communication system. A mobile station generates a resource request for a communication service, where the resource request includes an identifier uniquely identifying a type of communication service. A packet data serving node receives the resource request for the communication service and selects a policy control entity to process the resource request. The selection by the packet data serving node is based at least on the identifier. The selected policy control entity performs policy control on the resource request.
US08325686B2

A channel time allocation and access control process for communication in wireless networks is provided. The channel time is divided into channel time blocks (CTBs), including one or more reserved CTBs and one or more unreserved CTBs. Schedules are implemented, wherein one or more periodic, equal-sized CTBs are reserved for isochronous streams. Dynamic CTB extension and truncation allow flexible channel time allocation.
US08325669B2

A method for modifying a synchronous non-adaptive retransmission scheme to solve the limitation of the synchronous non-adaptive retransmission scheme is disclosed. A method for indicating not only the new data transmission but also the retransmission using a data scheduling message is disclosed. A method for determining whether there is an error in the ACK signal transmitted from a data reception end using another message to be received later is disclosed. The retransmission method for a multi-carrier system includes: receiving a grant message including scheduling information for transmitting uplink data wherein a retransmission scheme for the uplink data is predetermined by a first retransmission scheduling, transmitting the uplink data according to the scheduling information and retransmitting the uplink data according to second retransmission scheduling by receiving the second retransmission scheduling information associated with the uplink data with retransmission request.
US08325659B2

An antenna (740) listens in each of a plurality of steerable sectors to determine if a primary beacon is present; transmits a primary device beacon in each of the plurality of steerable sectors if the primary beacon is not present; and transmits a secondary device beacon in a first one of the plurality of steerable sectors if a primary beacon is discovered. The antenna (740) may transmit the primary and secondary beacons on a different communication channel than a data communication channel or may transmit the primary and secondary beacons on a same communication channel as a data communication channel. The antenna (740) may divide the same communication channel into time slices wherein different time slices of a super-frame are utilized for the primary beacon, the secondary beacon, and the data communication. The secondary device (C, D) sends additional beacons in additional sectors if it receives non-primary beacon from the additional sectors.
US08325642B1

An application service utilizes a single short code for messaging service through a mobile network, even though the one service is actually supported by multiple servers or the like, typically operated by different service providers. In the examples, a third party application service type platform is associated with the common short code of the application service. The third party platform performs intelligent routing/address changes to re-direct mobile station originated messages among the equipment of the service providers. The platform may also provide short code translations of source addresses, during processing of messages directed to mobile stations from the various application servers.
US08325641B2

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and apparatus for service identifying and routing in a multimedia broadcast and multicast service (MBMS) system. The apparatus includes a radio access network equipment (RNC) and a core network equipment (CN) communicating with each other via an Iu connection; CN includes a module for service information transmission which is used to send the identity information corresponding to the service the UE joins to RNC, and RNC includes a module for service identifying and routing which is used to identify the service according to the identity information and determine the routing of the MBMS service in the non access stratum. RNC obtains the identity information corresponding to the service the UE joins through interaction of interface information with CN, identifies the service and determines the routing of the MBMS service in the non access stratum.
US08325637B2

A method for pairing a first wireless device with a second wireless device includes gathering a first wireless communications characteristic about communications between the first wireless device and the second wireless device. The method further includes gathering second wireless communications characteristics about communications between the first wireless device and at least one wireless device other than the second wireless device. The method further includes generating a matrix using the first and second wireless communications characteristics and generating a relative gain array from the matrix and computing the pairing between the first wireless device and the second wireless device using the generated relative gain array. The method further includes configuring the first wireless device and/or the second wireless device based on the computed pairing.
US08325631B2

A system and method is provided to extend transmission range of a digital subscriber line (DSL). In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an input signal including a broadband data signal having a first signal strength and a telecommunication signal. The broadband data signal may be separated from the telecommunication signal. The broadband data corresponding to the broadband data signal may be regenerated, wherein the regenerated broadband data signal has a second signal strength which is greater than the first signal strength according to an embodiment of the invention. According to another aspect of the invention, the regenerated broadband data signal may be merged with the telecommunication signal into an output signal and the output signal may be transmitted over a subscriber line.
US08325624B2

Method and apparatus for enabling accurate link quality estimation of a wireless link between a sending node (400) and a receiving node (402). When the sending node receives link state reports from the receiving node, it estimates the current state of the wireless link. The sending node also determines a measurement adjusting parameter if the link state reports are deemed inaccurate in relation to the estimated link state, based on a deviation between the received link state reports and the estimated actual link state. The sending node then sends the determined measurement adjusting parameter to the receiving node, and the receiving node provides a link state report based on signal measurements adjusted by the measurement adjusting parameter. The adjusted link state report can then be used for link adaptation of the wireless link and/or for packet scheduling decisions.
US08325618B2

An electronic device is provided which comprises a plurality of processing units (IP1-IP6), a network-based inter-connect (N) coupled to the processing units (IP1-IP6) and at least one monitoring unit (P1, P2) for monitoring a data flow of at least one first communication path between the processing units (IP1-IP6) and for forwarding monitoring results at least temporarily via at least two separate communication paths (MC1, MC2).
US08325616B2

Aspects of a method and system for determination and exchange of network timing information are provided. In this regard, for each network hop traversed by a packet, a propagation delay of said network hop may be determined. Moreover, the propagation delay, and/or a hop length calculated utilizing the propagation delay, may be appended to the packet. The packet may, for example, be a MMRP registration packet or a SRP reservation packet. The packet may be dropped in instances that the propagation delay and/or length of a one or more traversed network hops is outside a determined range. The hop length may be determined by multiplying the propagation delay by a speed of propagation on the hop. The speed of propagation may be determined based on the physical layer technology associated with the network hop. Digital rights management may be implemented for media communicated on the network hop based at least in part on the hop length or the propagation delay. In this regard, use of media content may be restricted to a specified location.
US08325610B2

A method and apparatus for accessing, controlling and utilizing a network communication medium. Various aspects of the present invention may comprise a first networked device with power-save capability. The first networked device may acquire control of a communication medium utilizing a medium access protocol, which may be contention-based. The first networked device may utilize the communication medium to communicate information to a second networked device. The first networked device may transfer control of the communication medium to the second networked device, whereby the second networked device may control the communication medium without having to acquire control of the communication medium by utilizing the medium access protocol. The second networked device may utilize the communication medium to communicate information to the first networked device while maintaining control over the communication medium. The second networked device may have buffered such information for delayed delivery to the first networked device.
US08325587B2

An information recording medium in which bottoms of a guide groove and a pit array formed on a disc substrate are allocated on a same flat plane and shaped in flat. Further, in a transition area from a pit array to a guide groove or from a guide groove to a pit array, the information recording medium is provided with an intermediate area composed of a pit array of which height changes from a height between a bottom and a side of a groove to another height between the bottom and a side of the pit array.
US08325582B2

A complex objective lens composed of a hologram and an objective lens, capable of realizing stable and high-precision compatible reproducing/recording of a BD with a base thickness of about 0.1 mm for a blue light beam (wavelength λ1) and a DVD with a base thickness of about 0.6 mm for a red light beam (wavelength λ2). In an inner circumferential portion of the hologram, a grating is formed, which has a cross-sectional shape including as one period a step of heights in the order of 0 time, twice, once, and three times a unit level difference that gives a difference in optical path of about one wavelength with respect to a blue light beam, from an outer peripheral side to an optical axis side. The hologram transmits a blue light beam as 0th-order diffracted light without diffracting it, and disperses a red light beam passing through an inner circumferential portion as +1st-order diffracted light and allows it to be condensed by an objective lens. Because of this, the focal length of the red light beam becomes longer than that of the blue light beam, whereby a working distance is enlarged.
US08325578B2

For a disc on which recording is to be performed at a plurality of recording densities, a technique for easily reading out disc management information without an error is disclosed. An optical disc (1) includes a plurality of data recording areas (103,104) for recording information at data recording densities different from each other. Information regarding the data recording densities of the data recording areas (103,104) is recorded in a management information recording area (BCA area (101) or PIC area (102)) in a specific format that does not depend on the data recording densities of the data recording areas (103,104). Each data recording area is divided to be arranged on the same surface of the disc, or is divided and arranged on a plurality of recording layers.
US08325577B2

A device for recording data and data structures on a write-once storage medium. The device has writing means for recording the data and the data structures and controlling means for generating the data structures and controlling the writing means. The data structures comprise space bit map and defect management structures. The controlling means are adapted to record the data structures at a predefined temporary location on the write-once storage medium and to finalize the write-once storage medium by recording the data structures at a predefined fixed location as defined for a rewritable storage medium.
US08325571B2

A digital jukebox (14) allows for playback of a first offering and a second offering. The contents of each offering are individually licensed for public performance at a particular location where the jukebox is found. The jukebox (14) displays advertisements that are selected in response to user interaction with the jukebox or a number of other factors. The jukebox (14) features a screen (18 and 20) that allows user to interact with the jukebox to select offerings, but also to respond to advertising. Jukebox can function in cooperation with a server (12), but in the alternate, can function as an independent and stand-alone device when connection (16) to server (12) is not available.
US08325565B2

A timepiece is equipped with a movement (module), a solar cell panel, a ring member, and a dial (timepiece display plate). The panel is fixed to the module. The ring member is fixed to the peripheral portion of the movement. The ring member has, at a plurality of positions thereof, recesses, and a pair of engagement protrusions protruding upwardly from the bottom of each recess. The recesses are respectively open in an upper surface and the outer peripheral surface of the ring member. The pair of engagement protrusions form a gap G between them, and are capable of elastic deformation. A proximal portion of each engagement protrusion is situated below the upper surface of the ring member. The dial has cutouts at a plurality of positions of its peripheral portion. Each of these cutouts is engaged with each pair of engagement protrusions to cover the panel, and the dial is mounted to the ring member such that the peripheral portions of the cutouts cover the recesses.
US08325563B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for locating a weapon fire incident such as an acoustic transient from a gunshot, explosion, weapons launch, etc. In one exemplary implementation, there is provided a method of locating the incident from a combination of propagation phenomena including a discharge time of the weapon fire incident. Moreover, the method may include obtaining a first propagation parameter of the incident from one or more first sensors, obtaining the discharge time from another sensor, and processing the data to determine a location using a common time basis among sensor measurements. According to further exemplary implementations, the discharge time may include a transient event that has a different propagation velocity than that of sound in the atmosphere.
US08325558B2

A block decoder of a semiconductor memory device includes a control signal generation circuit configured to output a control signal in response to a first address mixing signal, a second address mixing signal, and an enable period signal and a block selection signal generation circuit configured to generate a block selection signal for selecting a memory block in response to the control signal.
US08325553B2

A static memory cell, composed of cross-coupled MOS transistors having a relatively high threshold voltage, is equipped with MOS transistors for controlling the power supply line voltage of the memory cell. To permit the voltage difference between two data storage nodes in the inactivated memory cell to exceed the voltage difference between the two nodes when write data is applied from a data line pair DL and /DL to the two nodes in the activated memory cell, the power supply line voltage control transistors are turned on to apply a high voltage VCH to the power supply lines after the word line voltage is turned off. The data holding voltage in the memory cell can be activated to a high voltage independent of the data line voltage, and the data holding voltage can be dynamically set so that read and write operations can be performed at high speed with low power consumption.
US08325550B2

Auto-refresh of a semiconductor device may be controlled by setting the number of auto-refresh to be performed in a period of time, based on temperature, when an auto-refresh command is detected.
US08325533B2

A semiconductor device including a plurality of capacitance units connected in parallel between a first voltage and a second voltage. Each of the plurality of capacitance units includes: a capacitance element connected with the first voltage; and a capacitance disconnecting circuit connected between the second voltage and the capacitance element. The capacitance disconnecting circuit includes a non-volatile memory cell with a threshold voltage changed based on a change of a leakage current which flows from the capacitance element, and blocks off the leakage current based on a rise of the threshold voltage of the non-volatile memory cell when the leakage current exceeds a predetermined value.
US08325529B2

Bit line connections for non-volatile storage devices and methods for fabricating the same are disclosed. At least two different types of bit line connections may be used between memory cells and bit lines. The different types of bit line connections may be structurally different from each other as follows. One type of bit line connection may include a metal pad between an upper via and lower via. Another type of bit line connection may include an upper via and lower via, but does not include the metal pad. Three rows of bit line connections may be used to relax the pitch. For example, two rows of bit line connections on the outside may have the metal pad, whereas bit line connections in the middle row do not have the metal pad.
US08325521B2

A method of performing a reading operation to a memory device including a plurality of flash memory cells. The method includes applying a first voltage bias to a control gate of a selected memory cell in the flash memory array and applying a second voltage bias to a word line of the selected memory cell. A control gate of an unselected memory cell in the flash memory array is grounded and a third voltage bias is applied to a word line of the unselected cell to turn off a word line channel of the unselected memory cell. The selected memory cell and unselected memory cell are configured in the memory device and are connected to different word lines. The first voltage bias and the second voltage bias have a same polarity. The third voltage bias and the second voltage bias have opposite polarities.
US08325513B2

A compound magnetic data storage cell, applicable to spin-torque random access memory (ST-RAM), is disclosed. A magnetic data storage cell includes a magnetic storage element and two terminals communicatively connected to the magnetic storage element. The magnetic storage element is configured to yield any of at least three distinct magnetoresistance output levels, corresponding to stable magnetic configurations, in response to spin-momentum transfer inputs via the terminals.
US08325512B2

SRAM writing system and related apparatus are provided. The writing system of the invention has a dummy replica writing circuit, a negative pulse controller and at least a normal writing circuit; each normal writing circuit includes a write driver and a negative pulse supplier. While writing, the dummy replica writing circuit drives a dummy replica bit-line, such that the negative pulse controller generates a negative pulse control signal according to level of the dummy replica bit-line. In each writing circuit, when the write driver conducts to connect an associated bit-line to a bias end for driving a level transition, the negative pulse supplier switches the bias end from an operation voltage to a different negative pulse voltage according to the received negative pulse control signal.
US08325502B2

An embodiment of a self-supply circuit, for a voltage converter that converts an input voltage into an output voltage and has a main switch and a controller, designed to control switching of the main switch for controlling the output voltage; the self-supply circuit is provided with: a charge accumulator, which is connected to the controller and supplies a self-supply voltage to the same controller; a generator, which supplies a charge current to the charge accumulator; and an auxiliary switch, which has a first conduction terminal in common with a respective conduction terminal of the main switch and is operable so as to control transfer of the charge current to the charge accumulator. In particular, the self-supply circuit is provided with a precharge stage, connected to the auxiliary switch, which carries out a precharging of an intrinsic capacitance of the auxiliary switch before a turning-off transient of the main switch ends.
US08325494B2

Provided is a universal adapter bracket, the bracket including a first portion containing at least two mounting elements, and the at least two mounting elements engage with a base unit of a network module to configure the base unit within the first portion of the bracket; and a flange, wherein flange engages with an add-on module. The bracket is mounted within a network interface device (NID) to interface the base unit and one or more add-on modules with the NID.
US08325485B2

A display system is disclosed for an information system component that includes a case with a first connector. The display system comprises a housing, a screen mounted on the housing and configured to display information, a control mounted on the housing for controlling an aspect of operation of the screen, and a mount structure configured to connect the housing to the information system component. The mount structure is configured to removably mount the housing on the case of the information system component. The mount structure includes a second connector configured to removably connect to the first connector on the case of the information system component.
US08325479B2

The present invention relates generally to tuning the flow of cooling air across converter and inverter heat sinks in a motor drive system. More specifically, present techniques relate to motor drive duct systems having parallel cooling air duct channels dedicated to providing cooling air for a converter heat sink and an inverter heat sink, respectively. In particular, a first duct channel through an inverter duct and a converter duct is dedicated to providing cooling air to the converter heat sink without cooling the inverter heat sink, whereas a second duct channel through the inverter duct and the converter duct is dedicated to providing cooling air to the inverter heat sink without cooling the converter heat sink.
US08325477B2

Provided is a vibrating device which can generate efficient vibrations in a vibrating member and efficiently apply vibrations to a gas, a jet flow generating device in which the vibrating device has been implemented, and an electronic device in which the jet flow generating device has been implemented. A jet flow generating device 10 has a vibrating device 15 including a frame 4, and actuator 5 mounted on the frame 4, and a vibrating member 3 supported on the frame 4 by an elastic supporting member 6. The vibrating member 3 has a side plate 3b formed on the perimeter portion of a disc-shaped vibrating plate 3a, for example. Vibration of the vibrating member 3 applies vibrations to air within chambers 11a and 11b, whereby gas can alternatingly be blown from nozzles 2a and 2b.
US08325471B2

The present invention provides a display device that prevents damage on a display panel even when the display device drops or falls down during handling. The display device includes: a PDP (10) including a front panel (20) and a back panel (30) that have peripheral portions joined to each other by a sealing material (36); a chassis member (44) supporting the PDP (10); and a housing enclosing the PDP (10) and the chassis member (44). The housing includes a front housing portion (41) provided with an opening (54), a side housing portion (51), and a back housing portion (42). The back housing portion (42) is provided with a drawn portion (62), and a top part of the drawn portion (62) is coupled to the chassis member (44) by a fixing member.
US08325470B2

An electronic device includes a lid and a main body rotatably connected to each other. The main body includes a lower housing, an upper housing, a keyboard, a cover disposed on the upper housing, and a driving member. The keyboard is disposed on the upper housing and includes a first keyboard and a second keyboard coupled to each other. The driving mechanism is used to drive the first keyboard and the second keyboard to switch between a fist position and a second position. In the first state, a portion of the first keyboard is shielded by the cover, and in the second state, the first keyboard and the second keyboard are totally exposed.
US08325455B2

Disclosed are various embodiments of voltage protectors that include a first voltage clamping device configured to clamp a voltage of an input power applied to an electrical load, and a second voltage clamping device configured to clamp the voltage applied to the electrical load. A series inductance separates the first and second voltage clamping devices. Also, a switching element is employed to selectively establish a direct coupling of the input power to the electrical load, where a circuit is employed to control the operation of the switching element.
US08325448B2

The pinning field in an MR device was significantly improved by using the Ru 4A peak together with steps to minimize interfacial roughness of the ruthenium layer as well as boron and manganese diffusion into the ruthenium layer during manufacturing. This made it possible to anneal at temperatures as high as 340° C. whereby a high MR ratio could be simultaneously achieved.
US08325447B1

A novel head gimbal assembly (HGA) for use in a disk drive is disclosed. Each of a plurality of electrically conductive traces of a flexure of the HGA includes a connection region that is aligned with and connected to a corresponding one of a plurality of electrically conductive bonding pads of a head. Each of the plurality of electrically conductive traces further includes a heating pad that is offset from its connection region by an offset distance. A dielectric layer of the flexure includes a first opening over the heating pad, a support layer of the flexure includes a second opening over the heating pad, and a load beam of the HGA includes a third opening disposed over the heating pad. During assembly, light may be shined through the openings and onto the heating pad until solder located in the connection region that is offset from the heating pad melts.
US08325443B2

A magnetic disk device includes a magnetic disk and a magnetic head having a magnetic head slider flying by an action of air during rotation of the magnetic disk, wherein an inflow of air from a direction of a leading side face of the magnetic head slider forming an air bearing film effect at an air bearing surface face of the magnetic head slider which faces the magnetic disk, and the air flows out from a trailing side face of the magnetic head slider. The magnetic head slider has a wettability, in at least a part of an outer region defined on the trailing side face and adjoining other faces including the air bearing surface face of the magnetic head slider, which is lower than a wettability of at least one other region present at the trailing side face.
US08325441B2

A thermally assisted magnetic head includes a main magnetic pole layer, a near-field light generating layer having a generating end part generating near-field light arranged within a medium-opposing surface, and an optical waveguide guiding light to the near-field light generating layer. The thermally assisted magnetic head includes a base layer which a base groove part having a width gradually getting smaller along a depth direction and extending in an intersecting direction intersecting with the medium-opposing surface is formed. The near-field light generating layer has an in-groove generating layer formed inside of the base groove part. The in-groove generating layer is formed along an inner wall surface of the base groove part and has a thin-film like structure.
US08325436B2

Information storage devices using magnetic domain wall movement, methods of operating the same, and methods of manufacturing the same are provided. An information storage device includes a first magnetic layer, a heating unit and a magnetic field applying unit. The heating unit heats a first region of the first magnetic layer. The magnetic field applying unit applies a magnetic field to the first region to form a magnetic domain. A wall of the magnetic domain is moved by a current applied to the first magnetic layer.
US08325432B2

Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for servo data based harmonics calculation. For example, a circuit for determining harmonics is disclosed that includes an analog to digital conversion circuit that provides a series of digital samples corresponding to a pattern within a servo data region of a storage medium, and a harmonic calculation circuit. The harmonic calculation circuit is operable to calculate a first harmonic value for the series of digital samples, calculate a second harmonic value for the series of digital samples, and calculate a ratio of the first harmonic value to the second harmonic value.
US08325430B1

The present invention provides a five-piece imaging lens module including a fixed diaphragm and an optical module. The optical module includes five lenses arranged from an object side to an image side in a sequence of: the first lens, having a positive refractive power, a concave surface, and having at least one aspheric surface; the diaphragm; the second lens, having a negative refractive power, a concave surface, and having at least one aspheric surface; the third lens, having a positive refractive power, a convex surface, and having at least one aspheric surface; the fourth lens, having a concave surface, and having at least one aspheric surface; the fifth lens, having a convex on the object side near to the optic axis, and having at least one aspheric surface. With the fifth lens, the present invention provides a better resolving power.
US08325398B2

When an image file is loaded into an electronic album, an electronic album editing apparatus displays images on a page by arranging a layout and performs editing of the images such as cropping and magnification and reduction. The electronic album editing apparatus displays the edited images on the page and determines whether the images that are already edited and displayed, overlap with each other for use in the album. When it is determined that the images overlap with each other, the electronic album editing apparatus issues a warning to that effect to the user.
US08325376B2

An image-forming device performs a conversion process, creates page data, causes performance of index printing, stores a page data creatable range delimiter and performs a replacement process. The conversion process converts sets of print data, which are of differing formats into intermediate data of a common format. The creating step creates page data from the intermediate data in parallel with the conversion process. A printing unit performs index printing based on the created page data. A storing unit stores a page data creatable range delimiter for the intermediate data by which the creating step can create the page data from the intermediate data. The replacement process replacing the intermediate data positioned after the page data creatable range delimiter in the print data with substitute data when an error occurs in the print data during the conversion process.
US08325373B2

In a printing system or method, two printing units apply printing ink onto a recording material, each printing unit having multiple apparatuses with a respective microprocessor controller. The microprocessor controllers are connected with one another via a respective data bus segment and each data bus segment has multiple data lines. The two data bus segments of the two printing units are connected with a bus switch. The bus switch has a data switch to connect a respective one of the lines of the one data bus segment with the corresponding line of the other data bus segment, a respective terminating resistor being provided for each data bus segment. The terminating resistors are connected with a respective terminating switch coupled with the data switches such that either all terminating switches are open and all data switches are closed, or all terminating switches are closed and all data switches are open.
US08325368B2

A print information conversion apparatus is provided, the print information conversion apparatus including: a print information acquiring portion that acquires print information in a page description language format; a conversion portion that converts the acquired print information in the page description language format into electronic document information in an electronic document format; an addition portion that adds restoration information to the electronic document information, the restoration information being used for restoring nonreversible information that is contained in the print information in the page description language format and that is not reversibly convertible to the electronic document information; and a print information generating portion that generates print information based on the electronic document information and the restoration information added to the electronic document information.
US08325365B2

An image forming system includes an information processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus that is connected to the information processing apparatus so as to communicate with each other, a splitting unit that splits a page to be printed into a plurality of areas according to a preset splitting rule, a setting unit that respectively sets a print condition, which affects a usage amount of a color material used for printing, for each of the plurality of areas, and a printing unit that prints the page to be printed based on the print condition set to each of the plurality of areas.
US08325361B2

A confidential document is generated by encoding distribution destination information specifying a destination to which the confidential document will be distributed.
US08325360B2

An image forming apparatus and method of printing an image in the image forming apparatus connected to an image storage device, the method including: selecting at least one image stored in the image storage device; setting up print options with regard to the selected at least one image; starting a transmission of image data corresponding to the selected at least one image from the image storage device to the image forming apparatus before the setting up of the print options is completed; and printing the image data according to the setup print options.
US08325350B2

An apparatus and a method for measuring a three-dimensional shape are disclosed. The apparatus includes a transfer stage, a first projector, a second projector, a camera unit and a control unit. The transfer stage transfers a measurement object to a measurement position. The first projector irradiates a first pattern light having a first equivalent wavelength toward the measurement object in a first direction. The second projector irradiates a second pattern light having a second equivalent wavelength that is different from the first equivalent wavelength toward the measurement object in a second direction. The camera unit takes a first pattern image that is generated when the first pattern light is reflected by the measurement object, and a second pattern image that is generated when the second pattern light is reflected by the measurement object. The control unit controls the first projector and the second projector, and obtains a three-dimensional shape of the measurement object through the first pattern image and the second pattern image.
US08325343B2

A cavity ring-down spectroscope includes a ring-down cavity. A trigger detector is optically coupled within the ring-down cavity to generate a signal to indicate a desired radiation level in the ring-down cavity. A controller is coupled to the trigger detector to control light provided to the ring-down cavity. A ring-down time may then be measured.
US08325336B2

A system and a method are disclosed for combining a soil sample and extractant in a mixing chamber to produce a liquid extractant-soil mixture. A portion of the liquid extractant-soil mixture is directed from the mixing chamber through a sample measurement chamber coupled to the mixing chamber. The sample measurement chamber is coupled to a light source so that light propagates from the light source through the portion of the liquid extractant-soil mixture to an optical detector which generates an attenuation spectrum indicating light received by the detector at different wavelengths. The sample measurement chamber may include an attenuation cell having a specified optical path between a first measurement window and a second measurement window and angular surface directing particulates in the liquid extractant-soil mixture away from the attenuation cell.
US08325332B2

Start-up methods for frequency converted light sources and projector systems comprising frequency converted light sources are described herein. The start-up methods generally comprise modulating the frequency converted light source over three degrees of freedom (two spatial dimensions and one wavelength dimension). Specifically, fast oscillation of an axis of an adjustable optical component is performed simultaneously with fast oscillation of a wavelength of the semiconductor laser while a second axis of the adjustable optical component is incrementally stepped and the output intensity of the frequency converted light source is monitored for each step. This start-up method allows for three linear searches to be used to rapidly locate the appropriate control settings for the frequency converted light source.
US08325327B2

Methods and systems for using laser Doppler velocimeters to determine and use wind velocities at the locations of impending and occurring events such as sports events are presented. Laser Doppler velocimeters are used to determine wind velocities where an event is occurring or an impending event is about to occur. The determined wind velocities are used to generate and display a representation of the impending or occurring event that accounts for the effect of the determined wind velocities on the impending or occurring event.
US08325326B2

A power usage supply unit—that supplies power usage to a stage which moves on a movement surface has a first axis section, first support sections, a second axis section, and a second support section. The first axis section is movably supported by the first support section in a direction of the first axis and around the first axis, and the second axis section is movably supported by the second support section in a direction of the second axis and around the second axis. And, by employing a mechanism in which the power usage supply unit has at least four degrees of freedom, the power usage supply unit does not interfere with the movement of a stage even when the stage moves in the first and second axis directions and in the rotational direction of each axis, therefore, decrease in position controllability of the stage caused by dragging a tube can be completely avoided.
US08325325B2

A drive system drives a movable body, based on measurement results of a first measurement system which measures the position of the movable body in an XY plane by irradiating a measurement beam from an arm member on a grating placed on a surface parallel to the XY plane of the movable body. In this case, because a configuration in which the arm member irradiates a measurement beam on the grating is employed, there is no adverse effect due to the drive of the moving body, unlike the case when an encoder system is arranged on a stage surface plate. Accordingly, it becomes possible to drive the movable body with good precision.
US08325320B2

A method for repairing a liquid crystal display (LCD) device is provided for an LCD device whose LCD panel has a gravity defect. The method includes the steps of cutting an edge of the LCD panel, applying pressure to a surface of the LCD panel to exhaust excess liquid crystal material through the cut edge, and sealing the cut edge.
US08325319B2

A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel includes applying a first frame-like sealing material, and a second sealing material adjacent to the first sealing material along at least one side of the first sealing material, on a first mother substrate; forming a spacer on a second mother substrate made of glass so as to extend between the first and second sealing materials; bonding the first mother substrate on which the first and second sealing materials are applied, and the second mother substrate on which the spacer is formed, to each other such that the first and second sealing materials are in contact with each other without gaps with the spacer being interposed therebetween, and that a liquid crystal layer is sealed within the frame defined by the first sealing material; and cutting the bonded mother substrates at an intermediate position in the width direction of the spacer.
US08325303B2

A liquid-crystal display device makes it possible to attach an optical element to a liquid-crystal display panel with high positional accuracy while avoiding or minimizing the enlargement of the picture-frame region (i.e., the non-display region) induced by the formation of markers on the panel and the increase of the fabrication cost. The panel comprises a main substrate, an opposite substrate, and a liquid crystal enclosed in a gap between the main and opposite substrates, wherein a polarizer plate is attached at least to the opposite substrate. Markers for attaching an optical element to the panel are formed at positions that overlap with the polarizer plate in a non-display region on the main or opposite substrate. Alignment direction regulators regulate the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules to a predetermined direction in the vicinities of the markers, allowing light to pass through at least the opposite substrate.
US08325294B2

A lamp guide includes: a horizontal part; at least one supporting part extending from a front surface of the horizontal part; a plurality of holding parts on the front surface of the horizontal part, each of the plurality of holding parts holding a lamp and twisted from the horizontal part; and at least one coupling part extending from a rear surface of the horizontal part.
US08325289B2

An optical part includes a panel cover to be attached around a display area of a display element, a holder holding an optical element, a spring pressing the holder against the panel cover in order to place and rotatably attach the holder to the panel cover one over another, and a dust barrier cover provided on the holder, wherein the part of the holder in contact with the spring has an extension, which is integral with the dust barrier cover.
US08325286B2

It is possible to decrease block segmentation and flickering due to separate exposure in an active matrix substrate while avoiding decreased aperture ratio, increased parasitic capacity and complication in manufacturing process. A first pixel circuit and a second pixel circuit including a first-type TFT and a second-type TFT, respectively, are disposed alternately relative to each other in both directions of row and column in an active matrix substrate. In the first-type and the second-type TFTs, a pattern misalignment of the drain electrode with respect to the gate electrode in an up-down direction will increase/decrease a gate-drain parasitic capacity Cgd in reverse ways. By disposing these two types of TFTs in uniform dispersion, the increase/decrease in the parasitic capacity Cgd caused by pattern misalignment occurring at the time of manufacture are averaged.
US08325279B2

The invention relates to a method, device and computer-program product for suppression of undesired temporal variations, notably flicker, in a sequence of video frames. Histogram-based and similar approaches generally do not remove all flicker. Features that are resolved only in portions of the flicker cycle will manifest themselves as residual flicker. This effect is near-universal in bright regions of a scene. The inventive solution is a mapping that aims to resolve in the output only those features that are resolved in all frames of the flicker cycle. Use of time-maximal quantile values may preserve non-resolution of such image features that are unresolved due to intermittent bright saturation. Thus, in one embodiment, a reduction of resolution is attained by means of a pixel-value mapping based on selecting, over a time window, maximal and minimal quantile values, with maximal values being used for bright spatial regions and minimal values for dark spatial regions.
US08325274B2

The object is to provide a video signal processing apparatus capable of minimizing overtaking of fields of a video signal and continuous display of the video signal of the same field and reducing degradation in image quality of the output video signal. The apparatus has a field signal holding section 9 which holds the value of an input field signal and outputs the held value as a held value signal and a readout determination section 10 which determines the video signal of the field to be read out, and which outputs the determined signal as a readout field signal. The field signal holding section 9 holds the value of the input field signal a plurality of times with every occurrence of the readout field signal period, and outputs a held value signal constituted of the plurality of values of the input field signal held. The readout determination section 10 determines the video signal of the field to be read out from a frame memory 4 on the basis of the value of the held value signal in the current readout field period and the value of the held value signal in the immediately preceding readout field period.
US08325265B2

An imaging system includes a lens assembly, an image sensor, an image processing unit, an actuator, and a control unit. The lens assembly is configured for focusing a subject image. The image sensor is located at the image side of the lens assembly for providing image information corresponding to the subject image. The image processing unit is electrically connected to the image sensor for modifying the image information in a digital image process. The actuator is connected to the lens assembly for adjusting the depth of field of the lens assembly. The control unit is electrically connected to the image sensor, the image processing unit and the actuator for receiving the electronic information to control the image processing unit or the actuator so as to provide a clear image.
US08325262B2

An image sensor and a manufacturing method for an image sensor. An image may include a central pixel array that contains pixels disposed in a center of a pixel area, and a peripheral pixel array that contains pixels disposed in a periphery of the pixel area. A gate oxide layer at a center area of a photodiode may have a smaller thickness than a gate oxide layer of pixels at a center area of the photodiode.
US08325252B2

A solid-state imaging device includes: a pixel array unit formed by two-dimensionally disposing a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion portion; one or more SRAMs; a memory control section controlling writing of pixel data sequentially output from the pixel array unit into the SRAM and controlling readout of the pixel data from the SRAM; a correction process section performing a process of correcting the pixel data read from the SRAM by the memory control section; a defect detecting section detecting a defective address in the SRAM; and a defect relieving section holding pixel data to be written in the defective address of the SRAM by the memory control section and outputting the pixel data held therein to the correction process section instead of the pixel data which has been written in the defective address of the SRAM.
US08325249B2

A method and an apparatus enabling use of a light source emitting a light of changing intensity and changing spectrum as a flash with a camera module having a white-balance routine and an exposure routine, wherein an initial value representative of a color spectrum emitted by the light source is transmitted to the camera module, the light source is turned on, and the camera module is signaled to scan a plurality of images of the scene while the light source is turned on, allowing the white-balance and exposure algorithms to be employed with each image scanned to refine the first initial value to refine the degree of compensation employed in correcting a color and a light level in the last one of the images of the plurality of images scanned.
US08325248B2

Systems, methods, and devices for dual processing of raw image data by main image processing and alternative image processing capabilities of an electronic device are provided. According to an embodiment, alternative image processing may analyze a first copy of a frame of raw image data before a second copy of the frame of raw image data is processed by main image processing. Thereafter, the main image processing may process the second copy of the frame of raw image. The main image processing may be calibrated based at least in part on the analysis of the first copy of the frame of raw image data.
US08325237B2

A system for monitoring television signals broadcast by at least one transmission antenna in a broadcast area includes a monitoring control center and a plurality of remote monitoring units distributed in television signal receiving locations of the broadcast area remote from the transmission antenna. The remote monitoring units are configured to receive the television signals irradiated in the respective locations, process the television signals and send to the monitoring control center information related to the processed television signal. In particular, the remote monitoring units include a receiver adapted to receive the television signal, a measuring system adapted to perform measures on radio-electric features of the received television signal, and a communication system adapted to communicate measurement results to the remote monitoring center, exploiting a communication link between the remote monitoring unit and the control center.
US08325236B2

Aspects of the present invention relate to systems and methods for detecting the connection status of a communicatively-connected device.
US08325231B2

There is provided a monitoring apparatus including a front cover, an imaging device that is accommodated in the front cover and captures a subject image, a rear cover to be fixed onto a mounting surface on which the apparatus is mounted, and an emitting unit that emits light toward the mounting surface, where a light-emitting state of the light emitted by the emitting unit is associated with an operation state of the apparatus.
US08325218B2

A color setting apparatus and method for a system for reproducing multimedia data are provided. The apparatus includes a color setting controller for displaying a closed curve band divided into at least two equal-sized sections each containing a different color, and a setting band having at least two sections for indicating change of a set value of each of the colors on a screen, and for changing the set value of a selected color and displaying the changed color according to the changed set value on the screen. The color setting controller increases or decreases the size of the section for indicating change of the set value according to the set value.
US08325217B2

A method of sending video data over a network is disclosed. The method includes initiating a video data stream between a first site and a second site over the network, sending compressed video content from the first site to the second site, decompressing the video content at the first site, decompressing the video content at the second site and synchronizing the decompressed video content at the first and second site whereby the video data stream can be controlled by either the first or second site.
US08325213B2

A method of capturing an image from a video call between a first user and a remote user over a communication network. The method includes receiving video data from the remote user at a client executed at a user terminal of the first user, the video data comprising a sequence of frames; the client capturing a frame of the video data responsive to a command from the first user; the client extracting image data from the frame; the client converting the image data to an image file and embedding a communication identity of the remote user in the image file, wherein the communication identity is suitable for initiating a communication event with the remote user; and storing the image file on a storage means of the user terminal.
US08325212B2

A light scanning device includes a light source emitting light, a polygon mirror reflecting the light while rotating, a mirror member having a mirror surface reflecting the light, reflected by the polygon mirror, toward an object to be scanned, a vibration preventing member attached to a portion of the mirror member excluding the mirror surface to prevent the mirror member from vibrating, and a housing supporting the polygon mirror and the mirror member. The mirror member extends in a predetermined direction in the housing, and the vibration preventing member is divided into a plurality of pieces that are so attached to the mirror member as to adjoin each other in the predetermined direction.
US08325210B2

A light-emitting device includes: light-emitting chips each including light-emitting elements and memory elements corresponding to each other, each memory element memorizing a light-emitting element to light up, each light-emitting chip being capable of lighting up the light-emitting elements in parallel; a unit to transmit an enable signal in common to light-emitting chips belonging to each of M groups obtained by dividing the light-emitting chips, the enable signal enabling selection of light-emitting elements to light up; a unit to transmit a write signal in common to light-emitting chips belonging to each of N classes obtained by dividing the light-emitting chips, the write signal setting memory elements corresponding to the light-emitting elements to light up, to a memory state or not, in the light-emitting chips where the selection is enabled; and a unit to transmit light-up signals for lighting up to light-emitting elements corresponding to memory elements in the memory state.
US08325195B2

Wireless communication of display information between an information handling system and display is supported by a direct connection between a graphics system of the information handling system and a transceiver of the information handling system. For example, the graphics system outputs pixel level display information through a cable directly to the transceiver. A converter on the transceiver converts the display information to network information, such as from a DisplayPort format to a PCI Express format, so the transceiver can send the display information through a wireless network, such as a personal area network, to the display. A display module located at the transceiver coordinates initiation of communication of display information from the graphics system to the display.
US08325193B1

One embodiment of the invention sets forth a mechanism for controlling the initialization order of an iGPU and a dGPU in a hybrid graphics processing environment to ensure that the iGPU is recognized by the operating system as the primary GPU. When the device initialization request associated with the dGPU is received, the interface module determines whether the iGPU has already been initialized. If the iGPU has already been initialized, then the interface module transmits the device initialization request to the dGPU driver for dGPU initialization. However, if the iGPU flag indicates that the iGPU has not yet been initialized, then the interface module terminates the device initialization request and transmits an initialization failure notification to the operating system. In such a manner, the dGPU is initialized only after the iGPU has previously been initialized, thereby ensuring that the iGPU is recognized by the operating system as the primary GPU.
US08325188B1

Systems and methods for storing waveform data and outputting data to a waveform viewer are disclosed. A waveform is segmented into a plurality of segments, and data describing each segment is stored at several levels of resolution. When a user wishes to view a portion of the waveform, the appropriate segments of the waveform are identified, and the appropriate levels of resolution are selected. The data describing the appropriate segments at the appropriate levels of resolution are output to a waveform viewer. An index may be provided to aid in selection of the appropriate data. Various methods for compression of the data are also supported.
US08325184B2

Configuration information is used to make a determination to bypass fragment shading by a shader unit of a graphics processing unit, the shader unit capable of performing both vertex shading and fragment shader. Based on the determination, the shader unit performs vertex shading and bypasses fragment shading. A processing element other than the shader unit, such as a pixel blender, can be used to perform some fragment shading. Power is managed to “turn off” power to unused components in a case that fragment shading is bypassed. For example, power can be turned off to a number of arithmetic logic units, the shader unit using the reduced number of arithmetic logic unit to perform vertex shading. At least one register bank of the shader unit can be used as a FIFO buffer storing pixel attribute data for use, with texture data, to fragment shading operations by another processing element.
US08325179B2

A system and method for visualizing images in a three-dimensional context. The method involves receiving user input specifying a polyline in a given cartographic reference system. The polyline is displayed in a 2D window. A set of geometry data is generated based on the polyline and a user-specified vertical range. The geometry data set represents a folded object in three-dimensional space, where the folded object has one fold for each knee point in the polyline. A 3D virtual world is rendered to obtain a rendered image. The rendering action includes rendering the geometry data set using a given image as texture. The rendered image is displayed in a 3D window, where the displayed rendered image visually represents the given image as being painted onto the folded object in the three-dimensional space.
US08325172B2

A driver circuit includes a plurality of data signal output units each configured to provide the electro-optical device with the data signal, a timing signal output unit configured to provide the electro-optical device with the timing signals, a detection unit configured to detect signal levels of the data signals provided by the data signal output units, an adjustment unit configured to adjust the signal levels of the data signals provided by the data signal output units so as to approach one another on the basis of the detected signal levels, and a signal control unit configured to control the timing signal output unit so as to stop at least one of the timing signals before the detection unit detects the signal level.
US08325170B2

An occupying area of a digital system signal line driver circuit in an image display device is large and this hinders the miniaturization of the display device. A memory circuit and a D/A converter circuit in the signal line driver circuit are commonly used for n (“n” is a natural number equal to or larger than 2) signal lines. One horizontal scanning period is divided into n periods and the memory circuit and the D/A converter circuit each perform processing for different signal lines during each of the divided periods. Thus, all the signal lines can be driven. Therefore, the number of memory circuits and the number of D/A converter circuits in the signal line driver circuit can be reduced to one n-th in a conventional case.
US08325169B2

A pixel circuit provided on a substrate on which a signal line, first and second scanning lines supplying first and second control pulse signals, a fixed power line, and a variable power line are arranged includes a capacitance element, a sampling transistor connected between the signal line and one of ends of the capacitance element, where the gate of the sampling transistor is connected to the first scanning line, a drive transistor of which gate is connected to the other end, where one of a drain and a source of the drive transistor is connected to the fixed power line, an initializing transistor of which gate is connected to the second scanning line, which is connected between the other end and the other of the drain and the source, and a light emitting element connected between the variable power line and the other of the drain and the source.
US08325168B2

A method of controlling a display device is provided. The method includes the steps of receiving an input data; decoding a stored image to obtain decoded data; accumulating the decoded data to obtain an accumulated value; adding the accumulated value to the input data to obtain a compared value; setting the display device to operate normally when the compared value is identical to an initial value; and displaying a preset frame on the display device when the compared value is different from the initial value.
US08325165B2

Variation occurs in transistor characteristics. The present invention relates to a signal line driver circuit comprising: a plurality of current source circuits corresponding to a plurality of wirings; and a shift register, characterized in that: the plurality of current source circuits each comprise capacitor means for converting a supplied current to a voltage in accordance with a sampling pulse supplied from the shift register and supply means for supplying a current corresponding to the converted voltage.
US08325160B2

Systems and methods for detecting temporally overlapping trace events on a touch sensitive device.
US08325158B2

A method of manufacturing an optical waveguide includes forming a core layer on a first clad layer, forming a second clad layer on the core layer, forming a first groove including at least one inclined surface in the second clad layer and the core layer to be in substantially parallel to and near one end of the second clad layer and one end of the core layer, the at least one inclined surface of the first groove having such an angle that the core layer is exposed when viewed above the second clad layer, forming a second groove including at least one inclined surface in the second clad layer on a inner side of the first groove, forming a separation groove in the clad layers and the core layer in a direction intersecting the first groove, and forming a plurality of cores intersecting the first groove.
US08325157B2

In an optical coordinate input apparatus, beams emitted from one light emitting element are simultaneously guided through a plurality of cores provided at a waveguide to edges on Y-side and X-side of light emitting sides of an operational area, a light receiving element group includes light receiving elements corresponding respectively to cores aligned on Y-side of light receiving sides and light receiving elements corresponding respectively to cores aligned on X-side of the light receiving sides of the operational area, a scan is performed on each of the light receiving elements sequentially so as to detect presence or absence of a light shielding signal, and a scan time for the scan of all the light receiving elements included in the light receiving element group is set to be not more than 1 ms.
US08325156B2

An optical touch screen device includes a display panel, an infrared light source module, a number of elongated reflective plates, and an infrared image capture module. The display panel includes a display screen. The infrared light source module has a strip-shaped light output portion generally parallel with the display screen. The strip-shaped light output portion is arranged along an edge of the display screen and configured for outputting infrared light to illuminate the display screen. The elongated reflective plates are arranged along the other edges of the display screen. The reflective plates is configured for reflecting the light from the light output portion to the display screen, thereby the light from the light output portion and the reflected light cooperatively forming an infrared light field. The infrared image capture module is configured for capturing an image of the entire display screen.
US08325152B2

A touch panel comprises a substrate and a transparent conductive layer including a plurality of groups of first conductive patterns, second conductive patterns, and third conductive patterns, and a plurality of first wires, second wires, and third wires. Each group of first conductive patterns is arranged along a first direction. Each group of second conductive patterns is arranged along a second direction and located at a first side of the second direction. Each group of third conductive patterns is arranged along the second direction and located at a second side of the second direction. Each group of first conductive patterns, each group of second conductive patterns, and each group of third conductive patterns are electrically insulated to each other. Each second conductive pattern among each group of second conductive patterns has different areas, and each third conductive pattern among each group of third conductive patterns has different areas.
US08325149B2

An interface apparatus includes a main unit, an array of interface modules, driver circuitry, and a remote unit. The main unit outputs files to an output unit, is detachably couplable to interface modules and assigns content identifiers to interface modules. The array presents an image to the user and each interface module can be engaged by a user. The driver circuitry is adapted to drive the array to present an image to the user based upon the user's engagement with an interface module. The remote unit is coupled to the output unit and can be detachably coupled to the interface module. When coupled to the interface module, the remote unit can access the assigned identifier and transmit a request signal to the main unit based on the identifier. The request signal is adapted to cause the main unit to output a file identified by the identifier to the output unit.
US08325148B2

A secured communication channel is established between two or more information handling systems by defining attributes for encrypting information with physical inputs made at touch devices of the information handling systems. Inputting the physical gesture at a touch device of each information handling system allows evaluation of one or more attributes at each information handling system so that the shared secret of the physical gesture form the basis for encrypted communications. The touch device includes touch screens or touch pads and the attributes include gesture speed, plural distinct gesture touch points, movement of touch points relative to each other, or other attributes that are determinable from physical gesture inputs at each information handling system.
US08325144B1

A haptic feedback device includes a signal generation module configured to output a composite signal representable by a carrier signal and an envelope signal. The signal generation module includes a microcontroller capable of being programmed such that the carrier signal falls within a resonance frequency band of the haptic feedback device. The haptic feedback device also includes a user interface device, and a transducer configured to impart haptic force to the user interface device in response to the composite signal. A tactile mapping submodule, a duration mapping submodule, and an attack/decay mapping submodule may also be included. The tactile mapping submodule enables compensation for haptic output at different positions on the haptic feedback device, whereas the duration and attack/decay submodules enable prevention of unwanted audio output.
US08325143B2

A portable device is provided having a touch sensitive display (100) comprising an active matrix display element (101) and a touch sensitive element (103). The touch sensitive element (103) is disposed on the viewer distal side of the active matrix display element (101) thereby not affecting the display properties. The touch sensitive element (103) comprises a first and second conductive layer (113, 115) each having a plurality of conductors. The conductive layers (113, 115) sandwich a pressure sensitive layer (117) which modifies an electrical conductivity between two conductors of the two conductive layers (113, 115) in response to a pressure point resulting from an applied pressure. Thus, accurate position detection is achieved. The conductors may be aligned with the active matrix and the requirement for calibration may be obviated.
US08325141B2

A touch sensitive surface having touch-capacitive and vibration sensors. This surface allows the user to rest their fingers on the keys and type as they would on a regular keyboard. As the user places their fingers on the keys, the touch capacitive sensors (one per key) report the signal strength level of each key touched to a processor, but no keystroke is issued by the processor until a corresponding “tap” (ie. vibration) is detected. When a tap is detected, the processor references the status of the touch capacitance sensors before, during, and/or immediately after the moment in time the tap occurred.
US08325135B2

A system for detecting cursor interference includes a graphics engine configured to generate graphics information; a first evaluation unit coupled to the graphics engine and configured to evaluate the graphics information; a cursor generation unit coupled to the graphics engine and configured to generate cursor information, the cursor generator further configured to merge the cursor information and the graphics information into merged information; a second evaluation unit coupled to the cursor generation unit and configured to evaluate the merged information; and a display device coupled to the cursor generation unit and configured to display the merged information based on the evaluations of the graphics information and the merged information.
US08325132B2

A method of displaying a state of an apparatus having a user interface which includes generating state display information indicating the state of the apparatus and displaying the generated state display information in the user interface. The state display information indicates the state of the apparatus through a metaphorical indicator.
US08325127B2

The present invention relates to a shift register and GOA architecture of the same in a display panel comprising a substrate and a plurality of pixels spatially formed on the substrate defining a number of pixel rows, each pixel row having a height of H. The shift register has the plurality of shift register stages disposed spatially and sequentially on the substrate in such a way that the layout of each shift register stage has a height of (j*H), j being an integer greater than one. Each shift register stages is configured to generate j scanning signals for driving j neighboring pixel rows, respectively.
US08325123B2

A liquid crystal display device includes a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of data lines, a pixel array, a gate driver, a timing controller, and an optimization circuit. Each pixel unit in the pixel array displays images according to the gate driving signal received from a corresponding gate line and the data driving signal received from a corresponding data line. According to an optimized reference value, the timing controller provides an output enable signal, based on which the gate driver outputs the gate driving signals. The optimization circuit receives a first grayscale data related to display images of a row of pixel units in a first driving period and a second grayscale data related to display images of the row of pixel units in a second driving period, and provides the optimized reference value according the difference between the first and second grayscale data.
US08325117B2

Image display screen suitable for displaying image frames, at a given screen scanning frequency, comprising, light emitters, circuits for addressing the emitters each comprising, a current modulator able to supply the said emitter with current during the screen display mode, a charge capacitance able to store at each image frame a potential applied to the gate electrode of the current modulator, the potential being representative of a voltage for addressing an image datum during a screen display mode. The screen comprises a control system able to apply a bias voltage to the gate electrode of the current modulator and to the said charge capacitance, during a screen standby mode of a duration greater than the duration of an image frame, the said bias voltage having a bias inverse to the bias of the potential applied to the said charge capacitance during the screen display mode.
US08325111B2

A load, a transistor which controls a current value supplied to the load, a capacitor, a power supply line, and first to third switches are provided. After a threshold voltage of the transistor is held by the capacitor, a potential in accordance with a video signal is inputted and a voltage that is the sum of the threshold voltage and the potential is held. Accordingly, variation in current value caused by variation in threshold voltage of the transistor can be suppressed. Therefore, a desired current can be supplied to a load such as a light emitting element. In addition, a display device with a high duty ratio can be provided by changing a potential of the power supply line.
US08325110B2

A plasma display panel having a power supply unit connected to a scan driver without a bootstrap circuit. The driver includes a power supply unit supplying a first output voltage of a first level and has a pair of output terminals, a scan driving unit comprising a first driving switch controlling the connection of one of output terminals of the power supply unit to the electrodes of the plasma display panel and a second driving switch controlling the application of a second output voltage of a second level to the electrodes of the plasma display panel, and a third driving switch that controls the connection of a power input terminal of the second output voltage of the second level to the electrodes of the plasma display panel by being connected between the power input terminal of the second output voltage of the second level and the second driving switch.
US08325105B2

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided with a screen transmission device, including: a first receiver configured to receive usage state information indicating usage states of a plurality of screen display devices by a user from each the screen display device; a second receiver configured to receive a message of requesting start-up of a window from the screen display device out of the screen display devices; a determiner configured to determine a screen display device on which the window is to be started up out of the plurality of screen display devices based on the usage states of each the screen display device; a screen data generator configured to generate screen data of the window; and a transmitter configured to transmit the screen data of the window to the screen display device determined by the determiner.
US08325099B2

Methods and apparatus for a coincident phase center dual polarized slotline radiator. In one embodiment, a radiator includes, for each of two polarizations in a unit cell: first and second fins to provide an air transition for a signal, the radiator including a throat region between the first and second fins, a microstrip path transitioning to a slotline feed, a slotline split forming a part of the slotline feed to provide signal power division and 180 degree phase shift for rejoinder in the throat of the radiator to launch the signal into free space. In another embodiment, a four port radiator is provided.
US08325096B2

Wireless portable electronic devices such as laptop computers are provided with antennas. An antenna may be provided within a clutch barrel in a laptop computer. The clutch barrel may have a dielectric cover. Antenna elements may be mounted within the clutch barrel cover on an antenna support structure. There may be two or more antenna elements mounted to the antenna support structure. These antenna elements may be of different types. A first antenna element for the clutch barrel antenna may be formed from a dual band antenna element having a closed slot and an open slot. A second antenna element for the clutch barrel antenna may be formed from a dual band antenna element of a hybrid type having a planar resonating element arm and a slot resonating element. Flex circuit structures may be used in implanting the first and second antenna elements for the clutch barrel antenna.
US08325091B2

A dual-band antenna includes a feeding portion, a radiating portion, a grounding portion, and an insulating support portion. The insulating support portion includes a first support wall, a second support wall, and a third support wall. The third support wall is parallel to the substrate, and perpendicularly connected to the first support wall and the second support wall, to position the radiating portion.
US08325090B2

A computer-implemented method for locating an indoor object includes: a) receiving an RF coordinate signal and a detecting signal; b) providing information of a located region with reference to the RF coordinate and the detecting signal; c) obtaining a motion sensor coordinate according to the information of the located region; d) providing weights for the RF coordinate and the motion sensor coordinate; e) applying the weights to the RF coordinate and the motion sensor coordinate; and f) combining the weighted RF coordinate and the weighted motion sensor coordinate to generate a fused coordinate corresponding to the position of the indoor object. A system for locating an indoor object is also disclosed.
US08325087B2

A system and method for determining whether a wireless device has transmitted one or more forged satellite measurements. An estimated location of the wireless device may be determined as a function of information from a cellular network. Acquisition assistance data may be determined for a first set of satellites as a function of the estimated location, the assistance data including an uncertainty window. If measured code phase information in the satellite measurements substantially correlates to the uncertainty window, then the wireless device may be transmitting forged satellite measurements.
US08325081B2

A method and apparatus for reducing transponder responses to reflected signals utilizes data in an interrogator message to confirm that if two interrogations are received within a predetermined period of time and if the two interrogator signals correspond to a side lobe followed by a reflected main beam signal, the presence of multipath reflection can be correctly identified and the reply to the main beam interrogation can be suppressed.
US08325073B2

In general, techniques are described for performing enhanced sigma-delta modulation. For example, an apparatus comprising a predictive filter unit, an amplifier, an oversampling unit and a sigma-delta modulation unit may implement the techniques. The predictive filter unit performs predictive filtering on an input signal to generate a filtered signal and computes an estimate of a predictive gain as a function of an energy of the input signal and an energy of the filtered signal. The amplifier receives the filtered signal and amplifies the filtered signal based on the predictive gain to generate an amplified signal. The oversampling unit receives the amplifies signal and performs oversampling in accordance with an oversampling rate to generate an oversampled signal. The sigma-delta modulation unit receives the oversampled signal and performs sigma-delta modulation to generate a modulated signal.
US08325031B1

A system level scheme for networking of implantable devices, electronic patch devices/sensors coupled to the body, and wearable sensors/devices with cellular telephone/mobile devices, peripheral devices and remote servers is described.
US08325029B2

A multiple color multi-function light bar for a law enforcement vehicle, emergency vehicle, tow truck or the like. The light bar includes a plurality of light emitting diodes aligned in a single row. Each of the plurality of light emitting diodes are configured to emit two different colors of light through a single optical lens. Advantageously, the light bar is capable of producing a single color light pattern and a dual color light pattern based upon the particular emergency or traffic control situation encountered by an operator of the vehicle.
US08325022B2

A method and system for remotely controlling a device by using a remote control device and a soft remote control or device skin. The remote control device can be used to send commands to a soft remote control or device skin running as an application on a host device. The device skin incorporates soft control commands that can be used to remotely control an electronic device. The soft control commands are interpreted and forwarded by the host device to the electronic device.
US08325013B2

The invention relates to a storage system comprising a repository, in which a plurality of different products can be stored, each of the products being equipped with a radio frequency identification (RFID) transponder, and an antenna for the identification of the products by means of the RFID transponder, characterized in that each repository location is equipped with an RFID antenna, and the product position, and/or the product identification can be detected by said antenna. The products equipped with an RFID transponder can be configured by racks for receiving sample containers having a product identification, and the position and sample identification can be stored in the RFID transponder of the associated rack. Each sample container is equipped with an RFID transponder for storing the respective sample identification. An antenna arrangement corresponding with the spatial arrangement of the sample container receptacles serves the readout of the sample identification associated with the sample containers and stored in the RFID transponders.
US08325012B2

A method for optimizing the deployment of RFID apparatus, and a RFID deployment optimizer of use thereof are provided. The method includes the steps: A. analyzing the interrogation zone where the RFID apparatus are deployed, B. identifying the readability o RFID tag associated with different sets of placement on a target object inside the interrogation zone, and C. selecting the best deployment alternative based on the analysis result of the interrogation zone attained in the step A and all the readabilities of RFID tag associated with different sets of placement identified in the step B.
US08325002B2

A variety of power inductor structures are obtained by arranging a magnetic material block between a plurality of wires and a plurality of bond fingers or bond finger pairs. The power inductor structure can provide high inductance and high currents and at the same time afford smaller sizes.
US08325001B2

Interleaved three-dimensional (3D) on-chip differential inductors 110, 120 and transformer 100 are disclosed. The interleaved 3D on-chip differential inductors 110, 120 and transformer 100 make the best use of multiple metal layers in mainstream standard processes, such as CMOS, BiCMOS and SiGe technologies.
US08324997B2

A motor drive includes a device for safe fitting of the motor drive with a circuit breaker. In at least one embodiment, the device includes a first cover, whose position can be altered, for example by being guided in slotted links, in such a way that only the receiving opening provides a free space for receiving the handle, owing to the overlap by the first cover, and therefore it is only possible for the circuit breaker to be fitted on the motor drive when the handle is in the corresponding position.
US08324987B2

Some embodiments of the invention provide a filter having at least one first filter, each first filter being a band-reject type filter having a first set of filter parameters that are a function of a first material used to fabricate the at least one first filter, and at least one second filter, each second filter having a second set of filter parameters that are a function of a second material used to fabricate the at least one second filter, each second filter being one of a band-reject type filter and a band pass type filter. The at least one first filter and the at least one second filter are then cascaded together to form the filter. The first material and the second material are different materials. The cascaded filter has a new third set of filter parameters that are a function of both the first material and the second material. Other embodiments of the invention include a method for fabricating the filter and a method of filtering using such a cascaded filter.
US08324981B2

A composite balun includes a plurality of baluns, at least one capacitor, a ground terminal, and a DC voltage supply terminal. The plurality of baluns and the capacitor are built into a single chip. Each of the baluns includes first to fourth connection lines, a first balanced terminal, a second balanced terminal, and an unbalanced terminal. The first connection line is connected at one end to the unbalanced terminal. The second connection line is connected at one end to the other end of the first connection line. The third connection line is electromagnetically coupled to the first connection line and connected at one end to the first balanced terminal and at the other end to the DC voltage supply terminal. The fourth connection line is electromagnetically coupled to the second connection line and connected at one end to the second balanced terminal and at the other end to the DC voltage supply terminal. The capacitor is connected at one end to the DC voltage supply terminal and led at the other end to said ground terminal.
US08324976B2

Circuitry is provided that closely emulates biological neural responses. Two astable multivibrator circuits (AMCs), each including a negative differential resistance device, are coupled in series-circuit relationship. Each AMC is characterized by a distinct voltage-dependant time constant. The circuitry exhibits oscillations in electrical current when subjected to a voltage equal to or greater than a threshold value. Various oscillating waveforms can be produced in accordance with voltages applied to the circuitry.
US08324974B1

A computing device is disclosed comprising digital circuitry fabricated on a multi-layer integrated circuit including a first layer and a second layer, and a multi-layer ring oscillator operable to generate a propagation delay frequency representing a propagation delay of the integrated circuit, wherein the multi-layer ring oscillator comprises a first interconnect fabricated on the first layer and a second interconnect fabricated on the second layer. The propagation delay frequency is compared to a reference frequency to generate a frequency error, and at least one of a supply voltage and a clocking frequency applied to the digital circuitry is adjusted in response to the frequency error.
US08324971B2

The present invention is directed to a self-adjusting gate bias network for field effect transistors in radio frequency applications. A bias network for field effect transistors is provided comprising a field effect transistor having a source electrode connected to ground and a drain electrode connected to a load; a radio frequency network connected to the gate electrode; a gate bias network connected to the gate electrode; wherein a device having a non-linear characteristic is provided in series between the gate electrode and the gate bias network such that a forward bias current at the gate electrode of the field effect transistor is reduced or prevented.The reduction or prevention of a forward bias current leads in overdrive conditions to a self-adjustment of the bias point of the field-effect transistor improving the reduction of distortions of an amplifier or changing the class of oscillators connected to the gate electrode.
US08324967B2

A system and method for controlling a power amplifier using a programmable ramp circuit involves receiving an input bias current at a programmable ramp circuit, generating an output bias current based on the input bias current using the programmable ramp circuit, and transmitting the output bias current from the programmable ramp circuit to a power amplifier for amplifying a radio frequency signal.
US08324963B2

In one embodiment, a circuit provides two quadrature components, I and Q, from a received modulated signal, from three mutually phase-shifted components of the received signal. The circuit can demodulate three mutually phase-shifted components of a baseband signal, in order to provide two quadrature demodulation components. The circuit includes three circuit inputs, each designed to received said three components, respectively. The circuit further includes a first and second adder circuit. The circuit also includes a bank of weighting circuits linked, at input, to the three circuit inputs and linked, at output, to the inputs of the first and second adder circuits so as to transmit to each adder input, with a determined weighting, a particular one of said three components, the weightings being chosen so that the first and second adder circuits provide said two quadrature demodulation components.
US08324957B2

A current source is switchable between two precisely defined output currents. A terminal of a coupling capacitor is coupled to the gate of an output MOSFET. The other terminal of the capacitor is switched between two reference voltages to toggle the output MOSFET to output the selected one of the two currents. A switchable bias voltage source is coupled to the gate only during the on state of the output MOSFET to set the gate voltage of the output MOSFET. The current output of the current source is quickly and accurately changed. A reference MOSFET is not directly coupled to the output MOSFET, so there are no slow settling components coupled to the gate of the output MOSFET.
US08324955B2

A level shifter receives an input voltage signal and produces an output voltage signal. The level shifter includes a first inverter, configured to operate at a potential difference between a first voltage V1 and a second voltage V2. The output from the invert is capacitively coupled to an input of a latch circuit via a capacitor. The capacitor has a first terminal connected to the output terminal of the first inverter, and further has a second terminal. The level shifter has a resistor connected to a third voltage V3 and to the capacitor for tying the input to the latch circuit to a desired voltage. The latch circuit is configured to operate at a potential difference between a fourth voltage V4 and a fifth voltage V5. The latch has an input node connected to the resistor and the capacitor, and further has an output node connected to an output node of the level shifter.
US08324949B2

Quadrature clocking schemes are widely used in modern communications systems, but often suffer from phase imbalance. Conventional solutions that attempt to address this phase imbalance, however, are generally large and use a substantial amount of power. Here, however, a correction circuit is provided that can locally correct for phase imbalance without the need for bulky and high power consuming circuitry.
US08324946B2

Closed-loop duty-cycle correctors (DCCs), clock generators, memory devices, systems, and methods for generating an output clock signal having a particular duty cycle are provided, such as clock generators configured to generate an output clock signal synchronized with a received input clock signal having a predetermined duty cycle. Embodiments of clock generators include closed-loop duty cycle correctors that receive an already-controlled and corrected output signal. For example, DLL control circuitry and DCC control circuitry may each adjust a delay of a variable delay line. The DLL control circuitry adjusts the delay such that an output clock signal is synchronized with an input clock signal. The DCC control circuitry detects a duty cycle error in the output clock signal and adjusts the delay of the variable delay line to achieve a duty cycle corrected output signal. By detecting the duty cycle error in the output signal, the clock generator may achieve improved performance that can correct accumulated duty cycle error and correct for duty cycle error introduced by the duty cycle corrector itself in some embodiments.
US08324939B2

A differential logic circuit includes: a differential logic unit which receives a plurality of logic signals, performs a logic operation, and outputs a result of the logic operation from a pair of differential signal output terminals thereof; and a current source circuit which supplies current to the differential logic unit and which controls a magnitude of the current. The differential logic circuit further includes: a load circuit connected to the differential signal output terminals; and a load control circuit which is connected to the load circuit and controls a load of the load circuit such that a direct-current output voltage of the pair of differential signal output terminals is constant.
US08324936B2

Differential current driving type transmitter and receiver, and an interface system having the transmitter and receiver. The transmitter includes a current source, a current direction selecting block, and a balancing switch block. The current source sources currents to a pair of transmission lines or sinks currents flowing through the pair of transmission lines. The current direction selecting block transfers a current flowing from the current source to one transmission line of the pair of transmission lines and a current flowing through the other transmission line of the pair of transmission lines to the current source. The balancing switch block initializes the pair of transmission lines to a balanced state.
US08324921B2

A method for testing a photovoltaic panel connected to an electronic module. The electronic module has at least one input attached to the photovoltaic panel and at least one power output. The method of testing the photovoltaic panel begins with activating a bypass of the electronic module. The bypass is preferably activated by applying a magnetic or an electromagnetic field. The bypass provides a low impedance path between the input and output of the electronic module.
US08324920B2

To provide a display device having a test circuit with high accuracy for testing in the step after a counter substrate is attached and before shipping, and to provide a display device having a correction circuit inside the display device, for the case where a defect occurs. A pixel circuit operated by a gate line and a source line, a first wiring formed at the same time as the gate line, a second wiring formed at the same time as the source line, and a test circuit of detecting a defect of the pixel circuit by using potentials of the first wiring and the second wiring are provided over a substrate.
US08324919B2

The contact assembly having a contact member with a contact tip positioned within holes in a test socket or probe plate wherein the contact tip or the hole in the probe plate or test socket has a cam surface to provide lateral movement of the contact tip across a surface of a test location during compression of the contact member to induce scrubbing on the surface of the test site.
US08324918B2

Disclosed is a probe needle material used for producing a probe needle which is used in contact with an inspection object to inspect electrical characteristics of the inspection object, comprising not less than 0.1% by volume but not more than 3.5% by volume of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of titanium boride, zirconium boride, hafnium boride, niobium boride, tantalum boride, chromium boride, titanium carbide, zirconium carbide, hafnium carbide, vanadium carbide, niobium carbide, tantalum carbide, zirconium oxide, hafnium oxide and chromium oxide and the balance of a tungsten alloy mainly consisting of tungsten.
US08324909B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for analyzing video signals. An apparatus includes a video interface operable to receive a video signal, a network interface operable to receive a test parameter from a network source, and a processor operable to couple to the video interface and the network interface and to perform a test on a video signal received from the video interface in accordance with the test parameter.
US08324904B2

The present invention provides a cold cathode ionization vacuum gauge, an auxiliary discharge starting electrode plate, and a vacuum processing apparatus which have simple configurations and, even after long-term-use, which allow discharge to be initiated in a short-period of time and also to be performed stably after the start of the discharge. A cold cathode ionization vacuum gauge according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: an anode; a gauge head chamber (cathode) placed in such a manner as to form a discharge space together with the anode; and a protruding configured so that, in voltage-application to the anode and the cathode, an electric field should be concentrated at the protruding portion to a larger extent than an electric field at the gauge head chamber is. The protruding portion is provided inside the discharge space in such a manner that the protruding portion has a floating potential.
US08324896B2

Optimized transmission system for an MRT is achieved by a device and a method to generate transmission signals (29) via multiple transmission units of a transmission system for a magnetic resonance tomography system, wherein transmission data are respectively received from the transmission units via a transmission data input, received transmission data are stored in transmission data memory elements of the transmission units, transmission signals representing stored transmission data are generated with transmission data (stored in transmission data memory elements) by transmission signal transmission units of the transmission units, and the generation of transmission signals proceeds simultaneously via the transmission signal transmission units.
US08324889B2

A magnetic resonance system has a basic field magnet that generates a static basic magnetic field that is essentially homogeneous within an examination volume, the basic magnetic field having a basic direction. At least one tool can be inserted into the examination volume and can be removed from it. The at least one tool has a number of Hall elements. Each Hall element of the at least one tool is fashioned such that a binary signal emitted by said Hall element characterizes whether the basic magnetic field has a component that, relative to a respective element direction of the respective Hall element, is greater than a threshold. The respective element directions of the respective Hall elements differ from one another in pairs. The Hall elements of the at least one tool communicate in terms of data with an evaluation device of the magnetic resonance system to transmit the binary signal that it emits. The evaluation device uses the transmitted binary signal to determine an orientation of the at least one tool relative to the basic direction and takes additional measures depending on this orientation.
US08324883B2

The invention relates to a Rogowski-loop current sensor comprising a winding (4) extending between two ends (14, 16) configured to be provided about a primary conductor in which flows a current to be measured by moving said ends away from or towards each other. The sensor further includes a closing mechanism (18) provided at the ends of the winding, and including a body (20) having a high magnetic permeability and extending between said ends when the loop is closed.
US08324867B2

A protection structure includes a temperature sensing module, a processing module, and a charging control module. The temperature sensing module senses the temperature of a battery and outputs electronic signals. The processing module receives the electronic signals and outputs a first control signal group. The charging control module receives the electronic signals and the first control signal group, compares the electronic signals with a first reference range, and outputs a second control signal group according to the comparison results. When the second control signal group and the first control signal group both include a charging signal or a stop-charging signal, the executing module controls the battery to charge or stop the battery from charging according to the first control signal group.
US08324864B2

A method for charging a battery. The method includes providing a desired target charge current and measuring the battery current, and determining if the target charge current is less than the measured battery current. The method also includes enabling a current integrator if the target charge current is less than the measured battery current, and integrating a charge current value over time if the current integrator is enabled to provide an integrated charge current value. The method also includes providing a target charge voltage and measuring the battery voltage, and determining if the target charge voltage is less than the measured battery voltage. The method also includes enabling a voltage integrator if the target charge voltage is less than the measured battery voltage, and integrating a charge voltage value over time if the voltage integrator is enabled to provide an integrated voltage value.
US08324847B2

A motor, and a method and apparatus for controlling the motor for a washer are provided. The motor includes a stator on which a plurality of coils are wound and disposed in a circular shape, a rotor having a plurality of permanent magnets spaced apart from the coils by a predetermined distance, and a motor controller performing a vector control method for controlling a current vector applied on a d-q axis rotating coordinate system in a start mode of the rotor to make a current speed of the rotor follow a reference speed of the rotor by comparing the current speed with the reference speed. The motor controller includes a speed/position detector for detecting the current speed and a current position of the rotor using an on/off signal of a hall sensor installed on the stator.
US08324846B2

A retarding system for an electric drive machine (100) includes a direct current (DC) link (312), at which a DC voltage is developed, disposed between a rectifier (206) and an inverter (208). A first contactor switch (216) electrically communicates with a first rail of the DC link (312), and a second contactor switch (216) electrically communicates with a second rail of the DC link (312). A first resistor grid (214) is connected in series between the first contactor switch (216) and the second contactor switch (216). The first resistor grid (214) dissipates electrical energy in the form of heat by conducting a current between the first rail and the second rail of the DC link (312) when the first contactor switch (216) and the second contactor switch (216) are closed.
US08324844B2

An ultrasonic motor device includes: an ultrasonic motor that moves an object; a detecting unit that detects movement of the object; and a control unit that drives the ultrasonic motor according to a first driving signal before detection of the movement of the object, and drives the ultrasonic motor according to a second driving signal, which is different from the first driving signal, after detection of the movement of the object.
US08324843B2

The invention relates to a circuit arrangement for the selective operation of at least two electric machines (1, 2) that are each supplied via a plurality of phase lines, comprising:—one voltage protection module (5) for limiting an intermediate circuit voltage,—one switch arrangement (4) for selecting one of the electric machines by switching the phase lines;—first choke inductivities (8) in each of the plurality of phase lines between the circuit arrangement (4) and the voltage protection module (5), wherein one second choke inductivity (9′) each may be switched parallel to one or more first choke inductivities (8) as a function of the selected electric machine (1, 2), can be switched.
US08324842B2

A furniture drive has a drive unit including an electric motor and a roller that is rotatable about an axis, the roller having a surface for attaching or winding up a flexible force transmission member. The radial distance of the surface changes in the rotational direction of the roller for forming at least one control cam for the force transmission member.
US08324840B2

An apparatus, method, and system are disclosed for providing AC line power to lighting devices such as light emitting diodes (“LEDs”). A representative apparatus comprises: a plurality of LEDs coupled in series to form a first plurality of segments of LEDs coupled in series; a plurality of switches coupled to the plurality of segments of LEDs to switch a selected segment into or out of a series LED current path in response to a control signal; a memory; and a controller which, in response to a first parameter and during a first part of an AC voltage interval, determines and stores in the memory a value of a second parameter and generates a first control signal to switch a corresponding segment of LEDs into the series LED current path, and during a second part of the AC voltage interval, when a current value of the second parameter is substantially equal to the stored value, generates a second control signal to switch a corresponding segment of LEDs out of the first series LED current path.
US08324837B2

A circuit board of a parallel light-emitting circuit of parallel LED light-emitting device has an electrical insulation board, two wire patterns and at least two power wires. The two wire patterns are oppositely formed on the electrical insulation board. Each wire pattern is connected to the corresponding power wire and has a matrix main loop having closed loops and a plurality of sub-wires formed inside the corresponding closed loop. A plurality of LEDs are respectively mounted on the corresponding closed loop and electrically connect with the two sub-wires of the two wire patterns. When a DC power supply is inputted to the power wires, a current of the DC power supply uniformly flows through the matrix main loop and the sub-wires, so that the LEDs electrically connected to the corresponding sub-wires receive approximately equal current to further emit light with uniform brightness.
US08324834B2

A load driving circuit and a multi-load feedback circuit is disclosed. The load driving circuit and the multi-load feedback circuit are adapted to drive a LED module that has a current balancing circuit for balancing the currents flowing through LEDs. The load driving circuit and the multi-load feedback circuit modules the electric power transmitted by the LED driving apparatus to a LED module according to voltage level(s) of current balancing terminals having insufficient voltage in the current balancing circuit, and so the voltage levels of the current balancing terminals are higher than or equal to a preset voltage level, further increasing the efficiency thereof.
US08324825B2

In a method for producing a control signal for regulating a drive current for driving an LED, a current through the LED is sensed, wherein the LED is driven by a power converter output, and wherein an output voltage of the power converter is proportionately controlled by a control signal. Next, a power supply voltage is sensed. The control signal is produced for the power converter, wherein the control signal is proportional to a difference between a reference voltage and the current through the LED. The control signal is then offset in response to the power supply voltage to reduce the current through the LED as the power supply voltage drops.
US08324817B2

An LED-based light tube for use in a conventional fluorescent fixture can feature a housing including a light transmitting portion. At least one electrical connector can be attached to the housing and configured for engagement with the conventional fluorescent fixture. At least one LED can be arranged to produce light in a direction toward the light transmitting portion. A sensor can be operable to detect a brightness level and output a corresponding signal. A controller can be in electrical communication with the at least one electrical connector and operable to control the at least one LED in response to the signal.
US08324816B2

An LED driving circuit is provided for making it possible to economically drive a serially connected LED circuit by means of a switching device with a relatively low withstanding voltage even if the number of serially connected LED devices increases. In an LED driving circuit provided with a serially connected LED circuit (11) in which many LED devices are serially connected and a switching device (13) serially connected with the serially connected LED circuit (11) to control that an electrical current flowing through the serially connected LED circuit (11) is turned on or off, wherein a circuit device (15), which comprises a resistor, a constant voltage diode, a constant current diode, or the like, is connected in parallel with the switching device to make a minute current flow through the serially connected LED circuit (11) to the extent that the LED devices are not turned on when the switching device is turned off.
US08324793B2

A luminescent material includes an aluminate phosphor of formula I A1+xMg1+yAl10+zO17+x+y+1.5z:Eu2+, R3+, where 0≦x≦0.4, 0≦y≦1 and 0≦z≦0.2. A is selected from Ca, Ba, and Sr and combinations thereof. The aluminate phosphor is doped with a rare earth ion (R3+), which exists in stable multi-valence states in the luminescent material. R3+ is selected from the group consisting of Sm3+, Yb3+, Tm3+, Ce3+, Tb3+, Pr3+ and combinations thereof. Phosphors of formula I may be blended with other blue, yellow, orange, green, and red phosphors to yield white light phosphor blends. A lighting apparatus including such a luminescent material is also presented. The light apparatus includes a light source in addition to the luminescent material.
US08324791B2

A spark plug including: a rod-shaped center electrode; an insulator; a metal shell; a ground electrode joined to the metal shell and bent toward the center electrode; a noble metal tip joined to an end portion of the ground electrode and opposing a leading end portion of the center electrode via a gap; and a bulge portion. A part of the noble metal tip is embedded in the ground electrode, and another part of the noble metal tip protrudes from a distal end surface of the ground electrode. A relationship A≧0.25 mm is satisfied where A (mm) is a protruding length of the noble metal tip from the distal end surface. The bulge portion covers a center part of a boundary between the noble metal tip and the end surface in a width direction.
US08324786B2

Disclosed herein is a piezoelectric actuator module. The piezoelectric actuator module includes a flat plate. An elastic member is provided on each of opposite ends of the plate in a longitudinal direction thereof, and protrudes perpendicularly from the plate in such a way that a first end of the elastic member is coupled to an electronic device. A plate-shaped elastic body is provided on a first surface of the plate. A piezoelectric element is provided on a first surface of the elastic body. The plate-shaped elastic body is provided between the plate and the piezoelectric element, so that the overall spring constant of the piezoelectric actuator module is lowered and thus the vibrating force of the piezoelectric actuator module is increased.
US08324777B2

A method and system for transportation using a magnetic bearing structure is disclosed. In one aspect, an apparatus for carrying a load comprises a source of magnetic flux and a controller configured to control the position of the source of magnetic flux relative to a magnetizable structure. The source of magnetic flux comprises a first upper portion and a first lower portion of opposite polarities. The first portions are spaced apart horizontally from a first side of the magnetizable structure. The source of magnetic flux further comprises a second upper portion and a second lower portion of opposite polarities. The second portions are spaced apart horizontally from a second side of the magnetizable structure. The second side is opposite the first side. The first and second upper portions are magnetically attracted to an upper portion of the magnetizable structure and the first and second lower portions are magnetically attracted to a lower portion of the magnetizable structure.
US08324772B2

The electrical generator allows energy to be recovered and stored from a rotating wheel, cam, gear or the like. The electrical generator includes at least one hollow tube mounted radially on a wheel rim. The wheel rim has a central portion and a circumferential edge, and the hollow tube has opposed first and second ends, respectively positioned adjacent the central portion and the circumferential edge of the wheel rim. At least one first elastic member and at least one second elastic member are mounted within the hollow tube and respectively cover the first and second ends thereof. At least one magnet is slidably received within the hollow tube, and at least one induction coil is mounted about an exterior surface of the hollow tube. An AC to DC converter is in communication with the induction coil, and an electrical battery is in communication with the AC to DC converter.
US08324762B2

An engine powering device with magnetic components that aid in the operation of piston propelled engines by attaching the device individually to the pistons, causing the pistons to perform the up and down thrusts without the use of fuel combustion thereby mobilizing the engine, eliminating the necessity of fuel and preventing pollution exhausting into the atmosphere. An exemplary system for a magnetically controlled propelled engine that uses exhausted clean air from the engine that flows through an electric generating turbo or turbine to charge the battery to power the engine. Passenger compartment comfort heating is supplied by and electric liquid boiler or liquid heater with a circulation pump. A fuel door mounted universal electrical connector to aid in charging engine battery. This engine has magnetic shielding safety components to protect people and other electronic devices from strong rare earth magnets and electromagnets.
US08324760B2

To provide a fast charge means for a capacitor in a negative bias generation circuit. A capacitor is present in a down converter in a negative bias generation circuit. In order to perform fast charge, the capacitance of the capacitor is reduced and a necessary amount of charge is minimized. On the other hand, an external capacitance provided separately from the capacitor in the down converter is coupled directly to a power supply voltage and charged. After the capacitor in the down converter is charged, the external capacitance and the capacitor in the down converter are coupled in parallel. Due to this, it is made possible to aim at both the increase in charge speed and the improvement of resistance to ripple noise.
US08324757B2

There is provided a power distributing system including at least one power transmitting device for transmitting power and at least one power receiving device for receiving the power transmitted from the power transmitting device. The power transmitting device includes a power generating means for generating power, and an information transmitting means for transmitting information containing power information related to the power generated by the power generating means and specific information on the power generating means, and the power receiving device includes an information receiving means for receiving the information transmitted by the information transmitting means and a power consumption control means for controlling consumption of power generated by the power generating means based on the information received by the information receiving means.
US08324743B2

A method of protecting alignment marks from damage in a planarization process includes providing a substrate including a surface, forming trenches in the substrate from the surface, forming a first dielectric layer on the substrate, forming a second dielectric layer on the first dielectric layer, forming a patterned second dielectric layer by removing second dielectric over the trenches, resulting in openings defined by the trenches and the patterned second dielectric layer, forming a third dielectric layer on the patterned second dielectric layer, the third dielectric layer filling the openings, and planarizing the third dielectric layer by using the patterned second dielectric layer as a stop layer, resulting in residual third dielectric in the openings that includes a first portion in the substrate and a second portion above the surface of the substrate.
US08324741B2

A layered chip package has a main body including pairs of layer portions, and wiring disposed on a side surface of the main body. Each layer portion includes a semiconductor chip. The pairs of layer portions include specific pairs of layer portions. Each of the specific pairs of layer portions includes a first-type layer portion and a second-type layer portion. The first-type layer portion includes electrodes each connected to the semiconductor chip and each having an end face located at the side surface of the main body on which the wiring is disposed, whereas the second-type layer portion does not include such electrodes. The specific pairs of layer portions are provided in an even number.
US08324737B2

A process for assembling a package for a semiconductor device comprising reducing the stress in an inner dielectric layer during packaging by heating the die and the substrate to a temperature where a solder reflows, dropping to a temperature where a selected epoxy will cure, liquefying the epoxy, adding the liquefied epoxy to the die and substrate, and maintaining the die and substrate at a temperature where the epoxy cures for a selected amount of time.
US08324735B2

There is provided a semiconductor device including: plural first output pads formed along one edge of an outer periphery of a substrate; plural second output pads formed along at least one of an edge at an opposite side of the substrate from the one edge, and an edge adjoining the one edge; plural internal circuits, each of which is provided with an output terminal connected with an output pad of one of the first output pads and the second output pads; plural first lines, each of which connects one of the output terminals of the internal circuits with one of the plurality of first output pads; and plural second lines, each of which connects one of the output terminals of the internal circuits with one of the plural second output pads, resistance values per unit of wiring length being lower in the second lines than in the first lines.
US08324730B2

A copper interconnection structure includes an insulating layer, an interconnection body including copper in an opening provided on the insulating layer, and a diffusion barrier layer formed between the insulating layer and the interconnection body. The diffusion barrier layer includes an oxide layer including manganese having a compositional ratio of oxygen to manganese (y/x) less than 2.
US08324728B2

A semiconductor packaged device, and method of packaging that incorporates the formation of cavities about electronic devices during the packaging process. In one example, the device package includes a first substrate having a first recess formed therein, a second substrate having a second recess formed therein, and an electronic device mounted in the first recess. The first and second substrates are joined together with the first and second recesses substantially overlying one another so as to form a cavity around the electronic device.
US08324725B2

Semiconductor dies are stacked offset from one another so that terminals located along two edges of each die are exposed. The two edges of the dies having terminals may be oriented in the same direction. Electrical connections may connect terminals on one die with terminals on another die, and the stack may be disposed on a wiring substrate to which the terminals of the dies may be electrically connected.
US08324723B2

A semiconductor chip assembly includes a semiconductor device, a heat spreader, a conductive trace and an adhesive. The heat spreader includes a bump that includes first, second and third bent corners that shape a cavity. The conductive trace includes a pad and a terminal. The semiconductor device is located within the cavity, is electrically connected to the conductive trace and is thermally connected to the bump. The bump extends into an opening in the adhesive and provides a recessed die paddle and a reflector for the semiconductor device. The conductive trace provides signal routing between the pad and the terminal.
US08324717B2

A power semiconductor module comprising a substrate, a circuit formed thereon and having a plurality of conductor tracks that are electrically insulated from one another and power semiconductor components arranged on the conductor tracks. The latter are connected in a circuit-conforming manner by a connection device, which has an alternating layer sequence of at least two electrically conductive layers with at least one electrically insulating layer between them. In this case, the substrate has a first sealing area, which uninterruptedly encloses the circuit. Furthermore, this sealing area is connected to an assigned second sealing area on a layer of the connection device by a connection layer. According to the invention, this power semiconductor module is produced by applying pressure to the substrate, to the power semiconductor components and to the connection device.
US08324710B2

According to one embodiment, a capacitor includes a substrate, a first electrode, a second electrode, and a first dielectric portion. The substrate includes an insulating layer and a semiconductor layer provided on the insulating layer. The semiconductor layer includes a dummy active region electrically isolated from an active region including an active element. The first electrode and the second electrode are located to oppose each other above the dummy active region. The first dielectric portion is provided between the first electrode and the second electrode.
US08324707B2

According to an embodiment, a power amplifier is provided with at least one first growth ring gate structure and multiple second growth ring gate structures. The first growth ring gate structure is bounded by a semiconductor layer and performs a power amplification operation. The multiple second growth ring gate structures are bounded by the semiconductor layer and are arranged adjacently around the first growth ring gate structure in a surrounding manner. When the first growth ring gate structure performs a power amplification operation, the multiple second growth ring gate structures are depleted by applying a reverse bias to the multiple second growth ring gate structures whereby the depleted multiple second growth ring gate structures isolate the first growth ring gate structure from a surrounding portion.
US08324705B2

An integrated circuit structure includes a semiconductor substrate; a first well region of a first conductivity type over the semiconductor substrate; a second well region of a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type encircling the first well region; and a metal-containing layer over and adjoining the first well region and extending over at least an inner portion of the second well region. The metal-containing layer and the first well region form a Schottky barrier. The integrated circuit structure further includes an isolation region encircling the metal-containing layer; and a third well region of the second conductivity type encircling at least a central portion of the first well region. The third well region has a higher impurity concentration than the second well region, and includes a top surface adjoining the metal-containing layer, and a bottom surface higher than bottom surfaces of the first and the second well regions.
US08324704B2

A silicon carbide semiconductor device with a Schottky barrier diode includes a first conductivity type silicon carbide substrate, a first conductivity type silicon carbide drift layer on a first surface of the substrate, a Schottky electrode forming a Schottky contact with the drift layer, and an ohmic electrode on a second surface of the substrate. The Schottky electrode includes an oxide layer in direct contact with the drift layer. The oxide layer is made of an oxide of molybdenum, titanium, nickel, or an alloy of at least two of these elements.
US08324700B2

The present invention discloses an image sensor device and a method for making an image sensor device. The image sensor device comprises an optical pixel and an electronic circuit, wherein the optical pixel includes: a substrate; an image sensor area formed in the substrate; a masking layer formed above the image sensor area, wherein the masking layer is formed during a process for forming the electronic circuit; and a light passage above the masking layer for increasing light sensing ability of the image sensor area.
US08324698B2

A STT-MRAM integration scheme is disclosed wherein the connection between a MTJ and CMOS metal is simplified by forming an intermediate via contact (VAC) on a CMOS landing pad, a metal (VAM) pad that contacts and covers the VAC, and a MTJ on the VAM. A dual damascene process is performed to connect BIT line metal to CMOS landing pads through VAC/VAM/MTJ stacks in a device region, and to connect BIT line connection pads to CMOS connection pads through BIT connection vias outside the device region. The VAM pad is a single layer or composite made of Ta, TaN, or other conductors which serves as a diffusion barrier, has a highly smooth surface for MTJ formation, and provides excellent selectivity with refill dielectric materials during a chemical mechanical polish process. Each VAC is from 500 to 3000 Angstroms thick to minimize additional circuit resistance and minimize etch burden.
US08324690B2

A composite dielectric layer including a tensile stressed nitride layer over an oxide layer serves the dual function of acting as an SMT (stress memorization technique) film while an annealing operation is carried out and then remains partially intact as it is patterned to further serve as an RPO film during a subsequent silicidation process. The composite dielectric layer covers part of a semiconductor substrate that includes a gate structure. The tensile stressed nitride layer protects the oxide layer and alleviates oxide damage during a pre-silicidation PAI (pre-amorphization implant) process. Portions of the gate structure and the semiconductor substrate not covered by the composite dielectric layer include amorphous portions that include the PAI implanted dopant impurities. A silicide material is disposed on the gate structure and portions of the semiconductor substrate not covered by the composite dielectric layer.
US08324689B2

Provided is a self aligned field effect transistor structure. The self aligned field effect transistor structure includes: an active region pattern on a substrate; a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode facing each other with the active region pattern therebetween; and a source electrode and a drain electrode connected to the active region pattern and disposed to be symmetric with respect to a line connecting the first and second gate electrodes, wherein the first and second gate electrodes and the source and drain electrodes are disposed on the same plane of the substrate.
US08324680B2

A non-volatile semiconductor storage device includes: a substrate; a control circuit layer provided on the substrate; a support layer provided on the control circuit layer; and a memory cell array layer provided on the support layer. The memory cell array layer includes: a first lamination part having first insulation layers and first conductive layers alternately laminated therein; and a second lamination part provided on either the top or bottom surface of the respective first lamination part and laminated so as to form a second conductive layer between second insulation layers. The control circuit layer includes at least any one of: a row decoder driving word lines provided in the memory cell array layer, and a sense amplifier sensing and amplifying a signal from bit lines provided in the memory cell array layer.
US08324679B2

A nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes first and second memory cells having a floating gate and a control gate. The floating gate of the first and second memory cells is comprised a first part, and a second part arranged on the first part, and a width of the second part in an extending direction of the control gate is narrower than that of the first part. A first space between the first parts of the first and second memory cells is filled with one kind of an insulator. The control gate is arranged at a second space between the second parts of the first and second memory cells.
US08324675B2

A flash memory device having a vertical channel structure. The flash memory device includes a substrate having a surface that extends in a first direction, a channel region having a pillar shape and extending from the substrate in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction, a gate dielectric layer formed around the channel region, a memory cell string comprising a plurality of transistors sequentially formed around the channel region in the second direction, wherein the gate dielectric layer is disposed between the plurality of transistors and the channel region, and a bit line connected to one of the plurality of transistors, and surrounding a side wall and an upper surface of one end of the channel region so as to directly contact the channel region.
US08324667B2

A circuit comprises a control line and a two terminal semiconductor device having first and second terminals. The first terminal is coupled to a signal line, and the second terminal is coupled to the control line. The two terminal semiconductor device is adapted to have a capacitance when a voltage on the first terminal relative to the second terminal is above a threshold voltage and to have a smaller capacitance when a voltage on the first terminal relative to the second terminal is below the threshold voltage. The control line is coupled to a control signal and the signal line is coupled to a signal and is output of the circuit. A signal is placed on the signal line and voltage on the control line is modified (e.g., raised in the case of n-type devices, or lowered for a p-type devices). When the signal falls below the threshold voltage, the two terminal semiconductor device acts as a very small capacitor and the output of the circuit will be a small value. When the signal is above the threshold voltage, the two terminal semiconductor device acts as a large capacitor and the output of the circuit will be influenced by both the value of the signal and the value of the modified voltage on the control line and therefore the signal will be amplified.
US08324665B2

An integrated circuit containing logic transistors and an array of SRAM cells in which the logic transistors are formed in semiconductor material with one crystal orientation and the SRAM cells are formed in a second semiconductor layer with another crystal orientation. A process of forming an integrated circuit containing logic transistors and an array of SRAM cells in which the logic transistors are formed in a top semiconductor layer with one crystal orientation and the SRAM cells are formed in an epitaxial semiconductor layer with another crystal orientation. A process of forming an integrated circuit containing logic transistors and an array of SRAM cells in which the SRAM cells are formed in a top semiconductor layer with one crystal orientation and the logic transistors are formed in an epitaxial semiconductor layer with another crystal orientation.
US08324647B2

A light emitting module with improved optical functionality and reduced thermal resistance is described, which comprises a light emitting device (LED), a wavelength converting (WC) element and an inorganic optically-transmissive thermally-conductive (OTTC) element. The WC element is capable of absorbing light generated from the LED at a specific wavelength and re-emitting light having a different wavelength. The re-emitted light and any unabsorbed light exits through at least one surface of the module. The OTTC is in physical contact with the WC element and at least partially located in the optical path of the light. The OTTC comprises one or more layers of inorganic material having a thermal conductivity greater than that of the WC element. As such, a compact unitary integrated module is provided with excellent thermal characteristics, which may be further enhanced when the OTTC provides a thermal barrier for vertical heat propagation through the module but not lateral propagation.
US08324643B2

Disclosed is a semiconductor light emitting device. The semiconductor light emitting device includes a light emitting structure including a first conductive semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductive semiconductor layer, a plurality of isolation layers formed along an outer peripheral portion of the light emitting structure below the light emitting structure, a metal layer interposed between the isolation layers, and a second electrode layer formed below the light emitting structure.
US08324641B2

A light-emitting device has a light source disposed on a support. A matrix material including a dispersion of beads is disposed over the light source. The refractive index of the beads is different from the refractive index of the matrix material. The light source may include an LED. The matrix material may include a lens.
US08324639B2

A nitride semiconductor light emitting device includes a conductive substrate, a first metal layer, a second conductivity-type semiconductor layer, an emission layer, and a first conductivity-type semiconductor layer in this order. The nitride semiconductor light emitting device additionally has an insulating layer covering at least side surfaces of the second conductivity-type semiconductor layer, the emission layer and the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer. A method of manufacturing the same is provided. The nitride semiconductor light emitting device may further include a second metal layer. Thus, a reliable nitride semiconductor light emitting device and a method of manufacturing the same are provided in which short-circuit at the PN junction portion and current leak is reduced as compared with the conventional examples.
US08324626B2

A semiconductor device includes a pixel portion having a first thin film transistor and a driver circuit having a second thin film transistor. Each of the first thin film transistor and the second thin film transistor includes a gate electrode layer, a gate insulating layer, a semiconductor layer, a source electrode layer, and a drain electrode layer. Each of the layers of the first thin film transistor has a light-transmitting property. Materials of the gate electrode layer, the source electrode layer and the drain electrode layer of the first thin film transistor are different from those of the second transistor, and each of the resistances of the second thin film transistor is lower than that of the first thin film transistor.
US08324600B2

An apparatus for measuring and controlling a target trajectory within a chamber apparatus for generating extreme ultraviolet light from plasma generated by irradiating a droplet target supplied from a target injection nozzle with a driver laser beam from an external driver laser. The apparatus includes: a nozzle adjustment mechanism for adjusting at least one of a position and an angle of the target injection nozzle; a target trajectory measuring unit for measuring a target trajectory to obtain trajectory information on the target trajectory; a target trajectory angle detecting unit for obtaining a value related to an angle deviation between the target trajectory represented by the trajectory information and a predetermined target trajectory; and a nozzle adjustment controller for controlling the nozzle adjustment mechanism based on the value related to the angle deviation such that the droplet target passes through a predetermined laser beam irradiation position.
US08324598B2

In one an embodiment, there is provided an assembly comprising at least one detector. Each of the at least one detector includes a substrate having a doped region of a first conduction type, a layer of dopant material of a second conduction type located on the substrate, a diffusion layer formed within the substrate and in contact with the layer of dopant material and the doped region of the substrate, wherein a doping profile, which is representative of a doping material concentration of the diffusion layer, increases from the doped region of the substrate to the layer of dopant material, a first electrode connected to the layer of dopant material, and a second electrode connected to the substrate. The diffusion layer is arranged to form a radiation sensitive surface.
US08324595B2

Bacteria in water 9 exposed outdoors are effectively killed with ultraviolet (UV) light by suppressing post-treatment increase in the bacteria population due to photoreactivation. The apparatus shines UV light on the water 9 to kill bacteria and has UV light emitting diodes (LEDs) 1 that emit UVA light with a primary emission peak of 320 nm-400 nm. The antibacterial action of the UVA light emitted by the UV LEDs 1 prevents proliferation of bacteria in the disinfected water 9 due to photoreactivation.
US08324590B2

A chopper for a particle beam comprises an annular guiding element and an element for controlling the intensity of the particle beam. The control element is supported on the guiding element so that at least one point under consideration on the control element can revolve along the circumference of the guiding element. Mounting along a circumference allows for accommodation of considerably higher disturbance torque than mounting on a rotational axle, using the same bearing force. Furthermore, it is possible to dispense with the entire rotational axle, and the control element can be designed, for example, as a ring. This brings about considerable weight savings as compared to chopper wheels according to the prior art, which accordingly enables higher circumferential speeds and therefore higher modulation frequencies for the particle beam, while at the same time increasing operational safety.
US08324587B2

A system and method for automatic detection of x-rays at an x-ray sensor. A source emits x-ray radiation towards an x-ray sensor, and the x-ray sensor automatically detects the x-ray radiation. The x-ray sensor automatically detects x-ray radiation by evaluating a time series and determining that a voltage threshold is crossed a certain amount of time earlier than the average time it takes the voltage threshold to be crossed from dark current and other noise.
US08324584B2

A cassette type radiographic image solid-state detector includes: a detector unit having a scintillator for converting incident radiation into light and a detection section which receives and converts the light converted by the scintillator into electric signals; and a housing containing the detector unit, the housing having a rectangular tubular housing body which has openings at both ends and is formed in a rectangular tube shape using carbon fiber, and a first cover member and a second cover member for covering the openings of the rectangular tubular housing body, wherein a wall of the rectangular tubular housing body facing to a direction perpendicular to an incident direction of radiation is thicker than a wall of the rectangular tubular housing body facing to the incident direction of radiation.
US08324583B2

Scintillation pixels are described that can include a series of ridges formed in the outer surfaces of the pixels. The ridges may be oriented vertically or horizontally and can result in faster scintillators and in scintillators that exhibit a reduction in light spread.
US08324582B2

A flat panel X-ray imager using an amorphous selenium detector which uses a dielectric layer within the X-ray conversion layer to form an interface between the X-ray conversion layer and the high voltage bias electrode. To accomplish the removal of trapped counter charges at the dielectric/selenium layer, a plurality of discrete or strip electrodes are provided in contact with the dielectric layer and which are electrically coupled into distinct groups. During X-ray exposure, a high bias voltage is applied to all groups of strip electrodes. Following X-ray exposure and image readout, the groups of strip electrodes are energized using a plurality of differently-phased energization signals to drive trapped counter charges toward “gutter” strip electrodes at the sides of the detector. A second embodiment of the flat panel X-ray imager includes sandwiching the discrete electrodes in a dielectric layer applied against the selenium layer and including a continuous electrode on the opposite side of the dielectric layer. Application of a high voltage bias to the continuous electrode results in an electric field in the selenium layer that is smoothed during X-ray acquisition. Discrete electrode energization to drive trapped counter charges to the gutter electrodes occurs while the high voltage bias is present.
US08324577B2

A method and device for the determination of the mass and/or the mass proportion of a wall section of a plastic bottle, in particular a section in the vicinity of the bottle shoulder and/or of the bottle neck, where, due to the fact that a relative mass distribution of the side wall is calculated from a distribution of the light transmission through the side wall of the bottle, the mass proportion of the wall section to be determined of the mass of the side wall can be determined with slight error based on the mass distribution even without calculation of the absolute mass values.
US08324576B2

A nuclear camera is provided with an open and flexible software architecture which enables users to readily understand, modify, and exchange data files. In a constructed embodiment the software architecture utilizes xml files which can be defined and read by a user using readily available tools and viewers. Both control data and image data can be formatted in this manner. An illustrated software architecture contains a directory of manufacturer-supplied xml control files, and a directory of user modified or created xml control files. This software architecture enables users to exchange protocol and image information over conventional communications networks such as the Internet.
US08324571B2

An apparatus for measuring a semiconductor device is provided. The apparatus includes a beam emitter configured to irradiate an electron beam onto a sample having the entire region composed of a critical dimension (CD) region, which is formed by etching or development, and a normal region connected to the CD region, and an analyzer electrically connected to the beam emitter, and configured to select and set a wavelength range of a region in which a difference in reflectance between the CD region and the normal region occurs, after obtaining reflectance from the electron beam reflected by a surface of the sample according to the wavelength of the electron beam. A method of measuring a semiconductor device using the measuring apparatus is also provided. Therefore, it is possible to minimize a change in reflectance due to the thickness and properties of the semiconductor device, and set a wavelength range to monitor a specific wavelength, thereby accurately measuring and analyzing a CD value of a measurement part of the semiconductor device.
US08324554B2

Embodiments of the present invention include an electron counter with a charge-coupled device (CCD) register configured to transfer electrons to a Geiger-mode avalanche diode (GM-AD) array operably coupled to the output of the CCD register. At high charge levels, a nondestructive amplifier senses the charge at the CCD register output to provide an analog indication of the charge. At low charge levels, noiseless charge splitters or meters divide the charge into single-electron packets, each of which is detected by a GM-AD that provides a digital output indicating whether an electron is present. Example electron counters are particularly well suited for counting photoelectrons generated by large-format, high-speed imaging arrays because they operate with high dynamic range and high sensitivity. As a result, they can be used to image scenes over a wide range of light levels.
US08324542B2

A system is provided for the remote control of a spinning projectile, the system comprising: a polarized radiation source emitting polarized radiation wherein commands are encoded; a projectile round; a polarized radiation receiver disposed on the projectile round and configured to receive the polarized radiation; and a projectile steering mechanism, the mechanism directing movement of the projectile according to the commands communicated by means of rotation of polarization of the polarized radiation source.
US08324538B2

Systems and methods to source a resistive load, such as a heating resistor, to control temperature while adhering to a specified power draw budget and/or a specified root mean square (RMS) current limit. For example, a sensor block assembly (SBA) heater controls temperature of a MEMS device in a sensor block assembly while adhering to the power draw budget and/or an average current limit. An exemplary embodiment generates a pulse width modulation (PWM) control signal, controls a switch in accordance with the control signal, sources the resistive load from a power source in accordance with the controlled switch, and modifies the duty factor of the switch to reduce the power drawn by the resistive load in response to the power drawn by the resistive load exceeding a power limit defined by a slope-intercept curve. The limiting of power into a resistor load limits the RMS current drawn by that load.
US08324536B2

The invention relates to a device for igniting an aluminothermic composition, characterized in that it comprises an electric resistor for connecting two electrodes and to be supplied by an electric current source of in order to generate heat by a Joule effect, said electric resistor being exposed to a medium comprising oxygen and carbon so that the temperature rise of the medium by the resistor results in the formation of carbon monoxide, and then in an exothermal reaction of the latter with oxygen, thus generating a flame capable of igniting of the aluminothermic composition.
US08324523B2

An apparatus for synergistically combining a plasma with a comminution means such as a fluid kinetic energy mill (jet mill), preferably in a single reactor and/or in a single process step is provided by the present invention. Within the apparatus of the invention potential energy is converted into kinetic energy and subsequently into angular momentum by means of wave energy, for comminuting, reacting and separation of feed materials. Methods of use of the apparatus in the practice of various processes are also provided by the present invention.
US08324520B2

A disconnector is disclosed, including a first operating element. The operating element is provided with a pivoting element, including a cam wheel which is in the form of a disk and has two opposite cams, with the rotation axis of this cam wheel which is in the form of a disk being at right angles to the axis of the first operating element, and with the cam wheel which is in the form of a disk having two protuberances, which can in each case make contact with the pivoting element in different operating states. In at least one embodiment, the disconnector includes a holding opening, which is arranged on at least one end surface, which is in the form of a disk, of the cam wheel which is in the form of a disk, and including a second operating element, which is fitted in the holding opening, with this second operating element having a body, an operating opening which is located in the center part of the body, and two vane pieces which are fitted on both sides of the body. In at least one embodiment, the second operating element can rotate relative to the holding opening, and can produce a rotatary movement of the cam wheel which is in the form of a disk. The disconnector according to at least one embodiment of the invention can be operated both from the front and from the side, with side operation being independent manual operation.
US08324514B2

A mounting device includes a mounting plate and a mounting frame. The mounting plate defines a plurality of mounting grooves and a latching hole therein. Each of the mounting grooves includes a receiving hole and a sliding slot communicating with each other. The mounting frame includes a plurality of hooks and a resilient tab. The resilient tab is provided with a blocking portion. Each of the hooks is received in a corresponding mounting groove through the receiving hole of the mounting hole and slides in the sliding slot until the blocking portion of the resilient tab is received in the latching hole and the hook hooks on an edge of the sliding slot of the mounting groove. An electronic apparatus using the mounting device is also provided.
US08324510B2

A printed circuit board includes a multiple-layer electrical circuit board and a conductive arm, wherein the conductive arm has an unconnected end located opposite to the connected end of the conductive arm, wherein the conductive arm has a front side and a backside located opposite to the front side of the conductive arm, wherein the backside of the conductive arm is located adjacent to the multiple layer electrical circuit board. The unconnected end of the conductive arm includes a dimple portion formed integrally with and as a unitary part of a remaining portion of the conductive arm, the dimple portion being out of plane with in plane portions of the connected end of the conductive arm so that the dimple portion is at a greater distance from the circuit board than the in plane portions of the conductive arm, the dimple portion being connected to the in plane portions of the conductive arm via an integrally formed and unitary riser portion. An air gap is formed between the backside of the arm and the multiple layer electrical circuit board, wherein the air gap permits the arm to flex within the air gap. An ink jet component is laminated to the printed circuit board, wherein the dimple on the front side of the arm contacts a surface of the component, wherein a restoring spring force of the conductive arm maintains electrical contactivity between the dimple and the component.
US08324509B2

The invention provides an electronic component and a manufacturing method thereof that: can allow electronic components to be mounted on an external substrate at a higher density than before; can adjust the height (level) of a terminal electrode as required and desired, thereby solving problems that would occur in the inspection of the conventional electronic components; and can also improve the yield in the mounting of electronic components, thereby achieving increased productivity. A capacitor 1, which is an electronic component, has: a first upper electrode 5a formed above a substrate 2; a first seat 10 and a second seat 11 which are formed adjacent to the first upper electrode 5a; passivation layers 6 and 8 that cover the first upper electrode 5a and the first and second seats 10 and 11; and a terminal electrode 9a formed above the first and second seats 10 and 11 and connected to the first upper electrode 5a via via-conductors Va and Vc which are formed through the passivation layers 6 and 8 respectively.
US08324508B2

A composite circuit board according to an embodiment of the invention includes a first circuit board having a first conductive line and a second conductive line which is longer in length than the first conductive line, and a second circuit board having a third conductive line which is electrically connected to the first conductive line and a fourth conductive line which is electrically connected to the second conductive line and is shorter in length than the third conductive line.
US08324504B2

A new cross linked polyolefin material combination that is designed to replace current high-density polyethylene (“HDPE”) materials for use with molded or over-molded electrical transmission products. Such molded or over-molded electrical transmission products include, for example, vise-top pin insulators, line post insulators, F-neck, C-neck, and J-neck pin insulators of classes ANSI 55-3, 55-4, and 55-5, Spacer cable spacers, Brackets, hangers, Line post sensors, cable restraint insulators, and transmission style insulators.
US08324498B2

A method of forming a crystalline layer includes: disposing a heating layer on a substrate, wherein the heating layer is separated from the substrate by a support structure; and forming a crystalline layer on the heating layer using heat generated from the heating layer.
US08324494B1

A MIDI signal generator adapted for foot pedal operated percussion synthesis having, inter alia, independent volume, reverb, loop, fill, tempo and style controls. An important feature is the ability to cycle through a series of pre-selected rhythm loops. Each rhythm loop further has a subset of associated fills that are initiated with specific touches to the foot pedal. The device is computer integrated to match any of the stored rhythm loops with any subset of fills.
US08324492B2

Provided is, among other things, a system of musically interacting devices. A first device has a first identification code, a first wireless communication interface and a first audio player, and a second device has a second identification code, a second wireless communication interface and a second audio player. The first device and the second device are configured to participate in an interaction sequence in which: the first device wirelessly communicates using the first wireless communication interface, the second device wirelessly communicates using the second wireless communication interface, a musical composition is selected based on both the first identification code and the second identification code, and the first device and the second device cooperatively play the musical composition, with each of the first device and the second device playing a different part of the musical composition.
US08324489B1

For a stringed musical instrument of a type that includes guitars, electric bass guitars, and two-handed tapping instruments including the Chapman Stick ®, in departure from conventional frets inserted individually into slots or channels in a wooden fretboard/neck, a Railboard (TM) is made with frets that are precision-machined under CNC (computer numeric control) integral with the fretboard from a single block of rigid material such as aluminum. Optionally the instrument neck, whether body-attached or of through-neck construction, may also be integrated into the Railboard along with the fretted fingerboard. The fret-tips are initially machined with a sharp apex, then machine-dressed to form narrow flat fret-tip plateaus all aligned in a common plane, then selected frets are further precision machine-dressed to provide “relief” in a lower-pitched region of the fretboard for optimal “low action” playing characteristics, thus producing instruments of uniform quality in a cost-effective manner.
US08324488B2

A lever 1 pivots within a certain stroke range by a player's depression of the lever 1. A coil spring 4 is displaceable within the entire stroke range of the lever 1 to produce a reaction force having a characteristic that the reaction force increases with an increase in the displacement. A dome-shaped rubber member 5 starts being displaced at some point in the stroke of the lever 1 to produce a reaction force having a characteristic that the rate of change in reaction force with respect to the displacement decreases in an area placed in the displacement. The characteristic is obtained by the dome-shaped rubber member 5 coming into contact with the lever 1 at some point in the stroke of the lever 1 to start being displaced by further depression of the lever 1 to buckle at some point in the displacement of the dome-shaped rubber member 5.
US08324487B2

Dispersible single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are prepared by dissolving surfactants in water to form a solution; adding carbon nanotubes to the solution to form a mixture; sonicating and agitating the mixture to form a carbon-nanotube/water dispersion; centrifuging the dispersion to remove un-dispersed carbon nanotubes and impurities; repeatedly freezing and heating the CNT dispersion; and, sublimating water in the CNT dispersion by freezing and evacuating the dispersion to obtain carbon nanotubes coated with surfactant. The carbon nanotubes prepared by the method of the invention are dry, amphiphilic, and surfactant-coated powders that can be dispersed in both aqueous and organic solvents to form stable and uniform dispersions having a high concentration of carbon nanotubes.
US08324475B2

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH671922. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH671922, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH671922 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH671922.
US08324473B1

A novel maize variety designated PHMWF and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PHMWF with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PHMWF through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PHMWF or a trait conversion of PHMWF with another maize variety. Inbred maize varieties derived from maize variety PHMWF, methods for producing other inbred maize varieties derived from maize variety PHMWF and the inbred maize varieties and their parts derived by the use of those methods.
US08324472B1

A novel maize variety designated PHF5G and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PHF5G with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PHF5G through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PHF5G or a locus conversion of PHF5G with another maize variety.
US08324471B2

A potato cultivar designated FL 2215 is disclosed. The invention relates to the tubers of potato cultivar FL 2215, to the seeds of potato cultivar FL 2215, to the plants of potato FL 2215, to the plant parts of potato cultivar FL 2215 and to methods for producing a potato plant produced by crossing potato cultivar FL 2215 with itself or with another potato variety. The invention also relates to methods for producing a potato plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic potato plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to potato cultivars or breeding cultivars and plant parts derived from potato variety FL 2215, to methods for producing other potato cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from potato cultivar FL 2215 and to the potato plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid potato tubers, seeds, plants and plant parts produced by crossing potato cultivar FL 2215 with another potato cultivar.
US08324470B1

A soybean cultivar designated 04334045 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar 04334045, to the plants of soybean cultivar 04334045, to the plant parts of soybean cultivar 04334045, and to methods for producing progeny of soybean cultivar 04334045. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. The invention also relates to soybean cultivars or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 04334045. The invention also relates to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines, or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 04334045, and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing cultivar 04334045 with another soybean cultivar.
US08324463B1

A novel soybean variety, designated XR33Y10 is provided. Also provided are the seeds of soybean variety XR33Y10, cells from soybean variety XR33Y10, plants of soybean XR33Y10, and plant parts of soybean variety XR33Y10. Methods provided include producing a soybean plant by crossing soybean variety XR33Y10 with another soybean plant, methods for introgressing a transgenic, mutant trait, and/or native trait into soybean variety XR33Y10, methods for producing other soybean varieties or plant parts derived from soybean variety XR33Y10. Soybean seed, cells, plants, germplasm, breeding lines, varieties, and plant parts produced by these methods and/or derived from soybean variety XR33Y10 are further provided.
US08324459B2

The present invention relates to a new and distinctive canola cultivar, designated G2X0039. Also included are seeds of canola cultivar G2X0039, to the plants, or plant parts, of canola G2X0039 and to methods for producing a canola plant produced by crossing the canola G2X0039 with itself or another canola cultivar, and the creation of variants by mutagenesis or transformation of canola G2X0039.
US08324458B2

The invention relates to a Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz spring-type seed designated as ‘SO-60’ derived from a cross between camelina accessions with high yield and oil quality attributes following conventional breeding methodologies.
US08324455B2

This invention relates generally to nucleic acid sequences encoding proteins that are associated with abiotic stress responses and abiotic stress tolerance in plants. In particular, this invention relates to nucleic acid sequences encoding proteins that confer drought, heat, cold, and/or salt tolerance to plants.
US08324436B2

A multi-step process for preparing 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-1-propene comprising the steps of (a) contacting a starting material comprising 2-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoro-1-propene with hydrogen fluoride in the presence of activated first catalyst selected from the group consisting of antimony-halides, iron-halides, titanium halides, and tin-halides, to produce an intermediate composition; and (b) contacting said intermediate composition with a second catalyst of activated carbon to produce a final product comprising 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-1-propene.
US08324434B2

The present invention provides an improved hydrogenation processes wherein heat is efficiently managed so that catalyst productivity is optimized. More particularly, in the processes of the present invention, a nonaqueous solvent is added to a reactant to provide a nonaqueous solvent/reactant mixture that can act as a heat sink and absorb at least a portion of the heat generated within the reactor. Desirably, a reaction product, or a solvent with a minimal number of hydroxyl groups, is utilized so that the formation of unwanted byproducts can be minimized.
US08324428B2

The present invention provides novel stabilized crosslinked compounds having secondary structure motifs, libraries of these novel compounds, and methods for the synthesis of these compounds libraries thereof. The synthesis of these novel stabilized compounds involves (1) synthesizing a peptide from a selected number of natural or non-natural amino acids, wherein said peptide comprises at least two moieties capable of undergoing reaction to promote carbon-carbon bond formation; and (2) contacting said peptide with a reagent to generate at least one crosslinker and to effect stabilization of a secondary structure motif. The present invention, in a preferred embodiment, provides stabilized p53 donor helical peptides. Additionally, the present invention provides methods for disrupting the p53/MDM2 binding interaction comprising (1) providing a crosslinked stabilized α-helical structure; and (2) contacting said crosslinked stabilized α-helical structure with MDM2.
US08324427B2

An objective of the present invention is to provide agricultural and horticultural disease control agents that have potent control effect against plant diseases and, at the same time, have high photostability. The agricultural and horticultural disease control agents comprise a novel substance analogous to MK8383 as an active ingredient.
US08324418B2

Organic dithiopyrophosphates of formula wherein R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 independently are hydrogen, C1-4 alkyl, chloromethyl or bromomethyl, are prepared in a two-step process from the corresponding 1,3-diols and thiophosphoryl chloride, using 3-methylpyridine both as solvent and as base.
US08324411B2

The invention concerns a new process for the preparation of high purity diacerein, by oxidization of the protected aloe-emodin in the presence of an oxidizing system and radical catalyst and subsequent substitution of the protector groups with acetyl groups.
US08324410B2

Drug derivatives are provided herein which are suitable for loading into liposomal nanoparticle carriers. In some preferred aspects, the derivatives comprise a poorly water-soluble drug derivatized with a weak-base moiety that facilitates active loading of the drug through a LN transmembrane pH or ion gradient into the aqueous interior of the LN. The weak-base moiety can optionally comprise a lipophilic domain that facilitates active loading of the drug to the inner monolayer of the liposomal membrane. Advantageously, LN formulations of the drug derivatives exhibit improved solubility, reduced toxicity, enhanced efficacy, and/or other benefits relative to the corresponding free drugs.
US08324401B2

Novel non-steroidal compounds are provided that are useful in treating diseases associated with modulation of the glucocorticoid receptor, AP-1, and/or NF-κB activity including obesity, diabetes, inflammatory and immune diseases having the structure of formula (I): or enantiomers, diastereomers, or a pharmaceutically-acceptable salt, or hydrate, thereof, where X is A1QA2-; Q is a bond, —C(═O)—, —OC(O)—, —C(═O)NR5—, —SOp—, —SOpNR5—, —C(O)O—, —NR5C(O)—, —OC(O)NR5—, —NR5C(O)O—, —S(O)pNR5C(O)—, —C(O)NR5S(O)p— —NR5S(O)p—, or —NR5C(═O)NR6—. Y is selected from hydrogen, C1-6alkyl, OR16, substituted C1-6alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, heterocyclo and heteroaryl. A1 and A2 are independently selected from a bond, C1-3alkylene, or C1-3alkenylene, and R1-R11 are defined herein. Also provided are pharmaceutical compositions, combinations, and methods of treating obesity, diabetes and inflammatory- or immune-associated diseases comprising said compounds.
US08324398B2

The present invention relates to processes for the preparation of biaryl oxazolidinones. These compounds are useful as anti-infective, anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, and prokinetic agents.
US08324397B2

A relatively non-toxic desazadesferrithiocin analog having the formula (I): wherein: R1, R2, R4 and R5 may be the same or different and may be H, straight or branched chain alkyl having up to 14 carbon atoms, e.g., methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl, or arylalkyl wherein the aryl portion is hydrocarbyl and the alkyl portion is straight or branched chain, the arylalkyl group having up to 14 carbon atoms, R2 optionally being alkoxy having up to 14 carbon atoms; R3 is [(CH2)n—O]x—[(CH2)n—O]y-alkyl; n is, independently, an integer from 1 to 8; x is an integer from 1 to 8; y is an integer from O to 8, and R3O may occupy any position on the phenyl ring except the 4-position, or a salt, hydrate or solvate thereof; and methods and compositions for treating the effects of trivalent metal, i.e., iron, overload.
US08324392B2

The present invention relates to a novel solid form of 4-[[(6-chloropyridin-3-yl)methyl](2,2-difluoroethyl)amino]furan-2(5H)-one, to processes for its preparation and to its use in agrochemical preparations.
US08324382B2

Three new crystalline forms of pemetrexed diacid, preparation methods and uses thereof are disclosed. These preparation processes are simple and have better practicality.
US08324378B2

Described herein are neutral prodrugs of phosphorus-containing inhibitors of farnesyl transferase that include one or more phosphate fragments or analogs of phosphate fragments. Analogs of phosphate fragments include various linkers other than oxygen connecting the phosphate fragment to the remaining portion of the drug, such as but not limited to linkers forming phosphoramidates, phosphonates, difluorophosphonates, phosphordiamidates, and the like.
US08324351B2

The present application relates to a variant Fc region comprising at least one modification relative to a wild-type human Fc region, where the modification selected from the group consisting of 434S, 252Y/428L, 252Y/434S, and 428L/434S, and the numbering is according to the EU index.
US08324335B2

A propylene-based polymer comprising the following component (A) insoluble in p-xylene at 25° C. and component (B) soluble in p-xylene at 25° C., wherein (i) the weight average molecular weight (Mw) measured with GPC is 100,000 to 1,000,000, (ii) the content of the component insoluble in hot p-xylene is 0.3% by weight or lower, and (iii) the degree of strain hardening (λ max) in measurement of elongational viscosity is 2.0 or higher; and a method for producing the same, along with a resin composition comprising a propylene-ethylene copolymer (Z) in an amount of 50.0 to 99.9% by weight and a propylene-based polymer (M) in an amount of 0.1 to 50.0% by weight.Component (A): a component (CXIS) insoluble in p-xylene at 25° C., having requirements specified by (A1) to (A5). Component (B): a component (CXS) is soluble in p-xylene at 25° C., having requirements specified by (B1) to (B4).
US08324329B2

A method for preparing a functionalized polymer, the method comprising the steps of (a) polymerizing monomer in the presence of a coordination catalyst to form a polymer, (b) inhibiting said step of polymerizing with a Lewis base, and (c) reacting the polymer with a functionalizing agent.
US08324322B2

Polymer composition comprising: 1) a polymer (P1) comprising at least 50% by weight of monomeric units derived from an ethylenically unsaturated monomer (M1), and 2) at least one co-oligomer (O1) comprising at least: a) a component (A) comprising at least one monomeric unit identical to that derived from the monomer (M1) on which the polymer (P1) is based, and b) a component (B) comprising at least one monomeric unit (m2), derived from an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, carrying at least one group chosen from the following groups: —CaH2a+1 with a between 6 and 30; —(CH2)b—CcF2c+1 with b between 1 and 11 and c greater than or equal to 5; —(CH2)d—(Si(CH3)2—O)e—Si(CH3)3 with d between 1 and 11 and e between 1 and 1000; —COOH; —SO3H, and the phosphonate groups —PO(OH)(OR1) with R1 being a hydrogen atom or an alkyl radical containing from 1 to 11 carbon atoms.
US08324319B2

A cationically polymerizable composition comprising (i) a cationically polymerizable resin, (ii) an onium salt, (iii) an azo or peroxide initiator, exhibits a lower cure temperature upon the addition of (iv) a catalytic or substoichiometric amount of an electron-rich vinyl resin to the reaction.
US08324299B2

A moisture-curable hot-melt adhesive having an excellent balance of environmental friendliness, compatibility of ingredients, early-stage adhesive strength, heat resistance after moisture curing, tack free time, etc. and a method of manufacture for this hot-melt adhesive. A moisture-curable hot-melt adhesive which contains a urethane polymer that has a terminal isocyanate group and a moisture-curable hot-melt adhesive that contains urethane modified resin, has a residual percentage of isocyanate compound of 5 wt. % or less, and has a heat-resistant softening temperature after moisture curing of 60° C. or higher, has an excellent balance of the aforementioned. Urethane modified resin can be obtained by reacting a resin derivative that has a hydroxyl group with an isocyanate compound, and a moisture-curable hot-melt adhesive can be produced by mixing urethane-modified resin, polymer, and isocyanate compound. The adhesive is particularly useful for building materials, electronics materials, the automotive field, and the like.
US08324298B2

The present invention relates to a composition of at least one vinylidene chloride polymer, a process for preparing such a composition, a process for preparing articles, in particular films, which includes the use of such a composition and also the film comprising such a composition and the packaging or bag formed from this film.
US08324297B2

Polyamide molding composition, in particular for use for components of electronic and/or electrical components, having the following composition: (A) 30-100% by weight of a partially aromatic, partially crystalline copolyamide made up of 100% by weight of diacid fraction composed of: 72.0-98.3% by weight of terephthalic acid (TPA) and/or naphthalenedicarboxylic acid; 28.0-1.7% by weight of isophthalic acid (IPA) and 100% by weight of diamine fraction composed of: 51.0-80.0% by weight of 1,6-hexanediamine (HMDA); 20.0-49.0% by weight of aliphatic, unbranched C9-C12-diamine; (B) 0-70% by weight of fillers and reinforcing materials; (C) 0-25% by weight of flame retardants; (D) 0-5% by weight of additives; where the components (A)-(D) add up to 100% by weight.
US08324295B2

Protein-polymer compositions and processes for their production are provided where the compositions have improved resistance to ultraviolet light induced weathering and associated loss of enzyme activity. The incorporation of both a sterically hindered amine and an ultraviolet light absorber at a concentration of at least 5% by weight produces a curable or cured composition with UV stabilized enzyme activity that can be used as a bioactive coating with improved stain removal properties.
US08324291B2

A method of producing an improved polyethylene, especially an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene utilizes a sequential irradiation and annealing process to form a highly cross-linked polyethylene material. The use of sequential irradiation followed by sequential annealing after each irradiation allows each dose of irradiation in the series of doses to be relatively low while achieving a total dose which is sufficiently high to cross-link the material. The process may either be applied to a preformed material such as a rod or bar or sheet made from polyethylene resin or may be applied to a finished polyethylene part.
US08324288B2

Extruded polymer foams are prepared using brominated fatty acids, an ester, amide or ester-amide of a brominated fatty acid, a glyceride of one or more brominated fatty acids, or a polymerized brominated fatty acid as an FR additive. The brominated FR additives unexpectedly are stable at the extrusion temperatures, and provide excellent flame retardancy to the foams.
US08324280B2

Prostate cancer comes in various forms and has proven difficult to treat. Provided herein are various methods and compositions for treating all forms of prostate cancers with dopa decarboxylase (DDC) inhibitors. These dopa decarboxylase inhibitors include carbidopa (α-Methyl-dopahydrazine), MFMD (α-monofluoromethyldopa), NSD-1015 (3-hydroxybenzylhydrazine), Methyldopa (L-α-Methyl-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) or benserazide, and the inhibitors may be used in combination. DDC inhibitors may also be used to inhibit the progression of prostate cancer to androgen-independence and neuroendocrine prostate cancer.
US08324273B2

Catechol protected levodopa diester prodrugs pharmaceutical, compositions comprising catechol protected levodopa diester prodrugs, and methods of using such prodrugs and pharmaceutical compositions for treating diseases such as Parkinson's disease are provided.
US08324271B2

An eye drop composition in which the degradation of isopropyl unoprostone in an eye drop is prevented by adding trometamol to the eye drop containing isopropyl unoprostone.
US08324253B2

The present invention relates to a defined crystalline modification of the compound of the formula (I), to processes for its preparation and to its use in agrochemical preparations.
US08324252B2

This invention relates to novel compounds having the Formula (I) to their pharmaceutical compositions and to their methods of use. These novel compounds provide a treatment for cancer.
US08324250B2

The present application relates to compounds of formula wherein the definitions are as described herein. The present compounds are high potential NK-3 receptor antagonists that are useful for the treatment of depression, pain, psychosis, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
US08324246B2

Disclosed herein are a new indole carboxylic acid bispyridyl carboxamide derivative, a preparation method thereof, and a composition for prevention or treatment of obesity, urinary disorders, and CNS disorders, containing the same as an active ingredient. Because the indole carboxylic acid bispyridyl carboxamide derivatives according to the present invention have high affinity for 5-HT2c receptors, act selectively on the 5-HT2c receptors, the derivatives rarely have adverse effects caused by other receptors. Because the derivatives effectively inhibit serotonin activity, they may be useful for treatment or prevention of obesity; urinary disorders such as urinary incontinence, premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, and prostatic hyperplasia; CNS disorders such as depression, anxiety, concern, panic disorder, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, migraine, sleep disorder, withdrawal from drug abuse, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia, associated with 5-HT2c receptors.
US08324240B2

The present invention relates to HSP90 inhibitors containing fused amino pyridine core that are useful as inhibitors of HSP90 and their use in the treatment of HSP90 related diseases and disorders such as cancer, an autoimmune disease, or a neurodegenerative disease.
US08324232B2

The invention relates to the compound of structural formula (I) and the salts thereof. Said compound is useful as endothelin receptor antagonist. The invention further relates to a process for preparing said compound.
US08324230B2

Crystalline forms of the p38 kinase inhibitor 3-[5-chloro-4-[(2,4-difluorobenzyl)oxy]-6-oxopyrimidin-1(6H)-yl]-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methylbenzamide is provided. Also provided are combinations and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the crystalline forms, and methods for the prophylaxis and/or treatment of a p38 kinase-mediated condition comprising administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of the crystalline forms.
US08324229B2

Provided herein are alkylthio substituted pyrimidine compounds having CRTH2 (G-protein-coupled chemoattractant receptor, expressed on Th2 cells) antagonistic activity, useful for the treatment or prophylaxis of diseases associated with CRTH2 activity, including the treatment of allergic diseases, eosinophil-related diseases and basophil-related diseases.
US08324225B2

The present application describes organic compounds that are useful for the treatment, prevention and/or amelioration of diseases, particularly pyrrolopyrimidine compounds and derivatives are described which inhibit protein kinases. The organic compounds are useful in treating proliferative disease.
US08324224B2

Disclosed are novel compounds that are A2B adenosine receptor antagonists, useful for treating various disease states, including asthma and diarrhea.
US08324222B2

The present application relates to novel, cyclically substituted furopyrimidine derivatives, methods for their production, their use for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of diseases and their use for the production of medicinal products for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of diseases, in particular for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of cardiovascular diseases.
US08324217B2

Disclosed are compounds, compositions and methods for treating various diseases, syndromes, conditions and disorders, including pain. Such compounds are represented by Formula I as follows: wherein A, B, L, Q, R1, R2, and R3 are defined herein.
US08324195B2

In various embodiments, the present invention provides methods of treating and/or preventing cardiovascular-related disease and, in particular, a method of blood lipid therapy comprising administering to a subject in need thereof a pharmaceutical composition comprising eicosapentaenoic acid or a derivative thereof.
US08324192B2

Provided herein are methods for preventing or alleviating the symptoms of and inflammation associated with inflammatory diseases and conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, for example, those involving the esophagus. Also provided herein are pharmaceutical compositions useful for the methods of the present invention.
US08324187B2

Disclosed are stable PS preparations, in powder, liquid and dispersion forms, as well as methods of producing thereof. Most importantly, the stable PS preparations are particularly devoid of residual phospholipase D activity, and the methods of eliminating such activity are also described herein. Lastly, uses of these PS preparations in nutraceuticals or as active agents of pharmaceutical compositions are also provided herein.
US08324185B2

Current invention is related to the pharmaceutical industry in general and to the industry of the manufacture of pharmaceutical products for weight reduction and hyperlipidemia treatment. The advantages of the current invention respect of the similar of the state of the art are that in the present invention side effects normally produced by the consumption of lipase inhibitors are eliminated; optimizing both the lipase inhibitor component and the fat-trapping; with the adequate composition of each one of the components and with very small amounts of each one. The invention consists of a composition for the treatment of the obesity and hyperlipidemia, characterized by comprising in combination a lipase inhibitor and a fat-trapping component.
US08324179B2

The invention provides unsaturated phosphonates of Formula I or a tautomer or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, as described herein, as well as pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds, and therapeutic methods comprising administering the compounds. The compounds have anti-viral properties and are useful for treating viral infections (e.g. HCV) in animals (e.g. humans).
US08324177B2

The invention provides saponin mixtures and compounds which are isolated from the species Acacia victoriae and methods for their use. These compounds may contain a triterpene moiety, such as acacic or oleanolic acid, to which oligosaccharides and monoterpenoid moieties are attached. The mixtures and compounds have properties related to the regulation of apoptosis and cytotoxicity of cells and exhibit potent anti-tumor effects against a variety of tumor cells.
US08324176B2

The present invention provides pyrazole derivatives represented by the general formula: wherein R1 represents H, an optionally substituted C1-6 alkyl group etc.; one of Q and T represents a group represented by the general formula: or a group represented by the general formula: while the other represents an optionally substituted C1-6 alkyl group etc.; R2 represents H, a halogen atom, OH, an optionally substituted C1-6 alkyl group etc.; X represents a single bond, O or S; Y represents an optionally substituted C1-6 alkylene group etc.; Z represents —RB, —CORC etc. in which RB represents an optionally substituted C1-6 alkyl group etc.; and RC represents an optionally substituted C1-6 alkyl group etc.; R4 represents H, an optionally substituted C1-6 alkyl group etc.; and R3, R5 and R6 represent H, a halogen atom etc., pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof or prodrugs thereof, which exhibit an excellent inhibitory activity in human SGLT1 and are useful as agents for the prevention or treatment of a disease associated with hyperglycemia such as diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, impaired fasting glycemia, diabetic complications or obesity, and a disease associated with the increase of blood galactose level such as galactosemia, and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same, pharmaceutical uses thereof, and intermediates for production thereof.
US08324175B2

The present invention discloses anti-cancer compositions, and associated methods, including an anti-cancer composition comprising: a cellular energy inhibitor having the structure according to formula I wherein X is selected from the group consisting of: a nitro, an imidazole, a halide, sulfonate, a carboxylate, an alkoxide, and amine oxide; and R is selected from the group consisting of: OR′, N(R″)2, C(O)R′″, C1-C6 alkyl, C6-C12 aryl, C1-C6 heteroalkyl, a C6-C12 heteroaryl, H, and an alkali metal; where R′ represents H, alkali metal, C1-C6 alkyl, C6-C12 aryl or C(O)R′″, R″ represents H, C1-C6 alkyl, or C6-C12 aryl, and R′″ represents H, C1-C20 alkyl or C6-C12 aryl. The anti-cancer composition can additionally comprise at least one sugar, which stabilizes the cellular energy inhibitor by substantially preventing the inhibitor from hydrolyzing. Also, the anti-cancer composition can comprise a hexokinase inhibitor. Further, the anti-cancer composition can comprise a biological buffer that is present in an amount sufficient to at least partially deacidify the cellular energy inhibitor and neutralize metabolic by-products of the cellular energy inhibitor.
US08324164B2

Peptides of human heat shock protein of 60 kDa, that constitute epitopes for T cells, as well as their derived peptides, which are modified at the contact sites with the MHC molecule, are useful to induce mechanisms of peripheral tolerance, in particular mechanisms of anergy or mediated by clones of regulatory T cells in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The invention also refers pharmaceutical compositions comprising such peptides for the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
US08324159B2

The present invention relates to peptide compounds that are agonists of the erythropoietin receptor (EPO-R). The invention also relates to therapeutic methods using such peptide compounds to treat disorders associated with insufficient or defective red blood cell production. Pharmaceutical compositions, which comprise the peptide compounds of the invention, and dosages are also provided.
US08324157B2

Insulin preparations comprising an insulin compound or a mixture of two or more insulin compounds, a nicotinic compound and an amino acid.
US08324156B2

Methods for treating impaired glucose tolerance and early and late stage diabetes in mammals, for prophylactically sparing β-cell function, aiding in preventing β-cell death, preventing the onset of overt diabetes in a mammal with type 2 diabetes, treating the current level of glycemic control dysfunction of a mammal with impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes, comprising orally administering insulin and a delivery agent that facilitates insulin absorption from the gastrointestinal tract at the time of or shortly before mealtime, e.g., within about 10 minutes prior to ingestion of a meal, on a chronic basis. The methods also comprise, in addition to administering a rapid-acting insulin to provide a first insulin peak, administering a slow acting insulin to provide a second insulin peak occurring at a later time but of a longer duration. These methods achieve improved glycemic control without the risks of hypoglycemia, hyperinsulinemia and weight gain and the need for frequent blood glucose monitoring that are normally associated with insulin therapy.
US08324154B2

The present invention relates to cyclic cationic peptides and their use in the treatment of microbial infections.
US08324150B2

Use of VPg proteins, fragments or analogs thereof having the ability to bind an eukaryotic initiation factor eIF4E, for inhibiting cell-proliferation.
US08324147B2

The present invention is directed to rinse aid compositions and methods for making and using the rinse aid compositions. The compositions of the invention include a sheeting agent, a defoaming agent, and an association disruption agent. The rinse aid compositions of the present invention result in a faster draining/drying time on most substrates compared to conventional rinse aids. The rinse aid compositions of the present invention are especially suitable for use on plastic substrates.
US08324142B1

A hollow bath soap bar including a multi-cell frame. Top and bottom covers are fixed respectively to the top and bottom edges of the frame and multiple internal cells of varying configurations formed by at least two partition walls disposed within the frame.
US08324133B2

The present invention relates to 2-pyridyl-methylene-carboxamide derivatives of formula (I) in which the substituents are as in the description, their process of preparation, their use as fungicide active agents, particularly in the form of fungicide compositions, and methods for the control of phytopathogenic fungi, notably of plants, using these compounds or compositions:
US08324128B2

A catalyst for use in a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction which comprises cobalt supported on alumina, in which: the catalyst average particle size is in the range 20 to 100 μm; the specific surface area of the impregnated and calcined catalyst particles is greater than 80 m2/g; the average pore size of the impregnated and calcined catalyst is at least 90 Å (9 nm); and the pore volume of the impregnated and calcined catalyst is greater than 0.35 cm3/g.
US08324120B2

An apparatus includes a substrate with a planar surface, a multilayer of semiconductor layers located on the planar surface, a plurality of electrodes located over the multilayer, and a dielectric layer located between the electrodes and the multilayer. The multilayer includes a 2D quantum well. A first set of the electrodes is located to substantially surround a lateral area of the 2D quantum well. A second set of the electrodes is controllable to vary a lateral width of a non-depleted channel between the substantially surrounded lateral area of the 2D quantum well and another area of the 2D quantum well. A third set of the electrodes is controllable to vary an area of a non-depleted portion of the lateral area.
US08324119B2

When forming sophisticated gate electrode structures requiring a threshold adjusting semiconductor alloy for one type of transistor, a recess is formed in the corresponding active region, thereby providing superior process uniformity during the deposition of the semiconductor material. Due to the recess, any exposed sidewall surface areas of the active region may be avoided during the selective epitaxial growth process, thereby significantly contributing to enhanced threshold stability of the resulting transistor including the high-k metal gate stack.
US08324113B2

A silicon processing method includes: forming a mask pattern on a principal plane of a single-crystal silicon substrate; and applying crystal anisotropic etching to the principal surface to form a structure including a (111) surface and a crystal surface equivalent thereto and having width W1 and length L1. The principal plane includes a (100) surface and a crystal surface equivalent thereto or a (110) surface and a crystal surface equivalent thereto. A determining section for determining the width W1 of the structure is formed in the mask pattern. The width of the determining section for the width W1 of the mask pattern is width W2. The width of the mask pattern other than the determining section is larger than the width W2 over a length direction of the mask pattern.
US08324111B2

Disclosed are a liquid crystal display device employing an amorphous zinc oxide-based semiconductor as an active layer, and a method for fabricating the same, whereby device stability can be secured by employing an etch stopper structure and device characteristics can be enhanced by minimizing exposure and deterioration of the active layer excluding content regions by virtue of the design of the etching stopper in a shape like “H”. Also, the liquid crystal display device and the fabrication method thereof can further form a semiconductor pattern and an insulating layer pattern on the intersection between the gate line and the data line, so as to compensate a stepped portion, thereby preventing an occurrence of short-circuit.
US08324108B2

In a dual stress liner approach, unwanted material provided between closely spaced gate electrode structures may be removed to a significant degree on the basis of a wet chemical etch process, thereby reducing the risk of creating patterning-related irregularities. Consequently, the probability of contact failures in sophisticated interlayer dielectric material systems formed on the basis of a dual stress liner approach may be reduced.
US08324104B2

The present invention provides a process for forming a capping layer on a conducting interconnect for a semiconductor device, the process comprising: providing a substrate comprising one or more conductors in a dielectric layer, the conductors having an oxide layer at their surface; exposing the surface of the substrate to a vapor of β-diketone or a β-ketoimine; and depositing a capping layer on the surface of at least some of the one or more conductors. The present invention further provides an apparatus for carrying out this method.
US08324095B2

A method and apparatus for depositing a tantalum nitride barrier layer is provided for use in an integrated processing tool. The tantalum nitride is deposited by atomic layer deposition. The tantalum nitride is removed from the bottom of features in dielectric layers to reveal the conductive material under the deposited tantalum nitride. Optionally, a tantalum layer may be deposited by physical vapor deposition after the tantalum nitride deposition. Optionally, the tantalum nitride deposition and the tantalum deposition may occur in the same processing chamber.
US08324090B2

The present disclosure provides a method of fabricating a semiconductor device. The method includes providing a semiconductor substrate having a first active region and a second active region, providing a semiconductor substrate having a first region and a second region, forming a high-k dielectric layer over the semiconductor substrate, forming a first capping layer and a second capping layer over the high-k dielectric layer, the first capping layer overlying the first region and the second capping layer overlying the second region, forming a layer containing silicon (Si) over the first and second capping layers, forming a metal layer over the layer containing Si, and forming a first gate stack over the first region and a second gate stack over the second active region. The first gate stack includes the high-k dielectric layer, the first capping layer, the layer containing Si, and the metal layer and the second gate stack includes the high-k dielectric layer, the second capping layer, the layer containing Si, and the metal layer.
US08324086B2

An SOI substrate having a single crystal semiconductor layer the surface of which has high planarity is manufactured. A semiconductor substrate is doped with hydrogen to form a damaged region containing a large amount of hydrogen. After a single crystal semiconductor substrate and a supporting substrate are bonded to each other, the semiconductor substrate is heated to separate the single crystal semiconductor substrate in the damaged region. While a heated high-purity nitrogen gas is sprayed on a separation surface of a single crystal semiconductor layer which is separated from the single crystal semiconductor substrate and irradiation with a microwave is performed from the back side of the supporting substrate, the separation surface is irradiated with a laser beam. The single crystal semiconductor layer is melted by irradiation with the laser beam, so that the surface of the single crystal semiconductor layer is planarized and re-single-crystallization thereof is performed. In addition, the length of the melting time is increased by irradiation with the nitrogen gas and the microwave; thus, the re-single-crystallization is performed more efficiently.
US08324083B2

A method for producing a Group III nitride compound semiconductor element includes growing an epitaxial layer containing a Group III nitride compound semiconductor using a different kind of substrate as an epitaxial growth substrate, adhering a supporting substrate to the top surface of the epitaxial growth layer through a conductive layer, and then removing the epitaxial growth substrate by laser lift-off. Before adhesion of the epitaxial layer and the supporting substrate, a first groove that at least reaches an interface between the bottom surface of the epitaxial layer and the epitaxial growth substrate from the top surface of the epitaxial layer formed on the epitaxial growth substrate and acts as an air vent communicating with the outside of a wafer when the epitaxial layer and the supporting substrate are joined to each other. Next, the epitaxial layer is divided into each chip by separating the epitaxial growth substrate by laser lift-off, and then removing the epitaxial layer serving as the outer periphery of each chip. Next, the outer peripheral side surface of the epitaxial layer of each chip is at least completely covered with an insulating protective film. Next, the supporting substrate is separated into each chip.
US08324078B2

A method of fracturing a composite structure along an embrittlement plane defined between two layers by producing a fracture in the structure along the embrittlement plane. During fracturing, the composite structure is disposed in a boat housing and held in contact against stiffeners disposed on both sides of the structure and aligned parallel to each other. Each stiffener has a diameter that is at least 40% to 300% of the diameter of the composite structure to be fractured.
US08324070B2

A semiconductor device includes a NMOS transistor of a peripheral circuit region. The NMOS transistor is formed over a relaxed silicon germanium layer and a silicon layer to have a tensile strain structure, thereby increasing electron mobility of a channel region in operation of the device. The semiconductor device may include a second active region including a first silicon layer connected to a first active region of a semiconductor substrate, a second silicon layer and a relaxed silicon germanium layer formed over the first silicon layer expected to be a NMOS region, and a NMOS gate formed over the second silicon layer.
US08324058B2

A method for contacting an FET device is disclosed. The method includes vertically recessing the device isolation, which exposes a sidewall surface on both the source and the drain. Next, silicidation is performed, resulting in a silicide layer covering both the top surface and the sidewall surface of the source and the drain. Next, metallic contacts are applied in such manner that they engage the silicide layer on both its top and on its sidewall surface. A device characterized as being an FET device structure with enlarged contact areas is also disclosed. The device has a vertically recessed isolation, thereby having an exposed sidewall surface on both the source and the drain. A silicide layer is covering both the top surface and the sidewall surface of both the source and the drain. Metallic contacts to the device engage the silicide on its top surface and on its sidewall surface.
US08324057B2

A method for fabricating a microelectronic device with one or several asymmetric and symmetric double-gate transistors on the same substrate.
US08324056B2

A vertical pillar semiconductor device may include a substrate, a group of channel patterns, a gate insulation layer pattern and a gate electrode. The substrate may be divided into an active region and an isolation layer. A first impurity region may be formed in the substrate corresponding to the active region. The group of channel patterns may protrude from a surface of the active region and may be arranged parallel to each other. A second impurity region may be formed on an upper portion of the group of channel patterns. The gate insulation layer pattern may be formed on the substrate and a sidewall of the group of channel patterns. The gate insulation layer pattern may be spaced apart from an upper face of the group of channel patterns. The gate electrode may contact the gate insulation layer and may enclose a sidewall of the group of channel patterns.
US08324055B2

A method of manufacturing a buried wiring type substrate comprises implanting hydrogen ions into a single crystalline substrate through a first surface thereof to form an ion implantation region, forming a conductive layer comprising a metal on the first surface of the single crystalline substrate, forming an insulation layer comprising silicon oxide on the conductive layer, bonding the insulation layer to a support substrate to form a preliminary buried wiring type substrate, and separating the single crystalline substrate at the ion implantation region to form a single crystalline semiconductor layer on the conductive layer.
US08324052B2

A nonvolatile memory device includes a string selection gate and a ground selection gate on a semiconductor substrate, and a plurality of memory cell gates on the substrate between the string selection gate and the ground selection gate. First impurity regions extend into the substrate to a first depth between ones of the plurality of memory cell gates. Second impurity regions extend into the substrate to a second depth that is greater than the first depth between the string selection gate and a first one of the plurality of memory cell gates immediately adjacent thereto, and between the ground selection gate and a last one of the plurality of memory cell gates immediately adjacent thereto. Related fabrication methods are also discussed.
US08324051B2

Methods of manufacturing NOR-type flash memory device include forming a tunnel oxide layer on a substrate, forming a first conductive layer on the tunnel oxide layer, forming first mask patterns parallel to one another on the first conductive layer in a y direction of the substrate, and selectively removing the first conductive layer and the tunnel oxide layer using the first mask patterns as an etch mask. Thus, first conductive patterns and tunnel oxide patterns are formed, and first trenches are formed to expose the surface of the substrate between the first conductive patterns and the tunnel oxide patterns. A photoresist pattern is formed to open at least one of the first trenches, and impurity ions are implanted using the photoresist pattern as a first ion implantation mask to form an impurity region extending in a y direction of the substrate. The photoresist pattern is removed. The substrate is annealed to diffuse the impurity region, thereby forming an impurity expansion region further expanding in an x direction of the substrate. The substrate is selectively removed using the first mask patterns as an etch mask to form second trenches corresponding to the first trenches. Isolation layers are formed to define active regions in the second trenches.
US08324047B1

In a specific embodiment, the present invention provides an integrated circuit device. The device includes a base substrate having a surface region and an interlayer dielectric material overlying the surface region. The device also has a thickness of single crystal silicon material overlying the interlayer dielectric material. In one or more embodiments, the thickness of single crystal silicon material has a front region and a backside region. The front region faces the interlayer dielectric material. In a preferred embodiment, the device has a plurality of transistor devices spatially arranged in the thickness of silicon crystal silicon material. Each of the transistor devices has a gate structure within a region of the interlayer dielectric material. The device also has an enclosure housing configured to form a cavity between the backside region of the thickness of silicon material and an upper inside region of the enclosure housing.
US08324046B2

Methods for fabricating a semiconductor device are disclosed. In an example, a method includes forming an isolation region on a substrate, wherein the isolation region extends a depth into the substrate from a substrate surface; forming a recess in the isolation region, wherein the recess is defined by a concave surface of the isolation region; and forming a first gate structure over the substrate surface and a second gate structure over the concave surface of the isolation region.
US08324042B2

Complementary RF LDMOS transistors have gate electrodes over split gate oxides. A source spacer of a second conductivity type extends laterally from the source tap of a first conductivity type to approximately the edge of the gate electrode above the thinnest gate oxide. A body of a first conductivity type extends from approximately the bottom center of the source tap to the substrate surface and lies under most of the thin section of the split gate oxide. The source spacer is approximately the length of the gate sidewall oxide and is self aligned with gate electrode. The body is also self aligned with gate electrode. The drain is surrounded by at least one buffer region which is self aligned to the other edge of the gate electrode above the thickest gate oxide and extends to the below the drain and extends laterally under the thickest gate oxide. Both the source tap and drain are self aligned with the gate side wall oxides and are thereby spaced apart laterally from the gate electrode.
US08324034B2

In a method of manufacturing a display device, a first insulating layer is formed on a semiconductor pattern. Ions of a first concentration are injected into source and drain domains of the semiconductor pattern and a lower electrode of the semiconductor pattern by using a mask pattern that selectively overlaps a channel domain of the semiconductor pattern and is positioned on the top of the first insulating layer. The mask pattern is removed. An ion injection process of injecting ions of a second concentration lower than the first concentration into the semiconductor pattern of the channel domain is directly performed in the first insulating layer. A gate electrode that overlaps the channel domain is formed on the top of the first insulating layer. An upper electrode that overlaps the lower electrode is formed on the top of the first insulating layer.
US08324032B2

Formation of LDD structures and GOLD structures in a semiconductor device is conventionally performed in a self aligning manner with gate electrodes as masks, but there are many cases in which the gate electrodes have two layer structures, and film formation processes and etching processes become complex. Further, in order to perform formation of LDD structures and GOLD structures only by processes such as dry etching, the transistor structures all have the same structure, and it is difficult to form LDD structures, GOLD structures, and single drain structures separately for different circuits. By applying a photolithography process for forming gate electrodes to photomasks or reticles, in which supplemental patterns having a function of reducing, the intensity of light and composed of diffraction grating patterns or translucent films, are established, GOLD structure, LDD structure, and single drain structure transistors can be easily manufactured for different circuits through dry etching and ion injection process steps.
US08324030B2

A method for forming a nanowire tunnel field effect transistor (FET) device includes forming a nanowire suspended by a first pad region and a second pad region, forming a gate around a portion of the nanowire, forming a protective spacer adjacent to sidewalls of the gate structure and around portions of the nanowire extending from the gate structure, implanting ions in a first portion of the exposed nanowire, removing a second portion of the exposed nanowire to form a cavity defined by the core portion of the nanowire surrounded by the gate structure and the spacer, exposing a silicon portion of the substrate, and epitaxially growing a doped semiconductor material in the cavity from exposed cross section of the nanowire, the second pad region, and the exposed silicon portion to connect the exposed cross sections of the nanowire to the second pad region.
US08324029B2

Disclosed herein is a method of transferring elements, including the steps of: holding a plurality of elements made at a first pitch on an element formation substrate on a temporary holding substrate in a state; forming a plurality of element mounting bases and obtaining an element disposition substrate; disposing an uncured adhesive agent layer on each of the bearing surfaces of the element mounting bases; making the temporary holding substrate and the element disposition substrate close to each other and causing some of the plurality of elements to come in contact with the uncured adhesive agent layer; curing the uncured adhesive agent layer, fixing the elements contacting the adhesive agent layer to the element mounting bases; and separating the temporary holding substrate and the element disposition substrate from each other with the elements contacting the adhesive agent layer being left on the respective element mounting bases.
US08324017B2

An organic thin film transistor includes a buffer layer on a substrate, a source and drain electrodes on the buffer layer, wherein each of the source and drain electrodes is in an island shape, a tunneling barrier layer on the source and drain electrodes, an organic semiconductor layer on the tunneling barrier layer, a gate insulation layer on the organic semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode overlapping both edges of the source and drain electrodes, and formed on the gate insulation layer.
US08324014B2

The present invention relates to a process for depositing films on a substrate by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) or physical vapour deposition (PVD), said process employing at least one boron compound. This process is particularly useful for fabricating photovoltaic solar cells. The invention also relates to the use of boron compounds for conferring optical and/or electrical properties on materials in a CVD or PVD deposition process. This process is also particularly useful for fabricating a photovoltaic solar cell.
US08324013B2

An organic layer of an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device is formed by transferring a transfer layer of a donor film to aligned pixel openings in a pixel defining region of the OLED display device such that the organic layer is formed in the pixel openings. Each aligned pixel opening has a pair of long sides and a pair of short sides, and the transferring of the transfer layer is performed by applying tensile force to the donor film in a direction perpendicular to the short sides of the pixel openings.
US08324008B2

A method of patterning a mesoporous nano particulate layer on a conductive substrate comprises the steps of depositing a pattern on the conductive substrate, depositing a layer of titanium dioxide by atomic layer deposition on the substrate, removing the underlying pattern with a solvent to leave discrete areas of titanium dioxide, depositing a mesoporous nano particulate layer over the whole substrate, and depositing a second layer of titanium dioxide by atomic layer deposition above the mesoporous nano particulate layer whereby the areas of mesoporous nano particulate layer and second titanium dioxide layer over the areas where the first layer of titanium dioxide was removed with the solvent fall off, leaving the patterned mesoporous nano particulate layer.
US08324001B2

A light-emitting device having improved light conversion efficiency, a light-emitting system including the same, and fabricating methods of the light-emitting device and the light-emitting system, are provided. The light-emitting device includes one or more light-emitting elements arranged on one surface of a substrate, and a phosphor layer disposed inside or on the substrate to a predetermined thickness and partially wavelength-converts the light emitted from the one or more light-emitting elements into light having different wavelength, wherein a light conversion efficiency of the phosphor layer is maximized when the phosphor layer has the predetermined thickness.
US08323997B2

Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a color printed circuit board. The method includes non-consecutively printing a conductive ink on a flexible insulation board in a piezoelectric inkjet manner to form an electrically conductive pattern, applying an electrically conductive bonding agent to a light emitting chip mounting portion of the electrically conductive pattern for mounting a light emitting chip, forming a waterproof layer on an overall surface of a resultant after mounting the light emitting chip on the light emitting chip mounting portion of the electrically conductive pattern to which the electrically conductive bonding agent is applied, and forming a color pattern on an overall surface of the light emitting diode using a color ink.
US08323996B2

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes attaching a first semiconductor substrate to a support substrate, and thinning the first semiconductor substrate to form a thinned semiconductor layer. The method additionally includes integrating a functional element with the thinned semiconductor layer, and forming at least one through-connect through the thinned semiconductor layer.
US08323995B2

Some embodiments include methods of forming diodes. The methods may include oxidation of an upper surface of a conductive electrode to form an oxide layer over the conductive electrode. In some embodiments, the methods may include formation of an oxidizable material over a conductive electrode, and subsequent oxidation of the oxidizable material to form an oxide layer over the conductive electrode. In some embodiments, the methods may include formation of a metal halide layer over a conductive electrode. Some embodiments include diodes that contain a metal halide layer between a pair of diode electrodes.
US08323992B2

The variation in the contact pressures of the plurality of contact terminals to the plurality of chip electrodes is decreased. A thin-film sheet (first sheet) includes: a principal surface (contact-terminal formation surface) on which a plurality of contactors (contact terminals) are formed; and a rear surface positioned on an opposite side to the principal surface. Also, in the thin film sheet, a plurality of wirings and dummy wiring are arranged between the principal surface and the rear surface. A slit formed of an opening portion penetrating from the principal surface of the thin-film sheet to the rear surface thereof is formed along the wiring between the dummy wiring and the contactor arranged at an end of a contactor group (first contact terminal group) in which the plurality of contactors are aligned.
US08323987B2

Provided is a method for screening a plurality of compounds for an ability to bind to a heterodimer of EGFR and another ERBB family member. Also provided are compounds that bind to heterodimers of EGFR and another ERBB family member, and methods of using the identified compounds to suppress the growth of a tumor associated with EGFR heterodimer activity in a subject.
US08323982B2

Fluid analyte sensors include a photoelectrocatalytic element that is configured to be exposed to the fluid, if present, and to respond to photoelectrocatalysis of at least one analyte in the fluid that occurs in response to impingement of optical radiation upon the photoelectrocatalytic element. A semiconductor light emitting source is also provided that is configured to impinge the optical radiation upon the photoelectrocatalytic element. Related solid state devices and sensing methods are also described.
US08323975B2

Telomere-encoding nucleic acid nanocircles, methods for their preparation, and methods for their use are disclosed. The nanocircles can be constructed containing multiple repeats of the complement of telomere repeat sequences. The telomere-encoding nanocircles are useful for extending telomeres both in vitro and in vivo, for treating macular degeneration, the effects of skin aging, liver degeneration, and cancer. The nanocircles are further useful for treating cell cultures to produce long-lived non-cancerous cell populations. This use has wide applicability in scientific research, tissue engineering, and transplantation.
US08323957B2

Device for the incubation of cells comprising a sterile or sterilizable, portable receptacle for enclosing in a contamination-proof manner at least one integrated and/or insertable culture vessel for accommodating cells with at least one closable opening for introducing and/or removing cells and/or culture medium and/or a culture vessel into and/or from the receptacle and at least one device for creating culture conditions in the receptacle.
US08323955B1

A micromachined patch-clamp apparatus is disclosed for holding one or more cells and providing electrical, chemical, or mechanical stimulation to the cells during analysis with the patch-clamp technique for studying ion channels in cell membranes. The apparatus formed on a silicon substrate utilizes a lower chamber formed from silicon nitride using surface micromachining and an upper chamber formed from a molded polymer material. An opening in a common wall between the chambers is used to trap and hold a cell for analysis using the patch-clamp technique with sensing electrodes on each side of the cell. Some embodiments of the present invention utilize one or more electrostatic actuators formed on the substrate to provide mechanical stimulation to the cell being analyzed, or to provide information about mechanical movement of the cell in response to electrical or chemical stimulation.
US08323948B2

The present invention relates to an asparaginase having the width of the pH activity profile which is at least 3.5. Furthermore the invention relates to newly identified asparaginase polypeptide according to any one of SEQ ID NO: 2 or SEQ ID NO: 4 and to variants thereof and to polynucleotide sequences that encode such novel asparaginase variants. Furthermore the invention relates to the use of these novel asparaginase variants in industrial processes.
US08323947B2

The invention relates to recombinant expression of a variant form of a fungal C1 strain β-glucosidase. The invention also relates to the generation of fermentable sugars from biomass and the production of biofuels by fermentation of the sugars using genetically modified organisms expressing the β-glucosidase variant. The invention provides methods for producing a fermentable sugar, such as glucose, from cellobiose by contacting cellobiose with a recombinant β-glucosidase variant protein, such as a variant protein secreted by a recombinant host cell into culture medium. Methods of the invention may be used for conversion of a biomass substrate to a fermentable sugar, and ultimately to ethanol or other biofuel.
US08323944B2

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity and isolated polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods of producing and using the polypeptides.
US08323938B2

A process is specified for the biological generation of methane (CH4), which process is firstly environmentally friendly and inexpensive, and secondly avoids the use of fossil deposits. The process is divided into two steps, wherein first hydrogen (H2)and oxygen (O2) are generated from carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) by algae with the action of light. In the second step, methane (CH4) is isolated by methanogenesis bacteria from the hydrogen (H2) which is generated and from carbon dioxide (CO2). To increase the yield of the process, interfering intracellular oxygen (O2) can be bound in the algae and/or in the methanogenesis bacteria.
US08323932B2

The present invention relates to filamentous fungal host cells and particularly Trichoderma host cells useful for the production of heterologous granular starch hydrolyzing enzymes having glucoamylase activity (GSHE). Further the invention relates to a method for producing a glucose syrup comprising contacting a granular starch slurry obtained from a granular starch substrate simultaneously with an alpha amylase and a GSHE at a temperature equal to or below the gelatinization temperature of the granular starch to obtain a composition of a glucose syrup.
US08323929B2

The invention employs an unlabeled signal primer comprising a 5′ adapter sequence for detection of variations in nucleic acid target sequences. The detection system further comprises a reporter probe, the 3′ end of which hybridizes to the complement of the 5′ adapter sequence of the signal primer to produce a 5′ overhang. Polymerase is used to fill in the overhang and synthesize the complement of the 5′ overhang of the reporter probe. Synthesis of the reporter probe complement is detected, either directly or indirectly, as an indication of the presence of the target.
US08323924B2

Compositions and methods for producing aldehydes, alkanes, and alkenes are described herein. The aldehydes, alkanes, and alkenes can be used in biofuels.
US08323919B2

Methods and compositions for glycogen synthase kinase 3 assays continue to be required for detection of glycogen synthase 3 kinase, assessment of glycogen synthase 3 kinase activity and identification of modulators of glycogen synthase 3 kinase. Methods and compositions for glycogen synthase kinase 3 assays are provided herein based on the discovery of a previously unknown interaction between glycogen synthase 3 kinase and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 which serves as a substrate for glycogen synthase kinase 3-alpha and glycogen synthase kinase 3-beta.
US08323918B2

In accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure, a protein arginine methyltransferase inhibitor is provided. The inhibitor comprises an amino acid peptide joined to a chloroacetamidine warhead.
US08323917B2

The present invention enables screening for compounds that inhibit the transport of GPI-anchored proteins to fungal cell walls, using a simple assay for transacylation to GlcN-PI using membrane fraction expressing GWT1 protein. New antifungal agents can be created that inhibit the synthesis of fungal cell walls and also inhibit adhesion to host cells by inhibiting the transport of GPI-anchored proteins to fungal cell walls.
US08323913B2

Use of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A as a marker for inflammatory conditions, and in particular, for acute coronary syndromes is described.
US08323912B2

The present invention relates to the discovery that the T1R receptors assemble to form functional taste receptors. Particularly, it has been discovered that co-expression of T1R1 and T1R3 results in a taste receptor that responds to umami taste stimuli, including monosodium glutamate. Also, it has been discovered that co-expression of the T1R2 and T1R3 receptors results in a taste receptor that responds to sweet taste stimuli including naturally occurring and artificial sweeteners.Also the present invention relates to the use of hetero-oligomeric taste receptors comprising T1R1/T1R3 and T1R2/T1R3 in assays to identify compounds that respectively respond to umami taste stimuli and sweet taste stimuli.Further, the invention relates to the constitutive of cell lines that stably or transiently co-express a combination of T1R1 and T1R3; or T1R2 and T1R3; under constitutive or inducible conditions. The use of these cells lines in cell-based assays to identify umami and sweet taste modulatory compounds is also provided, particularly high throughput screening assays that detect receptor activity by use of fluorometric imaging.Finally, the invention relates to the discovery that some compounds, e.g., lactisole, inhibit both the activities of human T1R2/T1R3 and T1R1/T1R3 receptors, and accordingly the sweet and umami taste, suggesting that these receptors may be the only sweet and umami receptors.
US08323910B2

This application describes an antibody that specifically binds to a synthetic oligomer (e.g., an oligonucleotide or oligopeptide) having a organic protecting group covalently bound thereto, which antibody does not bind to that synthetic oligomer when the organic protecting group is not covalently bound thereto. Methods of making and using such antibodies are also disclosed, along with cells for making such antibodies and articles carrying immobilized oligomers that can be used in assay procedures with such antibodies.
US08323909B2

The present invention relates to a small molecule high-throughput screening assay consisting of detectably labeled cardiac progenitor cells. The invention also describes a method of identifying small molecules from the high-throughput assay affecting cardiogenesis and/or modulating cardiac progenitor cell development. Also described are methods of stimulating maturation of cardiac progenitor cells using a GSK-3β inhibitor.
US08323903B2

The present invention provides novel immunolabeling complexes and certain components of such complexes, as well as methods of preparing and using such complexes, and kits for use in preparing labeling proteins and for immunolabeling. The pre-formed immunolabeling complexes of the invention comprise both a target-binding antibody and a labeling protein that contains covalently attached labels, where the labeling protein binds selectively and with high affinity to a selected region of the target-binding antibody. Novel labeling proteins of the invention include non-antibody peptides and proteins, such as a complex of protein G and a labeled albumin, and monovalent antibody fragments, such as labeled Fab fragments of an anti-Fc antibody. In methods of the invention, the preformed immunolabeling complexes are added to the sample alone or in combination, for purposes of labeling and optionally detecting the target of interest.
US08323896B2

The present invention relates to diagnostic and prognostic methods to determine the likelihood of a subject who has a inflammatory disease or liver disease of developing cancer. In particular, the present invention relates to methods for identifying subjects with increased susceptibility to developing cancer, such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) where the subject has an inflammatory disease, such as, but not limited to cirrhosis, by identifying a variance or polymorphism in the human EGF gene. In particular, the methods of the present invention relate to identifying subjects with increased susceptibility to developing cancer such as HCC, where the subject has an inflammatory disease, such as but not limited to cirrhosis, and the subject is identified to have a single nucleotide polymorphism 61A>G in the 5′UTR of the EGF gene. Alternatively, the methods of the present invention relate to identifying subjects with increased susceptibility to developing cancer such as HCC, where the subject has an inflammatory disease, such as but not limited to cirrhosis, and the subject is identified to have increased expression of EGF as compared to a reference level of EGF expression. The present invention also relates to administering an effective amount of an anti-cancer therapy to subjects identified to have an increased susceptibility of developing cancer such as HCC by the methods as disclosed herein, and kits to identify a subject with a 61A>G polymorphism in the 5′UTR of the EGF gene or kits to determine increased EGF expression in subjects with chronic inflammatory disease.
US08323891B2

As discovered herein, using miRNAs having high homology with both HIV-1 and a co-infecting virus such as HHV-6, HHV-7, or GVB-C, one can inhibit viral replication, more particularly HIV-1 replication using such mutually homologous miRNAs that give rise to the creation of stable triplex formations effective in the downregulation and/or inhibition of viral replication.
US08323889B2

The present invention relates to a process for the production of an abuse-proofed solid dosage form containing at least one active ingredient with potential for abuse and a synthetic or natural polymer with a breaking strength of =500 N, characterized in that a corresponding mixture is processed by melt extrusion with the assistance of a planetary-gear extruder.
US08323884B2

The invention is directed to isolated genomic polynucleotide fragments that encode human SNARE YKT6, human glucokinase, human adipocyte enhancer binding protein (AEBP1) and DNA directed 50 kD regulatory subunit (POLD2), 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 SNARE YKT6, human glucokinase, AEBP1 protein and POLD2 and to diagnose, treat, prevent and/or ameliorate a pathological disorder.
US08323876B1

Provided are a semiconductor structure and a method of fabricating a semiconductor device. The method includes: preparing a substrate or an etch-target layer which is to be patterned; forming a first anti-reflective coating, which contains silsesquioxane resin and a cross-linking catalyst, on the substrate or the etch-target layer; forming an anti-penetration film and a second anti-reflective coating by causing a cross-linking reaction in a region of the first anti-reflective coating; and forming a photoresist pattern on the anti-penetration film.
US08323866B2

Methods and compositions for enhancing the sensitivity of an inorganic resist composition are disclosed. In one aspect, compositions for use with a matrix material (e.g., a lithographically sensitive polymeric material such as a hydrogen-bearing siloxane material) can be formulated with a sensitizer, where the sensitizer can be present in a relatively small amount. The sensitizer can include a radical generator, and can act to enhance the efficiency of radical generation and/or resist crosslinking when the resist is impinged by a selected lithographic radiation. The methods of the present invention can be especially useful in performing short wavelength (e.g., less than 200 nm) lithography, or for processes such as e-beam lithography, which traditionally suffer from low throughput. Methods of utilizing one or more of these aspects are also disclosed.
US08323864B2

A toner to develop an electrostatic latent image which includes a latex, a colorant, and a release agent, wherein the toner has a complex viscosity (η*) in a range of about 2.5×102 to about 1.0×103 Pa·s and a loss tangent (tan δ) in a range of about 1.3 to about 2.3 at a temperature of about 160° C. and wherein the η* is defined by a formula η*=(G′2+G″2)½/w, and the tan δ is defined by a formula G″/G′, where G′ is a storage elastic modulus and G″ is a loss elastic modulus as determined under the following conditions of an angular velocity being about 6.28 rad/s and at a temperature increasing at a rate of about 2.0° C./min.
US08323859B2

Photolithographic apparatus, systems, and methods that make use of optical compensation devices are disclosed. In various embodiments, an imaging mask includes an optically transmissive substrate. A first patterned region is formed on the substrate, and a second patterned region is formed on the substrate that is proximate to the first patterned region, the first patterned region and the second patterned region each having a plurality of optically transmissive and optically attenuating regions formed on the mask. An optical compensation region is positioned proximate to at least one of the first patterned region and the second patterned region that is configured to change a phase of the illumination radiation incident on the at least one of the first patterned region and the second region by altering an optical property of the substrate.
US08323858B2

A photomask blank has a light shieldable film formed on a light transmitting substrate. The light shieldable film has a light shielding layer which is formed of molybdenum silicide metal containing molybdenum in a content greater than 20 atomic % and not greater than 40 atomic % and which has a thickness smaller than 40 nm, an antireflection layer formed on the light shielding layer in contact with the light shielding layer and formed of a molybdenum silicide compound containing at least one of oxygen and nitrogen, and a low reflection layer formed under the light shielding layer in contact with the light shielding layer.
US08323856B2

The present invention provides a mask blank which comprises a substrate made of a synthetic quartz glass and a light-shielding film laminated on a surface of the substrate and is for use in a semiconductor device production technique employing an exposure light wavelength of 200 nm or shorter, wherein the mask blank has a birefringence, as measured at a wavelength of 193 nm, of 1 nm or less per substrate thickness. According to the present invention, mask blanks suitable for use in the immersion exposure technique and the polarized illumination technique are provided.
US08323855B2

A pellicle is provided to one end surface of end surfaces of a frame. Another end surface of the end surfaces of the frame has an area that opposes a substrate. A configuration is adopted that prevents the deformation of the one end surface of the frame and the shape of the opposing area on the other end surface from affecting one another.
US08323854B2

Dynamic range enhancing dopants for photopolymeric media are described. Also described are optical articles using these dopants and methods for making such optical articles.
US08323853B2

A separator includes a first fuel gas supply unit, a second fuel gas supply unit, first sandwiching sections, second sandwiching sections, a first case unit and a second case unit. The first and second sandwiching sections are connected to the first fuel gas supply unit and the second fuel gas supply unit, respectively, through first bridges. The first case unit and the second case unit are connected to the first sandwiching sections and the second sandwiching sections through second bridges. A first surface pressure F1 generated near a fuel gas supply passage, a second surface pressure F2 generated near an oxygen-containing gas supply passage, and a third surface pressure F3 generated near electrolyte electrode assemblies have different values.
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